Technology A to Z Part 1

If there’s at least one thing in each month’s column you find interesting, informative or useful, I figure I’ve done my job as a columnist. Here are 13 of 26 things I think fall into one or more of those categories:

Adblock Plus: If you’re one of the cool kids who uses the Firefox Web browser (www.firefox.com) instead of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, and you really hate online ads (studies show most of us don’t even really see them anymore), then Adblock Plus (www.adblockplus.org) may be for you. It completely (and nicely) removes text, image and Flash-based ads from Web pages. Of course, if you rely on Web advertising for income, you’re probably hoping this doesn’t catch on.

Blendtec: Even though most of you don’t need a blender that can demolish a rake handle or an iPhone, it’s nice to know they exist. Check out the videos at www.WillItBlend.com. This is an example of video that went totally viral—people pass it along to friends because it’s simply amazing to watch what they put into this blender. The lesson is to find something visually interesting about your product and present it in a compelling fashion.

Campfire: There are a large number of free or low-cost tools aimed at helping people work together. Campfire (www.campfirenow.com) is a terrific Web-based product for “real-time group chat,” developed by 37signals. Of course, tools like Campfire require that you adjust your style of working (which may also require that you actually think about your style of working). The good thing is, you can use Campfire for free. My favorite application is using Campfire for real-time online support.

DesignMyRoom: This just-launched online service lets you upload a photo of your room (or choose one of theirs) and then add paint, flooring, fixtures and furniture. At the moment, it appears to be a way for product manufacturers to encourage people to choose their goods. If your business does something similar (helping people create something out of component parts), you should take a minute to look at this site. (www.designmyroom.com)

EV-DO Rev A: EV-DO cards let you get reasonably high-speed network connections in most places where you can use a cell phone. Verizon and Sprint are now rolling out EV-DO Rev A, which significantly improves both download and upload speeds (25 and 800 percent, respectively). If you have an earlier ED-DO Rev 0 card and an associated contract, it can be expensive to upgrade, but Santa Rosa has Rev A access from both carriers. You can check their coverage at www.EVDOmaps.com.

FlightAware: Visit www.FlightAware.com for real-time updates every minute a commercial or private flight is in the air. It’s fun to watch, and it can be useful when you need to know if a flight has actually departed for its destination.

Google TechTalks: Many of the technical talks given at Google for the benefit of Google employees are now available for those of us who don’t work within the Googleplex. To find them, Google (of course) for “google tech talks.” Two of my favorites are “Inbox Zero” and “Human Computation” (just add these words when searching). Pick out an interesting one for your company or team, and watch it together over lunch.

Hacking Your Life: The term “life hack” originally came from a study to uncover the secrets of extremely productive programmers, but it’s now applied to any clever trick that can improve your life. Check out www.LifeHacker.com for a regular stream of tips. Better yet, subscribe to its blog feed to receive automatic notification of new items—that’s an example of a lifehack!

iPhone is the obvious choice here. I’ve played with one, and they’re definitely cool. The display is amazingly crisp, plus by owning one, you’ll clearly identify yourself as a coolhunter. Still, I’m hoping for one with GPS and higher-speed Internet connectivity than Cingular’s EDGE network, so I’ll be waiting for the second-generation iPhone to arrive (sometime in the next 12 to 18 months).

Javascript: Javascript is a programming language that Web browsers understand, making it possible for Web pages to do more than just display text or images. Don’t confuse it with the Java programming language, which is something altogether different. Javascript is the “J” in AJAX (Asynchronous Javascript and XML), which makes cool “Web 2.0” sites act more like stand-alone applications than static Web pages (Google Apps are a good example).

Kurzweil: Ray Kurzweil has tremendous credibility as a technologist, responsible for a number of firsts, including the first text-to-speech system. He specializes in predicting when technologies will become practical—and his record is good. Presently, Kurzweil estimates that, by 2050, humans will transcend biology and effectively become immortal. Given this belief, he’s actively involved in trying to extend his lifespan so he’ll be alive for “The Singularity.” If you haven’t done so, read his book The Age of Spiritual Machines, or watch his TED presentation at www.ted.com.

Lightweight, long-lasting laptops: If you travel with a laptop and long for something lightweight with a long battery life, you may want to consider something like the DELL XPS M1330, which can be ordered with a 32-gigabyte flash-memory drive instead of a hard disk. Flash drives are lighter, faster and use less power than hard drives. The disadvantage is they’re smaller (most laptops come with 80 or more gigabytes of hard disk storage) and more expensive. But as prices drop and capacity increases, this type of storage will become commonplace.

Mozy: If you want to automate the backup of your critical documents and you have a fast broadband connection at home, I highly recommend setting up a free account at Mozy (www.mozy.com). This will automatically save up to 2 gigabytes of your most critical files on Mozy’s secure servers (for $4.95 a month, you can get unlimited storage). The Mozy application automatically uploads changed files in the background, so all you have to do is identify which files and folders need to be backed up. This is about the easiest way I can think of to avoid the tragedy of a crashed hard drive.

That’s all for now. Check out my next column for the thrilling conclusion!

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