Aero Shake
In Windows 7, when you click on the title bar of any window and shake it every other open window gets minimised straight back in to your taskbar, reducing clutter on your screen.  This allows you to focus on the one window and then when ready shake it again and the other windows will reappear.

There are additional Aero user interface related features which make a welcome debut.  These include Aero Peek which allows you to immediately see what’s going on in an application just by hovering over the icon in the task bar and Aero Snap which quickly allows you to rearrange your desktop by slamming any open window against the left, right or top side of your screen; try it!

Sticky Notes
Proof, if needed, that some of the simplest applications make the largest differences to the end user experience.  One of the most commonly used applications on my PC used to be the incredibly simple ‘notepad’ as I find that my working life works a lot better if I simplify everything down in to lists.

Rather than jotting notes on random pieces of paper that will almost certainly get lost throughout the day I used to dump everything in notepad and ensure that every line was eventually cleared so I was left with a blank page before I went home.

Sticky notes have a similar application.  To get started click on the start menu and type in ‘sticky’ and begin typing tasks for the day or things to remember in to little post it notes that stick to your screen.  When complete either close or minimise the application to get back to the job in hand, safe in the knowledge that once Sticky Notes are reopened, these tasks will reappear exactly as you left them.  When a task has been completed or the note simply isn’t needed, it can be deleted with one click of the mouse.

Improved Calculator
Windows 7 calculator has improved considerably; now rather than being an arithmetic only affair, it can be operated in four modes – Standard, Scientific, Programmer and Statistical.  It can also perform unit conversion, for example grams to ounces, metres to feet and Celsius to Fahrenheit along with a couple of unexpected features such as the ability to calculate the number of days between two dates or the value of your mortgage repayment.   Surely in the next version of Windows the calculator application will finally gain graphical capabilities.

Windows Disk Image Burner
For some time now the preferred method of copying and storing CD’s and DVD’s has been by using an ISO file; a single image which includes the contents of an entire disk.  Reading these files used to require a specific application (the likes of which I’ve covered previously in Click) but every version of Windows 7 now includes support for these straight out the box; simply double click on the ISO file that you wish to burn, insert a blank CD or DVD and you’re done.

While the first scan was done manually on a 300 page book and took 40 minutes to process, Google now use cameras capable of scanning at a rate of 1,000 pages an hour and also work with 20,000 publisher partners who provide content directly.  They have also been able to provide over 1 million books that can be read in full from cover to cover; these unrestricted works are either books that have fallen out of copyright or have been provided with publishers express permission.

As well as simply scanning the books, Google performs OCR (Optical Character Recognition) on the pages, thereby turning them in to pure text which can be entered in to their database.  As a result when you do a Google Search you are now not only returned results from relevant websites but also your search terms are checked against a library encompassing millions of books and appropriate matches are suggested for further reading.

The integration in to the Google Search engine means you may have already inadvertently stumbled across Google Books but if you haven’t and are eager to explore then the Google Books can be found by visiting the site http://books.google.co.uk/ directly.   Being a Google service, it almost goes without saying that the service is completely free of charge and is instead paid for via a minimal number of sponsored links which are in no way intrusive or detrimental to the service.

From the Google Books site you can perform searches, add books to your virtual library or organise your collection in a logical manner.  Searching for a book and then subsequently clicking on it opens an interface which allows you to either view the directly scanned pages from the book or in some instances a ‘plain text’ version.  This plain text can then be copied and passed to another application or simply printed out for reading offline.

Books still under copyright enjoy the protection of a variety of access limitations and security measures which limit the number of viewable pages making the experience somewhat akin to being able to flick through the first couple of pages in a library or bookshop.   Despite this protection there have rather predictably been a number of fairly major lawsuits issued by individuals and publishers alike; some with legitimate grievances and others just seeking money or publicity.

Possibly the most notable case was between The Authors Guild, the publishing industry and Google which resulted in Google agreeing to a settlement on October 28, 2008.  This would see them pay a total $125 million not only to pay the court costs of the plaintiffs but also create a Book Rights Registry which will collect and disburse revenue generated by all third party sites such as Google which provide content based on the content of books covered by the agreement.

These issues aside, on the whole I am amazed that again this relatively new company have been able to offer such an incredible gift to the world.  With Google Books we have the potential to preserve centuries of human literacy work for generations to come as well as promoting the spread and availability of knowledge amongst all groups and all classes of people.

