Author: jamesclay

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Touch coming to Windows 7

BBC reports on developments at Microsoft

The multi-touch controls familiar to Apple iPhone users will be built-in to Microsoft’s Windows 7.

Windows Touch will be a “first class way to interact with your PC alongside mouse and keyboard,” said the firm.

I do quite like Windows 7 as though similar in appearance to Windows Vista seems less clunky and smoother.

As a result of this new development, will we see a Windows 7 interface on a small tablet PC device which reflets the intuitive and  ease of use that we currently have with the iPhone?

From my experience, so far no touch interface I have used has come close to the iPhone interface, but doesn’t mean in the future that nothing will match it.

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iPhone Firmware 3.0

Apple have released details of the new firmware for the iPhone.

In-App Purchasing: Allows developers to sell additional content from within applications. Highlighted uses include magazine subscriptions, eBooks, additional levels and items for games.

Peer-to-Peer Connectivity: Find other devices running the app via Bonjour over Wi-Fi of Bluetooth. Good for gaming, but also other applications for sharing data.

Third-Party Accessory Apps: Allowing accessory manufacturers to create applications to interface with their hardware accessories.

Push Notification: Rather than using background processes that hamper battery life, utilize third-party server to push badge, text, and audio alerts from applications.

Turn by Turn: Apple will allow developers to use CoreLocation for turn-by-turn GPS directions.

Cut, Copy and Paste: Available across all apps. Shake to undo or redo.

Landscape keyboard: Available in all key applications, including Mail.

MMS: Picture messaging now available.

Voice Memos: Record notes, lectures, interviews, etc.

Spotlight Search: Available across all applications. Systemwide search available from main home screen by flicking to the left.

A2DP Bluetooth: Support for stereo bluetooth headsets.

In the Q&A Apple did say if the carriers supported it they would support tethering as a modem.

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Leopard running on a Dell 9 minibook

Andy Ihnatko (who I regularly listen to on MacBreak Weekly) in his column this week in the Chicago Sun-Times talks about his efforts to run OS X on a netbook.

Questions like “If a computer that isn’t made by Apple is nonetheless running the Macintosh operating system and Macintosh software…can we still call it a Mac?” are more up my street, and it’s been much on my mind lately. 

No wonder. For nearly a week, I’ve been running Mac software on a Dell Mini 9 netbook.

It’s an interesting article and does demonstrate how much easier it is these days to install OS X on a non-Mac computer.

I do like the netbook concept and having used a fair few they certainly have their place in the world (generally as a second or traveling computer). Problem is that these netbooks either run Windows XP or Linux. Not that I don’t know how to use XP, and I can even get by in Linux, but both lack the familiarity that I now have with OS X.

Am I interested, yes I am.

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‘Negative’ attitude to Robin Hood

BBC reports on new findings that show that not everyone thought highly of Robin Hood.

A Scottish expert has uncovered a medieval document suggesting negative attitudes towards Robin Hood.

The story of how Robin and his men stole from the rich to give to the poor has long been part of English folklore.

However, Julian Luxford of St Andrews University found a dissenting voice in a Latin inscription from about 1460 in a manuscript owned by Eton College.

The previously unknown chronicle entry says Robin “infested” parts of England with “continuous robberies”.

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BBC iPlayer on Linux

Recently I have been playing about with a couple of those little netbooks which are so popular now.

Though I have had an Xandros based Asus EeePC for a while now, I realised that I had never really tried to use it to watch Flash based video. I had used it to watch DivX and MP4 video files which it did fine with, however when using the Asus to try and watch BBC iPlayer, well the results were less than satisfactory.

I also tried BBC iPlayer on a SUSE based HP 2133 netbook and got similar results.

After a bit of Google searching the verdict appears to be that the Flash Player for Linux is not that capable when it comes to playing video, rather than the chips on these low powered netbooks aren’t capable of playing Flash video.

I am now going to try the BBC iPlayer Desktop once I have re-charged the HP 2133 (well the battery doesn’t last very long).

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Reached my bandwidth limit

Reached my bandwidth limit on my ADSL account with a day to spare!

I don’t normally get anywhere close to the cap on my ADSL connection, but some months I do get close.

The main culprit these days is the iTunes Store and BBC iPlayer. I seem to watch more video using these two services than anything else at the moment.

I do get a “free” window between midnight and 8am and I do try and schedule my video downloading during these times, otherwise I do find I use up all of my allocated bandwidth. Though sometimes you don’t want to wait!