Industry Standard Views & Analysis

LG NAS Adds Blu-ray Drive

IDG News Service — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:00:07 -0500

LG's N4B1 NAS box is neither a comprehensive media server nor a particularly fast performer, but as a network-attached storage device, it's quick enough for home/small-business file serving. The unit--available at this writing for around $700--is also the sturdiest and quite possibly the best-looking such box I've had my hands on. You also can't beat it's HTML configuration interface for looks or ease of learning and use. But none of that compares to the N4B1's most outstanding feature: an integrated Blu-ray burner, unique among NAS products in the SMB/SOHO market.

This Blu-ray writer lets you back the box's contents up to Blu-ray recordable or rewritable discs. However, LG also leverages the Blu-ray drive as a reader to back up CDs to disc images. (Technical note: For data discs, you'll wind up with .iso images, while audio and video CDs result in files in the .cue or .bin formats originated by CDRWin but now supported by many programs, including the free ImgBurn. Why LG didn't just stick with good ole' .iso, though, is a mystery to me.)

Outside of the handy optical drive, my favorite N4B1 feature is its front-panel LCD. Using it you can back up the box to both USB and Blu-ray as well as set the IP address without resorting to the HTML interface. It's nice not to have to fire up a computer just to set a backup in motion.

While the N4B1 has only two USB ports (one front, one back) it also has an SD memory card reader, another unique feature, as well as an eSATA port for storage expansion or backup.

As I mentioned, the N4B1 isn't the swiftest of NAS boxes, though it's hardly the slowest. With four 500GB drives configured in RAID 5 for 1.5TB total storage, it placed comfortably in the middle of the pack, though well off the pace set by HP, Acer, and Synology's faster boxes. For the home or small-business environment it'll do just fine--unless you want to stream multimedia to a digital media adapter. The N4B1 serves up music only, and only to iTunes. This doesn't mean you can't store or play video or images off of the unit; you can, but search, find, and play must be done manually via a PC.

If it weren't for the lack of media streaming, I'd give this unit a wholehearted nod for the home as well as SMBs, for which it's well suited. Considering the amount of storage on board and the integrated Blu-ray drive, it's surprisingly affordable.

Four things you need to know about Apple

IDG News Service — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:42:15 -0500

All big companies have their critics. But what's interesting about Apple's detractors is universal surprise. Their disappointment often stems from finding out that Apple isn't the company they thought it was. So I'm going to do all you would-be critics a favor, and explain some fundamental aspects of Apple's culture. Next time, you won't be blindsided and confused.

Here are four things that Apple believes that explain the unexplainable:

1. Everything Apple sells is an Apple product

Developer Paul Graham wrote an impassioned post this week called "Apple's Mistake," where he expressed his shock and disappointment at Apple's heavy hand with iPhone developers. Graham said the "App Store approval process is broken." Apple doesn't "understand software."

"They treat iPhone apps the way they treat the music they sell through iTunes," he wrote.

That last statement is truer than Graham realizes. Everything Apple offers on iTunes is viewed by Apple in the same way they view music: They're all Apple products. When you drop 99 cents for Lady Gaga's newish single, "Paparazzi," you're buying an Apple product, according to Apple. In fact, Ms. Gaga's only function in life is to make a marginal contribution to the overall Apple experience.

Graham thinks his product is his, and that Apple simply makes the hardware and software it runs on. But Apple views all of it as part of the Apple experience. If you want to sell an iPhone app, Apple will dictate the shape, size and look and feel of the buttons, windows, typeface, and how most of the user settings will appear. They will reject and ban it if it competes with another of their products, or even with possible product directions. If it offends Apple in some way -- either because of sex, politics or religion or some other banned topic -- Apple will simply deny it. And they'll take their sweet time deciding, too. As a developer, you have two options: love it or leave it.

This would make no sense if your assumption is that Apple is just another hardware and software maker cultivating an applications ecosystem. But it makes perfect sense if you realize that Apple views app developers as employees or contractors who have been allowed to work for Apple as long as they follow the rules.

Another bit of evidence for Apple's world view emerged this week. Long story short: A software company called The Little App Factory was put on notice by Apple's legal department to change the name of their product, iPodRip, because it contained the word "iPod." The owner wrote an impassioned letter to Jobs practically begging him to intervene and allow the product to keep its name. The man professed his undying loyalty to Apple, and pointed out how he even dropped out of school to devote his life to creating software for Apple products. He said he has 6 million customers, and the product has been recommended by Apple itself.

Jobs' reply was simply, "Change your apps name. Not that big of a deal. Steve"

This peon wasn't even worth the hassle of an apostrophe. You see the disparity in how each party views the relationship? The developer's attitude was: "Hey, I've devoted my life to your brand, and I have good reasons why I should be given special consideration as a loyal partner and friend of the company. We can work this out." Apple's attitude is: Get in line or you're fired."

This isn't now how CEOs talk to software partners. This is how CEOs talk to low-level employees or unimportant contractors.

There's a great scene in the upcoming movie, "Me and Orson Welles," in which Welles responds to a fellow actor's complaint that "he is an arrogant, selfish..." with the line: "I am Orson Welles, and every single one of you stands here as an adjunct to my vision. [If] you don't like the way I work here, there's the door."

That, in a nutshell, is Jobs' view of the relationship between Apple and its developer community.

2. Apple products are disposable

Apple makes high-quality, durable gadgets. I've dropped my iPhone many times, and it hasn't got a scratch on it. But don't let that fool you into thinking Apple wants those products to enjoy years and years of use.

Apple expects you to dump your old product and buy the new one just as soon as it comes out. And they don't expect you to sell the old one to someone else. There's no such thing as an old Apple product. There is only the current Apple product, and trash.

Phones similar in size to the iPhone, for example, typically have a removable battery. A battery that can be replaced is just common sense, given that batteries rapidly lose their ability to hold a charge after a few hundred charges. But iPhones are not designed to last. They're designed to be used until the new one comes out, then discarded. The same goes for iPods.

iPhone and iPod batteries don't make sense, unless you understand that these are disposable products. They look like fine china, but they're sold like paper plates.

3. Nothing exists unless Apple sells it

Steve Jobs famously said that "People don't read anymore." This comment (which you're reading, by the way), was made in response to a question about the Amazon Kindle. In Steve Jobs' world view, nothing exists outside the Appleverse. People don't read because Apple doesn't sell a reader.

Mark my words, when Apple ships its tablet or some other device that can be used for the serious reading of books, people will read again.

4. Apple doesn't want to be a successful business

Tech watchers love the horse race aspect of technology industry competition. Apple competes with Microsoft. Apple competes with Google. Apple competes with companies like HP. But Apple doesn't see it that way.

Industry titans like Microsoft, Google and HP instinctively "fill out" their product lines to dominate huge areas of technology. Microsoft, for example, wants Microsoft software running on wristwatches, supercomputers and everything in between. Google wants to offer every conceivable service that can be squeezed through an internet connection. HP's massive product line runs the gamut from consumer digital cameras sold at Best Buy to entire data centers filled with enterprise systems.

Apple doesn't want to dominate like this. It has no interest in this kind of imperialist expansion. Apple is interested only in surgical strikes into this business or that product category, where they can solve design problems others have failed to solve.

Understanding this about Apple helps explain otherwise inexplicable decisions, such as why Apple got into the mobile phone handset business, and why the company is so ambivalent about business products.

To Apple, the mobile phone industry proved clueless at how to offer a compelling user experience with a phone, with its history of cramped buttons and claustrophobic user interfaces. They believed, correctly it turns out, that their designers could drop a game-changing phone into the market and "change the world" again. But when Apple casts its gaze at the enterprise space, it doesn't see sufficiently compelling design problems that will emotionally affect users. So why bother?

Apple's choices in markets it gets into make no sense, unless you understand that they don't want to dominate industries, or even maximize revenues. They just want to design and sell better products that will affect user experience in markets where that's an achievable goal.

Of course, business success is great. But Apple sees that as only a means to the end of shipping thrilling designs.

Steve Jobs was recently named CEO of the Decade by Fortune Magazine. I'm sure Jobs' ego was pleased by the designation. But ultimately, he doesn't care about this sort of thing as much as you might expect. Jobs doesn't want to be viewed by history as a Lee Iacocca or a Henry Ford. He wants posterity to look at him as a Mozart or a Da Vinci. He wants to be seen as a builder of beautiful things, not a builder of business empires.

Next time Apple does something that infuriates you, or makes you go "huh?" remember that Apple has its own unique world view. And only by understanding that perspective can you understand why Apple does what it does.

Control iTunes from the Windows 7 Taskbar

IDG News Service — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:29:32 -0500

One of my favorite Windows 7 amenities is thumbnail previews, which appear when you mouse over any running program in the taskbar.

In fact, each thumbnail has a little red X in the upper-right corner, meaning you can close that program without first having to maximize it.

iTunes takes this a step further by adding player controls. As you can see in the screenshot below, the thumbnail sports three little icons: previous track, play/pause, and next track.

These buttons work just like the controls in iTunes proper, but they save you from having to actually switch to the program whenever you want to, say, skip to the next song or temporarily pause playback.

Of course, savvy users know that you can add an entire iTunes toolbar to the taskbar in both Windows 7 and Vista, but that just adds clutter. Here you get basic playback controls without consuming extra space. Nice!

Chrome shines, Gore opines, staffs decline

IDG News Service — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:19:24 -0500

Google's Chrome OS captured a lot of headlines and hype this week after the company invited the media in to have a look-see, setting off a whole lot of opinions about whether it will be any good. Microsoft, predictably, doesn't think so. Otherwise, Al Gore offered his opinion on the role supercomputers can play to quell climate change, and for the first time we can recollect there were not one, but two, cat-related IT stories that caught our attention.

1. Google Chrome OS unveiled: Speed, simplicity and security stressed, The 5 best, and 5 worst, features of Google Chrome OS, Microsoft, other rivals slam Google Chrome OS and Why Chrome OS will fail, big time: We were all over the Chrome demonstration, with varying opinions about it, including Randall Kennedy's provocative piece at InfoWorld about why he thinks it will fail, and in a big way.

2. Al Gore: Supercomputers can reverse climate change: The temperature is a balmy 60 degrees Fahrenheit (15.5 degrees Celsius) here in Boston, making it more than a little weird to see Christmas decorations, even allowing for the argument that those are displayed too early. So, it seems fitting that former Vice President Gore said at the SC09 supercomputing conference this week that supercomputing technology can be used to help expand renewable energy sources and explain climate change to people so that they better understand its implications.

3. EU ombudsman faults EC's Intel antitrust ruling: The European ombudsman, Nikiforos Diamandouros, found fault with the European Commission's antitrust investigation of Intel, although his decision is not legally binding and so will not change the outcome, which led to a hefty fine for the company.

4. Ballmer: Windows 7 sells twice as fast as past operating systems: The Windows 7 operating system is selling like hotcakes compared to past Microsoft operating systems, according to CEO Steve Ballmer. Of course, there's another way to look at that fact, which is that users are flocking to get rid of Vista.

5. Nokia cuts research staff by up to 330 people and AOL looks to slash staff by a third: In what is becoming a standing entry for the ongoing effects of the recession, we include this week word that Nokia is cutting its research staff by as many as 330 people and the plagued AOL will axe a third of its employees.

