Published: Thursday December 3, 2009 MYT 12:32:00 PM
Updated: Thursday December 3, 2009 MYT 12:36:39 PM
Asus G51J 3D notebook: Gaming on the go
Asus is literally adding another dimension to its G51J 3D notebook as it allows users to enjoy games in 3D.
Users will be able to view games in 3D with the help of nVidia’s 3D Vision software and active-shutter glasses which will be bundled with the notebook.
Gamers will experience a new level of immersion with recently released games such as Resident Evil 5, Borderlands and Batman: Arkham Asylum when using the 3D glasses, claimed Asus.
Also, with a 15.6in LED backlit display (1,366 x 768-pixels), they will have plenty of screen space to surf the Web, watch videos and play games.
The notebook is powered by an Intel Core i7-720QM (1.6GHz) processor and has up to 4GB RAM. It also has an nVidia GTX 260M graphics processor for handling 3D games.
To complete the overall gaming experience, it has a pair of built-in Altec Lansing speakers. The G51J 3D notebook can be configured to include a DVD writer or a Blu-ray combo drive. It also features a 2-megapixel webcam.
As the gaming notebook is only expected to be released next year, no price has been announced yet. — CHONG JINN XIUNG
++++
my.asus.com
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
All-in-one printer
Wednesday October 14, 2009
Big functions for small office
By SHAUN A. NOORDIN
Whether you need to print, scan, copy or fax documents, the HP Officejet Pro 8500 is here to serve.
When I was asked to review a home/small office printer, I was expecting a regular sized printer.
You know, the kind you plug into your home PC to print out your school assignments or overdue office reports. Nothing big, nothing fancy.
So, you can imagine my surprise when a colleague had to strain himself hauling in the absolutely huge HP Officejet Pro 8500 into the office.
It’s so huge, my drawer can go into the box it came in! I now have a printer taking up literally a third of my desk and my colleague now has a hernia.
Turns out there’s a good reason for this, though. The Officejet isn’t “just” a printer for a small or home office.
It’s a combination of printer, scanner, copier and fax machine. It’s as if the people at HP were thinking, “now, how many features can we cram into this thing?” and worked their way up from there.
And the best thing about it? It does each part really well.
Setting up
Plugging the Officejet Pro into my Windows XP machine, I found that the setup was much easier than I anticipated.
The assembly mostly consisted of plugging in the duplexer to the back of the printer, and the HP software that came packaged with the machine took care of the functional side of things.
Although the Officejet comes in a few flavours, I only got to review the basic (A909a) version.
I had to be content with a (physical) button interface on the machine instead of a fancy touchscreen available on the more expensive Wireless (A909g) and Premier (A909n) versions.
(Incidentally, the Wireless and Premier versions also come with WiFi connectivity, so check those out if you have a thing against wires.)
Nonetheless, most of the Officejet’s essential features were made very accessible from its control panel.
With the press of a few buttons I could easily scan multiple documents, adjust the quality of the copier and — why not? — print photos directly from a USB thumbdrive.
Print media
Since the Officejet was designed for home/small office use, I decided to test the inkjet printer by printing out the most business-ish document on my PC — a Magic: The Gathering rulebook.
Hey, don’t laugh. The text came out sharp, the graphics/illustrations were all very clear, and the colours were strong and vivid.
Subsequent tests on various e-mail messages, webpages and (actual) business documents proved that the Officejet consistently produced excellent colour and greyscale prints, even at the default settings.
On the other hand, I was only happy with the high-resolution photos I printed until I paid closer inspection.
The colours, although bright, weren’t a perfect reproduction of my JPGs. This carried over to the copier function too, so it wasn’t just my monitor.
Plus, if I made the effort to notice, I could see barely visible horizontal lines on the photo (also known as banding), even at the best print settings.
If you’re not as fussy as I am with my photos, you can even print your pictures directly from a memory device by sticking it into one of the four memory card slots or the USB port on the machine.
The quick and the quiet
HP claims that you can print 19 pages of colour documents (at normal quality) per minute but realistically I only saw a speed of 10 to 11 pages per minute.
It’s much slower if you’re printing duplex, though, since the printer waits about 10 seconds for one side to dry.
Still, it’s a pretty decent speed since I rarely needed to print a mass of documents that utilised the full capacity of the 250-sheet tray.
Additionally, whether it’s printing or scanning, the Officejet rarely generated sounds that rose above the standard background noise of the office.
It’s not exactly whisper-quiet, but the only chance you’d complain about the machine being “noisy” is if your home happens to be in a monastery.
Scan-tastic
The Officejet features a flatbed scanner at the top of the machine that measures in at 8.5 x 11.7in. That makes it perfect for A4 and letter-sized sheets (which the printer function also uses), but you might have a little trouble with legal (8.5 x 14in) documents.
Alternatively, if you’ve got a pile of documents to scan, you can simply throw up to 35 pages into the scanner’s Automatic Document Feeder, press a button and sit back as the machine makes JPG or PDF copies.
The documents scan at 200dpi by default (higher if you adjust the manual settings), so that it captures all the details that you might need.
The scanner also has an OCR (optical character recognition) feature if you literally want your pictures to be worth a thousand words.
Copy and fax
As you might imagine, the copier function combines the Officejet’s scanning and printing capabilities, so you end up with copies with an excellent resolution and strong, vivid colours.
Unfortunately, the good quality of the copies is contrasted by the function’s relative inefficiency compared to (obviously) a dedicated photocopier.
For one thing, you’re using printer ink, so if you go too crazy with making copies you’ll soon need to restock on HP’s cyans, magentas, yellows and blacks.
For another, the time it takes to copy a single page is the sum of time it takes for the scanner to start and the printer to finish. Happy waiting!
One additional function on the feature-laden Officejet is the fax. But honestly though, with the advent of e-mail, does anybody use faxes anymore? I fax as often as I hunt pterodactyls.
Still, it’s comforting to know that if I need to fax anybody, the function’s there. You can store up to 99 numbers on speed dial, and the standard features such as fax forwarding are all there.
Conclusion
The HP Officejet Pro 8500 makes an excellent addition to any home or small office. It’s easy to use, it features a lot of essential business functions and it handles its main job — the printing of documents — really well.
The only real drawbacks I noticed were the copy function’s lack of efficiency, and the less-than-perfect quality of the photo prints... but only because I’m really, really fussy about my photos.
To be honest, I’ve grown pretty fond of having the Officejet around — so much so that I’m rather reluctant to return the review unit.
I’ll really miss having the convenience afforded to me by the machine’s multitude of well-engineered features.
And besides, I’d probably hurt my back if I tried to move the thing from my desk by myself.
Pros: Features an array of well-designed functions that combine into one effective machine.
Cons: Photo prints could be better; copier function not as efficient as a dedicated photocopy machine.
Officejet Pro 8500
(HP)
All-in-one printer
PRINT RESOLUTION: 1,200 x 1,200dpi
INKS: Officejet Inks — CMYK
PRINT SPEED: 19ppm (black, normal quality)
SCAN RESOLUTION: Up to 4,800dpi
COPY RESOLUTION: Up to 1,200 x 600dpi
COPY SPEED: Up to 34cpm (colour)
INTERFACE: USB 2.0, ethernet, RJ-11, fax, PictBridge
PAPER HANDLING: 250-sheet input tray (printer); 35-sheet automatic document feeder (scanner)
PAPER SIZES: Up to A4
OTHER FEATURES: Fax, memory card slots (CF, Memory Stick, SD, SDHC, MMC, xD)
DIMENSIONS (W x D x H): 19.45 x 18.86 x 11.77in
WEIGHT: 12kg
PRICE: RM1,299
WEBSITE: www.hp.com
Review unit courtesy of HP Malaysia, 1-800-88-4848.
Big functions for small office
By SHAUN A. NOORDIN
Whether you need to print, scan, copy or fax documents, the HP Officejet Pro 8500 is here to serve.
When I was asked to review a home/small office printer, I was expecting a regular sized printer.
You know, the kind you plug into your home PC to print out your school assignments or overdue office reports. Nothing big, nothing fancy.
So, you can imagine my surprise when a colleague had to strain himself hauling in the absolutely huge HP Officejet Pro 8500 into the office.
It’s so huge, my drawer can go into the box it came in! I now have a printer taking up literally a third of my desk and my colleague now has a hernia.
Turns out there’s a good reason for this, though. The Officejet isn’t “just” a printer for a small or home office.
It’s a combination of printer, scanner, copier and fax machine. It’s as if the people at HP were thinking, “now, how many features can we cram into this thing?” and worked their way up from there.
And the best thing about it? It does each part really well.
Setting up
Plugging the Officejet Pro into my Windows XP machine, I found that the setup was much easier than I anticipated.
The assembly mostly consisted of plugging in the duplexer to the back of the printer, and the HP software that came packaged with the machine took care of the functional side of things.
Although the Officejet comes in a few flavours, I only got to review the basic (A909a) version.
I had to be content with a (physical) button interface on the machine instead of a fancy touchscreen available on the more expensive Wireless (A909g) and Premier (A909n) versions.
(Incidentally, the Wireless and Premier versions also come with WiFi connectivity, so check those out if you have a thing against wires.)
Nonetheless, most of the Officejet’s essential features were made very accessible from its control panel.
With the press of a few buttons I could easily scan multiple documents, adjust the quality of the copier and — why not? — print photos directly from a USB thumbdrive.
Print media
Since the Officejet was designed for home/small office use, I decided to test the inkjet printer by printing out the most business-ish document on my PC — a Magic: The Gathering rulebook.
Hey, don’t laugh. The text came out sharp, the graphics/illustrations were all very clear, and the colours were strong and vivid.
Subsequent tests on various e-mail messages, webpages and (actual) business documents proved that the Officejet consistently produced excellent colour and greyscale prints, even at the default settings.
On the other hand, I was only happy with the high-resolution photos I printed until I paid closer inspection.
The colours, although bright, weren’t a perfect reproduction of my JPGs. This carried over to the copier function too, so it wasn’t just my monitor.
Plus, if I made the effort to notice, I could see barely visible horizontal lines on the photo (also known as banding), even at the best print settings.
If you’re not as fussy as I am with my photos, you can even print your pictures directly from a memory device by sticking it into one of the four memory card slots or the USB port on the machine.
The quick and the quiet
HP claims that you can print 19 pages of colour documents (at normal quality) per minute but realistically I only saw a speed of 10 to 11 pages per minute.
It’s much slower if you’re printing duplex, though, since the printer waits about 10 seconds for one side to dry.
Still, it’s a pretty decent speed since I rarely needed to print a mass of documents that utilised the full capacity of the 250-sheet tray.
Additionally, whether it’s printing or scanning, the Officejet rarely generated sounds that rose above the standard background noise of the office.
It’s not exactly whisper-quiet, but the only chance you’d complain about the machine being “noisy” is if your home happens to be in a monastery.
Scan-tastic
The Officejet features a flatbed scanner at the top of the machine that measures in at 8.5 x 11.7in. That makes it perfect for A4 and letter-sized sheets (which the printer function also uses), but you might have a little trouble with legal (8.5 x 14in) documents.
