A Fool's Errand
Sir Walter Scott coined the term in 1821, in the first chapter of Kenilworth: "If I were to travel only that I might be discontented with that which I can get at home, methinks I should go but on a fool's errand." And that could be an apt description of my attempt to find the perfect portable computing device. Apparently such a device does not exist.
That doesn't mean I'm giving up, though. I've always secretly wished that someone would build a lens that would cover a range of focal lengths from 10 to 2000 mm at f/1.8, weigh less than a pound, be less than 5 inches long, and cost $200. If someone succeeded in building such a lens (and I'm fairly certain that several laws of physics would need to be broken to do so), the lens would weigh several hundred pounds, be about the size of a Smart car, and cost about as much as a brand new battleship. In other words, I'm familiar with fool's errands.
Portable computing devices come in lots of sizes and form factors: Tiny (phones), small (7" tablets), medium (10-12" tablets), netbooks (mainly RIP) and, large (notebooks and the rumored gigantic tablets). The trouble is that they're all good for something, but none of them fits into the mythical space where my previously mentioned magic lens would fit, satisfying all needs for every person..
So to continue torturing this comparison: Just as I have found that the only solution to the lens problem is to have several lenses, the solution to the portable computing problem seems to involve possessing several portable computing devices.
While a phone might be adequate for tasks such as reading and responding to e-mail, checking the time a film is scheduled to start, or finding the closest pizza place, it won't work well when it comes to reading a large Word or Excel document.
The various tablets are good choices for reviewing Word and Excel documents, using applications such as Google Earth, and reading books or magazines; but they're ineffective if you need to make substantive changes to a Word or Excel document, write a letter, or perform any task that calls for a keyboard or mouse. Just entering a password that contains upper and lower case letters, numbers, and punctuation is torturous on a virtual keyboard.
Today's notebook computers have sufficient power and performance that many people use them to replace a desktop computer. They can handle just about any task thrown at them, but they're not particularly portable. (They are considerably more portable than the first "portable" computers, such as this nearly 30-pound Compaq that had to be plugged in.)
The Battle for Superiority
I've been using a Kindle reader for years and it has proved to be an excellent choice for the one job it does well: Display e-books. I carry it to the gym for use when I'm on the stationary equipment. But it doesn't do anything else.
An Android tablet with an optional keyboard seemed like a good choice because I could load the Kindle reader and I could also use it for Web browsing and e-mail via Wi-Fi connections. It turned out to be so slow and so buggy that it took nearly 6 months to make it work acceptably and I swore that I would never buy another Asus device.
For me, the next step was to an Acer Iconia Windows 8 tablet and it is, by far, the most versatile device I own. The tablet has a large screen, runs Windows 8 on a 64-bit processor, and has sufficient RAM and solid-state-disk storage. A separate keyboard allows me to use it for light editing and a USB port makes it possible to attach a small hub for a mouse and a thumb drive. The only down side is that it's a bit heavy to hold when I'm reading a book. I've talked about this device previously it continues to be one of my favorite portable devices.
A variant on the Windows 8 tablet is already being made by some manufacturers--a tablet with a built-in keyboard, which makes the tablet nearly the equivalent of a small, ultra-light notebook computer. This convertible design represents technology that I think will be extremely popular over the next few years.
But many people consider tablets to be too large to carry around the office or on a shopping trip. Phones are too small for many tasks, but smaller tablets might be just exactly right. Tablets such as the Google Nexus 7. Google just released a second-generation Nexus 7. It's made by Asus. I bought one anyway.
The Nexus 7
The competition for the Nexus 7 is, of course, the Ipad Mini, which I didn't even consider because of its much higher price. The Nexus 7 with 32GB of memory costs less than $300 while the Ipad Mini costs more than $400. If you need cellular Internet service, the Nexus model will sell for about $350, compared to $560 for the Apple version.
The original Nexus didn't have a rear-facing camera. The second-generation Nexus does. It's a 5 megapixel camera, which sounds good, but turns out to be a fine example of megapixels not telling the entire story. The camera is, at best, mediocre. The new model also has stereo speakers and the sound is surprisingly good for such a small device.
The screen display is marvelous. Sharp. Clear. Colorful. Google says the actual screen resolution is 323 dots per inch. Keep in mind that most desktop and notebook screens have a resolution of about 100 dpi. You will see the difference.
Speed? Wow! Various published tests suggest that the Nexus 7 is the fastest device in its class and I believe it. Battery life is surprisingly good for a device with a quad (yes, quad) processor and the resulting display performance is astounding.
The operating system is version 4.3, Android "Jelly Bean", has improved significantly from the version 3 that's on the Asus Transformer. Apps still crash far too often ("XXX has stopped working") but the crashes usually take down just the app and not the entire operating system. And the whole thing weighs just a bit more than half a pound, about 10 ounces.
