What to look for in 2012

It is a new year and time to take a look into my digital crystal ball and try to divine some trends, products and services that might surface on the digital landscape in 2012. Making predictions is never an easy task, nevertheless I think there are some trends that started in 2011 and will carry over into the New Year.

Tablets, especially the iPad, were very popular holiday gifts last year. These devices which merge the functionality of lap tops, mobile phones and eReaders will become even more commonplace in 2012. Already there are thousands of “apps” for tablets. Most are now aimed at the general consumer. In this coming year you will see specialized apps for specific industries. Medical charting, warehouse inventory control and student textbooks will all migrate to tablet platforms. The vision of Jon Luc Piccard reviewing the Enterprise’s operations ( http://schulzlibrary.wordpress.com/tag/jean-luc-picard/ )using a hand held tablet that once seemed far fetched will become common place.

With so many devices and services now wireless, there will be an increased need to carve out more bandwidth. The electromagnetic spectrum, the place where all these wireless channels hang out, is finite. The TV you watch, the phone calls you receive all rely on a small piece of the spectrum. Even that garage door opener needs a channel to operate.

In the late 90s the government converted all US TV channels to digital. One of the reasons was to free up some spectrum space. While some was recovered, it proved to be inadequate as more and more wireless services proliferated. Look for the government to take another look at compressing the spectrum used by radio and TV stations so channel can be opened for your Android or iPhone.

2012 looks to be the year that the auto industry turns up the digital volume. I don’t think I will see an iCar during my morning commute, but the dashboards on many new models will spot new digital features like in-car wifi, Internet radio and more sophisticated real time diagnostics beamed back to your dealer.

Don’t forget … I will be offering “A Digital Survivor’s Guide” at the Harrison Library. This 2-part presentation covers new technologies, services and devices. Part 1: Monday, January 16 and Part 2: Monday, January 23. Both run from 6:30-8:30 p.m. Please register in advance for both sessions. Call (513) 369-4442 or email Harrison@CincinnatiLibrary.org. If you have suggestions for what you would like covered in these informal non-technical sessions, drop me an email.

What to look for in 2012

It is a new year and time to take a look into my digital crystal ball and try to divine some trends, products and services that might surface on the digital landscape in 2012. Making predictions is never an easy task, nevertheless I think there are some trends that started in 2011 and will carry over into the New Year.

Tablets, especially the iPad, were very popular holiday gifts last year. These devices which merge the functionality of lap tops, mobile phones and eReaders will become even more commonplace in 2012. Already there are thousands of “apps” for tablets. Most are now aimed at the general consumer. In this coming year you will see specialized apps for specific industries. Medical charting, warehouse inventory control and student textbooks will all migrate to tablet platforms. The vision of Jon Luc Piccard reviewing the Enterprise’s operations ( http://schulzlibrary.wordpress.com/tag/jean-luc-picard/ )using a hand held tablet that once seemed far fetched will become common place.

With so many devices and services now wireless, there will be an increased need to carve out more bandwidth. The electromagnetic spectrum, the place where all these wireless channels hang out, is finite. The TV you watch, the phone calls you receive all rely on a small piece of the spectrum. Even that garage door opener needs a channel to operate.

In the late 90s the government converted all US TV channels to digital. One of the reasons was to free up some spectrum space. While some was recovered, it proved to be inadequate as more and more wireless services proliferated. Look for the government to take another look at compressing the spectrum used by radio and TV stations so channel can be opened for your Android or iPhone.

2012 looks to be the year that the auto industry turns up the digital volume. I don’t think I will see an iCar during my morning commute, but the dashboards on many new models will spot new digital features like in-car wifi, Internet radio and more sophisticated real time diagnostics beamed back to your dealer.

Don’t forget … I will be offering “A Digital Survivor’s Guide” at the Harrison Library. This 2-part presentation covers new technologies, services and devices. Part 1: Monday, January 16 and Part 2: Monday, January 23. Both run from 6:30-8:30 p.m. Please register in advance for both sessions. Call (513) 369-4442 or email Harrison@CincinnatiLibrary.org. If you have suggestions for what you would like covered in these informal non-technical sessions, drop me an email.

