Digital Life
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Digital Life by Chin Wong » Remembering Manny
Manny Amador, 1992, seen through the back window of his red 1965 Mustang. Photo by Ben Razon. I ALWAYS liked Manny. Whether he was talking about his rock band’s latest gig or the virtues of Xerox Ventura Publisher over Aldus Pagemaker, the Manny Amador I knew in the early 1990s was an animated force of nature. His hearty laugh was … [Link]
Digital Life by Chin Wong » Toyota’s open road
A funny thing happened on the way to the car showroom. Toyota Motor Corp., the world’s biggest manufacturer of automobiles, joined the Linux Foundation. Now why would a car company want to join a nonprofit consortium made up of mostly technology companies dedicated to fostering the growth of Linux? The answer is, it makes business sense. “Linux gives us the … [Link]
Digital Life by Chin Wong » Upgrades
WITHOUT much fuss, my browser was upgraded to the beta version of Firefox 6 this week. Since I had signed up for Mozilla’s beta channel, a message popped up when I fired up the browser, informing me that the upgrade was available and asking me if I wanted to install it. I answered “yes” and Firefox did the rest. One … [Link]
Digital Life by Chin Wong » 20 years of Linux
TWENTY years ago in August, a 20-year-old computer science student named Linus Torvalds sat down at his computer at the University of Helsinki to post what is now one of the most famous entries in computing history. “Hello everybody out there… I’m doing a (free) operating system (just a hobby, won’t be big and professional…) ,” Torvalds wrote on a … [Link]
Digital Life by Chin Wong » Facebook dislike
READERS of this column know I don’t do Facebook. In a previous piece, I had outlined my many objections to the social networking site, including serious safety and privacy concerns. This month, many of those concerns were brought home by two cases that highlight the dangers of trusting people you meet online. On June 18, a 44-year-old woman working at … [Link]
Digital Life by Chin Wong » File manager tips
EVEN new users of Ubuntu Linux are likely to find its file manager, Nautilus, easy to learn and use. The ability to drag and drop files from one folder to another to move or copy them, or to right-click on an item to get a context-sensitive menu will all seem very familiar to users accustomed to other operating systems such … [Link]
Digital Life by Chin Wong » A new Optimus
IT’S been about half a year since I began using an LG Optimus One, a compact touch-screen handset built around Google’s Android 2.2 (Froyo) operating system. At the time, the phone was one of the first on the market to use Froyo, and compared to Android phones from other brands, it was reasonably priced to boot. I also liked the … [Link]
Digital Life by Chin Wong » Outsourcing 2.0
“YOU ought to write about this,” said Jake (not his real name), a friend who had left his full-time job some time ago. “I work online now, using oDesk,” he said as he sipped a beer. “If I worked eight hours a day at my current rate, I would be earning more than I did when I was working full-time.” … [Link]
Digital Life by Chin Wong » Flipbooks and other Web wonders
A flip-book with a ring binder created using a PDF file and FlipSnack EVERY so often, I like to find new Web applications that might be useful to the readers of this column. My favorite this week was FlipSnack (http://www.flipsnack.com), an online service that enables you to convert PDF documents into Flash flipping books that you can incorporate in a … [Link]
Digital Life by Chin Wong » Inside Firefox 5
IT seems a little strange to be writing about a new version of Firefox when the latest stable release, Version 4.0, was launched just a few weeks ago. But thanks to Mozilla’s rapid release program that aims to churn out new versions every 18 weeks, Firefox 5 Beta is now available for downloading and testing. To get it, click on … [Link]
Digital Life by Chin Wong » Stupid IT vendor tricks
VISITING computer stores in this city reminds me a bit of David Letterman’s Stupid Pet Tricks—only the animals on the show are smarter than the sales clerks. Over the weekend, I wanted to buy an adapter for my MacBook Air so that I could connect it to a large flatscreen TV using an HDMI (high-definition multimedia interface) cable. The technical … [Link]
Digital Life by Chin Wong » Natty to-do list
EVERY release of a new operating system is decision time. Do you move to the newest release, or stick with what you know already works? Often, applications or devices that work on your current system will no longer do so once you’ve installed a new OS. There is also a period of adjustment when you try to figure out how … [Link]
Digital Life by Chin Wong » Ubuntu’s new face
THE face of Ubuntu is changing. The newest version, 11.04, features a radically different interface called Unity that had its roots in the now-discontinued Netbook Edition. With 11.04, also known as Natty Narwhal, everybody uses the netbook interface by default. This can be great for new users who have no previous experience in Linux. Even casual users should be able … [Link]
Digital Life by Chin Wong » Your wherever computer
FIVE years ago, I wrote about a handful of companies that didn’t offer just applications or storage online, but a whole computer in a browser. Perhaps they were a bit ahead of their time. Back then, the quality and cost of broadband service had not yet caught up with the demands of a system that would send out components of … [Link]
Digital Life by Chin Wong » Firefox accelerated
IT felt a little strange to see folks from Mozilla coming to Manila to launch Firefox 4 last week when the Web was already abuzz with news about Firefox 5, which is set to debut just two months from now. In fact, preview versions of Firefox 5, albeit unstable, can already be downloaded for testing. After demonstrating the new features … [Link]
Digital Life by Chin Wong » C64 reborn
The new Commodore 64 BEFORE there was Windows or the Mac, there was the Commodore 64. This was the home computer that got me started as a technology writer. In its heyday, the C64 was the best-selling home computer, with between 12.5 million and 17 million sold over its lifetime from 1982 to 1994. (Estimates of how many units were … [Link]
Digital Life by Chin Wong » Cloud drives
HAVING your head in the clouds isn’t a good thing, but these days, it’s okay to have your data in them. That’s because cloud computing—or location-independent computing—is becoming more ubiquitous as wireless broadband services become cheaper and the number of smart mobile devices continues to grow. Last week, online retailing giant Amazon launched its own Cloud Drive service, which provides … [Link]
Digital Life by Chin Wong » Turkeys and eagles
ON paper, it was a really big deal. After all, it isn’t every day that you see a strategic alliance between the world’s largest mobile phone manufacturer and the biggest software company on the planet. Yet, I found myself stifling back a yawn when Nokia announced a strategic alliance with Microsoft last Feb. 11 that would have it adopt Windows … [Link]
Digital Life by Chin Wong » Ready for Firefox 4
I LOOK forward to the day when the folks at Mozilla decide that Firefox 4 is ready to launch without the word “beta” attached to it. Boasting significant speed improvements and an overhauled interface, Firefox 4 is a vast improvement over the current stable release, Firefox 3.6. Still, for one reason or another, the Firefox team has kept the open … [Link]
Digital Life by Chin Wong » Power miser
ON a netbook with only a three-cell battery, I’m always looking for a power outlet. My early model Acer Aspire One (1.6GHz Intel Atom processor, 1GB or RAM, 8GB of solid-state storage), which weighs under a kilo, is an excellent road companion and runs Ubuntu 10.10 very capably, but long battery life isn’t one of its virtues. In fact, I … [Link]