Computing's Future - One Device

Today, most people use multiple devices in their personal and professional lives, be it a desktop or laptop for work, a tablet, smartphone and possibly another desktop or tablet at home. The upcoming trend is to have one device that can easily handle most tasks users require in a home and business setting.

Microsoft introduced their vision of this concept in Continuum.
Continuum allows a user to connect their high-end Windows 10 Mobile smartphone to a special dock that is connected to an HDMI-based monitor or HDTV. Next you add a mouse and keyboard to the dock and the result is a Windows 10 desktop experience of sorts. Windows 10 Universal apps are the only applications that currently support Continuum and they are currently in very limited numbers.

Canonical, the developers of the Ubuntu Linux operating system has a somewhat more flexible version of this integration in Convergence. With Convergence, you connect a compatible Ubuntu Touch smartphone directly to that HDMI monitor/TV, then use a bluetooth keyboard and mouse for input. The Ubuntu option does not require a special version of applications like it's Windows counterpart and will work with any software on the smartphone. Convergence is also supported on Ubuntu Touch compatible tablets.

Both solutions modify the user interface appropriately between their mobile and desktop experiences but Convergence supports an actual resizeable windowing mode when run as a desktop where Continuum is limited to only full screen windows at the present time.

I'm excited to see this move in technology and look forward to what lies ahead in computing's future of one device.

Opera Coast

Years ago, Opera Mini was the new kid on the block in the mobile browser space. It was fast, efficient and powerful but suffered from compatibility issues at times. Then, all of a sudden, with the increased appeal of Google Chrome and Safari on iOS, it slowly fell by the wayside. In 2014, Opera's developers released a new browser called Coast. So, what makes Coast different? The interface is a gesture-based, distraction free experience.  There's no title bar and very few buttons, which puts the content front and center. The Home Screen consists of a grid of icons that represent your Favorites. Tap one and that site loads. At the bottom are three icons. The left-most icon will present options to share the current page, the middle icon will take you back to the Home Screen and the right-most icon will pop-up a card view of your open web sites. Want to switch sites? Tap the appropriate card. Swipe up on a card to close that site. It's works just like the iOS function to kill an app. To search or type in a URL, you simply pull down from the top from the Home Screen, like the search function in iOS. If you're familiar with these features in iOS, then you'll be right at home using Opera Coast. I don't know how I've missed discovering this app earlier but I'm glad to have found it now. Coast won't replace Safari or Chrome but will join them instead as another good browser alternative for my iPhone. 

Coding in iOS

Developers who code on the go and want a good option for their iPhone or iPad have a limited number of choices available.  The two I like are Pythonista for the Python coders and DraftCode PHP IDE for PHP coders. One of the best features in both products is the built-in web server or live preview. You no longer need Internet access to create, test and run your code.  Road warriors rejoice!

Blending Chrome OS and Android

Rumors have been increasing that soon you will be able to run Android apps on your Chromebooks. This would be a huge move for users to have access to the millions of Android applications currently in the Play Store.  I'm excited and can't wait for this new functionality.