Iowa TechTalk

It has been FAR too long since I last posted an article to my blog. We had a few family things come up last Fall around the time of my last posting and I simply didn’t have the time to sit down and write articles. Before long, even when I did have the time I simply fell out of the habit of writing. It is my hope that now that I’m getting back to it, I will continue to add articles on a far more regular basis. That being said, I’ll jump right into my review of the Apple Magic Trackpad.

The Magic Trackpad is by no means a new product, it has been on the market for 10 months now. I have read a plethora of reviews on the Magic Trackpad and often been intrigued by it, but I was fairly happy with my old Mighty Mouse so I never seriously looked at it. Over time I’ve grown tired of the clutter that USB cables adds to my desk, so I’ve taken to tidying things up a bit for a neater work space. The first two things that I decided had to go were my Apple USB Keyboard and my USB Mighty Mouse. I had an Apple Bluetooth Keyboard already, I just hadn’t gotten around to using it yet, so that part of the equation was already taken care of. Then came the decision of what mouse to use.

The first mouse that I tried was the Microsoft Bluetooth Mouse 5000. It was the lowest priced of the 3 mice that I was considering, and I’ve always been very pleased with Microsoft mice in the past, so I decided to give it a try. The mouse worked quite well, however it only had one side button so it wasn’t nearly as flexible as I’d hoped it would be. Also, it didn’t tend to “play” very well with my MacBook Pro. It seemed to take a long time to come out of sleep mode after it sat idle for a while, and usually I ended up just having to wake the system up with the keyboard and wait for the mouse to kick in. Given the lack of multiple buttons and the constant wait for the mouse to “wake up”, I decided to look at a different mouse, the Apple Magic Mouse.

The Magic Mouse was also a very nice mouse. It was larger than the Microsoft mouse which I very much liked. The Microsoft mouse was a bit on the small side for my taste, like most notebook specific mice. I was concerned with the ergonomics of the Magic Mouse as it has a very low profile, and while it took some getting used to, it wasn’t nearly as bad as I had feared. After a full day’s use though it did get to be a bit cumbersome for me to use. The addition of multi-touch to the mouse more than made up for the slightly irregular shape. Out of the box the Magic Mouse supports gestures for clicking, double clicking, scrolling up/down and left/right, zooming, and swiping backwards and forwards (very useful for going back and forth when browsing the web). Already it was far more functional than the Microsoft mouse, however I’ve grown accustomed to the multi-touch functionality of an iPad as well as the trackpad on my MacBook Pro, so I had hoped for a bit more out of the Magic Mouse. On the recommendation of a co-worker, I tried out an application called MagicPrefs. MagicPrefs is a 3rd party add-on that allows you to setup just about any combination of clicking, swiping, and scrolling that you can think of. I immediately fell in love with the application and started to use it to setup all sorts of useful multi-touch gestures. The only problem was that the size of the mouse in comparison to a trackpad quickly became an issue. A four-finger swipe to bring up Expose is anything BUT simple on a standard sized mouse . I had mentioned this to a co-worker and he suggested I test out his Magic Trackpad, so I gave it a spin for half of a day. Within an hour or so, I decided that THIS was the mouse I’d been looking for. The following picture shows the size difference between the Apple Magic Mouse and the Apple Magic Trackpad:

The Apple Magic Trackpad was everything that I’d hoped for out of the Magic Mouse, but large enough to actually realize the benefits of a program like MagicPrefs. While the Magic Mouse comes out of the box with 5 different options for multi-touch gestures, the Magic Trackpad more than doubles that with 12 gestures out of the box. With it, you can easily point, click, double click, scroll, rotate images, zoom in and out, page forward and backward, change applications, activate Expose, etc. The surface of the Magic Trackpad has close to 80% more surface area than the trackpad on a MacBook Pro. This gives you plenty of space for some of the more advanced gestures that MagicPrefs supports. With my Magic Trackpad I can use a 3-button click to activate Spaces, a 5-button click to lock my workstation, a 4-finger swipe to activate Expose, etc. I have already gained far more functionality out of the Magic Trackpad coupled with MagicPrefs than I could imagine with any other mouse, and I have only activated TWO of the more than twenty configurable options that it supports. As I think of more shortcuts for things I do all the time on my computer, I would imagine that I’ll be activating many more of those features as well.

