4 posts tagged “computers”

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Are Computer Mice Close to Extinction?

Jul 19, 2008
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Analyst: Computer mice could be extinct in 3-to-5 years

Thu Jul 17, 2008 12:08PM EDT

Touchscreens, facial recognition systems, and gesture-based interfaces could spell the end of the humble computer mouse sooner than you might think, or so a Gartner analyst predicts. Mouse manufacturers (not to mention millions of desktop users) beg to differ.

Analyst Steve Prentice told BBC News that while the "mouse works fine in the desktop environment ... for home entertainment or working on a notebook, it's over."

That's a bold statement, given that the mouse-cursor combo has been making our lives easier for decades (the mouse itself was invented nearly 40 years ago)—and when it comes to a desktop PC, a mouse (as Prentice admits) does, indeed, work "fine."

But the Gartner analysts points to the popularity of the gesture-based Wiimote, the iPhone's touchscreen UI and tilt-sensitive accelerometers, and even the wireless axe in Guitar Hero as evidence that consumers are moving beyond the mouse.

Now, Prentice doesn't go so far as to kiss off the venerable keyboard, too. "For all its faults, the keyboard will remain the primary text input device," he told the BBC. Thank goodness for that.

However, "the idea of a keyboard with a mouse as a control interface is the paradigm that I am talking about breaking down," Prentice said.

Just tell that to mouse maker Logitech. "The death of the mouse is greatly exaggerated," a Logitech exec told the BBC, adding that the company has sold a whopping 500 million mice in the past two decades.

What do you think? Would you ever ditch your mouse for, say, a touch-sensitive PC monitor, or Minority Report-level gesture tech? Or will they have to pry your mouse from your cold, dead fingers?

Bill Gates E-Mail Reveals His Frustration With Windows, Too

Jun 26, 2008
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Bill Gates

Most users of Microsoft Windows have had days where they wanted to throw their computer out of a real window; days where the thing just wouldn't cooperate and had to reboot 15 times just to install whatever piece of software or update they are trying to get. Those aren't fun days, and Microsoft's co-founder Bill Gates isn't immune to them either, as shown in a scathing e-mail originally revealed during an anti-trust suit against the company. The e-mail was just republished by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer in a retrospective on Gates, whose last day at Microsoft is Friday.

The e-mail was sent by Gates in 2003 and recounts his troubles trying to download and install Windows MovieMaker and Microsoft Plus. In an e-mail that spans a full five pages, he tells of having to run Windows Update, make multiple downloads, wait through many installs and reboots, and watch as his system is cluttered with meaningless garbage -- all just so that he can install that one app he wanted. At the end of it all....well...read for yourself:

"So after more than an hour of craziness and making my programs list garbage and being scared and seeing that Microsoft.com is a terrible website I haven't run Moviemaker and I haven't got the plus package."

Mind you, this was back in 2003, and there have since been many changes made to both Microsoft.com and to Windows, but the next time you're swearing at Windows, just think about this e-mail and remember that you're not the only one.

Dell-Google

Jun 20, 2008
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Anger

The above picture is me in a very angry state. I haven't been able to post on my blogs because this ridiculous Dell Search Page comes up every time I try. I cannot believe I am actually able to blog today! For the past few days I have tried to get onto my Vox and Blogger with no avail. Every time I attempted to post, my page would move to Dell's Search page. After MUCH research and doing everything possible to remove it from my system I finally figured it out.

If any of you have this problem where a Dell Search page pops up, there are three things you can do. You can remove it directly from your control panel add and remove programs or you can use the PC-Decrapifier. (This program is AMAZING. It deletes all the crap that Dell puts on their computers before it even arrives in your hands for the first time. You wouldn't believe all the...well, crap for lack of a better word, that Dell adds to your computer, forcing your PC to run slower!) As it turns out, this program did wonders for me, but didn't cure my Anger fwith the Dell Search page as it never got rid of it. I had to continue my research and find a way to get rid of this demon (as I came to call it). Fortunately, I found some guys blog who gave me the solution. Thanks whomever you are!!! And he told me to do this if the two options above didn't work:

"Open your IE Browser. Click Tools, Click Options, Click the Programs Tab. Click on Manage Add-Ons then disable an add on called CBrowserHelperObject also called BAE.dll."

And what do you know! It worked! I'm finally able to post! I beat Dell/Google to the punch! Hah!!!!!!

Hope this helps others of you out there!

Most Dangerous Addresses on the Web

Jun 5, 2008
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Those two or three letters that go after the dot on a Web address -- you know, .com, .gov, .edu, and so on -- actually mean something. They identify the top level domain (TLD) that a site is on. It would seem that pretty much all those TLDs are more or less the same, but it looks like some domains harbor more malicious sites than others, according to a new report by security software vendor McAfee.

The most common top-level domain is .com, which has just over 5-percent malicious sites (sites that are used for spamming, hacking, phishing, and virus-spreading). Other domains contain significantly higher percentages of dangerous sites: 19.2 percent of .hk (Hong Kong) sites were found to be dangerous, while just under 12 percent of .cn (China) and .info (Information) sites were.

Primarily, this has to do with the rules governing the domains and the lack of proper security checks by some of the companies that that administer TLDs and let people register Web addresses with them. One analyst at McAfee suggests avoiding .hk, .cn, and .info sites... especially those hawking pharmaceuticals.

The safest domain by far was .gov, which McAfee found only .05 percent of to be dangerous. So until more rnational hackers infiltrate US government Web sites, you should be okay visiting most anything with a .gov in the address.