Windows 7 Pt. 1

In a recent post, I commented on the evolution of the Windows operating system over the last decade or so. In that edition of my column, I mentionned that I would be soon installing Windows 7 RC1. And the day is finally upon us.

Anyone can get a product key for Win 7 that will be valid until March 2010 according to Microsoft. And that's the best thing that I have seen the Redmond monkeys pull off in a while. This means that from today until March '10 I have 8 months and change to evaluate the new operating system before paying a single penny. This is very positive as it indicates Microsoft's confidence as they are telling consumers and professionals alike that they want us to explore Windows 7's features without having to commit. This alone is a major improvement over the release of Windows Vista, which barged in on us and trampled over us XP accustomed users who had been running the same operating system since 2001.

On the technical aspect, I must say that thus far my most plesent remark goes out to the new features built into windows explorer. As an example, you can map paths to different folders or drives containing similar information. If say you have documents in your My Documents folder and in another folder such as F:\Gregs Stuff, you can customize the My Documents folder to display, in the same window, the path to both folders. This feature is particularly useful when dealing with larger files such as music or pictures that are often stored on secondary or external hard drives. In comparison, previous versions of windows would allow you to map the My Documents or My Pictures folder to alternate destinations on the hard drives but this was limited to one root directory.

Another big improvement is the way that Microsoft modified the pesky User Acount Control settings option. In Windows Vista, it was only possible to turn on or off UAC. This has caused some difficulties and frustrations for a whole lot of users as there was no middle grount and UAC was more a nuisence rather than a safeguard. In Win 7, UAC can be set to four different levels of sensitivity. There are the previous Ultra Invasive and Off modes but the 2 new ones are most useful as they allow say an administrator to setup the user's PC to be flexible yet monitored. This is an important security improvement as these 2 new modes may prevent some users from disabeling UAC as it will now be les invasive and distrupting of ongoing tasks.

Finally, I would like to talk about the task bar. A lot of good improvements have occured and the first that comes to my attention is the way that icons are displayed in various areas of the task bar. Icons are now displayed without text descriptions but rather as application or folder icons which are auto grouped and take up less space. Next, as you go to select a specific icon, a popup shows itself to indicate the different instances of an app that are running. So say if you are editing a few spreadsheets at a time and you place your cursor above the Excel icon a popup with all open documents will apear and you will be able to chose which document to access.

To conclude, I believe that the release of a new operating system is a major event and therefore will require much time to cover accurately and in depth. In a future post, I will overview gaming under Win 7!

In Apple We Trust!

On Monday, something happened to me that I never experienced before. Due to a good friend's interest in the Apple company and its line of great (or not so great) products, I found myself following the keynote speech of the WWDC (Worldwide Developers Conference). I usually read about those events after the frenzy is gone, but this time it was different. I was actually captivated.

Perhaps it's the fact that I'm a new iPod Touch user and that I find myself appreciating some of Apple's products hands on and actually enjoying my experience? Or is it because I was simply sucked into the hype? I guess it's a bit of both. So now that the smoke has settled, I wanted to rant about the 3 main events that, in my opinion, dominated the WWDC!

First, the upcoming release of the iPhone 3G S and the iPhone 3.0 operating system. This is actually something that I'm looking forward to. For two very good reasons: First, the new OS should enable me to use a Bluetooth headset with my existing iPod Touch! This will enable me to use my iPod as a cordless phone in conjunction with my Skype subscription. So, in theory, as of June 17th, I will be able to vegetate on my couch and chat away on my Bluetooth headset. This means no more home phone! Ever! Second, ad this is equally enticing, Apple decided to continue offering the current 8GB version of the iPhone, with the 3.0 OS upgrade at no charge and with the now low price of $99 with a 2 or 3 year agreement! This means that just maybe I will get my hands on one of those, depending on my carrier's terms and conditions.

Second, there is the reorganization of Apple's notebook offerings. Now all but one model are labeled as Mac Book Pro and are all of the unibody, integrated battery type. Battery life has been pushed to seven hours per charge and 1000 recharges so even an extensive professional user should be able to last two and a half to three years prior to shipping his then obsolete Mac Book Pro for a battery refitting! This also allows Apple to restructure pricing and options, to the consumer's advantage might we add.

And last, but not least, the release of the new operating system, Snow Leopard! Unlike Miro$oft, which will charge hundreds of dollars for upgrades from one crappy OS to another, Apple actually charges ONLY $29! And it's for a bevy of great improvements that result in better productivity, security and reliability.

And that folks might be just enough for me to get excited and seriously think about acquiring a Mac in the Near future!

Digital Photography 101

I have been an amateur photographer since a few years and I have developed a passion for digital photography as the last few years have gone by. I still remember my first digital camera, an HP Photo Smart 720, that I owned for about 4 months before I got rid of it. It was a 3.2 MP with 4x optical zoom if I recall. M first serious camera was a Canon S1 Is that I received as a gift.

And my first stint as a photographer was in November 2005 when I shot a Christmas Village made out of model homes for a gentleman I met at the store where I used to work. But I never wanted to shoot professionally. I don't have the "eye" for that and I'm far more about spontaneous photography rather than targeting and objectives. To me, it's much more exhilarating to shoot random pictures on a trip and obtain a few class shots rather than to aim for them. In a recent trip to Toronto I used for the first time yet another gift, a wonderful Canon Rebel XTi! This has inspired me to write this post as an introduction to digital photography.

