Devblog

With about 4 remotes, two Wii controllers and an Xbox controller, I thought it was time to get rid of at least one and programme the Sky Remote to do the TV functions on my Sony Bravia KDL-37P3020 TV. The below code works with this specific model of TV and my Sky remote which is apparently Rev 8 (Version 8 ) of Sky something or other.

Here’s what you do:

• Press TV on the Sky remote
• Press and hold both Select and the Red Button. Wait until it flashes twice
• Enter 1679. It should flash twice again
• Try using the Volume buttons to check it’s worked

Simples

I’ve just read an article saying that Google is going to stop supporting Internet Exporer 6 – the ancient, badly coded security risk that never obeyed the standards of the web, thinking it knew best. Good, I’m glad!

If I was Google then I wouldn’t just stop supporting it so that some of it’s services won’t work “properly”, I’d use browser detection to display a message saying they are using rediculously outdated and insecure technology that is putting themselves and millions of others at risk – along with a link to Windows Update. I’d also not take the cautious approach by starting with Google Docs – I’d start with Gmail or even the Google Search Homepages.

Microsoft has been unable to fix the IE6 problem and the spam, botnets and other problems that the legacy software has unleashed on us all – mainly because they decided that updating the software would be done by the novice home user, not automatically. This now means that those PCs with dangerous software will be sitting there sending out spam emails until the day they die. Microsoft won’t fix the issue – they’d rather the customer bought a new PC. The owner won’t fix it – they obviouly don’t know how or don’t care. But Google can fix it.

Anyone who has an internet connection (and the ones without internet aren’t really part of the problem) will at some point use a search engien and the chances are it will be Google. If Google highlights the risks to the IE6 users and tells them how to upgrade and patch their PC then the spam, phising and other internet scams will start to be resolved. And hopefully Yahoo, Ask and Bing will follow suit and help remove IE6 from the face of the earth.

Bear in mind that I’m not a journalist – I haven’t been given one to try or even seen it in actual real life. I just blog in my spare time. That said, I have seen all the videos and news articles that everyone else has and do have an opinion.

Many people’s first comment on the iPad is that it looks like a big iPhone – in actual fact it’s more like a large iTouch. An iPhone without the “phone” functions built in. My opinion is that the iPad IS a large iTouch – it performs the same functions as the iTouch with the advantages of a much larger screen:

• Email & Internet
• Music, photos and videos
• “Simple” games
• Apps

That’s it. Yes, there’s going to be the iBooks store allowing us to download e-books but surely this will be available on the iPhone and iTouch as well? Otherwise they’re limiting their customer base. Yes, the smaller devices will offer a less pleasurable reading experience but it should still be possible and that takes us back to what the iPad is – a large screen version of the existing products.

So if the point of the iPad (as the name suggests) is to be a large version of a very innovative collection of technologies and design, will it be successful? I think it will. As I’ve written again and again – most people only want a “device” to get on the internet, manage some photos, access videos and music and not a full PC. Currently that leaves you with a smartphone, some internet enabled device such as an Xbox, a laptop if you want a full PC just in case, or a netbook for those not wanting to shell out more than they have to.

Apple say that there is a gap in the market between laptop and smartphone – currently filled by netbook, however depending on pricing the iPad could easily move existing netbooks to a niche market. If the iPad becomes an affordable solution (as the iPhone has) then why would anyone want a netbook?

I’ve written a few articles recently about how I think the technology, in particular computers, will be changing over the coming years with a move towards mobile devices that do everything and dedicated yet versatile multimedia devices in the home – TV recorders, games consoles etc. This does mean that since most people only want a PC for browsing the internet, the desktop PC and in a lot of cases the laptop will disappear from the home altogether as the games consoles and other cheaper TV connected devices will be able to provide the internet experience that most people want – and if someone is using the TV then their phone will do the job just fine.

