I spend what seems like 20 hours a day attached to my computer, but when I’m not, I sometimes seek out some of the arts. Some time ago, my wife and I headed out to the Tempe Festival of the Arts, where we found plenty of great artists, but one that stood out was Adam Homan and his metal sculptures.
The sculpture above is called “Speed Junkie” from what I can gather and I just love it. I loved a lot of his work, in fact. I was sure to grab one of his photo-postcards as a reminder that one day I’d have to buy one. I haven’t bought one yet, but that day will come, I’m sure.
About Adam
When I saw him in person, he was busy with a (hopefully) paying customer, so I didn’t want to bother him, but judging from his site, he’s a laid back guy with a sense of humor. Here’s what his site says:
Originally an 8th grade English teacher, Adam left teaching for the arts and has been sculpting full time for 14+ years now. Adam is one of the premier steel sculptors in the country and his work is included in the collections of Pixar Animation, Industrial Light and Magic, Clint Eastwood, and various private and corporate collectors.
The Female Form and Other Things
Adam has some cool robot sculptures, but I think one of my favorites is the one seen at right called “Self Made Woman“. It’s more than I can budget for art at the moment, but it’s smart and fun to look at. This piece is part of his Female Form pieces which includes other fun female-themed sculptures.
Having done this for so long, Adam has amassed a wide array of sculptures that crawled out of his imagination over the years, including birds, fish, dinosaurs, dragons, trolls, etc. Rather than listing them all out, I’ll let you take a look for yourself. While some are in more of an art enthusiast’s price range (from what I can recall), smaller sculptures were priced for everyone to enjoy.
A couple weeks ago, I reviewed MediaRECOVER from a company called Fresh Crop. The software was designed to help you undelete files you thought you had lost, and it worked well. But what about the files you don’t want to come back… ever?
Deleted Doesn’t Mean It’s Gone
Fresh Crop also provides software called MediaWIPE for your sensitive files you want gone forever. When you delete a file, it’s not really gone. Yes, even though you emptied the recycle bin. It’s still on your hard drive or other storage media but you just can’t see it. In fact, that’s what makes software like MediaRECOVER work. To truly delete something forever requires some additional steps. That’s what MediaWIPE promises to do for you, so I put it to the test.
Does MediaWIPE Really Work?
According to the site, they use US Department of Defense (DoD 5220.22-M) seven step erasing standard to completely erase your files. Armed with one large unwanted file and several small ones, I fired up the program and started with the big file (about 150 MB).
Getting ready involved just a simple browse and select for the file. This software will wipe full directories as well. With my file selected, I clicked the Next button. I then confirmed my decision to delete this file with a checkbox and about five minutes later, my file was gone. I then did this for the smaller files in the same way.
After deleting these files, I tried to recover them. Using MediaRECOVER as well as another file recovery program, I had no success finding my deleted files. MediaWIPE seems to have truly wiped the files from my computer completely.
Portable File Wiping
One feature that makes this software even more convenient to use is the MediaWIPE Portable Maker. It’s a little program that comes bundled with MediaWIPE and it installs a portable copy of MediaWIPE onto a portable storage device like a memory stick. To try it out, I installed it on an 8GB MicroSD card I carry around with me. I popped the card into another computer and was running MediaWIPE straight from the card pretty quickly. If it’s not the same full version installed on my desktop, it sure looks like it. Providing the same secure file removal experience as the desktop, I can now wipe any file or folder on any computer without ever installing software on that machine.
The portable install of MediaWIPE has some obvious uses. I imagine most people might use this when checking their email from a friend’s computer or a computer in a public place. Anything you downloaded to the public computer can be securely removed without installing a thing on it. This method doesn’t require Administrator privileges, so it’s quick and easy. Not bad!
Conclusions
Living up to its name and its promises, MediaWIPE does the job when you need files gone permanently. The software installed, started, and ran quickly and easily which, combined with the $19.95 price, makes it an easy choice for anyone concerned about sensitive data.
I’m sure you’ve heard of National Scoop The Poop Week. No? For those who haven’t, the week of April 24 through 30th is for making sure you clean up all the little presents your dog leaves behind. To celebrate National Scoop the Poop Week we’re giving away a unique and techie pet gadget.
About Dog-e-Minder
The Dog-e-Minder is a digital dog ID tag that helps track when you last fed, walked, or gave your dog medication. Here’s a little more information about it:
Easy-to-use 3 button system keeps track of your dog’s walking, feeding, and medication schedule
• Records when your dog was last fed, last walked, and last received their medication
• Perform a task and save the date and time by holding in the corresponding button
• Press corresponding button once to retrieve the last time each task was completed
• Acts as a dog ID when at idle, backlit screen displays pet name and owners contact phone number
• Attaches to dog collar or key chain for easy access
• Durable waterproof casing is available in 4 stylish colors (pink, red, blue, black)
I bet you love posting pictures of your dog, so this will be a breeze. Just post or tweet a photo of your dog to Facebook or Twitter with a link to this contest blog post. Each photo posted with the link counts as an entry. To be sure I count your entry, post a link in the comments below to your Facebook or Twitter update.
I’ll accept entries from now through 7:00 PM (MST) on Saturday, May 1, 2010. At that point, I will draw three winners at random and contact each via Twitter or Facebook.
A while back, MyDomain.com launched a contest to promote their .ME domains and asked people how they brand themselves online. I and a lot of other people answered, and I was chosen as one of five finalists. As a finalist, I get a free .ME domain along with a year of hosting, but now it’s time to win the grand prize, $1,000 in Apple gift cards. Some time after April 28th, the grand prize winner will be chosen and until then, I need your vote. Voting is so incredibly fast and easy, there’s no reason not to. Just head to http://www.mydomain.com/brandme/ and find me (Joe Colburn) in the right-hand column, click Vote and you’re done. Every vote counts, so please “Like” this post or share it on Facebook below.
If I win, I’ll give two $50 Apple gift cards out to random winners. Your “Like” or share of this page on Facebook will enter you to win. Just be sure to post a link to your Facebook profile in the comments below so I can see it. Thanks to all the people who have supported me already on Twitter and Facebook. Contest aside, I feel like I’ve already won.
Adam has some cool robot sculptures, but I think one of my favorites is the one seen at right called “Self Made Woman“. It’s more than I can budget for art at the moment, but it’s smart and fun to look at. This piece is part of his Female Form pieces which includes other fun female-themed sculptures.
