Is Windows 7 cursed?
"While eating breakfast, read newspaper headlines and e-mail, get updated on the daily commute, or use your fingers to expand your calendar and get details on the day’s events.” And you can use it to "help your children with their homework or oversee their play activities while getting dinner ready."The question is, would you buy one?
Stocks are plummeting. Banks are failing. The money's all gone.
If you're a small or medium-size business owner with employees, I'm going to tell you something you already know: Layoffs are coming, too. The knee-jerk impulse to lay off half your staff in order to cut employee costs by 50% can be just some antiquated institutional habit. Technology enables all kinds of desirable alternatives to letting people go. Here are three ways to USE NEW TECHNOLOGY TO CUT COSTS WITHOUT LAYOFFS.
I love automated searches. Setting up automated "bots" to do your searching for you saves enormous amounts of time and effort. You "set it and forget it." But you have to know where -- and how -- to do it. Here are my favorite FIVE WAYS TO KNOW EVERYTHING ALL THE TIME.
You hear a lot about how great cell phone GPS is. Tech pundits blather endlessly about the amazing new features and capabilities of cell phone GPS (guilty as charged!) And you even shelled out extra for that fancy smart phone with GPS as one of its best features. So WHY AREN'T YOU USING IT?
Cell phones are the Mother of All Convergence Devices. In the past 10 years, bland, single-purpose cell phones have assimilated digital cameras, media players, PDAs, GPS devices, camcorders and much more. Phones are great for convergence because we always carry them. Stand-alone digital cameras, GPS devices and others might be left at home most of the time, but anything built into the camera goes everywhere. But phones aren't the only objects carried everywhere. SUNGLASSES, WRISTWATCHES AND PENS go, too -- and that's why they're getting the convergence treatment.
People don't like Windows Vista. Users are moving to Mac or Linux. In order to stop the bleeding, Microsoft is apparently rushing Windows 7 to market. But is this really the Windows 7 they set out to create? Or is is just Windows Vista with window dressing. Wait, Windows Vista labeled as the "next version of Windows"? Isn't that called "MOJAVE"?
Business cards are as obsolete as fax machines. And like fax machines, business cards have us still using paper to move electronic data from one digital system to another. Business cards suck, but the good news is that the MOBILE SOCIAL ADDRESS BOOK of the future is coming soon.
If you're unfamiliar with the term, product placement is a form of advertising where companies pay or barter for their products to be used as "props." So, for example, Batman uses the not-yet-released Nokia XpressMedia 5800 cell phone to foil the Joker in "The Dark Knight," because Nokia arranged for it. The reason I hate movie and TV placement is that it's sneaky. It only works if the viewer is kept ignorant about the fact that the advertiser paid for placement. The reason I love online product placement is that it's not sneaky. It works best if the placement is "OUTED" AS A PAID ADVERTISEMENT.
This past week has seen a flood of announcements from major companies about new mobile social networking services. All this industry activity has sparked widespread interest and engagement in mobile social networking. Twitter, Facebook and other social sites have been burning up the wires this week talking about, linking to and getting on mobile social networking services. HERE'S WHAT HAPPENED THIS WEEK IN THE WORLD OF MOBILE SOCIAL NETWORKING.
While nobody was looking, the Internet, the blogosphere and the Twitosphere rendered the old-fashioned press conference OBSOLETE. (Don't tell the media!)
Subnotebooks are easy to take anywhere, but hard to use once you get there. Mozilla, the company that makes the popular Firefox browser, announced this week a software plug-in for Firefox called Ubiquity, which wasn't designed for, and isn't promoted as, a subnotebook usability enhancer. But it turns out that UBIQUITY IS ESPECIALLY POWERFUL ON SUBNOTEBOOKS, and makes them far easier to use for multi-window tasks.
According to one theory, humans developed language in order to be able to live in larger groups. Expanding our "social networks" -- then, as now -- enhances survival. And the desire to maintain as many relationships as possible is part of what makes us human. That's why I'm here to urge you to JUMP ON THE SOCIAL NETWORKING BANDWAGON with new-found energy.
Within two years, I believe mobile social networking will become the most VALUABLE BUSINESS APPLICATION SINCE E-MAIL.
Obesity is rampant. And I'm not talking about body flab. I'm talking about obesity of language. Much of what we read these days is bloated, flabby, supersized prose. I believe there are three reasons for that: 1) the death of the typewriter; 2) the end of length limits; and 3) the rise of the amateur writer. Internet technology created this problem, and Internet technology can help solve it. Here's how to cut the verbal fat and SLIM DOWN YOUR WRITING WITH THE TWITTER DIET.
Remember the revolution in battery technology? It never happened. So why is battery life so much better? The Dell Latitude E6400, HP Elitebook 6930, Latitude ON, Intel's mobile processor technologies, "WiTricity" and the Voltaic Generator solar laptop bag are just a few examples of what's happening in the long-battery-life arena. We're on the business end of a NEW ERA IN INCREDIBLE POWER-MANAGEMENT, POWER CONSERVATION AND POWER-GENERATION DEVICES. And it's no thanks to batteries.
