By Yara Souza

A Google (NSDQ:GOOG) executive recently declared that desktops will be “irrelevant” in three years, but solution providers say that’s wishful thinking.

At the Digital Landscapes Conference in Ireland last week, John Herlihy, Google’s head of sales in Europe, suggested that desktop PCs will soon take a back seat to mobile devices. “In three years time, desktops will be irrelevant. In Japan, most research is done today on smart phones, not PCs,” Herlihy said at the event, as reported by SiliconRepublic.com.

The prospect of such a rapid transition from desktop to mobile could be a wake-up call for companies like Microsoft (NSDQ:MSFT), but solution providers interviewed by Channelweb.com don’t think the three-year window Herlihy proposed is realistic.

“The cloud is here to stay, and more and more applications will tend to move in that direction,” said Neil Pearlstein, president of PC Professional, an Oakland, Calif.-based Microsoft Gold Partner. “But while I agree that a shift to a more mobile desktop will be occurring, three years is very aggressive, and as we all know, change takes time to happen.”

Microsoft will continue to sell and innovate their desktop applications regardless of whether they’re cloud-based or local, according to Pearlstein. “It’s just the way we use them that will be changing in the next three to six years.”

Daniel Duffy, CEO of Valley Network Solutions, a solution provider in Fresno, Calif., says Herlihy’s comments are the same sort of hyperbole that Microsoft has been engaging in over the past couple of decades.

While Duffy agrees that mobile devices and high-speed mobile connectivity will become more ubiquitous, he disagrees with the suggestion that desktops will become irrelevant. “This is wishful thinking from another ‘Google-ite’ who’s trying to mold the future to their worldview,” Duffy said.

Google isn’t the only company pushing cloud computing, but it’s certainly one of the loudest voices. Marc Harrison, president of Silicon East, a Microsoft solution provider in Manalapan, N.J., also believes that Herlihy’s prediction is a stretch.

“That’s quite a dream Google has,” Harrison said. “I can’t envision any business in the U.S. moving all of its mission critical and proprietary information to the cloud in the next decade, let alone the next three years.”

According to Herlihy, information overload will continue to drive interest in search technology and lead to the creation of new business models. He also pointed to Japan’s accelerated mobile adoption, noting that the country conducts a majority of its research on mobile devices instead of PCs.

Duffy said this is because Japan has a faster Internet connectivity than much of the U.S., adding that this situation probably won’t improve until the economy recovers.

“We have much bigger priorities to address first,” Duffy said.

Not enough space to store your pictures and videos? Panasonic 64-gigabyte SDXC memory card, model RP-SDW64GE1K, can hold up to eight hours and 30 minutes of high definition recording and 18,000 still photos. It’s flash memory also automatically refreshes with error corrections, which mean no data damages and better card durability. The card even features a new technology to reduce accidental corruption caused by power interruption, like when the card is removed while data is being transferred. SDXC, or Secure Digital Extended Capacity, is the new standard for storing data up to two terabytes.

Photo from www.tcmagazine.com

Microsoft makes most editions of Windows 7 available in 32-bit or 64-bit versions, so to see which version your computer is using, go to the Start menu to Computer and click on the System Properties at the top of the window. In the System area of the box that appears, look next to System Type to see if the computer is running a 32 or 64-bit (x64) operating system.

The 64-bit systems handle data and memory efficiency that 32-bit systems; a popular analogy is to think of a 64-bit operating system as a 64-lane highway compared with a 32-lane highway in terms of a moving traffic. If you have the 32-bit version installed and want to see if your computer’s processor can run the 64-bit version of Windows 7, go to the Start menu to Control Panel.

In the Search box at the top of the window, start typing Performance Information and Tools and click on the window. In the Performance and Information Tools box, click on the option for “View and print detailed performance and system information.”

In the System area, look next to 64-bit capable to see if it says “Yes” which means the processor can handle the upgrade. If you choose to upgrade from the 32-bit version, you need to back-up all your files, install the 64-bit edition of Windows and the copy your files back to the PC.

One major thing to do before you upgrade: Make sure there are 64-bit drivers available for the hardware you use with the computer. Microsoft has other advice on upgrading to the 64-bit version of Windows 7 at http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/32-bit-and-64-bit-Windows-frequently-asked-questions

Source: NYT Special

In the end of January this year Apple has revealed the new product iPad. David Pogue has take a look on it.

The Apple iPad: First Impressions

Today Apple finally unveiled its tablet computer, the iPad. Thus concludes Phase 1 of the standard Apple new-category roll-out: months of feverish speculation and hype online, without any official indication by Apple that the product even exists.

Now Phase 2 can begin: the bashing by the bloggers who’ve never even tried it: “No physical keyboard!” “No removable battery!” “Way too expensive!” “Doesn’t multitask!” “No memory-card slot!”

That will last until the iPad actually goes on sale in April. Then, if history is any guide, Phase 3 will begin: positive reviews, people lining up to buy the thing, and the mysterious disappearance of the basher-bloggers.

The iPad is, as predicted, essentially a giant iPod Touch: aluminum-backed, half-inch thin, with a 10-inch screen surrounded by a shiny black border. At the bottom, there’s the standard iPod/iPhone connector and a single Home button. It will be available in models ranging from $499 (16 gigs of memory, Wi-Fi) to $830 (64 gigs of memory, Wi-Fi and 3G cellular).

