Death of the PC

The book I read to research this post was Death of the PC by Matt Baxter-Reynolds which is a very good book which I bought from kindle. Apparently it was the case that every 10-15 years there was a game changing event in computing like Windows or the internet irreversibly changing things. That now in the ever more rapid rate of technological change of things is becoming every 7-10 years. Currently there is an invasion of digital devices mainly tablets and smartphones that threaten take away the Windows PC's dominance over the consumer computer industry. In business Windows and computers are still very much the dominant force. Microsoft makes most of its income from the Windows and Office products. They very much still dominate enterprise computing. It's too early to say what the next revolution in computing estimated to be around 2018-2020 will be but we are very much at a junction currently where digital devices are becoming very much lifestyle devices and part of peoples lives. Surprisingly the Chromebook which combines the easy boot up, low risk of virus infection and ability to work from resources like Google Docs on the internet. It has no hard drive and instead uses a cloud service with 100 GB free but has the advatage in common with computers of a keyboard. Currently buyers have been cautious about buying these but that may change as time goes on. One problem is buyers have to learn a new operating system. The dominance of digital devices started with Blackberry which were heavy duty smartphones with minature keyboards ideal for going on the web and answering e-mails. In the future social media is set even more closely with our lives. Android of course dominates the tablet and smartphones probably in part because it is open source and it is possible to buy tablets which are like unofficial products for around $50. Many of these are made in the far east. There are also devices officially endorsed by Google which pay them commision for the privilege.  This book looks at the major products and developments in the digital device industry and I must admit I learned a fair bit from it despite being quite tech savvy. I really enjoyed reading it. It's around 200-250 pages so is a reasonable length.

Android Tablets

The book I read to research this post was Android Tablets For Dummies by Dan Gookin which is a very good book which I bought on kindle. This book looks at the manner different types of Android tablet and describes some of the differences. Android is the most popular operating system for tablet or smart-phone. Google bought a company called Android that more or less had developed this operating system although they have since added to it. It is based around Linux which many think is superior in many ways to Windows. Like Linux there is a whole community developing software and apps for these often free of charge. At the time this book came out there was a social media app that was included and was integral to the operating system but with apps like Twitter & Facebook they were free downloads but they could be included in later versions. Some Android tablets require you to set up a Google account in the initial set up, others require you to download the latest version of Android and others merely require that you connect to a wireless network. There has been some controversy over very cheap Android tablets with limited features and I think you are better off getting a decent model if only so most apps are compatible with it. Some apps only work with certain models like the Nexus 7 and I think if there is a specific for dummies book on your model of Android tablet you are probably better off getting that. I think Dan has authored quite a few similar for dummies books to this on various Android devices among others. I really enjoyed reading this book and think it might even be of interest if you want something to keep you abreast of the latest technology which is mainly why I read it. The documentation that comes with Android tablets is generally poor and this book also fulfills a need there. Generally speaking I find the for dummies books helpful and they do present information in a light-hearted and easy to understand manner.

Samsung Galaxy S5

The book I read to research this post was Samsung Galaxy s5: The Unofficial Galaxy S5 User Guide by Daniel Forrester ywhich is a very good book which I bought from kindle. This book tells you all about the Samsung Galaxy S5 smartphone which is probably the best on the market at the moment. It features a 2 MP front camera and a 13 MP rear camera. It's an android operating system but takes it to new limits with things like a universal remote control compatible with a wide variety of electronic consumer goods and a Google account for things like email and Google Drive is a requirement but is simple enough to set up. It features widgets and apps and widgets run continously with maybe extras that can be activated but apps have to be started for you to use. It features a pedometer and heart monitor. It has some of the older features we are used to like face recognition and retina display.You can use the screen without actually touching the screen although that may take a bit of getting used and you can hold your finger a little above the screen. It integrates with social media especially Google + where it is quite simple to have a hang out or video conference call. There is an onscreen keyboard. There are apps specifically for this phone for email and internet although it does have Gmail & Chrome as well. It has a dedicated GPS antenna for improved reception for this. It helps you triangulate where you are better. It has a proximity sensor for detecting compatible devices and networks and there will be USB devices you can connect to it. It has special powering down modes to save power which allow to still function but for example give a black and white display to save power. This is a very interesting and easy to follow book and because this phone is so new there aren't many books about it but I daresay that will change as time goes on.