Ergonomically speaking the Magic Trackpad is quite comfortable as well. As is the case with a trackball style mouse, you aren’t constantly moving your arm and wrist around so at the end of a full work day you’re not starting to feel like you’re coming down with carpal tunnel syndrome.

As was the case with the Magic Mouse, the Magic Trackpad also wakes up a sleeping Mac instantly, no waiting like with the Microsoft mouse. I’m sure the fact that the computer and mouse are both made by the same manufacturer helps here, as I’m sure the Microsoft offering is probably a bit quicker to respond on a Windows computer.

Despite all of the wonderful things that I like about the Magic Trackpad, there are a few drawbacks to consider before going out and buying one. The price tag of $69.99 is quite a bit higher than most mice (The Microsoft mouse that I tested was $49.99). However, with all of the functionality that you get from it, to me it is worth the higher cost. Another drawback is the fact that it is a bit more fragile than most mice. While it is constructed of a roughly 1/8″ thick sheet of aluminum that is quite sturdy, the surface of it (like all Apple trackpads) is covered in glass. Normal usage isn’t about to break the surface, but I wouldn’t throw it into a laptop bag without some type of protection. For now, I have kept the original box and use it to carry the Magic Trackpad in my bag, but I’m looking into options for a carrying case for it so that it is easier to store for when I am on the go. The other drawback that I could see for the Magic Trackpad is that it would not be ideal for gaming. Most games rely heavily on the mouse for movement, and I think trying to maneuver through a game like World of Warcraft or Portal would be rather cumbersome. My MacBook Pro is pretty much strictly used for standard office type applications (web browsing, word processing, email, etc.) so for me this is not an issue, but if you are into gaming on your Mac then the Magic Trackpad isn’t for you.

All things considered I find the Magic Trackpad to be the most functional pointing device I’ve ever owned. Its full potential isn’t realized without the use of MagicPrefs, but when combined the two pack a pretty powerful punch that’s worth looking into if you’re in need of a new mouse.

The desktop/laptop market is most certainly dominated by Microsoft Windows as it has been for many years now. This is especially true amongst business users as the overwhelming majority of business applications run on Microsoft Windows. However, the market share for Apple’s Mac OS is on the rise, and has been for the last 5-10 years. In the last year alone, Apple’s market share has grown nearly 30% and currently stands at 10.9% (Source: Ars Technica) And while Microsoft rules in the business world, Apple has always enjoyed a strong following amongst educational institutions.

Apple provides a robust suite of utilities in their iLife programs that many students use to create DVD’s, presentations, photo projects, web sites, etc. When students graduate and begin their careers, many will need to understand Microsoft Windows based applications as well in order to be competitive in the job market. So many schools are beginning to use mixed environments of both Macintosh and Windows based PC’s in their curriculum. This gives the student a good mix of both systems and better prepares them to be ready for whatever computing platform they may find themselves using when they start their career.

While this mix of computing is wonderful for students, it can wreak havoc on the technology administrators who have to maintain the computing systems. In many cases you find institutions that have separate usernames and passwords for both platforms and have varying capabilities in terms of desktop and user management. This type of scenario is a system administrator’s worst nightmare as they lose the ability to properly maintain the computing environment. So what is the answer? For many, Active Directory and Open Directory Integration.

Active Directory (AD) and Open Directory (OD) are two separate directory services based on the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol. Both are responsible for storing user account information, computer account information, information regarding shared files and folders on servers, management settings for desktops, etc. AD is the directory service utilized by Microsoft Windows based servers while OD is utilized by Apple Mac OS Servers. In the past they were used separately which meant having your Windows computers and users tied into AD while your Mac OS computers and users were tied into OD. And since the two systems are incapable of synchronizing user account information, this meant two accounts for all users that utilize both systems. That has all changed in the last few years as work has been done to allow the two systems to integrate with one another making the job of the system administrator much easier.

So how does it all work? Generally speaking you would have at least one Microsoft Windows Active Directory server and one Mac OS X Open Directory Server. The Mac OS X server would be bound to the Windows AD server, and all Mac OS X clients are then bound to both directory services. Once setup and configured properly, this allows for seamless usage of the systems in your environment by the end users. A student can go to their Intro to Business class and login to a Microsoft Windows computer to run applications like Microsoft Office, QuickBooks, etc. and then go to Intro to Web Design the next hour and login to an Apple Mac OS X computer using the same account to run applications like Adobe InDesign, iLife, etc, making their life much easier!

What about the system administrator though? How does this benefit them? Well for starters they have half the accounts to manage! All user accounts are stored in Active Directory so no account management is necessary in Open Directory. This also makes setting up file shares and home drives much easier. Since the same accounts can be used on both Windows and Mac OS X computers, file shares and permissions only have to be setup once. The user can then access his or her files regardless of what operating system they are using. This also allows for the most thorough desktop management capabilities possible. The system administrator can utilize Group Policies to manage various aspects of the Microsoft Windows computers such as access to system settings, ability to install applications, etc. Likewise, they can utilize Managed Preferences in Open Directory to control the same types of settings on the Apple Mac OS computers. The end result is an environment in which both of the major computing platforms can be utilized seamlessly with minimal impact on the users or the system administrators.

Setting up this type of environment definitely requires planning and a thorough understanding of both Active Directory and Open Directory, but if the system administrator is willing to put in a little bit of time gaining an understanding of how to integrate these two technologies, Windows and Mac OS can most certainly co-exist peacefully in your environment.

Most laptops anymore come with anywhere from 250-500 GB of hard drive space. For most users this is PLENTY of space, but for people who like to dabble in IT, you can quickly find yourself running out of room. Those who are desktop owners know that 1 and 2 TB drives are readily available already, and 3 TB drives are starting to be released. For those of us who are mobile warriors and use laptops only, the largest readily available (and affordable) drives are 640 GB drives. 1 TB laptop drives are becoming available, however the cost is extremely high at this point and in most cases, isn’t worth it to gain a meager 500 GB of additional space.

So, what’s a laptop user to do who is running out of precious storage space? Going through and cleaning up unnecessary files is a good starting place, but that will only get you so far. A week ago I found myself cleaning off the 500 GB hard drive in my MacBook Pro yet again and thought “there has to be a better way”. External hard drives are readily available and are quite affordable (I have one myself for Time Machine backups) but you see a big performance drop on these drives compared to internal hard drives. Plus, in many cases you can’t run an operating system from an external hard drive so it would only be good for data storage, not running Mac OS X or Windows. So I began to research options and decided that the best option for me was to remove the DVD/RW drive from my MacBook Pro and replace it with a 2nd Hard Drive. Some users would balk at this idea, after all how will you watch movies or load software without your optical drive?? I gave it serious consideration and came to the conclusion that I only used my optical drive on average 2-4 times per month. I also own a very nice LG external DVD/RW drive (same speed as my internal optical drive) so I chose to throw that in my laptop bag and go through with replacing the internal drive with a 2nd hard drive.

I quickly found that this type of modification is one that is done quite frequently to the MacBook Pro. Some people like myself simply need more space. Others choose to add a like sized hard drive and setup a RAID for data redundancy. There are even people who add in a smaller SSD (Solid State Disk) and load their operating system onto it and use a standard hard drive for data storage. SSD’s tend to be faster than standard hard drives (albeit astronomically more expensive) so it is usually only feasible to pick up a smaller one, say 64 GB, and load Mac OS X or Windows onto it for faster boot times. My research showed me that I basically had 2 options: I could buy adapters and splice wires and put together a solution on my own for a very small cost (maybe $5 in parts) or I could spend a little money and buy a drive caddy that simply snaps into the system. I’m not one to shy away from making custom modifications, but when it comes to splicing wires on an expensive Apple laptop, no thank you!

