iPhone and iPad apps for Google Drive

I recently wrote a group test of online drives with offline syncing for a magazine (is there a name for these things, there should be). You know the sort, Dropbox, Google Drive, SkyDrive, Wuala, OpenDrive, and SugarSync. Google Drive is good, but it didn't win. This was mainly because it lacked features compared to some of the other services.

I chose Microsoft's SkyDrive as the winner of the group test partly because these online drives are really useful on mobile devices like tablets and smartphones and there are some good mobile apps for SkyDrive. You can view Office documents stored on SkyDrive on your mobile device like Word, Excel and PowerPoint files, you can upload photos from the mobile device and view them as a slide show, and so on.

At the time I wrote the review Google didn't have iOS apps and a lot of people have iOS devices. Well, now there are iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch apps and they make Google Drive useful to a wider audience. Just search for it in the App Store on your device.

The Google Drive app enables you to view the files online, store a copy offline, share files and see what others are sharing with you. However, it still lags behind SkyDrive in some areas. For example, I can't see any way to upload files. It is so useful to be able to upload photos and videos from a mobile device and store them online. If you do have photos in Google Drive, saved from your PC perhaps, you can view them in the app. However, SkyDrive lets you swipe from one to the other in a perfectly natural way. Google Drive doesn't and it doesn't treat media in any way different to other files.

The main benefit of Google Drive is actually Google Docs. If you use Docs then Drive just makes it better, but other services are much more fun. Sign up for free space on SkyDrive or SugarSync and check them out, SkyDrive has Microsoft Office Web Apps of course, and SugarSync has a fantastic iPad app.

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Why we don't need more women in computing

I've just been reading a Twitter blog post about how the company is encouraging more women to get into computing.

"We have an active Women in Engineering group (@womeng) at Twitter, made up of women and men, both engineers and non-engineers, who are passionate about encouraging young women to opt for and stay in computer science."

Twitter has been working with Girls Who Code, a website that is dedicated to encouraging more girls to code.

"...new partnership with Girls Who Code... designed to introduce high school girls to software development skills."

According to Girls Who Code, only 14% of engineers are female, and only 14% of people who get computer science and engineering degrees are female. The site, and Twitter, want to change this and address the imbalance.

Why?

What you have to realise is that women and men are different and we aren't the same. We have different interests, different likes and dislikes. Some jobs and some types of work appeal more to women than they do to men, and some jobs and types of work appeal more to men than they do to women.

How many plumbers do you know who are women? Have you ever had a leaky pipe fixed or a new washing machine or bathroom plumbed in? Was it a man or woman that did the job? No doubt it was a man, but is it because of sexual discrimination? Is it a lack of encouragement for young girls to go into plumbing? Or is it because women simply don't like plumbing?

Trying to force a 50% ratio of women to men in every job is wrong. Of course we need equal opportunities for all, but a job that appeals to a man doesn't necessarily appeal to a women (and vice versa). Women will gravitate to those jobs and types of work that interest them and so will men.

Girls Who Code may never get the percentage of women in computer science and engineering up to 50% simply because women aren't as interested in the subject as men.

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A clean install beats an upgrade

There is a new version of OS X out soon and Lion is to be replaced by Mountain Lion. Windows 7 will be replaced by Windows 8 later this year and Linux is updated so often it is hard to keep up. The question faced by users of each of these operating systems is whether to upgrade the version they are currently using or wipe the disk drive and perform a clean install.

In theory it should not make any difference whether you upgrade or install, but in practice it does. I have upgraded OS X on an old MacBook from Leopard to Snow Leopard to Lion. I also have a new MacBook with Lion and there are subtle differences here and there. There's something different about Mail, for example, and I keep meaning to run both Macs side by side and compare them. Maybe it is just down to configuration settings, but maybe not. It's not the only difference.

I also have Ubuntu Linux upgraded from either 9 or 10 to 11 and now 12.04. It works fine, but if I do a clean install of Ubuntu 12.04 (in VirtualBox) it is noticeably different. Some of the icons in the Launcher are different for a start, and there are other subtle differences. It is the same story with Windows upgrades.

In all cases I think the clean install version of the operating system is the best one. Perhaps it is compromises that are made when upgrading an old OS or it is an effort to upgrade the OS, but keep things the same as far as possible.

