Hey guys, another Spark* article, long story.

Christmas is coming, various species of poultry are being plumped and, due to the recession, the old man is asking for more than a penny in his hat. Here’s the top 5 presents to keep the gadget-lover in your life occupied this Christmas.

1) E-Book Readers

The market of eBook readers has exploded this year with the Amazon Kindle, a runaway success in the US, finally becoming available in the UK and the release of the Sony Reader. The e-Ink feature (that almost all e-Readers have) makes reading from a screen a much more enjoyable and far less eye-straining experience. An ever-growing selection of eBooks through various online and device-specific stores, along with a range of additional features like annotations and text-to-speech means this is the must-have gadget of Christmas 2009.

2) Flip Video Cameras

For the amateur filmmaker, the Flip camera is a must. High quality camera on a small and functional device makes this the ultimate portable video camera. It’s built-in, hidden USB connector that flips out at the push of the button gives the brand it’s delightful, if a little gimmicky, name.

3) iPod Nano (Fifth Generation)

For the music lover, there’s the Fifth-Generation iPod Nano, now with a camera on the back for recording video. It also includes an FM radio and built-in speakers but, bizarrely, doesn’t take still images. It is the best Nano yet, however, and certainly worth considering.

4) Android Phones

Though playing second fiddle to Apple in the smartphone market, Google has made real competition with its Android OS, running on a vast number of smartphones at the moment. Feature-rich and with a pretty decent app store, it’s the best (and cheaper) alternative to the iPhone.

5) Nintendo Wii

Though far from a new gadget, the Nintendo Wii will always make Christmas lists because it’s so good for Christmas day itself, and beyond. Once you’ve digested turkey, stuffing and more chocolate than is safe for human consumption, avoid the Queen’s speech with a nice game of virtual tennis!

Another Spark* article that I’ve just finished – it’s not necessarily finished yet, I’m a bit restricted on word limits and wanted longer to write about it, but I couldn’t think of anything else to write about so had to suggest this in haste for the next issue though I’d rather have worked on it over christmas and done it properly. I was a bit misguided with who I need to pitch the article to and a bit late so I’m sort of on the backburner for this issue because there’s already enough articles to fill out the section, but was asked to write the article anyway because these are entirely new writers and the editor, having seen me reliably write for it before, wants to have something else to run if the other articles are late/suck. If it goes to print at the end of the week then great, if not then I’ve got christmas to work on it and do it properly so smashing, either way works.

TWITTERATI
by Mat Greenfield

Twitter, though once merely an outlet for laconic geeks, has skyrocketed in the past year into the realm of the everyday social network service, thanks, in no small part, to the celebrities who have joined the Twitosphere and drawn in new users. But how far has Twitter become simply a way of stalking the stars, and how much influence has a platform like this given to these Twitterati?

Twitter is a micro-blogging platform that allows users to say (or “tweet”) anything they want, as long as it doesn’t exceed 140 characters. It includes additional features such as “following” users to automatically see their tweets, “trending topics” that picks out keywords that people are tweeting about, “@replies” which allows you to reference another user in a tweet and “Re-Tweeting” which allows you to directly reference and respond to tweets or topics of discussion. Unlike Facebook, there are no restrictions on who can see what you type, meaning anyone can see your tweet through searching. People can say whatever they want on Twitter, which, unfortunately, means that a lot of tweets are little more than a social commentary on the mundane. However, when it comes to current affairs, Twitter is the only social network that is open enough to display tweets to its entire user-base, which has lead to discussions on news, government and, more than anything, celebrities.

Celebrities on Twitter, who have become known as Twitterati, come in two distinct varieties; some simply see it as another way to get free publicity, such as Britney Spears. A great many more, however, use Twitter as a way to connect with their fans in a way not possible before, such as the infamous Stephen Fry, the first celebrity to regularly tweet. Fry, who is currently followed by more than one million users, tweets mostly his bursts of wit, humour and wisdom that has made him such a British icon, as well as making a point to interact with his fans on Twitter as much as possible. Other non-promotional celebrity tweeters include John Cleese, Jonathan Ross, Charlie Brooker and Russell Brand, who tweet sardonic humour into their daily activities. Politicians, on the other hand, use Twitter to promote their causes, including Barack Obama when he was on the election trail, and Al Gore, who tweets mostly about fighting climate change.

Has the celebrity presence defined Twitter? The explosion of user numbers after the Twitterati influx certainly seems to say so, and many of these new users seldom write tweets themselves, a study suggests that only 40% of Twitter users actually post tweets whilst the rest simply use it to keep up with the Twitterati, despite Twitter’s efforts not to promote or favour the famous. The presence of Twitterati is not necessarily a bad thing, as a link to the opinions of influential figures can help causes that they may wish to advocate, such as a massive upsurge of signatories on the anti-‘three strikes law’ petition after endorsement from Stephen Fry on Twitter. However, it is a bad thing for Twitter in that, despite its current popularity, unless it carves out a new niche for itself instead of merely a celebrity-stalking website, then once the celebs get bored and leave, their followers will leave too and Twitter will go south for the metaphorical winter. Twitter needs new features that’ll make it a genuinely useful social networking tool and a viable place for discussion of news and other topics to draw in genuine users who won’t abandon Twitter once the Twitterati get bored.

