TomTom GoLive 820

How does a portable hands free speakerphone that does double duty as an external speaker for your music on your mobile phone sound as a gift idea? And it even acts as an emergency battery charger for your mobile phone as well? That’s exactly what the Uniden BTS200 does.

Yes, it’s a hands free speakerphone that connects with your mobile phone or computer (or other bluetooth enabled device) and lets you conduct your phone calls in a hands free mode, with better sound quality than most phones can offer, because it has bigger and better speakers than your phone will have. Being connected to your phone or computer, it also can be used in place of the built in speakers for playback of music or movie soundtracks, and the removable battery has a USB port that lets you plug it directly into your phone to give it a boost if the phone’s battery has died.

WD TV Live Hub (Image copyright (c) 2011 Gary Stark)

Although it’s been discontinued by HP (pulled from the market almost as soon as it was released, in fact) HP’s WebOS based Touchpad tablet might make a great present for dad if you can find one and get it for a good (sub $150) price point. It offers a great browsing experience, there’s a kindle reader available, and it can handle email as well. Great for casual use within the home environment, say while watching tv, as long as you’re not going to paying too much for it.

Netgear Powerline AV500 (Image copyright (c) 2011 Gary Stark)

Hopefully, some of the ideas that we’ve presented will be of use to you as Fathers’ Day approaches.

It’s beginning to turn up more and more and in a lot more places.

Basically, it refers to a set of systems that can collect data and respond to that collected data, and in so doing, act in a manner that can help to control the systems that they’re monitoring. While it used to more generally refer to mechanical controls, this is become less and less the case.

A few weeks back we mentioned the CareTracker system. That was a means of data acquisition, but there is no means of control attached to that system, so it’s not really a SCADA system. But Google has a fully automated – as in driverless – car under development. That would rely upon a SCADA system in order to operate.

In just the last few days SCADA has turned up a few times within references to the Black Hat security conference, within the context of the potential for some SCADA systems to be hacked.

Insulin Pump

Specifically, if these systems – which constantly monitor his blood sugar levels and can respond by providing him with insulin – are able to be hacked, then what is the potential for a third party to be able to do this, and thereby endanger his (or your) life?

In the US, you can now have the option of having an on-board router installed within your new car, thereby giving you connectivity wherever you may roam, but also at this conference, some people from iSec Partners were able to demonstrate how to unlock, and then start the engine, of a car using an Android powered mobile phone.

And this is just the beginning.

This is the sort of device that you can use if you have an elderly family member who may be inclined to wander off without telling you where they’re off to, or perhaps you’re concerned about the whereabouts of your kids.

As well as mapping the locations that the device (and therefore the person carrying it) has visited, you can call the device on its own mobile phone number, and it will respond by sending you an SMS message with its current location.

Care Tracker

I’ll let you know more about this as the review progresses, but right now, I can tell you that it’s mapping my location as I go about my daily business in and around Sydney.

However, the methods that they have used to advise their customers about this is very seriously flawed. Let’s start by looking at the email that they issued …

Telstra Letter to Clients

There are a couple of things notable about this letter – note the two sections, in blue, that are underlined. These are links that are embedded within the email. Note that one of them says that it will take you to the “Email Bill Registration Page”, while the second one says that it’ll take you to where you can log in to your account.

What the hell?

Anyone who knows anything about internet security, safe web surfing, and not being hacked, knows only too well that you shouldn’t click on links like this. It’s stupid. Bloody well stupid!

Banks warn you never do anything like this: Never, ever, click on any link that promises to take you to any sort of login page, because, quite frankly, you really don’t know exactly where that page might be taking you too.

And if it’s taking you to a “phishing” page, where somebody wants your credit card or banking details, then you’ll end up in serious danger.

But please, don’t just believe me: I took an opportunity to speak with Lloyd Borrett, from AVG Internet Security. He’s an expert in these matters, and in the interview, he gives some very sound reasons why Telstra, in sending out these emails, are implementing some very bad ideas.