So, how does this affect the key players in the industry? Up until now the home market has been dominated by the same companies as the business PC market – Microsoft provides the software with hardware being handled by Dell, HP, IBM, Sony and others. However, if everything moves in the direction I think it will the main product there – Microsoft Windows – will go from being the one element that’s included on all the devices sold to a compontent included on some devices – such as a version of Windows being used on some smart phones and obviously Microsoft’s Xbox. This is a major change for Microsoft. If the death of the desktop PC in the home and growth of mobile and gaming devices causes Microsoft to become a minor player in that area then who will become the new major players? Sony? They already produce the PS3 and are a big player in the mobile phone industry. My thinking is no. I think the industry will be dominated by two companies – Apple & Google.

To understand why you have to think about what the customer in the home environment wants – simple, elegant, stylish devices that do everything they want. Problem is “everything they want” is not what it used to be – we don’t want an operating system that allows us to connect extra hardware to perform the functions we need and a million things we don’t. We just want a device that performs functions such as texting, calls, music, camera and as such is small enough to be carried around – anything that this clever little device cannot do is either not worth having or much more likely acheivable through some provider on the internet. Does this remind you of something? iPhone maybe? Apple Inc?

But just because Apple were the first to produce a good, popular mainstream product, doesn’t mean they’ll be the dominant player for years to come. The success of the iPhone has highlighted to the manufacturers you big the market is and as such everyone wants a peice of the pie. So who’s big enough to acheive this? The one company who is innovative enough and is already playing catchup in this area – Google. They have a massive user base both in terms of it’s search engine but also Gmail and it’s other products mean that they have the capital, marketing ability and product design capabilities to make something as good as the iPhone.

Where does this leave Microsoft? Well, the Xbox product line which could become the main living room device assuming they accept the fact that the PC won’t be part of the package, they’ve got the technology to ensure that the Xbox is one of the devices in everyone’s home. That and their dominance in the business software market means they aren’t going to disappear. They just won’t be the biggest technology company in the home.

I personally hope this is the case. I won’t miss going down the pub and being greeted with “Windows has gone and done….”. And I don’t think it will take too long for this to happen – I’ve already got the iPhone and Xbox (and Wii, and Sky) and as such very rarely turn on the laptop except for work related tasks.

Having gotten over the honeymoon period with my iPhone we’ve now settled down together and I’m beginning to see some of it’s flaws. I have to say though, there’s not much wrong with it. Either as a phone, a mobile computing device or a mp3 player it does the job amazingly. OK, but what can’t it do. Well, the first thing is without a doubt the biggest. Flash.

This isn’t a tiny little inconvenience like “My bank has blocked access to my phone” or “I don’t get on with the touch screen”. This is major. If we are truly going to move computing forwards in the ways that everyone is talking about – the TV being the digital center of every home connected to and doing everything, desktop PCs being retired to museums, laptops being used for work and the kids bedrooms and then our phones becomming fully functioning mobile computing devices, then we need Flash.

Adobe, Apple – listen up – I don’t mean a way to convert Flash applications into Apps. I mean Flash within the browser. The Internet is going to continue to be the center of the computing world and if the iPhone or any phone wants be be part of it then it needs Flash in the browser. It’s one of the main technologies in today’s internet along with JavaScript (and thus Ajax).

The bit that annoys me though is not that the iPhone doesn’t have Flash built in – it’s that it should have and almost certainly could have. I think the reason it doesn’t is business politics, not any technological limitation. My thinking behind this? DOOM. Yes, that first-person shooter from the early niineties. The one that ends up in quite a few “Top 10 Best Games of All Time” lists. I know that it’s nothing special now – the graphics, gameplay and everything else are two decades old – but it is still a 3-D PC game – and I’ve got a copy on my iPhone. If this is possible as a £4.99 download, surely there’s a programmer capable of putting one of the most important peices of software on one of the most important computing devices?

Career Progression
About seven years ago now I finished my degree in Electronic & Computer Engineering, had gained a wide variety of skills in building and maintaining computer systems and was becomming a quite capable web developer. I had also had some years of experience in industry from huge multinationals to small companies with a dozen employees to EU funded projects. I was therefore ready to head out into the world of business to start my career and got a job as a web developer in a small training company.

Seven years later I’m still at the same training company although both the company and me have changed a lot in that time. Although I’m still the only web developer, I’m not the only IT person there now – we have a graphic designer and a media guy too. The main change though is that I’ve moved up to an Operations Director role essentially meaning that I can now call the shots. This is unusual in a company that specialises in the way that humans work – it’s not usually the IT people who would thrive in the company. The reason though is simple – business awareness.

In larger companies you have the ability to work in very specialised roles. The IT department may have a developer, a server guy and several support people whereas in small companies this tends to be one person who has some or all of these skills in the right mix needed for that particular organisation. Within the larger company this means that you can remain in your role, maybe being promoted to department head or above, without too much business sense as there is always bosses above you who ensure the services you provide are serving the company.

In small businesses however, there is going to be very little chance of promotion if you don’t develop a very good understanding of your particular business – the way it operates, the market it operates in and the way in which every department in the company (which may be single people) operates. This will make you more valuable – meaning that you can not only provide an IT service, but also that you understand and are capable of making informed decissions in any area of the business – and hence are able to move up the company ladder to the top.

That’s fine. To get promoted you develop a business knowledge. But what about starting out in small businesses in an IT role? What advice could I give…?

Starting Out
With the benefit of hindsight I would absolutely do things differently than I did when I started out. This is partly due to the experience and insight into the business I have in my new position but mainly from one simple fact. In small business resources are very limited – a point that is highlighted in the current economic environment. For the business to suceed everything must be done in a lean and efficient fashion.

During your training you learn to do things “properly” – to make sure code is commented, to make sure your server is the best you can get, to centralise your IT services for easy user management. However in the small business environment, this is all crap. Commenting code takes time and for the most part a single developer can remember which file or function does what, making the commenting a waste of time. Yes, comments will make it much easier for another developer to learn but commenting takes valuable time and due to the time wasted in commenting and the chance that you will replaced as the developer on that particular project within it’s usuable lifetime are relatively small – it’s probably best for the business to skip it and do something that earns more revenue. This doesn’t just apply to commenting but coding also – we’re taught to use a thorough and robust approach to coding and while I agree that this is the best way from a software approach, from a business point of view sometimes just making it work is what will stop the business from dying.

This lean approach also applies to servers and infrastructure – sometimes it’s best to “just make do”. Spending thousands on a Windows Server will ensure that it is easier to manage, runs 99.99% of the time and will live for years and years, but using an old box with Linux on can provide the same services at a fraction of the cost. Yes, it’s harder to fix when things go wrong but once everything’s set up, that’s a very, very rare thing. And if the entire thing does fail, in a company of say, 20 people or less, it won’t take more than an hour to set up those machines to work without the server so the company can continue. Everything can be changed back later when the server is fixed. And most importantly you’ve saved thousands for the company to use for either marketing to bring in more revenue, or even for more wages for a certain IT person… Get my point?

Although I’m the first to admit that this isn’t the best way of doing things from an IT perspective, it is from a (small) business point of view. Yes, sometimes it comes back to bite you in the ass but most of the time it just works. Still need convincing? Well our companies turnover has doubled every year for the last 3 years. And my wages are 3 times what they were when I started.

We had a stereo in the kitchen that Kirsty has had for 10 years but it’s recently started badly skipping when playing CDs so needed to be trown out. I personally don’t have many CDs since getting rid or loosing them all while at uni and since then everything has been mp3s, iTunes on my laptop and iPods so I’ve not really bought any new CDs until recently.

I’ve bought a few as they’re useful in the car – I’m not going to get an even more expensive car just so I can hook my iPod up to it so I now get CDs, rip them to my PC and iPhone, Kirsty’s iPod if she wants them and then put them in the glove box.

Thing is, now we needed a new stereo for the kitchen it brought back the iPod dock question – should I get something that we can drop an iPod into instead of routing around for CDs? I thought – “yes”. However, I definately wanted one that could play the radio as well and ideally one that would also play CDs. Combine this with the fact that there’s a Credit Crunch on and I didn’t really want to pay more than £50. Since the VAT rate is about to jump up as well I knew I wouldn’t be able to spend weeks Googling for one. Another problem is one of iPods. Kirsty has got an iPod Shuffle so it’s unlikely we’d get one that would take that but since it’s only a few gig and she wants to get a Nano or Touch at some point we just ignored that.

The last problem is my iPod – it’s got a phone built in. Not a single website can give a definate straight answer as to whether their bits of kit would accept an iPhone – they’d have lists saying they accept 3/4/5 G 30Gb etc etc blah blah but nothing on the iPhone. I eventually decided the best bet was to spend as little as possible and then see if it worked.

We got a Proline Something-Or-Other from Comet for £40 – not bad. Plus it turns out that it does accept my iPhone as well. Bargain.

I was at a party this weekend and some unfortunate person asked me what I do for a living and we then got into a half hour conversation about PCs before he managed to escape. I never even asked his name either – how unsociable of me! One thing we did talk about was how there’s more gadgets that do wonderful things. It got me to thinking – if you keep up with the advance of technology, why would you need a desktop PC?

This isn’t a new question – everyone has been asking this for years now. Microsoft has developed entire operating systems for this purpose. Hardware manufacturers have developed specific technologies for this purpose. My point is that now it’s not just an idea or only available for the very rich – you can get this without spending a fortune!

Our household income isn’t massive, not a lot more than most people, however we have various “toys” that mean our desktop PC disappeared quite a while ago when we were kitting that room out for our second born. And that’s the first nail in the coffin of the desktop PC. It’s needs it’s own space. Either a room set up as a study or at least a computer desk taking up a corner in another room. And people don’t like that – although PCs have got a lot better looking recently, they still look out of place in your living room. Why bother with all this inconvenience just to check your emails and shop online from your spare room?

If people do feel that they need a dedicated PC – maybe they also write letters or have their budget on a spreadsheet (I do) then most of the internet enabled devices might not be enough. Families might not be able to make do with a simple browsing through their TV, iPhone or Xbox – there’s photos to organise and print, kid’s homework to organise, secure banking and other websites to visit. But why have a desktop PC for all this? You can pick up a decent laptop that would do most people for 5 years for less than £400. That’s nothing compared to the amount most families spent on a desktop PC about 5 to 10 years ago. Sorted – that’s most people happy. But…

What about the gamers? Well as discussed previously here – why go with a PC for your gaming? For the cost of getting a decent gaming machine these days you could buy a PS3, Xbox, Wii and a laptop to do all the PC type stuff. So, now even the gamers are happy! Right, who does that leave? Ah – the light internet users.

If you want to browse the internet casually and you don’t have a set top box with internet access, or a smartphone, or a gaming device with internet access and you don’t want a laptop, then maybe a desktop PC is for you. Nip off and buy one before they go the way of the VCR!

After 40,000 years the iPhone has finally been released on Orange! I signed up and got mine on the day it was released and have had it for about a month now. So – what is it like? Well, boring money stuff first. To get the phone on the contract I wanted I had to pay £90 ish but that is a hell of a lot less than I’ve paid before (the last one I paid for was a Nokia 8800 when it first came out for about £200). Plus I can recycle the old Nokia 6300 so I’m only really paying £50 for it. As for the monthly contract, it’s £35 a month, less than the £40 a month I was paying. Seriously, who can complain at that?

