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OneNote for Android is here -- get it now or live with regret

Posted: February 7th, 2012, 6:41pm MST by Joe Wilcox

For years, OneNote seemed like a promise without purpose. Microsoft developed a fresh, flexible application capable of pulling together content from many sources and in a way that made creative sense. Sure the Office family member imitated note-taking software already available for the Mac, but with surprising approachability for Microsoft-developed Windows software. But who really used OneNote?

Then during the Office 2007 release cycle, Microsoft swapped out Outlook for OneNote in the low-cost consumer edition and millions of users discovered the promise. But not the purpose. Microsoft would later imbue that quality quite unexpectedly by connecting OneNote to SkyDrive. Sync is the software's killer capability -- that gives purpose to promise behind great usability and remarkable flexibility. Where OneNote and SkyDrive really, well, sync is on mobile devices. Windows Phone, then iPhone, iPad and, today, Android. Yeah, if you use OneNote on the PC and are a two-timing Android user, grab the phone. Microsoft has got a treat for you.

From 50 to 500

OneNote is available immediately for download from Android Market. Microsoft takes crap for lots of things, but distribution is something the company often gets right. OneNote is available in more than 50 countries:

Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Korea, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niger, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, and Venezuela.

The app is free to use for creating up to 500 notes, then you're creativity ends without paying a one-time fee of $4.99. The price is reasonable, so is the free trial. Who let's you use an app essentially 500 times before paying for it? Microsoft calls the one version "free" and the other "unlimited".

If you choose not to upgrade to the unlimited version, you can still view, sync, and delete any of your existing notes even after you've reached the 500 notes limit. However, you will no longer be able to edit your notes or create new ones on your Android phone. For unlimited use pricing outside of the United States, please visit the Android Market in your region (see below for a complete list of supported countries and markets).

Reviewers' Remark

What's that adage? Kids say the darndest things. Grups with new toys are like kids, and they, too, say the darndest things. Mark, a Galaxy S owner, writes in a brief review of OneNote for Android: "Glory hallelujah. Thank you Microsoft. I'm buying your stock now and selling Apple :) Five stars when we have more formatting and other capabilities!" He gives the app four stars.

David, who has Galaxy Tab 10.1, writes:

Almost perfect. Having tried MobileNoter with all of its limitations I was really surprised and pleased at how well integrated and functional this app is. Syncing is quick (both to and from SkyDrive) and I can edit and create new notes with numbered, bullet points and check-boxes.

Finally I can ditch Evernote and go back to OneNote! My only complaint is that, yet again, this is not a tablet optimized app. Screen real estate and time is wasted by navigating between note books and pages when a nice tab/window on the left could have made much quicker. Fingers crossed for a tablet optimized version soon.

I had forgotten about Evernote. It's a great app and companions like Skitch are damn fun. But OneNote is backed by Microsoft, the app is now available on all major mobile platforms and it's real kick comes from SkyDrive. As I've often expressed: Sync is the killer app for the connected world.

So, hey, Microsoft where's the rest of Office -- for Android and iOS -- with SkyDrive mopping Apple and Google off the floor?
Has the 'App Economy' landed you a job?

Posted: February 7th, 2012, 3:08pm MST by Ed Oswald

A new study from CEO network TechNet suggests that the surge in smartphone and device app development has created 466,000 jobs since 2007, welcome news for those looking for positives in an otherwise tough economy. But has it landed you a job?

The study, conducted by former chief economist for BusinessWeek Dr. Michael Mandel took into account not only the "pure" app development firms like Zynga, but also companies where apps have become a necessary secondary business such as Electronic Arts or Amazon, and even those providing infrastructure and platform support for the App Economy including Google, Apple, and Facebook.

"On an economic level, each app represents jobs -- for programmers, for user interface designers, for marketers, for managers, for support staff", Mandel contends. "Conventional employment numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics are not able to track such a new phenomenon".

Mandel argues further that the growth in jobs is not limited to traditional areas for tech: New York (arguably a fast-growing tech hub) accounted for 9.2 percent of help wanted ads for app development. This was followed closely by the San Francisco area at 8.5 percent and San Jose, Calif., Seattle and Los Angeles.

In other words, there's a lot of app jobs everywhere, he claims.

"Probably one reason for New York’s prominence is the concentration of media, advertising, and finance in the region. These are all sectors where major companies have been virtually forced to create apps or be left behind", Mandel says. "Indeed, the App Economy may be playing a key role in keeping the New York City economy afloat during the downturn".

That makes sense. Still, it seems like the definition used here is overly broad. Are all 466,000 jobs Mandel claims created truly as a result of the rise of the app? That sounds a bit too good to be true. To be fair though, Mandel does estimate that 155,400 of those jobs were created as a direct result of app development.

Considering the nearly one million apps out there, that may be close to accurate. But let's ask the question the title of this story does. We have quite a few developers who are regular readers of BetaNews. I want to know, have you found a job as a result of the App Economy?

It's time to put Mandel's argument to a real world test.

Photo Credit: NinaMalyna/Shutterstock
What's behind Google's Charles Dickens doodle?

Posted: February 7th, 2012, 2:35pm MST by Joe Wilcox

One of England's most celebrated authors was born 200 years ago today. Google is commemorating Charles Dickens with a little (Oliver) Twist. There's a doodle, as would be expected, but behind it links to free ebooks from the search and information giant's own bookstore. Eh, what's up with that? Is it favoritism?

That's a question I've heard often asked recently about Google, as the amount of cross-product, cross-service integration increases. The practice jumped quite dramatically after Larry Page returned as Google CEO in April 2011, and it's not abating. Favoritism should be a concern, given that impartiality -- and with it trust -- is crucial to Google's core product (search) and profit center (search ads and keywords). What the Dickens is going on here?

Over at Search Engine Land, Jonathan Allen claims this is the "first time that [Google] has used their logo change to specifically promote a product or service". I dunno about that; seems to me a matter of definition. It's customary for Google doodles to link somewhere, providing more information about the topic, event or person represented. That's not new. Something else: Google isn't selling anything here, but offering easy access to books that are available in the public domain. That said, they are from Google Books.

Is that favoritism? It's true that Google now has an ebookstore, but these links go to Google's older service of scanned, public domain print titles. The search service predates the recent rush, led by Amazon, to ebook sales and distribution. "Oliver Twist" is example. However, there is a link to get a free ebook of Dickens' titles. Google presents several options for obtaining the book. Clicking "EPUB" downloads "OLiver Twist" to your computer. Clicking "PDF" opens the ebook in Google Docs in Chrome and downloads it in other browsers.

The other options are a Google affair, using the search provider's ebook service to make delivery -- not that distribution is restrictive, given the broad number of devices supported. Google also provides links to popular online stores, Amazon among them, for purchasing Dickens' titles in print.

I don't see real favoritism here but Google doing what it's suppose to -- get information to people quickly and in a manner consistent with past presentation. The doodle-linked Google Books pages are similar to others, for example, Mark Twain's "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn".

If anything, the Dickens links promote the openness of information and the spirit of public domain. You can buy Dickens' titles from Google's ebook service ("Oliver Twist" for $4.99 is example). But those titles aren't the ones highly promoted in the links page from the doodle. Free is the key word here.

Unquestionably, Google Books receives some visible promotion from the doodle linkage. But the context is more about Google providing quick and easy access to useful information (its core service) and promoting the reading of one of the best Western writers of the last two centuries and one of the smartest men in recorded history (Dickens' IQ was 180-185, depending on source).

That said, Google undeniably has dramatically increased cross-service integration, particularly since the Google+ limited launch last summer. Just look at how much the Google search page has changed -- the company's other services are far more visible. There is heated controversy about some of the integration, such as "Search Plus Your World". The question to ask, once again: Is it favoritism? Or is Google improving the quality of search and ancillary services by connecting them together? I see the answers more case by case and in this instance: "No". My reaction would be different if Google used the doodle to sell Dickens' novels from its own ebookstore.

By the way, overnight, Ariel Levine, Google ebooks associate, explains how the doodle was created. It's a fun short-read for that train or bus ride home from the office.
Google Chrome for Android launches in beta

Posted: February 7th, 2012, 11:37am MST by Tim Conneally

Big news came from Google on Tuesday as the company released the very first beta version of its Chrome web browser for Android. Like the mobile versions of Opera and Firefox for Android, browser tabs and favorites from the user's desktop version are synced to the mobile browser, providing a unified experience across platforms.

The beta version is currently only available on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich in the US, Canada, Mexico, UK, France, Germany, Spain, Australia, Japan, Korea, Argentina, and Brazil, so if you don't have ICS at your disposal right now or you're in a country not listed, we'll follow up with some first impressions to let you know how it fares against all the other Android browsers.
All you need is a good idea and a little Kickstarter

Posted: February 7th, 2012, 11:31am MST by Chris Boss

As a software developer I can appreciate how important it is to have good ideas. The challenge is making them reality. Also it is not enough just to be taught a skill, one needs to be able to put it to work doing something valuable to others. Some of the best ideas come from people who aren't just trying to make a buck, but who love what they are doing and see the real value in it.

Sadly many a good idea never makes it beyond the drawing board. But some people don't give up so easily and with a little Kickstarter amazing things can happen. Recently, I discovered two unique examples of very good ideas turned into reality by taking advantage of this unique website.

3D Printing with PrintrBot

This one really excited me, as I am really interested in 3D printing. While there have been some great efforts to make 3D printing affordable, such as MakerBot and the open source RepRap, it still costs quite a bit to get started with 3D printing. Then along came someone with the idea for PrintrBot, with the goal to bring the price down so low that it truly can become a reality for many people. The design for PrintrBot is also quite unique with some amazing features compared to others. Combined with the help of the website Kickstarer, this one just may become a reality.

KickStarter's concept is simple: Crowdsourced funding. Inventors post their ideas on the site and seek funding for their projects. The people behind PrintrBot had a goal of raising $25,000 via Kickstarter. Their idea is so good though that they not only got funded, but they raised over $830,000 -- and they are on their way to turning a great idea into a reality.

A Boy with a Great Idea!

A young man named James Hardman (with the help of his father) also has a very interesting idea. The project at Kickstarter is not fully funded yet, but I'm impressed by his idea and desire to make it a reality. Hardman's plan is to build very large tablet PCs (17 inch for example). What caught my attention, and it's something not even the big computer companies have done: Make such tablets easily upgradable -- just like we can do with our desktop computers.

One advantage desktop computers have over both tablets and laptops is that they are designed so you can easily upgrade them from the CPU to the graphics card. When was the last time you saw a tablet computer or a laptop where you could easily swap out the CPU to a better one or change its graphics chip ?

The amazing thing is how young James is and yet he is working hard to make his idea a reality and Kickstarter just might make it possible.

Interview with James Hardman

I contacted Hardman, and he graciously answered questions about the project.

How did you learn about how to build a Tablet PC?

I knew how to build a desktop, and I knew all the components of an iPad. I took my knowledge and came up with a way to integrate a touchscreen on an old laptop I had.

Why did you chose 17 inches for the size?

Mostly because I liked big screens on mobile devices, and I knew other people who did too. Also partially because I had a 17-Inch laptop I wanted to repurpose.

Do you really think it is possible to build a Tablet PC that can have upgradeable parts?

Definitely. The only reason why most laptops are not upgradeable is because all the parts (i.e. the CPU) are soldered into their sockets. With the tablet I am integrating desktop upgradeability, meaning all parts can be replaced, as long as the part is compatible with the motherboard.

Are you interested in making it compatible with Windows 8?

Yes, but it would not be our preferred operating system. We are currently thinking of developing an operating system called ULOS, that would be able to run Windows, Mac, and Linux programs at the same time.

Where do you get the parts for your prototype?

The main parts included an old Dell e1700 laptop from my home, and the touchscreen from a wholesaler in China. In addition, there were many more minor parts, such as the USB touchscreen controller, and the cables attaching everything (i.e. the touchscreen and display) to the motherboard.

What is the biggest challenge for you with this project?

The biggest challenge thus far, has been getting my project out to people. This project has been struggling with the lack of knowledge that this project even exists.

What is your motivation for doing this project?

My main motivation for this project was to be the first to develop a product of its class.

Do you have any other people who will help you with this project if you get funded?

I have a motherboard manufacturer that is ready to produce the motherboards for my tablet, and all they need is money. I also have the support of my family members.

What do you think of the Kickstarter concept and why did you chose to use it to fund your project ?

I believe that crowdfunding sites are the future of start-up funding. In the next 20 years, I believe most start-ups will be funded through crowdfunding sites. I chose Kickstarter in particular because of it's simplicity and how well-known it is.

Good Ideas are Worth Working For !

It's remarkable to see tools like Kickstarter make something like start-up funding social. Some product we may someday use in the mass market may have started from crowdsourced funding. I can really envision myself possibly getting a PrintrBot in the future if the price is right. Also like James Hardman, I surely look forward to the time when an investment in a tablet PC also allows me the opportunity to extend my investment by easily upgrading it with off-the-shelf parts, rather than just throw it away for the latest more powerful one.

So let the good ideas keep coming!

Chris Boss is an advanced Windows API programmer and developer of 10 year-old EZGUI, which is now version 5. He owns The Computer Workshop, which opened for businesses in the late 1980s. He originally developed custom software for local businesses. Now he develops programming tools for use with the PowerBasic compiler.
Microsoft and 24/7 Inc. team up to build a better automated customer service platform

Posted: February 7th, 2012, 10:04am MST by Tim Conneally

Yesterday, with the announcement of Microsoft's Dynamics CRM Mobile, I touched on the big developments taking place in mobile sales, marketing, and support. The ever-increasing power of smartphones is shifting the way businesses and customers interact in nearly all forms of commerce (B2C, C2C, B2B, and so forth) because both ends rely on their mobile devices as the primary method of communication.

An important component in this customer relationship model is automated communications, and Microsoft on Tuesday announced it has formed a long-term equity partnership with 24/7 Inc. that focuses on that aspect. Microsoft and 24/7 Inc. have joined up to develop a next-gen automated customer service platform that pairs big data analytics with touch, speech, and gesture interfaces for a more mobile-friendly self-service customer experience.

As a part of the partnership, Microsoft will merge its interactive self-service assets into 24/7’s Predictive Experience solutions. The Predictive Experience (PX) platform already manages more than 2.5 billion speech and online self-service interactions annually. 24/7 Inc. will utilize Microsoft's Tellme speech and natural language technologies for voice interfaces, and 24/7's solutions will be integrated with Windows Phone, Bing and Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

Ultimately, the goal of the partnership is to make a customer service platform that can deliver a service experience that people expect from their mobile devices: simple and effective.

"When companies bring Big Data together with NUI, they’ll have customer service magic," said Zig Serafin, General Manager of Microsoft's Online Services Division. "They’ll have an experience that will literally create new industry leaders. They will improve communication with consumers, simplify customer service, anticipate needs, and learn from every customer interaction. This is the future of customer service, from Microsoft and 24/7."

Photo: jcjgphotography/Shutterstock
Waterfox 10 -- 64-bit browsing for your Windows PC

Posted: February 7th, 2012, 9:10am MST by Mark Wilson

When it comes to operating systems, 64-bit is becoming increasingly popular. The ability to access additional, and ever-more-important, memory is a big draw, as is the added security and stability. But despite a general move to 64-bits for OSes, there is still relatively little 64-bit software that has been written to take advantage of them -- well, Windows. This is also true in the browser arena, but it is something that is being addressed by Waterfox 10, a 64-bit version of Firefox.

While it is true that there are already 64-bit versions of Firefox available, this is only the case in the less stable Nightly and Aurora channels, and this is not something that everyone will be comfortable using. It is also worth noting the existence of Pale Moon, which is another Firefox-based web browser that also has a 64-bit version available. Waterfox is fully 64-bit and is based on the latest Firefox code -- this means that the two browsers are all but identical, save for the color and labeling of the Firefox/Waterfox menu button.

As the browser is based on the very latest Firefox code, you are able to take full advantage of all of the newest features. The updated navigation bar includes an intelligent forward button that is only displayed when it might be needed, and optimized code means that the program has a smaller footprint and improved performance. If you’ve made the move to a 64-bit version of Windows and like using Firefox, there’s simply no reason not to take Waterfox for a test -- there is not even any configuration to worry about.

There are a few things to remember when using the 64-bit Waterfox browser. Firstly, you will find that some of the plugins you have become used to in Firefox will not work. You will need to download special 64-bit versions of the likes of Flash and Java, which you can find on the Waterfox downloads page. You should also note that if you already have Firefox installed, Waterfox shares the same user profile files. This means that should you decide to uninstall either browser, you should ensure that you do not opt to remove personal data or your settings will be lost.

You can find out more and download a free copy of the web browser by paying a visit to the Waterfox 10 review page.
Mobile Mouse: Control your PC with smartphone or tablet

Posted: February 7th, 2012, 8:48am MST by Nick Peers

The advent of big-screen HD TVs has made it easier than ever to watch video on your computer through your television. The only downside is physically hooking up your computer to your TV, followed by having to get up from your comfortable seat to take control. Why go to all that hassle when you can configure your mobile or tablet to act as a wireless remote control, mouse and keyboard with the help of a tool called Mobile Mouse?

Mobile Mouse comes in two parts: Mobile Mouse Server for your PC or Mac, and then the mobile app for iPhone/iPod touch, iPad or Android.

Start by installing the free Mobile Mouse Server on your computer. Once installed, it’ll automatically appear on the menu bar or in your Taskbar’s Notification area. It’s configured to go, so turn your attention to the mobile app next.

Mobile Mouse Lite for iPhone and Android offer basic wireless mouse and keyboard functionality via your phone or tablet’s touchscreen. You’ll find the top half of the screen becomes your virtual mouse -- space for your finger to move the mouse, plus buttons for left and right mouse clicks and scroll functionality.

If that’s all you need, and you’re happy to bypass nag screens, then you’re done, but if you want additional features -- remote functions for media, web and presentations, plus an application switcher, file browser and many other advanced functions -- then upgrade to the Pro version. This is the only version available to iPad users, but for $2.99 you get an awful lot of extra functionality for your money, and can use the app on as many computers you like -- just install Mobile Mouse Server on your other computers, and then, if necessary, connecting manually rather than automatically using the Settings button.

You need to be on the same wi-fi network as your computer to pair the two together using Mobile Mouse, which isn’t a hardship as this is an app for using to control your computer from the other side of the room, typically when it’s plugged into your big-screen TV. It all hangs together very well, and could ensure you become even more of a fixture to your sofa going forward. Just remember the toilet breaks…

Mobile Mouse Server is a freeware download for Windows, Mac and (via an unsupported open-source build) Linux. Mobile Mouse Lite for iPhone and Mobile Mouse Lite for Android are also free, with upgraded Pro versions available separately. Mobile Mouse for iPad costs $2.99.
Amid its fastest growth ever, Amazon slashes prices on S3 cloud storage

Posted: February 7th, 2012, 7:22am MST by Tim Conneally

Amazon on Tuesday reduced the price of its Simple Storage Service (S3) cloud-based storage platform by between 12 and 13.5 percent for U.S. customers. With the reduction, the retailer-turned-cloud-services-provider is attempting to draw the attention of businesses utilizing on-premises storage solutions with a more affordable and scalable cloud platform.

As a bonus, current customers also get a nice reduction in their monthly bill. It applies to both private enterprise and users of AWS GovCloud.

In the first weeks of 2012, Amazon unveiled a new solution in beta called AWS Storage Gateway, which connects on-premises software applications with cloud storage for backup and disaster recovery. Then, just one week ago, Amazon said usage of S3 had grown an impressive 192 percent between 2010 and 2011, the fastest it has ever grown since launching in 2006.
Ad-Aware 10 definitely needs to be on your shortlist

Posted: February 7th, 2012, 7:15am MST by Mike Williams

Lavasoft has today released Ad-Aware 10, the latest incarnation of its flagship anti-malware package. The program will be available in three versions -- Ad-Aware Free Antivirus+, Ad-Aware Personal Security ($12 per year) and Ad-Aware Pro Security ($36 per year) -- but, unusually, it’s the free release this time around that sees the most significant change.

Many technologies previously reserved for the commercial editions only are now available in the free build, for instance. So real-time process protection will detect and block malware before it can launch; Registry protection looks out for potentially risky Registry changes, and real-time network protection blocks connections to blacklisted IP addresses. Ad-Aware 10 Free gains advanced rootkit protection, too, and the new (to this edition) Game Mode means the program can maintain all this without hassling you with extra alerts.

The new release also includes some basic browsing protection. Ad-Aware 10 Free scans downloads before they hit your hard drive, for example, blocking threats before they can be launched. And an optional browser toolbar scans URLs and links in real-time to warn you about malicious sites (although this only works with Internet Explorer and Firefox).

The interface has also seen a complete redesign. We’ve seen varying opinions on this, understandable as the old look has been around for a long time, but on balance we like the new style; the core features you need are visible up-front, and more advanced tweaks are still only a click or two away.

Of course there’s the usual stack of enhancements to all the program’s existing features, including up to 3x faster boot times, enhanced performance, better scheduling and scan profile management, improved behavioural monitoring, an enhanced sandbox, and more.

And if this still isn’t enough for your needs, then you can always take a look at the commercial editions. Ad-Aware Pro Security, in particular, includes everything we’ve mentioned here, and adds a two-way firewall, an intrusion protection system, email scanning, automatic scanning of external storage devices on connection, a real-time web filter, social networking protection, and more.

For us, though, the real story here is Ad-Aware 10 Free. It was beginning to lag behind some of the other free antivirus tools, but this release makes the program a contender once more, and if you’re in the market for a free antivirus package then it definitely needs to be on your shortlist.

Photo Credit: njaj/Shutterstock
Screw you, too, AT&T

Posted: February 6th, 2012, 4:52pm MST by Ed Oswald

Long-time iPhone users, take note. If you have unlimited data, you want to read this: the company will throttle you for more than 2GB of usage in any given month. Do you feel better now about the thousands you've handed over to AT&T for the past several years?

Users are alerted to the throttling via text message. "Your data usage is among the top 5 percent of users. Data speeds for the rest of your bill cycle may be reduced", it reads.

In a phone call to AT&T customer service, BetaNews has confirmed that the nation's second biggest carrier considers 2GB-plus data customers in the "top 5 percent". The company warned of its plans in July of last year, but didn't enforce it until October 1. It now appears that what AT&T considers excessive has fallen dramatically from when the program started.

I can tell you this firsthand because my own data usage exceeded 2GB after that October 1 cutoff. In December, I used 3.1GB; in January 1.9GB. In neither month have I received any warning of throttling. So AT&T has made a change in what it considers "excessive".

Don't forget AT&T just introduced a 3GB plan for $30, the same price most long-time iPhone customers pay for their unlimited plans. But the AT&T representative we talked to pointed out a key difference, which is sure to piss off a lot of people. While that new customer is still cruising along at 3G speeds, paying the same price, your data is now slower than EDGE. There is no throttling for the 3GB plan, just overage charges when the data allotment is exceeded, the representative tells us.

That seems patently unfair. Unlimited data users -- including myself -- are getting ripped off.

iPhoneHacks illustrates this point in a recent post. It placed two phones side by side and performed a series of tests. While the unthrottled phone was able to download at speeds eclipsing 1Mbps, the throttled phone at times was downloading content at speeds of .06 Mbps. That sounds more like GPRS speeds to me!

The most key point in their findings? "For everyday applications like Maps and Safari, there was a stark difference between the load times. These apps were effectively unusable on the throttled connection". In other words, congratulations, your shiny new iPhone is all but a useless brick.

AT&T is screwing the customers that it has profited from most. At this point the company has made quite a bit of money on you, even with phone subsidies. And the claims that the top 5 percent use 12 times the data of the customer base at large is laughable.

If the new throttling point is 2GB, then that means the average iPhone user consumes a paltry 170.6MB of data. It is extremely hard to believe with the amount of data-hungry apps for iOS that a majority of users consume so little data.

What AT&T's super-agressive stance indicates is that the company wants you to ditch your unlimited plan. There's a benefit to this: if you continue to be a heavy data user, then you're gonna pay for it. This doesn't sit well with me, nor with others who have been loyal AT&T and iPhone customers.

"I don’t know what AT&T thinks they’re doing here", technologist and iPhone user John Cozen writes in his blog. He was throttled at 2.1GB. "I’ve experienced nothing but excellent service over the years up until this fiasco. I wonder how people are liking Verizon these days".

We're trying to get AT&T to comment on why unlimited data users are being handled in a manner different from other customers paying the same price, but have not heard back. If we do, we'll certainly update this story.

BetaNews is looking for reports from AT&T iPhone customers with unlimited data plans. If you have been throttled, please tell your story comments below. Also please include the amount of data you used during the month that throttling occurred.

Photo Credit: valdis torms/Shutterstock
Will you buy Nokia Lumia 900 Windows Phone? [poll]

Posted: February 6th, 2012, 2:54pm MST by Joe Wilcox

Today, Microsoft Store started taking pre-orders for the Lumia 900, Nokia's flagship Windows Phone. There's a $25 reservere for the handset, which, according to my local shop will be available some time in March. Microsoft Store had no official launch date to give.

My question: Will you buy the Lumia 900? Nobody is saying how much the smartphone will cost. That $25 is blind faith the final price will be reasonable enough. Who knows? Given Microsoft's and its partners' marketing commitment, the faithful might see a serious discount for their leap to pre-order. Will you be among them? You can answer the question(s) and give your reasons why or why not in comments below and answer the poll below. Lumia 900 will be available in the United States on AT&T.

What will you get for your 25 bucks plus additional unnamed amount: 1.4GHz Qualcomm APQ8055 processor; 4.3-inch AMOLED display (yes, it's Corning Gorilla Glass), with 800 x 480 resolution; 512MB RAM; 16GB storage: 8-megapixel rear-facing camera with Carl Zeiss lens and dual-LED flash; 1MP front-facing camera; 720p video capture from rear camera and VGA from front camera; GSM 850/900/1800/1900 radio; WCDMA 850/900/1900/2100 radio; 4G LTE; Bluetooth 2.1+EDR; Stereo Bluetooth; WiFi; accelerometer; ambient and proximity sensors; gyroscope; 2 microphones; 1830 mAh battery; Internet Explorer 9 mobile; and Windows Phone 7.5 "Mango" Commercial Release 2.

Any device only needs as much hardware as necessary for your needs and to give operating system and applications ample performance. I say that in qualification before observing how much more is available on many Androids and even iPhone 4S. The Androids are bitchin': All LTE phones currently available from AT&T or Verizon have dual-core processors, more RAM and typically better screen resolution or video capture than Nokia Lumia 900. What they don't have is Windows Phone 7.5 CR2.

A suggestion to Microsoft and Nokia: As part of your launch promotion kitty, put aside some money to pay the carrier subsidy. In other words, make every person who wants Lumia 900 eligible to get one, regardless of where they are in their contract, during, say, the first 30 days of availability. Hey, it's just a suggestion.

Is this the Windows Phone you have been waiting for? Scratch that. Is this the smartphone you've been waiting for?

Microsoft Store is taking pre-orders for Nokia Lumia 900. Will you buy this Windows Phone?
Windows Phone can't save Nokia

Posted: February 6th, 2012, 2:00pm MST by Joe Wilcox

All those analysts predicting Windows Phone as No. 2 smartphone OS in 2015, lifted by Nokia magic, need a reality check. Put away the crystal balls and peer into the present. Today, IDC released fourth-quarter smartphone shipment data, whoa, is the data chart scary.

Shocker is Nokia's smartphone death spiral, which no Windows Phone has yet lifted. The once mighty Finnish handset maker ended the quarter with 12.4 percent market share, down from 27.6 percent, and plunging from first place a year earlier to fourth at end of 2011. This is the same quarter Nokia launched its first Windows Phones, the Lumia 710 and 800. Right now, looks like Windows Phone can't save Nokia, which cuts the other way, too: Nokia can't save Windows Phone.

Apple and Samsung were the big beneficiaries of Nokia's nose dive. IDC's data affirms Strategy Analytics findings from late last month: Apple and Samsung ended fourth quarter in near smartphone shipments photo finish. iPhone did better -- 37 million units to Samsung's 36 million. Both vendors saw huge year-over-year gains.

Samsung's shipments rose 275 percent year over year, going from fourth to second ranking -- market share rise from 9.4 percent to 22.8 percent. That's better than Apple, which was no slouch. Shipments grew 128.4 percent, with share rising to 23.5 percent from 15.9 percent. By comparison, Nokia's share fell 30.6 percent -- or nearly three times the other laggard. Research in Motion share fell 11 percent to 8.2 percent from 14.3 percent.

Apple and Samsung largely split the smartphone market's largest portion, shipping 73 million of the quarter's 157.8 million units.

"The launch of Apple's iPhone 4S played a key role in smartphone growth to capture pent-up demand, and smartphone launches from other vendors also provided a broad selection to meet varying preferences and budgets", Ramon Llamas, IDC senior research analyst, says. The majority of "launches from other vendors" were Androids.

"So-called 'hero' devices, such as Samsung's Galaxy Nexus and Apple's iPhone 4S, garner the bulk of the attention heaped on the device type", Kevin Restivo, IDC senior research analyst, says. "But a growing number of sub-$250 device offerings, based on the Android operating system, have allowed Google's hardware partners to grow smartphone volumes and expand the market concurrently". No Android partner benefitted more than the aforementioned Samsung.

Fourth-quarter smartphone shipments exceeded IDC's growth forecast of 40 percent, rising 54.7 percent year over year. "By the end of the quarter, one out of every three mobiles phones shipped worldwide was a smartphone", Llamas says.

For all 2011, smartphone shipments rose 61.3 percent to 491.4 million units from 304.7 million than a year earlier. While growth exceeded IDC's forecast (54.7 percent), it fell below 2010's year-over-year growth (75.7 percent).

While the smartphone market grows gangbusters, Nokia is the biggest loser -- and Windows Phone along with it. If Lumia's launch quarter is any indication, the road back, if there is one for manufacturer or operating system, will be long and arduous. One year ago this week, Microsoft and Nokia announced a sweeping distribution deal where Windows Phone replaces Symbian as primary operating system. So far, the Windows Phone transition is killing Nokia, not that it had a workable smartphone strategy before.

Microsoft has committed $1 billion annually in payments to Nokia, as part of the agreement. The return on that investment is what? Coincidentally, today, Microsoft Store started taking pre-orders for the Nokia Lumia 900; there's a $25 reserve. That handset's success or failure may answer the question, or at least foreshadow it.
Hangout at the Google+ developer page

Posted: February 6th, 2012, 11:38am MST by Joe Wilcox

Well, it took long enough. Google waited until passing 100 million G+ users before opening a platform developer page. What? You think only Facebook has a social network platform agenda? Google has ambitions, too.

Perhaps the big thing will be the weekly Hangouts, where Google+ developers can get the lowdown. It's nothing on the scale of Microsoft's Channel 9 (Say didn't Vic Gundotra have a hand in both Nine and G+?). Channel 9 is more about broadcasting developer information, while Hangouts are live and more interactive.

Hangouts are one of the best Google+ features -- video chat with a bunch of people, whether they're actively or passively participating. (If it's so good, why haven't I, ah Hungout? Got to fix that one.)

"Our team will host regular Hangouts to talk about the +Platform, your experiences with it, and share tips and tricks with the community. Our weekly office hours hangouts take place every Wednesday at 11:30am - 12:15pm PDT, and can be accessed from our Google+ Developers page", Chris Chabot, Google+ developer relations team lead, explains. "The +Platform team will also share Google+ developer events, conferences and hackathons, as well as photos and videos of the events. In addition, we’ll announce and discuss our +Platform launches on our page".
Redbox and Verizon to launch streaming video service this year

Posted: February 6th, 2012, 11:09am MST by Tim Conneally

Coinstar-owned DVD rental kiosk company Redbox was one of the biggest reasons Blockbuster video went bankrupt. Monday, Coinstar announced it has begun a joint venture with communications service provider Verizon to build a subscription streaming video service.

It is a move nearly identical to the one Netflix took three-and-a-half years ago, when it branched out from being a DVD-by-mail service to also being a streaming video provider through a partnership with Starz.

The streaming content is expected to debut in the second half of 2012, available to both residental and wireless subscribers, and will offer "subscription services and more in an easy-to-use, flexible and affordable service that will allow all consumers across the U.S. to enjoy the new and popular entertainment they want, whenever they choose, using the media and devices they prefer."

The Redbox/Verizon joint venture does not yet have a name of its own, but majority ownership is Verizon's. The network operator will hold a 65 percent stake while Redbox will hold a 35 percent ownership stake.

We hear that "Qwikster" is still available!
Dolphin Text Editor Menu -- advanced formatting from most any Windows app

Posted: February 6th, 2012, 10:38am MST by Mike Williams

If you occasionally need to format a text document in advanced ways, perhaps adding line numbers or sorting its lines alphabetically, then your first thought might be to find and install a programmer’s editor. But these can be expensive, and complex, leaving you with a whole new editing interface to learn.

A better idea might be to install Dolphin Text Editor Menu. The program runs in the background, ready to work with virtually any application where you can enter text: Notepad, Wordpad, Word, Excel, Visual Studio, browsers and more. So you can use your preferred application as normal, then when you need some advanced option, just select the text you’d like to format, press Dolphin’s hotkey (Ctrl+Num Pad 0 by default) and the program’s menu will pop up.

The functions on offer here are fairly basic, but provide most of the core functionality you’d expect. There are tools to add numbers or text to the beginning or end of lines, for instance. The program can sort lines in various ways. And you’re able to remove blank lines, duplicate lines, leading or trailing spaces, and so on.

Dolphin also provides various options to change the case of your selected text. It can clean up text by removing hidden formatting, HTML or BBCode tags, say. And assorted other miscellaneous options will do everything from split up paragraphs into separate sentences, to count the words, lines and characters you’ve selected.

What you don’t get here are the more advanced programmer’s editor-type features, such as syntax highlighting or regular expression find and replace: Dolphin is more about covering the essentials. It does this well, however, is supremely convenient (it can even be installed to a USB stick for running anywhere) and free for personal use (commercial licences are $5), so it seems impolite to complain.

If you do think of ways in which Dolphin Text Editor Menu could be improved, though, the developer points out that the program is “being actively developed, so any requests for additional functionality will be seriously considered”. Pass on your thoughts at Animal Software’s forum.

Photo Credit: Laszlo Szirtesi/Shutterstock
Screenshot Captor 3 adds scrolling capture, Windows 7 transparency effects

Posted: February 6th, 2012, 10:28am MST by Nick Peers

Donationcoder.com has announced the release of Screenshot Captor 3 for Windows PCs. The donation-ware screen capture utility adds three major new features to this landmark release, including splicing effects, a scrolling screen capture function and a number of watermarking options for marking screenshots.

Version 3.0 also includes other recently introduced features, such as full TWAIN and WIA scanner support, automatic upload to supported image hosting services and support for partial Windows 7 transparency effects.

Screenshot Captor 3, which is now also available as a separate portable version, adds a “super deluxe scrolling capture system”, which the author claims is the best on the market. This allows users to capture screens that are larger than the display, such as lengthy documents or websites.

Version 3.0 also adds a number of new splice effects, including ragged edge, that are also available via the cropping and border menus. It also adds a simplified watermarking menu and options that allow users to stamp their ownership on screen captures.

Screenshot Captor also builds on major features added in recent months, which include a full set of scanner acquisition and image correction tools. These are disabled by default, but support both WIA and TWAIN scanners and can be switched on via the Edit > Preferences menu.

Another recent addition is support for uploading to various online image hosting services, including Flickr and Imageshack.

Other changes in version 3 are minor -- there are new options when saving modified screenshots for preserving the original date and timestamp, an option to rename files when changing various field information and a loaded file’s creation and modification date and timestamps are now displayed in the program’s Status bar.

Version 3’s installation file has also been repackaged. Prior versions could be renamed as zip files and installed as portable installations, but version 3 now uses a standard setup file, necessitating the release of a separate portable build.

Screenshot Captor 3 and Screenshot Captor 3 Portable are both available as free, donationware downloads for PCs running all flavours of Windows from 95 onwards. A nag screen will appear on each launch which can be supressed by registering for a free key. This free key will expire after six months, at which point a new key can be requested. Donating any sum for continued use of the program produces a registration key that removes the nag screen permanently.
What are the three top-selling US smartphones? iPhone

Posted: February 6th, 2012, 9:38am MST by Joe Wilcox

In fourth quarter, that would be iPhone 4S, 4 and 3GS, in order from one to three, according to NPD. But before the Apple Fanclub does high-fives, Android share among first-time buyers outpaced iPhone, as measured by smartphone operating system, contradicting some other analyst data.

"iPhone 4S outsold the iPhone 4 by 75 percent, and outsold the iPhone 3GS, available for free on AT&T, five to one", Ross Rubin, NPD executive director, says. Well, so much for my theory older, discounted iPhones was a brilliant Apple strategy. Which again raises questions about the power of brand, considering iPhone isn't LTE, while AT&T and Verizon offer real 4G smartphones -- all Androids.

"Android has been criticized for offering a more complex user experience than its competitors, but the company’s wide carrier support and large app selection is appealing to new smartphone customers", Rubin says. "Android’s support of LTE at Verizon has also made it the exclusive choice for customers who want to take advantage of that carrier’s fastest network".

So perhaps LTE matters after all, at least to new buyers -- 57 percent chose Androids and 34 percent iPhone. The math is scary, by the way. NPD didn't publicly release new buyer share for other platforms, but Bada, BlackBerry, Symbian and Windows Mobile split up just 9 percent share. Well, we know what Americans aren't buying.

Additionally, iOS/iPhone closed the distance on Android, capturing 43 percent share to 48 percent share. The numbers are significant for another reason -- NPD tracks actual sales to end users rather than shipments into the channel.

More broadly, smartphone sales considerably outpaced feature phones. Smartphones accounted for 68 percent of sales during fourth quarter, up 18 percent year over year.

Now let me explain something about contradictory analyst reports. There are many out there right now, which makes them all suspect. Last week comScore reported dramatically different share numbers, putting Android way ahead of iOS/iPhone -- 47.3 percent to 29.6 percent, respectively. comScore measures US cellular subscribers ages 13 and above, which is different data methodology than NPD. The one uses a survey (of more than 30,000 Americans) and the other looks at sales.

Then there is Nielsen, which data seemingly directly contradicts NPD's. Android share, as measured in smartphone operating systems among new purchasers, plummeted from 61.6 percent in October to 46.9 percent in December. Meanwhile, iPhone rose from 25.1 percent share to 44.5 percent.

So whose data can you trust? No one's solely, nor any of the New York Post-style headlines trumpeting iPhone over Android, or visa versa. The clearest picture of US smartphone sales may come when Sprint announces holiday quarter earnings later this week. Assuming Sprint reveals iPhone sales, or activations, combined with AT&T and Verizon there will be clearer but not exact sense of what really occurred in the US market. I say "not exact" because iPhone activations don't necessarily mean on new handsets.
Microsoft Dynamics CRM goes mobile with iOS, Android, BlackBerry apps

Posted: February 6th, 2012, 9:06am MST by Tim Conneally

If 2011 was all about integrating social media relationships to CRM software, 2012 looks like it will be all about taking relationships to the mobile realm, and mobilizing sales, service and marketing teams with powerful CRM apps.

Microsoft on Monday announced the next update to its customer relationship management product Microsoft Dynamics CRM will include a new native mobile client for iOS, Android, BlackBerry, and Windows Phone 7.

The Microsoft Dynamics CRM Q2 2012 service update brings a cloud-based mobile CRM service that communicates with these native CRM apps for smartphones and tablets to give them the huge volumes of data and important customer graphs and metrics that are available to desktop users.

The applications allow users to access Dynamics CRM either remotely or on-premise, and include offline syncing functionality so users can keep their customer data handy even when their data connection is severed, like when they're on an airplane.

The mobile service is centrally managed, and administrators can configure the record types, forms, views, offline synchronization rules and navigation structure for the mobile application. Admins even have the ability to remotely wipe all of the CRM data from the mobile device if it's lost, stolen, or simply loaded onto the user's personal device.

Furthermore, extended CRM applications built in xRM are also integrated into Microsoft Dynamics CRM Mobile.

"We want to be revolutionary, not evolutionary, and the market is moving fast. Our customers are tackling CRM initiatives like never before. They can't afford to be casual. They are serious. They don't flinch," said Dennis Michalis, General Manager of Microsoft Dynamics CRM. "The most successful customers are innovating with mobility, using every kind of device they can deploy CRM functionality on, and they are going deeper with Microsoft Dynamics CRM flexibility for their specific needs than ever before."

Microsoft Dynamics CRM Mobile will cost $30 per user per month, and each user license includes three simultaneous mobile installs. The mobile client apps will be available on Windows Phone 7.5+, iOS 5+, Android 2.2+, and BlackBerry 6.x and 7.x.

The only tablets to support the application at launch will be Apple's iPad family.
The 'Thing Called Love' is Samsung, not Apple [video]

Posted: February 5th, 2012, 7:51pm MST by Joe Wilcox

It's fourth quarter of the Super Bowl, and Samsung has a surprise -- a 90-second commercial for the Galaxy Note, which is available for order today. I got to the game late, so can't say if this spot aired earlier. Oh, but it's a goodie.

"Freedom!" yells one of the people waiting to buy iPhone, raising his arms and running from outside the Apple Store. Earlier, while still in line (and missing the big game), he mumbles: "This feels like detention". Next to him another waiter asks someone else: "Wanna see a picture of my cat?" "No!" And we don't want to see it either, Bud.

Stunned yet by another Samsung, a woman remarks: "I don't know what I believe in anymore". Standing by her a guy using Galaxy Note for the first time answers: "I know what I believe in".

It's a celebration in the streets, as the iPhone elite discovers -- get this -- a stylus! Yeah, Steve Jobs would roll over in his grave. But it's fun marketing. Okay, so the commercial calls it a pen. But a stylus by any other name is a stylus.

Galaxy Note is different. A friend of mine back East ordered one today, after seeing it at Best Buy. He'll give up Galaxy Nexus for Note, which is nutso decision to me. But, hey, he's a phone geek.

The commercial is fun, but the last laugh belongs not to the funnier marketer but to the one taking the most money to the bank. That's Apple, baby.
CyberLink PowerDVD 12 Ultra Review

Posted: February 4th, 2012, 10:45am MST by Mike Williams

PowerDVD has always been one of the most popular commercial DVD and Blu-ray players, but these days that’s just the start of its abilities.

CyberLink is now trying to position the program as more of a universal media player, a one-stop shop for all your media playback needs -- and PowerDVD 12 Ultra takes that a notable step forward.

Launch the program and what you’ll encounter first of all is PowerDVD’s media library, for instance, which now makes it easy to organize and navigate your videos, music and digital photos: you can rate content, add a description to your file’s metadata, run keyword searches, create playlists, and even share your files on YouTube, Facebook or Flickr. Nothing hugely ambitious, but all very straightforward and easy to use.

There are some neat navigation shortcuts, too. So if you hover a mouse over a folder of photos or videos, for example, then a scroll bar will appear, and dragging this will quickly display thumbnails of everything in that folder without you having to open it first.

And CyberLink has significantly expanded file format support. The program can handle around 50 video types, for instance, including tricky examples like 3G2, 3GP, FLV, and MK3D. It’s now able to read RAW images, too. And the program’s audio repertoire is notably extended by new support for OGG and FLAC files, making it a much more capable music player.

For all this, we’re still not sure that we’d use PowerDVD as our only media player, just because it’s so big. Double-click an MP4 file and the program took more than 8 seconds to load and start playing it on our test PC; VLC Media Player was launched and running in around a third of that time.

Still, if you have PowerDVD open already then it’s now far more capable than previous editions at browsing, organizing and viewing your media files, and that’s all very welcome news to us.

TrueTheater

PowerDVD 12′s core movie-playing functionality sees only a few incremental changes, this time around.

The program gains support for DTS-HD 7.1 sound, for instance -- at least, in the Pro and Ultra editions (PowerDVD 12 Standard users must get by with DTS and Dolby Digital 5.1).

CyberLink’s TrueTheater 3D can now convert all your media types, including regular Blu-ray discs, to 3D. As with previous editions, the results generally aren’t that great, but can make for an entertaining watch, particularly with material of more personal interest (old home movies of your own, say). And TrueTheater’s other features are well worth having, delivering quality upscaling, noise removal, enhanced contrast, and stabilisation of shaky videos at a click.

Elsewhere, PowerDVD’s “Instant Seek” feature, which supposedly allows you to quickly browse and find specific scenes within a movie, now works on Blu-ray discs. Which is good news if you like the feature, although we’re yet to really notice any benefits from it at all.

And a new Zoom button on the toolbar makes it easy to zoom in on any video, DVD or Blu-ray by up to 400 percent. A thumbnail view of the screen shows the area of the frame you’re actually looking at, and you can drag this around to move the focus wherever you like. We’re not entirely sure how often you’ll need this feature, but if you ever do then it’s certainly convenient and easy to use.

Mobile Devices

PowerDVD 12 Ultra sees its mobile device support expanded, in theory at least, with new DLNA functionality. So as well as acting as a media server and player, the program can now function as a Digital Media Controller (DMC) and Digital Media Renderer (DMR), which essentially means you can push content to and receive content from other DMC and DMR devices.

To try this out, we installed the PowerDVD Mobile for Ultra app on a Motorola XOOM tablet. This provided an easy way to browse the music, photos and videos stored on our device, and a click on the Home Media tab also displayed our main PowerDVD Ultra installation. Once we’d explicitly reconfigured this to allow access from Home Media clients (which is turned off by default), we were then able to browse our library remotely.

Well, sort-of.

What we noticed immediately is that our tablet was displaying only a small subset of the pictures and music available on the PC (5 albums vs the actual 31, for instance). And that seemed to be due to the way the library was organized. By default we were set to view “All” media, which you might think would be enough, but actually only by choosing to view individual folders instead could we browse to whatever we wanted. Playback from that point was fine, but finding our content initially was an unexpected hassle.

Of course, in theory we could also push content to our tablet by simply right-clicking it in the library, selecting “Play to” and choosing our device. But in reality that proved even more difficult. PowerDVD would hang at the “Connecting” stage forever, or say it was playing media while nothing whatsoever was happening at the other end. Maybe these were problems specific to our device, network or library, but even so there was a definite lack of useful information to help us resolve the situation.

We had better luck with PowerDVD’s new Sync feature, fortunately, which in a click or two can be set it to sync your music, photos and videos with your mobile device. This only works with Android devices when they’re connected by USB, but otherwise it’s a handy extra feature and a welcome addition to the package overall.

Social Media

As with previous editions, PowerDVD’s social media features mean you can view Facebook and Flickr content, add comments, and upload files from your library to YouTube, Facebook and Flickr in a couple of clicks.

YouTube support is enhanced this time by the ability to browse the site’s Featured and Most Viewed videos, though, as well as access your own videos, your favorites, subscriptions and playlists, and you can now search YouTube for new videos, too. It’s useful, though not without problems: we miss seeing the source channel in your search results, for instance, and you can’t view or add to any comments on a clip, either.

If you can’t even find something on YouTube to keep you amused, though, CyberLink presumably hopes you might go browsing the 17 million DRM-free MP3 tracks available from PowerDVD’s new, integrated 7digital music store. You can browse the latest releases and search the archives for your favorites, and buy in a click or two, just as you’d expect. And your purchases can be stored in the cloud for easy access from up to 5 devices, which could be useful if you’ve also installed the PowerDVD apps everywhere.

Put it all together and PowerDVD 12 Ultra offers excellent local playback across the board, with the program’s media library and extra file format support meaning it can handle just about any PC playback needs.

DLNA and media streaming support wasn’t nearly so successful, at least for us. You may have better luck with your network and devices, but if you’re interested in this area then make sure you run some very thorough tests before you buy.

There are plenty of other plus points about the new release, though, from DTS-HD support to Android Sync and the expanded YouTube support, amongst others. And so, on balance, PowerDVD 12 Ultra retains its place as the best Blu-ray/ universal media player around, and whether you’re new to the program or already a fan, there’s more than enough here to justify you taking the trial version for a spin.

The software lists for $99.95. System requirements: Windows XP, Vista or 7 -- 32-bit or 64-bit editions. DVD drive for playing DVDs and CDs, Blu-ray Disc drive for playing Blu-ray discs, 2GB RAM+ for Blu-ray disc playback, 300MB free hard drive space, HDCP-compliant display for Blu-ray playback, 3D display or glasses for 3D playback, Intel G45, AMD Radeon HD 2400, NVIDIA Geforce 8800GT or above for 3D playback, Intel Pentium 4 3.2 GHz or AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ or above for Blu-ray disc playback.
27 downloads you shouldn't miss this week

Posted: February 4th, 2012, 10:24am MST by Mark Wilson

The update rate for web browsers is faster than ever, and this has been a particularly busy week for Firefox, starting off with the release of Firefox 10 FINAL. While there aren’t a huge number of big, notable changes, aside from perhaps the rejigged forward button that hides until it is needed, this is still an important milestone and offers impressive performance and stability improvements over previous version as well as better support for third-party addons.

There is also a portable version of the browser available in the form of Firefox Portable 10.0. The release of a new stable version of Firefox means that there has been a spate of releases in the other channels, including Firefox 11 Beta 1. If you’d like to peer a little further into the future, Firefox Aurora 12.0a2 gives a taste of what to expect from upcoming releases.

For anyone who wants to check out the very latest browser, the nightly versions of Firefox are worth checking out, but are not really stable enough for day to day use. This week we have seen the release of Firefox Nightly 13.0a1 (32-bit) and Firefox Nightly 13.0a1 (64-bit).

Mozilla has also updated its email client, which features improvements to email searching as well as a new web search facility -- check out what’s new by downloading Mozilla Thunderbird 10.0 FINAL or Mozilla Thunderbird Portable 10.0. The often over-looked Mozilla SeaMonkey 2.7 has also been updated, bringing you a web browser, email client, IRC client and web editor in one handy package. If you’d prefer to try out a web editor that comes from a different heritage, look no further than Quick ‘n Easy Web Builder v1.0.0 RC, which is available for Windows, Mac and Linux.

All of the main modern web browsers have a number of security features built into them, but these will need to be supplemented with dedicated tool to protect from viruses, hackers and other online threats. Norton Internet Security 2012 v19.5 is a big upgrade to Norton’s security suite, bringing better support for newer browser releases, better cloud-based threat detection and much more.

Norton AntiVirus 2012 v19.5 is available for anyone who is interested solely in virus protection rather than a complete security suite, and Norton Identity Safe Beta 2012.6.0.24 helps to protect your identity by providing you with a secure vault in which to store passwords and personal information. Norton is a name synonymous with security software and another title from the same company is Norton Power Eraser 2.5.0.42, which weeds out rootkits and other forms of malware.

Along the same lines is Kaspersky WindowsUnblocker 1.0.3, which enables you to rid the registry of infections even if you are not able to boot into Windows. Having to create a bootable CD, DVD or USB drive is a bit of a pain, but it could be a lifesaver. This week there has also been an update to another stalwart of the security world, Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware Free 1.60.1.

With a new web browser installed and the necessary security software installed, you can make use of the Internet for other things. Skype for Windows 5.8 and Skype for Mac 5.5.0.2340 are the latest incarnations of the famous VoIP client and there is now support for full HD video calling as well as beta support for audio and video calling with Facebook contacts as well as introducing a new push to talk feature.

GooReader 4.0 is a great app for reading fans, making it possible to access your Google Books in offline mode as well as making it possible to convert books and magazines to PDF format -- for a price. If settling down to watch a film is more your thing, look no further than CyberLink PowerDVD 12 Ultra, which includes everything you need to watch DVDs, play videos and stream media in one handy app.

If there’s something every computer needs, it is a selection of utilities to help you to look after the health and performance of your system. Ashampoo WinOptimizer 9 Beta is an incredibly comprehensive optimization and maintenance tool that includes registry defragmentation, benchmarking, cleanup options and much more. If you want to look after your hard drive, take a look at Auslogics Disk Defrag Pro 4.0, which will defragment your hard drive on an on-going basis to ensure the best possible layout of your files, far exceeding what can be achieved with Windows’ own defragmenter.

You may be looking to save a little hard drive space, or perhaps want to email a selection of files without filling up your friends’ inboxes. PeaZip 4.4 [32-bit] could help you by enabling you to compress file in Zip or 7z format as well as opening compressed RAR archives. PeaZip Portable 4.4 (32-bit), PeaZip 4.4 [64-bit] and PeaZip Portable 4.4 (64-bit) have also been updated.

That’s it for this week. Join us at the same time next week for a catch up on the week’s most exciting releases.

Photo Credit: James Thew/Shutterstock
Micron CEO Steve Appleton dies in Idaho plane crash, cause unknown

Posted: February 3rd, 2012, 4:41pm MST by Ed Oswald

A plane crash in Boise, Idaho has claimed the life of Micron CEO Steve Appleton. He was 51. Boise Airport officials say that Appleton's experimental fixed wing single engine Lancair crashed shortly after takeoff at 8:58am local time Friday after attempting an emergency landing. NTSB officials say that witnesses reported the plane climbing about 100 to 200 feet, then attempting to turn before falling to the ground.

According to Boise NBC affiliate KTVB-TV, Appleton is heard shortly after taking off telling air traffic controllers: "I'd like to turn back in... and land. Coming back in." In the background of the audio from air traffic control a woman is heard saying "oh my god" repeatedly. The station has refused to release the remainder of the audio due to its senstitive content.

NASDAQ halted trading of Micron's stock Friday afternoon as the news broke and remained closed through the end of trading. Officials allowed the resumption of trading in afterhours, and the stock is down four percent as of Friday evening.

"Our hearts go out to his wife, Dalynn, his children and his family during this tragic time", the company's board of directors say in a statement. "Steve's passion and energy left an indelible mark on Micron, the Idaho community and the technology industry at large".

Appleton was an avid pilot, and Friday's incident was not his first accident. In 2004, he crashed a plane south of Boise after reportedly flying too close to the ground according to results of an NTSB investigation. Both himself and a passenger walked away from the incident with minor injuries.
Microsoft opens hardware acceleration spec for C++ ahead of Visual Studio 11 beta

Posted: February 3rd, 2012, 2:51pm MST by Tim Conneally

Microsoft on Friday announced the publication of the C++ Accelerated Massive Parallelism (AMP) specification under the Microsoft Community Promise license. This specification lets C++ developers write programs that can compile and execute on data-parallel hardware like discrete graphics cards or the SIMD vector instruction set in a processor. It can also be thought of as hardware acceleration.

Soma Somasegar, the Vice President of Microsoft's Developer Division, revealed last summer that the company was working on support for parallelism in the next version of Visual Studio.

"In the last few years, we have been seeing an additional trend of heterogeneous hardware where, for example, developers take advantage of the GPU for computational purposes for their data parallel algorithms. This has been successful in narrow verticals using niche programing models. Microsoft wants to bring to the mainstream the ability to write code that takes advantage of heterogeneous hardware like GPUs. So like we’ve done with multi-core before, we are bringing this ability to the next version of Visual Studio," Somasegar said.

Then in September, Microsoft launched the developer preview of Visual Studio 11, and revealed the IDE would include support for parallelism in C++ via the AMP spec, specifically so developers could take advantage of the GPU for compute purposes.

With AMD and Nvidia already on board, Microsoft has published C++ AMP as an open standard (PDF available here) in hopes of grabbing the broadest support from C++ compiler publishers so developers can have access to a wider array of heterogenous hardware when using Visual Studio 11.

"Microsoft supports and encourages anyone to implement the C++ AMP open specification on any platform, and we are actively working with interested parties already," Microsoft developer Daniel Moth said on Friday. "If you are a compiler, hardware, or operating system vendor who is interested in C++ AMP support for your platform, read the spec and feel free to get in touch."
We need new privacy policies for a new world

Posted: February 3rd, 2012, 12:38pm MST by Jeremy Liu

In a major update to its privacy policy and the addition of "Search Plus Your World", Google has managed to attain the consensus from the tech-enthused world that it is way beyond the innocent baby days of "don’t be evil". Matt Honan of Gizmodo signalled the privacy shift as the end of Google’s "don’t be evil" promise, which the company built its business on, and Sarah Lacy of Pando Daily shared similar sentiments, though hers was related to the Search Plus Your World outcry.

In a nutshell, one of the biggest sore points that people are having with Google’s new privacy policy is the fact that it permits the search giant to utilize your basic profile information and extend it across your identities when using your other Google services. These changes aren't so much evil, but adaptation to our merging online and offline identities.

Change is Inevitable

Amidst all the opposition, I think it all alludes to a larger trend in technology as a whole that people aren’t readily willing to accept, yet will undoubtedly be the social media revolution that the advent of the Internet had begged from the very start. The Internet was built as a means of quickly sharing and bringing together the vast expanse of human knowledge -- the clincher is that we can’t expect to share our knowledge without sharing a portion of ourselves. Even just a little bit.

"It’s a small world" is a common saying, which points to various inventions of the past such as the telephone, aviation and motorized travel, all of which funnelled towards the fundamental idea of making human contact all the more easier. The Internet took that a step further with email. MSN Messenger took it another step further. Myspace, Facebook and Twitter took the small world concept even further, such to the point that the world can quite literally be at the doorstep. Or in a Skype video conversation, right in front of you.

Clearly the concept of privacy takes on an entirely new dimension in a world where human contact is effortlessly easy with anyone anywhere.

It’s not just Google that is changing its privacy policies to keep up with a transforming world, Facebook is doing a lot of the same thing. Facebook’s recent Timeline feature allows users to place important dates and milestones in their lives in somewhat of a virtual calendar, and to fill in the big events of one's life that may have occurred before Facebook was invented.

Even more crucial though is Facebook’s new Open Graph feature, allowing apps to share data to one’s Facebook Wall without even having to ask. If you go on a run and a smartphone app tracks all the contextual metadata, such as your calories burnt, heart rate and distance, it’s immediately on your Facebook Wall for people to see. If you’re listening to a song, it will show up on your Facebook wall. Of course, the app has to ask once, the first time, but from there on it’s all free flowing.

Unifying Identities

There’s a noticeable trajectory here, by eliminating these walls of permissions that have been the dividing lines between what happens in real world and what subsequently occurs in our online lives, Facebook is making its service all the more seamless and our online identities all the more important. If Facebook’s Open Graph goes so far as to make our Wall in perfect sync with every activity of our waking lives, it’s not ridiculous to say that online identity is on par in pertinence with our real lives.

Perhaps the term "real lives" needs some redefining at this stage.

