If they are worth your time and heart, they'll say yes.

Al momento attuale, visto che ho cominciato a caricare su i miei dati, mi sono posto la semplice domanda:

Non credi che un bel backup sia una buona soluzione?

Ho fatto una ricerca in rete ed al momento ho trovato due software per effettuare i backup gratuiti per l'uso domestico. I software in questione sono i seguenti:

• PsyncX: PsyncX is designed to let you effortlessly backup whichever folders or hard drives are important to you. To that end we work our hearts out to make sure that your expectations don't get disappointed.
• iBackup: iBackup is a simple to use backup/restore utility. iBackup supports scheduled backups of files, folders and applications. Further, it uses plugins to backup your settings like the dock, deskop picture, time, firewall, bluetooth and other system preferences. It is also able to backup Application Settings. You can add, delete and edit these plugins.

Il primo che ho trovato e provato è stato PsyncX ma non mi funziona. Ogni volta che lo avvio si blocca e và in crash così ho provato a cercare un altro software ed ho trovato iBackup. L'ho provato ieri sera e non sembra fatto male. Da quanto ho visto però prende e copia tutto in un'altra cartella. L'idea non è male. Il problema è che così lo spazio sarebbe enorme se si devono "backuppare" grosse quantità di dati. Sarebbe utile un'opzione "comprimi alla fine".

Ho letto anche del "Time Capsule" ma vorrei evitare di fare una spesa hardware visto che ho già un harddisk esterno dove potrei mettere i file di backup finali. Non sò se mi sono spiegato. Anche perchè di un backup via wireless non mi interessa molto.

Non sò ...

• voi cosa consigliate?
• La vostra esperienza che dice?
• Esistono script manuali che possono essere utili?

Su su ... fede ... comincia a guadagnarti il primo piatto di pasta virtuale così non ingrassi ... mentre magari all'amico Lupodimare ... un piatto di pasta meno virtuale visto che è quasi ai 1000km di corsa a piedi raggiunti anche con anticipo :)

While onsite, I learned that my customer had recently taken her computer to the Apple Store to find out why her Mac was locking up on a frequent basis. At the store, she found out that her IT department had installed RAM modules in her Mac that didn't conform to Apple specs. Apple Store technicians did a memory swap that stopped the system freezes. However, in the course of self-diagnosing her Mac problems, she thought her Time Capsule might be at fault and pressed the hardware reset button on the device without going through the process of restoring her wireless settings in AirPort Utility.

After hearing her story, I ran AirPort Utility to restore wireless service throughout the house. However, I ran into an unexpected glitch trying to reconfigure Time Machine as her backup program. At the outset, Time Machine responded to backup attempts with the cryptic message that "The Backup Disk Image Could Not Be Mounted."

In researching this issue, I found references to this problem on the Apple Discussion Board.

http://tinyurl.com/3scntq

None of the suggested remedies on the aforementioned support page resolved the backup problem. With the customer's permission, I reformatted the Time Capsule's hard drive using AirPort Utility and tried running Time Machine again. No go. This time I was stymied by a variation of the previous error, which now indicated that "The Backup Disk Image Could Not Be Created."

Further research uncovered a litany of cases and suggested solutions.

http://tinyurl.com/4qmqsf
http://tinyurl.com/3t3t9g
http://tinyurl.com/3r2dko

I verified that my client's setup conformed to the recommended checklist on the Apple discussion post:

1. Can you see the Time Capsule under Shared in the Sidebar of Finder? [YES]
2. If you click on it in Shared, does the Time Capsule disk appear in the Finder Window? [YES]
3. Can you see and did you select the Time Capsule disk in Time Machine preferences? [YES]
4. Is the name of your Time Capsule less than 27 characters and without any special characters or punctuation?? [YES] If not, this can cause problems.