Lloyd Borrett, AVG – Clicking On Embedded Links In Emails

So, the advice is to ignore Telstra’s emails. Telstra’s methods are very seriously flawed, and a very bad idea. Contact them, and tell them just how bad an idea it is for them to be sending you these emails that look like they’re trying to scam you.

Instead, whenever you get an embedded link like these, close your browser (for safety’s sake), and then open a new browser session, and go to the site byt entering in the URL in the browser’s address bar. This should be the way that you always go to important sites like these, by the way, because then you will know that you’re not going to be going to some sort of scam site.

At the beginning of the week we asked Telstra why they are implementing such a poor practice, but they were unable to give us a response.

iCufflinks

From the good people at Adafruit.com comes these open source iCufflinks. They’re battery powered. They don’t merely glow; they pulsate. They will keep your cuffs linked.

And while you can order them ready-made, you can also make your own bespoke version by downloading the circuit diagrams, source code and CAD files.

Be the first on your iBlock to wear these to the big iBall.

Samsung tv

For instance, in their TVs they’re including apps that permit you watch movies from Big Pond movies, in high definition. The fact that the actual viewing of these movies can start from within just a few seconds of you ordering them from the source is a very saving – of your time – when compared with the trip to the local video store. And there’s no need to return them; and no late fees to pay.

Styling is very nice, with one of the less premium models having just a 5mm, clear bezel surrounding the screen. Believe me, this is actually very nice from a styling point of view. It’s not very narrow, but being transparent, I can visualise this unit being mounted on a wall, and content being watched, in such a way that there’s no real border around the screen where the image lies. This sounds like something small, but I suspect that it’s not.

The sets are also very thin, so they will occupy less space within your home than before.

But …

They are being billed as “Smart TVs”. As you may know, I have a problem devices labeled as “Smart”; I have yet to see any device that is truly “smart” it’s a marketing buzzword, and I think you know what we think of buzzwords and jargon here on the Gadget Grill.

So, what of the Smart TV? Well, it has a media hub, so you can watch movies, videos, IP TV, listen to music … it has built in social media clients, so you can Tweet, and Skype and Facebook Like TV shows and content, direct from the tv, while the shows are being watched, using the new optional remote control with its built-in QWERTY keyboard.

Or you could use your phone or tablet or laptop, just as you do today.

3D: Of course, no TV launch today would be worthy of mention if it didn’t include some new 3D TVs, and Samsung certainly don’t disappoint in this realm. There’s greater variety, cheaper glasses and a better choice of available glasses too. It’s all good.

Samsung TV accessories

And apparently, size matters, too. The new TVs are now coming in what they are calling a “Plus 1″ configuration. This means that the size of the screens is now one inch larger than it was: your 32″ screen is now going to be 33″, 48″ becomes 49″, and so on, and so fifth, as Victor Borge said in his legendary Inflationary Language monologue.

I’m not against making the screens larger, provided the quality doesn’t suffer and the pricing remains good value for their customers, and that certainly seems to be the case. I just don’t like marketing slogans, buzzwords and jargon.

I’d like to think that as consumers, we’re smarter than that.

I suspect that I’m probably wrong, though.

Plug and Play

These cars look, to all intents and purposes, just like your normal four-door, wheel-at-each-corner hatchbacks. I was surprised at the spaciousness of the interior: I’m nearly six feet tall, and, with the front seats moved forward, there was more than ample space for my legs in the back seats. Plenty of headroom too.

And being a hatchback, there was also lots of storage behind the rear seat, accessible both from within the cabin, as well as from outside; the hatch cover lifted high for easy access.

Google's Justin with the MiEV

Being an electric vehicle, it’s quiet. Very quiet. Turning the ignition on caused a couple of electronic beeps, and a low hum from the A/C, but that was it.

