The Future of Google Computers

(Recent rumors for August are of a Kindle Fire 2, with camera version and 4G version, possibly in a deal with Google, along with price reductions of the original Kindle to $169.)
The leading players in computer development have different targets:
Apple: sells computers
Microsoft: sells systems and software
Amazon: sells books, and everything else
Google: sells advertising
To sell advertising, Google also considers itself in the business of producing innovation – getting your attention
To date it has offered free systems to help others provide computers.    Now they are in the hardware market to do it right.
Google’s new hardware lacks only a few functionalities to lead the market:
The Nexus 7 lacks only:

. front facing camera
. HDMI connector
. 4G
I cannot imagine that the innards for these are not already in the device, just not activated
The device can already do a few things not claimed:
. run the discontinued Flash videos with two apps
. run external memory with the StickMount app (requires a root hack)
Plus the Nexus has new technology not even implemented yet: near field (senses nearby objects) and SSP (fast Bluetooth to peripherals), the latter working but for newer peripherals to come
Google also includes NOW, which interacts with you proactively, once it knows your lifestyle (it also needs that for advertising)
The Nexus has wonderful speech recognition, too, from Google.
Meanwhile, Google’s other device, introduced a year ago, and almost forgotten, the ChromeBook is being transformed to a similar larger device with keyboard better capable of document creation, and supplementing Nexus functionality.
The two go hand in hand to cover the needs of most of us: elegantly and cheap.
The ChromeBook has a whole new face based on apps.   It has 3G, camera, and VGA.
There is a rumor that it will be modified to support a second “OS” which will run apps when not connected to the cloud.   That makes it perfect for document creation to supplement the Nexus 7.
Already the ChromeBook hardware resembles the MacBook Air, the best design yet.   
What the others need to do to compete is to bring out a slightly smaller, thinner, and lighter iPad with thin “slate” keyboard.  If it does not do this, Microsoft will.
And please, a protective case and handle.
The iPad is a great computer, but the existence of hundreds of cases, stands, and holders betrays its shortcomings.

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Solving (Computer and Other) Problems

The job of engineers is essentially to solve problems.    Find a better tool, a better way.
There is a disciplined way to do that, more often ignored than used, though familiar to most professionals.
The simplest approach is not to try to solve the problem at all at first, but simply to do the homework, homework which is often skipped.    The result is to jump to a solution---try this, try that, and so on…

The homework is to define the problem in the greatest detail, a process which often leads to a recognition that the initial definition of the problem is superficial, if not counter-productive.
Rube Goldberg saw the folly of this.
Usually there are multiple layers to problems.
In my work almost any problem led back to the underlying definition that the company needed to make a profit.    My work could be described as “doing more with less”.  That, by the way, is often the  ”name of the game”.
Doing more for less is often skipped altogether, however, and solutions are assumed to be add-ons.
The basic issue is “WHAT ARE WE REALLY TRYING TO DO?”  That approach leads down through a number of layers.  It can never be asked too many times.
Now, then, when we have defined the problem properly, do we start at looking at solutions?
Not yet.  
The definition may BE the solution, if thorough!!   Then, if not, it is best to let our subconscious mind work on it, at least overnight.
(A colleague, who did not define problems,explained that another engineer who came up with them overnight, got solutions from his wife!!)
How many times have you participated in a committee meeting in which a problem is brought to light, various solutions are proposed, and there is a deadlock?     Could this be a process problem?
Indeed!    The initial process should be simply to define the problem clearly, even if urgent action is needed.   The problem is that we are all too impatient to get rid of the problem rather than solve it.
Committees are a wonderful place to pontificate and play politics, as opposed to defining the problem.
We also like to advance our own point of view from a self-interest vantage point.   Sound familiar?    The problem is seen as proving how superior our judgment is.   Consider Congress.
Our unconscious minds connect things together in ways we cannot.   They simply need a chance.  They just need a chance to work.  Are we smarter than our own unconscious minds?    NO!
Jumping to solutions usually is a short term fix at best, if not a new problem in itself..
There are other ways to solve problems.
In computers the first one to try is the process of elimination.
You would think with computers that computer and information-based solutions would do the job.  Yet, computers are the last area of endeavor where the main method indeed is the process of elimination.  It is entirely too complicated to do anything else!  So try this, try that!!   Oh, dear.
The other thing with computers is simply to pull the the plug and let the computer fix itself.  Really!!   Works!
A major flaw in problem-solving is in not using appropriate technology (just plain tools), usually the latest.    To do that you need to KNOW what is out here.  As an engineer you could torpedo yourself by failing to use that technology.    If you entered into a project with less effective and cruder tools, your reputation would suffer.    You needed the RIGHT tools.
That also means to look at all options for solutions.
I was always surprised as an engineer at how often then solutions came from the ranks of the union, whose workers tired of the old way, even if the new ways reduced their work!!   Day after day, they worked with tiresome old tools.   They got sick of them.    They innovated.  But they did not work with management unless they TRUSTED management not to “do them in”.    Management often fails in that department.
ANYWAY, this website is dedicated to helping seniors get the right tools to do the job of keeping connected.     That is the definition of the problem and solution.  Problem: keeping connected.   Solution: keep connected.   Use the new tools to do so.  Could it be any simpler?   Yet we persist with the old stuff.
In the past books often held the solution.  Nowadays computers themselves lead the way.    What else?   Internet.

