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Archive for the ‘Tech’ Category

I’ve been an avid user of ‘cloud’ computing now for some time. And Google docs has been an integral part of what I do Online.

I do quite a lot of what might best be called ‘mobile’ computing with a portable netbook and a tablet pc as part of the kit I use to carry out my Online work.

It makes sense then to have as many documents available in one location that can be accessed from all of those devices – and indeed from a public computer in an Internet cafe if need be.

If you use outsourcers or project teams in remote locations, the likes of Google docs proves very useful for document sharing because you can set password protection on individual documents such that some of your documents can remain private to you and others can be made available to people that you choose.

So, I was very interested to learn that Google was putting out some lightweight netbooks that basically use the Google Chrome browser in lieu of a traditional operating system.

The idea is that the ‘cloud’ becomes your workspace and storage space. A small amount of solid state storage is provided on the device itself – 16gb I believe.

Samsung and Acer have been chosen to provide the initial hardware – which comes in wifi and 3g flavors.

Here in the UK the Acer machine, which is my preferred model based on smaller screen size – therefore more compact and portable, which would better suit what I want to use it for – is not yet available, so I haven’t fully made up my mind whether I’m going to shell out for one.

On paper, weighing in at £300 to £400 at UK prices, I’m not sure what you actually gain over and above a netbook operating on the Windows platform – but I guess what I’m looking to find out in its purest form is whether this particular cloud business model would still need to be supplemented by a regular computer platform – which I suspect it would.

Anyway, I’m sure it would be a very interesting experiment, so I’ll keep you posted on what I decide.

Well, I think it needs to be my final tech purchase for a while! When you couple this with my recent purchase of a Macbook, I think I’ve spent quite enough money for the time being.

I guess the Macbook made it clear that my current Windows PC options were a little dated and persuaded me that I needed to update them.

To be fair, I’d been contemplating the purchase of a 17″ widescreen laptop for some time and a Sony was the only manufacturer that made it onto my shortlist this time around. I’m very satisfied with my 8″ Vaio P-Series for portable use when my 5″ Dell Streak tablet just won’t cut it, so a big screen Vaio just felt like the logical way to go.

And having used my new baby for the last two or three days, I definitely feel I’ve made the right choice. THis is definitely going to be my workhorse PC for the foreseeable – I’ve got a dealer’s two year warranty on it – which they threw in for no extra on the price – so, I’m hoping that I’m going to be using this piece of kit for at least that long.

I seem to have spent most of the last couple of days downloading Windows updates or Vaio updates – welcome to the wonderful world of Windows security patches – my Mac has been far less time-consuming!

Anyway, for the foreseeable, I have Windows programs that I’m definitely going to need to run that have no Mac equivalents (and I’ve made the decision that although I have an Intel-based Mac that could run Windows in a hard disk partition, I’m not going to do that, I want to leave it just running Mac OSX to avoid potential Windows virus problems).

Love the screen real estate on this 17″ running at 1600 x 900 resolution – I like the extra that’s displayed vertically on this machine compared to my old Toshiba Satellite 15.4″ widescreen as well as horizontally.

I did think about the overall spec I needed for some time. Did toy with the idea of going for a real state of the art, top of the range job (checked the custom options on Sony’s Website and this would’ve run me about £1000 in the UK), but decided that I didn’t really need that and as long as I got the basic chassis I would be able to upgrade things like the memory myself at a later date if I found that this was needed, and could make do with external options for hard disks and Bluray recorders etc as and when I decided to go this upgrade route.

So I’ve gone the route of a sort of baseline type of spec (and I’m very happy with my choice as I write this). My machine has an AMD Athlon processor rather than Intel, with a clock speed of 2.2ghz, 4gb memory and a 320gb hard disk. I’m absolutely delighted with the price I managed to snag this for – it is showing on Sony’s Website in the UK at the moment for £599 (it’s out of stock and I believe about to be dropped as a model), but I managed to order Online from a famous UK retailer (Marks & Spencer) for the excellent price of £423.20 – and that included a two year warranty and nominated day delivery. Yippee! Think I would’ve really struggled to beat that so I really do think I managed to bag a bargain here. The delivery cost should’ve been £4.95 but I managed to find an Online coupon that gave me this for free – always worth checking if the order form has a box for a coupon code – just do an Online search.

I have absolutely no problem that this computer has an AMD processor rather than an Intel. It’s the second laptop I’ve purchased with an AMD and I had no problems with the way the previous one operated so I don’t envisage any with this one. It runs Windows 7 perfectly ok so I think it’s a case of not really needing to know what it’s got under the hood.

Anyway, as with all new computer purchases, I’ve got a lot of setting up to do to get all of the applications working on it that I need – at least with the files I’ve been using a couple of external hard drives for a while now, so that’s ok, but some of the licenses I have with some of the software that I run won’t allow me to run that software on unlimited machines so I’ve got the hassle of decommissioning from an old machine just so that I can run them on this one.

