#196 Windows 8 and will anyone listen?

Sorry for the one month hiatus. I had a death in the family and am just now catching up on work, house and life. We are back to normal and that mean Microsoft announces a new operating system. Windows 8 has been announced, but there is no introduction date. It seems to be Microsofts answer to touch screen tablet PCs. Lots of features similar to the iPad. Microsoft is certainly not known for its innovation, just its marketing.

Now Microsoft didn't ask me what I wanted in Windows 8, but dear readers, let me fill them in via my blog. 1st and foremost I want a safer browser. Although Internet Explorer isn't really part of Windows, it has come with every version of Windows (if it quacks like a duck, must be a duck). Its been a sad excuse for a browser for over 10 years. Its one of the main culprits in malware getting on your PC. The latest version IE9 is better, but it doesn't work on Windows XP which over ½ of the PC world still uses. FireFox and Google Chrome remain better alternatives and PCSS highly recommends them to our customers.

Next would come speed. We have these tremendously fast processors with obscene amounts of memory and it still takes my Windows 7 laptop over 3 minutes to start up and about a minute to shut down. Check out a MAC Microsoft and learn how to start and stop an operating system in an efficient manner. It would also be nice to make it easier to join a network and share stuff. The Windows 7 Home Network (only works with Windows 7 PCs) just isn't universal enough. What business has all the same operating system when a new one comes out? Microsoft supposedly hires smart people. Maybe, but they don't have an once of common sense.

Lastly I would tighten up the rules for programs to run on Windows 8. Make the software people make their programs more efficient and easier to load AND unload. (again take a look at those crazy guys at Apple). Programs do anything they want and generally that isn't good when it comes to loading a program on your computer. Who thought it was a good idea to let any program put files in the operating system folders? ARGH as the pirates would say. Also new programs can take control of resources on your PC and when they close not release those resources. That is just silly.

Ok rant mode off. Those are just 3 items that I'd like to see in Windows 8, but you know they will never see to do them. Nope we'll make a more bloated operating system to try and catch up with the iPad and forget about the 1 billion PCs that exist world wide.

#195 - How fast is fast?

First of all some definitions. Broadband Internet is also called "High Speed" Internet access. The speed of Internet is defined now by MBPS or Megabits per second. There are two directions of Internet speed: Upload and Download. Download is almost always faster and that is the number that most Internet providers give when talking about speed.

Now some context. The first Internet access was done via dial up phone modems. Their maximum top upload speed was rated at 0.056 MBPS. High Speed Internet was originally defined to be greater then 0.256 MBPS. Now I would say High Speed starts at 1MBPS.

There are several competing technologies to provide Broadband Internet for your use. DSL (digital subscription line) is a technology used mainly by telephone companies to provide Broadband over their telephone wires. This is done by sending the Internet at a much higher frequency then voice telephone conversations. The top end download speed for copper wired DSL is about 6MBPS. The other major Broadband provider for your home or office is Cable. Again Cable Internet uses their existing cable lines in your home/business to provide high-speed Internet. The top end download speed for Cable Internet in the US is probably around 30MBPS. One other difference between DSL and Cable is DSL is a dedicated line to your place while Cable is a shared resource. Meaning DSL won't slow down if your neighbor also has it and is on line, but if you both have Cable the more on the system, the slower the Internet.

Two other newer technologies for Internet are Cell phone systems (the 3G & 4G networks) and Fibre Optic. Cell phone Internet is a wireless system that uses the cell phone towers to provide Interet. Existing 3G technology is capped at download speeds of 3.1MBPS. 4G is the newer technology and could possibly go as high as 100MBPS. That is POSSIBLY. Right now the new 4G networks max out around 6MBPS. Fibre Optic is the fastest of all technologies. Using light waves to sent the Internet over dedicated fibre cables, Fibre Optic Internet can now run as fast as 40MBPS.

In our area Shentel Cable provides up to 20MBPS over their Cable network and ntelos is matching them with Fibre Optic system at 20MBPS. We have 3G in all the towns but no 4G yet. ntelos is going to provide up to 6MBPS to all their wired customers.

So what is the importance of speed? If you want to watch seamless Internet videos (no jumps, skips, bumps) you need over 5MBPS download speed. Multitasking videos, surfing, cloud computing all requires 10MBPS. Just like we keep increasing and using more memory in PCs, we'll keep using more Internet speed.

194 - What are those black dots and squares?