Which brings me back to Google and its decision to rewire and unify user identities across products and services. If social media has reached such a point that online identities are comparable with real life identities, then it's high time they started acting that way.

People don’t walk the streets with a generic gender avatar for a face, a pseudonym for a name and hide behind an uncrackable block of pixels -- they shouldn’t on the Internet. Sure, pseudonyms are good for brand and identity building in platforms like YouTube, but everywhere else, in front of every online persona there should be a face and a name. Anonymity is an impossibility in real life, its use should be limited, too, in the online world.

The real crux though for many users isn’t having themselves linked to a profile, but having that profile visible to anyone who so happens to stumble across them, or know their email address. But this fear of discovery can be traced back and compared to our real lives once again with the understanding that we are constantly being discovered. People learn about us by seeing us on the train, through word of mouth between friends of friends or through direct contact by meeting and interaction.

Man on a Train

But it’s a smaller world with the Internet -- the equivalent of being discovered on the train may be a man who stumbles across our Google+ profile while on a train in another country. The equivalent of word of mouth between friends of friends could be word of instant message, and direct contact may be a Google+ hangout with someone a 12-hour flight away.

It’s a smaller world so we should expect to be found in new ways and in greater numbers.

Privacy concerns are all valid, but the privacy concerns of today are quickly becoming redundant as the world quickly shifts into tomorrow, imputed by the fast progressions of the Internet and social media. People have embraced social changes in the past with email and of course the telephone, but the online identity is a lot more difficult to grasp given it’s so abstract. It’s almost philosophical. But to be brutally frank, those who can’t seem to see the idea and value behind the public and discoverable online identity really shouldn’t be on Google+ and Facebook in the first place, where it’s habitual to give one’s information and life story away like garbage.

Google’s not evil, the company is simply growing out of old ideas and moving forward in a manner that can’t fit old molds anymore. Until we all recognize that, we’ll all be living in a world that won’t even exist anymore.

Jeremy Liu is a high school student who first became obsessed with technology in the 8th grade when his father bought him an iPod touch after months of begging. At a time when iPhones and the iPod Touch were spectacularly rare, the device managed to fascinate both himself and his friends. Liu now shuns the mainstream and roots for underdogs, owning a Windows Phone, Blackberry PlayBook and Sony Walkman X. Since then technology has grown from a passion to an obsession and he now directs his energies towards writing. You can find him on Facebook, Google+ and Tumblr.

Photo Credit: LeventeGyori/Shutterstock
Anonymous leaks FBI phone call; reminds of the insecurity of conference lines

Posted: February 3rd, 2012, 11:50am MST by Tim Conneally

Hacktivist group Anonymous has released an audio recording of a January 17 conference call which it claims includes members of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the UK's Scotland Yard discussing their latest anti-hacking efforts. We've embedded the 17-minute long clip above.

The participants in the conference call talk about Anonymous, LulzSec, Antisec, CSL Security and other black hat security groups, the evidence they have against such groups, and their progress in arresting suspects.

The discussion in the call really contains nothing too revealing, and the names of underage hackers are censored. But the nefarious part about this leak is not the content reavealed, but the revelation of the general insecurity of these sort of calls.

Whoever sat in on the call appears to have done so simply by obtaining the e-mail that contained dial-in information, and dialing in. Anonymous published the aforementioned e-mail alongside the recording.

With all the different bureaus sitting in on the call, the speaker identified as "Bruce" acknowledged at the beginning of the call that he didn't know how many others were on the line.

The FBI has confirmed the authenticity of the call.

Just five days after the call took place, the New York Times published an article about the overall vulnerability of conference lines -both video and voice- and how security researchers at Rapid7 in Boston could peek into open conference rooms at some of the biggest corporations across the country at will.

Photo credit: Rob Kints/Shutterstock
Apple claims smartphone crown from Nokia, Samsung

Posted: February 3rd, 2012, 10:57am MST by Joe Wilcox

iPhone's remarkable fourth-quarter surge -- 37 million units -- lifted the handset ahead of the two previous smartphone leaders, according to Canalys. For full year 2011, Apple shipped 93.1 million smartphones, compared to Samsung's 91.9 million and Nokia's 77.3 million. Nokia, the company that invented the smartphone, has bled share since iPhone launched nearly 5 years ago, but artery versus vein since announcing the switch to Windows Phone from Symbian in February 2011.

Apple's climb to the top followed October's iPhone 4S launch and availability of older 3GS and 4 models for free and $99, respectively. Samsung shipped 35.3 million smartphones in Q4, behind Apple, while Nokia shipped 19.6 million -- a stunning 31 percent decline. By comparison, iPhone shipments surged 128.1 percent for the quarter and 96 percent for the year.

However, Android shipments outpaced iPhone/iOS by considerable degrees, up 148.7 percent for the quarter and 244.1 percent for the year. Nearly 82 million Androids shipped during fourth quarter and 237.8 million for the year. Android captured 51.6 percent global smartphone share for the quarter and 48.8 percent for all 2011.

The quarter's biggest loser -- and big isn't, well, big enough -- was Windows Phone. Despite shipment of the first Nokia Windows Phones and release of v7.5 during the quarter, market share plunged a stunning 43.3 percent. Windows Phone ended the quarter with a puny 1.4 percent share. For perspective, that's below Samsung's Bada, which launched in mid 2010. Bada shipments grew 183.1 percent year over year, granted from a small base, to 2.7 percent share.

More broadly, 158.5 million smartphones shipped in Q4, up 57 percent year over year. For all 2011: 487.7 million, up 63 percent.

"Smartphones have grown from being a niche product segment at the high-end of the mobile phone market to becoming a truly mass-market proposition", Chris Jones, Canalys principal analyst, says. "The greater availability of smartphones at lower price points has helped tremendously, but there has been a driving trend of increasing consumer appetite for Internet browsing, content consumption and engaging with apps and services on mobile devices".
Android Market is safer than we thought, its 'Bouncer' kicks out bad apps

Posted: February 3rd, 2012, 9:43am MST by Tim Conneally

Hiroshi Lockheimer, Google's Vice President of Engineering for the Android mobile platform, revealed on Thursday that the Android Market has secretly had a system in place named "Bouncer" to scan apps for malicious code.

"Bouncer" was running in secret for most of 2011, and Lockheimer says that the period between the first and second halves of 2011 showed a 40% decrease in the number of potentially-malicious downloads from Android Market.

This statement runs contrary to the reports from Juniper Networks last November, who said Android malware had grown some 472 percent in the last six months of 2011.

"This drop occurred at the same time that companies who market and sell anti-malware and security software have been reporting that malicious applications are on the rise," Lockheimer said. "While it’s not possible to prevent bad people from building malware, the most important measurement is whether those bad applications are being installed from Android Market - and we know the rate is declining significantly."

The potential for the Android platform to carry malware was a problem that security companies warned us about from the very beginning, especially since apps could be freely installed from unknown sources and the Android Market initially had no vetting process in place for new apps.

Gradually, reports of new malware in the Android Market began to pile up. In 2010 there was a notable SMS Trojan, and then the Geinimi Trojans. Then in 2011, Android malware made headlines again when Google removed 21 apps from the Android Market for containing malicious code, and reports of Android malware really increrased.

Of course, not everyone was quite as alarmist as Juniper Networks about Android malware. Last August, McAfee's second quarter 2011 Threats Report said Android was indeed the most common target for mobile malware, but that the total number of threats for the platform was only 155 out of the 6 million total malwares in the wild.

Photo: Petrafler/Shutterstock
Which Firefox is right for you -- 10, 11, 12 or 13?

Posted: February 3rd, 2012, 9:13am MST by Nick Peers

Following on from the release of Firefox 10 FINAL, Mozilla has updated its developmental branches to versions 11 (Beta), 12 (Aurora/UX) and 13 (Nightly) respectively.

As always, the rapid release cycle -- a new version of Firefox ships every six weeks -- means that changes aren’t as radical as you might expect considering the regular version number jumps. However, the latest batch of updates hints that some major updates are heading Firefox’s way over the next few months. Get a head’s up on what’s coming and discover which build is best for your personal needs with our updated guide to what the future holds in store for Firefox.

Firefox 10.0 FINAL

The latest stable release of Firefox is, as ever, recommended for the vast majority of Firefox users. There’s little to get excited about with the release of version 10, however, which is why later versions may appeal to more experienced, and impatient, users.

Firefox 10’s biggest change is the way it handles add-ons. Previously, all add-ons not installed through the official Firefox add-ons channel were automatically made incompatible by a new release, forcing add-on developers to update their extensions every six weeks. Now, however, all third-party add-ons are assumed to be compatible unless stated otherwise, removing a major headache for developers and end users alike each time Firefox jumps to a new version number.

Elsewhere, the only visible change of note is the apparent disappearance of the browser forward button -- in actual fact, the button will now only appear when needed (after you’ve pressed the back button to visit the previous page), while developers will find a new option on the Web Developers menu, Inspect, that lets them take a peek at the HTML and CSS code powering websites.

The browser also now supports full-screen API, which allows web applications to run full-screen, but only if the user physically chooses to do so.

It’s a solid, rather than a spectacular release, but as always worth upgrading to. But what if you decide to go further?

Firefox 11.0b1 Beta

Once again, there are no major visible changes to be found in Firefox 11, but that doesn’t mean there’s not a lot to look forward to. Those using the Firefox Sync feature will be interested to learn that you can now sync add-ons across your computers in addition to all other elements, while Firefox 11 will also appeal to Chrome users looking to switch, with migration options for key Chrome features -- bookmarks, history and cookies -- implemented in the Bookmarks Library (select Import and Backup > Import Data from another Browser). This is the first of a two-part process, with other elements to be supported in a later release.

Look out too for the new Push-to-Device feature, which will make it easy to send a link from one Firefox device to another -- Mozilla cites the example of pushing a link from your desktop to your mobile so you can continue reading on the journey home after work.

Web developers also get even more goodies to look forward to in the guise of a Style Editor for tweaking CSS settings on the fly, and a new 3D viewing option, Tilt, for the Page Inspector.

Firefox 12.0a2 Aurora

Aurora is Firefox’s “alpha” build, which means it has undergone minimum testing only. As such it’s not suitable for everyday use, which is why Firefox Aurora is installed as a separate build alongside the stable or beta build, allowing you to test its features without affecting your day-to-day browsing. Settings are shared between Firefox Aurora and your other build, however, so again caution should be exercised before installing it.

Firefox 12 promises to introduce some major changes to the browser’s user interface, as changes from the UX branch start to finally filter into the browser’s main build. Sadly these aren’t yet visible, but could well appear before the browser moves towards beta.

These changes include a new Firefox Home tab -- a small pinned tab on the left of the Tab bar that’s stored locally and which allows the user to create their own customised home, with easy access to bookmarks, settings, downloads, history and the Apps Marketplace.

Also slated is a more informative and useful New Tab page in place of the current blank tab. A rather rudimentary example can be found in the Firefox UX build, but expect it to follow similar lines to Opera and Chrome.

Elsewhere, three changes have already landed in Aurora and can be road tested now. The inline URL auto-complete has been restored, with the hope it’ll more intelligently anticipate what the user is typing to help speed up his or her navigation of the web. The HTML5 media controls have been given a major refresh too, while Windows users should no longer have to hurdle the User Account Control dialog box when updating as Mozilla continues on the path to introducing a fully silent and automated update process.

Firefox 12.0a1 UX

Introduced in our last update, Firefox UX (also available as a dedicated64-bit build for Windows and Linux) provides a parallel Nightly build of Firefox that concentrates on developing a new interface for Firefox. Some of the features previewed here are finally making the transition to the Aurora channel, meaning they will soon appear in the version of Firefox most people have installed on their machines.

Other changes remain exclusive to UX for now, including the integrated download manager widget that appears in the top right-hand corner of the window, and better integration of Web Apps into the user interface, which can be previewed now -- watch the Address and Search bars vanish when running a web app like twitter.com from its own button.

Firefox 13.0a1 Nightly

Firefox’s Nightly channel gives users access to code hot off the press, but while you’re looking at the latest bleeding-edge version of Firefox, you’re also venturing into uncharted waters because much of this new code has had no testing at all. Nightly builds update regularly, so once installed you’ll find your build updating on a much more frequent basis than other unstable releases.

At the time of writing, Firefox Nightly exhibits no new features above and beyond that of Aurora, but there are some interesting developments in the pipeline, as revealed on the Features/Release Tracking page of the Mozilla Wiki.

Nightly is also available as a separate 64-bit build for compatible versions of Windows and Linux.

We’d recommend all but developers and serious, knowledgeable enthusiasts avoid the Nightly builds of Firefox.
So much for iPhone catching Android

Posted: February 3rd, 2012, 8:26am MST by Joe Wilcox

Just weeks ago the Apple Fanclub of bloggers and journalists giddily posted about how iPhone had reversed Androids' gains. But new data from comScore shows that, in the United States at least, Android is doing just fine, despite iPhone's remarkable fourth-quarter sales surge (more than 37 million units).

As measured by smartphone OS among cellular subscribers 13 and older, Android share grew to 47.3 percent at the end of December from 44.8 percent three months earlier. During the same time period, iPhone/iOS rose 2.2 points to 29.6 percent share. More broadly, for all handsets, Apple was the only manufacturer to gain share during fourth quarter -- up 2.2 points to 12.4 percent, or twice free-falling Research in Motion. Samsung firmly held its lead, 25.3 percent, which is the same as end of September.

At the end of December, 234 million people owned cell phones -- a number that hasn't changed in more than a year. However, the number who own smartphones -- 97.9 million, or 40 percent -- continues to rise.

But the gains aren't evenly distributed. While Android and iPhone/iOS benefit from growing smartphone adoption, BlackBerry and Windows Mobile/Phone continue to lose share. Windows Phone fell nearly 1 point during the three months to 4.7 percent share. That despite a big fourth quarter launch of Windows Phone 7.5.

comScore's data is among the most revealing. The analyst firm surveys 30,000 cellular subscribers, meaning the sample size is large and represents actual install base. Other analyst firms typically measure sales to customers, buying intentions or shipments into the channel. Based on shipments, earlier this week IDC put Apple as No. 3 for all handsets, not just smartphones, for 2011. Sales or install base more accurately reflects meaningful trends.
Security Task Manager reveals malware other apps miss

Posted: February 3rd, 2012, 7:30am MST by Mike Williams

Your system is misbehaving, and you think there’s a good chance it’s been infected by malware, but your antivirus package isn’t raising any alerts. So what do you do next?

One option is to install the trial version of Security Task Manager. This can display all your running processes and rate their potential risk -- all based purely on behavior and code analysis, no signature files are required, and so it may highlight dangerous processes which other tools miss.

The program will also raise plenty of false alarms, unfortunately, and that’s all down to the way it works. On our test PC, for instance, it gave the entirely innocent “Microsoft SharePoint Workspace Extensions” process the second-highest rating. Why? Clicking it displayed the program’s various risk factors: it could monitor our Internet browser, recorded user input, had an invisible window, didn’t include a detailed description, and so on. These are all characteristics of malware, but many legitimate processes may have them, too, so you can’t take Security Task Manager’s ratings too literally: they’re a pointer for initial investigations, that’s all.

Still, having said that, the program does make those investigations easier than they might otherwise be. If you click on a process, for instance, you’ll see any text contained within that file. Right-clicking it reveals an option to run a Google search for that process name, and you can also upload the file to VirusTotal for a more thorough check with all the main antivirus tools. (This isn’t exactly well automated, however; the program will open VirusTotal.com in a browser window, but then you must manually paste the file path into the box before you’re able to upload it.)

Is the program really worth its $29 asking price, though? We’re less sure about that, even as a one-off fee (there are no annual subscription features here): it just doesn’t feel like you’re getting enough to justify that level of expense.

Security Task Manager does have a 30-day trial version available, though, so perhaps the best idea is to simply give it a practical trial when you’re next having malware detection or removal problems. And if it can help you to find or remove a threat which you’d have missed otherwise then maybe the program really does deserve a place in your permanent security toolkit.

Photo Credit: Kheng Guan Toh/Shutterstock
Drive Manager -- when Windows Explorer isn't enough

Posted: February 3rd, 2012, 6:00am MST by Mike Williams

Hard drives, memory card readers, DVDs and Blu-rays, network drives, removable disks and more: even a budget PC can have a host of storage options available at any one time. If you find you have trouble managing these with Explorer, though, then the free, portable Drive Manager has plenty of tools to help.

These start by presenting the key drive basics on a single opening screen, so just about everything you might need is available at a glance. There’s the drive volume name and type, for instance; network path; file system; capacity and space free; vendor or product name (useful for identifying which USB drive you’ve connected), and more.

Need more low-level details? The Disk Info button reveals a drive’s device name (\Device\HarddiskVolume1), its bytes per sector and sectors per cluster, the partition number and type and in-depth information on the file system. A built-in SMART checker lists attributes such as drive temperature and the number of seek errors, for compatible devices, which can highlight upcoming drive crashes. And there are other tools to scan your drive for errors, and even benchmark them for speed (although the latter seemed extremely unreliable in our tests, and isn’t going to replace a real benchmarking tool any time soon).

Drive Manager isn’t just about passive reporting, though. You can also use it to hide a drive from Explorer (though you must restart the system for this to take effect). A Subset option allows you to create virtual drives which actually point a particular path on your hard drive. And there are tools to safely dismount a USB drive, connect or disconnect a network drive, lock a DVD drive door, and more.

We did notice one oddity here. When we first ran Drive Manager, our test PC had a DVD movie in one of its drives, and for some reason the program took an absolute age to load (we thought it had locked up), and when it was finally running some features still didn’t work quite as we expected.

This may have been some odd issue specific to our setup, though. And even here, once the DVD was removed everything worked just fine. So if you’re looking for an easy way to find out more about your PC drives, then we’d still recommend Drive Manager: the program is compact, its portability is a real convenience, and the tool comes packed with useful features and functionality.

Photo Credit: Raimundas/Shutterstock
Will you pay for Facebook?

Posted: February 2nd, 2012, 3:53pm MST by Ed Oswald

Are you ready to pay for Facebook? You just may. Analyst Foad Fadaghi of Telsyte, an Australian technology research firm, tells news.com.au that premium accounts are an option to increase revenues.

As I argued on Wednesday, Facebook now must answer to shareholders. Being a public company is a completely different world from life as a private company. Fadaghi also expects Facebook to make advertising more invasive, as investors demand better performance. Ain't that grand?

Floating the option to charge for Facebook has to be on the table. The site needs new revenue streams. Regardless, the option is ridiculous and a non-starter. The whole concept of the social network itself prevents such an arrangement from ever being effective.

You are the Key to Facebook's Success

Social networks are built upon the hope that the user will divulge personal information. This personal information is used to make those connections, and create the social aspect of the service. Without this, a profile is nothing more than a glorified personal web page.

Yes, there are some social-like services -- Match.com for example -- but these exist for a purpose. You pay Match.com for the ability of the site to match you with the love of your life. There is a reason for the charge because it is something you may not be able to do yourself.

This is why LinkedIn attempted to monetize its own social network. While very much like the more consumer-focused sites, at heart LinkedIn is still a service aimed at connecting you with like-minded professionals. Even so, the features above and beyond a free account are all but worthless to me.

Explain what service Facebook offers the user, other than the ability to connect with friends and/or brands, groups, etc. that interest you? Charging for this is akin to paying for your friends. That is not going to fly.

Paying for Privacy? No thanks

Fadaghi's comments generated heated discussion here in the newsroom. Someone half-joked that a premium Facebook account could provide a service where users' account information isn't disclosed or surfaced. You pay for privacy. That's a talking point for the anti-Facebook crowd -- they're invading our privacy!

If that's the hook for such a premium account, I'll laugh. Here's a quick way to solve that: don't use Facebook. Despite what some of us may think, you can survive life without it. Paying to ensure my privacy is a ridiculous argument, because it is my information and not Facebook's. My personal details are what makes the site click. Without that, Facebook is nothing.

To be fair, I must say that Fadaghi does state the obvious: "The challenge is companies such Google+ will provide similar services, but are likely not to charge because they are less powerful in the social networking space. As long as there is competition, social networking sites will remain free to consumers". At least he roundabout sees the insanity of charging for a social network somewhat.

Maybe this argument is a moot point, then. Whether or not it happens though, it needs to be shot down by the socially networked masses. These sites need to understand that this is our information, and we are under no obligation to continue to allow them to profit from it.

I can live without social networking, I did for many years and can do it again. If this is the next big thing in the industry, you can count me out.

Photo Credit: Stuart Miles/Shutterstock
Skype 5.8 for Windows released -- get it now!

Posted: February 2nd, 2012, 3:17pm MST by Mark Wilson

Less than three months ago, a beta version of Skype was unveiled that boasted a number of new features. The latest update to the popular VoIP tool sees the software jumping straight to version 5.8, finalizing some of the features found in the beta and adding a couple more for good measure. There are a number of highlights to Skype 5.8, and there is a great deal to investigate if you have not been keeping track of the beta versions of the software.

Conducting video chats has for too long been a blocky, stuttering affair, plagued with poor quality footage -- not just in Skype, but in general -- but support for full HD video-calling, assuming you have a suitable camera and a fast enough internet connection, means that this is set to change for Skype users. Video calls are great not only for personal Skype chats, but also for business meetings, and in the same vein the new group screen sharing is an interesting new addition. If you have a Skype Premium account, during the course of a group chat you can now share your entire desktop or just a single application window.

Another change to video calling will interest Facebook users. For some time, it has been possible to access your Facebook contacts from within Skype, but there is now also the option of conducting video and audio chats with friends on Facebook, even if they are not running Skype themselves. While it is likely that your Skype contact list is fairly compact, there is a high chance that your Facebook friend list is somewhat more extensive. To help make this easier to manage, offline Facebook contacts can be hidden from view to help reduce the length of the list to a more manageable size.

Push to talk is a technology that has been implemented in some cell phone apps, making it possible to conduct walkie-talkie style conversations. Bringing this same option to Skype is something that will be welcomed by gamers as well as anyone who keeps Skype running at all times but does not want to have to keep stopping and starting an audio chat. The new feature means that a keyboard shortcut can be configured to toggle the mute status of your microphone -- while the shortcut is pressed you can speak, but the moment you release the keys you will no longer be heard.

Full details of the changes and additions that have been made to Skype can be found at the Skype Garage blog. You can find out more and download the latest version of the app by paying a visit to the Skype 5.8 review page.
Android's People app is no Windows Phone People Hub

Posted: February 2nd, 2012, 3:01pm MST by Tim Conneally

Android 4.0, also known as Ice Cream Sandwich, takes a slightly different approach to social content organization and management, and includes a couple of new APIs to let application developers surface social network data.

If you've got ICS running on your phone already, you have probably already noticed the "People" application, Android's revamped contacts system that unifies different social networks and methods of communication under a single profile, allowing information to be more centrally located on a user's phone and shared out when needed.

The problem is, Google wants this to be a "highly visual" method of contact arrangement, with big pictures of users, and unified lists of social network updates...kind of like Windows Phone does in its People Hub. Unfortunately, it's still far from being a reality. Contact pictures from various sources, even Google's own, may be low resolution and blown up to fit the ICS contact screen after the fact, and social network updates are somewhat buried underneath the contact information.

On both Google+ and the Android Developer Blog on Thursday, the Android Developer team talked about the various APIs available to remedy this situation, providing a gentle nudge to "any network that wants to participate."

"Up until now, pictures were written using a ContentValues object, just like all the other data rows of the raw contact. While this approach is still supported, it might fail when used with bigger pictures, as there is a size limit when sending ContentValues across process boundaries," the team blog says. "The prefered way now is to use an AssetFileDescriptor and write them using a FileOutputStream instead. For best results, store uncompressed square photos and let the contacts provider take care of compressing the photo. It will create both a thumbnail and a display photo as necessary."

Similarly, the Update Streams APIs are available to funnel social data into ICS contacts. Using the APIs lets each contact display the five most recent updates, with their time stamp and comments, including photo updates.

Many users spoke up today to say that the main problem with Google's contact management system in Android is that linked contact data is still extremely messy.

"Android devices connect to multiple cloud sources, so in the case of contacts you have different contact sources," Google Software Engineer Daniel Lehmann replies. "If you make a change to a specific contact (let's say: the phone number of a Gmail contact), Android can upload that change to Gmail easily, as that contact 'lives' in Gmail. However, once we are talking about aggregations between contacts from different sources, there is no single 'home' for your contact anymore. Imagine you manually joined a Skype with a Twitter contact. Where would we store that relationship?"
Windows 8 -- from a gas engine to hybrid!

Posted: February 2nd, 2012, 2:37pm MST by Chris Boss
What does Windows 8 really look like under the hood? Is Metro a totally new direction for the Windows API? What does this really mean for software development?

As a programmer I like to know how things work under the hood. I am also a decent backyard mechanic, and I look at automobiles the same way. People who work on cars may have spent years learning how a gas engine works, but what happens when they finally have to work on a hybrid? The difference between a gas engine and a hybrid engine are like night and day. I believe we are seeing something similiar with Windows too!

Windows Started Out As Procedural In Nature

It took me years to learn the Windows API (WIN32) and to fully appreciate how things work under the hood. Windows originally was an operating system based on functions and subroutines. These functions (or API) provided features for programmers to use. At its core, Windows uses a very simple architecture based on a messaging system -- when messages (from user input and the system) are sent to a window procedure (a function), where they are parsed out and processed. This appeals to me since I am not a fan of OOP (Object Oriented Programming), and I prefer a more procedural approach to programming. I like things simple.

Microsoft Went OOP!

While popular programming languages like Visual Basic were object-oriented, this was more a feature of the programming language rather than the operating system. Progressively over time, the OS has become more and more object-oriented. Personally I think when .NET became the rage, the procedural nature of Windows receded and OOP began to rule. Yet despite all the OOP of .NET, amazingly the core operating system was still very procedural in nature.

Much of OOP is based on two things: COM (Component Object Model, which itself is based on OLE) and C++ classes. To appreciate what this means, one must appreciate how programming language code is compiled to machine code. In laymens terms, OOP is the epitome of indirection. Rather than calling a function or subroutine in memory, one instead gets a pointer to a pointer to a vtable before any code is even called.

The Windows Registry

In this mix is something else -- the Windows Registry. Components and classes in Windows need to be registered with the operating system. To make it all work, the operating system has to get the Registry involved. Windows XP users have great insight into the Registry. Because Windows XP has been in use for so long a time, users have progressively seen their computers get slower and slower over time. Why? Because the Registry gets bloated (especially if you have installed and removed many apps over the years). Some even may consider the Registry one of Windows' biggest weaknesses.

Windows 8 WinRT Goes Crazy For OOP!

Check out this video from the BUILD developer conference.

I wanted to know how Metro works under the hood and this video, while quite boring at times, is very telling. If you read my previous article about the BUILD Windows Architecture slide, after viewing this video you can see I may need to totally redo my version of the slide. I gave the Win32 API too much credit and now I realize that WinRT is a radical change for Windows. I don't mean Metro and how the user interface appears to users. I mean a radical change in the underlying operating system.

I have two concerns about the WinRT. First its dependence upon COM and C++ classes. As a long-time WIN32 programmer, I can tell you there is a significant difference between the procedural style coding using the Windows API and a COM-based API. The benefits of .NET at times have been clouded by slower and more bloated applications compared to using the pure WIN32 API's directly. Now WinRT is going far beyond even .NET. It pushes COM even to a new level that takes over the operating system (the Metro side).

OOP may have benefits, but it also has some downsides and now the Metro side of Windows has become COM and OOP on steroids. Remember, one of the keys of quality software development is the ability to easily debug one's code. Both COM and OOP add significant layers to code (albeit under the hood) that only adds more overhead, which may need to be debugged as well as the core code itself. Procedural code by its nature tends to be simpler to debug, at least from my own experience anyway.

The second concern is the increased dependency of the operating system (WinRT) on the Windows Registry. Accessing the Registry simply adds more overhead, more opportunities for something to go wrong and extra work for the OS to do things. WinRT pushes dependency upon the Registry to a level that really surprises me. Anyone who has ever had his or her computer's Registry get trashed should know what I mean. When the Registry fails, Windows goes with it.

Keep Things Simple No Longer Applies.

One of the lessons I learned early on, which applies to many things including programming, is to "keep things simple". Many an auto mechanic longs for the days when cars were easier to figure out and fix. In the old days mechanics didn't need a computer.

The Windows was never simple, but compared to the new WinRT the old WIN32 API is very simple. Will the extra complexity of Windows pay off in the end? Microsoft has some very good people who are experts and know what they are doing. Yet a lone programmer like myself does wonder, will all this added complexity improve software or are there dangers lurking in the dark? Only time will tell.

I like Metro, really. I don't think the desktop is obsolete, or should be, and I plan to continue to developing primarily for the desktop. I, like an old-time mechanic, do feel rightly concerned when I hear terms like "legacy" when refering to the desktop. I surely don't like the idea of someday having to learn how to work on a hybrid car, so don't be surprised when I say that the direction Windows is going does give me some concern.

Windows Is Here To Stay, No Matter How It Works.

Just like with cars, we just have to live with changes the future brings. Windows (in some form or another) likely will be around for awhile, and we just have to learn to grow with it. I don't see myself moving to a different platform, such as iPad or Android. I may have to make changes in the development tools I use, in the worst-case scenario (I don't use Microsoft programming languages if you are wondering). Maybe at some point I will have to just "throw in the towel" and leave programming to the younger generation, who will grow up with the new technologies.

The only thing I can ask of Microsoft right now is, please don't let WinRT replace the Windows desktop in the future. I can live with Metro and the desktop working side by side, each doing what it is best suited for. Please, please, don't be thinking the Windows API (WIN32) and the Windows desktop are obsolete or simply a temporary fix for so called legacy applications. If you can only stop for a moment and take a good look at what some of us "legacy" programmers can do with your WIN32 API, you might realize that maybe the desktop still has a purpose and should be a core part of Windows for years to come.

Stay Tuned...

I plan on redoing my version of the BUILD conference slide, since I have learned some very interesting things about how Metro works under the hood.

Links to articles which discuss the other side of OOP:
- "Has OOP failed?"
- "Object-oriented programming has failed us"
Photo Credit: AlexRoz/Shutterstock

Chris Boss is an advanced Windows API programmer and developer of 10 year-old EZGUI, which is now version 5. He owns The Computer Workshop, which opened for businesses in the late 1980s. He originally developed custom software for local businesses. Now he develops programming tools for use with the PowerBasic compiler.
Avid Studio for iPad debuts, but, hurry, the low price won't last

Posted: February 2nd, 2012, 1:05pm MST by Joe Wilcox

Move over, iMovie, some serious competition moved on to iPad, today. Avid Studio for iPad is now available -- $4.99 for a limited time. Avid was the big name in filmmaking, long before Apple stormed the market with its pro and amateur products. Apple reigns king on iPad and the Mac. Can Avid provide some needed tablet competition?

By the specs and feature list, Avid Studio for iPad appeals. The app can directly capture video, use multiple content sources on the tablet (e.g., audio, photos and video), generate motion titles and graphics, precisely trim content, create picture-in-picture effects and much more. That's all while taking advantage of iPad's touchscreen. For people using Avid's PC software, there's an app exporter available, too.

"More and more users are relying on mobile devices for media content creation, viewing and sharing, and we’re proud to deliver a feature-rich new app that takes powerful Avid technology and adapts it specifically for the iPad", Tanguy Leborgne, Avid vice president, says. "Editing enthusiasts can now use a mobile application that has our industry-leading video editing technology built into it—with the interactive capabilities of iOS—to help them make incredible movies at home or on the go".

How incredible? That answer depends largely on your success using the software. I don't have an iPad and so can't test the app, but early Avid Studio for iPad buyers express remorse about crashes (their reviews are available on the App Store product page on the web but, strangely, not yet in iTunes).

Picnicmetoo writes:

Luckily my plans are to buy iPad 3. In the meantime, with a 64GB WiFi iPad 1 with 40-percent free it crashes repeatedly and it would not render even the small size of a small test video. I suspect the iPad 1 is just not capable of dealing with the video. I did a soft reset but that did not help--its just not a good choice for iPad 1. What I was able to do with it in just a quick test looked good, easy, and I look forward to using it with my iPad 3.

I had to give it a one star based on not being able to use with Ipad 1 and not being warned in the specs. I imagine I will be able to give it a 4 or 5 star with the iPad 3.

Salah Baker also gives the app one star: "So far it does crash quiet a bit doing titles and rendering. Needs to watch memory consumption on iPad 1. Good thing iPad 3 is coming out. Not iPad 1 friendly so far".

Strangely, Avid's system requirements list both iPad models as being acceptable. Granted, iPad 2 has a dual-core processor.

My question: Have you downloaded and used Avid Studio for iPad? Which iPad? How is your user experience?
Here's how Apple fixes its China problem [video]

Posted: February 2nd, 2012, 12:20pm MST by Joe Wilcox

"Conan" offers yet another timely spoof, here about Apple's problem with working conditions at factories in China. People have called for boycotts, others claim Apple is no worse than other high-tech companies using the same facilities. Seems like everyone has an opinion about what's really an old story.

Satire is a dish best served cold, and Team Coco packs on the ice.
Kindle Fire will become Amazon's cash cow

Posted: February 2nd, 2012, 11:49am MST by Ed Oswald

Amazon's fourth quarter results missed targets, despite strong sales of the Kindle Fire. It is these users that will begin to pad the company's earnings, however, validating Amazon's strategy of selling Fire at a very low margin and then making up the profit through entertainment content sales.

Amazon saw its profits plummet, reporting net income of $177 million in the fourth quarter of 2011. This was down sharply from a year earlier, when the retailer reported income of $416 million. Revenue was up 35 percent however, to $17.4 billion.

ChangeWave Research polled the attitudes of Amazon customers and found that Kindle Fire owners were 10 percent more likely to spend more on Amazon in the next 90 days versus their non-Fire owning counterparts. That is great news for the retailer.

It's the Attach Rate, Stupid

Service sales in 2011 doubled year-over-year to $6.4 billion. It's not too far-fetched to expect another spike in these sales thanks to sales of the Fire and in turn increased usage of Amazon's entertainment service offerings.

"The considerable difference in planned spending between Kindle Fire owners and non-owners highlights the tremendous potential for additional realized revenue that the new tablet brings to Amazon, above and beyond initial sales of the device", ChangeWave says of its findings.

With low overhead, there's a high profit margin on digital entertainment content. Since Kindle Fire is an entertainment device first, it's expected that consumers will return time and time again to download content.

You could make the argument that the top-down integration of content and device is affording Kindle Fire similar customer satisfaction results to the iPad, another tablet where the ecosystem is tightly controlled. Of the 254 new Kindle Fire owners that responded to the survey, 54 percent reported being "very satisfied" with the device, five points higher than all other tablet devices.

This remains considerably behind the iPad's 74 percent, but shows that Amazon is definitely on to something here and is offering a better product than the tablet industry at large. Moreover, another 38 percent report being "somewhat satisfied", meaning nine out of every 10 Fire owners report some level of satisfaction with their purchase.

Benefitting from Great Marketing

Amazon should feel validated about its strategy. By far, the top reason Kindle Fire owners like their devices is its low cost (59 percent). The color screen is a distant second (31 percent), and ease of use third (27 percent). Consumers also have high praise for the selection of books available through the device and its size and weight.

The top five most mentioned "likes" represent features of Kindle Fire that Amazon has highlighted as strengths. The argument can also be made that this is a validation of product marketing, too: consumers are responding to the Kindle Fire in the way Amazon intended them to, an important consideration in building continuing consumer loyalty.

On the flip side, The Fire's criticisms read like a laundry list for necessary features in the second-generation model which we're likely to see sometime this year. A quarter dislike the fact that there's no volume up/down button on the Fire, while others mentioned the lack of a camera as a drawback. Other reasons for being unhappy with the device included poor battery life, lack of 3G/4G support, and a lack of compatible apps.

Amazon, are you listening?
Apple jumps from fifth to third place in global phone shipments

Posted: February 2nd, 2012, 10:18am MST by Joe Wilcox

Manufacturers shipped 1.546 billion cell phones last year, up 11.1 percent from 2010. Apple posted the strongest gains for the quarter and year -- 128.4 percent and 96.2 percent, respectively. The Cupertino, Calif.-based company ended both time periods in third place. No other vendor came even close. Samsung was up nearly 21 percent for the quarter and ZTE 30.9 percent for the year. IDC compiled the data, which represents shipments into the channel, rather than sales to end users.

Apple's strong showing comes from a huge fourth-quarter finish -- 37 million handsets, all smartphones. By comparison, Nokia and Samsung sold many more feature phones, which still overwhelmingly account for the number of handsets shipped globally. "Feature phones accounted for a majority of shipments from four of the five market leaders during the quarter", Ramon Llamas, IDC senior research analyst, says. "Even though their proportion is eroding, feature phones maintain their appeal on the basis of price and ease of use".

For fourth quarter, manufacturers shipped 427.4 million handsets, up 6.1 percent year over year and ahead of IDC's 4.4 percent growth forecast. Still, the market is slowing.

"The mobile phone market exhibited unusually low growth last quarter, which shows it is not immune to weaker macroeconomic conditions worldwide", Kevin Restivo, IDC senior research analyst, says. "The introduction of high-growth products such as the iPhone 4S, which shipped in the fourth quarter, bolstered smartphone growth. Yet overall market growth fell to its lowest point since 3Q09 when the global economic recession was in full bloom".

Recession isn't the problem now, but more saturation, particularly among feature phones. Then there is the Nokia transition. The world's largest handset maker is moving from Symbian to Windows Phone, making its existing handsets somewhat less attractive to new buyers in markets where Nokia overwhelmingly is market share leader. India is one example. More broadly, feature phone shipments declined in the country, as well as China and Indonesia.

More than any other manufacturer, Nokia upscaled feature phones with smartphone-like capabilities. This effort and that from other vendors is proving effective. "To meet the challenge, feature phones are becoming more like smartphones, incorporating mobile Internet and third-party applications", Llamas says. "While this may not stem the smartphone tide, it should slow down the rate at which smartphones are selected over feature phones".

Samsung continued closing on Nokia, topping 90 million phones for the first time during any single quarter and nearly 330 million for the year. Nokia's lead trembles, but by no means is close to falling. Yet. Meanwhile, LG is in free-fall, with shipments plummeting at extraordinary pace -- 42.2 percent for the quarter and 24.5 percent for the year. LG failed to update feature phones with compelling smartphone-like features while not offering appealing higher-end handsets.

Fourth-quarter belonged to Apple as the up-and-comer. The question now: Is iPhone's momentum sustainable? That's a question another quarter of sales will answer. Apple's gains largely come from an exceptional Q4, which was iPhone 4S launch quarter. But it's also when cofounder Steve Jobs died. With positive media attention waning from Jobs' death and negative vibes increasing following a New York Times investigation of Apple's Chinese manufacturing operations, Q1 will greatly foreshadow iPhone in 2012. If iPhone rises still, surely others will fall.
The new meets the old: First LTE to CDMA VoIP handover complete

Posted: February 2nd, 2012, 9:59am MST by Tim Conneally

Qualcomm on Thursday finally came forward to announce an LTE milestone that took place at the end of December: the first voice call to be seamlessly handed over from an LTE mobile network to a WCDMA network using Single Radio Voice Call Continuity (SRVCC). This is an important milestone because SRVCC lets the LTE-based VoIP/IMS packets be transferred to the legacy circuit-switched domain, unifying the old mobile networks with the new.

This has been one of the big challenges for LTE VoIP for the last four years, and the industry was exploring SRVCC alongside a technique called Circuit Switched Fall Back (CSFB) to offer continuous voice over LTE service. With the ability to hand over connections, VoIP subscribers can roam between LTE and other wireless networks without disconnection.

"As LTE networks are deployed alongside 3G networks, the ability for multimode 3G/LTE mobile devices to connect to different network technologies will be an important part of providing the best possible mobile voice and data experience to consumers," said Cristiano Amon, SVP of product management at Qualcomm in a statement on Thursday. "Qualcomm is committed to the successful deployment of LTE networks worldwide in conjunction with 3G networks, and the milestone we've achieved with Ericsson is another step towards making VoLTE technology a commercial reality."

Both Qualcomm and Ericsson will be demonstrating the technique at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona beginning February 27.

Photo: Kentoh/Shutterstock
Try Auslogics Disk Defrag Pro 4 for free

Posted: February 2nd, 2012, 9:18am MST by Chris Wiles

If you’ve ever tried Auslogics free Disk Defrag tool then you’ll know it’s a quick and easy way to optimize your hard drive, if a little basic: like most of the free defrag tools, the program offers the bare essentials and very little else.

But it’s a very different story with the newly released commercial version, Auslogics Disk Defrag Pro, which is absolutely stuffed with essential features -- and the results are very impressive.

Everyone uses their PC differently, for instance, and a “one size fits all” defrag policy is never going to work. So it’s good to see Disk Defrag Pro offer multiple defrag algorithms, enabling you to optimize your file layout according to access times, modification times, or Windows own prefetch layouts. And if that’s not good enough then you can manually decide which files you’d like written to the fastest part of your drive, so any performance boost is delivered precisely where you need it.

You get plenty of choice over how the defrag process takes place, too. The program can now run before Windows launches, for instance, allowing it to defrag operating system and other files that might otherwise be locked (like the Registry, say). You can choose to defrag individual files or folders, perhaps as a quick way to optimize a particular application. A powerful scheduler means you’re able to run unattended defrags whenever you like, and there’s even the option to defrag your system when it’s idle, so any fragmentation is eliminated almost as soon as it appears.

Yes, that does mean another background process for your PC, but Disk Defrag Pro goes to an unusual degree of trouble to make sure it never gets in your way. An excellent Resource Management module makes it easy to limit just how much use the program can make of your CPU or hard drive. And you can tell Disk Defrag Pro not to run at all if, say, a particular application is running, or your notebook is on battery power, so you’ve plenty of control over how it works.

And there are stacks of other features, everywhere you look. Like special defrag algorithms for VSS-enabled and SSD drives, for instance. The program’s detailed reports, which for instance can plot your file fragmentation over time. And the Defrag Wizard, which asks you a few simple questions and then automatically sets up the program to best suit your needs.

While there is still a free version of the program available, it’s nothing like as powerful. You don’t get the choice of defrag algorithms, for instance. There’s no boot-time defrag, no resource management, scheduling is more basic, there’s no detailed reports or specific SSD support -- it’s a big step down.

Still, if you’d like to sample what Disk Defrag Pro has to offer then we’ve an exclusive 90-day trial version, which will give you plenty of time to find out. Grab a copy, take a look at the new features and see just how the program compares to your current defrag tool.

Photo Credit: Balazs Justin/Shutterstock
Expect Windows 8 in October, or not at all this year

Posted: February 2nd, 2012, 8:56am MST by Joe Wilcox

This should be obvious, but something needs to be stated by somebody: Based on previous development cycles, Microsoft's plans for public beta and the PC market's desperate need for a new OS this year, Windows 8 is tracking for October launch. Actually, the public beta coming this month is the last milestone for hitting October, otherwise Microsoft might be forced to repeat history and, like Windows Vista, miss the holidays. That's unthinkable.

By measure of Windows 7, its successor is actually trailing behind development track for October. Microsoft released Windows 7 Beta 1 in early January 2009. Windows 8 public beta is expected six weeks or more later. Typically, Microsoft would have offered a second Windows 7 beta but went right to release candidate. Windows 8 would need similar accelerated track to be ready for the holidays. Just one snag: The new OS is much more ambitious. There's new Metro UI, ARM processor support and architectural changes that hugely impact developers. Oh, yeah. Microsoft is launching a software store, too. End-of-February to October launch is a stretch.

Be sure that Windows & Windows Live division president Steven Sinofsky and team have a good idea where they are and where they need to be to ship Windows 8 this year. February is the key milestone month, the last beta launch window to hit holiday 2012. Case in point: Windows Vista. Microsoft couldn't get out a beta by the end of February 2006. In late March, the company stunned techdom by announcing Windows Vista wouldn't ship for the holidays. My God! How do you miss Christmas!

OEMs need time to test new Windows versions, put together software images and ship PCs into the channel. Even in this era of real-time manufacturing, retail remains the primary sales channel. PC manufacturers still need a good six weeks from final Windows code's release to manufacturing to actual launch -- a little longer to get PCs in stores. Ideally, then, Windows 8 must RTM by end of August to make October launch, which is best timeframe assuring the channel is stocked for Black Friday.

Windows 7 released to manufacturing in late July 2009 and launched in late October of that year. There was a full 12 weeks in between, and Windows 7 didn't require much more from developers or OEMs than Vista. Windows 8 demands much more from both groups -- and business customers, too.

Windows 8 won't be a big business launch. It's all consumer this time. The majority of enterprises will have just completed or soon will finish Windows 7 deployments by autumn. Then there are the changes under the hood and user interface, including Metro and Ribbon, that give IT managers and developers the willies. Sure, massive enterprise adoption is inevitable, but not right away. Well, somebody corporate will want Windows 8 tablets sooner than later.

Successful consumer launch is essential, and that means Microsoft must make the holidays -- or face another Windows Vista disaster. Consumer PC sales are down, based on data from Gartner, IDC and Microsoft -- that's for all 2011 and projected for at least first half of this year. Correction: Windows PC sales are way down. Macs are selling just fine, thank you.

That makes holiday 2012 all the more important and the next six months absolutely crucial for Microsoft and its partners. Given the timetable's tightness compared to Windows 7 and how it tracks against Windows Vista's delay, I could post something radically predicting that 8 will be late. But I have confidence in Sinofsky and team based on how they turned around Windows 7 after Vista's failure to launch (or to be widely adopted). Additionally, Microsoft plans to launch the Windows Store concurrent with the public beta, which foreshadows that OS development is far along.

Still, I must conclude that to broadly make holiday 2012, Windows 8 must RTM in August (sooner would be better) and launch in October. Fall-back scenario would push gold code to September and limited availability for the holidays. Worst case: Windows Vista-like delay.
Samsung and Corning team up to tackle OLED displays

Posted: February 2nd, 2012, 8:13am MST by Tim Conneally

Corning Incorporated and Samsung Mobile Display Company on Thursday announced they are beginning an equity joint venture in Korea that focuses on making the glass substrate for Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) displays.

OLEDs were a big topic at this year's Consumer Electronics Show, especially the large-panel TVs sporting the display technology. But OLED tablets were also on the menu, as Toshiba teased with a 7.7" concept tablet with a high contrast AMOLED display.

The joint venture between Samsung and Corning will combine Corning’s Lotus Glass substrate technology and Samsung Mobile Display’s OLED display technology for displays of all sizes, from tablet to TV.

Corning's Lotus Glass substrate was unveiled less than four months ago, and the company designed it for use in low-temperature poly-silicon (LTPS) and oxide thin-film transistor (TFT) backplane manufacturing environments, which could work in either LCD or OLED displays.
Ashampoo WinOptimizer 9 Beta is ready for Windows 8

Posted: February 2nd, 2012, 6:37am MST by Nick Peers

Ashampoo has released a beta version of the forthcoming Ashampoo WinOptimizer 9. The all-in-one maintenance and performance tool for Windows PCs will include two brand new components and promises improved performance over its predecessor thanks to tweaked algorithms that will scan quicker and more thoroughly to identify more areas for improvement.

Version 9 also boasts a redesigned user interface and promises to be compatible with the forthcoming Windows 8, due for release later this year.

WinOptimizer 9 has added two new tools to its roster. The first is a Registry Defrag tool to go alongside its Registry cleaning component. This tool scans the Registry for empty space left behind by deleted Registry entries, then compacts and defrags the Registry hive files to produce a small performance boost.

The second tool is the HDD Inspector, a tool for monitoring the status and health of hard drives attached to the computer.

The major improvements to the program’s performance and maintenance tools have been labelled “Optimization 2.0”. These include a new updated automatic system analysis function, one-click optimization with brand new overview and summary of results, updated drive cleaner, improved Registry cleaner and updated browser profiles for the Internet cleaner.

Ashampoo WinOptimizer 9 also sports a redesigned user interface, with the emphasis on providing more direct access to the suite’s various components. It achieves this by offering different views, including an overview of all available modules, list of categories and precise details for each module selected.

The final update for version 9 is full support for Windows 8, which is due out towards the end of the product’s life cycle, ensuring users will be able to migrate Ashampoo WinOptimizer across to their upgraded version of Windows.

Ashampoo WinOptimizer 9 Beta is available now as a free trial download for Windows XP or later. The final version is slated for official release on February 15th, and will retail for $39.99, with upgrades available at $15.99 for exisiting users.
How fast has Facebook grown?

Posted: February 1st, 2012, 12:15pm MST by Joe Wilcox

That's a question many people will ask today following Facebook's IPO filing. In March 2007, less than a year after opening to the public, the social network had 30 million users. The number is more than 800 million today. But neither number truly reveals Facebook's global impact.

Last summer, Pew Internet found that 92 percent of social network users are on Facebook -- just 17 percent on Twitter. Today, comScore released data on Facebook penetration across the globe, as measured as percentage of total Internet audience.

"Globally, Facebook reached 12 percent of the internet audience in December 2007 and as of December 2011 the social network reached over half of the internet audience, 55 percent (43 percentage point rise)", according to comScore.

Reach is greatest in Latin America (84.1 percent), followed by North America (82.9 percent). For more, see the chart above, which is fairly self explanatory.
Facebook's IPO is light on guarantees, heavy on risk

Posted: February 1st, 2012, 12:10pm MST by Ed Oswald

So Facebook is set to go public today. It's the most anticipated initial public offering since Google in 2004, and may net the Menlo Park, Calif. social network between $5 billion and $10 billion, according to estimates. That said, I am still lost as to how Facebook's going to be able to wow Wall Street from quarter to quarter, and we all know that's what investors (and the tech press) are looking for.

The IPO will cause pandemonium on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, as investors attempt to cash in on one of the most successful Web companies in history. This type of market hysteria is prone to pitfalls: fellow social networking site LinkedIn saw its shares skyrocket to nearly $95 in the first day of trading from an IPO of $45, but it has since given back about half of those gains.

IPO or not, does it matter to Facebook? Not really -- as a private company Facebook is a huge success, and made CEO Mark Zuckerberg a billionaire. With an estimated net worth of $17.5 billion, he is the 14th richest person in the world according to Forbes as of 2011. An IPO only will greatly increase his wealth, and those around him.

That's the only guarantee here surrounding Facebook's debut on Wall Street.

Going public has its drawbacks. As a private company, Facebook is able to do as it pleases -- only having to answer to itself internally. This changes when you're dealing with investors. They demand results, and you may find yourself making decisions to keep them happy, and to pad the results you're now required by law to publicly release every quarter.

That in mind, here's a point to ponder: with Facebook now home to over 800 million users, how much bigger can the site really get? Facebook is going to hit that mythical "brick wall" sooner or later. There are quite a few people who aren't interested in sharing their life's details. The site's growth is finite.

This may not be more vividly illustrated than by the growth of its competitors. Google+ reached 100 million users in just six months, a feat that Facebook took four years to accomplish. That shows the fickleness of Web users: no Web properties' success is perpetually guaranteed.

One last issue, and that's revenues. While Facebook has a significant user base and has focused on generating a steady revenue stream through its growing advertising business, few options remain for additional sources of income.

A good deal of time has been spent on developing new methods of advertising, but as a rule of thumb social ads have poor click-through rates. Unless Facebook finds the holy grail of social advertising, it's unlikely that Facebook will grow revenues here dramatically.

Another possibility? The company could also move into the entertainment business, selling and/or renting content to users. Such a setup will keep users on the site even longer, however it requires a great deal of work and overhead to be done properly, with no guarantee of success. There's also the 800-lb. gorilla in the room -- iTunes -- which controls a good portion of the digital entertainment industry.

Are Zuckerberg and Co. willing to take such a risk for something that seemingly has a high chance for failure, and could cost more money than it's worth? That looks doubtful.

I'm curious: BetaNews readers are generally a thoughtful and opinionated bunch. Now that Facebook's headed for life as a publicly traded company, revenues are extremely important. What do you think the world's biggest social network can do to generate more revenue? Let us know in the comments.
Google+ tops 100 million users

Posted: February 1st, 2012, 11:25am MST by Joe Wilcox

That will be the number by end of today, according to FamilyLink founder and unofficial Google+ statistician Paul Allen. The number has grown from 90 million since Google CEO Larry Page's official statement just two weeks ago.

Allen's announcement comes as rival Facebook announces its public offering, and quite possibly the largest one ever. Not since Netscape's IPO at the dawn of the World Wide Web era has a tech company generated so much interest going public. But Facebook has a new rival that's growing fast and leveraging hard existing Google assets. By year's end, Google+ could have half as many users as Facebook does today.

"Google+ membership has grown more than 10 percent since January 19th when Larry Page announced 90 million users", Allen explains. "I have them at 100.8 million users by the end of the day".

Allen puts growth at 750,000 new users per day since January 19. He analyzes different surnames to calculate number of users. "If that rate holds steady, Google+ will end the year with 345 million users. But as I have said before, Google has many dials and levers to use this year to increase signups and usage, including its Android 4.0 rollout. I stand by my prediction of at least 400 million users by the end of 2012".

That's a big number likely to get a big boost just over the next few weeks. Last week, Google made two changes sure to open the floodgate of users: Allowing teens (rather than those 18 years or older) to join the service and permitting use of nicknames. Meanwhile, Google is connecting the social network to more of its services, including the new "Google Plus Your World".
Mint launches personal finance app for Android Tablets

Posted: February 1st, 2012, 10:55am MST by Tim Conneally

Mint, the elegant personal financial management app owned by financial software company Intuit has finally released a version of its application specifically for Android tablets. Mint's app has been available on Android-based smartphones for over a year, but with the growing prevalence of tablets, and Ice Cream Sandwich promising to unify Android's smartphone and tablet interfaces, the time was right for a Mint tablet app.

Because Mint is so UI-centric , the tablet app doesn't try to cram more information into the larger screen real estate, but instead provides a clearer, easier-to-navigate interface.

Like its smaller-screen counterparts, Mint for tablets allows users to view all of their linked accounts at a high level, with graphs that illustrate the flow of finances over time, to set personal budgets and account alerts, bill reminders, to search history of transactions, and to enter cash transactions as they happen.

“In the next few months, Android tablets are expected to hold more than 40 percent of the market share,” Aaron Forth, general manager of Intuit's Personal Finance Group said in a statement on Wednesday. “As tablet use rises, more mobile-savvy people will look for ways to manage their lives across multiple devices, so we developed our Android tablet app to bring simple money management tools to their fingertips.”

Mint for Android Tablets is available for free in the Android Market now.
GooReader: When you need Google Books to go

Posted: February 1st, 2012, 10:05am MST by Mark Wilson

Google Books is a gigantic and ever-expanding online library of books and magazines that can be used to read classic titles free of charge as well as to purchase new releases in all manner of categories. But you may be one of the many people who have found that the interface for the website and the way you interact with books leaves a little to be desired. Enter GooReader, a desktop app that enables you to browse your books both on and offline.

You can take advantage of a handy interface that makes it easy to navigate through the pages of your books and you can also zoom in and out, which is great if you are using a laptop with a smaller screen, and perform searches. All of the books you have purchased can be accessed from within the app and organization of your library is delightfully simple. When it comes to lengthy tomes or even an average sized novel, bookmarks can be used to quickly jump the place you left off.

But probably the most useful feature of GooReader is the ability to create a local library of books. This means that you can choose a selection of books and they will be downloaded so they can be accessed offline. This is a great option if you want to take books on the road with you, and the overall look and feel of the application means that the reading of ebooks is made an immensely pleasurable experience.

Should you feel that the ability to convert your books into PDF format would be useful, there is also a paid for version of the app available. In additional to this PDF conversion option, providing you are not working with DRM protected books, you can also take advantage of an interface that is not adorned with advertisements. Other than these two features, the paid-for and free versions of the software are identical, but the extra options will set you back $19.95.

You can find out more and downloads a free copy of the app by paying a visit to the GooReader review page.

Photo Credit: Tischenko Irina/Shutterstock
Quick ‘n’ Easy Web Builder lives up to its name

Posted: February 1st, 2012, 9:25am MST by Mark Wilson

Creating a website is something that many people feel an urge to do but, as with many things, the perceived steep learning curve is enough to put most folks off the idea. In reality, it is actually quite simple to create web site -- obviously, the greater your knowledge the more impressive site you can create -- and there are a number of WYSIWYG editors to choose from that mean you do not need to know HTML, CSS or any other form of coding.

Coming from the team behind WYSIWYG Web Builder, Quick ‘n’ Easy Web Builder is a cross-platform website creation tool that shows great signs of promise.

The WYSIWYG Web Builder application was original written for Windows, leaving Mac and Linux users out in the cold. Rather than setting about the somewhat arduous task of porting the existing product from one platform to another, Quick ‘n’ Easy Web Builder took inspiration from WYSIWYG Web Builder and built a new app from the ground up -- this time compatible with not only Windows but also Mac and Linux.

Despite the somewhat cutesy name, this is a powerful tool. The cross-platform nature of the app means that it is ideal for collaborative teams working in environments where not everyone is necessarily using the same type of system. There are decent numbers of templates to choose from if you’re stuck for ideas, but you can also start from scratch, using the toolbox to drop page elements into place and the Property Inspector to customize objects and settings.

Sites can be published from within the app so there’s no need for a separate FTP client, and the interface is a tidy affair that provides access to all of the tools you need while leaving a decent working area visible. As this is only a release candidate rather than a completed product, there are a few aspects of the app that need a little fine-tuning. There is currently no option to zoom in and out of pages nor is it possible to work in full screen mode. Options such as importing HTML and fairly standard tools such as spell checker are still to be added, but hopefully these will make into the completed software.

You can find out more and download a free version of the app by paying a visit to the Quick ‘n’ Easy Web Builder review page.
Howard Stringer steps down, Sony looks to Kazuo Hirai to stop the bleeding

Posted: February 1st, 2012, 9:18am MST by Ed Oswald

Sony will promote Kazuo Hirai to president and CEO in April, ending Sir Howard Stringer's six year reign as the company's chief executive. Hirai was Stringer's personal recommendation to succeed him, and Stringer will continue to serve in an executive capacity with the company as chairman of the board beginning in June 2012.

"Three years ago, I started to work with the Board on succession plans, and in February, 2009 we named a new generation of leaders to be my management team", Stringer says. "Among them was Kaz Hirai, who had distinguished himself through his work in the PlayStation® and networked entertainment businesses".