Hudl

The book I read to research this post was Hudl For Dummies by Rosemary Hattersley which is an excellent book which I bought on kindle. The Hudl is a low priced android tablet sold exclusively by the supermarket chain Tesco in Britain and it has things like your location and time settings set automatically due to it only being sold in Britain. It has a 3MP camera on the rear and a 2MP one on the front. It has to be connected to a wireless network in order to work. It does stream television via several free apps and via the wireless network. It ues wi-fi direct and Android 4.0 which most recent Android tablets do. There is things like BBC iplayer which is free and lets you catch up on tv programmes and Sky Go which is free to Sky subscribers. If you don't have a Sky subscription you have to pay individually to download programmes, I think the Hudl retail for £49.95 so is one of the cheapest tablets and also comes with various services offered by tesco. You can use an internet cafe to get on the internet with it. It has 16 GB of storage and will work with a micro SD card up to 32 GB for additional storage and has a quad-core processor. You can password protect data on the Hudl but not on the micro SD card so must copy anything important onto your Hudl. It is a good idea to set up a Google account if you haven't got one as you can store additional stuff in Google Drive as you can on a Windows computer. I really enjoyed reading this book and I think it is a great shame the Hudl is only available in Britain. It has also got a scratchproof glass screen and many owners buy a bluetooth speaker to go with it especially if they play video and audio on it. There are also protective cases available and there are various music and video streaming services like Spotify and Blinkbox you can use with it.

Android Forensics

The book I read to research this post was Android Forensics by Andrew Hoog which is a very good book which I read at http://safaribooksonline.com

This book is a how to guide to doing digital forensics on an android smartphone. Most of the software used in the tutorials is open source although in some cases it's free to people who are employed in digital forensics labs but the rest of us have to pay for it. Much of the process of interrogating  a smartphone is very complicated. There is a very interesting section on the history of android which was developed by Android Inc before Google bought them out.  It's based on the Linux 2.6 Kernel. There is also an operating system called Minix which is a sort of Linux or Unix software that runs on Apple Macs, 

When interrogating a phone ideally the sim card should be removed and the wireless carrier contract should be suspended to make sure the data doesn't change in anyway way. Also put it in a faraday bag to prevent unwanted transmissions. Sometimes the SD card has to be removed but the smartphone has to be turned off to do this and there is a chance if you have something like a virus some of them disappear once you do this making it impossible to trace. There is a couple of file systems mentioned but I think the book is showing its age and they may be obsolete on the latest phones. One is FAT 32 which of course had widespread use with windows pc's. The other is YAFFS2 or Yet Another Flash File System and you might find one of these on older machines. I enjoyed reading this book although I would advice a complete beginner to read something else. 

Android Forensics

The book I read to research this post was Android Forensics which is a very good book which I read at http://safaribooksonline.com . This book is all about doing digital forensics on an android phone and it was released in 2011 so doesn't include Android 3.2. The most interesting part was the history of Android near the beginning and the information on doing digital forensics on an android is interesting but a lot of it is written out in steps that you probably want to go through it on an android phone whilst reading it to fully understand. I am sure if a reader was a digital forensics examiner with a bit of experience, I am sure they would fall in love with this book. Most of the exercises assume you are running linux on a computer with Ubuntu VMware & the Android SDK or software development kit. There is an overview of the various software you can use for digital forensics on this type of smartphone some of which are free and others are retail software. Some are only free to law enforcement agencies and digital forensic laboratories. There is one program called MobilEdit that will copy the data on an android with one click. Sometimes especially if the device is damaged or password protected they have to remove the chip and read it externally. They also have to put the phone in airplane mode, seal it in a special bag to prevent transmissions and temporily let the phone provider or ISP know to disable the smartphone. I really enjoyed reading this book and I must admit I find digital forensics quite interesting.

Google TV App Development

The book I read to research this post was Sams Teach Yourself Google TV App Development In 24 Hours which is an excellent book which I read on the website at http://safaribooksonline.com which is a subscrption website that lets you read computing & technology books online. It also has video tutorials. Anyway the book is primarily about writing apps to both work directly on a Smart TV & also as a Web app on a Smart TV. I mainly read this book because I wanted to learn a bit about Open Android which is their operating system and apparently is less complex than a computing operating system. One reason is that you use a remote control rather than a mouse and also users tend to sit much further away. Hence you will primarily use a Smart TV for music and video. You can always upload video onto a Smart TV enabled website and if you are writing an app I strongly recommend the Closure Library For Google TV. It has things like ready made buttons in Javascript for this platform and will save you a ton of work. Web apps for Smart TV are written in Javascript, HTML & CSS & TV apps are written in Java. The Open Android operating system is open source and is based on Honeycomb or Android 3.2 of which it's almost the same and also you can buy a buddy box from a firm like Sony or Logitech that will upgrade a normal television and only costs around $99 although won't upgrade your picture obviously. It includes apps by Netflix & obviously Google Play as well as YouTube. I noticed on the Safari Books Online website their was a video tutorial on Open Android which I may look at a later date.

Samsung Galaxy S4

The book I read to research this post was The Samsung S4 Manual The Complete Galaxy S4 Guide To Conquer Your Device by Daniel Forrester which is a very good book which I bought from kindle. This book is written in an easy to understand way and although it's only 68 pages certainly covers all the basics with this smartphone. The processor is a quad core 1.6 GHZ so is only a small upgrade on the S3 but the memory has gone from 1 GB to 2 GB and the software is much more efficient so the phone is much faster at doing things. It has a rear 13 MB camera and a front 1.9 MB camera and has technology incorporated to let you take several shots and combine them into 1 photo and also there is a built in eraser app that lets you remove moving objects from the background if they are a bit blurred for example. It runs the Android 4.2.2 operating system called Jelly Bean. I think as updates become available you can upgrade that as time goes on as with most smartphones. The case and the bezel to this phone are smaller but the screen is actually bigger which does mean things like the keyboard might take a bit of getting used to as they are bigger than the previous version. I did see a review of this phone in a technology magazine and it was rated as the best smartphone available. I enjoyed reading this book and I know it's quite a new phone but there doesn't appear to be that many books and ebooks available about it although I am sure that will gradually change.

Google Nexus 7

The book I read to research this post was A Newbies Guide To Nexus 7 by Minute Help Guides which is fairly short but a very good book which I downloaded from kindle. I have done a couple of posts on the Nexus 7 at my technology blog at

http://scratbagroberts.com

This is my computing blog but I thought this is a relevant subject for this blog too. The Nexus 7 is a digital tablet which is much cheaper than the current leading tablet the iPad by Apple but has a similiar amount of processing power and on the whole does away with some of the more superfluous features like a sim card in favour of wi-fi & bluetooth which it still uses but also is very cheap for a tablet especially with the features it has. It generally needs a wi-fi network to do things like install apps via your computer or a wireless hotpoint. It's worth mentioning Google were giving away $25 away in the form of a voucher if you joined Google Play for you to download apps and I know currently give away 1 paid app free every day. It's worth noting Google remove any apps that get a lot of negative reviews but don't check them as such like Apple do with the Appstore. It's best to check reviews prior to downloading an app to make sure it's value for money.