There are a few manufacturers of these caddy’s that offer different options at various prices. The option that I went with from NewModeUS only ended up costing me $42 in parts. Click here to see the caddy that I purchased for my laptop. The other option that seemed reasonable was a product from MCE Technologies (Click here to view). It had a higher price but for many users this may actually be the way to go. Their drive caddy costs $99, however it also includes a USB enclosure for your optical drive so you can use it instead of having to purchase an external optical drive. In my case, I already had an external drive so this wasn’t a selling point for me. MCE also offers fairly affordable hard drives along with their caddy’s. For anywhere from $149 to $249 you can purchase the caddy, the external enclosure for your internal optical drive, and a 320 – 750 GB hard drive. In my case, I still had the original 250 GB hard drive that came with my MacBook Pro, so for the purposes of testing out the solution to see if it was right for me, I went with the caddy only $42 option from NewModeUS.

When my caddy arrived in the mail I performed one last Time Machine backup (just in case!) and took the shell off the bottom of my MacBook Pro. For those of you with the Mid-2009 or later models, this is easier than prior models as there is only one panel to remove that is secured by 10 screws. Here is a picture of the panel on the bottom of my laptop:

Once you have the bottom of the laptop taken off, you have access to everything you need. There are 3 screws that hold the optical drive into the MacBook Pro and all 3 are easily accessible. There is a cable that runs along the optical drive for the LCD display however it is easily moved out of the way so you can remove the optical drive. Here is a picture of the inside of the laptop prior to removing the optical drive (the optical drive is in the lower right corner):

Once you remove the optical drive, it is time to insert your additional hard drive into the new caddy. The drive must be inserted at a slight angle so that you are able to connect the SATA connectors, then it snaps down. Here is a picture of my 250 GB hard drive installed into the drive caddy:

Once the drive is inserted, we install the caddy into the laptop. The one thing that I was nervous about was that there is only 1 screw to hold the caddy into the unit instead of the 3 that held in the optical drive. The opening for the drive caddy is fairly compact though and really only provides just enough room for the caddy itself, so movement does not appear to be an issue. Here is a picture of the drive caddy installed into the unit (drive caddy is in lower right corner):

After the caddy is installed you simply re-attach the bottom cover of the MacBook Pro, boot up the system, and use Disk Utility to format the hard drive. In my scenario, I previously had my 500 GB hard drive partitioned and part of it was being used by Windows 7 (Boot Camp) so I took this opportunity to move Windows 7 over to the new 250 GB hard drive and re-expand my 500 GB hard drive to one 500 GB partition. This freed up plenty of space on my 500 GB hard drive to be used by Mac OS X, and now I also have plenty of space for Windows 7 as well on the 250 GB hard drive. Here is a nice screen shot from OS X showing off the results of my hard work:

All in all this took me about 30 minutes of actual work (not including researching the drive caddy options). I would say most users probably will want to go with the slightly more expensive option from MCE Technologies since most people don’t have the luxury of having an external DVD/RW and 250 GB laptop hard drive just sitting around collecting dust If you don’t need an optical drive and/or already have your own hard drive then the more affordable option from NewModeUS is definitely the way to go.

So, was the upgrade worth it? After 1 week I can honestly say, yes it has definitely been worth it! I now have plenty of free space on both hard drives, and now that I know how “easy” the modification is, I wouldn’t hesitate to upgrade both hard drives in the future as bigger drives become available and drop in price. Ideally I would like to replace my Mac OS X hard drive with a 1 or 2 TB drive and then use the 500 GB hard drive that I currently have for Windows. I live in Mac OS X 95% of the time so I have a much greater need for storage space for it. I generally only use Windows 7 when I absolutely need a Windows computer for work, so 250 GB of space is probably more than I would ever need, but if I’m ever going to replace the 500 GB why not move it over to Windows?

Lastly, would I recommend someone else do this to their own system? That really has to be answered on a case by case basis. Some people are very technically inclined and will find this modification to be mere child’s play. Nothing that I came across during the installation process was something that I would consider to be difficult, however if you are not comfortable maneuvering around inside of a laptop then I would say you probably don’t want to do this on your own. If you are comfortable with it though I would say it is definitely a VERY cost effective method to gain additional storage space and is well worth it!