6. Three basic steps to avoid joining a botnet: CSO's Joan Goodchild has been all over the botnet beat lately, and her latest installment on that topic offers some advice from security pros on how to keep corporate networks from becoming hooked into botnets.

7. Facebook bible: Everything you need to know about Facebook: The headline says it all.

8. Sold out! Grinch steals Nook Christmas and Some Sony e-readers may not arrive for the holidays: Well, it looks like many of us who are hoping for e-readers will find Kindle's under the tree now, doesn't it?

9. IBM brain simulations exceed scale of cat's cortex: Living with four cats, we have keen appreciation for research out of IBM toward building a computer that mimics the human brain, with a brain simulation that exceeds the capacity of a cat's cortex. Of course, it's also the case that some cats seem to have better cortexes than others, but that's a different story.

10. CatPaint iPhone app adds cats to any photo and CatPaint got your iPhone?: Arguably, some other IT news story (OK, quite a few other IT news stories) could be in this slot, but this one generated a whole lot of interest and discussion, and besides which we aren't about to let down the "Cheezburger" crowd by leaving it out. The iPhone app, CatPaint, allows users to add cats to any photo. At last, we have a reason to buy an iPhone.

Sony Online Service to Challenge iTunes? Fat Chance

IDG News Service — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:31:13 -0500

For entertainment hardware companies like Sony, a thriving, all-encompassing online media store is the Holy Grail. It's a glorious balance, in which the customer buys software through the store, and therefore becomes hooked on the hardware to which it's attached. That's how brand loyalty is created.

In other words, that's iTunes.

So I'm not surprised that Sony wants to unify its disparate hardware parts through a far-reaching media store, dubbed the Sony Online Service. An article in BusinessWeek states that this is Sony's answer to iTunes, and though it's not clear whether Sony's executives are actually saying that, they'd be wise not to.

First, a bit of history: Sony has tried the online media store before, with Sony Connect. The store shuttered after three years, and Sony surrendered the proprietary and ill-conceived ATRAC format in favor of the proprietary and ill-conceived Windows Media format.

Thankfully, Sony wised up and added MP3 support over the years, and a new wave of MP3 players, such as the Walkman X, include software for transferring files from iTunes. But if Sony's really expected to challenge iTunes on the music front, consider one statistic: iTunes accounts for 69 percent of all digital music sales in the United states. It's not happening.

The bigger focus for Sony will be video, and to a lesser extent, e-books. On those fronts, Sony can compete because it has devices that let you watch video in the living room. Sony needs to focus here, because TVs and video games are the company's worst-performing categories right now, according to BusinessWeek.

The problem is that nobody really knows what Sony is doing. Is the Sony Online Service software that you download? Is it a cloud service that you'll mostly access directly through devices? Both? Neither? From what I can see, the Sony Online Service is being hyped as an ambitious plan to turn the copmany ship towards profitability, but it's just a plan. I can't even stack it up against the things we hate about iTunes, because we don't know if the services will be at all alike.

Worse yet, the idea of a media store across several devices has no inherent advantage for the consumer. If I buy a video on my Playstation 3, it means nothing to me that the same video store also exists on Sony HDTVs. I'm already watching the video on my TV, so what do I care?

It's just a matter of branding. And when it comes to brands of online media stores, iTunes is a juggernaut. The cold truth is that if Sony really wants a competitive edge, it needs to excel in hardware first. The dedicated legions of media store customers follow.

General Mobile DSTL1

IDG News Service — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:23:12 -0500

The General Mobile DSTL1 ($450, unlocked; price as of November 16, 2009) has some nice features, like dual-SIM card support, but I found that the device's awkward design and unresponsive touchscreen dulled the sense of feature-richness and the ease of use that the Android OS can give a mobile device.

The biggest selling point of the DSTL1 phone is that it can support two separate wireless phone numbers. You simply insert two SIM cards into the two slots below the battery. There's also a slot to accommodate a microSD storage card with a capacity of up to 16GB. The phone itself has 4GB of internal memory.

The DSTL1 runs Android 1.5 OS (not the newer Android 2.0) and carries a 624MHz processor inside. General Mobile went to Sharp Electronics for the 3-inch 240-by-400-pixel touchscreen display and to Sony for the 5-megapixel camera. The DSTL1 has an FM radio on board and offers Bluetooth 2.0 and Wi-Fi support.

These specs look good on paper, but the phone's construction felt cheap. I didn't like the phone's highly reflective plastic chrome outer shell--because I would rather see the phone's features and content than my own reflection. The DSTL1 has a navigation wheel with an Enter button in the middle, plus buttons for making a call from either SIM card. General Mobile also provides an on/off button and an extremely useful back button.

Measuring 4.4 by 2.1 by 0.6 inches, the phone is nearly as thick as the Motorola Droid, yet it lacks a slide-out QWERTY keyboard. As a result, you have to rely on the native Android touch keyboard for your typing, which is painfully small and awkward to use in portrait orientation, and far from comfortable in landscape mode.

All of this might not matter much if the touchscreen worked well, but it doesn't. The screen appears to be imbedded a few millimeters deep in the phone's clear plastic shell; in any event, the touchscreen had trouble responding immediately and accurately to my commands in connection with everything from selecting apps to customizing the desktop to using the calculator. Meanwhile, the voice commands, such as 'open calendar', seemed to work well.

One of the DSTL1's biggest shortcomings is its lack of 3G support--it can run only on 2G or 2.5G EDGE networks. I tested the phone with SIM cards from T-Mobile and AT&T inside. The voice calls I made on those EDGE networks were clear and uninterrupted by latency or drops. When I surfed the Net, the phone behaved torpidly and ran at very un-3G-like speeds. (My Palm Pre, in contrast, loads pages pretty briskly with the help of Sprint's 3G Network).

The DSTL1 does benefit from Google's Android OS straightforward and intuitive interface. As I moved from task to task, the OS's basic tools appeared roughly where I expected them to be.

Like other Android phones, the DSTL1 gives you three homescreens for installing your own set of shortcuts, widgets, folders, and wallpapers. A Google search bar appears at the top of the center panel. To move between the three homescreens, you swipe your fingers from side-to-side.

Similarly, you bring up your application launch menu by swiping a tab up from the bottom of the screen. Preloaded on the phone are some 20 apps, shortcuts, games, widgets, and other tools--from the phone's settings to contacts to the FM radio. To install a shortcut to any of these "apps" on your front screen, simply press and hold the icon.

General Mobile didn't attempt to build a layer of additional software on top of Android, as the manufacturers of some other phones did with varying degrees of success.

Within a few minutes I successfully connected the DSTL1 to my Gmail account and began sending and responding to e-mail. Navigation through the messages was easy and intuitive, though typing in the 'compose' box was slow going because of the touchscreen.

The phone's text messaging functions were similarly well organized and intuitive. Once you've typed your message, you choose which SIM card to use to send your message.

Importing my contacts from Gmail was easy; using the phone to create new contacts was a little more time-consuming. The Android address book adopts a tabular design, which simplifies the tasks of locating and accessing various contact details. When you click a contact, the app displays all of the available modes for contacting the person (text, phone, IM, and so on).

If you use one SIM for work and the other for personal activity, keeping the two separate is easy. Click one of the tabs at the top of the screen and you can quickly view the dialer, the call log, or your favorites (contacts you've dialed most recently).

The dialer interface itself is a touchpad keypad with oversize, slightly overlapping keys. I found the keypad reasonably easy to use, and certainly less arduous than typing on the virtual keyboard.

The music player in Android 1.5 is fine, but I had a lot of trouble getting music to load onto the DSTL1--in fact, I ultimately failed. I plugged the DSTL1 into my Dell PC (running Vista) at work, but the PC refused to recognize the device in Explorer. You may have better results. This problem also prevented me from loading any other kind of data onto the device, such as documents, images, and videos.

The included headphones sounded okay, but you can't plug them (or any other headphones) directly into the DSTL1 because it has no 3.5-mm jack; instead, the headphones plug into a clip-on voice mic, which in turn plugs into the USB port on the phone.

The DSTL1 comes with a 5-megapixel Sony camera that has an impressive range of features, including auto focus, facial recognition, choice of picture sizes, a timer for taking your own picture, and multiple focus settings. The DSTL1 also provides a physical button on top of the camera for shooting pictures, which I much preferred to snapping photos with my shutter-buttonless Palm Pre.

The pictures I took with the DSTL1 looked good. The images were sharp, and the flash seemed to light photos properly without washing them out. I shot a 40-second video with the device, too; the output looked okay, but was limited by the phone's mediocre screen.

The DSTL has some solid features (in particular, the dual SIM cards and the camera), but I wouldn't pay such a high price for a device with so many shortcomings. I do like the look and feel of the Android operating system, and I believe that the set of applications that are available to it will eventually best the set offered for the iPhone. But on the DSTL1, the hardware got in the way of making full use of the Android goodness. Still, for the moment, if you have a special need for dual SIM and Android in one phone, the DSTL1 is pretty much your only option.

Third-party screensavers return to Snow Leopard

IDG News Service — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:18:39 -0500

When Snow Leopard (Mac OS X 10.6) was first released, I noted that many (maybe even all) third-party screensavers would no longer work in the new OS. This was because 10.6 required 64-bit compatible screensavers, whereas existing screensavers were 32 bit.

Unlike for the similar problem affecting third-party System Preferences panes (which can be solved by having System Preferences relaunch in 32-bit mode) or plug-ins for applications such as Safari (which has an Info window option to open in 32-bit mode), there is no 32-bit work-around for screensavers. As a result, after upgrading to 10.6, I abandoned all of my old screensavers and went instead with one of Apple's defaults: Cosmos. Not only are the outer space images impressive but, if you have two monitors, a different image appears on each screen.

Content with this arrangement, I stopped checking on the status of my former screensavers. Recently wondering what had happened to them, I visited their Web sites the other day. Pleasant surprise. All four of the screensavers that I had used the most in 10.5 have now been updated to work in 10.6. These are: 3D Weather Globe, My Living Desktop (formerly Serene Saver Pro), Fireflies, and Marine Aquarium 3.

All the updates except Marine Aquarium 3 were free. As I had Marine Aquarium 2.6, there was a $10 charge for the upgrade. I decided to pass on this.

The only install problem I had with the three remaining upgrades occurred with Fireflies. The Desktop & Screen Saver pane refused to install it, claiming it was still not compatible with 10.6. Quitting and relaunching System Preferences solved this glitch.

I had a bigger problem running Living Desktop: although it overall worked in 10.6, it did not randomly select a scene each time (repeatedly staying with the same Serene Saver default movie). Oddly, even though I had downloaded and installed the supposed latest (4.55) version, if I clicked the Check Now button for "Automatically download scenes" in Living Desktop's pane, I was taken to a special Web page claiming that I needed to spend $14.95 to upgrade to a newer version. I could find no link to this option from the site's Home page. Weird.

Before paying for this mystery upgrade, I tried the vendor's troubleshooting advice. It had no effect. So I gave the upgrade a try. This did give me access to 5 new scenes, as promised, but otherwise offered no newer version of the software. The problem with random selection remained. I have still not resolved this issue.

If like me, you'd given up on and forgotten about your old screensavers, now is a good time to revisit them. They may now work, or at least mostly work, in 10.6.

