Category Archives: Live Digitally

Google Introduces New Services And Features At I/O Conference

Posted on by Chris Poindexter | NO COMMENTS

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Google announced a flurry of new services and updates to existing services at their I/O Conference in San Francisco. There were a steady stream of new products and enhancements to established services, so much so at times it was like trying to get a drink of water out of a fire hose.

For developers Google announced three new APIs, all of which will supply big improvements in battery usage. The fused location provider will supposedly use only 1 percent of the battery power used by older APIs. Along with that will be the Geofencing API, which tracks user location changes and activity recognition which can tell if a user is driving, walking or biking.

Whatever you’re doing you’ll be able to tap into Google’s new All Access streaming music service. Sign up now and get a free month and only $7.99 a month if sign up before June 30th, after that it will be $9.99 a month. Google says its service will make it easy to find and organize the type of music you like and with everything that Google knows about you that might be more frighteningly accurate than you would imagine.

Google Maps is getting a raft of new features that will make it easier to explore the world around you while keeping track of traffic, mass transit schedules and the fastest route to your favorite places to eat. Map enhancements will include 3D views, integration with Google Earth and…don’t ask me how they’re doing this…real-time rendering of cloud cover around the globe.

Google is touting the cross-platform theme for all their services and gaming APIs, one of the reasons I believe they’ll ultimately survive to take over the world from Apple and Microsoft. Users just don’t care about operating systems anymore, but developers do. Being able to build for all platforms against a single set of APIs is a very big advantage for Google. Cross platform and single sign-on for a variety of services is convenient for users and, if it’s one thing I’ve learned about technology over the years, always bet on convenience.google_maps_traffic

It remains to be seen if updates to Google+ will make that application any less of a muddled mess, but I’m not hopeful. HangOut keeps getting better and stands to become a serious competitor for Skype, TeamViewer and other group sharing apps, able to support multi-user video conference calls right out of the box.

With a continued emphasis on open development and small, quick apps, Google is like a digital candy store that keeps cranking out the gummy bears. If Apple and Microsoft don’t come up with a competitive strategy to co-opt developers and package services for users, it’s going to be a long, slow slide to obscurity for both of them.

Windows Blue Will Be Free Update

Posted on by Chris Poindexter | NO COMMENTS

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Windows Blue, otherwise known as Windows 8.1, will be a free update for people who have already purchased Windows 8, according to an announcement made by Microsoft at a tech conference in Boston.

There’s still no official release date for Windows 8.1, jokingly called “The Apology” by some in the tech industry, but analysts expect Microsoft to have it fully deployed for the 2013 holiday season. To have Blue loaded on PC makers newest models, it would need an official release date sometime this summer.

Microsoft and PC makers have struggled with a general decline in PC sales and sluggish sales of Windows 8 machines as more users find mobile devices and tablets are adequate for much of their personal technology needs.

ballmer_win8Even though Microsoft is touting 100 million Windows 8 sales, calculations based on internet traffic indicate an installed base to be under 60 million. The discrepancy can be accounted by users rolling their Windows 8 installs back to Windows 7. Consumers are not choosing Windows 8 over Windows 7, in most instances they don’t have a choice.

I ran through the configuration of several laptops at Dell, both touch and non-touch models, and there are few options the average consumer could find to get a laptop configured with Windows 7 from the supplier. HP store is still showing some Pavilion models available with Windows 7, but most newer models are all Windows 8. It’s hard to see how sales figures are meaningful when there’s no real option for alternatives other than making changes after the purchase.

The good news is the changes in Blue should address many of the shortcomings that have been annoying users. According to leaked screenshots users will have the ability to resize the startup application tiles and can expect the return of the Start button. There will also be more options for customizing Windows 8.1 without digging around in the internals.

We’ll know after the holiday season whether Windows 8.1 can salvage PC sales or, as we previously speculated, the decline in PC sales are a reflection of the changing market in personal technology. Outside of gaming and specialty applications like CAD, video editing and 3D rendering applications, there are very few applications for the average user that require big hardware.

