Once upon a time, about a year ago, I was quite excited by all the Vista speculation - complete redesign with new looks and functionality.

 Well last night I Vista’d my laptop and have mixed feelings.

On the plus side, installation was pretty fast and completely painless. Performance seems very good, matching that of XP i feel. The look is a nice improvement with some good enhancements in the interface redesign, file explorer especially. The speed of browsing and downloads seems significantly faster - not sure why! Bizarre!

On the down side, I for one am not that ‘WOW’ed.

I mean, it is an improvement but then after five years it should be! It feels to me that what is lacking is actually just that WOW. Even after best efforts, it seems to me that Vista still isn’t truly revolutionary … more evolutionary.

Office 2007, however, is truly a leap forward. If you haven’t tried it, do, especially if you’re not an Office 2003 expert. Its winning formula is a few new, and fantastic, features and most importantly and inovative comple redesign of the interface.

That is my 2 day impression of Vista anyway. If anyone has any suggestions of some WOW things to check out, I’d be very interested!

Windows Search 4

Head over to AeroXperience where they have an interesting exclusive on the future of Windows Search

Vista upgrade [apparently] heading my way!

I had an email from Modus Link today:

Thank you for submitting your order for Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit OEM.

Your order has been shipped. You should receive your order within 3 weeks. If you do not receive your order, please contact us via email MSTUPVISTAEMEA@moduslink.com by May 1, 2007, for English language versions of the product and June 1, 2007, for non-English language versions of the product so that we may research your request and ship your order.

Lets see how long it takes now! I expect it’s being shipped from Modus’ EMEA base in The Netherlands.

The Bank of Scotland tell it like it is!

Via  The Register

FM Transmitter Mount

OK - Long time no post! Appologies for that, work has been very busy.

I came across this beauty from TomTom whilst looking for a new sat nav. 

It doesnt look like anything more than your average GPS mount, but thats the beauty of it! This amazing mount hides an FM transmitter that broadcasts the GPS audio to your car stereo! Maybe nice if you think the built in speaker is a bit crappy, but think how good that is if your GPS has a bluetooth handsfree function: Mobile phone calls through your car stereo speakers!

Well done TomTom. Simple yet very useful.

An asside- I have a Garmin Nuvi 300 at the moment …. think I may get a TomTom now & my partner can have the Nuvi!

WOW! I want an iPhone!

 If I need to say more, you don’t get it.

 Check it out at Apple and at engadget (gallery here)

Happy New Year!

2007

HTC’s Xmas Present

Good work guys. These are Windows Mobile form factors that will make me part with my Nokia e61.

Details at PDA247

facebook

When a friend persuaded me to sign up to facebook, a social networking site, I wasn’t expecting much as I’ve tried that type of thing before and found only a couple of people I know on there.

To my surprise, there are loads of people on facebook and it is quite a good way of keeping in touch. I’ve not only found people from University and secondary school but some from primary school … even a girl that moved to America who I last saw when I was about 9!

So, the site is great for what its meant for. Unfortunately I must say that its not the most of intuitive of things though. It takes a while to understand all the different elements - personal messaging and ‘walls’ for example.

The biggest problem that you have is actually finding people. I have found that the most effective way is through the networks of friends (you can view a list of their friends). If you want to search for someone, it is quite unlikely that you’ll find them as you have to be part of the same network/group for them to be searchable!

Definitely worth a look though. Anyone got any tips for a newbe?

Jawbone - No Ordinary Bluetooth Headset

This one really has to be seen to be believed.

It is the Aliph Jawbone bluetooth headset. An amazingly striking design, combined with equally impressive capabilities.

It has dual microphones and a military-grade noise canceling sensor! The video of the gadget in use is really worth a watch.

I use my headset mostly in the car so I’m definitely putting it on my wish list for 2007!

 

Can anyone actually tell me where I can buy one of these (maybe not released) or the wired version for nokia? I can’t find it on the net anywhere!