Microsoft's New Approach to the Home Screen

Windows Phone takes a markedly different approach to homescreen management. Both Apple’s and Android use basically the same old the app icon grid. However Microsoft relies on Live Tiles. Both approaches come with their fair share of frustrations, but after my experience with a Windows 8 phone I must say I think the Windows model is far superior in many ways.



Apps can take one of three sizes on the Windows Phone home screen: small squares, large squares, or wide rectangles. And not every app needs to be on your home screen. You can arrange only the apps that you use the most frequently on the homescreen. All of your apps are discoverable from a second screen, accessed by swiping across the main homescreen, where they’re alphabetized and searchable. Apple & Android can do the searchable part, but the surprisingly handy alphabetical list feels like an obvious omission now that I have been using it.

Windows Phone’s Live Tiles add a degree of intelligence that the Apple home screen simply does not have. Instead of simply badging app icons, many app icons (tiles) can instead show actual data pulled from the apps in question: For example your Facebook & Twitter tiles can cycle through recent messages while a weather app’s tile can show the forecast and current conditions, and the calendar tile can show upcoming appointments. Though limited by space constraints, the feature is clever, and it works well.

While you can choose various themed colors for your Windows Phone as well. The Windows phone, with it's 3 sizes of tiles and endless ways in which to organize your home screen is fun and can really make your phone stand out from your friends, family and work mates.

Try this as an experiment if you have the time. If you have an iPhone and look around probably several others will have one as well. If you then find a couple of people with the same model (4, 4S or 5), mix them up and throw them on the floor (lightly). It will take a few minutes of looking at each one to figure out who's is who's. However if you have a couple Windows 8 phones (not a good bet just yet), and even if they were the same model and color, the same experiment will no doubt demonstrate that immediately each phone's owner will have no problem knowing which is his or hers.

Windows 8 Phone - Part 2

OK I admit it I was feeling a bit guilty. You see through January I had been using a Windows 8 phone and was really enjoying many elements of it, especially the seamless integration with Microsoft Office, SkyDrive, Lync & SharePoint. Shure many of the iPhone Apps I have grown used to were not there, but hey Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn & FourSquare were available. As a matter of fact in the past couple of weeks YouTube was finally added. However I really did miss some of those apps I had gotten used to using such as Tivo, SiriusXM, Pocket and of course Apple's superior music player and in early February I switched back to my iPhone5.

OK Windows 8 Phone Let's Do This Again

Now that I am testing the Microsoft Surface Windows 8 Pro tablet and I have a couple trips coming up I figured I should try out the Windows 8 phone again. With all of that being said I switched back to the Nokia Lumia 822 Windows 8 phone with a commitment to give it yet another month to test out.

I hope to report some good news to all of you during the next 30 days or so regarding my experience with this Windows 8 phone.  Wish me luck.... and stay tuned for more.

Microsoft Surface Pro Review

For the past week now I have been almost exclusively using a Windows 8 Pro Surface tablet. I have a few early observations I wanted to share here. First, the ability to run full Windows applications on a tablet has been something that many people, including yours truly have been waiting for. As promised, the Microsoft Surface Pro allows for this to happen. There is something liberating about having a tablet that can actually truly run any Windows program out there.

 

Windows 8 Pro - a fine mix of native tablet & Windows apps

 

Although not as powerful as most ultrabooks, the Surface tablet does include some impressive technical specifications considering it is a first of a kind device.



Intel Core i5-3317U Dual Core Mobile Processor
4GB DDR3 Memory
128GB Solid State Storage
10.6" WUXGA (1920x1080) Multitouch Display
1.0 Megapixel Front and Rear Webcam
Intel HD 4000 Graphics
802.11a/g/n Wireless, Bluetooth
USB 3.0, Mini DisplayPort, microSD, Cover Port, Pressure Sensitive Pen Stylus
10.8" x 6.8" x .53" @ 2 lbs.
Windows 8 Professional

The Surface Pro screen takes the 10.6-inch display panel up to a 1920x1080 resolution while and can fully support 1080p high definition video. Color and brightness are quite good and the viewing angles are very wide with little contrast loss.

