Gdovin.net

They are big, they are loud, the take up a lot of space and they are not portable. Desktop computers were the norm in the early days of computing however, now that laptops have become much more powerful and much more affordable, I believe that desktops are no longer necessary. Why would anyone want to have a computer that just sits and keeps all your data but, can’t go with to work or on a vacation. Although desktops can get better specs for gaming and processor speed but, for the vast majority of users notebooks are more useful because it does not require the purchase of an additional monitor and can take all your data with you anywhere you go. For the past four years, my primary computer has been a notebook and there is nothing my notebooks can’t do that I need.  I recommend people considering buying a desktop to think again before buying that because it could be much more convenient to get a notebook.

Anymore, I do not see the need for having office work done on paper or manually, since the dawn of new, more reliable technologies that can make office life simpler and much more productive. Paper can be damaged, lost, stolen and destroyed, while moving digitally, could prevent the problem of if the office burns down, the business goes with it!  Computers have been more utilized in recent years but I believe that in the future, offices will go completely digital and offices would be completely based on computers.

As an example, I will list the general things that offices need and list their digital replacements:

File Cabinets- Computer hard drives, Web Storage, Internal storage server

Paperless offices are great, despite the fear involved by some people who are computer-phobic might be worried but, as long as data is backed up frequently and off-soite all your data will be safe and much easier to access.

Phones- Skype/VOIP

Skype as I have mentioned before is a much more affordable replacement to landlines and could save offices lots of money and calls can be made anywhere in the world!

Messages/Memos- Email

As for internal company messages just move it all to email, Gmail has a great enterprise solution and could be a great replacement

This is just scratching the surface of the paperless office and although it may be scarry, it is worth it for new companies starting up, along with old companies as a system update for the best.

Last week, in the biggest election in the history of the United States, the electoral system was upgraded to much simpler voting machines. These new machines are better for both the voters as well as the voting staff who have to count the votes because the counting is done digitally instead of having to count each ballot individually, these machines can count automatically and save time and struggle.  The other benefit it that by using a computer to count is it eliminates the human errors that occurred in the 2000 election, with the hanging chads on the Florida paper ballots.

I was able to vote for the first time this Election and at my own polling place, the machine was a panel with buttons on for each party  for each office, it also had a straight ticket button to select all the candidates from one party to save time of pushing all those buttons. I believe, that this solution is the best because if the machines move to LCD touch screens, they will be more expensive and have more things that can go wrong with the machines. However, if they do go towards that solution I would recommend that they use a specialized version of Linux that only does what it has to making it more secure and allows it to do what it needs to the best it can and removes functions that are not needed and could compromise the integrity of the vote.

The problem many people have with using digital voting is that if they are based on computer, computers can be hacked and could result in inaccurate results. That is why I believe that by using a limited version of Linux that would only do what it needs to and would be designed to not be hacked. The other issue is people need to be presumed to be technically literate, or to be capable to using these machines successfully. In order to make the transition to these machines fully successful, would require training sessions for people to make sure they know how to operate the machines.

I also think that another idea that could be utilized is voting over the Internet. That would allow people to vote without having to stand in lines and spend time and would result in a better vote turnout because people would have no reason not to vote. This would require use of specialized PIN numbers and a secure website to prevent voting fraud but, I think that would be the best option because then anyone could vote. Even if the people do not have their own Internet access, they could go to a public place with computers available to vote.

Apple has recieved a lot of hate for locking down their Application store to only applications they approve to run on their iPhone. This allows Apple to lock out any application that is malicious, competes with Apple’s services, breaks any laws or anything Apple just plain doesn’t like. On the other hand, the HTC Dream G1 lets anyone write an application and allows it to put on their phone.  Windows Mobile devices and Nokia’s Internet Tablet allow you to download software from any website and install it on your device and letting you do what you want with your device whether tht is just using the pre-installed apps or writing your own application and running that on your device. There are arguments in favor of both methods and Apple has been disliked for enforcing their strict policies that restrict iPhone users from installing Voice over IP applications like Skype on their iPhones.  On the other hand, people could install all sorts of weird applications on their Windows Mobile device, like I did with my Dell Axim X50 pocket PC, and have applications that don’t work or could corrupt your device breaking features or just bricking your device.  I will round-up all the advantages and disadvantages of having an open system and will then suggest what the best system is.

Advantages:

1. Install what ever you want and do what you wish with your device- At the end of the day you own that device and you really should be able to install anything, within the limitation of the laws, on that device because it is your property and bought it to use it for what you want it for.
2. Choice- If the service provider is filtering which applications can and cannot be installed on your device.  So as an example, if the Gphone would only allow Google Talk and you are a heavy skype user that would force you to either adopt a new service or just stop you from using your phone for VOIP.
3. Options- Finally, keeping your options open is always a good thing. Apple is not allowing certain categories of applications be allowed to  on their device and I really like having the option of doing almost anything on my device.

Disadvantages:

1. Malicious Applications- If you are installing applications on your devices whether it be a computer, handheld computer, or a cell phone people could try to purposly sabbotage you and write a application to break your device.
2. Unmaintained Applications- Some people might right an application with the highest quality in mind but, they are just not an accomplished enough programmer to make it work right or they just give up and leave any users stuck with a half done application. The application may just not work right or could mess up your device and by closing the system the provider can weed out the bad applications.

Solutions:

In the end opening up to any software gives the user the freedoms they really have the legal right to in buying a device. While I do agree that applications should be filtered for quality assurance reasons only  for the best interest of the consumer not the company, the best method I have come across is the method of approval for Mozilla Firefox add-ons. They way it works is anyone can develop and add-on for free and submit it. Then the community can test a pre-release version and people would have to agree specially to use an addon that is not fully developed. I think if Apple were to adopt this and let peope install what they want then, they will probly gain even more users because the users have more options on what they can use their iPhone for.

I also would like Maemo and other open platforms to adopt this because, I hate it when applications suddenly stop working or crash after an update.  Also, for saftey and  preventing acidentally installing malicious applications you should always read comments made by other users of the application to see if they have any complaints. Also, make sure that it is not some random person’s website and make sure the site seems legitimate and it not some scam to ruin your device and steal your data.

Two of my good friends, Michael Plasmeier and Reed, both recently bought Tablet PCs for using in school for note-taking and they both think it is the best thing since sliced bread. I personally think that Tablet PCs are just a passing trend and will fade away in the near future. The reason is for several reasons and I have used the tablet PCs and have several complaints about the way it works despite of the “coolness factor” and that it is not something that is really worth while for continuing to produce.

First, I would like to  explain what a tablet PC is and what it  is used for in general, I would also like to point out what it is useful for.  A tablet PC is a  type of laptop that you can use a stylus to control the computer to write and control the computer in general.  Some  Tablets, usually the cheaper ones accept any touch input while “smarter” ones only accept input from a specific stylus which is a pain because if you break or loose your stylus you need to pay a lot of money to replace your stylus and can’t use your touch screen until you get a new one. There are advantages with using a tablet, it is great for people who do math or chemical equations because you can draw them in and not have to use specialized software or anything to write formulas. Another good part is that it makes photoshop and other digital artistry more like real art because you can use the tablet and draw on the screen and apply filters simply and it really feels like you are drawling. Another kind of cool thing is the screen can turn and flip down and close it flat which makes drawling much easier.

Now, for the problems, first of all the conversion of drawn on writing to typed text is extremely slow and really for most writing I do not see the merit of using the tablet when typing is so much easier and can get the work done faster.  Tablets also have a general $300 price difference from regular laptops and that extra cost does not give much more features. Also, the stylus is a pain because you lose it or break it you lose the extra features you paid the premium for and now you need to spend more for a new stylus forcing you to spend even more money! Meanwhile, if you were to get a regular non-tablet laptop you would not  have that problem and save the initial $300 extra.  Reed broke his stylus and he had to pay $50 to get a 2 pack of replacement styluses which is ridiculous for a piece of plastic with a little technology in it. Also,  if the laptop screen breaks, which happens with the majority of laptops at one point,  it will cost much more to replace because of the extra touch capabilities.

All in all, I think if you want to get a touch device or art tablet a USB tablet for less than $100 is a good option and then you can move it to any computer you use and if it breaks and you need a tablet because you are a professional artist. Tablets are going to be replaced by better developed ultra-portable laptops because they can do the majority of the features and paired with a  external tablet it can be a good replacement andthen combind that with cloud computing for a winning combination.

On Wednesday,  the HTC G1 smartphone will become available. This phone is probably better known as Google Phone but,  it really isn’t because Google only designed the phone’s operating system called Android, which will be availible on many other phones in the future.  This new phone is probably one of the first smartphones that is a true challenger to  Apple’s iPhone in both software and hardware. The HTC G1 has some features that the iPhone does not have built in like a hardware keyboard. The Android OS is also more open and has more features like Google applications built-in to the operating system like Gmail, Google Contacts and Google calendar. Being the Googleholic that I am I think that if they made Google Docs and Spreadsheets and Google Reader a feature of the phone that I would definitly get it.

