Explaining Bandwidth and File Size

What is bandwidth? Why does everything seem to slow down when viewing a large photograph or YouTube video on a PC?

Faced with explaining (to a non-technical audience) how internet connection speed and file size impact the user’s experience, I came up with a simple explanation using props: balloons. Here’s the 90-second version that should be adequate for most “normal users.”

Books: when old and new technology meet

Are books old or new technology? Is printing books on paper obsolete, or does it still have an advantage in some cases? After Apple’s announcement about iBooks Textbooks yesterday, I think the answer is: both.

At the heart of it, iBooks is 1.) about the difference between electronic and printed books and 2.) about bringing the real-time digital world into the traditional publishing sphere. Kindle, Nook, and (to a lesser extent) iPad have been in the business of taking that which was formerly constrained to paper and making it available quickly, sometimes more cheaply, but certainly in a more portable package: e-books. And there’s not doubt that the fusion of e-books with the rest of the digital world was going to happen eventually. Plus, there’s that unspoken rule in the tech market which says, “New is always better than anything older.” So by that reasoning, books must be no exception, right? Well, there are numerous advantages, but I think there is one exception.

Help your parents understand their computer

Looking to give something to your parents to help them understand their PC? Or, is someone you know too afraid to engage a personal computer? Give them a copy of The Ultimate PC Primer: 15 Simple Lessons for Understanding Personal Computers (available online at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, from the publisher, or through many other booksellers). The gift of understanding, for less than ten bucks.

Driving home what an operating system is

What is an operating system? That’s a question I’ve received from time to time here. While I provide an adequate explanation in The Ultimate PC Primer, my intent in the book wasn’t to spend a lot of time explaining operating systems. Here’s why…

For most ordinary users, an operating system is a nothing. It is taken for granted. We don’t care much about it so long as it works. Applications/programs are where the value of the computer lies for us. But the question about operating systems often comes from computer newcomers who are starting to spread their wings. They’ve learned not all computer systems look and function the same, and by raw research, asking a friend, or context clues they eventually realize that this is due to different “operating systems.”

So, today on Explain Technology, today’s questions are: what is an operating system and what good is one? Why does a computer need it, and what does that mean for us?

Let’s answer this backwards. If you know that nearly everything you want to do with a computer involves programs or “apps,” then the first thing to learn is that those programs won’t work without an operating system (OS). Think of this like automobiles and the road. If you have several nice cars parked in your garage, you undoubtedly own them so that you can drive them somewhere — so that they will carry you from one place to another. Could you drive them with no road? No, you need a road for them to function and rules of the road (driving rules) for them to operate safely, without crashing into other cars. Likewise, computer programs that you like to use to achieve some useful benefit also need a bedrock to work from and rules in which to operate.

But the OS is more than just a necessity. It’s a nicety for you, because

What Steve Jobs saw in Siri (and why I’m glad he lived to see it)

I was truly speechless the moment I found out Steve Jobs passed away — so suddenly, only a day after Apple’s first big announcement without him at the helm. I wonder if he held on, wanting to see the transition to Tim Cook. Perhaps that was pure coincidence. Or maybe he held on for another reason: to see Siri announced to the world.

Siri was Apple’s largest news on October 4th, but many consumers shrugged it off, saying, “It’s cool, but it’s not an iPhone 5, like we expected. And this voice-driven technology has been creeping forward for some time. It’s hardly big news.”  After recovering from the shock and taking time to reflect on what Jobs really did during his lifetime — making computer-driven technology usable for the everyday person — I’m thinking that, for Jobs, Siri might have been the beginning of something much greater that Apple has been dreaming about for a long time — something significant that would eventually, once again, lead to a dramatic shift in personal computing.

Interfaces

Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak changed computing to be personal foremost by changing the interface. My lifespan happens to coincide with their work, so I can attest to the effect of their genius on ordinary individuals like me. I grew up on the Apple II in grade school, my family owned an Apple IIGS (limited edition, bearing Woz’s signature!), and I eventually moved on to use the Macintosh interface and the subsequent Windows graphical interfaces based on it.

The Apple IIGS had the first primitive GUI operated by mouse. The introduction of the graphical operating system was the pivotal shift in computing that added the “personal” to computer. Everything hinged on this until Apple redefined elegant human-to-computer interface again with the iPhone and iPad, leveraging touch and gestures to make the device even more natural and personal.

