Category: Computers, Internet & Technology

Did you notice?

iTunes 7.3, which was released yesterday to incorporate the iPhone, alphabetizes the library differently than its predecessors.

Punctuation marks are somehow incorporated into the order — for example, Miles Davis’s ‘Round Midnight or Otis Redding’s (Sittin’ on the) Dock of the Bay. These used to be listed before “A” because of the apostrophe and the parenthesis. Now they show up under R and S.

And numbers now come after the letters rather than before — for example, Prince’s 1999.

I don’t care — I think I prefer this — but I thought it odd that the change was made.

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Some other stuff:

If you’re a shut-in you can check out the Moon Phase. (Today’s was a blue moon for most of the world. The U.S. had a blue moon last month.)

Here’s a bunch of photos of celebrities when they were kids. They’re captioned, but how many would you recognize?

For whatever reason, a video of Mika Brzezinski trying to do the right thing — and two knuckleheads.

How fast can you handle simple mathematical calculations?

Here in ‘Burque, using a pseudonym, a member of Mayor Marty’s cabinet called his radio show to flatter Marty and rail against the city council. Linda has ‘always been my alter-ego name’ CFO Gail Reese later said. Tbe Albuquerque Tribune has the story.

And Scott Adams has a take on lottery winners, prompted by the couple that won $105 million Wednesday night.

But I notice that the people who win are coincidentally the people who would be best for marketing future Powerball lotteries. You know what story you will never hear about a lottery winner? It’s this one:

“Wealthy bachelor neurosurgeon, age 30, wins $300 million in the lottery. The lucky winner, Winston Arbuckle III, says he plans to “Buy another yacht, smoke more weed, and float around the Mediterranean until I die from the clap.” Asked about his neurosurgery practice, Arbuckle quipped, “I never liked sick people.”

No, you will only hear stories about the modest couple with the hard-working husband, usually in his late fifties or early sixties. They will be “thinking about” getting a nicer house. In this latest lottery story, the husband is a long-haul trucker whose truck has recently crapped out. He plans to buy a new (used) truck and keep working.

Best iPhone line of the day, so far

“In other words, maybe all the iPhone hype isn’t hype at all. As the ball player Dizzy Dean once said, ‘It ain’t bragging if you done it.'”

David Pogue reviewing the iPhone.

But I’m waiting for the second generation, cachet or not.

Here’s the summary by Walter S. Mossberg and Katherine Boehret:

We have been testing the iPhone for two weeks, in multiple usage scenarios, in cities across the country. Our verdict is that, despite some flaws and feature omissions, the iPhone is, on balance, a beautiful and breakthrough handheld computer. Its software, especially, sets a new bar for the smart-phone industry, and its clever finger-touch interface, which dispenses with a stylus and most buttons, works well, though it sometimes adds steps to common functions.

Best line of the day, so far

“We’ve got a basic version that will cost $129. We’ve got a premium version which will cost $129. We’ve got a business version! $129. Ultimate version! We’re throwing everything into it. It’s $129.”

Steve Jobs, Apple CEO, talking about the new Mac OS X due out in October. His reference, of course, is to the multiple versions of Windows Vista, his point being there is just one Mac OS X version.

For what it’s worth

SAN FRANCISCO – Google Inc.’s privacy practices are the worst among the Internet’s top destinations, according to a watchdog group seeking to intensify the recent focus on how the online search leader handles personal information about its users.

In a report released Saturday, London-based Privacy International assigned Google its lowest possible grade. The category is reserved for companies with “comprehensive consumer surveillance and entrenched hostility to privacy.”

None of the 22 other surveyed companies — a group that included Yahoo Inc., Microsoft Corp. and AOL — sunk to that level, according to Privacy International.

Yahoo! News

How wired are you?

The Pew Internet & American Life Project released on Sunday a study…of people’s “evolving relationships to cyberspace.”

Pew found in a survey that 73 percent of U.S. adults own a cell phone, 68 percent have a desktop computer, 30 percent possess a laptop, and 73 percent connect to the Internet, but that very few use them to express themselves publicly via Web 2.0 applications.