Alternatively, if you’ve got a pile of documents to scan, you can simply throw up to 35 pages into the scanner’s Automatic Document Feeder, press a button and sit back as the machine makes JPG or PDF copies.
The documents scan at 200dpi by default (higher if you adjust the manual settings), so that it captures all the details that you might need.
The scanner also has an OCR (optical character recognition) feature if you literally want your pictures to be worth a thousand words.
Copy and fax
As you might imagine, the copier function combines the Officejet’s scanning and printing capabilities, so you end up with copies with an excellent resolution and strong, vivid colours.
Unfortunately, the good quality of the copies is contrasted by the function’s relative inefficiency compared to (obviously) a dedicated photocopier.
For one thing, you’re using printer ink, so if you go too crazy with making copies you’ll soon need to restock on HP’s cyans, magentas, yellows and blacks.
For another, the time it takes to copy a single page is the sum of time it takes for the scanner to start and the printer to finish. Happy waiting!
One additional function on the feature-laden Officejet is the fax. But honestly though, with the advent of e-mail, does anybody use faxes anymore? I fax as often as I hunt pterodactyls.
Still, it’s comforting to know that if I need to fax anybody, the function’s there. You can store up to 99 numbers on speed dial, and the standard features such as fax forwarding are all there.
Conclusion
The HP Officejet Pro 8500 makes an excellent addition to any home or small office. It’s easy to use, it features a lot of essential business functions and it handles its main job — the printing of documents — really well.
The only real drawbacks I noticed were the copy function’s lack of efficiency, and the less-than-perfect quality of the photo prints... but only because I’m really, really fussy about my photos.
To be honest, I’ve grown pretty fond of having the Officejet around — so much so that I’m rather reluctant to return the review unit.
I’ll really miss having the convenience afforded to me by the machine’s multitude of well-engineered features.
And besides, I’d probably hurt my back if I tried to move the thing from my desk by myself.
Pros: Features an array of well-designed functions that combine into one effective machine.
Cons: Photo prints could be better; copier function not as efficient as a dedicated photocopy machine.
Officejet Pro 8500
(HP)
All-in-one printer
PRINT RESOLUTION: 1,200 x 1,200dpi
INKS: Officejet Inks — CMYK
PRINT SPEED: 19ppm (black, normal quality)
SCAN RESOLUTION: Up to 4,800dpi
COPY RESOLUTION: Up to 1,200 x 600dpi
COPY SPEED: Up to 34cpm (colour)
INTERFACE: USB 2.0, ethernet, RJ-11, fax, PictBridge
PAPER HANDLING: 250-sheet input tray (printer); 35-sheet automatic document feeder (scanner)
PAPER SIZES: Up to A4
OTHER FEATURES: Fax, memory card slots (CF, Memory Stick, SD, SDHC, MMC, xD)
DIMENSIONS (W x D x H): 19.45 x 18.86 x 11.77in
WEIGHT: 12kg
PRICE: RM1,299
WEBSITE: www.hp.com
Review unit courtesy of HP Malaysia, 1-800-88-4848.
Acer Revo: Easy on the eyes
Thursday November 12, 2009
Acer Revo: Easy on the eyes
The Acer Revo is a funky looking nettop that will look great in any living room.
By ZAM KARIM
THERE is a cool looking nettop in town and it goes by the name of Acer Revo.
With its slightly angular and glossy black and white design, a small footprint — it’s about the size of a phonebook — you won’t be hard pressed to find the perfect spot to place it anywhere in the house.
It can be next to the HDTV, a TV cabinet or you can even mount the nettop behind an LCD monitor. A plastic stand and a VESA-based mount are included in the box.
But it would be a shame if you choose the latter option as the device is meant to be shown off and not hidden away from view.
The review unit came with a matching wireless keyboard and optical mouse, a pair of cute mini USB speakers and an external webcam — all in white glossy casing.
The nettop was also bundled with an Acer 23in widescreen LCD monitor.
TOGETHER:The R3600-A23XA model comes with matching mouse, keyboard, USB speakers and webcam. Also included is a 23in widescreen LCD.
Ports ahoy
There is no optical drive but what it does have is plenty of data connectivity options, including six USB ports, one eSata port and an Ethernet jack as well as a SD card reader. Also, everything is well laid out to make hooking up external devices more convenient.
It also comes with both VGA and HDMI ports so it’s possible to hook up two displays to the nettop.
Also, with the HDMI port users can pipe the built-in 7.1 channel audio to an external display without the need for extra cables.
Powerful specs
Interestingly, the Revo series of nettops come with the new nVidia ION chipset, which offers a number of advantages over the common Intel D945G chipset.
The platform is supposed to be able to run Windows Vista and 3D games, decode videos and, most importantly, handle high-definition videos with ease... at least in theory.
However during our tests, we were both surprised and disappointed with the system performance. For instance, the system took quite a long time to boot up.
At least, once it started up, the Aero Glass and Flip3D interfaces worked smoothly, and we had no problem performing basic computing stuff like wordprocessing and web surfing.
There are times, though — even with nVidia’s GeForce 9400M graphics and 4GB of memory onboard — the system felt sluggish.
It was more prevalent when we ran too many applications simultaneously and also when browsed Flash-heavy websites such as YouTube.
We suspect it is due to either the relatively pedestrian Atom 230 processor or the Windows Vista operating system which is a big resource hog.
Also, most Flash web videos don’t support hardware graphics acceleration offered by the nVidia chip so the processor needs to handle all the workload all by itself. HD experience
To handle all types of video files, the machine comes preinstalled with Cyberlink’s PowerDVD 9.
Overall, it handled standard movie files, such as the Apple MOV format, effortlessly,
Also, the machine is supposed to be able handle Blu-ray movies but we couldn’t get hold of an external Blu-ray drive so we couldn’t test this.
PowerDVD 9 doesn’t support the popular HD format, MKV. To play HD files we downloaded the free KMplayer.
Unfortunately, the video playback wasn’t as smooth as we expected, and we got inconsistent results.
Some MKV videos played smoothly, while others went out of sync with the audio, and a few simply failed to load.
Again we believe the culprit might be the processor which isn’t a perfect companion for the ION chipset.
The good news is that even when the CPU and GPU are heavily taxed, the Revo remained quiet all the time.
The verdict
The Acer Revo has its share of hits and misses. There is a lot of potential for the Revo as it is based on the ION platform.
However, the inclusion of the low-power Atom processor and Windows Vista isn’t the perfect combo for the machine.
Also, the RM2,199 price tag doesn’t quite justify the performance that you get from the machine.
The Revo will be a much more attractive machine with a few more updates and a lower price tag.
Pros: Cool design; small footprint; handles many video formats; quiet.
Cons: Issues playing HD files; sluggish performance, pricey.
ASPIRE REVO (R3600-A23XA)
(Acer)
Nettop with a 23in LCD monitor
Processors: Intel Atom Processor N230 (1.6GHz /512K L2 Cache/533MHz FSB)
Chipset: nVidia ION
Graphics: nVidia GeForce 9400
Memory: 4GB DDR2 800MHz
Storage: 320GB hard drive
Operating System: Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium
Connectivity: WiFi, Ethernet, 56K V.92 modem
Keyboard and mouse: Wireless keyboard, optical mouse
I/O ports: six USB 2.0 ports, one eSATA port, VGA, HDMI audio out and microphone
Other features: Card reader, VESA mounting kit, 1.3-megapixel USB webcam, USB mini speaker, Kensington lock slot
Measurement (D x H X W): 180 x 180 x 30mm
Price: RM2,199
Website:
www.acer.com.my
Review unit courtesy of Acer Sales And Services Sdn Bhd, 1-800-88-1288
Acer Revo: Easy on the eyes
The Acer Revo is a funky looking nettop that will look great in any living room.
By ZAM KARIM
THERE is a cool looking nettop in town and it goes by the name of Acer Revo.
With its slightly angular and glossy black and white design, a small footprint — it’s about the size of a phonebook — you won’t be hard pressed to find the perfect spot to place it anywhere in the house.
It can be next to the HDTV, a TV cabinet or you can even mount the nettop behind an LCD monitor. A plastic stand and a VESA-based mount are included in the box.
But it would be a shame if you choose the latter option as the device is meant to be shown off and not hidden away from view.
The review unit came with a matching wireless keyboard and optical mouse, a pair of cute mini USB speakers and an external webcam — all in white glossy casing.
The nettop was also bundled with an Acer 23in widescreen LCD monitor.
TOGETHER:The R3600-A23XA model comes with matching mouse, keyboard, USB speakers and webcam. Also included is a 23in widescreen LCD.
Ports ahoy
There is no optical drive but what it does have is plenty of data connectivity options, including six USB ports, one eSata port and an Ethernet jack as well as a SD card reader. Also, everything is well laid out to make hooking up external devices more convenient.
It also comes with both VGA and HDMI ports so it’s possible to hook up two displays to the nettop.
Also, with the HDMI port users can pipe the built-in 7.1 channel audio to an external display without the need for extra cables.
Powerful specs
Interestingly, the Revo series of nettops come with the new nVidia ION chipset, which offers a number of advantages over the common Intel D945G chipset.
The platform is supposed to be able to run Windows Vista and 3D games, decode videos and, most importantly, handle high-definition videos with ease... at least in theory.
However during our tests, we were both surprised and disappointed with the system performance. For instance, the system took quite a long time to boot up.
At least, once it started up, the Aero Glass and Flip3D interfaces worked smoothly, and we had no problem performing basic computing stuff like wordprocessing and web surfing.
There are times, though — even with nVidia’s GeForce 9400M graphics and 4GB of memory onboard — the system felt sluggish.
It was more prevalent when we ran too many applications simultaneously and also when browsed Flash-heavy websites such as YouTube.
We suspect it is due to either the relatively pedestrian Atom 230 processor or the Windows Vista operating system which is a big resource hog.
Also, most Flash web videos don’t support hardware graphics acceleration offered by the nVidia chip so the processor needs to handle all the workload all by itself. HD experience
To handle all types of video files, the machine comes preinstalled with Cyberlink’s PowerDVD 9.
Overall, it handled standard movie files, such as the Apple MOV format, effortlessly,
Also, the machine is supposed to be able handle Blu-ray movies but we couldn’t get hold of an external Blu-ray drive so we couldn’t test this.
PowerDVD 9 doesn’t support the popular HD format, MKV. To play HD files we downloaded the free KMplayer.
Unfortunately, the video playback wasn’t as smooth as we expected, and we got inconsistent results.
Some MKV videos played smoothly, while others went out of sync with the audio, and a few simply failed to load.
Again we believe the culprit might be the processor which isn’t a perfect companion for the ION chipset.
The good news is that even when the CPU and GPU are heavily taxed, the Revo remained quiet all the time.
The verdict
The Acer Revo has its share of hits and misses. There is a lot of potential for the Revo as it is based on the ION platform.
However, the inclusion of the low-power Atom processor and Windows Vista isn’t the perfect combo for the machine.
