Well the big news in the computing world recently is that Google have announced a new web browser which is available as a beta download from their website.  Google’s surprise new web browser is called Google Chrome and is according to Google built from scratch to meet the demands of todays Internet.

Re use and open source

Actually built from scratch is not entirely accurate as it reuses a number of existing open source technologies, including Apple’s WebKit and Mozilla’s Firefox. In fact the new browser is also going to be open source,  but why a new browser? Well as Google’s blog explains:

We realized that the web had evolved from mainly simple text pages to rich, interactive applications and that we needed to completely rethink the browser. What we really needed was not just a browser, but also a modern platform for web pages and applications, and that’s what we set out to build.

So what are the new things that have resulted from this complete rethink?  Well probably the main thing is that it allows for a multi-threaded approach which will allows each tab to run as a separate process. This will mean it is more memory efficient, should make it more stable and limits any problem to a specific tab only and not the whole browser.  The same split by tab approach is applied to security as well.

So one big question is of course why a new browser? Why not just continue or build on its current support for Firefox? Well presumably Google will optimise their new browser to work well with Gmail and Google Docs and their other web based products and they felt that the rewrite was needed to deliver this.

Of course browsers mean computers so I thought I would finish this post by pointing out the Sony VAIO VGN-AR71M Notebook a featured laptop on PriceGrabber at present.

We talked a bit in the last post about data storage out in “the cloud” that is the Internet. Well of course “cloud computing” is not restricted to just data storage, as it also includes all the online applications that are available on the Internet.  This includes email applications like Gmail (my personal favourite) and Yahoo mail etc., but also all the online office applications like Google Docs and its various and growing number of online rivals.

I am a great fan of some of these applications, and Gmail has become my de facto home email client and I rarely now use an email  application like Outlook or Thunderbird.  This is not the case at work where the email client is standard, and I have no choice.  With Gmail though I have always had one gripe and that was that although I regarded Gmail as my default mail client my computer didn’t! So when ever I clicked on a mailto:  link on a website my browser would always try and start an email client and not use Gmail.

Well today I found a tip on the Google Mail blog which shows a new feature in Firefox 3 which means I can set up the browser to always use Gmail as the default email application, meaning I will no longer have this problem.  This should will also work for you if you use another email application either on your computer of in the cloud!  Great huh!

Do you use online applications a lot?

Just recently the newest release of the open source browser Firefox has been released with quite a bit of coverage in the media.  The Mozilla Foundation the organisation responsible for the development of the browser, has claimed a record number of downloads for Firefox 3.  So just what is all the fuss about? I thought I would post a quick review of the benefits that I see in Firefox that might be of some help if you are thinking of trying out the new browser.

I use both Internet Explorer (at work) and Firefox (at work and home) so I have the ongoing opportunity to compare the two browsers.  At work where it is a Microsoft dominated environment I often use IE 7 to get the most out of the integration with Microsoft Office applications.  Tellingly though, if I had to choose just one it would be Firefox and this is my browser of choice at home.

Top 5 reasons to try

Firefox 3 provides a lot of new features but here are my top 5 reasons for trying the new version out, whether you are a Firefox 2 user or are currently using another browser;

1. Excellent rendering speed (how quickly it displays a web page) - It is noticeably faster on complex websites such as web applications like Gmail.
2. The smart location bar (also known as the “awesome bar”) - Which provides a easy way to find the websites you have previously visited.  As you begin typing into the location bar, the browser will immediately provide a list of suggested web sites. These suggestions are drawn from your browsing history and are based on a combination of how frequently and how recently you have visited various sites. This really works well and will usually find where you want to go after only typing a few letters.
3. Built in security - The new browser has been designed to help it users browse more safely, with lots of integrated security features such as anti malware and phishing  tools, and an improved password manager.
4. Improved bookmarks management - The browser comes with nice bookmarking and bookmark management features included smart folders and a tagging capability.
5. Improved download Manager - A new download manager that lets you pause and resume later and cope with system crashes or forced shutdowns.

