Tech Tips

Google

I am a great fan of Google because it is delivering amazing technical innovation and often it is for FREE.  Here are three of my favourite new(ish) features.

Desktop Search

(Google has now retired this service)

If you have ever been amazed at how Google can find thousands of references to even the most esoteric search request, and deliver the links to you in milli-seconds; then you will love the way it can do exactly the same thing for you on your own computer. It is free and easy to install, much faster than the standard Microsoft search, works on Outlook emails, and has lots of open source plug ins that enable you to do neat things like scan the text in images as well.

Local Search

(Now renamed as Google Maps!)

If this is new to you, try it right now! Go to http://local.google.co.uk, put in your post code, and then search for something like Pizza. Google will supply you with a list of all the Pizza places within a 25 mile radius, and a convenient map telling you where they all are and how to get there from your post code. I always said that the Internet is more about managing your neighbourhood than about globalisation – but here you can see why.

Google Earth

If you are feeling a little more adventurous, and have a reasonably powerful computer, then try downloading and installing the software from http://earth.google.com.  Google bought this company last year, improved the software and are now giving it away for free. And it is stunning.

Once you have loaded it, put in you postcode and click the button. You will be taken on a ride from outer space looking down on the earth, right down into your own back yard. Some areas (like London) have such high resolution images that you can identify the car parked outside your house!

Telephony

The Internet has already taken over most of the telephone network as all the traffic between the exchanges is carried using the Internet protocol. But finally the local loop is about to break out.

Skype

I like Skype because it works and it is either free between Skype users, or is very cheap if you need to break out into the PSDN (conventional telephone network). The software is free from www.skype.com and as I write this, there are 5,631,843 users on line!

BT or Vonage

If you have a broadband connection you can also use it for telephone calls.  The one we are using at the moment is Vonage.  It costs a flat rate of just under £10.00 /month and you can call anywhere in the world. 
The quality is not perfect, but it is clear enough. But the thing I love most is that you can have a telephone number from most places in the world.  We now have a New York number and a London number where friends and clients and call us at local rate charge.

New in 2006

There have been a lot of changes building up steam in the background and 2006 is likely to be the year when they lurch into the public domain.

Vista and 64-bit processing

At first it might seem as though 64-bit processing and yet another new operating system from Microsoft (called Vista) might be safely ignored.  But I am betting that there will be enough benefit in these two developments to make sure that a significant proportion of the business community will feel the need to upgrade their hardware and software again.

The thing that I am looking forward to is that the new systems promise to make the server into a business tool that can be used by any intelligent human being, rather than the protected domain of the über geek, with at least 5 years of training in the language of obscure error messages.

Visual Studio Dot Net 2

Talking of serious Geekdom.  I must mention that the latest version of .Net2 which is the development environment we use to create business software, is a serious improvement on what was already a good tool.  If you are in the business of managing data (and today who isn’t?) this is a really robust way of doing it.

Free Office Software

This is not actually new, but the Open Source free software that competes with the Microsoft Office suite is getting really good. You can download it from http://www.openoffice.org/ and it is mainly compatible with all the Microsoft equivalent software.  School and charities are increasingly using it as a way to reduce costs, but I am sure that most businesses which only use the basic functions, could happily save themselves a few hundred pounds by making the move.