Calendar Sync

Just set-up a new calendar sync service on my mobile phone - syncme.se This service is designed to synchronise my mobile phones calendar, with my Google calendar, which then synchronises with BusyCal on my MacBook’s, thus ensuring that my home computer, my Google Calendar, MobileMe calendar and mobile phone have the same calendar entries in them. This is a great service, however on my mobile phone I have to load up the sync program to ask it to sync with Google, which means if I forgot to sync, then I might not have all my calendar entries, on my calendars, leading to duplicate appointments

This led me to thinking, if Apple can offer automatic “cloud” syncing via MobileMe on Mac’s, PC’s. iPhone and iPod Touch it was about time that either Apple released MobileMe sync clients for other mobile phone operating systems such as Symbian or Android etc. or mobile phone makers introduced their own service. Nokia has it own service Ovi and I would guess that that could have automatic sync services added to it, after all on a Mac there is the iSync program, which could probably be extended to sync with Ovi, if Nokia made a suitable plugin. I’m sure that on the Symbian OS there must be a way to program automatic sync with Ovi in the cloud, as there is Nokia’s Mail For Exchange tool, which could have additional programming to make it sync automatically, if it doesn’t have it already.

Lotus Symphony

Been using a new office suite on my Mac recently. It’s called Symphony and is made by IBM Lotus, based on OpenOffice. What IBM Lotus have done is taken OpenOffice, making it in to an office suite better suited to an office environment. IBM Lotus Symphony can be downloaded for free from the Lotus Symphony web site.

At the moment Symphony has a word processor, spreadsheet and presentation software built in, along with the ability to add plugins. There is also a web browser built in as well which is useful for surfing the web, while you are using the software, as it saves you switching to another web browser. Symphony is fully compatible with OpenOffice as it uses the same Open Document standard file type that OpenOffice uses, as well as being compatible with Microsoft Office versions up to 2003 - Office 2007 file types are not yet supported, tho I guess they are coming in a future release.

I noticed that when using the word processor a formatting sidebar appears on the right hand side of the screen, and this is useful for selecting text size, font etc. This sidebar also appears in the Spreadsheet and Presentation modules as well, providing useful formatting commands for the file you are working on

I hope that IBM Lotus improve Symphony even further, perhaps adding some of the other OpenOffice tools such as Base and Draw. I think it is great addition to the office suite market, and will help showcase how good OpenOffice and its derivatives are. All in all if you are looking for a good office suite at no charge, give Symphony a go, I think you will enjoy using it.

Another Site Design & iWeb Thoughts

Decided that while the design for my personal web site was good, it needed to be simplified, to make it easier to add and edit pages, and shorten the uploading process. So lo and behold I switched to this more simple design, which make my site more streamlined and look good. Comments on the design are always welcome.

Having changed the design of my site, I wish that iWeb would allow you to specify which parts of a page are the title, so that whenever you add a new page, such as a blog entry you do not need to keep having to change the page title, from the templates default design to your site title. I guess It would also be good to have an easy way to modify a template in iWeb so it is ready to use, customised to your needs, so that when you add another blog entry, there is no need to spend time customising the page to fit in with you site design. Hopefully a future version of iWeb will address this.

Sims 3

Just bought the Sims 3 - It is the first mainstream release game that really works on my MacBook. Whilst The Sims Life Stories worked well on it, it was designed to be Mac laptop friendly, and as a result it was a cut down version of The Sims, working on virtually all Mac’s. However Sims 3 is the first game from EA that has been designed to work on all Mac’s with a recent nVidia / ATI graphics card (one that appears in the new MacBook. MacBook Pro or MacBook Air and it will also work on an Intel X3100 graphics card, the one inside my MacBook. What’s good about Sims 3 is that the game is supplied on DVD-ROM and the same DVD-ROM will work in a PC, and as far as I am aware Sims 3 is the first cross platform release for Mac and PC that comes on the same DVD - It was great to be able to purchase a copy in Game, rather than the Apple Store, as it was cheaper, and earn reward points on my Game Reward Card.