Also, the RM2,199 price tag doesn’t quite justify the performance that you get from the machine.
The Revo will be a much more attractive machine with a few more updates and a lower price tag.
Pros: Cool design; small footprint; handles many video formats; quiet.
Cons: Issues playing HD files; sluggish performance, pricey.
ASPIRE REVO (R3600-A23XA)
(Acer)
Nettop with a 23in LCD monitor
Processors: Intel Atom Processor N230 (1.6GHz /512K L2 Cache/533MHz FSB)
Chipset: nVidia ION
Graphics: nVidia GeForce 9400
Memory: 4GB DDR2 800MHz
Storage: 320GB hard drive
Operating System: Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium
Connectivity: WiFi, Ethernet, 56K V.92 modem
Keyboard and mouse: Wireless keyboard, optical mouse
I/O ports: six USB 2.0 ports, one eSATA port, VGA, HDMI audio out and microphone
Other features: Card reader, VESA mounting kit, 1.3-megapixel USB webcam, USB mini speaker, Kensington lock slot
Measurement (D x H X W): 180 x 180 x 30mm
Price: RM2,199
Website:
www.acer.com.my
Review unit courtesy of Acer Sales And Services Sdn Bhd, 1-800-88-1288
Garmin Mobile PC software
Thursday September 18, 2008
One for the road
By TAN KIT HOONG
Garmin Mobile PC software brings navigation to your PC for a reasonable price but with some drawbacks.
SIMPLE SET UP: Garmin Mobile GPS on a mini notebook with a Bluetooth GPS receiver. With the popularity of Intel Atom-based mini notebooks that last five to six hours on a single charge, I recently started thinking about another possible use for it — as a GPS navigation device.
Of course, since no mini notebook currently on the market has built-in GPS, you can’t just get an out-of-the-box experience with it — for one, you need at least an external GPS unit which connects to your mini notebook via USB or Bluetooth.
If you already have a Garmin Bluetooth or USB GPS receiver, then you can use that, but the good thing is that Mobile PC isn’t limited to Garmin-branded GPS receivers.
The software works with all third party GPS units, but with one limitation. We’ll talk about this later.
The other requirement is that you have to download a local map. You can download one from www.malsingmaps.com, which has a free map that was last updated on February 2008.
The regularly updated maps are only available if you actively contribute to the website’s mapping effort.
By the way, there are shops in Kuala Lumpur which sell the software but it is a little cheaper if you buy from an online site like www.semsons.com/garmin.html.
Installation
If you have a notebook or mini notebook running Windows XP or Vista (with at least an 800 x 600pixel resolution) then the installation is pretty simple — just pop the supplied CD into an optical drive and install the software.
Once installed, you have to first connect your GPS (in my case using Bluetooth) and pair up the device with the notebook.
Once paired, start up Mobile PC and follow the steps to get the GPS working with the software.
Oh yes, here’s the limitation — if you’re using a Bluetooth or USB GPS unit that isn’t made by Garmin, the Mobile PC will be activated and tied to only the machine you install it on and will not accept activation on another machine.
However, if you have the Garmin GPS 10x or GPS 20x then the software instead looks for the unique identifier within the receiver and allows you to install the software on any machine, as long as you use the same Garmin receiver with the software.
Using the software
So now we get right down to the important bit — just how does Mobile PC perform for navigation?
Well, quite well actually and if you’re familiar with Nuvi series, the software is pretty much the same, presenting you with a very user-friendly “Where To?” and “View Map” options on the front page.
View Map is self-explanatory and brings you to a 3D view of the current map, with a little button on the bottom left hand corner that will switch to the flat 2D view with more detail.
UNIQUE: The 3D map interface in Garmin Mobile PC is where all navigation happens. If you don't like the 3D interface, you can still opt for the traditional 2D view. Whether it’s the 2D or 3D view, you can zoom in and out of the map, although scrolling and changing orientation is only allowed in 2D view.
By the way, Mobile PC works with any notebook PC running Windows, and will work especially well with Tablet PCs, although it works with the touchpad and keyboard to navigate the interface as well.
“Where To?” is the starting point of all your navigation needs and will bring you to a list of icons — most notably, the “Home,” “Food, Hotels...” and “Favourites” icons.
Home, of course, is to navigate back to your home, and can be set the first time you click on the Home icon based on your current location or if you have the specific coordinates for your home.
Favourites is where you store your custom waypoints for easy navigation and reference later.
The strange quirk of the Malsingmaps and Mobile PC, however (and I hear this is a problem also in the Nuvi series) is that if you want to search for an address you have to click on “Where To?”, then click on, say, “Food, Hotels...” instead of Addresses directly.
For some strange reason, if you instead click on Addresses under the “Where To?” menu, you can only search United States addresses. Don’t ask me why — hopefully, this can be fixed in a later update.
Once your destination is chosen, you get voice prompts with turn-by-turn directions to guide you.
Like certain high-end Garmin Nuvi models, Mobile PC, by default, has a voice synthesiser which will speak the directions and road names in a robotic female voice.
DETAILED: The 2D view gives you a more detailed map for a visual search of points of interest. The problem is that since Malaysian roads are actually pronounced in a different way from normal English words, the voice synthesiser usually makes such a hash of the road names that I can’t make sense of it.
In the end, I opted for the nice pre-recorded British female voice, which sounds a lot clearer when speaking and instead of saying “In 300m, turn left at Jeh-lan Kay-uh Air-Ay” (“Turn left at Jalan Kayu Ara”) it says “Turn left in 300m.”
Oh yes, if you have an Internet connection on the notebook, you also have access to some special Garmin online features, namely checking the weather in your local area, as well as checking international flights.
You get more features, however, if you are in the United States.
There are loads of other features as well, but the most notable one not directly connected with navigation is the Trip Computer, which gives you a car dashboard-like interface with a speedometer, odometer and other info on your trip, such as driving time, total time travelled (with GPS on), average driving speed and maximum speed travelled.
All the information could be useful if you want to keep detailed records of your trip or gauge the fuel consumption of your car.
Notebook issues
Of course, the software is just one aspect of using Mobile PC and the question is just how practical is it to use the software on a mini notebook?
Well, I own the Asus Eee PC 901, which together with the Atom processor and a fairly large battery, has battery life that’s long enough for almost any navigating you need to do in your car, so in terms of battery life, there’s no complaint there.
The one problem I had with using a mini notebook as a navigation device is that it’s still not quite as portable as it could be — unless you have a special stand made for it, you’re not going to be able to put the notebook anywhere where it’s easy for you to glance at.
I could only lay it down on the passenger seat and glance at it occasionally.
Another problem is that using the keyboard to input your destination is not that easy when it’s fairly dark outside.
Oh yes, I have a car stereo with a 3.5mm stereo input so I can connect the stereo output of the notebook to my car stereo so I can hear voice prompts clearly.
However, if you have no such connection on your car stereo, you have to also consider how loud your notebook can go before using Mobile PC.
My Eee PC 901 is actually loud enough to hear without connecting to my car stereo, but it’s one of the few notebooks that feature really good speakers.
Conclusion
Based on functionality alone, the Garmin Mobile PC software is excellent — it provides all you need for navigation as well as a few more features found only in high-end Garmin Nuvi devices.
The only problems really arise from the choice of notebook you install it on and whether you get loud enough audio or battery life to justify using it as a navigation tool.
So the answer is yes, Mobile PC is great, but you need to consider the limitations of your notebook before you use it.
Pros: Lots of features; easy-to-use interface; voice navigation; compatibility with Malsingmaps maps.
Cons: Using it on a notebook in dim light can be a bit fiddly.
Garmin Mobile PC
(Garmin Ltd)
GPS navigation software
System requirements: Windows 2000 SP2/XP/Vista, 256MB RAM, 1.3GB HDD space
Features: Garmin Online
Price: US59.90 (RM200)
Website: www.garmin.com
Monday, December 14, 2009
Apple
Tuesday March 24, 2009
Enhancing your iLife
By CHONG JINN XIUNG
PICTURE THIS: Faces is a new function in iPhoto that allows you to view the pictures of all your friends and family at a glance. Apple iLife ‘09’s fancy features promises to make working with images and videos a breeze.
Announced at this year’s Macworld, iLife ‘09’s new flashy features caught the attention of the Mac community.
Although it wasn’t as groundbreaking as most Mac fans were hoping for, it still has a few impressive features such as face recognition for photos and image stabilisation for videos.
For the purpose of the review, we will mainly focus on the new features of iPhoto ‘09 and iMovie ‘09.
Finding faces
Two main features of iPhoto are Faces and Places which further enhance Events, a function introduced in an earlier version, which automatically sorts photos by the date it was shot.
Faces is an easy way to organise photos and it uses face recognition to identify faces that you have tagged, allowing you to compile a list of photos with a particular person.
The feature is pretty easy to use — you just have to just click on the Name Faces button to start a simple face selection tool that is somewhat similar to Facebook’s.
iPhoto can also scan a photo to detect faces though it sometimes misses a face or two so you will have to select them manually.
You only have to name and tag two pictures and iPhoto will sniff out your entire library of photos for the person and it mostly gets it right even when the photo is blurry.
It works surprisingly well for group photos when everyone is facing the camera and it makes quick work of naming multiple subjects.
However, you may have to wait for a few minutes for the program to scan through your photo library the first time you use it.
iPhoto’s face detection system doesn’t get it right all the time. It is a hit and miss affair and is easily thrown off by people wearing sunglasses and caps.
HIT AND MISS: The face detection algorithm for Faces occasionally goofs up and detects non-human objects, such as the cushion in the picture above, as a face. Oddly enough, the face detection algorithm occasionally detects non-human objects as faces in photos. In one instance, the program thought a pattern on a pillow case was a human face.
Admittedly, Faces is still a feature that will come in handy when you have to browse and tag thousands of holiday photos.
Keeping track
Places uses geotags to group photos by the place it was taken and marks them on a map. For the uninitiated, geotags contain geographical metadata such as latitude and longitude coordinates.
iPhoto extensively uses Google maps and has a good user interface that easily allows you to browse locations by country, state, city and street address.
When you import images with geotag data, Places will automatically place them on a map. But if your photos doesn’t have geotag data, you can still manually pin the location of your photo on the map.
However, this method can be tedious because you have to manually search for the location for each photo.
Also, despite having a built-in Google search bar for looking up addresses, Places sometimes failed to locate places I searched.
Places is a cool way to catalogue a trip by location but many users may not find it useful because the majority of consumer cameras don’t have GPS capability.
Moving on, the Slideshow feature in iPhoto is good for making a quick photo presentation.
While the options are basic at best — there are a limited number of themes and transition effects — but is still quite impressive and you can even assign background music to go with the slideshow.
Making movies
It isn’t often that you can find a video editing tool that is not only easy to use but also powerful.
iMovie has all these qualities and it is amazing how it can help you slap together a decent video without having to dig out the manual.
EASY-TO-USE: iMovie retains the same user interface though it now comes with a few nifty new features like image stablisation and precision editing. I was immediately impressed by the easy-to-use user interface.