Though both major players on the internet, you’d never think that the micro-blogging platform and the (very unmicro) editable encyclopedia would ever have a reason to compete. Leave your preconception at the door, my friend, but fear not – because they’re being equally ridiculous, as both bring out dedicated devices for their services.

That, unfortunately, is the TwitterPeek – a device that exists solely for the purposes of allowing people to emaciate a summary of their current activities into 140 characters and put it up for the world to see, as well as displaying recent bursts of largely irrelevant information that nobody bothers to read unless their written by Stephen Fry (guilty, as charged). Given how much Twitter pushes their mobile services, and the huge market of smartphone apps for Twitter, it baffles me that they would seriously think that a dedicated device – lacking any other functionality besides to tweet – could be successful. Whether or not Twitter will stop promoting or, worse still, remove their mobile features, such as the ability to tweet just by sending a text – something that I, as a blogger sans smartphone, rely upon to tweet. For the most part however, this won’t change anything, even if twitter apps and mobile tweeting is stopped – smartphones have browsers that can be used to tweet just as if at a computer.

It’s a cute device, I’ll give them that, and I can see how it might be useful – but consider that the device itself will cost £60 for only six months free service, followed by paying a terrifying $60/month (an “international plan”) – if you tweet only once a month, this comes to around 50 cents per letter. However, for a lifetime service plan you pay £120 – meaning that you can get lifetime tweeting for the same as around price as two months – or be stuck paying half the cost of the device (in Sterling) per month for life.

Reading this, I was dumbfounded at the cost and the belief that Twitter seem to hold that people will actually buy it – which is incredibly and so obviously, wrong. But then, in a double-whammy, I read immediately after of another online service showing equally terrible business skills:

Alas, this is the WikiReader, an ebook reader like device that contains a condensed version of articles on the Wikipedia website, but has no network connection or automatic update features – so whatever they’ve put on there remains as is until you download the semi-annual update, a painful and tedious effort, or spend £18/year to have updates posted to you on a microSD card, on a device that itself costs £60. That’s the most obvious drawback, but the condensing of these articles removes images, tables and the contents menu, so scrolling through the article to find what you want is your only option; with no backlight. It’s touchscreen and it’s general look make it look interesting and useful – and it’s size means that it could, feasibly, be used as an education tool; where it not that I seldom meet a teacher who likes Wikipedia; my slightly barmy former English Lit teacher remains the only exception.

Most people have already become accustomed to searching Wikipedia on their smartphones, and practically all web-enabled devices can now handle a full Wikipedia page, images galore, with no problems at all. Why would you pay to get an out-of-date, un-intuitive device to display an uncategorized wealth of information that you have to trawl through and read from a tiny screen?

Though they have different functions and so not necessarily competing, this will invariably show which type of service is suited to a dedicated device, microblogging or e-ncyclopedia (a word I just made up), the truth is that neither are, but we’ll see how the two analyse sales (if there are any) and if we get a TwitterPeek 2 or a WikiReader S, I’ll eat my keyboard.

In conclusion, neither wins this fight, they’re both ridiculous. If I had to say which one will sell more (1 sold in total as opposed to 0 still counts as more), then I’d give it to the WikiReader – simply because I can see more of an application for people without smartphones and for schoolkids, but both are going to be disasters in their own right, nobody would honestly pay out for something like these devices over a smartphone – which is more feature-rich for about the same (if not lower) price. Twitter has been flying too high up and the oxygen’s gotten thin, whilst Wikipedia has been sniffing digital ink too much.

Listen guys we have a higher purpose here, a wake up call from the Nintendo generation. We demand free access to data; well it comes with some responsibility.

Ok, fine, I stole that from the movie ‘Hackers’ but the point still stands. We are a uniquely priveledge generation in that we can be everywhere at once, we can say anything we like, hear anything we like, see, smell, read and do anything on a global scale without so much as standing up. As Twitter has shown, we have the power to work together for one goal when we have one, and now we have to defend our rights. I implore you, to sign this:

http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/dontdisconnectus/

To petition the PM to stop the copyright infringment laws Darth Mandelson is pushing that I’ve been talking about.

Ok, so that was an overly sentimental plea, so basically just sign the friggin petition.

As you can see - entirely unique

The beta release of Microsoft Office 2010 was made available this week, with Microsoft taking a pretty big chance by making their Office tools available online for free online just as Google Docs and OpenOffice are, well I say that, in reality – they haven’t.

