At MacWorld Expo 2011 Dolly Drive showed off its new cloud based Time Machine backup system. The service interfaces their online backup storage and Time Machine to backup your Mac OS X system. The service even gives you a bootable version of your drive backup and can backup from anywhere you have an Internet connection.

The backup process is encrypted for security purposes. And restoring it is as simple as using Time Machine’s restoration service. The program does not keep you from backing up to an external drive like you would with Time Machine normally. It just backs up to the cloud in addition to an external drive.

The service costs $10/month for 250GB of storage and an additional 5GB/month added for each month that you subscribe. So after three month your storage would grow from 250GB to 265GB. If you don’t need that much, there is a 5GB option for $5/month and 100GB for $7.50/month. The extra 5GB/month of subscription is added to the two lower cost options as well.

Dolly Drive is a pretty good deal since by comparison Dropbox offers 50GB of online storage for $10/month or 100GB for $20/month. Although Dropbox does have a free 2GB service. Box.net offers a free version with up to 50GB but for 500GB it costs $15/month. There is an unlimited version of Box.net, but you have to call to set that up and get special pricing. Neither of these interface with Time Machine, but have simple to use clients that install on your Mac or Windows system.

Competing backup solution Mozy works on the Mac for $5 a month with unlimited backup space, but it doesn’t connect to TimeMachine like Dolly Drive.

Below is a demo from TUAW.

We will give you a full review of the service in the coming weeks.

Dolly Drive for Cloud Based Time Machine Backup (Mac) is a post by Kevin Purcell from Notebooks.com.

This week starts Macworld Expo in San Francisco.  And with that, all the rumors and speculation about what is going to be discussed, especially since Apple will not be in attendance this year.

What we do know is that the Apple store is currently offline this morning.  What does this mean?  Well, if the rumors are anywhere near true, there will be announcements today about a refresh of the Apple hardware line, including the use of the new Intel Core i5 and i7 processors.  There may also be news about a 4th gen iPhone, a video iPad and possibly news on an updated iLife 2010.

We’ll keep you posted as we receive news from Macworld!

UPDATE: 10:13EST- Looks like the only update so far was the release of Apeture 3, the photo editing program from Apple.  We will still wait on more announcements later this week.

Apple store offline in wait for Macworld announcements is a post by Amy from Notebooks.com.

I had the pleasure of connecting with Caroline from a company called Ipevo. Caroline gave me the quick rundown on a number of their current products as well as some great new ones like the wi-fi and widget enabled Kaleido R7 digital picture frame  coming in March. Some other interesting items for notebook users are the USB powered TR-10 portable conferencing phone, PoV web camera, and a number of Skype enabled handsets. I am currently reviewing the TR-10 and hope to have a video review sometime in the future. Ipevo has a solid offering of products that are nicely designed and fairly priced in my opinion. Take a look at the video below and see for yourself. 

Ipevo creates “experience over IP” – Upcoming Products (w/video) is a post by Adam Helweh from Notebooks.com.

Dexim, the maker of a number of iPhone products, showed me their upcoming USB hub, card reader, and iPhone/iPod doc for the MacBook Air. The look and feel is specifically designed for MacBook Air owners and expands the single USB port on the wafer thin notebook to 3 USB ports and what looks like a multi card reader all built into an adjustable dock for your iPod or iPhone. You could really use any USB hub if you wanted to, but those who put down the dough for the cost of a MacBook Air might want not want to miss the coolness of of having a USB hub that matches your pricey laptop. The hub should be available by middle of February for $70. Perfectly priced for the MacBook Air owner’s out there (wink).

Macworld 09: USB Hub & Card Reader Designed for the MacBook Air (Video) is a post by Adam Helweh from Notebooks.com.

How many passwords do you use daily logging on and off your computer, your favorite social network, or to pay bills online? Some of us don’t have much of an issue with this because our browsers autofill and remember much of that information for us, but is that really safe? What if you lost your notebook or even worse, it was stolen? I may have found a great solution to ease your woes and make you look incredibly cool. You can instantly log onto your just about anything with the swipe of your finger!

Upek is the maker of the Eikon Digital Privacy Manager. This device works on the Mac and the PC and comes in two compact designs. If your looking for something small with no wire to deal with you can buy the Eikon to Go which is the size of your average thumb drive and plugs directly into your usb port. The full Eikon is really only slightly bigger and is beautifully designed to look great sitting on your desk next to you which is perfect for the Mac fans.

Upek are the leading provider of biometric fingerprint reading devices for the desktop computer and notebook industry. ASUS, Toshiba, and Lenova have all taken advantage of Upek’s expertise and thought out technology. Rather than create an image of your fingerprint, Upek uses the much more secure fingerprint “templates” in combination with high level encryption to keep your important files and accounts locked down. Even if someone else owns an Eikon and attempts to use it to try and compromise your system (which would be useless) you’re completely safe. The Eikon has a small chip inside which stores your fingerprint data so it goes where you go.

If your in an office or other high traffic environment and want to quickly secure and log back into your system this is ideal. The device even supports multiple users and the software can be configured to allow different levels of access and security per user. 

I was most excited to hear the recent news about Upek working with the developers of the popular Mac application “1Password”. You will be able to sign on to your Facebook, Twitter, or online banking account with your finger not to mention manage many OSX preferences and features.

From their site:

“The integration of the Eikon fingerprint reader with 1Password software has been developed in response to resounding demand from the Mac community. The award-winning Eikon Digital Privacy Manager, available in Apple online and retail stores, is a USB peripheral fingerprint reader bundled with Protector Suite software that allows Mac users to simply swipe their finger instead of memorizing and typing passwords when logging in, unlocking screensaver, switching users, modifying secure preferences, and accessing parental controls. 1Password, the most popular password manager for Mac OS X, keeps track of web passwords so that Mac users can use strong and unique passwords that they don’t have to remember.” 

The Upek website is full of great information about the securing your computer and using the Eikon. I got a first hand demonstration by Brian from Upek which you can watch below.

What other products out there can make you feel like a secret agent each time you use it while actually keeping your computer computer safe at the same time?

Macworld 2009: Eikon Digital Privacy Manager & 1Password (Video) is a post by Adam Helweh from Notebooks.com.