Most of iMovie’s operations are completely drag-and-drop based so putting together a stream of videos is a simple matter of dragging parts of the clip you want into the editing area and letting the program join them together.
Despite having almost no video editing knowledge, I was surprised at how easy it was to create a 24 second clip in iMovie.
Things just worked out as I began experimenting and slowly got the hang of incorporating features such as text and transition effects into my videos.
There are a couple of new features — image stabilisation and precision editor — that take iMovie to the next level.
Image stabilisation comes in handy when you have to salvage extremely shaky footage shot from, say, a moving vehicle.
It is resource intensive and may take several minutes to analyse a clip and apply the smoothening affect.
You get to pick the size of the area to apply image stabilisation and the smaller the area, the better the result you get.
The only drawback to this feature is that your clip may end up looking less refined but it’s better than not being able to save the entire clip.
And don’t expect it to perform miracles if there is excessive camera shake in the footage.
The precision editor is another improvement in iMovie that gives you more control over your videos as you can edit the transition between two clips frame by frame.
I found it to be a great tool when I needed to select a specific portion of a clip to cut off.
Other additions include new animated globe and map transition effects (a la Indiana Jones) that’s perfect for globe trotting holiday makers to depict the course of a journey.
It’s really a nice effect that adds a sense of style to your presentations.
While the additions give iMovie a few extra tools to work with, it isn’t a major improvement over its predecessor.
Also, the software is still weak in terms of audio editing as it doesn’t give you a lot of options to work with.
The inability to manually save your work is a little worrying as you can never be too sure if iMovie has been saving your work in case of a crash or power outage.
However, we have yet to encounter any problems with it and can only hope that iMovie saves your work progress often.
Creating and sharing
What’s the point of shooting photos and videos if you can’t share them with anyone?
iPhoto easily addresses this with a variety of different ways — you can show your photos to your friends and family by creating a photo book, calendar, slideshow or even a DVD.
Similarly, iMovie lets you share your videos by burning DVDs, exporting them to your iPod or uploading them directly to Youtube.
If you are into sharing photos online, you’ll love iPhoto ability to sync directly with Facebook and Flickr with just a click of the button.
Easily one of the coolest things about the Faces feature is how it exports tags in photos to Facebook and even matches it with people on your friend’s list.
Flickr users will also be pleased with iPhoto’s ability to sync geotag info with the online photo sharing site.
iPhoto also intelligently keeps your Flickr uploads in sync with your album so any images you delete will be reflected online as well.
That’s a wrap
The features introduced in iPhoto and iMovie really improve the overall appeal of iLife ‘09.
iPhoto addition of Faces and Places gives you a new avenue to sort and categorise your photos.
And creating slideshows has never been this easy or fun. We only wish there were more variety to the themes or there was a way to download more.
iMovie image stabilisation feature is great for saving shaky clips and precision editing gives more control over your videos.
However, while iMovie is an improvement over its predecessor, it’s still a consumer grade video editor that provides the basic tools
All in all, if you own a Mac and work with digital media often, iLife ‘09 should serve as an easily accessible software suite for your photo management and video editing needs.
Pros: Faces and Places helpful for managing photos; easy to create slideshows; iMovie’s intuitive drag-and-drop interface.
Cons: Face recognition can be improved; Places interface a little clunky; audio editing in iMovie hasn’t improved.
iLife ‘09
(Apple Computer)
Multimedia creation suite
System requirements: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Website: www.apple.com/my
Price: RM299 (bundled free with new Macs)
Review unit courtesy of Apple Malaysia, (03) 2711-1888
Adobe Photoshop CS4 Extended
Tuesday March 31, 2009
The best gets better
By TAN KIT HOONG
Taking an already extensive and powerful photo editing tool and making it better is a tall order and yet Adobe has done it with Photoshop CS4 Extended.
SPACIOUS: Photoshop CS4's new interface is geared towards maximising your workspace, for example, by doing away with the Windows Title bar and merging some menu items together. When you look at the market for photo editing software, there’s really nothing that comes even close to Adobe’s Photoshop in terms of power and versatility.
I’ve tried others, like the open-source GIMP, but I always keep coming back to Photoshop.
The one thing about Photoshop though, is that if you don’t have any grounding or help in using the software, it’s really quite difficult to just pick up and use — I blame it on the fact that the software originally began life on Apple’s Macintosh computers, which require you to know many keyboard shortcuts.
With the Photoshop CS4 Extended, Adobe is taking a few steps to rectify this situation, although it still has to be familiar to the core professional users which I think make up most of its customers.
Of course, being easier to use is not the only thing Creative Suite 4 has — the suite features more stuff than ever before and the full package comes jam-packed with so much that it’ll make your head spin.
In fact, the Adobe Creative Suite 4 Master Collection we got has added loads of other applications as well, including colour calibration software and even video editing tools, which are beyond my core competence.
Even if I could review them, they would take up all the pages of this newspaper to cover it. Therefore, I’ll just concentrate on Photoshop CS4 and its changes since the last version.
The interface
One complaint I had with the previous iteration of Photoshop was that the interface was apparently designed for larger widescreen monitors and the toolboxes and the way they were displayed really took up a lot of space on older 17in monitors.
Well, I’m happy to report that Adobe seems to have realised this and Photoshop CS4 has done a few things to maximise viewing space for your images.
One such change is that much like Google Chrome, Photoshop CS4 for Windows has done away with the Windows Title Bar (the one that usually shows the title of the program at one end, and the minimise, maximise and close buttons at the other) and integrated some common Photoshop tools into the Menu bar (the one that has File, Open, etc) below it.
This doesn’t sound like a lot but coupled with a few changes to the toolbars and dock, it does gain you a quite a bit of viewing area for your images.
Another tweak to the interface is that multiple open image files are now ordered tabs instead of floating windows.
Some users may not like this, but I personally found it a good feature as it makes it easier to switch between different open files and compare them, especially when you have a particular zoom level set.
Floating windows tended to obscure other windows behind them and this wasn’t so great when you have to quickly switch between them.
Although it appeared in previous versions of Photoshop before, the Workspaces option on the top right hand corner of Photoshop CS4 has been improved.
It now not only displays different tools in workspace, but menu items only show the relevant tools for the current workspace.
This makes for a much cleaner (and more customisable) interface — of course, hidden items can be shown again with a simple mouse click.
I work with Adjustment Layers a lot — it’s one of the most powerful features in Photoshop’s arsenal and allows you to make selective and reversible adjustments to your image (such as Levels, Saturation, etc) and apply them in layers.
While previous versions of Photoshop had you double-click on an Adjustment Layer to bring up the settings menu of that layer, Photoshop CS4 now puts it front and centre, with each Adjustment Layer having its settings displayed in the Photoshop Panel (the toolbox on the right) as its own tab.
SEAMLESS PANORAMA: Although not new in Photoshop CS4, the Photomerge has been made even better with more advanced automated analysis and blending. Although this feature isn’t new in Photoshop CS4, it’s also worth mentioning that since Photoshop CS3, the automated Photomerge feature to create panoramic images has become an extremely powerful tool.
Using Photomerge, Photoshop CS4 (and CS3) can examine shots and blend them together into a seamless panorama, even managing to recognise when elements such as people have moved from frame to frame and then stitching the images together so that each person appears only once in the final image.
Photoshop CS4 has added even better vignetting and geometric distortion correction plus the ability to more easily create 360 panoramas so this feature is even more powerful than before.
If you thought making 360° panoramas was cool, Photoshop CS4 has a new feature which will allow you to merge several photos together of the same subject but with different focal points into a single photo with extended depth of field.
For example, if you’re shooting a close up of an object, but find that the area of focus is really very shallow, Photoshop CS4 allows you to shoot a number of shots, each focussing on a different area and merge them all using the Auto-Align and Auto-Blend into a single photo with extended depth of field.
Adobe Bridge
Adobe Bridge CS4, the file browsing and management application that comes with Creative Suite 4, has had a couple of tweaks as well.
Ever since Creative Suite 3, Bridge looks a lot like Adobe Lightroom and has workspaces which allow you to switch between a maximised thumbnail view, metadata editing, light table view amongst others.
MORE DEPTH: Photoshop CS4's Merge and Blend allows you to blend several shots of the same subject with different focal points into one photo with extended depth-of-field. Bridge CS4 adds a new Output workspace which adds controls for creating PDF contact sheets or a web photo gallery.
I’ve also noticed that startup and display of thumbnails is noticeably faster compared with previous versions, which is good, because browsing was pretty slow on Bridge CS3.
Oh yes, Bridge CS4 can even automatically order your photos in the Collections menu, based on certain criteria that you set.
One of the more unusual and interesting ones is an Auto-collect feature that will have Bridge CS4 analyse images in a particular folder and pick out images that could be grouped together to be used for a HDR (High Dynamic Range) image or stitched together to make a panorama.
This is particularly useful for me as I do shoot a lot of images specially for stitching into panoramic images, and although slow, the Auto-collect feature does help to pick out those images from a list of sometimes hundreds of photos that I usually have after a trip.
Camera RAW
Adobe has also updated the Camera RAW, the application that allows you to open and edit RAW image files from practically all camera brands.
Camera RAW in Creative Suite 4 has had various changes, mostly to come up to the same level as the Lightroom RAW editor.
One of the more interesting features is the ability to make localised adjustments to the RAW image — you just click on a point in the image you want to make a localised adjustment to and then adjust the sliders, which will only affect the area you selected.
These changes are of course non-destructive and can be reversed at any time.
There is even a pretty nifty spot removal tool which seems to be more intuitive than the main Photoshop CS4 Spot Healing Tool.
Hardware acceleration
One of the major new features of Photoshop CS4 for me is that for the first time, it takes advantage of the GPU (i.e. your graphics card) to perform some tasks.
The most obvious change with GPU acceleration is when you zoom in and out of your images (using the Ctrl and - key or + key) you get a completely smooth zoom.
In previous non-hardware accelerated versions of Photoshop, what you get when you zoom in and out was a wire frame that reflected how large or small or your next image is going to be. With Photoshop CS4, you can see the zoom happen as soon as you press the key combination.
Similarly, panning pictures works much like in an iPod touch/iPhone — if you have the Hand tool enabled, you can grab hold of an image and flick it any direction you want, and the image will pan smoothly and come to a stop depending on how aggressively you moved the image.
SPEEDY: One of the more major changes in Adobe Bridge is that the application launches faster and displays thumbnails faster too. There is another new little trick made possible by GPU acceleration.
When you hold down the H key together with the left mouse button, Photoshop CS4 will quickly zoom out to show you the entire image, and moving your cursor to any part of the image and then letting go the H key will get you back to the zoom level you were at before, but this time to where your cursor was pointing at.
A similar sleight of hand can be performed by holding down the R key and the left mouse button, which allows you to rotate your image to any angle for easier viewing. The rotation here is not permanent and is meant to make it easier to make a selection, for example. Any changes done will be saved, except for this arbitrary rotation.
It all sounds flashy, but believe me, it really makes working with images much easier, especially when, for example, you’re making a selection using the marquee tool.