OpenOffice was, and remains to be, the first entirely free and functional office suite to become available – it was essentially everything they could copy from Microsoft Office 2000 without infringing copyright repackaged and given away free and entirely open-source. Though it was far from the first of it’s kind, it was the first to become available publically, but (despite the feature of MS Office interoperability, meaning that all Word documents in .doc format could be opened and edited in the same format on OpenOffice, which suprisingly didn’t incur any legal problems) it never tempted the masses over to it. It found a niche, as many of these open-source products do, on netbooks and linux OS – meaning that today many have encountered it but few are familiar with it. It’s a shame really because it’s just as functional and probably even more efficient than Office and is free. I’m a hypocrite of course, because I had the choice of MSOffice or OpenOffice and I chose the former, despite knowing all this information, simply because it’s easier to go with the de facto standard. Interoperability is all very well and good, but it’s just simpler for me to have the same software that I use, for example, at Uni, if I can (and student deals make it much cheaper) and THAT, my friends, is what I feel Microsoft owes the success of Office to – it was the first on the scene, it conquered the market and now we’re stuck there.

Google Docs was a revolution in itself, not only was this (like OpenOffice) free and functional (a term I now dub frenctional) office tools available online, but it was the first in which the tools were browser-based and the documents and files created were stored online, under an account name, from the google site. This allowed greater functionality like sharing documents online, collaborating (it is now being used in parallel with Google Wave, a review of which will come once I get an invitation) and integration with Google tools and the internet as a whole. This has, thus far, been only a moderate success however, many people are distrusting of the cloud (much as they are of any MSOffice alternative) and want to have local copies of their documents and files, something that Google have not yet allowed an easy method to do so besides simply copying the body of the document into, you guessed it, MS or OpenOffice. Once again I call on you to cry hypocrite because I too distrust the cloud (I’ll come to Google Chrome OS soon).

As a brief aside, I should mention I’ve heard a lot of people who have, as MS clamps down on illegal copies, had messages warning them to enter their product key or else their software will be declared illegal and swifly removed. My advice to these people is to either pay or get a free alternative (I would have suggested find smarter ways to get free software but I can’t advocate it) such as the ones I’m talking about (or get the beta version of 2010 while you still can, though this is temporary).

Though I’ve banged the “MS copies others” drum to the extent that I’m getting RSI (that’s odd, I always thought it would be the excessive typing that did that) – I’ll concede that the 2010 “free browser based tools” are a piss-poor imitation of both Docs and OpenOffice. Instead of being free Office-like software available online, or being an entirely browser-based suite with online storage, Office 2010 is exactly the same as all previous versions of Office, sans Clippy. Microsoft have provided the equivalent of Google Docs storage of files, Office Live Workspace, but it is nothing more than a passive file storage service because, if you create a document you have to write it in a locally installed version of Word 2010, link it to (and then save it to) your online Workspace account. If you then want to view a document you can do so in the browser, but any attempt to edit such a document requires you to open it in a local install of 2010 and then the process repeats itself. When I heard about the free online tools, I immediately thought it would be a useful service like Google Docs; but the reality is that it’s little more than a storage of files and is barely more useful than Office 2007. The whole process is rife with Microsoft’s usual security warnings which slows down the process.

Microsoft have scaled back, just slightly, the massive changes that they made to it’s design when 2007 was released, the ribbon toolbar which baffled users has been scaled back and the classic “File” button has been restored – other than that it remains indistinguishable from 2007 save some minor colour changes.

Microsoft could do very well if they thought less about profit and more about the customer – given recent actions about illegal versions by Microsoft I can only surmise that their reluctance to make an entirely free browser based system is the fact that it would almost certainly need to be free to be effective – they would regain credibility as the company that keeps up with the consumer and probably jump on people’s distrust of cloud-based storage by allowing a function in the browser based tools to save a local version as a backup – perhaps for a small fee. Microsoft have the business experience, name and money to take what Google has already done, improve on it, steal users and monetize it – they could do it better yet they refuse to do it at all. Microsoft are, unfortunately, becoming the dusty old company that aren’t watching what’s going on in the market and hoping that by repeating what they’ve done for years and playing to what people already know, that they’ll survive; though this method has worked for years, there are limits. Microsoft needs some young blood and fresh ideas – let’s see how they do.

But, among all the shockingly bad PR decisions that Microsoft came out with during the marketing of Windows 7, they’ve finally got a video out that is actually quite funny. Clearly they focused all their attention on this instead of really new features – which may explain why Windows 7 marketing promotion was so crap because 7 is awesome.

I like it when I leave a post on a video – it allows me to slip away undetected and get a coffee.

PLAY ME OFF KEYBOARD CAT!