Hirai's promotion to CEO was widely expected among industry watchers considering the PlayStation business is one of Sony's few solidly performing businesses. With Sony in the red for all but two years of Stringer's tenure, Hirai certainly has his work cut out for him.

Stringer had attempted to streamline power in 2009, taking over as both president and CEO during the height of the financial crisis. However, his efforts failed and the company continued to falter, with a series of events including the 2011 Japan earthquake and tsunami exacerbating the situation.

"As challenging as times are for Sony now, were it not for the strong leadership of Sir Howard Stringer these past seven years, we would have been in a much more difficult position", he says. Hirai called Sony's future path "clear", focusing on its core electronics business, innovation, and turning around its television efforts.

Televisions are Stringer's biggest failure. With $2.3 billion in losses projected in the fiscal year 2012 alone, the company is faced with making up those losses plus another $6.3 billion accumulated since 2004. Hirai was successful in turning around the gaming division, but investors are skeptical he could do the same for TVs.

Sony has yet to make money selling televisions, unlike competitors LG and Samsung. Hirai technically did not make that much money selling PlayStations either: the devices are sold at a loss or for a small profit in hopes the difference is made up through consumers purchases of games, a "loss leader".

With televisions, there is no attach rate.

Sony will report its earnings on Thursday. The company is widely expected to report yet another quarterly loss, so Wednesday's announcement of a new CEO may be designed to deflect attention away from the company's continued struggles.
Google kills Chrome usage growth

Posted: February 1st, 2012, 8:41am MST by Joe Wilcox
Chrome's browser usage share fell in January, according to Net Applications, after 14 months of consecutive, solid growth. Competition didn't kill Chrome growth, Google did, with its decision to reduce the browser's search page rank. Which browser benefitted most? Internet Explorer, of course.

It's a stunning turnabout for Chrome, which likely will see continued trend during February. On January 3, Google announced a temporary downgrading of Chrome's page rank -- how high it appears in searches -- following a minor scandal with a third-party ad agency. The marketer paid bloggers to write about Chrome, which violates Google policies on sponsored links. The search and information giant treated itself like other advertisers, perhaps more harshly, and lowered Chrome's search ranking for 60 days.

Between November 2010 and December 2011, Chrome usage share rose from 9.57 percent to 19.11 percent. In January, share fell to 18.94 percent. Meanwhile, Internet Explore got a big boost, gaining 1.1 points month on month for 52.96 percent share. That's down from 60.35 percent in November 2010.

Firefox is the more disturbing trend. Usage share fell nearly 1 point month on month to 20.88 percent. Firefox 10 desktop and mobile released yesterday. The question to ask (and please feel free to answer in comments): Is Mozilla's rapid-pace release schedule hurting Firefox adoption. The development cycle means a new browser version about every six weeks, which makes enterprise adoption harder. The current version might be obsolete even before being fully tested for deployment among larger businesses.

Safari continued its downward trend also, falling to 4.9 percent usage share in January from 4.97 percent in December.

Chrome's loss demonstrates the value of Google search and foreshadows benefits of connected services, like Google+ or Gmail. How Google benefits Chrome:
- Leverage from search (Google share is tops in most geographies)
- Web applications that run in the browser, from the cloud rather than desktop
- Marketing -- Google is aggressively advertising Chrome, now in TV commercials
- Rapid-fire development cycle delivering new features (Chrome 10-16 released last year)
- Little legacy -- Google doesn't need worry about supporting business users or years of plugins
Despite Chrome's decline, v16 held on to the usage share ranking of its predecessor. Chrome 16 was second to Internet Explorer 8 in January, with 15.9 percent to 27.45 percent usage share. IE9 was third, followed by Firefox 9, with 11.64 percent and 8.57 percent share, respectively.

IE6 continues to live, despite fervent Microsoft efforts to kill it. The browser ranked fifth, with 7.93 percent usage share. I've got to ask. Do you still use Internet Explorer 6? Are you willing to admit it in comments?
Microsoft opens commercial licensing for Kinect for Windows applications

Posted: February 1st, 2012, 7:27am MST by Tim Conneally

Microsoft on Wednesday launched its Kinect for Windows commercial program, allowing businesses to build for-profit applications and solutions using Microsoft's popular free-space interface.

More than 300 companies are already developing their own solutions using Kinect for Windows, Microsoft said on Wednesday, including United Health Group, American Express, Mattel, Telefonica, and Toyota. So we expect to see a whole family of new Kinect applications hitting the market in the next year for health care, education, and industry.

Independent software developers and hobbyists have had access to the Kinect for Windows SDK since last June, and on the small business side of things, Microsoft will be holding an incubator program for 10 startups from April 2 until June 28, 2012 in Seattle, WA called The Kinect Accelerator program. Each accepted startup will receive a $20,000 grant, an Xbox development kit, the Windows Kinect SDK, office space, and all the mentoring and expert advice Microsoft can offer. Interested developers can pitch their idea at the Kinect Accelerator site to apply for the program.
Salesforce launches 'mobile-to-mobile' support system Desk.com

Posted: January 31st, 2012, 1:19pm MST by Tim Conneally

Salesforce, the gold standard of cloud-based CRM, launched on Tuesday a new customer support application called Desk.com, which gives small and medium-sized businesses a "social help desk" designed so ultraconnected, smartphone-toting employees can appropriately connect with the ultraconnected, smartphone-toting customer.

Desk.com grew out of Salesforce's 50 million dollar acquisition of Assistly just five months ago. The Assistly application was notable because it took customer relationships on social networks such as Facebook and Twitter and then integrated them with "traditional" support channels such as e-mail and telephone, making social network relationships among the most important methods of communication for companies.

With the launch of Desk.com, Salesforce is emphasizing the importance of mobility as the next frontier of customer relationships. The Desk.com mobile interface is built with HTML5, so employees can use their iOS and Android devices as support interfaces with the same filters and response macros as their desktop client. They can also delegate, change groups, change status, change priority for support cases, and even modify customer information.

Desk.com's reports will be able to show how many cases customer service agents have opened, resolved, replied to, reassigned, or reopened irrespective of the agent's method of connection. This feature has not yet launched, but it is expected to arrive in the first quarter of 2012.

Desk.com is available now, with a $49 per agent/month fee for unlimited usage. Salesforce also offers a "flex pricing" scale for part-time employees for $1 per agent/hour. Reporting will incur an additional fee.
CCleaner for Mac 1.01 released, but Windows users get more

Posted: January 31st, 2012, 12:54pm MST by Nick Peers

Piriform Software has released the first stable release of CCleaner for Mac, its free cleaning utility for Mac OS X. Based on the popular Windows version, CCleaner for Mac 1.01 FINAL boasts fewer features compared to its long-established sibling, but we expect this to change over time.

The new release enters an increasingly crowded market for free cleanup tools, and will compete against the likes of EASEUS’ CleanGenius Free as it bids to establish a foothold on the Mac platform.

CCleaner for Mac runs on OS X 10.5 or later, and offers three basic areas for cleaning. The Cleaner tab is where most of its options can be found, covering various system and application settings, including logs and caches.

Four major browsers -- Safari, Chrome, Firefox and Opera -- are also covered with this initial release. The user can choose which elements to scan via a series of boxes, then on clicking Analyze is shown how much space can be retrieved and where it will be recovered from.

The app also includes a Tools section, offering three options for securely wiping the free space on your hard drive, verifying and repairing permissions, and an application uninstaller. The suite is rounded off by a cookie management tool, which is accessible under Options. This allows the user to pick and choose exactly which cookies are kept on the computer.

The first stable release offers little new over previous beta releases, other than unspecified stability fixes for OS X 10.5 and 10.7.2 users, a number of minor bug fixes and improved cleaning of Chrome’s omnibox history.

CCleaner for Mac 1.01 FINAL is available now as a freeware download for Intel Macs running OS X 10.5 (Snow Leopard) or later. At the present time there’s a lack of documentation with the app, which is why we suggest you use it with care.

Photo Credit: Goydenko Tatiana/Shutterstock
MegaUpload users may gain temporary access to their files

Posted: January 31st, 2012, 12:41pm MST by Ed Oswald

Users of MegaUpload may have a brief window to retrieve files from the site after the law firm representing the file sharing service says it is negotiating a solution with the US Government. While the primary function of the negotiations is likely to gather evidence so that MegaUpload's lawyers can build their defense, it is possible the general public may temporarily gain access to their accounts.

In the United States, the file sharing service uses two hosting providers to store data, Carpathia Hosting and Cogent Communications. When US authorities shut down the service two weeks ago, it also froze MegaUpload's assets, leaving it no money to pay bills.

Lawyer Ira Rothken announced the agreement on Twitter Monday night. "Carpathia and Cogent agreed to preserve consumer data for additional time of at least two weeks so #Megaupload can work with US on proposal", the tweet reads. The process of deletion is expected to begin February 2, according to U.S. District Attorney Neil MacBride.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation is also stepping in to assist MegaUpload users in data retrieval. On Tuesday it announced a partnership with Carpathia called MegaRetrieval that will work with users to retrieve legal content on MegaUpload's servers.

"EFF is troubled that so many lawful users of Megaupload.com had their property taken from them without warning and that the government has taken no steps to help them", EFF attorney Julie Samuels says. "We think it's important that these users have their voices heard as this process moves forward".

Rothken says that the hosting companies are willing to hold onto MegaUploads data while his firm negotiates with the government. In the end Rothken is looking for the government to free up some funds to pay the hosting providers, which he believes will help the company defend itself.

Photo Credit: mojito.mak[dog]gmail[dot]com/Shutterstock
Got Android? Get Firefox 10

Posted: January 31st, 2012, 11:45am MST by Joe Wilcox

Hey, Firefox fans, don't settle for just the desktop browser that popped up on Mozilla servers overnight. Firefox 10 mobile is also available at the Android Market. While the big browser offers significantly improved plug-in support, it's still DOA on the small one. That means no Adobe Flash for you, Bud.

New features include anti-aliasing for WebGL and accelerated layer-support via OpenGL ES. Firefox 10 mobile improves sync and HTML5 capabilities, as well. Among the fixes: "Extremely rare case where the browser may become unable to load web pages or close tabs".

The mobile browser requires Android 2.0 and above. I installed and ran it just fine on Verizon Galaxy Nexus with Ice Cream Sandwich. However, I find Firefox 10 mobile to stutter compared to Android's built-in browser and lacking Flash to be annoying. Even with the extra burden of Flash, Android's browser feels smoother.

So if you're a big Firefox fan looking for Flash, plug-in support and smooth, fast mobile browsing, 10 isn't your lucky number.
Go ahead, use pcAnywhere again -- after you update

Posted: January 31st, 2012, 11:13am MST by Ed Oswald

A week after telling users to disable its pcAnywhere, Symantec says the remote computing software is now safe to use, with a few caveats. First, the app must be upgraded to version 12.5, and a critical software patch applied to plug the hole.

In a statement posted to its website, Symantec says that it had patched all versions of the software back to 12.0. A patch for 12.0 and 12.1 was released on January 27, following a patch that was released for 12.5 on January 25.

"At this time, Symantec recommends that customers ensure pcAnywhere 12.5 is installed, apply all relevant patches as they are released, and follow general security best practices", the statement reads. "If customers are unable to adhere to this guidance and have not installed the latest version with current patches, we recommend that they contact pcanywhere@symantec.com for additional assistance".

Reuters reports that Symantec will offer those on versions of pcAnywhere prior to 12.5 free upgrades to the latest version, regardless of whether or not the software qualifies for support. It did not specify how it plans to handle the upgrade process.

Photo Credit: Kheng Guan Toh/Shutterstock
Amazon cloud services see dramatic growth in 2011

Posted: January 31st, 2012, 10:53am MST by Ed Oswald

Usage of Amazon's cloud services skyrocketed in 2011, with the company reporting that its cloud storage service Amazon S3 played host to 762 million objects as of the fourth quarter of 2011. This was up by 500 million objects over last year, year-over-year growth of 192 percent and the biggest expansion in the service's five year history.

Amazon credits the large jump in making it easier for users to get data into the system via a host of new features introduced over the past year. It also says the jump in cloud usage requires manpower, and it is hiring for software engineers, product managers, and other management postions for the S3 team.

Meanwhile, 2012 is expected to be a big year for cloud computing, with Forrester analyst Holger Kisker predicting the sector to generate $61 billion in revenues by the end of this year. Gartner is even more bullish, expecting spending on public cloud services to reach $89 billion this year, and $177 billion by 2015.
Hey, broadcasters, filmmakers, is Final Cut Pro X finally good enough?

Posted: January 31st, 2012, 10:08am MST by Joe Wilcox
That's the question, following big updates available today. How big? So big Apple even issued a press release. I ask the question because of professionals' negative reactions to the software soon after its late-June 2011 release. The uproar was loud enough that "Conan" did a skit about it. In September, responding to customer requests, Apple brought back older version Final Cut Studio 3 on a limited basis. That was then, this is now. Is Final Cut Pro X finally good enough for you?

Many pros complained that Final Cut Pro X was too iMovie-like, while stripping away features they depend on for editing broadcast or film videos. Others complained Apple abandoned core customers to make Final Cut easier for non-pros to use. The software offered more to amateurs and less -- actually took features away -- for professionals. Today's update (v 10.0.3) adds some surprising pro features, and they're not the first. This is the third update since the software's launch.

Among the new features:
- Improved third-party plug-in support
- Sync for up to 64 angles of video and photos
- Layered PSD support without leaving Final Cut Pro X
- Broadcast monitoring (in beta) via Thunderbolt ports
Multicam support is by far the big new feature, by giving back a capability taken away with Final Cut Pro X and extending it with the 64 angles of view, improved time-stamping, photo support and ability to mix together stills and videos of virtually any resolution. The latter two capabilities finally embrace advanced dSLRs, like Canon's EOS 5D Mark II; micro four-thirds digicams, like my daughter's Olympus PEN E-P2; and cell phones, like Apple's iPhone (and maybe even lowly Androids). The point: Final Cut Pro X is now primed to use video (and photos) from just about any source. Can you say mashup?

Update: Macworld offers a pro's look at the new features and why they matter.

But are these new features and others good enough for you? Please answer in comments.

Final Cut Pro X 10.0.3 is available from the Mac App Store for $299.99 -- that's for new users. Existing users get the update for free. Anyone else can download a 30-day free trial from Apple.
PowerDVD 12 -- it's the big upgrade you've been waiting for

Posted: January 31st, 2012, 8:36am MST by Mike Williams

CyberLink has today released the latest version of its flagship media player, PowerDVD 12 -- and the build sees major steps forward in the formats it can handle, and the way the program works with mobile devices, social media and more.

PowerDVD 12 now supports playing back all the main video formats, for instance, including MK3D, MKV (H.264), FLV (H.264), WTV, 3GP and 3G2. A new focus on audio means the program can also handle cinematic quality and lossless sound formats: DTS-HD 7.1, Dolby TrueHD 7.1, OGG, FLAC and more. And PowerDVD’s old ability to view your digital photos is now extended by native RAW format support.

There’s obviously not quite so much room to develop with DVD and Blu-ray playback, so the only major change here is to CyberLink’s TrueTheater technology. As well as upscaling videos to HD quality, removing noise, stabilizing shaky videos, enhancing details and colors, the software can now convert all 2D media to 3D: that’s Blu-rays, DVDs, videos and photos.

PowerDVD 12 also includes enhanced DLNA support, so it’s much better at streaming media around your home. Social media improvements mean you’re able to connect to and browse YouTube, Facebook and Flickr content from within the program. And enhanced mobile device support sees you able to stream content to your iPhone, iPad or Android devices, while a comprehensive Sync module makes it easy to set up detailed rules deciding how media should be synchronised with your Android device.

There’s no shortage of power, then, but to keep things straightforward you’re able to access most of your content via a simple tree and a thumbnail browser. You can access your media library via several different views -- grid, album, list -- to help you keep control, and smart search tools make it generally easy to locate the content you need.

And if for some reason you still don’t have all the media you’d like, the company hopes you’ll rectify this by shopping at PowerDVD’s integrated CyberLink/ 7digital music store, where over 17 million 320K DRM-free tracks await your attention (as long as you’re in the US, UK, Germany, France, Italy or Spain, anyway). Buy here and you’ll be able to store your music in the cloud where it can be accessed from anywhere, by up to 5 devices.

As previously, PowerDVD 12 is available in three editions.

The first, PowerDVD 12 Ultra, is the high-end build which includes everything we’d mentioned here, and is available for $99.95.

PowerDVD 12 Pro omits the mobile device apps, and the new DLNA Digital Media Renderer and Controller. You’ll still get a DLNA-compliant player and server, though, so this could be the sensible choice at $79.95.

And PowerDVD 12 Standard goes much further, also omitting Blu-ray and 3D playback, TrueTheater’s “convert anything to 3D” option, Android Sync, the DLNA Media Server, and HD Audio (TrueHD 5.1 and DTS-HD 5.1): list price is $49.95.

The Standard version is a little too stripped-down for our liking, but take your pick: there’s a trial version available, so see how it works for you.
Stop the plug-in madness -- get Firefox 10 now!

Posted: January 31st, 2012, 8:24am MST by Nick Peers

Ahead of its official unveiling, Firefox 10 FINAL has appeared on the Mozilla download servers, allowing impatient users the opportunity to download and install the new version up to a day early.

Version 10’s headline new feature will appeal to those frustrated with having to wait for browser extensions to be recognized as compatible by new builds: from version 10 onwards, browser extensions will automatically be considered compatible unless specifically marked otherwise. It will also see a minor interface tweak, the loss of the browser forward button, and some new tools that will appeal to developers.

The development making waves in Firefox 10 is the way it handles browser extensions. Previously, unless an extension was specifically marked as compatible for the latest version release, it would be disabled until updated by the developer. With new versions now appearing on the dot every six weeks, this has frustrated developers and end users alike.

The actual functionality of automatically marking add-ons as compatible actually began back with the release of Firefox 4, but was restricted to those add-ons distributed through Mozilla’s own official channel. According to Mozilla, 75 percent of add-ons are obtained outside of the official channel, so the change will make a noticeable difference.

The change is part of a wider move towards making Firefox update itself completely silently -- according to the Mozilla Wiki article describing the process, Mozilla hopes to be able to eventually update users with the latest version of Firefox as well as all add-ons without any user interaction, with Firefox 13 (due in June) the intended target release.

Other Changes

Aside from the slew of bug fixes and minor improvements, there’s not a lot else to get excited about for end users. Eagle-eyed users will notice one minor change to the Firefox Location Bar in version 10 - the loss of the forward button. This is the first step towards streamlining the user interface even further, a process that can be previewed by following the Firefox UX project.

On the other hand, web developers will be particularly pleased with Firefox 10, thanks to a number of major new tools, all accessible from the Firefox > Web Developer menu. The most notable of these is an Inspect option that allows developers to visually inspect pages with the help of a Highlighter tool that makes checking a page’s CSS and HTML code that much easier. This feature was originally planned for Firefox 4, but since its postponement has been significantly overhauled.

Firefox 10 FINAL is available now as a free download for Windows, Mac and Linux. Updated Beta, Aurora and Nightly builds will follow shortly – check back for our updated guide to what’s happening in the world of Firefox development later this week.
Symantec launches Norton Identity Safe as standalone beta app

Posted: January 31st, 2012, 8:16am MST by Tim Conneally

Symantec on Tuesday launched the public beta of Norton Identity Safe, a free password management application for mobile and desktop devices. The software was originally a feature built into Norton Internet Security and Norton 360, and is now available for the first time as a standalone application.

Norton Identity Safe beta is designed to be a simple and secure way for users to store and manage their logins and passwords for all their different applications and services. With the application installed, the user only needs to remember their master password, and then they can launch any of their stored services. This login information can be synched across the users' different devices as well.

The beta also includes Norton Safe Web protection, Norton's free reputation tool that keeps a constantly-updated view of potentially suspect URLs and unsafe sites.

Norton Identity Safe for PC beta can be downloaded from Symantec by clicking here . Identity Safe for Android and iOS can be downloaded with the QR codes below.
Get better copy and paste with Clipboard Magic 5.0

Posted: January 31st, 2012, 6:58am MST by Mike Williams

When CyberMatrix released Clipboard Magic 4 it was one of the better clipboard managers around, effortlessly capturing every text item copied to your clipboard and retaining them in a list for easy re-use later.

That was back in 2005, of course, and the intervening years have seen several significant issues appear with the program. If you’ve used it in the past, though, or just need a clipboard extension tool right now, then the good news is that CyberMatrix has finally released the first beta of Clipboard Magic 5.0, and it’s packed with fixes and valuable new features.

This kind of tool can often produce very lengthy lists of clipped text, for instance. So Clipboard Magic 5.0 can now help you to organize them by giving individual clips labels and names, or color-coding them, enabling you to spot related clips at a glance.

The program always allowed you to save your list of clips to files, for easy reuse later, but what if you forget? Clipboard Magic 5.0 can now automatically save your clipboard history, so even if your PC crashes you should still find your text items available when you next reboot.

If you regularly work with clips in multiple languages then you’ll appreciate the program’s new Unicode support.

Clipboard Magic 5.0 gains many new configuration options, including the ability to customize its toolbar to suit your needs.

And some long-standing problems have finally been slain. So you should no longer have trouble copying text greater than 32KB in length, for instance. And if another app has locked the clipboard then Clipboard Magic will no longer give up immediately with an annoying error message; it’ll just try again a few more times, and the chances are that one of those will be successful.

Clipboard Magic remains completely free, though, and lightweight, with the base program typically requiring well under 1MB RAM on our test PC. It’s a beta, so you shouldn’t expect complete reliability, but the program behaved well in our tests: if you’re looking for a text-based clipboard manager then this one is well worth a few minutes of your time.

Photo Credit: Serghei Starus/Shutterstock
Heads up! Bluestacks App Player enters very limited beta 1

Posted: January 30th, 2012, 7:09pm MST by Tim Conneally

Today, the Bluestacks team put out a quick announcement that they are accepting their first round of Beta testers to have a look at the next version of App Player, the Android virtualization environment for Windows and beyond.

This round of testers will be limited to just 100 who manage to sign up and get accepted into the program.

Bluestacks App Player has been circulating in an early Alpha build for just about four months, and it has lots of people excited with its potential.

With the application, users can run Android applications on their Windows desktop. It's as straightforward as it sounds, so go sign up!
Kaspersky WindowsUnblocker: Malware recovery tool of last resort

Posted: January 30th, 2012, 4:28pm MST by Mark Wilson

Malware takes a variety of forms, starting with the humble virus, but one of the most recent strands is known as ransom malware. As the name suggests, this type of malware can block access to your computer, or offer only limited functionality, until some form of ransom is met -- this could be paying a ransom charge via SMS. The way these infections work mean that they can block access to your computer to the extent that you are not able to run your standard malware software. This is where Kaspersky WindowsUnblocker can help.

This is a free security tool from security experts Kaspersky and can be used even if your computer has been infected to the point that it cannot be booted in the usual way. The Kaspersky website details of how you can use the ISO file that you can download from Downloadcrew to create a bootable CD, DVD or USB drive that can be used to start your machine and then check for and remove ransom malware.

Unlike other security and malware removal tools, Kaspersky WindowsUnblocker does not have an attractive user interface or an abundance of options. It is essentially an automated tool that will scan your registry for unwanted entries and disinfect any malicious sections. The Linux-based environment is not going to be to everyone’s taste, but this is a tool that is here to do a job rather than look pretty.

Coming from Kaspersky, this is an interesting tool designed with a very specific purpose in mind. It is slightly disconcerting that there are no options to configure and you are kept largely in the dark about what is going on, but this utility could get your non-functioning computer back up and running. This is the sort of utility you hope that you will never have to use, but it is something you should have ready in your software arsenal so you are prepared in advance.

You can find out more and download a copy of this free security tool by paying a visit to the Kaspersky WindowsUnblocker review page.

Photo Credit: infografick/Shutterstock
Microsoft reinvents Office for the post-PC era

Posted: January 30th, 2012, 4:14pm MST by Joe Wilcox
Not since Office 2003 has Microsoft taken such an "ambitious undertaking" to reinvent the productivity suite. Today, PJ Hough, CVP of development for Microsoft's Office division, announced the "technical preview" for the suite's next version and then rudely announced it's "already full". Oh yeah? Why the frak tell us about it then?

It's that ambitious undertaking thing: "First time ever, we will simultaneously update our cloud services, servers, and mobile and PC clients for Office, Office 365, Exchange, SharePoint, Lync, Project and Visio", Hough claims. There's more to that boast than marketing. Microsoft is prepping Office for the cloud-connected, post-PC era. Suddenly Office 15 is going to be a big release.

Office System grows Up

Closest comparison is Office 2003, when Microsoft rebranded the suite as a "System" that included more back-end server software and collaboration features. That release reinvented Office as the top of Microsoft's server stack and gateway to back-end business processes of all kinds. Released around the same time, 2003 versions: Exchange, InfoPath, SharePoint and Windows Server, among others.

Microsoft is lining up many of the same supporting server software for simultaneous release and in the case of Windows Server 8 sooner. What's different now: Office 365 and hosted off- or on-premise versions of server products, expansion of cloud capabilities and inclusion of mobile products. Yes, this is where you can wonder if Office 15 will be available for iPad (more on that in the last paragraph).

During the 2003 release cycle, Microsoft put less emphasis on individual applications and product features and more emphasis on what people could do with Office System. Expect reaffirmation of that approach as Office 15 development proceeds. Microsoft wants to blur the difference between individual functions and features with end-user and broader corporate benefits. That's across devices -- from smartphone, to tablet, to laptop to, well, whatever. Expect Office 15 to be squarely focused on anytime, anywhere computing on anything. Like Microsoft started with Office 2003 and continued with the next two releases, there will be greater emphasis placed on data and how to maximize it -- wherever it is or needs to be -- rather than product features. Think continuum.

The original Office System strategy proved hugely successful because of dependencies. To get the full benefits of Office, businesses typically had to buy more software, particularly on the server. The strategy also transformed how businesses buy Office. Today, about 60 percent of Microsoft Business Division revenues come from volume-licensing contracts. By comparison, 75 percent of Windows sales come from OEMs or one-off sales to businesses or consumers.

There are lots of similarities between cloud computing subscriptions and software volume licensing contracts. They're booked differently but essentially mean the same thing to customers, who agree to pay Microsoft X dollars for Y time period. Licensees typically, but not always, retain rights to software after their contractual period expires. Subscriber rights end when payments stop. Several times, Microsoft unsuccessfully tried to move Office to a subscription model (there is some limited availability, however, for select segments). But the cloud changes everything. Expect Microsoft to begin talking about much more blended licensing and subscription options as Office 15 System's release approaches. This fits into the continuum approach, where Microsoft seeks to blur definitions between products other than companies need A, B, C and D to do W, X, Y and Z.

Think of Office 15 to the cloud what v2003 was to the server. Microsoft extended its applications stack vertically, with increasing cross-feature integration between the productivity suite and server software. Office 15 will accelerate Microsoft's push to the data center, taking the server stack even higher. Expect many more cross-dependent features, but this time requiring some cloud component, too. That means businesses should expect to pay more this next release cycle, as they did with Office System nine years ago -- with those already on Software Assurance getting some break, and quite possibly substantial. Additionally, Microsoft will seek to push more business customers into annuity and subscription contracts, with cross-feature dependencies driving them.

What Office 15 Means for PCs

The post-PC era isn't necessarily the end of the personal computer but its reinvention and extension to the cloud and to mobile devices. Windows 8 enters public beta late next month, which, based on recent releases means October launch. That's the milestone path followed by Windows 7 and one planned for Vista. Microsoft informed everyone that Vista wouldn't ship for holiday 2006 after missing the crucial February milestone necessary to release gold code for October launch. The point: Office 15 will follow Windows 8, which makes touch a priority, adds support for ARM processors and introduces the new Metro user interface. Windows 8 also marks Microsoft's more fervent push into new device categories, where it would want to bring Office System and cloud services.

To get there, the productivity suite needs a major makeover:
- For starters, it's long past time for a true, 64-bit version
- Office 15 will need to support ARM processors
- Metro is a must and ideally should displace the "Ribbon"
- Finally, truly touch-enabled Office must come forth
That's all without looking at the cloud and Microsoft ideally taking a more modular design approach to Office, as it does with Windows today. That one I'm guessing at; I just see it as what Microsoft should do. Since Office System 2003, Microsoft has tried to reposition the productivity suite and its supporting software as a development platform. It's time to lift upward to the cloud and datacenter.

One way to get there is modularizing the code base such that all Office versions start from the same core but offer different functionality based on device. That's not where Microsoft is today with, say, desktop and mobile Office versions -- or even Macintosh, which code is completely separate. Modular Office, as cornerstone of the broader development platform, makes sense and also fits in with broader efforts to support ARM and touchscreen tablets.

So what about iPad? There are loads of rumors Microsoft will release Office for Apple's tablet. Should it? I wouldn't. If iPad is making enterprise inroads and if the tablet supplants or replaces PCs, the last thing Microsoft should do is hurt its own applications stack. The company gains more by making Office well-suited for Windows 8 and touchscreen tablets running the software. It's one thing to be part of the post-PC era by promoting mobile devices that extend your platform's relevance and another to feed the devices of your demise. Microsoft should redefine the PC's role around mobility rather than let Apple define it with devices like iPad. Surely, this isn't rocket science.

Photo Credit: Tom Wang/Shutterstock
Microsoft launches 'Office 15' preview, promises beta by Summer

Posted: January 30th, 2012, 12:14pm MST by Tim Conneally

Monday, Microsoft began the technical preview program of "Office 15," the next generation of Microsoft's Office ecosystem, which will include cloud services, servers, mobile and desktop clients. The big thing about Office 15 is that all these separate forms of Office will be simultaneously updated.

The Technical Preview period is when a very small group of users have access to the software in the understanding that they will not disclose any information about the early software. The beta testing period is expected to roll around some time in the summer, so somewhere in the range of four to five months from now.

"At this early point in our development cycle, I'm not able to share too much about Office 15," said PJ Hough, CVP of Development in the Office division. "But I can tell you Office 15 is the most ambitious undertaking yet for the Office Division. With Office 15, for the first time ever, we will simultaneously update our cloud services, servers, and mobile and PC clients for Office, Office 365, Exchange, SharePoint, Lync, Project, and Visio. Quite simply, Office 15 will help people work, collaborate, and communicate smarter and faster than ever before."
Thanks, Verizon! Shared data plans are long overdue

Posted: January 30th, 2012, 11:59am MST by Ed Oswald

We've all been sharing minutes in our family plans. This worked in an age where our phones were dumb, and the most we did was text and occasionally check the web. Times have changed though with all these smartphones in the wild, but the carriers have not. Where's our shared data plans?

Color me shocked, but Verizon is joining that charge. The nation's largest carrier said last month that it was introducing pooled data plans this year, and a new post on Engadget indicates this may be coming sooner than we think. A new section lists "account level data plans". Like your minutes you pay an account level charge, then a per line charge.

It's about time. I can think off the top of my head a handful of families or groups that I know with more than one smartphone in their plans. At $20-30 per month per phone, your phone bill gets awfully expensive real quick. I know a lot of that data is going unused, which means the carrier stands to profit more off of these data plans vis a vis a single line plan.

Sprint offers shared data on its family plans. They introduced the offering last June, however if you're looking to add a non-phone device to the plan its not possible. Those of us with both smartphones and tablet devices are still out of luck.

Contrast Verizon's news with AT&T's announcement of its price hikes for data plans earlier this month. While individually we're getting more leeway (although for more money), family smartphone plans just got even more exorbitantly expensive. That sucks. AT&T has promised us since at least July of last year that it plans to offer a shared plan, but so far has not produced.

Time to get off the pot AT&T, Verizon just showed you up. Believe me, I'll be first in line for this new plan. I'd love to have my iPad and iPhone on the same account, especially considering I'm paying you twice for data plans where most of the data gets left unused. Saving money is always a good thing.

Updated to indicate Sprint's availability of shared data on family plans.
Google, Microsoft, Yahoo look to stop phishing attacks

Posted: January 30th, 2012, 11:34am MST by Ed Oswald

A group of fifteen technology and email providers announced plans Monday that aim to curb the spread of phishing e-mails by making it more difficult for scammers to impersonate legitimate e-mails. The agreement calls for the use of preexisting standards to authenticate messages on a much wider scale than ever before.

Currently, PayPal is one of the few companies using the technologies, known as SPF (Sender Policy Framework) and DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail). Its work only has limited effectiveness though as so far it only has working partnerships with Yahoo and Google.

Under this new agreement that use spreads to many more email providers, and calls for the use of the standards among other technology companies. AOL, Gmail, Hotmail, and Yahoo Mail will all now implement the authentication standards, and providers American Greetings, Bank of America, Facebook, Fidelity, and LinkedIn comprise the founding members of the new organization.

"Industry cooperation, combined with technology and consumer education, is crucial to fight phishing", Paypal customer security senior manager Brett McDowell says. McDowell will chair the industry group, known as DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance).

DMARC is off to a good start: the founding email members make up a significant portion of Internet email traffic, and the technology providers are some of the most commonly spoofed companies. If the company wishes, it is now able to request a participating email provider to automatically delete any message that does not carry its authentication.

This does not fix the problem of phishing overall: if an email is sent to a non-participating provider, it will still end up in the user's inbox. Missing yet is a method that can cut off spam at its source.

Regardless, those involved are confident the system will work. "The road is paved for more members of the email ecosystem to start getting a handle on phishing", Gmail product manager Adam Dawes says. He also notes that about 15 percent of Gmail's current mail traffic comes from DMARC-protected domains.

"The phishing potential plummets when the system just works, and that’s what DMARC provides", he argues.

Photo Credit: Slavoljub Pantelic/Shutterstock
The netbook lives!

Posted: January 30th, 2012, 11:22am MST by Chris Boss
Sales may be down, but don't write off the netbook yet. It's still a viable form factor for Windows PCs. Netbooks have a few key advantages going for them, and computer manufacturers should just stop and take a moment to consider them.

The three mobile PC form factors are netbook, notebook and tablet. I own all three now, and I like each one for different reasons. As a software developer, I saw the need to move away from the desktop and to finally get mobile. Since mobile PCs are the future, I felt this was the year for me to get some portable Windows computers so I could better test my software on these form factors. It's not rocket science: There's a big difference between laptop and desktop user experiences (there will be even more so with Windows 8). I needed to see how my software feels on these devices.

I tend to be a bit on the thrifty side, so I spent months researching my purchases. I didn't want anything that was "bleeding edge" technology, but instead wanted low-cost, mass-market computers (which reaches broader audience of people using my software). I wanted a netbook first, but instead I opted for a slightly bigger netbookish laptop with an 11.6 inch screen, 1366 x 768 resolution and dual-core CPU, which I picked up on sale for only $299. I really like this computer, especially the screen size. Because I wanted to have some experience testing software on a real netbook with an Atom CPU, I shopped around. Walmart offered a tempting Acer model, but it wasn't until the newer ones came out with dual-core Atom CPU's that I finally decided it may be worth it. Finally I found a great deal on the ExoPC Windows tablet.

Being able to actually own and compare these three different form factors for some time now, I've reached some startling conclusions about netbooks.

Tablets Are Great, But Will Never Replace Laptops!

I like the Tablet PC and touch is quite interesting when you get used to it, but a Tablet PC will never replace a well-designed laptop computer. Why? First the keyboard is integrated into a laptop, while a tablet it is external (or soft touch). Let's face it, typing on a tablet will never be the same as on a laptop. On a tablet your keyboard has to take up screen space and the feel will never be the same as real keys. Also your finger gets in the way (view) on a tablet, unlike a touchpad on a laptop. So while tablets have their use, if I want a more complete Windows experience, a laptop wins hands down.

Netbooks Can Sub for Notebooks

So which form factor is better for the notebook category? Each has its uses and benefits. If you need the larger screen and a powerhouse CPU, of course a laptop is going to be better. That's why my first choice for a moble computer was larger and better than a netbook. Yet, there is just something about that little netbook which draws a person. What is it? Price and small form factor.

I have elderly friends on budgets and the low price at Walmart was just irresistible -- they love their netbooks! The netbook I bought is primarily for my wife to use, and she loves it. Now that Netbooks come with dual-core CPU's. They're powerful enough. Manufacturers like Acer and Asus would be better off keeping the specs as they are and instead make lower pricing the priority. Acer's D257 Netbook sells for $249 at Walmart -- at $199, netbook sales could possibly improve. Go for the price point, not features, I say. Stores like Walmart also need to display more models of netbooks. One netbook for every ten laptops on display isn't enough.

Low price, with small size and weight, is appealing. Even if a tablet weighs less than a netbook it will likely cost more -- certainly on a screen-size comparison basis. So netbooks win the prize for lightweight mobility.

I love my little Acer Netbook! It is so small and lightweight and it has a great keyboard. I don't need a special stand for it, like I do with the tablet to hold the screen at the right angle to work with it. The netbook is so inexpensive and so small, it is the first choice when one may want to grab a computer and take it on the road. Sure if you plan on some serious work, the larger laptop may be preferable, but if you only need the computer for simpler stuff, watching a movie, web browsing, reading using the Nook freeware application, the netbook is the better choice. The size and weight are just right, and it has the physical keyboard a tablet doesn't.

Now I know everyone is looking to ultrabooks as the future of mobile computing, but consider this: For the price of one ultrabook one could buy a Netbook for every person in a family of four. The price of a netbook is so low, that parents who want to buy mobile computers for their kids are more likely to be able to afford them.

Manufacturers Should Look At Netbooks Differently

What would I do if I was a Netbook manufacturer?
- Lower selling prices as much as possible on netbooks, without totally killing margins
- Turn the netbook into a consumer device just like our television sets are
- Drop hard drive sizes down to 100GB
- Drop the external VGA connector
- Drop the Ethernet connector
- Have one USB port
- Keep the HDMI port and SD slot
- Design them to use rechargeable AA batteries
- Offer some models without WiFi
- Offer Windows 8 Starter Edition
Manufacturers' goals should be to create the ultimate, tiny Windows PC that would be just as common as televisions and priced in the $150 to $199 range. Windows tablet computers currently cannot reach a goal like this, but a redesigned netbook computer could.

Photo Credit: Maran Garai/Shutterstock

Chris Boss is an advanced Windows API programmer and developer of 10 year-old EZGUI, which is now version 5. He owns The Computer Workshop, which opened for businesses in the late 1980s. He originally developed custom software for local businesses. Now he develops programming tools for use with the PowerBasic compiler.
Yahoo kills 10 mobile apps to focus on HTML5 future

Posted: January 30th, 2012, 11:05am MST by Tim Conneally

Even though Yahoo remains one of the most popular sites on the Web after nearly seventeen years in the business, the company faces an uncertain future with nebulous branding, improper monetization, and unsteady restructuring efforts.

Yahoo has been attempting to streamline and reorganize in various ways to stay on top, but on Friday it announced it will be ending support for ten of its mobile apps for iPad, iPhone, Android and BlackBerry.

The apps that are retiring are:

Yahoo! Meme (iPad and iPhone)
Yahoo! Mim (iPad)
Yahoo! Answers (Android)
Yahoo! AppSpot (Android and iPhone)
Yahoo! Deals (iPhone)
Yahoo! Finance (BlackBerry)
Yahoo! Movies (Android)
Yahoo! News (Android)
Yahoo! Shopping (iPhone)
Yahoo! Sketch-a-Search (iPad and iPhone)

These applications have not had the success that some of Yahoo's other mobile applications have had, such as Yahoo! Go, Weather, Finance, Sportacular, and, of course, Flickr. The company says it remains committed to these apps and others that "capitalize on Yahoo's strengths."

"We’re moving forward with a 'mobile first' mindset," the Yahoo Mobile team blog said on Friday. "You can expect to see more new Yahoo! mobile products in 2012...such as companion experiences for TV like IntoNow, new ways to experience personalized media like Livestand...and we’ll be building these experiences with disruptive technology that’s going to change the mobile game well beyond Yahoo!"

The disruptive technology Yahoo is talking about here is HTML5 and its related "open Web technologies," which the company is hoping to use to make its content more broadly available and interoperable.
Capture and securely store WiFi passwords with Lastpass 1.90.1

Posted: January 30th, 2012, 9:53am MST by Nick Peers

Online password manager Lastpass has been updated to version 1.90.1. The cross-platform, multi-browser plug-in, also available as a separate download for 64-bit versions of Windows, adds one major new feature to this release: the ability to capture and securely store WiFi passwords for transferring to other computers.

The password manager allows users to securely store all their various online login details through one convenient, central location, encouraging them to use strong, unique passwords for each site they frequent for security purposes.

Teething Troubles

Capturing WiFi passwords from your existing computer is simple -- in theory: first, your WiFi connection needs to be switched on, then open your browser and click the Lastpass icon, logging in if necessary. Select Tools > Import from and the WiFi Passwords option should appear (look under “Other” if you’re using Chrome) -- selecting this generates separate secure notes for the settings (including passkey and connection type) of each individual WiFi network stored on your computer.

We say in theory, because a number of users, ourselves included, were unable to see the option at all after the initial upgrade. There’s no rhyme or reason for who gets affected -- both Mac and PC users, as well as Safari, Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer have all been affected.

The good news is that there is a workaround, and while it’s not universal it did fix the issue for us. You need to remove all traces of Lastpass from your computer -- in our case, that meant simply removing the universal installer we’d used to install Lastpass in the first place -- and then install the latest version from scratch. You should then be able to access the option.

Other Changes

Version 1.90 also introduces HSTS support for Internet Explorer when accessing Lastpass.com through the Lastpass extension. This basically forces IE to use a secure connection, typically [HTTPS,] when accessing the user’s data on Lastpass.com, and brings it in line with all other supported browsers.

When viewing site details through the Lastpass vault, a new History link allows users to view previously used passwords for that site, while Mac users will also be pleased to see a new OS X universal installer is now available for download, making it a quick and simple task to deploy Lastpass across two or more browsers from one convenient application.

The update is completed by a number of new features for Enterprise users, such as the ability to more easily move sites in and out of Shared Folders, while the new build also squashes a number of minor bugs and issues.

Lastpass works with most major browsers across Windows, Mac and Linux, including Internet Explorer, Safari, Chrome, Firefox and Opera as standalone extensions. It’s also available as astandalone universal installer for 64-bit versions of Windows.

Photo Credit: ARENA Creative/Shutterstock
When one desktop is not enough, there's WindowsPager

Posted: January 30th, 2012, 9:20am MST by Mike Williams

It doesn’t take long to fill your PC’s desktop. Open a browser here, a word processor there, keep a copy of Explorer running in the background, Notepad maybe, and soon it’s starting to take a real effort to locate and switch to the application you need next.

WindowsPager could make your life a little easier, though, with its lightweight support for virtual desktops. Launch the program and you’ll see four new buttons on the taskbar, one for each desktop, and simply clicking the one you need will switch to it right away.

At its simplest, you could just use the program to gain a little more working space. So if you’ve filled up one desktop, say, just choose another and you’ll have a shiny, new and entirely empty desktop to explore. So you might have Excel maximized in one desktop, a browser in another, Explorer running in a third, a few smaller apps open in the other, whatever you like -- and you can switch from one group of windows to another with a click.

Sometimes you may need to reorganize your desktops a little, and WindowsPager makes that easy, too. The taskbar buttons show representations of the windows they contain, for instance; if you drag and drop these from one desktop to another then their parent windows move, as well. And right-clicking a window title bar also reveals a new menu, which allows you to move a window from one desktop to another.

The program also provides the option to set some windows as "always on top", or ensure others are "always visible" (they’re displayed on all of your desktops).

And if you prefer to use keyboard shortcuts, then they’re also available, so you can move windows around or switch between desktops without ever having to touch the mouse.

If you’re nervous about this kind of tool, then you’re not alone; we’re always slightly concerned that low-level tweakery may have undesirable effects if the author doesn’t know precisely what he or she is doing. The good news here, though, is that WindowsPager is portable, no installation is required, so if you have problems for whatever reason then the worst that can happen is you’ll have to reboot, at which point your system will return to normal.

And the program is also surprisingly lightweight. Even though there’s a relatively involved user interface on the taskbar, the various WindowsPager processes still only used around 4MB on our test PC, so you can leave the program running just about anywhere without worrying about having it drain your system resources.
We must blame Apple for China

Posted: January 30th, 2012, 9:08am MST by Ryan Tyler
Charles Duhigg and David Barboza’s recent New York Times article, "iEconomy: Human Costs Are Built Into an iPad", has created quite a firestorm. The article is a blistering expose of Apple and its Chinese manufacturing partners. For those that haven’t read it, please do. This is important, necessary journalism.

Apple apologists are quick to defend the company's behavior as "Me too". Critics call for boycotting Apple products. Holding Apple accountable is the right thing to do for all tech companies. We must see the apologist arguments for what they are -- fallacies that disempower us from action -- and hold up Apple as standard-bearer reformer for all Western technology manufacturing in China.

Taking Sides

The Times article has predictably caused a series of commentaries in the media that are critical of Apple. "Dear Apple: Do something about Chinese working conditions" writes CNet’s Molly Wood. "Apple in China: Has iOrwell Arrived?" asks a Times reader in a reaction letter to the story. And Ad Age’s Bob Garfield writes that "The Rot at Apple's Core Could Sicken Consumers -- and Its Business".

Yet a quick read of the comments on these pieces reveals a contingency of readers that feel the Times goes too far in its critique of Apple. Apple is, they argue, but one company of many that utilize Foxconn and other plants like it. Brutal labor conditions are not an Apple problem, they are the problem of a globalized, greed-driven technology industry. Apple is but one player on a worldwide stage, and it’s therefore unfair to single Apple out.

Many technology journalists agree. In, "Apple’s an easy target, but you can’t blame them for Foxconn", the Loop’s Jim Dalrymple writes: "We can’t simply ignore the problems that arise in manufacturing the devices we love to use, but we can’t throw the blame at Apple’s feet and demand they do more".

CNET’s Brooke Crother continues with his piece "Won’t Buy Apple Products? Then Don’t Stop There". He articulates how boycotting Apple products due to poor worker conditions would open a "Pandora's box", where one would also need to boycott furniture, batteries and even lingerie (his example, not mine) -- all products made in China under the same harsh work conditions in which Apple products are made.

In a public G+ post critical of Apple, influential tech blogger Robert Scoble comments:

It's true that other companies exploit Chinese laborers in the same way as Apple does, and because of this the arguments described above certainly sound reasonable. The problem is they’re not at all reasonable. In fact, they’re classic logical fallacies.

Tu Quoque

Specifically, they employ the "tu quoque" or, "Two wrongs make a right" fallacy of reasoning: According to Logical Fallacies:

The tu quoque fallacy is committed when it is assumed that because someone else has done a thing there is nothing wrong with doing it. This fallacy is classically committed by children who, when told off, respond with 'So and so did it too', with the implied conclusion that there is nothing wrong with doing whatever it is that they have done. This is a fallacy because it could be that both children are in the wrong, and because, as we were all taught, two wrongs don’t make a right.

While Dalrymple, Scoble and Crothers are by no means suggesting inhumane Chinese working conditions are right, their arguments do imply that Apple is no more wrong than other tech companies and, in this way, Apple is somehow less wrong, or right.

The apologist arguments can also be seen as red herring fallacies in that they distract from the issue -- Apple’s role in perpetuating barbaric, inhumane work conditions -- by changing the focus; the problem isn’t Apple, it’s globalization, the government, consumers, other tech companies, etc.

So, logically, Apple is still wrong, regardless of what others do. It’s illogical to lose sight of the fact that Apple, specifically, is still wrong.

Apologists' Apathy

In addition to violating the laws of sound reasoning, the apologist arguments are also morally troubling. In short, they promote apathy when action is needed most. By taking the specific Apple behavior, and making it general about the tech industry, they are essentially throwing cold water on a smouldering, necessary call to action against the negative effects of globalization that is growing among the general public.

As the recent SOPA protests proved, rallying around a specific issue (Stop Software Piracy Act) is a highly effective way to protest a general issue (Internet censorship). By going after Apple specifically, a powerful statement can be made about the negative effects of globalization in general. As the biggest fish in the pond, Apple making changes to the way it does business -- real, substantive changes -- has the potential to send ripple effects across an entire industry. This is why sustaining the impetus to action against Apple is so important. As the Times states:

Given Apple’s prominence and leadership in global manufacturing, if the company were to radically change its ways, it could overhaul how business is done. "Every company wants to be Apple", said Sasha Lezhnev at the Enough Project, a group focused on corporate accountability. "If they committed to building a conflict-free iPhone, it would transform technology".

Though cynics might scoff at the American public’s appetite for ethical, "fair trade" technology, there is precedent in the organic products industry. Accoding to the Organic Trade Organization:
- U.S. sales of organic food and beverages have grown from $1 billion in 1990 to $26.7 billion in 2010. Sales in 2010 represented 7.7 percent growth over 2009 sales. Experiencing the highest growth in sales during 2010 were organic fruits and vegetables, up 11.8 percent over 2009 sales Source: Organic Trade Association’s 2011 Organic Industry Survey.
- Organic non-food sales grew 9.7 percent in 2010, to reach $1.97 billion. Source: Organic Trade Association’s 2011 Organic Industry Survey.
- Total U.S. organic sales, including food and non-food products, were $28.682 billion in 2010, up 9.7 percent from 2009. Source: "Organic Trade Association’s 2011 Organic Industry Survey".
With organics, Americans spend billions on food and products that are produced under strict ethical and environmental standards. They make a conscious choice to spend more money on organic products for ethical reasons. As a result of this choice, an entire industry has been changed. Why should technology be any different?

Growing Better Fruit

Currently we don’t have the same choices when shopping for technology that we do for food, but there’s no reason to believe we shouldn’t. This is why we must care about Apple; it is our opportunity for change. We must see the apologist arguments for what they are, disempowering fallacies, and choose to do something rather than apathetically shrug our shoulders.

We’ve proven as a connected global community that we can mobilize in powerfully meaningful ways. As bills have fallen in Congress, so have despotic regimes in the Middle East. We can have "fair trade" technology, furniture and clothes, but we first have to show the industry that needs to make them that we’ve had enough of the status quo.

Protesting Apple specifically is an opportunity to make a critically important statement in general. We can tell the technology industry that we are not just mindless consumers intoxicated by the sparkle of shiny new things. We can remind companies like Apple that they exist only by the good graces of our pursestrings, and to remain in those good graces they must act in certain ways. Yes, we must blame Apple. It might not feel fair, but it’s rational and, most importantly, it’s the right thing to do.

Photo Credit: Francesco Dazzi/Shutterstock

Ryan Tyler is a free-lance writer and educator living in Portland, Or. He has worked in the entertainment industry as well as K-12 and higher education. His interests include education reform, distance education and using technology to make the world a better place. Of course, he’s also a tech geek.
McAfee releases new security suite for Android, BlackBerry, x86droid

Posted: January 30th, 2012, 6:13am MST by Tim Conneally

Intel may still be a rookie in the mobile space, but its security software subsidiary McAfee has got Intel's Android project covered. On Monday, the security company launched its second-generation McAfee Mobile Security suite for smartphones and tablets, which includes compatibility with Intel-based Android devices.

The $30 subscription-based application supports Google Android 2.1–4.0, BlackBerry 4.5, 4.6, 4.7, 5.0, 6.0, 7.0, and S60 3rd and 5th Edition, as well as Symbian ^3, and provides a suite of anti-virus, anti-spyware, and anti-theft, tools for mobile devices.

The application scans any content downloaded to your mobile device, including attachments, apps, and text and SMS messages, and blocks adware and dialers as well as suspicious links delivered via email, SMS, or even QR code. It can also interpret the data that apps are collecting, and can warn users of suspicious app behavior with an "App Alert."

The software's anti-theft controls are extensive, including remote locate, lockdown, backup, and wipe features that can be executed over McAfee's Web portal. The client application even comes with uninstall protection which prevents unauthorized users from removing the McAfee product to sidestep these lost device security features.

McAfee Mobile Security 2.0 is available for download today.

Photo: Slavoljub Pantelic/Shutterstock.com
30 software downloads you need this week

Posted: January 28th, 2012, 10:47am MST by Mark Wilson

We’ve reached the end of the first month of 2012 and this has been another busy week for software releases. If it seemed a little quiet on the browser updates recently, things changed this week with the release of Opera 11.61 FINAL as well as Opera Portable 11.61. Fans of cutting edge software may be more interested in Opera Next 12.00 build 1256, which is the first update to the beta channel of Opera for quite some time.

When browsing the Internet, speed is often the most important consideration, and Pale Moon is a speed optimized version of Firefox that includes support for extensions. This week saw the release of not only Pale Moon 9.1 and Pale Moon x64 9.1, but also portable versions in the form of Pale Moon x64 9.1 Portable and Pale Moon 9.1 Portable.

Of course, using the Internet does not have to be about simply consuming other people’s website, you may have considered creating an online presence for yourself. This is made incredibly easy with MAGIX Website Maker MX, which can be used to create Flash-based sites even if you have never experimented with Flash before. Whether you are looking to create a site to showcase your digital photos or videos, or you want to create an online store with PayPal support, you’ll find everything you need here. If all of this sounds like hard work, you can always use the internet for entertainment, and TapinRadio 1.51.1 enables to find, listen to and record a massive range of online radio stations.

For all of your offline media needs a codec pack will help to ensure that you do not encounter any video or audio files that you are unable to play. If you already have a version of the K-Lite Codec Pack installed, you should take a look at K-Lite Codec Pack 8.2.0 Update, which includes a number of new additions. If you are yet to discover just how useful a codec pack can be and you need to start from scratch, look no further than K-Lite Codec Pack Mega 8.2.0, K-Lite Codec Pack Basic 8.2.0, K-Lite Codec Pack Standard 8.2.0 or K-Lite Codec Pack Full 8.2.0, which will help you to play a wide range of media formats.

Whether or not you are using your computer to access the Internet, you will make use of a variety of programs. To help make these easier to manage, take a look at Stardock Tiles 1.00, which makes it incredibly easy to organize and navigate through your running applications. Also updated this week were CCleaner 3.15 and CCleaner Portable 3.15, which help you to optimize your system and protect your privacy, with even greater support for a wider range of programs in these latest versions.

Fans of tweaking software will no doubt be impressed with Advanced System Tweaker 0.9.6 (beta) which can be used to tweak and customize your system in a range of ways -- this particular app is extendable through the use of tweaking add-ons that is a nice touch. For day-to-day maintenance of any system, Defraggler 2.09.391 provides you with a great way to ensure that your hard drive is free from fragmentation -- and if you’re constantly moving from one computer to another Defraggler Portable 2.09 can be popped on a USB drive.

It is a good idea to take an active interest in your computer’s hardware, but this is certainly the case if you have overclocked your system. Open Hardware Monitor 0.4.0 is a free tool that can be used to monitor the temperature of your graphics card, processor and hard drive so you can ensure that you aren’t pushing things too far.

If you are more interested in software than hardware, take a look at Speccy 1.15.309, which will tell you everything you need to know about not only the hardware you have, but also the software you have installed; there’s also Speccy Portable 1.15 available for fans of portable software.

It is important to keep an eye on how your computer is being used, but this is especially true in the case of shared computers. History Viewer 4.8 enables you to monitor how other users have been making use of the internet and USB drives so you and easily check for unwanted activity. Hardcore computer users should take a look at Microsoft Desktop Player 1.0.0 (beta), which provides access to library of white papers, podcasts and webcasts that may be of interest.

This week has also seen a number of releases that will be of interest to anyone who uses their computer for work. Computers are expensive enough to start with, so anything that can be done to reduce on-going costs is to be welcomed. LibreOffice Productivity Suite 3.4.5 is a free office suite that includes everything you need to create a range of business and personal documents, and LibreOffice Portable 3.4.5 is also available if you would like to keep your office software on a USB drive to take with you.

If you’re looking for a way to collaborate on work or just store notes online, look no further than Evernote 4.5.3. Developer and anyone with a serious interest in computers and operating systems will be interested in VMware Player 4.0.2 and VMware Workstation 8.0.2, which can be used to run virtual machines on your computer so you can work with older versions of Windows or even install the likes of Ubuntu without the need to have access to a second machine.

That’s it for this week’s highlights. There is sure to be an impressive swathe of releases to look forward to over the next seven days and our roundup will be available this time next week to bring you up to speed on anything you may have missed.

Photo Credit: Sebastian Kaulitzki/Shutterstock
Apple, the enterprise, and the marginalization of the cultists

Posted: January 28th, 2012, 10:45am MST by Ed Oswald

For a company left for dead a little over a decade ago, Apple's return to relevancy and in some cases supremacy is stunning. Love or hate the company, few others have accomplished a similar feat. Now one of the last dominoes left to fall -- the enterprise sector -- is set to embrace the platform.

Forrester Research finds that one out of every five IT employees use one or more Apple products at work. This is not completely by their own request: half of all corporations of 1,000 employees or more now issue Macs to at least some of their work force, with an average of a 52 percent increase in deployments slated for 2012.

The more money you make, the more likely you are to use an Apple device for work, following a similar pattern among consumers. Forty-one percent of those making over $150,000 are using Apple products, while 19 percent of those making under $50,000 do so. You are also more likely as an executive to have an Apple device, at 41 percent for those with a position of Director or higher: this drops off to 14 percent for the average employee.

Understanding Apple's Success in IT

At first glance the numbers are not impressive, but looking at these numbers alone without taking into account the past tells half the story. I'm sure if this same survey was done five years ago these adoption numbers would have been in the single digits, and in the lowest income brackets all but negligible. Apple's real success has come in short order.

Here's another important point from the Forrester survey, which echoes a point I've stressed before: Apple's strength among youth is key. The firm finds that younger IT workers are twice as likely to use Macs as their older counterparts, only furthering the argument that the younger generation is driving -- and will drive -- Apple's success for much of the foreseeable future.

Apple seems to be taking the enterprise market seriously. There is a significant number of job listings for sales and marketing positions outside of the consumer sector. Whether this is a function of the change in leadership to Tim Cook -- Steve Jobs disliked having to "cater" to the specific needs of businesses -- or just forced realization that the enterprise really does matter is unknown.

The reason doesn't really matter as it just means more Macs out the door for the Cupertino, Calif. company. This newfound success in any case will only further marginalize the "Mac cultists" that are too-often mentioned when criticizing the company or its products.

Why the Apple Cult No Longer Matters

My colleague Harry McCracken touched on this topic in his column for Time earlier this week. Already with the success in the consumer space, Apple is moving beyond this vocal and obtuse group. Add a healthy dose of enterprise into the mix. Now how important is this group, really?

The argument against the company using the "Apple cult" excuse is less convincing as Apple continues to grow. Every company has a group of core fanatic users or "fanboys". In the Microsoft world, they're called MVPs. In many cases they're just as bad, and just as blind. It just so happens Apple fanboys are more organized.

Oh, and the argument that these Apple cultists have taken over the tech media, generating overly positive coverage? There's a few prominent MVPs/journalists (many you already read) doing the same thing for Microsoft. This argument reminds me of my diatribe on bias in the tech media from last September. The whole tech media is pretty much a mess, but I do digress here.

Either way, the point is that Apple's customer base is becoming so large that these folks really do not matter anymore. Forrester's findings -- as well as other studies and market share numbers -- indicate that Apple is moving into the mainstream. For a company that just had a $46 billion quarter, the implications of this jump to enterprise are huge.

Apple's revenues and profits are only set to grow even more with this untapped market. This in turn will create a positive feedback loop: those that get used to using Apple in the workplace will be more apt to purchase an Apple product for personal use. The benefits here for the Cupertino, Calif. company are just too great to pass up.

I argued (to a good deal of criticism) that Cook needs something to hang his hat on earlier this month. Call me crazy, but making a solid commitment to the enterprise sector is it. The benefits will be long-lasting.

Photo Credit: 1000 Words / Shutterstock
That's a wrap: Jon Rubinstein leaves HP, Palm, webOS

Posted: January 27th, 2012, 1:06pm MST by Tim Conneally

According to a number of reports on Friday, the head of HP's mobile efforts, Jon Rubinstein, has left the company.

Hewlett-Packard acquired Palm in 2010 as a move to advance in the smartphone business. But after a little more than one year and a just a few new mobile devices, HP killed the Palm brand, dissolved its mobile business unit, and turned webOS into an open source project.

So after four years championing webOS as the savior of Palm, then as the key to the mobile kingdom for HP, Rubinstein is returning to the sidelines.

He has announced no plans for the immediate future.
Suddenly 37M iPhones isn't so many

Posted: January 27th, 2012, 11:36am MST by Joe Wilcox

My reaction mirrored many others this week. Apple's big iPhone holiday quarter seemed simply unbelievable -- 37 million, up 128 percent year over year. But Samsung was close. Real close: 36.5 million smartphones, according to Strategy Analytics. Together, the two companies accounted for 47 percent of fourth-quarter smartphone shipments.

The horse race between the companies sours Apple apologist arguments about iPhone vs Android. Staunch iPhone defenders blow off Android competition as one against many. But on the one-to-one comparison, Apple isn't so high and mighty. Samsung is keeping pace just fine. Apple was market leader for the quarter -- 23.9 percent share to the South Korean company's 23.5 percent. But Samsung took the year -- 19.9 percent share to its American rival's 19 percent. Both companies had exceptionally good fourth quarters.

"With global smartphone shipments nearing half a billion units in 2011, Samsung is now well positioned alongside Apple in a two-horse race at the forefront of one of the world’s largest and most valuable consumer electronics markets", Neil Mawston, Strategy Analytics executive director, says.

"Smartphone specialist Apple shipped 93 million handsets worldwide in 2011, nearly doubling the previous year’s volumes", Tom Kang, Strategy Analytics director, says. "Apple is on track to ship well over 100 million units during 2012. China is becoming a key market for Apple this year, and we expect Apple’s share to grow rapidly in 2012".

Last week, I asserted that Apple's fourth-quarter sales surge was more about distribution rather than iPhone 4S. Apple's handset is available more places and, importantly, $99 iPhone 4 and free 3GS open up sales to more people. Supporting that theory, Alex Spektor, Strategy Analytics associate director, attributes the surge to "distribution of the iPhone family expanded across numerous countries, dozens of operators and multiple price points". I remain convinced that the latter reason is most important.

Samsung announced fourth-quarter earnings results today and unsurprisingly the telecommunications business outperformed other segments. Revenue rose to 17.82 trillion won from 11.75 trillion won a year earlier, with operating profit of 2.64 trillion won. The division's operating profit rose 90 percent in 2011 year over year.

Samsung says that its smartphone shipments rose 30 percent quarter-on-quarter; Apple says iPhone shipments rose 117 percent between quarters. Unlike Apple, which has a single operating system with iOS, Samsung offers three: Android, Bada (its own product) and Windows Phone. Android overwhelmingly accounts for the majority of Samsung smartphone shipments.

More broadly, manufacturers shipped 155 million smartphones during fourth quarter and 488.6 million for the year. Shipments for all handsets in 2011: 1.6 billion.
Manage Windows apps with Stardock Tiles

Posted: January 27th, 2012, 9:45am MST by Mike Williams

If the Windows Start bar doesn’t suit your application management needs then there are plenty of alternatives around. And the latest, Stardock’s Tiles, provides an intelligent sidebar that works as a program launcher and a tool for managing your running programs.

To get started you might say, launch an Internet Explorer window, then hold down Shift as you drag that window’s title bar, and drop it onto the Tiles sidebar. What you’ll then see is an active tile, a live thumbnail of the contents of that window, which updates as you browse from one site to the next. And if you open new browser tabs then thumbnails for those will also be displayed below the main tile; again they’ll show thumbnails of the site they have opened, and you can switch to any of them with a click.

The program isn’t just about active applications, though. You can also drag and drop shortcuts there, or have it display recently opened documents, enabling you to use the sidebar as a simple program launcher.

You’re able to drag and drop the tiles to rearrange and reorganize them, so it’s easy to find what you need, and you’ll improve your productivity by being able to more quickly switch from one application to another.

And if you don’t like the idea of losing a large chunk of screen real estate, then it’s worth checking out the Tiles configuration options, where you’re able to reduce the size of the Tiles bar, or even have it automatically hidden when it’s not in use.

Tiles plainly isn’t the most essential of applications. It looks good, though, and may be useful if you regularly run lots of applications at the same time, particularly if you’ve a multi-touch enabled display (Tiles already supports the technology and can smoothly scroll and switch between pages).

And unusually, you may extend the free version by purchasing additional features individually. So if you want multimonitor support, say, it can be yours for around $2; click Add Features in the Configuration dialog to find out more.
Don't miss the end-of-January software sale

Posted: January 27th, 2012, 9:24am MST by Mark Wilson

You can find plenty of bargains at Downloadcrew Software Store, but there have been even greater savings to be had this month. If you’re thinking about investing in some new software, now is the time to do so -- these special offers will end when we reach the end of January.

The holiday season is now a month behind us, so it’s time to think about organizing all of those photos you took during family get togethers. CyberLink PhotoDirector 2011 may be just what you’ve been looking for. This is a seriously powerful photo editing tool that includes support for RAW images and boasts a range of features to rival Photoshop. Buy the software now for just $44.95, a savings of just 55 percent off the MSRP, and you will receive a free upgrade to PhotoDirector 2012 v3 when it releases in February.

You may well also have video files you want to take care of and if this is the case, take a look at CyberLink Video & Photo Collection 1.0. For $99.95, a 33-percent savings, you can grab yourself a super powerful photo and video editing package which includes a range of incredible 3D effects.

You may have decided to treat yourself to a new computer for 2012, and whether or not the case, it is worth investing in some software to help keep your system running at peak performance. Look no further than TuneUp Utilities 2012 [3-PC, 1-Year], which will help to keep your system optimized -- and you can save 62 percent off the MSRP when you buy the software for just $18.95. Small businesses can make an even greater 75 percent savings when buying TuneUp Utilities Business Edition 2012 [5-PC, 1-Year] for just $19.95.

Security is going to be more important than ever this year. To help fight the threat of viruses, look no further than AVG Anti-Virus 2012 [1-PC, 1-Year]. For an amazingly low price of $5.95 (saving you a staggering 85 percent off the usual price) you can get yourself a copy of this highly acclaimed antivirus tool. For just a little extra, AVG Internet Security 2012 [1-PC, 1-Year] offers AV protection as well as parental controls, online backup and more -- all for just $12.99.

For AVG’s ultimate protection package AVG Premium Security 2012 [1-PC, 1-Year] is available for just $19.99. This includes the added bonus of identity protection and Quick Tune optimization to help speed up your system, and all for 71 percent off the MSRP. If looking after the performance of your computer is of interest, AVG PC Tuneup 2012 [1-PC, 1-Year] is available at the discounted price of $11.99, and if you have more than one computer to take care of, you should take a look at AVG PC Tuneup 2012 [3-PC, 1-Year], which you can buy for just $19.99 – saving you 60 percent.

Looking for online storage? AVG LiveKive 2012 [UNLIMITED storage]includes all of the cloud storage you could possibly need and you can save yourself a massive 70 percent when you buy an unlimited package for just $14.95.

Sticking with the security theme, Bitdefender Antivirus Plus 2012 [1-PC, 1-Year] is available at the bargain basement price of $4.95 -- a gigantic 80 percent savings. You might also be interested in Webroot Internet Security Complete 2011 [3-PC], which can be used to protect up to three computers against viruses, spam and ID theft. The low price of $9.95 represents a huge 88 percent savings off the usual MSRP, and an even greater saving is to be found with Webroot Internet Security Essentials 2011 [3-PC] with a 90 percent saving bringing the price down to just $5.95. Both of these program include a free upgrade to Webroot SecureAnywhere.

A new year is as good a time as any to learn a new skill or take up a new hobby. If you’ve ever fancied the idea of becoming a DJ, we have just the software for you. MAGIX Digital DJ 2 is available at the discounted price of $29.99, saving you 40 percent, and is a powerful music tool can be used to mix tracks like a pro on a set of digital decks. More creative software is available in the form of MAGIX Music Maker MX, which you can snap up at a 33-percent discount for just $39.99.

With a huge collection of samples, loops and effects to work with, you’ll find that it’s incredibly easy to create something truly impressive that you can share online with others. You can save more than one third off the MSRP when you buy MAGIX Movie Edit Pro MX for just $45.99, and when you do so you are equipping yourself with everything you need to edit and enhance your home video footage.

Anyone looking to protect valuable data should look at Genie Timeline 2.1 Professional, which is an innovative backup tool that makes it easy to safeguard your valuable files. Available for just $9.95, you can save 83 percent off the MSRP when you buy this great tool today. Multi-computer households can take advantage of an 83-percent savings off Uniblue PowerSuite 2012, and for just $19.95 you can equip yourself with an advanced tweaking and optimization tool.

Finally for this roundup,Laplink PCmover Professional v6 is a great tool for anyone making the move to a new computer. For a mere $29.95 (a saving of 50 percent), you can buy this incredibly useful tool that will help you to move your files, programs and settings from one computer to another with a minimum of effort.

Don’t forget, these special offers expire at the end of January, next Tuesday, so be quick and take advantage while you can. These are just some of the highlights from the store – there are plenty more bargains to be found so head over to the Downloadcrew Software Store to see what you can pick up today!

Photo Credit: iQoncept/Shutterstock
Twitter updates policies, will censor tweets on demand

Posted: January 27th, 2012, 9:09am MST by Tim Conneally

World-famous microblogging service Twitter has changed its policies and will "reactively withhold" (read: censor) tweets deemed illegal or harmful in countries with laws concerning such things.

On Thursday, the policy change was announced in the official Twitter blog, where it said:

As we continue to grow internationally, we will enter countries that have different ideas about the contours of freedom of expression. Some differ so much from our ideas that we will not be able to exist there. Others are similar but, for historical or cultural reasons, restrict certain types of content, such as France or Germany, which ban pro-Nazi content.

Until now, the only way we could take account of those countries’ limits was to remove content globally. Starting today, we give ourselves the ability to reactively withhold content from users in a specific country -- while keeping it available in the rest of the world. We have also built in a way to communicate transparently to users when content is withheld, and why.

Though it mentions the widely-cited German anti-Nazi measures, this announcement concerns two types of potentially offensive tweets that have been of high concern lately: links to copyrighted material, and anti-government/insurgent tweets.

Twitter says it hasn't censored anyone under this new policy yet, but it will publicly share all takedown notices it receives on Chilling Effects.org. There is already an eye-openingly long list of Twitter's DMCA-related takedowns on the site.

It is important to note that this content removal will be done on a case-by-case basis, and not through broad filters.
Sync multiple Google calendars to Windows Phone 7.5

Posted: January 27th, 2012, 7:56am MST by Joe Wilcox
I don't really use Google Calendar and don't have Windows Phone (sigh, on the latter). If you do, here's a tip. Google has enabled multiple-calendar sync with Windows Phone 7.5. It's now possible to select among the calendars and sync up to 25 of them. Gasp, who has two dozen plus one?

"Just navigate to m.google.com/sync on your phone’s browser and configure the calendars you would like to see", Li Yin, with the Google Sync Team, posts to Google+. "From that page, you can also configure which addresses you send mail as if you have custom addresses in Gmail. We’ve also improved search to look beyond the conversations that are stored locally on your device so that you are able to find more of your conversations, faster".

As I have expressed many times over the last five years, synchronization is the killer app for the connected age. Its importance increases as businesses and consumers use more mobile devices connected to the cloud.

Features available on Windows 7.5:
With Google Sync enabled, you can do the following actions in Google Calendar using the Calendar app:
- Create events and edit event details.
- Respond to meeting requests and update your attendee status.
- Change your Alert Reminder Time, e.g. "30 minutes before".
- See your list of pending invitations.
- When you’re invited to an event, it shows up with a dotted line on the left side of the event in your calendar. If you choose Accept or Maybe, it changes to solid, and if you Decline, the event is removed.
- When viewing meeting invitations in your inbox, the calendar icon at the bottom lets you update your attendee status.
Multiple-calendar sync is also available to Google Apps users.

If you find Google's setup instructions to be lacking, Microsoft offers more.
Who's doing what on that shared PC? History Viewer can tell you

Posted: January 27th, 2012, 7:02am MST by Mike Williams

Normally it’s best to allow everyone their privacy when using a PC. But there may be occasional exceptions. You might legitimately be concerned about the content your kids are accessing online, for instance, or want to confirm that a work PC really is being used for work purposes;d History Viewer may be able to help.

Launch the program and it’ll provide easy access to your various histories for Internet Explorer, Firefox and Chrome. You’re able to view cookies, URL histories, download details, maybe even form history in some cases, more than enough to give you a very good idea how the browser is being used (unless the key details have been deleted, anyway).

The program also itemizes many Windows histories, including your recently opened documents, recent searches, the programs you’ve launched, and more.

There’s even a USB Storage History section, which details all the storage devices that have ever been connected to your system.

And you get an option to save all this information as an HTML report, which may come in handy if you’re looking to see what’s changed.

The data collected here isn’t particularly in-depth, and if you’re after real forensics power then you’ll be better off with something like OSForensics. If you just want a basic report on a PC’s internet and Windows histories, though, History Viewer provides a quick, free and simple way to get the job done.

Photo Credit: Kheng Guan Toh/Shutterstock
Microsoft invests $1 billion to sell a million Nokia Windows Phones

Posted: January 26th, 2012, 3:22pm MST by Ed Oswald

At face value, Nokia's results for Windows Phone are solid. One million Lumia devices sold in just its first quarter of availability. The sales add a bright spot to an otherwise gloomy Nokia calendar fourth-quarter earnings report, where smartphone sales slid 31 percent amid a 21 percent year-over-year drop in revenues.

The real story here though is the cost to Microsoft to ensure that success. Microsoft agreed to pay Nokia $1 billion to abandon Symbian as primary operating system for Windows Phone, according to reports soon after the deal was announced in February 2011. The Redmond, Wash.-based company paid Nokia $250 million in the fourth quarter for "platform support payments", meaning each device cost Microsoft about $250 before any royalty payments received. That's a run rate of a billion dollars per year. So just how much is Nokia giving back to Microsoft?

Not much it appears. "We have a competitive software royalty structure, which includes minimum software royalty commitments", Nokia says in its earnings statement. "Over the life of the agreement, both the platform support payments and the minimum software royalty commitments are expected to measure in the billions of US Dollars".

Microsoft has never publicly disclosed the royalties it charges for Windows Phone 7, although reports claim the company receives around $15 for each device sold. Nokia is key to Microsoft's strategy to make Windows Phone relevant, so it's likely if that number's true the Redmond company had no choice but to accept a smaller payment.

With Lumia's early success apparent through Nokia's quarterly results, and the disclosure of the payments Microsoft is making you have to wonder if it's all worth it. While a high cost, it's paying early dividends. Not everyone's impressed, but Microsoft arguably stole the show at CES 2012 thanks to the Lumia 900 and HTC Titan II.

This excitement has lead to positive press: IHS iSuppli wireless analyst Wayne Lam says Windows Phone will become the second biggest mobile platform in 2015. While a boisterous claim, it keeps Windows Phone in the headlines -- and in a positive light.

On the flipside, there are pitfalls to this strategy. By giving Nokia such favorable terms, it is preventing itself from getting terms more favorable to it with other manufacturers. That may force the company to make a decision in the not too distant future to end the royalty structure and "give away" Windows Phone much like Google does with Android.

(That will also destroy one of its key arguments in demanding royalties from Android manufacturers -- that Google's strategy puts it at a competitive disadvantage.)

There's also more expenditures to worry about: as BetaNews first reported during Consumer Electronics Show 2012, Microsoft is planning a huge ad blitz to surround the launch of the Nokia Ace (otherwise known as the Lumia 900). With $100 million being spent on launching that device alone, and as much as an additional $100 million to be spent on the marketing of other devices.

It's a lot of money, that's for sure.
Nivio opens in beta, brings Windows to iPad, Android tablets

Posted: January 26th, 2012, 2:13pm MST by Tim Conneally

After a couple of private trial runs, nivio (the name is intentionally all-lowercase) has opened in limited beta to United States users. The service lets users have remote access to their own cloud-based Windows desktop, complete with app store-style access to premium applications for a monthly fee.

Nivio is made up of three parts: nDrive, nDesktop, and nApps. As the names may already suggest, they are a cloud storage platform, a cloud-based Windows desktop, and a platform for renting applications for your Windows desktop.

The idea behind nDesktop is that users can access a rented Windows desktop in any machine that has an HTML5-compatible browser or the nivio client application: iPad, iPhone, Android tablets, netbooks, notebooks, ultrabooks, or whatever. This way, users can do their Windows-specific tasks on whatever machine they have handy.

The nApp Store is an on-demand App-Store that lets users rent applications such as Microsoft Office for their nDesktop. By doing this, users don't have to buy the full version of expensive desktop software licenses, and they can just pay for what they need.

Nivio nDrive is like Dropbox, Box.net, or one of the many other web-based file sharing platforms. Users can, for example, create a document on their Windows PC, save it to their nDrive, and then edit it later with their iPad.

Interested beta testers can sign up on nivio's website. After the initial free trial, Beta testers get access to nDesktop for up to 10 hours, and 10GB of nDrive storage for $5 per month.
Symantec tells users to stop using pcAnywhere amid security breach

Posted: January 26th, 2012, 11:47am MST by Ed Oswald

It's not often when a developer tells you outright not to use its software, but that is exactly what Symantec is forced to do in light of the theft of source code. Last month, Hacktavist group Anonymous bragged that it had possession of code that powers several applications, including Norton Antivirus Corporate Edition, Norton Internet Security; Norton SystemWorks and pcAnywhere.

Symantec says the code theft originally occurred in 2006. While at first security experts believed the theft to only be a black eye for the company's reputation, it now appears that the incident is far more serious. Symantec recommends users of pcAnywhere stop using the software immediately until there is a solution to address any security concerns.

Why didn't Symantec disclose the breach immediately? The security software vendor claims "inconclusive" evidence that hackers had made away with anything valuable at that time. Only when Anonymous showed what it had were investigators able to confirm the hack.

"Malicious users with access to the source code have an increased ability to identify vulnerabilities and build new exploits", Symantec says. "Additionally, customers that are not following general security best practices are susceptible to man-in-the-middle attacks which can reveal authentication and session information".

Symantec did not say when it expects to release an update to the software.

The source of the flaw is unknown, however. It may be due to an oversight on Symantec's part. The company makes reference to encrypted keys in the report. If these are hardcoded in, hackers could easily find the key and use it to launch unauthorized remote sessions. At that point, anything on the user's computer that is not password protected is accessible.

Other software products affected by the code breach are not at risk because the underlying code is considerably different than the 2006 versions, apparently closing any attack vectors. In the case of pcAnywhere, there hasn't been as much change, leading Symantec to take the unusual step of telling customers not to use its product.

"It is recommended that customers understand the current risks, ensure pcAnywhere 12.5 is installed, apply all relevant patches as they are released, and follow the general security best practices discussed herein", Symantec says, referring to the report which can be accessed here.

Symantec's Norton suite of antivirus products have repeatedly been the target of criticism, ranging from accusations that the company's representatives misinform users their computers are infected and require remote assistance for an additional fee, to cooperation with the FBI in whitelisting Trojans aimed at tracking the online activities of suspected criminals.

There is disconnect between the company's statements and actions when it comes to pcAnywhere. While in the report Symantec explicitly says not to use the software, neither on its front page nor the software's own page does it state this as of Thursday afternoon.

The statement currently on Symantec's front page is its old position, where it had claimed there was no risk to users.

Art Credit: dohtoor/Shutterstock
Motorola hopes a ridiculously big battery will improve Droid Razr

Posted: January 26th, 2012, 11:40am MST by Tim Conneally

Last October, Motorola Mobility unveiled the 4G Droid Razr, the Android-powered smartphone that combined Motorola's strongest phone brand names in a single device. When the device went up for sale in November, it faced some negative reviews because of its weak battery life.

To remedy this, Motorola today released the Droid Razr Maxx, which is essentially the Droid Razr with a much bigger battery.

How much bigger, you ask? 85 percent bigger.

The original Droid Razr had a 1780 mAh Li-Ion battery, capable (on paper, at least) of 750 minutes of talk time and up to 205 hours of standby time. The Droid Razr Maxx has a 3300 mAh Li-Ion, capable of up to 21.5 hours of talk time and 380 hours of standby time. Motorola says it has the "longest battery life of any 4G smartphone."

But the value of such a large battery at this very moment is questionable due to a couple of factors.

Firstly, Betanews Managing Editor Joe Wilcox and I both have the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, a 4G Android smartphone with an 1850 mAh battery, and both of us have found the battery life to be extremely impressive. Even with 4G connectivity turned on, making a normal work day's worth of phone calls, both of us can regularly get 18 hours of usage out of the Galaxy Nexus. This could be due to the energy management features in Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) which are not present in Gingerbread, the version of Android that the Droid Razr and Razr Maxx both run.

Fortunately, Motorola says an Ice Cream Sandwich upgrade is available for the Razr Maxx, so we will be able to see how differently the device behaves under the new operating system.

Second, there is the potential heat problem. As any smartphone owner knows, these devices can get really hot under the proper circumstances. Android phones that have third party apps dealing out packets in the background tend to heat up quite a bit when mobile signals are scarce.

The Droid Razr Maxx has the double whammy of being one of Motorola's thinnest devices and having one of the industry's largest batteries. Those two factors add up to make a device that is very susceptible to heat-related issues.

The Droid Razr Maxx is available through Verizon Wireless today for $299 with a two-year service contract.

Tim's Disclosures
iPad share plunges as Android tablets make dramatic gains

Posted: January 26th, 2012, 11:18am MST by Joe Wilcox

Do I have your attention yet? Apple fans needn't worry, iPad has considerable lead over Android tablets. iPad global market share, as measured by mobile operating system, fell to 57.6 percent in fourth quarter from 68.2 percent a year earlier, according to Strategy Analytics. Meanwhile, Android tablets rose to 39.1 percent from 29 percent. Something else: Windows climbed from zero to 1.5 percent, and that's without tablet-optimized Windows 8.

Despite popular convention that people only want iPad, clearly somebody is buying Android. Strategy Analytics doesn't break down the numbers by vendor, but there's reason to ask about one. Amazon. For months there has been oft-asked question: Would $199 Kindle Fire cut into iPad sales? Last month, Amazon said that it sold over 4 million Kindles in December, but wouldn't specify how many were tablets. "Apple shrugged off the much-hyped threat from entry-level Android models this quarter", Peter King, Strategy Analytics director, says. Perhaps that's answer enough.

"Global tablet shipments reached an all-time high of 26.8 million units in Q4 2011, surging 150 percent from 10.7 million in Q4 2010", King says. "Demand for tablets among consumer, business and education users remains strong". Apple shipped 15.4 million tablets, bringing the total since launch to 55 million.

"Global Android tablet shipments tripled annually to 10.5 million units", Neil Mawston, Strategy Analytics executive director, says. "Dozens of Android models distributed across multiple countries by numerous brands such as Amazon, Samsung, Asus and others have been driving volumes".

Androids got a boost from new models or discounts during fourth quarter. For example, Amazon started selling Kindle Fire near the start of holiday seasonal sales. Verizon cut Motorola XOOM LTE pricing to $199.99 over Black Friday weekend before introducing new XYBOARD models.

"Android is so far proving relatively popular with tablet manufacturers despite nagging concerns about fragmentation of Android’s operating system, user-interface and app store ecosystem", Mawston says. To watch now: Whether Android 4.0 -- aka Ice Cream Sandwich -- churns up more Android tablet interest.

For the year, manufacturers shipped 66.9 million tablets, up from 18.6 million -- a 260 percent increase. Strategy Analytics sees tablets cannibalizing netbook sales, and even low-cost notebooks.

Important note: Like most of its competitors, Strategy Analytics track sales into the channel, rather than out to customers. Product shipped doesn't mean product sold.
Microsoft, don't forget about Desktop Player -- we haven't

Posted: January 26th, 2012, 9:57am MST by Mike Williams

If you’re looking for advanced, low-level information on Microsoft technologies then it’ll probably be somewhere on Microsoft.com. But where, exactly? MSDN? Technet? One of the hundreds of team blogs? Somewhere else entirely?

Microsoft’s Desktop Player (a beta, but it seemed stable to us) aims to remove this uncertainty by providing a simple desktop client where you can enter your search query, discover related podcasts and webcasts, and even play the ones you need with a click.

The program is easy enough to use. At a minimum, all you have to do is choose your role (IT Professional or Developer) and select your area of interest, which could be anything from Microsoft technologies like SQL Server and Exchange, to more general areas such as “security” or “web development”.

You might optionally also enter more about your role, and a few key words, if appropriate, but otherwise clicking the Search button will be enough to return useful information. In theory, at least: in practice, we often found that the “IT Pro” role in particular returned surprisingly little data, and even the Developer role had occasional obvious omissions.

One possible reason might be that the Player isn’t supported any more. It’s been in beta for a very long time, more than a year, and notably the News tab is topped by stories dating back to last summer. Perhaps Microsoft has forgotten about it.

Still, we did manage to locate at least some information we didn’t know about before, so if you need to research the gory low-level details of a particular Microsoft technology then the Desktop Player just might be able to help.
CCleaner 3.15 improves like a well-aged wine

Posted: January 26th, 2012, 9:30am MST by Mark Wilson

Popular system cleanup and optimization tool CCleaner has been updated with a range of improvements and a smattering of new features. CCleaner 3.15 sees support for the cleaning of a range of new applications including Freemake Video Downloader, Camtasia Studio and Ashampoo Burning Studio. As you would expect from any app update there are also a number of bug fixes as well as a small range of additional options.

In terms of new features, you will find that there is newly added support for Chrome Canary, including the ability to clear search data from the omnibox. The ability to remove items from the Recycle Bin is nothing new, but there is a new option to filter Recycle Bin deletion to only those files that were added more than 24 hours ago. This is a useful way to claw back a few extra megabytes of space while retaining the option of restoring some of the files you have deleted.

There have been a number of enhancements to existing features, and you will find that the cleaning of Firefox’s history has been improved and the way in which file sizes are detected has been updated. Further improvements have been made to the Driver Wiper component which now provides better feedback when operations complete. Whether you have been experiencing problems with CCLeaner or not, the bug fixes means that this is well worth installing, and the extra features are a bonus.

There is also a portable version of the app available for anyone looking for software to add to their USB drive. This version of the application does not differ from the regular edition of the software, besides the fact that it does not need to be installed, and includes all of the same new options, features and bug fixes.

You can find out more and download a free copy of the app by paying a visit to the CCleaner review page.
Investors to Netflix CEO Reed Hastings: 'We forgive you' a little

Posted: January 26th, 2012, 9:12am MST by Joe Wilcox

All is forgiven when there's money to be made. That's the message investors delivered Netflix CEO Reed Hastings today. Shares rallied after yesterday's earnings report, which partly validated summer's controversial streaming and DVD rental strategies that sent the stock plunging several times and led to calls for Hastings' removal or resignation. That was oh-so six months ago, which is a lifetime in the memory of an investor.

Shares rose more than 23 percent in early trading -- to $117.12. Netflix closed at $95 yesterday and opened at $114. The price reached $118.78 soon after the opening bell. As I write, shares are bobbing -- now only up 22 percent. Shareholder forgiveness doesn't vanquish Hastings' sins, however. Netflix peaked at $304 on July 13, the day after notifying subscribers of price increases. There remains tremendous share value yet to recover, which is unlikely to come from today's rally.

Following the price increases, Netflix stock started a steady plunge, exacerbated by several events, including the loss of Starz and failed attempt to split the company in two. Shares hit bottom, $62.37 the last day of November.

Investors reacted to several key metrics from Netflix's earnings report. The video streaming and rental service gained more than 600,000 subscribers during the quarter for a total of 24.4 million. By comparison, Netlfix lost 800,000 subscribers during third quarter -- less than the expected 1 million -- related to price increases.

Something else: Yesterday, Hastings made absolutely clear to investors the importance of streaming to Netflix's future: "We expect DVD subscribers to decline steadily for every quarter, forever". Given rising mailing and other costs associated with physical media, the statement encouraged investors about Netflix's future, or so it seems.

But there is still much to forgive, given where Netflix shares were in mid summer.
Grab entire websites with HTTrack

Posted: January 26th, 2012, 8:40am MST by Mike Williams

Putting information on the web is supposed to make it more convenient to access, but of course it doesn’t always work out that way. Especially if you’re accessing a site that is incredibly slow, for instance. Or you’re trying to download content that is spread all around the site, like multiple zip files, one each across many pages.

You may not have to put up with these inconveniences, though -- not if you’ve a copy of HTTrack to hand, as the program will automatically download the site you specify for easy reference later.

At its simplest, the program really is very easy to use. Just create a new project, point it at your domain URL, and within a few moments HTTrack will be spidering across your target site, detecting every link and downloading all its various pages.

Of course sometimes that might generate rather more traffic than you’d like, so the program also supports various advanced options to help you define exactly what you want to download. You can choose to include some links, for example, and exclude others, while it’s also possible to, say, define specific file types that you’d like to download (PDFs, MP3s, whatever you like).

And if this is still going to be a bulky download task then you can throttle the program by setting its maximum transfer rate, the maximum number of connections it’s able to use, and more, all of which will help to avoid having it gobble up all your bandwidth.

But once you’ve finished you should still be left with the files you’ve specified, and by double-clicking on any HTML pages you’ll be able to view the site offline. It’s all very convenient, and HTTrack makes an excellent addition to your internet toolkit for when regular browsers just aren’t enough.

Photo Credit: Modella/Shutterstock
AT&T and Verizon account for nearly one-third of iPhone sales

Posted: January 26th, 2012, 8:12am MST by Joe Wilcox

This morning, before the opening bell, AT&T announced calendar fourth-quarter earnings and record iPhone sales -- 7.6 million. Combined with Verizon's number that works out to 32 percent of iPhones sold during the quarter. Sprint will announce earnings results on February 2, conceivably pushing the number close to 40 percent. Apple CEO Tim Cook has called China Apple's second-most important market. Want to guess which is first?

For AT&T, iPhone was huge during fourth quarter. The carrier sold 9.4 million smartphones, and 80.5 percent of them were iPhones. The number was smaller, but still substantial, for Verizon: 54.4 percent. While Android sales paled by comparison, AT&T doubled them year over year -- not surprising with Samsung's aggressive marketing campaign for Galaxy S II and mid-quarter's introduction of LTE models HTC Vivid and Galaxy S II Skyrocket.

Globally, Apple and its partners sold 37.04 million iPhones during fourth-quarter -- generating more than $24 billion in revenue, which is more than all Microsoft's $20.89 billion.

Feature phones are out at AT&T, which reported smartphones accounting for 82 percent of post-paid sales. More than half -- 56.8 percent -- of 69.3 million postpaid subscribers own smartphones. At Verizon: 44 percent. The difference says something about AT&T exclusive US iPhone distribution deal with Apple -- from June 2007 to February 2011 -- and what smartphones Americans are buying. iPhone is in some ways an American icon, like iPod before it. Verizon offers some of the best Android smartphones available anywhere -- soon a dozen 4G LTE models -- yet iPhone stands tallest among them. Sprint, which only got iPhone in October, will answer how tall in its earnings report.

Earlier this week, AT&T raised prices on its data plans, causing the usual uproar on forums, blogs and social networks. Many people asked why? My answer: Because it can. Among the nuggets from today's earnings report: 56 percent of all AT&T smartphone users have tiered data plans -- that's 22 percent -- and about 70 percent "have chosen the higher-tier plans". AT&T requires data plans for iPhones. Customers now pay $20 and $30 a month for data, with which AT&T raised data caps -- from 200MB to 300MB and 2GB to 3GB, respectively.

By the way, the quarter is yet another rebuttal the wild and ridiculous predictions that Verizon getting iPhone would lead to massive AT&T customer defections (as much as half; cough, cough). Nearly a year later, that has been proven false every single quarter, with holiday 2011 being the most important litmus test. According to AT&T: "Despite record smartphone sales and the first holiday sales period since the loss of AT&T's iPhone exclusivity, postpaid churn was up only slightly at 1.21 percent, compared to 1.15 percent in both the year-ago fourth quarter and in the third quarter of 2011".
Why do smartphone owners buy tablets?

Posted: January 25th, 2012, 7:54pm MST by Joe Wilcox

For a company which business depends on collecting data, Google sure was slow tabulating its report on smartphone usage. The study is available today, but the data is already outdated given strong holiday e-book reader and tablet sales and global impact of 37 million iPhones sold during fourth quarter -- the startling number Apple released yesterday. Still there are some fascinating trends here that likely will prove true had Google collected data in December or January rather than September-October.

What I find perplexing: 17 percent of US smartphone owners also have tablets -- 11 percent in Japan, 10 percent in United Kingdom and 8 percent each in France and Germany. Note: This data, as the rest, is for smartphones privately used. The percentages likely would be higher when including business use, and the trend is accelerating, says Google. My question, and this is really for you to answer: Why buy a tablet if you have a smartphone? Remember, Google isn't tracking PC owners who buy a tablet, but smartphones users who do.

A tablet's functionally lies somewhere between a smartphone and small laptop, and much of it overlaps. Then there is cost to consider. Let's be honest. Apple's iPad is the overwhelming market leader, so we're really talking smartphone and iPad. That puts the starting price at $499 for WiFi-only and $629 when adding 3G (iPad doesn't pack a 4G LTE radio). Why pay for 3G twice on phone and tablet?

There's sense to replacing or displacing a laptop for tablet, and this is a well-documented trend. The most startling recent report, from IDG Connect, shows the trend accelerating among business and IT decision makers -- it's no longer a consumer phenomenon. Sixteen percent have replaced their laptop with an iPad and 54 percent supplement it.

Using myself as example, in December I bought Motorola XOOM LTE from Verizon; yes, I'm a smartphone owner. I bought the tablet not to replace the smartphone but my laptop on the go. Over Black Friday weekend, Verizon offered XOOM for $199.99, a shocking price for a 10.1-inch dual-core tablet with 32GB storage and LTE. Now I take XOOM on to go, when I need a bigger screen to work or play but don't want to lug around the laptop, which doesn't have LTE radio. Even then, only the tablet's low price justified taking on the second data plan. XOOM in no way replaces or displaces my smartphone.

That's the no-relationship theory. The tablet buyer happens to own a smartphone and PC and is buying the tablet to supplement the computer. So the smartphone is then incidental to the tablet.

Another reason to consider: Perhaps the smartphone isn't good enough. That's a point colleague Mark Wilson makes today in his mini-review of Kingsoft Office 4.3 -- there's inadequate screen space on a smartphone but room enough on a tablet. This could be particularly true for iPhone, with its 3.5-inch screen. So people wanting a portable connected device buy an iPad, too.

Here's another: iOS envy. Jack or Jane consumer has an Android device and contractual commitment but wants iOS. Buy iPad, increase screen real estate, get access to different apps and join the Apple Fanclub.

Nineteen percent of Americans owned a tablet at the end of December, according to Pew Internet. Google's smartphone data is nowhere near as fresh, but still trend worthy. The search and information giant compared data sets from January-February and September-October. Smartphone ownership in the United Kingdom soared from 30 percent to 45 percent -- 31 percent to 38 percent in the United States. By the way, Nielsen says that at the end of December, 46 percent of Americans had smartphones.

Wrapping up, do you own a smartphone and tablet for personal use? Why?
HP's open source webOS embraces Android, iOS

Posted: January 25th, 2012, 1:12pm MST by Tim Conneally

Hewlett-Packard announced on Wednesday that it has begun the great open-sourcing of mobile operating system webOS with the release of the Enyo 2.0 core application framework.

Just a little over one month ago, HP announced it would be turning over webOS software development to the community, and open sourcing its components while participating in the project as an investor and controlling interest.

At the time, HP said the Enyo application framework would be the first part to be released to the community under open source licensing.

Enyo is an object-oriented JavaScript framework that works "on any platform with a modern web runtime." The first version of the framework used for all of the apps on the HP TouchPad, targeted webOS development specifically.

However, Enyo v. 2.0, part of the release package today, is designed for cross-platform application development, and webOS apps developed with it can be repackaged for iOS, Android, or really any other operating system with a "modern" browser such as Chrome, Firefox, IE9 or Safari.

"While 2.0 does not yet include any UI widgets, the core will support a wide variety of libraries and add-ons. A UI widget set for 2.0 will be released in the near future," Sam Greenblatt, CTO and head of technical strategy for the open webOS project said. "Upcoming releases include our distribution of WebKit, which will support not only HTML5, but also Silverlight and Flash through the use of plug-ins. It will enable the rendering of webpages to HTML Canvas and 3-D textures, and will support a wide range of application interfaces, including multi-touch."

In addition to launching Enyo, Greenblatt discussed a bit of the webOS roadmap, which includes a new kernel based on the Linux Foundation standard, a new database using LevelDB, and enhanced JavaScript integration through register callbacks and custom multi-process architecture for security, load balancing, and recovery availability.

The completed open source webOS will be called Open webOS 1.0, and is expected to be complete in September.
What are the top domains used for spam?

Posted: January 25th, 2012, 12:29pm MST by Ed Oswald

It's likely that most will expect domains belonging to popular web-based e-mail services are at the top of the list for the mountains of spam we receive everyday. That's not the case: the most common spam domains according to Chelmsford, Mass.-based security firm AVG are social networks.

Facebook tops the list at 7.3 percent, followed by Twitter at 4.2 percent. Considering these are the top two social networking sites, that's not too surprising. How about Google+? Hard to say since it doesn't have its own domain, nor did google.com appear in the list AVG supplied us. LinkedIn also appears, but way down in eighth at 1.5 percent of all spam.

Webmail services do show up in the third spot, with gmail used in about 3.1 percent of all spam. Two other webmail domains show up, yahoo.com and hotmail.com, in the fifth and sixth spots with 2.4 percent each.

Spam isn't just originating from what most of us likely consider to be the most common sources. Akamai.net, associated with the company who delivers up to a fifth of all Internet traffic, sees about 2.7 percent of all spam originate from its servers.

Chtah.com is another domain where spam finds a home: 1.7 percent of spam originates from the domain. It belongs to CheetahMail, an established e-mail marketer owned by Experian. Even the cloud is getting into the act: rounding out the survey is amazonaws.com, Amazon's Web Services domain. It seems you can't go anywhere without being spammed these days, no?
The top-10 web security threats you should avoid

Posted: January 25th, 2012, 11:30am MST by Ed Oswald

The compromised website is still the most effective attack vector for hackers to install malware on your computer with 47.6 percent of all malware installs occurring in that manner, says security firm AVG. Another 10.6 percent are tricked into downloading exploit code -- many times, without their knowledge -- by clicking on links on pages to sites hosting malware.

The Chelmsford, Mass. company announced its findings as part of a broader study of threats detected by its software. It also found that faked pharmacy sites are a popular attack method, seen in about 10.4 percent of all attacks.

Fake antivirus scanners remain a popular malware injection method at 8.4 percent. The news is timely considering just yesterday Microsoft announced its newest defendant in the Kelihos botnet case was a former antivirus vendor employee. Kelihos used fake antivirus to install itself on unsuspecting victims.

"'Old habits die hard': cyber criminals are up to their old tricks, apparently the use of fake antivirus product is still successful", the firm says in its report. It adds that a significant portion of these rogue antivirus installs are coming through whats called a "Second-Click Redirect Mechanism".

A faked image gallery is a good example. Clicking on the first image will behave as expected, however going back to the gallery and clicking on a second thumbnail will trigger the script. The user is redirected to download antivirus software after a popup claims viruses were "found".

Fake antivirus is nothing new, but this attempt to bury it is: the attackers want it to look more legitimate.

That's not all, though: AVG warns that the security issues plaguing desktops are migrating to mobile devices. "While consumers are going mobile, so are the cyber criminals," the company writes. "We have witnessed the use of the same malicious intent tactics targeting mobile devices: social engineering, stolen or fake certificates to sign malware, rootkits and other tactics".
Kingsoft Office 4.3 for Android mini-review

Posted: January 25th, 2012, 10:46am MST by Mark Wilson

There are a number of tools that computer users will install by default on their Mac or PC -- an email client, web browser, media player and an office suite. Make the move to a mobile platform such as iOS or Android and the range of apps you need changes slightly. Most phones and tablets will comes with a number of apps pre-installed including a calendar, messaging tool, web browser and various other tools. One thing that is generally left out of the mix is a mobile office suite.

There are plenty of suites to choose from, but the vast majority of them cost too much and many users are disappointed to find that the app they choose to try out is too limited for their needs. Kingsoft Office is something of an anomaly -- an extremely powerful and feature-packed Android office suite that is available for free.

As you would expect from any productivity app, Kingsoft Office can be used to open and edit documents that have been created in Microsoft Word, including the more recent XML-based formats for Word, Excel and PowerPoint, including encrypted files. Your documents can be stored locally or in the cloud -- box.net or WebDAV -- and performance is reassuringly fast.

When it comes to opening files that you have already created, there is a great preview screen that can be used to navigate through documents before you open them. Rather than browsing through fiddly folders, full screen previews are displayed that you can easily swipe through to find the file you need. There is also an excellent file explorer that can be used to browse through all of the documents stored on your Android device, including text and PDF files that can be opened in the suite.

One of the problems with many mobile office suites, aside from the cost that many people are unwilling to pay, is that going down the mobile software route usually means making feature compromises. While Kingsoft Office is no mobile replica of Microsoft Office, it certainly is one of the most complete tools. Ability to use features such as headers and footers, adjusting line spacing, add comments and much more, mean that this is probably the most comprehensive mobile office app available.

Ease of Use

When working with spreadsheets, you can freeze panes to aid navigation and display charts and shapes. The navigation of spreadsheets is something that has long proved tricky but it is something handled with panache in Kingsoft, and the option of quickly switching to full screen mode is very useful. It is easy enough to type in documents using the on-screen keyboard, there is also the option of using a Bluetooth to make extended sessions of typing more comfortable. Standard keyboard shortcuts for copying and pasting can be used when working with an external keyboard.

One of the problems that any mobile office suite faces: Expectation there will be a large number of options and these would ordinarily be housed in monitor width toolbars, like the desktop. While this is easy enough for Mac and Windows application, mobile apps do not have the luxury of such screen space and also have to be geared up for use in two different orientations. Kingsoft Office uses a familiar toolbar system that would not look out of home in Microsoft Office, but makes them scrollable.

This technique means that it does not matter whether you are working in portrait or landscape mode, it is still possible -- easy, even -- for access a large number of toolbar buttons. The size of the buttons means that they are easy to identify and press, but it does also have the side effect that, particularly in portrait mode, a limited number are displayed out without having to scroll, and it is possible to 'forget' that the remaining buttons exist.

Mobile phone users are unlikely to turn to Kingsoft Office as their primary office tool -- there is no getting away from the fact that a desktop suite will always be easily to use and boast more powerful features -- but tablet owners have a particularly great tool on their hands. The screen space available on tablets means that spreadsheets are very easy to work with and more of a text document can be seen at any one time.

The ability to view and play presentations means that the suite could be used as a valuable tool for business meetings, but it is also the sort of app that home users will find countless uses for. Free software is often dismissed as being inferior to commercial apps, but here is an example of a free app that is at least as good as the paid-for competition.
I've redone the Windows 8 architecture slide (so you won't have to)

Posted: January 25th, 2012, 10:23am MST by Chris Boss
Microsoft's Windows 8 architecture slide

Mary-Jo Foley's article about a slide shown at last year's Microsoft BUILD conference raises uncertainties that bug me as a developer. It's the graphic that attempts to lay out the architecture of Windows 8, particularly in relation to Metro versus the Desktop. As a long-time Windows API programmer, I regard this graphic as the most important yet about Windows 8. Something doesn't seem right!

Somehow all the different interpretations of this chart don't make sense to me. Something's not right, especially the position the Win32 API is given. So I decided to do some digging to see if I could uncover what is really going on under the hood.

So Where are the Metro Applications Anyway?

My first problem was finding where the Metro applications were located so I could inspect them and their layout, as well as dependencies. It turns out they are in the folder \Program Files\Applications but one won't notice this because the folder is both hidden and requires administration rights to access. Once I found the folder, the rest was easy. Each Metro app has its own folder. A Metro app folder appears to always contain four files at minimum:
- AppxBlockMap.xml
- AppxManifest.xml
- AppxSignature.p7x
- resources.pri
AppxManifest tells Windows what the startup file is, which is either an HTML file or an EXE.

Let's Check Some Metro EXEs for Dependencies.

Most of the Metro apps were HTML, but a few were EXE files. I decided to use the Depends utility that comes with early versions of the Windows SDK to check these EXEs for their operating system dependencies. There are two types of EXEs. One appears to be .NET style applications that use the CLR. The other appears to be C++ applications that use the WinRT. The .NET apps only showed one primary dependency, mscoree.dll, which is the CLR runtime execution library; mscoree.dll will then have its own dependencies in the operating system. The C++ style apps have a number of dependencies. The copper application has the following dependencies:
- mfplat.dll
- mfreadwrite.dll
- D3D11.dll
- D2D1.dll
- DWrite.dll
- ole32.dll
- msvcp110.dll
- msvcr110.dll
- vccorlib110.dll
- kernal32.dll
Some of these are C++ runtimes, some DirectX DLLs and others are Win32 API dlls.

Added to this are two dependencies, for which I could not find the files anywhere on the hard drive. I hoped to find them since it would give me a glimpse into the WinRT. They must exist somewhere, but Windows does not make this easy to find. They are named:
- api-ms-win-core.winrt-string-L1-1-0.dll
- api-ms-win-core.winrt-L1-1-0.dll
They are obviously WinRT files. Also the naming of the files are similiar to how much of the kernel services are named. There are plenty of OS dlls that start with something like "api-ms-win" or "api-ms-win-core" and so on. A good bit of what used to be the Win32 API has been moved to these kernel files (not the same as kernel32.dll) since Windows Vista. The Depends utility had a very hard time loading an EXE and scanning for dependencies since the Windows kernel is made up of many, many files now.

Chris Boss's revised Windows 8 architecture slide

The Windows 8 chart needs to be redone!

From this inspection of Metro applications and their dependencies, the Windows 8 chart seems even more wrong to me. Maybe I am missing something. Maybe I am making some wrong assumptions. I am not saying my interpretation of this chart is any better (or worse) than others. But I figured I would take a try at it and see if I could rearrange it to something that makes more sense to me and which fits the model I have built in my mind from this little excursion into Metro apps and their dependencies.

So I present my version of the chart. Rather than be critical of it, why not post some comments of how it could be improved to be more accurate. My chart is only a guess (only Microsoft knows for sure), but it is a calculated guess based on what I currently know of Windows 8.

Chris Boss is an advanced Windows API programmer and developer of 10 year-old EZGUI, which is now version 5. He owns The Computer Workshop, which opened for businesses in the late 1980s. He originally developed custom software for local businesses. Now he develops programming tools for use with the PowerBasic compiler.
Intuit launches new GoPayment mobile credit card swiper

Posted: January 25th, 2012, 10:03am MST by Tim Conneally

Financial software and services company Intuit launched its redesigned GoPayment Card Reader on Wednesday, after debuting the new design earlier in January. The free device plugs into a smartphone's or tablet's audio jack and lets users scan credit cards for payment.

Mobile payment systems are a hot business where lots of different standards are competing, with no clear "winner" in the space.

Square, founded by Twitter inventor Jack Dorsey, took the world by storm with its smartphone-based debit/credit card swiping peripheral in 2010, and spawned a host of imitators in the meantime: ROAMpay, ProPay Jak, Verifone PAYware mobile, Payfirma, and many others each offer a mobile card swiping apparatus.

Intuit's GoPayment is probably Square's highest-profile competitor.

As such, Intuit redesigned the free GoPayment reader to make it a little more robust than Square's. By angling and lengthening the swipe channel in the reader, Intuit says it can read cards more accurately the first time. It also features a silicone sleeve to keep the reader from spinning in the audio jack when swiping a card (which the company says is a problem for "similar products.")

The other advantage of this product over Square, of course, is that GoPayment transactions can be piped directly into Intuit's QuickBooks software. Like Square, standard transactions with GoPayment incur a 2.7 percent fee, so the company is hoping to attract users with a reliable method of scanning and easy integration with its popular desktop financial software.

Intuit's GoPayment reader can be obtained freely at gopayment.com.
Evernote updates Android and Windows clients

Posted: January 25th, 2012, 6:45am MST by Nick Peers
Online note capturing and storage service Evernote has updated its Windows client, Evernote for Windows, to version 4.5.3. Despite the minor revision number, Evernote for Windows 4.5.3 packs in a number of new features aimed at those who store PDF files within Evernote.

Also updated is Evernote for Android to version 3.5, offering two major new features -- auto-title suggestions and save anytime functions – plus improved layout of images when viewing notes.

When searching for text across your notes, Evernote for Window swill now also search inside your PDF files for searchable text, highlighting matches in yellow. You can also search inside individual notes containing PDFs by pressing [Ctrl] + [F].

Not only is text now searchable within PDF documents, it can also be manually selected and then copied to the clipboard for pasting elsewhere, either within Evernote itself or another application. This functionality relies on the PDF containing searchable text, but Evernote Premium customers will find that even scanned documents will become searchable, since the service includes OCR scanning of all uploaded PDF documents.

The new PDF toolbar also includes functionality for dragging embedded PDF files out of Evernote into other applications, on to the desktop or into a specified folder -- just click and drag the middle portion of the PDF toolbar (the part which indicates what page you’re currently viewing) where you want it to go.

Android Update

Also updated today is Evernote’s app for Android users. Evernote for Android 3.5 offers three major new features:
- Auto-titles, which are generated by the app automatically when a note’s title is left blank
- Improved layout of images in notes
- "Save anytime" feature that allows the user to effectively store drafts of their notes in the device’s memory prior to syncing them.
The new version also promises a raft of bug fixes and reliability improvements, and claims faster note saving times as a result.

Evernote for Windows 4.5.3 is available now as a free download for PCs running Windows 2000 or later. Also available – but less advanced – are free clients for Mac OS X as well as iPhone/iPad and Android.
Get more from screen captures with WinSnap 4.0.1

Posted: January 25th, 2012, 5:32am MST by Mark Wilson

Capturing what’s on your desktop can be as simple as hitting the Print Screen key and pasting the contents of the clipboard into an image editing app. But you’ll notice that it is not possible to capture everything; the cursor cannot be included in grabs and many dialogs disappear when Print Screen is pressed. WinSnap is a powerful screen capture tool that includes a number of handy options, with the latest version bringing support for the capturing of native Aero shadows.

WinSnap is now able to capture the shadow that is added to windows and object by Windows, but in cases where this is not possible, post-capture shadowing can be added for you. Screen capturing has many purposes, but it is often used to highlight information. To make this easier, WinSnap includes a number of annotation tools that can be used to draw shapes and arrow on your grabs as well as adding text. To the same end, there are also a number of effects to choose from. If you want to highlight a particular area of a screen capture, you can opt to grey out the rest of the image, or blur it slightly.

A number of different keyboard shortcuts can be created to allow for a variety of capture modes -- full screen, active window, sizeable region, and various others. You can choose whether or not to include the cursor in your captures -- while useful, this may not be an option you always want to use -- and the ability to place a delay on captures means that it is possible to grab objects that would normally disappear when a hotkey was pressed.

To allow for more impressive presentation, there is an intelligent cropping mode available. This is particularly useful when cropping screen captures that include Aero shadows as it means that shadows can be re-added at the edge of a crop to give a more professional finish. If you are using your captures in other programs, WinSnap preserves any areas that are transparent to eliminate the need to capture multiple versions of the same shot so you can piece something together. Add to this the ability to add watermarks, custom cursors that can be moved around as separate objects, and a decent price point, and you have yourself a very accomplished screen capture tool.

You can find out more and download a free trial of the app by paying a visit to the WinSnap review page.
iPhone generates more revenue than all Microsoft

Posted: January 24th, 2012, 9:05pm MST by Joe Wilcox

In case you missed it, and I certainly would have if not for someone asking a question, Apple's fiscal 2012 first quarter earnings report has a jaw dropper. iPhone generated $24.42 billion revenue. During the same quarter, all of Microsoft: $20.89 billion. More broadly, Apple revenue ($46.33 billion) was more than twice Microsoft's, and net income nearly was ($13.06 billion versus $6.62 billion, respectively). But it's that iPhone figure that really stands out. One product's revenues against an entire company's. Microsoft's margins are better, but who wouldn't want more money in the bank?

Nearly five years ago, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer dismissed iPhone, in a USA Today interview: "There's no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance. It's a $500 subsidized item. They may make a lot of money. But if you actually take a look at the 1.3 billion phones that get sold, I'd prefer to have our software in 60 percent or 70 percent or 80 percent of them, than I would to have 2 percent or 3 percent, which is what Apple might get". How's that for the mother of wrong predictions?

Thing is, now Microsoft's software is down there in the low single-digit market share doldrums, while iPhone share rises. At end of fourth quarter, for example, Windows Phone share among US subscribers was 1.4 percent, according to Nielsen. iOS: 37 percent, up 7 points in two months. That's all while making "a lot of money". Ballmer's licensing strategy failed, with Android and iOS stealing share from Windows Mobile and Phone 7. Okay, so maybe Microsoft collects $30 a license -- hey, let's be generous and call it fifty -- compared to Apple's $600 bucks per phone -- and many more units. Which amount would your business rather take in?

But it's not just iPhone. Apple did something remarkable during fourth quarter -- Mac sales grew during three months when PC shipments were their worst in a decade, according to IDC. Apple sold 5.2 million Macs, generating $6.6 billion -- or more revenue than any single Microsoft division. Closest: Office at $6.28 billion.

In the United States, fourth-quarter PC shipments fell for every vendor in the top five but Apple, according to Gartner. HP shipments plummeted by more than 26 percent -- meanwhile Apple's grew by 20.7 percent. IDC put HP's decline at 25.3 percent and Apple's gain at 18 percent. The Mac maker solidified its No. 3 ranking, with market share rising to 11.6 percent from 9 percent year over year according to Gartner and to 10.92 percent from 8.63 percent by IDC's reckoning.

Revenues for Microsoft's Windows division fell by 6 percent to $4.74 billion, while income plummeted 11 percent to $2.85 billion. For comparison, Apple portables generated $4.66 billion revenue, up 26 percent year over year, or nearly as much. Microsoft blamed slow PC sales on the hard drive shortage caused by flooding in Thailand. During today's earnings conference call, Apple CEO Tim Cook said the hard drive shortage had no "material impact" on Mac sales and he doesn't expect any for fiscal second quarter. However, Apple does expect to pay more for drives.

These numbers were unheard of even just a few years ago. During fiscal quarter 2010 -- yeah, just two years ago -- Apple reported $15.68 billion revenue and net profits of $3.38 billion. Two years later, Apple nearly tripled revenue and almost quadrupled earnings. During the same quarter two years ago, Microsoft generated more revenue and net income than Apple -- $19.95 billion and $6.64 billion, respectively. My how fortunes change.
Apple Q1 2012 by the numbers: $13B profit, 37M iPhones sold

Posted: January 24th, 2012, 2:44pm MST by Joe Wilcox
Today, after the closing bell, Apple answered the question analysts have asked for weeks: How many iPhones sold during the holiday quarter? The answer: A colossal number -- 37.04 million.

Apple also shipped 5.2 million Macs and 15.43 million iPads during fiscal 2012 first quarter. Analyst consensus was around 5 million and 14 million, respectively, and 32.5 million iPhones. During today's earnings conference call, Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer revealed 315 million cumulative iOS device sales. Apple's App Store has 550,000 applications -- 150,000 for iPad. Developers will have earned $4 billion cumulatively by the end of the month, he said.

For fiscal Q1, Apple reported $46.33 billion revenue and net profits of $13.06 billion, or $13.87 a share. A year earlier, the company reported revenue of $26.74 billion and $6 billion net quarterly profit, or $6.43 per share.

Three months ago, Apple forecast $37 billion in revenue for fiscal 2012 first quarter, with earnings per share of $9.30. Analyst average estimates were higher than Apple guidance: $38.85 billion revenue and $10.08 earnings per share.

"We’re thrilled with our outstanding results and record-breaking sales of iPhones, iPads and Macs", Tim Cook, Apple CEO, says. "Apple’s momentum is incredibly strong, and we have some amazing new products in the pipeline".

Gross margin was 44.7 percent up from 38.5 percent a year earlier. Fifty-eight percent of revenues came from international sales.

Looking ahead, Apple forecasts $32.5 billion in revenue for fiscal 2012 second quarter, with earnings per share of $8.50.