Google really needs to encourage those who develop apps for Android to clearly delineate between apps that work on a phone-size device and those that are intended for tablets. Apps that depend on features found on phones but not on tablets may fail to work at all and often will fail to work properly. It's frustrating to download and install something that you think will be useful only to be told, when you try to run it, that it cannot run on the Nexus 7.
The basic features such as reading books with the Kindle application, checking e-mail with K-9 Mail (the best application I've seen for e-mail on Android), watching YouTube videos, or viewing websites are all absolutely solid.
The Nexus 7 In Action
As you can tell from my main menu screen, there are lots of applications that run on an Android tablet such as the Nexus 7. My preferred e-mail application is K9 Mail (more about that in a moment) but I also have the GMail app loaded. Both Firefox and Chrome have Android versions. Although Facebook is available via the browser, there's also a specific app for Facebook and a separate page manager. The calendar function synchronizes with Google's calendar (of course).
The camera app controls the mediocre camera, after which Instagram or the Gallery take over. I can use an FTP client to move the images to a location that's accessible from home or I can e-mail the photos to myself. Or I could just plug the USB charging cable from the Nexus 7 into a port on the PC and download the images from there.
Skype allows me to make phone calls (and even video conferences) on the tablet. It uses the Wi-Fi connection because the tablet is not a phone.
One Note is indispensable (more about that later, too). Pinterest,Tumblr, YouTube, and Pulse are primarily for entertainment. Maps and Google Earth have some overlap, but I consider both to be useful. The scanner app allows me to listen to airplanes, trains, police departments, and fire departments all over the world. Pandora and Spotify tune in Internet "radio" stations and play any music that I've installed locally. MailChimp gives me direct access to the service that sends the weekly TechByter newsletter.
Kindle, Nook, and Play Books all provide a way to read free and purchased books and magazines. The Play Store and Amazon are sources of additional content. The OfficeSuite is an app that makes it possible to view files from most Microsoft Office applications. I have a link to the weather forecast, a shopping list, a bar code and QR scanner, and a calculator.
The icons you'll see at the bottom of the screen are present regardless of which menu screen I'm on (the tablet has 5 menu screens) and this is where I place apps that I want to have available at all times: An FTP client, Wikipedia, WikiHow, the default "All Apps" icon, LastPass, a Wi-Fi locater, and the Setup function.
This is the Wi-Fi finder displaying the available free and paid Wi-Fi hot spots in downtown Columbus.
I can also run an app that listens for Wi-Fi signals and tells me what the SSID is.
Google Now is a new feature that you might consider to be incredibly useful or distressingly creepy. If you allow the Nexus 7 to identify your location, it will watch where you go and when, build information about your schedule, and then attempt to offer useful information. Accessing Google Now uses the main menu button, but instead of tapping it, you swipe it upwards. This tells Google Now to display whatever "cards" it feels are appropriate. Each "card" displays a certain type of information.
You'll probably see the weather forecast. Possibly you'll see an estimate for how long it will take you to drive your normal route to work, based on the current time and traffic. If you're a sports fan, you might see recent scores. In other words, Google knows what you'll be looking for before you do. Using Google Now turns on location reporting and location history; if you've also turned on Google’s location service and GPS, that information is also used along with information you've stored in other Google products--searches, website history and your Google calendar, for example.
If this creeps you out, just turn it off. But if you're a realist who recognizes that privacy has been little more than an illusion for decades, you might enjoy using it.
The service will remind you of birthdays, flight times, stock prices, and nearby events. It can display information about packages when you receive a shipping or delivery notice, restaurant reservations, and information about new music or books that might interest you. If you're near a popular spot where tourists take photos, Google Now will remind you. The list is long and Google probably isn't finished developing it yet.
There's nothing particularly remarkable about the calendar. As you would expect, it synchronizes with your online version of the Google Calendar, which is handy. And, as I mentioned, if you use Google Now, it links to the calendar to provide timely alerts.
This is the Android version of Microsoft's OneNote, the organizer that I use to keep track of what's coming up on future editions of TechByter Worldwide.
Because I store the OneNote files on SkyDrive, I have immediate access to the latest information whenever I'm within range of a Wi-Fi connection. Any changes I make here will be reflected on the desktop or notebook computers where OneNote is installed.
Unfortunately, the Android app isn't able to open any pages that are secured with a password.
Maybe everyone doesn't need an FTP client, but I use FTP servers to handle large files that I don't want to transfer via e-mail. There are lots of ways to store and transfer files these days and I could certainly perform some of those functions automatically with one of the many cloud-based storage services.