A few weeks back I gave an overall review of the Apple iPad. This time I thought I would take a closer look at what really makes the iPad great, that being the apps. There are literally thousands of apps available for the iPad, and many of them are GREAT apps. I have around 70 apps currently installed on my iPad, but only a handful of those are apps that I use all the time and would consider “must have” apps. Here they are, in no particular order:

iBooks (Included with iPad): I am admittedly not much of a reader. It isn’t so much that I don’t enjoy reading, I just never really think to go to a book store or a library, and having 2 kids under the age of 5 really doesn’t leave a plethora of free time to do so. My wife uses a Kindle and absolutely loves it so I figured I would check out iBooks and see for myself if the eReader craze is all its cracked up to be. I’m a big Sci-Fi fan so I picked up a Star Trek: The Next Generation book via the iBooks Store. I was VERY pleased with how easy it was to read on the iPad. I was leery of how easy it would be to read a full novel electronically as I tend to prefer physical paper. The beautiful display on the iPad definitely lends itself well to reading however, and I found the reading experience on the iPad to be quite enjoyable. The iBooks Store on the iPad is so easy to use (much like its musical counterpart, the iTunes Store) that I found myself browsing for books now that I didn’t have to head out to the book store to look. Since purchasing the iPad I have now read 4 novels on it, and can’t wait to check out more novels.

ABC Player (Free): This application does an AWESOME job of showing off the wonderful display on the iPad. For those familiar with Hulu, the premise is the same except the app is ABC specific (obviously). All of ABC’s popular shows are available to watch for free (with limited advertisements) and the quality is excellent. I don’t tend to watch a lot of TV (again, having kids doesn’t leave a lot of time for that!) but after they go to bed for the evening, it is nice to kick back on the couch and catch up on one of my favorite ABC shows, Modern Family. It would be nice to see the other networks follow suit and offer an iPad app for online viewing, but in the mean time the ABC Player has much to offer for those looking to catch up on their favorite shows.

Netflix (Free): Like the ABC Player, this app does a great job of showing off the iPad display. While the ABC Player is nice, you are limited in the content available. That is where the Netflix app comes in. Any subscriber to Netflix can login to this app and access their “Watch Instant” queue of over 10,000 movies. This app definitely comes in handy when you are on the road and there isn’t a thing on TV, or if you simply want to kick back in bed and watch a movie while falling asleep.

Tweet Deck (Free): This is definitely a must have for those that utilize Twitter. I initially started off using Twitterific which is a good app, but I found the layout of Tweet Deck to be much better. Unlike Twitterific, Tweet Deck utilizes columns where you can setup different views for Twitter. I have one column for my main Twitter feed, one that shows any Tweets where I am mentioned, and another that shows Direct Messages. The one thing that the iPad version lacks that the Mac OS X and Windows versions offer is the ability to view and post to Facebook. I really like this feature on the desktop version of Tweet Deck, and would REALLY like to see it added to a future version of the iPad app.

Wikipanion (Free): One of the best things about the iPad is the ability to have information right at your finger tips. Wikipanion extends that by tying directly into Wikipedia, the online free encyclopedia. The web site works well on the iPad, but the Wikipanion app makes it easier to browse through articles as it offers a Table of Contents that allows you to easily go to different sections of an article.

IMDb (Free): Users of the IMDb website know that it is THE source for anything and everything about movies, TV shows, actors, etc. The IMDb iPad app is perfect for looking up that info as it has a great dynamic Table of Contents. When looking up info about a movie it lists all of the cast members and when looking up your favorite actors and actresses it shows all of the movies they have been in. The iPad version of IMDb is easier and more powerful than the website itself, and is a must have for any entertainment buff.

Real Racing HD ($9.99): While the iPhone/iPod Touch was ground breaking in terms of mobile gaming, the iPad takes it a BIG step further. The higher resolution and extra real-estate of the iPad display make it the perfect personal gaming platform, and Real Racing HD utilizes the accelerometer of the iPad to provide for one of the best racing games ever. Everyone I have shown the game to is very surprised at the quality of the graphics, as well as the ease of use of the game. Those familiar with racing games on the Nintendo Wii will be right at home on the iPad as it utilizes the accelerometer so that you simply twist and turn the iPad to race around the course.

