Fighting Blockheads

I remember those simple days, when Knock Your Block Off was a fun game. You pushed buttons to knock the red or blue heads off your brothers game piece. Today, we have computer companies using intellectual property patents like games we played to stop or slow the other guy down.

Apple is in a face-off with everyone else on cell phones, Oracle is at Google’s door on Droid OS, and then you have a group stuck on all fronts called us, the consumers. Will this impact us? You betcha! If figures bear out, it will cost the average cell user an extra $1.00 to $2.50 every month. (Ouch!)

What can we do? Should we write our congressmen or the president? Well, that is not too far off base in these cases. The issue is long and deep, but our patent laws need changes. I’m not going into the total details but they need a cleaning of sorts and maybe now’s the time to stand up and say, "Enough already!"

OK, off of the tech soap box. What is coming down the pipe line? Well, Apple and Lion 10.7 is out of the gate, but with a few burps with standard apps—I would wait about 30 days before installing—but a real nice OS update. Windows 8 is moving forward quickly. The latest news from Redmond (and Beta Releases) is moving the OS faster to final release. The Chip (Intel & AMD) makers are suffering, which is making PC prices drop, so it may be time to upgrade or update.

The tablet PC wars are almost here, folks. I’m looking in the crystal ball, and I see a very bright and lower-price future in the September time frame. So if you are thinking of getting a tablet anything, hang on to your cash for about 45 more days. You’ll save, and get a better tablet in the mix!

Tip of the week for Windows users. CRTL + ESC key opens Windows Start Menu

Need a list of shortcuts? Try http://support.microsoft.com/kb/126449 for the 411.

Keep that Patch Channel Selector right here, we will see you next week. Hey, if you like Patch and this blog, please tell your local Patch editor. He loves email. No, really!