The question is an interesting one as when you look in to the technology available you realise that many forms of media are simply incapable of storing important data for more than a couple of years.   By way of example, a couple who videotape the early years of their child on to a DVD disc may be disappointed when ten years down the line the data has been destroyed by way of natural degradation of the media.

The last article already discussed the pros and cons of Hard Drives, Optical Media, Flash Drives, conventional Paper and Tape drives and so this week conclude with the remaining options I would consider:

Solid State Drive – An SSD uses solid-state memory (similar to that used in a flash drive) to store data and is most commonly used as a direct alternative to a hard drive, especially in notebooks where their small weight and size along with fast access times make them ideal.  Unfortunately, they suffer the same major problems as flash drives in that JEDEC, the leading developer of standards for solid-state storage specify that data retention of an idle drive should only be considered to be around 10 years.

The Internet – The Internet is theoretically the most robust way of backing up data; an online server is typically backed up daily, monitored 24/7 and in the event of a problem with the hard drive housing your data, a redundant mirrored backup drive would immediately take over.  If looking to store data that will be used in your lifetime this would be a suitable option however if the intention is to preserve data for future generations (such as the time capsule idea that inspired this article) then this method could be ill-advised.  For example, if you backup data using a free online storage account then there’s nothing to say that the company won’t either go out of business or begin charging for the service in the future – these are both circumstances that would lead to the deletion of your data.

Magneto Optical – Although it is certainly a niche product, Magneto Optical might be your best solution if long term data storage is your goal.  Originally introduced in the 1980’s, MO drives are slow and currently have a maximum capacity of just 9.1GB however with their slow speed comes a ruggedness that allows manufacturers to provide their discs with a 100 year data retention claim, often with a warranty to match.  High end drives are expensive but you could enter the market with a 1.3GB drive for around £100.

Of course, when devising a long term archival strategy we assume that hardware will be available at the time that it needs to be played back.  This is a serious consideration when we’re talking about storing the data for best part of a century but in our own lifetime it won’t necessarily be a problem – the first video camera my family owned used the 8mm Video8 cassette tapes and although 20 years down the line I don’t own a compatible reader, I could obtain one if necessary.

Along with choosing the most suitable format, ensure that you keep copies on several different media types and in several different locations, thereby increasing your chances that one media type in one location will survive the test of time.  If possible, check on the media every couple of years and transfer it to  newer and more suitable media types.

The question isn’t as easy as you may think.  You may imagine that the data could be burnt to CD, locked in a cupboard and that it would last forever however unfortunately this isn’t the case.  There are literally hundreds of suitably stored but physically decayed CD’s from my teenage years which I could use as testament to that.

Therefore I’ve made a list of common formats one would usually consider for archiving a large amount of data so you can pick the most suitable one for your needs:

Hard Disk – When used on a regular basis a hard disk will typically last for around 5 years before it starts to decay and if it is being used as an infrequently accessed backup drive then we can assume that this can be at least doubled.   Unfortunately degradation of the discs metallic surface, along with the inevitable seizing of parts would still occur over an extended period of disuse.

Optical – Standard optical media includes CD, DVD and BluRay.  If choosing this media type ensure that you go for the highest grade money can buy you; a premium brand such as Taiyo Yuden may well last a decade but a more budget brand such as Memorex may only last half that time before the aluminium starts separating from the plastic.

Flash Media – Clearly you would expect that since Flash Media has no moving parts it would be ideal for a long term backup strategy.  To an extent you would be right but the published data retention of a unused flash drive is only around 10 years and unfortunately once the device has reached the end of its life it is likely that it will go out in style, taking with it all of the information stored within.

Paper – Rather obvious this one – if left in a dark, dry place then paper will last for many decades; we recently recovered a number of newspapers from 1964 from below the flooring of a building we’re doing up and aside from being a little yellowed they’re in perfect condition.  Primary problems do of course include having to find a safe place to store them along with the physical limitations relating to the amount and type of information that can be stored on sheets of paper.

Tape – This may come as a surprise, but Tape backup actually holds one of the best data retention rates hence its continued use in banking and government sectors.  Typically a manufacturer will warranty a tape for 30 years with an expected life expectancy beyond that.   Although the tapes themselves are affordable and the capacities typically high (between 72GB and 1TB compressed), the actual drives themselves are relatively expensive, starting at £250 for a basic model.