Note: I wrote this posting to solve a problem.  Now, did I lay it out consciously?  Of course not.    I let it work itself out unconsciously and it just poured out  I did not organize it.   On reading it, my wife said : “Anybody can see that you did not organize it.”   Now, WAIT a minute!!

Getting the MOST from Kindle Fire and new Advanced Nexus eReader/Tablets

Note 9-19-2012:

For the record, the easiest way to get free audiobooks for the Kindle Fire is to browse to websites, search, download, and open in DocumentsToGo, i.e.:http://librivox.org/ and http://freeclassicaudiobooks.com/

 
Last fall Amazon introduced the innovative Kindle Fire. This new eReader had the potential of a much larger computer. Here this discussion is about getting the most out of the Fire and a new wave of newer, unfettered and more advanced devices.
But let’s not think of these as just computers. Consider them a natural evolution of the printed book into a device to keep you connected. A book,-radio,-tv,-music players , -all-round media machine, in addition to being a computer.
What makes the new devices new? The physical characteristics of a device greatly affect its functionality. The size of a device is crucial and Amazon picked it right. Amazon as a bookseller adopted the familiar book size most proven over the centuries. Size is crucial.
This was the first thin, light-weight, normal book-sized device to use the basic hardware of a full-fledged computer. That system had the potential capability of doing everything any other computer can do in a small space. The system software (Android from Google) was made freely usable by any computer maker. Amazon then started the new wave of eBook reader devices from it.
You can hold the device in one hand and use it easily anywhere like a smartphone. All you need is Wi-Fi access, and much of the time not even Wi-Fi . Out of the box, the Kindle Fire, however, did not make use of its full potential. (Hopefully Amazon will unfetter it.) Fortunately, it can be expanded.
This summer things evolved to the point where anyone can get a far more capable descendant of the Kindle Fire for $200 as new lookalikes are being introduced.
Google itself has come out with the Nexus 7, and Apple is reputed to have one in development using Apple’s iPad proprietary IOS system software. Samsung came out with one (Android) earlier this year.
The Fire can be brought more up to speed too, with some “doing”, even using a few voice applications, (and even more with “hacking” and “sideloading”). Much is easily done, though.
I venture to say we will have these devices everywhere, like radios and clocks. After all, we do not need radios and clocks all over but we have them. And these devices ARE also radios and clocks. Imagine one at your bedside, at your favorite chair, not just at your desk. Ladies, in your pocketbook.
. Prices will fall further.
(I envisioned a similar growth in the early days of computers. I wrote a piece entitled: ”How soon will computers outnumber telephones? (Kilobaud Microcomputing, Vol., 5, 1981 “Perspectives” under “Changing Times” ).
Apps
How do you make the Kindle Fire and its successors into more capable all-round computers?
Simple. You just add apps. With the Kindle, The result may not be to create as capable device as the new Kindle “killers” but nonetheless will vastly increase the Fire’s utility. With the Google Nexus, the result will all-round usefulness.
What are apps? Apps are a simple way to get things done, as opposed to complex hunting thru websites. They were initially developed for smartphones, where you need to get something done quickly and simply. Apps are replacing webpages as better ways to get things done. They are very specific task oriented tools, easy to tap and use from a small device. Their explosion on phones attests to their functionality and their popularity.
Apps are the secret to easy computing and media access. Amazon included just 10 apps.
An app might be a music player, a weather report, or an internet browser. There are 600,000 of them, of which I use about a hundred. Specialized apps can organize news, read a paper, keep your calendar, contacts or task list, organize your photos, watch a movie, and a whole lot more.
It is these apps that can turn the small Google Nexus into a full-fledged computer.
Although the Fire may come with just ten apps, many more are available from the Kindle online store.
It is easy to get them Here is how to get started. Go to the online market, tap, then search, then install. Simple. That’s it.
Most apps are free. But which apps? This has not been well enough documented.