Hey guys, it’s far from an overly-geeky statement to talk about Web Browsers – given that everyone uses one on a daily basis and it’d be bloody hard to be reading this without one – thus I’ll skip the explanation and go straight into the article. There are an ever increasing number of web browsers available, but I’ve assembled my list of the Top 5 to compare, enjoy.

Oh and the Acid3 test score is an online-calculated measure of how well the browser meets web standards. Granted no normal user really cares about this score but it’s there for the sake of a statistical comparison as well as a use-test one.

As you’ll probably guess by the first entry – these are compared in no particular order.

INTERNET EXPLORER is first in my list simply because it came pre-installed on every Windows machine sold in the past fourteen years, I felt it should go at the top. Explorer is Microsoft’s very own web browser that has managed to defy every logical rule of industry by getting progressively worse with age. After literally owning the market of browsers in the early days, growth of other web browser developers, with Apple giving the battle cry, and the attempts by Explorer to mimic new features on other browsers – only to compromise speed and functionality when including the most minor of changes. It’s eighth, and current, incarnation saw it finally overtaken by Mozilla’s Firefox as the most used browser.

It’s longevity chiefly due to it’s antecedence, many users remain unaware that there are other browsers available and that many of them function far better. Microsoft suffered a blow last year when a major security hole in an update meant that their entire userbase was at risk, it was recommended that users install a new browser ASAP to avoid the flaw whilst it was repaired. Unfortunately this opened the eyes of many users who, after discovering the new browser, jumped ship easily – Microsoft fixed the hole in the roof but the party guests never returned. This hit, and the ruling that Microsoft cannot ship their new OS, Windows 7, with Internet Explorer means that, in my opinion, it’s days are numbered. Functionally, it does the job, but not well – with serious problems rendering web pages and a luddite-esque desire at Microsoft to tailor their browsers for the static HTML webpage that is rapidly dying out – web addicts will get tired quickly.

In fact, just trying to find the Acid3 score, which involves using it, was a painfully tedious and slow process with several crashes.

Acid3 Test Score – 12/100 (I didn’t realise it was THAT low, why does anyone use this kak?)

FIREFOX is the open-source browser from the Mozilla Foundation and my main browser. Ignoring the laconic Safari, Firefox was the first browser to show up promintently on the market and offer any real competition to Microsoft’s monopoly. Firefox was unique at the time for the use of tabs, built-in search box and add-on features (notably, all of which common browser features today for the whole market). Heavy personalisation features set it apart from any other browser on the market and allowed users to make it “their” browser. Perhaps the most charming thing about Firefox is it’s informality – enter about:config into the address bar and you’ll see exactly what I mean – it removes that professional and corporate face and feels like a very fun browser. Like many tech things, it has now gone beyond the realm of the geeks choice and is now highly used for many people: ushered in by it’s pre-installation on almost all current Linux distributions and on netbooks, a commercial success.

Depite being the, current, browser of choice – this looks set to change. I say that because, of late, the browser has been prone to frequent crashing and, as much as I love the browser in almost every other aspect, it is getting increasingly infuriating.

Acid3 Test Score – 91/100 (Not far off top, thought it would be 100 but still a fair effort all the same)

SAFARI

The Apple equivalent of Microsoft’s pre-installed browser is, shall we say, the hard working underdog to Explorer’s undeserved success. Until recentely sharing an interface, as many Apple applications do, with iTunes, Safari is the most popular browser for Apple fans. It was content, for many years as the default browser in Macs but once the war was declared it, like the Americans, stayed quiet and skirted around for a while, then took up arms by releasing a version for Windows. The rest, as they say, is history.

However, I am NOT a fan – though it’s a good browser more recent additions have been gradually getting more and more similar to Google’s Chrome Browser (see review below) – by the sounds of it, the Browser War is simply a game of copycats. Infuriatingly small buttons and it’s lack of personalisation features, despite appearances, means that it’s a browser that (like most Apple products) looks good but has poor real-world use. It’ll display the website well but you’ll be pissed off by the time you get there, and though there stands an option to display large images of favourite websites in an array, there is little ability to control the pages displayed and it rather displays your most frequently visited page – a lovely idea in theory but not good in reality (got pr0n?). The Chrome mimicry has salavaged it somewhat, but it remains prone to the classic Apple-syndrome that makes it subservient to Firefox (I’ve never seen a Mac that didn’t have Firefox installed alongside Safari)

Acid3 Test Score – 100/100 (Oh my! Fantastic score, shame about usability though)

OPERA

Visually stunning and highly functional though it is, my first memory of using Opera was because, for a brief time, it could bypass the restrictions on my school internet connection – so everyone installed it on their memory sticks and went onto YouTube (before they fixed the hole).

Opera is the main browser that I use on my netbook, but mainly because Firefox doesn’t work properly. Unlike practically all other browsers I’m reviewing here, Opera is getting better with age – like Bruce Forsyth. Each new iteration unveils a delightful new features, notably Opera Unite, introduced earlier this year made turning your computer into a server and accessing your computer’s files from anywhere far simpler.