Of course, many people have given up on screensavers altogether, having their Macs shift directly to display sleep (or even computer sleep) after a period of inactivity -- in order to save energy. I haven't gone quite that far yet. My screensaver kicks in after 10 minutes of idle time. Display sleep takes over after another 10 minutes. This way, I get to enjoy the screensaver for a few minutes before the screen goes dark.

Sold-out! Grinch Steals Nook Christmas

IDG News Service — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:46:19 -0500

Barnes & Noble seemed to have it all wrapped up. Except now it will be wrapping up many fewer Nook e-readers than had been hoped.

Thanks to a supply shortage, this year's must-have techie gift has gone from fizz to flat in near-record time.

"While we increased production based on the high consumer interest, we've sold out of our initial Nook allotment available for delivery before the holidays," the bookseller said in a statement.

Nooks ordered from today will be delivered starting January 4, which is not quite the same as Christmas morn. All lucky Nook recipients will find under the tree is a holiday certificate emblazoned with a ship date after the new year.

How lucky will those people feel?

If you've missed your Nook, you can also forget the idea of buying the other hot new e-reader instead.

Sony reported Thursday that its hot new model, the Daily Reader, is now being sold on a "first-come, first-served" basis and holiday delivery cannot be guaranteed.

That leaves the Amazon Kindle as the only widely available hot e-reader this holiday. However, if people wanted Kindles they would probably already have them. Both the B&N and Sony e-readers are way cool. The Kindle, not so much.

Bah, humbug!

Barnes & Noble obviously has a few things to learn about the consumer electronics business. Sony has less of an excuse. And thus was missed the "Holiday of the e-Reader."

We already know what next year's hot gadget will be: A Chrome OS netbook, perhaps costing about what B&N is fetching for this years' Nook ($259). Given the choice, which of those would you choose?

If anybody has an extra brand-new Nook right now, however, I might be interested. Otherwise, it is a Windows 7 notebook for Christmas at my house. Yes, Microsoft once again wins because of others' mistakes.

David Coursey tweets as @techinciter and can be contacted via his Web site.

Get Chrome OS Now

IDG News Service — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:45:06 -0500

The open source version of Google Chrome OS was released on Thursday, and tech wizards didn't waste any time turning the code into a workable test version of the new operating system. If you don't want to wait until next year to see what's going on with Chrome OS, then follow this handy guide to find all the information you need to get the new system up and running on almost any computer.

Virtual Machine

Since Chrome OS will be streamlined to work only with specific hardware components, you won't be able to just boot the new OS onto your machine. Instead, you'll need to use a virtual machine for Chrome OS. You have two choices. You can either get Virtual Box here, which has options for Windows, Mac, Solaris, and Linux systems. Or, you can download VMware Player for Windows or VMware Fusion for Mac.

If you choose the VMware Fusion for Mac option, note that you will only get a 30-day trial version. The full version of the software will cost you $79.99.

Download Chrome OS

Before you get too far ahead of yourself, you'll need to download the compiled version of Chrome OS. You can try the version from gadget Website gdgt or a torrent from Pirate Bay. In my tests, the gdgt version did not work with Virtual Box, but this situation may change so read through gdgt's help thread later in the day before giving up on Virtual Box. Some users have also had succes using the VMware Chrome OS file inside Virtual Box.

I have not tried the torrent version of Chrome OS, but TechCrunch has and says it works. Be warned, though, the torrent version could come with malware or spyware.

If you download from gdgt, make sure you get the right version of Chrome OS for either Virtual Box or VMware.

If you're a Linux user and you don't need help installing Chrome OS you can also download a USB-bootable version from gdgt.

Once you've downloaded Chrome OS, which could take a while, make sure you unzip the file before proceeding to the next step.

Go Chrome

Once you've got Virtual Box installed and Chrome OS is unzipped, you're ready to go. (Click to enlarge the screen image.) For instructions on how to prep your virtual machine using Virtual Box, TechCrunch has a step-by-step guide for you. VMware users on Windows can follow the instructions found on this blog. These are not Chrome OS specific, but the instructions should work for your purposes.

VMware Fusion users can follow gdgt's helpful tips for installing Google Chrome OS on a Mac using VMware Fusion.

Connect with Ian on Twitter (@ianpaul).

Toggle sidebar visibility in all open Finder windows

IDG News Service — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:24:28 -0500

When I publish hints here on Macworld, I usually try to walk through and explain how they work, so as to help you understand what's going on behind the scenes. Sometimes, though, I'll just present a solution without much of an explanation, such as with today's hint.

Today's hint is an AppleScript that will toggle the visibility of the sidebar in all open Finder windows. In 10.6, you can do this for any one window with the View -> Hide (or Show) Sidebar menu item, but it only applies to the current window. Using the script in today's hint, you can toggle the visibility in all open windows.

While the script works in both 10.5 and 10.6, it's most useful in 10.6, because the script can't completely hide the sidebar in 10.5 (instead, it just shrinks down to its minimum width).

Another advantage to using this script in 10.6 is that it can be created as a Service, and then run via either the Services menu, or if you prefer, a keyboard shortcut.

The following instructions assume you're running 10.6; if you're running 10.5, you can either enter the code in the Script Editor, and save it as an application, or possibly create it in Automator and save it as a Finder Plug-In (though I haven't tested that).

In 10.6, launch Automator, and when the template chooser window appears, click Service then click Choose to open a new workflow. Near the top of the window that opens, on the right, you'll see two pop-up menus. Set the rightmost of those to Finder, then set the leftmost to "no input." (If you set the leftmost one first, then the Finder will disappear from the rightmost pop-up.)

Next, in the search box on the left, type run apples, which should be enough text to find just one matching action, Run AppleScript. Drag that action into the work area on the right, and then delete all of the placeholder code that's in the text area (on run {input...etc).

Insert the following code in its place:

set Showsidebar to true

tell application "Finder"

activate

if exists window 1 then

set allwins to every window whose collapsed is false

set my_num to 0

repeat with onewin in allwins

set my_num to my_num + 1

tell application "System Events"

tell process "Finder"

set my_id to the name of onewin

tell application "Finder"

try

set my_test to get ¬

toolbar visible of window my_id

on error

set my_test to false

end try

end tell

if my_test then

tell application "Finder"

if window my_id is window 1 then

set the_place to get sidebar width of window my_id

if the_place = 0 then

set Showsidebar to true

else

set Showsidebar to false

end if

end tell

end if

tell application "Finder"

if index of window my_id is not equal 1 then

open window my_id

else

if Showsidebar then

tell application "Finder"

tell front window to set sidebar width to 150

end tell

else

tell application "Finder"

tell front window to set sidebar width to 0

end tell

end if

end tell

if my_test then

if Showsidebar then

tell application "Finder"

tell front window to set sidebar width to 150

end tell

else

tell application "Finder"

tell front window to set sidebar width to 0

end tell

end if

end tell

tell application "Finder"

set index of window my_id to my_num

end tell

end repeat

end if

end tell

Select File -> Save, and give your new Service a suitable name (Toggle Sidebar). At this point, you may want to test it by switching to the Finder, opening a few windows, then selecting Services -> Toggle Sidebar (or whatever you called it).

Assuming this works, you can then make it even simpler by creating a keyboard shortcut. Open System Preferences, and go to the Keyboard Shortcuts tab of the Keyboard System Preferences panel. Select Services in the left-hand column, then scroll to General (the final group) in the right-hand column. Find your saved Service, and double-click in the blank area to the right of its name.

Type in a new keyboard shortcut--I've had the best luck with Services shortcuts when using Control in conjunction with Shift and/or Option--and you're done. Switch back to the Finder, and you should be able to hide (and then show again) the sidebar in all open windows by typing your keyboard shortcut.

Thanks to Mac OS X Hints contributor Laine Lee for this useful bit of AppleScript code.

Welcome to the Golden Age of Vaporware

IDG News Service — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:21:20 -0500

I've been in this business for 357 years, but I can't recall a time when we've had more written about products that do not actually exist. We are truly living in the golden age of vaporware.

Exhibit A: This week TechCrunch's Michael Arrington caused a stir when he insisted -- really, he was almost banging his shoe on the table over it -- that Google would come out with its own cell phone, free and clear of any carrier. Per L'Arrington:

...there are a few things we have absolutely confirmed: Google is building their own branded phone that they'll sell directly and through retailers. They were long planning to have the phone be available by the holidays, but it has now slipped to early 2010. The phone will be produced by a major phone manufacturer but will only have Google branding.

Never mind that this would totally tick off all the handset manufacturers and telecoms that have partnered with Google on Android phones. Because, I guess, Google is just that stupid.

[ Stay up to date on Robert X. Cringely's musings and observations with InfoWorld's Notes from the Underground newsletter. ]

The reaction from most of the blogosphere was either a) Gee, there must really be a gPhone after all, or b) Is Arrington smoking crack?

PC Mag Editor in Chief Lance Ulanoff did not mince words in a rebuttal column:

If you say something, does it automatically make it so? Clearly, that's what TechCrunch's Michael Arrington thinks. Today, he proclaimed that "The Google Phone Is Very Real. And It's Coming Soon." The story outlines what TechCrunch has "absolutely confirmed" and then knits together a series of assumptions and possible clues into what appears to be a quilt of un-attributed fabrication.

And, because some people never truly graduated from junior high, Arrington responded via Twitter:

i'm seriously concerned for @lanceulanoff. If you're his friend, reach out to him. He needs to know someone loves him.

The next day, the Google cell phone became a WiFi-based VoIP phone, again according to TechCrunch. That would get around the "tick off the carriers" problem, at least. Naturally, no sources for this information are named.

Still, that pales in comparison to the reams of unsubstantiated gibberish that have been written about the Apple Tablet over the last three months. This week brought us more highly detailed rumors from DigiTimes about the mythical beast -- including its availability (2H 2010), specs (LCD & OLED touch screens -- wowsa!), and pricing ($2,000 for the OLED version -- double wowsa!).

So far, though, all we have to show for this excited blather is a lot of pixels and no molecules.

One reason rumors like these breed like bunnies is that we can't trust companies to tell us the truth. Witness Steve Jobs' vehement denials that Apple was getting into the phone business, when everyone knew that of course it was.

Thus the twisted logic goes: Since he's saying the same things about tablets, Apple must be coming out with one. So bloggers spend hours poring over the denials like they're hieroglyphics, looking to unlock some hidden meaning. And when someone seems to uncover some piece of the puzzle, everyone leaps on it and analyzes that. It's like a geeky version of National Treasure without Nic Cage and that blonde babe -- or, for that matter, a plot or a resolution.

Heck, they've got to write about something. Though in this case, they're really writing about nothing.

Some day, if an Apple Tablet does in fact materialize, I hope some archival/librarian type with too much time on his or her hands will gather up all the misinformation and outright lies that have been propagated about this mythical device. They could fill a phone book.

Finally we come to a product that was swaddled in a pool of vapor: Arrington's own CrunchPad. That's the "dead simple Web tablet for less than $200" he began creating back in July 2008, which was supposed to arrive this past summer.

After months of silence from Arrington (who can't seem to keep his mouth shut about anything and probably reports unsubstantiated rumors in his sleep), it was assumed that the project had quietly plummeted to earth. Recently, though, Captain Crunch came out to declare his tablet is still "steaming along" and he'll have "big news" shortly.

I'll believe that when I see it. No, even then I probably won't.

I'm not saying we won't see a gPhone, an Apple Tablet, or even the C-Pad in our lifetimes. I also might win the lottery. But there's no way any of them could live up to the hype that's been generated. So let's just declare them failures now, so we can move on to something else.

Did you hear that Google's working on a product that links directly to your brain? They've denied it, so it must be true. Pass it on.

What silly rumors have you heard lately? Which ones do you wish were true? E-mail me: cringe@infoworld.com.

This story, "Welcome to the Golden Age of Vaporware," was originally published at InfoWorld.com. Follow the latest developments in at InfoWorld.com.

AT&T's Anti-Verizon Ad Is a Stinker

IDG News Service — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:16:29 -0500

For some reason, Luke Wilson is taking AT&T's side in the 3G coverage wars, appearing in a new ad (see video below) that retaliates against Verizon Wireless' stinging assault.

The ad arrived just as a U.S. District Court judged ruled that Verizon can keep airing its attacks on AT&T. Unable to silence its biggest competitor, AT&T has no choice but to retort. Unfortunately, the carrier ends up looking like the one kid on the playground who can't come up with a good "yo' mama" joke.

First of all, why is Luke Wilson the spokesperson here? Does he have some deep understanding of mobile broadband that I'm not aware of? Of course not, but in his 30 seconds of air time, all Wilson can manage are AT&T's tired old PR bullets, plus one really weak insult. Let's go over those points, shall we?

Nation's Fastest 3G Network

Fine, but that won't help you in areas where there's no 3G coverage, which is what Verizon's been saying all along. How about quantifying this claim instead of just repeating it? I'd like to know what uses or in what situations AT&T's extra speed will afford me, to the point that it's preferable to more reliable overall 3G service. Make the case to people who live in big cities.

Talk and Surf at the Same Time

This feature is not useful enough to deserve the second bullet point on Wilson's list. Maybe it's just me, but usually I hold the phone to my ear when I talk. When I'm on speakerphone, it's usually because I'm driving or I just don't feel like holding the phone. Besides, browsing the Web during a conversation is kind of rude. Besides, who says "surf" in relation to Web browsing anymore?

Most Popular Smartphones

This needs to be singular, or explained better. If we're talking about the most popular smartphones exclusive to AT&T, that leaves the iPhone. Blackberry phones are the most popular in the United States, but Verizon carries them, too. And it's got a relevant AT&T-bashing ad.

Access to More Than 100,000 Apps

This claim, of course, is entirely thanks to the iPhone, whose days on AT&T might be numbered. Repeating "We've got the iPhone" ad nauseam until it's gone is not an effective marketing strategy.

Concession

At the end of the ad, Wilson concedes one point to the competition: Their name "starts with the letter 'V.'" Wow, good one, AT&T. Verizon, Berizon, the big fat Ferizon. Next time, just pay Luke Wilson to call Verizon Wireless a poo-poo head and call it a day.

Video: AT&T, Side by Side

Five Reasons Google Chrome OS will Succeed

IDG News Service — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:25:54 -0500

Google's Chrome OS doesn't signal the apocalypse for Apple and Microsoft, but that doesn't mean the operating system won't succeed when it arrives next year. Just like the Chrome Web browser, Google's carving out a small slice of the market for people who want the company's buzzwords of speed, security and simplicity. Over time, the legion of Chrome OS fans will grow, and Google will look at its operating system as a success, not a failure, as my colleague Tony Bradley argues.

Editor's note: PC World contributor Tony Bradley takes an alternate point of view in his BizFeed blog "Five Reasons the Google OS will Flop". Think they are both wrong? We'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments.

Here are five reasons Google Chrome OS will succeed:

Price

Google still hasn't said how much Chrome OS machines will cost, but there are a couple things to remember: First, the operating system is free, so netbook manufacturers can dodge the licensing costs of Windows machines. Also, Chrome OS machines will run on solid state drives, which could drive the price up, but because there's hardly any local storage involved, the size of these drives--and, therefore, the cost--will be minimal, and will decrease over time with no need to boost capacity.

Niche Market

How do you measure success, anyway? Tony argues that the Chrome Web browser hasn't caught fire, but that doesn't mean it isn't loved by the people who use it (myself included). I'm particularly interested to see if the operating system winds up in smartbooks, which are ultramobile PCs running on Arm-based chips. If that category takes off, Chrome OS could get a spot on the ground floor. Besides, Google said Chrome OS is intended, at present, for secondary machines. Even if people don't flock to it (and they won't), that doesn't make the operating system a failure.

The Cloud Rules

Eventually, Google will convince people that their data is safe in the cloud, mostly because Google users' personal information is already up there. Yes, you're in trouble if there's some massive server failure, but what are the odds of that compared to your netbook getting stolen or broken? I don't religiously back up my data, and I've suffered as a result, but I've always been able to recover invoices and other vital documents from the cloud.

Potential

Tony says you can't run Photoshop on the Web, but has he tried Pixlr? When Google announced Chrome OS last July, the company said that for application developers, "the Web is the platform." I'm most excited for what gets built around Chrome OS, anticipating the need for more Web applications. I look at things like OnLive, a cloud gaming service that isn't browser-based, but does all the high-end computing on its own servers, and wonder how long it'll take before anyone with a Web browser can access a program like that. When that day comes, Chrome OS will be a game changer.

Foresight

Google's imagining a world where all your computing is done through the browser. We're not there yet, but it's happening. I don't need my own computer to do much of anything, because everything's possible on the Web. Slowly, that'll become true for more users, and they'll look to Chrome OS for a simpler, faster experience.

Happiness on Facebook Cuts Canadian Woman's Health Care

IDG News Service — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:24:33 -0500

Facebook can be a dangerous beast. As social media evolves -- and the freedom of the Internet diminishes our self-censorship -- many have run into situations where Facebook has landed them in trouble and sometimes canned from a gig. It has been established that some companies scrutinize employee and potential employee Facebook pages to ensure what it's getting isn't tarnished by bad behavior such as playing hooky or being loose-tongued about one's feelings about work. The latest example is a little trickier: a Canadian woman saw her health benefits stripped away after the insurance company saw "happy" pictures of her on Facebook.

Nathalie Blanchard, 29, took long-term sick leave from her job at IBM in Quebec after she was diagnosed with major depressive disorder in February 2008. Until this fall, Blanchard received monthly benefits from Manulife. Suddenly the checks stopped arriving, and when Blanchard called Manulife to inquire, the company claimed Blanchard was available to work because of photos she had posted on Facebook of her looking "happy" at a Chippendales bar show, at her birthday party, and on holiday. These snapshots evidently proved to Manulife that Blanchard was no longer depressed and therefore ineligible for health benefits.

Blanchard's lawyer, Thomas Lavin, said the woman was encouraged by her doctor to take small vacations to cleanse her mind of worries and reintegrate with friends in social settings.

Manulife is tight-lipped about Blanchard's case, but said in a written statement: "We would not deny or terminate a valid claim solely based on information published on websites such as Facebook." Manulife also confirmed that it uses the popular social networking site to investigate clients.

So who here is to blame? There are multiple layers to this case. First of all, Blanchard shouldn't have gotten busted if she had followed the variety of ways to protect your privacy on social networking sites. Take a moment of contemplation before posting something potentially harmful; remember who you've befriended; and, the biggie: make your account private. The latter is a surefire way to avoid the wrecking ball.

Manulife also should have followed up with Blanchard and given her a chance to explain the photographs. Just because someone has major depressive disorder does not mean they should be under house arrest, wrapped in chains. Blanchard's doctor could have vouched for her behavior had Manulife bothered to ask.

But I do see where the insurance company may have gotten suspicious. I am not a doctor or a psychiatrist, but I have never before heard of someone getting an entire year and a half off for major depressive disorder, especially if not an inpatient. Granted, mental imbalances come in various packages, and Blanchard's may be severe -- but with the right mixture of therapy and medication, many, but not all, have bounced back from deep pits and learned to live healthy, productive lives. It's also worth mentioning that this story unfolds in Canada, which provides national health care, so while it may be a stretch to expect this sort of consideration in the United States, it's an entirely different story up north. Also, this is my opinion, and should not be taken as fact.

We live in a time where many get a false sense of security and freedom when it comes to the Internet. These social networking pages are ours -- or at least they feel like ours -- and it can come as a shock when the curtain is violently ripped back and our scaffolding is exposed. With the right mixture of inconspicuousness and second-guessing, many problems stemming from Facebook can be dodged, but perhaps at the expense of truly expressing our lives the way we'd like.

Techies gather for a lunch to save the world

IDG News Service — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:54:09 -0500

The 43rd floor of the Spear Tower in downtown San Francisco is empty. Possibly because of the slumping economy, there's just a big, open office space with unfinished white walls overlooking a million-dollar view. It was an appropriate setting for Lunch for Good, an event on Wednesday that brought together nearly 100 people deep in the Bay Area's social-networking industry to talk about a futuristic question: how online social networks can help humans find common ground.

Someday this swanky piece of real estate, with a view of the city's historic waterfront below and the Golden Gate Bridge in the distance, may become the headquarters of some bold company that runs with one of the ideas generated by Wednesday's lunch. Pondering the fate of humankind and inventing lucrative online businesses are the twin pillars of San Francisco's tech scene, which helps to explain why the heads of Lunch.com, the event's main sponsor, flew up from Los Angeles to hold the event in the Bay Area.

Lunch.com is a social-networking site focused on helping people share views on an endless variety of subjects and meeting people with common interests whom they otherwise couldn't have found. Members can start with point ratings and 140-character reviews of movies, restaurants and other things and gradually build up to sharing lengthy opinions and top 10 lists, or they can jump right in to the fray, said Melissa Cunningham, vice president of brand marketing at Lunch.com.

Wednesday's lunch was the last in a series of three, all held in the Bay Area, which began in September. The idea for the events came about over lunch (naturally) as Lunch.com founder J.R. Johnson, Social Media Club founder Chris Heuer and SF New Tech event organizer Myles Weissleder talked about the possibilities and shortcomings of online social networking. The Social Media Club and SF New Tech co-sponsored the series. The lunches drew growing crowds after the first event, which attracted about 50 people, Cunningham said.

At each of the three lunches, Lunch.com posed one question and asked each table of guests to discuss it while they ate. At the end of that time, each table sent one diner up to present the answers that table had come up with.

The first, in September, pondered how to foster more responsible participation in online communities. At the October lunch, participants were asked, "How can online contribution evolve to encourage more critical thought?" The series closed on Wednesday with the question, "How can online contribution evolve to enable people to find common ground with one another?"

It's worth noting that the answers to those questions could be pretty valuable to Lunch.com's own business. The company wants to create a space where users feel comfortable sharing views with people who are different from them, and come back often for more thoughtful and valuable opinions. But to hear founder J.R. Johnson tell it, Lunch.com wants to find the key to world peace.

"If you're able to find some commonality with somebody else, it allows you to understand that person a little better ... before you pass judgment on what their point of view is. It helps to remove this us-versus-them mentality," Johnson said in his opening remarks. "It's just hard to do," Johnson said.

He gave the example of two people from different backgrounds who both like Cherry Coke and the 1990s sitcom "Seinfeld." Lunch.com's Similarity Network is a system that exposes those commonalities by analyzing every rating or review that each member has submitted on the site.