Below I have listed the apps most of seniors will want. Get them one at a time.
Kindle included its small library of apps which can be downloaded with just a tap, a portion of the huge Google library of apps, but Amazon also excluded most apps easily available from Google.
These Kindle friendly apps are marked below with an asterisk (don’t hold me to this---all this may change). With some extra effort, the Kindle Fire can be made to run many more apps, however.
The Kindle Fire lookalikes and successors which have been introduced run many more apps and install them without such extra effort. These devices include both the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7 and the Google Nexus 7. Both add apps with a single screen tap from the Google Play online store. Both are easily transformed into full-fledged computers. Newly they can even create documents, such as in Word or Excel, or PowerPoint, best with an external keyboard. They look like the Fire but constitute a whole new generation.
There will be more devices, such as from Apple, which ushered in the smartphone and iPad tablet, after which Amazon then introduced the book-like Fire. Apple itself may be coming out with a similar-sized eReader/tablet . Although the apps mentioned below are apps for Fire, Samsung, and Google Nexus, the iPad has at least as many, of which a large number are available on both iPad and 7” platforms, as well as most smartphones.
Again, the descendants of the Fire, appearing now for the same price or a little more, can run almost all of the huge Google library of apps developed for cell phones and tablets, with little effort, directly accessible from the devices.
Bringing the Kindle Fire Up to Speed
As indicated, out of the box the Kindle Fire introduced last fall had a limited number of apps (10), which can then be augmented with many more from the Amazon Store---these last are all marked below with an asterisk.
Sometimes the Amazon store reports that an app is incompatible when, in fact, it is compatible and may be downloaded directly on the Fire by going the website on the browser and downloading it. Examples: Aldiko and Mantano, which read digital books that Kindle cannot handle without conversion. Then, using a file manager tool (below) installs them by tapping on the name.
For others it is essential with the Kindle Fire to find the “apk” (spelling is OK) files by Googling for them elsewhere: I download them on another computer, Email them to myself as an attachment, open that Email on the Fire, save in Documents To Go or ES File Manage (both from the Amazon store), where I just tap to install them.
There are other online ways to get apps. Some reliable sources are 1Mobile, GeJar, Mediafire and so on---if you have any concern about the security of these, install the anti-virus software from the Kindle Fire store, such as Norton. Or just keep to the asterisked items below. Finally, you can or go to another other device to download them from the Google Play online store and Email or “sideload” them.
Newer Android eBook readers, such as the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7 or Google Nexus 7 will install almost all of them quickly and safely directly from Google Play Market, as safe as it gets. They will also install apps from the Amazon store. If you have an iPad or are awaiting the Microsoft eReader/tablet this fall, you will want similar apps.)
What Apps do you Need?
The next question is what apps seniors need. This is the big question.
I have long promised a posting about apps. I have been busy getting familiar with apps for some time and have realized that I am shifting more and more away from Windows as I use portable devices, a smartphone, older netbooks, and most recently a very new device I am just testing which turns a TV into a computer.
I really had to absorb a new way of doing things to see what was important.
So contrary to many commentaries about apps, this posting is not about a half dozen apps you might like, but ALL the apps you need to shift much of your activity over and away from the old systems of the past to access anywhere you go.
On the Fire, to view and install the ten apps which come with the Fire, tap on Apps, then the app to install. Help, Audible (books), Contacts, Email, FaceBook, Gallery (photos), IMDB (movie and TV guide),Pulse (news), Quick Office, and Shop Amazon.
Here is how to get the rest of your apps.
