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LG’s Phone Candy

LG’s new Chocolate (about $129 with Verizon service) is a phone of note; it rivals the RAZR in innovation. The Chocolate at first glance may be mistaken for a black iPod. An ultra-thin design houses a high-resolution color LCD, set on gloss black with a slider keypad that also reveals the camera. This top-line phone also offers VCAST for video/music, plus a 1.3 megapixel camera and Bluetooth.
    Other notable features: a circular, five-way touch-sensitive keypad that glows red on touch, plus access to VZ Navigator service for turn-by-turn voice directions.

Access: Power DB

If your company is drowning in data or you’re passing files meant for one-person usage around the office, you should consider a database to store, control and deliver mission-critical data. Microsoft’s venerable Access is a powerhouse, rivaling Oracle and DB2, right on your PC. We often think of Access as a relational database application; it’s much more. Access’ database (Jet is the default) is one of its components; developers can also replace Jet with Microsoft Database Engine (MSDE) or Microsoft’s Structured Query Language (SQL) Server as well as connect to any data from any open database application, commonly referred to as ODBC-enabled databases.

Complete Tool: Access is also an integrated development environment, that’s used to build the “front-end” that allows users to perform data entry, run queries and produce reports. Integrated into the development environment is Visual Basic for Applications, Microsoft’s powerful application programming language. VBA is often necessary to implement a real-world database or to integrate Access with other MS Office applications and systems.
    All components, data tables, forms, reports, queries and security model are stored in a single file (.mdb). If several people need to access the database, split it into two parts. Then, put the database on a server and distribute the front-end client to end users.

Before You Start: Before you attempt to design and build your database, answer these critical questions: 
• What business problems am I solving?
• Whom do I want to access the data in my database?
• How do employees/customers access the database — via local area network (LAN) or the internet?
• Who performs data entry?
• How do I publish the data?
• Is this a business-process database or a decision-support system?
    Access provides several model databases to choose from, or you can roll your own. It’s fairly easy to mimic a model database and make minor customizations to suit your small-business needs. The bad news, it’s equally easy to get off track. The graphical user interface is a deceiving invitation to dive in too deep. If you’re not familiar with database design, SQL and you don’t already have basic user-interface and programming skills, you can go quickly astray.

Key to Success: If you plan to build a database yourself, know your limits. Know when to call in a database consultant (find one who has a solid reputation and is more interested in deliverables than how much to bill you). Document business requirements in advance; manage to meet expectations. If you’re not interested in application development, engage a consultant from the start.

Leopard Leaps Ahead

Leopard (aka Mac OS X v10.5), the next version of already-polished Mac OS X, is being readied for launch slightly behind Microsoft’s Vista.  Scheduled for release in spring, some of Leopard’s planned features are a refreshing wind blowing against the dulling sameness of the lumbering Windows advances. Here’s a look at two cool new features we’ll see in Leopard.

Time Machine: For years, I’ve discussed with a friend how one could implement a time-driven file system. Time Machine in Leopard is just that … built-in file backup and version control that allows you to go back in time. By creating a chain of file versions (important files only, such as system software, business and personal docs, music, photos), you can turn back the clock to locate the version you seek. The user interface is a delight. Staged on a starry background like a trail of dominoes, you have a 3D view of your files, complete with a scroll bar that goes backward and forward in time.

Spaces: Leopard also introduces Spaces — multiple desktops that allow you to set up task groups or projects and move from one desktop to another visually. The notion is that you simplify your computer experience when you can compartmentalize all the documents, applications and windows in a task-oriented mode and move among them to focus on only the task at hand. You can display all the desktops at once to navigate from one to another and even drag documents from one desktop to another. Perfect for multitaskers or those with ADD.

Toys

The Urge to Buy a Zune
Microsoft and MTV are teaming up against Apple to duke it out in the music entertainment segment.  With the advent of URGE by MTV, the PC is catching up to the great music experience delivered by Apple’s iTunes site. URGE doesn’t work on Mac OS. MTV’s online URGE digital music service is integrated with Windows Media Player 11 and media library manager (beta available free from Microsoft online).
    The crisp site has a two-week free trial. Like the iTunes service, you can purchase a track for 99 cents. Two plans are available: URGE All Access at $99 per year and URGE To Go at $149 per year. The To Go subscription permits music transfers to a “subscription plan-enabled PlaysForSure device.” (No, the iPod is not on the list.) All music from this site is locked with Microsoft’s Digital Rights Management software and is WMA-encoded (proprietary Windows Media Audio), not AAC audio, which iPod uses.
    With the arrival of Zune this winter, the pair will rival Apple’s iTunes service and iPod.
    The $299 (retail) 30GB Zune (code name) portable MP3 player has WiFi and a larger, hi-res color screen than rival iPod. Microsoft faces a very effective foe in the elegant iPod which is a long way out front; more than two-thirds of portable MP3 owners have one. The Zune MP3 player is slated to be available by Christmas selling season.
    A fun website launched this summer for Zune followers to visit is Zune forum, with forums, news and hilarious spoofs, including a quote from Al Gore claiming that he invented the Zune. Also, check out a music and culture site by Cesar Menendez, a Microsoft employee working on the Zune development team.

Mega MP3 Capacity

SanDisk announced its new Sansa e280 late this summer.  An 8GB MP3 player at a competitive $250 suggested retail, it’s on shelves in time for the Christmas season to attract potential iPod buyers with a higher-capacity, lower-cost alternative. The official press release also includes price drops for its other products: suggested retails for e250 (2GB), $140; e260 (4GB), $180; e270 (6GB), $220. You may be able to find some of these for up to $50 less at discount retailers. Also released: a firmware update and a custom 5-band EQ. 

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