"If this happens enough times, and people believe this and see this enough, they're now going to look at a roomful of strangers, like I'm looking at right now, and they're not going to see a bunch of people who are different from them. They're going to know that they're somehow connected to these people," Johnson said.

Before the wait staff got to see some of the Bay Area's top technology and marketing professionals spontaneously hold hands in a circle and sing "Kum-ba-ya," Johnson and Heuer set them to their task of overcoming the barriers to Internet-inspired brotherhood.

Later, as the representatives of each table got up to present the results of their small-group discussions, some thought-provoking ideas came out.

One was a space on the Internet that would exist for only a limited period of time. That would force people to commit to that space and work on something while it's available, as well as lower their inhibitions.

"Get people in the same room and let them make silly comments that will disappear from Google," said Stuart Schmukler, chief technology officer of BreathResearch.com, a site being developed as an information resource about breathing-related health.

"Don't know how to do that," he added, drawing laughs from the crowd.

Another table proposed software that could glean information about someone's interests and opinions from the stream of their online activity. The software could then intervene in a contentious online conversation about politics to tell the participants that they both like the same sports team. Along the same lines, another speaker suggested having a mediator, either human or automated, to step in if online discussion of a contentious topic became too heated.

Some participants even pushed back against the notion that finding common ground is all good. Competition among political views has helped make the U.S. what it is, said Vinnie Lauria, co-founder of Lefora.com, a online forum hosting company in San Francisco. "Sometimes that polarity helps progress," Lauria said.

A day later, several participants thought the roughly two-hour lunch had generated good ideas, even if it might not change the world.

Andre Kvitka, a freelance technologist, found his first Lunch for Good thought-provoking but both arrived and left a skeptic.

"I am still not convinced that social media tools are mature enough to make a huge change on the grand scale," Kvitka said in an e-mail interview Thursday.

However, any good idea that circulates among tech movers and shakers might make a difference.

"It could have that small, little butterfly effect" in which the wind from a butterfly's wings supposedly can ultimately influence major events, Lefora.com's Lauria said.

For Lunch.com's Johnson, online harmony is less an immediate project than a lifelong dream. He recalled growing up during the Cold War and entering an essay contest on the subject of peace. In his essay, he invented a board game that would teach players all around the world about people of other nations. The better they understood each other, the less likely they would be to kill each other, he proposed. "This is a concept that a child could understand," Johnson said Wednesday.

Johnson is already looking ahead to the possibility of more Lunch for Good series, possibly in other cities. But Lefora's Lauria, a transplant from New York, isn't sure how a more fast-paced city would react.

"An event like this, I don't think could fly in a place like New York," Lauria said.

Will secret copyright treaty restrict digital rights?

IDG News Service — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 09:56:57 -0500

Most Americans expect that their laws are only passed after some period of public debate between Republicans and Democrats or their news-channel proxies. However, the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) may be an exception to this rule, and if it is signed, many United States laws concerning the Internet and ownership of data may become substantively different.

Various nations (including Australia, Canada, the European Union, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland, and the U.S.) are said to be negotiating ACTA now, with the goal of passing a joint treaty to protect intellectual property sometime in 2010. I would like to tell you much more about what's being written into the ACTA bill, but I can't: the contents of the treaty are secret. What we know about it is pretty much based upon leaks of earlier documents, and heavily redacted versions which were ferreted out under the guise of national transparency laws. The University of Ottawa requested the text of the bill, and received a document with everything blacked out except the title. The Electronic Frontier Foundation received a copy with 159 pages intact, but an additional 1,362 pages redacted with the claim that the contents were crucial to national security.

What has been leaked is disturbing. Some reports state that customs officials at international borders would be empowered to search the contents of your laptop, cell phone, and iPod under the pretense that they're looking for ripped or downloaded music and videos, with confiscation of your devices as a potential penalty. Others state that Internet providers would be required to look through the data traveling over their networks for illegal transmission of copyrighted material. Various officials have denied both claims as being part of outdated drafts of the treaty--but obviously, without access to the text of the treaty and with no news of the negotiations, there's no way to confirm any of this without waiting for a fait accompli announcement.

Civil libertarians (a group of which I'm a member) are disturbed by the treaty for obvious reasons, but there's another issue at work here which should be of interest to anyone who uses a computer or the Internet. There are many people in media industries and law enforcement who think it would be much easier to police the world, if only there were One True Digital Rights Management Scheme to keep people from copying data they shouldn't.

On the other hand, DRM tends to break stuff and has already been dumped by the music industry--but alive and well in the realm of digital video. Moving and transforming data is central to how we live today; technological or legal restrictions on moving data result in a different way of living with our data. Especially when someone suspects that the data in question isn't ours.

On to a short course in international law. Under the U.S. Constitution, when American representatives sign a treaty, it must be passed in the Senate; afterward, the language of the treaty has the force of law in the United States. However, some treaties can be negotiated under "fast track" authority, which essentially states: "if the President and the Executive branch have the authority to implement the treaty without Congressional action, they have the authority to sign the treaty." (Lawyers, please note: I am not one.) If it later becomes necessary to pass a U.S. law to conform to the terms of the treaty, it's pretty much a given that the treaty's language is going to form the baseline of its text; make too many changes, and you have to send your diplomats back to the negotiating table.

ACTA is being negotiated under the fast-track authority, which means that it could be signed and enforced with the only notice being a buried headline in the New York Times. The EFF has published a law journal article with four extremely abstruse recommendations for how to open up the process to democratic debate; I recommend it to anyone who can make heads or tails of a law journal article.

For everyone else, though, it's probably a good time to pay attention, and perhaps make some noise. Ironically, it's going to be very difficult to report more on ACTA here, because so few facts are being leaked; I can report the process as news, but followup articles are hard to write without relying on rumor and innuendo. So get in touch with groups like the EFF which are lobbying on the issue, and perhaps read Boing Boing (where Cory Doctorow can be counted upon to provide up-to-the-minute coverage and leaks in informative but apocalyptic style). Call your Congresspersons and let them know you're fond of the Internet and how it works. (Residents of Alaska, please note: Ted Stevens is not your Senator any longer, so it's no longer a series of tubes.) Secret laws and closed-door negotiations have a track record of working well only when citizens are too apathetic or distracted to care much; if this is an issue that concerns you, let people know.

Designed by Consumers - Screenless Laptops

IDG News Service — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 09:54:51 -0500

As part of Google's tenth anniversary last year, Google asked for ideas on how to change the world. A great many suggestions were submitted, including the one below from me. Although Google has chosen not to fund this suggestion, I wanted to share it here with PCWorld.com readers for what it's worth. Admittedly, it's counterintuitive to think that a laptop without a screen could be more useful than a laptop with a screen. But as I explain, for some people, that can indeed be the case.

What one sentence best describes your idea? (maximum 150 characters)

Low-income computer users can purchase laptops without screens by pooling their funds and prepurchasing the laptops.

Describe your idea in more depth. (maximum 300 words)

Low-income families could benefit from being able to buy laptops without any LCD screens. A laptop without an LCD can be a very useful portable solution when connected to CRT or fixed LCD monitors. Laptops without screens would also be a green solution, giving value to donated CRT monitors that would otherwise be heading for landfills. Portability means that this computer can be more easily maintained by volunteers, who don't always have the time to travel to people's homes.

To spur the development of laptops without screens, a nonprofit organization named Designed by Consumers could collect prepurchase payments for designated laptops, such as the Acer Aspire One. When 5000 or 10,000 such prepayments are collected, Acer would have a real incentive to consider selling a version of the Acer Aspire One without a screen for about $150.

This laptop would also have no batteries or speakers, further reducing weight and cost. A one-pound, virus-free "laptop" could allow a low-income person to get tech support or tech training at a public library, church, or community technology center and could expand the number of computers in use at such shared community spaces. Students could more easily carry such light laptops in their heavy bookbags.

The nonprofit organization named Designed by Consumers would pool funds from low-income people, and others who support them, to give low-income persons a stronger voice in technology product design decisions. The pooling of the funds would reward manufacturers who give greater thought to the needs of low-end consumers. Designed by Consumers would also accept anonymous donations from persons wanting to strengthen the public voice in design decisions. In some cases, Designed by Consumers would negotiate with manufacturers to remove (or include) features that would best benefit low-income consumers.

What problem or issue does your idea address? (maximum 150 words)

Low-income persons yearn to have a portable computing solution, yet cannot afford one. This limits their access to education, job opportunities, health information and a whole host of other benefits that portable computers give people--including the benefit of being able to get computer help from a friend or community volunteer--and pass along computer help to others. Also, great stress occurs in low-income families when students are required to share a computer when doing homework. An affordable portable computer would substantially reduce such emotional stress, and give students the ability to work in a quieter setting, such as a neighbor's apartment or house, if that is their only option for quiet study.

If your idea were to become a reality, who would benefit the most and how? (maximum 150 words)

People who currently cannot afford a portable computing solution would be able to join the ranks of those who can. This would increase the education, health, and job opportunities of people who "always wanted to buy a laptop." Millions of used CRT monitors would enter the donation stream, and be put to beneficial use with a screenless laptop. Whole new nonprofit organizations might form to distribute free CRT monitors.

What are the initial steps required to get this idea off the ground? (maximum 150 words)

Identify an existing nonprofit organization whose mission is aligned with the aims of this proposal. To my mind, the Internet Archive is the most suited organization. Set up an e-mail list to gather together people interested in this proposal. As people sign up for this list, have them identify the kind of role they might want to play in supporting the proposal. Create a Web video explaining the proposal in more detail and find private-sector and government allies. Create a bank account where people can start prepaying for a screenless laptop. Blog about the progress of this initiative on the official Google Blog, setting a goal to reach 5000 or 10,000 prepurchases by a certain date.

Describe the optimal outcome should your idea be selected and successfully implemented. How would you measure it? (maximum 150 words)

I would measure the outcome of this project by how many people use a screenless laptop to learn English, learn to type, learn computer programming, graduate from college, write a book, start their own company, etc. These milestones could be self-reported via verifiable anecdotes from people using this screenless laptop. The success of this project could also be measured by using Google Analytics to monitor the extent of Web use by this screenless laptop. Advancing skill level in Freerice.com would be another way to measure the success of people using this laptop. Creative output could be measured by the number of blog postings on Blogger.com originating from this device, the number of new docs created in Google Docs, the number of Websites created on Google Sites, and the number of searches conducted on Google using this device.

Phil Shapiro

The blogger is an educator and technology commentator in the Washington DC. He has received numerous local and national recognitions for his work bridging the digital divide. He can be reached at philshapiroblogger@gmail.com and on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/philshapiro

Previous blog posts:

Book Review - Scratch 1.4 - A Beginner's Guide

How to Thank a Teacher in the Digital Age

Twitter Does Not Need to be Free

Google SketchUp Delights the Mind

Crowdsourcing the MacArthur Awards

Should the Gates Foundation Support Linux and Apple Computers in Public Libraires?

