Image by Dekuwa via Flickr
We've been playing with the new Firefox Mobile application, which is out now on a full (non-beta) release, although it's only available for two Nokia models, the N900 and the N810. It will also work with some Windows Mobile phones.The application was easy to install and worked fairly smoothly - you can choose between the phone's built-in browser and Firefox. On starting Firefox there's not a hugely obvious difference between it and the phone's own browser, although Firefox looks a little better.
It's possible to swipe across the screen to get tabs (on one side) and page options (on the other). We couldn't figure out how to zoom into the text on a page - the standard double-tap didn't seem to work - but internet searching suggested we just weren't double-tapping hard enough.
Firefox Mobile allows for add-ons in the same way as its full-size sibling - you can download these from the internet, and although so far there aren't very many, they look quite useful. There's even an ad-blocker.
The password manager is particularly useful, and something that's lacking from most mobile browsers. The Awesome Bar from the standard version of Firefox has also made its way over - this allows users to search their bookmarks, history and more just by typing in what appears to be the standard address bar.
It's a shame the application is limited to two Nokia phones and a handful of others at the moment, but expect that to change soon.
]]>That paranoid amongst you may notice that there is quite a lot of information about authors included such as location if you have this feature enabled.
Thanks to ReadWriteWeb for the link.
]]>As good as both of these programs are, it was becoming a little unwieldy to update both with essentially the same information. The other problem with Klok was that the reporting wasn’t really good enough. It was becoming clear that exporting to Excel is very important. Both seemed to be
Enter TaskCoach, an open source task manager. It has all of the important abilities I look for.
There’s also a portable version that can be run from a USB key or from a Dropbox folder. Versions for Linux, Mac and iPhone can be found on the Task Coach website.
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In many ways I agree with Dave that the combination of widescreen notebooks and the Ribbon is not a good one. Vertical space on screen is now more valuable than ever and there’s no way to move the Ribbon. At least Toolbars in Office 2003 could be docked on the side of the screen or left floating as shown on the right.
I also miss the ability to customise the Ribbon as I have my own toolbar in Word 2003 with only the tools I need that fits comfortably on one line. That will be partially fixed in Office 2010 as some customisation will be possible in that version.
Having said that, I think that some of the Ribbon criticisms are a little harsh. The Ribbon can be hidden with a quick double click on one of the tabs and it then acts much like the old menus. And all the old keyboard shortcuts still work although there’s no visual feedback until the command is completed. For more information see the Microsoft Office Keyboard shortcuts in the 2007 Office system training page.
]]>For all the attractions of Outlook, the big problem was moving all my information from one to another. It’s not a small job and accuracy is important. Sadly there didn’t seem to be any utilities for this with prices within my budget. Creating a text file with the information and then matching the field names didn’t really seem a good use of my time either.
The quick and cheap (assuming you have access to a Nokia phone of some description) solution is to synchronise Notes with the phone and then change the Nokia PC Suite settings to use Outlook instead. Synchronise the phone again and hey presto! All the information is now in Outlook.
It gets even better given the fact that PC Suite works surprisingly well with Bluetooth, so there’s no need to buy a propriety cable.
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The fashion for squeezing as many buttons as possible onto mice has thankfully come to an end. The Microsoft Wireless Mouse 2000 concentrates instead on working as reliably as possible, whatever the surface, with a technology called Bluetrack. The Wireless Mouse 2000 is certainly responsive on a variety of surfaces that we tried around the office, including the back of a laptop bag, a likely surface when on the move.
A wireless dongle is included and can be attached to the mouse for going on the move but this doesn't automatically turn the mouse off like the Wireless Notebook Mouse 7000. Instead there is a switch on the bottom of the mouse to turn the mouse off. Power is provided by 2 AA batteries
The instructions are very simple: insert batteries, plug in dongle and download mouse software from Microsoft. The software isn't essential for the mouse to work but the Microsoft does add some useful extras.
As mentioned earlier there is a basic compliment of buttons: left, right and a wheel. The wheel can be tilted left and right for sideways scrolling once Intellipoint has been installed.
The Microsoft Wireless Mouse 2000 costs £30, which is very reasonable for a good quality wireless mouse.
]]>The computer seemed to be working but none of the web browsers would start properly. Internet Explorer, Firefox (ordinary and portable) and Opera appeared in Task Manager but not on the Desktop.
System Restore seemed like the best solution but I then realised that I’d turned it off.