Other than a Safari-esque speed dial feature, but much more customisable, and it’s dashing good looks, there really isn’t much that sets it apart from the other browsers that were already available – Safari, Explorer and Chrome all had big, long established companies behind them and Firefox was the first to introduce truly groundbreaking features. Looks are important in software, and so is functionality, both of which are things that Opera does exceptionally well, but if a program doesn’t have the trusted name backing it, and there’s nothing particularly new worth switching for (the newer Opera tools have been neat but not persuasive), then that program is going to have trouble. Don’t get me wrong, it’s used by a great number of people and one of the biggest browsers available, but it’s independency has limited it’s growth, I feel.

Acid3 Test Score – 100/100 (Another 100! It really is a fantastic browser)

CHROME

Having secreted their digital fluid out of every online orifice, Google felt it was time to tackle the browser market to be able to control not only what people viewed online, but how they viewed it also. They kicked off a big campaign of guides through their whipping boy YouTube to emphasise just how easy and efficient Chrome is, with particular emphasis on the capacity of Chrome to dodge crashing by running each tab as a seperate process, meaning that a crash in one website won’t bring down the whole thing.

They weren’t lying, Google Chrome is a very functional and efficient browser, it’s quite lightweight meaning it can be installed on a memory stick and loaded quickly. However, it’s looks are odd, while Explorer and Safari are tailored to fit their operating systems look, Firefox is available in two versions for that same purpose and Opera is very well designed; Chrome looks like something that you would mould out of plastic and sell in Mothercare. It is, like the Google logo itself, colourful and big buttoned (two factors that I’ll admit I said detracted from the grey, small buttoned Safari) and so looks like a child’s plaything. It’s a decent enough browser and it’s large display area gives it ample space to display web pages – but you can’t help feeling a touch patronised by it’s design and expect to see the words “My First Web Browser” written in faux-crayon written letters on the top bar.

Acid3 Test Score – 100/100 (Hat trick! Chrome is good but looks a bit too playskool for my taste)

A Top 5 in 6 parts….

FLOCK

This is a browser that I’m testing for the sake of having a lost sixth entry to my Top 5 – I was going to include Netscape into this but when I went to the website I found that Netscape had gone gently into that good night and was no longer available (who knew) but it did direct me to Flock as an alternative, powered by Mozilla who, of course, own Firefox.

I quite like this browser, except that it’s a walking banner ad – it’s immediate requests to enter your login details for social network and other sites, though a quite neat tool, smacks of wanting to collect data to be sold on (which is stated as part of the EULA). It’s posted with Yahoo and other corporatation logos that offer syncing and information sharing for “convenience”. However, you can understand this given how, mostly, awesome and uncommercial Firefox is – maybe this is how Mozilla pays the bills.

Acid3 Test Score – 72/100 (Not great but not bad either)

CONCLUSION is a hard factor to consider in this Top 5/6 – mainly because it all comes down to preference and no browser is, by any description, perfect for it’s purpose (Ooo, I like that) – but I think I have to give the prize to Opera, which I feel is shamefully underpromoted in this market. For an underdog, it’s done well but can’t compare to the success of other browsers despite being the only one I’ve looked at that improves with each update, it didn’t have a big name or bring out anything remarkable and I think that’s why it’s drifting in the browser ether and, much like Pluto, borders that invisible line between one of the main browsers and one of the auxillary browsers that only the really defiant of geeky people use regularly. All the browsers deserve equal merit in a lot of respects, but Opera take the gold simply because they’re undeservedly unrecognised as it stands. I think that, if Opera keeps improving and other browsers keep degrading as Explorer, Firefox and others have done recently, then we may see the rise of Opera in a very short space of time. Remember the name, one day it’ll be famous!

Hey guys, just a quick post to tell you about what’ll be appearing on the site this week.

You may’ve heard through YouTube, News Outlets or even the channel itself that Channel 4 are having a “3D week” – no this isn’t the broadcast of an entire week of shows in 3D but rather the broadcast of certain shows in 3D. Including a Derren Brown special (tonight), The Queen’s 3D coronation and several horror films.

Given how much I’ve written here about my opinion of 3D as a mainstream medium, I will of course be watching and blogging my thoughts after (or possibly during) the programs – I mean programmes (I’m in a programming practical – not doing programming I might add). However, I refuse to watch the 3D broadcast of the Hannah Montana concert – I’m not that eager to write about 3D content!!!!

Will check back tonight!

Hey all, this is my Windows 7 review (finally!) that I wrote for Spark* and need feedback on:

WINDOWS 7
What Vista should’ve been – but wasn’t

Having well and truly dug loyal Microsoft fans into a hole with Windows Vista in 2007, the computer-giant has finally thrown down a ladder with the release of the latest operating system Windows 7. Determined to ensure that the user has as much input as possible, this time, Microsoft has been offering Windows 7 in open beta for several months, but the question is, does it make up for Vista and is it a real competitor in the OS arms-race with Apple?