Wyse Pocket Cloud ($14.99): On the business side of things, anyone who needs to have remote access to Windows based desktops and servers will definitely want to pick up Wyse Pocket Cloud. For all intents and purposes, Wyse Pocket Cloud is simply a Remote Desktop application that utilizes Microsoft’s Remote Desktop Protocol. The app is vital for IT administrators who want to quickly access a Windows server to check on things or perform tasks without having to boot up their laptop. It also offers a unique feature called Thin Browser which utilizes a plugin that you install on the Windows based machine you are accessing to serve up just a web browser instead of the full desktop. Where this comes in very handy is when accessing web sites that utilize Flash, the achilles heel of the iPad. If your Windows system has Adobe Flash Player installed you can now access any Flash content you want using the iPad, despite Steve Jobs’ insistence that you not access Flash based websites

Weather Bug Elite (Free): For the science geeks like me, or just anyone looking to check up on the latest weather, Weather Bug Elite is a great app. In landscape mode you are able to view a full screen map (provided by Google Maps) with a live Radar overlay, or you can change over to a satellite overlay to view current cloud cover. You also are provided with a column on the right showing the current conditions including temperature, wind chill, dew point, barometric pressure, wind speed and direction, etc. Below the current conditions is an area showing a 6 day forecast as well as an hourly forecast, providing you with all of the weather info that you need.

Toy Story Read-Along (Free): If you have kids, or even if you just love Toy Story, this is a great app. This is a Read-Along version of Toy Story with many options for kids of any reading level. You can simply read the story yourself, have the iPad read the story to you, flip through the pages at your own pace, have the iPad change the page for you, etc. My kids love listening to the story time and time again, and each word of the story is highlighted as the iPad reads it to them to help them learn to read themselves. A few of the action scenes from the story include actual footage from the movie which the kids love. This is truly a fun app to have, and makes the Read to Me books that we had on cassette tape when I was a kid look like stone tablets

Pac Man ($4.99): The title says it all, its Pac Man! And I don’t mean any of the modernized versions of the game with fancy graphics, a story line, etc. this is just plain old, purely awesome Pac Man! The game offers 2 ways to play: you can use an on screen joy stick to maneuver your favorite 80′s video game icon around the screen eating pellets as you go and dodging ghosts, or you can simply use the touch screen to change Pac Man’s direction. This is an exact re-creation of the original arcade hit, and it definitely doesn’t disappoint!

I could go on and on about all of the great apps that the iPad has to offer, but this list is my current must have list, and if you have an iPad yourself I would highly recommend checking out all of them. The platform has so much potential and I can’t wait to see what new apps continue to come out for the device.

Most of the posts to this blog will consist of my thoughts and reviews of various technology products, but from time to time I like to step onto the soap box and give a nice long rant. This is one of those posts

I had originally intended to post an article about my favorite iPad apps (that article will still be coming within the next few days) but when I logged into Iowa TechTalk tonight, I noticed several new comments to some of my articles. Seeings as how this is a new blog, I thought “Great! I’m getting some readers!”. Then I check the comments only to find that they are merely Spam with links leading to less than desirable websites. For those of you who frequent less than desirable websites, sorry but I already deleted the comments.

At any rate, it made me think of all of the Spam that I get, and not just via email. Spam has grown to encompass all sorts of outlets including Facebook, Twitter, Text Messages, Instant Messages, and as I learned this evening, blogs. I expect to get spam via email since my address is out there for the world to see on plenty of websites. The real annoyance is receiving unsolicited text messages, IM’s, and blog comments. Unfortunately I know of no way to block text messages that I deem to be Spam, nor do I know of any way to block unsolicited IM’s without setting my IM client to only allow messages from my contact list, but that becomes a problem when it comes to people finding me and trying to add me as an Instant Messenger contact.

As for my blog, I’ll have to look around and see what options are available to moderate the comments to this site a little more without requiring registration on the site or moderator approval. My goal with this blog is to allow for open ended conversations regarding the topics I write about, and I feel that requiring registration would make people far less likely to leave their comments. And I simply don’t have the time to approve every comment that comes into the site, so that isn’t an option either. I suppose there are probably WordPress plugins that allow for CAPTCHA on comments, but I’m new enough to WordPress that I don’t know of any just yet.

