Under the covers

True mobile working is scary. If your entire business relies on the data you have on your laptop then the risks involved in taking that with you on the road, all day, every day with the constant prospect of hardware failure, accidental damage, theft, stupidity (read leaving it in a taxi after a couple of drinks) is something that should keep you awake at night.

Since starting my own business, I've become acutely aware of how much I stand to lose if anything happens to my data. I've got an external drive at home for backup but that relies on me remembering to back the data up. This is something that, even with pre-set Outlook reminders, happens at best once a week.

My most valuable data is that which is created most recently. The presentation I'm going to give at the next client, the proposal I'm working on to generate more work, the brief that a client sent through to me this morning for my comments.

So imagine my relief to find that there is a service that caters for me. I've signed up to use Mozy. There are a few competitors out there so I'm not endorsing Mozy specifically other than to say that for less than £2.50 a month, it means I can once again sleep at night. Wherever I am, if I'm connected to the internet and the computer is idle for 10 minutes, Mozy kicks in and uploads my latest documents to the on-line backup store.

I know there are potential concerns about privacy with on-line services, I know that it would take a long time to recover all my data (it took the best part of a week to complete the initial 15.5Gb upload), but I also know that if anything goes wrong, I can go to any computer, log-in and download that important file for the meeting I'm having in 30 minutes.

It's easy to kid yourself that it won't happen to you, or that you'll remember to back up regularly but for me, despite the potential pitfalls, I'd rather sleep tight...

Today we launched the Byte Night and Byte Night Local campaigns with a press announcement about the events. We've been building the "Local" site for a few weeks now and it's been an interesting project to say the least! We've had fantastic support from a whole range of very dedicated people who have provided their time and expertise for free.

Trying to manage the specification, design, HTML, coding, video production and hosting with people who are trying to do their day jobs in parallel has been extremely challenging. The problem is not with enthusiasm, knowledge or commitment, that was abundant, the challenge was coordinating the various components to fit in with everyone's busy schedules. Unlike a project where all the resources are under your control, on this one, none of them were!

The finished site looks great, we've mashed up the best of Flickr, You Tube, Google Maps and powered the whole thing with the CNET Networks community platform to allow registration and blogging, this is Charity 2.0!

I've slept out for Byte Night for the last four years and it's an amazing event that has raised over £1.5M for NCH, the children's charity that helps homeless young people. As well as the London event, this year we're launching “Byte Night Local” with the aim of recruiting 250 people to sleep out locally, in their gardens or company premises so that the experience isn't restricted to the people who can make it into London. I'd encourage you to sign up and support a really good cause and experience a little of what the people we are trying to help have to endure every night of the year.

A big thanks must go to Rod for the original idea, Michael, Jess, Belinda and the team at Banner who created the original designs and much of the copy. At CNET, to David for the HTML coding, Piete for the tech work, Tim and Simon for the hosting set-up and Chris for the video production.

Finally, Suzie at CNET for supporting the project, Sam and Louisa at NCH and Kath at Lewis PR for testing, copy and moral support through the whole process. It’s been a great experience and a true team effort. Everyone gave generously of their time which ultimately means that even more of the money we raise goes directly to the people who need it most.

Thank you to everyone, sorry if I missed anybody. See you on the 5th October, let’s hope it doesn’t rain!