If you were there (I was!) you can relive your fond computing memories in this one off drama, coming soon to BBC Four, and featuring Martin Freeman and Alexander Armstrong. If you missed this era you can see what all the fuss was about which brought the dawn of the bedroom programmer and see how the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64 and BBC Micro brought gaming into the (then) future (from the Atari VCS remember).

The show is focused around Clive Sinclair (played by Armstrong) and the Sinclair range of computers and former employee Chris Curry (played by Freeman), who was instrumental in founding Acorn Computers – the company behind the BBC Micro.

It will be interesting to see how focused the story is on Sinclair and Acorn as a number of other home computers were available around that time including the Oric-1, Vic-20, Commodore 64, TRS-80, Texas Instruments TI/99A, Dragon 32, Atari, MSX, some strange computer called the Apple Macintosh and of course the Amstrad range of computers.

You can learn more on the Syntax Era site at the BBC.

We can’t wait…

Syntax Era Coming Soon is a post from: eggnchips.com - cracking good technology

PreCentral, an online community for Pre owners has had many posts from users reporting a wide variety of hardware problems ranging from dead pixels and loose fitting cases that allow dust and light to get in under the screen to a phenomenon known as “The Oreo”. Devices with this issue have keyboards that are so loose they twist when open. Some users are also complaining of overheating issues and balky power buttons.

Frankly such issues are inexcusable for a $550 phone ($200 for new customers). Palm enthusiasts have literally been waiting years for an updated OS and device. The Palm OS was badly outdated. After the Pre was introduced at the 2009 CES, it took Palm another 5 months to finally release it. How they could have such poor quality control after all those delays is beyond me.

I’ve been a Palm fan ever since I got my first, a IIIx,, back in 1996. My last was a Centro. I loved it but got tired of the outdated OS and technology behind it and was eagerly awaiting the Pre, but the long delay after the CES announcement turned me off and I upgraded to an LG Lotus. (The large screen, slick interface and full keyboard are perfect.) After reading about all of the Pre’s hardware issues I’m glad I did!

Palm was once the king of the mountain when it came to mobile devices, but the Smartphone movement knocked it down and it still hasn’t managed to recover. If it can’t fix the Pre’s hardware issues it never will.

Palm Under Fire As User Complaints About Shoddy Hardware Increase is a post from: eggnchips.com - cracking good technology

Here I am having a go at some cracking good technology with the Microsoft Surface Computing device at the recent Internet World show at Earl’s Court. I have written about these devices before, mostly based on video footage, but this time I got to have a good go on one of them – and it really was an eye opener.

The surface computing technology offers a real look into the future of tech gadgets and the ease of getting to grips with the interface shows the user interface design people have really done their job well. I was spinning video footage around, zooming images in and out, playing a game, and even drawing pictures – best of all several people can use the device at the same time.

If you get a chance – have a go on one of these babies – I so need one for my tech den.

Looks Great On The Surface is a post from: eggnchips.com - cracking good technology