So that is where the readers of Iowa TechTalk can come in handy. If you know of a good WordPress plugin that allows for CAPTCHA or other forms of moderation for comments to help weed out the bots that auto-post comments to blogs, please leave a comment and let me know! Just make sure if you do leave a comment that it actually has to do with this post, and isn’t more Spam for me to have to go and delete

Well, that is all for this techno-rant. I promise that with the next post, we’ll get back to fun things like reviewing my favorite iPad apps!

If you have a Facebook account, you have no doubt heard about the privacy woes plaguing the company. And chances are, you have a Facebook account, as Facebook currently boasts over 400 million active users. To put that into perspective, if Facebook were a country, it would be larger than the United States.

Facebook is designed to be a social experience. You can share pictures, find long lost friends, play any of the more than 550,000 applications built into Facebook, etc. However, at the end of the day shouldn’t you have the right to say who has access to what and who doesn’t? Facebook has continually taken a black-eye for their CEO’s stance on privacy. CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s vision is to have everyone on Facebook share all of their data with everyone. He wants the experience to be open and accessible to all, and has come under recent scrutiny for statements made in the past regarding his stance on privacy.

To their credit, Facebook does provide you with a plethora of privacy settings so that you have control over who can see what on your Facebook page. The problem is that there are over 50 privacy settings with over 170 options to sift through in order to make your Facebook page private (Source: Click Here). And to make matters worse, most of these 170+ options are all set by default to show “Everyone” your information. More often than not, people become overwhelmed with all of the privacy settings and wind up leaving the options set to their default, thus opening up all of their information to the entire Internet. To get an idea of what this can entail, head over to OpenBook, a site designed to show what info is available for those that leave their Facebook page available to everyone.

Now in all fairness, some people simply don’t care if their Facebook data is private or not. They have the same vision of openness and transparency as Zuckerberg, and that’s their prerogative. But what about those of us who would like to keep their data private, and only share with certain people? How can we ensure that the data on our Facebook page is private without spending 3 hours sifting through privacy settings? The folks at ReclaimPrivacy.org have just the solution you need. Head over to their website (Link) and follow the simple instructions to test the privacy of your Facebook account. The process takes about 5 minutes and can be a real eye-opener. I thought that I had my Facebook page locked down pretty tightly, but ReclaimPrivacy.org found a couple of things that I missed in the 50+ privacy settings.

For all intents and purposes, I want my Facebook page locked down per all of the recommendations that ReclaimPrivacy.org makes. One exception though is the ability for people to search for you on Facebook. After all, if people can’t search for you on Facebook how are you going to get in touch with more friends?

As of now the service is completely free and works very well. Facebook has a bad habit of locking out third party pages that attempt to access their site, and my fear is that ReclaimPrivacy.org will eventually be locked out as well. Facebook also constantly makes changes to their privacy settings, so ReclaimPrivacy.org will be forced to keep up, which I could see eventually leading to the service being offered only for a fee.

Ultimately, the philosophy of privacy at Facebook is broken. It is their job to allow their users to maintain a level of privacy on their site, and they need to do so in a manner which is EASY for users. Instead they seemingly make the process so difficult (some would argue on purpose) that people resort to leaving their Facebook account wide open to the world. In the meantime, head on over to ReclaimPrivacy.org and make sure that your Facebook account is as private (or open) as you prefer.

It was announced on Friday May 21 that the HP Slate, HP’s answer to Apple’s iPad, will be launched in October sporting Palm’s WebOS instead of Microsoft’s Windows 7.  This move comes as no surprise to many, as it has long been rumored that HP would adopt the Palm WebOS for its Slate tablet device after acquiring Palm.  (Source: HP: WebOS Slate On The Way)

My personal take on this is that HP is making a GREAT move in using WebOS instead of Windows 7.  As stated in my review of Apple’s iPad, a full blown desktop operating system seems to be overkill for these devices, and in my opinion is not necessary for the new touchscreen tablet form factor.  Windows 7 has always felt clunky and too “heavy” when running on Netbook devices, and I think the success that Apple has seen with the iPad will convince other vendors that consumers are not looking for a desktop or laptop replacement when they pick up a tablet.  They are looking for something that will let them browse the web, check email, and watch movies; and they want to be able to do these things instantly without waiting for Windows to boot up.