A Look Back

At the end of each year it has been my custom to take a look into the year ahead and highlight what I feel will be some major developments in the digital world. Any prediction, be it the weather for the next day or the success on Sunday at Paul Brown Stadium is, at best, a dangerous practice. Predictions about the digital world are no exception. So before looking ahead to next year, let’s see how I did with my crystal ball this year.

One of my major predictions had to do with the increase in “cloud computing” for both individuals and businesses. I said that more and more of our information, both public and personal, would be stored on and retrieved from large centrally located cloud servers. Our personal calendars, contact lists, correspondence, medical history, entertainment and embarrassing party videos will reside not on our personal computer’s hard drive, but on drives shared by our neighbors.

For sure that has happened. Apple’s iCloud service is absolutely integral to several applications running on the iPhone and iPad. The new Kindle Fire, as well as the original Kindle models, all have cloud support hosted by Amazon.com. The music we hear, the movies we watch and even the money we make are being stored in the cloud.

I predicted an increase in online access to movies and TV programs and a trending away from traditional cable and satellite services. Cable subscriptions are down especially among the younger more digitally aware generation. Even TV ownership numbers among the 20-something generation is flagging as they watch TV on their iPads and other tablets. This past year also saw missteps by NetFlix as they struggled with changing their company from a “snail mail” based DVD library to a delivery system using broadband Internet.

While the smart phone has not yet morphed into an electronic wallet as I had predicted, other non-traditional retailing applications have increased. For example, there is an increased use of electronic coupons. Price comparison apps for smart phones are commonplace.

So all in all my predictions were close. Next week I will go out on a limb and peer into 2012.

A reminder… In January I will be offering “A Digital Survivor’s Guide” at the Harrison Library. This 2-part presentation covers new technologies, services and devices. Part 1: Monday, January 16 and Part 2: Monday, January 23. Both run from 6:30-8:30 p.m. Please register in advance for both sessions. Call (513) 369-4442 or email Harrison@CincinnatiLibrary.org.

A Look Back

At the end of each year it has been my custom to take a look into the year ahead and highlight what I feel will be some major developments in the digital world. Any prediction, be it the weather for the next day or the success on Sunday at Paul Brown Stadium is, at best, a dangerous practice. Predictions about the digital world are no exception. So before looking ahead to next year, let’s see how I did with my crystal ball this year.

One of my major predictions had to do with the increase in “cloud computing” for both individuals and businesses. I said that more and more of our information, both public and personal, would be stored on and retrieved from large centrally located cloud servers. Our personal calendars, contact lists, correspondence, medical history, entertainment and embarrassing party videos will reside not on our personal computer’s hard drive, but on drives shared by our neighbors.

For sure that has happened. Apple’s iCloud service is absolutely integral to several applications running on the iPhone and iPad. The new Kindle Fire, as well as the original Kindle models, all have cloud support hosted by Amazon.com. The music we hear, the movies we watch and even the money we make are being stored in the cloud.

I predicted an increase in online access to movies and TV programs and a trending away from traditional cable and satellite services. Cable subscriptions are down especially among the younger more digitally aware generation. Even TV ownership numbers among the 20-something generation is flagging as they watch TV on their iPads and other tablets. This past year also saw missteps by NetFlix as they struggled with changing their company from a “snail mail” based DVD library to a delivery system using broadband Internet.

While the smart phone has not yet morphed into an electronic wallet as I had predicted, other non-traditional retailing applications have increased. For example, there is an increased use of electronic coupons. Price comparison apps for smart phones are commonplace.

So all in all my predictions were close. Next week I will go out on a limb and peer into 2012.

A reminder… In January I will be offering “A Digital Survivor’s Guide” at the Harrison Library. This 2-part presentation covers new technologies, services and devices. Part 1: Monday, January 16 and Part 2: Monday, January 23. Both run from 6:30-8:30 p.m. Please register in advance for both sessions. Call (513) 369-4442 or email Harrison@CincinnatiLibrary.org.

