Byte by Bite

Bill Gates Says Books and Newspapers Will Be Obsolete

by Marv Dealy

Book – it’s not an acronym for something; it doesn’t stand for anything. Rather, it’s a completely self-powered, advertising-free learning and entertainment device, one that Bill Gates says won’t be around in 50 years, even though some say it’s been around since at least AD 868 (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts/3696333.stm).

I recently stopped by the coffee shop at Mountain Sage in downtown Groveland for a morning cup ‘o’ Joe. On a stool next to the tall propane area heater sat a man with a paperback book, completely engrossed in whatever it was he was reading.

I saw that he could see the words on the paper without having to adjust the angle of the book to the light, unlike my laptop. At no time did words from another book pop up on a part of one of the pages, diverting him from his thoughts.

I saw there were no ads – no banners, no tiles, no flashing words, no spinning things. The letters just sat there on the page, waiting for the man to read them and picture in his mind what they were saying.

Was the book by Hemingway? Konstantinovich? Ann Rice?

Whoever, he could “bookmark” where he left off with anything from a blade of grass to a creased corner of a page, assuring the ability to quickly begin reading again where he’d left off.

Bill Gates said in a recent interview that in the future paper would be a thing of the past. “There are no textbooks, no magazines and (from 50 years or so hence) no newspapers.” (http://news.independent.co.uk/media/article352292.ece)

Instead, Bill has us all carrying around little tablets, something like a clipboard, that beams us all our entertainment and information needs. I’d imagine it’s probably powered by Microsoft ZE, in Bill’s World. Help me, Scotty.

According to the article, in Bill’s World no government keeps records or information on paper any more in the medical or criminal justice systems. Says Bill: “The tablet is the place where it can all come together. I definitely see the tablet, whether it’s textbooks going digital or the newspaper going digital or magazines going digital, I see the person with that very, very thin, – we don't have it yet today – very inexpensive, high-bandwidth, wireless device... where a lot of the print and video consumption will take place.”

The article continues that Bill is frustrated that the tablet technology – which he has been pushing for over a decade – hasn’t yet taken off. Let’s see, here we have a laptop (essentially) without the keyboard or mouse pad. To “type” you tap your finger or use a stylus of some kind to click on letters on the screen.

I can’t imagine sitting and writing this column that-away. One finger peck at a time it’d be lucky if I got one of these a year finished. But never mind that, Bill’s folks have introduced an even smaller version of that very same tablet, called the Origami, that comes with no keyboard and a much smaller screen than the smallest laptop. I’m not sure why anyone would want one other than for the bling thing.

The article notes that Bill still does read books, including Jared Diamond’s “Guns, Germs and Steel,” a Pulitzer Prize-winning book which explains why some societies grow to be wealthier than others. Bill describes it as “one of the best books of all time.” The article doesn’t say whether Bill insisted on reading the book on his tablet or not.

Spring Cleaning Inside Your Computer

As promised, a few tips on what you ought to do to help your computer’s innards run a little more happily.

For Mac users, it’s easy – there are several Mac OSx maintenance and repair programs available at www.pure-mac.com/diag.html; also included are repair and diagnostics for older or “classic” Macs. I use DiskWarrior and Techtool Pro. The later provides volume repair and data recovery, and also tests all the hardware on your system like the CPU, memory, controllers and power supply. It will also examine things like your Internet and network connections. I also have older copies of Norton Utilities for Mac that still prove very helpful.

For PC users, it’s not so easy. There are so many maintenance/repair programs on the market today that it can be quite overwhelming. Here’s the short list that I use on all my computers – this isn’t to say this is either the perfect or the only solution, it’s one that has developed over time, doesn’t give me headaches, is pretty easy to manage, and doesn’t cost an arm and a leg.

For general computer maintenance, I’ve used Norton’s System Works since it was released. There have been problems with some releases – Norton’s 2003 Internet Security caused more problems than it fixed, from my observation. That said, the “stand alone” versions of System Works have proved invaluable.

I also use Norton’s Anti Virus program, since it generally comes bundled with System Works for about the same price McAfee charges just for their anti-virus program. Get ‘em from Symantec.com. I also use AVG for anti-virus in instances where we don’t want to use Norton’s Anti Virus.

To prevent day-to-day pollution from badware, I use CounterSpy from SunbeltSoftware.com. I don’t use a stand-alone anti-spam program; I use the built-in spam protection in Thunderbird, a free e-mail program from Mozilla.org. I don’t use Internet Explorer, because it’s over 5 years old and despite many patches is still, well, 5 years old. I use Thunderbird, again from Mozilla.org, and it works quite well.

To keep my computer tidied up, I also use CrapCleaner from CCleaner.com which, depending on how you set it, removes tons of stuff like temporary Internet files, surfing history, cookies, and lots more, creating more room on your hard drive.

There are lots more utilities out there, some free, some not. There are also a bunch of programs that can help out if your computer has been more seriously compromised by hijackers and the like. But that’s not really a spring cleaning, that’s more of a call the doctor type of thing.

Typos

Actual sentence from the Terms of Service that I encountered while trying to download and install Google's “safe browsing” extension for Firefox:

“By using Google Firefox Extensions (“the Extensions”), you agree to the following terms and conditions, and any policies, guidelines or amendments thereto that smay be presented to you from time to time (collectively, the “Terms of Service”).

Note the changes “smay be presented.”

You have to love a wel placed typo.

Friday Freebie

Thanks to cousin Bob Dealy, I can pass along the most amazing single web page I’ve seen recently. It’s family friendly, yet annoying. Visit it at http://www.newportharbor.us/computerworks.htm