So I’d better get back to it!

I’m typing this post on my new Apple MacBook – well, I’ve actually been a bit late announcing it because I’ve had it for almost three weeks now actually.

First impressions? I absolutely love it! I’ve been meaning to get a Mac of some sort for a very long time. I appreciate that they’re a real cut above Windows PCs – and boy, do I really accept that now.

It’s actually the first time I’ve ever owned an Apple computer of any description (it’s actually the very first Apple product I’ve ever owned) but their much-vaunted human-centric design definitely comes shining through as I’ve found my MacBook to be very easy and intuitive to use.

I’m certainly old enough to have been aware of the earliest Apple computers – I definitely remember the cult status that the Apple II had. I also remember the earliest machine with a GUI (that’s Graphical User Interface, if you don’t know), the Apple Lisa. I seem to remember it was a monochrome screen machine with a sort of bluish screen color and it was the first time I saw the trash can icon that we all now know and love. Obviously a certain Mr Gates saw the potential and decided to copy it! Oh, and I think I remember it had a ‘massive’ 5 megabyte hard drive!

I guess I’ve somewhat struggled to justify the expense given that I use software in my IM business that is PC-specific, so I’ve always needed a Windows machine to do a lot of the things I do Online. Now, my Mac is one of the new-generation ones with an Intel processor so I could run Windows in a separate partition on the hard drive. I’ve um’d and ah’d about that, but for the moment I’ve decided not to go that route. I think I’d prefer to leave this machine ‘clean’ and untainted by the virus-ridden Windows world.

What are some of the high points of the MacBook for me? Fantastic keyboard, absolutely gorgeous graphics – even the desktop icons are wonders to behold and real things of beauty and the colors on the screen are beautifully vibrant and full (my desktop picture is a snow leopard (because that’s the code name for this particular version of Mac OS) and you can pick out individual hairs in its coat, the screen resolution is that good. I also love the integrated look of every piece of software on this machine. Even third party applications look like they’ve been designed in house.

This particular machine is the cheapest in the MacBook line and, therefore, Apple’s cheapest laptop. But it certainly doesn’t feel in any way the poor relation of other Apple models. It has a 13″ screen, which is smaller than the 15.4″ widescreen I’m used to using as my main laptop, but it’s nicely compact and portable as a result – it’s definitely a tactile thing of beauty and I’ve taken to using it in bed a lot – make of that what you will!

Other aspects the spec like 2gb memory and  250gb hard drive would be sniffed at in the Windows world – especially in a machine that cost me £849 (UK) – and that’s cheaper than current list. But, Apple certainly seem to make those specs go a long way – the Mac OS is certainly not such a sprawling monster as Windows (even given that 7 isn’t as system hungry as the Vista it’s built on).

Other things I like? The built in Webcam looks to be a cut above the rather grainy ones you get in most Windows laptops. You don’t need the kind of excellent lighting to get an acceptable result that you normally need in a Windows machine.

If you’ve really wanted a Mac but aren’t sure whether you can justify it, I would definitely say, if you can afford it, go for it – I really don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

I’ve had a Dell Streak 5-inch touchscreen tablet PC for about a week and a half now – and I absolutely love it!

Already I wouldn’t want to be without it. It’s a super little Internet browsing device – it does a good job on the ‘real’ Internet, not just the mobile one. It works on the Android platform so there’s a ton of downloadable apps available for it – not quite in the iPhone league maybe, but it’s getting there – and with Google behind it, no more than you’d expect.

If you’re on the move in the UK and you want decent Internet access your only choice is mobile broadband, and the unlocked Streak will take a data sim from any UK mobile network.

Yes, you can use it as a mobile phone with a voice sim, although I guess some people will think it a little large to be holding up to the ear – I guess it’s horses for courses, this is really a device for people whose priority is a decent, pocketable Internet device that can also double as a mobile phone, rather than the other way around.

For me, I just wanted a useable and ultra-portable Internet browser, and this device with an excellent HD screen of 800 x 480 resolution is brilliant for this. I’ve never had a mobile phone – I sometimes feel that I must be the last man in the world who hasn’t – I guess I almost have one now – nice to know that the device is capable of performing this function if I want it to.

The Streak takes its place alongside my 8″ Sony Vaio P-Series that I’ve had since last October – 1600 pixel resolution across an 8″ widescreen can really put a strain on these ageing eyes as it was set up out of the box, but otherwise I like it and it is light and compact enough to be easily carried around.

I’ve upgraded it from Vista to Windows 7 – and I would definitely recommend this as Windows 7 isn’t such a system hog. Think I’ve definitely got my portable computing sorted for the moment!

Check the Dell Streak Out Here

Check the Sony Vaio P-Series Out Here