If at all possible, copy your documents, music, photos and videos to a USB drive, format the disk and install the new operating system on a clean disk. Then copy your files back. The disadvantage of this is that you lose any software you had installed. This is a problem if you cannot reinstall it. Freeware, open source and even some commercial software can be reinstalled though, and updating the OS is a good reason to update your software too. There may be new versions that take advantage of features in the new OS.

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Trying too hard to be helpful

Computers and other gadgets are becoming increasingly sophisticated and more user friendly, but sometimes they can go too far and in trying to be helpful they can have the opposite effect.

A good example was when I was checking for updates to windows on a laptop. There were several because it had not been updated for some time. Several small updates downloaded and installed OK, but a big one would not install. Windows simply displayed a message that had two options: cancel or retry after plugging the laptop into a power supply.

Now it might be considered helpful pointing out that the laptop was running on its battery because it could expire half way through the update, leaving Windows in an unstable state, but it wasn't. The laptop had a seven hour battery life and I was about two hours into it. I had to cancel the update because I didn't have the power supply with me. If windows Update had been less clever and less helpful it would have completed the update.

That is just one example and there are many more. I have just spent a couple of days setting up a new MacBook - it always seems to take a couple of days to configure a new computer and get all the software installed that I use.

A feature of OS X and Safari is that it always starts up with the last web page you viewed. It is trying to be helpful, but it has the opposite effect. When I have finished web browsing I close the Safari window. When I next start Safari, it opens the last page visited. But I've finished with that page and I don't want to read it again! What I want is to search Google, but despite setting it as the default start page, Safari opens the last page visited. By trying too hard to be helpful, it is unhelpful.

Back in Windows, I installed Copernic Desktop Search. This is a great search tool that is in some ways better than Windows built in search. When you install it, it indexes the files on the disk drive and stores the results in a database. It's then possible to find files almost instantaneously. I installed Copernic and it said to wait while it indexed the contents of the disk. I waited and waited and waited. After half an hour I thought something must be wrong, so I went through all the menus and dialogs and found an indexing status report. It turned out that indexing hadn't even started because the laptop was running on batteries. I wasted half an hour waiting for it. Couldn't it have said? Of course, it was trying to be helpful and not run the battery down, but surely that's my choice.

Computers are getting more intelligent, but they aren't always helpful.

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Microsoft Surface vs Apple iPad

The big news yesterday was the launch of a tablet computer by Microsoft. There is a glut of tablets on the market and all but one, the Apple iPad, are selling poorly. Nothing compares to it and it has a huge slice of the market. The question everyone is wondering is whether Microsoft can compete.

Certainly the hardware looks good and it has a couple of innovative features. The first is the built in stand that flips out at the back and enables the tablet to be stood up in landscape mode. The screen aspect ratio is 16:9 which is fine for viewing widescreen TV and movies. The second is the keyboard/cover. If you thought Apple's cover was clever, this one goes one step beyond. It's a cover, but combined with the stand, it turns the tablet into a a laptop computer.

Microsoft Surface

This is really clever and you're thinking it looks thick and heavy, it's not. It really is a cover. Microsoft has clearly pinched the idea from Samsung with its Galaxy Tab cover:

Samsung Galaxy Tab

Microsoft's is uncannily similar, but slightly better looking and slimmer. Like an improved version of the Tab.

Although the hardware looks good, it is not sufficient to ensure that the Surface will be successful. The reason why the iPad is so popular is that it has a massive collection of apps that cover almost every subject you can think of. A few taps is all it takes to browse, download and install apps. It has a huge collection of music and a few taps enables you to browse, download and install tracks. The same with TV shows, movies, books, podcasts and so on. Tap and you're in the online store, tap to browse, tap and enter your password and seconds later it's on the iPad. This is what Microsoft has to replicate if its Surface tablet is to be successful.

Microsoft appears to have the right hardware, but now it has to create the content people want to consume on it, and make it super-easy to access. People need to be able to tap to get music, apps, videos, movies, books, podcasts and more. What I don't want is to have to fiddle around on a PC with complicated software ripping CDs or DVDs to disk and then trying to copy them across to the Surface. All the content should be available on the Surface simply by tapping an icon or menu. Without this, it will fail to impress.

