MS Courier - not the font, just an overlooked not-quite tablet.

In all the hype that built up over the impending announcement of (in my opinion) the next to useless (for me anyway) iPad (I'll talk about that some other time...), somehow I missed this little gem that's been bubbling away in Microsoft's hush-hush research labs. I don't know how I missed it, there's bits of info. all over the place, and MS was even hyped to unveil it at the 2010 CES... but they didn't.

Anyway - I'm actually quite excited about the Courier Project and its implications... if it ever happens.

Here's a video of one of the ways it could work:



So, pretty nifty yeah?

If it actually ends up coming out, it will probably do more for education (at least) than Apple's iPad.

As can be seen, one of its main features is that it is hinged... that's right - it's got a great, big (well not that big actually) hinge right in the middle. For those of use who use books etc, this is great. It also appears to do something that the iPad does not - multitasking. For the end user, this is BIG news. Whereas on the iPad you can only really do one thing at a time, the dual screen layout means that on one page, I can have my favourite tech blog (yay for Gizmodo today) open on one side and do up my notes on the other! I can drag and drop my cut text from the left and put in my journal on the right. And I can still watch my movies if I want... just like the iPad. So, the iPad is built on a mobile phone OS (yep-  it's the same as the iPhone and iPod Touch, just bigger) and the Courier, being built by MS, will probably run on some version of Windows.
Why is this important? Because, now I can run what I want (ie. the same office applications that I have at work) on my tablet and I'll probably even be able to watch movies at Hulu or Vimeo, because Microsoft don't discriminate against Adobe and they need Flash, which the iPad/iPhone/iPod Touch doesn't and will never support. (one caveat: I can't actually watch at Hulu.com as it's only available to people in the US and Canada, and definitely not in Australia).

Unfortunately, Microsoft didn't take the time to unveil it at CES 2010 - instead they introduced a 'nameless' HP tablet. .  >8-(

Anyway, here's hoping that it arrives sometime soon. Unlike the iPad - if this one is compatible with my Windows boxes at school, I'll buy one!

More Google news

Google Phone? In more google news (seems to be all I'm typing about these days), it looks like there's going to be a google phone. Will I use it? Hmmm. After some somewhat disturbing remarks by CEO Schmidt about Google and privacy (see quote below), I'm in two minds. I still use their products though- it seems that people (myself included) are willing to hand over our personal lives for a really useful (or somewhat useful) app. Case in point - I'm writing this blog using Google's Chrome browser for Mac (which really is a step back from the Win version) in Blogger (another google product) and I use Google seach religiously. Seriously - Bing? Nah.

Quote from Schmidt on PCWorld (http://www.pcworld.com/article/184446/googles_schmidt_roasted_for_privacy_comments.html) :
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Lest anything be taken out of context, here's the full quote from Schmidt, uttered in an interview with CNBC:
"If you have something that you don't want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn't be doing it in the first place, but if you really need that kind of privacy, the reality is that search engines including Google do retain this information for some time, and it's important, for example that we are all subject in the United States to the Patriot Act. It is possible that that information could be made available to the authorities."
       99


Thanks Schmidt for making me feel safer using your products - really (italics is used to show sarcasm).

Hang on - what is Google Operating System?

If you have no idea what it was that I was talking about in the last post, lucky for you that google has released a video for you:

Chrome Operating System - It's here!

Google has just released Chrome OS as Open Source and they've got bucketloads of videos out there.

I thought I'd post a very recent demo video (from Google's youtube channel) here - it's a live, working version.




What I find interesting is the absolute reliance upon the cloud. All documents etc are based "in the cloud" - or on a google server.

What I love is that it's not due for release for another year, but it's working and Google is mroe than willing to show it off.

There are more videos on the channel, but I thought I'd start with this one.

It's MY info, Google! .. Enter dashboard

We all know that Google can build up a lot of info about you, but most of it comes from yourself. You create a blogger account, set up a gmail, enter in the Wave playground, make your own profile, write some pages, create some documents online, have a calendar - you know, all the regular stuff. All this info, you give to Google because they run all those things. And, until now, it's been kind of hard to check what the world could and couldn't see about you because of it.
This is where the Dashboard comes in.
In short, it allows you to see what Google stuff you've got and what personal information is being given out as well as offering you the opportunity to change settings about what is public and/or private.

I like it. YAGGT! (Yet Another Good Google Tool).

For another view of it, see: http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2009/11/google-dashboard.html (google's own blog - so it's a bit biased)
or: http://blogs.computerworld.com/15054/google_dashboard_triva_tabulator_for_my_google_life?source=rss_blogs (has a more...'trivia centered'... view of it)

BTW: my twitter's going well... and I've hooked it up to my facebook too! Woot. I almost sound Gen Y!