In hardware, the G1 has a lot more buttons than the iPhone which I originally thought wasn’t much of an issue but, the plastic buttons get in the way if you don’t need to use that phone for that specific use. For example:  the pickup button and call hangup buttons should be on the touchscreen because, they are only used for when making and ending phone calls and usually just gets in the way otherwise.  The G1 also has a trackball which I do not see the point of  because the G1 has a touchscreen as far as I can tell there is no point of using the trackball.  The touchscreen does have a multi-touch interface like the iPhone but, it is really not a necessity and it will not appear on any non-iphones because Apple owns the patents to the technology and I truly doubt that they will share it. Multitouch makes zooming in and out and other things easier but it is not really a killer function. The G1 has a lot of hardware that the iPhone has built in: GPS, Wifi,, Bluetooth (not stereo), 3G support, and much more.  But, don’t forget that the G1 has a full hardware QWERTY keyboard which is one thing Apple sworn never to add and makes typing much easier of email, text messaging and SMS.  Unfortunatly, it also has the enbeded headphone jack like the original iPhone which forces users to buy the proprietory HTC headphones. This is rediculous stupid because Apple switched to a flush headphone jack and I think it is a total mistake to make you get a HTC headphones instead of just using your own favorite pair of headphones.

Now as far as software, the Android operating system has built-in Google applications, Amazon Mp3 store, an alarm clock, a web browser,based on Chrome browser , Google calendar, a camera application for taking pictures,  your Gmail contacts, a phone dialer (it is a phone remember), an email application,  which I don’t understand why they build that in  inaddition to Gmail which you can just use Gmail for all your email accounts!  Other applications included is an Instant messaging based on Google Talk, Google Maps, text messaging and a music player.  The G1 also has a marketplace which is a store to download new applications allows you to post applications and get them without the limitations like the iPhone’s app store  which only allows applications that do not compete with services that Apple provides and does not do anything Apple does not want to allow to run on their phone. Google does developer contact information so if the application is breaking laws or causing problems T-mobile can contact the programmer andfix the problem.

Things I do not like is the G1 does not support Google Docs or Google Reader as of yet which would really make it a killer phone. The interface is not nearly as slick and elegant as the iPhone but, is more open to developers and better for users because they can install any Application they want on their phone. The G1 also does not have a video player which is a major part of the media player function but, it is nice that you can buy your music through  Amazon’s DRM-free store.

On the bright side, you get google street view and most of your google applications anywhere and you have a lot more freedom than the iphone as far as customization and applications. In the future, I think the Android OS will become even more advanced and can be a full blown iphone killer if the UI is developed better and made more slick and adds Docs and Google Reader I think the G1 may be a better option for a phone.

The HTC G1 will be $179 with a 2-year Tmobile contract, which I am not fond of but, if you have a contract with another provider and you want a Google phone then, you can just wait for an Android phone to come to your provider, that is if you are happy with your provider or you can just wait till your contract expires and switch to a cell phone service who has the phone. Personally in writing this I have become interested and might consider getting on of these phones especially if they add Google Docs and Reader. This is perfect for nerds but, not really for average users because the OS is still a little too complicated for the mainstream.

At Apple’s notebook event on Tuesday Apple CEO, Steve Jobs, was asked about the addition of the new Bluray technology being included in their computers and while Jobs said Apple was waiting for licencing to become more affordable he mentioned that Apple already provides a great way to get high-definition movies via the iTunes store. I could not agree more, optical disk drives have become much less necessary now more than ever because the fast internet connections have become much more affordable to consumers. This allows services like iTunes and Unbox to provide movies to the consumers at much lower prices and at a much higher convenience.  In addition, larger and faster hard drives allows people to have their movies on their hard drives and have them with them anywhere or watch on the internet in a flash player accessible anywhere! As for software, a lot of software disks are only needed when it is being installed and a lot of people are beginning to use web-based applications that can be accessed on any computer and does not need to be installed on local machines. The one type of applications that usually require the disk to be in the disk drive while being used is video games and as computer capacities get larger, more games will be disk-free. My idea for the best method of distributing software, is developing a web-based store (Similar to Amazon and iTunes) and buy installers from there and completely taking optical media out of the equation. This solution would require an authentication process to limit users from installing applications on as many computers as they want thus, stealing from the company who worked to program the application. In my plan the store would also keep track of what applications you purchased and how many licences you bought so that you can authorize an de-authorize computers from a web control panel and if you need to reinstall an application you can re-acquire the application from the website with ease.  As for burning CDs and DVDs, I do that so in frequently it  has become something I seldom do in my lifestyle.  Burning CDs to play in your car or stereo isn’t practical now that most cars and stereos have MP3 player adaptors and DVDs are really not necessary now that devices exist that let you stream files from your computer files to be played on your large screen  TV.  I believe that Bluray will not be widely adopted and instead people will begin to use digital purchases more regularly and make it more valuable for the movie industry to get their movies available for digital download and same goes for music, television shows and software. I am predicting that in the next few years people will not be getting optical disk drives  and will begin to live disk free. Another advantage is you won’t have to store those disks and work to find them when you have to reinstall applications.