In this day of inexpensive and readily accessible digital cameras, anyone age seven to ninety-seven can be a photographer. Without the added cost of films and prints, the possibilities for experimenting are endless... So in this introductory post, I would like to give you an overview of the 3 main types of cameras: point and shoot, ultra zoom and DSLR's.

Point and Shoot cameras are the basic cameras used by most. They can be budget devices costing less than $100 to feature rich and ultra slim units that have extensive options, shooting modes and lens types. When choosing this type of camera, consider what will be the main purpose of use, is weight or size an issue and of course your budget. You may also consider whether or not this will be your only camera. As most of us don't feel the need to tag along a bulky DSLR or ultra zoom at all times, we may opt to buy a small and inexpensive point and shoot model as a backup to carry in a purse or coat pocket for those spontaneous shots.

Ultra Zoom models are designed to deliver high end results in a unibody package that includes a wide angle and/or telephoto lens with zooming capacities of up to 24x. They are the much sought after balance between complex and expensive DSLR models and the basic and easier to use point and shoot ones. These cameras often feature several shooting modes and also offer the possibility of manually setting up focus, balance, exposure, etc.

Finally, DSLR's are the high end cameras used by experienced hobbyists and professionals alike. They offer the most features, interchangeable lenses, possibility of using an external flash and quasi unlimited setting possibilities with both pre-programmed modes, manual macros and others. These cameras, and their often required accessories are generally expensive (above $500 for an entry level model without extra lenses).

I will be writing detailed posts about some models and features in the future so check-in once in a while for updates.

Below, you will find a link to my Flickr page, where I am exposing some of my work.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/betaandgreg/

Skype

In the digital and high speed world, we see many useful and not so useful applications and designs. And since everyone is driven by a motivation to make a quick buck, we have to sort through what is available to us in order to make sound decisions. As even if some of these goodies are "free" as in demo or freeware applications, for example, using them may have a negative impact on our experience. This is generally caused by an application being resource hungry or simply wasteful. This was the case for example with Azureus Vuze, a popular Torrent management application. But today, I will talk about a great example of free software ingenuity, in the field of communications. And the app in question is Skype.

As someone with family members and friends all over the world, I always had to juggle between staying in touch and paying outrageous call costs over a cell phone or land line. I was using MSN Messenger but it was not a true phone replacement. Through Voice Over IP technology, Skype has enabled many of us to communicate free of charge or for a small fraction of the cost of calling from a traditional phone.

For 2.95$ per month (that's 5% of a land line fee) I can call to any number in North America. That means unlimited calls to land lines, mobiles and 1-800 numbers. That allows me to work from home and not have to worry about costs.

And the best part is that calls to other members world-wide are free of charge. That means I can talk to relatives in Europe without time constraints or worrying about costs. And with the added Video Calling capability, we can also see each other on web cams. This enables great interaction and provides a sort of proximity and closeness.

Another major advantage is the cross platform utility of Skype. With the new ability to use the application on several operating systems such as Windows, Mac OS and mobile phones. In my experience, with the iPod touch, Skype can be used to make calls from the iPod Touch through Wi-Fi networking.

Overall, I must say that Skype is a revolutionary communication app that allows to keep in touch from any type of device. This makes it a truly versatile tool.

iTunes vs. Winamp vs. Windows Media Player

In all honesty, I never used iTunes prior to buying my iPod Touch a few weeks ago. I always had something the interface. But since Apple is proprietary about its applications, I kind of had no choice. This is a good thing, since it allowed me to discover a good media app that I would have overlooked otherwise. In the past, my media organization was quite simple. I used Winamp for all audio formats, Video Lan’s VLC Media Player for video files and Windows Media Player within Windows MCE 2005 in my living room. So, this is an opportunity to compare three media players for the audio aspect, since iTunes doesn’t support video playback.

Winamp has been around for a very long time. I remember when I was first listening to digital music in the late nineties; I was using Winamp and Napster. It has a solid feature set including a very good equalizer, library management tool as well as some nice skins to personalize your experience. Also, as it supports most audio formats natively, Winamp is a good choice for audiophiles. So is the equalizer, which offers a few dozen presets as well as a precise manually adjustable digital EQ. As far as the library manager goes, it’s pretty standard in the way that it lists the contents of your files by artist, album, genre, etc. In my opinion, these libraries are often confusing and as someone who manages my music at the source (on the dedicated hard drive) this feature is often unneeded. One nice thing is the integration into windows which allows to play and queue songs directly from Windows Explorer.

Windows Media Player was always a tool used by necessity as it is the only integrated music player in the Media Center interface that I use in the living room. Therefore I don’t use it much as I am not a fan. I find that the EQ is of lesser quality than Winamp’s and the Library is equally unfriendly but essential as it constitutes the core of the media browser. File format support is very standard even if some of the more exotic formats such as .ogg or looseless are not played back.

iTunes, as my last contender, has me baffled. I honestly don’t use it to play music unless to listen to a track before adding it to a playlist for the iPod Touch. There are several features that I do like and the one that stands out the most is the library manager. I find that it is very neat and well sorted by default, making it very easy and intuitive to find specific items. As far as playback features go, I honestly don’t find the equalizer to be compelling as I believe that to my taste the presets are off. As far as the iPod interface is concerned I will eventually post my insight on iTunes as an entire post in the near future.

The bottom line, I believe, is very simple. As all 3 contenders are free, and have some positive aspects, feel free to explore and find the application that best matches your needs… and your musical personality.