Filed under: Editorial Opinion, Tips and Tricks | Tags: Google, Jott, Linx, Orange, Unified Messaging, Wildfire
A recent post comment referred to Wildfire, the follow-me telephony service that was way ahead of its time. Back in the 90s Wildfire was demonstrated as the future for a telephone user interface. Over the years other such services have come and gone. Not all good things make it off the drawing board. Sometimes they are doomed for being too far in front of the curve.
Wildfire is a shadow of its former self, once the darling of major telcos around the globe like Orange, the technology is now the property of CR Technologies. It was difficult to bring up some online search results for this once prodigious digital assistant. It would be nice to see a resurrection of sorts. This type of voice activated UI is a handy tool for rugged laptop users, or those just on the go. Take a look at Jott or Linx for a current potential replacement.
Maybe Google, or another innovator, will pick up on this idea and make it a success, once the dust has settled on the 700 MHz Auction (Google GrandCentral has been a disappointment for some beta testers lately).
Rugged Notebooks: Extreme Computers for Extreme Conditions™
Filed under: Editorial Opinion, Tips and Tricks, Usability | Tags: Open Source, Laptop Battery, Linux Distros, Online Storage, Rugged Laptop
Digital Nomads, and rugged Laptop users alike, may not have much of a problem keeping up with new technology, but one of the byproducts is old and outdated hardware piling up. In general, old computers are almost impossible to sell or give away, and a real pain to try and discard or recycle properly.
If you personally have had a hard time tossing out that old laptop, you may be glad to know that possibly you can resurrect that old lappy and give it a second chance. Now that Linux is becoming so popular, you don’t have to search too hard to find downloads for lightweight distros that will run just fine on older machines.
Some of these leaner distributions to consider are Tiny Linux, Puppy Linux, and Damn Small Linux, just to name a few. Throw in your favorite open source programs, plus some online storage, and you will have at least a reliable backup machine. If you really know how to tinker, there are always hardware upgrades and things like Asterisk to consider.
Don’t throw those batteries out quite yet either. Many people are not aware that it often is possible to “revive” laptop batteries through a process of freezing, charging, depleting, and then repeating the process several times to actually make your battery hold a charge once again. Just do a search on “revive a dead laptop battery”. A place to start is at Lifehacker.com or Popular Science (some say it works-some say it doesn’t).
Additionally, here is a link to an article that gives some good tips on taking better care of your batteries to begin with…and making them last longer. www.pcrivals.com
Rugged Notebooks: Extreme Computers for Extreme Conditions™
