Waiting to be “wowed”

You’ve seen the ads. The moment Microsoft announced it’s new operating system, Vista, you keep hearing and seeing the slogan: “The “Wow” starts now.”

Sorry, to burst your bubble Bill Gates, but you didn’t create a new product for your faithful Microsoft users. Mac OS X has already done it.

While Vista is indeed a major update to Windows, a lot of it is just making up for lost time. The last time Microsoft released a product was in 2001 with Windows XP, and since then a single interim update in Service Pack 2. Mac OS X has been steadily releasing updates.

This means Mac OS X has been evolving and Microsoft needed to catch up.

Microsoft is introducing a number of new features:

A live, 3D desktop that lets you browse through open program windows and picking the one you want, instead of opening up everything from the taskbar.

Speaking of the taskbar, that too is now animated. Scroll over each application and a thumbnail preview comes up so you don’t have to open the file.

Mac OS X has done both. The popular feature of seeing a preview of all open documents is going to be even better with Mac OS X Leopard spaces feature. And the magnifying of the taskbar applications is called the dock.

Vista will also offer a tool called Find located at the Start menu. Instead of searching for files and guessing where you might have saved it, simply start typing in the file name and it shall be found.

Mac OS X has done that. Spotlight allows you to search and find everything.

In Vista, the contents in folders show up live in a preview window, so you don’t have to click on them guessing if that’s what you need.

Mac OS X has done this too. I must admit, this is one of my favourite features on a Mac and just for that, I will not go back to Windows.

Finally, gadgets in sidebar that allows you to customize downloadable gadgets such as the weather or games.

Again, Mac OS X has done that. It’s located on the dashboard and instead of gadgets, their called widgets and I particularly enjoy the Sudoku widget.

One question remains: Where’s the "wow" factor?

I’m waiting to be wowed.


My professor sent me a link to an amusing comic found on The Joy of Tech.

USB Keys: Part Two

The battle between record companies and file sharing software companies has hit new heights.

With the rise of the internet, digital technologies and new products from the iPod to digital recorders rapidly transformed how consumers access their music, movies, TV programs and any other form of entertainment.

Record companies kept hitting back with lawsuits and options that still got people to purchase songs and not download them.

Artists sold mp3 files on websites. iTunes came out with their store where you can purchase whole cds for half the price. But, has this been enough? Have people stopped downloading?

The latest attempt at getting people to purchase music instead of downloading it comes in a USB key.

The Barenaked Ladies, a Canadian alternative rock band from Toronto released their new cd on a USB key.

The band is trying to do two things:
1. The band wants to spread ecological consciousness through their Barenaked Planet initiative.
2. Accept the fact that you can't stop the sharing of music.

In an interview on The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos on CBC, Steven Page and Ed Robertson admitted that they are going to make it easy for their fans to get their music.

If people are going to burn a cd on their computer the moment they buy it, why not just give them the mp3 file. But what about the artwork, photos, lyrics? It's all there in .jpg format. Call me old fashioned, but that's what I liked about cds.

And once you are done, you can pass the USB key to your friends, or delete all content and reuse it. Eco-friendly? Possibly. Is this the next big thing? Not really. Just because you are eliminating the cd, it doesn't mean people will pay for this.

Goodbye Floppy Discs

I have a new fashion accessory for all of you out there.
You may hang it around your neck. You may use it as a bracelet charm or add it to your key chain.

It's small, comes in various colours and can store your life. Instead of lugging around your laptop, tote a small USB key.

USB keys, also called U3 or smart drives are simple data storage devices. That means you can take your data and applications with you. Work on them at school or work and take them with you when you're done. And the next person who uses the computer cannot access what you were working on because you don't leave a record.

These little gadgets have officially killed off both the floppy and Zip drives.

But, with Canadian companies monitoring portable storage devices their employees bring to work, it leaves me wondering if we've moved on from email tracking to pocket checking?

