Stocks

A new stocks app. Looks pretty nice with good graphs. No ASX stocks available yet though

Windows Developer Build Windows Explorer

The new windows explorer is only available in the desktop mode. It does have the ribbon interface which isn't too bad but it should be better integrated

Windows Developer Build App Store

The marketplace is full of apps as you can see!

Connect 5 game

A kind of boring connect 5 game

Windows Developer Build Paint

I'm not actually sure whether this is the official pain app but it looks pretty good

Windows Developer Build Podcasts

A new podcast app integrated into the OS. The interface is good with podcasts able to be sorted into groups. It is similar to Windows Media Centre

Internet Explorer 10

A new version of Internet explorer. It opens websites full screen with the address bar at the bottom and tabs at the top. These pop up when you hover near them. Not so sure about the address bar at the bottom though. It seems a bit strange and unintuitive

Measure

Kind of like the measuring app on iOS where you take a photo, set a scale and can semi-accurately measure objects as king as you have no need for depth measurements

Search menu

A nice layout for the new search menu

Piano app splashscreen

Here is an example of the app full screen splash screens

Piano app

A nice piano app for touch screens, not so for mice and keyboards

RSS reader

An RSS reader with a similar layout to the podcast app

RSS reader gesture

If you look on the left side of the screen you can see a pop up of another app. You can just drag another open app from the left side of the screen and bring it up as full screen. Supposedly there's a way of making them split a screen but I haven't figured it out yet

Here is a quick overview of some of the apps included in the developer build of Windows. Most have pretty good concepts but need a bit more work to make them useful. Overall, it gives you an idea of how the OS works and the power of the system.

More pictures will come soon as I discover new features

Most people when they hear the name Telstra, they run. Not only have Telstra got a bad reputation from past customers but their plans are notorious for being over-expensive and not even remotely competitive with other mobile carriers. Up until now I believed the same thing, that was until I tried Telstra's mobile broadband offering.

First, the plan i chose was the 7GB Liberty which I got for $39.95 a month (a $20 discount because of having other services with Telstra). Seeing as the normal price is $59.95, this plan is incredibly expensive compared to what you're getting. The $39.95 price makes it slightly more reasonable. Other carriers like 3/Vodafone and Optus give you between 8 and 12GB for $39.95 a month. The biggest problem with all these carriers is their data services are unreliable and not upto scratch. Using a mobile phone as a modem with 3, I got a maximum speed of around 1mbps but it was usually around 400kpbs. This barely qualifies as broadband and it is painfully slow. So despite the extra data you get, it really isn't worth the trouble. Another issue is the coverage. Both Vodafone and Optus are notorious for having poor signal in amny areas and lots of blackspots, most likely due to their overloaded networks. 3 has decent coverage in metropolitan areas but you get hit with roaming charges if you wander out of their coverage area which is anywhere outside major cities and towns.

With Telstra, they give you a free "Ultimate" wireless modem depending on the plan you get. This modem gives you a theoretical maximum speed of 21mbps. In the real world, this is practically impossible but in practice, my internet speed is at 13mbps and has gone as high as 15mbps. Although you have to be living fairly close to the CBD to get these speeds, outside these areas you will still get upto 8mpbs theoretically. The main difference is that these speeds are much faster than any other networks and you can have internet access almost anywhere in Australia with fairly decent signal and speed. So, is it worth the extra cost? Personally, I think it is since with the other carriers you will end up being frustrated trying to get decent signal and the high data allowance will be useless. The other advantage is that with Telstra there are no excess usage charges as with other carriers, once you reach your monthly allowance it is shaped to 64kpbs.

Pros

• Support for HTML5 and WebGL
• Super fast
• Chrome Web App Store is fun
• Minimalist design
• Instant works on both search and web pages

Cons

• Sometimes pages fail to load properly or at all

Review

The latest version of Google Chrome has been released. Although Google releases a new version every couple of months, the browser is constantly evolving and getting faster with each release. I have used all of the main browsers in their latest iterations and although they all claim to be fast, Chrome is by far the fastest. Start up is almost instantaneous and you can basically get straight into your web browsing. With the new Google Instant feature web browsing is even faster and easier than before. All of your web pages and searches start loading as you type which is really good because you can quickly see if there ahve been any updates on the pages and searches become much more efficient.

The Chrome web store is another new feature on the browser. Basically, there are a series of apps which are essentially websites and allow you to play games,write documents or edit photos. For example, there is a game called entanglement which is a simple yet addictive game all done in HTML5. The whole concept is based around that of Chrome OS where everything is based on the web. Installing an app is as simple as typing in the URL and the apps will always have the latest updates. The web browser is basically the same Chrome OS in that it tries to focus everything in the cloud and i once you use it, you can really see the benefits.

Another benefit of Chrome is that it automatically updates. Every time a new update is released, you don't need to worry about it. Chrome will always have the latest update installed on your computer.

One of the biggest downsides is that all of the apps need a constant internet connection which is sometimes not possible. As well as this, I have an issue that after about 15-20 minutes on the browser, none of the pages load anymore. All websites just show the loading circle and I can't browse until I close and reopen Chrome. This can get a bit annoying at times but the sheer speed of Chrome can make up for it.

Conclusion

The new version of Chrome adds a  whole lot more to browsing. The apps made in HTML5 have amazing presentation and are fun to use. The instant search makes web browsing more efficient and easier and Chrome still maintains its trend of being faster than the competition as well as previous builds.

1. Quirky.com

This has to be one of the coolest website ideas I have ever seen. If you have ever had an awesome idea for a product bouncing around in your head but don't know how to get started, this is the website for you. Basically, you submit your idea to them including a description of the product, the problem it solves and the features and if you want a picture. If the community likes the idea you will get positive feedback and if the idea is good enough, they will turn your idea into a product and give you a 30% cut of the profits. You can also join the community and vote or make tweaks to ideas for free. If you want to submit something it usually costs US$10 but they have certain challenges each week to design a product to fit a specified problem and you can submit your idea for free. However, I have found the following coupon code to discount the $10 so you can submit any idea you like!

Just enter this code into the box which says Coupon Code on the payment screen: PWRCRL

Now you have nothing to lose. Have fun!

Recently I was having a little problem with my network card. After evetually fixing the problem I decided to do a speedtest on speedtest.net because thats what everyone uses. I ended up getting some interesting results.
My internet connection is supposed to run at 2Mbps (pretty slow i know). Here is what I got from speedtest.net after three different speedtests:

The famous lab breaks speed records at 100 petabits per second per kilometre over transoceanic distance.

Scientists at Bell Labs have broken records with a new data transfer technique that allows up to ten times the data transmission rates over long distances.

The system has achieved speeds of 100 petabits per second per kilometre over a similar distance to that between Paris and Chicago. The technology will be used to lay much faster international data cables and speed up the global network infrastructure.

“There is no question that this record breaking transmission is a milestone in achieving the network capacity and speeds and a key step forward in satisfying the ongoing explosion in demand,” said Gee Rittenhouse, head of Bell Labs Research.

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“This is a prime example of Bell Labs preeminent research and demonstrates the ability of our researchers to solve complex problems.”

The technique uses standard Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) technology but adds 155 lasers, each operating at a different frequency and carrying 100 Gigabits of data per second each.

Repeaters, spaced around 90km apart (around 20 per cent further than are currently used), are used to boost the signal and maintain clarity.

Bell Labs also designed receivers which can disentangle the data from the eventual signal contained in the light.

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