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The Samsung Galaxy Note 2 – photo courtesy of Samsung

To get a read on the PC market and future of Windows 8 you may not need to do much beyond gauge how often you run across tasks that require a full size laptop or PC. How much of what you used to do on a laptop can now be managed by your smartphone or tablet? The drive for bigger screens and more powerful phones, resulting in models like the Samsung Galaxy Note and HTC Titan, may ultimately be more telling about the future direction of technology than any changes Microsoft could make to Windows 8.

Three Easy Ways To Backup Your Gmail Account

Posted on by Chris Poindexter | 1 Comment

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Back in 2011 thousands of GMail users got a shock when the company informed them that their emails and contacts had just disappeared. Presto, change-o, you gotta be freaking kidding me, gone. The company’s statement, delivered in a blog, was “…and we’re very sorry.” Google was eventually able to restore part of the missing data but that one incident points out that even the most robust data system, run by the smartest people in the room, can have a bad day.

Whether your email provider is Google, Yahoo, or Microsoft, not everything that can go wrong is under the vendor’s control. Added to the relatively remote possibility of a data loss accident is the greater potential for you to get cut off from your email account due to an administrative error or a hacker getting control of your account and changing the password.

Given all that can go wrong I believe it’s prudent for individual users to keep a local backup of their email. If you run your own business it’s imperative that you do so as many states have laws about maintaining records and email is a key driver in litigation these days. Fortunately drive space is cheap and the tools to backup your personal account are free. Businesses can opt for a number of relatively low-cost services for backing up email on an enterprise scale.

Desktop Email Client

Gmail has both POP3 and IMAP compatibility which you can use to keep local copies of your Gmail account. There are desktop email clients like Thunderbird or Apple Mail, available for every desktop operating system that can be used to backup your Gmail account. Instructions for how to enable Gmail for either IMAP or pop3 access can be found here.

Gmail Backup

This free python app is what I use to backup my Gmail account. It’s lightweight and verbose, making it easy to keep tabs on its progress. You can backup all your emails or select a date range. The app hasn’t been updated since 2011 but still works fine.

This is one solution that works better on Windows than Mac or Linux. I’ve had it running on Linux, but it wasn’t fun getting it setup. This is one task I offload to the Windows 7 box.

Mailstore

A Windows-only solution but it has some compelling features such as the ability to store your email on a flash drive in portable mode and compatibility with Exchange Server. The home backup version is currently free and Mailstore also has paid backup options for businesses all the way up to cloud service providers.

I’m aware I spend a lot of time harping on backups, both online and local data, and there’s a good reason for that. Of all the times I’ve seen where technology really ruins someone’s day, nine out ten times that event was a data loss. By backing up your personal data and files you may still have days technology lets you down but you’ll be able to configure a new device, restore your data and be right back in business.

Five Podcasts To Feed Your Mind

Posted on by Chris Poindexter | NO COMMENTS

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In the days I had to commute, it was a long drive. One day I figured out how to connect my MP3 player to the car radio and it seemed to open up a whole new world. How primitive those first steps seem in light of what’s available out there today.

There are a world of educational podcasts that cover everything from cooking and foreign languages to science and technology. In just a few minutes you can load your phone or tablet with enough fascination to make your daily commute the most educational part of your day.

Astronomy Cast

Need a crash course on the Oort Cloud? Or maybe you’re more into supersonic shock waves and planetary science. Whatever your interest in astronomy and physics, you’ll find many fascinating topics at Astronomy Cast.

NPR

I like NPR but their radio show covers a lot of subjects that might not work for you. The masters of audio have a podcast directory where you can mix and match your own news feed.

How Stuff Works

Many fascinating topics here like Stuff You Missed In History Class and Stuff Your Mom Never Told You. Put together by the Discovery Channel.

Radiolab

Many science related podcasts that also ask thoughtful and compelling questions. Radiolab is appropriate for a range of ages with an interest in science.

The Naked Scientist

If a scientist got naked on a podcast would anyone notice? Not on this show, which boils scientific topics down to clear and sometimes humorous basics. A fascinating range of timely and interesting science questions.

This is just the tip of the educational iceberg. There are literally dozens of great podcasts out there and it took some work to reduce it down to the best of the best. It’s safe to say that if there’s a topic you’re interested in, someone is putting together a podcast for it.