For the Fire, try to download those with asterisks from the Amazon online Market accessible right from the device. For the Samsung and Google eReaders, download almost all from the Google online store, also accessible right from the device. To get those for the Fire which are not marked with an asterisk for the Fire as available from Amazon, Google them to try to find a compatible download for the apk, and then follow the instructions above.
I should make the point add here that apps now even include access to Windows as licensed by Microsoft. That tells me that apps can do anything I need to do. Also, eBook apps are now spreading to larger computers.
The iPad was the first larger tablet to use apps. There are iPad apps much like those below
Important Apps
What would be most important of all apps?
Well, start thinking about what why we are going to tablets.
Without a doubt tablets are media access devices. Why not just use books or radios or TVs or newspapers, and older media?
The answer is that tablets give us access to vast media wherever we are instantly, and more easily, while also enlarging type or even reading to us out loud.. The most important apps you need are reader apps. Close behind are organizers.
Some tablets, notably the iPad and newly the Google Nexus, are extending into photography and voice systems: voice input and output. Some have GPS, and Bluetooth, and 4g, and so on. Some have broader access to apps. Creating documents is quite new and mandates a keyboard. Such apps include Kingsoft*, Quick*, etc. Cloudon and Onlive give you Windows Word, Excel, and Powerpoint.
Readers
The most important app is the eBook reader “app” right in your eReader device. These access one particular online “store” or library. The Fire uses the Kindle app, and the others the Google Books app. Each has its own library.
There are more reader apps, not built-in, but enabling us to access more libraries (and digital formats) for eBooks. For example, the Kindle Fire can access the Nook reader app. I found the Nook apk here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1294967
Then there are other reader apps not included as basic for any given hardware reader. FBReader is the oldest, Mantano* the most advanced, Google Books the most exhaustive library, Aldiko* the all-round app. Google Books may be accessed directly from browser, using the mobile app:
http://books.google.com/googlebooks/mobile/ or here: http://www.mediafire.com/?e8883c7ad1s924d
OverdriveMediaConsole, importantly, gets you library books directly from the devices.
On newer eBook readers (not the Kindle Fire), also, install CalibreLibrary. Calibre finds and converts books and news and magazines. Calibre also needs to be run from a PC or Mac to send books to a device. Calibre will take some learning, yet is extremely useful.
Browsers
Next are browser apps. One is built into your eReader. You need others. Dolphin is popular. For readers with the latest eBook reader hardware systems software, Android 4.0, Chrome is the choice, simply because you share it across all other devices and it syncs easily, such as for bookmarks. Another one, Opera, is fastest.
Organizers
The next group are reader organizer apps. These give you the ability to use the computer to help you read more selectively and better, with more choices. Consider them also aggregators. Top of the list is Flipboard*, which simply combines your choice of media into a simple magazine format. Especially, it takes cryptic Twitter feeds, if you have them, and converts them into readable format. I got FlipBoard* for Android from the Flipboard website.
Still, Google News comes first with the latest and most. gReader for Fire makes it possible to access Google News. Yahoo* and YahooNews* a new source many computer users have used for a long time.
Then there is NewsRepublic*.
Others are Taptu* and Pulse*. These read across and up and down over various sources of your choice, showing expandable squares of stories. Good for checking out a lot of sources quickly and up to date.
Then there are the actual individual older printed media sources, like USAToday*, WashingonPost, and Wall Street Journal. Good for a quick overview. Subscribe on Amazon for the New York Times or WSJ. The Times has a cheap app with limited but up-to-date news (every 4 hours) but may not continue it.
There are apps for the news services, like AP*, MSNBC* CBSNewYork*, and CNNGO*, and the elegant BBC app (don’t miss it). Some have video.
Next are “feeds”. These channel many articles from all over into one simple listing. gReader* above is the most prominent and my #1 choice. I use it for favorite sources quickly, such as Lifehacker, which has its own engaging app. Liliputing is also high on my list---you can imagine why from the name.