Now, a great many people are claiming that touch and gestures are the way we’ll all interface with computers in the future and that the mouse as we know it is dead. (Here’s one example: The Mouse Dies. Touch and Gesture Take Center Stage) And while I don’t deny the usefulness of touch screens to simplify interface, I’ve said before they aren’t a magic bullet. They actually intimidate some newcomers. (Don Norman, the great design guru, also highlights some issues in Gesture Wars.) Though the harmony between hand and screen has been streamlined, users still must understand graphical conventions. That’s why I’ve been posting for some time that core computing concepts still need to be taught to newcomers. And that’s also why I’m pretty excited about Apple with Siri, because I think Jobs saw it as the way to reinvent the human-to-computer interface once again…

Your voice is the next interface

Back in 1987, Apple released this futuristic video showcasing a voice-commanded personal assistant. (Note also that the implied date in the video is either September of 2010 or 2011, very close to the actual Siri announcement.)

Though the depiction above feels a little more like the ship’s computer from Star Trek: The Next Generation, Siri is likely not (yet) as advanced as the personal assistant in the Knowledge Navigator video. But it’s not hard to see the connection. And I’m by no means the first one who has drawn comparisons between Siri and Knowledge Navigator (and Star Trek for that matter). Just do a web search and you’ll find plenty of hits. But here’s the salient point…

If you could reliably control your computer by taking to it — like Star Trek — then the need for understanding graphical UI elements and gestures is significantly reduced and the barrier to computing (for newcomers) becomes virtually non-existent. Your voice doesn’t need to be taught. The interface is built-in and the conventions are only limited to what the computer can understand.

As the person who wrote the primer for newcomers learning to understand desktop PC interfaces, the prospect of using one’s voice as the primary interface absolutely thrills me. Think of this: no need to teach someone how to relate to the computer. No need to explain icons and procedures. The teaching of the “interface” is essentially offloaded to whomever teaches the individual to speak. No longer would computer vendors be burdened with GUI usability; they would only focus on voice command recognition. This would truly be a revolution in computer interface, and it’s only a matter of time before the technology is powerful and adaptive enough to provide this capability. Apple may simply be, as usual, taking a vision to market first.

The future of interfaces

While the mouse may be history very soon, I don’t think some artists will ever get away from a physical stylus or external device to assist with detailed pixel-resolution work. And touch screens are certainly here to stay. But I believe that Steve Jobs was preparing to take us to a place where both hand-powered interface and icon-based operation as we know it take a backseat. I’d like to know what Ted Nelson thinks of this, since he suggested that any person ought to be able to understand a computer within ten seconds. Ted, maybe the future that Jobs was planning to bring to us was not a world where we understand the computer, but where the computer understands us. If we are able to speak to our computer like we would a fellow human and have it obey us reliably, then anyone who can speak would, regardless of prior “computer experience,” be able to immediately accomplish the most common computing tasks without the overhead of required pre-existing mental models for software operation based on metaphors. And that would mean that, though he didn’t live to see it fulfilled, Steve Jobs would have once again orchestrated the rebirth of personal computing for ordinary people.

Explaining the Internet to newcomers

“Explain the Internet” is not a simple question for the technology explainer to answer, but it’s a common query here at Explain Technology. The Internet has become a crucial element of everyday life, so I’m never surprised when newcomers seek an understanding of it. In fact, the lengthiest chapter in The Ultimate PC Primer is dedicated to providing a clear foundational explanation of the Internet and the most common benefits it can provide. (And I openly admit that single lesson is only an introduction.)  But in case you don’t have a copy of the book handy, here are some basics on how to explain the Internet.

First, let’s remember a question like “how does the Internet work” could be intended and interpreted different ways. Does the questioner want a description of the technology from an infrastructure perspective or help with the process for how to use it? In most cases, I find it’s a combination of both. Curious individuals want the infrastructure details abstracted away to easily-understood (and less technical) elements so that the application and process of using the Internet makes more natural sense. In short, people don’t care about the circuits and wires but also want a firm enough grasp to know it’s not magic. So here’s how I addressed both in The Ultimate PC Primer…

I deal with the infrastructure portion first by explaining the following through analogies:

1. How do computers connect to each other?
2. How does my computer get in the mix?

The Internet is a group of interconnected computers, so how do they stay connected? Answer: they’re like teenage girls on limitless caffeine — they’re constantly on the phone gabbing with each other. In fact, they never hang up and they never sleep. How does your computer get in the mix? Answer: it needs to get on the party line, too (though it, and you, is allowed to sleep.)

Since the Internet has been often called the “information superhighway,” I willingly leverage the “highway” analogy to explain that every highway has an on-ramp. That’s where you can use your car to connect to the pavement that will take you where you want to go. The on-ramp for a personal computer is the connection point provided by an Internet Service Provider (ISP). (In the book, I also briefly explain different physical components involved with dial-up, DSL, Cable, and wireless.)