Unfortunately that’s it for this week; we’ll conclude next Friday by covering the remaining options, including a storage media that’s provided with a remarkable 100 year warranty.

The main draw is the impressive way it presents you with an endless wall of images from your chosen page and allows you to browse them by dragging the page and then enlarging the picture/video of your choice. My description does not really do the effect justice, by comparison it is somewhere between Sci-Fi style smart boards found on CSI/Minority Report and the album selection method on iPod/iPhones.  Although this may not seem particularly useful at first, once you begin to play around with the features including the add-on really begins to shine.

While hundreds of sites such as Facebook and Myspace are compatible, I would imagine most people would use Cooliris featured sites like Google image search or YouTube. Many other big sites are also featured in a handy drop down box towards the top right of the page such as Flickr, Deviant Art, Picasa and Bing.  Additionally Cooliris can be used to search images in the same manner from designated folders on your PC but disappointing seems unable to do the same for video files.

Once installed Cooliris is never intrusive; the only sign of it being installed is a small logo that appears next to the search bar on your browser which acts as a shortcut to www.cooliris.com.  When visiting a Cooliris supported site this logo changes to a blue and green logo that once clicked takes all content on the page and displays it in the dynamic endless wall format mentioned earlier.

Along with the browsing of images and videos, the add-on has the additional shopping feature that is fully integrated with the Amazon.co.uk for the browsing of their products. I would imagine this is where the revenue for the add-on comes from as there are no adverts to speak of apart from the featured videos which are simply an option available in the many categories available for browsing.

The program itself is extremely polished in appearance and really is a pleasure to use; my only real grumble is that some images do look a little grainy due to the resizing.  When I consider that it was trying to display 104,000,000 image results for my search term ‘fish’ however, I find it impossible to hold a grudge.

I would hope more features will be added in the future as there would seem to be quite a lot of scope for expansion especially as I notice certain flash games also seem to be compatible with the add-on.   While not an essential download or particularly revolutionary Cooliris is certainly worth the 2.9mb download to enhance your image/video browsing or even to get a bit of shopping done.

The user interface for Media Player Classic looks just like the old Windows Media Player 6.4 which was bundled with Windows ME and early versions of Windows XP.  I expect few users to know this specific version off the top of their heads so simply refer back to the version in your memory that could be described as looking ‘particularly primitive and dated’.

There are no fancy skins, no modern looking icons and no ribbon style interface; what you simply get is a blank screen along with play, stop, pause, rewind and fast forward buttons, a volume control and a series of options running along the top of the application in an old school grey drop-down menu.

The compensation for the primitive looking interface is that the 3mb application is capable of playing a huge number of audio and video files without the need for any additional software or codecs.  Out of the box Media Player Classic Home Theatre includes support for MPEG-1, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4, VCD, SVCD and DVD playback.  It also has built-in codecs for LPCM, MP2, AC3 and DTS audio along with H.264 and VC-1 with DXVA support, DivX, Xvid, and Flash Video formats.  Media Player Classic Home Theatre can also support Quicktime and Realtime formats with the use of additional software.

The player is based on the old Media Player Classic application which was being developed up until the original author ceased development back in 2006.  In the last few years, asides from the name change, a number of new features have been integrated in to this new release including additional video decoders, several bug and vulnerability fixes and a 64-bit version for those with compatible versions of Windows Vista and Windows 7.

The main appeal to me has to be the sheer simplicity of the application; it will load in literally a second and rarely skips a frame or misses a beat.  If I ever find myself in a situation where a more ‘advanced’ player is struggling then immediately I’ll load up MPC Home Cinema and on the same PC with the same video file the problems cease.  The low resource requirement means that it’s suitable for use on low specification machines making it especially tempting for those that can’t run the latest version of Windows Media Player.

Downloading a copy will take literally a few seconds from http://mpc-hc.sourceforge.net/ and as with all good software it is free of charge and doesn’t include any advertising.

With the final release due in a couple of months, Microsoft have provided a beta test version of Office 2010 that’s free for members of the public to download.  The beta test version will run unhindered until October 2010 at which point users must decide whether they wish to purchase the final release or have it removed from their hard drive.

For the costs involved the majority of home users may still be better off with the free OpenOffice Suite (www.openoffice.org) as it should provide all the features you are likely to need at no cost.  This having been said, the Office Suite has remained a popular flagship product over the years due to business users often requiring a specific function or application only present in the Microsoft offering.  I, for example, use Outlook on a regular basis and haven’t yet found an alternative that suits my needs.

