Digital Life

10 ways to kick the Gmail blues

Chin — Mon, 07 May 2012 22:22:28 +0000

I RECENTLY had the misfortune of trying to access Gmail over a slow Globe Tattoo connection. It was sheer torture to watch the progress bar crawl erratically toward completion, only to have Gmail choke and cough up an error message that told me what had become painfully obvious: my page was taking too long to [...]

Storage outlook cloudy

Chin — Tue, 01 May 2012 03:15:00 +0000

DO we really need another Dropbox?

That’s the question that sprang to mind when Google recently announced Google Drive, a service that gives you 5 gigabytes of free online storage so that you can access your files from any Internet-connected computer.

The move was long overdue. Years ago, when Google began offering [...]

A prize for Linux

Chin — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 16:26:29 +0000

LINUS Torvalds, the inventor of Linux, has been awarded the technology world’s equivalent of a Nobel prize, signaling the growing importance of the open source operating system he created in 1991.

Torvalds, now 42, is one of two winners this year of the Millennium Technology Prize, an award given once every two years to recognize [...]

Flashback to 2006

Chin — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 23:36:53 +0000

MAC users have long enjoyed freedom from viruses that plague the Windows world – a condition immortalized in a 2006 Apple video featuring a sickly Windows PC, played by John Hodgman, and a Mac, played by Justin Long. In the video, PC is having a sneezing fit and warns Mac not to get [...]

Idea man

Chin — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 00:10:51 +0000

MENTION Microsoft and most people think of Bill Gates, but technology buffs will remember his quiet partner Paul Allen as the one who closed the deal for DOS and ensured the company’s dominance in the personal computer industry —and enormous wealth for the two men. This and many other stories are told in Idea Man [...]

The 1% Linux myth

Chin — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 08:54:17 +0000

EVERY year, some bozo comes up with a prediction that Linux on the desktop is dead.

These people really ought to know better, but it’s fun to get a rise out of Linux users, and a provocative headline does wonders for page views.

I’ve decided not to play their game, so I’m [...]

Tablet dreams

Chin — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 18:40:10 +0000

THE unabated popularity of the Apple iPad among consumers has triggered all sorts of silly talk again about the demise of the personal computer and the post-PC era.

From Apple’s point of view, such enthusiasm is understandable. The company sold 3 million units of its iPad 3 in just three days after its [...]

Things fall apart

Chin — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 01:59:30 +0000

ENCYCLOPAEDIA Britannica’s announcement that it would stop publishing its print edition after 244 years brought back childhood memories of an age when research meant going to the library and the answers to most academic questions were found in the pages of a book.

A lingering image from that era was of a salesman pitching [...]