There are apps which read out loud about, specifically: FBReader and Mantano* do so with supporting voice apps The benefit is to have them read the latest out loud as you walk or exercise or just relax, as in nap. I use wireless earbuds.
What to read? Goodreads* will suggest based on what you have read before. Valuable to find books you might life.
Elsewhere you will find my posting on finding books. The Internet archive is the main website, along with openlibrary.
That covers printed media.
EMail
Next is Email. Your reader will have its own app. To that add Gmail. Other email apps simply make it easier to read, such as by listing to the left and displaying one at a time to the right. The device will have its Email app.
There are then apps which take dictation and send it out as Email. More about voice input later, though. Yes, the Fire will do some of this with an Apple mic/headset. One such app is Speaktoit Assistant*. This is an undocumented capability which requires the mic/headset to be plugged in to install and use.
Audio
We now shift to audio media, books first. Audiobooks is free for human read books, volunteer read---you can volunteer, too. This is a good source. Jagamaga* is like it. Audible* is an audiobook ($$$) store. All these supplant the old cassette readers. Install them all.
A major set of apps is for radio listening (and podcast listening). I put Tunein* at the top, but there are others, and any one app may not get the particular station you want, so you need more than one. Tunein records, but not on a schedule, just when started live, MediaU is next, Live365*for music, then public radio NPR, PBS, PRI etc..
Going to music, Pandora* offers custom stations, tailored to your known likes. Pandora is a major MAJOR app. Spotify (also Rdio*) give access to a huge library of major music providers. I use it every day, but it costs $10 a month. Mediafly covers podcasts, especially, TWIT*and TWITTV* (This week in Tech). IHeartradio* gets Coast to Coast network stations, such as KFI in LA.
TV
TV and video are mainly recorded, although TIVO is introducing a device the stream it, and there is XFinity for Comcast.
I put TED* at the top of the list for its scholarly talks.
Some TV is now available in the aggregators above. Weather apps include TV: these are Accuweather* and the Weatherchannel*.
Other apps are for the networks, including abroad, such as NTV German CNN, NHK (Japan-English), Al Jazeera (English). Sometimes you cannot get coverage on TV.
These video apps are changing and may require fast wireless for the most part, although often you can download and watch later without interruptions, if need be, from balky or slow internet.
For movies, the IMDB movie database is an absolute must to avoid watching bad movies and shows on your TV. If you like bad movies, you don’t need it.
TIVO* and iMediaShare* and PEEL control your TV and/or TIVO. iMediaShare streams out to an AppleTV, a huge bunch of media not otherwise available, also in HD. LocateTV searches and finds shows. In time these small devices will probably stream direct to TV .
Voice (get the Apple mic/phone cable or generic)
Now to voice apps, growing fast in popularity. One such as DragonGo*. Voiceactions* also works for the Fire, as does Speaktoit Assistant* , also Skyvi for extended voice actions. The Fire does not support Skype, the others do, as with Google Voice. GrooveIP and Tango make a Wi-Fi phone out of the newer devices.
Utilities
We now turn to utilities, with file utilities the most important. When you get comfortable with files (if not, get someone to help), you just click on one to read books with a number of choices of reader. Some read out loud, such as FBreader and Mantano*, of course, though they require SVOX speech engine app, which I was able to use on the Fire.
Documents toGo is the leader for using files, followed by ESFileExplorer* and StorageAnalyzer. WifiDrive connects external drive ($$) and Wirelessdatacable connects to your computer to avoid clumsy USB cables. Softwaredata Cable does that, too. All these come in useful for backup. The there is simply Backup and AppBackup*. Then, the popular Astro for files and backup.
There are auto app launchers which let you organize apps like in a manila folder file: AppManager* to organize apps, also AutoAppOrganizer. These greatly ease finding apps. I have about 100-150 apps. By the way, do not get them all at once, but as you need them.
