Getting started with eBooks

Thursday, July 23rd, 2009

If you’re in the market for an eBook reader and are baffled by the dozens of models on offer then hopefully I can help. Having reviewed a good number of the eBook readers on offer in the UK, I’m well placed to help you wade through the morass of marketing terms, claims and sheer nonsense that comes with every launch.

The first thing to note is that the UK eBook market isn’t actually as packed as it first appears. In fact it can be boiled down to the Sony PRS 505, the iRex range and the rest. And when I say “rest” I’m talking about the BeBook, Cool-er, Cybook Gen 3 and the Elonex eBook now on sale through Borders. Don’t be fooled by the slight modifications to their cases; beneath the exterior they’re all essentially the same device.

Basically, manufacturers buy the reference design from US-firm Netronix, tweak the hardware and software, slap their name on the case and sell them on. Currently at the top of this pile of identi-books is the Cool-er which is based on Netronix’s latest spec and so boasts double the RAM of its compatriots, a nicer screen and a faster processor making it noticeably nippier than the rest. If the Cool-er’s lurid colours and dedication to sexing up reading aren’t to your taste, then I suggest you take a gander at the elegant Sony PRS 505 – which sits at the top of our A List.

(more…)

Top ten stories about the moon and technology

Tuesday, July 21st, 2009

I’ve enjoyed watching ITV’s various moon-related programmes over the last few days, culminating in last night’s docu-drama (dreadful name) about the moon landing.

And even though the greatest “drama” they could rustle up at the end was for a broken switch (”The switch has broken” “So it has” “How did that happen?” “I don’t know” “Let’s ask Houston if it’s on or not” “Okay” “It’s on” How will I switch it off?” “With my handy fountain pen” “That should work”) the programme as a whole really drummed home the message of what an incredible feat the moon landing was.

And, naturally, being of an IT bent, I started idly wondering about the horsepower inside the Apollo 11 and the lander. It’s well documented/alleged that the computer inside the Apollo 11 was roughly similar in power to a calculator, but naturally the reality is so much more complicated. You can compare numbers of transistors, amount of memory, lines of code – but fundamentally you’re comparing peanuts with horses. (more…)

What’s the oldest piece of PC hardware in Britain?

Tuesday, July 21st, 2009

My post on Windows 7’s lingering affection for floppy disks sparked a lively game of hardware poker on PC Pro’s Twitter account yesterday.

Within minutes, people were merrily tweeting in, trying to out-do one another with stories of old hardware that was still running perfectly, many years after it should have been rightfully retired to a landfill site in China.

@djbennett999 showed his hand early, claiming his dad still uses a Windows 98 PC with Internet Explorer 6.  He was, frankly, going all in with nothing stronger than a 2 and a 3. No fewer than 37 people arrived at the PC Pro website yesterday with a Windows 98 PC. Seven were still running Windows 95, while 10 diehards darkened our door with a Windows 3.x system. Sorry, @djbennett999, you’re playing with the big boys now.

(more…)

Windows 7 still clinging to floppy drives

Monday, July 20th, 2009

I can’t remember the last time I used a floppy disk. I can’t even remember the last time I had a PC with a floppy disk drive in it. Like Robbie Williams and MPs with a conscience, I’d largely forgotten they even existed.

Not Microsoft, though. The company may be ploughing on with its next-generation operating system, but it fondly remembers the days when Windows 95 came on no fewer than 13 floppy disks, and is still attempting to keep the flagging old storage technology alive in Windows 7.

This was the message I saw when I attempted to create a password reset disk in Windows 7 over the weekend:

Microsoft’s not even covering the bases: it suggests floppy drives ahead of those new-fangled USB sticks, so determined is the company to keep the 3.5in clickers alive.

Is someone on commission over there in Redmond? We demand answers.

Keyword tagging – the key to SEO

Friday, July 17th, 2009

Recently I’ve been looking at the changing nature of search engine optimisation (SEO 2.0). This change is perhaps most apparent when it comes to the seriously under-appreciated importance of tagging.

The essence of SEO is an understanding of how search engines operate…

(more…)

End of Microsoft Popfly

Friday, July 17th, 2009

I just recieved an email from John Montgomery of the MIcrosoft Popfly Team that from August 24th Popfly will be no more.

Microsoft Popfly is that free service that enable you combine a series of applets into ‘mash ups’; we covered its use in the mag and online.

So all the time you spent coding your killer app with this service will be to no avail, another blow against using cloud services. In a stroke all your hard work will be removed.

Perhaps the rumours are right and Microsoft really is feeling the pinch?

Microsoft’s Project Tuva: physics made fun

Thursday, July 16th, 2009

Under the title Project Tuva, Microsoft has posted a series of classic physics lectures by Manhattan Project collaborator Richard Feynman for free on the web, and in the space of an hour they’ve become one of my all time favourite things.

They’re brilliant. Feynman has a lovely delivery that sweeps you along, together with a depth of understanding that allows him to strip a difficult concept down to its simple foundations, without needing to dumb it down. He just knows the right door to open in order to usher you quickly into his world.

Even if you’ve little interest in the topics under discussion, it’s well worth spending a few hours in Feynman’s company for the entertainment value. He’s a genuinely funny man able to express his science with a poet’s turn of phrase.

(more…)

The UK’s Top 40 tech celebs – and why Stephen Fry isn’t number 1

Thursday, July 16th, 2009

When I volunteered to write a feature about the most techie celebrities from these fair British Isles, I hadn’t anticipated the amount of work involved. I figured there would be around 15 celebs, maybe 20, who had been enticed into the wonderful world of Twitter, Facebook and blogging, but the list just kept on growing. I eventually settled on 40 as my cut-off point. Now to work out how to score it.

Fortunately my years working in the PC Pro Labs came to the rescue, and before I knew it I’d worked out a scoring system based on Twitter followers, interactivity, quality and quantity of blogs, techie knowledge and sheer amount of fame. Add it all up and out would pop a lovely number, somewhere between 1 and 100.

Naturally, the phrase “out would pop” is entirely untrue. I had to spend a good two weeks following each celebrity, checking for hints of their geekiness, before I could rate them with any authority. Then there was the small matter of trawling through blogs, Facebook accounts and even long-abandoned MySpace pages.

By the end, four men were vying for top position: TV and radio presenter Richard Bacon, comedian Dave Gorman, novelist Neil Gaiman and the inimitable Stephen Fry.

(more…)

The radical routers of the future

Thursday, July 16th, 2009

The technology inside routers is forever changing, but the cases themselves have evolved little beyond bland boxes that you shamefacedly tuck away in a corner.

That’s why broadband company TalkTalk teamed up with students from Goldsmiths University of London to create a series of conceptual routers that push the design beyond a black plastic box with obtrusions exploding from the rear.

Here’s what they came up with:

(more…)

Vodafone to charge for Twitter posts?

Thursday, July 16th, 2009

Yesterday I recieved an SMS from Vodafone saying that SMS to Twitter will in future be charged at the normal rate. I assume from this that SMS tweets will not come out of your allowance of free SMS. If this is so then Vodafone’s definition of free is interesting to say the least. Anyone else had this SMS ?