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Why won't iTunes import from the iPhone?

I decided to replace my ageing MacBook, a 2006 model, with a new 2012 version. Six years isn't bad for a laptop and with Mountain Lion just around the corner and the old MacBook not supported, it was time to get a new one.

The problem is getting all my iPhone and iPad apps, photos, music, videos, podcasts and so on onto the new Mac. I know there are ways connecting one Mac to another and transferring settings from one to another, but surely the obvious way to get everything onto a new Mac is simply to plug in an iPhone or iPad and let it sync. It's a no-brainer surely? After all, everything you want is on the device and you just have to plug it in.

If you have ever tried this you may have been met with limited success. Selecting various sync options displays a message warning that the selected content on the iPhone or iPad will be erased and replaced with the content in iTunes. Which is empty, because it's a new Mac. Why isn't there an option to sync the other way, from iPhone to Mac? It seems that iTunes only wants to sync one way.

It's not all bad though and items you purchase do get synced, so apps, movies, books, and music for example, appear in iTunes when you sync your iPhone or iPad. That's because buying something on one device enables it to be installed on other devices, You to have a copy of your purchase on up to five computers.

Three things didn't get synced though and the big one was music. The problem is that I have a lot of CDs, some of which were purchased before the iPod was invented. I don't want to buy digital versions of music I already have or pay a yearly fee to have them converted and stored on iCloud. Over the years I have copied CDs onto my Mac using iTunes and then synced them to my iPad and iPhone. Not one track got synced to my new MacBook though. It simply ignores any music you have ripped yourself. The solution is to copy the music to a shared folder on the new Mac or copy it using a USB memory stick and then use the library import option in iTunes.


Podcasts didn't get synced either and it would have been so easy for iTunes to read them off my iPhone when it was connected and add them to its library. Why did it not do this? I guess I'll have to subscribe to them all over again.


Purchased books appeared on the new Mac, but anything you add yourself, such as PDF files, which can be read in iBooks on the iPad and iPhone, did not appear. Once again, why not? Surely iTunes could have simply read them off the phone and add them to its library. I'll have to copy them to the new Mac, add them to iTunes manually and then sync.


Syncing iPhones, iPads and iPod Touches with iTunes could be much better than it is and it is currently limited and sometimes frustrating. It can sync things you don't want synced, like apps you deleted or apps you have on one device that you don't want on another, and it can refuse to sync things you want to sync, as is the case when you buy a new computer.

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A good time to buy a new Mac

There are so many suppliers of Windows PCs that new ones are launched every week and it is no big deal, but with the Mac there are only a handful of models and only one supplier. It is therefore big event when new ones are launched. New Macs are now available and it is a great time to buy one.

Before you rush to your nearest Apple store to get the latest model though, you should carefully consider your options. Have you ever wondered what Apple does with all its old stock? One day it is selling one type of Mac, the next day it is selling a brand new model. Does the company just scrap the old stock? No, it sells it off cheap. Not Windows PC cheap, but cheap for Apple kit and there are some bargains to be had.

To find these cur-price Macs go to the Apple website and click the Store link. Down at the bottom of the left-hand panel in the Special Deals section is Refurbished Mac. Click it. What you see next depends on which store you access, but wherever you are you will see some Macs sold at bargain basement prices.

I'm in the UK and right now there is a 13in MacBook Pro for £789 whereas the new model just launched is £999. Clicking the link shows the details and it reveals that this model was launched in October 2011, so its specification is excellent. It has a 2.4GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor (the new MacBook is 2.5GHz), 4Gb of memory (the new MacBook has 4Gb too, but is clocked at 1600MHz against 1333MHz), a 500Gb hard disk drive (same as the new one), and Intel HD 3000 graphics (the new one is Intel HD 4000).

The new MacBook is better as you can see from the specs, but if you can't afford the latest one then this refurbished Mac is a bargain. As far as warranty, software and after sales care is concerned, there is no difference and a refurbished Mac is treated the same as new kit.

Looking further up the new MacBook range, you can get one with a retina display. This is a 15in screen with a 2,880 x 1,800 pixel resolution. The pixels are so small you can't see them, hence the term 'retina display' because it has details the eye's retina can't resolve. It's nice, but pricey. In fact, you could buy two of the refurbished 13in MacBook Pros for the price of a new retina MacBook and still have change. Or three for the price of the top of the range retina MacBook. One for you, your partner and your child. Remember, up until last week, this refurbished MacBook was state-of-the-art. That's no longer the case, but it's still a great Mac.