Driving around, we went on a loop from Pyrmont, through Sydney’s morning traffic across the top of Darling Harbour, down Sussex St and then back across Stonehenge returning to the Sydney Googleplex. We were sitting in the back, talking, conducting the interview, with virtually no background noise whatsoever. When noise did intrude upon the conversation, it was from outside, from other vehicles. This car makes a great mobile office environment.

Which is a part of what Google do with their cars: these are used as their floating fleet vehicles, available to Sydney staff for use when they need to travel around town, to meet with clients and such, instead of having to pay for taxis.

But their use goes well beyond a replacement for taxis: staff at Google are encouraged to employ a green attitude, and they’re trying to get a zero green footprint in terms of their staff’s daily commute to and from work. They’ve implemented an internal tracking system, whereby staff can register how and when they, for instance, get to and from work. They calculate green credits for everyone’s journeys, and one weekly there’s an auction amongst the staff, with the prize being the use of one of these cars for the weekend.

Google's MiEV Electric Car

I think that’s beyond cool: it’s a progressive attitude that encourages staff to be environmentally conscious.

But let’s get back to the cars, for a moment. Many people think that electric vehicles emit no emissions; they would be wrong. While it’s true that electric vehicles emit no tailpipe emissions, it’s not accurate to say that they’re emissions free. The emissions are merely shifted to another location.

In Sydney’s case, that might be to the coal fired power stations in NSW’s Lake Macquarie region. That’s where electricity is produced, and it’s consumed by these cars, for which Google have installed a couple of dedicated charging stations in the basement car park of their Sydney offices.

The MiEV's Fuel Inlet.

The power input for the cars draws upon a 30 amp power supply, and is located in the normal spot you’d expect to put in the nozzle from a fuel pump. Hook the cable up to the charging point, plug the other end of the cable into the car, and away it goes.

Starting the charging process

Starting the charging process

With a full charge (maybe three to to four hours from flat), the cars have a range of around 160 Km. Performance felt very good, but that’s also the nature of electric vehicles, which develop maximum torque at zero revs.

These are not cars for your weekend away though. Rather, my impression is that these would make a great city car, where distances are relatively short: commuter trips to and from work, shopping trips, taking the kidlets to and from their weekend footy games; that sort of thing is exactly where I could see this sort of car shining.

And the interior space, coupled with its diminutive external size, makes it ideal for these sorts of trips.

Listen to the interview/drive …

Part 1

Part2

Just how dangerous it is?

Would you let your 8 year old daughter wander down a dark lane, on the wrong side of the tracks, after midnight? On her own?

Do you let her surf the Internet on her own? If so, why? It’s a dark, dingy, dirty, dangerous place out there.

And now Symantec, through their Norton brand, have released their Cybercrime Index that will let you see just how nasty, just how ugly, and just how dangerous, the Internet can be.

Norton's Cybercrime Index

Norton describe this as “a free consumer-friendly web application that aims to be a simple resource that highlights cybercrime trends and helps educate people to take action.”

Translation: it’s free, and it helps you to understand that you need to keep your protection current.

The concept is that you visit the site, and it give you an insight into just what the current risks and trends out on the web actually are. It’s based upon live data, and thus it’s constantly changing.

And it also offers valuable suggestions to you as to how you can help improve your own – and your family’s – security on the net.

Norton's Cybercrime Index

Visit Norton’s Cybercrime Index.

HP came in top of the pile as being the most reliable systems in the field, ahead of Apple and Asus.

How reliable is your ride? Please let us know.

So, let’s get back, for a few minutes, to Gerry Harvey and the bleating that he’s been doing this week about GST and online shopping.

Several years ago I was working on a major project at, believe it or not, Harvey Norman. The project was a complete rewrite of their Point Of Sale system, to bring it up to date.

Well, not quite.

This was in about 2003-4, and the actual brief was to take some of the best available tools at the time, and to rewrite their PoS and bring it … back to the same basic system that they were then currently using, and which was already well over ten years old.