PC Sales Plunge But Is It Fair To Blame Windows 8?

Posted on by Chris Poindexter | NO COMMENTS

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Global PC sales suffered a dramatic drop in sales the last three months; the numbers were startling even considering PC sales in general have slumped over the last year. The news took a bite out of PC makers and Microsoft stock prices with HP losing 6.5 percent and Microsoft losing 4.4 percent.

While it would be easy to blame Microsoft and Windows 8 for the sudden collapse of PC sales, and as a Linux user I would find that somewhat satisfying, this is really a problem that runs deeper than the operating system for the PC industry.

Even my big Linux PC doesn’t see as much use lately, there just isn’t any compelling reason to fire it up. I have a laptop that meets my needs just fine, so why bother with the big hardware? Sometimes when I’m doing photo editing I miss my big, dual monitors but that’s about the only time. The problem for the PC market may not be Windows (for once) but the improvements in more compact hardware and connected devices.

One could have predicted the continued popularity of smaller connected devices by looking at Japan where the connected device market is nearly a decade ahead of the U.S. and has continued to eat away at PC sales as most consumers just don’t need big applications.

Productivity Applications In The Cloud

Probably the most disruptive change for the technology market is the easy availability of productivity apps. If you still need desktop productivity you have many options; gone are the days when Office was the only serious game in town. Online apps like Google Docs and Zoho are quickly replacing desktop applications all together, even for big companies like KLM and Disney. Those tools will only get more functional and ubiquitous as time goes on.

Without productivity apps what does that really leave for big boxes? Video editing, gaming, maybe big graphics work, not really a long list.

So it’s not just an operating system issue. There’s enough power in relatively modest hardware to do most of the tasks users require. New tablets, netbooks and smartphones don’t need an outside monitor or mouse and even keyboards are optional. Storage and applications are moving to the cloud, reducing even the need for external storage. Connected devices are light, convenient and powerful, cheap enough to be almost disposable and you don’t need Geek Squad or an IT department to set it up for you. The OS is largely peripheral to the equation.

To be fair Windows 8 does deserve some of the blame. Instead of separating the desktop and device markets, Microsoft went for a one-size-fits-all solution that didn’t really work for anyone. That was followed by the Microsoft admission that Office for Android will be delayed by at least a year. In the meantime Google is forging ahead with the integration of Google Docs and QuickOffice.

For the time being Microsoft Office still dominates the productivity market, but one wonders how long they can maintain the lead while absorbing a near continuous series of body blows, some of which are self-inflicted. It’s good to remember that RCA once dominated the personal electronics market and Kodak dominated imaging. In their day it seemed impossible that more nimble competitors could overtake them, but that’s exactly what happened.

Microsoft needs to pull it together or their legacy is going to be joining the ranks of those serving as a warning to companies of the future.

The Bundle Goes To Court – Again

Posted on by Chris Poindexter | NO COMMENTS
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Cable and media companies square off in court. Photo By –HellasX

The ongoing war between cable companies and media companies has finally spilled over into a court challenge between Cablevision and Viacom over an industry practice called “bundling”.

The suit, filed in New York, alleges that Viacom forcing cable companies to buy less popular channels, like Palladia and MTV Hits to get the more popular ones like Comedy Central and Nickelodeon. Those costs are then passed along to consumers, whether they like those channels or not. Cablevision is alleging the practice is illegal.

Viacom says its practices are legal and that cable and satellite companies carrying all their channels get a discount for carrying the less popular stations. Federal courts have tended to side with the media companies in the past.

If the court did side with Cablevision it would turn the media industry upside down. None of the media companies would be able to bundle the crappy stations no one wants with the more popular programming channels. What the courts might not like are all the media companies playing the same game, effectively operating as a cartel instead of an open entertainment market.  Media companies have also gotten silly with the number of ancillary networks cable companies have to carry to get discounts, with some requiring carriers to load up with as many as 14 lumps of coal in exchange for one or two diamonds.

Either way it’s in the legal hands of the federal court in Manhattan to sort out.