There are plenty of other new features to look at as well including the thousands of third party add-ons that are also available through an improved interface. In my opinion Firefox 3 continues to deliver innovation in the web browsing arena that would be missing if IE was the only option.

Do you use Firefox? What do you think of version 3?

There are a number of brands that have become synonymous with the type of product they are selling. Examples of this are Hoover for a vacuum cleaner, although I think that one is probably a little old these days. Coke for all cola drinks is another example and then closer to home there is Google for web search and the iPod brand has become pretty much synonymous with digital music players these days. My kids call my very old iRiver MP3 player “Dad’s iPod” for instance, despite it looking absolutely nothing like the real thing.

Are there examples of this ubiquitous branding in the computer software world? Microsoft Office perhaps? One good example I think is probably Corel’s WinZip compression software. People talk about Win Zipping or Zipping a file rather than compressing it. WinZip is probably the original compression utility for Microsoft Windows OS. It is a pretty powerful and easy-to-use tool that quickly zips and unzips your files to help conserve disk space and greatly reduce e-mail transmission time. Compression software is something that you really need and I always expect it to be there on a new computer, and surprised when it isn’t. There are plenty of freeware options for those who are cost conscious, but I will normally purchase a copy of WinZip to install whenever setting up a new Windows computer.

What do you use for file compression?

I have just realised that despite having contributed to this blog for over six months I have never discussed anything to do with protecting yourself against computer viruses. This of course is an extremely important subject as these days virus protection needs to be considered as an absolutely vital part of your computing setup. It is certainly something for which it would extremely inadvisable to go without unless you never ever connected your computer to the Internet. Even then the chance of infection delivered through the use of USB sticks or the transfer of digital documents really still would need to be protected against.

Protect yourself

There are a number of ways to ensure you are protected against virus attacks, and the one you choose will depend largely on your current situation. If you have recently bought a laptop for instance, with Windows Vista or XP installed you have the option of opting for Microsoft’s OneCare service. Another option would be to choose something like Norton’s Antivirus 2008. Often a newly purchased PC will have 90 day trials of these packages already installed and after the trial period you will be prompted to purchase an time extension online. These are both subscription based services for which the initial purchase price will include access to regular updates of the software virus database for a limited time period, usually 12 months, after which you have to renew again.

If you have an older laptop and you want to change or upgrade your present virus protection or you presently do not use any virus checking (Hint: buy one the above packages as soon as possible) you can purchase either Norton Antivirus and Microsoft OneCare or a similar package.

Update the database

However you purchase your virus protection software it is important to keep the virus database constantly updated. This is so that the application will be able to recognise and protect your computer from any new viruses that might appear on the scene. You should set up your application to check for new updates on a daily basis.

Do you have a preferred anti virus product?

I have talked a lot in recent posts about the online applications space or the virtual office to give it another name. This is an area where there is a current explosion in new applications and an associated explosion in startup companies trying to become the next big thing, or a least become significant enough to be bought out by the big boys like Google, Adobe or Microsoft.

Good benefits

The concept is potentially great for a consumer, as online applications reduce the need for installing and maintaining applications on their own computer, often meaning and low or mid range computer is easily sufficient. The applications will always be the latest version, removing the need to buy or install upgrades, and often they are available for free, saving money as well.

Off line for financial data?

One thing that I don’t see many people doing though, considering the nature of the data, is to use online financial applications. They do exist, but most people will be too worried about putting there financial data out there in the cloud. So here we probably would need to look at buying an application like Quicken or Microsoft Money (2005 version only). Either of these products provide more than enough features to keep your personal finances in order. But there is a problem. These applications are no longer supported in the UK, although the older versions will work at least for now. My advice would be to go for an application created by a UK company which you know will work with UK banks and be supported in the future. Personal Accountz has had good reviews and fits this profile well!

