Tuesday, November 10, 2009 3:39 PM/EST
Ahh, I love my modern digital lifestyle, especially when it comes to being out, whether traveling or just moving around the city. It's great that I can walk around with a music collection that dwarfs my old college record collection, that I can have several books in my pocket ready to read whenever I want and that I can snap a picture or video of anything I see.
So what am I doing? Am I walking around with an MP3 player, an e-book reader, a digital camera and a digital camcorder?
Nope, just one device, my BlackBerry smartphone, which lets me listen to music, read books, take pictures and video, and, oh, yeah, make calls, play games, manage contacts ...
Friday, October 30, 2009 10:49 AM/EST
Click here to see the slide show
 When I heard the recent announcement about Wi-Fi Direct, a proposed method to make it possible for Wi-Fi devices to connect to each other seamlessly without the need of access points, I had a common reaction to a new technology: excitement, tinged with fear.
The part of me that's a tech enthusiast thought, this could be really cool. Letting Wi-Fi-enabled devices easily connect to each other will ease a lot of connection hassles, and probably kill Bluetooth along the way.
Thursday, October 22, 2009 11:37 AM/EST
Click here to see the slideshow
 By introducing the concept of a low cost and easy to use digital camcorder, the Flip essentially started a revolution in video recording by anyone at anytime. But recently there's been a disconnect in the line of Flip digital camcorders.
That's because, while the Flip MinoHD is their highest priced (at $229.99) and ostensibly highest quality camcorder, in recent months it has been eclipsed by the lower priced (at $199.99) Flip UltraHD, which had higher quality HD video and two hours of recording time versus the MinoHD's one hour.
But with the recent release of the latest Flip MinoHD, all is right in the Flip universe and the MinoHD once again gains its place at the top of the Flip line. In fact, this is easily the best Flip camcorder I've ever used.
Thursday, August 20, 2009 10:46 AM/EST
Click here to see the slideshow
When I test out a new operating system, especially when I'm dealing with early betas and release candidates, I tend to be very utilitarian, focusing on just the hard core features and capabilities.
So it wasn't until I installed the recently released RTM of Windows 7 that I noticed the wild and crazy underbelly of the new Microsoft operating system. Digging around in the included themes and desktop backgrounds in Windows 7 I found a few that were quite different from the typical landscapes and nature photos.
I'm not sure whether it's a tribute to the 40th anniversary of Woodstock or if the developers of Windows 7 are just fans of the old TV show H.R. Pufnstuf (or maybe they've just been puffin some stuff if you know what I mean), but among the new backgrounds and themes are some decidedly psychedelic and trippy images.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009 3:13 PM/EST
Click here to see screenshots of IE 8
With the release of Internet Explorer 8 Release Candidate 1, we are finally in the home stretch of the long trip to the latest version of the Microsoft Web browser.
And since this is a release candidate, this means that, unless there is a major problem found, this version of Internet Explorer 8 is pretty much the version that will be officially released. So, how will IE 8 stack up?
Well, if compared solely with earlier versions of Internet Explorer, IE 8 is a massive improvement that boosts the usability, security and flexibility of the Microsoft browser.
However, this won't be the case. IE 8 will instead be compared with the latest versions of Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Apple Safari and Opera. And based on these comparisons, IE 8 RC 1 only looks so-so.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008 2:15 PM/EST
Click here to see screenshots
Yesterday, Dec. 15, I posted my review of the new Google Chrome browser, which is no longer a beta. Without a doubt Google Chrome is a very impressive new entry in the Web browser market and will have a big impact on how browser interfaces are built in the future.
But Google Chrome isn't without its own shortcomings. As I point out in the review, Chrome is the least customizable browser out today. And it has more than a few of the weaknesses typical in a 1.0 release.
Since posting the review, I've already had a few questions and comments from readers about issues that weren't covered in the review.
Friday, October 10, 2008 4:20 PM/EST
Click here to see the screenshots & photos
In the eWEEK special report "Technology in 2009", I look at many of the new product and company announcements of recent months and use this information to predict some of the key emerging technology trends that we should expect to see for 2009.
To go along with this special report, I've also compiled this slideshow showing some of the recent and recently announced products that are good examples of the technologies expected to gain prominence in 2009. These products should help, or are already helping, to push these important technologies forward.
So take a look at this slideshow of The Important Technologies of 2009. And also read the Tech Most Likely to be Ignored in 2009, in which I look at some technologies that should be important and receive attention in 2009 but will likely be mostly ignored.
Thursday, September 18, 2008 9:29 AM/EST
Click here to see the gallery
The browser wars are back, and bigger then ever.
That's right. While the original browser war was basically a two part affair between Microsoft and Netscape, we now have several players releasing new browsers, innovating on web features, and in general pushing the browser market forward.
As I've argued, this is a good thing. And unlike some applications, anyone can easily try out any browser available today, as all are free to download and use.
And since this latest wave of browsers has introduced lots of new features and capabilities, we here at eWEEK's Emerging Technology site thought that the best way to show some of the new features was to use screenshots of how the various browsers implement these features.
So click here to see our gallery of screenshots in The New Browser Wars in Pictures.
Tuesday, September 02, 2008 4:48 PM/EST
Click here to see the screenshots
REVIEW: Based on initial tests, Google Chrome looks to be an exciting and impressive new entry into the Web browser field.
Today a new player enters the browser wars and it represents the biggest change to the field since the day that Microsoft decided to take on Netscape. With the surprise launch of the beta of Google Chrome, the Web and search giant has already changed the current browser landscape and is poised to potentially change the future of the Web.
And before I go any further I just want to clarify that I've only had a short few hours with the new Google Web browser, and subsequent and sustained use may reveal issues that would change my view of the browser.
But right now, based on this short amount of testing, Google Chrome may just be the most impressive new Web browser that I have ever seen. While there are still a few beta hiccups, much of the experience of using Google Chrome just feels like the way that a browser should work.
Thursday, August 14, 2008 4:08 PM/EST
Click here to see the slide show
 Today Google dominates Web search to such a degree that new challengers such as Wikia Search and Cuil are shrugged aside before they even have a chance to show what they can do. But it wasn't that long ago that Google was the small-fry upstart given little chance to unseat the dominant search engines of the day.
From early on in the growth of the Web, most users' first action was to try to find new and relevant content, and search engines quickly grew to fill that need. And unlike most other core elements of the Web, which tend to be open and standards-based, for the most part Web search has been done by commercial companies using patented and closed methodologies. This has led to a good deal of competition and growth but has set search apart from the rest of the Web.
Still, Web search has seen its fair share of innovation, and from the early days of the Web to today, search engines have greatly influenced the direction of the Web and the Internet.
In this list of The 10 Most Innovative Web Search Engines, I look back at some of the search engines that had a big impact on how people used the Web and how the Web itself grew. Take a look and let me know what search engines and sites you thought were the most influential and innovative.
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