Once people got over their fear of what Windows 7 held in store for them, they soon discovered that the operating system was actually (and surprisingly) very good. Windows 7 has turned out to be fast and efficient, with most of its applications etc in the ‘right place’. In short, Microsoft has finally turned out a decent operating system after Windows 3.1 and Windows 98.

One of the better features in Windows 7 is the Search feature. You can activate search in two ways.

1. Click the Start Menu and type in the search bar that appears at the bottom of the menu. This Search function can find applications on the start menu as well as files in attached storage devices. This is useful if you are lazy to go through the whole menu and find the application you need to launch. If it is a file you are searching for, then the main explorer search window will be launched after it fails to find your search criteria in the start menu.

2. By launching Windows Explorer, you can activate a more localized and filtered search. You will notice a search bar at the top right hand corner of the window. You can enter your search criteria here. You will also notice that it shows a few quick filters that you can apply to refine your search. Once the search results start coming in, you will notice the results have your search criteria highlighted.

The user friendliness of the search function and its thoroughness really make this feature a winner for Windows 7 .

The first version of the netBook (also known as mini-notebooks) for general computing applications and for accessing web applications first appeared in 2007. These “primitive” models lacked many of the features of today. They had smaller screens and did not even have an optical drive. Nevertheless their potential was immediately recognized by the masses and lapped up.

The predecessor of the netBook can be traced back to 1991 when the Psion-3 was released. The key factor that sets this particular model apart is that it included a dial-up modem. Since then, we have had the Toshiba Libretto 20, Casio Cassiopeia, Psion netBook, HP Jornada, OQO Model 01, Sony VAIO X505 and finally, the netBook that has really kicked off the phenomenon in 2007, the Asus Eee PC 701.

The reason for the netBook’s popularity is simple. The reliance that people now have on the internet is great which means that people need to have access or to be plugged in to the World Wide Web wherever they are. With the advent of Wi-Fi and free internet access points popping up everywhere, it became normal for people to purchase laptops and carry them to whatever location they travelled to. Yet the problem of weight was a pressing one and this is where the netBook has won hands down.

The netBook’s primary function is to be a device that provides access to the internet. Although mobile phones and handheld devices like the iPod Touch provide the same function, the netBook with a larger screen, QWERTY keyboard and now with an optical drive is a clear winner for anyone who needs to be in touch with the world without being hampered by the limits of a tiny device.

Once upon a time, the world was outraged by Iran and China filtering and blocking access to content on the internet. Then Australia got into the game which started people scratching their heads, and now with France being the latest entrant into the censorship arena it appears that this is going to be the norm from now on.
The initial argument for censorship is blocking child pornography. This is something no one can argue against and is an absolute necessity.

However, once that is in place it is only a few policies away from an Orwellian “1984″ scenario. If you think that this is an excessive statement, consider the policies France expects to implement if the security bill named “LOPPSI2″ is passed.

- State sanctioned computer Trojans
- A new database of citizen data, named Pericles
- Requiring ISPs to censor websites that are blacklisted by the government

Now these are only a few of the policies within the bill but the right to free speech, information and privacy are all being infringed upon here, in one way or another. President Sarkozy sees it as solving the problem at its roots. He maintains the view that if you do not allow access to the offending content then people cannot commit the crime; of course he was referring to child pornography and file sharing.

German and British newspapers have already started citing Orwellian examples. The main worry for now is about the rights of the people of France, but in the long term the worry is that the French bill might set a precedent that would be followed by other European countries.

As the jokes about Apple’s inadvertent naming of its newest product have slowed down, there is news that the online streaming service Hulu may be coming to an iPad near you.

Hulu’s owners are currently pondering over how they can bring an effective service to the iPad. The insider reports suggest that it will be a paid service or in other words a subscription package. While Hulu has been free so far online, there have been constant rumblings from NBC U, Fox and Disney that a premium service is somewhere in the offing.

The subscription service to the iPad, when it does materialize, will be the first step in monetizing the Hulu service. The rumors are that Hulu will eventually move onto a three-pronged approach, where it will reach consumers via the web, mobile and TV. Under this plan they intend to keep the current episodes free on the web while offering back episodes for a nominal fee while the mobile and TV services will be offered as subscriptions.