I did not mention anti-virus apps You will find some in the Kindle Fire online store. Please use one of them if at all uncomfortable. The system is that of smartphones, and I have never had a problem and have only seen one ever documented on internet. Android, unlike Windows, sandboxes each app. That means that it tells you what the app has access to, and you can control that bat installation time.
Files and the Cloud
Next, cloud storage: DropBox, Box*, and Google Drive. I use them all. I also use Picfoliio* for photos and AmazonMP3* cloud Player for music (built-in for the Fire). These put your files in a universally accessible place. I think safer, too, as compared to your device or computer.
Turning to cloud apps, you may need a calendar, of which Calengoo* may be your only good Fire choice, but GoogleCalendar works well with other readers. Sorry about the funny name for Calengoo.
I will not cover photography apps. If you are a camera buff, you probably need an IPad 3 and it will have its own proprietary apps not available elsewhere. If you need a big device, the iPad is it for the moment.
You will need utilities: AlarmClock*, Battery*. There are many others to choose from. Just search in the online store.
I leave document creation to last, although Evernote * keeps and tracks your notes I also use Readability* and Pocket* to save stuff to read later.
I was late on the bandwagon for the last two, but now I use them almost daily. I could not figure out why I needed them, but as I more and more carry an eReader around and read it in short time slots, I do need to save stuff to read later, and I DO read it later.
Writing
Document creation is in its infancy for Tablets, but it is coming on quickly. I cannot give you the best choice. They all look good to me, such as CloudOn or OnLive, both of which are a bit slow. These get you access to Windows. But here is the thing. You really need a keyboard and the device may oir mat not support it.
Some keyboards are good and some bad. The tiny wireless iPazzport Touchpad is a small one. The discontinued HP external wireless is a good one. Combo cases with keyboards are available. Or you could buy a “transformer” (clamshell laptop and tablet replacement). These last are in development. Touch typists will need whatever keyboard which works for them best---go try them out in a store or read comments when shopping online. You can get a full-sized rollup rubber keyboard for $10 which should work with the Nexus (only). The Nexus should accept most keyboards.
Strangely, a few old laptops with keyboard may run the basic system software, especially Asus EEE PCs. My EEE PC notebook computer runs virtually all of the apps mentioned. It has a built-in keyboard. It never ran Windows well. It was slow on XP, lightning fast on Android 4.0.
Also essential for writing would be larger displays than 10”, and there are new choices emerging. The mini $74 PC-stick gives you the tablet system on a big screen. Here you can plug in a wired or wireless keyboard and mouse. But this is cutting edge stuff, though in rapid development.
Printing
For most tablets printing is best handled with Google Print, which I have used exclusively since its inception, more than a year . Printershare* will print to a wireless printer. I like it. Google Print sends your stuff up to the cloud, from where bit prints to any printer you have set up on your PC or Mac.
GPS
If your small tablet has GPS, you have some good choices: CoPilot, GoogleMaps, Mapquest*and WAZE*, the last with local traffic reports---the most practical and useable use of social networking I have yet witnessed. In the car WAZE requires data service via portable hotspot, such as some smartphones.
Now all of this will get outdate asd apps are updated daily. Keep tuned. And keep ME posted. Much of this is changing daily. Hopefully Amazon will unfetter the Fire to make most apps easy to install.
Other
You doctor(s), pharmacy, or bank will have their own apps. Other apps will be accessed by photographing the bar code or QR if your tablet has a camera. The Nexus has something called near field communications (NFC) which recognizes nearby sources of information by proximity. It also as NOW, which gets to know you and help your remember things. Good potential for seniors.
Also important for seniors are tools to read aloud and use a larger computer for typing to the device: SoundGecko and Airdroid.
YouTube, widely used but also underused, accesses music, and tutorials. I use it when Google fails. Kahn accesses a new way of learning. Rotation locks portrait or landscape screen.
All this changes day to day, with many updates every day. Keep posted. Hopefully Amazon will open up the Fire to more easily installed apps so as to avoid obsolescence.

