#156 - Watching TV on the Net

Its rerun season. For whatever reason - you know it has to be money - The major networks close out their prime time season in May and send us the reruns or the Class B shows for the summer. It used to be if you missed an episode (or even a series) you had to have recorded it or wait for the rerun. That's no longer the case. The networks own sites have full episodes of programs available for view (with commercials). There are also sites that allow you watch whole seasons of prime time content at your convenience. Hulu, and Joost let you pick which program you want to watch and then it comes up with reduced (but still there) commercials. NBC & ABC support Hulu and Joost has a selection of all network shows. There are live TV feeds on the Internet so if you have Internet, but no TV you can watch programs.

All this brought to mind where the future of TV is heading. We are so busy, that it is tough for us to commit to watching a program at the same time every week. The advent of the VCR broke that chain, but the actual implementation of taping shows wasn't so hot (who hasn't had to read the manual 3 times to make sure a VCR would record). Next came TIVO(DVR technology) - the Hard Drive that would record your programs automatically and keep them until you could watch them. Of course that technology was space limited and could screw up if a program came on late or lasted too long (think football games). After owning a DVR for a year, you find yourself constantly erasing old programs. It seems to me that keeping the programs on the web, where you could watch them and see the ads when you want is a better technology.

I see the networks not losing this valuable revenue stream and all will have "watch me later" options for all their prime time shows. They may even get smart and store old seasons of popular shows so that consumer can load the shows on the Internet and the networks can insert up to date ads. You know how popular DVDs of TV shows are. But who really wants to dust DVD cases? Its just better when someone else keeps the clutter!

Just hit the comment button if you would like to post your thoughts!

#155 - The mini notebook computers

I'm in Denver airport today filling out this blog on the FREE wifi. Yeah Denver airport! I only had to watch a 30 second commercial to get to the Internet. Not a bad deal! In Atlanta it costs $7.99 for 24 hours of access.

Anyway, I'm using a new HP 2140 mini notebook computer that I acquired last week. So what does a "mini notebook" mean? It has a 10" diagonal screen (only 4" tall, more on that later). The keyboard is 92% of full size. That is about as small as I can use and still touch type. Every now and then I'll slip on a key. It only weighs 2.6 pounds. The case is made of aluminum and appears durable. The screen is scratch resistant and very bright. There is a touch pad built in, but the buttons are on the side of the touch pad instead of top/bottom that is normal on most laptops.

The mini 2140 I have has 1GB of memory, 160GB hard disk drive and runs Windows XP Home. There are 2 USB ports, an external VGA display port (for a projector), an Ethernet RJ45 port, an SD memory card slot and an Express 54 expansion slot (the new version of the pcmcia slot). It has wireless and bluetooth built in. (I'm on wireless now and using a bluetooth mouse). The processor is a special Intel ATOM 1.6GHz model that was specifically designed for the mini notebook market. It has a web camera built in with microphone and headphone ports. The only thing missing is a DVD/CD burner player. It's just too small to have one.

I've been using it for a couple of weeks with pretty good success. I love the size and the portability. It fits in everywhere. The screen is bright enough. The only issue so far is that the screen is short. In some programs you don't get enough information on the screen. In AOL I get about 3 lines of a message on the screen with the rest filled up with ads. The speed is great with the 1GB of memory and XP. It is as fast as my other HP notebook and faster then my Lenovo with Vista (it has 2GB of memory!). I got the expanded 6 cell battery so it will run to a max of 8 hours on one charge! That is remarkable. Cost for this model is $499.00. Acer (that makes the mini's for HP) makes a plastic case version with a 3 cell battery for $299.00! PCSS sells them both.

Here is a link to the Specs: HP MINI 2140

#154 - Things our Grandchildren will not recognize

Nice title, no? I was having a conversation with a friend today and we talked about items that we are familiar with that people two generations hence (the imaginary grandkids) will have no clue about. Things like newspapers, phone booths, desktop computers, watches (kids use their cell phones for the time - more accurate), video cameras, photo & movie film, movie theaters, big box TVs, TV antennas to name a few.

We argued a while on when paper books would go extinct. Amazon has introduced their "Kindle" wireless reading device. KINDLE 2 Get books delivered in less than 60 seconds and no PC required! It remains to be seen if devices like this will replace their venerable past. I can see a time where you can have EVERY book you have read or used in school available on a reading device you carry around. Great concept!

Here are some technology dinosaurs: Hard Disk Drives (Solid State Technology Drives are now up to 80GB in size!); Floppy Disk Drives (people ask me all the time what to do with the boxes of old floppy disks they have lying around); CDs (just like vinyl records!); DVDs (Just like VCR tapes!); Answering Machines; Fax machines; Black & White Printers; paper photo albums; letters, snail mail and the one I'll miss the most: Local Stores!!!