The consumer electronics industry is finally discovering what other industries have known for a long time: "Green" products sell. Recently, there has been a sudden surge in "GREEN CONSUMER ELECTRONICS PRODUCTS." But are they all actually good for the environment? (Hint: No.)
Everybody is talking about "cloud computing," the latest and most problematic major buzzword to plague IT jargon. Here's why "cloud computing" is CONFUSING, MISLEADING, REDUNDANT AND DANGEROUS.
Dell, Intel and their partners announced this week new technologies that represent major leaps forward for mobility. The companies seem to have discovered the secret to making such bold leaps: Cut Microsoft out of the deal.
One technology involves enabling users to gain instant access to a laptop's e-mail, browser and other basic functionality -- without booting Windows at all.
The second technology enables an Internet-based message to wake a Windows PC from sleep mode. It's useful both for VoIP applications and for anyone away from their PC who wants remote access.
These new technologies are perfect metaphors for what's happening in the industry. In both cases, Windows is asleep while Microsoft's own partners give users WHAT THEY REALLY WANT.
By the end of the Olympic games, we'll know whether the Chinese government's unprecedented application of state-of-the-art digital technology to Orwellian social control can actually work. WHAT IF THE EXPERIMENT SUCCEEDS?
Don't look now, but your cell phone is out to get you. This deadly device can cause accidents, give you cancer or even kill you, according to a rising chorus of alarmist reports. Here's why the cell phone danger hysteria is OVERBLOWN.
Microsoft's "Mojave Experiment" has been compared to "Punk'd," and to the "Pepsi Challenge." In reality, it's just like those Folgers Crystals commercials where they switch fancy restaurant coffee with instant decaf. The commercials were a big success. But guess what? Instant decaf still sucks! I'm challenging Microsoft to answer SIX QUESTIONS about their so-called "Mojave Experiment."
The Dark Knight, the most highly anticipated of the Batman series yet, hits theaters today. Everybody likes Batman. He's a superhero we can relate to. Unlike Superman or, say, the Incredible Hulk, Batman isn't an alien or mutant. He's just a regular guy who makes himself "super" using mobile gadgets. There's no reason we all can't be like Batman and transform ourselves into superheros in our own professions by buying and mastering EXTREME DEVICES.
Think of Apple, and elegant, minimalist product design comes to mind. But the less-glamorous unseen force behind the products is Apple's amazing ability to execute -- to coordinate things like hardware supply and distribution, software rollouts and updates, network functionality and availability, and forcing suppliers and partners to march in lock-step with the Cupertino giant.
The launch of the original iPhone was a breathtaking feat of mastery. Here was Apple entering a crowded, complex and utterly new market. And it did so with what looked from the outside like grace and ease. In the year that followed, it has seemed like Apple could do no wrong.
Suddenly, it seems like APPLE CAN'T DO ANYTHING RIGHT.
The quality of smart phones has improved radically. At the beginning of last year, phone features like 3G, Wi-Fi, GPS, high-quality touch screens, voice recognition and high-quality cameras were rare, expensive and very high end. Today, they're standard equipment and can be had in a wide range of cheap phones. Like the iPhone, for example, now starting at $199. That dramatic shift has taken place in the past year and a half. But during that time, how much has the quality of phone calls improved? How much has it improved in the past 10 YEARS?
Here's how to turn your 'CrackBerry' into a 'YakBerry' using two free services: Vlingo and Jott. Send and reply to e-mail, send SMS, Search the Internet, Add items to your "to do list, open BlackBerry applications, add appointments to your calendar, blog and more -- all WITHOUT TYPING ANYTHING!
You're probably using a mouse today, but you may never buy one again. All the planets are aligning against this humble pointing device. Alternative pointing devices are weakening our mouse habit. But the next versions of Windows and the Mac OS will KILL THE MOUSE forever.
Will knowledge become obsolete? I have no idea. But I do believe we're going to have to face the problem of how to educate young people in a world in which nearly all knowledge is available to everyone, instantly, ALL THE TIME.
In ancient times (before the 1980s), there was a clear distinction between official company communication and personal or private communication. Official communication took the form of "memos," which were intended to be part of the company record. Everything else -- phone calls, personal chats, hand-written scribbles -- were clearly understood to be unofficial, off-the-record and private. When e-mail and chat came along, we lumped them into the same category as "memos" -- fair game for snooping and admissible in court. That was an error. It's time to BRING BACK THE MEMO, and keep e-mail and chat private.