The study defines Web 2.0 users as people who take advantage of technology “to express themselves online and participate in the commons of cyberspace,” including maintaining a personal Web site, blogging, vlogging, remixing media or sharing new-media creations.

Only 8 percent of U.S. adults are “deep users” of Web 2.0 features, the study found, though many American adults do own the gadgets that enable those functions and use the devices to express themselves privately.

For example, 37 percent regularly use instant messaging, and 41 percent have sent a text message from a cell phone. More than a fourth of U.S. adults have downloaded music files, and 19 percent have shared photos, stories, artwork or videos.

According to Pew, there are currently eight major connection points: desktops, laptops, digital cameras, video cameras, Webcams, media players, cell phones and smart phones.

CNET News.com

Here’s the report from Pew: A Typology of Information and Communication Technology Users.

And here’s where you can take the brief Technology Typology Test.

And the comments link below is where you can “express [yourself] online and participate in the commons of cyberspace.”

Need a new laptop? (I do)

David Pogue:

Best Laptop: MacBook. It runs both the virus-free Mac OS X as well as Windows, making the world’s entire library of commercial software available to you. It’s loaded (built-in video/still camera, Wi-Fi, DVD burner, Bluetooth). Its magnetic power adapter means you’ll never drag this thing off the table by accident. And its design is light-years cleaner and smoother than Windows laptops, which are covered with so many flaps, panels and stickers, they look like quilts. (The base price is $1,100, but you should get it installed with more memory than the ridiculous 512 megs it comes with.)

I’d have said the MacBook Pro, but I find those 15- and 17-inch models too big for convenient portability; I know this is a matter of personal choice, but I always feel like I’m carrying around a serving tray. The 13-inch, extremely bright MacBook screen is just right.

But, meanwhile Walt Mossberg has some hesitation:

Apple’s two laptop lines, the MacBook and MacBook Pro, are very good. They have better built-in software than any Windows laptop I’ve seen and don’t suffer from the security issues that plague Windows. And they can even run Windows software, if you need that.

But the Mac laptops lack some features that are common on Windows portables, such as slots for camera memory cards and built-in cellular modems. And the MacBook even lacks an ExpressCard or PC Card slot.

Windows or Apple, overall Mossberg says, “First, you may want to wait to get that new laptop until later this year or early in 2008. There are a number of interesting new hardware features coming.”

People are more stupid than anyone item of the day

• Nearly half of the 24 million households with HDTVs don’t actually watch high-definition programs because they lack an HDTV feed from either via cable or satellite

• 25% of those surveyed didn’t even realize they were watching non-HDTV transmissions

Audioholics Home Theater Reviews and News

Of course, some may watch HDTV over-the-air for free as I do.

Get a Mac

Walt Mossberg provides his “annual spring buyer’s guide to desktop PCs.” It includes this:

So, if you desperately need a new Windows PC, be prepared to be underwhelmed and to be frustrated by incompatible software and hardware. And if you’re not desperate, you might wait another six months or so for the software and hardware to catch up — and for Microsoft to issue some bug fixes.

Or you could buy a Mac instead. I still believe the best desktop computer on the market for mainstream, nontechnical consumers is the Apple iMac. It has gorgeous hardware and superior built-in software. Its operating system, Mac OS X, includes most of the key new features of Vista. And the iMac can even run Vista, along with its own operating system, if you need the occasional Windows program.

NewMexiKen runs Vista on my iMac — for the handful of Windows programs I choose not to give up, Vista’s lovely new version of Spider Solitaire among them.

Using a reader

Do you check many of the same websites every day? Looking for a better, quicker way to find out if they have anything new — or anything you’re even interested in? You need a reader.

Most websites that update often (such as blogs and news outlets) publish a striped-down version of their content in a form known as RSS. A “reader” uses this “RSS feed” to keep up with changes in content.

The best way is to show you. The images below were taken from my computer screen while using the free web-based Google Reader (web-based means I can access my personal content from any computer just by logging in, as with web-based email).