I also disabled the customer's anti-virus program (Symantec) in accordance with an Apple KnowledgeBase article:

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1516

Despite my best efforts, all attempts at performing a Time Machine backup failed. To resolve the issue, I decided to search for a third-party program that could back up data to the Time Capsule. After finding that both Carbon Copy Cloner and SuperDuper! were incapable of recognizing Time Capsule because it is a network device rather than a local or attached drive, I ended up recommending and installing Synchronize Pro X from qdea.com.

Uh...maybe not. My time has more value than donating it for free. Kthxbye. That's official. I've decided. My life is very busy now that I have children, and I hardly have time to even keep up with my usual computer habits.

Speaking of time and habits... here's something that should be part of that: backup. I have used ClarkConnect, and I like the idea of using Bacula with it. However, I want to look at Time Capsule and Windows Home Server as well.

I ordered the Trial of Windows Home Server. It arrived a week ago. I still haven't installed it. I'm begining to wonder if I should even bother. I won't want to spend the money, and I'm really only interested in backing up pictures, which I can store online, and my resume, which I can store online.

If I could just stick a wireless card in a WHS device, that might sway me. I like having an Airport Extreme right now, but it lacks some flexibility that I'd love to have. NDISwrapper on CC sounds awful. Time Machine sounds awesome, but upgrading to Leopard and stuff is expensive.

Ho scelto TimeCapsule perché il mio Access Point (ASUS WL-330g) è deceduto qualche mese fa, quindi avrei dovuto sostituirlo. In concomitanza a questo tragico avvenimento, ho avuto la brillante idea di pensare al fatto che i dispositivi connessi alla rete in casa stavano rapidamente aumentando. Questo avrebbe comportato la necessità di acquistare uno switch, oltre all'Access Point (o comunque un dispositivo che facesse entrambe le cose). Oltre a questo sono ormai diventato avido di GB, quindi avrei avuto bisogno di un nuovo HD esterno. Cosa fare quindi?

[caption id="attachment_180" align="alignnone" width="440" caption="Il design è davvero raffinato!"][/caption]

Io ho optato (e sono molto felice di averlo fatto) per Time Capsule.

Devo dire che effettivamente l'installazione è facile come descritto dagli ads, e che le possibilità di configurazione sono molteplici, cosa che temevo non si verificasse. L'Utility Airport mi ha permesso di configurare il dispositivo davvero con una semplicità disarmante e, sorpresa delle sorprese, la stampante Canon iP4300 è stata riconosciuta immediatamente, senza alcuna difficoltà.

In quanto a prestazioni devo dire che la differenza tra 802.11n (anche se ancora in draft) e 802.11b/g si sente eccome, soprattutto nel trasferimento di files e di grandi moli di dati.

Anche a livello di inquinamento acustico credo di avere raggiunto una soluzione ottimale: solo quando si accede pesantemente all'hard disk si sente rumore, mentre in condizioni normale il dispositivo è piuttosto silenzioso.

L'unica pecca è, secondo me, la mancata possibilità di partizionare il disco di Time Capsule. Se ci fosse questa possibilità si potrebbe avere, per esempio, una partizione per i backup ed una partizione per i dati.

Che dire, se qualcuno ha domande sono a disposizione.

I'm having problems with a backup harddrive and keep getting "Time Machine Error Unable to complete backup. An error occurred while creating the backup directory."  Really useful information.

So I decided to try to find out what is actually wrong, so step one was to try to create a directory myself on that drive.  "Error Code -50" Now that was useful.

So I tracked down the Apple error codes, and found that it means "Error in user parameter list".  Guess that is good to know.  Don't know what it means (yet).

A Wish !

Sturdy Citizens of the great and hardy common wealth of the State of Oklahoma :

In a choice part of these fair prairies

Of the great plains of the sturdy South-West,

A magnificent portion of a proud magnificently

Great and glorious Nation – the United States of America –

In the neighborhood of both stream and mountain –

There rests this beautiful day,

A Growing Institution, dedicated to the Sons

And daughters of Agricultural and Cultural interests,

In this immediate vicinity –

An Institution of Hope – within thy keeping!

Citizens, this day a corner stone,

Another milestone as it were,

In the progress of this struggling school

Is being laid:

May this occasion mark a new period of progress –

Rural advancement and service to be rendered,

In a spirit of better understanding and cooperation

For the future history of the ------ ------- School of Agriculture!

‘What so ever a man soweth that will he also reap’ –

May the seed sown be good that it bring forth good fruit,

We ask that thy heart, hand and guidance work with

The Almighty Power of a good and gracious God –

In working and preserving the destiny of this little

Agricultural School - in a manner acceptable to

HIS KEEPING and sponsored by Christian Influences –

Honest effort and sound judgment!

Science Instructor.

nberry1@maine.rr.com

www.twitter.com/nateberry1

You may be strange, but somehow, someone will remember your name?  A great deal of us will only have the option of a flat granite slab with a brass plate to display our names.  We will have a few options to personalize and dignify it:  an American flag, hands in prayer, a teddy bear.  Passing through a historical cemetery in a small town, among the traditional headstones, there are more than names and dates to seek out attention.  Some markers from another century are designed to bring you closer.  

In this historical cemetery there is a flare for the dramatic.  A young lady is represented by a tree cut down in what

one may presume to be its prime.  Another towering obelisk of dozens glints in the shadow light with a very modern glyph, declaring proudly, “His head was so full of dreams.”  

Many others are less obvious, as moss, ivy, and fungus are taking over with the everyday rain has eroded names and dates, leaving sentimental, upright concrete memorials crowned with conch shells. 

Whoever some of these people were, some even after death, are very vocal.

More pictures will be available at www.flickr.com.  Just look for me, Dawn Dickson. 

In my quest to freelance, I’m going to investigate Lakeview’s inhabitants, unearthing (painful cliché to be avoided in the future) the details I can, including the story behind the time capsule, buried October 29, 1976 to be … unearthed … a hundred years later to the day in 2076.   

There are many drives that would fit the bill. Apple's Time Capsule or Drobo, using the excellent Drobo Share attachment, seemed to be good candidates, but I ruled them out quickly: Drobo is excellent for backing up information, but its not as nimble when it comes to acting as a digital media server. Time Capsule is temperamental and a resource hog -- sort of like an Alfa Romeo.

My pick is LinkStation Mini: it is fanless, quiet, tiny, and comes in two flavors: 500 GB and 1 Terabyte. It uses 2.5-inch hard drives, measures only 1.57 x 3.22 x 5.31 inches and weighs 1.1 pounds. It has two ports: an Ethernet port to connect to your network and a USB port to attach an additional drive (which I did, adding another G-Technology Mini drive.) It is relatively inexpensive: $500 a pop, give or take. The 500 GB version is less than half that price.

Setting it up was relatively easy: The accompanying CD has a software called NASnavigator that allows you to discover the drive and set it up. The setup on Mac proved to be much easier than for a PC. I have not used the software since the install: the drive automatically shows up in my Mac's Finder and ThinkPad's Network Drives. It also comes with Memeo software to backup your computers, but frankly it isn't worth the trouble -- it slowed down the computer drastically. I much prefer Apple's Backup software.

The drive also allows you to access files remotely using a special web site, but I haven't really bothered, because frankly all I wanted to do was backup my computer and playback music. I should try it out though. On Monday, the company will also announce that its LinkStation Mini's Web Access is now available even using iPhone's browser and allows you to remote access to any content stored on the drive. You can stream music and call up photos and files.

The drive has a built-in media server that allows you to stream any digital content -- music, videos or photos -- to any other DLNA player or a PC. It showed up on my iTunes as a "shared music" folder. On a ThinkPad X300 running Windows XP, the drive showed up automatically (thanks to the wonders of UPnP) and asked me if I wanted to stream music using Windows Media Player.

