Computer Spot

Here’s an interesting concept – attend university for free – on a computer, through iTunes. If you’ve been hearing a little bit about something called iTunes U and have been meaning to look it up, this is what it is.

The answer to the question of what is iTunes U is simple – it’s a feature on iTunes that universities pipe their free courses to you through. But it isn’t just university courses that you get, of course. K-12 education is available on a separate channel, as well. There are 800 universities around the world that participate.

Now that you know what is iTunes U, you’re probably anxious to get started. And you probably have lots of questions. Let’s get right to it. Let’s see how it works.

If you have iTunes on your computer, you’re already halfway there. There is an iTunes U button on the toolbar on the front page.

It takes you straight to where you’re going. Right away, you get your full selection of subjects, schools, the top 10 and so on.

Click on it, and you get a full series of lectures or books or anything else. Once you have the course content on your computer, you can port it to your iDevice (which is an easy way to say iPhone, iPod or iPad), or you could read on your computer.

There’s no homework and there’s no one pushing you to go faster. It’s completely user-determined, how fast you go.

If you’re wondering about what is iTunes U good for if there’s no one pushing you, this is probably not the application for you.

You don’t get any university degrees or credits at all. This is just for those who pursue knowledge for the sake of it.

If you find that this is a great concept, to get great lectures and books and study material to take you step-by-step right from the basics to the most advanced levels, if you really want to have the benefit of the kind of education the ivyleaguers get, then this certainly is for you.

So is this a great idea or not? It depends on what you’re looking for. Of course, if you’re looking to your iPhone to substitute a college degree, you’re pretty much going to be out of luck.

But if what you’re looking for is education in something new for a practical purpose – you are in luck. And just think about all those people all around the world who just don’t have access to reasonable education.

Or else, think of all those young people in this country who would like to give a college course a dry run before they actually commit.

It’s a winner of a concept, and it’s the promise that the Internet came with, all along.

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For about 10 years now, Apple has been trying to go with a theme when naming its products. For all its mobile devices and some of its computers, it uses the iDevice naming convention.

As for its computer operating systems, it likes to name them after jungle cats (as opposed to house cats). In its operating system world, the names are all about Cheetahs, Jaguars, Panthers and Leopards.

For its latest operating system though, the company brings in a new kind of cat – the lion. This what they call the latest avatar of the Mac – the Mac OSX Lion.

Microsoft is known for charging outrageous sums of money for its operating systems. Apple on the other hand charges an extremely reasonable $30 (okay, $29.99). Of course, you’ll get it preinstalled on any new Mac that you buy. If you wish to run it on an earlier Mac, is this an upgrade that’s worth the price?

The simple answer to that question would be – yes, it is. But you knew that already. Let’s get into why it is worth your time and money.

To begin with, Apple calls the Mac OSX Lion an operating system that’s completely set to change the computer paradigm for you. Read the rest of this entry →

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Maybe the British Navy has the right idea about buying into the latest computer technology. On their vertical takeoff Harrier jets, when they need to program the onboard computers with something, they still use cassette tape — you know, like they used to about 25 years ago. NASA still uses ancient Pentium powered computers on some of its satellites.

And these are people with a real use for technology. So when Apple goes and tries to dazzle you with how its latest line of laptops is faster, bigger, brighter and sharper, should you really buy into all of that?

Technology marketers offer you the latest computer technology all the time to get you to give them even more money than you already have.

Does your two-year-old digital camera seem sharp enough? Of course it doesn’t – not now that they can offer you a model that has twice as many megapixels as the embarrassment of a camera that sits in your pocket.

Does your Internet service seem to take a bit of time streaming your movie? For a mere $15 more, you could bump up the download speed and make everything more instant.

And NASA has to wait a week to finish downloading its satellite pictures because they have a slow link and the onboard computer on the satellite was apparently made right about the time the Big Bang occurred.

Manufacturers of whizbang electronics want you to replace every electronic doodad in your house every three years. That’s the cycle they are looking for that will help keep them in business. And people certainly are responding.

The average smartphone that a person has in his pocket these days is only a year and half old. People used to carry their phones around for far longer.

Of course, for a country full of jobless people and little hope for the future, this addiction to technology isn’t a good thing.

Shouldn’t a family that is more or less established today take care of the future and reject the notion of buying an iPad?