In some ways, it's like driving a stick-shift car. Although I do use cloud-based storage for some files, there are others that don't need to be updated constantly. I upload these manually only when I explicitly want to update them.
AndFTP is available in a free version, but I paid a few dollars to license the full version because it handles all of the various secure FTP protocols and because the developers have created a surprisingly clever interface that takes into account the extremely limited screen real estate on a small tablet.
Android devices come with an app called Mail and you can use the GMail app if you're a GMail fan. I have my own domains and several addresses, so a better solution for me is a true e-mail program.
K9 Mail is the best mail client I've found for Android devices because it acts like an e-mail client on a larger system and because it can be set to use the IMAP protocol instead of POP3. The explanation for why this is my preference depends on understanding the difference between Post Office Protocol (POP) and Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP). The primary difference is that POP downloads messages to your computer while IMAP accesses messages on the server.
My primary desktop computer is set to use POP so that messages are downloaded to it for permanent storage. The tablet and all other devices use IMAP because it eliminates the need to routinely delete messages from the portable mail readers. Because of space and time considerations, that's a highly truncated explanation of the process. If you'd like to hear more about e-mail management strategies, let me know.
I mentioned that the camera is mediocre and that's evident in this photograph.
If you click the small image to see the larger version, what you'll see is still only about half the size of the image that comes out of the camera. Even at this reduced size the luminance noise and particularly the chrominance noise are readily apparent. (Look particularly in the shadow by the cat's ear for some particularly egregious chrominance noise.)
What this tells me is that the sensor is tiny, but you'd expect that in a device such as this. Small sensors are noisy and this sensor is very noisy.
If you want a good picture, don't use the camera in most any tablet.
On the other hand, the best possible camera is the one you have.
I noticed that Percy's claw was stuck. Only Percy could get his claw stuck in a blanket while lying on his back and stretching. I was able to get the picture because I had the tablet in my hand. If I had retrieved the SLR from across the room, I would have obtained a much higher quality picture, but by then Percy would have managed to extricate his claw and would no longer look like a cat in the middle of a feline holdup.
So if you're looking for the one ideal portable computing device, good luck! I haven't been able to find one yet and don't really expect to. Our needs and our desires are simply so diverse that no single device is likely to suffice for all. Just as today's cameras come with lenses that cover a much wider range than in the past, you might find a device that is suitable for a range of your activities, but you'll still need the computing equivalent of that super-wide or extra-long telephoto lens at least occasionally.
Finding Wi-Fi Hotspots (Catch 22)
If you're traveling or just wandering around your town, you might need a Wi-Fi hotspot. Finding one would be easy if you were online because you could just use a service such as JI Wire's directory. But if you're already online, you don't need to find a Wi-Fi hotspot. A phone with a cellular access plan would give you access to a directory such as the one JI Wire provides, but if you have a Wi-Fi only device, you're out of luck. Or are you?
What you need is a wardriving tool. Wardriving involves searching for open Wi-Fi networks, typically by someone in a moving vehicle and by using a notebook computer, smartphone, or some other portable device. It used to be considered questionable ethically because so many people and businesses unknowingly left their connections open. Now most people who have Wi-Fi access points that they want to remain private know enough to protect them.
The software developed for wardriving is now frequently used to find open Wi-Fi connections that are intentionally open, but they're also used by network administrators to identify security problems. There are applications such as NetStumbler, InSSIDer, Ekahau Heat Mapper, and the WarDrive ToolBox for Windows computers and other tools for Macs and Linux computers.
In general, these tools are relatively complex and some of them are available only as paid applications following a trial period.
The WarDrive ToolBox, for example, includes media access control (MAC) address spoofing, wireless LAN configuration toggling, tests to explore new connection, a packet sniffer to view all traffic on the network, and a bunch of networking tools. Network technicians, criminals, and the National Security Agency might want these. The average person who's looking for a Wi-Fi connection just needs to know the service set identification (SSID) and possibly a bit more.
For that, all you need is a free tool such as the Wi-Fi Info Viewer from NirSoft. Developer Nir Sofer writes small, easy-to-use utilities that do what they're supposed to do and usually don't even require installation. Just unzip the files and run the executable. This means that Sofer's applications can often just be copied to a thumb drive and run from there.
This is the case with the Wi-Fi Info Viewer, which displays the network name (SSID), MAC address, PHY type (such as 802.11g or 802.11n), signal strength and quality, frequency, channel number, maximum speed, the manufacturer of the Wi-Fi router, its model number, the router name (for routers that have names), and more.
That's all you need and it's free from NirSoft.