Yep, you read that correctly. A multi-million dollar project was being undertaken, to provide virtually no modern functionality, no user friendly interface … but just replicate the already out of date system that was already in place and was already many years out of date.

Part of the brief, as I understood it, was that they didn’t want to spend any money or time on training their staff.

God knows how that might end up? On a grander scale, perhaps they might have some staff who are knowledgeable and helpful?

But no, that was not the goal. Let’s just rebuild a replica of the old system.

Perhaps, Gerry, if you had been looking towards the future, rather than the past, then your current state of bewilderment about all these new-fangled ways of ordering by your customers – methods that actually enhance businesses, rather than constrict them – then you wouldn’t be pushing thus unholy barrow that you now find yourself behind.

It started with Gerry Harvey and his poor, impoverished, billionaire mates pitting up an ad in the newspapers, complaining that they won’t be able to afford to buy that extra Rolls Royce this year, because the public has woken up to the fact that they can buy a greater selection of more products, with more and better service and delivery options, for significantly less dollars than what Gerry and his mates want to charge us.

Gerry and his cronies couched their carefully worded statements in terms that suggested that the 3% of trading that was going to online traders would be likely to cause massive job losses, and that the imposition of the 10% GST wold be sure to arrest the slippage of sales from their stores.

But the public didn’t buy into these arguments: not a bit of it. They failed to accept that the 10% GST was the reason they were buying from online sources, citing – in tweet after tweet after tweet – that poor service, high prices, a poor range of products, and lousy product knowledge were more likely to be the reason they were buying from online sellers.

In tweet after tweet after tweet, the public tore the retailers apart, pointing out that the GST was irrelevant when their bricks and mortar pricing was often two or three times more than than the online pricing one could obtain.

Many tweeters even cited local examples of pricing disparities, pointing out that local traders with an online presence were doing quite well, thus proving that Harvey’s “level playing field” argument was a total fabrication.

Some tweeters even recalled Harvey’s statements from just a couple of years ago, whereby he said words to the effect that online trading was a waste of time. If online trading is a waste of time, then why in the hell is Harvey so concerned about it now?

Towards the end of the week, Harvey expressed genuine surprise at the reaction his campaign had received: he was upset at the vitriol, and at the total absence of support for the retail channel that was being expressed through social media.

But most of all, it was evident that social media – and in particular Twitter – had taken control of the issue: Gerry Harvey was amongst the top trending topics for the world through the week, such was the venting that was occurring following the ad campaign.

While Harvey Norman has a social media presence, it was largely unused through this week, and it was certainly ineffective in defending their boss against his ill-fated campaign.

This week, the public let their collective voice be heard through the medium of Twitter, and while I remain unconvinced that Gerry Harvey fully understands the underlying issues that are affecting his business, I suspect that he perhaps has a slight understanding of the power of social media.

Let’s try to avoid the emotion, and the crap, and let’s look at a couple of very simple case histories. And let’s start with one that’s very close to home.

Just 12 months ago I needed to buy myself a new washing machine, having had my old one blow up. I did the rounds of the local bricks and mortar stores: Myer, Harvey Norman, Bing Lee, etc. I found a couple that I liked, and they were located at either of the local Harvey Norman stores. $500.

Plus about $70 delivery.

Your old machine? Sorry, we don’t want to know about it.

After just a few minutes of online searching, I located a local vendor, with a price on the same item, in stock, and about $150 cheaper.

With free delivery.

And installation.

And yes, sir, we will also dispose of your old machine, too.

Now, Gerry, these people were local, delivery came on the agreed day, for a saving to me of almost 50% off your store’s price, and GST was paid on the transaction!

Please, Gerry, explain to me where the “level playing field” that you’re stating is absent, is absent from this actual, real life transaction?

Let’s look at shoes. Pricing here, in the retail channel, is astronomical. One can buy one pair of some name-brand shoes locally for about $159, where those same shoes can be purchased, ex-USA, for about US$50 a pair. And buying those shoes from an on-line vendor also means that I have (a) a greater selection of styles from which to choose, (b) I have a greater selection of colours from which I may choose, and (c) I have a far greater selection of sizes from which I may choose.

