In this week's episode of Android Weekly we give you our two cents on the Amazon Fire tablet. Next we talk about how fragments can help battle fragmentation in Ice Cream Sandwich, and we wrap it up by showing you a backup option by SanDisk.

The

HP TouchPad

has a number of settings that you can change to customize it to your liking. In this episode, we'll walk you through your options. From your various

accounts and applications

to

Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connections

, almost everything has settings that can be changed if needed.

In the first part of our top ten Android apps for smartphones, we run through numbers 10 through six. We've got a great social game, a better way to SMS, a way to keep your grocery list in sync and more.
We're also taking a close look at the Sonos S5 wireless music system and the Android app that controls it.

Many thought that you couldn't

upgrade the Macbook Air's SSD hard drive

. Well, we found out that you can and show you how in this episode. It turns out that the

Macbook Air uses an SSD module

different from a standard

solid state drive

. If you know where to look, however, you can still

upgrade the Macbook Air SSD module

using the right tools.

If you don't want to

install a new hard drive

into your computer, you can always get an

external hard drive

. And if it's an

external solid state drive

, you'll have one that's not only rugged but energy-efficient as well. We'll tell you some of the

highlights of having an external SSD

for data storage and also explain some of the drawbacks.

There are many benefits to

installing a solid state drive into a notebook

, which is why we'll show you how to

upgrade to SSD

in this episode. We'll also show you

how to backup your data

so that you can just

swap your old hard drive

for a new SSD. Once you do your notebook will

boot faster and load files faster

, and it will run more quickly and quietly too.

In our last episode of this series, we'll show you

how to burn a Blu-ray disc

. With your

Blu-ray drive installed

with the appropriate software, all you'll need is a

blank Blu-ray disc

. We'll walk you through how you'd go about

burning a Blu-ray disc using MediaSuite 9

in this episode and show you how to make a disc

compatible with your Blu-ray player

for your TV.

If you don't regularly

backup your iPhone

(who does?) then you may want to invest in a SuperHero. The

Iomega SuperHero Backup and Charger

, that is. Sean Carruthers finds this product on display

at CES 2011

and discovers that it allows you to quickly and easily backup your iPhone by simply plugging it into the dock. The data is backed up onto an

SD card

and a 4GB card comes included with the dock.

Stay tuned to butterscotch.com for more

up to the minute video coverage from the CES 2011 show floor.

SugarSync is a cloud-based backup and sync solution for your laptop, smartphone and desktop. It lets you sync files and folders between devices and always have a safe backup in the cloud. Plus, they invited Andy to go indoor skydiving which is pretty sweet.

It's very important to

back up your photos

periodically to avoid the heartache of losing precious memories. Thankfully, Picasa makes it easy for you with a variety of

backup options

. We'll show you how to

create backup photo albums

using Picasa

in this episode.

In this tutorial, we'll tell you

what syncing means

and give you a couple of reasons for

why you should synchronize your files

. We'll also show you where you can

get synchronization software

that will help you sync those files if you want.

It's important to

create a Windows system repair disk

just in case something goes horribly wrong with your computer. The Windows system repair disk will help you get your computer back up and running should disaster strike.

Here, we'll tell you what you need in order to

install a new hard drive

and

upgrade a notebook computer

. Notebooks take different

types of hard drives

, so you'll need to know which is compatible before starting. You'll also want to

backup your data

beforehand so that it can be recovered later.

In this series, we show you

how to change a hard drive

for your

Windows or Mac notebook

. We'll show you

how to find a compatible drive

,

how to backup your computer

, and walk you through the steps it takes to

uninstall and replace hard drives

for both Windows and Mac systems.

You

protect your data

on your computer with

virus protection

and

data backup

, so why not do the same for your

Android phone

? Now you can with

Lookout

, available for free on

Android Market

. It's got some neat features including data backup, virus scan, an interesting way to

find a lost phone

and more!

We love netbooks for their extreme portability and light weight. We dislike them for their relative lack of storage, the lack of USB ports and to a lesser extent, their absence of an optical drive. Apricorn's NetDock answers all of these concerns and lets you dock then unlock the potential of your netbook, MacBook Air or other small form factor computer.

We all know how important it is to keep your computer backed up. One way to do that is to

create a disk image

of your machine. This

backs up your operating system, programs, and data

. This week, Doc takes a look at three of his all-time favorite disc imaging programs.

By this point in our tutorial series you may have followed our steps to

create blocks for websites

,

set up a schedule

or change other settings to

configure your router

properly. Of course these things take time, so to be on the safe side we'll show you how to

back up your router settings

.

When you've had a computer for a few months or years (or days), you'll find that you get attached to the files that are on it. Anyone who's had a hard drive failure can attest to the fact that losing those files is a real disappointment. To avoid that situation, it's important to

backup your data

as often as you can. One way to do that is by using

Image for Windows

to

backup your hard drives

. We'll show you

how to backup your data

this tutorial.

Spring is in the air and with that, Andy and Sean give a few helpful tips on how to clean up your Windows 7 PC to make it run smoothly. Over time, your PC gets bogged down with installed programs you probably never use and a bunch of left over junk that doesn't do you or your computer any good. The guys show you how to get rid of the junk and

speed up your Windows 7 PC

.

You put a lot of things on your Android phone including programs, documents, music, photos and plenty more. Like with your computer, it's wise to keep all this data backed up. You can get a little bit of peace of mind for free by

installing MyBackup for your Android phone

!

Backing up your files

on a regular basis may seem like a bit of a chore. With Windows 7's built-in

Backup and Restore

option though, the process is quick and easy. Perhaps best of all, Backup and Restore is

free system backup software

available in Windows 7.

The Hitachi SimpleTough portable external hard drive is built like a tank... and it looks a bit like one too. It can apparently withstand up to a three meter drop, it's water resistant and comes with a three-year warranty to back it up. Mac and PC compatible with software on board for both, able to withstand the rigors of travel and at less than $100, it's a worthy contender.

We've looked at Clickfree devices in previous episodes of Gadget TV. The Clickfree Transformer SE is a little different though. Sort of a half-way point between the Clickfree Transformer for iPod and the Clickfree C2, it lets you backup to an iPod or iPhone,

transfer songs from an iPod or iPhone

like the Transformer. However, it also lets you plug any USB hard drive (or large USB key) in to get the benefit of Clickfree's easy backup software on any drive.

Andrew Moore-Crispin checks in with ClickFree to see what's new in the world of backup software and storage. The new C2N drive allows you to backup your computer through your network.

Stay tuned to butterscotch.com as we bring you

video coverage of CES 2010

. Butterscotch hosts will be

on the CES 2010 floor

for the duration of the show and will continue to bring you

CES 2010 video as it happens

.

Subscribe to our CES 2010 video RSS feed.

Backing up your data is not the most entertaining or exciting computer task. Traditionally, data backup has meant cobbling together a hardware and software strategy to make backup possible. In fact, backup is such a pain that it's estimated that 85 to 95 percent of users (depending which consumer surveys you listen to) don't have any kind of backup routine. The Clickfree C2

backup drive

brings intuitive software and truly plug-and-play backup to Windows and Mac users and aims to change the face of consumer backup.

If you listen to Joan Rivers, you can never be too rich or too skinny. If you listen to us, you can never have too many USB ports or too much storage. Enter the Samsung Story Station 1TB. This consumer external USB hard drive plugs into an available USB port to offer a quick and easy storage expansion. It's even got software on board for Windows users to

create a hidden portion of the hard drive

,

encrypt all or a portion of the drive

and

password protect a folder or group of folders

. And it looks slick too.

Stacy Reed takes a look at

five of her favorite web apps

to organize and share your photos. Some let you set a password to control who's seeing your photos online. Some connect you with a user community of like-minded photographers. Others still let you print your favorite photos onto a poster, calendar or mug. And let's be honest here, who among us doesn't want a photo mug?

Any computer user will tell you, eventually you're going to need a system backup from which to restore your computer should it fail.

Backup and Restore in Windows 7

is much improved and makes it easy to keep a backup of important files, settings and even programs.

The first step in actually

upgrading from Windows XP to Windows 7

is to ensure you have a reliable back up of any important files and folders. If you don't already have a

back up routine

in place, there's no time like the present to start one.

