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.
Apple’s new Time Capsule packs both a giant hard disk and a speedy Wi-Fi wireless router into one slender case, allowing computers to easily back up their hard drives wirelessly.
Microsoft’s first major update to its Windows Vista operating system, called Service Pack 1, is probably worth installing, but for most average consumers it will likely be a nonevent.
“Multitouch,” the iPhone-style interface that lets users manipulate lists or objects without a mouse or keyboard, is catching on. Rival companies are scrambling to add multitouch features to laptops and other digital gadgets.
A tiny new computer called the Eee PC is better than competing products in certain respects, such as text entry and price. But it still has too many compromises to pry most travelers away from their larger laptops.
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.
It’s time for Walt’s annual fall PC buyer’s guide and, surprisingly, 10 months after Microsoft’s Vista operating system emerged, Vista is still the biggest puzzle in consumers’ computer-buying decisions.
Walt reviews Linux’s relatively slick Ubuntu variation and finds the alternative operating system too rough around the edges for the vast majority of computer users. (Video)
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.
Apple’s answer to Microsoft Office isn’t as powerful or versatile as its rival. Walt faults iWork ‘08 for emphasizing elegance over the nuts and bolts of writing and number-crunching, but praises Apple’s alternative to PowerPoint. (Video)
Walt Mossberg tests Fusion, another option for running Windows, and Windows programs, on a Mac. The program let him switch between each operating system rapidly and smoothly without slowing down his computer.
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.
Edited by Walt and written by Katie Boehret, this is a guide to gadgets, web services and other consumer technologies.
Ethics Statement
Here is a statement of my ethics and coverage policies. It is more than most of you want to know, but, in the age of suspicion of the media, I am laying it all out.