Recently in Computers Category

I have only one expression for it (not even a word):

WOW!

I read on Engadget by the beginning of April that Microsoft would finally launch their foray into multi-touch computing, Microsoft Surface.

There's an interesting article about the way people use the iPhone, regarding the use of mobile phones. It seems that most of iPhone users have it not as a telephone, but rather as an appliance that may be also used as a telephone. This article, by International Business Times states that "iPhone owners spend just 46.5 percent of their time with the product engaged in voice calls",

I really don't think that English is too hard, but maybe it's only me!

Some time ago, Apple released the Beta iPhone SDK, and with it a Developer Program that anyone could enroll, and that would be necessary to have one's apps eventually available at the App Store. After a couple of days, Apple started sending messages to the people that applied, and all of the messages had the same wording:

I've been thinking about the possibility of writing an app for the iPhone ever since it appeared on the news.

Two problems, though:

• I don't really know how to program anything other than some basic php stuff, and some SQL statements;
• There was no official way to develop for the iPhone, and the non-official way was way too difficult for someone like me.

That's when Apple released its SDK for the iPhone!

Whenever we get proficiency in any system, the user interface is crucial on the process. After all, it's through the user interface that the system can be used.

This is why it's important to have the software adapted to use the interface of the system in use. This is what FireFox is aiming with its next iteratition, where the interface for the Windows version will have the interface for both XP and Vista, and the version for Mac OS X will have the interface made specially for 10.5 Leopard.

It may be read on a article published in The Firefox 3 Visual Refresh: System Integration

A phrase on that article puts it in a way I could not say better:

a unified cross platform UI results in applications that at best feel foreign everywhere, and at worst don’t even feel like real applications

I think that's why people dislike RealPlayer so much!

Ars Technica has just published an article citing a dutch consumer protection organization that warns computer users to stick with Windows XP for the time being, and to even insist on downgrading new computers if they come with Windows Vista pre-installed.

Is Windows Vista that bad?

I haven't used it extensively yet, mostly because I use XP on my job. My only contact with Vista is when I go to my sister's and use her computer.

It doesn't seem too bad to me, because my sister's computer is Vista ready, and it came with it installed. I had it upgraded from Vista Home Basic to Vista Business, and what pisses me most is UAC. This "feature" is annoying, to say the least.

But it seems to me that Vista is really a problem for Microsoft, and a problem that they didn't see coming. In another article, this time from Computer World where Steve Ballmer is said to have been confronted by the interviewer when she said she installed Vista on her computer justo to have is downgraded to XP two days later.

According to the article, Steve Ballmer puts that several corporate customers have found value on the new operating system, and it has been updated since it's launch so that device drivers missing during launch time were added to it.

It's clear that in time the vast majority of the users that use XP today will eventually migrate to Vista. Microsoft would like it to happen as soon as possible, but it seems that it will take much longer than they would like.

Among other sites, one I like a lot is Mac Dev Center, from O'Reilly Network, which focus on the development of Macintosh apps. One of the columnists at Mac Dev Center is François Joseph de Kermadec, whose home page I couldn't get to display anything else but the first page -- maybe I'm missing something here!

At Mac Dev Center François writes about several things Mac that, most of the times are interesting. Not that I think that he is always right, but he writes well, and has good insights about lots of things, like this article about the color to be used on the desktop .

Most people I know never thinks much about it! Maybe because most people I know use Windows computers, and, as such, usually the front most app is maximized when in use. That means that the desktop picture (or desktop color for that matter) of choice is almost never apparent. Having said that, it's funny to think what people use as desktop backdrops.

I, for one, love the Mac OS X feature that allows the user to choose automatically, on every login, whick picture to use from a folder full of pictures. I have even managed to find a little program that makes the same thing on my Windows XP machine at work (John's Background Switcher.

To me there is very little problem to use a picture desktop, with lots of color and very busy. As I said above, I'm no different from most Windows users, and my aps are generally used in a maximized window. When I am at my Mac, at home I don't like to have my windows covering all my desktop, but, at the same time, I almost never use programs that would be hurt by a cluttered desktop (something like a image analysis and creation program).

I think I'll start using the bland desktop color that François suggests as a test, to see if the strain on my eyes is less than wht I am used to with the desktops I have been using for a long time.

Laptop and notebook users are permanently at risk of data theft, mostly because this kind of computers are easily stolen. The reason is simply the one of the laws of data encryption, as put by Rich Mogull: if the data moves physically or virtually you need encryption.

Since encryption is a nice security measure (although not enough by itself, because it's only a tool in the security box), modern operating systems provide it out of the box. In the case of Mac OS, it is called File Vault, and is a home folder encryption feature. Rich's experiences with it are described in an article, and that's something that every notebook user should think about setting up.

Although the use of encryption is a good measure to prevent burglar eyes looking at private data, one must not forget that it is useless against malicious software running in the context of the user. One good article dealing with such subject is this one, in the same site as the above mentioned articles.

Rich Mogull is a specialist in information security who writes a blog mostly about security aspects of computer usage. In his blog he wrote about software updates, in an article named Lessons On Software Updates: Microsoft and Apple Both Muck It Up, where he cites the errors made by both Microsoft and Apple regarding updates.

According to Mogull, the best approach to software update may be described by five rules, that if followed should please everyone involved in the process. These rules are as follows:

1. All updates should be optional
2. Don’t bundle security updates with functionality updates
3. Don’t break unrelated applications
4. If you’re an application, don’t change the underlying platform
5. Clearly notify customers what features/functions will change with the update

It's worth reading the whole article.