The image you see below is called QRbarcode. Its used to code text, an Internet address (URL), or a phone number. You can read it with your smart phone and then go immediately read the text, go to the Internet site or dial the phone number. It has great potential use in advertising! The QR (short for Quick Response) barcode was developed by by Toyota. This two dimensional barcode has quickly been adopted in Japan and South Korea and a bit slower here in the west. Toyota used it for car part numbering. Its 2 dimensional design allowed for a small size. The QR contains more information then a standard barcode (limited to numbers). In fact the QR has been used for all sorts of interesting information coding.

QR codes storing addresses and URLs may appear in magazines, on signs, buses, business cards, or on just about any object about which users might need information. Users with a camera phone equipped with the correct reader application can scan the image of the QR Code to display text, contact information, connect to a wireless network, or open a web page in the phone's browser. The code in the upper left of this article will direct you to this Blog. The one in the lower left to the PCSS web site.

Recently a real estate client used the QR code to store an URL for more information and placed it on all their hand outs. You could then go to the site that had more pictures and house plan layout. So let your imagination go wild, but first get a smart phone, wireless Internet plan, and barcode reader software. You can make your own QR code at several free web sites. We use: QR-Code Generator Just put in your URL then right click the image to copy the image to your PC.

#193 - The new printer with a tablet thrown in

HP has released a new all in one that caught our attention. The HP Photosmart eStation 510a is a printer, scanner, copier and fax machine with one special twist. The control panel can detach and be an external 7" Android tablet. It runs on wifi and can take print from ipads, ipods and just about any other computer that can send a print document.

The print quality is the best HP makes for an inkjet printer. Top notch photo quality if you use the good photo paper. Ink costs about $45 total for Black, Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Photo Black cartridges that do 300 printed pages. With max speeds of up to 33 pages per minute, this printer is definitely speedy. Because of the wifi tablet you can print to this printer from ANYWHERE! The HP ePrint service lets you print out your expense reports before you get home! You can print from Facebook, Yahoo or even Snapfish. Printing from the web is the new standard in printers and this one has all the rough spots already worked out.

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The setup for wireless printing is pretty easy and soon all your desktops, laptops, tablet or even smart phone can print to the new printer. It can hold 125 pages of 8.5x11" paper and do up to 12 envelopes at a time. It doesn't have a large duty cycle (1200 pages per month) so don't plan on this one being an office workhorse. The scanner is a flatbed (no sheet feed) with 1200x1200 black/white & color operation. It has an SD card slot for data from cameras.

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Now on to the 7" detachable tablet PC. It uses the Android system and comes with Internet browser, book reader, facebook, and other apps. It will be fully Android 2.2 compatible soon and have complete access to the Android market and 175,000 other apps. You get about 5 hours of battery time and just need to put it back on the printer to charge. It can be a digital picture frame, ebook reader or just a web browser.

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Cost for all this? HP list price of $399. $100 less then an iPad. Amazing. Technology at the leading edge.

#192 - Tech musings on a rainy day

I see that the ipad2 has been released. Same price as the ipad original. The ipad original is available for as low as $349 till the stock is sold. The new ipad is slimmer, faster and has 2 cameras to make your multimedia experience better. Still no Flash player support so 40% of the web pages out there won't work on the ipad original or ipad 2. There is a war between Apple (read Steve jobs) and Adobe. Seems sad the consumer is the loser. Good news is that the use of HTLM5 is growing and displacing Flash so the number of Flash only sites is decreasing.

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PCSS has varied opinion of the ipad. I've played on several and enjoy the size and ability to surf much of the web and add apps that make it more useful. I don't like that it really isn't a full functioning PC. No Office applications that move the world. I think the day of the laptop as we know it will merge into the tablet type PC. I'm very excited about the Motorola Xoom (see last blog) and others that will move the tablet to be a PC replacement.

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On the "you know this was going to happen" front, the Google Android app markets had 21 different apps infected this past week. The infection would send out your personal telephone information to the bad guys. Google stopped the distribution of the 21 apps AND more importantly initiated its Kill App program to terminate the 50,000 infected apps that were downloaded before Google found the infection. Who knew that Google had a Kill App program that could reach every Android enabled telephone? I wonder if Apple has the same on the iphone.

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J.D. Power has declared that Verizon has the best call quality of the big nationwide cell phone providers. I think most knew this, but now there is data to back it up. T-Mobile was at the bottom of the list. Let the crowing ads begin!

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And on the electric car front, although GM and Nissan aren't crowing about them the sales of electric cars in the US was released for February. A whole 281 Chevy Volts and 67 Nissan Leafs were sold. Wow are you impressed yet? As I will continue to say, Electric cars will NEVER be anything but a niche market until they can get 300 miles of range on a single charge. I'll stick with my Honda Insight and the 45 mpg I get on the highway and around town.

#191 - Tablet PC for the rest of us?

