Best PC Utility - PC Wizard

This is one of my favorite Windows PC utilities. It's called PC Wizard. It provides very detailed and accurate information on your computer. I have used it often on Dell's and Apple computers (when running on the Windows-side using BootCamp or even under a VM like Parallels). The details it provides are amazing: CPU and hard disk temperature gauges, current processor speed, memory/RAM details... stuff that most operating systems don't provide. A nice to have feature would be the ability to log time-indexed information like processor speed, temperature and so forth. That way you can see how intensively is the machine being used.

Books

Books I am reading (to be continuously updated)

• Charlie Wilson's War by George Crille
• Legacy of Ashes, the History of CIA by Tim Weiner
• Inside the Tornado by Geoffrey Moore
  

TV advertising

Some thoughts on advertisements on television.

Good Ones (i.e. enjoyable for the viewer, hold their attention and get the message across)

• Vytorin (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBfWybm0218) - Jan 5, 2008
  

Vytorin is a heart-condition pill. Unlike competitors who scare the hell out of you by showing clogged arteries and falling down people these guys show nice food and match it in with people dressed 'like' the food. There's too much pharmaceutical advertising on TV, especially during the evening news hour, to pay attention to anything. If TV is to be my doctor atleast make it informative and not over the top emotional. I am here to enjoy the entertainment and relax, not be reminded of all the personal problems. So anything that is pleasant enough and not loud enough to distract me from getting the real message of the ad is a plus. If I am to watch a 3 hour football game on TV I need to keep my senses in check with all the gazillion ads who drive people to hit the Tivo fast forward button.

-> I wish TV makers provided a voice command for mute (so I can yell 'mute' when the ads start) or atleast provide a really large mute button in the most obvious place on the remote (reachable by the thumb). I'll take the visuals, but no audio. That way I can watch a 3 hour game and not wind up as a hyper and tired zombie.

Bad Ones

MacWorld 2008 Wishlist

Here's my personal wishlist on the computer side. Some of this has already been speculated in the press by analysts and reporters. But here's the wishlist of features that I, as a user, want.

1. Longer battery life
My MacBook has a decent battery life (~ 2.5-3 hours), but not enough to last a cross-country 4-5 hour plane trip. And lugging a large extra battery defeats the purpose of buying a 13" small laptop.

Now if this comes through a NAND-flash based 'permanent' storage or new battery technologies, I don't really care. If NAND-flash also decreases weight, even better! Tiger does start up fairly fast (from cold start or sleep) so I have no complaints/needs on that side.

2. Blu-Ray DVD support for Media Center for Music & Movies:
I plan to use my new Mac (iMac/mini/MacBook whatever it is) as a true media center connected to the LCD HDTV. FrontRow is outright excellent in playing movies, videos and music (and also for pictures) with its simple 6-button remote. In comparison the 50 button DVD remote gives me fits whether its dark or not. Blu-Ray support is key to ensuring the future of this vision.

3. Better multi-monitor support (I don't know the answer but there has to be a way)

At work I have a 20" LCD connected to my MacBook to increase the screen real estate available. Usually my office email or a browser window is always open there. Or sometimes a second spreadsheet or document that I am referring to while writing/editing the main one. This is incredibly useful not having to repeatedly alternate between windows - yes a real productivity booster.

Mac OS X loves Fitt's law, and I love the ability to just blindly hit/push the mouse to the top of the screen and always find the menu. (Also useful are the 4 hot corners, for setting up screensavers, all windows...). But this means that OS X sticks the menu's either to the main display or to the secondary display. Either way the applications in the 'other' window have no menu's. So if you have Excel in the 'secondary' window you have to go to the main window to click on a toolbar or menu item!

I have not seen a good solution to this problem. I am surprised that other users have not complained or solved this problem, given the large number of graphics experts who use Mac's and typically use multiple displays for their work. Also a lot of people at home are starting to use multiple displays, so pretty soon (I hope) the ratio of multi-display users tilts over 20% to get some attention.

May be a solution is to allow users to duplicate the menu & toolbar on every display on which the application has a window. Just one checkbox in the preferences window. Not sure if this is something the OS alone can do, or it requires all applications to support. If its the later, "Dear Mac Business Unit Product Manager at Microsoft, ...."