Whilst the game may not look as good as some games, Sims 3 does not really need the latest ground breaking graphics as it a game that is designed around the gameplay. On my Mac the game runs with the lowest graphics settings, but still looks good and runs well.

It’s Great to see when playing, that the neighbourhood is now integrated together, so you can have your Sims living either in the middle of the neighbourhood, near the shops and leisure facilities, or on the edge of town. You can also redesigned the neighbourhood and re-designate lots as residential or community. Whats good about this feature is unlike previous versions of the game, if you take a sim to a community lot, time no longer stands still and others sims continue their life as normal.

All in all Sims 3 is a great game, and I hope that some great expansion packs appear, to make the game even better!

ovi.com

Been using a new service with my new mobile called ovi.com. This is is a new service from Nokia for synchronising your phones calendar and contacts with ovi.com on the internet, as well as a place to share files, download free and paid for applications for your phone etc. Also if you want it you can get an @ovi.com e-mail address.

It’s nice to see that Nokia has developed this service for their phones, as it is a great addition. However, having used the service for a while, I have noticed that there is one thing missing, that would make it even better, and that is the ability to sync from ovi.com on the internet, via iSync to Address Book and iCal on a Mac, as this would then make it even easier to keep all your information accessible, and in sync whether you are on your phone, home computer, or looking at Ovi.com on another computer, and if you could schedule the phone to sync your data at regular intervals, and get your computer to do the same, then you have a MobileMe like software tool for Nokia phones.

Kudos to Nokia for creating this service, I think will become a useful enhancement to Nokia mobile phones, now and in the future, especially this with 3G and or Wireless Networking built in. Maybe this will spur Apple to make MobileMe available to more than just the iPhone / iPod Touch.

New Site Design & Blog Changes

Having found a really good iWeb template called Treasure I decided that my personal website would look good with this template, so I re-designed my site with the new template.

I am also hoping to post to my blog on a more regular basis, hopefully every 1 or 2 weeks with interesting things I find online, observations on life and entries about computers.

Slax Linux

Recently I have been using a new operating on my PC. It's called Slax and it is a Linux distribution that runs on a USB Data Stick or a CD-ROM, so it can be run without having to install anything on the PC's hard drive and can be taken to any PC that can boot from CD-ROM or a USB Data Stick. In these days of operating systems taking up gigbytes of space on a hard drive it is nice to have a system that is only a 190mb download.

When Slax Linux loads it goes in to the K Desktop Environment, which is a graphical user interface rather like Windows, and you can download and install familliar programs such as OpenOffice, Opera, Firefox, Thunderbird etc. This is great as it means you can take your essential e-mails, documents and web bookmarks with you wherever you go.

The only problem I had with Slax was getting it to recognise my wirless network, this was due to the fact that the inbuilt configuration tools only allowed a connection to a WEP network or worse, such as an unsecured network. As I use a WPA network Slax found the network, but would not allow me to connect. However once I worked out how to use the wpa_supplicant and wpa_gui tools from the command line it was not a problem to connect to my network. I hope that in future releases of Slax it is easier to connect to any wireless network, and I hope that someone writes a tool that will make it simple for any Linux distribution to go online with a wireless network.

All in all, if you want a fast operating system, then go for Slax Linux.

Even More Digital Rights Management

Great news for iTunes fans - at the recent Macworld, Apple announced that iTunes had become DRM free, and that all songs would be offered in the iTunes plus format. This is due to deals that Apple have done with the 3 remaining music labels that hadn’t already signed up to iTunes plus - SonyBMG, Universal and Warner Music.

I’m looking forward to being able to purchase music on iTunes that I will be able to copy to my mobile phone to listen to, play through digital streaming on my new digital internet radio etc. The only annoyance I can see is the cost of upgrading tracks that have already been bought on iTunes - there will be a 20p upgrade charge.