Bottom line: I've used it for nearly two weeks and not encountered any problems. I have to say, this just works. If you are in the market for a network drive, you might want to seriously consider this one.

Open question: Why network attached storage device do you like and why?

I was listening to a story on NPR by Laura Sydell called Computing in the Cloud: Who Owns Your Files? The story brought back all of the fears I've had about working in the clouds but have suppressed because:

A. I want the convenience that cloud computing offers;

B. I recently experienced the Computer Crash of Doom and want to know I have reliable backups;

C. I want to get more work use out of my iPod Touch and cloud work is the way.

So what was the bottom line of the NPR piece?

Read the User Agreement. Yes, the gist of the story was that none of us are reading the user agreement with Google or Yahoo or any other company that is housing our emails, documents and files. We actually covered that subject last month, but hey, I'm one of those who never, ever reads the user agreement. Who has the time? Who has the brain capacity? Who likes sifting through pages and pages of legalese?

This is a problem, according to Harry Lewis, a computer science professor at Harvard. All someone has to do is accuse you of something - unproven - and the company hosting your files can simply cut you off, close your account, no questions asked, rather than entering into a legal battle.

There are no rules and more importantly - no laws - when it comes to hosting your files.

Ever since I went to Gmail in the clouds from Apple's Mail on my computer, I've wondered "what would happen if Gmail went down...forever?" The entire record of my work over the last three years would be gone. I tried backing up all of my historical Gmails onto my computer once but it was a major undertaking and never became a habit.

If we aren't reading the user agreements, how can we protect ourselves from major loss in the clouds?

1. Backups of backups? Does it make sense to have the copy on your harddrive along with the copy online? Lately, I've been composing my documents in Google Docs and only saving them back on my harddrive as needed. Should I do it as a rule?

2. Backups of backups of backups? Once I save my docs on my computer, my Time Capsule captures them every hour on the hour. But is there a way to get my Time Capsule to pull my cloud work into a backup drive? Or is that an app that is on the way because it is a critical process that is missing from cloud computing?

3. Distributed files. Does it make sense not to have all of your work and files on one system? Sure it seems convenient and integrated to use all of Google's cloud working solutions, but should we put some of our work - or back up some of our work - on other sites? Like using Dropbox file storage as a repository for anything and everything from everywhere?

4. Being selective. Do we need to be more selective about what we are willing to put online, keep online, and work on in the clouds? Are we getting a little too careless and thoughtless about the ease of cloud computing or rushing to it without a security plan in place because it seems like the place we need to be?

No technology is failsafe or foolproof. When we are using technology for "convenience," but have to back up that technology "just in case," are we losing some of that convenience that we are craving? It seems that, as usual, nothing is ultimately free and everything comes with a price.

How much are you willing to spend - and risk - on cloud computing and how are you backing up your work?

The children were instructed to pick a theme for their time capsule, something important that would help the next generation to lead better lives.

"The children chose an AIDS theme," said Superintendent William Huntington. "They wanted to tell the next generation to be careful to avoid the disease, and to remember those who died from the illness."

Only two items were placed inside the time capsule before it was buried in the back of the school. The first was a bright-red ribbon with the single word "AIDS" on it. Controversially, the second item was a big box of assorted condoms.

"Some of the parents were angry when their children told them about the condoms," Huntington said. "But it's an integral part of the message to the next generation that says, 'Protect yourself from this disease.' And we believe that message will be appreciated by the children of the future."

Huntington said that no written note was left inside the time capsule, which should make the intended message much more powerful, because it will make future children think and talk about the time capsule's contents.

(Photo by Gary van der Merwe , Wikipedia)

Author's note: Special thanks to Skip DeKades of Future Update for his assistance in the creation of this story.

I always think it's neat to find evidence of a previous owner's existence in your home.  Whenever we buy a house, before the truck comes with the furniture, I love to poke my head into every closet, cupboard, nook and cranny to see what, if anything, the previous owners have left behind.