4. Hardware upgrade for the Mac mini

5. Lower prices for the wireless keyboard and mouse.

Yes, the other speculated things would be nice too...

• Rental of movies will truly make the media center vision for Mac's a practically reality. Even though I have a Netflix-enabled computer connected to the LCD HDTV (via VGA/RGB)... you still have to browse via a web interface on the computer to select your movie and without any remote control. And ofcourse Netflix online movies do not work on Mac's (until the Silverlight version comes out - if it does).
  
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VPN setup for Mac OS X Tiger (10.4.x)

I connect to a Microsoft Windows Server 2000 VPN and these instructions (PPTP) work.

1. UCLA: http://www.bol.ucla.edu/services/vpn/pptp/docs/macosx.html
2. UMass: https://people.chem.umass.edu/wiki/index.php?title=VPN_-_Connect_from_Mac_OS_X_Tiger

• The UCLA site has instructions for both Tiger and Leopard (10.5.x).

• Leopard VPN setup has an additional option that allows you to decide whether Internet traffic (non-VPN, like Google or Yahoo) will go through the VPN (i.e. tunneled through your organization's network) or through your local Internet connection (typically your ISP). But on a colleague's MacBook with Leopard upgrade this feature did not work. Even when the bypass option was enabled the default route was still through the VPN. Seems like a bug.
  
• Most companies typically do not allow such a bypass while connected over the VPN for security reasons. The IT admins fear of a security risk: you are browsing on some Internet site that runs a malicious program on your computer while it is also connected to the company's network, exposing it to danger. They control this by installing the VPN client themselves and lockdown the options. This can be done easily on domain controlled Windows. Not sure if this restriction can be done easily on Mac's.
  
• The UMass site has instructions on how to setup Tiger for doing the bypass. Ofcourse you have to follow these instructions everytime you connect via VPN. You can write a little script to automate this, assuming your default route at every location you connect from (home, coffee shop, friend's home...) are fixed. But this is a very useful feature when you are at home checking baseball scores while downloading company email. You may not want the traffic to the baseball site to go through the company's Internet connection. Hence the bypass!
  

Review of Brother MFC 465cn (Multi-Page Scanner)

Brother MFC 465cn (Amazon.com)

I've used Brother products mostly at work and found them to be functional no-nonsense products with the right features for SOHO (small office / home office) users. Although the feeder of our workplace Brother MFC device is busted... but these things never last too long, not more than a few (5K-10K) 1000 pages due to dust and wear/tear.

My main reasons for buying this multi-function center (Brother MFC 465cn) device:

* Multi-page scan and fax (now I can scan in multiple documents, one by one from the feeder instead of being forced to use the flat bed, which is also an option for scanning larger or original/certificate-style documents that should not be put in a feeder). There are few/none low end products with this capability. You either get flat bed or heavy duty feeder machines that cost over $250.

==> The main value of this feature & my primary reason for buying this device is to scan all my important documents in to PDF for long term preservation. This is to reduce the number of copies of original I have to keep and anywhere access of digital documents. Not sure how well their OCR software will read the text in the documents. If it does read most of the stuff and that content is searchable via Spotlight/Google Desktop/Vista - whoohoo!

* Good software (PaperPort LE for Windows (XP & Vista) and PageManager for Mac OS X (10.4.1 and later I believe) for converting docs to PDF

* Network connectivity using Ethernet - connect it to a network hub/router and share it! And ofcourse it also supports USB.

* Decent price for refill cartridges (slightly higher than Epson & Canon but not mind bending, pocket busting prices like Lexmark). I don't care much for the inkjet color/photo printing since I don't need it and have a cheap & efficient Samsung (ML1040) black & white laser printer. For photo printing I'd rather go to retail stores since I don't print too many photos. But it can be useful for emergencies.

* Light-weight driver installation. I agree with the other reviewer that HP needs to take a good look at their software and reduce the bloat. Even Epson has some heavy duty stuff. Running their (HP, Epson & others) software at startup slows down the computer and the tray icons are just too distracting or hard to remove. Can't stress this point enough!

* A minor factor: Silver black finish, the flat top of this product makes it easier to pack and move if you lose the original box.

* And the rest, the usual: multi-function fax/scan/copy/print, multiple-memory card support, USB support.