Having not been the biggest fan of Office 2007 (especially the ‘ribbon’ interface discussed in the past) I wasted no time downloading the 64-bit professional version of the beta to put it through its paces.  I have now been using it for a couple of days it does appear notably faster than Office 2007 and certainty incredibly stable.  The speed increase could easily be attributed to the fact that a 64-bit version of the application is now available to run on modern 64-bit computers.

Office Professional 2010 includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, InfoPath, OneNote, Outlook, Access and Publisher.  The home edition (also currently available in beta) includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and OneNote.  After the official release, computer manufacturers may choose to bundle new machines with a starter edition of Office which includes just Excel and Word; this version of Office will replace the aging Microsoft Works Suite.

Although the ribbon interface remains, it is certainly a lot clearer than that provided with Office 2007; the confusing Office orb has been replaced with the familiar file menu, there are fewer distracting borders, a neutral colour scheme and most importantly it is customisable to the users individual tastes.  The applications look and behave like a ‘family’ now and have become more intuitive to use as a result of the more refined user interface.

An important new feature due for release in the final version but missing from the beta is the ‘Web Apps’ which will extend the Office functionality to a compatible web browser.  Very similar in form to Google Docs, Office Web Apps allows users to collaborate, edit and share Office documents online.  This is an incredibly important new feature that has no doubt come about due to the success of Google Docs and one that I would like to field test when complete.

This article isn’t long enough to go in to details about minor new features so I will summarise by observing that the changes made from Office 2007 to Office 2010 are evolutionary rather than revolutionary; very much in the same way that Windows 7 was an evolutionary change compared with Vista.  Excluding the Web Apps there is nothing substantially new however the minor improvements are certainly welcome as is the chance to road test a new piece of software completely free of charge for a year.

Users interested in downloading the beta version of Office 2010 should visit www.microsoft.com/office/2010 to get their hands on a copy.

Of course, you never know where a journey to create a penguin template will take you and while looking for a free vector image editing program, Matt fortunately stumbled across the website www.aviary.com.  Aviary is essentially a free online design suite which consists of many powerful tools ranging from a simple audio editor to a variety of fairly sophisticated image/vector editing software.

The applications are all used online rather than being downloaded and installed on to your hard drive.  This offers a number of advantages, most notably the ability to ‘dip in’ quickly and easily, without having to install, and the fact that everything is stored on a central server means you will always be using the most up to date version of the software.

The list of applications currently includes:

Phoenix – A free image editor that handles pretty much anything from basic image retouching to complex effects.  Features include a wide selection of tools, support of layers and 72 helpful tutorials to get you up and running.

Toucan – A colour editor which is ideally used in conjunction with other creations tools in the suite.  Toucan can be used to pick and analyse colour by either colour association rules or by grabbing colours from within existing images.

Peacock – Described by its creators as a ‘visual laboratory’, Peacock is used to generate a whole host of effects and image manipulation tools to make some quite stunning and abstract artwork.

Raven – This tool is used for generating vector artwork, which is used by artists to create images that are fully scalable and suitable for applications such as logos and t-shirt designs.  The intricacies of vector artwork are too deep to explain in one sentence but the bottom line is that rather than every pixel of an image being assigned a colour value, a vector image is saved using descriptions of the lines, curves and shapes making up the image.  This means that if the image has to be radically resized the descriptions of those shapes are just changed proportionally resulting in no loss of image quality.  Due to the restrictions of creating drawings using just shapes and lines, vector images are typically quite simple.

Falcon – This utility is used to capture images and web pages quickly and easily in order to crop, resize and ultimately save them for use in another package.  A similar utility ‘Talon’ on the site allows you to do the same with an complete computer screenshot.

Myna – Use Myna to edit and remix music tracks and audio clips.  The application can be used to trim, loop, stretch and reverse audio clips along with adding fade ins, fade outs and other effects such as pitch change, delay and reverb.
Each of these tools is free to use and comes with at least one tutorial to help newcomers get to grips with how to use the software and what to use each program for.  Each program is free to use and advertising is nonexistent, however users do have the option for upgrading for just over £15 a year.  By paying for a subscription you are given a number of additional features such as unlimited storage of your creations online, the ability to add personalised watermarks to your creations and access to the advanced premium tutorials and forums.