The cellular signal will be provided by AT&T for $15 a month (250 megabytes of data transferred — think e-mail only) or $30 a month, unlimited. Amazingly, those AT&T deals involve no contract. You can cancel whenever you like. And since this thing isn’t a phone, you don’t have to worry about dropped calls; you’re paying exclusively for Internet service.

There’s no reason you couldn’t use it to make calls using Skype, of course — Apple says that virtually all of the existing 140,000 iPhone apps run fine on the iPad. (You can run them either at regular tiny size, or blown up double with some loss of clarity.)

Then again, you might look a little bizarre walking through the airport holding this giant clipboard up to your ear.

Until I saw the demo, I wondered why you’d want an iPad instead of a laptop. After all, the price is about the same. And once you add a carrying case to the iPad — wouldn’t you worry about that glass screen bouncing around in your briefcase or backpack naked? — it’s about the same bulk and weight as a laptop.

Now, though, it looks like Apple really has created something new. Criticisms of “Like a laptop” and “a big iPod Touch” don’t really do justice to the possibilities.

The iPad as an e-book reader is a no-brainer. It’s just infinitely better-looking and more responsive than the Kindle, not to mention it has color and doesn’t require external illumination. (Book fans should note, however, that the iPad e-bookstore won’t offer bestsellers at $10 each, like Amazon and Barnes & Noble do. And although Apple says the iPad has a 10-hour battery life, it hasn’t yet said “doing what.” Playing video eats up battery a lot faster than reading e-books.)

Web browsing, painting programs, TV and movies, newspapers and magazines all seem like naturals on this 1.5-pound machine, too. The New York Times app is especially appealing to me — and yes, this is my completely independent opinion — because it seems to work like the much-adored Times Reader app for computers.

Overall, the iPad seems like a dream screen for reading and watching–at some loss of convenience in creating. True, there’s an on-screen keyboard, big enough to type on with both hands in the usual way. And Apple will offer a specialized multitouch word processor, spreadsheet and presentation app for $10 each. But I’m guessing that, with no mouse and no physical keys to feel, writing and editing will be more effort than on a laptop. (Apple will also sell an external keyboard that holds the iPad upright as you type. Then again, if you need to carry all that around, maybe a laptop would make more sense.)

But these are just the wild speculations of a guy who’s never even tried the thing. (Believe me, I’ll review it when I get one.)

My main message to fanboys is this: it’s too early to draw any conclusions. Apple hasn’t given the thing to any reviewers yet, there are no iPad-only apps yet (there will be), the e-bookstore hasn’t gone online yet, and so on. So hyperventilating is not yet the appropriate reaction.

At the same time, the bashers should be careful, too. As we enter Phase 2, remember how silly you all looked when you all predicted the iPhone’s demise in that period before it went on sale.

Like the iPhone, the iPad is really a vessel, a tool, a 1.5-pound sack of potential. It may become many things. It may change an industry or two, or it may not. It may introduce a new category — something between phone and laptop — or it may not. And anyone who claims to know what will happen will wind up looking like a fool.

Question: I’m scanning hundreds of personal documents. What is the best way to safeguard these files from hackers? I’ve read that one can password-protect zip files.

Answer: It is possible to put protected documents in a compressed archive such as zip file that require a password to open. Microsoft for instance, has instructions for Windows XP users at support.microsoft.com/kb/306531. But for all the guides you can find for adding passwords to zip files, you can also find many more to crack them open. eHow has an example here.

Mac OS X has a program called FileVault for encrypting your Home folder. Some high-end versions of Windows have a file encryption feature or a drive-encryption tool call BitLocker.

For personal files that are scanned primarily to make digital archive copies, you may want to consider storing them on an external hard drive that can be encrypted itself with program such as PGP or the free TrueCrypt. Make sure your computer has an active firewall and other security software and unplug the drive when you are not using those files.

Technology has become essence in our life now. From day to day the the computers has evolve and become very important part in our life. However, do not depend on computers itself since it still have a big flaws. You can easily purchased notebook computer that having a decent features but one thing to consider; the drive which is the very important hardware in your computers will frustrated you. The hard drive is very important hardware to store your data, however it still can crash anytime. So, how you can do data recovery? That’s headache.

You cannot expect hard drives are perfect even though they are built with amazing technology. Hard drives are very sensitive hardware and any interference could possibly damage the drives. Nowadays, hard drives come with a lot of features to reduce drive failure but they are not 100% perfect. Event though they come with those features you cannot avoid physical damage and should consider data backup and recovery.

Computer geeks should not have a problem dealing with hard drive data backup and recovery. At the first place it will be a little bit technical, but in the end you will have your own way to deal with your drive problems. It will involve fixing master boot record, and retrieve data from damage disk. If you cannot do this, get somebody to do. There are many data recovery service out there. Definitely they will charge you. And it is expensive.

Save your money now by having external hard drive to do a backup. Yes. Invest some money to buy external hard drive will make your life better. If the data in the hard drive is your life, better back it up. That is the contingency plan if your hard drive crash. Create one partition for important data in your computer hard drive will make it easy when you are doing backup. It also will make you easy when doing data recovery if that drive fail. Again, you should definitely consider buying external hard drive for backup rather that paying expensive data recovery expert.