In the exciting new category of modern hand-held computers — devices that fit in your pocket but are used more like a laptop than a traditional phone — there has so far been only one serious option. But that will all change on Oct. 22, when T-Mobile and Google bring out the G1, the first hand-held computer that’s in the same class as Apple’s iPhone.
There are two common methods for running Microsoft Windows and Windows programs on an Apple Macintosh, and one of those methods just got better and easier. The first approach uses a feature called Boot Camp that comes free on every new Mac.
Google’s new Chrome Web browser will make using the Internet faster and less frustrating, but this first version is rough around the edges and lacks some features, says Walt Mossberg in the first hands-on review.
Microsoft Live Labs’ Photosynth turns multiple photos of a site into a 3-D scene you can virtually “walk” through on the Web. The service is a dramatic new way to use your photos and to share them with others, writes Walter S. Mossberg.
Here is a guide to checking your email, looking up information and updating your calendar, just by sending text messages. You can use any cellphone, but you’ll need a generous text-messaging plan.
Guest columnist Vauhini Vara is filling in this week for Walt Mossberg, who returns June 5.
A free cellphone service called ChaCha lets you ask any question answerable via a Web search, by simply making a voice call. In most cases, it gave fast, accurate answers. But it has a few weaknesses.
Adobe’s Photoshop Express offers the nicest set of Web-based photo editing tools I have seen. They are sophisticated for a consumer application, yet easy to use. However, it’s rough around the edges.
Hulu.com, a site that aims to be a legal, one-stop shop for streaming of TV shows and movies, is far better than the typical network or studio Web site. But the site’s offerings lack depth.
Free online translation services are in greater demand, but their results can be rife with syntactic and semantic errors — from the merely too-literal to the laughably bad.
Apple’s new version of OS X, called Leopard, builds on Apple’s quality advantage over Windows, says Walt Mossberg. Leopard is better and faster than Vista, with a set of new features that make Macs even easier to use.
Yahoo Mail has emerged from testing as a polished, fairly powerful online email program. It beats Google’s Gmail both in terms of features and its ability to act like a computer program instead of a Web page, writes Walt Mossberg.
Walt Mossberg says Picnik — a Web-based photo-editing application — is good for tweaking and improving photos, then posting them to photo Web sites, saving them to a computer, emailing them, or even printing them.
Walt Mossberg takes an early look at add-on hardware and software for the iPhone. While the iPhone uses the same hardware ports as the iPod, most add-ons will require buying new gear or adapters to make the old iPod gear work.
The look of Ask.com’s new search-results pages is more compelling than Google’s, writes Walt Mossberg. “Ask3D” is a bolder advance in unifying different kinds of results and presenting them in a more effective manner.
Edited by Walt and written by Katie Boehret, this is a guide to gadgets, web services and other consumer technologies.
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