Zumodrive

March 21, 2009 | 3 comments

There are a number of online storage companies popping up and I have covered Dropbox, Box and Skydrive previously. Now there is a new player, Zumodrive, offering something that sets it apart from the rest.

On the face of it the service is similar to the others: a (small, 2gb) amount of free online storage that you can access from your Windows, Mac or iPhone devices or via a web interface. However, where Zumodrive differs is in how it is presented on the host machine. So on my laptop ZumoDrive appears a a removable storage device on drive … Read the rest

Laice itsaKey USB

March 19, 2009 | Comment

Here’s a neat idea and one that I am amazed that no-one has thought of before. It’s a USB flash drive in the shape of a key. For years flash drive manufacturers have been making USB devices that are made of cheap plastic that breaks off when you try and attach it to a key ring or has no loop at all meaning it just gets tossed in the bottom of a bag to be lost or forgotten.

Priced at a reasonable £16 for the 4gb version and £26 for the 8gb I think they are great. My only question … Read the rest

Apple iPhone 3.0

March 18, 2009 | Comment

So yesterday Apple announced v3 of their iPhone OS in a ‘Jobs-free’ presentation. There was much excitement and speculation on the net before the announcement about what this revision would contain. The smart money was on cut & paste finally making an appearance and it did. This is one of those features that I rarely use on a mobile device but really miss it when it is not there. The video below from the BBC shows this in action – not quite the simplicity of select ctrl+c, followed by ctrl+v but not too bad.

Other things making an appearance … Read the rest

Quick Reference Cards

March 17, 2009 | Comment

Looking for technical information? The the web is a great place to start but there is just so much out there, where do you begin? Also sometimes it is nice to have an offline copy to refer to.

Today I stumbled upon a great site that has collected together a whole load of technical resources to download, somewhat imaginatively title The Quick Reference Site it has a collection of both quick reference guides and ebooks. Unfortunately it doesn’t seem to have been update in quite a while but there is still plenty there to get your teeth into.

If you … Read the rest

What the Font?

March 16, 2009 | Comment

This must be one of my favourite sites at the moment – what the font. It allows you to upload an image that contains some text. The site then uses character recognition to match your text against a database of fonts and tells you which are the closest matches. It works well, particularly when the characters in the images are of a reasonable size.

I originally thought that that this would only be of limited use on an infrequent basis but I have found myself using it regularly. I have never made a note of the fonts used in … Read the rest

Social Interaction

March 15, 2009 | Comment

The BBC has been reporting from SXSW this week and today was reporting on how email use is being replaced with status posts to the like of Facebook. While I agree with the premise of the argument I don’t agree with the reasons given.

This shift in communications is, I believe, more of a generational thing.

My grandparents were of an age where they wrote letters and if the message was urgent or time bound then they would send a telegram. We have, for example, a telegram sent from my Grandfather to my Grandmother during the second world war but … Read the rest

Google Street View Comes to my Street

March 14, 2009 | 2 comments

Sometimes working from home shows things that I would have been unlikely to have seen had I been in an office – principally because I wouldn’t have been stood staring out of the window! Anyway, I was, and I saw this car driving down the road. Realising the significance of it (and that we live on a cul-du-sac so it had to come past me again) I rushed to get my camera, getting this picture as it drove away.

What you see here is a car equipped with a series of cameras mounted on the roof for the (probable) purpose … Read the rest

“vague but exciting” – the web turns 20

March 13, 2009 | Comment

So the web has turned twenty, happy birthday to it. That means it came to life in 1989 so I have known it for 60% of its life and I can safely say in that short time it has revolutionised my life. If you want to read more about the beginnings of the WWW ITPro has this article Photos: The web turns 20.

Also if you are wondering about the picture on the left it is, apparently, the computer that Tim Berners-Lee used at CERN.… Read the rest

Adding HSPDA/WWAN to a Netbook

March 12, 2009 | Comment

One thing that I wish my netbook had was WWAN (3G access). Yes, I have a dongle with works very well and at only £5 per month is pretty cheap too but it is still another thing to carry. Right now very few netbooks have this onboard but with them being pushed heavily but the mobile telcos it is only going to be a matter of time before they all have them. In the meantime your only choices are to persist with the dongle or to mod. And it is the latter that some enterprising soul has done to their … Read the rest

Ways to make your Netbook like a Notebook

March 11, 2009 | Comment

Everyone that knows me can be in no doubt that I am a big fan of the netbook form factor. In fact I no longer have any laptop other than my netbook and, so far, I can safely say I am not missing having the weight of carrying a laptop around.

That’s not to say that there aren’t things I wouldn’t change (better battery life? yes please!) and Business Hacks obviously agree and have put together a list of Six Ways to Make Your Netbook More Like a Notebook.

The only thing that I would add to the list … Read the rest