Don't Let Your Data Get Lost in the Cloud

Last week we discussed some major changes in the way we access, use, and store information on our home and/or office computers or on many other digital devices. Since I first discussed cloud computing in this column about six months ago, this trend continues to accelerate. Our data, once stored on drives within our computers, are now stored on the cloud. The cloud being one of many large servers interconnected via the Internet.

For sure, the benefits of using the cloud for storage are many. Our pictures, music, documents and financial records are safely stored and backed up. They can be accessed from anyplace we can get access to the Internet. When the computer fails or our smart phone is lost, we still have all the information. Sounds good to me.

But, using these free and pay cloud services can make us lazy and may provide a false sense of security. Remember, you must have access to the Internet to have access to your data. I know that at my house and office Internet access is reliable but there are times when it is not available. Storms, power outages, failures with Cincinnati Bell or Time Warner’s equipment can keep us off the net.

Most of the free or low cost cloud services do not guarantee that data will always be there. While it is unlikely, even large servers with many levels of redundancy can experience catastrophic failures. Why take a chance?

The best way to be sure that your data is safe and accessible is to make sure that you keep back up copies. Storing family pictures on Flickr or Snapfish is a wonderful way to organize and share your pictures with loved ones, but these Internet services should not be the only place you have copies.

For important files like family photos or financial or tax information, you should make copies and place them in a safe place. Since most computers can burn DVD or CD discs, you can periodically make copies for only pennies. In fact, making two copies of the files takes only a minute or two. You keep one and ask a relative or friend to keep the second copy. Most of us can store all the critical files we need on a few discs so it is not a real burden to ask a friend to keep an 8x10 envelope containing the DVDs in their closet or sock drawer.

If for some reason you can’t gain access to your files stored in the cloud and your DVD copy is damaged by fire or flood, the second copy stored at another location will be a life saver. It really comes down to the old saying: “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.”

Don't Let Your Data Get Lost in the Cloud

Last week we discussed some major changes in the way we access, use, and store information on our home and/or office computers or on many other digital devices. Since I first discussed cloud computing in this column about six months ago, this trend continues to accelerate. Our data, once stored on drives within our computers, are now stored on the cloud. The cloud being one of many large servers interconnected via the Internet.

For sure, the benefits of using the cloud for storage are many. Our pictures, music, documents and financial records are safely stored and backed up. They can be accessed from anyplace we can get access to the Internet. When the computer fails or our smart phone is lost, we still have all the information. Sounds good to me.

But, using these free and pay cloud services can make us lazy and may provide a false sense of security. Remember, you must have access to the Internet to have access to your data. I know that at my house and office Internet access is reliable but there are times when it is not available. Storms, power outages, failures with Cincinnati Bell or Time Warner’s equipment can keep us off the net.

Most of the free or low cost cloud services do not guarantee that data will always be there. While it is unlikely, even large servers with many levels of redundancy can experience catastrophic failures. Why take a chance?

The best way to be sure that your data is safe and accessible is to make sure that you keep back up copies. Storing family pictures on Flickr or Snapfish is a wonderful way to organize and share your pictures with loved ones, but these Internet services should not be the only place you have copies.

For important files like family photos or financial or tax information, you should make copies and place them in a safe place. Since most computers can burn DVD or CD discs, you can periodically make copies for only pennies. In fact, making two copies of the files takes only a minute or two. You keep one and ask a relative or friend to keep the second copy. Most of us can store all the critical files we need on a few discs so it is not a real burden to ask a friend to keep an 8x10 envelope containing the DVDs in their closet or sock drawer.

If for some reason you can’t gain access to your files stored in the cloud and your DVD copy is damaged by fire or flood, the second copy stored at another location will be a life saver. It really comes down to the old saying: “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.”

More "Clouds" on the Computer Horizon

It is getting cloudier these days. Don’t look for any heavy rains to quench our parched lawns but you may see some major changes in the way you access, use, and store information on your home and/or office computers or many other digital devices. I first discussed cloud computing in this column about six months ago. Since then the trend of migrating data, once stored on drives within your computer, to the cloud continues to accelerate.

At one point home and office computers were designed to handle all of your tasks with internal computational power. The data was in your machine. Computers were touted as having large capacity disk drives and faster processing power. Today you will see advertised laptops, netbooks, smart phones and other devices with relatively small internal storage capacity and modest internal processing power. This is possible because your programs and data are not stored on your machine. Rather, the data are sent to the cloud via the internet and the actual programs are running on very large computer servers located at datacenters around the world.

There is a famous quote by Thomas Watson, the former Chairman of IBM. In 1943 he said "I think there is a world market for maybe five computers." In the years following that statement he was roundly ridiculed as computers became ubiquitous companions to most every facet of modern life. In retrospect, he may have been right on target.
What we are seeing today might be more than five large computers serving the world’s
needs, but for sure the trend is fewer “real” computers and millions of portable devices connected to them.

A few weeks ago, Steve Jobs, the flamboyant Founder and CEO of Apple held a press conference to release a new model of the MacBook Air. This newest laptop offering is less than an inch thick and weighs about the same as most fast food meals. This powerful but svelte machine from Apple has neither a hard drive nor any type of optical disc drive. You can’t insert a CD or DVD. Rather, the machine is designed to store a limited amount of data within the machine’s flash memory and use the Internet to connect to the cloud where all the heavy lifting and storage will be handled. So there is no more waiting for a DVD to come from Netflix. You will just log on to the Netflix site.

Many of us already use cloud computing without our knowing it. We store and share our pictures on Flickr or Snapfish. We listen to music on our computer or phone using Pandora. We have our calendars and address books stored on Goggle. Look for many more services to become available as the computing skies become cloudier.

Cloud computing does not come without some potential downsides. Next week we will look at some of the negative aspects and what you can do to address them.

More "Clouds" on the Computer Horizon

It is getting cloudier these days. Don’t look for any heavy rains to quench our parched lawns but you may see some major changes in the way you access, use, and store information on your home and/or office computers or many other digital devices. I first discussed cloud computing in this column about six months ago. Since then the trend of migrating data, once stored on drives within your computer, to the cloud continues to accelerate.

At one point home and office computers were designed to handle all of your tasks with internal computational power. The data was in your machine. Computers were touted as having large capacity disk drives and faster processing power. Today you will see advertised laptops, netbooks, smart phones and other devices with relatively small internal storage capacity and modest internal processing power. This is possible because your programs and data are not stored on your machine. Rather, the data are sent to the cloud via the internet and the actual programs are running on very large computer servers located at datacenters around the world.

There is a famous quote by Thomas Watson, the former Chairman of IBM. In 1943 he said "I think there is a world market for maybe five computers." In the years following that statement he was roundly ridiculed as computers became ubiquitous companions to most every facet of modern life. In retrospect, he may have been right on target.
What we are seeing today might be more than five large computers serving the world’s
needs, but for sure the trend is fewer “real” computers and millions of portable devices connected to them.

A few weeks ago, Steve Jobs, the flamboyant Founder and CEO of Apple held a press conference to release a new model of the MacBook Air. This newest laptop offering is less than an inch thick and weighs about the same as most fast food meals. This powerful but svelte machine from Apple has neither a hard drive nor any type of optical disc drive. You can’t insert a CD or DVD. Rather, the machine is designed to store a limited amount of data within the machine’s flash memory and use the Internet to connect to the cloud where all the heavy lifting and storage will be handled. So there is no more waiting for a DVD to come from Netflix. You will just log on to the Netflix site.

Many of us already use cloud computing without our knowing it. We store and share our pictures on Flickr or Snapfish. We listen to music on our computer or phone using Pandora. We have our calendars and address books stored on Goggle. Look for many more services to become available as the computing skies become cloudier.

Cloud computing does not come without some potential downsides. Next week we will look at some of the negative aspects and what you can do to address them.

Place Yout Contacts and Calendar in the Clouds

Many of us are trading in our cell phones for new models called “smartphones.” Whether these devices have any more “smarts” than their predecessors is debatable and will be grist for another essay at another time. Nevertheless, for sure there are many very cool applications that can be loaded onto your new phone. Perhaps among the most helpful are connections to your calendar and address book.