The Nexus holds a charge for 300 hours, lets you watch 9 hours of video & lets you read a book for 10 hours when fully charged. It has a 7 inch screen measured diagonally. You can watch video in high definition. I noticed in a technology magazine that rated digital tablets it was 2nd behind the iPad and it has the latest form of the Android Operating System 4.1 and as new features are rolled out you can update that via a wireless connection to the internet.  This book keeps it simple & I think was a free or very cheap download but I think if you want something more detailed on the Nexus I would recommend the book Google Nexus 7 For Dummies by Dan Gookin.

The HTC Guide

The book I read to research this post was The HTC Guide which is a very good guide which I bought from a local newsagents. This guide is probably only available in Britain and is published by Android Magazine although hopefully even if You can't buy this guide you will find this post interesting. The company HTC formed in 1997 and has been at the forefront of Android smartphones from the start. The current really popular one is the One X but they were also given the first Google named franchise with the Google Nexus One which was also very popular. There are some 600,000 applications available for Android smartphones and many of them are free. We are seeing the price of smartphones come down to a reasonable level a process we saw with mobile phones in general some years ago. With these smartphones they do far more than just place phonecalls and also do MMS & SMS messaging, skype, integrating with social media and even do video calls either directly or via your wireless network. Skype is good because you can download the program free of charge and can call other skype users free of charge. There is even an integrated office program called polaris and there are also alternatives you can download like one called write. You can download or rent movies,listen to internet radio, download podcasts and even read ebooks many of which are free and open source. One program I'd particularly recommend is spotify where you get a free download but then for £9.99 per month can access a huge catalogue of music albums over the internet. They seem to have most of the latest albums and their catalogue is enormous and particularly good for niche music. 

Google Nexus 7

The book I read to research this post was The Amazing Nexus 7 by Paul Walmsley which is a very good book which I bought from kindle. This book is a little bit longer than some books on the same subject. It also has all the essential tasks you need to do to set your nexus up, nicely grouped at the beginning of the book. The Nexus only works with a wireless network although some come with a sim card as well. Although very cheap compared to other tablets on the market, it can punch above it's weight and has garnered a lot of favourable reviews. Interestingly you can get a different paid app for free every day on sites like Amazon & the Google Android Appstore. Of course the Nexus runs an Android operating system. It also uses by default a version of Chrome as a web browser and Google as a search engine. You can read ebooks, watch movies, play music, play games and run apps on it. It has got good graphic ability highlighted by the games it can play. These tablets are essentially computers with touch screens and have consider computional capabilities. Although the tablet is named after Google it isn't manufactured by them. Finally the Apple IPad leads the way with the most apps that are compatible with that but Android is gradually catching up. 

Android Phones

The book I read to research this post was Android Phones for Dummies by Dan Gookin which is an excellent book which I bought from Kindle. You might be interested to know I have several posts on various smartphones & tablets including the Blackberry Playbook & iPhone 4 GS at
http://scratbagroberts.com/
The version of android this book deals with is honeycomb 2.3. I use an iPhone although I do have a cheap android tablet & it's worth mentioning you can get a Blackberry Playbook for £170 although it has a different operating system, which is good value. An android phone has 2 off modes one is completely off & the other is a kind of standby where you can still recieve calls. The fastest way to charge it is via the mains although you can do it via the usb port on a computer or from what used to be called the cigar lighter on a car. Obviously you can make phone calls but also there is bluetooth, the ability to be used as a modem, email, instant messaging & text messaging. You can also make video calls to a compatible phone. Many people use skype because the calls are cheaper, especially long distance ones. Your mobile provider will normally give you an email account but many people use gmail which integrates well with android & google own both. Android has a social networking app but you are better off downloading a specific app for the social media site you wish to use. They usually have a lot of extra features. You should turn off bluetooth when not in use as it drains the battery. A lot of people use a bluetooth headset although a bluetooth printer can be a nightmare to set up.