Let me know what you think we will miss!

#153 - The LaserJets Birthday

The HP LaserJet is celebrating its 25th anniversary this month. Although I never owned an HP LaserJet (1), I did have a LaserJet II at work. The first laser printer for IBM Compatible personal computers was introduced in 1984 by HP as the LaserJet (now called LaserJet Classic). It had 300-dots per inch resolution and 8 pages per minute speed. It sold for a tidy $3,495.

The next LaserJet was not the II, but the LaserJet Plus. It introduced the concept of "soft fonts". You could now bold your print or italic the print. HP introduced the world's first mass market laser printer, the LaserJet series II, in March 1987, list priced at $2,695. There are still LaserJet IIs in operation. It was the most reliable printer ever produced. The first personal laserjet was the LaserJet IIp introduced in September 1989 and costing only $1495.

The LaserJet brought the end to the dot matrix and daisy wheel printers that started the PC revolution. You can now buy an HP LaserJet printer for only $129.00. It has 4 times the resolution and 3 times the speed of the original LaserJet. Life is good!

#152 - A new Internet Explorer: Version 8

Microsoft always seems to be catching up. First Mozilla Firefox came out with tabbed browsing. A year later Microsoft comes out with Internet Explorer 7 with tabbed browsing. About 6 months ago Google introduced Google Chrome - the fastest browser around. Now Microsoft has introduce Internet Explorer 8 - supposedly faster.

I downloaded IE 8 last week and have been playing with it since. I will say that the first thing I did with IE 8 was to turn off all the new fancy bells and whistles to make it look like IE 7 and at least that works. Microsoft is bent on changing interfaces just for the heck of it. Vista added very few innovations, but it did look different then XP. Microsoft Office 2007 is all about different interface, much to its demise. People HATE Office 2007. Maybe Microsoft has ffigured out it needs to keep the familiar interface to allow a program to be usable.

IE 8 is faster then IE 7, but I won't say it is faster loading web pages then Chrome. Here are some other features: WebSlices is a nice looking feature. They seem to work somewhat like Apple’s customizable Dashboard clippings, except in this case the clipping lives in the browser.
Say there’s a part of a page you’d like to track, but you don’t care about the rest — a weather widget for example — the WebSlice would allow you to bookmark just that element. IE 8 will then track changes to that portion of the page, alerting you when new info is available. Other new features highlighted on the page include a revamped Favorites Bar, automatic crash recovery and better phishing protection. Even with Tabs, it's easy to get lost amid too many open windows. Tab Groups organize tabs in relation to one another. For instance, tabs that you open from the same site are placed next to each other and marked with the same color. The tabs can then be closed or moved as one unit. The Smart Address Bar in IE8 turns the URL area into a search field of sorts. Wait, this is JUST LIKE CHROME! If you type a word into the address bar, IE8 searches through your browsing history, favorites and feeds to find sites related to what you are looking for. The search results are based on titles of pages as well as keywords within the Web address and are divided into three groups: History, favorites and feeds.

You can download IE8 here: IE 8 Download

#149 - To Text or not to Text

I'm showing my age now. I don't get text messaging. I like a real voice to talk to or at the minimum an email message with real words spelled almost correctly. My cell phone plan allows for text messages to come in. I have to pay for text message out. So I'm asking my self, I don't have to pay for a cell phone call (till I meet my max minutes) so why bother texting when I can just call? I'm sure there are moments when texting makes sense. Like when you are at a game and can't hear, but hey you are at a game. Enjoy the moment!

States are passing laws concerning cell phone usage in cars. They are a few years late. When I drive around Covington, I'd say half the people I pass are on the phone. Now I really can't imagine how someone can drive and text message. I don't have enough hands to steer and type text message and my eyes don't split to be looking at the road and keyboard at the same time. Unless there is a massive crackdown with severe penalties, I don't think regulating cell phone use in cars will be effective. Its like the speeding laws. We see how well they work. What did work was $4.00 a gallon gas. I noticed people driving much slower when the prices were sky high.

Let me know what you think about text messages and texting while driving!

#148 - Email observations

I believe I have covered this topic before but I have discussed email options with several customers recently. Never hurts to cover a topic twice!

Email comes in several flavors - the most used is the POP3 ( Post Office Protocol 3) model. In this email method e-mail is received and held for you by your Internet server. Periodically, you check your mail-box on the server and download any mail. This standard protocol is built into most popular e-mail products, such as Outlook, Thunderbird and Outlook Express.

POP3 is designed to delete mail on the server as soon as the user has downloaded it. However, some implementations allow users or an administrator to specify that mail be saved for some period of time. POP can be thought of as a "store-and-forward" service.

