Apple’s iPhone is causing a stir in the States, but it’s not available here in Canada. The iPod touch offers some of the features available on the iPhone such as web browser, Calendar and Address Book, making it a pretty usable mobile computing option.

The iPod touch comes in two options, 8gb or 16gb, with capacity being the only difference. Apple has really put some thought into these devices, looking at them from a users point of view. The iPod touch sports the same touchscreen interface as the iPhone and it works very well. The benefit of the touchscreen interface is that the keyboard that appears on-screen is customized depending on the kind of data you’re inputting - for a phone number the screen shows numbers and relevant symbols, for typing web addresses there is a ‘.com’ button to speed things up a little. Apple’s mobile web browser is the best we’ve seen since it’s practically a full featured version. The device supports wifi so you can connect to hotspots and browse at high speed. There is no e-mail application included but you can check webmail on the go. Besides these new features, the iPod touch includes all the features from previous iPods - music syncing with iTunes and photo and video browsing.

The iPod touch isn’t cheap, and due to the fact that it uses flash memory the capacity isn’t much compared to the iPod classic, but the web browser and touchscreen interface make this a must-have gadget for christmas ‘07. Look out for updates soon that allow for third party add-ons and applications such as e-mail readers and games.

Plenty of people use laptops these days when travelling, and sometimes clients ask us about sending and receiving e-mail from hotels or wireless hotspots. Wherever possible, try to use webmail (i.e. read and send e-mail through a web browser) which will be constant no matter where you are. If this is not possible, bear in mind that in most cases you will be able to receive mail but not necessarily send mail. When sending e-mail the default settings are to use your Internet Service Providers settings which will not work anywhere but the location where your internet connection runs from. AlphaKOR now provides a service which will enable you to send and receive e-mail from any location without the need to change settings. Contact us for more info!

For those who have upgraded to Windows Vista, this is a handy tip to help organize your open documents and applications. Look for the ‘Windows’ key on your keyboard (normally between the Control and Alt keys). Hold it down and tap the Tab key (normally to the left side of the keyboard, above the Caps Lock key). On screen you should see a 3D slideshow of all open documents, giving you a simple way to jump between applications!