An iPad actually costs about $100 more than an entry-level laptop while promising to do far less for you. If you aren’t sure about whether to invest in the latest computer technology, here’s a little primer.

Let’s start with computers – an area that sucks up with a lot more money out of our budgets than it should. Certainly, if you like to look at the Internet with 50 browser tabs open at the same time, buying a $1200 desktop or laptop would make a lot of sense.

But do you really want that luxury when you could apply that money somewhere where it would make a lot more sense — like an investment?

Basically, even the most basic entry level computer today comes with 2GB RAM, a 250GB hard disk and a dual core processor.

Even if you have thousands of MP3s, thousands of digital photos and e-books, you’d find it hard to use more than a handful of gigabytes of hard disk space.

You don’t want to buy a computer unless you find that you’re frequently peaking your computer’s processor and running out of RAM. On Windows, you can check all of this on Task Manager.

The TV manufacturers really want you to buy Full HD. The problem is, Full HD content is only available on expensive Blu-Ray discs and Hi-def television programming.  If you are someone who takes advantage of all of this, then buying a Full HD television wouldn’t be a bad idea. But you don’t want to buy it just because the salesman seems excited about it.

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What kind of effect does it have on a person to be constantly fed politically correct statements? For instance, you know that Apple’s Mac OS is supposed to be far ahead of any OS made by Microsoft.

When you open any tech magazine and you see the words Windows and Mac together in an article, everything in your life up to that point that you’ve been exposed to forces you to believe that it’s an article about how there is a new way in which Mac wiped the floor yet again with that poor joke of an OS by Microsoft.

Well, that’s not how this is going to go. With version 7, Microsoft really has made a truly mature and well-designed operating system that even the Mac OS X, that has always been the last word in operating systems, could learn a trick or two from.

Let’s look at a few features that 7 has that the Macintosh should kill for, but doesn’t have to  (because there are ready-made apps that port those kinds of features right over).

Windows does cut-and-paste just about anywhere. In Windows Explorer, you can cut, copy and paste files to your heart’s content. Somehow, OS X doesn’t allow any cutting. Read the rest of this entry →

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Even people who hate Macintosh desktop computers (for how overpriced they are compared to Windows computers with similar hardware) find it hard to deny that Mac OS X is a work of art.

There are all kinds of ways out there that you can use to make your Windows computer look like a Mac (chief among which is the Snow Transformation Pack); what do you do if you wish to have your Windows computer actually work like a Mac? If that’s where your interest lies, try these ways out.

Devotees of Macintosh desktop computers often take one look at what it’s like to manage all of one’s open windows on a Windows computer and take a step back in horror at how cluttered everything seems.

There is no equivalent on Windows for instance, for Spaces and Expose, two popular OS X features that allow you to manage windows on the Mac.

If you crave that kind of easy functionality on Windows, Dexpot is an app that’s just for you. Install it, and you can right away substitute Alt-Tab for the features Dexpot gives you.

You get a quick list of all the open windows you got going on, you can keep tabs on all the virtual desktops you have, you can turn on the screensaver at the touch of a button; you can even set up keyboard shortcuts exactly as you wish. Read the rest of this entry →

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They say that Apple has a healthy 60% profit margin on the iPhone; that’s quite a tidy sum to be making on those expensive phones at a time when mobile phone makers are going out of business.

But Apple does that because its Macintosh desktop computers and laptops sell on wafer thin margins, even when sold on their own website and stores.

What chance do other big-box retailers like Best Buy or Wal-Mart have of making a packet when they sell Macs, if Apple itself is selling them at practically no profit?  Well, they try the  art of the upsell.

What exactly is upselling? Let’s say you just bought a car, and after the first thousand miles, you take it in for its first mandatory oil change.

A clerk suggests that you opt for the premium rustproof paint protector finish while you’re at it, that’ll cost a mere $99, and protect your car’s finish against the salty air of your coastal city. Selling you $20 detailing for $99, more than covers their costs for a free car servicing.

That’s up-selling, getting you in the door for something reasonable, and then piling unnecessary extras on top of it. That’s what Best Buy has been doing to make Macintosh desktop computers a little extra profitable. Best Buy’s Geek Squad are selling Mac optimization packages and overpriced extended warranties.