Conclusion
As usual, every new generation of Photoshop puts the software even further ahead of its rivals, and Photoshop CS4 Extended is no exception.
While probably not revolutionary, Photoshop CS4 has hundreds of little tweaks and interface changes that together make up for quite a lot.
I for one, am very happy with how Adobe has concentrated on maximising the viewing space and still have all the important tools at your fingertips, something which I feel Creative Suite 3 had really taken a step backwards with in its panels and toolbox design.
In fact, there are so many little changes in Photoshop CS4 I have only barely scratched the surface of the number of new features you can find in it.
Of course, being that the software costs RM4,099 it’s probably not worth upgrading to if you’re a casual user who already has Photoshop CS3, but for an imaging professional, this is certainly a worthy upgrade.
Pros: GPU acceleration; improved menus; lots of small tweaks and new features.
Cons: Pricey.
Adobe Photoshop CS4 Extended
(Adobe Systems Inc)
System requirements: 1.8GHz processor or faster, 512MB RAM, 1GB HDD space, 1,024 x768-pixels display, 16-bit video card with OpenGL 2.0 and Shader Model 3.0 (or newer), QuickTime 7.2, Internet connection required.
Website:
www.adobe.com
Price: RM4,099 for Adobe Photoshop CS4 Extended, or RM10,239 for Adobe Creative Suite 4 Master Collection
Review copy courtesy of Adobe Systems Pte Ltd, (65) 6511-5500Yasmin Mahmood leaves Microsoft Malaysia
Wednesday December 2, 2009
Yasmin Mahmood leaves Microsoft Malaysia
KUALA LUMPUR: Yasmin Mahmood, the managing director of Microsoft Malaysia will leave the company at the end of the year. She will pass the baton to Ananth Lazarus, who has been appointed as the company’s managing director with effect from January 1.
With over 22 years experience in the ICT industry, 11 of which have been with Microsoft, Lazarus was previously the regional senior director of small and medium businesses.
He was also Microsoft Malaysia’s chief marketing and operations officer and director of small to midmarket solutions and partners from 2004 to 2007.
“I am very excited to return to Malaysia, a country that I consider my second home and love working in. I am thrilled with the opportunity to work with the amazing team at Microsoft in Malaysia yet again,” said Lazarus, who had been based out of Singapore for the past two years.
Meanwhile Yasmin described her three years at Microsoft Malaysia as being “the most memorable ones to date in my entire career.” “Besides the achievements made on the corporate front, my journey in Microsoft Malaysia was also a personal one for me to discover ‘self’ and who I really am as a person and as a professional.
“I am delighted to be passing on the baton to Ananth whom I am sure will take the company to even greater heights,” she said.
Yasmin has accepted the position of executive director of YTL Communications and will start in her new role on February 1.
Microsoft Asia-Pacific president Emilio Umeoka expressed the company’s gratitude to Yasmin for her efforts and achievements over the past three years.
“During this time, she has helped strengthen the relationships Microsoft has with its customers, developers, distributors and the Malaysian Government, he said.
“Yasmin brought an energy and passion to Microsoft Malaysia, and her efforts to ‘Malaysianise’ Microsoft and align the company’s investments in Malaysia with the aspirations of the Malaysian Government was very positive,” he said.
“I am excited that Ananth will be bringing his style of leadership to Malaysia, a country Microsoft considers as being extremely important in the region,” he added.
The Malaysian Association of the Computer and Multimedia Industry (Pikom) described this development as being “extremely positive for local ICT industry” and wished Microsoft Malaysia and Yasmin every success in their respective new chapters.
Pikom president C J Ang described Yasmin, who was recognised by the association recently as the “2009 ICT Person of the Year,” as a “visionary yet down-to-earth leader.”
“At the same time, Pikom is heartened to welcome the appointment of Ananth Lazarus as the company’s managing drector with open arms,” he said, adding that Pikom is looking forward to Microsoft Malaysia continuing in its role of being a catalyst of growth for the local ICT industry.
Apple countersues Nokia over phone patents
Apple countersues Nokia over phone patents
NEW YORK: Apple Inc is suing cellphone maker Nokia Corp for patent infringement, a countermove to Nokia’s earlier suit against technologies used in Apple’s iPhone.
Apple’s lawsuit claims Nokia is infringing on 13 of Apple’s patents, and says the Finland-based company chose to “copy the iPhone,” especially its user interface, to make up for its declining share of the high-end phone market.
Nokia’s lawsuit, filed in October, claims that Cupertino, California-based Apple infringes on 10 of its patents covering both phone calls and WiFi wireless access.
The patents Apple alleges Nokia is infringing deal with, among other things: Connecting a phone to a computer, teleconferencing, menus on a touchscreen, power conservation in chips, and “pattern and colour abstraction in a graphical user interface.”
It also denies Nokia’s claims of patent infringement.
In a statement, Nokia said it will review the claims and respond “in due course.”
Apple said Nokia fell behind in the smartphone market because it chose to focus on old-fashioned cellphones with conventional user interfaces at a time when “smart” phones were growing increasingly popular.
Countersuits are a staple of patent litigation, which often ends in cross-licensing agreements. Nokia said in October that 40 phone manufacturers — but not Apple — have licensed the patents in its lawsuit. — AP
IDEAPAD U350
Slim and stylish
By WENDY TAN
A slim executive-style notebook, the Lenovo IdeaPad U350 could do with a little more muscle.
When you first set your eyes on the Lenovo IdeaPad U350 you will probably be charmed. It is a sexy little 13.3in laptop.
It looks like an Apple Macbook, not that silverish chrome and black is a revolutionary colour contrast.
But if Lenovo intends to attract working executives then the U350 is a handsome business accessory that will turn heads at meetings and in boardrooms.
The backpanel of the LCD is the eye-catching centrepiece and its matte black criss-cross embossed finishing brings a touch of class to the U350, something that is rarely found in this price range.
It is also very slim and lightweight. This may be a welcome change from the desktop replacements of old where heavyweight features took precedence and broke our backs in the process.
This being said, the U350 is not a power-packed hunk of a machine. On the contrary, it reminds one of nonchalant cattle grazing rather than charging.
Before we launch into the sluggish performance of the laptop, we need to finish admiring the U350.
It does not feel like cheap plastic and neither does it feel flimsy or poorly made. The keypad sits well and typing is quite fun. Also the keys seem well spaced and they are laid out slightly differently.
The U350 is solid and it looks like something you could tote into meetings. One can be forgiven if they want to go paperless and use this laptop to replace their notepads and pens instead. It really is that portable and stylish.
Lacking punch
Although on first impressions the U350 wins, the moment you start it up is when the disappointment sets in.
The U350 uses an ULV (ultra low voltage) processor and you can tell straight away it is a gentle, docile machine because it takes awhile to start up.
ULVs are mainly found in netbooks and the U350 is one step up from a netbook because of its 13in screen which is really helpful.
With the U350 you save on carrots because you will not be straining your eyes as much. So if you are looking for a netbook with a bigger screen then the U350 is your new best friend.
It does come with a generous helping of RAM, 3GB to be exact, but this is unnoticeable in the greater scheme of things as the U350 still underperforms and is laggy.
Programs take ages to load but once they are ready to be used performance picks up somewhat.
If you are one of those who open multiple tabs in Internet browsers like Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome simultaneously then you will not have to worry too much except for some pauses once in awhile.
CLASSY: The backpanel of the U350's LCD boasts a matte black criss-cross embossed finishing. It can get annoying but is tolerable if you have time. Do not expect to multitask though because if you open another program or two in addition to the web browsers, the U350 will slow down.
Also, with progressive use, the laptop deteriorated in speed and performance but this could be due to the rigorous stress we put the laptop under with background programs running and web browsers perpetually open.
Software overload
Lenovo’s tagline for the U350 is “light and loaded” and it is true to a degree. It is lean on the outside and loaded or bloated with all sorts of programs inside.
The review unit comes with Windows Vista Home Premium but we expect new machines to ship with Windows 7.
Lenovo decided to pack the U350 with its proprietary software such as Veriface login, which is a security feature, and other nonsensical and memory hogging programs.
It is not worth the hassle and soon enough, you will find yourself uninstalling these programs to try and get the notebook to work faster.
It does come with WiFi which is sufficient for our needs since so many of us live on the Internet. The U350 also comes with three USB 2.0 ports and a HDMI port which is great for playing videos on your big screen TV if necessary.
The U350 supports Dolby surround sound but the effect felt tinny and spaced out — not very good for heavy bass music or for listening to music in general.
It could be that the thin U350 body cannot handle sound so headphones or external speakers are best used with the notebook.
Let us not forget the U350 also comes with a webcam for video conferencing and is very helpful. However, webcams are a standard accessory with most notebooks now.
Conclusion
Overall, the Lenovo IdeaPad U350 has a very masculine appeal but will not look out of place if carried by a woman too.
It looks professional and serious, very much suited for business users who want something thin and portable.
The speed leaves much to be desired but it will complete the tasks at hand, just slightly slower than usual.
Pros: Lightweight and slim; 3GB RAM.
Cons: Slow; unnecessary software.
IDEAPAD U350
(Lenovo)
Slim notebook
Processor: Intel ULV SU2700 (1.3GHz)
Memory: 3GB DDR3 RAM
Graphics: Intel GMA 4500M
Storage: 250GB hard drive
Operating system: Vista Home Premium
Connectivity: WiFi, Bluetooth
Other features: Card reader, 1.3-megapixel webcam, VGA out, HDMI port
I/O Ports: Three USB 2.0 ports, Ethernet port
Battery: Four-cell lithium-ion
Dimensions (W x D x H): 32.8m x 22.9m x 2.5cm
Weight: 1.6kg
Website: www.lenovo.com
Price: RM2,299
Review unit courtesy of Lenovo Malaysia, 1800-18-2388
Pavilion dm3
Published: Tuesday December 8, 2009 MYT 10:50:00 AM
Updated: Tuesday December 8, 2009 MYT 4:07:32 PM
An all-rounder
By CHONG JINN XIUNG
A snazzy looking notebook, the HP Pavilion dm3 is great for working on the go.
WE HAVE been wanting to test Windows 7 on a notebook and finally got our hands on the Pavilion dm3, the latest ultra portable notebook to grace HP’s lightweight category.
Slim, slick and sexy are some words you can use to describe the Pavilion dm3. We liked the brushed aluminium frame which nicely contrasted with the black bezel surrounding the LCD screen on the inside.
This is one tough looking notebook with a solid body. And as it is also very compact and slim, you could easily lug it everywhere you go.
Due to the notebook’s extremely thin frame — it is only a fraction thicker than a standard USB port — it does away with a built-in optical drive.
But there is nothing to worry about as the notebook still comes with an external DVD writer for burning CDs and intalling software.
Alternatively, HP is also selling a Blu-ray combo drive which is great if you are planning to watch HD movies.
Though the Pavilion dm3 is compact, it weighs 1.9kg which is a little on the heavy side for an ultraportable. For a notebook that lacks a built-in optical drive, we would have preferred it lighter as well.