These are vital points to bear in mind: the sizes that I need are simply not imported into this country by the local distributor, leaving me totally without a local product. “Level playing field”? With your option, I’m not even in the ballpark!

But getting back to the point, let’s now buy those three pairs of shoes: total cost is US$50/pair; total value of the order is US$150. Shipping is very often free, and thus, with the current value of the Australian Dollar, I can now get three pairs of these shoes, delivered, and that will fit me, in the colour and style of my choice, for less than the cost one pair, purchased locally, and where that pair doesn’t even fit me.

OK, let’s now play your game: and add the local GST on to the price here. That’s a whopping great … oh, yes, $15.

Gerry, do you, honestly, believe that a lousy $15 will make any difference whatsoever to my purchasing decision here, when I can buy three pairs for the price of one, those three pairs will fit me, and they will be in the styles and colours that I want, rather than those that channel thinks I might want?

If you believe that, then I have some prime oceanfront land at Broken Hill that you may be interested in buying.

And how do you propose that government, economically, collect that $15? Please explain!

Let’s take another real world example. real world examples are way better than your emotional diatribes, because they reflect … the real world.

I play a musical instrument: the electric bass. Locally, strings for my instrument cost around Au$70 a set. Except that, again, the local distributors choose to not import the strings that I need to use on my instrument. What am I to do? Go without?

Or buy them on the internet, because that’s the only place I can actually buy them, for about US$22 a set?

Again, I shall buy three sets at a time; that’s a good supply, and will see me through a couple of years’ playing. GST on the import of those three sets?

$6.60!

Six lousy bloody dollars and sixty lousy cents!

Again, do you believe that a lousy $6.60 will make me change my buying habits, when I simply cannot buy the damn things locally anyway? What the hell are you smoking, Gerry? Please pass it around!

And again, you’ve not demonstrated how you would collect that $6.60 from me. Make no mistake about this: I am perfectly happy to pay the GST; it’s only for the government to ask, and I will pay.

Now, Gerry, I was listening to you prattling on about this on the ABC the other morning, and you were commenting on how you were with your wife in a New York shop asking the sales assistant about whether Australian taxes were contributing to their on-line sales. A couple of observations, if I may:

1: It’s a bit rich for you, a billionaire, to be bleating on about this matter and bringing into consideration your recent trip to New York. Quite an affront, and quite offensive, to Joe Public in Oz, I would respectfully suggest.

2: I doubt very much that typical sales person has that much knowledge about Australian tax law, or about any Australian tax scenarios. Probably about as much knowledge as your typical Harvey Norman salesperson might have about New York State’s state sales taxes.

Gerry, do you have the courage, the professional integrity, to answer the questions that I’ve asked? I’m sure you know how to find me.

Apple iMac

As 2010 closed, ARS Technica posted an interesting comparison of a couple of hardware bases for some technology items, comparing an iMac from 2000 with a current iPhone 4.

The comparison is really quite interesting.

There are a number of things evident here: the size and weight of the computing platform has been significantly reduced, but with an amazing increase in the power available to the end user.

Apple iPhone 4

What will we be seeing compared with the iPhone 4 at the end of 2020? And what devices should we do a ten year comparison on, at the end of 2011?

For less than $30, the iPhone using driver in your family might like to have the MetroView GPS application. This is a very usable turn by turn GPS that’s inexpensive, and it turns your iPhone into a fully fledged GPS.

For those who like to listen to their music, you can’t go past the a-Jays, t-Jays, q-Jaus and D-jays in-ear earphones. These are not simply excellent value, with models in every pricepoint, but they’re also great sounding earphones, offering great comfort while listening to your favourite music on pretty well whatever music player you desire.