The very concept of an extended warranty is a bit of an anachronism; it dates to a time when devices and appliances were very expensive to buy, and were simple to repair. These days, electronics are mostly disposable goods; they sell cheaply, and buying new is often cheaper and more desirable than seeking repair service.

But for people who grew up in an era when the electronics were expensive and enjoyed long service lives, it is hard to get used to the new idea of disposable electronics.

These are the people that the extended warranty sellers aim for to make a quick $200. Best Buy now sells these practically useless contracts, and also sells optimization for $40.

A computer, especially a computer as famed for ease of use as  Macs are, do not need any optimization. The service includes hard drive checking, installation of antivirus software, and checking the hardware. Typically, this is useless work.

Macintosh desktop computers are not Windows PCs;  they do not really need antivirus software, as virus attacks on a Mac are practically unheard of. In fact a Mac user with even a little experience at his computer would be actually offended by the very suggestion that antivirus software was needed.

And a new computer does come checked for hardware faults, there seems to be no point in getting it done again at the store.

It is just very unfortunate, but the major retailers have to scratch about for a few extra bucks and compromise on the integrity of their relationship with the customer for it. Not only do they end up shortchanging the customer, they make the product look bad too. Talk about short-sightedness.

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Come January, a lot of people find themselves with new gadgets that they have come to love, that replace the previous devices that they used to love and used to use. Some of these items may be able to be re-sold, but before you debate either throwing them away or selling them on, perhaps you should consider some other uses for your older devices.

The iPhone and iPod touch range are incredible devices. Even the oldest of them have amazingly responsive touch screens, good graphics and a reasonable amount of storage.

They work as a calculator, an email program, video and music player, and even an alarm clock. This would be possible the simplest of all re-uses of your old device-when left permanently plugged into a speaker dock, it becomes a simple to use, beautiful alarm clock.

Turning your device into a mobile gaming device is a particularly good option. The older devices will have some limitations. Read the rest of this entry →

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A lot of people know of the Apple iPad, even if they have not seen or used one of them personally. For a long time it was a buzz word, and everyone wanted one. They didn’t come cheap however and this meant that a lot of people were left wanting.

That was until the copy cat market began to refine their products from the rough and ready tablet computers that were selling on price tag alone. Over the past six months in particular, the tablet computer has become more powerful and easy to use.

The most common operating system on the cheaper tablets is Android. Unfortunately this lightweight operating system was aimed at the smartphone market and not the tablet market, and only fully supported devices up to seven inches in screen size. Though larger devices still work, applications were not made available for the larger screens.

This will change soon, with Android supporting the ten inch variety fully. Once this happens, the availability of applications on the ten inch aPad will level the playing field a little more between the aPad and the iPad.

There are a lot of things that the aPad offers that the iPad does not. The first and foremost is an affordable price tag. Like comparing a PC to a Mac, the aPad is significantly cheaper than the iPad, and what’s more there are a great deal more options, including in the hardware built into the devices. Read the rest of this entry →

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Apple has made some moves in the past a few months which involves a well-kept secret involvement in mobile advertising.

Apple filed a patent application a few months ago that came to the attention of the public. The contents of that patent application indicate a likely improvement in the manner that Apple could profit from its products-both hardware and software.

The facts of the patent describe what Apple called ‘enforcement routine’ software which means that the company will incorporate advertising into its hardware and software that consumers simply can not skip over.

The patent also states the truth that users will have to prove that they have either viewed or heard an ad just before being able to access the functionality features of the hardware.

As an example, an individual can’t use their iPod until they’ve watched the advertisement and then punched in a code to prove that the ads are already watched in their entirety. Read the rest of this entry →

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Now that the iPad 3G + WiFi has just come out, there are going to be many people wondering what sort of data plan they will have to buy for their new device.

Luckily there are two options, and neither have the crazy contracts that the iPhone does. The first option is a $14.99 per month data plan limited to 250MB, and the second options is a $29.99 unlimited plan.

Both plans also include access to any AT&T hot spot, of which there are 20,000 in the US alone. Regardless of which plan you choose, it will renew on a monthly basis, unless you cancel it.

Cancellation can easily be done right on the iPad itself. The interesting thing is that for billing purposes, AT&T actually gives you a fake mobile number. Along with cancelling, you can also add or modify any data plan right from the device as well. Read the rest of this entry →

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