Finally, a (Handy) Computer for Seniors

Coming out this month is a new wonder from Google, the Nexus 7.   
This 7” eReader/tablet addresses many senior wants and needs. The same size and shape as the Kindle Fire, the Nexus adds a newer major operating system update with slick and fast touch controls.     The device now includes mike, Bluetooth for external headphones, GPS, and a host of new easily installed applications called apps.
Google introduced the “Android” system for smartphones and gave it to the public free.     Amazon then used it last fall for the Kindle Fire and its proprietary library of books and apps.  Meanwhile Android has been broadly improved.  Since then there have been two subsequent new generations of this device, introduced by others.
Amazon’s vision was to get its device the right size.   The right size is that of a typical book, as proved over 400 years.   On this website, a few years ago, I wrote:   “The future senior computer would be a tried and true shape: a book.     .The size and shape of a book has proved itself practical over centuries.”    However, the Fire was limited as mainly an eBook reader.     Google then set out to make the most of its lookalike device’s potential as a computer.   That potential is vast.
The result is the Google Nexus, a wonder indeed, a block buster, especially for seniors.
(I will have a posting about making the most of your Kindle Fire, also an exhaustive posting on the basic apps you need to get full use out of it and its successors---I could not find one on the internet.)
What is the most important need of seniors?  The answer is “keeping connected”: email, reading, phoning, and much more.
These functions are greatly aided by voice input, reading text out loud, enlarged print, and something new from Google called Now, which anticipates your needs your concerns and needs with reminders.
The small electronic book-computer easily goes along with you.   More than that, it does not tie you to a desk.  It works nicely in a chair or in bed, or traveling.
It is right for waiting, sitting with someone, riding in a car or  bus, wherever you need it.   You do need to go to it and accommodate yourself to it.    It accommodates to you.
All this finally in the right size.
Keeping connected also means to the radio, audio books, and recorded TV.     All these require apps, almost all free.   On this device most can be installed with a few taps.
Radio and TV programs and other media are usually available when you want them, as well as music, such as to accompany exercise.
There are, movies, too, along with TV.   Separate apps help find scheduled programs..   Some send video to TV with a separate box.   TIVO now is about to introduce a box to send your TV it.
The Google books library is exhaustive and a delight to use.   Additionally, this device will run the Calibre Manager app to find books most easily, as described in my posting on how to find books..
The Android operating system grew up from smartphones, which need to be quickly and easily used and reliable.
Gone are viruses and virus updates.  Also gone are the complexities of Windows.   Here the user is  in control.
Gone are the cables, the cryptic error massages, the interruptions of computers of the past and up to recently.
Android is a lightweight system which even runs fast on my old obsolete EEE PC, one of the first notebooks.  I have never had an error with it.
Android was developed from Bell Labs’ Unix, proved over the years.
When you get your Nexus, make sure you get a case which protects but does not interfere with it.
You do need WiFi.  Here at Willow Valley we have WiFi in the public places.
If you do much writing you may need an external keyboard and a case which props it up,, or just use your old computer for writing.
Apple will have its version out this fall, based on the iPad.  The iPad, of course, is bigger and less portable, but very appealing and capable.
The Nexus costs just $200.

Cases for Phones, Readers and Tablets

                With small size being important to us, you would think devices would be made so that cases were unnecessary.   Instead, they come glitzy, slippery and slithery.   The device should itself be easy to grip safely and safe to drop without breaking.    A one-hand grip would also be handy.

                These devices lose their functionality when not with you, of course.   With the wrong case you may not carry the device around and lose its benefits altogether.

Phones

                I have tried all kinds of cases, flip, zip, and so on.    

                Some flips may not protect from device sliding out accidentally.    Zips take too long to unzip.       Flips flip only one way: horizontally or vertically and make it awkward to read and hold the other way.

                You do need to be able to get at the device in a hurry.

                I use a soft rubbery silicone skin locally for most uses plus a holster for it when going somewhere with it     The holster can be clipped on a belt or laced through it.   I don’t do either, I pocket it.

                The skin is a rubbery tread type.   I don’t use any screen cover. 

                I choose so that the silicone slips in and out of the holster with a little resistance.     That means that I need to pick a holster just a bit larger than for the phone without skin

                 To accommodate the skin, I picked a larger iPhone holster case for my iPod Touch.

EReaders/7” Tablets

I never take a 7” eReader or tablet out of the case.  I don’t use a skin at all.

Which way would you like your case to open?   The latest, the Google Nexus 7, has the home screen in portrait mode only.  

      

            eReader/tablet cases need to provide openings for the specific tablet.    I like the book type which simply open like a book.   Preferably these also accommodate standing at an angle.    Sometimes the angle is adjustable.

There are different a angles, but 30-45 degrees work for me.     A back tab holder works better than an adjustable angle stand which may slip.     Which way do you want it to prop up?

                A snap closer is a benefit.

10” Tablets

                I do not carry my iPad around., but I do have a cheap case which props it up.   Keyboard cases make it even bulkier.   

 

    The Apple triangular holder /covers work for others     Too awkward for me.

Sources:

                Cases found on eBay sometimes lack something not obvious, whereas those on Amazon are accompanied by comments.   If buying a case, read those comments, especially the 1-3 star comments.  Disregard trivial carps.