Whimsy and Fun Overflow in YouTube Music Video

Hopeful Harmonies

Video Book Reviews on Amazon.com

Pets Speak Their Mind on YouTube

Students Adore Moodle

Cooked Rice Vocabulary Project

Moodle Used by Cub Scout Pack in Ohio

Scratch Day 2009 - Computer Programming for Kids

Exit Newsweek - Enter MAKE Magazine

SketchUp Projects for Kids - Book Review

Where Are the Centenarians in Apple Commercials?

YouTube is a Thousand Times More Interesting than Television

The Apple II Gains Eternal Life in the Web Browser

Take Me Out to Ubuntu

Should Public Libraries Be Welcoming Homes for Ingenuity?

An Easy Way to Introduce Inkscape Drawing Program to Youth and Adults

Your Second Economic Stimulus Check is on its Way

Exceptional Creativity Finds its Way to YouTube

Visiting Google's Cafe Thoreau

Why Chrome OS will fail -- big time

IDG News Service — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 06:15:29 -0500

The Chrome OS is here -- sort of. This week, Google was kind of enough to give the world a sneak peek at its nascent desktop operating system. And after months of speculation (and more than a few bogus screenshot galleries), I can finally say that I've seen the future ... and it's not Chrome OS.

The preceding statement should come as no surprise to readers of my Enterprise Desktop blog. I came to a similar conclusion months ago. When news of the existence of a Google OS project first leaked out, I gave it an ice cube's chance in hell of succeeding. Now, after watching a sometimes touchy-sounding crew from Google's Mountain View, Calif., headquarters walk us through the ins and outs of the Chrome OS, I'm more convinced than ever that my original assessment was right on the money.

Fatal flaw No. 1: The Linux foundation First, there's the core architecture. A derivative of Linux, the Chrome OS builds on Linus Torvald's popular open source foundation to create a lightweight, Web-oriented desktop environment. However, it also inherits that platform's many warts, including spotty hardware compatibility.

From power management to display support, Linux has long been a minefield of buggy code and half-baked device driver implementations. Google recognizes this fact and, in a page out of the Apple Macintosh playbook, has taken the draconian measure of allowing the Chrome OS to be distributed exclusively on a series of as-yet-undisclosed netbook-like devices.

It's a move born of desperation. Google knows it can't possibly establish a viable hardware ecosystem and still meet its self-imposed release deadline of "mid-2010." So rather than do the hard work of courting device vendors and building certification processes, Google is taking the easy way out by micromanaging which systems will be allowed to ship with the Chrome OS and then dumping responsibility for the rest of the ecosystem onto the open source community.

Fatal flaw No. 2: The Web user interface Then there's the user interface. Google looks at the world through the prism of a Web page. So it comes as no surprise that the primary interface to the Chrome OS is ... Chrome, as in the Google browser. Unlike a traditional OS, there's no desktop. The "applications" running under the Chrome OS are really just interactive Web pages, with the Chrome browser's tabs serving to separate and organize them visually on the screen. Basic configuration tasks, like defining Wi-Fi settings, are handled via Chrome OS-hosted pop-up windows, while a simple status bar-like strip at the top of the display informs you about battery life, connectivity status, and so on.

Sadly, none of the above UI constructs is particularly original or compelling. The tabbed interface and "dockable" favorites are clearly derivative of Mac OS X and/or Windows (depending on whom you ask), as are the status icons and pull-down applications menu. In fact, nothing about the Chrome OS UI jumps out as innovative. Rather, it simply replaces one set of metaphors (Start menu, taskbar/Dock, system tray) with a bunch of Webified equivalents. And though I can certainly appreciate the advantages of doing away with those heavy legacy OS windowing layers -- Web content is lighterweight and easier to isolate from a security standpoint -- it also serves to limit the environment's overall utility.

The world won't buy an inflexible OS And that's where I believe the Chrome OS ultimately fails. In its effort to pare the traditional OS model down to the bone, Google has thrown out the one characteristic that made Windows and, to a lesser extent, Mac OS X and full-blown Linux successful: flexibility.

Simply put, the Chrome OS is too narrow. It assumes that the world is ready to give up the traditional personal computing paradigm and live full time in the cloud. In reality, most users prefer a hybrid existence, with some of their data and applications stored locally, and others -- typically the freebies, like Gmail -- hosted online.

Perhaps the easiest way to put the Chrome OS into context is by comparing it to the OS it's designed to supplant: Microsoft Windows. Like the Chrome OS, Windows lets you boot your system, surf the Web, and manage your data. Unlike the Chrome OS, Windows also lets you run rich, local applications and services -- and do so on the hardware of your choosing.

Don't forget that Google's plans for acceptable hardware to run the Chrome OS is very limiting. No hard drives or even DVD drives; only solid state drives. That may reduce power usage and speed up boot time (as if that was really an issue), but it also means you can't run your own apps, or store and access data, when you don't have a live Internet connection. Plus, the supported laptops are only netbook-size laptops, with low-power CPUs that won't be all that capable. Sure, Google says you can use a PC or Mac for that stuff, and Google is right: You will. Why you would want a Web-only appliance as well is not so easy to answer.

The bottom line is that while there is virtually nothing that you'll be able to do with the Chrome OS that you won't be able to do equally well with Windows, there are literally millions of things that you can do with Windows today that you'll likely never be able to do with the Chrome OS.

So don't be surprised when you start hearing about early Chrome OS adopters trying to reformat their systems with Windows 7 Starter Edition. After all, people are easily distracted, and the Chrome OS already bores me to death.

This article, "Why Chrome OS will fail -- big time," was originally published at InfoWorld.com. Follow the latest developments on cloud computing, Google, and Chrome OS at InfoWorld.com.

[ InfoWorld's Neil McAllister reports from Google HQ the known details of the Chrome OS and Google's planned Net appliances. ]

Microsoft, other rivals slam Google Chrome OS

IDG News Service — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 20:14:29 -0500

Microsoft Corp. is, predictably, not all that impressed by Google Inc.'s demonstration of its upcoming Chrome OS today, but neither were a number of potential rivals in the Linux and instant-on operating system space.

Google released Chrome OS as open source today. It did not, however, release a beta of the operating system for users, and said that hobbyists who would want to install it on their existing netbook or other hardware were out of luck.

However, developers can compile the source code and run Chrome OS in a virtual machine to test Web app compatibility, Google said.

Analysts note the ratcheting up of the rivalry between Google and Microsoft with Chrome OS's release to developers today, but the rival OS won't be available on new netbooks for another year -- and Microsoft seized upon that fact today.

"From what was shared, it appears to be in the early stages of development," a Microsoft spokeswoman said via e-mail.

"From our perspective, however, our customers are already voicing their approval of the way Windows 7 just works -- across the Web and on the desktop, and on all sizes and types of PCs -- purchasing twice as many units of Windows 7 as we've sold of any other operating system over a comparable time," the spokeswoman said.

Google is taking a longer term view, rethinking the OS and PC to achieve a better user experience, executives said today. For example, by dumping conventional BIOS-based boot-ups and only using solid-state drives , Chrome OS-based netbooks will be able to boot in 7 seconds, and run Web apps within another 3 seconds, the company said

That failed to impress Woody Hobbs, president and CEO of Phoenix Technologies Inc., a long-time BIOS software maker that has re-invented itself with a Linux-based instant-on OS called HyperSpace.

"Instant-on is about being able to access your Internet applications in 1 second. 7 seconds is too long," Hobbs said in an e-mail. "There is no such thing as 'cold boot' for today's mobile PCs such as netbooks and smartbooks. You should be able to use your netbook like you use your smartphone -- a press of a button and you are 'on'."

Mark Lee, CEO of DeviceVM Inc., said Google's favoritism towards its own browser and Web apps could rub some users the wrong way, especially those outside of the United States.

"In China, users prefer Baidu, not Google," Lee said. DeviceVM's Splashtop platform boots into Firefox within seconds and uses Yahoo or Baidu as default search engines instead of Google.

He expects Splashtop to have been shipped on 100 million netbooks and other PCs by the end of next year, when the first Chrome OS netbooks are due to arrive.

Tariq Krim, founder of Linux netbook OS maker, Jolicloud , said Chrome OS's 100% Web orientation -- users won't be able to install applications locally, though they may be able to run some of the Web apps offline using HTML 5 technology -- is premature.

"Native apps aren't dead yet," Krim said. "I love VLC [media player], I love Skype, I love using OpenOffice.org on the airplane when I don't have Wi-Fi access."

Other rivals said they welcomed Chrome OS. Jim Zemlin, executive director of The Linux Foundation, said, "What's good for Chrome is good for Moblin, and what's good for Moblin is good for Chrome."

The Linux Foundation oversees the Moblin netbook OS , created originally by Intel Corp., as well as the Linux kernel itself. "Many of the technologies present in Chrome originated in the Moblin Project. For example, Moblin pioneered fast boot technology," Zemlin said by e-mail.

But not everyone will benefit, he said. "The real loser today is Microsoft. Shared development accelerates time to market and innovation, bringing better products to consumers and better returns to companies."

Canonical Ltd., maker of the popular Ubuntu Linux, revealed today that it has been contributing engineers and developers to Chrome OS .

Canonical said it is unafraid of potential cannibalization. "While the two operating systems share some core components, Google Chrome OS will provide a very different experience to Ubuntu," wrote Chris Kenyon, Canonical's vice-president for OEM services.

"Ubuntu will continue to be a general-purpose OS running both Web and native applications such as OpenOffice and will not require specialized hardware," he said.

What Chrome OS Means for Business

IDG News Service — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:56:36 -0500

Today in Mountain View, Google held a press event to announce details of its upcoming Chrome OS. What it unveiled is an exciting new platform for Web computing that is aimed squarely at consumer netbooks, and has little relevance to businesses today.

In a nutshell, Chrome OS consists of a Chrome browser running on an optimized Linux kernel. It supports only solid-state storage, and with the exception of locally cached user data, all data will be stored in the cloud. It's built to be fast, simple, and secure. It eliminates all local apps (except, of course, for the browser). Let's be perfectly clear: If it's not a Web app, it won't run on Chrome OS. While it doesn't accommodate local storage, it will read from USB storage devices (memory sticks, cameras, etc). It's a promising idea, as long as you buy into the whole Google ecosystem hook, line, and sinker.

Why Chrome won't run your office PCs in the near future .

Initially, Chrome OS will only be available on netbooks, but were that not the case, there are still plenty of other reasons this OS isn't ready for most business use cases. The big one is that it's restricted to Web apps. That might be OK for e-mail, word-processing, spreadsheets, etc., but it simply won't do for CAD, audio/video editing, software development, home grown apps, and third-party apps with no Web analog.

External devices are also a problem. Chrome will work with USB keyboards, mice, and storage devices, but what about multifunction printers and other more complex peripherals? While Google's Sundar Pichai did say that printer support will be included in the final OS, it's unclear how supporting a wide array of printer drivers fits into Google's vision of a streamlined OS with a limited reference spec. These unanswered questions make it hard to believe that your current desktop OS is going away anytime soon.

How Chrome could complement your business as a companion PC.

If you can get away with using only Web apps while on the road, a Chrome OS equipped netbook will be worthy of consideration. It's worth pointing out that Google's definition of "netbook" deviates broadly from its origins. Google thinks of a netbook as a slim inexpensive portable computer having a full-sized keyboard and touchpad, decently sized screen, long battery life, and solid-state storage. As a companion PC, a Chrome equipped netbook is an IT person's dream. Chrome OS keeps itself and all of its plug-ins up to date; you never need to worry about updating it.

