Unconferenz has rescheduled to Saturday, March 20, 2010 from 8:00 AM – 4:00 AM at Kapiolani Community College. (This was postponed due to the Tsunami Warnings the day of the original event.) A wide variety of topics and a great chance to network. Sign up on their site now to get a t-shirt and lunch.
HMAUS (Hawaii Mac and Apple User Society) has scheduled their annual Springfest for May 1st at Kapiolani Community College. These day-long events typically feature a variety of FREE lectures and demos covering computer use, digital photography, and social media, and are open to the public. Details are still forthcoming, but pencil in the date now.
First, you may be wondering, WHY hide from Google. The answer is that perhaps you don’t want one entity to know all about you, your friends, and your internet activities. But, there are many people that WANT to be found by their name and activities; they don’t mind that old relationships, strangers, or advertisers know about their personal lives. If you are one of those, this article isn’t for you — go back to Twittering about your MySpace page on your Android phone.
Good, now that the Google fanboys are out of the room, let’s talk. Data; yours, mine, and everyone else’s, is slowly “moving to the clouds”. More and more companies are using cloud-based applications, like Google Docs, instead of their desktop version, Microsoft Windows. As Google Europe boss, John Herlihy, said: “In three years desktops will be irrelevant” . Even Steve Ballmer, head of Microsoft has said that cloud computing is a $3.3 trillion industry, something he’s betting his company on. Once your data is in the hands of someone else, how much real control do you have with it? As Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt has said in regards to Google and privacy concerns, “If you have something that you don’t want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn’t be doing it in the first place.” .
It used to be easier to hide from Google. You could simply stop using their search engine. Google Search Engine: everyone knows and loves this. AVOID. Try Scroogle.org for proxy searches, or use Bing or Yahoo.
Google has invested in some very clever ways to make itself part of your everyday experience, even if you don’t realize it. This isn’t to say that Google is all evil or all good. What they do with the huge amounts of data they have isn’t entirely clear to those outside the company. They do, however, make a huge portion of their profits from targeted advertising. If you value your privacy and don’t want Google to have access to it, you’ll need to consider these other, more hidden, Google products: Read the rest of this entry »
Like a lot of people I was excited to learn about yesterday’s Apple iPad release. Steve Jobs had said it would be “one of the most important things I’ve ever done” [techcrunch]. Apple calls it “magical and revolutionary“. And, also like a lot of people, I was let down by learning the details of the iPad. I think I know why.
Many people assumed that this new device would be along the lines of a netbook — one of those small-screened devices that allows users to do MOST of what they can on their larger PCs, but using more cloud-based services to get around storage and processing limitations. In other words, netbooks are a perfect match for things like Google Docs, Dropbox, and Picnik to help get around less powerful CPUs and smaller drives.
That assumption — that iPad would be a netbook — was what led to my disappointment. The iPad doesn’t do a lot of the things you need a netbook to do: multitasking (multiple applications running at the same time), Flash in web sites, and file and document control. In fact, several sites have lists of why the iPad fail: gizmodo, pcworld. But I think they are missing the point.
Classics App page example
As far as most of the features on the iPad, they are available already (albeit in smaller screen space) on iPhones and iPod Touches: Safari, Mail, Video, Photos, YouTube, iPod, iTunes, App Store, Maps, Notes, Calendar, Contacts, Home Screen, Spotlight Search. The biggest NEW feature is the “iBook” which makes the iPad an eReader for electronic books. (Yes, iPod Touch and iPhone also have this ability — Classics app, for example, looks amazingly like what iBooks became.)
What the iPad does do, though, is “revolutionize” Apple’s money stream on iTunes. They will now be selling e-books (along with music, audiobooks, movies, TV shows, and apps). They will now be competing with Amazon’s Kindle and Barnes and Noble’s Nook Ebook Readers. They will also be (indirectly perhaps) taking on Google’s Books.
So, if you consider iPad as an eReader (with the ability to do some apps and multimedia) it’s a great, little device. Pricier than the competition, but with more functionality and style.
Just give up your notions of netbook (Apple has the Macbook Air for that (cough, cough)), and consider this iPad as the missing eReader device in their already excellent music (iPod) and cell phone (iPhone) device line.
One of the requests I hear from people is they want to backup up their files (MP3’s, videos, photos, and documents) but be able to also view them on different computers, wherever they might be: across town or across the world.
Are you looking for a way to backup and sync files between Windows computers? Looking to have a safe way to view those files remotely, from anywhere? Want to share those files with others? Syncplicity is set up to do that, with a lot of extras!
Take a look at how easy and versatile Syncplicity is:
3GB cloud-based web space
Windows XP or Vista
View files online (download from anywhere)
Edit your files to Google Docs, Picnik, or Scribd (no need to have those installed on the computer you are using, great for on-the-road use)
Sync between computers
Auto-backups
Share files and folders with others
The cost for all those features? FREE! Need more space? Get 50GB of space, more than enough for most people’s collections for just $10 month!
So, check out Syncplicity and see how easy it is to backup and sync your computers!
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Looking for FREE set-it-forget-it backups; check out our article on Mozy.
Amazon has Snow Leopard Mac OS X version 10.6 (the upgrade to Leopard) available for pre-order on its site for $29. Their Free-Shipping option works even to Hawaii! Amazon also has Windows 7 available for pre-order. Prices start at $119.99 for the Home Premium Upgrade, or $199.99 for the Professional Upgrade. The difference depends on the features you need, see this chart for more information.
I’ve used BlueHost for several sites and client sites. They are a reliable, quality hosting company. Features include CPanel (for easy graphical access to your site), unlimited domain hosting, free domain, PHP/MySQL, easy site-script installation (used to be Fantastico), and many others. For $3.95/month it’s a great deal going on now, especially if you might be running a WordPress, Mambo, Joomla, or even ZenCart e-commerce site. Check BlueHost.com out today for the deal!
Back when I went to j-school, the Internet wasn’t considered a form of “mass media” yet. It was still pretty well limited to email and clunky browsers with limited information. Well, obviously that’s all changed. Journalism schools are teaching about how social media (things like blogs, twitter, facebook, etc.) are changing the way information is communicated, often making it into the “traditional mass media” (newspaper, television, radio).
In support of the new Star Trek movie that is coming out, a very cool site is online that allows you to hold the Enterprise in your hands: www.Experience-the-Enterprise.com. You visit the site, install an Active-X browser plugin, print out an image (that’s used to control the movements), and get your webcam fired up. (Yes, you need a webcam.)
Here’s a video of what happens:
I tested it myself with a black/white printout, OLD webcam, and not so fast computer. Worked really well. However, controlling it is like trying to cut your hair in the mirror, awkward. (Practice a bit before showing others.)
Some real Trek-fans told me there were errors in the narration that goes with it: “Lieutenant Sulu” instead of “Ensign Sulu”, etc., etc. I don’t know. Just know it was FUN! Check it out: www.Experience-the-Enterprise.com.
(Or, just kick back and let Shatner pick the videos: youtube.com)