Thankfully there is an alternative that was not disabled along with System Restore. Restart the computer and press F5 or F8 to show the Windows Advanced Options Menu. Press the up key until ‘Last Known Good Configuration (your most recent settings that worked)’ is highlighted and press Enter.
In my case, Windows loaded without any further messages and all the browsers were working again.
Because I don’t know exactly what went wrong I can’t say when this would work or not, but it’s certainly worth a go if there are problems with Windows that System Restore can’t fix.
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When a computer reaches the inevitable end of its life, one alternative to the tip is to reuse bits and pieces. Only some bits can go in a new computer (I keep a 12 year old CDROM drive out of nostalgia) so ‘62 Projects to make with a dead computer’ offers plenty of alternatives. It’s written by Randy Sarafan from the Instructables website and is well illustrated throughout with a 16 page collection of photos in the middle.
The first part of the book describes all the different components that are found inside computers along with some helpful advice on soldering and using a multimeter.
This is followed by the part of the book that EVERYONE should read, safety warnings. There are quite a few dangers associated with this book: electrical shocks, poisonous dust and imploding CRT monitor tubes. In fairness they don’t apply to every project in the book but while the book is good for a casual read, there is no place for being casual if you attempt any of the projects.
There’s no denying this is a good read, but I’m not sure if I’d want to actually make any of the projects, not least because none of my old gadgets are anything like as clean as those in the book.
It was much cheaper than I was expecting so at £10 would make an ideal Easter present for anyone you think has far too many old gadgets in their life.
Title: 62 Projects to make with a dead computer
Author: Randy Sarafan
Publisher: Workman Publishing
Price: £10
ISBN: 978-0-7611-5243-9
More info at http://deadcomputerbook.com/
]]>That might be manageable but after 1 June it will show a wallpaper saying that Windows is not genuine and, crucially, not install any updates. The Windows Blog recommends a clean install of a full version of Windows 7. But whatever OS you plan to install on the computer, a proper backup and reinstall is better done sooner than later.
More information over on the Windows Blog.
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We all want to save money at the moment, and computers can certainly get expensive. Hardware is always going to cost money (although netbooks are surprisingly cheap) but there’s a huge amount of software that costs nothing to use. Don’t spend a dime takes a look at all how you can save money by using free software rather than expensive alternatives. There is a helpful guide to choosing a computer but the prices are all in dollars so specific advice is a little limited here.
Currency doesn’t matter when the software is free. The first software to come under attention is the office suite with separate chapters for word processing, spreadsheets and presentations. It’s no surprise to see Open Office and Google Docs. Personally I prefer Zoho but Google Docs is still a good choice. Google is also recommended for email and calendars.
I was pleased to see that the advice doesn’t stop there and other important, but maybe less exciting, topics are also covered including anti virus protection and backup. There’s even an alternative to the ever popular (and expensive) World of Warcraft.
This is a very useful introduction to the world of free software, and includes enough help to get you started with all of the recommendations. A longer list of alternatives would be good, especially for the blogging section, although there’s nothing wrong with the suggestions on offer. This book is a good investment when compared to the cost of the software that you could otherwise pay for.
Title: Don’t Spend a Dime – The path to Low-Cost Computing
Author: James Floyd Kelly
Publisher: Apress
Price: £20
ISBN: 978-1-4302-1863-0
I'm a fast reader, but 10 minutes to read over 200 pages is out of my reach. Still, this is a worthwhile guide to Basecamp, on online project management tool that you don't need to be a qualified Project Manager to use. It is comprehensive and covers all of the different parts of Basecamp and clearly states which features are restricted to the paid for accounts.
The other useful explanation covers the project limits on accounts and how archiving projects lets you get on with another project without deleting all the details from the last.
Some understanding of the basic project management concepts is helpful but the book does explain all of these as they are covered. An example would be the description of project Milestones.
Sams Teach yourself Basecamp in 10 minutes is everything I look for in a pocket guide. It's small enough to fit in a bag or notebook case but doesn't leave out and important information.
Title: Sams Teach yourself Basecamp in 10 minutes
Author: Patrice-Anne Rutledge
Publisher: Sams
Price: £15
ISBN: 0672331039
Asking around the office revealed that it will appear if Internet Explorer is still selected as the default browser. Frankly I'd stopped it from asking and just started browsers with the Quick Launch toolbar or with Launchy.
The annoyance with the selection window was that there was no way for me to tell it that I already had several of the alternative browsers installed and wanted to use one of them as my default.