In the phone realm, you could do a lot worse than looking at one of the Android powered phones from HTC, Samsung, or Motorola. These are all very versatile and usable devices.

Or for something a little different, check out Telsta’s T-Tab tablet. While it’s no match for the iPad or Samsung Galaxy Tab, it offers full tablet and phone functionality for just $300. And that means that it’s also a music and video player, plus a very portable web device. Look on it as a cheap, larger Android phone, and you won’t go too far wrong.

At the gaming end of the spectrum, we have two devices that are new, but a whole ton of fun. Microsoft’s Kinect is just what the X-Box user in your household will be wanting.

And the newest hot toy on the block is the Parrot AR Drone, which I’ve been playing with for the last few days. I’d make sure to get a spare battery with it, to extend the pleasure time.

In music players, there’s probably not too much that’ll touch the iPods, and again, there’s an iPod in pretty much every price range.

Fortunately, I persevered.

And was rewarded with seeing what I am sure will be the coolest toy to grace the bottom of many a Christmas tree this year: Parrot’s AR Drone. This is, purely and simply, a toy. It has no redeeming qualities at all that I can think of.

Except that it’s just so cool, and so much fun, that I really want one. Just because.

First of all, it’s a remote control helicopter. On board it has four rotors to provide stability, and two video cameras, to provide you with an augmented reality view from the drone, onto your controller, which will be your iPhone.

You just download the free app, pair the iPhone to your drone, and press the start button. The rotors start up, and the drone starts flying in its default mode, which is that it hovers above the ground.

From that point on, you have two buttons on your display, from which you can control the height, direction it’s facing, and the direction and speed of its flight. Fire it up, spend a few minutes acquainting yourself with how it woks, and then you’re off for just a whole ton of man-toy fun. It’s basically that easy, and that much fun.

Parrot AR Drone

Some immediate uses for this come to mind – fetching a beer from the fridge, for instance – but I’m not yet sure if it can carry that amount of weight. A bag of popcorn might be doable though, while you’re sitting in the home theatre watching the latest Star Trek video.

If your best mate has one as well, then drone racing is definitely on the cards. Bring it into the office, and do a couple of laps of the lift well.

And yes, there are some games available for it as well.

Construction feels to be very good. Lightweight, but of good quality and feel. it seems to be quite robust, which is good, given the market that this will play in. And speaking of market, the price is around $350, which strikes me as being just about right for this. It’s a high end-ish toy, and that’s about where I think the price for this sort of toy needs to be.

Yes, it’s Thanksgiving. And that means lots of turkey. For everyone.

And for us at the Gadget Grill, that means that means it’s time for our annual Tech Turkey Awards.

Join us this Sunday night, on 2RDJ FM-88.1, or on the net at www.radio2rdj.com, and find out who we think this year’s Tech Turkeys are.

But could something similar happen to you? Do you run a small business or home office? If so, how do you ensure the security of your data?

And even if you don’t, what about your important personal documents? Your receipts for your tax? Your important family photos and the like? How are they stored. and what would happen of your computer was stolen or lost?

I recently had a chat with Simon Howe from Acronis, who are data recovery experts. Don’t just listen to me, hear what the experts have to say about this important aspect of our digital lives.

This interview was originally broadcast on the Gadget Grill on Sunday, October 31, 2010.

That translates to about a 17% market share of desktop operating systems, which I don’t think is too bad.

As well as simplifying the user workflow, and especially for those who are new to the workflow requirements that digital image processing imposes upon us, improved Mac compatibility was also announced with this new product range.

I recently was able to catch p with Michael Stoddart from Adobe, and we had a brief chat about some of the features of these renewed product offerings from Adobe.

You can hear the podcast of my interview with Michael here.

This was originally broadcast on the Gadget grill on Sunday, October 17, 2010.

Me too.

In fact, I have. Many years ago, when I was living in Dallas, I took the controls of a Cessna 172 and flew it around the skies of east Dallas. Relax, Dallas is safe again, but it was a very enjoyable experience.

