Conferencing site updates its offerings

Donnie Jenkins, Tech Talk

Today we take a look at some new tech trends and products, and also revisit a couple we’ve looked at before.

* Web conferencing site dimdim.com has just updated its service to include a wider variety of offerings. The site currently offers Web conferencing, live slide shows and chat, and live webcam broadcasting. There’s a free version, as well as professional versions for a fee.

Friends who have used this service tell me it generally works well, but of course it depends upon a stable and quick Internet connection to give you the best performance, especially for video applications.

* Apple recently posted and quickly retracted a warning to Mac users to use anti-virus software. I was surprised at the uproar all of this caused, but I suppose it’s inevitable. For many years, Mac users have had almost no need for any security software, but now that Macs are becoming so popular, they are being targeted by virus and malware writers.

This is unfortunate but is certainly not unexpected. Macs will increasingly become targeted more by malware authors as they gain market share. All of us who use Macs will need to consider security software at some point; the sooner the better.

* In other Apple news, the company just released its list of the top iPhone applications of the year. The Internet radio program Pandora was the most downloaded of them all, approaching 2 million downloads. You may recall that Pandora almost bit the dust earlier this year because of a disagreement over the cost of Internet streaming royalties they had to be paid to content owners. With this in mind, Apple officials can only be pleased that the program is doing so well on the iPhone.

It’s well known that the iPhone redefined the cell-phone user’s expectations almost overnight. Any new multimedia phone now has to compare itself to the iPhone in features and price. Research In Motion (RIM) and many others have released some very attractive phones to compete with the iPhone, and some even have features that the iPhone lacks. However, the iPhone is still the one to beat in this market.

With this in mind, Nokia recently released the Nokia N97. This phone has a slide-out keyboard, and the video I saw of it in operation was stunning. Its graphics look spectacular, and it is very fast in its operation. It reminds me a bit of the AT&T Tilt phone I reviewed in a previous column.

While this is all very positive, keep in mind that any phone that hopes to compete with the iPhone is facing a daunting task. IPhone users rave about their phones, and they love the universe that Apple has created with its iTunes software and online offerings.

* Blu-ray players and burners continue to inch down in price. You’ll recall that Blu-ray is the next-generation replacement for the current DVD format. Many feel that this Christmas season is the do-or-die time for Blu-ray to make its mark, as it has been slow to catch on due to consumer indifference and confusion, not to mention high prices.

A local electronics store recently listed two Blu-ray players under $175 and one store had a Blu-ray burner on sale for under $200. CD burners only began to sell well when they moved in this price range, so maybe we’re getting close to the time when Blu-ray can finally do well in the mainstream. I am looking forward to the day when a Blu-ray burner costs less than $100 and the discs less than $5 apiece.

* Finally, take a look at these two recently updated programs. Songbird is a media browser and player that some are calling an iTunes rival. Flock is a social browser with sites such as Facebook and MySpace in mind. Both offer alternatives to the normal way of doing things — always something to watch for.

E-mail Donnie Jenkins at donniejenkins@yahoo.com.