However, the first step of the larger plan still involves moving to a mobile device which currently happens to be the iPad. Unfortunately, the iPad does not support Adobe Flash, which is the medium used by Hulu and a myriad of other online video services to deliver their content. So it appears that a workaround solution has to be found. Unfortunately, for fans of the iPad and for Apple that solution is not going to appear by the time the iPad ships to consumers at the end of next month.

The Mobile World Congress trade show is set to begin soon and the big boys of the cell phone handset world are ready to come out all guns blazing. So, here is what you can expect from each of them at the trade show scheduled to take place shortly.

Nokia - Once the undisputed leader, Nokia finds itself challenged by the iPhone and the Blackberry. With its dominance reduced to 39 % of the Smart Phone market, Nokia is concentrating more on 5000 series models which are simpler and cheaper. The free satellite navigation feature that is included with all new Smart Phone models makes it unique among its competitors.

RIM - Business professionals love the Blackberry, which is reflected in the 20 % share that Research In Motion currently holds. The Blackberry Curve is RIM’s best seller due to its retail-friendly nature. Although it has a lower profit margin, the sheer volume of sales is making this model a winner for RIM.

Apple - The iPhone is still a phenomenon, even though it is almost three years since it was first released. It has been steadily growing while currently holding almost 14 % of the market share. Although no new features or developments are announced yet, Apple is focusing on is new markets. With China as the new target, expect the iPhone to challenge the #2 spot in the near future.

HTC - In response to competition, HTC will put out some lower priced models. HTC is also targeting the Chinese market and hopes the price war will go in its favor.

Motorola - After experiencing continuing losses over the past few years, Motorola is betting on Google’s Android OS to be its savior. The 14 million Smart Phones it expects to ship this year are forecasted to bring in over 50 % of revenue.

Sony Ericsson - Although it has struggled to make an impression in the Smart Phone market, it should not be surprising to note that it caters to three different OS’ - Windows, Android and Symbian. This seems to suggest a lack of focus on the part of the company. However Sony Ericsson plans for a big push in 2010, with its new Smart Phone models.

LG - With 20 new models set to hit the shelves this year, LG has obviously geared up for a Smart Phone blitz. Over half of the models are expected to run Google’s Android OS, while some of the others will run Windows Mobile and LiMo’s Linux.

The last six weeks have been full of action for Google. It has pulled out of China, asked the NSA for help with security, launched Buzz and also offered 1 Gbps fiber lines to homes in the U.S. After all this, you would expect Google to have a quiet week, but this was not to be. Its latest controversy is Internet Censorship.

Pakistan blocked off YouTube videos of President Zardari telling people at a political rally to “Shut up”. Reminiscent of Thailand’s YouTube block in 2007, Pakistan proceed to block total access to the site and thereafter removed it while placing a block on the offending content. The content itself has not been removed from YouTube.

Iran was more worried about information being sent out of or circulated within the country without its permission. The prime suspect in this regard was Gmail, one of the most secure services around today which is also free. The security built into Gmail did not lend itself to the type of censorship that the Iranian Government required so it did the easy thing and denied access to it altogether. The Government has announced that it will be implementing its own email solution for its citizens soon.

While the decisions by these two countries is more or less in line with what we expect from them, the biggest shock was when Australian Communications Minister Stephen Conroy announced his plans for censoring the internet. Instead of getting the ISP’s to ban and filter material, his plan is to get Google to filter content that is not desirable to the Australian Government. Basing his request using the examples of China and Thailand and the filtering Google did for these governments, he is insisting that Google impose censorship locally for Australia as well.

If you use different methods to access the internet in different locations, keeping your bookmarks in any form of synchronization is a chore. For example, your work computer, home computer and mobile browsing device are never likely to have a synchronized set of bookmarks.

Mozilla’s Weave 1.0 seems to be the solution for this exact situation. Weave allows you to synchronize browser settings and bookmarks across any number of computers and all you have to do is install the add-on. All browser-based data pertinent to the user is encrypted and sent to a Mozilla cloud. So, the next time you log on to a computer with the Weave add-on that has been authorized by you, the settings will be restored so that it will seem seamless.