Apart from that, I’ve enjoyed many hours at the controls of software such as Microsoft’s Flight Simulator, but I’ve never found it to be fully engaging, and I’ve never been able to manage to land any simulated aircraft.

With that in mind, I ventured down to Darling Harbour in Sydney this week, to have a play in the simulator at Flight Experience.

The simulator is a very comprehensive piece of kit. It’s a full size replica of the flight deck of a Boeing 737, complete with instrumentation, controls … everything. Except motion. It’s absence surprised me, but to be perfectly honest, I was even more surprised that I didn’t actually miss it, once under way. I think that the only time that I noticed that there wasn’t any motion was as we landed; it was simply way too smooth. Especially given the skills (or lack thereof) of the Pilot On Charge. Yeah, me!

The reason the absence of motion doesn’t provide a detriment is because, beyond the windscreen is a full wrap around video display, showing you where you are.

Which, in my case, was the new Hong Kong international airport. My mission for the day was to fly from the new HKG airport to the old one, perform a touch and go, circle back around, and then land the aircraft, again at the old Hong Kong airport.

With my lack of expertise, guidance was to be given to me by my co-pilot, Nikunj. In reality, Nikunj is a fully licensed commercial pilot and flight trainer, and having that sort of expertise on hand adds to the authenticity of the experience. In reality, the quality of the simulation here is such that it actually allows pilots to maintain some aspects of their ongoing license requirements.

After a pre-flight briefing, I was taken into the cockpit and was given an introduction into the major controls: their purpose, and their operation.

Flight Experience Gary Stark

And then it was wheels up: steering with the foot controlled rudders while on the ground remains a challenge for me, but no, we didn’t collect any other aircraft while taxiing or accelerating and lifting off.

Retract the landing gear, lower the nose back to about 3 degrees, and then navigate to the old airport: over the headland, follow the strobes and markers, and then prepare for landing. Set the airspeed, flaps, landing gear, touchdown, accelerate, and do it all again.

What a blast!

If you’re looking for that unusual gift for someone, this would have to be a contender. You can take a couple of passengers with you as well, and after the flight, a DVD of the flight is available.

Flight Experience is available in Sydney at Darling Harbour, and in Brisbane, Melbourne and West Australia as well.

The tools include PC Tools Spyware Doctor, PC Tools Spyware Doctor with AntiVirus, PC Tools Internet Security, PC Tools Registry Mechanic and brand-new PC Tools Performance Toolkit, and they claim simplified installation and upgrade procedures for users of these products.

In anticipation of the launch of these products, I had the opportunity to meet with Shafi and Grant from PC Tools, and took the opportunity to chat with them about some aspects of the how their tools deal with social networking threats.

You can listen to the interview here.

This week our Gadget Gorilla, Gary Stark, chatted with eBay’s Jenny Thomas to find out all of the details of the survey, and how to turn those unused items into extra cash.

Have a listen to the interview which was first broadcast on Sunday, September 12, 2010.

Vodafone Pocket WiFi Router

I’ve been using an earlier version of this pocket router for most of this year, and have been very happy with it. When Vodafone asked me to try the newest version of this, I was interested to see if and how Huawei might have improved upon the original concept. I’m pleased to report that as good as the earlier device is, the newer iteration is even better, and markedly so.

First of all, start-up is easier, and it’s now just a single button operation. Previously, you needed to tell the device that, having started, it now needs to connect to the internet. This of course is logical functionality, and upon booting, the router automatically starts up its internal WiFi LAN, and then automatically connects itself to the internet. All you need to do is just wait … for about a minute … and away you go.

The display is significantly improved; despite its apparent simplicity. On the previous version, there were five icons on the display, each one showing you one element of the device’s status. The status was indicated through the colour of the icon. but there was no real indicator as to, for instance, the amount of battery power left. The new display rectifies this issue, and it also, to me, seems to be able to provide better information.