I'm not a big fan of POP3 type emails (nTelos, TDS, Verizon). Why? - Because you download ALL the email to your PC. Good, Bad and Ugly. It clogs up your PC and if your hard drive crashes and you haven't backed up your email (not an easy thing to do) your email is GONE!

The other type of Email is web based. AOL, Yahoo and Gmail are of this type, though quite different. In web based emails, the emails are stored at the hosts server site. It can be brought to your PC, but that isn't the standard option.

In AOL's case, it stores your emails on its servers until read and then for up to a week. If you want to store the email on your PC, you can save it there. You can also set up AOL to save all your email on your PC. In Gmail's case, it store emails forever on its servers.

You can set Gmail up to act like a POP3 and bring the email to your PC if you desire. Yahoo mail works much like Gmail. Both Gmail and Yahoo mail let you store just about unlimited email on their servers. AOL has limits as to the amount you can save on their servers. AOL has wonderful group and a great personal file cabinet to organize your emails. Gmail and Yahoo are plainer with less email organization features.

Which one is right for you? I don't know. Email is generally free so its a matter of personal preference. I have a Verizon, ntelos, Gmail, vt and AOL accounts. I mainly use the AOL and Gmail accounts. Set a new one up and see how you like it. If you do just email everyone in your contacts or address book and move to the better email! (just let nick know so he can keep you on the newsletter list!)

#147 - XP, Vista and Windows 7

You know Microsoft may be slow, but they aren't dumb. After getting another earful on how horrible the Vista operating system is, they have delayed once again the end of XP. I feel like the boy crying WOLF. This time the last date that you can buy a new PC with XP installed will be July 31, 2009. I've been burned on this so much, I'll just say that I can still get dual XP/Vista PCs and leave it at that.

The new operating system, Windows 7, has been released in Beta form (that means you can download it and install it on a PC, but it will be very buggy and will expire in 2 months). It looks like a slimmed down version of Vista. If you are using special software in your business that will not run on Vista, it probably won't run on Windows 7. Windows 7 uses Vista as a base, but Microsoft is supposedly cleaning up much of the bloat and hassle factor.

Reportedly one bad move that Microsoft made with Vista will continue in Windows 7. The introduction of Vista found 4 different versions you could buy. Home Basic, Home Premium, Business and Ultimate. There were also 64 bit versions to ad to the confusion. We are hearing that there will be 6 versions of Windows 7. That is just nuts. I think you could dummy it down to two versions, home and business. Oh wait that's what XP had. Some people never learn...

#146 - What's New in 2009?

There will be a big battle in the processor world in 2009. Both Intel and AMD have announced new families of processor chips that are significantly faster then the existing Dual Core technology. You will see these chips by the end of the first quarter in high end laptops and desktops. I'm not sure who buys those high end machines. My customers are mostly price sensitive and in the recent past you really couldn't tell the difference between a 2.3 GHz dual Core and a 1.8GHz Celeron processor running Word and Excel.

The mini laptops will make a bigger mark this year. Introduced in 2008, the mini laptops have screens around 8-9" diagonal. They barely fit a keyboard in (usually with tiny function and directional keys). They usually don't have an optical drive (CD/DVD). They only weigh 2-3 pounds and fit in just about any carry on bag you have. They are priced below $500.

Prices on LCD monitors are down right now. If you want to get a better display now is the time to buy. I'm not sure we'll see any bigger sizes, but prices on the larger 19 and 22" screens are what a 17" screen display priced out in January 2008.

I heard a rumor that the Wireless N standard will finally be complete in 2009. That should drive down the price of routers and we'll see the N standard in more laptops.

Windows 7, the replacement for the Vista disaster, will be sold before the end of the year. I heard this from a Microsoft employee who is fairly reliable. Microsoft sees the handwriting on the wall - Businesses are staying away from Vista in large numbers. Even if they just rename Vista it will help anemic Vista sales.

#145 - Happy New Years!

I believe the whole country is looking forward 2009. I know Microsoft is. They will cut off Windows XP on January 31 and they hope will finally start making money on that horrible operating system Windows Vista. They are working on the next operating system, but it won't be available till the end of 2009 at the earliest.

Most tech firms are hurting this New Years. Sales of everything but LCD TVs are down. PCs, Monitors, Printers you name it, its not selling well. Business is generally the driver on tech sales and business has put buying anything on hold. Maybe the Obama stimulus package will work to stimulate the economy. We certainly need stimulating.

So what will be new in 2009? I would guess that PC's will continue to get smaller, memory cheaper and hopefully the Internet will get faster. I think GPS's will appear more new cars and phones. More tech companies will go out of business or get bought. We are still pleased that we sell HP products. They will be around for the long haul. Their printer sales will support the weaker PC market through this downturn.