For more on this exciting development, read this article from c|net

 

Apple Tax

Read an interesting article at cnet news which suggests that Microsoft think that when you buy an Apple computer you pay an Apple Tax. The article can be read here http://news.cnet.com/8301-10805_3-10064580-75.html

I’m not sure what to make of the idea of an Apple Tax as I am sure that when you purchase a PC you need to buy extras such as anti-virus software, spyware blockers, etc, software that is not essential on a Mac.

What do you think? Comments welcome.

The Future Of iWork

I really enjoy using the new iWork 08 office suite from Apple, and have been thinking about how it can be improved, as unlike Microsoft Office it is missing some useful features.

One of the features I think Apple should consider building in to future version of iWork is an organization tool, along the same lines of Entourage, but accessing the same data as Mail, iCal and Address Book, and including Mobile Me and iSync tools as well, as I feel that not having a program in the suite that can compete with Entourage / Outlook is a mistake as it might put corporate users off using the suite, as many users like to use an all in one e-mail / calendar / contact program.

Another useful addition would be including the database program Bento in a joint package, so that perhaps for an extra £20 you get iWork and Bento, as I think that Bento would be a useful addition to iWork and provide it with useful database functions.

All in all I think Apple have produced a great office suite at a great price (£55) and I hope that future is bright for iWork

More Digital Rights Management

I have been reading recently, that Norway is not happy with the way the iTunes store is run, due to the fact that anything you purchase can only be viewed / listened to on your computer, or an iPod / iPhone. As I understand it the reason this is, is due to Fair Play - Apple’s DRM system. Apple have stated in the past that they would like to offer everything DRM free, yet the record labels, except for EMI and numerous independents who let Apple sell music DRM free, refuse to licence DRM free music to Apple.

I think the time has come for countries that want to let people play purchased content on any music / video device to say to the record labels that if you want to sell your music digitally in our country it must be DRM free, so that you can play your music on any device you choose.

Alternatively if the record labels still want to sell music with a DRM encoded in to the file then they should work with all the music player vendors to come up with a common DRM system so that your purchases can work on any player / PC.

Hopefully one day soon there will be a working solution to the DRM conundrum.

MacBook

Just bought a new MacBook from the Apple Store in Southampton for £799. It has a really funky design, a great operating system - OS X 10.5 Leopard and is simple and easy to use.

Apple have done their homework with this one and produced a notebook that is good enough for serious work, yet light enough to carry around. I opted for a model with a 160GB hard drive, 2GB of Ram and a SuperDrive DVD ReWriter. The processor installed is an Intel Core 2 Duo running at 2.4Ghz - a much better one that on my Mac Mini. I am really pleased that I purchased this upgrade as it means that I am no longer using a slow Mac with only 512MB of RAM and a 60GB hard drive.

What I like about the design of this MacBook is the colour - white looks much nicer on my desk than a black laptop, and the fact that a Webcam and Microphone is built in to the laptop above the screen, which is great for chatting on Skype and iChat.

Also for safety Apple have included their Mag Safe power adaptor, which is a great feature as it means if for example someone treads on the power cord it comes away from the Mac and does not send it flying across the floor, thus getting damaged. Being a Mac also means that it comes with software installed that you will want to use, such as iTunes, iPhoto etc. rather than trial software that has no real use, and is just there to try and make what comes with the computer much better.

All in all if you are looking for a new laptop then one from the Mac family is a brilliant idea, and well worth spending money on.

U3 - The Future of Portable Computing

Recently I purchased a new USB Flash Drive, and it came equipped with a new technology U3 installed on it. This is a fantastic tool as it enables me to run programs I have installed on the Flash Drive on other computers, without having to install software on the machine, for example the Firefox browser. Also I can run an anti-virus program when I connect the drive to a computer, and have the anti-virus program confirm that it is safe for me to use drive on the computer I am connecting to, safe in the knowledge that I won't get a virus on the drive, that I could by accident take to another computer.

I think in the future, drives like this will really take off. For example lets say you work in an office and you don't have your own desk, because the company you work for does not give an employee a specific desk, with a U3 enabled flash drive you can take your computer settings and use them on any machine, as well as have access to your contacts, e-mails etc all on the key.

