Saturday, April 27, 2013

The next big thing in presentation software.

I hate PowerPoint.  To be fair, I hate MS Office all together.  But that is something I will rant about another time.  What I'm talking about is PowerPoint presentations.  I hate them.  It seems PP has taken over the learning format for almost anything.  Every conference, lecture, classroom session, or even TED talk seems to involve a PP presentation.  I get it.  They are easy to make and edit, and, in theory, make a lecture more interesting.  But that is also part of the problem.  If you don't put much time or thought into your PP, it doesn't bring anything to the table.  I was discussing with my wife a couple weeks ago about how we have become desensitized, in a way, to PP presentations.  If I sit down for a lecture, as soon as a screen turns on with some basic cheesy PowerPoint fonts, I immediately start to loose interest.  Last week I listened to a presentation that blew the old stand-by out of the water.

The presenter used a program called Prezi.  I had never heard or seen it before, but it made a huge difference in how I viewed the presentation.  In fact, the presenter wasn't particularly good and the content was novel or interesting, but the Prezi presentation added enough variety to keep it fresh. I think too many presenters rely on PP to present their information in outline form.  Prezi makes a presentation into a much more effective visual aid; an accompaniment to a presentation, rather than the main body of it.  Check out their website here.  They have free and paid subscriptions.  You can also explore public Prezis that people have made.  Embedded below is a TED talk inspired Prezi about identity.

Saturday, April 13, 2013

This page is incompatible with Internet Explorer....



If you are still using Internet Explorer to browse the internet from your PC, you might still be accessing the web via dial-up.  Seriously, IE has been left behind by other web browsers as far as features and performance are concerned.  It is still the most popular browser on the web (most likely because it comes with Windows as the default internet browser) but its market share is slipping as time goes by.  Other browsers simply have more features, are faster, and are even able to display certain web pages better.  There are many alternatives to IE, but which one is the best for you?  The other major players in this game are Chrome, Firefox, Opera, and Maxthon.  (Apple’s safari browser is no longer being supported for Windows).
Back in the days of dial-up, I was blown away by how much faster the Opera browser made my web experience than using IE 6.  Ever since the advent of broadband, I have been using Firefox.  Last year I switched to Google’s chrome, and I have to admit, it is a great browser.  The sign-in feature syncs your browser across all the different devices you access the web from.  Tom’s Hardware rated Chrome first place, with Firefox in second, in their March WebBrowser Grand Prix.  So why did I switch back to Firefox?
For me it came down to a few factors.  First, I have doubts about Google’s respect for my privacy.  Although I am a GMail user, I have been trying to find a way to wean myself from Google for a while now; more on that later.  Chrome’s Do Not Track privacy feature is hard to find and disable -no thank you.  Second, maybe it’s just human nature to cheer for the underdog, but I would rather support the not-for-profit Mozilla foundation than the huge multibillion dollar Google Corp.  Mozilla seems like one of the last bastions of the early days of computing, the web, and software, when information was supposed to be free, shared, and collaborated on.  To be fair, Chrome is open source.  Finally, while Firefox’s sync takes a little more time to set up, it is more secure than Chrome’s and works just as well.
So, while Chrome does technically finish first in performance, Firefox is a close second.  As far as the other browsers are concerned, Opera’s performance has been subpar for the last several releases.  Maxthon is another interesting choice, but it lacks hardware acceleration.  One place I do use the Maxthon browser is on my android phone.  In the Tom’s Hardware review on browsers forAndroid devices, Maxthon finished second to Dolphin Browser, but in the speed tests, beat out Dolphin.  Finally, if you are using an iOS device, according to THW, the best browser is the default Safari.  This is due in part to apple’s requirement that any browser made for iOS must run on Webkit. (Webkit is what Safari and Chrome are based on).
The performance gap between all of these choices seems to be closing, and each one offers different advantages.  My recommendation is obviously Firefox, but try the different choices for yourself.  If you have never used anything but Internet Explorer, you’re in for a treat.  Check out PCMag’s browser review for additional information.
Finally I will leave you with some of my favorite Firefox add-ons:
-Flash Video Downloader - YouTube Downloader
-GMail Notifier
-Integrated Google Calendar
-RoboForm Lite

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

A quick update to my article on internet TV

Check out this link:

Boxee TV becomes Boxee Cloud DVR, adds free 'Basic' DVR service

D-Link is releasing a new Boxee Box with a cloud DVR option.  I don't know of anybody else who is doing this yet.

Monday, April 1, 2013

Cloud Storage Solutions

I have recently been looking into lots of different cloud storage options.  I have tried several, and I have found my favorite.  First let me say that I am only considering free options.  I don't need that much storage space because my NAS is accessible remotely via the internet.  For my use the cloud will mostly be used for sharing large files with friends.  My two favorite sites for product reviews are PCMag.com and TopTenReviews.com.  Both have published articles this year reviewing cloud storage companies.  SugarSync and DropBox are two that both sites rated highly.  However, these two options only give you 5GB or less for free.  5GB isn't very much, even as little as I use it.  Microsoft's SkyDrive is another option, giving you 7GB for free.  I have found it to be very user friendly.  My personal favorite, and the product that I use is from Yandex.  Yandex is basically the Russian version of Google, and they have been producing some very solid products.  Yandex.Disk is their cloud storage option.  New users get 10GB for free. (Technically you get 3GB until you install their software and upload your first file).  If you have been referred by another user via link, you start with 11GB.  You also have the option to increase your storage up to 20GB for free by referring friends.  Aside from having some of the most free storage, Yandex.disk provides a desktop app for Windows that will sync whatever folders you choose to your cloud storage.  The app is simple and easy to use; a very elegant solution.  If you have ever used Google's Drive software, it is very similar.  Another necessity for me is mobile applications.  Yandex.disk has android and iOS apps.  (In fact, most apps by Yandex are very good.  I also use their mail service).  The android app integrates seamlessly with the share button on your device.  iOS users will be able to access their disk files via the app too, but run into problems if you want to edit or upload them.  For example, QuickOffice, which is one of the only office products for iOS only has a deal with specific companies like MobileMe, Dropbox, Google Drive, Egnyte, Box.net, Huddle, SugarSync, Evernote, and Catch.  These are the only options that come up when you try to sync a QuickOffice doc to the cloud.  Unfortunately because of the tight way Apple controls how software integrates, users who plan on editing and uploading documents will probably want to choose a different solution, like SugarSync.  For anyone wanting to try Yandex.Disk, please use the link below.  You will receive an extra 1 GB for following the referral link, and I will get an extra 500MB for each referral.  Thank you.

https://disk.yandex.com/invite/?hash=OS8C6PPY 

Click here for additional information from Tom's Hardware.