The Pavilion dm3 comes with lots of connectivity options — you’ll find four USB ports, a HDMI port for hooking it up to a larger display, an Ethernet port, a VGA out and a multi-format card reader.
It’s handy to have so many USB ports because one may eventually be taken up by the external optical drive, leaving another three for other devices.
SLIM PROFILE: The notebook does away with the optical drive but it has a lot of ports. One thing odd about Pavilion dm3’s design is the power switch which is located at the side of the notebook — though not a bad thing but it took us a few minutes to locate it.
The Pavilion dm3 has a gorgeous 13.3in LCD screen with a resolution of 1,366 x 768-pixels. The screen is well illuminated which makes it great for viewing pictures and videos.
However, the glossy black bezel’s reflective surface is rather distracting and especially so if you use it outdoors.
Below the display sits the Pavilion dm3’s cool looking chicklet-style keyboard which is comfortable to type on.
There aren’t any dedicated keys for media functions, so you’ll have to use the standard function keys.
The Pavilion dm3 has a decent-size trackpad that is so shiny that it could double up as a mirror. The drawback is that it is a fingerprint magnet and becomes smudgy and dirty after in use for only awhile.
Feature-packed
Looks aren’t everything, so it’s great that the notebook packs a 1.6GHz Athlon Neo X2 dual-core processor, 4GB RAM and an ATI Radeon HD 4330 graphics processor.
Performance-wise, the notebook holds up well when it comes to multitasking with several different applications running at once.
We tested the Pavilion dm3 by playing a 720p video while using a heavy duty application like Adobe Photoshop. Much to our surprise the notebook didn’t skip a frame when playing the video.
Like most modern notebooks, it runs relatively quiet when in use. It does, however, emit a considerable amount of heat along the underside of the notebook, making it uncomfortable to use for long periods.
The notebook ships with Windows 7 Home Premium which is a lot more efficient than Vista, so start up and shut down times were relatively short.
Space isn’t an issue with the Pavilion dm3 as it has a huge 500GB hard drive which should be more than enough for storing all your programs and media.
HP has included preinstalled software though they aren’t that impressive.
For instance, the HP MediaSmart program acts as the default media player for handling pictures, songs and videos. But because it takes 12 seconds to start up it is way too sluggish to be used for even viewing photos as Windows Photo Viewer takes just a second to launch.
Fun and games
The Pavilion dm3 also doubles as a functional media machine for watching HD movies while on the go.
The notebook handled 720p HD movies really well — even fast moving and action scenes looked smooth without any frame drops.
Also, if you find the screen too small, you can always hook up the Pavilion dm3 to a bigger screen via the HDMI port.
The only thing that ruined our movie viewing experience was the speakers. Although the sound quality was pretty decent considering it’s a notebook but it could be better.
The built-in Altec Lansing speakers are too soft and you’ll definitely want to get a pair of external speakers or headphones.
If you’re into games, you’ll be disappointed to know that the Pavilion dm3 isn’t that great a gaming machine. We tried installing first-person shooter games like Modern Warfare 2 but the notebook could barely handle the game.
Only at fairly low settings and resolution was the game playable. But even then the frame rate was so jittery and graphics so ugly that we didn’t really enjoy playing it.
In terms of battery life, the notebook’s 6-cell battery lasts about five hours when used for web surfing, photo editing and light gaming.
Conclusion
The HP Pavilion dm3 is by no means a perfect machine as it has its share of ups and downs.
As an entertainment machine, the notebook is capable of playing HD content smoothly and it has a large 500GB hard drive which is perfect for storing lots of media.
The notebook has a slick aluminium frame and a compact design but unfortunately it is a little on the heavy side. Plus, you will also need to carry an external optical drive which adds to the bulk.
Another problem are the built-in speakers which were incredibly soft and lacked punch. Also, the notebook isn’t really great for gaming.
Overall, the HP Pavilion dm3 is great for handling productivity apps and watching HD movies. Plus, with its long battery life of five hours, you can use it for an entire day on the go.
Pros: Slick aluminium design; nice keyboard; decent battery life.
Cons: Heavy even without an optical drive; speakers are too soft; can’t handle 3D games.
Pavilion dm3
Hewlett-Packard
Ultra-portable notebook
Processor: AMD Turion Neo X2 (1.6GHz)
Memory: 4GB DDR3 RAM
Graphics: ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4330 512MB VRAM
Display: 13.3in widescreen LCD (1,366 x 768-pixels)
Storage: 500GB SATA hard disk
Connectivity: WiFi 802.11b/g, Ethernet port, Bluetooth
I/O Ports: Four USB 2.0 ports, HDMI port, VGA out, headphone and microphone jacks
Operating system: Windows 7 Home Premium
Other features: webcam, card reader
Battery: Six-cell lithium-ion
Dimensions (W x H x D): 326 x 230 x 24.3mm
Weight: 1.9kg
Price: Starts from RM2,699 depending on configuration
Review unit courtesy of AMD. For more product information, contact 1-800-88-4848.
Master's Degree Programmes in Computer Science
Master's Degree Programmes in Computer Science
Modern society increasingly relies on always-on, collaborative communication environments supported by the Internet, as well as intelligent IT applications. The Department of Computer Science of the Faculty of Science at the University of Helsinki offers two Master's Degree Programmes in English:
- Master's Degree Programme on Algorithms and Machine Learning
- Master's Degree Programme on Networking and Services
Both the programmes educate IT professionals for research and development in these areas, and they are both based on the unique research profile at the University of Helsinki.
These programmes are two-year, full-time degree programmes of 120 ECTS credits each, and teaching in both programmes is given fully in English. Some supplementary studies (up to 60 ECTS) can be required if necessary. Successful completion of the programme will give you a Master of Science (MSc) degree in Computer Science.
Cyber crime poses threat to e-commerce
Cyber crime poses threat to e-commerce
By Kevin Voigt, CNNDecember 14, 2009 -- Updated 0325 GMT (1125 HKT)
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
* The past 12 months have been a banner year for cybercrime
* 87 percent of e-mail traffic the past year was spam
* Analyst: "The way it's trending now, the Web could be so full of rubbish that people won't trust it.'
RELATED TOPICS
* Spam Email
* Technology
* Antivirus Software
* Computer Crime
(CNN) -- The past 12 months have been a banner year for cyber crime. And that could be bad news for the future of e-commerce.
"At current trends, in three or four years people will start to think twice about transacting on the Web, individuals and businesses," said Michael Fraser, director of the communications law centre at the University of Technology Sydney.
"The way it's trending now, the Web could be so full of rubbish that people won't trust it," Fraser said. "That could destroy the potential of the whole knowledge economy, which so many developed economies are counting on for the competitive advantage."
According to antivirus maker Symantec, 87 percent of e-mail traffic in the past year was spam, compared to just under 70 percent in 2008. More than 40 trillion spam messages were sent according to Symantec, which monitors about a third of the world's e-mail traffic. That's about 5,000 spam messages for every person on the planet.
More of that spam is harboring malicious software, or "malware," -- 2 percent of spam contained malware, a 900 percent increase from the previous year.
Video: Shopping safely online
Malware comes in a variety of forms that can search computers for bank information and personal details for identity theft, or hijack computers to become foot soldiers in a spamming army of zombie "botnets" -- often unbeknownst to the owner. In Australia alone, an estimated 10 percent of computers are infected with malware, Fraser said. "And we're relatively low because we have less (broadband penetration) than many other countries," he said.
The past year saw an explosion of individuals on social networking sites such as Facebook having their accounts compromised and spam being sent to friends within their network.
In this way, cyber criminals have made the attacks more personal because they are sending out messages appropriating victims' names, says Marian Merritt, an Internet safety advisor for Norton, the antivirus brand produced by Symantec. "In the past, people felt annoyed by spam, they didn't really feel a sense of being attacked," Merritt said. "But if your Facebook account is hacked, it's embarrassing."
The past year has seen the rise of "scareware" -- malware that parrots a legitimate antivirus software program and then infects the computer with "the very malware it purports to protect against," a Symantec report said. For a 12-month period ending June 30, Symantec received 43 million reports of scareware installation attempts.
"That took a lot of us in the industry by surprise the past year," Merritt said. "You get a pop-up ad saying, 'you have multiple viruses' then asks you to download the antivirus software. Once you download those programs, they hold you hostage."
The speed of news
The past year saw the rising speed and popularity of malware spam and Web sites with touts related to current events and celebrity news. "Who killed Michael Jackson?" "Get swine flu medicine here" and "Full eBook Harry Potter" were some popular online traps to open dangerous e-mail attachments or be directed to Web sites' malware.
"If you want to know what spam will be hitting tomorrow, look at Google Trends today," said Merritt, referring to Google's site that shows hot topics and searches by its users.
One of the most alarming incidents in 2009 for governments and policy makers was the July 4 attacks on U.S. government sites, such as the White House, the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq -- followed a few days later by similar attacks on Web sites in South Korea. According to a research paper by antivirus maker McAfee, both attacks were made by the same "botnet" of 50,000 computers, which spammed targets with so many e-mails their IT systems were overwhelmed.
Fact Box
Cybercrime Prevention
-- Have antivirus software, anti-spyware and firewall
-- Never respond to spam
-- Don't open suspicious emails or attachments
-- Never provide passwords or personal information to unsolicited emails or Web sites
-- When asked to 'allow' or 'deny' an application access to the Internet, choose deny unless you are confident in the safety of the site you are accessing
-- When shopping or banking online, make sure website contains an "s" after http (as in https) . Look for the 'lock' icon in lower right corner
Sources: Symantec and Trend Micro
North Korea was suspected as the originator of the attack, leading Dmitiri Alperovitch, vice president of threat research at McAfee, to suggest one motivation of the attack "could have been to test the impact of flooding South Korean networks and the transcontinental communications between the U.S. government ... (which) would provide them with a significant advantage in case of a surprise attack."
The attack highlights the problem of security on the Internet -- a transnational attack, using commercial services and tens of thousands of personal computers. To fight the attacks would take strong local and international laws on cyber security, a great deal of cooperation among commercial providers and effective systems to report the crimes -- none of which is happening today, Fraser said.
"The community doesn't know where to turn to when these crimes occur, and the police don't know how to report it or record it, and prosecutors and court systems have a hard time coping with cases that involve gigabytes of evidence," he said.
Looking ahead to 2010, antivirus maker Trend Micro predicts that there will be more attacks on Mac operating systems. Previously ignored by malware makers because of its relatively low market share, the booming popularity of iPhones is drawing the attention of cybercriminals.
"As the mobile OS landscape changes, and with devices comprising a huge amount of memory and storing a host of sensitive data, devices such as the iPhone and Google Android may increase as popular targets for bad guys," Trend Micro reports in its December report, "the Future of Threats and Threat Technologies."
The introduction this year of domain names in languages other than English -- such as Russian, Chinese and Arabic -- will also expand the hunting grounds for cyber crime, Trend Micro reports.