I think you may have guessed by now that I am a big fan of online applications. I believe that in the near future a lot of us will use these applications, and that they will be the basis for a lot of new internet companies. The startup of internet companies around online applications is set to become potentially much easier. The latest news in the online application space is the announcement of Google’s new App Engine which is designed to let the designers of software as a service applications to outsource hosting and data storage for their applications by using key elements of Google’s infrastructure.

Google App Engine

Essentially the Google App engine is very similar in concept to the popular services that Amazon has made available and are presently used by many internet startups. There is one major difference and that is that the Google approach is a complete bundled service. This in theory will make it much easier for the developers and entrepreneurs, but I am sure the news will start a lot of discussions around the world about the advisability of putting all your startup’s eggs in Google’s one basket. I can see good arguments for and against. What about you?

Stylish Desktop

Of course if you have a great idea that is just busting to turned into an online application, you will need a computer that defines you as the entrepreneur that you are! How about this Sony Vaio all in one desktop which is both functional and stylish?

I have talked about virtual or online office capability before and there is an ever increasing number of companies with online applications that are providing productivity application functionality. Increasingly these applications are taking advantage of Adobe’s flash technology.

Adobe themselves are fast becoming somewhat of a major player in the online productivity applications space. They have recently bought an online flash based word processor, and have a stake in an online calendar and notebook application. It will not be long before they will end up with a complete online office based on their technology, one that has the potential to become a significant competitor to Microsoft’s and Google’s online suites.

Adobe has recently taken this plan for world domination one step forward by starting to build online versions of their own applications. Adobe last week announced the availability of Adobe Photoshop Express. This is an online image storage and editing application which will allow you to do some basic manipulation of images, and comes with about 2GB of storage. For most people though this is not yet going to provide a serious alternative to Photoshop CS3 or Photoshop elements on the desktop. However it does show Adobe’s believe in the online platform and for many people may well be a useful extension of the capabilities provided by Photoshop.

What do you think? Are you a believer in online applications? Have you tried Photoshop Express?

Are you a project manager? Most people who are asked this question are likely to answer that of course they are not project managers. Project Managers are people who make sure buildings are put up on time, or roll out the latest big software package throughout a company, or plan and manage the building and delivery of oil rigs etc. etc. Well yes that is true, but nearly everyone at sometime or other will act as a project manager, whether it is is getting a school report in on time, planning a new bathroom or the next family holiday. So we can say that nearly everyone is a project manager.

So if everyone is a project manager will they all benefit from using project management software such as Microsoft Project? Well I think the answer to this question is a definite and resounding no. For the small projects that most people do, specialised project software like this would be a complete overkill. A clear case of cracking a nut with a hammer. It would probably take as long to develop a plan in the software as it would to actually do the project! For most people, a simple list of things to do and the order and time by which they need to be done would be fine.

Having said that though if you are a professional, delivering services for which your client requires you to deliver a plan before starting work or you’re about to build or undertake a large renovation of your home. Then project management software like Microsoft Project will certainly help you, but beware it will only help you with scheduling tasks, not with all the other aspects of project management!

Are you a project manager? What software if any do you use?

I think I mentioned before the prediction that by 2010 there will be 988 billion GB of digital data in the world. Which of course is an absolute huge figure, so big in fact that it is almost impossible to get to grips with, sort of like trying to comprehend the size of the universe! Most of this data will actually be made up of a huge number digital photographs yet to be taken by billions of cameras and mobile phones. From my own experiences, I would not be surprised if the predication came true. The amount of digital photos that I have accumulated on my computers over the last few years is beginning to get a bit out of control.

I really need to create some sort of system to ensure I am a bit more organised, especially so since I am supposed to be an Information Management consultant! I really need to get used to the idea of actually deleting some of the photos, as I can safely say that they are not all masterpieces! I have done a bit of research over the last few years but have not really found any software tool that really suggests itself as the right solution. I guess you could say that Adobe Photoshop CS3 has to be the most complete solution, but is probably a little overkill for me. There is free software that may do it, but at the moment I thinking of going for Adobe Photoshop Elements which has enough editing features for me, combined with a pretty reasonable “management” capability.

How do you manage your photos? What software do you use?