Chrome Dev Version rocks!

I've taken the plunge and been trying out the Google Chrome dev channel releases.

Chrome 1 gave us speed
Chrome 2 gave us more speed
Chrome 3 gave us themes (kind of like igoogle)
and why am I using Chrome 4?

One reason, and one reason only:
Extensions.

Yep - that's right, extensions. And you know what? While there aren't actually all that many out there, the extensions I'm using don't appear to have slowed Chrome down. Not at startup, not during page rendering and not during shutdown. While Chrome's memory usage is a dog - because it seperates each tab out into seperate processes (really good idea by the way - seriously), the extensions don't seem to add anything.

This is really important, because I'm now going to get rid of Firefox... gasp! I don't really need it anymore - except to play Quake Live. Okay - I'm going to keep Firefox. For now.

Security issues - I'm not sure, but it still appears to be quite secure. I'll let you know if my bank accounts suddenly empty.

Try it or not. Extensions are cool

Windows 7 is out!

I don't suppose that there is anything else to say - the press has said enough today. All day.

Windows 7, by all reviews, appears to be the best version of Windows since Windows XP... which means it's better than Vista.

I've read a range of reviews, all saying it's the OS that Vista should have been - but interestingly, a lot are saying that XP is still faster, and more reliable than the 7 Release Candidate (which is not the one you're purchasing - but should be almost identical).

So, the question I've been asked quite often is - should I upgrade? If you're using Vista and you want a bit more snap, and you can afford it, yes. If you're using XP and you've absolutely no wish to have all the beautiful effects of Windows 7, I'd say no. I'm not anyway. I've got better things to spend my money on, and better things to spend my time on - rather than hours trying to get from XP to 7 (not an easy venture I've been told).

Anyway - you want reviews? Do a google search (I've included one here).
And you can try Microsoft's own site: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/

Have fun!

Chrome 3 - lovin' it still

Yep - Google's chrome browser is up to version 3 already, and it's just getting better all the time. It's been out for a couple of days, and I've been playing with it, thus leading to this fantastic write up.

All the main points from when v.2 was released are still the same. I still don't like having personal information about me stored when all I want to do is browse. I still occasionally want to use some plugins, but I haven't seen any 'official' ones yet.

Some new features - speed (again) and themes. I like the themes that Google have offered, they're simple, quick and plain (ish). All this means that they don't slow the jolly browser down - unlike some of the themes on offer with Firefox.

When it comes to plugins, I'll just keep using FF.

Enjoy!

Google Operating System... but not Android

Google has announced (http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/introducing-google-chrome-os.html) that it will be creating an Operating System specifically built for netbooks. It's not hard to see, though, Google expanding upon this over time to drive the OS onto the more traditionally bloated area of laptops and desktops. I'd be interested, for example, in putting it on (at least in a virtual machine) on my desktop for a look-see.

Some points of interest:

• It will be built around the linux kernel - I bolded that for a reason. They're not building it around a linux distribution (eg. gOS or ubuntu etc).
• From what I can gather, it will be a new windowed version of Chrome (the browser) running on top of that kernel - nice sandboxing of apps, just like in Chrome
• It will be aimed 100% at web-apps only. This is obviously good for google - master of the web app domain
• It will be open source. This means more security (read all about that here)
• They've already got some hardware support (link)
• Being made by google, and being based on chrome, you can bet that there will be a host of privacy concerns. Hmmmm. Better start watching for black 4WDs and people wearing sunglasses on cloudy days. :)

Obviously, there's a lot more points to note, but you can read about it in the google blog, or by doing a google search.

For those of you who are conspiracy freaks (like me), you could be forgiven for thinking that this is just one more step to google taking over the world!

But I love it.

Chrome 2

Love it. It's like version 1, but better, faster and more... just more.

It's fast, really fast. I know that I've said that about Firefox before, but Chrome is really speeding along. I'm currently posting this using Chrome. Nice.It loads faster than either Firefox or IE 7 0r 8, which is saying something. You'd think the people who make the OS would be able to make it move.

I've noticed a few issues, though. While it is built on the open source project Chromium, it still uses a lot of personal information hooks (which google assures us are not too damning and/or permanent) including a unique ID for the download of Chrome that you're using.

Another issue is that of plugins. Nowadays, there's a lot of stuff out there which is quite useful to view in a browser (like pdf files) and Chrome, or at least my Chrome, won't open them. Not surprisingly things like flash and flvs (they are the file of choice behind most video sharing sites like youtube) do play, and play well, but the other, less googled plugins just aren't there.... yet.