So, the phone? Well I’ve not had a smartphone before and any “advanced” phone features on the ones I’ve had have been underwhelming. I have seen other peoples smartphones before and even comparable touch screen ones don’t come close to the iPhone. It’s the same as with iPods – everything else is just an MP3 player. The design, the software, the whole package is a combination of what they can do using iPod and Mac technologies and some clever innovations to bring together many technologies and software to provide amazing solutions. An example of this is the Maps App. By using either wireless or 3G connection, existing mapping technologies, your current location and bearing, these are all rolled together to provide something that can simply but effectively provide you with a walk back to the car park when you’ve been out and got lost in the big old city.

It’s not just the fact that you can have “real” web browsing (or email) when you’re out and about as well as when you’re near your own wireless (or open ones), but the way in which it’s closer to being a PC replacement with it’s own operating system and applications (they’re now called Apps apparently). This thing is just so useful that I now rarely use my laptop at home, I do it all on my phone.

Top all this off with the way in which it looks – it’s just like everything else Apple does – it looks absolutely amazing, both in the software it’s running and the device itself – everything else just looks crumby in comparison. Unless someone releases an actual iPhone Killer or Apple manage to screw it up, I’m never going back or going elsewhere!

My company is a fairly small one that has a very simplistic network, a few broadband connections and PCs with mainly Windows Home based machines because they do everything we need them to. This means that we just upgrade the OS when a PC is at the end of it’s useful life or when we get new staff. As a result of our expansion over the last year nearly all of our staff are on Windows Vista. The only exceptions are me (Head of IT) and Mike (Graphic design). Due to our jobs you’d think that we’d be at the top of the list for an upgrade but due to us having much faster PCs to begin with and having a better level of computer knowledge so we can keep them running better for longer, so we’ve stuck with our now aging XP machine. Until about 3 months ago that is.

At that point my Windows XP laptop was starting to suffer from various hardware problems – fans starting to seize and cause shutdowns, network failures for no reason, nasty wirring from the harddrive on occassions. This led my boss to give me a shinny new Vaio (VGN-FW48E if you’re interested) with Shiiny Vista. I would have been happy to stick with XP as that bit everything I wanted and had become stable and reliable to the point where it just ran and ran, day in day out. Unfortunately everyone in the office is on Vista and keep asking “how do i…” and the reply “how should I know – I haven’t got a new PC” apparently doesn’t count as quality IT support, plus XP is quite old now and although I was happy with Windows 98 at the time, things change and you eventually have to get up to date.

So – Windows Vista – what’s it like. Well…. everything has moved around to make it simpler for novices, making it annoying for me since I knew where everything was, plus now I can’t have access to all the advanced settings we used to have. UAC is a bit annoying – it’s like Health & Safety – just because some people are idiots who can’t but one foot in front of the other without having an accident, we all have to suffer.

What else? Ah yes – it’s looks have been overhauled and it does look very good. Gone are the playgroup colours and images, it’s now a lot sleaker looking and modern. But…. if you’re after something that looks good – why Windows? A Mac or even most Linux distros look well better than Windows, can perform the same tasks and in the Linux case – are free. But hey-ho, it’ll do for now.

Anyway, after a month or two of playing with Vista it became time to receive my free upgrade to Windows 7 that came with my laptop when I bought it. The actual upgrade was smooth enough – uninstall this, run that, re-install that. Then it was time to go – so what’s it like. Well, there is yet another facelift but as mentioned before – it’s not all about looks, personality counts too. So what else has changed?

I like the taskbar and quicklaunch changes – that’s a very nice improvement. However, as I have Firefox pined to the taskbar, it took me ages to find out how to pin it back to the start menu and as a massive fan of keyboard shortcuts (Win + down + enter to get Firefox up) this was really annoying.

So, what are my overall thoughts after my swift upgrades from XP through Vista and onto 7? Well, Microsoft – listen up! You’re not a government – you don’t have to force your “Health & Safety” policies on us all! After digging around you can turn all this crap of and find the advanced tab we were looking for, but don’t make it so hard! Turn on the security by default for the novices but have an Experienced user account for the computer professionals that easily lets us use our PCs the way we want.