The Motorola XOOM is scheduled to be released very soon. (XOOM SOON was tempting to put in type!) The Xoom is an iPad like tablet PC that runs the new Google Android 3.0 operating system. That means it runs all the Android aps that exist and can surf the Internet totally. It has the latest version of Adobe Flash player that is used by many Internet sites. That is a big deal because the iPad does not support Adobe Flash.

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The Xoom boast the best specifications in a tablet PC. It also may boast the highest price. Verizon will be the lead seller of the Xoom, but probably won't be the exclusive sales company for long.

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It has a dazzling 10.1" 1280x800 screen that is VERY easy to view. It has a 5 megapixel rear facing camera with LED flash and a 2 megapixel forward facing camera to allow for video conferencing. There is 32GB of built in memory and an sd slot for more memory. Its processor is a dual core 1GHz that allows for multitasking. It will initially work on Verizons 3G network but will be able to use their 4G network without a major modification.

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I think tablets are the direction that PCs are going. These truly are PERSONAL computers. They are large enough to be able to see the Internet, yet small enough to take everywhere. Will the best tablet be the Xoom? I'm not getting on board till I get one in hand and see how it handles real world (read Covington) networking. Also the price may be a deal breaker. Watch your local newspaper for ads and reviews!

#190 - Playing safe on Facebook

Facebook members just passed the 500,000,000 mark. That's a lot of Friends! If you have joined or are considering joining Facebook here are my guidelines to keeping yourself safe and enjoying your friends.



1. Keep your Profile to the minimum information. Your Profile is seen by EVERYONE on Facebook. No phone numbers and I'd even tell you to be careful with your email address. I use an email address I don't use much . You can get a free email address (Yahoo or Gmail) to put there when you register.



2. Set your privacy settings to Friends Only for EVERYTHING. Click on Account from your Facebook home page then Privacy Settings. Choices are Everyone, Friends of Friends and Friends Only.

3. Protect your information from the people that post Ads on Facebook. Click on Accounts then Account Settings and the Facebook Ads tab. Make sure No One is in the box and Save.

4. Be careful what pictures you post. Its obvious but Don't post pictures that put you or someone else with at risk behaviour. If you get posted and tagged in a picture you don't like, first untag your picture (untag button below the picture), then ask whoever posted it to delete it.

5. I don't recommend joining any games. They get your information and they USE it. That's why the games are free. They get your info. Nuff Said.

6. Disable Facebook Apps. Again the apps can access your profile and more. To do this click on Account and Privacy Settings. Below Apps and Websites click on Edit your Settings, Click on Turn off all Platform Apps.

7. Post cautiously. Letting people know when you are away from home isn't the wisest move. Letting people know you are looking for a job while still empolyed also isn't wise. Posting during work when your post is TIME STAMPED is also a bit silly.

8. Friend ONLY people you know well. Friends of Friends should not cut your friends list. There is no prize for having the most friends.

#189 Android Apps and why apps are so hot

Apps stands for applications, which is a long/short way to say programs. I'm not sure why programs on phones/PDAs are called Apps, but they are and we'll just work with that. I'm also not sure why most apps cost less then $5.00. I'm not arguing for more expensive programs, but geez Bill Gates would only be Bazillionaire (Instead of a Trazillionaire) if Office only cost $5.00 for each program.

Well lets talk about Android apps, since I have an Android phone (Droid Pro) and have loaded up a bunch of free apps. The first one I downloaded was App Killer. It isn't easy to shut down apps in the Android system. App Killer does just that. Two clicks and most of the programs that are running on your phone are shut down. Seems silly that this wasn't part of the Android operating system.

I next downloaded Bar Code Scanner. This nifty app turns your phone in to a (surprise!) Bar code scanner. You can scan any bar code in on a product and the look up the price or information on that product. Very cool!

I've also downloaded two utility type apps: Free Dictionary is from the Dictionary.com people and does a nice job of what it should do. Google Translator is a very neat app that will Translate English words/phrases/Sentences to several other languages. It will also say the translation. So now in a foreign country you can type in what you want, translate it and then have your phone say it without an accent!

Lastly I have turned my phone in to an ebook reader. I downloaded Laputa reader after checking out the reviews. I've been pleased with this reader for ease of use and being able to access all the Gutenberg Projects free books. These books are out of copyright protection and include great classics as well as an interesting mix of turn of the 20th century popular fiction.

