This is a VERY cool idea. Almost everyone I know uses www.google.com to test if their connection is working; now they will be able to get the next layer of information.
Category Archives: Products
Commodities…
“Apple appears to have other plans to further innovation around its Multi-Touch platform that will reduce its reliance on chip designs conceived largely by third parties.”AppleInsider | Steve Jobs: it’s time we design our own iPhone and iPod chips
If you read the business papers, they give the impression that all hardware is now a commodity, that everything is assembled from off the shelf parts. Either they’re wrong or Apple is about to change that.
It just shows that very few things are really commodities.
Time to recommend…
A couple of months ago I put Mozy on the iMac at home.
For those that don’t know what Mozy is; you need to learn today. Most of us backup our data, we’ve already had the sinking feeling of a hard drive failure and now backup to an external drive. However, what happens when the house burns down?
Generally people think that this is a stupid point; however, I remember talking to a friend who lost her house when a Christmas tree caught file. Years later, the thing that she still missed…. her photos! Our photos are now digital and therefore can be saved, if they’re backed up to a second location. Mozy offers that second location in Utah, USA!
Before going further, you have to pay for Mozy but at $5 a month for unlimited storage (more on that later) it’s a bargain.
Initially it was the beta software and basically didn’t work. It was slow, I had trouble selecting what to backup without the software crashing and just to add to the pain there was a performance difference on the machine. I was about to ask for a refund when the v1.0 was launched.
This solved the majority of issues (although the initial scan for files is slow) and I’m now the proud owner of 50 Gb of data on the other side of the world. Peace of mind at last.
One final point, the space is unlimited but there are limits on how much you can upload every day. Therefore, backing up you’re complete DVD collection will be difficult.
All in all! Well worth a Starbucks a month.
Cars by Apple…
“An absolutely superb customer experience and once again gives a lot of weight to what Jobs says: when you control the hardware and the software (and, it turns out, the point of sale) then the integrated experience you can give to the consumer is nothing short of superb. I bet there is not a single phone on the market made by anyone else that could reproduce this experience.”
What this actually shows is how bad most customer experiences are. You spend tens of thousands of Euros on a car and you can’t get service like this!
Will interface matter?
Yes, of course it matters but…
What amazes me is how good the interfaces looks compared to Office; this is an online app and it looks lovely to my offline application. I’m used to the online applications looking like Google Docs; basic, blue and boring. This is something very different and, in fact, so good that I’m itching to use it but I don’t want to go through the transition process.
FolderShare downgrade…
There are a number of articles like this around at the moment…
FolderShare vs. Dropbox – GigaOM
I’ve been a Foldershare user for years, on the whole it’s been very good except when they had “server issues”.
However, the new version is awful. The old version listed the synced directories, the number of files they contained and how they were synced. In a single page you could see the complete status.
Now Microsoft has got their developers on the case. It looks prettier but the summary view has gone. This simple change makes it much harder to use. At least they were sensible enough to keep the Mac version.
Scoble changes his mind…
“Gmail is faster. Easier to use. Has better spam blocking. A nicer interface. Is better integrated into Google Calendar, which I’ve also switched to. Is far more productive.”Switching to Gmail… « Scobleizer — Tech geek blogger
So this morning I read a Scoble link to an article about how Office was the best application because of the additional functionality. This evening he’s changed his mind.
It’s funny the way that we’ve separated email from the rest of Office but in fact they’re the same; to the point that Word is the email editor in Outlook.
If Google Docs isn’t good enough because you can’t paste an image into it. Why isn’t that an issue in Gmail?
Google Docs vs. Office…
“The irony is you could go out right now, and get a whole Microsoft Office suite (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, OneNote) for $120 at Newegg, and you can install it on three different computers. And it works great and has tons more features than Google Docs. And it has no ads. Imagine that!”
Comment of the Day: “Google Docs is Chock Full of Fail” – ReadWriteWeb
This is very right, but yet so wrong…
- Sharing documents in Office is a pain and yet so easy in Docs.
- This calculation only works if you’ve three PCs on the same OS to install it on.
- Why can’t I pay Microsoft the dollar a month to avoid the up front investment?
- All this to keep a list of CDs or write the shopping list?
Does Docs need to improve? Yes, massively. Especially in for large data sets and with graphics but they’re out of the gate and it’s the right price.
MacBook Air…
“The key to understanding the appeal of the Air is that you’ve got to stop thinking about technical specs as the primary factors. Here’s an analogy: the MacBook Air is like a sporty convertible coupe. You buy one not for practical reasons, but because it is satisfying to own something beautiful and clever and fun.”
If John’s right, and he normally is, this really is the end of the old hardware business.
The “you can have any color as long as it is beige” period of development is over. So is the market to split like the car market.
We can have the MiniVan PCs, the sports PCs, the executive PCs, the hummer PCs, the city PCs and they’ll all be built on the same basic chassis and only rarely will anyone look under at the moving parts under the hood.
Plustek OpticFilm 7300 Film Scanner
Anyone have any experience with one of these…
Plustek OpticFilm 7300 Film Scanner
This high resolution film scanner now comes with enhanced Multi-Sampling and Multi-Exposure for better quality images…
The Plustek OpticFilm 7300 is a dedicated 7200 dpi film scanner, now bringing you a more powerful scanning device with its added Multi-Exposure for negative film and also the Multi-Sampling functions bringing out the best quality on photos and images at the most affordable price.
Plustek OpticFilm 7300 bundles the latest LaserSoft Imaging’s SilverFast 6.5 SEPlus (MultiExposure) software. The SilverFast 6.5 SEPlus (MultiExposure) software enhanced with powerful Multi-Exposure, Automatic Frame Detection, , SilverFast-Basic, NegaFix, Selective Colour Correction, Auto Adjust, USM, plus many many more. (For more information, please visit www.SilverFast.com)
Specification:
* Interface: USB 2.0
* Technology: Colour CCD image sensor
* Hardware Resolution: 7200 x 7200 dpi
* Dmax: 3.5
* Max. scanning area: 36.8 x 25.4 mm (1.45 “x 1″) for Negatives
* Preview Speed: 6.25 sec (positive film), 8.72 sec (negative film) without calibration
* Scan Speed: Approx. 87 sec (3600 dpi), 226 sec (7200 dpi) for colour slide
* Hardware Multi-Exposure on negative film: Yes
* Multi-Sampling: Yes
* Colour Depth: 48 bit/pixel
* Scan Mode: Single Pass
* Lamp: Cold Cathode
* Illuminated Slide Viewer Size: 38x38mm
* Dimensions(D x W x H) : 272 x 120 x 119 mm / 4.73″x10.7″x4.7″(scanner only)
* Net Weight: Approx. 1.5 kg / 3.1 lb (scanner only)
* Film Holder: Mounted slides, up to 4 slides
* Filmstrip: up to 6 frames
* Regulatory Certificates: CE, FCC, UL/cUL, TUV, BSMI
* Comes complete with :
* Padded Carry Bag
* Negative and Positive film holder
* Plustek Setup/Application CD-ROM SilverFast CD-ROM
* Quickguide
* USB cable – 150cm (59.05”)
* Power Adaptor: Output 15V, 1.0A
System Requirements:
* IBM Compatible PC, with Pentium III or faster CPU
* CD-ROM Drive
* One available USB Port
* 512 MB RAM
* 500 MB free HDD space
* High Colour graphic card (VGA or higher)
* Microsoft Windows 2000 / XP / Vista Compatible
* **** Please note this is minimum requirement only. It is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED to use a higher performance computer.