Q1 2012 Revenue by Product
- Desktops: $1.94 billion, up 12 percent from $1.73 billion a year earlier.
- Portables: $4.66 billion, up 26 percent from $3.7 billion a year earlier.
- iPod: $2.53 billion, down 26 percent from $3.43 billion a year earlier.
- Music: $2.03 billion, up 42 percent from $1.43 billion a year earlier.
- iPhone: $24.42 billion, up 133 percent from $10.5 billion a year earlier.
- iPad: $9.15 billion, up 99 percent from $4.6 billion a year earlier.
- Peripherals: $766 million, up 29 percent from $593 million a year earlier.
- Software & Services: $844 million, up 7 percent from $786 million a year earlier.
iPhone. Apple shipped 37.04 million iPhones worldwide during fiscal first quarter, up from 16.24 million iPhones a year earlier. That's a 128 percent increase, year over year. Wall Street analyst average estimate was about 32.5 million units. Apple counts shipments into the channel, typically making them several million units higher than numbers released by Gartner, which measures actual sales.

iPhone 4S is available in 90 countries. "Demand there is staggering" Cook said of sales to China, during today's conference call. Apple ended the quarter with about 6 million iPhones in inventory, which is below the targeted 4 to 6 weeks.

If US numbers are any indication, iPhone's quarter was exceptional. Android share, as measured in smartphone operating systems among new purchasers, plummeted from 61.6 percent in October to 46.9 percent in December, according to Nielsen. Meanwhile, iPhone rose from 25.1 percent share to 44.5 percent. By NPD's reckoning, in October to November, Android's US fell share from 60 percent to 47 percent, while iOS rose from 29 percent to 43 percent.

Earlier today, Verizon released fourth calendar quarter results, with startling data: iPhone accounted for about 55 percent of smartphone sales and outsold 4G LTE models by 2 to 1. None of Apple's handsets support LTE.

The strong quarter is more than about iPhone 4S, which launched in mid October. During November and December, 43 percent of recent purchasers chose iPhone 3GS or 4 -- that's US phone subscribers, according to Nielsen. Concurrent with iPhone 4S launch, Apple reduced its predecessor's price to $99 and 3Gs to free.

Q1 2012 Unit Shipments by Product
- Desktops: 1.5 million units, up 21 percent from 1.23 million units a year earlier.
- Portables: 3.72 million units, up 28 percent from 2.9 million units a year earlier.
- iPod: 15.4 million units, down 21 percent from 19.44 million units a year earlier.
- iPhone: 37.04 million units, up 128 percent from 16.24 million units a year earlier.
- iPad: 15.43 million units, up 111 percent from 7.33 million units a year earlier.
iPad. Apple shipped 15.43 million iPads globally during the quarter -- that's up from 7.33 million -- a 111 percent -- a year earlier. Sell-through to customers outpaced sell-in to the channel by about 200,000; Apple ended the quarter with 4 to 6 weeks of inventory. Through the end of the quarter, Apple has sold 55 million iPads.

Cook doesn't see lower-cost tablets, such as Amazon Kindle Fire, affecting iPad sales. He described iPad as a class unto itself and called 2011 "year of the iPad" despite predictions it would be year of the tablet. "People that want an iPad won't settle for a limited-function [tablet]".

The media tablet is one of the most successful new products ever. Apple is a major player in the two most disruptive technologies affecting PCs today -- media tablets and smartphones. "By 2015, mobile application development projects targeting smartphones and tablets will outnumber PC projects by 4 to 1", Hung LeHong, Gartner research vice president, says. "The PC is no longer king". Gartner predicts that media tablet sales will reach 900 million by 2016.

Consumers are no longer leading the push to iPad alone. According to an IDG Connect study released last week: "Fully 51 percent of IT and business decision-makers say they always use their iPad at work" -- and, of course, that's the number who actually own the tablet. Sixteen percent have replaced their laptop with an iPad and 54 percent supplement it. Remember, these numbers are for people responsible for corporate computing. As the wind shifts in their sails -- or should that be sales -- so does it eventually across the computing infrastructure. The data suggests that iPads are significantly starting to cannibalize PC sales -- and not just among consumers -- and it's consistent with recent global PC buying trends (see next section).

Q1 2012 Revenue by Geography
- Americas: $17.71 billion, up 92 percent from $9.22 billion a year earlier.
- Europe: $11.3 billion, up 55 percent from $7.23 billion a year earlier.
- Japan: $3.56 billion, down 148 percent from $1.43 billion a year earlier.
- Asia Pacific: $7.7 billion, up 54 percent from $4.99 million a year earlier.
- Retail: $6.12 billion, up 59 percent from $3.85 billion a year earlier.
Computers. Mac shipments soared during fiscal Q1 quarter. Apple sold -- what company executives really mean by shipped -- 5.2 million Macs during the quarter, up from 4.13 million units during fiscal Q1 2011; growth was 26 percent year over year. Wall Street consensus was about 4.2 million units worldwide. Mac sales to Asia rose 58 percent year over year. Apple ended to quarter with 2 to 3 weeks of inventory.

Two weeks ago, Gartner and IDC released calendar fourth quarter 2011 preliminary PC shipments. In the United States, fourth-quarter PC shipments fell for every vendor in the top five but Apple, according to Gartner. HP shipments plummeted by more than 26 percent, while Apple's grew by 20.7 percent. IDC put HP's decline at 25.3 percent and Apple's gain at 18 percent. The Mac maker solidified its No. 3 ranking, with market share rising to 11.6 percent from 9 percent year over year according to Gartner and to 10.92 percent from 8.63 percent by IDC's reckoning.

IDC described the quarter as the worst since 2001, but really should have applied that to Windows PCs, given robust Mac shipments. During the same quarter, Microsoft reported a 6 percent decline in Windows division revenues and stunning 11 percent fall in profits.

Gartner and IDC blamed some of the quarter's hardships to a short-term hard drive crisis, but that's only partial explanation. Consumers, in particular, bought other tech, with smartphones and tablets soaking dollars that might have been spent on PCs.

"There will come a time, in units, when the tablet market will be bigger than the PC market", Cook said during today's earnings call.

The Mac is big windfall benefactor of the PC shipment/sales crisis, because:
- Apple's brand is sizzling hot right now.
- Most people use Windows, which is old to them if upgrading, while the Mac is fresh.
- iPad cannibalize Windows PC sales, as businesses and consumers buy the tablet as upgrade companion or even replacement.
- Apple is more insulated from the hard drive shortage, in part because of how it sources components compared to most other computer makers.
During today's conference call, Cook said the hard drive shortage had no "material impact" on Mac sales and he doesn't expect any for fiscal second quarter. However, Apple does expect to pay more for drives.

Q1 2012 Unit Shipments by Geography
- Americas: 1.61 million units, up 19 percent from 1.36 million units a year earlier.
- Europe: 1.5 million units, up 19 percent from 1.25 million units a year earlier.
- Japan: 184,000 units, up 14 percent from 162,000 units a year earlier.
- Asia Pacific: 814,000 units, up 58 percent from 516,000 units a year earlier.
- Retail: 1.1 million units, up 30 percent from 851,000 units a year earlier.
iPod. Apple shipped 15.4 million iPods during fiscal first quarter, down from 19.4 million a year earlier -- a 21 percent decline. The quarter ended with 4 to 6 weeks of inventory.

iTunes Music Store generated $1.7 billion in revenue during the quarter.

Retail. Revenue from Apple Store rose 59 percent year over year to $6.12 billion. Unit Mac sales increased 30 percent -- to 1.1 million from 851,00 a year earlier. Apple opened four new stores during the quarter. With an average 358 stores open for the quarter average revenue was $17.1 million, up 43 percent year over year from $12 million. Number of visitors rose 45 percent from 76 million to 110 million.

Photo Credit: 1000 Words / Shutterstock
MPAA chief Chris Dodd fights off allegations of bribery

Posted: January 24th, 2012, 12:29pm MST by Ed Oswald

Opponents of the Motion Picture Association of America are using the US Government's recently created "We The People" online petition service to force the Obama Administration to take a position on some controversial comments by former Conn. Senator-turned MPAA chief Chris Dodd to Fox News last Thursday.

By Tuesday afternoon, the petition had already passed the 25,000 person threshold to trigger a response from the White House. With over 27,500 signatures, it is gaining about 1,000 signatures an hour. Stop Online Privacy Act and PROTECT IP Act protesters are not satisfied with killing the bill alone: they want heads to roll.

"Candidly, those who count on 'Hollywood' for support need to understand that this industry is watching very carefully who's going to stand up for them when their job is at stake", Dodd told Fox News' Ed Henry. "Don't ask me to write a check for you when you think your job is at risk and then don't pay any attention to me when my job is at stake".

On its face, the comments appear to threaten to cut off campaign donations from the MPAA to those politicians who don't support SOPA or PIPA, two pieces of legislation Dodd has a vested interest in. "Don't take us for granted", he quips.

Several politicians got cold feet following a successful online protest on Wednesday, January 18. Thousands of sites either went dark completely, or censored portions of their sites to illustrate the point that either piece of legislation may change the Internet forever.

Following that protest, the bill lost several of its sponsors and Congressional leadership decided to shelve the bill. For all intents and purposes, a defeat for Dodd and his compatriots; a win for those that worked so hard to stop the bill.

Dodd's opponents are not about to rest: in the petition, they ask the Obama Administration to investigate him for breaking the law. "[Dodd's comments are] an open admission of bribery and a threat designed to provoke a specific policy goal", the petiton states. "This is a brazen flouting of the 'above the law' status people of Dodd's position and wealth enjoy".

With the crossing of the threshold on We The People, the ball is now placed in Obama's court. It has pledged to respond to every petition that crosses the threshold, save for select circumstances. SOPA and PIPA are hot topics, and ignoring it might not be wise for the Administration politically.

A request for comment is outstanding. The Administration may defer comment until February 20, however: petitioners have 30 days to collect the necessary signatures.
NYU prof releases app to predict whether a company will fail

Posted: January 24th, 2012, 12:12pm MST by Tim Conneally

In 1968, NYU professor Edward Altman devised a statistical method for determining the financial health of a company called the Z-score formula for predicting bankruptcy, and since its publication, it has become a common statistical model used in loan evaluation.

Now a Director of Research in Credit and Debt Markets at the NYU Salomon Center for the Study of Financial Institutions, Dr. Altman has turned his formula into a hundred dollar mobile app for iPhone, iPad, Android and BlackBerry called "Altman Z-Score Plus."

The application lets users calculate a company's probablity of default on a scale from one to ten years, gives a percentile ranking likelihood of bankruptcy for industrial companies, and assigns a bond-rating equivalent (BRE) for companies based upon Z-scores determined by the app.

Unless you're a loan officer, you're probably looking at this app and shaking your head, wondering how it's relevant to you.

The answer is: it's probably not relevant to you, at least directly.

But if you're a software developer watching the mobile space like we do, you should always take note when an industry-specific mobile app hits the market...especially computation-heavy apps.

These are the sort of applications that define the maximum prices that can be charged for apps, and are exemplars for the productive mobile software industry as a whole. That's why we're giving you the heads up on this one.
Don't cry for me Las Vegas, Microsoft cancels MIX!

Posted: January 24th, 2012, 12:10pm MST by Joe Wilcox

In December, Microsoft pulled out of the Consumer Electronics Show starting with next year's event. The rationale: Smaller, Microsoft events are more beneficial to everyone -- the company, attendees and customers for starters. Hey, that makes sense to me. So then, why is the software giant suddenly pulling one of its most-important developer events of the year? Without fanfare, or even a proper burial, MIX is over. Not just MIX 2012, but the entire event. Poof! Gone! Outta here!

Tim O’Brien, Developer & Platform Evangelism general manager, broke the news on the Official Microsoft Blog early this afternoon. Considering how hot and heavy Microsoft is about the Cloud right now and release this year of Internet Explorer 10 and Windows 8, timeing sure seems strange.

"We have decided to merge MIX, our spring web conference for developers and designers, into our next major developer conference, which we will host sometime in the coming year", O'Brien explains. Sometime in the coming year?. "I know a number of folks were wondering about MIX, given the time of year, so we wanted to make sure there’s no ambiguity, and be very clear: there will be no MIX 2012".

O'Brien gives some background:

The idea to create MIX was conceived in the fall of 2005, literally as the PDC05 main stage was being disassembled after the final keynote. While we reflected on that PDC, there was a lot of discussion around our engagement with the web community, and how we needed a more focused effort around our upcoming plans for Internet Explorer, the roadmap for our web platform, the work we were starting on web standards (we were shipping IE6 at the time), and so on. MIX06 was held about four months later in Las Vegas.

So the question I've got to ask: Given Internet Explorer's receding usage share, Microsoft's efforts to support web standards and HTML 5 coding's role in Windows 8's Metro design, isn't there even more reason to engage the web community now than ever?

"The notion that the 'web community' is somehow separate and distinct from the community of developers we care about no longer makes any sense", O`Brien writes. "Some had even called out the existence of a separate web event as proof that we don’t get the web. It’s a fair point".

Right, but if people say Microsoft doesn't "get the web" with a web developer's conference, what will they say without one?

Bottom line: There's more event pullback going on then just CES. O`Brien explains: "We got a lot of feedback. Developers were confused, and asking us about which event to go to. Reporters, analysts and tech bloggers were trying to manage 'event fatigue', and asked us the same question".

Perhaps, but if there is any year when people would flock to another major Microsoft developer event, wouldn't it be the same one when a major new Windows version ships? And Internet Explorer, too?

You answer. Does it matter to you that MIX is cancelled? Not only cancelled, but gone as a separate, web developer event?
Microsoft says botnet chief was former antivirus vendor employee

Posted: January 24th, 2012, 11:17am MST by Ed Oswald

Microsoft spent a good deal of time dismantling the Kelihos botnet last year, making it the first takedown where it was able to name actual defendants behind it. On Monday it made the suprising announcement that its latest defendant, Andrey N. Sabelnikov, had previously worked for an antivirus software vendor.

According to information on the Web, Sabelnikov worked for two Russian security vendors: Agnitum, a firm that produces firewall and antvirus software for PCs from September 2005 to November 2008, and Retunil from November 2008 to December 2011.

Sabelnikov is alleged to be the central figure behind the botnet. While no longer employed by either company, the information gleaned from his employment likely contributed to the development of Kelihos. From the dates it's also quite likely he was developing Kelihos -- which spreads by getting users to download faked antivirus -- while working on legitimate antivirus software.

"In today’s complaint, Microsoft presented evidence to the court that Mr. Sabelnikov wrote the code for and either created, or participated in creating, the Kelihos malware", says a company statement. "Further, the complaint alleges that he used the malware to control, operate, maintain and grow the Kelihos botnet".

The Redmond, Wash.-based company has already settled with Dominique Alexander Piatti and dotFREE Group, and says their cooperation in the case gave them the information necessary to go after Sabelnikov. It is not clear whether he has been apprehended by Russian authorities as a result of the investigation.

Microsoft's complaint was filed with the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.

Photo Credit: kentoh/Shutterstock
Got a Mac and non-Apple SSD? You need TRIM Enabler 2.0

Posted: January 24th, 2012, 11:07am MST by Nick Peers

Hot on the heels of a fifth Beta release last week, TRIM Enabler 2.0 has been given a final, stable release. TRIM Enabler 2.0, which extends TRIM support to non-Apple SSDs in OS X Lion, features a complete rewrite and new way of enabling TRIM by patching existing SSD drivers rather than replacing them.

Recent updates have also improved the speed of the patching process, plus TRIM Enabler now automatically updates when changes have been made instead of requiring a manual refresh. The final release has also introduced a new automatic update checker, allowing users to be prompted when a new version is released.

TRIM Enabler 2.0 exists because OS X Lion only supports the TRIM command -- a technology designed to keep SSDs running at optimum performance over a prolonged period of data writes and deletes -- on Apple SSD drives. By extending TRIM support to cheaper, non-Apple SSDs, TRIM Enabler opens up a wider choice for Mac users when picking a SSD drive.

The first major release of TRIM Enabler simply replaced the existing SSD driver with an older version that supported TRIM. The new version patches whatever driver is currently installed with the necessary TRIM support, a more satisfactory approach to the process.

Version 2.0 was completely rewritten in 100-percent Objective C, and also features a built-in SMART tool allowing users to easily monitor the physical health of their SSD drive over time. Lion users wishing to upgrade from version 1.0 to 2.0 should follow the advice posted to resurrect the original driver before installing and running version 2.0.

Trim Enabler 2.0 is a freeware download for Apple Macs with non-Apple SSDs running OS X 10.6.8 (Snow Leopard) or 10.7.x (Lion).

Photo Credit: Oleksiy Mark/Shutterstock
Opera 11.61 is released -- get it now!

Posted: January 24th, 2012, 10:56am MST by Mark Wilson

The latest addition to the stable release channel for Opera is v11.61, which includes more than 50 security and stability enhancements and is recommended for all users. You can either wait for the automatic updater to occur, or you can force a manual check and update from the Help menu.

Two of the most important changes to the browser see a couple of on-going scripting problems being fixed, but there are also a large number of additional tweaks that address issues with various aspects of the program.

From a user interface point of view, there have been tweaks that fix problems such as incorrectly sized dialogs, incorrect icons and poor handling of fullscreen mode on Windows XP. Also fixed are a number of crash scenarios and better handling of third-party skins. Users of previous versions of Opera have reported problems with a number of specific websites including PayPal, NFL.com and others, and these crashes and freezes have now been fixed.

All of these fixes are worth of note, but it is the security fixes that are the most important. One particular issue means that it was possible for a script running on one site to manipulate another page, while another privacy problem could have revealed the location of locally stored files. The first of these problems had previously been assigned a High severity label, and while the second issue was only of Low severity, it is still something that users will be pleased to see addressed.

Other problems that have been addressed include Captcha images failing to refresh when a page is refreshed, issues that prevented the delivery of email temperamental email checking when multiple accounts are being used. Whether you have noticed that you have been experiencing any of these problems or not, it is always important to keep your browser updated with the very latest version, so make sure that you have this update installed.

You can find out more and download the latest version of the browser by paying a visit to the Opera review page.
Fine tune Windows with Advanced System Tweaker

Posted: January 24th, 2012, 9:27am MST by Mike Williams

At first glance the Advanced System Tweaker looks much like many other Windows tweaking tools.

There’s the same familiar ideas, for instance, recommendations to disable this service or that, various networking and Explorer speedups. You get simple maintenance options, so you can perhaps clear your system temporary files at a click. And a Programs menu gives quick access to useful Windows applets, such as Device Manager and the Event Viewer.

The program also includes relatively few tweaks, 37 in total, and they’re not presented particularly well. The tweaks are displayed in a narrow pane that isn’t wide enough to see the entire tweak description, and you can’t resize the pane or maximise the program window, either. So expect plenty of horizontal scrolling.

Advanced System Tweaker does have a couple of very good points, though. If you choose an option like “Memory tweaks”, for instance, you’ll see the program says this aims to improve PC performance by telling Windows to cache more information in RAM. But that’s a little vague -- if you’re an expert Windows user you’ll probably want to know more about what it’s doing. And here you can find out just by clicking the Detailed Information bar at the bottom of the screen, which will show you precisely which Registry settings it’s going to change.

It’s the same for every other tweak, including those which launch applications. The Maintenance section has an option to run the System File Checker, for example, and if you check the Detailed Information here you’ll see exactly which commands this launches:

sfc /scannow
pause

But the real value here is that Advanced System Tweaker can be extended via Add Ons, which define new tweaks. Once the program is complete (it’s in beta right now) then you’ll be able to download more of these online. But if you’re an experienced Windows user then you can use the bundled Add On Creator to make a few right now.

And this process is surprisingly powerful, too. Sure, you can use the program simply to launch a command line tool, as we’ve seen above, or alter a single Registry setting. But it also allows you to create a simple dialog box, and include more complex script commands, if necessary. And so over time you’ll be able to customise Advanced System Tweaker with all your favorite tweaks and shortcuts.

There are still issues to be resolved here, then: in particular the interface needs more thought, and we’d like to see more and better tweaks bundled with the program. But hey, it’s a beta, everyone has to start somewhere. The fact that you can see exactly how each tweak works is very appealing, though, as is the ability to add custom tweaks of your own, and with just a little more work the Advanced System Tweaker could become a very useful maintenance tool.
CloudOn for iPad mini-review

Posted: January 24th, 2012, 9:01am MST by Mark Wilson

The iPad has been touted as a replacement for the laptop, but if this is to happen a serious office suite is needed to allow everyday tasks such as word processing and number crunching to be carried out. In this area there are a number of mobile office suites to choose from, including Apple’s own iWork apps Pages, Keynote and Numbers as well as the likes of Documents To Go, Quickoffice and a few others.

While all of these are capable of producing and working with Microsoft Office compatible files, there is no getting away from the fact that none of them is Microsoft Office. This is something that CloudOn for iPad aims to address, bringing you fully functional versions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint to your tablet.

The problem with many office suites available for iPad is that they started life on the smaller screen of the iPhone. In a bid to maintain a uniform interface across platforms, it is often the case that the iPad version of a suite is virtually identical to the iPhone version both in terms of looks and feature set. CloudOn is a little different, bringing you the desktop versions of the three main Office applications -- thanks to a remotely hosted version of Microsoft’s office suite.

CloudOn can be used to create new documents from scratch, or to edit files that you have already created in Office or another productivity suite. Rather than working with a ported version of the suite or a re-write, you are presented with the familiar toolbars and ribbon that are usually found in Office and this provides you with access to the full gamut of features and options. All formatting tools can be used as can graphing, animations, images, transitions and more. To ensure that you are not missing out on anything -- and do not have to unnecessary navigate through endless menus, and extra row of keyboard is added so that you can use additional keyboard shortcuts and functions.

Mobile Limitations

All of this is encouraging, but there are a few issues with CloudOn. The app’s reliance on Dropbox is something of a double-edged sword. While allowing yout to save your files to your cloud-based account so you can access them from any computer with an Internet connection, it is also slightly restrictive. There is no way to save files locally, and the fact that your files are stored online means that the app is useless on those occasions that you do not have an internet connection. This is likely to be less of a problem for anyone who has a 3G iPad, but if you are working with a WiFi-only model, you are going to be restricted as to where you are able to work.

CloudOn is a great way to access the power and functionality of Office, but it quickly becomes apparent that Microsoft’s applications have not been designed for use on touchscreen devices. Navigating through some documents, particularly in the case of spreadsheets, can be a little tricky, and anyone who has tried to use the iPad’s on-screen keyboard for extended typing sessions will be aware that it is far slower and more fiddly than using a standard keyboard.

One fairly major failing of the app: it can only be used in landscape mode. Once the keyboard is activated and the screen space taken up by toolbars is accounted for, there is very little room left to see your document. It would have been nice to have the option of working in portrait mode, perhaps with the ability to scroll toolbars.

If these complaints make it sound as though CloudOn is an app to avoid, nothing could be further from the truth. In terms of raw power and the range of options available to you, there is simply nothing to rival this particular title. There are a few quirks to work around and a few minor niggles to overcome, but on the whole this is a great office suite that deserves to grace every iPad.

You may well find that this is not the app you turn to for day to day editing of files or even the one you use to create new documents each time, but having the option to use almost every feature of Word, Excel and PowerPoint is one that is hard to turn down.
iPhone represents more than half of Verizon smartphone sales

Posted: January 24th, 2012, 8:19am MST by Joe Wilcox

This morning before the opening bell, Verizon Wireless announced fourth-quarter results. The carrier sold 7.7 million smartphones. Earlier this month, the nation's largest carrier disclosed 4.2 million iPhone activations during the same time period. Divide it up, and iPhone accounted for 54.5 percent of Verizon smartphone sales. (Update: Revised 4.3 million number released today puts it at 55.8 percent.) By comparison, Verizon sold 2.3 million 4G LTE devices, which includes mobile hotspots and tablets. At best, LTE devices accounted for 30 percent of smartphone sales. However, since that number includes other devices, iPhone outsold LTE smartphones by about 2 to 1.

In September I asked: "What if there is no iPhone 5 LTE?", before Apple announced 4S instead. Today, Verizon answered that question. As of Monday, the nation's largest 4G network reached 200 million in 195 US markets. Verizon currently offers 20 LTE devices, 10 of them smartphones -- 11, if counting 16GB and 32GB Droid Razrs. How much does LTE matter? Clearly not enough.

Verizon released four new LTE smartphones during fourth quarter -- Google Galaxy Nexus, HTC Rezound, Motorola Droid Razr and Samsung Stratosphere. Galaxy Nexus and Droid Razr are considered best-of-class Androids. Three new LTE models are coming within weeks.

Forty-four percent of post-paid customers had smartphones at end of fourth quarter, up from 39 percent three months earlier. But, again, iPhone contributed more to those gains than all other smartphones combined. Smartphones accounted for 70 percent of post-paid sales.

Verizon released its earnings report ahead of Apple's, which is expected after market close today. Some analysts predict that Apple sold as many as 35 million iPhones, a stunning number, during fourth quarter. If so, Verizon accounted for 12 percent of them. Remember: The carrier didn't offer iPhone a year ago. Apple also added Sprint and some regional carriers during the quarter.

For all 2011, Verizon activated 10.8 million iPhones and 15 million Androids. But the carrier didn't offer iPhone for all the year, and the revealing surge was fourth quarter, when 4S shipped and the price for 4 dropped to $99.
Get more from Windows Firewall with TinyWall

Posted: January 24th, 2012, 8:18am MST by Mike Williams

One common view of the Windows Vista/ 7 firewall is that it’s a toy, almost entirely useless, and you should replace it with something more capable just as soon as you possibly can. But this isn’t entirely fair.

Sure, there’s no easy way to, say, restrict outgoing network connections to the applications you specify, but that’s more to do with the firewall’s awkward configuration options than the underlying technology. And these are easy to fix. Install TinyWall and this compact tool will immediately extend the standard Windows Firewall, giving you far easier control over who gets to go online, and who really shouldn’t.

After installation, TinyWall scans your PC to look for programs that it knows are safe and will need to make outgoing connections: IE, Firefox, Skype and so on. These are then whitelisted by default (unless you choose otherwise), so you don’t have to explicitly give each one permission to go online.

TinyWall is far less capable than most firewalls at figuring out which programs want to connect to the web, though, and, for example, missed our Outlook installation entirely. We didn’t realize this for some time, either, because TinyWall doesn’t display an alert when an unapproved program tries to make a connection: it just gets blocked.

To be fair, this isn’t an unreasonable approach. The reality is that most people, if they’re faced with some complex Allow/ Deny dialog, will automatically click “Allow” most of the time. And so forcing people to more explicitly whitelist particular applications can help to improve their security.

And TinyWall makes it reasonably easy to whitelist programs, too. If you’ve launched an application that you’d like to allow online, just right-click the TinyWall icon, select “Whitelist by process”, choose your program and it’ll immediately be able to make outgoing connections. (And this decision will be remembered, too, so you don’t have to go through these setup hassles again.)

The fact that you’re not alerted to a blocked connection really can be a complication, though, especially if the program in question doesn’t alert you to it. You may not think to whitelist a tool like CCleaner, say, but if you don’t then it’ll never be able to check for updates, and it could be a very long time before you realize. So if you’re always installing new software then TinyWall could be more trouble than it’s worth.

If you’re setting up something more basic, though, like a netbook for your kids -- just a browser, email client, instant messaging and very little else -- then it’s a different story. TinyWall is lightweight, won’t take long to set up, isn’t going to baffle anyone with complex alerts, and will block unapproved outgoing connections by default, which should help to keep them just a little more secure.

If you do try the program, however, there’s one minor issue to keep in mind: for some reason, it can’t be installed via the standard Windows Control Panel applet. Instead you have to remove it via the TinyWall interface: right-click its system tray icon, and click Manage > Maintenance > Uninstall.

Art Credit: beboy/Shutterstock
'This is our generation's Woodstock'

Posted: January 23rd, 2012, 8:32pm MST by Joe Wilcox

Samsung's newest "The Next Big Thing is Already Here" TV commercial is the riskiest, but by far the snarkiest for anyone closely following the marketing campaign. The jokes are all inside and require some familiarity with previous installments. The risk: Everyone else won't get it. The snark: The iPhone hipster putdowns are mean -- really mean.

During the very first commercial, one Apple hipster waiting in line for iPhone could never get a Samsung because he's "creative". The guy next to him snipes: "Dude, you're a barista". Both men are back in the new commercial, with the barista serving coffee to the snarky companion -- who is carrying Galaxy S II! He's done with the iPhone hipset and makes it known: "It's nice latte art, my man. I see you're still creative". He's with a woman who had the same Samsung smartphone during the first commercial in the series. The Barista: "You two look happy, with your phone".

Soon two guys come in talking about camping, but not in the woods. They're headed to the Apple Store and presumably the next iPhone -- not the one seen in earlier commercials. But there's something missing: The long lines of hipsters. People bought Samsungs. It's funny advertising, if you get the inside jokes -- not as much for anyone else.

There's a sense of finality to the commercial, which Samsung posted to YouTube today, like it's the last one. But there's another, also available today. In this TV spot, one of the people waiting in the cold to buy iPhone goes into a store looking for "gloves without the thumbs" so he can text. There are only regular gloves. "How can I text?" The store clerk demonstrates voice to text on Galaxy S II. No hands required.

Tomorrow Apple announces calendar fourth-quarter earnings, with analysts predicting record iPhone sales -- perhaps 35 million units. Samsung S2 sales don't even come close. But in the battle of marketing campaigns, the South Korean electronics giant has Apple beat. Whatever their sales value might or might not be, the ads are priceless cultural commentaries about stereotypical Apple hipsters. The meaner the ads get, the funnier they are.
Google+ names policy goes just far enough

Posted: January 23rd, 2012, 7:06pm MST by Joe Wilcox

There are lots of places where you can be anonymous online. Google+ isn't one of them. Late today, Google announced a revision to the G+ names policy that doesn't change this, but it does allow people to use nicknames and established pseudonyms. If anonymity is your thing, go somewhere else. I don't want you on Google+. You can bully pulpit somewhere else. As for those folks whose lives might be at risk for using real names, please be safe someplace else -- Facebook, Reddit, Twitter, Tumblr or WordPress, for example. Those services have proven they can protect your identity.

But, of course, the griping will continue from the Internet rabble determined to hide their identities everywhere. They want more from Google than just nicknames. What are you afraid of? I use my real name everywhere, as I have always done. I see that as being in the very spirit of the open -- and transparent -- Internet. Be who you are, not someone else. And if that comment --- or other online interaction -- requires you to hide your identity, shut the frak up. Vent somewhere else. For everyone else, and this includes people who have built up alternative identities, Google+ welcomes you.

Bradley Horowitz, Google vice president, Plused the changes: "Starting today we’re updating our policies and processes to broaden support for established pseudonyms, from +trench coat to +Madonna".

Pseudonymity isn't anonymity. A pseudonym is another form of identity, just not one using your real name. Google embraces the one by, so far, resisting the other. Horowitz writes:

Over the next week, we’ll be adding support for alternate names – be they nicknames, maiden names, or names in another script -- alongside your common name. This name will show up on your Google+ profile and in the hovercards which appear over your name. In the next few weeks, we’ll be displaying it more broadly as part of your name in other areas of Google+ as well. So if you’re Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Jane Doe (Smith), or सौरभ शर्मा (Saurabh Sharma), you can now communicate your identity the way you want to.

Key verbiage: "alongside your common name". He continues: "To add an alternate name, go to your Google+ profile, click Edit Profile, select your name and click on 'More options'...It’s important to remember that when you change your name in Google+, you’re changing it across all services that require a Google Profile".

Google's name policy is here.

Anonymity is Bad Policy

I applaud today's changes for sticking to real identities, while letting people have established nicknames or pseudonyms as personal brands. Anonymity is bad policy and one Google should vehemently resist. Some reasons:

1. Security. Google has plenty of bad experiences with anonymous accounts. Cybercriminals have long used anonymous Blogger accounts as part of phishing nets. Google+ could be similarly used and perhaps be more dangerous because of its design. People follow you to start with -- they're not approved as friends first. Twitter is lesson there -- where spammers use the service by following people and tweeting offers or even links to phishing or malware sites.

If for no other reason than preventing Google+ from becoming a platform for cybercriminals, there should be no anonymous users on the service.

2. Community. Google+ is clearly designed to be a better social network, one where users have more control over their interactions -- and in a manner more like how they engage people in the real world. Relationships are all about identity. You see the person, and can identify them again by their appearance if by nothing else. Even if someone is new to you and gives a false name, you still have seen them. That's not the case online, where anyone can pretend to be anyone. If the service really is supposed to be more like real world interactions, people should be identified. Such an approach also will build trust, which should foster communities -- eh, Circles -- of people to spread out.

3. Google+ Pages. Late last year, Google opened brand pages for businesses. C`mon, they want identity, for numerous reasons. Identity is good for targeting products to new customers and better serving existing ones. Then there are issues of trust and security. Internet trolls can tarnish brands, and what business wants to risk plunking down on the same Net neighborhood as cybercriminals?

4. Trolls. There is a minority of Internet trolls that spoil community experience for everyone. Look how anonymous commenters often pollute the dialog. Google shouldn't enable trolls to harass and demean others while hiding behind the cloak of anonymity.

Last week, Google CEO Larry Page said that G+ has 90 million users. Will the new policy bring in more people? Time will tell.
AT&T, T-Mobile look to FCC to approve spectrum transfer

Posted: January 23rd, 2012, 5:29pm MST by Ed Oswald

AT&T and T-Mobile filed a request with the Federal Communications Commission to gain approval for the transfer of spectrum, a stipulation agreed to as part of the breakup of the planned merger between the two companies. The value of the spectrum is about $1 billion, and is in addition to $3 billion in cash that AT&T will pay T-Mobile.

The nation's fourth largest carrier has repeatedly said it needs additional spectrum in order to compete with its larger rivals as they look towards 4G. T-Mobile is also due a favorable roaming agreement from AT&T, which would also address criticisms of the carrier over lack of coverage.

"This additional spectrum will help meet the growing demand for wireless broadband services," T-Mobile vice president for government affairs tells the Wall Street Journal, who first reported the spectrum transfer late Monday. "We hope the FCC will move swiftly to approve the license assignments".

BetaNews could not immediately reach AT&T for comment as of press time.

Photo Credit: Dr.OGA/Shutterstock
Don't believe me about the iTunes hack? Just check Twitter

Posted: January 23rd, 2012, 2:56pm MST by Ed Oswald

In my most recent story about Apple's hacking problems within iTunes, I was not surprised to see the same criticisms as eight months ago: there's no evidence of it, it's all the users' fault for their crappy passwords, it's a small problem.

Okay, I'll give you the possibility that this could be partially the user's fault in some way. Like saying the guy run down by a speeding vehicle shouldn't have been driving during rush hour. That does not answer how these hackers are getting in -- which from BetaNews' research on this, is mainly an in-app purchase mechanism issue -- nor the true scope of this problem.

So, I turned to Twitter to answer that question. Frankly, I am shocked with what I found. A simple search just for "iTunes hacked" through Twitter provides hundreds of results just in the past few weeks alone.

If you don't believe me that this hack is a major problem for Apple, you really need to start searching around the social networking services because they reveal a substantial amount of affected users: enough that Apple owes us some type of public acknowledgement of the issue.

Frankly, I find Apple's silence insulting: not only to myself in an attempt to fairly cover this issue and present both sides of the story, but also as a victim of the hack itself. Me, like many others across the Web are only asking for some kind of assurance from Apple that it's working on the problem.

I don't think that's asking too much.

One of my followers over on Google+, Jake Weisz, says it best on Apple's maddening strategy when it comes to negative publicity: "It's probably pretty similar to Apple's behavior with regard to the Mac Defender virus they got last year. Rather than admit they had a problem, they told their employees to deny it's existence until they had a fix".

My iTunes acct got hacked Sun. They say they will refund the $60+ of in-app purchases but haven't yet. Now my acct is suspended. #stabmyself

— kristen m stewart (@kristenmstewart) January 19, 2012

Could it be Apple doesn't know how to fix this problem, and that's why the company pretends it doesn't exist? If so, that's pretty worrisome and anyone using iTunes should be concerned about their account security, poor passwords or not.

Crap, someone hacked into my iTunes and bought $42 of stuff using my store credit. Come on Apple, I thought you were better than that!

— Patrick (@Traincrossin) January 20, 2012

Add what we're seeing on the social media sites with the dozens of reports that I've received personally in writing the story and I think the argument that this isn't widespread is completely blown up.

#iTunes account hacked overnite and credits drained with fraudulent charges.First #Zappos account, now this. Makes ya want to go off grid

— Robert Neill (@rdntx) January 21, 2012

Are you a victim. Has someone made unauthorized purchases to your iTunes account?
Sony unveils next-generation mobile camera sensors

Posted: January 23rd, 2012, 1:35pm MST by Tim Conneally

Sony Corporation on Monday announced that it is working on a new design for CMOS image sensors that will be used in camera modules for smartphones, tablets, and other mobile applications. This model of sensor includes built-in signal processing functionality, a task which used to be handled by external elements, and that it can handle advanced imaging tasks in an even smaller profile.

The design is what is known as a stacked CMOS sensor, and Sony has turned two major elements of the sensor into independent components. The stack puts the "pixel section" and "circuit section" fully on top of one another rather than fitting them on the same board side-by-side.

Sony says it has devised models of this sensor that utilize "RGBW Coding" for lower noise images in low light conditions, and "HDR (High Dynamic Range) Movie" functionality for improving color in flooded light situations.

With cutting-edge smartphones and tablets donning multiple cameras, and advancements taking place in camera-based, Kinect-style interfaces, the image sensor business is booming. In late 2010, Sony committed to taking charge of the market, and purchased a Nagasaki semiconductor facility from Toshiba to effectively double its capacity for CMOS sensor production to around 40,000 units per month.

However, the natural disasters that hit Japan in 2011 had a serious impact on all Japanese imaging companies, and they are believed to have caused a delay in Sony's development of these very sensors.

These sensors won't sample to manufacturers until March 2012, putting Sony a few months behind Samsung, which unveiled its new smartphone camera modules last September.

Samsung's units are capable of 16 megapixel stills and native 16:9 video at up to 8.3 megapixel resolution at 60 frames per second. Samsung also debuted its forward-facing camera unit at the same time: a 1.2-Megapixel (Mp), 1/8.2-inch CMOS image sensor system-on-chip that can fit into a 5.5 x 5.5mm camera module with profile of only 2.8mm.
One in four Americans own an e-book reader or tablet

Posted: January 23rd, 2012, 12:44pm MST by Joe Wilcox

That's a dramatic change from just a few months ago and, perhaps not coincidentally, before new Nooks and Kindles lowered price of entry for both categories. Between December and January, the number of Americans owning one of the devices rose to 29 percent from 18 percent. During the same time period, the number owning a tablet rose to 19 percent from 10 percent, which is the same rise for e-book readers.

Pew Internet released the data earlier today, based on surveys conducted in mid December and early January. "These findings are striking because they come after a period from mid-2011 into the autumn in which there was not much change in the ownership of tablets and e-book readers", according to the report. "However, as the holiday gift-giving season approached, the marketplace for both devices dramatically shifted". As recently as August 9 percent of Americans owned e-book readers and 10 percent tablets.

Pew noted the holiday impact of Amazon and Barnes & Noble e-reader price cuts to below $100. During the same time period, Amazon released Kindle Fire, a $199 7-inch tablet. However, tablets typically cost considerably more, such as the popular iPad 2 -- between $499 and $829. As such, households with greater incomes were most likely to buy the devices. According to Pew:

The surge in ownership of tablet computers was especially notable among those with higher levels of education and those living in households earning more than $75,000. More than a third of those living in households earning more than $75,000 (36 percent) now own a tablet computer. And almost a third of those with college educations or higher (31 percent) own the devices. Additionally, those under age 50 saw a particularly significant leap in tablet ownership.

By comparison, e-readers skewed lower, Pew says:

The story with the growth in e-book readers was somewhat different from the story with tablet computers. Ownership of e-readers among women grew more than among men. Those with more education and higher incomes also lead the pack when it comes to e-book ownership, but the gap between them and others isn’t as dramatic. For instance, 19 percent of those in households earning $30,000-$50,000 have e-book readers. They are 12 percentage points behind those in households earning $75,000 or more in e-book reader ownership. The gap between those income levels on tablet ownership is 20 percentage points.

Did you buy or receive an e-book reader or tablet during the holidays?
Compact software development is IN, bloat is OUT!

Posted: January 23rd, 2012, 11:19am MST by Chris Boss
For years I have discussed with others about how software development should get back to basics, using native code (rather than scripting languages) by using compilers optimized for creating fast and compact applications.

A recent TIOBE index reemphasizes this point.

The most telling part of the index is the graph of long term trends. What I thought was interesting with the TIOBE index long term graph is this:
- Java is strong, but its long-term trend appears to be an overall decline
- C# is growing, but is far behind Java and C (C is still twice as popular as C#)
- C++ appears to be on an overall decline amazingly
- C appears to be relatively consistent and strong and could soon pass Java
Native Coding is making a Comeback!

C is the cornerstone of native coding, particularly when it comes to Windows. It is interesting that it continues to show such a strong standing among languages. Even Microsoft, I have read, has shown an interest in getting back to native coding (albiet using C++ most likely). Why the interest in native coding after years of pushing .NET and other frameworks? It can be summed up in two words:

Speed and Size!

Yes, speed and size of applications. Maybe because of all the interest in tablet PC's and smartphones, whch really need smaller and faster applications because of their form factors (limited hardware). Maybe many are just getting tired of bloated software (takes too much space and memory and runs too slow). Whatever the reasons, it can be summed up with "compact and fast are IN" and "bloat and slow are OUT".

C is not the Only Game in Town!

So should we all start programming in C? Not necessarily. While C may be the current leader in native coding, this does not mean it is the only game in town that has a monopoly on creating fast and compact applications for Windows. Recently, I had the chance to interview Bob Zale, president and founder of Powerbasic about his BASIC language compilers. In a story for another tech site, I described Powerbasics compiler as the "software industries best kept secret". Why? Because Powerbasic is the great, great, grandchild of TurboBasic. Yes, TurboBasic still lives, but it is now a Windows compiler.

What most people don't know: Powerbasic is often used behind the scenes by many major companies and would you like to know why? Because is it the epitome of native coding for Windows. One gets the benefits of one of the best known languages, BASIC, while also being able to produce extremely compact and fast applications which rival those created with, guess what, yes C!

How do I know this? Because I have been using PowerBasic for nearly a decade now, and I can tell you that it can produce amazingly fast and compact applications.

The TIOBE index shows that maybe we should reconsider the software development tools that we use. If compact and fast is now IN, then shouldn't we use programming languages that produce this kind of software? So if you are familiar with C of any sort, then maybe C (or C++) are worth reexamining. If you like BASIC, then maybe PowerBasic is worth a look.

Likely there are some other programming languages that have the power of C, which can produce compact and fast applications. Are you using one of them? If so, why not post a comment and tell us what your favorite native coding language (capable of producing compact and fast) is.

Photo Credit: olly/Shutterstock

Chris Boss is an advanced Windows API programmer and developer of 10 year-old EZGUI, which is now version 5. He owns The Computer Workshop, which opened for businesses in the late 1980s. He originally developed custom software for local businesses. Now he develops programming tools for use with the PowerBasic compiler.
Android, not iOS, will win over developers

Posted: January 23rd, 2012, 11:01am MST by Ed Oswald

Android will replace iOS as the most important platform to developers within the next 12 months, British analyst firm Ovum says. It also notes an increased interest in Windows Phone and BlackBerry OS, and sees a move towards web standards in development over proprietary technologies.

Timing is surprising. Tomorrow, Apple will announce fourth calendar quarter earnings, where analysts expect record iOS device sales. Despite these platform gains, developer attention shifts to Android.

"A smartphone platform's success is dictated not only by the pull of consumers and the push of handset vendors and mobile operators but also by a healthy economy of applications delivered by third-party developers", devices and platforms practice leader Adam Leach says of his findings. Leach's research should come as no surprise given Android's strength in the marketplace.

Save for the holidays, Android smartphones have been outselling the iPhone by as much as a two-to-one margin for much of the past year. It was only a matter of time before developers took notice of this fast growing market and develop for it.

"It is important for all players in the smartphone ecosystem to understand the choices developers are making today and the downstream impact of those choices," Leach says.

Indeed, the survey shows a marked move away from once important platforms such as Symbian and WebOS. Developers' confidence in BlackBerry OS is surprising, however, given the platform's struggle in the market, and the internal turmoil plaguing the company. Windows Phone is not as surprising, given Nokia's big gamble on the platform and the building interest in its partner's devices.

"The growing momentum behind Windows Phone indicates that Microsoft has managed to convince developers that its platform is worthy of investment, its challenge now is to persuade consumers", Leach argues.

Developers also are showing a desire to develop their applications using web-based standards. This allows for an even cross-platform experience without the need for recoding. HTML5 is favored, while older more platform-specific technologies like Java, Flash, and WAP fall by the wayside.

Even with this move towards standards in development, the developer still leans on vendor-specific distribution -- Google's Android Market or Apple's App Store -- in order to distribute their work. This is likely a function of the developer's desire to reach the largest possible audience, Ovum says.

Photo Credit: Joe Wilcox
RIM's strategy of marketing, Android apps, and low-end devices fails to excite

Posted: January 23rd, 2012, 10:29am MST by Tim Conneally

Canadian smartphone pioneer Research in Motion announced on Sunday that its co-chairmen Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie would be stepping down, and former Siemens CTO Thorsten Heins would be rising from his position of Chief Operating Officer at RIM to the role of Chief Executive.

Heins' formal introduction to the public seems to have done little to change the public's mind about Research in Motion and its prospects as a competitor against Android and Apple smartphones.

"My focus going forward is for RIM to continue to develop and market customer-focused products and services that will carry the company well into the next decade," Heins said in RIM's call with analysts on Monday morning. "We will accomplish this by drawing upon our talented hardware and software development teams, implementing processes and controls to ensure effective execution of our strategies, and building on our unique competitive advantages. We will also bring in new talent as required. We are in the process of recruiting a new chief marketing officer to work closely with our product and sales team to deliver the most compelling products and services. My approach is to empower employees to take appropriate risks, make decisions and to be accountable for their actions. I will make sure they have the tools and resources they need to be successful. When they succeed as individuals, we succeed as a company."

Heins went on to highlight his plans for the company, which include ramping up Marketing efforts in the United States:

"We need to be more marketing driven, we need to be more consumer-oriented, because this is where a lot of our growth is coming from. It is essential in the U.S."

Adapting the BlackBerry development lifecycle:

"You've got to understand, RIM has gone through a tremendous growth phase and has scaled really fast...and successfully, I would say. We innovated while we were developing the product, and that needs to stop. We need to innovate, don't get me wrong. But we will do this now with much more emphasis on prototyping and core testing. We have great teams that can try stuff out, but when we say a product is defined, and a product is a product, execution has to be really precise."

Pushing "a whole new" BlackBerry 10 that includes Android support:

"BlackBerry 10 is not just a new OS...it's a whole new architecture, starts from hardware, OS, drivers, runtimes, applications...Also a totally new development environment, so HTML5-native, AIR, Flash, Cascade...we got fantastic feedback from our developer conference in the US, and we will do Asia-Pac and Europe in the next two weeks. So that work is under way, and we are preparing for an upgrade for our ecosystem to BlackBerry 10...on PlayBook 2.0 and BlackBerry 10, we will also have an Android player on it, so we're covering the long tail of applications...I think that is a very very strong element of our strategy."

Keeping a single RIM:

"Frankly, if your value proposition is the device alone, it is a cutthroat price and cost business. So my view on RIM is very clear. We are strong because we have an integrated solution, we are vertical, we have our network, we have our services, we have our enterprise servers out there with more than 250,000 enterprises connected to it, and we have fantastic devices and a fantastic ecosystem that we're building. I want to build on that. I will not in any way split this up or separate into different businesses.

Licensing BlackBerry OS:

"I'm absolutely confident that BlackBerry 10 will prove itself as a platform. If there are requests coming to RIM to talk about licensing that platform to other companies, I will entertain those discussions. I will listen, I will assess the business opportunity for RIM, and if it makes sense strategically and tactically to go down that path, then I will make that decision together with the board. But it's not my [primary] focus."

Even with these strategies in line, RIM's stock took a sudden drop after the investor call on Monday. NYSE-listed shares in the company are currently trading at $15.84 on Monday, down 6.8 percent from Friday's close of $17.

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After MegaUpload raid, FileSonic cuts off file sharing

Posted: January 23rd, 2012, 10:19am MST by Ed Oswald

In a move that seems in response to the shuttering of MegaUpload last week, UK and Hong Kong-based file storage site FileSonic removed all file sharing capabilities over the weekend.

"All sharing functionality on FileSonic is now disabled. Our service can only be used to upload and retrieve files that you have uploaded personally", a message reads on the front page of its website.

No reason for the change was given, but its likely the MegaUpload situation spooked FileSonic's owners, which then took action to prevent a similar fate.

Like MegaUpload, FileSonic has no physical presence here in the United States. However if the arrests in New Zealand are any indication, international authorities are set to cooperate with US law enforcement in apprehending those profiting off of illicit file sharing.

FileSonic appears to be making some effort in cleaning pirated material off its servers. In December, it announced that it was using a product called vCloud9 which scans files to see if they contain copyrighted content.

The company does say in its terms of service and takedown policies that it has a "zero tolerance policy" towards copyright infringement, and will ban users who are "repeat offenders". That said, it still appears much of the policing is the responsibility of the copyright holder and not FileSonic.

Photo Credit: mojito.mak[dog]gmail[dot]com/Shutterstock
Big Data approach pinpoints malware that other solutions miss

Posted: January 23rd, 2012, 9:17am MST by Zulfikar Ramzan

Last month, in preparation for a panel, I was asked to put together a list of pros and cons with respect to using Big Data techniques in the context of information security technologies. While Big Data has benefits that span many security disciplines, it’s important to look at this from the perspective of what we call Advanced Malware Protection, which is the ability to discover, analyze and block advanced malware.

With that context in mind, let’s look at the "pros" of Big Data.

Pro #1: Security is often about detecting anomalies, and to do so, you need to have a full spectrum view that you typically can only get if you have enough data to know what constitutes "normal" versus "abnormal".

Nowadays, you infrequently see the same piece of malware on a large number of machines. Furthermore, malware is highly ephemeral. In fact, about three quarters of the malware we see has a lifetime of zero -- the first time we see it in the wild is the same as the last time we see it. From the perspective of these metrics, malware behaves aberrantly. A Big Data approach helps to better pinpoint malware that other solutions miss.

Pro #2: The goal with many information security solutions is to translate "back-office intelligence" into "customer-facing protection". In recent years, the amount of back-office intelligence security firms are dealing with has grown tremendously (e.g., growth of malware samples, large volumes of sensor data, etc.). Big Data techniques lend themselves nicely to this domain.

When people talk about using big data in the context of information security, the emphasis is typically on correlating a plethora of information sources to provide more intelligent decision-making capabilities. However, being able to speed up existing operations is especially critical and is a place where big data techniques can also help. Given the highly ephemeral nature of modern malware, eliminating data flow bottlenecks is a necessity rather than a nicety.

Pro #3: To make the most accurate (security) decisions, we need to take advantage of all the intelligence available to us -- from sensors, logs, user activity, etc. Big Data techniques can be used to extract the most value from this wealth of information.

The right kind of solution doesn’t just concern itself with processing samples like a typical security vendor tries to do. Rather, it looks at numerous data sources and provides useful intelligence back to our customers. It should look at which systems a given file has touched, what we know about those systems, when those systems encountered the file, how the file got on that system and so on.

Pro #4: Big Data techniques are also useful in doing more broad visualization of security-related metrics. Having a big picture understanding can help identify root causes to problems. In contrast, many "traditional" approaches only address symptoms.

Data visualization is an important part of data analytics. With visuals, it’s easy to spot larger trends. For example, in the case of an enterprise, just knowing that 1,000 systems have been infected is nice. But, this type of knowledge alone may not be sufficient for identifying what actions you need to take. With a visual, you may be able to spot underlying patterns. For example, suppose the majority of these infections come from a single remote office. Or perhaps a handful of users are responsible for the lion’s share. These patterns can indicate root causes that, if remedied, can mitigate the risks of future outbreaks.

Pro #5: Big Data techniques can lead to entirely new sets of security capabilities.

Ultimately, Big Data techniques are all about trying to extract the most useful knowledge from a large data set. The premise is that correlating data coming from different sources yields a more accurate view of the underlying threat landscape. With such a view in place, we may now be able to act on these new insights automatically. The result is a novel set of security capabilities that can significantly reduce risks enterprises face to their security assets.

With this marriage of Big Data and security, I believe we are only scratching the surface in terms of the benefits.

Photo Credit: almagami/Shutterstock

Zulfikar Ramzan is a chief scientist for Sourcefire, a world leader in intelligent cybersecurity solutions, focused on transforming the way global mid- to large-size organizations and government agencies manage and minimize network security risks.
SaveGameBackup 2.0 beta supports 1,377 titles

Posted: January 23rd, 2012, 8:29am MST by Mike Williams

When you’re thinking of files that you really should include in a backup, then saved games probably don’t rank highly on the list. But maybe they should. After all, in some cases your current game state will represent hours, days, maybe weeks of effort, and if for some reason this gets lost, will you really want to start again from the very beginning? (No. Didn’t think so.)

It can make sense to back up at least some of your saves, then. And there are few easier ways to do this than with a copy of SaveGameBackup. The program is portable, for instance, so there’s no need for installation: just unzip it and go.

SaveGameBackup supports 1,377 games, as we write, including all the big names and even the contents of your Steam database (double-click entries.htm in the program’s folder for the latest list). Although if somehow your favorite game isn’t on the list, then you can point the program at the necessary folder, files and Registry settings, and in future it’ll include those saves along with everything else.

When you launch the program, SaveGameBackup will display any supported games it detects, and you can back up or restore your chosen items in a couple of clicks.

And, conveniently, the program even zips up your saves to reduce the disk space requirements. Which could also be handy if you want to share your saves with friends, for instance.

One small complication is that SaveGameBackup 2.0 is a beta, so in theory may contain bugs. It worked well for us, though, and is still worth a try: the program is compact, easy to use, and a great way to protect your saved games from harm.

Photo Credit: Norman B/Shutterstock
Mac users, want to download YouTube videos for free? Try MacTubes 3.1

Posted: January 23rd, 2012, 8:01am MST by Nick Peers

Want to download YouTube videos to your PC? The choices are endless, with Freemake Video Downloader, aTube Catcher and VDownloader -- just three of the many freebies out there for Windows users.

If you’re a Mac user, however, you’ll find the choices much narrower, with most video downloading tools coming with a price tag attached. Thank goodness then, for MacTubes 3.1, which brings YouTube downloading capabilities at no cost to OS X users.

MacTubes is incredibly simple to use -- the first thing you should do, however, is enable HD support if you want access to high definition video: select MacTubes > Preferences > HD tab and tick both boxes. Now, not only will HD videos show up in the search results, they’ll be highlighted too.

MacTubes gives you two methods of selecting the video you wish to download. If you’ve already tracked it down in your web browser, simply copy the URL to your clipboard, fire up MacTubes and paste it into the New > Open Video box.

Alternatively, simply enter your search terms into the app’s conveniently situated Search box and a string of results will soon appear, complete with thumbnail and description to help you locate the video you need. Too many irrelevant results? Use the Filter box to help weed out unwanted videos.

Double-click a video to preview it (and check its quality) and once you’re happy with your selection, it’s time to download the video to your Mac. To do this, right-click the video in question and open the Download sub-menu. You’ll see FLV, MP4 and HD options here, but for full control over what you actually download, select Show Files.

This displays all available files. You’ll get a format, plus description of the format, revealing container (FLV, MP4 or WebM), size and codecs. Make your choice from the list and click Download, at which point it’ll start to download in its own download window. You can now locate more videos to download, queuing them up as required.

In an ideal world, all your downloads will be in MP4 format, but the truth is that usually the best quality downloads are on WebM or FLV (Flash video) format. We’d recommend using FLV format where possible, which can be viewed in VLC Media Player or converted to MP4/M4V or MKV formats using Handbrake. Both tools are, of course, completely free.

MacTubes 3.1 is a free, open-source download for both PowerPC and Intel Macs running OS X 10.4.2 or later (we’re currently using it in Lion with no problems for those worried about compatibility).
eToolz: Traceroute, Ping, WHOIS, Google PageRank and more

Posted: January 23rd, 2012, 7:20am MST by Mike Williams

If you’re not comfortable with the command line versions of Ping, Traceroute and other essential network tools, then there’s no shortage of GUI versions which offer a little extra convenience.

EToolz, though, extends this idea a little further. Not only do you get the usual Ping, Trace and DNS options, but it also includes some handy web-related tools, and presents them all in a simple, portable package.

Would you like to check a site’s Google PageRank score, for instance? Choose the relevant tab, enter the domain name you need and you’ll get the results in a click.

The program’s WhoIs tool makes it just as easy to discover who owns a particular site. The Mail-Check option tries to verify an email address, and the [HTTP-Header] tool displays the http header for your chosen URL. (Which, if you’ve not tried it before, can reveal a great deal of useful information about the site and its server.)

EToolz also provides all the usual local network options, of course, so you can run DNS checks, ping or traceroute commands in a click. The Time tab is able to query an internet time server, then update your local clock. And the Own Computer tool provides useful information about your local network setup, including your IP address, host name, local DNS server, and names and MAC addresses of your various network adapters.

While there’s nothing here that you couldn’t find out in some other way, eToolz does make your networking life a little easier by combining all this functionality into a single interface. Especially as it’s also portable.

Just be aware, though, that there is one small problem here, in that eToolz doesn’t automatically detect your current language. And so on its first launch the program will open in the author’s native German. If that’s inconvenient, though, it’s easily fixed: just choose your preferred language from the Extras > Sprache/ Language menu, and that will be saved and reused in future.
RIM's co-CEOs are out, Thorsten Heins is new chief executive

Posted: January 22nd, 2012, 9:00pm MST by Joe Wilcox

The phrase two heads are better than one didn't prove true for Research in Motion, which late today pushed aside its co-CEOs and replaced them with a single chief executive. It's a major shakeup that analysts called for more than a year ago. Out: Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie. In: Thorsten Heins, who assumes his new responsibilities starting tomorrow. RIM has scheduled an 8 am ET conference call.

The question: Will the new leadership be a head-and-a-half? Lazaridis will serve as Vice Chair and lead RIM board's new Innovation Committee, working closely with Heins. Innovation was something surely missing from the BlackBerry maker under Lazaridis' co-leadership. Balsillie isn't completely out, as he will serve on RIM's board.

