One of the fears that some people have with Xmarks is that a third party has their browser bookmarks and web passwords. Hey, the cloud isn’t for everyone and if you’re not comfortable with a third party, then not using their service is the right decision for you. We won’t judge you if you suffer from nephophobia, which is a fear of clouds. Maybe you’d be more comfortable with The How-To Geek’s latest find: FavBackup, a free client application that lets you control where your browser data resides. Even better- it supports Google’s Chrome browser and Opera in addition to Firefox, Safari and Internet Explorer.

Using FavBackup, you can backup, restore and convert the a few dozen browser bits, including:

• Bookmarks
• Cookies
• Download history
• Preferences
• Search Engines
• Extensions
• Feeds
• Form data

The actual data types you can backup and restore depends on which browser you’re using FavBackup with. The free utility allows you to store and restore your browser data locally. I’m happy with my cloud-based solution, but if I were using FavBackup, I’d consider keeping my data on a USB drive so I always have it. An alternative plan might be to store it remotely on my Windows Home Server box, which would provide controlled access from any machine.

FavBackup is supported on Windows 7, Vista, XP and 2000. You simply download the executable and run it directly or create a shortcut to it.

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Spaz on the Pre

I knew that Twitter hit the big time when members of my local news anchor team started using it to do their jobs. They follow local news reporting on Twitter, and they even tweet the current weather. I have used Twitter since the beginning, and it offers some good insight into the happenings around those I follow. There are now good Twitter apps on almost every smartphone platform, so it’s even easier to tweet on the move.

The post I did on disconnectivity anxiety today got me thinking about Twitter. There are those with thousands of followers keeping up with their goings-on, and their “need to tweet” probably is as great as the need to follow for those who are perpetually connected. Twitter can be a good source for breaking news. I first heard about the death of Michael Jackson on Twitter.

My favorite Twitter apps to use are TweetDeck on the PC side, Spaz on the Palm Pre, and Twitterific on the iPhone. The phone apps both do a good job when working with Twitter and when displaying the information in an attractive, easy-to-read format. It’s easy to follow my peeps, and to see who is talking about me. How about you? Do you Twitter, and if so, what apps do you use?

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I’m not sure I understand why Acer is continuing to pursue the Android angle. It will offer the company some hands on-time to integrate a Google operating system with its hardware. But Android is ideally suited for ARM-based devices, and Google has made it clear that Chrome OS is their future for netbooks. Heck, Acer is even one of the hardware vendors that have already signed on for Chrome OS.

If Acer wants to kick Android’s tires on their netbooks in a limited, or behind closed door environment, that’s fine. But what will consumers gain from a Windows XP netbook with Android on another partition? I suspect that people will add Android to their Acer netbook simply because there’s no additional charge. They’re going to get something that they don’t understand to begin with, and eventually will end up confused. If that happens, there’s risk that they equate a bad experience with “the Google OS” even though this isn’t the OS that Google ultimately plans for netbooks.

The timing of this also seems strange to me. Acer is planning to drop these “XP-droid” machines in August, but Windows 7 launches in October. Right about now should be the time to integrate the new Microsoft operating system, not use one from eight years ago as a main course with a smartphone OS for dessert. Sure, a company can work on multiple integration projects at once, but the future for netbooks isn’t in XP any more than it’s in Android.

For us techies, adding Android to a netbook has a certain fun factor. We add operating systems to different devices just to play and learn. I’ve done this very thing with various Linux builds and Mac OS X on my netbook. But just because we do these things doesn’t mean the consumer-at-large wants or needs them. I’m scratching my head over this move by Acer. Have I overlooked something here?

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Dr. Jim Taylor calls this syndrome “disconnectivity anxiety,” “a persistent and unpleasant condition characterized by worry and unease caused by periods of technological disconnection from others.” This can be very mild in some but nearly incapacitating for others. You may know someone who has the latter reaction — cut them off from the web for any length of time and they freak out.

I have been recently extolling the virtues of unplugging from the technology, so those who are affected by DA likely think I am evil. I am convinced that it is good to disconnect occasionally, though, as it can’t be healthy to be on 24/7 for very long.  It’s a wonderful age, with information being passed constantly, but the reality is we can’t stay on top of everything all the time. Do you suffer from DA when you are disconnected?

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AT&T landed another Nokia S60 device today, and some of its hardware reminds me of the old Nokia N800 Internet Tablet. The Nokia Surge is being touted as a “socially supercharged smartphone” probably due to the full, slide-out QWERTY keyboard. The keyboard and the squarish directional pad seem borrowed and matured from the N800 line to me. But don’t mistake this for an Internet tablet alone. It’s a full smartphone that’s 3G-capable as well. At only $79.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate, it’s not going to compete with Nokia’s E71x or other high-end smartphones, but it looks capable enough for someone stepping up from a feature-phone:

• Quad band GSM, dual-band WCMDA/HSDPA
• Symbian S60 platform, v3.2
• 128MB internal memory, 8GB expansion via microSD slot
• 2.4″ QVGA display with auto screen rotation
• Integrated GPS, Bluetooth 2.0 +EDR, with AD2P support
• 2 megapixel camera with 4x digital zoom
• Full HTML browser with Flash support
• Email support with Mail for Exchange 2.9
• Support for AT&T services: Navigator, Mobile Music, VideoShare
• JuiceCaster is pre-loaded to share vids and pics from the phone to Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr

For folks finding their feature phone not quite up to snuff for social networking, mail and browsing, the Surge looks like a nice entry point into the smartphone market for under $100. I don’t like the 2.5mm headphone jack, but I do appreciate the dedicated buttons on the front of the unit.

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Vodafone UK gives customers two options to gain a free netbook. Both are two-year deals, just like we see here in the U.S. The difference is in the two tiers of pricing and throughput. For a free NC10 netbook, customers can pay 25 pounds ($40.26) a month for 1GB of data or 30 pounds a month for 3GB. We have two tiers here as well, but most folks opt for the second because the first is woefully inadequate. For $39.99 a month, we can nab between 200MB and 250MB a month, depending on the carrier. We can opt for that small sip or we can gulp a 5GB cap for $59.99 a month. There is no in between, and for most folks, it simply makes sense to pay the extra $20 for up to 25 times more monthly throughput.

Not only does the EU have my beloved Tour de France, but it has better mobile broadband deals as well. I think I’m going to move.

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Office Web Apps will be free to Windows Live users, which is hardly surprising given the free nature of Google Docs. The online storage will be supplied by SkyDrive, and Microsoft is not forthcoming on if the apps will be ad-supported. Office Web Apps will be lightweight versions of their full Office suite siblings, and will consist of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote. The inclusion of an online version of OneNote is exciting, and may offer Microsoft a way to compete with Evernote. Evernote has taken the online notetaking world by storm of late.

While many webworkers and the like have been moving to the cloud in greater numbers, the big winners of the appearance next year of Office Web Apps may ironically be Google Chrome OS users. Chrome OS will no doubt be written to work seamlessly with Google Docs, but the strength of Office in the enterprise cannot be overlooked. It is logical to expect documents created with Office Web Apps to be pretty compatible with the full versions. This could give Office an advantage over Google Docs, something users of the forthcoming Chrome OS could use to their benefit.

It will be interesting to see how Office Web Apps plays out, as far as compatibility with non-Microsoft web browsers is concerned. The online apps will certainly be written to best support Internet Explorer users, but Firefox is now mainstream, so it will likely work fine, too. The Google Chrome browser is a wild card with regards to Microsoft support, as this interview makes clear, so it may face a bumpy road when working with Office Web Apps. Microsoft may have to take some pains to ensure the Web Apps are compatible with Google Chrome, however, to avoid the typical cries of “foul”.

UPDATE: Robert Scoble has posted a number of videos of Office 2010 in action. The last video demonstrates Office Web Apps, and the Microsoft product manager states that they will work in IE, Firefox and Safari.