World of Warcraft (or WoW) is the massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) from Blizzard Entertainment.   Warcraft initially started out as a series of three games ending in Warcraft 3 with World of Warcraft being set after these games.

When you start the game you need to create an avatar which you will control as you explore the fictional world of Azeroth.  You have a choice of two sides; either the Alliance or the Horde with each side having a number of different races that you can play as including Trolls, Dwarfs, Humans, Gnomes and Orcs.

Depending on your gaming style you may choose to be a Warrior, who charges in and takes the full wrath of the enemies, or maybe a mage who blasts your enemies with spells from a distance.   There are also many different classes including Priests, Rogues, Paladins, and Shamans, so there is almost always a way of playing to suit most people.   Once you have your character you will need to quest to earn level ups, armour upgrades and new skills to improve your ability to tackle stronger enemies and bosses.

With approximately 12 million subscribers worldwide, World of Warcraft is one of the biggest online role playing games.  Contrary to popular belief; it’s not just teenage boys lacking in social ability who play World of Warcraft as it genuinely does appeal to many.

Whilst travelling around you will bump into parents sneaking a quick hour in whilst their kids sleep, men and women who use Warcraft to relax after a hard days work, much in the same way many people will watch their soaps of an evening.  The folklore in World of Warcraft is so deep and vast it’s almost like an interactive Lord of the Rings.

Admittedly  you rarely actually meet the people you play with in Warcraft, but when you keep bumping into the same characters in game, or join a guild with a good group of players, you start to form acquaintances and friendships with the other players.  There has even been a few couples who met in the World of Warcraft and ended up being happily married – you are able to make the game as social an experience as you want.

You have the option to group up with other characters, where your character will take on a particular role in the group; for example Priests heal, warriors tank and mages deal the damage. There is even the option of forming a raid group of up to 40 characters to try and overcome the extra strong bosses that are scattered across the lands.

You would think that all games must come to an end, however World of Warcraft is different in that you can always strive to earn better armour so you can defeat the strongest bosses in the game, or try and earn the in game achievements for different titles and rewards.  Blizzard also periodically introduce expansions, which raise the maximum level, and introduce new content and areas to the game.

Like any good franchise the game has a plethora of accessories, merchandise and books to go along with it and along with millions of subscriptions across the world, Warcraft is clearly a highly lucrative business which will be around for a long time to come.

You know the type; you’re busy minding your own business but they’ll sit next to you and force you to endure a daily demonstration of the latest app that they’ve downloaded.   They do this with such a self assured smugness that you’d swear that they’d invented the iPhone, not had it handed to them by their mobile phone provider.

I am starting to get a little envious however…..

It seems there are more to these apps than initially meet the eye; after years of dominance, both the Sony PSP and the Nintendo DS portable games consoles are starting to lose ground to, bizarrely enough, a phone.

After just a few years in the industry, the Apple iPhone boasts over 21,000 game apps compared to the Nintendo DS which has over 3,500 titles or the Sony PSP which has just over 600.  In defence of the Sony PSP, the majority of those 600 titles are large games created by recognised software houses whereas the majority of the 21,000 iPhone games are ‘bite-sized’ two quid offerings.

Personally I have always been of the disposition that if you are going to play a game on a mobile device then you probably want it bite sized anyway as you’re unlikely to get enough uninterrupted time to get immersed in a monster sized game.  That having been said, with the latest iPhone boasting a faster processor and third generation Operating System there are already some fairly staggering games coming to market and some serious money is being pumped in to future game development.

The method of game distribution is also one of the primary advantages the iPhone has over the competition.  The Sony PSP for example uses mini optical discs that not only do users have to carry around with them but additionally distributors have to worry about the costs involved in producing and distributing the software to the gamer.  The iPhone by comparison stores games in the internal memory of the phone and users simply download games directly from the Apple website rather than buying them in a more cumbersome physical format.

It will be interesting to see how the turning fortunes of Sony and Nintendo will affect any planned successors to the DS or PSP and it is becoming apparent that dedicated portable gaming systems may have their days numbered.  Unfortunately for Nintendo this is a market that they have relied on heavily since they released the GameBoy back in 1989 and they are ill positioned to launch a competing product to the iPhone.  Sony Ericsson however remains a formidable force in the mobile phone market it can surely only be a matter of time before they retaliate with their own hybrid device.