#188 - End of the Year - New Laptop, New Phone (again)

I hope the holidays have been enjoyable for you and your families. We are finally on a 7 day vacation from work, so what do I do? Its get the last blog in for the year!
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Lets start with the Droid Pro saga. My new Droid Pro (see last blog) died after 3 weeks. It went into what I call "The Black Screen of Death" and the only way out was to pull the battery. I bought my Droid Pro from WireFly.com and they were very courteous in helping me get it replaced. I sent it off on a Monday and had a brand new one back on Friday. That is part of their 30 day anything wrong warranty. I purchased an extended warranty for $69 that is now in effect for a year. When I got the new one, it was pretty easy to get it back up and running. Once I entered my GMAIL account info all my contacts and calendar were good to go. About half the apps were missing, but no problem to download them. I've added a few more and will talk about them in my next blog. The biggest problem with the Droid Pro is the battery. Depending on what you do during the day, it barely makes it through on one charge. I've ordered their larger battery so we'll see how that goes. I also miss some kind of mouse or pointer. If I need to edit something on the Pro I have to use a fingernail to point to the position in the word. My accuracy isn't the best.
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I will tell you I love the Droid operating system. The apps you can get for free do just about anything you can imagine and things you can't imagine (who thought up the Bar Code reader and pricer???) Interesting over 60% of Droid apps are free as opposed to 33% of iPhone apps being free. Now apps don't cost much ($2 is an expensive app), but if you are like me free is a better deal if the ads don't drive you crazy. I like being able to read my AOL & Gmail email on the run and I can see Facebook updates from just about anywhere.


I also sold my two oldest laptops and purchased a new Lenovo ThinkPad Edge 15" model. The ThinkPad series is very well built and they have great tech support (called about setting up Bluetooth on the laptop today and got through to a lady in Atlanta in less then 3 minutes). Here are the specs: Intel i3Core M370 2.4GHz processor, 4GB memory (though Windows 7 Pro 64 bit can only use 3.75GB) 320GB Hard Disk Drive, 15.6" 1366x768 display, 3USB ports, HDMI port, VGA port, DVD RW disk drive, 2Megapixel webcam, wireless & Bluetooth, fingerprint scanner and a spill resistant keyboard. If you want to buy one from PCSS the same model costs $649 through January 15.
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I was looking for a 15 inch screen laptop with HDMI (TV connector) and good resolution webcam. I was thinking the cost would be close to $1,000. but was very pleasantly surprised when I found the Thinkpad Edge series. They also make a 14 in version and lots of variations of processors, memory and hard drives. PCSS prices start at $499. So far I've been impressed with the design and features. We'll let you know about the reliability down the road.
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I talked about Windows 7 in the specs and wanted to elaborate about Windows 7 and memory. I had a good customer order a Desktop PC with Windows 7. He said he wanted 6 or 8GB of memory. He was surprised when I told him the Windows 7 limitations: Windows 7 64 bit can only use 3.75GB and Windows 7 32bit (less expensive) can only use 3.25GB of memory. Anything more is just wasted money at this point in time. I haven't had any speed issues with Windows 7 and 2GB of memory so that is what I recommend to most customers.
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See you in 2011, HAPPY NEW YEAR ALL!

187 - The new phone!

The new PCSS phone is in my hand. After all the technology thoughts and analysis I decided to stay with Verizon and get a Motoroloa Droid Pro. Here is how it came down. I looked at providers first. My choices in the Highlands are Verizon, nTelos and USCellular. AT&T, Sprint and Nextel just don't have enough local towers to be options. After looking at the plans ntelos really had the best deal.


Then I started looking at the phones. ntelos did not have an android phone with a real keyboard AND the latest Android operating system (2.2 FOYO). They had an old Motorola phone (the Milestone) that had a slow processor. This is why Verizon and AT&T continue to lead the cell phone market. Its all about the phones! I didn't want to get an already out of date phone with a contract. The other issue was the ntelos $35 per phone activation fee for new service. Stupid fee that discourages people from changing carriers. I thought the idea was to get new customers.


Verizon had LOTS of choices. After looking at all their android phones I picked the brand new Motorloa Droid Pro. This one had a keyboard at the bottom just like my existing Palm, but a very nice larger screen. Since I already had Verizon there were no extra charges other then the data plan that I would have to get with any smartphone.

So what are the + and - of the new phone after 2 weeks? I love having the Internet just about every where. I can check email, Facebook and sync my calendar without a cable. The negatives are the battery life really is poor on this phone. Looks like I'll have to spring for the bigger battery. Also I can't sync my contacts from outlook to the phone. Can't may not be the right word, I can do a manual copy but it isn't automatic or seamless like the calendar is. Seems odd that Google (the Android system owner) hasn't fixed this issue yet. The last negative is silly, but the phone takes about 1 minute to turn on. That's lots more then my old Palm, but people tell me typical of Droid system phones.


I'll report back after I get the new batter and have more time on the phone.