                There you will find that cases can be very cheap indeed, often just a few dollars and just as good as the $30-40 cases in the stores.   Direct from Hong King or Shenzhen worked for me.

                Amazon fulfillment is a bit more of a safety than otherwise.

                

Which Computer for ME?

                Which should you choose, Apple or Microsoft, laptop or tower, tablet or eReader, and so on, or something else?\
                
                 It doesn’t matter.    What matters is what we want and need to do.    More important, what we will want to do in the future, often forgotten or underestimated.

                A computer is simply a tool.  Specify what you want to do and choose the most appropriate tool.

                So what are the factors to consider in choosing the right tool?

                If we look at the development of computers, we get some clues.

Size:

                What made Apple and Microsoft successful was the ability to get it in a small size at low cost.

                How does that affect us?     If you want portability, the new eReader is the most portable all-round choose.   This is fairly new.

                If you need high screen resolution, or are a photographer, the iPad may be the choice.  It is still fairly portable.

                That brings us to the next choice

Screen Resolution     

   

                Screen resolution also depends on SIZE.      Once you decide on size, screen resolution is critical.   How good is your vision?  Do you just want to read or access and use graphics?

  Consider that 10” tablets have half the screen area of the everyday laptop, and 7” have half the screen area of that, with large newer smartphones half the screen area of the 7”, and the smaller smartphones half that.

Input

                There are now two choices for input, with another one coming along nicely.   Touch screen or keyboard.   And now, voice.

                Tablets and eReaders offer onscreen keyboards, suitable for occasional use.    Laptops and towers offer any size keyboard, even wireless.

                Many tablets and eReaders will accommodate an external keyboard, but size becomes important again.     Touch typists will be unhappy with any but a keyboard like the old IBM Selectric typewriter.    For good reason.

                Once we learn better how to use onscreen keyboards, they may be more appealing.   For now, even external keyboards area bit awkward with these devices.

                There is, however the new transformer, which embodies both keyboard and tablet.

Applications

                You might think applications would come first.    Actually they do.      Still, most sizes can handle most apps.   Indeed apps are critical.      Each platform has some apps it does well and others it does not do well.    So again, decide what you want to do and pick the best for it.      

   

 Back to Size

                The same “size” thing happened with phones.   The old ones did their job, until one day they did not do it well enough and small enough

                It was important to get the cell phone computerized but also small and cheap.  Today the smartphone based iPad is the slickest computer out there, a wonder indeed.          Yet why is it that I do not use it the most?

                Simply because of size.

 Which comes first?

                I use the small 7” tablet now appearing---because of the size--- I can use it in more places, like a standard sized book which people have been carrying around for 400 years or more. 

   Oddly, the company which brought the 7” tablet out last fall was not a computer leader at all. It was the bookstore Amazon, which created the eBook reader.  Hey, they got the size right. 

                The Kindle eBook reader was developed to fill a need: size.    Then, Samsung brought out a lookalike of the Kindle with nearly full computer capabilities.   Now Google has brought one out and is selling it direct online  (also at Staples).

                I use the smartphone most, followed by the 7” tablet, then Windows, and finally iPad, in that order, based on size, even though the latter is probably the most capable and appealing of all.  All because of size.

                I use my old Windows for writing, based on my need to write where I can easily see the whole page.  Size again.

 So what next?

                Nowadays, development continues to small size, and also ability to handle varying sizes.

                PC "sticks" work with all screen sizes.   Windows 8 does, too

We need a device which can meet even more needs.  

  

In the eventual future we will need a small device, like a hearing aid, to which we can interact by talking and also glasses which are also a screen.    Later, computers will read our minds and send stuff directly to our brains.   Tiny.

            That may be a way off.    What's this?  (Click or Tap)

             It may also seem impossible, but what Apple and Microsoft brought us was also “impossible” at one time.

            But now we need as much as we can get in a small device.   Size is paramount.    

            Maybe those slightly larger smartphones may be showing the way, as their internal systems are also growing up to those of larger computers.    

  

            But it does not matter.   What matters is that the device does what we need it to do, now and in the future, if we can visualize your future needs.     We all benefit from the right sized device.

            We will see a lot of new choices in the near future.