My belief is that this form factor running operating systems such as iPhone OS, WebOS, and Android will be far more successful than if manufacturers were to stick with Windows 7.  Windows 7 most definitely has its place in the realm of computing, but that place is on full desktops and laptops, not on touchscreen tablets.  The success that Apple has seen with the iPad has been due to its extreme ease of use coupled with an AppStore loaded with any application you can dream of.  If competitors want to have a legitimate chance at catching up to the iPad, WebOS and Android are definitely the way to go, not Windows 7, and HP will fare far better for realizing this BEFORE the Slate was launched.

As of yet, Microsoft has announced no plans to port its upcoming Windows Phone operating system to tablet style devices, but they may find themselves on the outside looking in at a booming product category if they only offer Windows 7 to manufacturers for their touchscreen tablets.

I am first and foremost a technology enthusiast, so when new gadgets and devices come out, more often than not I’m that person standing at the front of the line on launch day ready to snatch up the latest new toys. In January when Apple announced that they were releasing a tablet device, the iPad, I was skeptical at first. I wasn’t sure what to make of a device that did not have a full blown desktop operating system on it. So, when the iPad was announced, I had decided that I would not be one of the people to run out and pick one up right away.

Despite deciding that I was not going to purchase an iPad, I continued to keep an eye on the device and read up on it. Of course, all of the articles that were out were pure speculation at the time as it was not released until April 3rd, but the hype around the device was growing at exponential levels. On launch day I was still on edge about it, however I wanted to go in and see it for myself. I spent about 20 minutes in the store trying out the display model of an iPad. That was all the time that it took me to decide that I wanted one, although those that know me well know that it really didn’t take much twisting of my arm There was of course a delay since the initial launch stock was sold out, so my iPad arrived around April 20th. I have had a month now to really put it through its paces, and after that time I have made the following observations about it:

• The iPad will not replace your laptop.  It is a great entertainment device, and I could see it picking up in certain sectors such as Health Care and Education, but it is not going to replace a laptop for your typical corporate user.
• This goes along with my first statement: the iPad is not suited for creating content.  Apple has made leaps and bounds with touch screen technology, but sometimes you still need the tactile feedback of a mechanical keyboard.  If you have a Bluetooth keyboard these can be used with the iPad and it makes a big difference.
• A case for the iPad is a MUST HAVE accessory.  The back of it is the same aluminum used on Apple’s MacBook Pro laptop line, and while it does not EASILY scratch, it wouldn’t take much normal wear and tear before it starts to show signs of usage.
• Holding the device for extended periods to watch movies can become tiresome.  Make sure the case you get has some sort of a stand to it so that you don’t have to hold it the whole time. I picked up this case from Incase, and I LOVE IT!
• The screen is far more durable than you would imagine.  My first concern about the iPad was that it would scratch easily.  I have not tried this myself (nor do I plan to!) but in one review that I read, they tried to scratch the touch screen with a nail and were unable to scratch it.
• The iPad is more than just a “Super Sized iPod Touch”.  The higher resolution and screen real estate have freed software developers to do so much more with this device.  In a future post, I will discuss some of my favorite Apps that I have found for the iPad.
• Anyone can use an iPad.  The device just makes sense when you pick it up and start to use it.  My 4 year old daughter watched me view photos on it for all of 2 minutes before she asked if she could try it out.  She had no problem opening pictures, scanning through them, and closing them.

So, is the iPad for everyone?  No, it certainly isn’t.  I think it is a strong competitor to Netbooks for home users who would like a device in the living room or bedroom to do light web browsing, watch movies, and read books on.  From a purely entertainment perspective, the iPad is a superior device to Netbooks in that it is much faster and easier to use than your typical Netbook.  As I mentioned in the opening of this post, I was skeptical about it not having a full blown operating system on it, but I think the fact that it is based on the iPhone OS is definitely a strength.  The software operates much faster and doesn’t feel as “clunky” as what Windows 7 does on a Netbook.  It isn’t about to replace your laptop or desktop though.  Too many tasks still call for the horsepower and peripherals that a desktop or laptop offers.  It will certainly be interesting to see what Apple does with future iterations of the iPad, and to see what types of devices competitors come up with.