After the demands that the leap from Windows XP to Vista had on hardware requirements, 7 is surprisingly easy-going with that respect. This is because Vista and 7 are both built on the same core technology, meaning that almost all computers that are capable of running Vista will be able to run the new OS with no problems at all. Its speed and performance are nothing astounding, but can compete with Apple Mac OS X and is certainly better than Vista, with less crashing.

From an aesthetic point of view, Windows 7 is practically indistinguishable from Vista except for the redesigned taskbar (dubbed the ‘Superbar’). The taskbar has some undeniable similarities with the Mac OS X dock – displaying only the large icons of applications – which Microsoft have admitted was a direct influence. However, early beta versions of 7 included the same taskbar design that Vista has – suggesting that it’s really just an afterthought addition to convince normal consumers that this is something new and not just Vista repackaged. Nevertheless, the taskbar is one of the nicest new features of 7 as it reduces the cluttered look of a busy taskbar and makes everything much easier to find. All instances of the same program can be found under the single icon on the taskbar and it can be customised to include permanent icons for quickly launching regularly used programs. This, and other tools that Microsoft have included, seek mainly to streamline switching between programs, such as the ‘peek’ tool that gives you a live thumbnail preview of a program screen before you maximise it, as well as the ‘snap’ tool that makes opening two windows side-by-side quicker and easier.

If you were an early adopter of Vista, you’ll remember the horrendous problems it had with compatibility of software and hardware. Windows 7’s new ‘Device Stage’ application replaces the standard ‘Autoplay’ by obtaining online information and features about the device you plug in, such as a camera or an mp3 player, and putting together a device-specific menu about what you can do with that device; the decision to base 7 on Vista technology, but more efficient, also means that there won’t be a need for manufacturers to change device drivers as much. For software, anything that can run on Vista should be alright with 7, but for software developers who refuse to write for Vista, the new XP-Mode on Professional and Ultimate editions emulates the way XP handles software so that many old programs, that didn’t work on Vista, will now work.

Microsoft spent years as the mostly unchallenged leader of the OS market with efficient, useful but overall very similar iterations of Windows, they decided to shake things up and brought out Vista – an attempt to retain all the functionality but introduce the aesthetic appeal and “wow factor” (if you remember Vista adverts) that was, and remains, associated more with Apple Macs; the outcome was Vista, which looks set to become the worst commercial OS in history. Microsoft was fully aware of the backlash that followed its release and went to unprecedented lengths with beta testing to ensure that Windows 7 was heavily influenced by what the user wanted. They’ve taken a wise step in not making another huge leap like before and with two years of industry-adaptation to Vista, people are well placed to upgrade and continue with an OS they know, but actually works and with a plethora of new features. The latest OS release from Apple, Snow Leopard, has had some severe problems and bugs for early upgraders. Not to kick a cat while it’s down, but Microsoft may be able to use this to its advantage in its ongoing power struggle with Apple and regain the ground that Vista lost. 7 does what Vista couldn’t – it’s functional, practical and looks fantastic.

Should you upgrade? Absolutely!

Windows 7 is available direct from Microsoft for around £30 using a valid student e-mail address (ending in .ac.uk) or, if you are a Systems Engineering student, free from ELMS.

Afternoon,

Before you scroll to the bottom of this post and furiously type in the comments box – I know I have already discussed this story on here. However, this is the version of the article that I’m submitting to Spark* (Reading Uni newspaper) for the next issue.

I don’t have to submit it until the start of next week so please give me any feedback you can.

MANDELSON FIGHTS FILESHARERS
Three Strikes rule to tackle torrenters

Lord Peter Mandelson has become the latest politician to join the fight against illegal downloading of copyrighted material, and has introduced new policies that could see anyone caught (thrice) deprived of their internet connection.

The policies, introduced late last month, will mean that anyone caught torrenting, downloading, uploading or otherwise digitally reproducing copyrighted material three times will have their internet connection swiftly cut off for a length of time dependent on the scale of the offence. The unelected, twice-resigned Business Minister has, somewhat ironically, dubbed this policy the ‘three strikes rule’ and included that internet service providers (ISPs) will be required to step up their game in catching these bandwidth bandits, utilising methods of scanning all incoming data of suspected filesharers for illegally shared content and matching the IP address to their customers. Similar policies were introduced in France earlier this year, under the acronym HADOPI, and thrown out less than a month later.