The heart of the Surface Pro is the same hardware that would typically be found in most ultrabooks today. It is powered by the Intel Core i5-3317U dual core mobile processor that is matched up with 4GB of DDR3 memory. The result is that the system offers some outstanding performance that allows it to take on tasks that most tablets would not be able to. Of course the processor setup along with the full Windows 8 Professional means that it can run any of the traditional Windows applications on the market. The Surface requires active cooling which means that there are fans inside the case. There have been reports of loud fans although I have had no noise issues with mine.  In addition Microsoft did a good job of disguising the air intake and output slots.

The more demanding hardware of the Surface Pro meant that Microsoft needed to put a larger battery in the tablet. They wanted to balance the weight and size of the system as well. They eventually settled on a 42Whr battery pack. This is larger than the Surface RT tablet at just 31.5WHr and roughly the same as Apple's iPad 4. Average battery length is about 4 hours which is about half of other tablets on the market today.

Storage is a big subject with regards to the Surface Pro tablets. In fact, I am reviewing the 128GB model specifically because of the space constraints that exist within the 64GB model. After the OS and recovery partitions are taken up, there is just 29GB of space left on the 64GB model. That leaves little space for programs and data. In contrast, the 128GB version has 89GB which is much more functional. This does drive the cost up but should be something that anyone considering the tablet should take seriously. The solid state storage does help make the system extremely responsive with the operating system cold booting is just about twelve seconds and applications come up almost instantaneously. There are options of adding extra storage through an internal micro SD card slot for use with flash memory or external storage through a USB 3.0 port which is something not seen in any other table today.

My favorite network application, "Track-It" running on the Surface



I was able to log my Surface tablet onto the network at work with a secure SSID which connects to the AD (active directory) server. From there I was able to install networked applications, access network files and print to networked printers. This is where a Windows tablet is going to find it's success.

The Windows 8 app store still needs to grow but I am not really that worried about that. The store's inventory has grown alot during the past couple of months and I see no reason for this trend not to continue.

Finally, we come to price. The 64GB model of the Surface Pro retails at $899 while the 128GB model runs $999. This already places it at the premium end of ultrabooks and well beyond the cost of your typical tablet. However if you want a truly mobile device that can do it all this may be the mobile solution for you.

I will be travelling with the Surface a couple of times during the next few weeks so stay tuned for more evaulation... and please keep your fingers crossed.

6 Internet Security Tips

It seems internet security is in the news everday these days. Here are 6 Internet Security Tips everyone should follow:

1. Create secure passwords that are unique for each account and use a mix of numbers, lower-case and capitol letters, and symbols.

2. Keep password recovery options updated, including the answers to security questions and email addresses to which a forgotten password will be sent. Secure, unique passwords can be tough to remember, so those tools are important.

3. Don't respond to emails asking for sensitive information. Government agencies, banks and other organizations rarely send emails requestion personal information, so those emails are most often from cyber criminals. If an email looks fishy, don;t enter any data after clicking on a link - manually navigate to the appropriate URL (website) instead.

4. Keep browsers and other software up to date, and don't ignore notifications when updates are available.

5. Warn users about dangers of family members using work PCs that are brought home. Children and others may use laptops in ways that get them infected with viruses.

6. Check the file type before opening a download - often, malicious programs (.exe files) are disguised as media or document files.

I love the sharing of ideas and information that occurs on our CC days! Thanks to all for suggestions, links, brochures, etc., etc.

Here are a few more (thanks to Tina!) to check out especially related to our studies in CC Cycle 1 geography and history:
http://www.middletownfreelibrary.org/?p=4950
http://www.middletownfreelibrary.org/?p=4946
http://www.middletownfreelibrary.org/?p=4941
http://www.middletownfreelibrary.org/?p=4936

Classical Conversations FREE Parent Practicum is coming this summer!
Here's a great preview video of what you can expect this summer...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpTyvbrGIxg

A Great Introduction to the Orchestra in preparation for our final weeks of Fine Art. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIjtEATkOL0&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL