Gdovin.net

Mike Gdovin gives a review of his new HP Mini 1000 netbook!

Anyone like me who has been using a computer for over a decade probably has a lot of digital clutter as well as extra web accounts that you no longer want. The solution to this is that you can purge your digital life regularly and get rid of what you no longer want. I did this recently and it has cleaned up digital life significantly.

First, go through your computer or computers and find all the files that you no longer need. From there sort them into these folders: Save, Delete, and Undecided. For the “Save” folder, either put them in a special “archive” folder like I do, so that you can have easy access to your files but, they are not in the way of getting to the files that you need more frequently. Or, if you want to save space on your hard drive, you can archive the files on a  thumb drive or external hard drives. Everything in the delete folder just delete that folder and remember to empty the recycling bin or Trash Can. Then, once all that is done, go through the undecided folder and sort them out and repeat the process.

Next, it’s time to go through your applications on your computer. I recommend uninstalling any program that you do not use regularly or has been inactive for 6 months or more unless you have a specific use for it. That would help clear out your applications and give you more free space on your hard drive. Now go through your saved bookmarks in your web browser, delete any bookmark that you no longer need or don’t use. This will make navigating your bookmarks much easier in the future. The next step is to go through all your web accounts and delete once you don’t use anymore and get rid of what you no longer need. Finally go through all your email and delete old emails and getn rid of things you no longer want or need anymore.

By following my process and using it on your computer and digital life, you will have a lot more working room and less mess to deal with and your computing experience will be much easier.

As I mentioned in my previous article, books are too expensive and inefficient. However, Amazon has solved that problem with their Kindle ebook readers but why pay for another piece of hardware if you have a iPhone or iPod. and there is a free app for reading ebooks called Kindle and is made by Amazon as well and let’s you buy as well as read electronic books and makes reading anywhere simple.

Reading on the Kindle is so easy you just tap either side of the page to go forward or back in the book. You can even change the font size to create your optimal reading environment. You can also download books off Amazon’s mobile book store and then sync them wirelessly to your device. I have been reading iCon: The Second Coming of Steve Jobs on my iPod Touch and it is the best reading experience of my life.

I reccommend all iPhone and iPod Touch users since it is a free application and books are usually around $10 and let’s you take your books anywhere in your pocket!

Last Tuesday, Phil Shiller, Bertran Surlet, and Scott Forstall took the stage and made some major announcements of updates to Apple’s Product line. It was a big event where big announcements were made and some rumors were proven true. Let’s get into what happened last Tuesday:

New Macbook Pros

• Faster Processors
• Up To 8 Gigabytes of RAM
• SD Card Reader
• New 13 Inch Model
• Built-in Battery
• White $999 Macbook Only Remaining Macbook

Snow Leopard

• Faster Performance
• Built-In Exchange
• Safari 4 With Crash-Prevention
• Quicktime 10
• 3D Dock Rendering
• Expose in Dock
• Faster 64 Bit
• Better Multi-threading
• Upgrade $29 for Leopard Users and Family Pack for $49- Coming Out in September

iPhone 3.0

• Find my iPhone and Remote Wipe (MobileMe Subscription required $99/Year)
• Faster Safari
• Much More
• Released Wednesday June 17th
• MMS (Not in US till end of Summer 2009)
  

iPhone 3GS

• Faster Performance
• 3 Megapixel Camera with Auto focus, White balance, and exposure)
  
• Video Recording, Editing and Sharing
• Compass for Location
• Voice Control
• Longer Battery Life
• $199 for 16 GB and $299 for 32 GB
• 8 GB iPhone 3G available for $99 and 16 GB for $166
  

While I was in New York City, Plaz and I visited a Sprint Store and had the chance to try out the new Palm Pre. At first I thought the Pre was the first phone that could challenge the iPhone but after using the device it seems the Pre still needs to be developed signifigantly to be a true iPhone competitor.

The device itself is significantly smaller the iPhone also leading to a smaller screen which makes the device harder to use. The other major issue is the keyboard, while the iPhone has a generous touch screen keyboard, the Pre has a minuscule plastic hardware keyboard and makes it difficult to do long writing on while on my iPod Touch I can easily write full blog post and data entry to me is very important in choosing a mobile device.

The Palm WebOS is nice but has a steep learning curve. The gestures to operate the phone are quite confusing and makes getting started using the phone complicated. The multi-tasking is the one feature that makes iPhone user jellous and it is well done in a Mac OSX  expose style. However at first using this powerful feature is hard to use. The other major flaw is the lack of and app store and it’s over dependance on web apps. This enraged early iPhone users and I had hoped that Palm had learned from Apple’s earlier mistake.

Overall, I think that the Palm Pre was a good first try to challenge the iPhone but still needs a lot of improvements before becoming a real iphone challenger. It has potential but if they fix the problems I pointed out, then it could be a rival to the iPhone. But for now and with iPhone 3.0 Software and the new iPhone 3Gs on the horizon, they are still the best smartphones on the market.

I recently took a Trip to New York City with my friend Michael Plasmeier and found out about a great Bus service that was extremly affordable as well as luxurious with features that many other buses that cost more do not have.

First, for cost, it cost us $22 each for a round trip ticket to New York City from Philadelphia! Bolt Bus also goes to Boston as well as Washington DC, sorry Non-Northeasterners! Bolt provides the riders with wireless Internet and AC power free of chard which is great to be able to check email and surfing the Internet while traveling. Bolt Bus was a very enjoyable ride and highly recommend it for high quality transportation and affordable pricing!

Writer’s Note: This article was written on the ride back from New York City on the Bolt Bus!

Ok, so a lot has been going on recenly, and I have not been writing enough personal updates.

On the blog front, although I  am no longer writing posts 5-days-a-week, I am still activly writing new high-quality posts for Gdovin.net and currently I have written predictions for WWDC and will write a wrap-up on Tuesday after the event.

The Weekly Spin has gotten up to 26 episodes and is going strong. I have begun to write more product and service reviews on Cloud Scoop, recently and I have been standardizing the pages on all my sites to include contact forms, about the site pages and other nessesary pages. Gdovin.net Video has released 3 new videos recently and I have some ideas for more great videos.

Websites are moving at the same rate as usual personally  I have been quite busy.  I will be graduating High School tonight and will be getting ready for college this summer. I also have found a disk of old pictures from 2002-2005 that was fun to copy onto my computer and sort through and upload to Flickr. I have been doing a lot of stuff and should be slowing down soon and should let me spend some more time developing my websites.

The time has come once again for Apple to give the Worldwide Developers Conference Keynote.  The keynote will be on  Monday June 8th and will be delivered by Phil Shiller. There has, as always, been flurries of rumors about what we will see, who will do it and when new products will be released.

New iPhone

• 32 GB Model
• Better Camera with Video Recording
• Thinner Body
• Turn-By-Turn Directions
• iPhone 3.0 Software

Snow Leopard:

• Preview of Progress
• Announcement of Release Date

Tablet:

• Not announced at WWDC

Netbook:

• Not Announced at WWDC

Steve  Jobs:

• Reports have stated he has become much healthier and is on schedule to return at the end of June
• Cameo at Keynote????

There you have it my thoughts of what will occur at WWDC this Monday. I will write a review and reaction as usual on Tuesday after the keynote.

Mike Gdovin shows you how to use Photoshop to switch people’s heads in pictures

Mike Gdovin gives a review and tour of the great Cloud software, Evernote