The music industry, who is strongly advocating these proposals, also plan to start ‘phising’ many public torrent sites, uploading songs to these sites and then tracking the IP addresses of anyone who downloads it. The responsibility (and the cost) is that of the ISPs to name, shame, warn and, if necessary, cut off service their own paying (albeit not always) customers, service providers are unhappy with the new plans, saying it is counter-productive, costly and reflects badly on them as companies. The music industry’s push for this comes from the misguided belief that every one song illegally downloaded equates to one lost sale; which is very much not the case.

The idea of cutting off someone’s internet connection is problematic, not least because of the implications this may have on someone who works from home, but also because it is so easy to make mistakes with this. An IP (Internet Protocol) address is a very inexact way of tracking someone because the address is constantly changing, can easily be masked and fails to point to the actual offender. Every time you connect your computer to a network or the internet, you are allocated any free IP address, often different from the last. While ISPs undoubtedly keep a log of which customer is which IP address at any one time, it is weak evidence as it can easily be falsified. Worse still it may incriminate people who haven’t done anything, such as the owners of an unsecured wifi connection with a music-loving neighbour.

However, it’ll be notoriously hard to enforce, given that an ever-increasing percentage of us carry web-enabled devices in our pockets, or have access to other computers. These proposals have been revealingly brief about how they will be enforced after the wire has been cut and, considering the diverse and inventive ways that one can get online, it’ll be an impressive (and costly) feat to cut someone off from the internet entirely.

In a different light, however, this may become the lesser of two evils. As it stands, the law on copyright infringement through digital means is a convoluted mess, and while ISPs are content with sending out warnings, the music industry is often eager to make examples of people, such as Jammie Thomas, an American woman fined $1.92 million for downloading 24 songs. We do need clear laws and reasonable punishments, proportionate to the nature of the “offence”, to avoid another single mother with three kids being fined money that she simply can’t pay, or the owner of an online business losing their internet connection and costing them their livelihood. Furthermore, the chances of being caught (even with the new ISP measures) are somewhere in the region of 1 in 10,000 and, though I don’t advocate filesharing, this policy will mean that the already unlikely chance that you’ll be caught once has to recur twice more before anything can happen – lightning seldom strikes twice, let alone thrice.

The overall effectiveness of these policies will probably be quite high, most people who get caught once will probably be scared enough by the warning to stop torrenting; and do remember that copyright infringement is illegal. But, in my opinion, the idea of losing internet connection is an overly extreme, unfair and unenforceable measure. Content providers forget that people don’t necessarily want to download, they simply don’t want to pay an unreasonable price for quality – and it’s been proven that downloads and legal free services like Spotify directly help music sales as part of a “try before you buy” model, people want to know what they’re getting.

Hello out there, single regular reader of this blog. Actually, judging by some feedback and my analytics I know that at least three people regularly read this blog, whereas the rest think I’m this guy.

In any case, I’m going to break from my normal writing tradition to give you three posts in one. This is mainly because it looks set to be a busy few weeks so wouldn’t want my readers to be deprived of my arrogant and opinionated rants.

First, a brief mention of why I have to stop talking about religion on this blog. If you have read my review of The God Delusion, my reaction to the news that the film of Charles Darwin won’t be shown in the US or, for some god-awful reason, looked at my meta tags in the coding of the site, you will know that I am an atheist (and if you’ve done the last thing stop reading this and go to a club you code-brained twit). I’m not going to go into my overly complicated reasoning for rejecting theistic belief (again) but there is a reason I must stop. If you look to the right of this post you will notice my Google ads that I use to try and make a pretty penny (truer words were never spoken) out of this blog. Odds are that you’ll also see that many of them are pro-Christian, which (though I have no problem with that being advertised) is not the main subject of this blog, which is (of course) technology and gadgetry. So I’m mainly going to desist on my atheist commentary simply to weed out the adverts that won’t really be necessary for my readers. However, I just found out that God is on Twitter – maybe I was wrong.

