Sometime early last year, I put up a post about SyncBack, a really nice backup and synchronization tool. SyncBack comes in two flavors - a free version, and a paid one with additional features. I still use the free version, and I think it's a great product. It also seems to have become quite popular among several folks who read that post last year and decided to give it a try.

Comodo Backup is another similar, free app that I found out about recently. It has a simple, easy-to-use UI, and comes with some interesting features. I haven't had a chance to try it out yet, but it's definitely on my list of things to look into soon.

CNBC's Jim Goldman gives the world a first look at Intel's version of the Origami from the Intel Developers Forum in San Fransisco.

Apparently, Origami is not a single device, as people had originally assumed. Instead, it seems to be a name given to a class of these new ultra-mobile, TabletPC-like devices that Microsoft and its partners are developing. Channel9 will have an hour-long video on Thursday morning, featuring Otto Berkes, Origami's architect and one of the original members of the Xbox team. The Origami device that'll be featured in the video is also supposed to be different from the Intel one in CNBC's video.

Speaking of Lost, here's an interesting piece of news. According to a report on ArsTechnica today, ABC plans to offer free (ad-supported) downloads of popular TV shows in the coming months.

Since I don't have a cable connection or a TV here in my room, I tend to record most of what I want to watch during the week (which is actually very little) on the DVR at home, and watch it on the weekend instead. That's fine, except I don't have a way to transfer these to my computer if I want to. Buying low-quality, DRM'd episodes at two dollars a piece from the iTunes Music Store is simply out of the question. And the other option is...well, not so legal.

So this may end up becoming a nice alternative, but it's too early to say just yet. What kind of advertising is involved exactly? Are there any other restrictions? What's the picture quality like? Is the show available the same day as it airs on TV? The success of such a venture really depends on how it all comes together in the end. I'll be watching out for this.

I started watching Lost towards the end of January after reading about it online, and hearing about it from friends. Looks like it took me almost exactly a month to catch up, especially because of all the midterms and assigments this month, but I'm finally here. Still haven't watched tonight's episode though; it's waiting for me on the DVR at home, for the weekend.

This seriously has to be one of the most addictive shows I've watched, even though I admittedly watch very little TV. The nice thing is until now, I had a constant stream of pre-recorded episodes at my disposal, so if there was a really intense cliff-hanger moment, I could just continue watching subsequent episodes, time permitting. Now that I've finally caught up, I'm going to be playing the weekly waiting game, just like everyone else. Damn! I knew I should have slowed myself down. Then again, would I have really been able to control myself? :D

If 45-degree "Eagle Eye" aerial imagery wasn't close enough to the ground for you, here's something even closer. The Virtual Earth team has now started rolling out street-level imagery into the new Windows Live Local Tech Preview.

It's only available for the Seattle and San Fransisco areas at the moment, but damn, you can "drive" around the city with your keyboard, and see what it would look like from the windshield of a car!