You may need to manually move your pictures off of your phone onto a computer or something. I think the MMS pictures normally get saved to your gallery, so they're probably in the same place as any other pictures you might have, but I could be wrong about that; I never use MMS. But lots of stuff will definitely be backed up automatically.

The only reason I root is because I enjoy the fiddling. I don't think it's a necessity. I like Titanium Backup, which is rooted phones only, but I only really need it because I constantly install new ROMs (essentially entirely new OSes) on my phone, and need to restore my apps in a more efficient way than Google does it.

I install new ROMs because I hate the bloatware you mentioned. But people seem fairly satisfied with the S3 as is out of the box - I'd say get it, play with it, and if you feel it has lots of bloat look into rooting later. But if you're not a fiddler, you probably don't need to root. If and when I get a Nexus 4, I may not bother, since I won't need to get rid of HTC bloat.

I don't even know if I would bother to jailbreak an iPhone anymore (if I had one) since they finally installed a decent notification system. I probably would, just to get slightly better Google Voice integration, but it would be halfhearted.

The NAS came! But not Dave's laptop. And I'm in such a cranky mood I dunno if I dare try setup and configuration.

Got a new router, had some issues setting it up because my spare Ethernet cables are crap, then a few hours later, it stops working. Tests tell me I have Internet connection but an Ethernet cable must be loose. Um. And now, plugging back in, I get no love, and these cables are good!

Setting up the NAS...it just told me to go have a cup of tea. Well, who am I to argue?

Day 2 of fighting with my router. I hit the reset button for my factory settings. No ethernet cable detected. I plugged in directly from my modem, internet access! Hard-line in from the router, nada. Day three will be borrowing an ethernet cable fom work.

But the bitch of today was trying to get help from the manufactuter. I made sure to register right after I installed the router. Yet my login doesn't work. And their purported livechat is offline (which doesn't require a login). And the login for the router when I hit Diagnose Problem wasn't any info they had given me.

And all the while, my taskbar is saying that I have Excellent Internet Connection!

Hmm. Something doesn't make sense there, Juliebird.

Okay, so what to name the new NAS? The last NAS was Elrond, because he's kinda the deus ex machina repository of knowledge. But who's bigger than Elrond? Maybe name it for the whole council since there's three drives and eventually five?

I'm too done to see if the second ethernet cable is on the fritz, hence the borrowing-from-work plan.

I still don't understand why it stopped working only several hours after establishing the wireless connection. And the fact that my task bar keeps saying that I have internet access when I don't.

So no connectivity either wired or wireless as far as getting onto the internet, but your computer thinks it's got signal? What part is telling you you don't have a plugged in cable? Which router is it?

eta: I'm sorry, you said you were done. You don't have to troubleshoot now! But it doesn't really sound like the cable is the problem.

I just got a Netgear router. I kept getting dozens of "no ethernet cable detected" and unplugged and jammed back all those points, even went so far to unscrew the cable plug from the modem and screw it back in. And when its saying that I'm not plugged in, my ethernet cable is flashing lights, which says to me that data is being transferred, and the taskbar has been steady in saying that there is excellent internet access.

And I'm still pissed that I did my due diligence in registering in case I have issues, and I can't even access that.

Save thirty bucks on a router, get shit service.