Second, a short book review (yes, you may remember this blog is about literature too), today a break from fiction as I hesitantly dive into the surprisingly word-abundant world of punctuation pedantry. I speak, of course, of Lynn Truss’ ‘Eats, Shoots & Leaves’, recommended to me by a lecturer discussing the use of language in course-writing which I felt would be important if I want to have any sort of career as a professional tech writer or journalist. Having read the book I can’t help be drawn to Truss’ delightfully witty and funny narrative, pointing out her own stickler-dom (not a word but still) for correct punctuation. A book all about the correct punctuation sounds about as exciting as discussing the future of Twitter with Brian Sewell (and believe me, I’ve tried), but the book is as much, if not more, about the psychological process and quirks of Punctuation Communist (my own invention, the equivalent of the Grammar Nazi) and would’ve been a wonderful piece of literature had Truss chosen to write it as such. As any guide to anything must, however, Truss spends a considerable amount of time  detailing the correct ways to use punctuation marks, the overworked comma (this very sentence being indicative), the misplaced apostrophe and the shockingly lazy semicolon (I don’t think I’ve used the semicolon in any context other than programming). This extensive and all-around tedious list of uses is punctuated at very regular intervals with Truss making a joke to point out the problem that occurs if misused, which can be persuasive. However, and though it pains me, as a writer, to say so, I profess myself unconvinced – I could, though only after reading it, point out to you a number of punctuation errors that I will discover in proof reading, and I imagine that Truss could point out many more. Despite this, I can detect no confusion in meaning that anyone reading this may perceive in it’s meaning whatsoever. For the sake of ensured clarity and, I suppose, preservation, I strive to use correct punctuation to the best of my knowledge, but I don’t feel that, in any capacity, my writing is deteriorated or my reader loses any respect for me and my opinion if the more subtle of errors occurs. Though I am unsure of the correct use of a semicolon; so do my best to avoid them (damn this sentence), it’s reasonable to say that a lot of people my age are equally as unsure. Though I highly recommend this book, it’s collected quips by other writers and Truss’ tales of a teenage typist being it’s main selling point, don’t expect to come away with the sudden urge to buy a sharpie and correct every sign in town. If Truss wants a revolution then this really is Mein Kampf, she sets out her goals but the changes won’t come around for a while.

Ah, splendid. Good to get my book review fluids flowing frequently.

Now, the gadget review. I’m not really sure what to review (I should really plan these out beforehand rather than just a train of thought that my fingers quickly translate into keystrokes) given that my Windows 7 review, which is technically written for Spark (the Reading Uni newspaper), will be reposted here, and a quick glance around my flat uncovered nothing particularly new (I’ve got to get some money for new tech). Ah, I’ve thought of something -

The Amazon Kindle, you may remember some weeks back I wrote an article about the availability of the Amazon Kindle in the UK, albeit via a complex system of imports and US phone carriers. It’s been in the UK for a little while now and, alongside it’s old-and-new-world-colliding rivals, I’ve been vigorously scouring the dried casserole of reviews off the web to get thoughts on the new device. How will the country that had Shakespeare handle this?

The Kindle was a reasonable success in the US, the land of it’s birth, with an agent ready and willing to put up any amount of cash to make it easy to use, lacking data contracts to download eBooks and read online content just so long as it pulled in the green. However, the Kindle’s attempt to break the little island with lots of tea wasn’t as easy a transition with (running with the record label analogy) an agent running affairs from afar whilst really focusing on other projects (Amazon MP3 anyone?). Basically, if you want a Kindle you have to have a US model imported, you buy eBooks in dollars, don’t have a UK charger and can’t browse the web (the “UK Model” still uses AT&T’s wireless so Amazon have to absorb roaming charges), an affair which costs a proverbial bundle.

Furthermore, many reviews of the Kindle’s bookstore (the only way to get eBooks on the device) show that many, many popular or classic titles simply aren’t there, owing mainly to the copyright issues highlighted by the ‘1984’ irony which also shook some people’s trust in Amazon.

Personally, I can imagine I would have some trouble getting used to the Kindle as a book but then I am a luddite when it comes to digital mediums. I don’t download music, films or (I assume) books because I like to own what I buy, I want to pay for something and have it as a physical entity that I can hold in my hand and do what I will with it. Though perhaps 4 times thicker, any one of the books I am reading currently can be picked up, moved around, repositioned and it available irrespective of the battery life. Sad as this may sound, one of the sights that most inspires confidence in my own intellect is that of my stocked bookshelf – one that can’t be replicated on a device. There’s also the old iPod conundrum appearing once again in that should I lose, break or format my Kindle, or simply if I want to buy another eBook reader, even another Kindle, I will lose all the books that I own – with no method of recovery or capacity for backup as there is no way (currently) of backing up purchases to your own system or to Amazon.

I absolutely love the idea of it, and the Kindle is a very nice piece of kit, different from any other eBook reader and truly unique, but I question it’s practicality in a country that loves it’s books AS BOOKS.

It’s far from all doom and gloom however, as any emerging technology has teething troubles as people get used to it, any good idea will catch on eventually. People, particularly reviewers, are very quick to forget the classic early adopter syndrome, that is, jumping to buy a new medium before the content providers are up to scratch and populated, one of my lecturers was telling us earlier today about the early days of Twitter – describing it as “texting myself” due simply to lack of users at the time – and look where it is now. In gadget terms, however, the growth depends less on how many people use it and simply how long it takes Amazon to develop it, namely with the bookstore, promising a UK version very soon. People who immediately jump on the tech bandwagon usually end up getting one of two things – either they get screwed because the tech flops and support ends (how’s that HD-DVD player doing?) – or they have to get by with the manufacturer’s progress while they fine tune everything. I am absolutely certain that nobody at Amazon feels that work with the UK Kindle is done.

Time will tell, it always does…

Well my friends, it seems I’ve exhausted every scrap of my digital breath out of every digital orifice – I’ll leave you with that image.