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New Technology: Gadgets & Trends

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Presentation on theme: "New Technology: Gadgets & Trends"— Presentation transcript:

1 New Technology: Gadgets & Trends
David Bott Manager, IT & Networks St. Catharines Public Library

2 Gadgets

3 Digital Content MP3, MP4, WMA, WMV, AAC, FLV, OGG, DivX
What is it & where do I get it?

4 Web 2.0 – The Interactive Web
Blogs, Wikis & RSS Podcasting Social Networks Cool Applications Picasa Google Earth

5 Operating Systems & Security

6 Gadgets: Memory Memory Storage USB Thumb Drives
Floppy disks are slow, low-capacity (1.44 MB) and unreliable USB Thumb Drives Faster, higher capacity & more reliable Replacing floppy disks and CD-R / DVD-R New generation of USB drives U3 and PortableApps.com Applications run right from the drive Cameras, MP3 Players, Phones Require storage for content Compact Flash SD Cards MMC

7 USB Thumb Drive with U3 Stores data & applications U3 PortableApps.com
Office applications & documents , browser & bookmarks Passwords, anti-virus Free & commercial applications U3 Proprietary software pre-installed on certain models PortableApps.com Free alternative that you can install on any USB drive

8 Digital Cameras Point-and-shoot Digital SLR Get that perfect shot
Instantly preview every shot Edit & print your own digital pictures Make digital movies Post pictures online Flickr.com MyPhotoAlbum.com Facebook.com Weblogs (aka “blog”)

9 MP3 Players iPod, Zune, Zen, Yepp
Purchase & download music from online music stores iTunes, AOL Radio, Puretracks.com Rip from your own CDs Download free content Podcasts, vidcasts

10 Digital Video Recorders & Players
Not your father’s VCR Pause & rewind “live” TV Appliances: TiVo*, AppleTV ExpressVu PVR Cogeco DVR Sony, Panasonic, Phillips PC-Based: MythTV, Windows MCE Portable iPod, Archos Cell phones Sony PSP

11 GPS Devices Global Positioning System Various Implementations
System of 24 GPS satellites Device uses Trilateration Various Implementations Factory-installed devices for cars After-market installations Portable Units Software & USB GPS Receiver Laptops, Palm Pilots & iPAQs

12 PDA – Personal Digital Assistant
PocketPC, Palm Pilot & even Linux & Internet Address Book Calendar Task List Applications Word processing Spreadsheets Media Audio & Video Digital Camera

13 Fun & Games For the serious gamers: Some devices have: Sony PSP
Nintendo DS Some devices have: Built-in web-browsers Wireless Media Player for movies and music

14 Cell Phones - Convergence
One device to do it all! Krzr, Blackberry, iPhone Phone Audio & Voice Recording Video & Pictures Internet PDA Camera Games

15 Wireless Technology 802.11 a/b/g/n Bluetooth CDMA & GSM
Computers, PDAs WLAN - 30m up to 100m 11 Mbps, 54 Mbps, 108 Mbps+ Bluetooth Keyboards, mice, headsets, cell phones PAN - 10m CDMA & GSM Cell phones PC Cards (for laptops) Must be in digital coverage area for enhanced services

16 Digital Content How do I get it? Subscribe (RSS - Push)
Requires RSS Reader RSS Owl, Sage iTunes (Download – Pull) Direct from website (twit.tv) Some content is free Some is paid

17 Web 2.0 – The Next Generation
Interactive Websites Slashdot.org Digg.com Social Networking MySpace.com Facebook.com SecondLife.com User-Created Content YouTube.com Dynamic & Customizable Content iGoogle.com Mash-ups

18 Mash-ups? Many developers publish their API:
Google Maps, Amazon Can provide maps for real estate listings, restaurants, etc. Combining content from different sites or services into a new site: maps.google.com MTO camera feed Mash ‘em up Up-to-date traffic information with pictures

19 Putting Mash-ups to Good Use

20 Putting Mash-ups to Better Use

21 Blogs, Wikis & Podcasting
“Web logs”, online journals Amateurs to professionals (Anderson Cooper, Rick Mercer) Wikis Websites that allow visitors to add, edit and delete content Great for collaborative authoring Wikipedia.org Podcasting User generated audio or video content Resides at a unique web feed address Users can subscribe to content

22 Cool Applications Google Earth Picasa Widgets Hi-res sat images
Layers of data Roads Parks Restaurants Landmarks Terrain Etc. Picasa Organize photos Widgets Floating Desktop Icons Weather News Stocks Clocks Photos

23 Operating Systems Microsoft is Dominant on the Desktop
Security has always been an issue Viruses, Worms & Spyware Apple has a small niche market Very secure Linux is another alternative And it’s free!* Free as in beer and free as in speech Dell has recently started offering Ubuntu on their systems

24 Windows XP Dominant desktop OS at present
Most hardware and software support Security** is an issue Most users run as “admin” Can be made secure

25 Mac OSX Innovative Graphics & Features Better Security**
Aqua & Quartz The Dock Widgets Exposé Better Security** LUA Few viruses Built on BSD Inter-operable with Windows

26 Windows Vista “Eye Candy” Improved Security (LUA)**
Aero Glass Sidebar and Gadgets Improved Security (LUA)** Hardware and Software Compatibility Issues

27 Linux Free* & Open-source Thousands of free applications Secure**
Few viruses Choice Many different distributions KDE, Gnome, XFCE, Fluxbox Inter-operable with Windows “Live” CDs

28 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

29 Important Notes Security**: No computer is really secure
Any time your computer is connected to a network, you are vulnerable Security vulnerabilities occur in: Operating Systems Applications Programming Languages Users can be tricked into phishing scams or unknowingly install malware.

30 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” Don’t use “root” or “admin” accounts Keep OS and Applications up-to-date Turn off unneeded services Use Firefox Anti-virus and Anti-spyware Don’t eat yellow snow on the internet

31 Links Social Networks Audio & Video Google Products
Audio & Video Google Products GoogleEarth, Picasa, GMail, Blogger User-driven Content Mash-ups Linux Firefox Web Browser RSS Readers Extensions for Firefox Podcasts U3 & PortableApps

32 Questions? This presentation can be downloaded from:


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