This is also useful if you are running multiple instances of OS’s. The consistent browsing experience will soon have you hooked and wondering how you did without it. The clincher in this whole deal is that mobile browsers can also be included to the Weave experience. Phone browsers can be updated via the same service making this a very powerful browsing tool.

What makes this add-on even more exciting is the eventual goal Mozilla has for it. The vision is to have a seamless browsing experience where the user can browse on his home computer, pick the mobile browser and continue browsing from the point where they left off on the home computer. This would make it the ultimate in seamless browsing technologies.

It is rare but a Google-based technology that has become obsolete, as Google has decided to halt any further development on it. The technology in question is Google Gears.

Gears was positioned by Google as the integral cog of most Google applications throughout its lifetime. Gears enabled users to continue using Google apps even if they lost connection or chose to go offline. With Google Gears, one could synchronize with the online version as soon as a connection was re-established again. In addition to this, it offered an enhanced browsing experience to the user as well.

Gears came under the spotlight recently when the delay in producing a Mac version of the Chrome browser became unbearably long. It became evident that Gears, an integral part of Chrome, was not functioning properly on Apple’s new Snow Leopard OS. Whether this technical incompatibility was one that could not be solved genuinely or an excuse (as conspiracy theorists like to believe) is not something that is clear even at this time. Thus, Google made an announcement, that Gears would no longer be developed further and that it would be dropped due to the advancements made in HTML5.

The announcement made sense as HTML5 incorporates much of the functionality of Gears as well as other features. The fact that this would be a universally accepted standard also went against Gears in a sense. Google will continue supporting all implementation of Gears that are in existence, so all is not lost.

Apple’s Safari browser won by a nose ahead of Chrome in recent benchmark tests. Although in all fairness, it was only a beta version of Chrome that went up against Safari and that too in Safari’s own native environment of Mac OS. The Mac version of Chrome is 12 % slower than Safari but that is the only place it really fails; against Opera 10.1 for the Mac, it is ten times faster and is twice as fast as Firefox 3.6 beta 4.

However, as it is evident from above, all these tests were for Mac versions of these browsers. On the PC, Chrome reigns supreme in speed tests. Even Safari cannot come close to Google’s ultra fast browser. However, even the narrow loss cannot seem to dampen spirits at Google, as they seem to be very happy with the results. The speed they have achieved with the beta seems to be within expectations as they proudly proclaim that the icon on the dock (on Mac OS) barely has time to bounce before the browser launches.
The dominance of Safari and Chrome at the top has even prompted Microsoft to respond by enhancing the upcoming version of Internet Explorer. Redmond expects IE9 to get close to the two rivals while claiming that it has almost achieved that target. IE has the biggest share of the browser market with 64 % versus the 4 % that Chrome currently holds. This is ironic as IE8 can only manage a score of 24 on the Acid3 benchmark test (meaning very slow) compared to Chrome’s 100 (the maximum score).

Touch screens are becoming more and more prevalent today, especially with the advent of Apple’s iPod touch. What the iPod touch and the iPhone have done is to bring the touch screen technology to the masses and make them comfortable using it. Not all touch screens on the market offer the multi touch functionality that Apple features in its devices. The majority of them function in same manner that they would if they were being used with a mouse. This is an explanation of a basic touch screen system.
To function accurately a touch screen needs three components:

1. A touch sensor - this is placed over the viewable that the user operates. Although many technologies are used in the sensor mechanism, they all are variations of one method. The sensor is has a minute electrical current running through it which is disrupted when a finger is placed on it. This difference in the voltage is then processed to locate the point of contact on the screen.

2. The controller - This hardware converts signals from the touch sensor into data. With touch screen built-in monitors, the controller would be an internal device. However, if you purchase a touch screen kit, the controller would be located externally as a small device. All controllers connect to the PC via COM or USB ports.

3. The software driver - This software sits on the OS and takes in signals from the controller. It then emulates a mouse and sends the data to the OS, which proceeds to act as if a mouse is being used.