It was confirmed a few days ago that the rumors are true that Apple CEO, Steve Jobs,  will take the stage September 9th in an event that will most likely be a refresh of the iPod products and music centric products. I amalso hoping for the release new notebooks before the holiday rush!  Here is what I think will be released at the event next Tuesday:

1. New ipod touch- The ipod touch has not been changed since the iPhone 3G was released so, I think Apple will be unveiling a redesigned ipod touch that looks more like the Iphone 3G and most likely drop the price to some where between $99 and $150. I also think the Ipod touch will recieve a features upgrade as well as far as storage and maybe even more!

2. Itunes 8- Itunes is due for a new version and this would be the perfect venue with the music theme and I am expecting a new iTunes with more features launching on the 9th!

3. New Ipod nanos- There have been leaked ipod nano designs floting around for weeks and I also am expecting the capcity to be increased as well!

4. Redesigned Notebooks- This is probably the least likely product I am predicting to be launched on Tuesday’s event but, rumors have been floating around suggesting that Apple is going to redesign the macbook and macbook pro and significantly increase it’s power! I hope this happens but, I think it may happen at a later date.

I will be watching the event on Tuesday when the video is release and will write again what I think of the day’s events.

Leave it to Google to make an amazing web browser for web applications and regular web surfing alike! Today Google released it’s Chrome web browser based on both Webkit and Mozilla Firefox! A quick warning right away as of today Chrome only runs on Windows for now but it will be coming out for Mac and Linux soon! Chrome is, at least in my mind a revolution of internet browsing and will be the direction that at least I think that will be the direction that all other web browsers will go in the next few years and is also free and open source!

Chrome has many features that are not availible on other browsers.  Chrome is extremely tab-centric meaning tabs of each-different web page is the primary method of surfing and the tabs are each a different process on the computer meaning you can kill a single tab that is slowing down your computer instead of your whole browser crashing when your in the middle of sending an important email in another tab which is one big improvement over Mozilla Firefox. Along the same lines, this browser also features multi-threading which is great for computers that have multiple processors, which most modern computers do! This allows you to surf the web even faster and with more ease! Another, cool feature is web apps can run in special windows separate specially made for the applications you are using.  Chrome also has some amazing security built into it because it runs in what are called “Sandboxes” which separate the files downloaded from the browser from damaging your computer! Also, in most web browsers you have a standard page (or a few in Firefox) in Chrome you get the added feature of having a screen that has your most visited websites making them easily accessible for the users. Another cool thing is you can drag tabs and separate them from the main window with ease. The final cool feature is a incognito mode where if you for some reason don’t want to have your browser history  or your cookies saved you can click one button and you are the invisible browser.

Chrome is a great web browser with its amazing speed and sleek user interface but, I will continue to use Firefox because of it’s  extentions and comfort.  If Google keeps working on it, Chrome can be an amazing browser and can over take the other browsers. I think the UI is so  sleek and intuitive I think that with a little more work Chrome would be a great replacement of Safari on the mac when it’s released for the macintosh platform. In addition Google plans to be making versions for many mobile platforms and I hope they will develop for maemo because it would be an amazing mobile browser for my Nokia N800!

Note: Also if you want to learn more detail about chrome here is a really cool comic about Chrome

On and off rumors about a Microsoft purchase of Yahoo have been floating on the web for at least the past two years and the most recent deal was killed weeks ago. However, today a new deal rumor has started to float around of yet another deal. First off, I do not want the Evil Empire to get it’s hand on Yahoo and have a monopoly on second rate search. Secondly, Yahoo is not in very good shape as you can see in the Tech Crunch Yahoo Executive Tracker 114 Executives have left Yahoo in the past year and a half meanwhile, they need to fight Google for control of the search market and now have a search deal and try to manage their products. Meanwhile, CEO, Jerry Yang, is hated by many shareholders for making the right decision of not selling, and many people want him ousted!

On the other side Microsoft will be loosing Bill Gates next Monday and since he has started to delegate responsibility to his lieutenants and the one product they turned out, Vista, is probably they worst operating system Microsoft has ever released! I truly believe that when Gates leaves the product quality will continue to decrease exponentially and Bill Gates will have to pull a Steve Jobs style second act and return and save the company.  Microsoft is going down the tubes and even if Gates stayed they still have to make major changes to their attitudes to open source and Vista.

Honestly I believe that these two companies are both on their way out and by merging they will be taking the fast track to failure.  Personally, I have not used any Yahoo services for many years and will not effect me but all the great services they bought like Flickr and del.icio.us can be destroyed by Microsoft.  These services have so many users that will be forced to either find a new service or to deal with any changes Microsoft makes.  As for Yahoo I think they wil dry up over time and the last one to leave will turn out the light. As far as I’m concerned Yahoo has been dead since the dawn of Web 2.0 because they did not change enough to compete.