Panther Musk

I put some "Tag" body spray in my son's Christmas stocking this year, as he's now thirteen and getting hair in places that were once bare. He applies it pretty heavily, under the more is better principle. I think I've finally straightened him out through. We had a conversation about the character in Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy who had a wall of colognes and "musks" in his office, all of which were basically gasoline...

For me, panther musk is what I smell when I see new software that turns something difficult or annoying into something easy. Apple's iPhone, which is really just great software, smells like panther musk to me but I was surprised to have the same reaction to a little backup utility program called CrashPlan. CrashPlan was apparently launched quietly at the recent MacWorld conference. It's cheap, automatic, and can use a whole bunch of different targets to do the storing, including any other computer (Mac, Windows or Linux) that you have access to over the internet. I currently use Apple's Backup utility as part of my over-priced "Dot Mac" service, which handles the "automatic" and "off-site" requirements. There are mixed opinions about its reliability though. I'm very interested in how CrashPlan is received.

Listening to: Bizarre Love Triangle by New Order from (the best of) New Order.