Only downside is that this technology is only available at the moment for a Windows PC. It would be great if it worked on an Apple Mac or a Linux machine. Perhaps in the future someone will develop this technology so that it works no matter which operating system you use.

Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection

Nintendo have made Wireless gaming great with their Wi-Fi connection. It makes playing games online fantastic. I have just bought a Nintendo DS-Lite, along with Mario Kart DS, Need For Speed Carbon - Own The City and Ashphalt Urban GT 2. Playing Mario Kart over the internet is great fun, as you never know who you are playing with, unless you use the friend code system, which enables you to play against your friends online.

What is also good about the system is that Opera have made a browser for the Nintendo DS, so that you can go online on the DS, either through your home wireless network or at a free Wi-Fi hotspot, thus making online gaming fantastic.

The Wi-Fi connection is also available on the Wii, although there is only one title available at present - Mario Strikers Charged Football. Hopefully more titles will be available for online play, as it would be silly not to make them online compatible.

Another benefit of the Nintendo system is that the service is free, unlike some other console online services such as Xbox Live, or Games For Windows Live, which charge you to play games online.

All in all Nintendo have created a winner, and with the right games then Wi-Fi connection will become the best online gaming experience.

A Windows Safari

Apple have just announced that Safari - the default web browser in OS X has been released as a version 3 public beta for not only Apple machines and now Windows XP / Vista machines. This is a fantastic development for the PC as it means that PC users can browse the web in the same browser Apple users can.

This makes for a fantastic introduction to Apple software for PC users - first came QuickTime, then iTunes and now Safari. It shows the world that Apple software works in the same way as PC software, has a similar feel. This is great for web site developers as they can now see how there web site will look on a Mac, and ensure that it is working correctly. What is also great is that using iBench - the internet browser standard benchmark test Safari was rated the fastest browser on XP - twice as fast as IE 7. This I’m sure will give an even bigger market share to Apple, as im sure it will persuade more people to switch to an Apple machine.

Get Safari today at www.apple.com/safari

Nintendo Wii

I have recently purchased one of these fantastic new consoles. I was lucky to find a retailer that a few in stock and me and a friend bought one.

Wii Sports - the game that comes shipped with the Wii is fantastic. It comprises Tennis, Baseball, Golf & 10 Pin Bowling, along with a Fitness Test and practice modes. What I like about this game, is for example when you are playing Tennis, you hold the controller like a tennis racquet and use the controller like a tennis racquet. When bowling you use the controller like a bowling ball. This makes for a great game that the whole family can enjoy.

The Wii is also a Game Cube as there are slots on the top (or side depending how it is placed) of the console for up to 4 Game Cube controllers and 2 memory cards to be connected. This makes for a great gaming experience as there are several great games available for the Game Cube.

As part of the software on the Wii there is a download-able internet browser from Opera, one of the leading developers of web browser on PC’s, etc. This enables you to surf the web just like on a PC. Also a Virtual Console is provided. This is a system that enables you to purchase download-able games for the Nintendo Entertainment System, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Nintendo 64, Sega MegaDrive or TurboGrafix console, from the Wii Shopping Channel. This makes the console even better, as it means you can play classic games from your favourite console of the past - I’m looking forward to playing the SNES classics F-Zero & Mario Kart.

All in All while the Wii might not have the graphics performance of the PlayStation 3 or the Xbox 360, it is a fantastic machine, has great backwards compatibility and very well priced - the PlayStation 3 at £400 is too expensive for my liking

The Sims Life Stories - Mac Mini Friendly Game

It is great to see that Aspyr Games have finally released a game for the Mac that is compatible with the Intel GMA 950 graphics card. The Sims Life Stories is another game in the successful Sims series, and this time you can either play in story mode or classic free mode. It does not require Sims 2 or any other Sims game to work, and is a great game for those who enjoy playing The Sims.

