Bob Browning's blog

Here is a site I came acrosss by change.  A periodic table of visualisation methods. 

http://www.visual-literacy.org/periodic_table/periodic_table.html

The periodic table of elements lists the elements in nature and they show elements properties are repetative.  I am not sure this table does exactly show that for visualisation methods, but if you need to make numbers or concepts understandable then these examples may help.

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A new version of bluetooth was launched last month.  It will be a while before we see products in the shops of course.    It uses the same communications protocol as your wi fi, so Bluetooth 3 will be much faster than version 2 and can be used for bulk transfers of data or for video.  It will allow for mobile phones and for that matter netbooks to interface wirelessly with a wider range of external devices – see this Nokia video to se how this might work.

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I just sent out a newsletter coving the jargon du jour – Cloud Computing.  I missed this classic for inclusion in the mailout.  It is Larry Ellison on the subject.  Quote

” The interesting thing about cloud computing – it is either going to be or already is the most important computing architecture in the world because we’ve redefined cloud computing to include everything that we currently do. So it has already achieved dominance in the industry – I can’t think of anything that isn’t cloud computing with all of these announcements.

The computer industry is the only industry that is more fashion-driven than women’s fashion. Maybe I’m an idiot, but I have no idea what anyone is talking about. What is it? It’s complete gibberish. It’s insane. When is this idiocy going to stop?”

Go Larry!

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I see Robert Dyas has a windows netbook for less than £150.  The catch – it is running Windows CE, the operating system aimed at mobile applications and very much not Vista.

So here are the main candidates for your netbook next year:

• Windows XP the clear leader at the moment, but for how long as it becomes seen as obsolete.  The other issue – it won’t run on the new ARM processors for netbooks.
• Windows CE – somehow I don’t see it.
• Windows 7 starter edition which will run a maximum of three applications at any one time.  ‘Starter’ in this case meaning you will end up shelling out for an upgrade to full-blown Windows 7 within weeks.  This is, I suspect, a good option but expensive.  Also it won’t run on the ARM processor.
• Linux – My favourite for the long run as it will run on any processor and has lots of good office applications courtesy of Open Office.
• Coming up on the stand site – Google Android.  This is being hyped as an option.  But will it run Open office?  There is not a lot of talk about this in the Open Office community as it is seen as a mobile device operating system. 

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