Short Circuits
Windows 8.1 Available in October and Investors Sue
Microsoft has announced that the 8.1 update for Windows will be available starting on October 19th. The update probably won't silence those who feel that any change is a bad change and it certainly won't placate a gang of investors that has filed suit against Microsoft, claiming that the company has been hiding losses related to its Surface RT tablet.
If you're a Windows 8 user, the upgrade will be a free download. So far, sales of Windows 8 have been lower than anticipated, in part because so many computer pundits seem to fear change and have transferred that fear to home and office buyers. But the low sales are also partly the result of the trend toward hand-held devices. Because people have been spending money on those smaller devices, some have delayed buying a new desktop or notebook computer.
A public preview of Windows 8.1 was made available in June and it will continue to be available until October 19, but I don't recommend installing it on a machine that you're actively using for work or play because the eventual upgrade to the full 8.1 version will require a clean installation. The update will install properly over an existing version 8 installation. So wait for the update is my advice.
A somewhat related class action suit filed in Massachusetts says that Microsoft has hidden losses related to the new Surface RT tablet. The RT is the tablet that appears to be running Windows 8 but actually runs a special version of Windows that cannot power traditional Windows programs.
Last Month Microsoft reported its quarterly earnings and took a $900 million write-off for inventory adjustments and the recent 30% price cut made to boost sales of the RT. The suit says that Microsoft materially misrepresented the "true financial effect" that the tablet was having on the company's business and that it failed to tell investors about the excess inventory of Surface RT tablets.
After Microsoft released the earnings statement, the company's stock fell 8% and wiped out about $20 billion worth of market value. The suit seeks to recover damages for shareholders who invested between April 18th and July 18th of this year. According to the suit, failing to alert shareholders was a violation of generally accepted accounting principles as well as SEC rules and regulations.
In a spate of somewhat over-the-top grandiloquence, the law firm Robbins, Geller, Rudman, & Dowd wrote: "What Defendants knew, but failed to disclose to investors, however, was that Microsoft's foray into the tablet market was an unmitigated disaster, which left it with a large accumulation of excess, over-valued Surface RT inventory. Defendants' materially false and misleading conduct enabled Microsoft to forestall Surface RT's day of reckoning and delay what would be tantamount to an admission by the Company that its all-important entry into the tablet market had been a failure."
Perhaps the judge will be impressed by "unmitigated disaster", the redundant "large accumulation of excess", "tantamount", and "forestall". Apparently someone at the law firm owns a thesaurus.
Cisco Dumps Another 4000 Employees
Cisco Systems plans to lay off about 5% of its workforce because of what the company describes as a challenging global economic climate. The announcement was made at the same time that Cisco announced its 4th-quarter earnings, which were better than expected.
It's middle managers that CEO John Chambers is gunning for. In a conference call with investors this week, Chambers said "We've got to take out middle-level management." What he meant by that, Chambers said, is that the company needs to implement new procedures and develop products faster. By eliminating middle managers, Chambers believes that Cisco can react more quickly to changing economic conditions.
While a 5% cut in employment might not seem like a lot, when the company employs 80,000 people, 5% is 4000 jobs, 4000 employees, and 4000 families.
Cisco reported earnings of $2.27 billion for the 4th quarter. That's about 42 cents a share. Last year, Cisco earned $1.92 billion in the 4th quarter, or about 36 cents per share.
Cisco sells networking software and services, telephone and videoconferencing systems, and other hardware that's used throughout business and industry.
No Time for the Times
Just about every day at lunch I sit down with a copy of the New York Times on a Windows 8 tablet, but on Wednesday the site just wasn't there. A momentary glitch, I thought, but pressing the Refresh button simply refreshed the error message. The site still wasn't back when I finished lunch, but CNN, CNBC, and other news outlets were reporting the outage. A cyberattack? Actually, no.
Earlier this year, the newspaper charged that Chinese hackers had infiltrated the company's internal network to seek reporters' user names and passwords, and that the hackers were actively and repeatedly attacking the newspaper's website.
The failure on Wednesday was not related to those attacks. The website went off-line shortly after 11am and wasn't back until after 1pm, and then only sporadically. The Times would be an attractive target, but that wasn't the case. As an article by Noam Cohen in Thursday's edition noted, the site went dark moments after a scheduled maintenance update was pushed out.
It wasn't until 3pm on Wednesday that the site had stabilized sufficiently that new articles could be posted.
The outage was an event on Twitter and Cohen noted a tweet by Ezra Klein of The Washington Post: "What, you thought Jeff Bezos was going to buy the Post and play defense?"
Going around the website, editors and writers for the Opinion section of the newspaper started posting updates to Twitter. Cohen noted "the failure was reminiscent of a power blackout. As it happens, Wednesday was the 10th anniversary of the East Coast blackout."