In our first house, there was a bit of shelving and a box of old glass electrical insulators left in the basement, and some years later in the ductwork, we found a baby's silverplated spoon that had fallen through the hot air register.  The most intriguing thing, however, that was left in our first house, was a body-sized box made of plywood, shoved under the workbench in the garage.  Neither my husband or I were in a big hurry to investigate that one, but some years later, after feeling sure due to a lack of escaping odour or fluids that it must be something quite harmless, we did take a peek.  If I recall correctly, it was filled with bricks.

In Etobicoke recently, a family doing renovations to their house, discovered an assortment of things dating back to the 1920's hidden beneath the floorboards.  Buried in a plaster wall of the home, they discovered a well worn small child's shoe.  With a bit of research, they learned of an old English superstition. It was thought that shoes hidden in a house during construction brought good luck.

Prior to putting our house on the market here in Canada, before we moved to England, we did a few renovations.  From the time we'd moved into the house, daughter #1's bedroom in the basement of the raised ranch did not have a completely finished ceiling.  It had been on our to-do list from the time we'd moved into the property some five years earlier, but it hadn't been a priority, and other projects always seemed to consume our available time and money.  But when we knew that we would be putting the house up for sale, we decided to finish the ceiling.  The girls, ages 11 and 13 at the time, prepared a time capsule full of photos and notes, that was tucked up in between the joists and may still be there today.

Today in the process of unpeeling a layer of our house, we found "Jimmy's fort".  It was written on a beam in childish handwriting with an arrow pointing down, presumably to where access could have been gained beneath the basement stairs.  I don't know who Jimmy is, but also written in the same pencil scrawl further along the beam were "Bon Jovi", "Bruce Springstein", "Bryan Adams", and "ZZ Top".  I think it's fairly safe to say that Jimmy was a child of the eighties.

Soon we will have ripped away the small dividing wall that blocks access to beneath the basement stairs.  I'm curious to find out if Jimmy left us any other messages!

C'est que sur mon disque dur de 160 Go, j'en suis maintenant à 55 Go remplis. Si mon iPod me sécurise partiellement car il constitue une copie fiable de toute ma musique (incluant les nombreuses chansons que j'ai achetées sur iTunes Store), je dois quand même admettre qu'une bonne partie de mon contenu n'a aucune copie nulle part. Essentiellement il s'agit de petits programmes intéressants que j'ai installés un à la fois après les avoir trouvés au hasard sur internet, des économiseurs d'écran, 728 icônes, 483 fonds d'écran... Et aussi des impondérables, comme l'aspect et la configuration actuelle de mon dock et du reste de mon MacBook.

Mes expériences antérieures avec nos PC peu fiables m'ont appris que repartir à zéro sur un ordinateur que l'on a amélioré et personnalisé pendant des mois, c'est suprêmement chiant. Des heures de travail à rafistoler de petits détails. Si jamais mon MacBook devait me lâcher (ok, je paranoïe peut-être), je me sentirais particulièrement idiot de ne jamais avoir utilisé la plus simple solution qui s'offre à moi: Time Machine.

J'ai déjà jeté un coup d'oeil à ce truc fourni avec Mac OS X Leopard. Terriblement simple: une petite fenêtre pour choisir un disque dur de sauvegarde, et un petit bouton activé/désactivé. Apparemment, si j'avais un disque dur externe, je pourrais faire un backup de tout mon MacBook sans rien avoir à configurer ni planifier. Connecter, cliquer, oublier. Tout est supposé se faire en arrière-plan. En cas de catastrophe, même si je devais littéralement faire changer le disque dur de mon MacBook, je pourrais ramener mon portable au même état qu'avant le drame.

Jusqu'ici j'ai toujours repoussé à plus tard l'achat d'un disque dur externe. Il faut dire que mon ordi ne fait rien pour m'y pousser; après 11 mois en sa compagnie il n'est rien arrivé d'inquiétant... Mais maintenant qu'Apple produit son propre hybride de routeur wifi 802.11n et de disque dur, je commence à me dire que ce serait particulièrement cool de m'acheter une petite Time Capsule. Un backup automatique sans avoir à y penser ni à connecter un fil USB, le tout en accélérant ma connexion wifi, ça me semble particulièrement "Applesque".

