@julieminevich Thanks! BTW, just realized there’s a typo in my comment. “Now” should be “new.”

– Posted using Chat Catcher

RT @julieminevich NEW BLOG POST: “Reclaiming the Rolodex” – How control over contact data has shifted & why it matters: [link to post]

– Posted using Chat Catcher

NEW BLOG POST: “Reclaiming the Rolodex” – How control over contact data has shifted & why it matters: [link to post]

– Posted using Chat Catcher

Great comments from @GDSlyPig & @jrick on Reclaiming the Rolodex: How contrl over contct data has shfted & why it mattrs: [link to post]

– Posted using Chat Catcher

Good post.

In fact, your concerns point up the larger debate about cloud computing. Here’s my two sense:

The fear of storing data in the cloud appears risky because it’s so now. But storing data on your hard drive isn’t risk-free, either. What if the hard drive crashes? What if there’s an earthquake or a robbery? What if you contract a virus that deletes your files?

As you said, the solution in both scenarios is to back-up.

Also, a side note: For $50/year, you can secure a little peace of mind by using Google Apps, which comes with customer support if disaster strikes, instead of the free version of Google Contacts.

I’ve always been somewhat at the mercy of “technology” for storing my contacts. When I got my Palm III back in the 90s, I had to fully believe it would contain my data and would not crash on me. And it largely fulfilled that promise. Being able to back that data up on the computer means that today I still have some pretty obscure contact information in my Google Contacts/iPhone from my Palm days.

I use FB as a great resource to gather contact info from people – but I don’t rely on FB as my go to source for that data. I take it, manipulate it, and store it where I have control and better access. For me that also is Google Contacts synced with my iPhone.

Sure Google Contacts could crash on us. But I’m willing to bet we’d have a bit of warning before it bit the dust and we could save our data. Even if that meant we had to put it in Excel (egads!) in the interim until the next thing came along.