According to a national survey conducted by Ipsos Reid and sponsored by Sun Microsystems of Canada Inc., companies have banned MP3 players, such as iPods, over worries that employees can use them to steal corporate data.

Poll results showed that 49 per cent of mid- and large-sized businesses across Canada have established policies to prevent personal laptops and USB keys from entering the workplace.

There is a good reason for concern. These little devices can now store up to 4GB of information. According to the survey, that's equivalent to "approximately a half million pages of text or 800,000 emails." Now, the top-of-the-line iPod holds 60GB.

Is this just paranoia? Remember when our emails were being tracked (and still are) or external web browsing was forbidden? Is this new measure just a way to protect us from data loss due to security breach?

With more companies going remote, accessing computer files from across the world is crucial. This little USB device was an answer to portable computing, so why sensor it?

For information on U3-compatible applications, go here.

IE vs. Firefox

When I told my geeky friends that I'm starting a technology blog, they laughed. I was asked, how could I write about technology when I yell at technology. Good point. I do yell at electronic devices. I told them the blog was going to be my place to vent my frustration.

I'm involved in a web project called TheThunderbird. An online magazine at the UBC School of Journalism. When the website was being developed, it looked fine because it was lacking content.

When we started to plug-in content to various fields, it looked perfect on a Mac, but the moment we tested the page on a PC, it was "sick." It looks fine on Firefox and even Safari, but it looks broken on Internet Explorer. Who uses IE anyway?

Microsoft's IE has been and still is (unfortunately) the standard for internet users. But, web browsing as we know it has reached a tipping point in the '90s when IE had some serious competition - from the makers of Mozilla - Firefox 2. And today it's not only getting the attention from the geeky set.

Internet users have been switching from IE after several security problems emerged with IE. Microsoft issued patches to fix the problem, but bandaids are temporary solutions not permanent fixes.

Firefox on the other hand is lauded by its fans for its download speed and superior user interface. It has a great pop-up blocker and tabbed browsing, which IE does as well with it's version 7.

Unfortunately, the biggest downfall is that IE comes with Windows therefore people generally resort to what's already there. Also, most websites are built using IE and don't show up properly on Firefox.

I think it's time we stop using IE and move to Firefox. Developers are switching to Firefox and maybe IE's dominance will soon be short lived.

Trends and predictions

The New Year always begins with predictions for the upcoming year. Technology, business - magazines are coming up with their top 20 companies to watch out for or top 10 gadgets you must have. This year isn't any different.

Backbone magazine published Predictions 2007: Top 7 tech trends for the year (Available online). Unfortunately, their list wasn't shocking. It didn't name any new developments. It reiterated what already exists. It only affirmed that the technology is already there and 2007 is just going to see an evolution to a better product.

That evolution may already be here. 2007 started off with a blast.

To summarize it in two words: iPhone.

It was one of the most anticipated product announcements. It has long been rumoured that Apple will hit the cell phone market with a product that will send the gadget industry buzzing.

Apple CEO and chairman Steve Jobs unveiled the phone in a speech that opened MacWorld, Apple's annual conference and product show in San Francisco. Couldn't be there for the announcement? You may download the address and have your mouth water.

The phone is only a centimeter thick. Has a flat screen and just one Power button on the front. It's a widescreen iPod, a phone and an internet device that allows you to email, web browse, search - all of this in one tiny hand-held device.

Apple is known to offer you a number of versions of the same product (all depending on what your pocket can afford). Not surprisingly, you have a choice: 4 GB for $499 and 8 GB for $599.

In other words, Apple wants you to buy the 8 GB phone. More power to do more with the hand held toy. If Apple decided to make a 2 GB phone, what services of the iPhone would it have to sacrifice?

Would that mean people would still purchase the iPod separately to have both the mp3 player and the phone. Or was Backbone magazine right to predict that hand-held devices are seeing a "continuing convergence of multiple functions into a single device." And what other companies are going to pull their services together and create the motherload of hand-held toys?

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