Start-up speed is faster, and the number of WiFi connections supported is increased from three concurrent connections to five. And the newer model supports faster 3G broadband speeds, so it’s all good.

In use, this device couldn’t be more straight forward. Turn it on, wait a minute, locate the SSID in your network connections dialog and enter the password if it’s the first time you’re connecting to the device, and you’re done.

And when you’ve finished, just turn it off.

Depending upon your host network availability, you may find yourself using this while traveling on a bus, train or ferry, in a coffee shop or airport departure lounge, lounging by the pool or maybe in a coffee palace by the beach, or simply to avoid the exorbitant charges that our pre-historically structured hotels which to inflict upon us for internet services. If you have a few children and you’re maybe traveling with the family, this would be ideal in the car, providing the kids with an internet connection while heading up to your favourite holiday spot.

No, we’re not there yet.

Battery life provides several hours of connectivity, and recharging is performed using the included mini-USB cable, and as a bonus, it can also house a micro-SD card so that you can use it for storage of music or images, or whatever else you wish.

Although my attendance was as a member and guest of Microsoft’s Open Source Convergence group, this conference offers attendees a wonderful opportunity to achieve many goals. For instance, upcoming technologies, such as Windows Phone 7 and X-Box were on display and able to be seen by many. Those wishing to pursue formal professional certifications through the MSCE processes were encouraged to complete courses and examinations and thus improve their personal professional standings.

All were encouraged to attend as many of the 150 or so sessions being held at the Gold Coast Convention Centre during the conference, so as to increase and improve their knowledge of the technologies that are currently in common use throughout the general business world.

But as I mentioned earlier, I was there as a member of the Open Source/Convergence stream; given that we are talking about Microsoft, how does Open Source come into the picture?

What many are unaware of is the amount of effort that Microsoft is now putting into the development and integration within their core product lines of many of the traditional Open Source technologies.

PHP, perl, MySql, and Ruby on Rails, for instance, are all popular Open Source technologies, and as such, are technologies that we tend to think of in terms of Linux. While the very term “LAMP stack” refers specifically to MySql and PHP. for instance, Microsoft have been looking at these technologies, and writing and contributing back to the Open Source communities thousands of lines of source code, so that these technologies may be run, side by side, with Microsoft products, in a Windows environment, as native binaries.

Yes, that’s right: perl and PHP, directly accessing MySQL, PostgreSQL or SQL Server, from within your Windows 7 desktop environment!

And as a part of tech Ed 2010, Microsoft was able to bring together a number of Australia’s leading Open Source developers, and had them meet with some of their own Open Source technologists.

Presentations were made that demonstrated and explained the efforts that Microsoft were making in this realm, and presentations from the community were made to demonstrate and explain to Microsoft some of the efforts and directions that the community were taking.

Microsoft brought to the table a number of their internal staff, including Tom Hanrahan and Eric Golpe, who are both senior technical staff within Microsoft. These guys very quickly demonstrated that they had a “hands-on” approach, with a very open attitude. They were clearly on hand to listen and become engaged with those at the coalface within the community, and their positive attitude and willingness to actively listen, discuss, offer suggestions and communicate with those present illustrates, to me, a level of engagement, professionalism and dedication that one rarely sees from an organisation of this type.

Microsoft are an organisation that we all love to criticise, and it’s important that, when kudos are due, we recognise and applaud the efforts being made. The consensus that I took away at the end of the week was that the locals involved in these efforts – and that extends to those in Singapore as well – are to be applauded and encouraged for their efforts and attitude, and that there needs to be even greater inclusion of Open Source technologies within future Tech Ed and similar events.

But what exactly is digital radio, and what does it mean for you? Do you need a new radio? Does it sound better?

Will it make you that morning cup of coffee?

OXX Classic Digital Radio

Jeremy is very well versed in the ins and outs of what digital radio is all about. Have a listen to what he has to say.

This item was originally broadcast on the Gadget grill on Sunday, August 8, 2010