Upgrading from Windows Vista to Windows 7

is a relatively simple process. However, as with all things computing, things don't always go exactly the way we want them to. It's important to have a full backup of your important data should disaster strike.

If you're like most iPod owners, you likely never leave the house without your favorite player. The

Clickfree Transformer

for iPod aims to add more functionality to the iPod or iPhone by allowing users to take advantage of

unused storage space on the device as a backup drive

. You can also

pull iTunes music off an iPod or iPhone

with the device. Just plug it in, select the backup options and you're off to the races.

We already took a look at the

FreeAgent Go

drive in the previous episode of Gadget TV. Now we meet its partner in crime, the

FreeAgent Go Dock+

. Together, they make a killer

simple computer back up

combo. The

FreeAgent Go Dock+

includes three USB ports and comes with a carrying case for the

FreeAgent Go

drive.

backing up your computer

becomes as simple as docking the drive. Now there's no excuse for not doing

regular computer back ups

.

Doing regular, predictable

computer back ups

is like XYZ; we all know we should do it, but we probably don't. The

FreeAgent Go portable hard drive

in capacities from 160GB up to 640GB ensures that we have one less excuse for not doing

full computer back ups

.

Formatted for Mac or PC

, the

FreeAgent Go

from Seagate is an infinitely portable, ridiculously simple and surprisingly good looking addition to any

back to school

shopping list.

There are times when the

Windows Registry becomes corrupted

to the point where the computer can no longer boot. Perhaps your own

Windows Registry editing went awry

or perhaps the Registry just got corrupted over time. Whatever the case, it's possible to

restore the Windows Registry from a back-up

(like the one we made in part 3 of this series, Precautions for using the Windows Registry editor. Even if

Windows won't boot

it's possible to get it back up and running with your

Windows Registry back-up

.

Editing the Windows Registry

is good way to

tweak your Windows PC

... if you do it right. However, blithely

changing Windows Registry entries

is a recipe for disaster. Michael "Doctor File Finder" Callahan offers some common sense tips that will ensure your Registry changes are tweaks and improvements as opposed to train wrecks and a disappointment. First and foremost:

make a full backup of the Registry

before editing. Here's how.

You're going to be very happy with your nice, fresh, "clean install" of Windows XP. I'm pretty sure about that. I'm also very sure that you won't be happy if you forget to backup your photos, or music, or documents, or program data. This segment helps you get a handle on things to backup and things you don't want to forget. Trust me on this.

Tired of living in fear of another system meltdown, Cheryl went looking for a reliable, simple, safe and secure backup solution. She found it with Carbonite Backup. Carbonite backs data up to an off-site server, storing it in an encrypted file that only she can access with her password.

When using a computer you may use lots of programs. If you have a crash programs can be easily reinstalled. What isn't easily replaced is your data. Documents, spreadsheet, photos, music, text files, presentations and more can be lost in the blink of an eye. That's why it's so important to keep your data backed up.

Sharing your media -- music, photos, videos and so on -- at home can be a difficult and geeky affair. Iomega was among the companies offering to simplify home media sharing with its appropriately titled Home Media Network Hard Drive.

If you have a Mac running OSX, you have Time Machine, a backup program that allows you to create a full image of your Mac, your documents, pictures, applications, music, movies and more.
We'll walk through the steps to keep your Mac backed up at all times.

Previously, we looked at exporting your email contacts from Outlook Express, the email client that's included with Windows. Except for the fact that different email clients use different menu entries to accomplish the same thing, this method for importing your email contacts can be used in the majority of email clients.

Andy and Sean take a look at backup technologies in Vista and on the Mac.

Andy and Sean show you how to wipe the hard drive clean and install a fresh copy of Windows.

In this series we show you

how to change a hard drive

for your

Windows or Mac notebook

. We'll show you

how to find a compatible drive

,

how to backup your computer

and walk you through the steps it takes to

uninstall and replace hard drives

for both Windows and Mac systems.

With digital photography it's easy to take a lot of pictures. That's why we want to introduce you to Picasa, a free program you can use to organize your photos. You can use Picasa to share photos, create photo albums and back up your photos, and that's not even half of what we'll show you over the next 10 episodes of the series.