In the first image (click to enlarge) the left column lists those sites I have subscribed to (three in this example) and indicates how many items are current (unread) for each. In the larger, right window each post from the subscribed sites is listed, one line per post.

Reader View One

In the second image, or expanded view, you are able to see just the first few posts. (Some websites, such as NewMexiKen, publish the full content, others abbreviate their feed so that you need to access the site to read the whole item.) With the Google Reader you scroll down (the spacebar will move you between items) and quickly skim (or read in full) all the current posts.

Reader View Two

There are many, many readers, web-based and application software, free and not free ($30±). Here I am simply suggesting you give readers a try. Long-time NewMexiKen visitor Annette did so this week and she told me: “I am now set up with Google Reader. It’s awesome! I should have set up something like this a long time ago.”

Google Reader – Tour. (You will need a free Google account to set up your own Google Reader.)

[FYI Google is not my usual reader. I am simply experimenting with it. My reader is NetNewsWire, application software for the Mac. I subscribe to about 200 feeds.]

Spring cleaning

With Earth Day coming on April 22nd and “going green” becoming a fashionable proclamation, you’re sure to find more and more options for recycling your computer or sending it away to someone who can refurbish it. One way or another, your old computer can be used for much more than gathering dust in a basement corner.

The Mossberg Solution suggests options for recycling your old computer(s).

Another use for iPods

iPod Bullet

Wow, as if there weren’t enough reason to carry around your iPod, Kevin Garrad of the 3rd Infantry Division has evidence that an iPod can save your life. Apparently, he had the iPod in his outside pocket when he was shot with an AK-47; the iPod seems to have slowed down the bullet enough to prevent it from penetrating his body armor.

The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)

Apple TV

This silvery little $299 gadget is designed to play and display on a widescreen family-room TV set all the music, video and photos stored on up to six computers around the house — even if they are far from the TV, and even if they are all Windows PCs rather than Apple’s own Macintosh models. It can also pull a very limited amount of music and video directly off the Internet onto the TV.
. . .

Yet, in our tests, it worked great, and we can easily recommend it for people who are yearning for a simple way to show on their big TVs all that stuff trapped on their computers. We tried it with various combinations of Windows and Mac computers, with movies, photos, TV shows, video clips and music. And we didn’t even use the fastest wireless network it can handle. It performed flawlessly.
. . .

We’ve been testing Apple TV for the past 10 days or so, and our verdict is that it’s a beautifully designed, easy-to-use product that should be very attractive to people with widescreen TV sets and lots of music, videos, and photos stored on computers. It has some notable limitations, but we really liked it. It is classic Apple: simple and elegant.

The Mossberg Solution

In looks, it sits at the top of the heap. Apple TV is a gorgeous, one-inch-tall, round-cornered square slab, 7.7 inches on a side. It slips silently and almost invisibly into your entertainment setup. (You can’t say that for, say, the Xbox, which, in comparison, is huge and too noisy for a bedroom.)

The heart-breaker for millions, however, is that Apple TV requires a wide-screen TV — preferably an HDTV. It doesn’t work with the squarish, traditional TVs that many people still have.

Apple defends its audience-limiting decision by saying that the future is HDTV; Apple is just “skating to where the puck is going to be,” as a product manager put it.

David Pogue

Sterile and soulless

David Pogue just takes CompUSA apart.

This may sound a little harsh—but frankly, I’ve never quite understood how CompUSA stayed in business to begin with. Most of the stores I’ve visited have been sterile and soulless, and pervaded by a feeling of abandonment. You’d think a gearhead like me would get all excited to be there, but for some reason, I just can’t wait to get out.
. . .

But what about the old argument that local shops offer hand-holding, friendly advice and personal service?

Well, there may be CompUSA employees who provide all that. But I haven’t met many of them.

There’s more.

The Most Annoying Things About Windows Vista

There’s lots to like in the newest version of Windows. Vista’s look is stunning, the OS should be more secure, and finding things is often easier. But Windows wouldn’t be Windows without those aspects, big and small, that just drive you nuts with frustration. Here’s our list of Vista features that just make us wonder, “What were they thinking?”

PC World via Yahoo! News