While some of us still use paper and pencil to keep track of appointments or the address for Uncle Bud’s news digs, others have loaded all this information onto a computer. While the information is easily changed and updated, it is not always easily accessible. You must have your computer on and with you. Unless you are in an office environment, these two things do not always coincide.

Using your computer, your smartphone, and some free online services, you can have access to all your calendar and contact information anywhere and anytime. And the information will be up to date.

One of the free online services you may wish to consider is provided by Google. In order to take advantage of the service you must have a Gmail email account. Just go to www.gmail.com and follow the sign-up prompts. It should be noted that this new email account does not need to be used as your primary email; you can continue to use whatever service you now have, e.g. Roadrunner, Fuse, Zoomtown, AOL. Once you have established the Gmail account, you can begin to use the Google calendar and contacts features.

Most smartphones will allow you to synchronize the information in your phone with information on your computer or stored on one of these online services. The specific set-up process for this synchronization, while similar, is different for each phone, i.e. iPhone, Droid, Pre-Plus, etc. You will need to read the manual. Most set-ups are fairly straight forward. If you have a problem, get a teenager to help.

Once the phone is “synched” with the online service, any information that you enter into the computer will show up on the phone and any information that you enter on your phone will show up on the computer.

Many of us already have hundreds of addresses and other contact information stored in our address books on our computers. There are software utilities that will allow you to upload all of this information to the Google Contact area so you do not need to re-enter it online. Another great feature is that once your information is uploaded, you won’t have to worry about backing up the files on your computer. Google takes care of that. Also, even if you don’t have your phone, all of this information is available anywhere you can access the Internet.

Setting up these applications will take a few hours but the benefits and convenience of having all this information at you fingertips is worth the time and effort.

Place Yout Contacts and Calendar in the Clouds

Many of us are trading in our cell phones for new models called “smartphones.” Whether these devices have any more “smarts” than their predecessors is debatable and will be grist for another essay at another time. Nevertheless, for sure there are many very cool applications that can be loaded onto your new phone. Perhaps among the most helpful are connections to your calendar and address book.

While some of us still use paper and pencil to keep track of appointments or the address for Uncle Bud’s news digs, others have loaded all this information onto a computer. While the information is easily changed and updated, it is not always easily accessible. You must have your computer on and with you. Unless you are in an office environment, these two things do not always coincide.

Using your computer, your smartphone, and some free online services, you can have access to all your calendar and contact information anywhere and anytime. And the information will be up to date.

One of the free online services you may wish to consider is provided by Google. In order to take advantage of the service you must have a Gmail email account. Just go to www.gmail.com and follow the sign-up prompts. It should be noted that this new email account does not need to be used as your primary email; you can continue to use whatever service you now have, e.g. Roadrunner, Fuse, Zoomtown, AOL. Once you have established the Gmail account, you can begin to use the Google calendar and contacts features.

Most smartphones will allow you to synchronize the information in your phone with information on your computer or stored on one of these online services. The specific set-up process for this synchronization, while similar, is different for each phone, i.e. iPhone, Droid, Pre-Plus, etc. You will need to read the manual. Most set-ups are fairly straight forward. If you have a problem, get a teenager to help.

Once the phone is “synched” with the online service, any information that you enter into the computer will show up on the phone and any information that you enter on your phone will show up on the computer.

Many of us already have hundreds of addresses and other contact information stored in our address books on our computers. There are software utilities that will allow you to upload all of this information to the Google Contact area so you do not need to re-enter it online. Another great feature is that once your information is uploaded, you won’t have to worry about backing up the files on your computer. Google takes care of that. Also, even if you don’t have your phone, all of this information is available anywhere you can access the Internet.

Setting up these applications will take a few hours but the benefits and convenience of having all this information at you fingertips is worth the time and effort.

A Cloudy Future for Personal Computing

A few weeks ago I wrote about the proliferation of world wide computer networks and how they have both improved the services that we use every day and also provide ample opportunity for hackers and other miscreants to disrupt these systems. For better or worse, the trend of concentrating data and computing power on large networked servers located at strategic locations is exploding. The phenomenon is called “Cloud Computing.”