In the end I clicked on the install button for Opera just to make the window go away and cancelled the download. I restarted the computer and the Browser Choice window hasn't reappeared. Despite the fact I haven't changed the default. I suppose it's the taking part that's important.
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Wednesday 10 March is No Smoking Day, and the charity behind the event has come up with a Facebook app to help kick the habit. The app gives a public way of tracking your progress, and then best way to quit it to be accountable to someone. Making that someone your entire friend list seems like quite a good idea.
There's more advice and help to be found on the main site.
]]>1) Loud Laptops
Laptop computers don't have a great reputation when it comes to sound quality, and with good reason: most have tiny, tinny speakers packed into the case as an afterthought. This year, though, several of the biggest computer names at Cebit have been showing portable computers that, they claim, are designed to sound great.
The Asus NX90 is certainly eye-catching: it's huge and completely covered in brushed aluminium. And, alongside some unusual features such as the two touchpads - one on either side of the keyboard - it has a powerful sound system provided by Bang and Olufsen IcePower. Its speaker enclosures have a volume of 108cc, and although it's very hard to judge the quality of sound in a busy trade show we can testify to the volume on offer.
A similar product was also on show at the stand of Asus's key rival MSI. Its GT660 gaming laptop packs a Core i7 processor, Blu-ray, two hard disks and Nvidia 285M graphics, but also a 2.1 sound system from Dynaudio - again, it's impressively thunderous.
2) Smart Storage
Network attached storage devices are to be found everywhere at the show, with the manufacturers seemingly adding new functions each and every year, but a few in particular stood out. The new Thecus N4200 has an unusual case with two displays, but there's also a lithium-ion battery in the back - if the mains power supply fails, this gives it enough power to shut down properly, saving your data.
Not to be outdone, rival Qnap was demonstrating its new QMobile tool for the iPhone and iPod Touch - this gives access to the multimedia functions of its NAS devices from any Apple mobile handset.
3) Neat Networking
Network storage aside, there are plenty of clever networking products on show. We particularly liked Devolo's new Smart+ powerline network adapters: instead of using LEDs to indicate the network status, these use an LCD display to provide far more information on the status of the network. The company was also showing this prototype of a new product due in September - this little white box will run at speeds of up to 500Mbps:
Also, good news for anyone who was tempted by our review of the AVM Fritzbox but couldn't stretch to the price: the company is launching a new, simpler model with the ISDN functions removed and a much lower price. The Fritzbox WLAN 3370 includes 802.11N networking, and should cost around £115 - it'll be available in a few months.
4) Powerful Programs
Although Cebit includes hall upon hall of new computer hardware, there are also dozens of software vendors showing off their new tools. As we reported previously, security firm Kaspersky Lab used Cebit to launch its new PURE antivirus product - read our story on that here.
Another clever new tool could be found on the Laplink stand. The company is adding a new feature to its PCMover software called the PCMover Image Assistant. This allows users to move both programs and files from a hard disk image to a new PC: so, for example, if you have an image backup of a Windows XP computer, and that fails, you can use the tool to move your programs onto a new Windows 7 PC without having to first reinstall XP. As well as appearing in future versions of PCMover, it'll be included with some disk imaging tools from O&O.
5) New and Unusual
From USB keys in every imaginable shape to foldable pianos to somewhat tasteless computer accessories (don't ask) there's all manner of odd goods on show at Cebit. Some look downright awful, but then there are a few unusual products that caught our eye. Thermaltake's Tt eSports brand may have a very strange name - that extra "t" is not a typing error - but its new keyboard might appeal to gamers or workaholics: reach around the back and there's a small fan that can be clipped onto the top of the keyboard to keep your fingers cool during frantic activities such as gaming or filling in an online self-assessment tax form at the last possible minute. The keys also illuminate in any one of 256 colours.
Also, while Asus and MSI compete to show the biggest range of unusual PCs - from 3D desktops and laptops to concept models and Asus's Bamboo range ("panda friendly", we're assured), there's one computer that really sticks out: the Eee Keyboard.
We saw a prototype at last year's Cebit, but with the finished product due in May this device finally seems to be ready for the market. It has a 5 inch capacitative touchscreen built in, runs Windows XP and can link up to your television via an ultra-wideband transmitter. It uses an Atom N270 processor, 1GB of memory and will be available with 16GB or 32GB of solid state storage - expect to see it on sale for less than £600.
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