PC Mechanic, New Article |
- Why Bother With Chromium When There’s Linux?
- 5 Reasons Why Smartphones And Tablets Won’t Replace PCs (Yet)
- The Most Dangerous Tech Items Of 2010
| Why Bother With Chromium When There’s Linux? Posted: 11 Jan 2011 03:30 AM PST Of the reviews I’ve read, the single largest complaint about Google’s Cr-48 netbook is the fact you really can’t do much of anything outside the web browser. Specifically, "I want local apps" is heard loud and clear. At this point people simply aren’t ready for an all-on-cloud operating system. Chromium OS is, of course, Linux as it uses a Linux kernel. For anyone that likes the idea of having a netbook that’s just the browser and only the browser on a rock-solid and proven OS, the first and pretty much only thing I’d say is, "Use Linux. Duh." In very basic terms, if the goal is to have an OS where the browser does everything, then all you really need is a super-lightweight Linux OS (like Xubuntu) and the Google Chrome or Chromium browser. That’s it. Linux hooks up to wi-fi easy enough these days with minimal fuss, the lightweight OS allows everything to run super-quick and the browser is fast by design, so… what’s the difference between using a setup like that or a Google Cr-48 netbook? None, other than the fact you can install whatever you want locally on your Linux setup. The only thing I could see being difficult is getting Flash working because to this day it’s still a bit of a hassle – however that completely depends on what distribution you’re using (some are easier with Flash than others). Other than that, you can roll your own with a lightweight Linux and the Chrome/Chromium browser. What was the point of a Google netbook again? Post from: PCMech. Helping Normal People Get Their Geek On And Live The Digital Lifestyle.       |
| 5 Reasons Why Smartphones And Tablets Won’t Replace PCs (Yet) Posted: 11 Jan 2011 03:00 AM PST Because of CES mobile technologies there’s a whole bunch of articles surfacing "IT’S THE END OF THE PC (AND MAC)!" Um, no. There are many reasons why smartphones and tablets won’t replace desktop computers. Very little of this list has to do with functionality and everything with the human factor. 1. Limited multitask abilitySmart mobile devices have screens from roughly 4.3-inch to 10-inch. Readability on these screens isn’t an issue, but multitasking is. People obviously like computers that can do more than one thing at a time, and while smart mobile devices do have the ability to multitask, it’s way too basic to be a desktop replacement. 2. UnstableAny, repeat, any smart device crashes more than Windows 95 ever did. It is routine that an app will crash, forcing you to reset and launch again – and it is amazing that smart device users don’t complain about this more. Put another way: If your desktop apps crashed as much as smartphone apps did, you’d go back to pen and paper. 3. Touchscreen typing sucksAs a pointing device, touch rules the school, but as a typing device it’s the worst you could possibly use. Firstly, from an ergonomic point of view, your wrists will cramp up so fast from typing on a tablet it’s not funny. Secondly, there is no tactile feel forcing you to do the exact opposite of what you’ve been taught when typing (you’re not supposed to look at the ‘keys’, remember?). Third, it is way too easy to make mistakes. The only cure for touchscreen typing is to not do it and use voice recognition translated into written word instead. This does exist currently, but it still has a long way to go on smart devices. If you’re wondering, yes, Dragon Naturally Speaking (arguably the best voice-to-text that exists) does exist for mobile, and the one you would most likely want is Dragon Dictation. However bear in mind you probably will end up with problems mentioned in #2 above. 4. Archiving? What archiving?Think fast: How do you archive your emails off a smartphone? Oh, that’s right, you don’t. You’ll have to go to a PC or Mac to do that because it can, y’know, actually download copies of emails and store them somewhere aside from the cloud. Storing stuff to the cloud isn’t the solution. If it’s your content and you can’t download a local copy of the whatever-it-is, that’s just dumb. "But I can push X’s data to an SD card." If you can do that, good for you. Do all smart devices do that? No. But all desktop computers can, in multiple ways (hard drive, DVD, USB stick, etc.) 5. Everything is slow. Everything.You’ve got your shiny new tablet, and being the smart sir or ma’am you are, you connect to the internet using your existing wi-fi. Then you notice pages render really slowly. "How can this be?", you ask yourself. "My desktop is way faster than this. Heck, my netbook even does a better job." Ah, yes, that’s because your tablet’s mobile processor is bogged down on purpose to extend battery life as much as possible – which happens to be used a lot when rendering web pages. So much for your fast internet on a tablet. And it’s not going to get better any time soon, because mobile web is Web 1.0 all over again, has been for years and hasn’t gotten any better (hence the reason ‘mobile’ web pages still exist). "Comparing a smartphone’s way of web browsing to a desktop computer is an unfair comparison." Not in this context it isn’t. Everybody keeps saying that smart mobile devices are going to replace the PC and Mac, right? Right. Then show me it can. If the smart device cannot deliver the same web content I can get on my PC in the same way at the same speed, how am I supposed to take the "this is the desktop replacement" statement seriously? Answer: I can’t, and neither can you. We can ask the same question as to whether smartphones/tablets will replace desktop computers in 2015, but not now, because at present there’s no way they can do it. And don’t give me that "The smart device is the perfect computer for grandma who just checks email and…." OH, SHUT UP. Grandma is not the audience smart devices are primarily made for and never was. Post from: PCMech. Helping Normal People Get Their Geek On And Live The Digital Lifestyle.     |
| The Most Dangerous Tech Items Of 2010 Posted: 10 Jan 2011 07:00 AM PST Whenever a new year rolls around, I always like to check out the "best of" lists for the previous year. Trend Labs (the maker of HouseCall online scanner and HiJackThis) have released their list of the most dangerous tech of 2010. Notables making the list:
This is a pretty interesting list and each has an explanation of following it. Do you agree with this or do you have something else to add? Post from: PCMech. Helping Normal People Get Their Geek On And Live The Digital Lifestyle.     |
| You are subscribed to email updates from PCMech To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar