The Times: Tech column - Tablet computing/E-card scams
By David Rowan
Say goodbye to your computer mouse and dump that old-fashioned keyboard. If you believe Bill Gates, the electronic pen is about to become a far mightier input device, heralding a new era in which computers will obey your every scribbled command. For Microsoft that era began last Thursday when it launched, to great fanfare, its Tablet PC, an "evolution" of today's laptop that is designed to read your handwriting while connecting you on the move.
"Gone are the days of your ink pen and pad of paper," proclaimed Microsoft, asserting boldly that the Tablet "will revolutionise the IT industry". Hype aside, the Tablet is an inspired and innovative executive tool, but not one that need worry stationers quite yet.
It is a brave move for Microsoft, considering the number of handwriting-based computers that have failed, from the Apple Newton to IBM's Crosspad. But two years after the company announced plans for an electronic "slate", improvements in handwriting recognition software, easier-to-read screen fonts and the popularity of wireless networking have produced a credible successor to the notebook computer. Version 1:0 isn't quite there -more of that later -but new Windows XP-based Tablets let you send handwritten e-mails, store notes as "digital ink" and scroll through electronic books and magazines using an inbuilt stylus. There are two broad designs from manufacturers, including Toshiba and Acer: one resembles a flat writing pad with the screen on the top; the other has a fold out screen that can be flipped back to standard laptop mode. At about £2,000, they will, however, cost rather more than a conventional laptop.
If you are prepared to wait for the software to familiarise itself with your scrawl, you may find the Tablet a useful alternative to a laptop in places where it is inconvenient to use a keyboard. Microsoft's vision of "mobile productivity" encompasses doctors on hospital rounds and children in primary-school classrooms. But I am less convinced by the company's boasts that it will replace "notebook PCs, planners, spiral notebooks, handheld devices and sticky notes". The battery lasts only two or three hours, compared with days for a Palm handheld computer; the first-generation Tablets are relatively heavy; and there are too few available applications and too many early software glitches to make them a must-buy (especially at the current price). They also face competition from mobile devices such as the BlackBerry and ever more powerful standard laptops.
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Beware electronic greetings cards this Christmas. The phoney e-card is the latest scam in the eternal battle for online traffic, playing cynically on people's goodwill to bombard them with adverts or promote dubious websites.
The e-mail that directs you to a website called SurpriseCards.net is a classic of the genre. To read your "greeting", the website explains, you must first download an "e-card viewer plug-in". Do so, and your browser will spout endless pop-up adverts for hard-core porn sites -because the plug-in is a "trojan", a rogue piece of software that takes control of your PC. Another website, FriendGreetings.com, is sending equally worrying e-mails. Again, before you can view your e-card on its website, you must agree to a "Security Warning and Licence Agreement". Don't. By clicking "Yes", you will permit FriendGreetings.com to send its advertising messages to every address in your Outlook contacts file. The warning is hidden in the small print -but who reads that?
That is the whole point, of course, and although a British court would shoot holes through the contract, the company happens to be based in Panama.
(The Times, November 12 2002)
Say goodbye to your computer mouse and dump that old-fashioned keyboard. If you believe Bill Gates, the electronic pen is about to become a far mightier input device, heralding a new era in which computers will obey your every scribbled command. For Microsoft that era began last Thursday when it launched, to great fanfare, its Tablet PC, an "evolution" of today's laptop that is designed to read your handwriting while connecting you on the move.
"Gone are the days of your ink pen and pad of paper," proclaimed Microsoft, asserting boldly that the Tablet "will revolutionise the IT industry". Hype aside, the Tablet is an inspired and innovative executive tool, but not one that need worry stationers quite yet.
It is a brave move for Microsoft, considering the number of handwriting-based computers that have failed, from the Apple Newton to IBM's Crosspad. But two years after the company announced plans for an electronic "slate", improvements in handwriting recognition software, easier-to-read screen fonts and the popularity of wireless networking have produced a credible successor to the notebook computer. Version 1:0 isn't quite there -more of that later -but new Windows XP-based Tablets let you send handwritten e-mails, store notes as "digital ink" and scroll through electronic books and magazines using an inbuilt stylus. There are two broad designs from manufacturers, including Toshiba and Acer: one resembles a flat writing pad with the screen on the top; the other has a fold out screen that can be flipped back to standard laptop mode. At about £2,000, they will, however, cost rather more than a conventional laptop.
If you are prepared to wait for the software to familiarise itself with your scrawl, you may find the Tablet a useful alternative to a laptop in places where it is inconvenient to use a keyboard. Microsoft's vision of "mobile productivity" encompasses doctors on hospital rounds and children in primary-school classrooms. But I am less convinced by the company's boasts that it will replace "notebook PCs, planners, spiral notebooks, handheld devices and sticky notes". The battery lasts only two or three hours, compared with days for a Palm handheld computer; the first-generation Tablets are relatively heavy; and there are too few available applications and too many early software glitches to make them a must-buy (especially at the current price). They also face competition from mobile devices such as the BlackBerry and ever more powerful standard laptops.
++++
Beware electronic greetings cards this Christmas. The phoney e-card is the latest scam in the eternal battle for online traffic, playing cynically on people's goodwill to bombard them with adverts or promote dubious websites.
The e-mail that directs you to a website called SurpriseCards.net is a classic of the genre. To read your "greeting", the website explains, you must first download an "e-card viewer plug-in". Do so, and your browser will spout endless pop-up adverts for hard-core porn sites -because the plug-in is a "trojan", a rogue piece of software that takes control of your PC. Another website, FriendGreetings.com, is sending equally worrying e-mails. Again, before you can view your e-card on its website, you must agree to a "Security Warning and Licence Agreement". Don't. By clicking "Yes", you will permit FriendGreetings.com to send its advertising messages to every address in your Outlook contacts file. The warning is hidden in the small print -but who reads that?
That is the whole point, of course, and although a British court would shoot holes through the contract, the company happens to be based in Panama.
(The Times, November 12 2002)
posted by David Rowan at Tuesday, November 12, 2002
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