This I hope is the first in a line of games that will work happily on a lesser spec Intel Mac - many Mac Laptops, the Mac Mini and the cheapest iMac (machines that I understand sell well for Apple) do not have ATI Radeon or nVidia chip-sets, and are thus not able to play the latest and greatest Mac games, which is a pity.

If Aspyr is not going to release that many games that work with the Intel GMA 950 graphics card, then Apple need to think about adding ATI Radeon or nVidia graphics support in to there lesser specced Macs - there are a large number of Mac owners who cannot afford to spend £1000 just to get a decent graphics card in their mac laptop or iMac. I think it would be great to have a Mac Mini with an ATI Radeon or nVidia graphics card as it would then make the Mac Mini an even better games machine.

So come on Apple, persuade Aspyr and other games makers to release good games for the Intel GMA 950 graphics card!

Apple ProCare

Recently I purchased a great product to go along side my Apple Mac Mini. It’s called ProCare and it helps me get a lot out of my Mac. For just £79 a year I get up to 52 training sessions - 1 per week and 156 technical support incidents - 3 per week along a yearly tune up, and screen, keyboard clean to ensure that my Mac is running at it’s best. This is a fantastic service and I’m surprised that no PC maker has thought of an idea like this!

I have already had my first training session and it was really good to be able to learn off an Apple expert, and get answers to the questions I had, without the feeling that I was being stupid for asking them, as well as getting the chance to work with files I had created, and get advice as to how to get them to work in the way I wanted.

Apple Mac’s may not be the market leading home computer, but couple the ProCare service with their fantastic computers and I think they are on to winner. Add in the fantastic .mac service, iLife ’06 and iWork ’06 and you definitely have a winning combo. I think in the future we will see Apple Computer becoming more popular in the home, due to their ease of use, and the proliferation of Apple Stores around the country.

Digital Rights Managment

I have recently read an interesting article from Steve Jobs, one of the bigwigs at Apple, he thinks that in the future digital music downloads should not have any form of Digital Rights Management added to the download to prevent piracy. This he believes will make it easier for people to play their purchased digital music on any device.

I agree with Steve Jobs, as I am annoyed that when I purchase a song in iTunes I am unable to play on the media player included with my mobile phone, as it cannot play iTunes DRM encoded files. Also if I buy music from another online store then it is more than likely I will not be able to play this music on my iPod.

We need to come to a point in music downloads where any music you purchase from an online store is free of digital rights management software to ensure that the music you have bought can be played on any device. After all when you purchase a CD you are not limited to where you can play the CD, and if you so wish you can make MP3 files from the CD.

WiFi Calling

I recently purchased a Belkin WiFi Skype phone. This is a fantastic device that enables you to connect to Skype without needing your PC/MAC switched on. What makes this phone great is the fact it gives you the chance to make free calls, to friends / contacts who use Skype, even when you are not at home, as all you need to is connect to a wireless network to make a call, which means that if you are on a foreign holiday, and your hotel has free wireless access you get cheaper calls back to the UK, free voicemail access, and don’t get charged for receiving a call, which makes it cheaper than using a mobile phone.

Also with Skype you can purchase voicemail, a Skype In number (to enable people without Skype to call you) and Skype Out credit so you can call people who are not on Skype at a cheap rate of 1.2p a minute to most countries in the world (some countries cost more to call on Skype)

I think WiFi calling is going to be a big thing in the next couple of years, due to the cheap call charges, and the expansion of wireless networks all over the country - some cities are installing city wide free WiFi, which could make a mobile phone redundant, as it costs more to use. Businesses will also benefit as it will be a cheap way to enable employees to call each others, and mean that no matter where an employee is, such as working from home, that employee will have one contact number / ID

The only downside as far as I can see is that the device does not have the ability to connect to a “pay as you use” wireless network, as the software does not have the ability to connect to networks that require you to pay to use them, and the phone itself does not have shortcut keys to key functions, as on mobile phones, such as a voicemail button etc. Also the phone does not yet support the SMS function recently built in to Skype, nor can you send a message rather than call a Skype contact.

All in all this is a great phone, and makes a great way to communicate with people.