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Windows 8 - you'll get used to it

With almost every new version of Windows, people complain about this and that and how Microsoft has ruined it. It happened with Windows 95, which was a radical change from Windows 3.1, it happened with Windows XP and people didn't like the new interface, it happened with Vista and lots of people criticised that for various reasons. It is happening with Windows 8.

After a while the complaints all but disappear and looking back at XP for example, it has to be Microsoft's most successful version of Windows. Lots of people are still using it today more than 10 years after it was originally released. Yet it was criticised and people complained about it when it was launched. I read quite an interesting blog post that had lots of examples from way back. I can't remember where it was and it might have been one of Ed Bott's posts, but I don't know which one.

I think that the reason the complaints fade away is because people get used to the new version of Windows. I'm getting used to Windows 8. However, because people stop complaining it doesn't mean that it is better after all and it's not just that we don't like change. Here's an example.

To shut down Windows 7 I click Start and then click Shut Down. I simply click, click and walk away.

To shut down Windows 8 I click my name in the top right corner, click to log off and then sit and wait while it logs off and goes to the lock screen. (A year or two on this will take a lot longer than it does now.) Then I click and drag the lock screen photo out of the way, click the power button and then click shut down. Then I can go.

That's a lot of clicking and waiting and menus and screens, but I'm getting used to it. It's beginning to feel normal now. That's just the way Windows 8 is. It doesn't mean it's better. I miss things in Windows 7, I even miss things in XP that were simpler and quicker. I guess I'll get used to it though.

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Games for Linux

It seems strange reading about how EA has brought Lord of Ultima to Ubuntu Linux. Go to Ubuntu's Software Centre and there it is, highlighted on the home screen (several items are highlighted and rotate). You can download it, install it and play it for free.

The thing is, I've been playing Lord of Ultima in Linux for about 18 months. You see, it is a browser-based game. It is operating-system independent and it works in any browser on any operating system - Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. There's nothing to download, except perhaps, a hyperlink to the website. But you can bookmark the site and go there with one click anyway. What is there to install? Lord of Ultima isn't news and hasn't been written for Linux. It's for anyone with a browser and always has been.

There are lots of web browser-based games and a search at Google will turn up plenty of great ones you can play in Linux. There are also lots of games in the Chrome Web Store. Just start the Chrome browser, click a new tab and click Chrome Web Store. Not everything runs in Chrome on Linux, but a lot of them do.

Want to play Angry Birds? It's free in the Chrome Web Store...

Want to play golf? It's free in the Chrome Web Store...

There are too many games to mention and many work fine in Chrome in Linux (as they do in Windows and Mac OS X). The web browser is now so powerful it is a game platform that works anywhere on anything. Forget about downloading and trying to get software to run on Linux, just fire up your web browser and play some games. Remember, hit F11 to go full screen for the best experience.

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Download Windows 8 Release Preview

Windows 8 will soon be here and we've had Beta, a Consumer Preview and now Microsoft has posted a Release Preview on its website. It is basically another name for a beta or pre-release software that is still under development. However, as we get closer to the launch of Windows 8 there is less likely to be any major changes, so what you see in this version is basically what you'll get when you buy it. There may be a few minor tweaks here and there for the release version, but don't expect any major changes.

To download it and try it for free, go to windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/download , but don't click the big download link. Look for the links to ISO format images and follow them to the download. Then choose either the 32-bit or 64-bit version. The ISO images can be written to a DVD and then installed on any number of computers, so it saves you having to download it on each one.

I prefer to run Windows 8 in a virtual machine using VirtualBox. You don't even need to burn the .ISO file to a DVD. Just create a new virtual machine for Windows 8, go to the storage settings and associate the CD/DVD-Rom drive with the .ISO image. The virtual machine will boot from the .ISO image like it was a CD/DVD and you can install Windows 8.

If you install Windows 8 on a real PC, be aware that you can't uninstall it and go back to the previous version of Windows. Unless you have a complete disk backup of the whole system and can restore it.

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