Saturday, January 17, 2009

Basics - Want to Get More Work Done? Try a Bigger Screen - NYTimes.com

Basics - Want to Get More Work Done? Try a Bigger Screen - NYTimes.com: "Combining two displays, or using a single huge monitor, can significantly enhance your productivity."
I love having 2 monitors (one is a 22" LCD and the other is my 26" HDTV)on my main computer. I know Aaron has a 24" and from time to time he runs a second monitor.
Thank you JonathanM for this website.

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Thoughts on Windows 7 beta

While CNET is gaga over the Windows 7 beta, claiming it will chill the growing support for Apple's Mac OS X, I take a more middle of the road view after a few hours of installation and fooling around.

Windows 7 fixes a number of vexing Vista problems, like User Access Control run amok and slow network copying. It has a crisp user interface.  More options are hidden now, making most decision trees simpler -- unless you are wondering where the Performance power option disappeared to.  The install was painless; Vista and all My Documents were even saved automatically into Windows.old.

But this is still a beta.  Default screen resolutions use only a fraction of an LCD's pixels, a waste. None of my WMA music is playable because the online DRM gatekeeper is broken, so no sounds.  And home networking is complicated by the concept of "workplace" that will have you walking (unhappily) around to the other machines in your house looking four levels down in a menu tree, only then to have to enter a 10-character alphanumeric, upper-lower case generated password. That's so you can see your other computers on a home LAN.

As expected, Windows 7 is a work in progress.  On the whole, it's likely to turn out the way Microsoft (desperately) wants it to: successful. The beta is a lot more stable than even release candidates for Windows XP, so if you have a snowy day with nothing much to do, give the Windows 7 beta a whirl.

Please add your observations as Comments to this post.

Sunday, January 11, 2009

OnComputers Radio show Podcast 01-11-09

This is the On Computers Radio show podcast for 01-11-09. You can listen live every Sunday from 10AM to 1PM Pacific that's 1PM to 4PM Eastern. Join us for the live show and chat. If you prefer, you can download the same MP3 file here via ftp.

Links from the Gregg Zone

1) Well to start the green link this week is going to be one of those that is a great place to read up on what’s new, this site seems to include a non-bias approach with the stories they carry. I have noticed that some news sites seem to avoid carrying some content, when it comes to environmental subjects. I was sort of surprised to find some stories that would usually be only found on off beat, left leaning, or conspiracy sites. It is worth checking out this one as a starting place when web surfing the subject, no telling where it may take you. http://www.energybulletin.net/
2) This is a link to one of the new medical advances brought to us thanks to our advancing technology being applied in ways that help improve life for people with disabilities. We are truly living in a marvelous time in history, cannot imagine what we will accomplish in the next fifty years, providing we can overcome our innate need to self-destruct. http://www.argomedtec.com/
3) I am going to be visiting this subject every week for a while, because it is on my mind. If it gets repetitive I apologize. But what can I say, at the moment it is a big part of my net surfing. I am of course referring to 2012. The thing that fascinates me is how many different ways the date comes up from so many parts of the world. Totally independent of each other, a lot of them the same day. Anyway this is another of those launch pad type sites. http://2012news.com The link opens on a rather esoteric article; I suggest also going to the home page. Granted this is a little spacey in the tin-hat mode. But it expresses a point of view carried by quite a few that are out there.
4) I would be a little remiss if I did not touch on CES here in Vegas. I am sure most of you have been following the products coming out. This one caught my eye 100 high-def movies on a smart cart the size of a postage stamp. Load into your phone, lap top, or even your camera. Well that struck me as fantastic, they are talking about two terabytes storage, and you can just plug it into your phone wow! When I think it was only fifteen years ago I was state of the art with my 1 gig hard drive. It is almost scary how fast things are progressing. http://www.reuters.com
5) Geek link for the week, along the same lines of fast advancement in the tech-world. I thought a few of you may have not seen this yet, as it the article came out today. It may be with-in your pay-grade, I am afraid it is a little beyond mine, like way beyond. http://www.sciencedaily.com