Monthly Computer Chronicle News and Views

MONTHLY COMPUTER CHRONICLE MCC J UNE 2014 I N THIS I SSUE: N EWS AND V IEWS NEWS AND VIEWS 1 By Chuck Hajdú iFruit laptop had touch screens. Anyone who could use any of the Is the era of the Operating System devices would be comfortable us- TECHNOLOGY SPOTLIGHT 2 finally over? I’m on the road as I ing any of the others. All were dif- SWITCHING TO THE MAC write this column and I recently ferent but they were so similar that had an experience that convinces their differences were minimal. WHAT’S NEW 3 me that it is. In the past few months I have I was enjoying an evening conver- worked with several types of com- TECHNOLOGY TODAY 6 sation with an occasional writer for puters from older desktops that I LAPLINK PCMOVER this publication and I noticed am updating to Zorin Linux 8.1 to something that interested me. In the latest smartphones and tablets. the room we were in there were The one thing that makes them all ATRUE STORY 8 three smartphones with screens almost alike is their look and feel. from small to quite large (an LG G Flex), five tablet computers (all MSFT and the iFruit company may BE PATIENT!! 8 with 7-8” screens) and two laptop want us to believe that users care computers (an ASUS S200 and a about their OS and who makes it. I Macbook Air). (Yes, I know, we’re am firmly convinced that only iFruit CONTENT INSIDER 9 both geeks.) What was interesting, Fan Boyz and Gurlz even care MYTHS AND FOLKLORE you ask? Simple, no two devices about who makes what any longer. used the same operating system! It will take a bit longer to de-tox the brains of those addicts but it will be The phones used iOS 6, and two done. The late Steve Jobs may be different versions of Android. The unhappy about it but someday tablets used iOS, Kindle OS and even his true believers will see the FOLLOW OUR DAILY BLOG AT: three different versions of Android. light. HTTP://MCCPUBS.BLOGSPOT.COM/ The laptops used iOS and Win8.1 Update. They were all different but The day of the OS is over. Long operated very much the same. All live the era of getting things done of them had virtually the same without a learning curve. apps and all of them except the MCC MCC JUNE 2014 P AGE 2 TECHNOLOGY SPOTLIGHT S WITCHING TO THE M AC,MAVERICKS E DITION By Chuck Hajdú Also, I am visiting my son for a couple of weeks and he has gone over to the dark Switching to the Mac, Maverick Edition,by side by becoming an iFruit lover. He uses David Pogue, is an O’Reilly book in their “the iPads, iPhones, iPods and Macbooks. I missing manual” series. If you are unfamiliar figured that while I’m here I should take with the series they are books that O’Reilly advantage of the opportunity to learn publishing says “should have been in the box”. something new and give it a try. Who We could not agree more! knows, at my advanced age I just may become a convert too. For many years companies have sold software and hardware without the necessary For those of you who are like me and don’t instruction manuals included. We’re not advo- follow every change in Mac software cating going back to the 1990s when Corel, Word- closely here is a brief rundown on the naming Perfect, Novell, etc. all tried to outdo each other with scheme Apple uses (all of this is on page 2). The how many books they could include in a 20 pound Maverick in the title comes from OS X version 10.9, box of software, but we think more is needed than a which was nicknamed “Maverick”. OS X, by the way, simple one page sheet of paper we get so often to- is pronounced OS “ten” and not OS “Ex”. The author day. This is precisely the vacuum that the O’Reilly explains all of the other nicknames Apple has used books fill. They provide the information users need for OS X versions over the years since Steve Jobs when the hardware or software company drops the returned to the company and started using NeXT’s ball. UNIX based software as the core of Apple. computers. Before I get started let me explain where I’m coming from as a computer user. I go back a long, long way The book is broken down into five basic sections. in the industry. In college in the 1970s I took com- Part 1: Welcome to the Macintosh, is a crash course puter programming courses and, yes, there really in the basics. were computers back in the stone age. By the 1980s Part 2: Making the Move, tells the reader what it I had progressed to PCs and was considered some- takes to make the move thing of an expert back in the days of DOS. I used Part 3: Mavericks Online, covers getting all aspects both MS– and DR– versions and enjoyed Macro writ- of getting onto the internet and setting the computer ing. I have used every version of MSFT Windows up correctly.. from 1.0 on. In the early-90s I even gave IBM’s OS/2 Part 4: Putting Down Roots, covers advanced topics a brief shot. To this day I still have an ancient com- like using programs and other power user topics. puter with DOS and GeoWorks on it that I use occa- Part 5: Appendixes, is a trouble shooting and FAQ sionally for nostalgic purposes (and to access really section. old files). As for Linux, I’ve dabbled with many, many flavors and I have several Linux computers that I use As I went through the book I was lucky to have my regularly. son’s Macbook Air by my side so that as the author covered a specific subject I was able to test what I Did you notice that nowhere in the last paragraph did was told on a real system. It turned out to be a real I mention any product by the iFruit company (my pet eye-opener! Of course, many of the surprise features name for Apple)? That’s right, after over 40 years as I tested may well be available on Windows or Linux a computer user I have avoided becoming one of the systems, I just never use them! Like many an old Fan Boyz!! dog, I don’t need to learn something new if something old works just fine for me. Anything that re- So why am I exploring Mac computers now? For one quires a thumb and three fingers on a touchpad si- thing, I have become a sort of regular iPad mini user. multaneously is just beyond what I want to do! My Not as often, or as regu- fingers are too big and larly, as I use Android tab- My favorite line in the book: Apple is always consistent with it’s arthritic! lets, but often enough. placement of the power button: It’s different on every model. (Continued on page 5) MCC JUNE 2014 P AGE 3 WHAT’S NEW UBISLATE 7CI,STMIMPILSE,NUGUARD KX By George Harding There’s also a link to Google, assuming that you will want to go there frequently. Datawind Ubislate 7Ci The bottom row has the indicators that you are used We’ve seen just about all the possibilities for size and to seeing for an Android device: Back, Home, capabilities for tablets that could be, but Ubislate has Sound, Mail, WiFi, Time and Battery. come up with yet another design. And it’s remark- able! It is 7 inches diagonal measure, runs on the Android platform and has a very nice screen. So what’s so special? It’s the price, only $38. Yes, that’s right. A price that almost anyone can afford. The apps are many-fold. Several games, app store, calculator, calendar, Kingsoft Office, notepad, set- tings, Youtube and more. The specs are these: Screen 7” capacitive LCD 800 X 480 pixels And that’s the idea behind this tablet – make it ex- OS Android 4.0.4 tremely affordable so more users can have a decent Memory 512 MB tablet and access to the Internet. Storage 4 GB expandable to 32 GB via Micro SD SIM card slot As the CEO of Datawind (the manufacturer) says, Power Li-polymer rechargeable battery “I’m not trying to compete with a $400 device. That Audio external speakers, 3.5 mm headphone will never be the case. What I’m suggesting is this. jack I’ve got four kids; if I want to equip them with devices Camera front facing 0.3 mp VGA for school, there are only so many iPads I can buy. Between them losing them, breaking them on an an- Orientation sensor nual basis, at 40 bucks apiece, this is like the calcula- Connectivity by WiFi only tor of the 1970s, I don’t need to think about it.” The bottom edge of the case has several connec- Most parents can relate to that tors: On/off, Volume, Micro-USB, micro SD and and others can as well. headphone jack. The screen has a pleasing back- The device can be used as a phone with an appro- ground which can be changed priate SIM card. and has four icons, ubimail (which can connect your email There are two other tablet offerings from Datawind, provider), browser and doorway priced at $100 and $150, with similar features.

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