Putting the iPhone to work -- at work Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2009/12/11/urnidgns002570F3005978D8852576890060C48A
(12-11) 09:45 PST -- Everybody knows the iPhone is a consumer toy, right? Well, not exactly. Apple began positioning the iPhone as a business device early in 2008 when it introduced support for Microsoft Exchange and for third-party apps.
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Since then, Apple has added hardware encryption and support for more enterprise technologies, including support for the CalDAV and iCalendar standards that allow users to subscribe to network- and Internet-based calendars. Add to that the nearly 5,000 apps contained in the Business and Productivity sections of the App Store -- not to mention a variety of office- and work-related apps listed in other categories -- and it's easy to see that the iPhone can easily be used as a business tool.
We've talked to a lot of professionals who use their iPhones for business. Almost all of them had a set of business-related apps that they'd purchased or downloaded from the App Store. What was surprising was just how much business use some were getting from even the most consumer-centric iPhone features.
Whether it's sending text messages, using the built-in camera, diving into YouTube, working with iPod/iTunes apps or connecting with social networking tools, seemingly unprofessional features and applications can yield professional gold.
[Also don't miss 10 top iPhone apps for IT pros.]
Texting
Text messaging is considered a casual form of communication, particularly in U.S., but that doesn't mean there aren't appropriate ways for business users to employ text messages. If you need to send brief notes to colleagues, particularly those working on traditional cell phones without easy access to e-mail, texts can be a great option -- especially if you need to ensure that a message is received quickly and you don't have a mail server with push notification. Think of it this way: Text messages are a simple way to communicate urgent messages quickly, such as letting staffers know that the e-mail server or phone system has gone down.
Or, if you're attending a big event or stuck in a meeting and want to pop out a brief note or question to a co-worker or customer, a text message can be a good, relatively unobtrusive way to do so immediately -- particularly if you need a fast response and you or the other person doesn't have access to an e-mail system with push notifications.
Shared calendaring systems, e-mail, phone calls or face-to-face contact are typically the best ways to schedule formal meetings, but for arranging on-the-fly get-togethers with colleagues -- or finding each other in crowds -- texts can be ideal.
In some industries, it's appropriate to invite customers to sign up for text notifications about your products and services, particularly if you sell directly to younger customers for whom texting is second nature. You can use the iPhone to send these updates or, for frequent updates to a large number of users, opt for dedicated software or Internet-based services that specialize in text-based marketing.
On the flip side, companies that you work with may already offer text-based marketing of their own that you can sign up for. It's a two-way street, with advantages for both the sender and receiver.
Camera
The iPhone's camera isn't the greatest digital camera in the world, but it can come in handy in all sorts of workplace settings. One of the most common ways I've seen it used in meetings is for taking photos of dry-erase boards. Snapping a few quick photos is faster and easier than sitting there copying down every diagram and tidbit of information. Likewise, it's handy for snapping photos of presentation slides, Post-it notes and other documents. (Of course, this can be considered a security threat in some operations, which may require that the camera be disabled on a company-provided iPhone.)
You can also use the iPhone's camera to take reference photos of work sites or locations; you can snap a photo that is time-stamped and geocoded with location data, and the newer iPhone 3GS even has video capability. This can be helpful in anything from showing your boss potential office locations or business prospects to selecting office furniture or supplies to meet business needs. It's also useful if you happen upon an accident or damage to company property.
Another photo-related feature, though it's technically not part of the camera, is the ability to take iPhone screenshots. Simultaneously pressing the iPhone's home and lock buttons will take a screenshot and add the image to the Camera Roll, exactly like a photo -- an easy way to capture data from a Web site or application. The screenshots will automatically be synced to your computerthe next time you connect your iPhone to it.
Screenshots can also be sent via MMS or as e-mail attachments, or be uploaded to various services using third-party apps. Used in conjunction with the Maps app or a number of other travel and navigation tools, they can be used to provide directions and/or reference points to co-workers in the field.
iPod and iTunes
The most consumer-specific features of the iPhone -- the iPod and iTunes apps -- actually offer real business uses in their own right. This boils down to two types of use: the iPod app as a presentation tool, and an iTunes/iPod combo that can help with research and professional development.
For presentations and classes
Plugging an iPhone into a sound system lets you play a podcast or other recording, including music or sound effects -- an ideal audio tool for the classroom or corporate training.
To deliver audio-visual content, you can use Apple's universal dock and the appropriate cables to connect the iPhone to a compatible TV or projector, or use one of the new pico projectors (ultraportable projectors not much bigger than the iPhone itself) that connect directly to the iPhone's dock connector.
When used as an audiovisual presentation tool, the iPhone offers several ways to display content. One option is to use the iPod app to play a video file stored in your iTunes library and synced to the iPhone. Another option: Both Microsoft's PowerPoint and Apple's Keynote can export presentations as video files in formats playable on the iPhone, which allows you do traditional presentations (with or without audio). You can also e-mail a PowerPoint or Keynote file to your iPhone and then launch the viewer built into Mail to show it. Finally, several file managers and office suites for the iPhone also allow you to transfer and play presentations.
If you keep relevant music, lecture recordings or other audio and/or video content on your iPhone, you can be ready at a moment's notice to bolster any presentation. Keep in mind that storing such content on the phone eats up storage space; when buying or upgrading an iPhone, make sure you get one with enough capacity to meet your needs.
You can also use the iPhone to access material in the iTunes Store, or from other services that allow streaming content, making it possible to add to or improve a presentation on the go. Stuck on the train or waiting in an airport? You can still locate material to enhance your presentation. Just be sure not to infringe on any relevant presentation rights and copyright laws.
As a research vehicle
While most people think of music, movies and TV shows when they think of the iTunes Store, it can also serve as a research and professional development tool. The link between the iTunes Store and Audible.com, for instance, gives you access to a wide range of audio books. While the latest Dan Brown novel is there, so are many titles aimed at business, which means you can use commute or travel time to learn more about your field (or other fields) or expand your skill set.
Another option is iTunes U, which started out as a way for universities to make lectures available to their students. It has grown into a free option for anyone looking for lectures and presentations from hundreds of public universities and continuing education providers across the world. The material available through iTunes U (which can be accessed using iTunes on your computer or the iTunes app on the iPhone) covers every imaginable academic topic, from historical facts to economic theory to computer science.
Another option for research is the iTunes Podcast Directory. While this isn't a scholarly source of information like iTunes U, it can be a great way to stay informed about trends and discussions that affect your profession. As you might expect, the discussion varies widely in form and content, but if you're in a field that requires you to keep a finger on the pulse of your industry and customers, this is one good way to do it.
YouTube
YouTube is not typically a service that people associate with business -- except as a way of goofing off at your desk. But YouTube can be used to build your skills, network with others in your field, follow current trends, and even promote yourself or your company.
Many schools and organizations, as well as experts in a given field, post how-to videos on YouTube. Much like iTunes U or podcasts, this can be a great way to improve some of your existing skills or knowledge about specific industries. Given that most YouTube content is broken down into 10-minutes-or-less chunks, this is a great way to learn and research during a commute or a break between meetings.
Because YouTube is as much a social networking tool as it is a place to share and search for videos, it can also be helpful in keeping tabs on what's going on in a given market. For any industry that is at all trends-based -- from technology to fashion design and everything in between -- this is a great feature. You can even use this tactic and YouTube's ratings system to determine what marketing techniques are or aren't working well for others in your field.
Then there's the social networking and viral video nature of YouTube. For many fields, this can be a compelling marketing tool, if used properly. Although you can post directly to YouTube from the iPhone 3GS -- a great way to highlight on-the-ground footage (such as at an event or product launch) -- you'll typically want to post to YouTube from a computer so you can deliver more-polished footage. However, you can still respond to comments and track views of your videos directly from the iPhone's YouTube app.
Another useful way to use YouTube for marketing is to build a video portfolio, either of your company's products and services or of your own work. This allows for viral marketing and social networking, and it lets you offer people a quick go-to link for your portfolio.
It can also be handy for networking with people you meet in professional or social situations. For example, if you're in an airport waiting for a flight and end up talking with a fellow passenger, only to discover that he or she works in a related field, you can pull up your portfolio right then and there on your iPhone. Trust me, if the content you have is valuable, this will make an immediate impact. And you can e-mail that portfolio (as well as other material, such as a résumé or v-card) to your fellow traveler on the spot from your iPhone.
Social networking
Almost everyone is either using social networking to expand their business or seriously exploring how social networking can improve their bottom line. Regardless of the sector (private, public or government), social networking is fast becoming a basic business practice.
Busy professionals can use the iPhone to easily explore, use and juggle various social networking sites. The benefits of commonplace social networking apps such as MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, AOL Instant Messenger and LinkedIn are obvious, and there are more than 40 other applications available that make performing basic social networking tasks easy and efficient. Here's a sampling of some of our favorites.
Twitter apps
With one in five Internet users currently tweeting, can you afford not to? With many applications available to help your tweet efficiency, including TweetDeck, Tweetie 2.0, Twittelator Pro and many more, it should be easy to find a Twitter app that suits your style.
Twittelator Pro, for instance, allows for easy downloads of audio clips and hi-res photos for the business professional who wants to share updated information to his or her customer base. A picture is worth a thousand words -- or in this case, 140 characters.
BlogPress
For professionals using the blogosphere to promote themselves, their businesses or their industries, BlogPress is a useful iPhone application that allows bloggers to organize, update and post to multiple blogs. The application also supports video. According to the Pew Internet and American Life Project, more than 54% of today's teens are reading blogs; for businesses and professionals trying to reach this population, a handy blogging application is a must.
Wertago
The Wertago application offers real-time location information, ratings, reviews, photos and consumer-generated content on nightspots, restaurants, events and more.
Event/marketing/entertainment professionals can see how their event or business is doing through the eyes of customers and attendees. And harried business travelers can use this app to determine whether a nearby restaurant or nightspot is to their liking. Is it too wild, too quiet, too old or too young? You get your information from the public -- not from Zagat's or a Web site. This app could prevent an unplanned karaoke or trivia night -- or direct you right to it, if that happens to be your cup of tea.
Other social networking apps
For companies that use Second Life for interviewing or virtual events, SparkleIM provides a mobile means to manage your Second Life presence. And of course, there are plenty of other useful apps, such as Yahoo Messenger, Skype, Facebook Quick Status and Facebook Time, that can keep you connected to your customers, stakeholders, employees, colleagues and networks with a simple tap of the finger.
Keep reading: 10 top iPhone apps for IT pros
Ryan Faas is a freelance writer and technology consultant specializing in Mac and multiplatform network issues. His most recent book is The iPhone for Work, recently published by Appress. You can find more information at ryanfaas.com and can e-mail him at ryan@ryanfaas.com.
Joanna Palladino is a workforce development and career planning trainer.
Copyright (c) 2009, IDG News Service. All rights reserved. IDG News Service is a trademark of International Data Group, Inc.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2009/12/11/urnidgns002570F3005978D8852576890060C48A.DTL#ixzz0ZdZNFKBq
More IDG Headlines
* Who Needs a Nokia Store Anyway?
* Acer Plans Up to 6 New Android Handsets for First Half 2010 - CIO ...