The problem isn't that somebody out there is looking for innovative ways to leverage your cell phone to sell you something. The problem is that everybody is doing it. The result will turn your cell phone into an annoying, interrupting, commercial idiot box that combines all the worst qualities of TV, telemarketing and spam. Computerworld
The "iPhone Killer" cell phones -- including the Garmin's Nuviphone; Samsung’s Instinct and Omnia; HTC's Touch Diamond; BlackBerry Thunder; and others -- have touch screen technology and other features are usually advanced and sophisticated. Nearly all of them, for example, have features superior to the iPhone, such as higher-quality cameras. All the major "iPhone Killer" makers do make some really great hardware. That's why it's interesting to note that some of the iPhone's best and most unique features aren't even all that hard to copy. Here's a list of the 7 easy-to-copy features that most "iPhone killers" missed. Datamation
You've no doubt heard of the "$100 laptop" project. The first iteration, the XO 1.0 -- a.k.a. the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) laptop -- looks like a toy for baby aliens, but is largely a conventional laptop. A prototype of the next version was unveiled last month, and it looks a lot like the laptop you're going to buy in five years. No, I'm not kidding. Your laptop will look and function more or less like the XO 2.0. It's a brilliant -- and prescient -- design. The most conspicuous and best feature is that the bottom half of the clamshell is a screen, just like the top half. Computerworld
I'm predicting that the successful pricing model for "mini me too" laptops -- commodity ASUS Eee PC clones that will drive margins for all players toward zero -- will look nothing like the notebook pricing model (where you always pay full price for the hardware), and a lot like the cell phone pricing model where you buy a service, and the hardware is heavily subsidized or given away free. Datamation
Although everyone is talking about Windows 7, few seem to understand what it means that Microsoft is pushing its Surface-like and iPhone-like UI for the next Windows. Here’s what it means: After several decades, the death of the WIMP user interface is at hand. (WIMP stands for Windows, Icons, Menus and Pointing devices.) Datamation
MIT Media Lab founder Nicholas Negroponte recently railed against complexity in cell phones, saying that "simplicity is the biggest challenge that handset makers face." He's right. What users are clamoring for is a phone with a beautiful screen and a brain-dead-simple user interface like the iPhone, with the core business functionality and keyboard performance of a BlackBerry and the high-quality camera of some of the LG phones. We want GPS, 3G and great media management. So who's going to deliver the first super-easy-to-use super phone? Computerworld
We study long and work hard to succeed in our careers. Success is important to us. And then along comes YouTube, the agent of our destruction. And all the other addictive sites and services always just a click away. The Internet is an incredible productivity tool. But it's also distracting -- and evolving like drug-resistant bacteria or like a virus to become more distracting all the time. What are we going to do? Datamation
Remind me again why Steve Ballmer is CEO of Microsoft? He's got no vision, no charisma, no engineering cred and no outside experience running a company. Ballmer himself admits to not being good at negotiating. And now his deal-making and decision-making skills are being questioned. Datamation
Sharpcast's SugarSync software and service automatically syncs across PCs, Macs and phones. Computerworld
Social bookmarking sites actual endorse candidates without actually trying to do so. By searching the sites, and sorting those searches by votes or popularity, you can get a sense of who members prefer. Interestingly, all the major social bookmarking and social networking sites agree on the same candidate. The very definition of a Web 2.0 site is one that derives its value from the actions of users. Users are voters, and if these user-voters choose a candidate, shouldn't that candidate win the election? Datamation
If you accept the inevitability of the next-generation interface — the UI with advanced versions of iPhone's multitouch, gestures, physics, 3-D and diminished role of symbolic representation (icons) — then all the rest follows. Giant screens you touch will have to be pivoted at an angle because vertical or horizontal use will be awkward. Mice will vanish because you'll touch on-screen objects directly. The screen will provide an incentive to get rid of the keyboard. The end result will look and work like a giant iPhone or iPod Touch. Computerworld
Don't look now, but business is global. Media is global. Communication is global. So why are we still torturing ourselves with local time? In the United States, why are we double-torturing ourselves with local time aggravated by daylight saving time? Enough! Why don't we all get behind a switch to GMT everywhere? Datamation
It seems these days that every Tom, Dick and Harry — or more accurately, every Dell, Acer and Apple — wants to get into the cell phone/handset business. The handset market is already crowded with far too many phones. If the PC makers are really serious about entering the cell phone market with distinctive products people might actually want, why not improve the cell phone awareness OF PCs, and vice versa? Computerworld
Most spy gadgets should be and could be used for legal and ethical purposes (but you know they probably won't be). Datamation
The biggest problem isn't that the company's newest products are unusable, but that Microsoft may have actually lost the ability to make good operating systems. Computerworld
Personal computers are getting faker. The percentage of counterfeit components is growing steadily, if unevenly. Fake components make PCs cheaper. The downside is declining reliability, safety and performance. Is it even possible to keep it real? Datamation
Everybody's freaking out about Apple's iPhone sales, but look closely enough and you'll find good news. Computerworld
Who in the hell is Asustek, and why does Microsoft hate them more than any other company in the industry? Why does Apple, Dell and Palm Computing hate them? And why does Intel love them? Datamation
As privacy advocates argue, vote and campaign for keeping private business private, let's also make sure we claim and win the right to use our own ubiquitous camera phones, recording devices and other technologies to keep public business public. Computerworld.com
Apple's got it, but you can't do much with it. Microsoft's got it, but you can't afford it. And Dell's got it, but you can't have it yet. Everyone's talking about multi-touch. But what is it, exactly, and why should you care? Datamation