After getting “on the Internet,” the rest is largely about the process of navigation. The most crucial element of the Internet continues to be the World Wide Web, so much of the lesson in my book deals with explaining the principle of web pages/sites/services. I cover browser basics (common to all Web browsers) and again employ a real-world analogy — I compare the Web Browser to a bus, since a bus displays it’s destination on the marquee at the top of the vehicle just as the location always appears at the top of a browser.

I also cover e-mail basics the same way, explaining the concept through a real-world postal service scenario and continuing to generic e-mail software basics with corresponding illustrations.

If you’re interested in learning more, grab a copy of The Ultimate PC Primer: 15 Simple Lessons for Understanding Personal Computers (available online at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, from the publisher, or through many other booksellers) and check out Lesson 14.

A Tale of Two Tablets (and a lesson learned)

Having recently had the opportunity to work with both an iPad and Samsung Galaxy Tab, I have the following impressions (which are predicated upon the fact that I am a long time PC user.)

iPad

• very easy to learn to use
• easier screen turn on (thanks to physical home button)
• slightly faster “on” from power off state
• pretty simple and intuitive operation — launch app from home menu, use app, push single home button to return to app menu
• pretty good for simple, input only text entry; painful for editing existing text
• Overall, a very elegant casual consumption device.

Galaxy

• harder to learn to use
• slightly slower and slight less convenient screen turn on
• longer initial startup from power off state
• once acclimating, felt more sophisticated, akin to my desktop PC experience, especially with web browsing and office-like tasks
• great for simple, input only text entry; painful for editing existing text
• Overall, seems more powerful in the traditional computing sense.

Which did I like better? Honestly, I liked both, but for different reasons. It would be difficult to pick between the two. But here’s the ironic twist to this tale…

Microsoft on File Management

A few weeks back Microsoft posted a note about upcoming Improvements in Windows Explorer (in Windows 8). I’ve previously identified file management as the second most important concept for computer literacy (in The Top 15 Most Important Understandings Needed for Solid PC Literacy). I can also say without any hesitation that the single most difficult, most time consuming, and frequently edited/re-written chapter (for both writing and illustrating) in The Ultimate PC Primer was the one on storage and file management. As such, I was thrilled to have confirmation from Microsoft that they’re taking the importance of file management for all level of users seriously. They call out Windows Explorer as

the most widely used desktop tool

More importantly, they admit that only a small group of “power users” push Explorer to its limits (and add plugins) while the majority use a handful of common features — copy, paste, rename, delete — frequently.  As a result, they claim:

Our goal is to improve the usage experience for a majority of customers

and continue to say that their number 1 goal with the Windows Explorer rebuild is:

Optimize Explorer for file management tasks. Return Explorer to its roots as an efficient file manager and expose some hidden gems, those file management commands already in Explorer that many customers might not even know exist.

I don’t often find occasion to publicly thank Microsoft, but in this case I’m quite glad they’re affirming the importance of arming users with better ability to manage their files. I also applaud their broad confirmation that power users don’t represent all users. Now that said, much of their work is focused on the Ribbon. While I have yet to encounter a single user who likes the Ribbon, Microsoft seems to have done quite a bit of research on this. So if we must use the Ribbon — is it too much to ask to give users the choice? — at least they’re planning on bringing the most commonly used features to the top left of it. We’ll see how this (and Windows 8 in general) is received once delivered.

In the meantime, if you know a newcomer to computing who has yet to grasp what file management is all about, check out Lesson 9 in The Ultimate PC Primer. Nearly all illustrations in there apply to all past and current versions of Windows Explorer (and the overall lesson will apply to storage and file management in nearly any operating system).

Prepare to disown your PC: a prediction on the future of personal computing

The introduction of the iPhone changed the destiny of your desktop PC. You probably just didn’t know it at the time.

Clearly, the iPhone was more than just another digital cell phone. It was primarily a computer that happened to include voice calling capabilities. It was a mini-PC in your pocket, like one of my close friends predicted over 15 years ago. But that’s not all. The “computer’s” operating system was different. The app store model for acquiring and installing “software” was drastically different as well. But in hindsight, though those were what got a lot of press at the time, there’s something else that the iPhone did to set the stage for the iPad and the next generation of personal computers:

Why the iPad isn’t a desktop PC killer (yet)

A question to ponder: with the introduction of the iPad, is there a need to own a PC? In other words, does the iPad mean death for the traditional PC for most consumers? After all, it has that slick touch screen and doesn’t require keyboard, mouse, and most other bulky peripheral components that traditional PCs do. Plus, with that slim form factor, you can take it nearly anywhere. And thanks to dual WIFI and cell network compatibility, it can be connected to the internet almost continuously. What more could a user want?

But is it enough to completely replace a PC? Well, in my evaluation, yes…but no. Here’s why…