À ajouter sur ma liste de folles dépenses éventuelles pour cet automne.

   Mike Gunderloy was a former Microsoft developer who like me got fed up with their business practices and converted to an open source developer. Go to Mike before anyone else for your Rails needs.

As for me the machine and software I utilize (like anyone care) are as follows: 

iMac: August 2007, Mac OS X 10.5.4, 2.0Ghz, 1GB RAM, 250GB HDD, This is a bare bones system, no frills but it makes me happy. It is my first and only Macintosh

Macintosh Software:

Safari: In my eyes all the other browsers fail in comparison. Firefox 3 still feels slower than Safari 3. Opera is very nice and my second browser if Safari somehow fails me. Opera just feels weird tho. All the other web browsers either fail to be a fast browser or they are just ugly and not "Mac-like" enough. Safari is by Apple and if free for Mac OS X 10.4+ and Windows XP+ users.

Mail: Not the best email client in the world, but it's solid. I use it as my RSS reader too.

Address Book and iCal: Keep me and my life organized.

iTunes: an app that needs no introduction. It is a great jukebox on top of being a great store and syncing utility for iPods/iPhones.

iPhoto 08': Keeps my photo album tidy.

iMovie 08': I was in a Mass Media class last year and this help me make great films for that class. It's for amateurs just like all the iLife apps. Just because they are aimed at amateurs that doesn't mean they aren't powerful. 

Twitterific: by far the best desktop Twitter client for the Mac. Created by Iconfactory.

Time Machine: Used in conjunction with Time Capsule for backups.

Terminal: Much like the command line in Windows this can be used for system tweaks to compiling code like me.

Textmate: A wonderful third party text editor with with preset modes that allow you to write just about any programming language you can think of. Created by MacroMates.

Caffeine: This tiny app keeps your Mac from falling into sleep mode when activated. Created by Lighthead

Delicious Library 2: Keeps all your physical media cataloged and in order. Created by Delicious Monster

Evernote Desktop Client: Keeps all my notes organized in the their cloud and is accesable via this Desktop Client. Also available for Windows. Created by Evernote Corporation

iWork 08': Not quite as feature complete as the turd that is Microsoft Office 2008, but it is only $79 dollars compared to $149 for a student edition of MS Office, and does everything I need as a high school student.

iPod Touch: 16GB, iPhone OS X 2.0.1,

iPod Touch/iPhone Software:

I use ALL of the standard apps the device ships with regularly, but in addition to that I use these as follows:

Twitterific: As good if not better than the apps big desktop brother. Created by Iconfactory.

Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart 3D: Cute little racing game set in the Crash Bandicoot universe it's deffinately worth the $9.99 is spent.

Band: This app allows you to "create" music with a set of rich instuments. Sounds great and is a lot of fun.

Break Classic: Great game that brings an old classic back into the spotlight. Created by bootant.com

Evernote: Client app for the note keeping cloud service of the same name. This keeps me organized on the go. Created by Evernote Corporation.

Google Mobile App: It's nice and helpful in a pinch but the webpage already does most of what this app does. Created by Google.

Mobile News Network: Associated Press app that keeps me informed. That said I really don't trust the media. Created by Associated Press

Pandora Radio: This map is amazing. If you are connected to the internet then you are connected to a bunch (a bunch is metric) of internet radio station that are a part of the Music Genome Project. Created by Pandora Media, Inc

Remote: Apple's app that turns your iPod Touch/iPhone into a remote to control iTunes on your Mac.

Tap Tap Revenge: A rythem game similar to Guitar Hero. Created by Tapulous

Tipulator: A tip calculator. Yes I know I could use the standard calculator app to handle my tip calculation, but this one was too sexy to pass up. Created by Tap tap tap.

