New Technology: Gadgets & Trends
David Bott
Manager, IT & Networks St. Catharines Public Library
Gadgets
Digital Content
•MP3, MP4, WMA, WMV, AAC, FLV, OGG, DivX
•What is it & where do I get it?
Web 2.0 – The Interactive Web
Blogs, Wikis & RSS Podcasting Social Networks
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www.facebook.com www.myspace.com www.secondlife.com Picasa Google Earth
Cool Applications
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Operating Systems & Security
Gadgets: Memory
Memory Storage
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Floppy disks are slow, low-capacity (1.44 MB) and unreliable Faster, higher capacity & more reliable Replacing floppy disks and CD-R / DVD-R U3 and PortableApps.com Applications run right from the drive Require storage for content
USB Thumb Drives
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New generation of USB drives
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Cameras, MP3 Players, Phones
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Compact Flash SD Cards MMC
USB Thumb Drive with U3
Stores data & applications
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Office applications & documents E-mail, browser & bookmarks Passwords, anti-virus Free & commercial applications Proprietary software preinstalled on certain models Free alternative that you can install on any USB drive
U3
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PortableApps.com
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Digital Cameras
Point-and-shoot Digital SLR Get that perfect shot
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Instantly preview every shot
Edit & print your own digital pictures Make digital movies Post pictures online
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Flickr.com MyPhotoAlbum.com Facebook.com Weblogs (aka “blog”)
MP3 Players
iPod, Zune, Zen, Yepp Purchase & download music from online music stores
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iTunes, AOL Radio, Puretracks.com Rip from your own CDs Podcasts, vidcasts
Download free content
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Digital Video Recorders & Players
Not your father‟s VCR
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Pause & rewind “live” TV TiVo*, AppleTV ExpressVu PVR Cogeco DVR Sony, Panasonic, Phillips MythTV, Windows MCE iPod, Archos Cell phones Sony PSP
Appliances:
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PC-Based:
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Portable
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GPS Devices
Global Positioning System
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System of 24 GPS satellites Device uses Trilateration Factory-installed devices for cars After-market installations Portable Units Laptops, Palm Pilots & iPAQs
Various Implementations
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Software & USB GPS Receiver
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PDA – Personal Digital Assistant
PocketPC, Palm Pilot & even Linux E-mail & Internet Address Book Calendar Task List Applications
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Word processing Spreadsheets Audio & Video
Media
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Digital Camera
Fun & Games
For the serious gamers:
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Sony PSP Nintendo DS Built-in web-browsers Wireless Media Player for movies and music
Some devices have:
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Cell Phones - Convergence
One device to do it all! Krzr, Blackberry, iPhone
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Phone Audio & Voice Recording Video & Pictures Internet E-mail PDA Camera Games
Wireless Technology
802.11 a/b/g/n
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Computers, PDAs WLAN - 30m up to 100m 11 Mbps, 54 Mbps, 108 Mbps+ Keyboards, mice, headsets, cell phones PAN - 10m Cell phones PC Cards (for laptops) Must be in digital coverage area for enhanced services
Bluetooth
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CDMA & GSM
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Digital Content
How do I get it? Subscribe (RSS - Push)
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Requires RSS Reader RSS Owl, Sage
iTunes (Download – Pull) Direct from website (twit.tv) Some content is free Some is paid
Web 2.0 – The Next Generation
Interactive Websites
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Slashdot.org Digg.com MySpace.com Facebook.com SecondLife.com YouTube.com
Social Networking
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User-Created Content
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Dynamic & Customizable Content
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iGoogle.com
Mash-ups
Mash-ups?
Many developers publish their API:
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Google Maps, Amazon Can provide maps for real estate listings, restaurants, etc.
Combining content from different sites or services into a new site:
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maps.google.com MTO camera feed Up-to-date traffic information with pictures http://toronto.ibegin.com/traffic/
Mash „em up
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Putting Mash-ups to Good Use
Putting Mash-ups to Better Use
Blogs, Wikis & Podcasting
Blogs
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“Web logs”, online journals Amateurs to professionals (Anderson Cooper, Rick Mercer) Websites that allow visitors to add, edit and delete content Great for collaborative authoring Wikipedia.org User generated audio or video content Resides at a unique web feed address Users can subscribe to content
Wikis
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Podcasting
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Cool Applications
Google Earth
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Hi-res sat images Layers of data
Roads Parks Restaurants Landmarks Terrain Etc.
Picasa
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Organize photos Floating Desktop Icons
Widgets
Weather News Stocks Clocks Photos
Operating Systems
Microsoft is Dominant on the Desktop
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Security has always been an issue Viruses, Worms & Spyware
Apple has a small niche market
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Very secure And it‟s free!* Free as in beer and free as in speech Dell has recently started offering Ubuntu on their systems
Linux is another alternative
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Windows XP
Dominant desktop OS at present Most hardware and software support Security** is an issue
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Most users run as “admin” Can be made secure
Mac OSX
Innovative Graphics & Features
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Aqua & Quartz The Dock Widgets Exposé LUA Few viruses Built on BSD
Better Security**
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Inter-operable with Windows
Windows Vista
“Eye Candy”
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Aero Glass Sidebar and Gadgets
Improved Security (LUA)** Hardware and Software Compatibility Issues
Linux
Free* & Opensource Thousands of free applications Secure**
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Few viruses Many different distributions KDE, Gnome, XFCE, Fluxbox
Choice
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Inter-operable with Windows “Live” CDs
Important Notes
Free*: There‟s nothing preventing anyone from charging money for the software. Some do, as they may provide support or regular upgrades. Free-libre open-source software (FLOSS) permits the end-user to modify, upgrade or build-upon existing software, as long as they return the modified code to the community
Important Notes
Security**: No computer is really secure Any time your computer is connected to a network, you are vulnerable Security vulnerabilities occur in:
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Operating Systems Applications Programming Languages
Users can be tricked into phishing scams or unknowingly install malware.
Security - What You Can Do
All Operating Systems are vulnerable Security requires a layered approach Turn on firewall / Get a router “Least-privileged User Accounts”
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Don‟t use “root” or “admin” accounts
Keep OS and Applications up-todate Turn off unneeded services Use Firefox Anti-virus and Anti-spyware Don‟t eat yellow snow on the internet
Links
Social Networks
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Linux
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www.facebook.com www.myspace.com www.secondlife.com www.youtube.com www.itunes.com www.puretracks.com GoogleEarth, Picasa, GMail, Blogger www.google.ca/intl/en/options/ www.digg.com www.slashdot.org http://toronto.ibegin.com/traffic/ http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/searc h/label/Toronto
www.distrowatch.com www.ubuntu.com www.getfirefox.com Extensions for Firefox https://addons.mozilla.org/enUS/firefox/browse/type:1 www.rssowl.org www.twit.tv www.itunes.com http://www.u3.com/ http://portableapps.com/
Firefox Web Browser
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Audio & Video
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RSS Readers
Google Products
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Podcasts
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User-driven Content
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U3 & PortableApps
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Mash-ups
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Questions?
This presentation can be downloaded from: www.stcatharines.library.on.ca/content/present