When it boots, Chrome runs a checksum on all of its binaries. If something is off because of malware or corruption, your computer is automatically and transparently reimaged from the cloud. You can forget about resource hogging anti-malware apps. Also, locally cached data is encrypted. If your netbook were stolen, it would be very difficult for anyone to recover any personal data. When you replace your netbook, all of your settings and data are right there. In fact, your entire environment is replicated from the cloud on any Chrome netbook you log into.

The Possible Future

It's not difficult to see how the Chrome OS could become wildly popular on netbooks. A growing number of companies, such as Genentech, Motorola, and Salesforce.com are already using Google Apps, and could see immediate benefits using the Chrome OS on a companion PC. For those who already work in Google's Web apps, a Chrome OS-equipped netbook will be worthy of consideration. However, such companies appear to be the exceptions that prove the rule, since they've already bought into the ecosystem.

Once it has established a user base on netbooks, Google will likely starting pushing into larger laptops and desktops. If Web-based cloud computing becomes popular enough, we'll see more developers of traditional desktop apps make a push for the Web. For legacy apps and those that don't easily translate to the Web, we may see more implementations of Citrix and Terminal Server type applications. Still, it's unlikely that Windows, OS X, and Traditional Linux computers will disappear. However, Google promises that features in the Chrome OS will filter into the Chrome browser. Hopefully what this means is that if 95 percent of what we do is on the Web, that experience will be replicated on both the Chrome OS and the Chrome browser that runs on our desktops.

The Bottom Line

Who knows if the Chrome OS will be successful, or where all this will lead to, but Google sure paints a rosy picture and makes it easy to get all dreamy-eyed about the future of cloud computing. However, for most companies, the paradigm shift is too severe and too limiting to consider Chrome as a primary business platform.

Michael Scalisi is an IT manager based in Alameda, California.

27-inch Core i5 iMac (with Core i7 option)

IDG News Service — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:40:21 -0500

When Apple announced new iMacs last month, it included a major step forward amid the subtle-but-welcome refinements in most of the models: the first ever iMac to offer a quad-core processor. The new high-end 27-inch iMacs are the first to use Intel's Core i5 and Core i7 quad-core processors, and they were not available at the time of the announcement. But finally, the wait is over, and the Core i5 and Core i7 27-inch iMacs have arrived--and let me tell you, it was worth the wait.

There are four standard iMac configurations, three of which have 3.06GHz Core 2 Duo processors and were reviewed recently. The fourth standard configuration is a $1999 model that has the same 27-inch screen, 1TB hard drive, and 4GB of RAM as the $1699 27-inch 3.06GHz Core 2 Duo iMac ( Macworld rated 4 out of 5 mice ), but features a more powerful ATI Radeon HD 4850 graphics card with 512MB of GDDR3 memory and Intel's Core i5 quad-core processor running at 2.66GHz. The Core i5 has 8MB of L3 cache shared among the processing cores.

The Core i5 features a technology Intel calls Turbo Boost. If an application isn't using every available core, the cores that are idle shut off, and the active cores speed up. According to Apple, this allows the processor to run up to 20 percent faster under heavy workloads; that translates to 3.2GHz in this iMac.

As an upgrade option to the Core i5 iMac, you can swap in a 2.8GHz Core i7 quad-core processor for $200 more. The Core i7 also features Turbo Boost (for speeds of up to 3.46GHz), and it also has Hyper-Threading technology that can present itself to highly threaded applications as having eight virtual cores.

New 27-inch Core i5 and 27-inch Core i7 iMacs: Speedmark scores

To see how well the new quad-core iMacs perform, we ran our overall system performance test suite, Speedmark 6, and the results were quite impressive. In fact, with a Speedmark 6 score of 209, the 2.66GHz Core i5 iMac is the fastest standard configuration Mac we've ever tested. It was three percent faster overall than the 2.66GHz Quad-Core Mac Pro ( Macworld rated 4.5 out of 5 mice ), and 1.5 percent faster overall than the 2.26GHz 8-core Mac Pro ( Macworld rated 4 out of 5 mice ).

Comparing the Core i5 iMac's Speedmark 6 scores to its iMac siblings, the Core i5 iMac was 27 percent faster overall than the second fastest iMac we've tested, the recently released 21.5-inch 3.06GHz Core 2 Duo iMac with 1TB hard drive and ATI graphics ( Macworld rated 4 out of 5 mice ).

Since the Core i5 iMac has the same hard drive as two of the other three new iMacs, we didn't see a big difference in our file duplication test, and our unzipping test results were pretty flat across the board. However, we did see a 25 percent improvement in the Core i5 iMac's Compressor score when compared to the 21.5-inch 3.06GHz iMac, a 26 percent increase in Call of Duty frame rates, a whopping 71 percent improvement in our HandBrake test, an 88 percent faster performance in our Cinebench multiple CPU test, and the new Core i5 iMac posted a MathematicaMark score more than twice as high as the 3.06GHz iMac. That's a lot of performance bang for an extra $200.

Comparing the new Core i5 iMac to the Mac Pro models, we see the speed advantage going the iMac's way in our Zip, iTunes, iMovie export, Call of Duty frame rates, and Compressor tests. The Mac Pros stood their ground on our HandBrake, iMovie import test, Cinebench CPU test, and MathematicaMark trials.

Our tests of the built-to-order Core i7 iMac (which, other than the processor, has identical specifications as the stock Core i5 iMac) showed even greater performance prowess. With a Speedmark 6 score of 225, the $2199 Core i7 iMac was nearly 8 percent faster than the Core i5 iMac. The Core i7 was nearly 11 percent faster than the $2499 2.66GHz Quad-Core Mac Pro and 9 percent faster than the 2.26GHz 8-Core Mac Pro, which sells for $1100 more. In our tests, there were a few tasks where having eight physical processing cores was beneficial, like our MathematicaMark and Cinebench CPU tests.

The new quad-core iMacs are outwardly identical to the 27-inch 3.06GHz Core 2 Duo iMac released last month. The quad-core iMacs feature an LED backlit screen covered with glass at a 16:9 aspect ratio, an integrated iSight camera, four USB 2.0 ports, one FireWire 800 port, a Mini DisplayPort, and a new SD memory card slot. In terms of connectivity all new iMacs offer gigabit Ethernet, 802.11n wireless networking, and Bluetooth 2.1 + Enhanced Data Rate. The 27-inch iMacs ship with a 1TB 7200rpm Serial ATA hard drive, with a 2TB hard drive option available for an extra $250.

Macworld's buying advice

With the new 2.66GHz Core i5 iMac and the 2.8GHz Core i7 iMac, Apple has not only blurred the line between consumer and professional systems, it's darn near erased it. The 2.66GHz Core i5 iMac offers faster performance at most tasks than the 2.66GHz Quad-Core Mac Pro. The Core i5 iMac also has more memory and more storage space than the 2.66GHz Quad-Core Mac Pro, while being $500 less (plus you get a 27-inch screen with the iMac). Unless you absolutely require additional PCI cards, multiple internal hard drives, or a lot of RAM, the Core i5 iMac makes a strong case for the being the go-to system for most Mac professionals.

[James Galbraith is Macworld's lab director.]

Oracle Financial Keeps Fiscally Fit

IDG News Service — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:03:16 -0500

Oracle Financial Services Software(OFSS) caters to banking and capital market companies across the world. Part of what it offers its customers is the ability to cut costs and respond rapidly. But it was having a hard time practicing what it was preaching.

Highlights

-- The IT facility management team used in-house virtualization software to shrink the physical server count from 225 to 15.

-- After migrating data from standalone servers to virtual servers with shared storage, OFSS saved 5TB of disk space and will save Rs 3.8 crore (US$817,016) annually.

Part of the reason was the ever-increasing demand from business users for development and testing environments. Their constant requests had created a 225-server sprawl. "Many of these servers were underutilized and even unused at times," says S. Hariharan, Sr. VP Infrastructure Solutions and Services Group, Oracle Financial Services Software.

This situation also put the company's datacenter under stress. It was a challenge, says Hariharan, to control and manage the costs of multiple servers at multiple locations and also to ensure they had effective security controls and to be able to scale up.

The state of affairs begged for virtualization and datacenter consolidation. The IT facility management team used in-house virtualization software to shrink the physical server count from 225 to 15. This cut facility costs by 50 percent and annual maintenance costs by 60 percent.

The IT team then consolidated three active datacenters in Mumbai to a single location. The process involved moving over 180 servers from three locations to a newly-built datacenter. This big move enabled better security, overall control, scalability, and trimmed datacenter costs.

But these wins didn't come without challenges. The datacenter consolidation project came with technical as well as legal issues. The migration, for instance, needed clearance from the customs department and approval for downtime had to be sought from clients and project heads since most of the servers were production servers. "The migration had to be planned meticulously keeping in mind global operations and different time zones," says Hariharan.

Put together, the two projects cost about Rs 1.75 crore but they enabled the company to put their assets to optimal use. After migrating data from standalone servers to virtual servers with shared storage, OFSS saved 5TB of disk space and will save Rs 3.8 crore annually. It's made it easier to meet storage demands. Finally, the project cut provisioning time for new test environments to five hours from six weeks.

Furnish Your Office for Cheap on Craigslist

IDG News Service — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:38:16 -0500

If you're starting a new business, hiring on a shoestring budget, or simply sprucing up your home office, you'll need some new office gear, and you probably won't want to spend much. Believe it or not, Craigslist isn't just for used couches and one-night stands; it's also exceptionally good for finding standard office furniture (cubicles, desks, chairs, and so on) at unusually low prices. However, Craigslisting is an art in itself, so we've got some tricks that will help you seal the deal on whatever used gear your new office needs.

The Budget

Buying a basic, no-frills office chair and desk at OfficeMax will run you at least $170, a phone/fax machine will cost another $60, and brand-new cubicle units may be tagged at anything from $500 to $3000 apiece, depending on configuration, wall height, and filing options. Spend a few minutes on Craigslist, however, and you'll find plenty of office furniture that sellers need to get rid of for cheap--or even free.

The trade-off is your time. Though you could find a chair, a desk, a fax machine, and even some cubicles in Craigslist's 'Free Stuff' section, you have to be fast to pick up, because in many instances the stuff is simply left out on the street for the vultures (that's you) to pick over. We'll help you streamline your search process and seal the deal, but be aware that bargain hunting on Craigslist can be a time-consuming process--and you might be better off investing that time elsewhere in your business. When budgeting for your Craigslist searches, figure time into the calculation: If you end up spending an extra 3 hours to save $20, you might have been better off buying the furniture at full price in the first place. In short: The goal is to get on Craigslist, get the deal, and get on with your workday.

The Search

Let's start with searching. Unless you have all the time in the world, you shouldn't begin by aimlessly browsing the 'For Sale' sections; instead, zero in on the relevant categories ('Furniture', 'Business', and 'Free Stuff' are sensible choices) and then start searching. Try entering a general query ("office furniture") in 'Free Stuff' just to see what's available at the lowest price of all.

If nothing comes up, move on to 'Furniture' and 'Business'. In those three categories in the San Francisco Bay Area, I got 600 results for "office furniture," so I decided to pare down the search results by checking the 'has image' tag; I figured that if the seller couldn't be bothered to post an image, I probably wouldn't want the item anyway. I also set the minimum price to $2 because I didn't want to see ads from furniture dealers submit their listings with a tagged price of $1 but don't actually list any prices in the ad. Generally speaking, furniture dealers charge higher prices than furniture owners do--you can check them out for yourself in the 'Furniture by Owner' and 'Furniture by Dealer' categories.

If your needs are more specific--a set of filing (or "file") cabinets, for example, or a receptionist's desk--the search process is substantially easier. Start by narrowing the search results with your price range (and desired location, if applicable) and then scroll through the search results. As the "filing cabinet"/"file cabinet" example suggests, it's a good idea to conduct separate searches for alternative terms for the same item if both names are common. A search for "filing cabinet" produced 15 results, while a search for "file cabinet" generated 31 matches, with only four entries repeated from the "filing cabinet" list. (A search for "file filing cabinet" returned only those four overlapping entries.) Craigslist allows you to specify a search as the source for an RSS feed (more on that here), so just click the big yellow RSS button and add it to your reader of choice to stay current without actively prowling Craigslist every 10 minutes.

On the other hand, services like Craiglook and Search Tempest offer alternative Craigslist search functions that cater to power users, like slightly more refined search options (search terms to exclude, for example) and the option to search other nearby Craigslist portals. If you live in the San Francisco Bay Area and are willing to drive 250 miles, for example, Search Tempest will include Craigslist search results for the region stretching from Stockton to Sacramento.

Post an Item Wanted Ad

If you can't find what you're looking for, try posting your own ad. Though the 'Items Wanted' section of Craigslist gets far less love than the 'For Sale' category does (or 'Missed Connections', for that matter), it can't hurt to post a list of the items you're looking for so that your furniture search is visible to would-be sellers, especially if you're thinking of continuing the search process for a week or so. You needn't be too specific here--just list the items that you're looking for. If possible, post a phone number in your listing, too; sellers generally prefer the immediacy of a phone call. Also, check out our other Craigslist tips stories ("Craigslist Expert Tips: Better Ways to Buy and Sell" and "10 Craigslist Tips for Power Users") for more help in finding what you need.

Closing the Deal

Once you discover it, you need to buy it--and doing so isn't a simple matter of clicking 'Buy It Now'. Fortunately, we've assembled a few tips that will help you seal the deal and get to work in your new office.

1. Speed it up. Most people on Craigslist want to move their stuff as quickly as possible--within minutes or hours, not days. If they provide a phone number in the posting, it's because they want you to call it rather than send them an e-mail note. If you have to use e-mail, include your phone number in your contact information so the seller can contact you immediately. To minimize the odds of having the ideal office chair pulled out from under you, you need to buy that chair as quickly as possible. Also, dithering over transportation arrangements can cost you time and money: If you need a truck, line it up before you start the Craigslist search process, so it'll be ready to go when you need to pounce.

2. Indicate interest. People are busy and don't want to wade through a dozen diffident potential buyers to find one who will follow through. Asking plenty of questions during your initial phone call is a good way to get detailed information about the goods in question and show the seller that you're more interested in buying them than whoever else has called. In certain circumstances, establishing a clear interest in the item can be more important than speed; after all, if I'm using my valuable after-work free time to sell this thing, I want to deal with someone who won't waste my time.

3. Look for people with multiple listings. People who are getting rid of office furniture are probably, well, clearing out an office--which means that they usually have several items to sell (listed together or separately) and are more inclined to deal with (and perhaps cut a deal with) people who offer to buy more than one item. One-stop shopping saves you multiple trips around town, too.

Hopefully these tips will help you get your office up and running on time and under budget. For more budget-friendly business tips, check out "How to Start an Online Business for $100."

Google's Chrome OS stands to make waves

IDG News Service — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:24:18 -0500

Google is ambitious, there's no question about that. It has both the privilege and necessity of being so and, given its position as a major player in multiple facets of the technology arena, it's got resources and opportunities that most other companies can't hope to match. So if you had to pick one company to enter the operating system market, a product category that's been largely bifurcated for the last two decades, Google's a pretty good bet.

While Google's Chrome OS--shown off at a Google media shindig on Thursday--is still a year away from its actual release, it's still worth talking about now. Why? Because despite Google's attempt to downplay the importance of the "operating system" as a concept, the OS defines the computing experience, and the introduction of a major force like Google in that space is unquestionably going to shake things up. Even a year out, I have to admit a certain amount of excitement about Chrome OS if for no other reason than the change it brings to a long stagnant market--it's a viable third-party candidate.

Chrome OS is a product of ambition, but it's also tinged with a certain amount of idealism: that this is how computers today should work. The way Google explains it, these days most people fire up their computers to get on the Web, so why not eliminate all the cruft between them and that experience?

In theory, it's a great idea: out with the old and in with the new. As Google's introductory presentation took great pains to repeat, in Chrome OS the browser is the operating system. Your "applications" are the Web apps that you're already using: Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs, YouTube--even Microsoft's Web version of Office 2010, as Google executive Sundar Pichai showed off. All your data is stored in the cloud, meaning it's accessible wherever you go. (Apps can store data on your computer for use when you're offline, but they must specifically be designed to take advantage of the feature.)

You might very well call Chrome OS the killer app for the netbook--or, if you're somewhat more sanguine about the netbook's place in the market, a vindication of its concept. Chrome OS may also be the fulfillment of the much-bandied concept of appliance computing, in which your computer experience is more like that of turning on your TV--another comparison Google took pains to hammer home during its presentation.

As a tech-savvy computer user who frequently deals with less-confident users--hi, mom and dad!--I can see Chrome OS's appeal. For one thing, just eliminating the step of launching a Web browser will probably save time and headaches as in avoiding having to distinguish between Web sites and files and programs on the computer itself. For another, users are already accustomed to managing their data via applications like iPhoto and iTunes instead of via the filesystem, so off-shoring that one step further isn't going to add a lot of confusion. And heck, while Chrome OS doesn't entirely get rid of the need for data backups, considering that most people already don't back up their data it doesn't really make the situation any worse.

Of course, the tree of computing liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of old technology. Apple started the dance that led to the elimination of the floppy drive ten years ago when it introduced the iMac; since then, it's been a leader in advancing other technologies like USB and Wi-Fi and pruning those that have withered. Chrome OS is likewise hastening to off old technologies. Conventional hard drives are not supported, for example, just solid-state storage. That means faster performance, but it also means pricier components--for now. But the popularity of those components, if Chrome OS catches on, will help lower prices and availability.

And if Chrome OS catches on, Apple stands to reap benefits too. Chrome OS could be the tipping point in the long-gestating shift from a PC-centric computing experience to a Web-centric one, and the Web is the ultimate platform--for the most part, it works on any computer. The more resources that get shifted to platform-agnostic technologies, the bigger the win not just for the Mac but for other platforms: the iPhone, for example.

Of course, there's a chicken-and-egg problem there, too, since the accelerated adoption of those technologies will depend strongly on how quickly Chrome OS catches on. Google was loathe to release any details of hardware or price, other than to say that it's working with netbook makers and that the prices would be in the range that consumers had come to expect. That's pretty vague, though: it could easily mean anywhere between $400 and $700, and you're already pretty close to an intro-level MacBook at the high-end of that range.

That leads me to one thing that struck me during Google's presentation: how very much the company was starting to sound like Apple. Google executive Pichai spoke of the importance of the end-to-end user experience and said that the company was working with vendors to specify reference hardware on which Chrome OS would be guaranteed to run. That sort of control over hardware and software certainly sounds more like Apple than it does like Microsoft or Linux, which tout their compatibility with the full range of generic PC hardware. More to the point, the particular features mentioned were things like a full-size keyboard, a comfortable trackpad, and specific display resolutions--all factors that Apple has emphasized in the past as differentiating its laptops from netbooks.

Chrome OS actually reminds me a lot of another purported revolutionary technology to come out of Mountain View in recent months: Google Wave. Just as Wave was Google's vision of what e-mail and Internet communication would be like if developed today instead of thirty years ago, Chrome OS is the company's vision of a truly "modern" computer operating system.

But where Google Wave has elicited a lot of confusion and snark--personally, I think it's a solution in search of a problem--Chrome OS is eminently sensible. Computers have entrenched themselves in our life like no other technology: I look around the café I'm sitting in and I see a dozen people on their laptops, a ubiquity that could only have been dreamt of by, say, makers of portable televisions.

It may still be a long way off, but Chrome OS certainly has the potential to disrupt the OS market. Netbooks--and don't forget the operative part of that moniker is "net"--have rapidly gained in popularity over the past couple years and an OS built specifically for the hardware makes a compelling argument over the current leader in that market which, lest you forget, is still Windows.

Android vs. iPhone: Which Has the More Advanced Users?

IDG News Service — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:22:10 -0500

It seems the mobile world is full of silly little battles these days. You've got the AT&T-Verizon ad assault. There's that ever-popular Droid-iPhone rivalry. And then, of course, everyone's favorite Google Phone debate: Is there a Google Phone? If there were one, would it harm other Android phones? Or could it become -- gasp -- the elusive iPhone killer?

We won't be discussing the Google Phone any further here today (you can thank me later), but we will be keeping with the spirit of trivial competition. Personal preferences aside, I think we can all accept that the Android and iPhone platforms both have their strengths and weaknesses. So our new battle: Which mobile system has the more advanced users?

Android vs. iPhone: The Mobile Web

Ready? Our first measure of advanced functionality is the mobile Web. Both the iPhone and the Android platform are designed for easy Internet browsing -- so which platform's users are most likely to take advantage of the InterWebbial SuperSpeedway?

Turns out it's Android's. According to new data collected by Nielsen and compiled by eMarketer, owners of Android phones are the most likely to use their device's Internet functionality. Ninety-two percent of Androiders say they take utilize their phone's Web connection, compared to 88 percent of iPhone owners. Both devices are well above the curve for smartphone owners in general, however, where the overall Net-using percentage is only 71.

Android vs. iPhone: Social Activity

If Android owners are slightly more Web-enabled, iPhone fans are slightly more social. As this chart of ComScore data demonstrates, iPhone users come out on top when it comes to most advanced social-oriented phone activities -- everything from sharing photos to spending time on social networks and blogs.

Only in video-specific social activity does the Android clan pull ahead again, with significantly higher percentages of users capturing video and sharing it over the Net. (More Android users also watch video on their phones, according to Nielsen's numbers.)

Android vs. iPhone: Mobile Apps

How 'bout them apps? This one may be a bit surprising -- after all, you'd expect to see iPhone owners apping it up more often, given the 100,000 options at their fingertips. Android owners, however, come out just barely ahead in the relative realm of application usage: Seventy-six percent of them say they utilize apps, according to Nielsen, while 74 percent of iPhone owners say they make use of their mobile programs.

Android vs. iPhone: The Big Picture

Here's the good news: Both iPhone and Android users can grab some bragging rights from these studies. The truth is the two platforms are neck-in-neck when it comes to using most of the so-called "advanced functions" -- and practically every other mobile phone system is struggling to keep up.

See? We all have something to celebrate. Just don't tell AT&T and Verizon, or they're liable to start another ad war over it.

JR Raphael is co-founder of geek-humor site eSarcasm. You can keep up with him on Twitter: @jr_raphael.