News Organizations Can’t Use Twitter Photos Without Permission

Posted on by Chris Poindexter | NO COMMENTS
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This photo was released under a Creative Commons License – By Andy Arthur via Flickr

In a ruling that could have wide impact on social media photography, District Judge Alison Nathan of the Southern District of New York ruled that two news organizations violated the rights of photographer Daniel Morel when they used photos he posted on Twitter without permission.

While the ruling upheld the rights of the photographer, the ruling simultaneously limited the damages Morel could collect.

The case between Morel, Agence France-Presse and the Washington Post has been watched with interest as it is the first that explores the commercial use of images made available through social media. It was the AFP that sued Morel to get a ruling on the legality of using such material after Morel accused them of copyright infringement. The AFP claimed Twitter’s terms of service gave them the right to use the images. The judge disagreed and granted Morel’s request for summary judgement.

More interesting still is the fact that Twitter was not a litigant in the case, a spokesman for the company claiming that Twitter users own their own photos.

The judge did say that rebroadcasting the images by retweeting those posted by users was fair game and allowed under Twitter’s terms of service.

The AFP, Washington Post and Getty Images all declined comment.

The ruling comes in the wake of the disastrous attempt by Instagram to modify their terms of services to allow a similar behavior. Although Instagram hastily retreated from their position after a massive user backlash, the number of daily users of Instagram has dropped nearly in half over the last month.

What Will the Classroom of the Future Look Like?

Posted on by Logan Harper | NO COMMENTS

The traditional image of a classroom is one teacher with about 20 students lined up in neat little rows of desks. A chalkboard is prominent in the front of the room, while students attentively scan their over-sized textbooks for information. Recent technological innovations are rapidly changing the landscape of the classroom, already replacing many chalkboards with interactive whiteboards and giving more students access to computers. With all of these changes occurring rapidly, what does the future of the classroom look like?

Net Zero Campuses
Alternative energy is hot, and schools are looking to reap its cost-saving benefits. Susan Smith, vice-president of the architectural design firm Corgan Associates, reports that more schools are turning to alternative energy, like solar and wind, to power their schools. Individual classrooms will become more efficient and greener, having fewer outlets and using more charging stations. The classrooms will be equipped with sensors that modulate light, based on how much natural light is coming through the windows. Geothermal heaters will warm water in bathrooms and the cafeteria.

Flexible Spaces
The Journal envisions spaces that could quickly be adapted to meet the needs of individuals, small groups and even several classes of students. Classrooms will have move-able walls to accommodate several instructors and as many as 60 students. Traditional desks will be replaced with learning pods so that students can embrace a more project-based curriculum.

The Whiteboard
Interactive white boards (like Smart Board) have already found their place into many classrooms, and they will be even more prevalent in the future. Rather than single, stationary boards positioned at the front of the classroom, the longest wall or multiple walls will be interactive for teacher and student use.

Goodbye, Textbooks
The reality is that most textbooks are cumbersome, pricey and become outdated quickly. Some schools are already using iPads and netbooks, and these devices will become more popular in the future. Students will use tablets to access their textbooks, complete their homework and submit their assignments. Paper will be obsolete, as students will take their quizzes and tests on their mobile devices. This will also make it more difficult for students to “misplace” their homework.

Virtual Learning
More students will take online classes, if not receive the bulk of their education at home via their computer. Virtual learning (or Hybrid Learning) will also have a more prominent place in traditional school environments, offering students electives that they would not normally be able to access, like instruction in Chinese. Virtual field trips will transport students to faraway places in real time, like the Congo or Stonehenge. Who knows, maybe they will see it all in 3-D? Virtual learning does not mean that education will be less hands on. Technology will enable students to engage in more simulations — after all, why dissect a real animal?

A Global Education
Technology can connect us to almost any part of the world, bringing us closer together, which presents some remarkable opportunities for the classroom. Students can learn together in Afghanistan and Oregon, breaking down ethnic divides and encouraging students to become more open minded and worldly. There will be no more “us and them,” because the globe will become one giant classroom.

Google Unveils Internet With 1 Gigabit/second Connectivity Speeds

Posted on by Chris Turberville-Tully | 3 Comments

The internet has come a long way since the super slow dial-up speeds that were standard just a few short years ago. It seems that there is constantly a different company offering newer and faster internet options. Google is the newest company to add to the list, announcing a new internet service at the end of July.