Google has said that they are planning on building in a plugin architecture, but I understand their hesitancy in doing so.

There are two main problems with browsers including plugins: security and speed.

Security becomes an issue when you allow someone else to add scripts (often with a great amount of power/priveledges) to an otherwise secure browser. This reduces the possibility of a browser vendor being able to assure users of the security of their program. They have no power to control what the programmers of the plugin add to the code. And at the moment, Google have scored on the security issue. Its a complete redesign from the other browsers out there. I like that.

Secondly a browser will slow down the more plugins are added - this is simply because it is more program code which has to be run and stored in memory. A plain vanilla installation of Firefox is blazingly fast. Add a few plugins (say 10 or so) and it becomes less weildly and more labourious.

Anyway, at the moment I've got three browsers going: IE, Firefox and Chrome. IE because I don't have much choice, Firefox for the plugins (I do need them from time to time) and Chrome, because I like its user interface and its speeeeeeeeed.

Make up your own mind. After all, it is yours.

Google Wave - A new (and better) form of communication

I thought I'd break my hiatus from blogging to bring this to you all. Firstly, because I'm really excited, and secondly because I'm really really excited.

Lars and Jens Rasmussen (the guys who basically created uber cool google maps) have gotten together, with a few other aussies in Sydney (yay!!!) and have come up with Google Wave.

"Uh huh?!" I hear you mutter at your screen(s). Well it is a really cool new communication form that kind-of melds email, IM, blogging, facebooking (or Orkuting for all you google freaks out there) and all those other types of messaging together.

Look, I really can't explain it enough, except to make one of my fatefull pronouncements (like the one I made back when google was next to unknown) and state simply - this will redefine the way you communicate online, and it will be the next big thing. Oops. That's done it.

No seriously, this isn't like "this is the year of Linux", or like "Duke Nukem Forever will come out, sometime"... this is for real. Even if no-one else reading this ever takes it up (silly people) I will.

Find out why by going to the google wave page (http://wave.google.com/) and watch the video and read all about it. Really - it's 1 hour 20 minutes in length, but if you're anything like me, you'll be sold after the first 10. And it actually makes sense.

BTW: this is the same video below.

PointUI 2 Home is out!

I appear to be a little late (must have missed my email warning) but PointUI 2 Home is out for download. Its a little app that remakes your old dodgy looking Windows Mobile interface into something you can actually show your friends.

Just downloaded it - about to try it. Give it ago yourself:

http://www.pointui.com/

Yet another Firefox review...

Ars Technica has put together another good review of Firefox, this one on beta 3.

For some reason, the winXP theme looks better on the screenshots than they do on my install. Incidentally, since firefox 3 beta 2, my number 1 choice in browser is Firefox.
Who cares that not all my extensions work - I can fix that. But man, the speed and memory management is great (and, I must add, long overdue).

Let the browser wars really get going.... again. And this time, let the little fellas win!

Firefox 3 Beta 3

I know, I know.... I didn't add all the stuff I said that I was going to with Firefox 3 b2, but now I can't anyway...

Firefox 3 Beta 3 is out.

Again, it's fast..., really fast. It makes IE 7 look like a turtle - in a straight jacket.

There are some cool new features (and some not so cool ones, eg. what is with the winXP icon set?), but it is a really good browser that does the job it is meant to.

It still doesn't have all the support of the extensions yet, but that will change as it leaves beta, and most of them can be modified to work with FF3b3 quickly and easily. I'll actually write about that really soon - it is so simple, anyone can do it.

Anyway, for a better review, go have a look at "A deep look to Firefox 3 Beta 3". It appears to be a pretty even handed review. And you don't have to wait for little old me, either.

Download it, install it, have the kind of fun we should have been having since Mosaic.

Firefox 3 Beta 2: First Impressions - It's faaaast!

I like to get up to date with software, and I prefer using Open Source to Closed in most cases, but like others out there, I had found Firefox 2 to be a bit... well, memory hungry. It had what we geeks like to call a memory leak. Essentially this means that it just keeps on using up the RAM.
I still preferred it over IE6 (which was just a bit too dodgy for my liking, and hadn't been updated in years, but when IE 7 came out... I switched!

Then I heard (late) of the Firefox 3 beta. I downloaded a copy of Beta 1, installed it and... it was great! It was Firefox, but fast, until you opened up a few tabs. The Beta 2 came out and it is fast, and nowhere near a memory junkie.

That's my first impression - speed. It is faster than IE 7 - it even uses less memory than IE 7, which is cool. Now, even though it's just a beta, I've switched back to Firefox.