"With BlackBerry 7 now out, PlayBook 2.0 shipping in February and BlackBerry 10 expected to ship later this year, the company is entering a new phase, and we felt it was time for a new leader to take it through that phase and beyond", Lazaridis says. "Jim, the Board and I all agreed that leader should be Thorsten Heins".

"Mike created a whole new way of communicating and I look forward to continuing our close collaboration", says Heins, who joined RIM four years ago last month and has served as COO of Product and Sales since August.

Heins expresses resound confidence in RIM's future, an opinion many outsiders don't share. "Mike and Jim took a bold step 18 months ago when RIM purchased QNX to shepherd the transformation of the BlackBerry platform for the next decade. We are more confident than ever that was the right path. It is Mike and Jim’s continued unwillingness to sacrifice long-term value for short-term gain which has made RIM the great company that it is today. I share that philosophy and am very excited about the company’s future".

These so-called bold steps have led BlackBerry from market leadership to plummeting smartphone sales share and eroding brand equity. For example, BlackBerry share, as measured by smartphone OS among recent US handset purchasers, fell from 7.7 percent to 4.5 percent between October and December 2011, according to Nielsen. How the mighty has fallen. In June 2010, BlackBerry led Android and iOS, with 35 percent share among recent purchasers.

In June 2011, RIM said it was evaluating the role of its co-CEOs. Meanwhile, investors have punished RIM, with September's sell-off being particularly nasty. Last month, RIM took another investor beating after taking a $485 million write-down for unsold PlayBooks. Earlier this month, in a seemingly bizarre pricing strategy, RIM reduced all PlayBooks to $299, regardless of capacity. So the 16GB and 64GB models sell for the same price.

From that perspective, Heins' "I share that philosophy" may not generate investor confidence. We'll know more after tomorrow's conference call.

The new CEO contends that RIM's fundamentals are sound: "We have a strong balance sheet with approximately $1.5 billion in cash at the end of the last quarter and negligible debt. We reported revenue of $5.2 billion in our last quarter, up 24 percent from the prior quarter, and a 35 percent year-to-year increase in the BlackBerry subscriber base, which is now over 75 million".
Apple's iBooks Author EULA is more and less evil than you think

Posted: January 22nd, 2012, 12:00pm MST by Joe Wilcox
There's a strange concept in marketing that no publicity is really bad. If people talk about you, it broadly raises brand awareness. People eventually forget the bad news but not the brand. Who remembers last year's furor over Apple's onerous publisher subscription terms? That's the eventual outcome from Apple's iBooks Author end-user license agreement, which has shocked many. Simply stated: If you publish ebooks using iBooks Author, no other publisher but Apple can profit. Distribution anywhere else must be for free. The Internet is outraged, even Apple apologists.

For all the negative outpouring -- and there is plenty -- Apple's EULA isn't as outrageous as critics claim -- it's more and less. The licensing agreement enforces Apple proprietary e-publishing file formats. On the less side, Apple's approach isn't far removed from what print publishers do today, and US copyright law likely supersedes Apple's EULA (but not necessarily any separate agreement).

Unprecedented Audacity

Apple's software startles by offering several warnings about rights and distribution, which is best summed up in Section 2 of the EULA:

B. Distribution of your Work. As a condition of this License and provided you are in compliance with its terms, your Work may be distributed as follows:

(i) if your Work is provided for free (at no charge), you may distribute the Work by any available means;

(ii) if your Work is provided for a fee (including as part of any subscription-based product or service), you may only distribute the Work through Apple and such distribution is subject to the following limitations and conditions: (a) you will be required to enter into a separate written agreement with Apple (or an Apple affiliate or subsidiary) before any commercial distribution of your Work may take place; and (b) Apple may determine for any reason and in its sole discretion not to select your Work for distribution.

Software developer Dan Wineman set the Internet afire with January 19 post "Unprecedented Audacity of the iBooks Author EULA" and FAQ follow-up "Common Misconceptions about What I Wrote Yesterday". These are by far the current, authoritative looks at iBooks Author EULA and what they mean; do read them. He explains:

This is a software EULA which for the first time attempts to restrict what I can do with the output of the app, rather than with the app itself. No consumer EULA I've ever seen goes this far. Would you be happy if Garage Band required you to sell your music through the iTunes Store, or if iPhoto had license terms that kept you from posting your own photos online? It’s a step backward for computing freedom and we should resist it...

Restricting use is what EULAs have traditionally done. This one does something different: it restricts what you can do with the output of the software after the software is closed and put away. If you make a document using iBooks Author, you aren't allowed to sell that document except through Apple, ever, for the rest of your life.

Like apps, Apple collects a 30-percent cut from ebooks. So authors outputting anything -- not just in the proprietary format -- would be prohibited from distributing the work anywhere else for a fee. Apple collects, and no other publisher.

Apologists Answer

My favorite responses about the EULA come from two diametrically opposed apologists -- Apple bully-pulpiteer John Gruber and Microsoft PR chief Frank Shaw.

"This is Apple at its worst", Gruber writes. Wow, the EULA must be really bad for Apple apologist extraordinaire to use the "W" word, right? That's not what got me chuckling. Gruber goes on: "Let’s hope this is just the work of an overzealous lawyer, and not their actual intention". He still apologizes for Apple! John, John, John, what kind of Kool-Aid are you drinking to think that Apple top execs don't know what terms are in their licensing agreements? Apple is micro-management central, where no detail is overlooked.

Shaw took to Twitter, showing just how effective that 140-character limit really can be. Three tweets:
- "1. If you write a novel in Word, we promise not to take a 30% cut zd.net/zVXyuC"
- "2. Likewise, if you deliver a speech in PowerPoint, we promise not to take 30% of your speaking fees bit.ly/ycGugt"
- "3. If you manage your finances in Excel, we promise not to take 30% of your income bit.ly/yvAyay"
I ask: Is this any worse than SOPA?

More Evil

Let's now get to the real evil behind the iBooks Author EULA: It seeks to enforce proprietary Apple e-publishing formats to a nascent market trying to standardize around EPUB.

Daniel Glazman, co-chairman of the W3C CSS Working Group, took a look at the file formats produced by Apple's authoring software. He writes about the iBooks format: "It looks like an EPUB3 format. It smells like an EPUB3 format. But it's not at all an EPUB3 format".

Proprietary extensions is one reason why. Apple's approach offers richer formatting, something Microsoft likewise does with Word authoring .docx documents. Microsoft claims open-standard format but true richness comes from using proprietary software. Difference: Microsoft provides zip utility for reading raw content in XML format.

Glazman writes:

Because of these extensions, editing or browsing the HTML documents with a regular WYSISYG editor (BlueGriffon or DreamWeaver for instance) or a browser (Firefox, Chrome or even Safari) shows a total mess on screen. It's not readable, it's not usable, it's not editable. Just forget it, Apple (re-)invented the Web totally incompatible with the Web. All in all, Apple has worked entirely behind the curtains here. If someone tells you that iBooks format is EPUB3, don't believe it. It's not EPUB3, it's only based on EPUB3...With iBooks Author, Apple is trying even more to lock their formats and the market.

Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates understood the importance of controlling file formats. In the early 1980s, Gates put Charles Simonyi in charge of productivity applications development. Early work done by the father of Microsoft Office achieved two important goals by the mid 1990s:

1. Established format standards that resolved problems sharing documents created by disparate products.

2. Ensured that Microsoft file formats would become the adopted desktop productivity standards.

Format lock-in helped drive Office sales throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s -- and Windows along with it. But even as Microsoft standards drove sales, a new standards threat had developed.

In May 1995, Gates penned the "Internet Tidal Wave" memo that warned about the extended network's threats to Microsoft. In the memo, he specifically identified HTML, HTTP and TCP/IP. "Browsing the Web, you find almost no Microsoft file formats," Gates wrote. He observed not seeing a single Microsoft file format "after 10 hours of browsing", but plenty of Apple QuickTime videos and Adobe PDF documents.

Microsoft's visionary founder warned: "The Internet is the most important single development to come along since the IBM PC was introduced in 1981. It is even more important than the arrival of the graphical user interface (GUI)".

E-publishing is still a nascent and potentially hugely profitable market. Apple is in process of creating its own digital publishing platform, backed by proprietary file formats and force of legal agreements.

Less Evil

It's a stretch to call anything about the onerous licensing terms as less evil, but I see two things worth calling out:

1. Apple applies to digital publishing semi-exclusivity already standard in the print world. If I write a book for (fictitious) publisher Crankpants Books, the company will ask me to sign an agreement that lets it exclusively publish my copyrighted work. This is standard publishing business today. The publisher also can restrict -- and many do -- electronic distribution rights, such as limiting the work to one reader's account rather than allowing terms for sharing. Digital Rights Management technology enforces this licensing distribution term.

What publishers typically won't do: Allow authors to freely distribute their work, as Apple does. One could argue that Apple's terms are similar to print publishers and more generous. That said, digital distribution allows authors to self-publish using platforms like iBookstore or Amazon's Kindle Store. Apple's EULA restricts that behavior. Apple often is praised for innovation, for going places where others haven't. Here, the company truly innovates new ways to exclusively profit from others' works.

2. The EULA may not be enforceable. Qualifying that I'm not a lawyer, I know a few things about copyrights, as someone who writes for a living and who has reported on software copyrights and EULAs for 18 years. For example, software sidesteps typical US copyright terms allowing copying by being licensed, not sold. Developers like Adobe and Microsoft would be helpless against people copying software for personal use if not for laws supporting licensing. You pay for the application, but the developer retains all rights; technically you didn't buy anything, and the developer can retract your use of the software at any time.

Content produced by software like Word is typically sold, not licensed, which is one of many, many reasons why Microsoft couldn't restrict distribution of the writer's works like Apple tries to. It's also major reason why Wineman's calling the EULA "unprecedented" is gross understatement. Apple is trying to extend its rights over yours and doing so attempting to establish a dangerous precedent about which copyright supersedes the other -- yours as the content producer and Apple's as software developer and content distributor. I simplify complex copyright laws here, to make the point.

What matters more is something I haven't yet seen: The secondary agreement Apple requires, which could be more akin to the contract authors sign with print publishers when giving them exclusive distribution rights. That could be enforceable, depending on terms and how voluntarily the author agrees to them. Apologies, for this report, I don't have an answer and wouldn't want to give it anyway. That's topic requiring input from copyright legal experts.

For myself, I would never self-publish using Apple's software if for no other reason than principle. Apple's long-standing "our way or the highway" approach has really gotten out of control.

Top Photo Credit: Fotonium/Shutterstock
17 downloads you shouldn't miss this week

Posted: January 21st, 2012, 12:15pm MST by Mark Wilson

This has been another busy week for software releases, so it would not be surprising if some gems had escaped your attention. This is exactly why we put together these weekly roundups, bringing you a selection of the best software from the preceding seven days. If you’re a fan of software and trying out the latest and greatest titles, you’re undoubtedly going to be interested in ensuring that you have the latest versions of all your favorite programs installed. Downloadcrew UpdateScanner 2.0.0.1 Beta is a free tool that keeps you informed about when new versions are released so you don’t have to keep checking manually, as well as bringing you special offers, the latest software news and free giveaways.

It has been a surprisingly busy week when it comes to software designed with businesses in mind. As any modern company will be all too aware, having the right tool for the job can make life so much easier, and this is particularly true when it comes to the world of work. Managing a large team of people working on a project can be difficult, but Revolver Office 9.0.0 Preview is here to help make things easier. Bringing email together with project management, employee and resource assignment and much more into a single package, this is the perfect tool for any business looking to stay ahead of the competition.

Many businesses include not only Macs and Windows based PCs, but also computers running Linux. If you are looking for a cross platform office suite that can be used by everyone, look no further than the updated, and free, LibreOffice Productivity Suite 3.4.5. In a similar vein is Lotus Symphony 3.0.1 -- again available for all three platforms – providing you with a Microsoft Office compatible suite comprising spreadsheet, word processor and presentation tool.

Whatever your line of work, or maybe even just for fun, you may well have thought about creating a website. Rather than plumping for an expensive and complicated top-of-the-range title, why not give CoffeeCup Free HTML Editor v9.7 a try? This free tool is an HTML based editor that is perfect for anyone will a little experience of web site creation, and support for HTML5 and CSS3 means that you are able to experiment with all of the latest techniques. There’s even a code-cleaner on hand to optimize your site by tidying up your HTML.

No site would be complete without images, and if you’ve tried GIMP but found the interface a little intimidating, you should take a look at GIMPshop 2.6.11. This is a beautified version of the powerful image manipulation tool that you can use free of charge. If you’re working on a site or want to share images or ideas with friends or co-workers, overcoming email attachment limits can be a pain. Share by BitTorrent (alpha) is a free personal torrent client that can be used to share files of any size quickly and easily.

As well as sharing files, the Internet is a great platform for communication, and Skype for Windows 5.7.0.137 Beta is a great way to keep in touch with other people. The latest beta brings improved video calling and Facebook support and is available for Mac and PC.

You’ve probably found that when you’re online you tend to visit the same websites again and again. To make it easier to switch between sites and programs you may be using, take a look at Pokki 0.245 Beta, which can be used to transform your favorite websites into desktop apps.

If you’re looking for entertainment online, you can download a wide range of book from Google Books. Google Books Downloader 1.6 is a free tool that enables you to convert these files into different formats so you can use them on different devices more easily. This week also saw the release of Apple iTunes 10.5.3.3 (32-bit) and Apple iTunes 10.5.3.3 (64-bit) which adds support for interactive iBooks synchronization.

O&O AutoBackup 1.0.106 (32-bit) and O&O AutoBackup 1.0.106 (64-bit) are 32- and 64-bit tools that can help you to ensure that your valuable data is kept safe at all times, while NexusFont 2.5.7 enables you to not only install and view fonts, but also keep them backed up. If security is a concern – which it is for many people -- Hardwipe 1.5.0 enables you to prevent the restoration of files you delete from your hard drive by overwriting them a number of times with random data. Another form of protection is provided by this week’s final title, Real Temp 3.70, which enables you to monitor the temperature of your processor so you will know if you have taken overclocking too far.

Join us again the same time next week for another roundup of the week’s releases.

Photo Credit: treasure dragon/Shutterstock
Google killing Social Graph API, Picnik, GMC Exchange backup

Posted: January 20th, 2012, 5:50pm MST by Tim Conneally

Friday afternoon, Google announced the future plans for six of its properties: Google Message Continuity (GMC), Sky Map, Needlebase, Picnik, Social Graph API, and Urchin. The company has determined that each of these products is either redundant, underperforming, or incongruent with Google's overall experience.

Like the retirement of Google Labs six months ago, some of these projects will be merged with others, some will be open sourced, and some will simply be wound down for good.

Sky Map - Sky Map was released for Android in May 2009 after a handful of Google employees built it in their "20 percent time." The unique augmented reality star map has been open sourced under the project name Stardroid, and is available for astronomy enthusiasts to tinker with right now. Google's Sky Map engineers are also collaborating with Carnegie Mellon University, and its development will now be driven by the students.

Picnik - Google bought Picnik from Yahoo in March 2010, and it will be retired on April 19, 2012. Anyone who subscribed to Picnik's premium tier will get a full refund, and from now until the product is shut down, premium services are free for all.

Social Graph API - This product could index the public Web using XHTML Friends Network (XFN), Friend of a Friend (FOAF) markup, and other publicly declared connections to trace connections between public sites. Google's VP of Product Management Dave Girouard says it "isn’t experiencing the kind of adoption we’d like," so it is being deprecated today and shut down for good on April 20, 2012.

Urchin - Google bought Urchin software seven years ago and by one year later it had turned into Google Analytics. "The Urchin Software product has now been completely overshadowed by its tremendously popular offspring," Paul Muret, Director of Engineering on the Google Analytics team said on Friday. "So it is time that we now complete the cycle by officially retiring the Urchin Software product and focus exclusively on online analytics."

Needlebase - When Google acquired Massachusetts-based airline software company ITA last April, it took on the still brand new Needlebase project for data acquisition, integration, and publishing. Needlebase today said, "We've been hard at work planning how to best integrate Needlebase's technology with Google's portfolio, which includes structured-data initiatives like Fusion Tables, Google Refine, Public Data Explorer, and Freebase. As we focus on our next steps, needlebase.com will be retired on June 1."

Google Message Continuity (GMC) - This product was for enterprise customers using Google's services as a cloud email backup to on-premise Microsoft Exchange deployments. Google is canceling this service and concentrating solely on Google Apps. "In the time since we launched, we've seen hundreds of businesses sign up for it," Girouard said on Friday. "By comparison, in that same time, we've seen millions of businesses move entirely to the cloud with Google Apps, benefitting from disaster recovery capabilities built directly into Apps." Google will continue to support the service until the end of all of its customers' contracts.
'We need an app store for root apps'

Posted: January 20th, 2012, 5:00pm MST by Ed Oswald

An Android developer is looking to provide a home for apps that are otherwise verboten on the Android Market. Independent software engineer Koushik Dutta is in the final stages of developing such an app repository, recent posts on Google+ indicate. He first detailed his plans earlier this month.

Dutta is one of the developers behind CyanogenMod, replacement firmware for Android devices based on the Gingerbread OS. Over one million Android users have already downloaded his firmware with about 8,000 new installs every day. Obviously he has a vested interest in these types of apps, and having an integrated app store will help attract consumers considering rooting their devices. The question now is: does Android need an app store for rooted apps?

The Apps Google bans are Legal

"We need an app store for root apps", Dutta says in a past post. "We also need an app store for apps that are getting shut down for no good reason, other than carrier, or some random corporation doesn't like it". While the apps he believes will fit in with his plans may not necessarily be "banned" in a sense, the subject matter may be unpalatable to carrier and manufacturer partners.

Rooting apps are frowned upon by Google as they may open up functionality within Android that carriers may have locked out, and the same goes for tethering and visual voicemail apps. Emulator apps have also been given the boot for copyright infringement claims by gaming manufactuers. But Dutta says that these apps need a home.

"These are all completely legal", he argues. "Nintendo emulators are fine, ROMs are NOT, there is a distinction".

CyanogenMod users hailed Dutta's work. "I'd love this and I'm sure so would many other users, Android should be open, apps should be available to all android users, carries should not be able to remove apps for no reason", commenter Aaron Reider opined. Others were more cautious. "I support the idea, so long as it's well executed", Burkan Mustafa added. "I'm just worried about it becoming a breeding-ground for malicious apps".

A Security Issue in the Making?

Mustafa will not need to worry as Dutta and the team are adding additional levels to prevent this from occurring. "We are adding more security to Superuser, and apps that use Superuser permissions need to have developers whitelisted/approved by us", Dutta tells BetaNews.

For those not familiar with Android and rooting, the Superuser is essentially the same as the Administrator on a desktop computer OS. When a user gains this access -- to the root of the phone's OS -- they are given access to all features available to the operating system. Dutta's comments suggest that any application needing such access will be vetted first. While the Cyanogen App Store will certainly give more freedom to developers, it by no means will become a free-for-all.

Of course just like jailbreaking and unlocking an iPhone, the user understands they're on their own if anything goes wrong. Buyer beware as they say.

Google did not respond to requests for comment as of press time. Its Android Market Developer Distribution Agreement does seem to suggest however that it is the carriers that are calling the shots. Among the apps prohibited are those "that interfere with, disrupt, damage, or access in an unauthorized manner the devices, servers, networks, or other properties or services of any third party including, but not limited to, Android users, Google or any mobile network operator".
'We just got Samsunged'

Posted: January 20th, 2012, 12:45pm MST by Joe Wilcox

Since buying Galaxy Nexus last month, I haven't paid as much attention to Samsung's stunningly clever "The Next Big Thing is Already Here" advertising campaign that slaps around the iPhone hipster set. There's a new TV commercial that begins with a group of iPhone want-to-haves camped out, literally, by an Apple Store.

"Ah that looks like last year's phone" is the killer line, says a guy rising from his sleeping bag to look at an unboxing video of, presumably, iPhone 4S. Samsung snark already has soured perceptions of iPhone and boosted those of Samsung brands, according to YouGov BrandIndex. The attack ads, which never specifically mention iPhone, marks one of the most iconic marketing campaigns since Apple's "Get a Mac".

The evocative moment: When the Apple hipster rises from his sleeping bag, looks up at another guy holding Samsung Galaxy S II and grabs the bars of the street barrier. The subliminal message: Prison bars. He's imprisoned by his iPhone obsession, while the S2 owner is a free man.

It's helluva entertaining marketing campaign, and I wish most movies were edited as well or communicated so much story (in so little time) as do these TV spots.

Not that iPhone is hurting for sales. As measured in smartphone operating systems among new US purchasers, Android plummeted from 61.6 percent share in October to 46.9 percent in December, according to Nielsen. Meanwhile, iPhone rose from 25.1 percent share to 44.5 percent. Earlier in the week I asserted that broadened distribution, such as offering low-cost iPhone 4 and 3GS for free, as major factors driving iPhone's sales surge. According to Nielsen, these older handsets accounted 43 percent share among new purchasers.

Another reason I've resisted raising, because of the over-sensitivity of the Apple mob crowd: Steve Jobs' death, which brought lots of attention to Apple just as iPhone 4S launched. If there is an afterglow from the publicity, it will show up within just a few months as the sales surge resides.

For now, Samsung should keep the TV commercials coming. Whatever their sales value might or might not be, the ads are priceless cultural commentaries about stereotypical Apple hipsters.
Don't look now, but 5G may be right around the corner

Posted: January 20th, 2012, 11:24am MST by Ed Oswald

Even with a majority of wireless consumers not even using 4G technology yet, the wireless industry is already looking to next-generation technologies. The International Telecommunications Union this week awarded both LTE-Advanced and WiMAX-Advanced the "official" designation of IMT-Advanced.

The last major update to the standard was in 2000, when the ITU adopted the umbrella standards for 3G. In order to be designated 3G, a service had to provide peak data rates of at least 200Kbps. With IMT-Advanced speeds increase at least one hundred times, says the governing body.

"IMT-Advanced marks a huge leap forward in state-of-the-art technologies, which will make the present day smart phone feel like an old dial up Internet connection", Secretary-General Hamadoun Touré says. "Access to the Internet, streaming videos and data transfers anytime, anywhere will be better than most desktop connections today".

In order to win the designation, at a minimum it must deliver speeds of 100Kbps at high rates of speed. In a fixed position, the network should be able to support speeds of 1Gbps. IMT-Advanced also calls for more efficient use of spectrum, absolutely necessary in these times where data usage is increasing faster than the carriers can supply additional bandwidth.

What remains to be seen is whether or not the ITU refers to this as "5G". Under its current specifications, HSPA and LTE are still technically considered 3G standards. However, since December of last year the ITU has considered them 4G given they provide "a substantial level of improvement in performance and capabilities with respect to the initial third generation systems now deployed".

Whatever it's called, one thing is for sure: it's going to be pretty damn fast.

Photo Credit: cartoon11/Shutterstock
Now you can get GIMP's power with Photoshop's look and feel

Posted: January 20th, 2012, 9:52am MST by Nick Peers

You’re after a free image editor. You want a powerful one, something that gets compared favorably to the likes of Photoshop. You find Paint.NET and PixBuilder Studio intriguing, but just that little bit lacking. Ultimately, though, when you ask about a powerful, free image editor, you’re going to be pointed towards GIMP.

And that’s where the trouble begins, because while GIMP is undoubtedly the most powerful free image-editing tool there is, it’s also one that puts newcomers off because of its multi-paned floating user interface. But what if you could marry the interface of Photoshop with the power (and free price tag) of GIMP? The good news is, you can, thanks to an open-source, cross-platform program called GIMPshop.

GIMPshop, as its name implies, is built on the open-source code behind GIMP. What the authors have cleverly done is apply some design tweaks to the user interface to give it a more familiar feel to other image editors out there, in particular Photoshop.

This has been achieved in three different ways: first, GIMPshop alters GIMP’s menu structure to closely resemble Photoshop’s. Second, it’s substituted various terminology with that used by Adobe’s flagship product. And finally, it utilises a plug-in called “Deweirdifier” to combine GIMP’s many floating windows into just three: the Toolbox on the left, main window in the middle and all other key windows -- brushes, layers and so on – merged into one pane on the right.

The end result is that you get to enjoy GIMP’s raw power wrapped up in an interface that will feel familiar if you’ve ever used Photoshop or the myriad of other image-editing tools that have been inspired by its design.

There’s just one hurdle you need to jump if you’re a Windows user: unlike the Mac and Linux builds, the Windows version of GIMPshop is distributed via the InstallIQ wrapper. This rather annoying tool will try to persuade you to install up to five other apps alongside GIMPshop -- once you’ve clicked the first Accept button to install GIMPshop, just keep clicking Decline until InstallIQ gets the hint and lets you install the app you came for in the first place.

GIMPshop is a free, open-source download for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux.
What is this mysterious site doing scanning mine?

Posted: January 20th, 2012, 9:10am MST by Chris Boss

For you Sherlock Holmes types out there, how would you like a case to crack?

As a software developer I have my own website, and l regularly track my web traffic. I check my web site stats daily. I do analysis of that data to glean everything I possibly can about those who visit my site. So to my surprise, one day recently while checking my web stats I was shocked to see the day's traffic shoot through the roof!

Either a lot of people were all of a sudden interested in my website or something was afoot (as Sherlock would say). The latter it was, pointing to one particular source that has me asking: Who is elusive swebot.net? I had to block the IP address associated with swebot.net, which was scanning my website like something out of a science fiction novel, apparently looking for all life signs. It scanned an online forum (an old tech support forum I left simply as an archive) of mine on the site and it was actually doing searches in the forum sending CGI requests for posts of any user names it found. As Sherlock would likely say, "something is definitely afoot".

When you go to this website, it tells you that it is a: "Search Web Engine" and "experimental search bot".

The swebot.net domain was registered on December 24, 2011 -- not even a month ago.

That's enough to make anyone nervous!

So for you Sherlock Holmes types out there, what can you dig up about this elusive website?

Photo Credit: rayuken/Shutterstock

Chris Boss is an advanced Windows API programmer and developer of 10 year-old EZGUI, which is now version 5. He owns The Computer Workshop, which opened for businesses in the late 1980s. He originally developed custom software for local businesses. Now he develops programming tools for use with the PowerBasic compiler.
Revolver Office: Small business project management

Posted: January 20th, 2012, 8:30am MST by Mark Wilson

Managing any sort of business takes times, effort and dedication. In order to ensure that things run as smoothly as possible, whatever your line of work, it is important that you turn to the right tools to help you to keep on top of things. Revolver Office is a powerful project management suite that includes everything you need to keep track of jobs, employees, clients, and everything else that it is involved in the day to day management of your business. The latest preview version includes a raft of powerful features that place you firmly in control of your empire, but more importantly it enables people to work together.

Revolver Office is such a varied and all-encompassing tool that its list of features is a lengthy one. Available for both Mac and Windows, the software allows for very easy collaboration on a project and ensures that everyone involved has access to the tools and information they need. For some projects the built-in address book can be used to store details of every one working on the project as well as the contact information for contractors and suppliers. A team calendar is available so you can easily check to see when everyone is free for a meeting and you can ensure that no one employee is being given too heavy a workload.

The advanced project manager allows for easy resource management and allocation, and you can use the software to keep track of not only your progress through a particular job, but also monitor costs, track employee working hours, manage invoices and generate reports. Centralized email makes it easy for a team to collaborate on a project, and you should find that Revolver Office can be customized to suit all manner of businesses.

Pricing is structured so the price you see is the overall cost -- this is not a per user cost, it is the cost of your monthly plan. Prices range from $19 per month for a single user license version of the software, all the way up to $199 per month for a version that allow for up to twenty users at any one time and comes complete with personal support whenever it is needed.

You can find out more and download a free copy of the app by paying a visit to the Revolver Office review page.

Photo Credit: STILLFX/Shutterstock
Investors punish Google for weak ad revenues

Posted: January 20th, 2012, 8:17am MST by Joe Wilcox

Google shares took a beating overnight, following fourth-quarter's earnings report. The information and search giant was down 7.7 percent in pre-market trading -- $49.25 to $590.32. Still, that's an improvement. Yesterday, Google closed at $639.57, and shares fell more than 10 percent during after-market trading. Google opened at $590.90 this morning and fell to $588.03 within the first 30 minutes of trading -- that's $51.54 off yesterday's close. By 10:17 am ET, Google shares closed on their pre-market decrease -- 7.78 percent, or down $49.77 per share.

Google's problem is one more of expectation than performance. Wall Street expected strong ad revenues for the holiday quarter, particularly with increase in online sales and therefore supporting search-related advertising. But ad prices fell instead, overshadowing other metrics. While paid clicks rose 34 percent, the amount paid for them fell by 8 percent, contributing to Google missing Wall Street consensus -- that despite solid revenue and earnings growth.

During fourth quarter, Google revenue rose 25 percent year over year, to $10.58 billion, while net income climbed 6 percent to $2.71 billion, or $8.22 share. Net revenue, meaning without network acquisition costs, was $8.13 billion and adjusted, non-GAAP earnings $9.50 a share. However, Wall Street expected more, with net revenue consensus $8.41 billion and non-GAAP earnings of $10.49 per share. Google delivered good growth, just not as much as analysts anticipated.

Fifty-three percent of Google revenue comes from international markets, where the debt crisis in Europe greatly contributed to ad rates -- that and search technology changes, which boosted clicks but not amount paid for them.

Fourth quarter was a rare miss for Google.
Mr. University President, please don't adopt Apple's iBooks 2 platform

Posted: January 19th, 2012, 6:53pm MST by Ryan Tyler

I'm a second year doctoral student, and I've got some concern about something I heard today that I want to share with any forward-thinking university president, but also with you.

Many schools will be looking at a new e-textbook platform from Apple that will have long-lasting impact on curriculum, students, teaching and cost of education.

Dear President Jones:

Hi, I’m one of your Doctorate in Education students. I have a concern I would like to share with you.

As you well know, this year my tuition went up- again. I’ve seen all your emails explaining this situation -- that these are tough times with steep cuts in state funding due to a loss in tax revenue. I’m sure you know that, according to the Center for College Affordability and Productivity, college tuition went up 757 percent from 1980-2009. For perspective, healthcare costs during this same timeframe went up 401 percent. I think you know tuition is a real problem and truly do want to deliver us the highest quality education at an affordable price.

This is why I’m imploring you not to adopt Apple’s iBooks 2 platform for this university.

Today, Apple announced new iBooks 2 software that will make it so a student like myself can buy all his textbooks as interactive ebooks. Among other things, Apple says they’re going to fix the problem of ridiculously high textbook prices by offering books from publishers like McGraw Hill that would normally cost $75 for only $15 through iBooks 2. Additionally, they announced a way for my professors to easily publish their own textbooks and post them right onto Apple’s iBooks platform. They also released an app so that iTunes U can now become an easy way to do online learning, with iBooks integrated right in with audio and video.

This all sounds great until you consider one thing: it all requires an iPad.

Apple is like that kid in grade school that doesn’t like to play nice with anyone else. He only lets you play with his toys as long as you play by his rules. That’s kind of what iBooks 2 is. You can take advantage of all these new tools only if you play by Apple’s rules, and those rules entail using an iPad.

I know that doesn't seem like a crazy proposition. Apple’s business model is based on its hardware sales, after all. This is why Apple has no intention of making iBooks 2 accessible on competitor devices, like other companies that sell ebooks do. So while I can read a Kindle textbook on my Android phone, Macbook Pro and Kindle Fire effortlessly, I can only read an iBook 2 textbook on an iPad or other Apple product. That stinks! (How cool iBooks 2 would be if it ran on the same HTML5 open standards that Steve Jobs touted in his condemnation of Flash!)

I know your time is tight so let me get to my point. If you switch our school over to using iBooks 2, you are just taking the premium that the textbook publishers were charging us and putting it right back into Apple’s pocket in the form of the premium that I will now be charged for having to buy an iPad.

Let’s say that you decide the university, rather than me, covers the costs of the iPad. Sounds good but, as you know, nothing is truly free in this world. That $500 you’re paying per iPad (at a minimum) is coming out of some budget, and budget holes are almost always covered by increasing my tuition or asking taxpayers for more money (usually both!). You also know that auxiliary services, like new football stadiums, fancy new rec centers and, yes, cool yet pricey gadgets like iPads attract new students but also drive up costs. So even if the university issues me an iPad to access my iBook 2 materials, I’m still paying for it, albeit indirectly.

A more practical, cost-effective approach for required digital media would use a software that is device agnostic. That means that instead of telling me what kind of computing device to buy, you’re giving me the choice to pick my own. Everyone has different personal preferences and financial realities to deal with, after all. The beautiful thing about a competitive marketplace is that there are lots of options and price points for consumers to choose from, from $200 netbooks to $2,000 MacBook Pros. Personally, I’ve been buying my e-textbooks from Amazon for awhile now and love that, no matter what kind of device I’m on, I know I can always access all my books, notes and highlight. If you went with iBooks 2, I would only be able to get my materials on Apple products. That sucks!

If you want to use tablets, then Android is a good device agnostic platform to consider. Unlike Apple’s iOS that runs on the iPad, Android runs on lots of different tablets. This device competition is pressuring prices down in the Android tablet market. For instance, my Kindle Fire only cost me $200. Also, I saw today that Lenovo actually is selling their 7 inch tablet for $167! As a student, money is always tight, so I really like having the option to save money. And, though Apple pundits in the tech media might have you believe differently, Android tablets work just fine for schoolwork. I have been using my Fire to help with my dissertation research and it has proven to be a great tool.

Finally, if you’re really interested in letting our professors publish ebooks, I would recommend encouraging them to do so under the Open Textbooks philosophy as exemplified by collegeopentextbooks.org. These guys think that knowledge should be free, open and accessible to all. If you really want to save us money, this is a better option than a proprietary platform with a hardware lock-in like Apple’s.

So, once again I’m pleading that you not to adopt iBooks 2 for our university. It sounds good when coming from the Apple PR machine, but really will just hurt us students in the long run by driving up costs and locking our content up into Apple’s proprietary ecosystem.

I think iPads are great devices. I’ve seen you walking around campus with yours. Many of my professors have iPads and I know they love them. In fact, higher ed seems like it is in love with the iPad!

But you loving your iPad shouldn't affect my future. I’m going to graduate with lots of debt, debt incurred from the ever-increasing tuition I pay. If you’re going to charge me more to attend this institution as well as ask taxpayers for increased support, then I think you owe it to both of us to make sure you are spending our money wisely. Locking us in to a proprietary ecosystem in which there is only one hardware option -- the iPad forever -- doesn’t seem like the best way to do this.

You see, President Jones, with iBooks 2 Apple isn’t trying to sell you innovation, they’re just trying to sell you iPads.

Sincerely,
Ryan Tyler

Photo Credit: hxdbzxy/Shutterstock

Ryan Tyler is a free-lance writer and educator living in Portland, Or. He has worked in the entertainment industry as well as K-12 and higher education. His interests include education reform, distance education and using technology to make the world a better place. Of course, he’s also a tech geek.
Anonymous launches SOPA strike, takes down Justice Dept.

Posted: January 19th, 2012, 5:10pm MST by Joe Wilcox

"The Site is under maintenance. Please expect it to be back shortly". That's the message I found at Universal Music moments ago. The US Justice Department site isn't accessible at all. You can thank hacktavist group Anonymous, which claims responsibility for these and other SOPA blackouts today in response to the Feds shutting down Megaupload.

There's a certain irony to this evening's attacks. Yesterday, tens of thousands of sites supported a voluntary blackout protesting two bills snaking through Congress -- Stop Online Piracy (SOPA) and PIPA (PROTECT IP Act). Anonymous' attacks, presumably denial-of-service, blacked out sites that either support the legislation or would be responsible for enforcing it. We've gone from voluntary blackout protests yesterday to involuntary ones today. As I write, Recording Industry Association of America is down, too.

About two hours ago the Anonymous @YourAnonNews account tweeted: "Megaupload was taken down w/out SOPA being law. Now imagine what will happen if it passes. The Internet as we know it will end. FIGHT BACK"; after tweeting: "The government takes down #Megaupload? 15 minutes later #Anonymous takes down government & record label sites. #ExpectUs".

Earlier, the Justice Department accused Megaupload.com of a conspiracy to traffic pirated movies, music, television programs, ebooks, and software -- for the last five years on massive, global scale and causing damages exceeding $500 million to copyright holders.

The Feds couldn't have struck at a worse time, considering the negative response to SOPA and PIPA. Either bill would give the government broad powers to take down websites, seize domains and compel search engines from indexing these properties. Little more than a request from copyright holders is necessary. It's essentially guilty-until-proven-innocent legislation that would punish the many for the sins of the few, while disrupting the fundamental attributes that made the Internet so successful and empowered so many individuals or businesses to accomplish so much. (Review the bills: PIPA. SOPA.)

Wired UK's "SOPA 101" guide is one of the best primers posted in recent days, if those bills are too long (and wordy) for you. Google offers excellent recap, too. Appropriate for today's blackouts is yet another primer of links from the @YourAnonNews Tumblr.

@YourAnonNews tweeted around 7:20 pm ET: "You cannot censor the internet. You cannot subpoena a hashtag. You cannot arrest an idea. You CAN expect us #OpMegaupload".

Anonymous' assault continues as I write updates to the post. Warner Music is now down (7:35 pm ET).

About two hours ago, Anonymous tweeted: "Let's just say, for #SOPA supporters their #SOPAblackout is today. #Anonymous".

The group claims to have taken out other sites, including the US Copyright Office and Motion Pictures Association of America. But the sites are loading fine for me, which doesn't mean they weren't down earlier.
Quick Look: iBooks Author

Posted: January 19th, 2012, 3:38pm MST by Mark Wilson

Apple’s iPad has fairly quickly become a great tool for the workplace and in education and the company’s latest bid to revolutionize the market is with ebooks. Ebooks themselves are nothing new, but the existence of touchscreen devices such as the iPad means that the opportunities available to readers through interactive multimedia book are now greater than ever. iBooks Author is a free Mac app that can be used by anyone to create iPad friendly ebooks that can include a variety of widgets such as photo galleries, videos, KeyNote presentations, 3D objects and more.

This is more than just an ebook creation tool for Mac, it is a complete solution that enables you to work through the entire process from initial concept to design and layout before ultimately publishing and making available online. To help get you started, there are a number of different templates to choose from and then it is just a matter of dropping material in place and performing any customizations you want.

You can start by replacing the dummy text that each template contains and you can then set about the task of adding more content such as image, tables, charts and widgets. It is widgets that really open up the potential of books created in iBooks Author as they make it possible to include a wide range of interactive elements in your publications -- everything from videos and animations to photo galleries and more.

The ability to add voiceovers means that you can cater for the visually impaired while all readers can benefit from an immersive multimedia ebook experience.

The books that are created can either be given away free of charge, or they can be sold through the iBookstore. In either case publications need to be vetted by Apple before they can be made available through the book store and you need to be aware that anything made available through iBooks cannot be made available elsewhere.

Whether used for vanity publishing, producing material that will be of benefit to students or creating reports and other documents, iBooks Launcher makes it easier than ever to not only create some truly impressive pieces of work, but also to present them to as large an audience as possible.

You can find out more and download a free copy of the app by paying a visit to the iBooks Author review page.
Microsoft Q2 2012 by the numbers: Windows revenue falls 6%

Posted: January 19th, 2012, 2:15pm MST by Joe Wilcox
Late this afternoon, Microsoft answered a question oft-asked by investors this month: What about Windows? Near the end of his Consumer Electronics Show keynote last week, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer boomed: "There's nothing more important at Microsoft than Windows". But at the same event, Tami Reller, Windows & Windows Live CFO, warned that the division's fourth-quarter results could fall below analysts' estimates, because of weak PC sales. Today's fiscal second quarter 2012 earnings results answered by just how much.

For Q2, ended December 31, Microsoft revenue was $20.89 billion, up 5 percent year over year. Operating income: $7.99 billion, a 2 percent decrease. Net income was $6.62 billion, or 78 cents a share. Both were flat year over year.

Average analyst consensus was $20.93 billion revenue and 76 cents earnings per share, for the quarter. Revenue estimates ranged from $20.20 billion to $21.35 billion, with estimated year-over-year growth of 4.9 percent -- modest for a holiday quarter.

"We delivered solid financial results, even as we prepare for a launch year that will accelerate many of our key products and services", Ballmer contends. "Coming out of the Consumer Electronics Show, we’re seeing very positive reviews for our new phones and PCs, and a strong response to our new Metro style design that will unify consumer experiences across our phones, PCs, tablets and television in 2012".

Microsoft's PC Problem

Because Windows is so important to Microsoft -- it's not just Ballmer boasting -- slowing PC sales's effects reach far beyond the operating system. But nowhere are they more apparent than the Windows & Windows Live division, which dragged down Microsoft operating and net profits. The division's revenue fell 6 percent year over year.

Last week, Gartner and IDC released preliminary calendar fourth-quarter and all-2011 PC shipments; growth was tepid globally and retracted in the United States. IDC called 2011 the "second worst year in history" for US PC shipments - with 2001 claiming the unwanted crown. Despite a global, temporary hard drive shortage, Gartner and IDC say the declines they observed -- 1.4 percent and 0.2 percent globally, respectively -- were in line with their forecasts. US declines were substantially greater, 5.9 percent by Gartner's reckoning and 6.71 percent by IDC's.

Besides the hard drive shortage, several troubling trends have emerged. Simply put: Consumers aren't buying Windows PCs like they used to. Their spending goes to other stuff, with tablets -- and that really means iPad -- ripping away sales. We just finished the holiday quarter, one of the two seasons of typically strong sales (back to school is the other). "Continuously low consumer PC demand resulted in weak holiday PC shipments", Mikako Kitagawa, Gartner principal analyst, says.

This consumer infection -- infatuation with iPad, some other tablets and smartphones -- is spreading. According to an IDG Connect study released this week, IT and business professionals are rapidly adopting iPads as partial or complement laptop replacements; remember these people make technology purchase decisions for entire corporations -- Microsoft's core market. Sixteen percent have replaced their laptop with an iPad and 54 percent supplement it. The data suggests that iPads are significantly starting to cannibalize PC sales -- and not just among consumers -- and it's consistent with recent global PC buying trends.

Earth to Windows & Windows Live president Steven Sinofksy: You can't ship Windows 8 soon enough. The new operating system, which runs on ARM as well as x86 processors, is optimized for tablets as well as PCs. Microsoft can fill an important niche in the PC sales-cannibalizing tablet marketing -- offer a truly desktop operating system that runs the same applications and supports enterprise services as those on PCs. Windows 8 public beta is currently slated to be available late next month, which, based on previous versions, puts public availability around October.

Q2 2012 Revenue by Division
- Windows & Windows Live: $4.74 billion, down 6 percent from $5.06 billion a year earlier.
- Server & Tools: $4.77 billion, up 11 percent from $4.29 billion a year earlier.
- Business: $6.28 billion, up 3 percent from $6.11 billion a year earlier.
- Online Services Business: $784 million, up 10 percent from $713 million a year earlier.
- Entertainment & Devices: $4.24 billion, up 15 percent from $3.7 billion a year earlier.
Q2 2012 Income by Division
- Windows & Windows Live: $2.85 billion, down 11 percent from $3.21 billion a year earlier.
- Server & Tools: $1.97 billion, up 17 percent from $1.7 billion a year earlier.
- Business: $4.15 billion, up 2 percent from $4.09 billion a year earlier.
- Online Services Business: Loss of $458 million, up 18 percent from $559 million loss a year earlier.
- Entertainment & Devices: $528 million, down 21 percent from $666 million a year earlier.
Division Highlights

Microsoft reports revenue and earnings results for five divisons: Windows & Windows Live, Server & Tools, Business, Online Services and Entertainment & Devices.

Windows & Windows Live. Weaker than-expected PC demand hurt the division during fiscal second quarter. Revenue fell 6 percent year over year, which is simply stunning during the holiday quarter. Worse: Operating income declined by 11 percent.

Microsoft estimates that global PC sales fell between 2 percent and 4 percent, greatly contributing to Windows revenue decline. Consumer PC sales fell by 6 percent, while those to businesses actually rose -- by 2 percent. Netbooks fell 2 percent.

OEM revenue fell by 7 percent, which reflects weakness in PC shipments identified by Gartner and IDC. Three-quarters of Windows divisional revenues comes from OEM sales.

To date, Microsoft has sold 525 million Windows 7 licenses. One-third of enterprise desktops run Windows 7, the company claims.

Server & Tools. Revenue rose 11 percent year over year and operating income by 17 percent. The division is insulated against economic maladies, because about 50 percent of revenues come from contractual volume-licensing agreements.

"Product revenue increased $328 million or 10%, driven primarily by growth in SQL Server, Windows Server, Enterprise CAL Suites, and System Center, reflecting continued adoption of Windows platform applications", according to the company.

Business. The division was the quarter's big overall performer (again), but grew modestly, with revenue up 3 percent and income each up 2 percent year over year. However, adjusting for the tech-revenue guarantee a year earlier, related to the Office 2010 launch, revenue grew by 7 percent. Revenue topped a whopping $6.2 billion.

Annuity licensing grew a stunning 12 percent. Lync revenue grew by 30 percent. "Microsoft Office system. Business revenue increased $420 million or 9 percent, primarily reflecting growth in multi-year volume licensing revenue, licensing of the 2010 Microsoft Office system to transactional business customers, and an 11 percent increase in Microsoft Dynamics revenue", according to the company.

Like Server & Tools, Business division is largely insulated against sluggish PC sales. Sixty percent of revenue comes from annuity licensing to businesses.

Online Services Business. Online services revenue rose by 10 percent. Search and display ads drove up online advertising revenue by 13 percent -- $81 million to $713 million. "OSD operating loss decreased due primarily to higher revenue and lower sales and marketing expenses, offset in part by increased cost of revenue", according to Microsoft's financial release. The change: 18 percent.

Entertainment & Devices. Revenue rose by 15 percent, but losses increased by 21 percent year over year. Microsoft shipped 8.2 million Xboxes during the quarter. Xbox Live subscriptions rose 33 percent to 40 million. Kinect install base: 18 million.

"Xbox 360 platform revenue grew $322 million or 9%, led by increased volumes of Xbox 360 consoles sold and higher Xbox Live revenue, offset in part by lower volumes of standalone Kinect sensors sold", according to the company.

Microsoft now reports on Skype, which has 200 million active users globally.
Feds shut down Megaupload, call it an international organized crime ring

Posted: January 19th, 2012, 2:15pm MST by Tim Conneally

As the internet pats itself on the back for protesting SOPA and changing the minds of a handful of U.S. Senators, file-sharing site Megaupload has been brought down in one of the largest copyright infringement cases of all time.

Seven individuals and two international corporations have been charged in the United States with running an international organized crime ring dealing exclusively in piracy of copyrighted material.

The U.S. Department of Justice accuses Megaupload.com of a conspiracy to traffic pirated movies, music, television programs, e-books, and software on a massive scale for the last five years, causing damages in excess of $500 million to copyright holders.

Investigation of Megaupload started with the FBI at the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center (IPR Center) and extended to include the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations.
This case is being led by the Department of Justice Task force on Intellectual Property, and being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia and the Computer Crime & Intellectual Property Section in the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.

These are the same bodies that led the seizure of 150 domains from companies selling counterfeit professional sports attire, and the prosecution of warez FTP user Michael Uszakow in early 2011.

The department alleges that Megaupload's entire business model is based on the trade of popular copyrighted works, and that it rewarded users for doing so.

The indictment says Megaupload did not terminate the accounts of users who had uploaded works of copyright infringement, and "selectively complied with their obligations to remove copyrighted materials from their servers." The department says that when Megaupload was hit with a takedown notice, it would disable only a single link to the file, but leave the infringing content available through different links.

We will update with selections from actual text of the indictment shortly.
Apple's iTunes education gamble is about building loyal consumers early

Posted: January 19th, 2012, 12:57pm MST by Ed Oswald

Two months ago, I argued here on BetaNews that despite the ever-increasing chorus of negativity surrounding Apple, its best days are ahead. One of my reasons for my belief is the young consumer, where the Cupertino company is building a considerable amount of brand equity.

Today's education-centric announcements only strengthen that argument. While there wasn't much pomp or circumstance, the significance is not the immediate announcements but what they mean for the future.

With the help of textbook publishers, high schools and universities, Apple's brand will be front and center among high school and college-aged students: these are impressionable consumers who are likely just coming into an increasing amount of disposable income.

Remember the Harris Interactive data I shared in November. The firm polled young consumers aged eight to 24. They found that Apple had strong brand equity in this key group -- in fact, it is the top brand in computers, phones and tablets among those 13 to 24. Apple beat out a long-established brand in HP, one of the biggest phone manufacturers in HTC, and dusted the floor with the Motorola XOOM.

As I said then, kids are growing up Apple. Now in high school and college, they find themselves logging onto iTunes to download their books and courses. Apple couldn't ask for anything more: it's a part of these kids' lives from childhood to adulthood.

The fact that so called "Generation Y" (born 1977-2000) eclipses the size of the "Baby Boomers" is another positive for the company. The collective buying power of Generation Y is going to be huge, much bigger than those before it, and Apple is uniquely positioning itself to ride that wave.

I know that the initial announcement involves high school students, but I don't see how this does not extend eventually to college texts. Think about it: the average college text can cost $75, $100, or more. If Apple can bring this same discounted pricing to textbooks there, it will be a massive draw for those living on ramen noodles.

Why wouldn't publishers go for it? Gone are the days of used textbooks: these cannot be bought and resold. Every student must purchase a new textbook, meaning the publisher makes money every time. Yes the initial cost is lower, but the publisher now has tighter control over the market. It will make far more money.

The iTunes U redesign is only the icing on the cake. After seemingly losing its mojo in the education market, Apple seems ready to recommit to a portion of its business that for a long time kept it afloat as it languished in the consumer space.

Love or hate the company, you have to complement them on their long-term vision. Most companies these days are focused on short term gain. Apple has the the patience to realize that the real fruits of its labors come far later. Shareholders and Apple enthusiasts alike should appreciate that.

Photo Credit: Darko Zeljkovic/Shutterstock
Prepare your Windows 7 desktop PC for Windows 8 now!

Posted: January 19th, 2012, 12:30pm MST by Chris Boss

The new Metro user interface will make Windows 8 a totally different experience for XP, Vista and 7 users, but it will especially challenge those of us who use a desktop PC. Why? Because we are accustomed to mouse input and Windows 8 emphasizes touch. Metro is much better suited to touch than the mouse.

So how can desktop users today, prepare themselves for when they later upgrade to Windows 8? I'll tell you.

If You Are Running Windows 7, Likely Your Computer Will Run Windows 8

From everything we have heard so far, it appears that if your computer currently has Windows 7, then it should be able to run Windows 8 without a problem. Having worked with the Windows 8 Preview Build a bit, this much I can tell you: One key component of your system will be critical and that is your hard drive.

When I installed Windows 8 to one of my desktops that was running Windows Vista, I didn't want to disturb my current operating system, so I decided to simply disconnect my hard-drive (a SATA drive) and installed another drive into a removable drive bay for Windows 8. I only had a spare IDE drive so I used it, which would be slower than the original SATA drive in my computer. The rest of the system was fine, since I had recently upgraded the CPU to a decent Pentium D dual core and the RAM to 2 gig (most Windows 7 PC's should have plenty of memory and a decent CPU for Windows 8).

My setup for Windows 8 was actually quite interesting. Because the hard drive was in a removable bay, I could easily hear when it was running. I didn't have to look at an LED to see if it was being accessed, I could hear it. Second, because I only had an older and slower IDE drive it was more apparent when the drive was being accessed. The drive had to work a little harder than a newer SATA drive would, and this showed.

Windows 8 appears to really work the hard drive. Even when the computer was doing nothing (no apps running) and the Metro screen (menu) was visible the hard-drive runs a great deal, more than I would have expected. While I can't say for sure, it is my impression, so if your computer is older (before Windows 7) and you upgraded to Windows 7, you may want to consider making sure you have a more current and fast hard drive installed before upgrading to Windows 8. If your computer came with Windows 7, likely the hard-drive should be sufficient. The fact that your computer is running Windows 7 (even if you upgraded to it), likely it should have enough memory, a decent CPU and Graphics card/GPU which should be sufficient for Windows 8.

What Your Desktop Is Likely Missing -- Touch!

What else do you need to prepare for later upgrading to Windows 8? This much I can tell you. Touch will be vital to get the full benefit and experience from Windows 8, and you can get a head start on this right now. How?

The prices for multi-touch enabled monitors are getting low enough that you may be able to afford to get one now -- and they work great with Windows 7. As a programmer I can tell you that Windows 7 already supports the key elements of touch that Windows 8 does. The difference is that most software is not currently designed for touch, while the Windows 7 operating system actually is. Most future Windows 8 software likely will be touch ready.

Even though much of the software you are currently using isn't touch-enabled, it is actually beneficial to start getting used to touch now. Why? Because likely with Windows 8 you may still use legacy software with it, so you will be more prepared for the experience later. Additionally, there is actually some software already available now for Windows 7 that is touch-enabled, so you can start getting a real feel for working with touch today.

Once you install a touch-enabled monitor with Windows 7, I recommend going to Microsoft's website and downloading the free Touch Pack for Windows 7. This free touch-enabled kit contains six touch ready applications. The two most interesting and useful of these are Microsoft Surface Globe and Microsoft Surface Collage. My wife really enjoys working with the Collage programming using touch.

What It's Like To Have A Touch-Enabled Monitor With Windows 7.

I recently purchased a very nice 22 inch multitouch monitor for my wife's Windows 7 PC -- she loves it, and so do I. Even with Windows 7, it is enjoyable and useful. I actually found a great deal for a Planar PX2230MW multitouch at Newegg.com for only $249 and free shipping (retails for $399). Newegg doesn't have the monitor anymore for that price, but I just checked Tigerdirect.com and they sell it for $269.

When it comes to a desktop, size really matters for a touch-enabled monitor, especially when working with software that was not designed for touch. The complaints you may hear about using such software on the current generation of Windows tablet PCs (difficult to be accurate when touching small UI elements on the screen) is not as big a problem when you have a good size touch monitor. I wouldn't go less than the 22-inch size I chose, for a desktop computer.

The point: Now is the time to start looking for deals on multitouch-enabled monitors for your Windows 7 desktop. When you later upgrade to Windows 8 likely the experience will be much more enjoyable and productive. Remember, the public beta is expected in February.

Chris Boss is an advanced Windows API programmer and developer of 10 year-old EZGUI, which is now version 5. He owns The Computer Workshop, which opened for businesses in the late 1980s. He originally developed custom software for local businesses. Now he develops programming tools for use with the PowerBasic compiler.
Our gift to you: Acronis True Image 2010 Personal free

Posted: January 19th, 2012, 11:27am MST by Nick Peers

Everyone needs some form of backup, but while successive versions of the Windows Backup Tool have undoubtedly got better, they’re still not quite as intuitive or as comprehensive as we’d like them to be.

If you want maximum protection for your files, settings and even Windows itself, you need a good third-party tool. A tool like Acronis True Image 2010 Personal, worth $19.95, which will be available exclusively to US and Canadian residents to download for free from the Downloadcrew Giveaway site this Friday (January 20).

Acronis True Image 2010 Personal has all the key functionality you need to get your computer protected. There’s a File Backup Wizard that quickly and effortlessly guides you through the backup process -- choose which folders to include, pick a backup destination (internal, external or network hard drive) and tweak the scheduler to ensure your backups are updated on a specific day of the week. Hey presto, job done -- not just now, but going forward too.

You can also backup entire partitions too, allowing you to take a fail-safe backup of your Windows partition while it’s in good working order. Now if you run into problems in the future you can roll your system back without having to reinstall Windows from scratch and all the palaver that entails.

There’s also an online backup option, but you’ll need to pay Acronis for a subscription to its cloud-based service to use it -- however, any locally stored backups are completely free, and sufficient for most people’s needs.

Simple, Fuss-free Restoration

It’s all very well backing up regularly, but what do you do should disaster strike? True Image 2010 Personal allows you to restore entire backups or choose exactly what to restore from a set of backups (or backed up image of a partition). Should you need to, you can restore from within Windows, using the Startup Recovery Manager that’s accessible from bootup or create an emergency disc so you can restore backups even when your original hard drive has been completely trashed.

You’ll also find some useful bonus tools – a file shredder for securely deleting sensitive files, for example, plus a SSD Trim tool as well.

How to get It

This offer will be open to US and Canadian residents only, and will be available from 18:00 (Eastern Standard Time) on Thursday January 19^th to 23.59 on Friday January 20^th. You’ll need to visit the Downloadcrew Giveaway site between those times to be eligible to download and register your free copy of Acronis True Image 2010 Personal. You’ll also need a free Downloadcrew account -- either log in with your existing account details or register for a new, free account to access the giveaway.

Once installed, you’ll need to activate True Image 2010 Personal before you can use it. Simply follow the instructions on the Downloadcrew Giveaway page, once the promotion is live.

One day you might thank your lucky stars that you did...

Photo Credit: Modella/Shutterstock
Get more from flash drives with AppCompactor

Posted: January 19th, 2012, 10:01am MST by Mike Williams

Building your own portable working environment on a USB flash drive is undoubtedly convenient. Equip it with your favorite productivity software, browser, email client, graphics tools and games and it’ll always be ready for use on any nearby PC.

One issue you’ll notice straight away, though, is performance. The USB interface may be fast, but flash drive read and write speeds really aren’t, and even small applications can take quite a while to launch.

You can of course try to buy extra performance by shopping specifically for USB drives with the fastest possible read/write speeds. But a free alternative may be to compress your application executable files with AppCompactor. You can cut their size by up to 50 percent, which could make a real difference to launch time. And although the program must automatically decompress itself whenever it’s launched, this is a relatively fast process so you could still see major performance benefits.

While this sounds like it’s going to be a very technical process, AppCompactor is actually surprisingly easy to use: just point the program at your portable app’s folder, choose a compression method and click “Go”. A moment later you’ll get a report on the space saved, if any, and can test the application yourself to see if you notice any difference.

One difference you may notice is that your portable app doesn’t work any more; AppCompactor is as reliable as this kind of tool gets (which is why PortableApps.com use it with big-name portable products like OpenOffice.org and GIMP), but there are no guarantees, and it won’t work with everything. So it’s a very good idea to back up your portable application before you start.