Last but not least.

Wordpress: This app allows you to post to Wordpress blog via your iPod Touch/iPhone. Created by Wordpress

I feel sorry for you if you made it all the way through this article.

I do not know what this life - here in taos- will look like - I am scared - but I am excited that for the first time in my adult life I am going to try to make something sustainable - a place - jobs - people - of course this does not mean I will travel as much as financially possible - it's just that I want a home and I think I am stubborn enough to make one happen here - at this point I know that no matter where I go there will be problems and there will be beauty - and I love and know new mexico now at least enough - to know that I can try it here more than anywhere else I have been

I am young and I do not deny this - at the same time I feel that life has brought me enough at this point to think about and to decompress with - I want to sit down and write - I WANT TO SIT DOWN AND WRITE - and ladies, my friends, and confidants - you are amazing writers - each of you - we set out to do this blog as a question as an idea as an experiment - this is not for anyone else but ourselves and each other - as we once again - spread ourselves across this globe - Paper, Anna, CR - lend me your ears and your words - I value them almost as I value your love in my life - I invite you once again to join in this conversation and WRITE

So when Caitlin and Erika came over yesterday we each wrote a letter and it told about ourselves and 2008. I think I might write a whole book about 2008 and put it down there. The only problem is, I already threw down the time capsule and it went exactly where I didn't want it to go, the darkest part where no one can see. I'm going to have to figure out how to get it back up and once I do that, I'll have to figure out how I can get it back down the right way. I just threw it down there the last time, maybe there's a better way to do it, I just don't know how. If you know how to gently lower something into a twelve foot hole please comment and let me know. Also, if you know how to let something up out of a twelve foot hole let me know. Thanks.

Firstly for all users:

The Apple Time Capsule is a 802.11n wireless router for both Mac and PC, and my recent experience in setting one up gave me the clear feeling that this was the easiest wireless network device I have ever set up.  I know I often sound like an Apple convert (yeah, ok, that is exactly what I am), but boy, did they nail the end user experience spot on for ease of use.

It would have been just as easy if I was setting up a brand new wireless network at home, but in this case I was replacing an existing one.  It configured itself, asked a few brief questions (the most complex being - is the computer you are currently on needing access to the wireless network?) and told me when to turn off the old device and plug the new one in (1 power cable, 1 ethernet cable).

This is the same as setting up the Apple Airport Extreme (and presumably the Airport Express) - and in fact it is basically an Airport Extreme that is built into the Time Capsule.

Now if I wanted, I could plug in an external (USB) harddrive or printer, and have them accessible to all the computers on the network (wireless or plugged in directly to the router.

So far, the experience for a Windows or Mac user is identical - in fact on my network I have a Mac and a PC laptop, and both are running happily on this.  In addition, my mobile phone, and iPod Touch are also configured to use it and surf the web.  I could (if I could see a point), give access to the Wii as well (which also has a wireless capability).

Now, for PC users (and pre-OSX Leopard users) the Time Capsule is also an external harddrive, and can be used with your own backup software for wireless backup.  Which is cool, but isn't any different in functionality to using the Airport Extreme with a USB external harddrive (ok, perhaps a bit faster, and you'd have to factor the cost of the separate drive into the equation).

For OSX Leopard (10.5) users on Mac, the TIme Capsule comes into its own.  This device, with either 500GB or 1TB (1000GB) of storage works seamlessly with Time Machine to keep a running history of files on your computer, allowing you to go back in time to any previous point to find a since deleted, or changed file and returning it to the current time.  It is very very cool.  It keeps a lot of history (up to the point that the drive is full, and then deletes the oldest points), but what is nice is it is doing this quietly, without fuss in the background.  It backs up ever hour for a day, then keeps the last 24 hours of backups.  In addition, it keeps a daily backup for a week, and a weekly backup for ever (until the disk is full, and the oldest get dropped).