* Apple Tablet Gearing Up for March 2010 Release
* Is Apple Testing a New IPhone Model?
* Digital Gear: Android Tablets Charge Ahead
Get Quote
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* Blu-ray players for those who hate to wait 12.13.09
* Charging pads aren't very impressive 12.13.09
* Chance to drop electronic waste in S.F. 12.13.09
Since then, Apple has added hardware encryption and support for more enterprise technologies, including support for the CalDAV and iCalendar standards that allow users to subscribe to network- and Internet-based calendars. Add to that the nearly 5,000 apps contained in the Business and Productivity sections of the App Store -- not to mention a variety of office- and work-related apps listed in other categories -- and it's easy to see that the iPhone can easily be used as a business tool.
We've talked to a lot of professionals who use their iPhones for business. Almost all of them had a set of business-related apps that they'd purchased or downloaded from the App Store. What was surprising was just how much business use some were getting from even the most consumer-centric iPhone features.
Whether it's sending text messages, using the built-in camera, diving into YouTube, working with iPod/iTunes apps or connecting with social networking tools, seemingly unprofessional features and applications can yield professional gold.
[Also don't miss 10 top iPhone apps for IT pros.]
Texting
Text messaging is considered a casual form of communication, particularly in U.S., but that doesn't mean there aren't appropriate ways for business users to employ text messages. If you need to send brief notes to colleagues, particularly those working on traditional cell phones without easy access to e-mail, texts can be a great option -- especially if you need to ensure that a message is received quickly and you don't have a mail server with push notification. Think of it this way: Text messages are a simple way to communicate urgent messages quickly, such as letting staffers know that the e-mail server or phone system has gone down.
Or, if you're attending a big event or stuck in a meeting and want to pop out a brief note or question to a co-worker or customer, a text message can be a good, relatively unobtrusive way to do so immediately -- particularly if you need a fast response and you or the other person doesn't have access to an e-mail system with push notifications.
Shared calendaring systems, e-mail, phone calls or face-to-face contact are typically the best ways to schedule formal meetings, but for arranging on-the-fly get-togethers with colleagues -- or finding each other in crowds -- texts can be ideal.
In some industries, it's appropriate to invite customers to sign up for text notifications about your products and services, particularly if you sell directly to younger customers for whom texting is second nature. You can use the iPhone to send these updates or, for frequent updates to a large number of users, opt for dedicated software or Internet-based services that specialize in text-based marketing.
On the flip side, companies that you work with may already offer text-based marketing of their own that you can sign up for. It's a two-way street, with advantages for both the sender and receiver.
Camera
The iPhone's camera isn't the greatest digital camera in the world, but it can come in handy in all sorts of workplace settings. One of the most common ways I've seen it used in meetings is for taking photos of dry-erase boards. Snapping a few quick photos is faster and easier than sitting there copying down every diagram and tidbit of information. Likewise, it's handy for snapping photos of presentation slides, Post-it notes and other documents. (Of course, this can be considered a security threat in some operations, which may require that the camera be disabled on a company-provided iPhone.)
You can also use the iPhone's camera to take reference photos of work sites or locations; you can snap a photo that is time-stamped and geocoded with location data, and the newer iPhone 3GS even has video capability. This can be helpful in anything from showing your boss potential office locations or business prospects to selecting office furniture or supplies to meet business needs. It's also useful if you happen upon an accident or damage to company property.
Another photo-related feature, though it's technically not part of the camera, is the ability to take iPhone screenshots. Simultaneously pressing the iPhone's home and lock buttons will take a screenshot and add the image to the Camera Roll, exactly like a photo -- an easy way to capture data from a Web site or application. The screenshots will automatically be synced to your computerthe next time you connect your iPhone to it.
Screenshots can also be sent via MMS or as e-mail attachments, or be uploaded to various services using third-party apps. Used in conjunction with the Maps app or a number of other travel and navigation tools, they can be used to provide directions and/or reference points to co-workers in the field.
iPod and iTunes
The most consumer-specific features of the iPhone -- the iPod and iTunes apps -- actually offer real business uses in their own right. This boils down to two types of use: the iPod app as a presentation tool, and an iTunes/iPod combo that can help with research and professional development.
For presentations and classes
Plugging an iPhone into a sound system lets you play a podcast or other recording, including music or sound effects -- an ideal audio tool for the classroom or corporate training.
To deliver audio-visual content, you can use Apple's universal dock and the appropriate cables to connect the iPhone to a compatible TV or projector, or use one of the new pico projectors (ultraportable projectors not much bigger than the iPhone itself) that connect directly to the iPhone's dock connector.
When used as an audiovisual presentation tool, the iPhone offers several ways to display content. One option is to use the iPod app to play a video file stored in your iTunes library and synced to the iPhone. Another option: Both Microsoft's PowerPoint and Apple's Keynote can export presentations as video files in formats playable on the iPhone, which allows you do traditional presentations (with or without audio). You can also e-mail a PowerPoint or Keynote file to your iPhone and then launch the viewer built into Mail to show it. Finally, several file managers and office suites for the iPhone also allow you to transfer and play presentations.
If you keep relevant music, lecture recordings or other audio and/or video content on your iPhone, you can be ready at a moment's notice to bolster any presentation. Keep in mind that storing such content on the phone eats up storage space; when buying or upgrading an iPhone, make sure you get one with enough capacity to meet your needs.
You can also use the iPhone to access material in the iTunes Store, or from other services that allow streaming content, making it possible to add to or improve a presentation on the go. Stuck on the train or waiting in an airport? You can still locate material to enhance your presentation. Just be sure not to infringe on any relevant presentation rights and copyright laws.
As a research vehicle
While most people think of music, movies and TV shows when they think of the iTunes Store, it can also serve as a research and professional development tool. The link between the iTunes Store and Audible.com, for instance, gives you access to a wide range of audio books. While the latest Dan Brown novel is there, so are many titles aimed at business, which means you can use commute or travel time to learn more about your field (or other fields) or expand your skill set.
Another option is iTunes U, which started out as a way for universities to make lectures available to their students. It has grown into a free option for anyone looking for lectures and presentations from hundreds of public universities and continuing education providers across the world. The material available through iTunes U (which can be accessed using iTunes on your computer or the iTunes app on the iPhone) covers every imaginable academic topic, from historical facts to economic theory to computer science.
Another option for research is the iTunes Podcast Directory. While this isn't a scholarly source of information like iTunes U, it can be a great way to stay informed about trends and discussions that affect your profession. As you might expect, the discussion varies widely in form and content, but if you're in a field that requires you to keep a finger on the pulse of your industry and customers, this is one good way to do it.
YouTube
YouTube is not typically a service that people associate with business -- except as a way of goofing off at your desk. But YouTube can be used to build your skills, network with others in your field, follow current trends, and even promote yourself or your company.
Many schools and organizations, as well as experts in a given field, post how-to videos on YouTube. Much like iTunes U or podcasts, this can be a great way to improve some of your existing skills or knowledge about specific industries. Given that most YouTube content is broken down into 10-minutes-or-less chunks, this is a great way to learn and research during a commute or a break between meetings.
Because YouTube is as much a social networking tool as it is a place to share and search for videos, it can also be helpful in keeping tabs on what's going on in a given market. For any industry that is at all trends-based -- from technology to fashion design and everything in between -- this is a great feature. You can even use this tactic and YouTube's ratings system to determine what marketing techniques are or aren't working well for others in your field.
Then there's the social networking and viral video nature of YouTube. For many fields, this can be a compelling marketing tool, if used properly. Although you can post directly to YouTube from the iPhone 3GS -- a great way to highlight on-the-ground footage (such as at an event or product launch) -- you'll typically want to post to YouTube from a computer so you can deliver more-polished footage. However, you can still respond to comments and track views of your videos directly from the iPhone's YouTube app.
Another useful way to use YouTube for marketing is to build a video portfolio, either of your company's products and services or of your own work. This allows for viral marketing and social networking, and it lets you offer people a quick go-to link for your portfolio.
It can also be handy for networking with people you meet in professional or social situations. For example, if you're in an airport waiting for a flight and end up talking with a fellow passenger, only to discover that he or she works in a related field, you can pull up your portfolio right then and there on your iPhone. Trust me, if the content you have is valuable, this will make an immediate impact. And you can e-mail that portfolio (as well as other material, such as a résumé or v-card) to your fellow traveler on the spot from your iPhone.
Social networking
Almost everyone is either using social networking to expand their business or seriously exploring how social networking can improve their bottom line. Regardless of the sector (private, public or government), social networking is fast becoming a basic business practice.
Busy professionals can use the iPhone to easily explore, use and juggle various social networking sites. The benefits of commonplace social networking apps such as MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, AOL Instant Messenger and LinkedIn are obvious, and there are more than 40 other applications available that make performing basic social networking tasks easy and efficient. Here's a sampling of some of our favorites.
Twitter apps
With one in five Internet users currently tweeting, can you afford not to? With many applications available to help your tweet efficiency, including TweetDeck, Tweetie 2.0, Twittelator Pro and many more, it should be easy to find a Twitter app that suits your style.
Twittelator Pro, for instance, allows for easy downloads of audio clips and hi-res photos for the business professional who wants to share updated information to his or her customer base. A picture is worth a thousand words -- or in this case, 140 characters.
BlogPress
For professionals using the blogosphere to promote themselves, their businesses or their industries, BlogPress is a useful iPhone application that allows bloggers to organize, update and post to multiple blogs. The application also supports video. According to the Pew Internet and American Life Project, more than 54% of today's teens are reading blogs; for businesses and professionals trying to reach this population, a handy blogging application is a must.
Wertago
The Wertago application offers real-time location information, ratings, reviews, photos and consumer-generated content on nightspots, restaurants, events and more.
Event/marketing/entertainment professionals can see how their event or business is doing through the eyes of customers and attendees. And harried business travelers can use this app to determine whether a nearby restaurant or nightspot is to their liking. Is it too wild, too quiet, too old or too young? You get your information from the public -- not from Zagat's or a Web site. This app could prevent an unplanned karaoke or trivia night -- or direct you right to it, if that happens to be your cup of tea.
Other social networking apps
For companies that use Second Life for interviewing or virtual events, SparkleIM provides a mobile means to manage your Second Life presence. And of course, there are plenty of other useful apps, such as Yahoo Messenger, Skype, Facebook Quick Status and Facebook Time, that can keep you connected to your customers, stakeholders, employees, colleagues and networks with a simple tap of the finger.
Keep reading: 10 top iPhone apps for IT pros
Ryan Faas is a freelance writer and technology consultant specializing in Mac and multiplatform network issues. His most recent book is The iPhone for Work, recently published by Appress. You can find more information at ryanfaas.com and can e-mail him at ryan@ryanfaas.com.
Joanna Palladino is a workforce development and career planning trainer.
Copyright (c) 2009, IDG News Service. All rights reserved. IDG News Service is a trademark of International Data Group, Inc.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2009/12/11/urnidgns002570F3005978D8852576890060C48A.DTL#ixzz0ZdZNFKBq
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