Once home and office computers were designed to handle all of your tasks with internal computational power and the data storage housed within your machine. Ads for new computers touted large capacity disk drives and faster processing power. Today you will see advertised netbooks, smart phones and other devices with relatively small internal storage capacity and modest internal processing power because the programs and data are not stored on the actual machine. Rather, the data are sent to the “cloud” via the internet and the actual programs are running on remote computers.

The benefits of cloud computing are many. First, since all your data, i.e. documents, pictures, videos, addresses and calendars, are not stored solely on your machine but are sent to the cloud, the data is much less prone to loss. A recent study found that fewer than 10% of home computer users back up their data on a regular basis. Since the weakest component in most computers is the disk drive, it is inevitable that you will loose your data if it is not backed up regularly. With cloud computing the data is sent to servers that are redundant and backed up constantly, and the data is safe.

It is not only data that can be stored on the cloud, programs too can be stored there and actually run remotely. Since the size and complexity of these programs is irrelevant to the capacity of your machine, they can provide many more features. Also, they can be continuously updated and improved without the need for sending updates to millions of computers.

Finally, while any data on the net is susceptible to hackers, the operators of these cloud datacenters are much more adroit at foiling these intrusions than most of us mere mortals. While it is not impossible for hackers to retrieve your private data from the cloud, it is very unlikely. A good hacker is more likely to get information from the computer on your desk than she can from a secure databank.

The new version of Microsoft Office was just released and one of the touted features is ease of using cloud computing. Since documents can now be sent to the cloud, collaboration is made easy. Several people, separated by thousands of miles, can work on the same documents and presentations in real time.

Google, Microsoft and others offer free or almost free cloud data storage. You can see an example at http://www.skydrive.com/. There you can sign up for free storage of up to 35 mb of information.

As networks, both wired and wireless, get faster and faster and access is more ubiquitous, look for cloud computing to become the standard.

A Cloudy Future for Personal Computing

A few weeks ago I wrote about the proliferation of world wide computer networks and how they have both improved the services that we use every day and also provide ample opportunity for hackers and other miscreants to disrupt these systems. For better or worse, the trend of concentrating data and computing power on large networked servers located at strategic locations is exploding. The phenomenon is called “Cloud Computing.”

Once home and office computers were designed to handle all of your tasks with internal computational power and the data storage housed within your machine. Ads for new computers touted large capacity disk drives and faster processing power. Today you will see advertised netbooks, smart phones and other devices with relatively small internal storage capacity and modest internal processing power because the programs and data are not stored on the actual machine. Rather, the data are sent to the “cloud” via the internet and the actual programs are running on remote computers.

The benefits of cloud computing are many. First, since all your data, i.e. documents, pictures, videos, addresses and calendars, are not stored solely on your machine but are sent to the cloud, the data is much less prone to loss. A recent study found that fewer than 10% of home computer users back up their data on a regular basis. Since the weakest component in most computers is the disk drive, it is inevitable that you will loose your data if it is not backed up regularly. With cloud computing the data is sent to servers that are redundant and backed up constantly, and the data is safe.

It is not only data that can be stored on the cloud, programs too can be stored there and actually run remotely. Since the size and complexity of these programs is irrelevant to the capacity of your machine, they can provide many more features. Also, they can be continuously updated and improved without the need for sending updates to millions of computers.

Finally, while any data on the net is susceptible to hackers, the operators of these cloud datacenters are much more adroit at foiling these intrusions than most of us mere mortals. While it is not impossible for hackers to retrieve your private data from the cloud, it is very unlikely. A good hacker is more likely to get information from the computer on your desk than she can from a secure databank.

The new version of Microsoft Office was just released and one of the touted features is ease of using cloud computing. Since documents can now be sent to the cloud, collaboration is made easy. Several people, separated by thousands of miles, can work on the same documents and presentations in real time.

Google, Microsoft and others offer free or almost free cloud data storage. You can see an example at http://www.skydrive.com/. There you can sign up for free storage of up to 35 mb of information.

As networks, both wired and wireless, get faster and faster and access is more ubiquitous, look for cloud computing to become the standard.