PCWorld Mar-10

Tech Products: Revolting but Not Rebelling IT’S A STAPLE of science fiction: Technology keeps getting smarter, adding capabilities, and making our lives easier. Then one day—blam!—our creations turn on us, and we’re looking at a computer rebellion. Think Blade Runner, 2001 (remember HAL, the supercomputer with issues?), Battlestar Galactica, and more. There was even a book in 2005 with the intriguing title How to Survive a Robot Uprising: Tips on Defending Yourself Against the Coming Rebellion. My advice: Relax. Humanity is safe, at least for the foreseeable future. You see, science fiction got it wrong. Despite decades of research and development, our state-of-the-art technology too often fails to work as it should. That’s why I have to reboot my Wi-Firouter at least once a week; why my fingerprintrecognition pad periodically forgets what my…

I presume David Coursey is not a Droid user [“Six Reasons to Not Like Google’s Nexus One,” find.pcworld.com/64326], or he would understand. Google’s Nexus One is the phone I really wanted—thin, with an AMOLED screen and Google’s Android OS. I have gotten so used to the keyboard that I am buying another Droid for my wife. TomMariner, PCWorld.com forums Windows 7 Too Expensive? I downloaded Windows 7 RC1 and am impressed by its general operation, but I see no advantage to many of the interface changes [“The State of Windows 7 Satisfaction,” Forward, February]. My primary objection to Windows 7 is cost. I estimate that a permanent upgrade to Windows 7 would be approximately $700. That figure includes the cost not only of the operating system but also of upgrading software, finding new…

One factor that might hold back 3D’s potential is the ‘dorky’ image of 3D glasses. Special glasses are a requirement for all variations of the active-shutter technology that television makers are using. The eyepiece design may vary, though. 3D IS BACK. And this time, it’s making a big statement. The concept isn’t new, of course—the first 3D motion picture dates back to the turn of the twentieth century. But a growing string of recent Hollywood releases, cemented by the runaway success of Avatar, has returned 3D to our cultural consciousness. For the first time, though, 3D is being positioned not just for theatrical and professional venues but also for homes. Few observers expect this sea change to happen overnight—but it is coming. The consumer electronics industry has been putting the elements for a…

NOW THAT camera makers have announced their early-2010 point-and-shoots, it’s time to examine common themes. (For a deeper look at these trends and others, see find.pcworld.com/69377.) Sharing and More As in years past, a few new models will let you share photos wirelessly; Samsung’s CL80, for example, supports Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. New sharing features aren’t limited to Wi-Fi connectivity, however. The $350 Kodak Slice packs a 2GB internal flash drive and a huge, vivid 3.5-inch touchscreen that lets you tag images for upload to Facebook, Flickr, YouTube, or Kodak Gallery. Sony’s TransferJet technology lets you transmit photos between compatible devices simply by holding them next to one another. Two Sony Cyber-shot cameras will have it; you’ll also need a special TransferJet Memory Stick. Pocket megazooms will do more. Casio’s Exilim EX-H15, for one, has…

MailBrowser: Xobni for Gmail Many Outlook junkies swear by Xobni, a service that keeps track of information about their contacts. If you use Gmail and want the same kind of data, MailBrowser is a great, free option. MailBrowser’s add-on works with Firefox and Internet Explorer on Windows PCs or Mac machines. Install it, and it indexes your Gmail messages. Afterward, when you open a Gmail message from a customer, for instance, the MailBrowser sidebar will show a list of your last few conversations with that person, how many messages you’ve traded, and all the attachments you’ve exchanged. MailBrowser will be even more useful when it pulls in information from Facebook and Twitter, something the company says it’s working on. mailbrowser.com Competitious: Keep an Eye on Your Rivals To succeed in business, it’s not…

SOME GADGETS LET you view Website content on a TV (see page 60 for a review of one such box). What has been missing is a convenient way to enjoy any media from your PC on your big screen. Intel’s new Wireless Display laptop CPUs can compress the PC display and stream it to a Netgear set-top box, the Push2TV (PVT 1000), that you connect to your TV via HDMI or component cables. If it works as advertised, you should be able to watch on your TV anything that you can view on your monitor or laptop. (IDG News has reported, however, that you’re not really supposed to use the Push2TV to view protected material.) Although the box employs 802.11n Wi-Fi, its streaming is designed to be less prone to interference than traditional…