Say Hello to 1 Gigabit per Second Internet Service

This service, which debuted in Kansas City, Kansas and Missouri, is commonly known as Google Fiber. It uses fiber optics, allowing the service to provide download speeds of one gigabit per second. Yes, that is 1 Gigabit per second!

Pricing: Is it Affordable?

Google introduced the service in Kansas City, planning to begin installations in September with hopes of moving to other cities soon after. There is a $300 setup fee which Google said on Daily Mail’s website that homeowners should think of as a “home improvement cost.”

After the initial installation fee, a package including the high speed internet, more than 100 television channels, and 1 terabyte of cloud storage can find its way into your home for $120 a month.

Other Google Fiber Features

There are other perks offered by Google Fiber as well. The service offers a chance to record eight television programs at once, a huge jump from VCR recording that was the only option a few years ago. Smart phones or tablets can also be programmed and used as a remote control for the Google TV service.

While Google is still negotiating with several big name television networks, such as Disney, ESPN, and CNN, there are high hopes for this new service. Imagine a system where television channels, Netflix, YouTube, and recorded shows can all be easily flipped through – that’s what Google is trying to create with this new project.

Not interested in the television channels? Google Fiber also comes with an internet only plan which will likely be $70 per month. When many other internet plans, which are not nearly as fast, are priced just a little below that, there is potential for this service to take off rapidly as people realize the bliss of such amazingly fast internet.

If you lived in Kansas City, would you try Google Fiber?

Why Augmented Reality Will be the Next Great Media Format

Posted on by Logan Harper | NO COMMENTS

Over the last 500 years, a series of mass media formats have revolutionized human communication, from the Gutenberg printing press to the Internet. Now the stage is set for the emergence of the next great mass media format, which mobile media expert Tomi Ahonen predicts will be a technology called augmented reality.

Though anticipated by concepts like the Star Trek Holodeck, augmented reality is not science fiction. It is already being used through mobile devices like smartphones, while devices like Google’s Project Glass are being developed specifically for augmented reality applications.

The First 7 Great Media Formats

Tomi Ahonen, a leading writer on mobile media, says the seven greatest mass media formats in history have been print, audio recordings, cinema, radio, television, the Internet and mobile media. Each of these has spread quickly around the world, causing fundamental shifts in the way we communicate with each other and structure our societies. The first books and newspapers made information publicly available to people who had previously relied on word of mouth, and just last year, mobile media played a key role in the Arab Spring. Augmented reality’s potential remain to be seen, but this extraordinary technology is already spreading throughout the world.

What Is Augmented Reality?


Google Glass image, courtesy of Google.

Augmented reality is a mode of communication defined by augmenting ordinary human perception by delivering additional information and/or sensory stimulation in real time. For instance, while wearing Google’s prototype augmented reality glasses, a user can walk around a foreign city and see a translation of any foreign sign they look at into their native language. Augmented reality could also provide information about any landmark a person looks at, like having a guidebook built into your head, or dictate walking directions into a person’s ear based on their position in a city and what they’re looking at.

300,000 Hong Kong Butterflies

One fascinating application of augmented reality can be found in Hong Kong. Virtual butterflies are currently flying around Hong Kong, offering coupons to any augmented reality user who can capture one. Hunting for these butterflies with camera phones provides adventure for locals and tourists, while the coupons connect merchants to consumers. The butterfly app alone has already reached 300,000 users, and Ahonen says there are already more than 5 million augmented reality consumers. Ahonen projects that by the year 2020, 1 billion people will be using augmented reality. As computing power and the complexity of augmented reality increases, a growing number of users will discover together what this mass media format means for our society.

How Will Augmented Reality Affect Our Lives?

If Ahonen’s projections about the rapidly rising number of augmented reality users prove correct, the technology will cause a real shift in human behavior. The ease of accessing a constant rich stream of data related to one’s immediate environment will change our relationship to technology and to each other. A basic principle of augmented reality’s design is that it complements a person’s perception of his or her environment, rather than replacing it or interfering with it. But just what kind of social change this augmentation brings about remains to be seen.