And as malware authors routinely use similar packers to try and hide from security packages, doing so yourself increases the chance that your compressed portable app will raise a virus alert when you next launch it. This isn’t particularly likely -- AppCompactor is a well-known package and not doing anything dubious – but can’t be ruled out entirely.

For the most part, though, AppCompactor just delivers exactly what it promises, quickly compressing executable files – DLLs, EXEs, ZIPs, JARs, IRCs, PYDs and BINs -- with the minimum of hassle. So if you’d like to accelerate the launch time of your portable apps, then give it a try: it’s surprising just how effective the program can be.

Photo Credit: Photo Credit: Brian A Jackson/shutterstock
Apple reveals education trifecta: iBooks 2, iBooks Author, and iTunes U

Posted: January 19th, 2012, 9:25am MST by Tim Conneally

At a private event at the Guggenheim Museum in New York City on Thursday, Apple unveiled its multi-pronged approach for cracking the higher education market with iBooks 2, iBooks Author, and iTunes U. The result is an environment for creating, distributing, and consuming learning materials that is entirely contained within the Apple product ecosystem.

There were three main parts to Apple's education announcement on Thursday:

iBooks 2

This free iOS app focuses on reading, annotating, and participating with interactive textbooks. Apple says it supports fullscreen books, interactive 3D objects, diagrams, videos and photos.

iBooks Author

This publishing app is also free in the Mac app store (but requires OS X Lion.) It contains templates for design layouts, and lets publishers and authors add their own text and images, as well as interactive photo galleries, movies, Keynote presentations and 3D objects.

iTunes U

The new iTunes U app lets teachers compile and distribute their essential course material through iTunes. This includes lectures, assignments, books, quizzes and syllabuses, and so forth. A handful of high profile learning institutions piloted iTunes U, including Cambridge, Duke, Harvard, Oxford and Stanford, and it's already been downloaded 700 million times. It's not exactly new, but beginning today, any K-12 school district can offer full courses through the iTunes U app.
iTunes hacked! Apple ignores it

Posted: January 19th, 2012, 8:48am MST by Ed Oswald

It is now over eight months since I first reported to you my experience of getting hacked on iTunes. Last June, hackers found a way into my iTunes account using Sega's Kingdom Conquest -- a game I never downloaded. I was bilked out of $95.30, which the hackers stole from my account through iOS' in-app purchase mechanism.

Within hours of posting that story, I was flooded with dozens -- if not hundreds -- of similar stories. Initially, they were similar to mine and involved Kingdom Conquest, but additional reports indicated other games are being used to break into iTunes accounts worldwide.

Those other games are Storm8's World War, and Kamagame's Texas Poker.

New reports received by BetaNews indicate that attacks using the hack are once again on the rise. While the volume of emails to me was generally steady since the June story, in the past two weeks there is a marked increase in the number of reports.

Users write that they have not had any trouble in recovering funds -- myself included -- however, Apple has not responded to their requests for more information on how they were hacked. BetaNews contacted Apple for comment on this story Wednesday afternoon, and like the three previous times we were ignored.

What is happening here? BetaNews believes that this particular hack affecting iTunes is likely sourced to an exploit existing in Apple's in-app purchasing mechanism. It is the only similiarity between every report received over the past eight-plus months.

While a majority of users reporting in as victims have had their iTunes credit balances drained, some also saw fraudulent charges to linked credit card and PayPal accounts. While an issue may exist there as well, it's likely not the primary cause of the hack.

In any case, Apple's insistence on ignoring both victims and the press not only keeps everyone in the dark as to why this continues to occur -- from our research, now going on nearly a year -- but also provides little solace to those hacked that these hackers do not have a way in that we may not be able to protect ourselves by password alone.

That's simply irresponsible. How many people need to be hacked before Apple thinks it's the right time to speak? The company gains nothing by sitting on the sidelines ignoring the problem, and it is a problem.

Are you a victim of this hack, or a similar one on iTunes? Please let me know, I continue to compile your reports, and will continue to attempt to get Apple to talk. Contact me at ed at ozmedia dot com. Sooner or later, Apple is going to have to own up to this.

Photo Credit: pzAxe/Shutterstock
Motorola Xoom tablet gets upgrade to Android 4.0 starting today

Posted: January 18th, 2012, 1:00pm MST by Tim Conneally

Motorola Mobility on Wednesday announced its popular Xoom Wi-Fi tablets will be the first of the company's Android-powered devices to receive the upgrade to Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich,) beginning immediately.

Xoom was actually the first major tablet to be released running Android 3.1 (Honeycomb), the somewhat ill-conceived "tablet only" version of Android. With today's rollout of the Ice Cream Sandwich upgrade, it becomes the first Honeycomb tablet to receive the operating system upgrade.

Motorola said the over-the-air upgrade will begin rolling out "in phases over the course of a few weeks," and that users will be notified when their upgrade is available.
It's not because of iPhone 4S

Posted: January 18th, 2012, 12:36pm MST by Joe Wilcox
That's again my reaction to startling US mobile numbers that Nielsen released today. Like comScore, Nielsen shows dramatic -- and I mean absolutely stunning -- changes in Android and iPhone adoption since the 4S shipped. Android share, as measured in smartphone operating systems among new purchasers, plummeted from 61.6 percent in October to 46.9 percent in December. Meanwhile, iPhone rose from 25.1 percent share to 44.5 percent. Distribution -- not release of iPhone 4S -- is reason, or so I say.

Nielsen, naturally sees something else: "The high-profile launch of Apple’s iPhone 4S in the Fall had an enormous impact on the proportion of smartphone owners who chose an Apple iPhone" -- that would be for November and December. But that simplistic analysis overlooks mitigating factors. Among the most important -- 43 percent of new buyers chose older iPhones 4 or 3GS.

More broadly, the influences:
- iPhone 4 and 3GS price cuts -- to $99 and free, respectively.
- Addition of new carrier partners, Sprint nationally and some regional (C Spire).
- iPhone sells alongside Androids on all three major carriers, meaning there's competition from Apple.
- iCloud is a hugely appealing service and, along with iOS 5, is available for all three iPhone versions -- 3GS, 4 and 4S.
All these things dramatically broadened iPhone distribution in the United States. The new carriers opened up iPhone to subscribers who couldn't or wouldn't switch to get the handset. Lower pricing on older models broadened the number of people who wanted iPhone but couldn't or wouldn't pay $199 or more to get one. Lower pricing also lessened the appeal of cheap Androids these Americans might otherwise have purchased.

The proof is in earlier comScore and Nielsen data, even without benefit of separated sales -- for iPhone 3GS, 4 and 4S -- which would definitively answer who is buying what. According to comScore, the top three selling iPhones are 4S, 4 and 3GS in that order, which certainly says something. But Nielsen says more: "57 percent of new iPhone owners surveyed in December said they got an iPhone 4S". That means 43 percent bought one of the two older models; that's the sales power of lower pricing.

The historical data tells an interesting story. Despite the hype, iPhone share among all subscribers or new purchasers did not perceptually change following the release of iPhone 4 on AT&T and later on Verizon. It was a big upgrade from iPhone 3GS, with new enclosure, dramatically better display and higher-resolution camera. By comparison, the 4S was a modest upgrade.

For example, according to comScore, from August to November 2010, iPhone US subscriber share rose less than one point -- to 25 percent. This was during the post-iPhone 4 launch period. Over the next year, iPhone nudged up to about 27 percent average share, while Android soared, whether measured by install base or new purchasers.

Then Verizon release iPhone 4 in February 2011, with wild predictions Apple handset's would make huge share gains. It didn't. Canalys was right a year ago, when it predicted that iPhone 4 on Verizon wouldn't slow Android growth. For example, Android share was 39 percent in June 2011 compared to 28 percent for iPhone, says Nielsen. Android share reached 40 percent in July, compared to 28 percent for iPhone. At end of third quarter, 43 percent for Android and 28 percent for iPhone. In August, 56 percent of new US smartphone purchasers chose Android and 28 percent iPhone, also according to Nielsen.

The historical data contradicts earlier projections that both iPhone 4 launches would bring huge share gains. Meanwhile, 4S is, as previously mentioned, a modest upgrade. Different now: Distribution, particularly availability of lower-cost older models, to a new market of buyers. Unquestionably, Apple's handset is on a roll, at least here in the United States, but it's not because of iPhone 4S.
RemoteRebootX: Easily reboot, shut down or wake networked PCs

Posted: January 18th, 2012, 10:31am MST by Mike Williams

If you’d like to remotely restart or shut down a system on your network then Windows already provides some basic assistance. A command like shutdown /s /m \\hostname, say, will try to close down the named computer, and you can tweak precisely how this will work in many different ways (enter shutdown /? at a command line for the full list).

Command line tools aren’t always the most convenient way to manage your network, though. So if you’d like an easier way to monitor running systems, remotely restart or shut them down whenever you like, and wake them up as well, then you’ll probably prefer the small but surprisingly powerful RemoteRebootX.

The configuration process starts by giving RemoteRebootX the list of hosts you’d like to manage. There’s no option to automatically scan your network, unfortunately, but it’s easy enough to add them manually: just type the “+” button and enter your host names or IP addresses. Or if you’ve a really big network, there’s also the option to import host names from a file.

If you intend to use the Wake-On-LAN feature then you’ll need your host’s MAC addresses, too, but these can be captured automatically by selecting them all and clicking Actions > Get MAC Address.

And then you can get started. To reboot or shut down one or most hosts, for instance, just choose the systems you need, right-click and select the appropriate reboot or shutdown function. (RemoteRebootX supports both regular shutdowns, which can be cancelled if someone is working at the PC and needs to save something, and forced shutdowns, which will close applications even if they have unsaved data.)

Once you have the MAC address, it’s just as easy to wake up a remote system. Well, in theory, anyway: the remote network adapter needs Wake-On-LAN support, and it has to be enabled by the driver, so if this doesn’t work then you might want to check those details first.

RemoteRebootX also includes a capable scheduler, so you can set up any reboot, shutdown or wake tasks to run entirely automatically.

And useful bonus features include easy access to key system information details on the remote system (last boot time, free space on the system drive, Windows services status), a ping option to help you see which PCs are online, and the ability to initiate a remote desktop connection to your chosen host in a couple of clicks.

If there’s one complication here, it’s that RemoteRebootX doesn’t automatically save your network data, presumably because it’s a portable tool which can be used on many different systems. So keep in mind that you’ll have to click File > Save State to save your hosts, MAC addresses and so on, and File > Load State when launching the program to reload them.

Otherwise, though, the program is straightforward, easy to use and packed with handy features, and should make an excellent addition to most people’s networking armory.

Photo Credit: vovan/Shutterstock
iPad invades the enterprise

Posted: January 18th, 2012, 10:19am MST by Joe Wilcox

Last week I chimed: "Only Windows 8 can save the PC market now". Weak consumer computer sales forebode market shifts ahead, but so do those in the enterprise. An IDG Connect study reveals just how much: IT and business decision makers are augmenting or replacing PCs with iPads at an alarming rate.

"Fully 51 percent of IT and business decision-makers say they always use their iPad at work", according to the report -- and, of course, that's the number who actually own the tablet. Sixteen percent have replaced their laptop with an iPad and 54 percent supplement it. Remember, these numbers are for people responsible for corporate computing. As the wind shifts in their sails -- or should that be sales -- so does it eventually across the computing infrastructure. The data suggests that iPads are significantly starting to cannibalize PC sales -- and not just among consumers -- and it's consistent with recent global PC buying trends.

For PC vendors and Microsoft the most troubling data comes from some international markets, where Apple has done well recently, and emerging locales that still aren't PC sales saturated like the United States is. In the Middle East and Asia, 70 percent and 63 percent, respectively, of IT and business professionals have "partly replaced" their laptop with iPad. "In South America, 27 percent have 'completely replaced' their laptop with an iPad", according to the report. "In Europe, the figure is 23 percent".

In Africa, 47 percent of iPads are purchased by employers -- 40 percent in Europe. In some global markets, then, consumerization of IT is much less a factor bringing iPad into the workplace. Businesses buy the tablets, and professionals use them for work, primarily for web browsing, reading and news consumption. Web browsing includes accessing work-related assets on local intranets.

"These findings suggest that a substantial number of professionals regard their iPad as a viable business tool", according to the study.

The implications for Microsoft are staggering. There is no Microsoft Office for iPad, yet IT decision-makers are supplementing or replacing their computers with Apple's tablet. However, work usage habits vary dramatically by region, which not surprisingly is in line with Microsoft core markets.

According to the report, "North Americans use their iPads slightly more intensively than the global norm, with a strong emphasis on web-based functionality". If persistent rumors about Office coming to iPad aren't true, perhaps they should be. And if anyone is looking for reason why the rumors could be true, here it is.

However, iPad's impact doesn't stop with the personal computer. It in some ways starts there. According to the report:

"Our survey also suggests that tablet computing is transforming patterns of content consumption. iPad-owning IT and business professionals are rapidly migrating away from newspapers and printed books, toward digital alternatives. To a lesser extent, they are moving away from DVD-based audio-visual content towards wholly-digital alternatives. This transition is taking place with striking speed. As tablet computing emerges into the mainstream, both media owners and marketers who produce content will need to consider the implications carefully".

That finding sheds some perspective on Apple's media event planned for January 19 that is rumored to be education related. What if education means something more than e-textbooks, as has been rumored?

The more important question, if you have an iPad, has it displaced or even replaced your work PC?
Share: Your personal torrent client

Posted: January 18th, 2012, 8:55am MST by Mark Wilson

When it comes to sharing files, there are a number of options available to you. If you want to share files with someone nearby, it may make sense to pop them on a USB drive and physically deliver them. For smaller files it is possible to make use of email, but things get trickier when larger files are involved. You could go as far as uploading files to your own web space or even setting up your own FTP server, but this is something that few people would want to go to these lengths. Share is a free tool that enables you to overcome these problems and share files of any size.

Coming from BitTorrent, it should come as no surprise to learn how Share works. It is essentially a personal torrent client that makes it possible to allow people of your choice to connect to your computer and access the files you have chosen to share; this is a great example of personal P2P. having created an account, files can be shared by using nothing more than drag and drop, and all you need to do is to select who you would like to share them with.

Sharing can be made into quite a social experience thanks to the ability to comment on files that are being shared. This is a great option if you are using the service to share files relating to a work project as it allows for a degree of collaboration. The fact that Share is available for both Mac and PC means that it is opened up to a larger audience and the ability to create groups for sharing means that sharing files with the same people time and time again is made as fast as possible.

Share is currently an alpha version, so it’s still somewhat experimental, but things are already looking promising. Just as with more major torrent clients such as uTorrent and the like, there will undoubtedly be claims that Share is a tool that could be used for piracy. While this is true to some extent, there are also numerous legitimate uses to which the service can be put. If you’ve found yourself wondering how you are going to share a large video you have shot, this could be the solution you have been looking for.

You can find out more and download a free copy of the app by paying a visit to the Share review page.

Photo Credit: Modella/Shutterstock
Decompile Flash files with HP SwfScan

Posted: January 18th, 2012, 8:37am MST by Mike Williams

Pay a visit to HP’s download pages and for the most part you know exactly what you’re going to get: drivers, manuals and all the usual installation software you’d expect from the company’s wide range of products.

Look a little closer, though, and you’ll also find one or two more generally interesting freebies. And so HP’s Web Security Application Group, for instance, has produced a tool called SwfScan, which can both decompile SWF applets and analyze them for security vulnerabilities.

The program is reasonably easy to use. Give it a URL or the path of a local file, click “Get” and in a moment you’ll be able to browse the applet’s code. A search tool (with regular expression support) helps you locate the details you need, and there’s also an option to export the source as a text file if you’d like to examine it elsewhere.

SwfScan is also able to scan the code for a few security issues: just click “Analyze” and check the Vulnerabilities list to see what turns up. The program only performs a basic analysis, so an empty vulnerability list doesn’t mean you’re safe -- there could be many other issues that it’s missed -- but it’s better than not checking your code at all.

And SwfScan also makes it easy to find URLs within the applet, and export them for checking later.

This is all fairly basic. There’s no option to extract or view applet resources, for instance; you don’t get an applet player; and the executable was last updated back in March 2009. Still, the decompiler is compact and reliable, and the vulnerability scanner is a useful extra touch, so if you don’t currently have a Flash decompiler at all then SwfScan could be worth a quick look.
Wikipedia goes dark for 24 hours

Posted: January 18th, 2012, 8:21am MST by Joe Wilcox

SOPA blackout day has arrived, and Wikipedia is going farther than the planned 12-hour protest -- from 8 am to 8 pm. The community encyclopedia is going down for twice as long. Today, we'll all learn just how important Wikipedia is to the Internet community. I find it a valuable resource as a journalist. Will you miss it?

Still, there is a nugget of information to be had from Wikipedia: About why the protest. Like many other sites today, the open encyclopedia stands against two pieces of legislation here in the United States: PROTECT IP Act (PIPA), introduced by senators in May, and October bill Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), introduced in the House. A delayed House vote, from December, was scheduled for today but postponed following last week's statement from the White House. SOPA is weakened but not done yet. SOPA Strike provides an excellent timeline for both bills. Senate vote is still scheduled for January 24.

"Wikipedia is protesting against SOPA and PIPA by blacking out the English Wikipedia for 24 hours, beginning at midnight January 18, Eastern Time", according to the "SOPA and PIPA -- Learn more" page. "Readers who come to English Wikipedia during the blackout will not be able to read the encyclopedia. Instead, you will see messages intended to raise awareness about SOPA and PIPA, encouraging you to share your views with your representatives, and with each other on social media".

Either bill would give the government broad powers to take down websites, seize domains and compel search engines from indexing these properties. Little more than a request from copyright holders is necessary. It's essentially guilty-until-proven-innocent legislation that would punish the many for the sins of the few, while disrupting the fundamental attributes that made the Internet so successful and empowered so many individuals or businesses to accomplish so much. (Review the bills: PIPA. SOPA.)

Wired UK's "SOPA 101" guide is one of the best primers posted in recent days, if those bills are too long (and wordy) for you.

Wikipedia's position:

These bills are efforts to stop copyright infringement committed by foreign web sites, but, in our opinion, they do so in a way that actually infringes free expression while harming the Internet. Detailed information about these bills can be found in the Stop Online Piracy Act and PROTECT IP Ac t articles on Wikipedia, which are available during the blackout. GovTrack lets you follow both bills through the legislative process: SOPA on this page, and PIPA on this one. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to advocating for the public interest in the digital realm, has summarized why these bills are simply unacceptable in a world that values an open, secure, and free Internet.

Wikipedia is by no means the only protester. SOPA Strike has compiled a long list of participants. But few sites are going as far as Wikipedia. For example, Google has blacked out its logo on the search page. Clicking the large rectangle leads to a "take action" page. Not surprisingly, Google opposes both bills. From its SOPA and PIPA info page:

Law-abiding US Internet companies would have to monitor everything users link to or upload or face the risk of time-consuming litigation...To make matters worse, SOPA and PIPA won’t even work. The censorship regulations written into these bills won’t shut down pirate sites. These sites will just change their addresses and continue their criminal activities, while law-abiding companies will suffer high penalties for breaches they can’t possibly control.

Imagine the impact -- the point to be made -- if Google went dark for even one hour to demonstrate how SOPA or PIPA could negatively affect businesses using the Internet. Of course, lawyers would line up to sue on behalf of lost business revenues. Eh? If Google went dark in protest.

The White House's position is the most perplexing around SOPA and PIPA. "While we believe that online piracy by foreign websites is a serious problem that requires a serious legislative response, we will not support legislation that reduces freedom of expression, increases cybersecurity risk, or undermines the dynamic, innovative global Internet", according to the statement, authored by Aneesh Chopra, US chief technology officer; Victoria Espinel, intellectual property enforcement coordinator; and Howard Schmidt, cybersecurity coordinator. There is stated position to "work with Congress on a bipartisan basis on legislation" that stops piracy and preserves freedom of speech.

As I stated yesterday, if the Obama Administration really opposes SOPA and PIPA, then prove it: Blackout Whitehouse.gov today. Show support for protecting Internet freedoms. Have a look, there's nothing supporting today's protest.
How to control an entire live band with Android

Posted: January 17th, 2012, 9:00pm MST by Tim Conneally

At CES 2012, we took a quick look at Samsung's booth displaying the Galaxy Note as a tool useful to artists and musicians, and I talked about the relatively small number of killer music applications for the Android platform.

Fortunately the band performing in Samsung's booth, Body Language, was willing to show us exactly how they incorporate Android devices into their live music setup, and how we can do the same.

The two apps we see the band using in the video embedded above are touchOSC and TouchDAW.

Two of the Galaxy Notes run touchDAW to control the vocal processing for each singer, and one ran touchDAW to trigger samples from a sample pad, and the x/y controller manipulated filtration on the samples.

The sample triggering device was used by keyboard player Matt Young, who also switched touchDAW to keyboard mode to play lead synth parts directly on the device.

The three devices running touchDAW were remotely controlling a custom MIDI instrument environment in Apple's Logic Studio.

The device running touchOSC was used to manipulate song sequences and control the MIDI master clock in Ableton Live. This basically entails starting and stopping songs, syncing other MIDI instruments, and applying effects in real time.

It's a novel, yet practical and versatile setup. We see in the video that two of the devices were USB tethered, but touchDAW supports MIDI over Bluetooth, so it's possible to occupy all of your laptop's USB inputs and still have room for a wireless controller.
Koobface hackers are easily found on Facebook, elsewhere

Posted: January 17th, 2012, 6:09pm MST by Ed Oswald

The attackers behind the Koobface worm are not doing much to cover their tracks, say security researchers with Facebook and several security firms. Hackers are living a comfortable life in St. Petersburg, Russia, and have been posting freely to social networking sites such as Facebook and Foursquare.

Facebook and law enforcement have reportedly known their identities for several years. At least one of the members of the gang has repeatedly broadcast the location of the group's offices via Foursquare, including pictures of members at work -- presumably spreading Koobface around the world.

Koobface has made this group quite a bit of money since its creation in mid 2008. The attackers made their money through tricking infected users into downloading faked antivirus software. At its height in 2010, Koobface and its variants may have been on as many as 800,000 PCs.

The apprehension of international criminals is difficult due to poor cooperation between the law enforcement entities of different countries, as well as a lack of resources in those countries to fight cybercrime. So companies like Facebook are taking on a different tact: public shaming.

Starting on Tuesday, Facebook plans to start sharing the identities of the Koobface hackers with security researchers and other Internet companies. The company has already shared the identities of those responsible to law enforcement. Why law enforcement has so far failed to apprehend those responsible is not clear -- it probably has to do with those aforementioned issues -- the FBI failed to respond to requests for comment.

Photo Credit: Photosani/Shutterstock
With new CEO in place, Jerry Yang completely divorces from Yahoo

Posted: January 17th, 2012, 5:37pm MST by Tim Conneally

Yahoo co-founder and former CEO Jerry Yang has tendered his resignation from all of his positions at Yahoo, including his spot on the Board of Directors of Yahoo USA and Japan, and his position within Alibaba.

In a letter to the board, Yang said, "My time at Yahoo!, from its founding to the present, has encompassed some of the most exciting and rewarding experiences of my life. However, the time has come for me to pursue other interests outside of Yahoo! As I leave the company I co-founded nearly 17 years ago, I am enthusiastic about the appointment of Scott Thompson as Chief Executive Officer and his ability, along with the entire Yahoo! leadership team, to guide Yahoo! into an exciting and successful future."

Last September, Yahoo's chairman of the board Roy Bostock fired CEO Carol Bartz over the phone after serving as Chief Executive for three years, after Yang had stepped down.

Bostock today expressed his confidence in the executive shift.

"With Scott Thompson leading an outstanding team of Yahoos to deliver innovative products and an engaging customer experience, Yahoo!'s future is bright," Bostock said in a statement.

In search, at least, Yahoo's future doesn't seem so bright. Market analytics company comScore last week released its core search market breakdown and found that Yahoo sites had lost .6% of its market share, while Google and Microsoft sites gained the difference.
Security lessons Zappos' 24 million customer breach should teach us

Posted: January 17th, 2012, 2:13pm MST by Steven Sprague

Another major breach is in the headlines. Zappos, an online shoe and apparel retailer owned by Amazon, disclosed Sunday night that more than 24 million of its customer accounts had been compromised. Hackers accessed customer names, email addresses, phone numbers, the last four digits of credit card numbers and cryptographically scrambled passwords.

To its credit, Zappos moved quickly, resetting the passwords for all the affected accounts. But it was cold comfort for those who may still be in danger of having their data exposed if they used the same or similar credentials on other websites. This concern prompted Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh to warn customers of possible phishing scam exposures in an email to affected customers. It’s another reminder of the sad state of security today.

Allegedly, the attack originated on one of the company’s servers based in Kentucky. While details of how the server was hacked are scant, perhaps the best advice to all the would-be Zappos of the world would be to take the simple step: Restrict server access to only known PCs.

Establishing the identity of a platform isn’t difficult at all, in fact, the corporate PCs that would need access to an enterprise server already have the technology embedded on the motherboard. The Trusted Platform Module (TPM) can attest to the identity of the device with nearly absolute certainty.

And a second, powerful safeguard is encryption. With that much sensitive information housed on the network, encryption at the server level should be considered a "must" to prevent a Zappos-like breach in the future.

And the last lesson from the Zappos breach? Isn’t it time we armed the consumer with stronger authentication than the fragile username and password? Here, too, the TPM has proven its ability to play a role; providing an excellent mechanism to protect individual identity with an extremely secure, integrated capacity to store a PC’s security keys.

Because the TPM can store multiple keys, it enables the end-user to access secure services from multiple independent providers – each with a unique, secure key. Whoever owns the PC controls the keys stored in the TPM—giving power to the end user, where it belongs.

Photo Credit: Andrea Danti/Shutterstock

Steven Sprague is CEO of Wave Systems. His expertise lies in leveraging advancements in hardware security for strong authentication, data protection, advanced password management, enterprise-wide trust management services and more. Mr. Sprague earned a BS from Cornell University in 1987.
Add ProEject to your USB drive toolkit

Posted: January 17th, 2012, 1:40pm MST by Mike Williams

Once you’ve finished working with a USB flash drive then it’s easy just to unplug it right away, but of course that’s usually not a good idea. If the Windows cache contains changes that haven’t yet been written to the drive then removing it may result in lost data, so it’s always best to eject the drive first.

And if you find the standard Windows eject option isn’t as easy as you’d like, then there are plenty of capable alternatives around. RemoveDrive, for instance, which we wrote about back in November, makes it easy to eject drives from a shortcut or a custom script. But ProEject takes the idea considerably further.

The program starts by trying to close down any programs that you might have launched from the drive, for instance. Which seems a good idea to us, as if they’re still active then you won’t be able to eject the drive.

ProEject also attempts to clean up after your activities. So it’ll search the Most Recently Used areas of the Registry and look for shortcuts created in your SendTo, Recent, Quick Launch and (on Windows 7) Pinned folders, removing anything that might have been added in this session.

And the program has plenty of other interesting features. If your drive is using TrueCrypt, say, ProEject will recognize this and dismount it properly. It can work with many other tools to improve drive ejection (including RemoveDrive). There’s support for using Unlocker to help identify open file handles, too.

And if this still doesn’t provide precisely what you need, then command line support means you’re able to use some of ProEject’s functionality from your own scripts. (Check the program’s Readme.txt file for the details.)

We do have one or two issues with the program. When launched it displays all the drives connected to the system, for instance: seeing only the USB drives (or at least highlighting them) might simplify the process for the user.

And ProEject also has the occasional annoying delay. For example, if you view your current settings, then close the dialog without making changes, the program still rewrites its settings file, which on our test PC meant an 8 second wait until we could continue.

For the most part, though, ProEject proves to be a powerful tool which, once configured to suit your needs, can make it much easier to safely remove USB drives. And even with occasional irritations (which will be fixed in time – it’s only version 1.0, after all) we think the program is still strong enough to merit a place in most people’s portable USB toolkit.

Photo Credit: chien321/Shutterstock
Everything you need to know about e-textbooks before Apple gets involved

Posted: January 17th, 2012, 1:27pm MST by Tim Conneally

Apple is holding an education-themed event this week, and the usual gamut of unnamed sources and rumor-mongers have come to the consensus that the event will focus on Apple's plans to enter the e-textbook business, and possibly unveil a new interactive e-book publishing platform.

This rumor springs from the best-selling biography of late Apple CEO Steve Jobs, in which Jobs' biographer Walter Isaacson said textbooks were "the next business [Jobs] wanted to transform," and that the company had already had several series of meetings about making Apple e-textbooks a reality.

Some have already predicted that Apple's presence would do the same thing for e-textbooks that it did for .mp3 retailing. That is to say, take an already existent (but disjointed) market and whip it into shape with a domineering hand. So before Apple's event takes place, we thought we'd compile a list of the big players in the e-textbook space to create a better picture of the e-textbook business and what Apple will be coming into.

Barnes & Noble Nook Study - Book retailer Barnes and Noble has approximately 2.5 million e-books of all types available, including e-textbooks. Nook Study lets students rent or buy e-textbooks on the web and read them in the Windows or Mac application. The application allows search, tagging, annotations, highlights, and printing. Unfortunately, Nook Study does not yet exist as a mobile application like the regular Nook e-reader does.

Amazon Kindle Textbook rental - Unlike Barnes and Noble, there really isn't much difference between Amazon's regular e-books and its e-textbooks. The cross-platform Kindle application deals with e-textbooks in the exact same way as regular e-books, but Amazon has an e-textbook rental program that lets students buy temporary licenses on books to save money.

Chegg - Chegg began as a textbook rental site in 2007 and grew to become one of the largest of its type. In 2011, the site branched out into e-book rentals, and began offering HTML5-formatted e-textbooks for consumption in the browser. Chegg has partnered with Cengage Learning, Elsevier, F.A. Davis, Macmillan, McFarland, Rowman & Littlefield, Taylor and Francis, McGraw-Hill, John Wiley & Sons, and Oxford University Press for content.

CourseSmart - This online vendor distributes digital material from many of the biggest textbook publishers like Chegg does. CourseSmart's partners include Pearson, McGraw-Hill Education, John Wiley & Sons, and Cengage. With its own desktop software, a Web-based e-book store, a developing mobile presence, an HTML5 user portal, and about five years in operation, CourseSmart is a highly visible channel for e-textbook distribution.

VitalSource - Ingram Content Group's VitalSource is actually the platform that Chegg and at one time CourseSmart, making it one of the most widely used e-textbook platforms in the world. It reaches more than 180 countries and 6,000 universities globally. It's not the face that students see, but it is of immense importance in the still young e-textbook industry.

Kno - This startup from one of Chegg's co-founders first began in the hardware business, trying to get a dual-screen e-reader off the ground, but it eventually morphed into a software-only mobile application and e-book retail/rental store. Now the company has a selection of over 150,000 e-textbooks, and strives to be different by rolling unique learning features into its application, such as behavioral analytics, flash cards, and journaling.

Inkling - Like Kno, Inkling is a mobile application designed specifically for consumption on tablets, and like many of the other services, it offers e-textbook rentals. However, it differs in execution from the likes of Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Instead of renting textbooks for a period of time, students buy their books by the chapter, and each chapter generally costs between $1.99 and $21.99, as determined by the publisher. Right now, Inkling has only a few hundred textbooks available for purchase.

CafeScribe - Educational tools provider Follett Corporation launched its own browser-based e-textbook platform CafeScribe in 2010, and has already partnered with more than 800 university bookstores to be their e-textbook solution. Follett's library has more than 10,000 titles.

Nature Publishing - In 2011, 135-year old Nature Publishing wrote its first textbook, the "born digital" text called Principles of Biology. At just $45 dollars, Nature completely rebuilt the business of publishing textbooks to cater to the e-book generation. The result is a book that is more quick to market, more dynamic, and cheaper.

ScrollMotion - ScrollMotion differs slightly from most of the companies mentioned above because it designs standalone e-reading applications for content publishers, and created the HMH Fuse K-12 "iPad Textbook" app for Houghton-Mifflin Harcourt publishing. Publishers can, with this type of app, offer their content directly to students and consumers. This company is in an extremely important position to watch, because Gartner Research predicted that by 2016, more than 50% of all e-textbooks will be self-published. Making an e-textbook into a standalone app would make it more accessible and visible.

Lulu - Following the self-publishing train of thought, Lulu lets authors create their own e-textbooks, convert them to multiple formats, and assign them ISBNs for listing and sale across multiple e-book stores. Additionally, it has its own retail platform for both physical and e-book sales.

Scribd - Like Lulu, Scribd lets authors or content creators upload their e-textbooks and distribute them either for free or in the Scribd Store. The main drawback of these self-publishing platforms is that they lack the necessary peer review and content vetting that makes textbooks what they are. Gartner Research in December said we can expect providers such as Lulu, Smashwords and Scribd to expand on their peer review capabilities to answer this demand.

Flat World Knowledge - This five-year old company publishes complete, peer-reviewed textbooks under a Creative Commons open license and lets students read them for free online, or purchase them as affordable downloadable e-books or even as printed books. Educators who want to save their students a great deal of money on books and learning materials can choose to "adopt" Flat World texts into their curricula. These texts are given a unique URL and can be shared freely with students without the need for user profiles.

Image: Siamionau Pavel/Shutterstock
Mount disc images with ISO ToolKit

Posted: January 17th, 2012, 1:22pm MST by Mike Williams

ISO images have been a popular means of distributing software for a very long time, so it was good to see Windows 7 finally introduce a tool to burn them to disc.

It’ll probably be Windows 10 before we get to see the operating system provide all the ISO handling features you’re likely to need, though, so if you regularly need to work with disc images then a quicker solution might be to download the ISO ToolKit.

The program supports five main functions. It can create an ISO image from a folder structure on your hard drive; copy a CD or DVD to an ISO image; convert images to and from the ISO, NRG and BIN/ CUE formats; extract the contents of an ISO, NRG or BIN/ CUE image; or mount up to two ISO, NRG or BIN/ CUE images as virtual drives, so that they can be accessed without burning them to disc.

There’s no support for burning images to disc, unfortunately, but that’s still a reasonable feature list for a small, portable tool. ISO ToolKit also provides useful extra touches where you’re most likely to need them (when creating an image you can choose from six file systems, for instance, and make the final image bootable). And each function is presented simply, with the minimum of fuss -- you just click the tab you need, specify the relevant drive, image or folder, and ISO ToolKit will go to work.

The one major problem we noticed occurred with the image mounting feature: it didn’t work at all our first test system, but ran just fine on another. Other users report similar experiences -- it works for some, not for others -- and so there’s clearly an issue here which the author has yet to figure out.

This may not be the tool for you if you’re solely interested in mounting disc images, then. But otherwise the ISO ToolKit is a likeable program, compact, portable and easy to use, and we’ll be interested to see how it develops in future.

Photo Credit: Eastimages/Shutterstock
Will your website go dark to protest SOPA?

Posted: January 17th, 2012, 1:09pm MST by Joe Wilcox

Jan. 18, 2012 is designated SOPA blackout day, with prominent websites planning to go dark in protest of two bills working through Congress -- Stop Online Piracy Act and PROTECT IP Act (PIPA). If you've got a big school project due Thursday and plan on using Wikipedia, get your research done today. The community-based encyclopedia plans to go dark tomorrow, and it's not alone.

The proposed legislation has generated gigabytes of negative responses, which included a Go Daddy boycott for supporting SOPA (since retracted) and culminates in tomorrow's blackout. Two months ago, I posed poll: "US Congress is considering two new copyright bills: PROTECT IP and Stop Online Piracy Act. Do you support them?" More than 3,500 responses later, 95 percent answered "No". You're not alone.

To recap, Senators introduced PIPA in May and House representatives did likewise with SOPA in October. Either bill would give the government broad powers to take down websites, seize domains and compel search engines from indexing these properties. Little more than a request from copyright holders is necessary. It's essentially guilty-until-proven-innocent legislation that would punish the many for the sins of the few, while disrupting the fundamental attributes that made the Internet so successful and empowered so many individuals or businesses to accomplish so much. (Review the bills: PIPA. SOPA.)

Wired UK's "SOPA 101" guide is one of the best primers posted in recent days, if those bills are too long (and wordy) for you.

Last week, the White House finally took a position about SOPA and PIPA: "While we believe that online piracy by foreign websites is a serious problem that requires a serious legislative response, we will not support legislation that reduces freedom of expression, increases cybersecurity risk, or undermines the dynamic, innovative global Internet".

Tomorrow's blackout protest was scheduled to coincide with a House vote on SOPA, which has been postponed, leading to many cries of victory over the legislation. SOPA isn't dead, and last I checked the Senate still plans to vote on PIPA as scheduled. SOPA is on hold, not that the White House is really helping. The statement -- from Aneesh Chopra, US chief technology officer; Victoria Espinel, intellectual property enforcement coordinator; and Howard Schmidt, cybersecurity coordinator -- merely steps back from the proposed legislation.

"Moving forward, we will continue to work with Congress on a bipartisan basis on legislation that provides new tools needed in the global fight against piracy and counterfeiting, while vigorously defending an open Internet based on the values of free expression, privacy, security and innovation", they write. Meaning: They're backing off because of public pressure. More than 51,800 people signed petition: "VETO the SOPA bill and any other future bills that threaten to diminish the free flow of information".

If the Obama Administration really opposes SOPA and PIPA, then prove it: Blackout Whitehouse.gov tomorrow. Show support for protecting Internet freedoms.

The Go Daddy boycott shows just how impassioned are SOPA and PIPA opponents. My question: How far well they -- you -- go? Will you boycott sites that don't support the blackout? Facebook, Google, Tumblr and WordPress.com, for example -- I've seen nothing yet indicating blackouts planned for tomorrow. Imagine the impact if Bing and Google went dark for 12 hours on January 18.

Wikipedia will go dark, or so founder Jimmy Wales tweeted yesterday and then boasted: "This is going to be wow. I hope Wikipedia will melt phone systems in Washington on Wednesday. Tell everyone you know!" Wikipedia's official announcement released later. Reddit also will go dark, but not Twitter. Yesterday, CEO Dick Costolo made clear Twitter's blackout position in a couple of tweets: "Closing a global business in reaction to single-issue national politics is foolish" and "Not shutting down a service doesn't equal not taking the proper stance on an issue. We've been very clear about our stance".

Twitter has vocally opposed both bills, but Costolo's tweets, in response to others, don't reflect that. He put it in business perspective, which is more in the spirit of content providers, such as those in Hollywood, supporting SOPA and PIPA. More sensible response: "Twitter is a tool of free speech. Blackout would suppress it". That fits in less than 140-characters. :)

According to SOPA Strike, 10,000 sites have committed to the protest, but many, such as Google, don't plan an actual blackout. "At its core, this is a fight for freedom of speech, and the language in SOPA and PIPA have stepped over the line", Tiffiniy Cheng, Fight for the Future cofounder, asserts. "The SOPA Strike on Wednesday is the largest online protest that has ever happened. Several hundred million people, potentially more than one billion, will see messages about the dangers of censoring the Internet. That is absolutely unprecedented".

Will you take down your site to oppose SOPA? If you have a third-party hosted WordPress site, meaning not WordPress.com, there are many plug-ins available to automate the process. Please answer in comments. SOPA Strike provides a script you can to your site's theme to accomplish similar action.

Before anyone asks, I will take down my personal website from 8 am to 8 pm tomorrow -- using plugin "Go Dark". But, sadly, don't think it matters much since I haven't posted there in months (I've been too busy at BetaNews).

Photo Credit: sagasan/Shutterstock
Pokki creates desktop apps from websites

Posted: January 17th, 2012, 9:57am MST by Nick Peers

You have undoubtedly noticed that an ever-increasing amount of the time you spend using your computer is online. The same is true of your phone, and when you’re out and about it is quite usual to use dedicated apps to access services such as Facebook and Twitter. But when using a desktop or laptop, the vast majority of people will head straight to the website of various online services. Thanks to Pokki this may change.

Pokki is a platform for a series of applications that can then be used to transform a range of websites and online services into desktop apps. The value of being able to access the Internet through the desktop rather than a browser is something that has been recognized in the past -- even Microsoft noticed the potential early on with its Active Desktop component in older versions of Windows. Pokki is somewhat more advanced than this and other similar options that are available, offering you a series of specially designed apps, each of which have been built from the ground up with a particular web service in mind.

The main app installs, interestingly, as a taskbar toolbar. From here you can access the Pokki version of the App Store, where you can download and install all manner of Pokki apps (or Pokkies as they are known). As you would expect, there are the familiar faces such as Facebook, Twitter and Gmail, but there are also apps for games, productivity tools and online media services such as Grooveshark. The breadth and range of app is impressive and the overall quality is high.

The fact that Pokki apps are purpose-written really shows. These feel like much more than website conversions; they are dedicated apps that not only bring you a more accessible desktop version of many popular services but in some cases actually improve the service in question. It is important to remember that this is a program that is currently in beta, but it is already shaping up to be something impressive. Check it out now to find out what all the fuss is about.

You can find out more an download a free copy of the app by paying a visit to the Pokki review page.
Got USB device troubles? Try BusDog

Posted: January 17th, 2012, 8:31am MST by Mike Williams

When a favorite USB mouse stopped working last week, I tried all the usual techniques to try and get it running again: so I unplugged and reconnected it, looked for driver updates, checked Device Manager for clues, and so on -- but with no success.

Could the problem be something more fundamental? I downloaded BusDog, an open-source USB traffic sniffer to help me find out.

I launched the program, and it immediately displayed all my USB system and connected devices, including the mouse, so I could see it was being detected correctly.

The next step was to check the device traffic. It’s easy enough: just check the mouse device, click Trace, Start, then move the mouse around, and that immediately revealed the problem. A mouse should be sending USB events all the time, whenever it makes the tiniest of movements, but mine was hardly firing at all -- and that meant it was a hardware problem. Time to forget drivers and other PC tweaks, all I could do was replace the mouse.

This wasn’t the best of news, but at least BusDog had saved me from wasting any more time on the issue. And if you need to similarly check basic USB functionality on any device, then the program should work on XP or later, in both 32 and 64-bit Windows (though the latter will need TESTSIGNING enabled -- see the BusDog site for more).

The program can also sometimes help you to find out more about some USB devices. When we plugged in a couple of flash drives, for instance, the ASCII view of their events sometimes included their manufacturer, model name and other useful information. (You may not be so lucky, but if you’re trying to find out more about a device then it’s worth a try.)

And if you’re a developer or USB expert trying to diagnose low-level device issues then you’ll appreciate BusDog’s filters. By telling the program to display only events containing a particular string of characters, say, you’ll be able to tune out the USB “noise” and focus only on the data you need.

There is one issue here, though, and it’s an important one. If your system has a problem installing a USB filter driver like BusDog then it could prevent any other USB driver from loading, including those for your mouse and keyboard, effectively disabling your PC. This isn’t particularly likely, but it’s possible, so play safe: make sure you have a system restore point and a full system backup available before you launch the program.

Photo Credit: Brian A Jackson/shutterstock
Game Manager 3.0 -- the Windows Media Center of fun

Posted: January 17th, 2012, 6:18am MST by Mike Williams

In the world according to Microsoft, the Windows Games Explorer should provide everything you need to organize, update and manage your favorite games. And it’s not too bad: with a little work you can get a display that includes game information, ratings, cover art and more.

If Game Explorer just isn’t powerful enough for your needs, though, you might find the free Game Manager useful. It also provides a database of games that you can organize and view in several ways, but can do this via a Media Center-style full-screen interface, and includes plenty of extra functionality as well.

The program downloads cover and box art, both front and back, for instance -- right-click with the mouse and you can toggle between the two, clicking to zoom in on the details.

If you use DAEMON Tools or Alcohol 120 percent to maintain images of your game discs, then you’ll appreciate Game Manager’s ability to automatically mount them before running a game, and remove them when you’ve finished.

And the program can also display your game collection in various ways, take screen grabs while you play, or maintain your games by downloading and installing official patches.

While all this looks great, we found Games Manager to be less than intuitive. And the initial configuration process proved particularly tricky. The program can try to locate your installed games, for instance, but don’t expect great results (it thought that an empty C:\My Works folder was home to Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, for instance). Our first efforts to manually add games weren’t much more successful, and other areas of the program similarly didn’t work quite as we expected.

Still, checking out Game Manager’s online help generally provided an answer for most things, and once you’ve managed to import your games, and learned how to browse around your database, then the program worked reasonably well. So if you’re looking for a way to keep a large game collection in order, then Game Manager may be useful -- just expect to spend a little time figuring out how everything operates before you get the full benefit of the program’s functionality.
Zappos hack exposes personal information of 24 million customers

Posted: January 16th, 2012, 1:16pm MST by Ed Oswald

Data on up to 24 million customers of online shoe retailer Zappos was compromised according to an email sent by its CEO Tony Hsieh on Sunday. While Hsieh says that full credit card information is safe, hackers may have the last four digits of the cards.

Hackers accessed names, email addresses, physical addresses, and phone numbers. Passwords were also compromised, however in encrypted form. As a result, the company sent out an email to all its customers, advising them to change their passwords as a protective measure. Zappos is also asking customers to reset their passwords elsewhere where it may be the same.

A menu option has been added to Zappos pages urging customers to "Create a New Password". The company is trying its best to get as many of its users to change their passwords as soon as possible.

The danger from this hack is the increased risk of a compromise of other online accounts. The typical Internet user has only one password that is used across a multitude of services. For example, if hackers are successful in breaking Zappos' password encryption, they may try to access the customer's email account using the Zappos password.

"We've spent over 12 years building our reputation, brand, and trust with our customers. It's painful to see us take so many steps back due to a single incident", Hsieh writes. "I suppose the one saving grace is that the database that stores our customers' critical credit card and other payment data was not affected or accessed".

Zappos is owned by Amazon.com. The retailer had no immediate comment on the attack.

Photo Credit: OleGunnarUA/Shutterstock
10 years after Bill Gates' Trustworthy Computing memo: What it meant for Microsoft and why every tech company needs one

Posted: January 16th, 2012, 1:03pm MST by Christopher Budd

I joined the Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC) in April 2001 and left the company in December 2010. During that time I was involved in security and privacy at Microsoft, culminating in my role handling worldwide crisis communications for security and privacy incidents. I am one of a handful of people who knows what the security world was like at Microsoft before Chairman Bill Gates' Trustworthy Computing memo on Jan. 15, 2002. I was also part of the growth and transformation that memo brought about over the years.

As Microsoft marks the tenth year anniversary of that memo, it seems a good time to share a former insider’s view of what it really meant and accomplished. As well, I'll share thoughts on why, in the next 10 years, it’s critical that other technology companies follow Gates’ lead.

Before: Security as Low Priority

My friend and colleague, Michael Howard, has given a view of what the world was like in 2001 - 2002 over in the Secure Windows Initiative (SWI) group. Michael was actually one of the people that interviewed me: I remember sitting with him in the Building 40 cafeteria as he asked me why I wanted to take on a job this hard. At that time, security response was such a low priority that the MSRC was part of the Windows Server marketing organization.

However, the Windows Server marketing group saw the value of fixing reported vulnerabilities in their products when no one else at Microsoft did. For the greater good of the company, they agreed to have the MSRC handle vulnerabilities in all Microsoft products (a very rare gesture back in those days).

That underscored the reality that getting vulnerabilities fixed at Microsoft back then could be a tough challenge. Resistance was so stiff sometimes that we had a list among ourselves of regular justifications we would hear for not fixing issues ("No one’s found it so far, no one’s going to find it", "It's just a theoretical issue"). One of the things that Michael warned me about that made the job so hard was the resistance from product groups within Microsoft. Sometimes we in the MSRC would find ourselves more in alignment with outside researchers than our ostensible colleagues in other groups because of it.

It’s well known how 2001 was a hard security year for Microsoft. The Code Red and NIMDA worms pushed us in the MSRC to the breaking point. Those crises showed that the resourcing and prioritization that the company was giving to security simply didn’t match emerging threats.

Windows XP had launched in the fall of 2001 and the vulnerability reports quickly followed with a critical, wormable vulnerability reported by eEye Digital Security within weeks (which was fixed just before Christmas as MS01-059). As the new year rolled around, we were truly concerned that an overwhelming tidal wave of vulnerabilities and attacks lay ahead. We were all committed to doing the right thing, but felt we couldn’t because of lacking resources and prioritization.

After: Security as Aspirational Ideal

And then the memo came out. I myself wasn’t involved in it; I was too deep in the trenches. So, Gates' memo came as a bit of a surprise to me and to some of my colleagues. It’s not an understatement that the memo felt, to me, like the arrival of Gandalf and Eomer at Helm’s Deep in the film "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" at a moment of great despair; at last we were getting some relief and might survive.

There was understandable skepticism outside Microsoft that the memo was just a publicity stunt to blunt the criticism the company was getting then. And yes, the memo did serve that purpose. But it was real. Memos from Gates were viewed as rare pronouncements from on high, and that was the case with this memo. In a single movement, Gates enshrined security, privacy and reliability as central, aspirational ideals. Like all ideals, there have been better and worse times in realizing them, but their central importance was never open to question. That memo eliminated the resistance that made our work so hard and gave us the power to do the right thing for customers.

Of course, the memo didn’t fix things overnight. The next two years would see the Slammer and Blaster worms, even more damaging than the worms of 2001. At the same time, a huge buildup and mobilization was happening internally to meet those threats. It took a number of years, but that memo led to the MSRC of today: a group that provides the most comprehensive and efficient response to vulnerabilities and attacks in the industry (and works to share that capability and coordinate with others).

Equally important, it led to the Security Development Lifecycle (SDL), which has made great strides in making Microsoft’s newer products some of the most secure in the industry. The mark of that memo’s success around security response: it’s actually become rather boring from the outside (though I assure you it’s still not boring on the inside).

The Future: Not One Memo, but Many

But as we look at the successes the memo has yielded after 10 years, I think it’s more important to look forward. Specifically, during the next 10 years, other companies in the industry should emulate the aspirational ideals around security and privacy put forth in the Trustworthy Computing memo, and make them centerpieces in their respective cultures.

When the memo came out, the MSRC and SWI were responsible for protecting approximately 90 percent of the people on the global Internet. So, the improvements this memo put in motion helped improve the security and privacy of 90 percent of the world’s computers. The reality today is that no one company can do that much good for so many. In the era of mobile and cloud computing, the market is more fragmented. Overall, that’s good for everyone. However, because only one major player in this space has enshrined these ideals around security and privacy, it means real security and privacy for people is at risk in a way we haven’t seen since before 2002.

In the rush-to-market frenzy today, we’re seeing the same bad decisions that Microsoft and others made in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Those who want to do the right thing for customers at other companies lack the leverage that their counterparts at Microsoft have in the form of that memo. While much of the great talent that Microsoft assembled over the years has moved on to these other companies, spreading the knowledge gained as they go, their jobs are harder because they have to fight the same battles that Gates’ memo put paid to in 2002. At Microsoft, there is no question that security is a part of the development process; there is no question that vulnerabilities will be addressed. Other companies can’t necessarily say the same thing.

During my time at Microsoft, the Trustworthy Computing memo empowered us as we stood for the security and privacy of customers and stood toe-to-toe with those in the company whose primary concern was revenue and growth. It gave equal weight to both sides. In a way, it represents a statement of conscience for the company and we used it as such, with success. Now, the best thing for it, like all ideals, is to break free and work for the good of more than just the person or company who thought of it.

Hopefully, 10 years from now, we will be talking not just about Bill Gates’ Trustworthy Computing memo, but also Jeff Bezos', Larry Page's, Mark Zuckerberg's, and others. At the end of the day, where security and privacy are concerned, many of us who were in the trenches at Microsoft weren't just protecting the company's customers. We were protecting people and we wanted, and still want, to do what's right for everyone.

Photo and Chart Credits: Microsoft

Christopher Budd is a 10-year veteran of Microsoft, where he oversaw and managed communications around online security and privacy incidents. He left the company in December 2010. Today he is an independent consultant using his experience to help clients in the areas of crisis communications, online security and privacy incidents and social media.
Samsung's Bada will merge with Tizen. Just WTF is going on here?

Posted: January 16th, 2012, 12:32pm MST by Tim Conneally

According to a Forbes report, South Korean consumer electronics heavyweight Samsung is integrating the still-new, still-unreleased open source operating system Tizen into its surprisingly popular Bada mobile operating system.

Tizen is the latest incarnation of the seemingly ever-changing mobile Linux distro formerly known as MeeGo; which itself was the combination of Nokia's Maemo and Intel and the Linux Foundation's Moblin projects.

Tizen was first announced less than four months ago, and was only released as an Alpha platform preview two weeks ago, which included a source code preview and SDK preview for the operating system.

Meant to be more than just a mobile phone and tablet operating system, Tizen's target devices include smartphones, tablets, netbooks, in-vehicle systems, and smart TVs. Along with this Alpha, the LiMo foundation announced it had changed its name to the Tizen Association.

On the other hand, Samsung bills Bada as its "smartphone for everyone" operating system. The company has positioned Bada mostly at the smartphone conversion market. That is, conventional mobile phone customers who intend to purchase their first smartphone.

There are currently ten Bada-based devices all with the "wave" nomenclature; and just days before the first preview of Tizen was released, Samsung released Bada 2.0, which is shown in the video below.

Somewhat despite all of this, the Bada platform is kernel-configurable, so it can run either on the Linux kernel, or on a real-time operating system kernel for deployment in embedded systems, making it useful in areas beyond the handset.

Samsung has not come forward to say where Tizen will come into play in Bada, or indeed whether this will result in some sort of hybridized operating system at all. Similar to what has happened with the predecessors to Tizen, it is possible that the convergence will be purely on the development side, where Bada and Tizen developers use the same software development kit and APIs, and the operating systems remain separate, on separate devices.

A Samsung representative told Forbes that one or two Tizen-based Samsung devices will be released this year, but he did not say what devices they would be, or the form the operating system would take.

Unfortunately, this has been one of the main problems plaguing this particular variety of mobile Linux…there is a clear push for openness and standards support, but there is no widespread manufacturer support. Instead, it is usually a single OEM catering to a tiny audience of highly competent power users (who often are themselves the software developers.)

The first and only phone to run Moblin was the LG GW990 which was also the first smartphone to run on the Intel Atom processor platform, and other builds of Moblin concentrated on netbooks and nettops exclusively.

Maemo existed only on mobile internet devices (MIDs) such as the Nokia 770, N800, N810, and N900 before it was merged with Moblin to form MeeGo.

After a year or so in development, MeeGo debuted on the Nokia N9 and was immediately discontinued. Then in September 2011, it was announced by Intel employee Imad Sousou that in collaboration with Samsung MeeGo would be replaced by Tizen during 2012.

On the day of its big name change, the Tizen Association said it will be introducing a partner program in the first quarter of 2012, which will "enable additional stakeholders to provide input and take part in market development activities associated with Tizen."

Next month, the Association is presenting at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, so we expect to find out more about this development there.
Motorola fends off Apple's patent attack, Microsoft next

Posted: January 16th, 2012, 11:18am MST by Ed Oswald

Is Apple a victim of its own success? After a considerable string of patent wins in the courts against Android through much of 2011, the tide has turned. The International Trade Commission ruled that Motorola Mobility does not infringe on three patents that Apple sued over in October 2010.

Motorola filed an ITC complaint at that time targeting the Macbook, iPad, and iPhone. Apple retaliated by filing a suit of its own, accusing the Libertyville, Ill. phone manufacturer of infringing on its own patents, two of which deal with touchscreen technology.

Administrative Law Judge Theodore Essex wrote in a notice that he had found no infringement by Motorola on the referenced patents, which effectively ends the case. Apple may appeal the ruling, but with an outright rejection it appears unlikely that the company will have much success.

"We are pleased with today's favorable outcome for Motorola Mobility", general counsel Scott Offer says in a statement.

All is not necessarily lost for Apple. It did win a mixed judgement from the ITC over its patent claims, and is waiting for additional rulings against HTC as well as Samsung.

Motorola finds itself still entangled in a patent battle with Microsoft. There, Motorola is accused of not paying royalties for licensed technology. Both companies filed claims with the ITC, and an administrative judge found last month that Motorola infringes on one Microsoft-held patent while clearing it of claims on seven others.

Both companies are appealing the decision. A judgement for the Redmond, Wash. company will give Microsoft a stake in almost every Android phone sold today: it holds licensing agreements covering 70 percent of current devices on the platform.

That said, with Google's purchase of Motorola Mobility, Android's patent position has become considerably stronger. Motorola holds one of the strongest mobile patent portfolios in the industry, and has so far successfully used these patents to fend off Apple and Microsoft's patent attacks.

Now with the courts siding with the company, Motorola's position becomes stronger. Is it Apple's and Microsoft's patent Waterloo?

Maybe.

Photo Credit: mary416/Shutterstock
8 CES tech trends that will change your life

Posted: January 16th, 2012, 11:10am MST by Andrew Eisner

We're just back from the consumer electronics extravaganza in Las Vegas where we saw some amazing new gadgets and gear including new TVs, tablets, smartphones and new high tech automobiles.

Much of the technology we saw may not be available for some time (if at all) but we did see some trends that will sooner or later make many of your high tech possessions obsolete.

Future TVs Will Be Sharper

A year ago at CES 2011 we saw just a few 4K resolution HDTVs but at this year's show we saw lots more. Full HD is defined as 1920 x 1080 but the next generation standard will double that to 3840 x 2160, which they are calling 4K (4K x 2K). Just as everyone who saw HD when it first came out could see a big difference between its higher resolution and older standard definition TVs, once you see 4K TVs you'll want one. Yes, it will take new production equipment, new distribution methods and present all kinds of challenges but isn't that what the industry thrives on?

3DTV Will Use Passive Glasses or No Glasses at All

One of the most impressive demonstrations we saw at CES was in LG's private viewing room at the Bellagio. One of the problems with large screen passive 3DTVs is a noticeable raster (at least to our eyes) due to the need to interlace different views to each eye within a single frame. LG's 4K display solves that problem by adding another set of scan lines to the current 1080p resolution. Viewing 3D on their AH-IPS LCD 4K set was the closest it comes to looking out a window, it was that smooth and realistic looking.

4K Will Make Glasses-Free TV Acceptable

At the Sony booth there was a demonstration of autostereoscopic (glasses-free) 3DTV. As light and inexpensive as passive glasses are, the ideal way to watch 3DTV would be without special glasses at all. So far all the autostereoscopic sets we have seen have had restricted viewing angles and a 3D image that just didn't look right to us. Sony's prototype 3DTV uses a 4K high resolution display that delivers a highly satisfactory glasses-free 3D picture.