After use review: 3-4 hours of solid usage

• Setup is a breeze on both Mac & Windows: install software, connect device and boom you are ready.
  
• Mac version of the software is not fun at all, gives out poor quality scans even at high resolution, chokes at handling large files and converting to PDF. PageManager looks like a OS 9 version of the software even though Activity Manager reports it to be an Intel version. Will investigate if there is any way to improve this since MacBook is my primary 'pooter.
  
• Windows software supplied (PaperPort LE and Brother's software) is excellent at scanning multiple pages, naming them and managing them at a basic level.
  
• MFC has some problems in handling non-standard paper sizes (like W-2's which are a tad wider than A4, but longer than Letter size and have words from one edge to the other, thank you IRS). Using the feeder or flatbed did not help much.
  
• The feeder works pretty well with original documents too, so far.
• The low height of the MFC means that it can easily fit in printer shelves of computer desks which rarely have a lot of room
  

iPhone 2.0 wishlist

In descending order of importance:

• All features in the current iPhone with following improvements/changes
• Faster network connectivity: UMTS + HSDPA
• A-GPS with navigation software
• Full blown SDK for secure 3rd party software development
• Microsoft Exchange support (atleast email and calendar)
• Export all iPhone settings and data for backup & restore
• Stereo Bluetooth
• Louder ringer/speaker/alarm
• WiFi support (802.11b atleast)
• Larger or auxiliary/augmented battery
• Detachable keyboard
• Anti-slip side material for those who want to show it off in the nude (i.e no case)

Obviously usability and Apple elegance of the touch interface is paramount. All else can and should be sacrificed in favor of usability.

Other Comments & Features of Interest:

• GPS: Throwing in a GPS chip without good navigation software (something Apple excels at) is not a good idea, but may be acceptable if the SDK allows full GPS access. GPS integrated with Google Maps is fine too if they can't get Navteq (after the Nokia buyout) directly or TeleAtlas (TomTom); although Google does use NAVTEQ...
• GPS: Additional location based services (LBS) support/software would be nice, but the SDK will bring a whole community of developers that will improve this. Yes, this includes location awareness, 'mobile social' interactiveness: friend alerter/warner (you're walking in the mall, 'friend' alert, hide!).
• Keyboard: might be a good idea to allow an attachable physical keyboard for the trigger happy community. Most people don't need to type so much that the touch keyboard is an issue.
• Battery: everything sucks juice and an auxillary/augmented battery could look ugly, but if this can be done within design and aesthetics concerns, then more power to me, the user. A slightly thicker iPhone won't be a bad idea and might make it a little more grippable/non-slip.
• Camera: A non-camera version for enterprise, government and military-related users who are often restricted in using camera-enabled devices within secure facilities.

Pricing

iPhone 1.0: $399
3G+ + $ 50
GPS + $ 150
Huh? - $ 100 (let's call this amortized initial R & D cost)
---------------------
Total = $499

$499 is very justifiable on a pure value basis:

• $150 for a basic smartphone
• $200 for a basic GPS (atleast $50 more if free traffic data is included. Navigon sells lifetime traffic update for ~$80-100)
• $150 for a 4GB iPod (not just an mp3 player)
• $25 in accessories saved from having to buy and lug only one set of cables (USB car charger is the only cable to purchase, the USB to iPhone cable provided by Apple can connect to a car charger or a laptop. Perhaps a wall charger for the non-laptop carrying folks).

Total: $525
And this does not include the excellent usability, Apple cachet and the fact that iPhone 1.0 is much more than a basic smartphone.

I have not put a direct price on software because people directly discount that from consideration. It's strange, I would value MSFT Exchange support (email & calendar) almost as much as GPS + nav. software, but would be uncomfortable paying $100 for enabling Exchange support (out of my pocket, the company's money is another matter). But software, especially from Apple, does translate into usability, brand awareness and ultimately customer lock-in. Same goes for the touch interface and ability to read and surf regular web pages crisply. Its hard to value those features individually, but they are really make or break decisions in buying the gadget. Don't know if there are any (or what are the) specific economic terms for software features like these. Yet standalone software (does not mean non-network connected software) that delivers a specific value can be priced and sold much more easily than add-on software features compared to add-on hardware.

And after that launch let's start with iPhone 3.0 wishlist...