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Many readers have expressed an interest in having a netbook or UMPC that can be used as a Tablet PC. Windows 7 is known to install the Tablet bits, but some folks are discovering that they have to go through extra steps to enable them. It is important to realize that a standard touch digitizer, while it can be used for inking, is not as good at that as a “real” Tablet PC. The resistive digitizer used in most touchscreens is not as resolute as an active digitizer, the piece of kit that makes Tablets so good at inking.

Windows 7 Home Premium and higher editions of Windows 7 bring these Tablet bits, including handwriting recognition and the text input panel (TIP) on all devices that have a digitizer. This includes touchscreens and active pen digitizers. The tablet bits are also installed on devices without any digitizer, but they are stashed away in Accessories/Tablet PC. The TIP will even work without a digitizer, but it must be started manually. It’s not much good without a digitizer, though.

Some UMPCs are not enabling the tablet stuff upon install of Windows 7, no doubt due to the lack of real Windows 7 drivers. Windows 7 is not officially out yet and very few hardware makers have produced certified drivers for it. If you install Windows 7 on your netbook/UMPC and the tablet stuff is not visible upon boot, then look in the Accesories group as mentioned. It may be there, just hidden away.

Microsoft has made a big deal out of the enhanced touch experience with Windows 7. This is due to the rising popularity of touchscreen interfaces. Windows 7 gains sophisticated multitouch and panning features that have a lot of people excited. The interface also supports gesture control and a touch keyboard, which promise a nice user experience. This is a great thing, but there are some caveats that consumers should be aware of.

Microsoft has instituted a Windows Touch Logo certification for Windows 7. The purpose behind the certification is to make sure that touchscreen devices meet all requirements for handling these advanced touch features in Windows 7. The logo certification program consists of a massive 43-point test, which OEMs must pass to get the certification.

Logo certification such as this touch program always sound like a good thing for the consumer. It makes purchasing a device easier as the logo is visible, which brings a reasonable expectation that said device will handle all the fancy touch features. Where it gets a bit hazy is that devices that don’t pass (or get submitted for) the certification can still run Windows 7. The advanced touch features, like panning and multitouch, will not be installed without the official certification, however. That means we may see UMPCs or netbooks with touchscreens that come with Windows 7 installed, but not with all the touch features enabled. I anticipate a few unhappy campers if this happens.

We will have to see how this all plays out when Windows 7 is released. I am only aware of capacitive digitizers, like that in the Dell XT Tablet PC, passing the logo certification. It is unclear at this point if “regular,” or passive digitizers used in most touchscreen devices on the market currently, will pass.

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At $50, the NS-HD01 is more of a bare-bones device than a high-end portable. There’s no AC adapter included, for example. To charge the device, you connect it to a computer with the included USB cable. The included earbuds aren’t the highest quality, either. Using a set of third-party headphones might be hit or miss as well, based on Dave’s tests. He had to position the headphone jack just right in order for it to make the proper stereo connection. However, there is a nice armband included, making this a nice unit to accompany you during exercise.

Although I’m tempted, at $50, for higher-quality sound and a greater number of digital radio stations, I’m going to pass. If I could track my running activities with the NS-ND01, like I can with my iPhone, then maybe I’d drop the coin. For now, I’ll let Dave enjoy this one solo.

HD Radio has always appealed to me, but I’m thinking the opportunity for it is passing. I realize not everyone wants to carry a phone or a digital audio player with pre-loaded music, but there are so many other options today: Slacker, Pandora, and even satellite radio. More vehicles are getting configured with easy-to-use auxiliary jacks, USB ports and Bluetooth, too. Is it too late for HD Radio to become a major player?

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Hector has installed Windows XP Tablet Edition on his Viliv S5 to give it the full Tablet PC functionality. It’s not something everyone can do, as the Tablet Edition version of XP cannot be purchased. Hector got his hands on it and finds the S5 makes a fine 5-inch Tablet PC. He’s documented it on a video, and he’s kindly given us permission to share. Have a look at Hector’s little Tablet PC.

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