TVs Will Be Connected and Smart

Smart TVs, with wireless connectivity, are already available but that doesn't mean the next generation of TVs won't be smarter and more connected. All the major TV manufacturers at this year's CES showed off TVs that could run apps and connect between devices. Panasonic showed an interface where you can flick an image off a tablet right onto the screen of a TV. Unless Google can convince all the TV manufacturers to make Android their TV OS, we may see each TV manufacturer running their own proprietary apps on their own TV OS, which may be a variant of Android or some other OS but it also may mean that there won't be any standard TV OS that will run standard apps.

High Tech, Connected Cars Are on the Way

There was a very interesting trend at this year's CES show. In years past the Auto pavilion used to be full of aftermarket car audio systems each trying to play louder than the booth next to them. Unless you liked that blast of loud music it could be a somewhat unpleasant experience. This year it's almost like the neighborhood has been transformed. Gone were a lot of the aftermarket vendors and in their places were auto manufactures like Mercedes Benz, Audi, Ford and others -- all with very classy booths and very high-tech cars.

Next Wave in Auto Consoles and Infotainment Systems

We saw a lot of cars with high tech, touchscreen (or gesture-based) displays. One of the most impressive was in the new $57,000 Tesla S, which uses a 17-inch display that can be used for everything from changing the temperature to reading the front page of the New York Times. Along with touchscreens, we saw quite a few heads-up displays (HUDs) that use tiny projectors to display information in your field of view without forcing you to look away from the road.

Laptops With Touchscreens and Windows 8

Lenovo named their new laptop Yoga because it is flexible enough to have its cover bent all the way around and turned into a tablet. With the touch-friendly Windows 8 about to appear on the scene, the Lenovo Yoga might not be the only laptop with a touchscreen display. Just because you have a touchscreen doesn't mean you still can't mouse around but we think it would be nice to also swipe and pinch as you see fit.

Smartphones Will Have High Res Displays and Stream HD over 4G LTE

Smartphones come out at such a high rate it's almost certain anything you buy today will be obsolete before your two year contract is up but we did see some impressive smartphones at CES which had resolutions higher than Apple's Retina display and could stream 720p video over a high speed 4G connection. We just hope their batteries can keep up with the demands of streaming HD video.

Andrew Eisner is Retrevo's resident gadget enthusiast. The former PC World executive producer helped establish Ziff Davis' premiere test lab, where he led a team testing the latest high-tech gear.
Keep apps current with UpdateScanner 2.0

Posted: January 16th, 2012, 8:57am MST by Nick Peers

Staying on top of software updates can be tricky, particularly if your favorite apps have no means of telling you a newer version is available. What feature updates, performance tweaks and bug fixes could you be missing out on?

This is where the Downloadcrew UpdateScanner, from BetaNews' sister site, comes into play, giving you a single, convenient location for software update checking -- and we’ve just released version 2.0, packed with lots more useful features too.

As with version 1, Downloadcrew UpdateScanner 2.0 scans your Windows PC for installed software, then compares it with its extensive database. Any outdated software is flagged, and you’re invited to visit the appropriate Downloadcrew update page to download the latest version.

The software is designed to sit unobtrusively in your system tray going forward, so the moment an update is released for an installed app, it’ll alert you to it.

Version 2.0 also adds several new features to make it even more useful. A list of the newest and most popular downloads are displayed, and the app will also automatically alert you to the latest software giveaways, when we team up with our partners to offer you full, commercial software at no cost for a limited period only.

The app also displays a list of the latest Softwarecrew headlines, and provides you with convenient access to our software store, where you’ll find dozens of top-rated apps are available for bargain basement prices.

Downloadcrew UpdateScanner 2.0 is available as a beta for registered members running Windows XP, Vista or 7. If you haven’t already signed up, you’ll need a free Downloadcrew.com account to use it – so sign up here [ [www.downloadcrew.com] ] if you don’t already have one.
SKTimeStamps -- so your boss won't know when you finished that document

Posted: January 16th, 2012, 7:29am MST by Mike Williams

If you want to view the created, accessed or last modified dates of a file from Explorer then that’s easy enough (right-click, select Properties).

Windows doesn’t provide any easy way to directly modify these values, though. Which can be a problem, as they’ll sometimes reveal more information than you might like. So if you don’t want your boss to know that the presentation you’re about to hand in was actually completed in a panic only 10 minutes earlier, say, then you’ll need a little third-party assistance --and SKTimeStamp could be the ideal choice.

The program works by adding a “TimeStamps” tab to the standard Explorer file properties dialog, which makes it very easy to use. Just select the files you’d like to modify, right-click one, choose Properties > TimeStamps and set the Created, Last Modified or Last Accessed times to whatever you want.

Or alternatively, check the timestamps you’d like to modify and click Touch to update them to the current time.

You do have to be a little careful here, at SKTimeStamp doesn’t restrict what you can do. If you’d like to set a file to look as though it was created after it was last modified, say, then you can do exactly that. But while Windows doesn’t care, you may find that kind of contradiction causes problems with applications that use logic based on file timestamps (backup tools, say).

Otherwise, though, SKTimeStamp’s Explorer integration means it’s much easier to use than regular stand-alone touch utilities. If you ever need to change a file’s timestamps, then this is a simple and lightweight way to get the job done.

Photo Credit: vesves/Shutterstock
Rule your social life with Zimbra Desktop

Posted: January 15th, 2012, 11:59am MST by Mike Williams

Managing even just the day-to-day basics of your online life can be a challenge, these days, with work and personal email accounts to monitor, Facebook and Twitter to check, calendars, task lists and more to be monitored.

But if you’re tired of navigating a raft of interfaces just to do essentially the same thing - check for, or send messages -- then the free Zimbra Desktop may be able to help, as it integrates many useful services into a single application.

The program is essentially an email client, so that’s probably the best place to get started. You can use it to connect to your Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, Hotmail and regular IMAP/ POP3 accounts. It’ll download email messages from webmail accounts so they’re accessible even when you’re offline. And there’s the usual basic email client functionality. So you can compose and send emails from any account; create new folders and tags to help organise your mail; build filters to automatically route mail to the appropriate folder; maintain an address book for all your contacts, and more.

Zimbra Desktop also includes some basic social networking functionality. This starts with a few basic links to view the latest Digg articles, top tweets and so on. You’re able to run custom Twitter searches of your own. And of course you can connect to and view the latest updates for your own Facebook and Twitter accounts, too.

If you need to get your life in order then the program’s ability to schedule appointments, meetings and events on multiple calendars might come in useful. You’re doing this already? Zimbra Desktop can import details from elsewhere (as long as they can export iCal files), and can sync directly with Yahoo! or Gmail calendars.

And there are plenty of other useful features dotted throughout the package, including integration with many other websites and services (the program can automatically save pages to Flickr, for instance).

While all this sounds great, the implementation isn’t always ideal. We often found ourselves wondering exactly how to carry out some fairly basic function, for instance. There’s no local help file to provide assistance. And the online documentation is a little lacking: we went searching for advice on the social networking features, only to discover that the manual doesn’t include the words “Twitter” or “Facebook” at all.

And it’s on the bulky side, too, with a heavyweight 208MB footprint on our test PC.

Still, Zimbra Desktop does have plenty of useful functionality, and if you’re in need of this kind of integration then you should probably give it a try: once you’ve figured out its limitations, and understand how everything works, then the program can be a real time-saver.
Mom's PC is Google TV

Posted: January 15th, 2012, 11:47am MST by Joe Wilcox

The weekend before Christmas, mom phoned, excited, to tell me about her new 46-inch TV. She lives on a tight budget, but received an unexpected $350 windfall from Social Security. That's lots of money to her, and she spent most of it on a Sylvania big-screen television. The purchase inspired her holiday present, which I hadn't yet decided on: Google TV.

Mom will be 71 this year, and she's confined to a wheelchair because of diabetes, which also has diminished her eyesight. For my mum, the PC and TV are vitally important, particularly during long New England winters when she can't get out often. Much as the Google Cr-48 Chromebook meets most of her computing needs, the 12.1-inch screen is too small, particularly in context: Mom previously used a 17-inch iMac G5 (purchased in October 2005); the graphics chip failed last year. What mom really needs is something really big, and there Google TV offers the benefits of television and PC in one package.

I wanted to send mom the Sony NSZ-GT1 Google TV and Blu-ray player. Sony is committed to Google TV. The other supporter at the time, Logitech, had given up on the platform after losing tens of millions of dollars on it. But for mom to use Google TV as her PC, Sony's tiny game-controller-like remote wouldn't do. Logitech Revue comes with wireless keyboard that makes more sense for typing and for using Google TV as a personal computer. Mom loves it. She's liberated by Revue.

Mom isn't an obsessive TV watcher. The big benefit is getting PC capabilities on a screen she can actually read and use on the television services like Netflix streaming that are primary forms of entertainment on her personal computer. Google TV couldn't meet mom's needs, if not for Chrome. The browser opens up all the cloud and content applications she's used -- particularly since moving to Chromebook six months ago, she has lived in the cloud, and that's an experience easily transferred to Google TV. So now she surfs the web and checks and writes email on the big screen, for example. It's ideal for her needs.

I wouldn't have been as inspired about sending her the Revue, if not for Google TV 2.0 software released in October and delivered to the Logitech set-top box last month. The user experience is greatly improved. Still, I'm dissatisfied with the update, for failing to truly transform Google TV. But it seems to be a work in progress that requires change of habits. The progress: Google adding more content partners, and some stuff not seen much anywhere else -- like Crunchyroll. The habits: To really appreciate Google TV, you've got to largely give up the cable or IPTV provider's program guide.

For mom, Google TV is working out better than Chromebook for two other reasons that I would never have guessed: Apps and Android. Mom uses the Google-branded, Samsung-manufactured Nexus S smartphone I got for free (with 2-year contract activation), during a Best Buy one-day special last summer. The Android phone experience makes Google TV easier for her to grasp than does Chrome OS, which surprised me; I reasoned that the browser would be the more familiar interface. Perhaps, but if you're looking for more out of any computing device, apps and customization matter more -- and these attributes make Google TV easier to use and more familiar to her.

On the apps front, I'm quite interested in how the OEMs differ in their distributions. I updated Logitech Revue to Google TV 2.0 before sending it to mom but didn't use it. Unless my imagination has gone awry, there was an Amazon video-on-demand app installed with the Android update. Well, hell, I don't have one of those on my Sony Google TV. I have to use Chrome or go to Amazon Instant Videos from Google TV's movie search feature. Why Logitech and not Sony?

Back to mom, she needed some assistance physically setting up Revue -- being mostly confined to the wheel chair. Mom's Comcast cable box is in another room, so uses WiFi and not wired connection. Software setup she handled, including cable box, channel guide and other basic capabilities. She's sometimes confused when using Google TV 2.0, but the Home bar provides a safety zone. The remote is dunsel. My mum uses the keyboard and Revue to navigate the Comcast box and program guide, but she is only just starting to understand the benefits of Google search to find content.

"I like everything about the Google TV", mom says, and I couldn't get her to be more specific than that -- perhaps because it so simply suits her basic computing, communications, entertainment and informational needs.
21 downloads you shouldn't miss this week

Posted: January 14th, 2012, 9:24am MST by Mark Wilson

We’re only just through the second week of January, but the number of software releases is just as fast as ever. There have been so many applications hitting the servers over the last seven days, we wouldn’t be surprised if you had missed some here and there. This is why we have put together this handy roundup to get you back up to speed.

If you want to keep in touch with friends, family and colleagues, look no further than Skype for Windows 5.7.0.137 Beta. The latest beta version of this chat client fixes a number of problems that have been found, but Mac users have more to look forward to in Skype for Mac Beta 5.5. The latest beta includes an improved call interface that makes it easier to mute calls, add new people to a conversation, and share files and video.

There are a number of web browsers to choose from these days, and one up and coming star is Pale Moon 9.0.1. The latest release is an impressively speed-optimized custom build of Firefox and there is also a 64-bit version available in the form of Pale Moon x64 9.0.1. Fans of portable apps should take a look at Pale Moon 9.0.1 Portable and Pale Moon x64 9.0.1 Portable, which can be popped onto a USB drive. Another web browser update worth checking out is Google Chrome 17.0.963.33 Beta which enables you to check out just where Google’s alternative to the likes of Firefox is heading.

Many people use their computers to manage a digital photo collection, and Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 Beta 32-bit and Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 Beta 64-bit can be used to make this easier. The latest beat version of this handy utility makes it possible to not only browse and manage photos as well as editing and enhancing them. Adobe may be well known for its photo editing software, but PhotoFiltre 7 is worth a look. This surprisingly powerful photo editor can also be found in a portable form -- PhotoFiltre Portable 7.

If you have spent any time creating a work of art or touching up your photo collection, you should definitely think about backing up your files. O&O AutoBackup 1.0.106 (32-bit) is a wonderful free backup tool that enables you to put your external hard drive to good use and if you are working with a 64-bit version of Windows, you should try O&O AutoBackup 1.0.106 (64-bit) instead. It is important to keep all of your files backed up but FavBackup 2.1.3 provides a quick and easy way to back up the settings and data for your web browser. Hardwipe 1.5.0 is a handy security tool that can be used to completely eliminate the files you want to delete.

If you are used to working with an iOS or Android device, the idea of gestures will be familiar. StrokesPlus 1.2.3 enables you to create gestures that can be used in any Windows application to help automate common tasks. To make it easier to work with your applications and get to work faster, Windows 7 App Launcher v0.0.9.1 makes it easy to quickly launch multiple programs at the same time. If you want to customize the look of your computer, Rainmeter 2.2 makes it possible to completely alter the appearance of Windows with skins, gadgets, widgets and much more. On a more practical note, CDBurnerXP 4.4.0.2905 includes everything you need to create your own CDs and DVDs, including audio discs. Also in the musical category is TuneSync Server 2.0 which can be used by Android users in conjunction with Notpod 1.4.1 to wirelessly transfer your iTunes music collection to your Android device.

That’s it for this week -- there’ll be a plethora of downloads to look forward to in the week ahead and another roundup in seven days.

Photo Credit: Sean Gladwell/Shutterstock
Samsung offers Galaxy Note as a tool for 'creatives'

Posted: January 14th, 2012, 8:39am MST by Tim Conneally

Apple products are deeply entrenched in the creative world. Both Mac and iOS-based devices are the common tools among graphic designers, artists, music producers and composers, and yes, even journalists. (Especially journalists, don't even get me started.)

At CES 2012 this week, Samsung made a major appeal to "creatives" with the new Galaxy Note mini-tablet. In a large booth in a hallway outside of the show floor, Samsung set up caricature artists with Galaxy Notes, who were drawing passers by as musicians played in the background, using the Galaxy Note "instrument app" as a part of their performance gear.

In the video we've embedded, you can see the artists utilizing the stylus to compose sophisticated drawings with the 5.3" tablet, and the Brooklyn-based band Body Language performing with it as well.

Android-based music creation and performance applications are still quite few and far between, and the platform's best cannot even hold a candle to the best music apps on iOS.

However, at the rate that non-phone and non-tablet Android devices are springing up, it's only a matter of time before someone creates a musical instrument that runs on Android as well, or at least an app that can go toe-to-toe with Apple's offerings.
New Samsung Chromebook is a cheap, plastic MacBook

Posted: January 13th, 2012, 6:16pm MST by Joe Wilcox

If you missed the new Series 5 Chromebook at Consumer Electronics Show 2012, there's a reason. Samsung practically hid the thing, during an event of otherwise big, big announcements from the South Korean electronics giant. Disappointment is my reaction to the new offering, which, regrettably doesn't temp me back to using a Chromebook.

I asked my colleague Tim Conneally, who got up close to the new Chromebook in this video, for his reaction. "My first impression: it looks like a plastic MacBook". Ah, yeah, hasn't Samsung been having problems with Apple, fending off accusations of imitating products. Judge for yourself, from the photo and link to Tim's video. Doesn't the new Series 5 Chromebook resemble MacBook but donned in plastic?

But there's something more important than missing metal. My bigger concern is performance, to which Tim dismally responded: "The difference in handling is imperceptible". The specs are largely unchanged from the original. System memory is still 2GB and the processor is less crappy. Not good, just not as bad. Samsung is unleashing an unworthy successor and one that makes Chromebook less appealing than the original -- seeing as v1 isn't enough and the new one isn't much more than a new MacBook-like enclosure and speedier processor. Specs are otherwise the same, or seem to be based on the little info released by Samsung.

A Real Under-performer

For two months last summer, I used a Samsung Series 5 Chromebook as my primary PC in the first weeks and as my only one later on. I found the overall cloud experience to be refreshing, no liberating, but Chromebook grated on me the longer I used it. The problem: Performance. On the software side, Google continually updates Chrome OS, which got better with each of the many updates. But the hardware is steadfast. At the least, Chromebook needs 4GB of memory. But really the processor -- and, more importantly, the graphics chip -- simply aren't good enough.

Living in the cloud doesn't free Chromebook from daily computing demands. If anything there are more, because so much activity is conducted online and so many services require Adobe Flash, which still seems wonky to me on Chrome OS -- that's without the demands placed on CPU, GPU and Net bandwidth.

In early October, when writing about giving up Chromebook, I didn't fuss much over what was for me sluggish performance. I'm a power user and, presumably, atypical of the type of person most likely to use a system running Chrome OS. But after getting back to a real computer, my feelings about performance lag are more pronounced.

Currently, I'm using the Lenovo ThinkPad T420s with: 2.5GHz Intel Core i5 processor (with 3MB L3 cache); 14-inch matte screen (with 1600 x 900 resolution); 160GB Intel sold-state drive; 4GB of DDR3 memory (1333MHz); DVD burner; WebCam; Ethernet; WiFi N, memory card reader; 3 USB ports, one each HDMI and VGA port; and Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit. The original Chromebook -- and, sadly its successor -- isn't in the same league. Chrome OS changed my computing habits, so I still largely do everything in the browser, but there's real performance on ThinkPad T420s and none of the waiting common with the Samsung Series 5.

My Chromebook config: 12.1-inch LED display with 1280 x 800 resolution and 16:10 aspect ratio; 1.66GHz Intel Atom N570 processor; 2GB DDR3 memory (not expandable); 16GB solid-state storage; integrated NM10 graphics; ALC272 integrated audio; stereo speakers (which in my tests deliver surprisingly rich sound for the class of machine); internal microphone; 1-megapixel webcam; WiFi N; Verizon 3G (on higher-end model); headphone/Mic jack; two USB ports; 4-in-1 memory card reader (SD / SDHC / SDXC / MMC); and 6-cell battery (with stated life of 8.5 hours).

Specs are sketchy, but Samsung claims the new Chromebook has 3X performance from the dual-core Celeron processor, which granted is a step up from the single-core Atom processor on v1. But Tim's assessment isn't encouraging, since he has Samsung's original Chromebook and has experience enough for spot comparison.

There's no Samsung press release I could find about the new Chromebook, nor does Samsung's Flickr account -- loaded with photos of everything else. There's plenty on Samsung's Series 9 ultrabook, which design and features are jaw-dropping. As for Series 5 Chromebook, it's a plastic MacBook with few of the benefits.
Hands-on: Huawei Ascend P1 S, super slim Android phone [video]

Posted: January 13th, 2012, 2:00pm MST by Tim Conneally

Notebook PCs aren't the only thing getting slimmed down to razor-thin profiles in 2012. This year, there will be at least three Android-powered smartphones vying for consumer interest by being as thin as possible. So thin, in fact, that each calls itself the thinnest.

This trend started with the Motorola Droid RAZR in the fourth quarter of 2011, which Motorola Mobility CEO Sanjay Jha said was the thinnest smartphone on the market.

Then at the International Consumer Electronics Show 2012 this week, both Huawei and Fujitsu made the claim with their new Android devices: Huawei Ascend P1 S and Fujitsu Arrows F07D. The video above should give you a good idea of just how thin the Ascend actually is. It's quite impressive.
People in China would kill for iPhone 4S

Posted: January 13th, 2012, 12:11pm MST by Ed Oswald

The Chinese are clamoring for the iPhone 4S as it released across the country on Friday, but crowds at its flagship Beijing store became so unruly that law enforcement was called in to disperse the crowd and Apple was forced to halt sales of the the device in its retail shops.

According to press reports, "hundreds" of people began lining up for the device overnight in freezing temperatures for a chance to purchase the device. When the store failed to open at 7 am, some in the crowd became violent and began to pelt the store with eggs and yelled at employees through windows.

In a move to guarantee the safety of those involved, the crowd was informed that the sale was cancelled and police moved in to disperse crowds and cordon the area off with yellow tape. Signs were placed on windows stating the phone was "sold out".

"We were unable to open our store at Sanlitun due to the large crowd, and to ensure the safety of our customers and employees, iPhone will not be available in our retail stores in Beijing and Shanghai for the time being", Apple said in a statement.

Those in China wishing to get their hands on Apple's newest device are now forced to purchase the device online, or through China Unicom, the only official distributor of the device in the country. Either way, the excitement over iPhone shows the importance of the country to Cupertino's success.

China accounted for 16 percent of total revenue in the quarter ending September 30, 2011 -- a massive jump from the two percent the country's sales contributed to Apple's bottom line in 2009. Gartner estimates that about 10.4 percent of smartphones sold in the first nine months of 2011 were iPhones, also up dramatically year-over-year.

With such success, China's black market has proven lucrative for Apple devices, and those who procure them. The Financial Times relays the story of one of these scalpers, who was reportedly still fighting with security guards at noon because she had to "deliver the merchandise".

Photo Credits: Elizabeth Phung
Air Playit -- Android beta available, iOS version updated

Posted: January 13th, 2012, 11:48am MST by Nick Peers

Digiarty Software Inc has launched the first public beta of an Android client of AirPlay It, its free media-streaming solution. The set of tools, which includes AirPlayit Server for Windows and Mac, allows users to stream media content from their computer to compatible mobile devices over WiFi, 3G and 4G networks.

Digiarty has also updated its iOS clients. Air Playit 1.8.0 for iPhone/iPod touch and Air Playit HD 1.8.0 for iPad both add support for CUDA hardware encoding on Air Playit Server to reduce CPU usage and reduce the server’s load on the host computer. The clients also now support multi-tasking background playback of music and allows the user to download music tracks directly to the mobile for playback later while offline.

Other feature improvements for iPhone and iPad users include faster H.264 and AAC encoding and improved image quality. A fix has also been released for the Bonjour discovery service to ensure the server can always be found, while other various performance and encoding improvements have also been added to this new release.

Air Playit 0.9 Beta for Android isn’t yet available on the Android app market, but must be downloaded directly from the Air Playit website. It contains most of the functionality of the iOS version, although as yet no local download of media files is possible.

The Air Playit collection of server and client software is completely free: AirPlayit Server is a free download for Mac and Windows, while Air Playit for iPhone 1.8.0, Air Playit HD for iPad 1.8.0 and Air Playit 0.9 Beta for Android are also available completely free of charge.

Photo Credit: Winthrop Brookhouse/Shutterstock
Hands-on: Nokia Lumia 900, THE Windows Phone [video]

Posted: January 13th, 2012, 10:31am MST by Tim Conneally

At the International Consumer Electronics Show 2012 in Las Vegas this week, Finnish mobile phone leader Nokia debuted the Lumia 900, its first smartphone designed specifically for the United States market. We got to play with it quite a bit, and here's a runthrough of the device's strong points.

The Lumia 900 follows the same design ethic as the N9 and Lumia 800, with a single piece polycarbonate body, gently rounded sides and blunted top and bottom edges. Nokia has equipped the device with all the features that U.S. media and consumers complained were missing in the N9 and 800: 4G LTE connectivity, larger screen size, and a forward-facing camera.

We're curious to hear what you think about this device in the comments section. We talked to quite a few onlookers at the Nokia booth on the CES showfloor, and the only negative comment we heard about it actually had nothing to do with the device itself.

With an couple of undeniably desirable flagship phones (this one and the HTC Titan II,) it seems the main concern among consumers now is the comparative scarcity of apps for the Windows Phone platform.
Up Close: Samsung's new Chromebook and Chromebox [video]

Posted: January 13th, 2012, 9:40am MST by Tim Conneally

While Samsung cut an imposing figure at the International Consumer Electronics Show 2012 with its huge flashy booth, the Korean electronics company managed to quietly display its upcoming second-generation Chrome OS devices without attracting tons of attention.

These new Chrome OS products include an updated Series 5 Chromebook which has 2GB of RAM, a 16GB SSD and a moderately faster CPU. It retains the smooth and ergonomic feel of the first generation Chromebook, but unfortunately also retains that device's somewhat cheap and plasticky feel. Samsung said the price will also remain the same.

The new product in the Chrome OS line is Samsung's desktop PC, known as the Series 3 Chromebox. This unit had six USB ports, headphone jack, Ethernet jack, DVI out and two Display Link ports, and was running Chrome 17.0.963.15. Inside is reportedly a dual-core Intel Celeron processor, with 2GB of ram and a 16GB SSD just like the refreshed Series 5 carries.

There is not yet a street date for either of these devices, nor has a price been announced for the Chromebox.
Murdoch on MySpace: 'We screwed up in every way possible'

Posted: January 13th, 2012, 9:13am MST by Ed Oswald

While his wife's Twitter account was fake, News Corp CEO Rupert Murdoch's is indeed real -- and on Thursday evening his followers got some real talk on his feelings over the failures of MySpace. When the company bought MySpace for around $580 million in 2005, it was thought to be the gateway to expanding Murdoch's empire to the web. Remember at the time, MySpace was the leading social network and Facebook wasn't open to the public.

That was not to be. Almost immediately following the transaction, criticism began to build. Then upstart Facebook began to catch fire, eventually matching MySpace's traffic three years after the merger.

Since then, Facebook hasn't looked back, and MySpace languished. The value of the site fell dramatically, and was sold last June for $35 million -- a 94 percent discount of the original purchase price.

Murdoch lamented the failure in a tweet from the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show. "Many questions and jokes about My Space", he writes. "Simple answer -- we screwed up in every way possible, learned lots of valuable expensive lessons".

How exactly News Corp screwed up with MySpace is up for debate. Some may argue that the company failed to innovate on top of its platform, while Facebook was busy enhancing the service and finding ways to keep users on the site and maintain user interest. Others may debate that MySpace's failure to find an identity may have contributed to its downfall.

Then again, the Internet has a short attention span -- and the simplest answer is that MySpace just fell out of style with the Web consumer.

Either way, Murdoch is determined to learn from his failures. "Last day here", he writes as he, prepares to leave Consumer Electronics Show 2012. "Most top Newscorp execs will huddle to review their own digital efforts and plan forward".

Those comments sure sound like News Corp is willing to try again, but it appears they'll be much more careful this time.

Photo Credit: stocklight/Shutterstock
Privacy group demands FTC investigate Google search changes

Posted: January 13th, 2012, 8:59am MST by Ed Oswald

The chorus of opposition to Google's recent search changes grows louder, with Electronic Privacy Information Center urging the Federal Trade Commission to launch an investigation into whether or not Google is violating users' privacy with the new feature.

Google settled with the FTC in March over its failed Buzz service, submitting to privacy audits for a period of 20 years as a result. EPIC is specifically concerned with personal data, photos, posts, and contact details being included in search results.

"Google's business practices raise concerns related to both competition and the implementation of the Commission's consent order", EPIC executive director Mark Rotenberg argues in a letter to the FTC.

Despite the backlash, Google continues to maintain that its social search additions are only to make searches more relevant to the user. While this may be true, the company has arguably handled the situation in the worst way possible, only exacerbating the criticism through public statements that at times seem combative at best.

Following Twitter's comments slamming Search Plus Your World, Google CEO Eric Schmidt seemed uncomfortable answering questions over claims that the company did not have the necessary permissions to add the data of its competitors.

When SearchEngineLand's Danny Sullivan told Schmidt that the data needed was already publicly available, he shot back "That's your opinion", without explaining why this data would not be useful to the user.

Indeed, anecdotal evidence shows that Facebook and Twitter results have been suppressed as the search engine favors Google+ results, only adding to the chorus of criticism.

Photo Credit: Santiago Cornejo/Shutterstock
Need Microsoft Office on iPad? Try OnLive Desktop

Posted: January 13th, 2012, 7:36am MST by Mark Wilson

While there are a lot of claims made about how tablet computers such as the iPad could be used as complete replacement for desktop computers, there are a number of obstacles that get in the way of this. There are a number of mobile versions of well-known desktop applications available, but these tend to be far more limited than the software you are used to using and there is also the problem of transferring files between devices to bear in min. These are problems that OnLive Desktop can help with, providing iPad users with a fully functional version of Microsoft Office to work with.

This is not a standalone office suite, nor is it a remote access tool in the traditional sense -- rather it is something of an amalgamation of these two ideas. OnLive Desktop provides you with a Windows 7-style interface along with a remotely hosted version of Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint, which is a million miles away from the office suites that can be found in the App Store. Here you are working with a remotely hosted version of Office, which means that you have access to the full gamut of features.

No cloud-based service would be complete without a smattering of storage space, and OnLive Desktop comes complete with 2GB of space that you can use to save your files. Microsoft’s famous Office suite translates well to the iPad’s touchscreen and while iPhone users may feel left out by the lack of support for their device, the smaller screen would simply be too awkward to work with.

The free version of the app is well worth taking a look at, but for anyone looking to carry out serious work on an on-going basis is going to want to consider upgrading to one of the paid-for services. Opting for a Pro account, at a cost of $9.99, will not only give you more storage space to the tune of 50Gb, it also comes with priority access to the OnLive servers. In addition to this, you have the option of installing additional software, also you are not given a free rein and OnLive do have some restrictions in place. There are also enterprise package available and these can be customized to suit your needs.

You can find out more and download a free copy of the app by paying a visit to the OnLive Desktop review page.
Get gestures in all your Windows apps with StrokesPlus

Posted: January 13th, 2012, 6:30am MST by Mike Williams

As Opera has shown, mouse gestures can be a great addition to a browser, providing a simple way to move through your history, open and close tabs, reload pages and otherwise navigate around the program, just by making small and simple mouse movements.

The concept doesn’t have to be restricted to a single application, though. Download StrokesPlus and you’ll be able to use mouse gestures throughout Windows and all your installed software.

The program comes with plenty of built-in default gestures. Holding down the right mouse button while moving the mouse diagonally from north-east to south-west will minimize a window, for instance; moving in the opposite direction will maximise it. Drawing a C will close a program, a P effectively toggles the Play/Pause button within Media Player, and there are plenty of others to adjust volume, centre windows, launch particular applications, cycle through running programs, and the list goes on (click Actions on the StrokePlus system tray menu to see for yourself).

If you have problems with any of the default gestures, though, they can be reconfigured to suit your needs, and you can also add as many new actions as you like.

And these actions can be surprisingly powerful, as they work by launching Lua scripts. So you can launch applications, display message boxes, carry out conditional testing, send keys to a program window, and more. To get the best out of this it’ll help to have some previous scripting experience, but the examples will help you get started. Once you’ve seen that you can launch Notepad with a Lua command like this, for instance…

acRunProgram(“c:\\windows\\notepad.exe”,”",0, 3)

… then it’s not difficult to guess how you might use that to run something else.

But perhaps best of all, despite all this power StrokesPlus remains exceptionally lightweight. It doesn’t interfere with Windows (in fact, it’s portable), and if it gets in the way at any point then you can temporarily disable it in a couple of clicks. And its resource use is tiny, with the program typically consuming only around 270 KB of RAM on our test PC, very impressive for such a powerful tool.

Photo Credit: ARENA Creative/Shutterstock
Save big on security software and system utilities

Posted: January 13th, 2012, 4:54am MST by Mark Wilson

January is traditionally a tight month for finances after all of the expenses of Christmas, but it is also the time of year when there are great bargains to be grabbed. Head over to the Downloadcrew store and you’ll find all manner of great deals with huge savings to be made on big name software.

You may have decided to put yourself through a new health regime for 2012 and there’s no reason your computer shouldn’t be given the same treatment. Look no further than TuneUp Utilities 2012 [3-PC, 1-Year], which will help you to keep your system optimized and you can save 62 percent off the MSRP when you buy the software for just $18.95. Small businesses can make an even greater 75 percent savings when buying TuneUp Utilities Business Edition 2012 [5-PC, 1-Year] for just $19.95.

If you have resolved to make more of your digital media collection in the new year, CyberLink PhotoDirector 2011 may be just what you’ve been looking for. This is a seriously powerful photo editing tool that includes support for RAW images and boasts a range of features to rival Photoshop. Buy the software now for just $44.95 -- a saving of just 55 percent off the MSRP -- and you will receive a free upgrade to PhotoDirector 2012 v3 when it is released in February. You may well also have video files you want to take care of and if this is the case, take a look at CyberLink Video & Photo Collection 1.0. For $99.95 – a saving of 33 percent -- you can grab yourself a super powerful photo and video editing package which includes a range of incredibly 3D effects.

2012 is a year in which security is going to be more important than ever. To help fi8ght the threat of viruses, look no further than AVG Anti-Virus 2012 [1-PC, 1-Year]. For an amazingly low price of $5.95 (saving you a staggering 85 year off the usual price) you can get yourself a copy of this highly acclaimed antivirus tool. For just a little extra, AVG Internet Security 2012 [1-PC, 1-Year] offers you AV protection as well as parental controls, online backup and more -- all for just $12.99. For extra peace of mind, AVG’s ultimate protection package AVG Premium Security 2012 [1-PC, 1-Year] is available for just $19.99. This includes the added bonus of identity protection and Quick Tune optimization to help speed up you system, and all for 71 percent off the MSRP.

If looking after the performance of your computer is of interest, AVG PC Tuneup 2012 [1-PC, 1-Year] is available at the discounted price of $11.99, and if you have more than one computer to take care of, you should take a look at AVG PC Tuneup 2012 [3-PC, 1-Year] which you can buy for just $19.99 -- saving you 60 percent. Looking for online storage? AVG LiveKive 2012 [UNLIMITED storage] includes all of the cloud storage you could possibly need and you can save yourself a massive 70 percent when you buy an unlimited package for just $14.95.

Feel like trying your hand at DJing? MAGIX Digital DJ 2 may be just what you have been looking for. Available at the discounted price of $29.99, saving you 40 percent, this powerful music tool can be used to mix tracks like a pro on a set of digital decks. Sticking with the creative theme, MAGIX Music Maker MX is available at a 33 percent discount for just $39.99. with a huge collection of samples, loops and effects to work with, you’ll find that it’s incredibly easy to create something truly impressive that you can share online with others. You can save more than one third off the MSRP when you buy MAGIX Movie Edit Pro MX for just $45.99, and when you do so you are equipping yourself with everything you need to edit and enhance your home video footage.

Returning to the security theme, Bitdefender Antivirus Plus 2012 [1-PC, 1-Year] is available at the bargain basement price of $4.95 -- a gigantic 80 percent savings. You might also be interested in Webroot Internet Security Complete 2011 [3-PC], which can be used to protect up to three computers against viruses, spam and ID theft. The low price of $9.95 represents a huge 88 percent saving off the usual MSRP, and an even greater saving is to be found withWebroot Internet Security Essentials 2011 [3-PC] with a 90 percent savings bringing the price down to just $5.95. Both of these program include a free upgrade to SecureAnywhere.

Anyone looking to protect valuable data should take a look at Genie Timeline 2.1 Professional is an innovative backup tool that makes it easy to safeguard your valuable files. Available for just $9.95, you can save 83 percent off the MSRP when you buy this great tool today. Multi-computer households can take advantage of an 83% saving off Uniblue PowerSuite 2012 as for just $19.95 you can equip yourself with an advanced tweaking and optimization tool. Finally for this roundup, Laplink PCmover Professional v6 is a great tool for anyone making the move to a new computer. For a mere $29.95 (a saving of 50 percent), you can buy this incredibly useful tool that will help you to move your files, installed applicationsand settings from one computer to another with a minimum of effort.

Don’t forget, these are just some of the highlight from the store – there are plenty more bargains to be found so head over to the Downloadcrew Software Store to see what you can pick up today!

Photo Credit: Gunnar Pippel/Shutterstock
Android Design tells the Ice Cream Sandwich story

Posted: January 12th, 2012, 1:40pm MST by Joe Wilcox

If you're writing apps for Android, or even thinking about it, Google has a new site for you: Android Design. Well, I think it's new. A blog post popped into my RSS feeds late this afternoon, but dated yesterday. So I can't say whence came Android Design.

Christian Robertson, the guy behind the Roboto font family used in Ice Cream Sandwich -- you know, Android 4.0 -- calls the new site "the place to learn about principles, building blocks, and patterns for creating world-class Android user interfaces. Whether you’re a UI professional or a developer playing that role, these docs show you how to make good design decisions, big and small". Heck, even if you're just an Ice Cream Sandwich user (gimme Galaxy Nexus), Android Design is worth your time.

Why end users? Because the site goes into vivid detail about the design principles behind Ice Cream Sandwich. It's essentially the operating systems' story -- and that will grow with the number of devices. Until this week's Consumer Electronics Show, Android 4.0 was available just on Galaxy Nexus or to those Nexus S smartphones having received the update (I'm still waiting for it). But several mobile device manufacturers upped their commitment during CES. For example, ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime will get ICS imminently and new Huawei MediaPads will ship with Android 4.0 later in the quarter.

Ice Cream Sandwich is the future of Android, closing the fork between Gingerbread (for smartphones) and Honeycomb (for tablets). Whatever design principles Google applies here will carry forward to future versions. Perhaps there will be future integration, between Android and Chrome OS, down the road -- or Android could someday replace the browser-based operating system.

Perhaps because of my profession, I glommed on to writing guidelines for developers' apps, which could apply to day-to-day communications for anyone:

1. Keep it brief. Be concise, simple and precise. Start with a 30 character limit (including spaces), and don't use more unless absolutely necessary.

2. Keep it simple. Pretend you're speaking to someone who's smart and competent, but doesn't know technical jargon and may not speak English very well. Use short words, active verbs, and common nouns.

3. Be friendly. Use contractions. Talk directly to the reader using second person ("you"). If your text doesn't read the way you'd say it in casual conversation, it's probably not the way you should write it. Don't be abrupt or annoying and make the user feel safe, happy and energized.

4. Put the most important thing first. The first two words (around 11 characters, including spaces) should include at least a taste of the most important information in the string. If they don't, start over.

5. Describe only what's necessary, and no more. Don't try to explain subtle differences. They will be lost on most users.

6. Avoid repetition. If a significant term gets repeated within a screen or block of text, find a way to use it just once.

I agree with all but the last, for general writing (apps are different). In long-form writing, a little repetition helps to emphasize the point.

As for Android Design, Robertson promises: "The Android User Experience Team is committed to helping you design amazing apps that people love, and this is just the beginning. In the coming months, we’ll expand Android Design with more in-depth contents".
Microsoft search share tops Yahoo, and, whoa, that's not a good thing

Posted: January 12th, 2012, 12:49pm MST by Joe Wilcox

I told you so. In summer 2009, I asserted that the Microsoft-Yahoo search deal was "Google's Christmas-in-July present". Reasoning: By Yahoo outsourcing search to Microsoft, Bing would cannibalize share from its partner rather than lead to the combined entity gaining against Google. Last month, Bing US search share nudged ahead of Yahoo, according to comScore. It's a setback for Microsoft.

Google remains the big winner in the search share wars with Microsoft. In June 2009, the month before the announced search outsourcing deal, Google share was 65 percent. Yahoo and Microsoft were 19.6 percent and 8.4 percent, respectively, or 28 percent combined. In December 2011, Google search share was 65.9 percent, Microsoft 15.1 percent and Yahoo 14.5 percent -- for combined 29.6 percent. That's lower than November when Microsoft-Yahoo share was 30.1 percent. The point: Little has changed since the search deal was announced, except that Microsoft has cannibalized share from Yahoo.

Well, something else changed. Yahoo gave up its crown jewels to Microsoft, only to end up worse for wear in market share. Microsoft gives hundreds of millions of dollars to Yahoo, for search share that could have been gained organically and probably was -- as the software giant improved Bing and unleashed compelling advertising. Microsoft is in process of making Bing more of a development platform with Windows 8, where developers can easily tap the service into their products -- a move that can grow share irrespective of Yahoo.

For Bing, the search share gains are impressive. One year earlier, December 2010, Microsoft share was 12 percent and Yahoo 16 percent, for combined 28 percent. Google was 66.6 percent. Oh? 666. Who says Google isn't evil? ;-)

Of course, Microsoft should gain as much search share as possible. But the gains need to come from Google, not Yahoo. Looking over the historical data, there have been ups and downs for all three parties but one constant: Microsoft taking share from Yahoo and not Google.
Hands-on: LG Viper 4G, Sprint's second LTE smartphone [video]

Posted: January 12th, 2012, 12:26pm MST by Tim Conneally

Sprint's Network Vision upgrade to LTE won't be a top-down change, where only flagship devices will be able to hook up to the high speed network, among the carrier's first LTE devices will be the slightly cheaper, slightly less flashy LG Viper 4G.

The device is light and smallish (at least when compared to Sprint's flagship LTE phone, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus,) and its primary selling points are its high recyclability and low energy footprint. While these qualities rarely prove to be majorly attractive to consumers, it's still nice to have them checked off when looking at new devices.

The Viper 4G is powered by Android 2.3 and a 1.2GHz dual-core processor. It has a 5-megapixel camera and a VGA forward-facing chat camera, a 4-inch WVGA display, and multi-device hotspot capability.
Microsoft signs patent deal with LG over Android, boasts on Twitter

Posted: January 12th, 2012, 12:20pm MST by Ed Oswald

Microsoft now has licensing agreements with Android manufacturers covering 70 percent of all phones on the market following an agreement with LG over Android and Chrome OS announced Thursday. The Redmond, Wash.-based company has long maintained that "Android isn't free", and aggressively pursues licensing deals with manufacturers.

For the most part it has been successful, and already has deals with HTC, Samsung, Suanta, Copal Electronics and Wistron. Motorola resists Microsoft's efforts, but an International Trade Commission ruling finds the company is infringing on at least one Microsoft-owned patent, making an eventual deal more likely.

"We are pleased to have built upon our longstanding relationship with LG to reach a mutually beneficial agreement", deputy general counsel for intellectual property Horacio Gutierrez says. "We are proud of the continued success of our program in resolving the IP issues surrounding Android and Chrome OS".

The licensing agreements give Microsoft a cut from each Android-powered device sold. In the case of HTC, it is $5 per, and it's too much of a stretch to believe that deals with other manufacturers aren't similar. It is believed that Microsoft is making hundreds of millions of dollars in just Android licensing deals alone.

Microsoft officials took to Twitter after the deal was announced to rub it in, using the hashtag #anotherandroidlicense. Corporate communications chief Frank Shaw used a reference to the Occupy movement to make his point.

"Hey Google -- we are the 70 percent", he chided. The comment did not go over so well on Twitter, with some calling it "classless".

Shaw wasn't the only one, as general counsel Brad Smith kept up the Occupy meme. "It's time to recognize that in #patent world, lawsuits are the 1 percent; license agreements are the 99 percent", he tweeted.

Now there's advice that Apple should perhaps take -- settle rather than sue.

Only Windows 8 can save the PC market now

Posted: January 12th, 2012, 10:49am MST by Joe Wilcox

Three days ago, near the end of his last Consumer Electronics Show keynote, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer boomed: "There's nothing more important at Microsoft than Windows". He better mean it, because the Windows PC is in big trouble. Fourth-quarter US personal computer sales were outright disastrous, while overall 2011 global growth was the worst since 2001. Recession that year devastated PC shipments, despite Windows XP's late-year launch.

There is no single reason for weak shipments during fourth quarter, when holiday sales typically give PCs a boost: Economic crisis in Europe, hard drive shortages following flooding in Thailand and weak demand among consumers, among others. There is a convergence of factors -- a cascading effect that disproportionately affects Windows PCs compared to Macs. On the Windows side, only Lenovo has proved immune. Apple meanwhile continues to sell Macs hand over fist, as they say, while Windows is at risk.

Worst Year Since 2001

On Tuesday, Tami Reller, chief financial officer for Windows and Windows Live, warned that the division's fourth-quarter results could fall below analysts' estimates (That's her above from the Microsoft CES keynote). She largely blamed the natural disaster in Thailand and estimated that PC shipments fell about 1 percent year over year.

Late yesterday afternoon, Gartner and IDC both released preliminary fourth quarter and full 2011 PC shipment data. Reller's statement indicated something unexpected, because of the stated reason. However, Gartner and IDC say the declines they observed -- 1.4 percent and 0.2 percent globally, respectively -- were in line with their forecasts. US declines were substantially greater, 5.9 percent by Gartner's reckoning and 6.71 percent by IDC's. The full year wasn't much better, with IDC calling 2011 the "second worst year in history" for US PC shipments.

The hard drive shortage is a mitigating factor that obviously cannot be ignored, but Microsoft is wrong to principally lay blame there. It's not like retailers sold out of PCs during the holidays because they couldn't get enough stock on the shelves. Shipments into the channel were down, but sales to businesses or consumers weren't necessarily up -- that is for most vendors. Gartner calls the hard drive shortage's fourth-quarter impact "limited". The full force is still ahead, and it comes during a quarter of lower sales anyway. IDC says that first quarter is when "the full impact of the HDD shortage is felt". Gartner is a bit more dismal, warning "first half" of 2012.

That, by the way, isn't necessarily bad for Microsoft and likely could have unforeseen benefits. The Redmond, Wash.-based company plans to release Windows 8 public beta in late February, which, based on past releases, likely will slow down current version license sales ahead of the new version's launch. Better there be a hard drive shortage now than in autumn, when, presumably, Windows 8 ships.

Top 5 Vendors, Worldwide PC Shipments, Fourth Quarter 2011 (Preliminary) (Units Shipments are in thousands)

Rank	Vendor	4Q11 Shipments	Market Share	4Q10 Shipments	Market Share	4Q11/4Q10 Growth

1	HP	15,123	16.31%	17,989	19.37%	-15.93%
2	Lenovo	13,012	14.04%	9,514	10.25%	36.77%
3	Dell	11,970	12.91%	11,156	12.01%	7.30%
4	Acer Group	9,790	10.56%	10,643	11.46%	-8.02%
5	ASUS	6,243	6.73%	4,944	5.32%	26.29%

	Others	36,564	39.44%	38,615	41.58%	-5.31%

	All Vendor	92,702	100.00%	92,861	100.00%	-0.17%

Source: IDC Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker, January 11, 2012

Focus on Fundamentals

No one should let Microsoft, or even analysts, distract from fundamentals beyond short-term shortages of a key component. Simply put: Consumers aren't buying Windows PCs like they used to. Their spending goes to other stuff, with tablets -- and that really means iPad -- ripping away sales. We just finished the holiday quarter, one of the two seasons of typically strong sales (back to school is the other).

"Continuously low consumer PC demand resulted in weak holiday PC shipments", Mikako Kitagawa, Gartner principal analyst, says. Not hard drive shortages, but weak consumer demand. "While economic uncertainty in Western Europe had an effect on consumer PC shipments, expectations of a healthier economic outlook in North America could not stimulate consumer PC demand in that region. The healthy professional PC market as well as growth in emerging markets could not compensate for the weaknesses in mature markets, with overall growth still negative".

How negative? In the United States, fourth-quarter PC shipments fell for every vendor but Apple, according to Gartner. HP shipments plummeted by more than 26 percent, while Apple's grew by 20.7 percent. IDC put HP's decline at 25.3 percent and Apple's gain at 18 percent. The Mac maker solidified its No. 3 ranking, with market share rising to 11.6 percent from 9 percent year over year according to Gartner and to 10.92 percent from 8.63 percent by IDC's reckoning.

Top 5 Vendors, United States PC Shipments, Fourth Quarter 2011 (Preliminary) (Units Shipments are in thousands)

Rank	Vendor	4Q11 Shipments	Market Share	4Q10 Shipments	Market Share	4Q11/4Q10 Growth

1	HP	4,274	23.02%	5,721	28.74%	-25.30%
2	Dell	4,166	22.44%	4,372	21.96%	-4.70%
3	Apple	2,028	10.92%	1,718	8.63%	18.00%
4	Toshiba	1,925	10.37%	1,968	9.89%	-2.20%
5	Acer Group	1,511	8.14%	1,765	8.87%	-14.37%

	Others	4,666	25.13%	4,361	21.91%	6.98%

	All Vendors	18,569	100.00%	19,906	100.00%	-6.71%

Source: IDC Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker, January 11, 2012

The Mac is big windfall benefactor of the PC shipment/sales crisis, because:

Apple's brand is sizzling hot right now.
Most people use Windows, which is old to them if upgrading, while the Mac is fresh.
iPad cannibalize Windows PC sales, as businesses and consumers buy the tablet as upgrade companion or even replacement.
Apple is more insulated from the hard drive shortage, in part because of how it sources components compared to most other computer makers.

"The industry still needs to work through some key hurdles in 2012, including recovery of HDD supply, the launch of Windows 8, and successful evolution of PC design to become still more mobile", Loren Loverde, IDC vice president, says. He's optimistic long-term. "Despite the challenges, the industry appears to be on the right path, and will be poised for substantial double-digit growth after working through these issues in 2012".

I've heard those predictions before, such as Gartner and IDC gangbuster forecasts for 2000 and 2001 or 2008 and 2009, before economic crisis crippled PC markets. Both analyst firms downgraded PC shipment projections throughout 2011, so don't bank on Loverde's enthusiasm. There remains lots of uncertainty and risk, as:

Economic uncertainty (particularly in Europe) remains
Major PC vendors place big bets on ultrabooks
Media tablets suck away PC sales
Windows 8 launches

Product Refreshes to the Rescue?

"In the United States, market saturation and the economic environment continue to weigh considerably on consumer demand. However, the market is awaiting new products and technologies, promising a new refresh cycle starting in 3Q12 and beyond with a return to positive growth in the mid-term", said David Daoud, IDC research director, says.

Preliminary Worldwide PC Vendor Unit Shipment Estimates for 4Q11 (Units)

Company	4Q11 Shipments	4Q11 Market Share (%)	4Q10 Shipments	4Q10 Market Share (%)	4Q11-4Q10 Growth (%)
HP	14,712,266	16.0	17,554,181	18.8	-16.2
Lenovo	12,931,136	14.0	10,516,772	11.3	23.0
Dell	11,633,880	12.6	10,796,317	11.6	7.8
Acer Group	9,823,214	10.7	12,043,606	12.9	-18.4
Asus	6,243,118	6.8	5,180,913	5.5	20.5
Others	36,827,666	40.0	37,358,786	40.0	-1.4
Total	92,171,280	100.0	93,450,575	100.0	-1.4

Source: Gartner (January 2012)

Ultrabook and Windows 8 are the two technologies that will matter most, but the former is off to a shaky start. "Ultrabooks were quietly introduced into the market during the 4Q11 holiday season", Kitagawa osbserves. "Ultrabooks didn’t seem to draw consumers' attention. Consumers had very little understanding and awareness of ultrabooks, and only a small group of consumers was willing to pay the price premium for such models. However, as has been seen this week at the International Consumer Electronics Show...2012 is a big debut stage for ultrabooks".

Getting on stage is one thing. Finishing the performance, rather than being booed off, is another. Windows 8 will give ultrabooks their biggest appeal -- and a rash of forthcoming tablets, too. It's major reason Microsoft must get out Windows 8 public beta fast and build up interest among businesses and, more importantly consumers. Windows 8's Metro UI is fresh -- different from past versions and also Mac OS. New is good in markets like the United States, where most everyone likely to buy a Windows PC already has at least one.

Preliminary United States PC Vendor Unit Shipment Estimates for 4Q11 (Units)

Company	4Q11 Shipments	4Q11 Market Share (%)	4Q10 Shipments	4Q10 Market Share (%)	4Q11-4Q10 Growth (%)
HP	4,137,833	23.1	5,598,619	29.4	-26.1
Dell	4,020,549	22.4	4,210,000	22.1	-4.5
Apple	2,074,800	11.6	1,718,400	9.0	20.7
Toshiba	1,925,100	10.7	1,968,091	10.3	-2.2
Acer Group	1,756,838	9.8	1,982,477	10.4	-11.4
Others	4,014,644	22.4	3,583,418	18.8	12.0
Total	17,929,764	100.0	19,061,005	100.0	-5.9

Source: Gartner (January 2012)

Execution is the key, and Microsoft has challenges ahead -- starting with holiday quarter results. Apple is expected to report record Mac shipments (again) during a quarter when Windows stumbled. The Apple Fanclub of bloggers and journalists will go ape over the differences and gloat for months. Public releations-wise, Microsoft has at least a rough month ahead -- until Windows 8 beta releases and hopefully churns up buzz.

Meanwhile, major PC vendors must contend with their own cockeyed planning. The majority chose to announce ultrabooks after the holidays. Who's buying PCs now? Yesterday, I picked on Dell for announcing its sexy XPS 13 ultrabook at CES but not shipping until the end of February. Perhaps I was unfair or short-sighted. End of February, around the same time as Windows 8 public beta, is actually brilliant timing.

Sync files to USB drives with O&O AutoBackup -- download free for January

Posted: January 12th, 2012, 8:19am MST by Mark Wilson

O&O AutoBackup is a (temporarily) free backup and synchronization tool that can be used to safeguard your valuable data by creating a copy on a removable USB or Firewire drive. Unlike many backup tools, this particular offering from O&O Software benefits from being incredibly easy to get up and running, in addition to its free availability.

You can choose to backup an entire drive, a selection of folder or use wildcards to specify particular types of file that should be included, and there are numbers of options when it comes to choosing how your files should be handled. You can opt to simply copy files from one location to the other or you can choose to copy only new and changed files. The third option is to go down the synchronization route so any files that have already been removed from the source drive will also be deleted from the removable drive.

When it comes to run the backup or synchronization job, you can opt to run it on a manual basis, or you may prefer to use the automatic option so you backup is updated every time you connect the USB drive you are working with. That’s really all there is to it -- backing up data is kept as simple as it possibly can be.

For the month of January, O&O AutoBackup is available completely free of charge, but you will need to apply for a free registration code in order to unlock the software. To do so, pay a visit to the registration page, enter your email address and click the ‘Request free license’ button. A serial number will be emailed out to you and you will be given the opportunity to enter this during the installation of the program. Take advantageof this offer while you can – from 1 February, this will revert to being a paid-for product.

You can find out more and download a free copy of the program by paying a visit to the O&O AutoBackup 1.0.106 (32-bit) review page [www.downloadcrew.com] There is also a 64-bit version of the software available which you can download from the O&O AutoBackup 1.0.106 (64-bit) review page.

Photo Credit: Brian A Jackson/shutterstock
Audit your network PCs with Lansweeper

Posted: January 12th, 2012, 7:20am MST by Mike Williams

Network auditing software can be a great way to monitor what’s happening across your LAN. In just a click or two you can browse connected systems, look at key hardware details and check installed applications, without ever having to leave your own PC: very useful.

Unfortunately, the best tools also tend to be very expensive, as they're much in demand. But if you’d like a quality networking audit tool without the corporate price tag, then one option may be to install Lansweeper. It’s an industrial-strength product that comes packed with high-end features, all of which you can use for the 20-day trial period. But when this is up you’ll still be able to run the free version, which provides detailed hardware and software scanning with more than 200 reports across an unlimited number of clients.

The setup process for all this can take a while, depending on your current system. Lansweeper uses SQL Server to manage its database, for instance, so if this isn’t available then it must grab a copy of the free Express Edition (a 100MB download), install and configure it. And the program is accessed via your browser, so it’ll probably need to add a web server, too. The setup program handles all this entirely automatically, but it’s a lengthy process, and you’ll have to be patient.

Once this is complete, though, scanning is relatively straightforward, and you’ll soon be viewing all kinds of details about your networked systems: operating system, CPU, video card, sound card, RAM, hard drives (including free space details), network shares, running services, installed applications and more.

The Config section enables you to drill down through all of this to uncover your target system’s IE extensions, network details, installed Windows updates, and much more.

And if you’re in a hurry then you can simply view Lansweeper’s dashboard, which will highlight key issues that you really need to address: systems without antivirus software, drives which are filling up, critical services such as Windows Update which aren’t running, everything you need to know.

If there’s a problem here it comes in the sheer volume of information; it’s a lot to handle in a browser-based application. But if you’d like to take a look at how it all works, then there’s a demo version on the Lansweeper site which will give you an idea, or you can just jump straight in with the trial/ freeware version: it’s a powerful package, and we don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

Photo Credit: Vladru/shutterstock
'Hardwipe' Windows PC data

Posted: January 12th, 2012, 6:58am MST by Mark Wilson

When it comes to your computer, security takes a number of forms. There is the threat of viruses and spyware to consider, the importance of securing accounts with strong passwords and there is also the security of your files to bear in mind. You might think that when you delete the files you no longer need they are gone forever, but there are a variety of tools can techniques that can be used to recover data that has been ‘removed’. Hardwipe is a free tool that can be used to boost your security by overwriting files multiple times to dramatically reduce, or even eliminate, the ability to recover files.

The program can be used in a couple of ways, either to wipe a drive in its entirety or delete selections of files. When it comes to wiping a drive, you must use the main program interface to select the drive you are interested in as well as selecting the options that should be used, but when it comes to deleting individual files and folders, Windows’ right click menu provides access to the wiping option.

Files can be overwritten anything from once to 35 time depending on the sensitivity of your data or your level of paranoia, but you should expect most of the multi-wipe options to take quite some time -- although it is possible to adjust the priority at which the program runs. Whether you are wiping a drive completely or just deleting a large number of files, you can opt to have Windows automatically shut down so you do not need to sit at your computer waiting for the process to finish.

Another handy option is the ability to wipe free space that has already been created by deleting files in the usual way or using other software. This option to clean up the potential security risks from the past is a nice touch, as is the feature that makes it possible to wipe data that has been stored in Windows’ swap file.

Hardwipe is not the only secure deletion tool that is available – in fact there are quite a few to choose from – but it benefits greatly from the fact that it is not only free of charge but also incredibly easy to use. If you want to protect your privacy if you are passing on hardware to another owner, this is a great way to keep your data secure.

You can find out more and download a free copy of the app by paying a visit to the Hardwipe review page.

Photo Credit: megainarmy/shutterstock
Up Close: Solowheel, the 'E-Unicycle?' the 'Pocket Segway?' [video]

Posted: January 12th, 2012, 6:01am MST by Tim Conneally

Transportation is not something we generally cover here on BetaNews, but sometimes a product will slip through our defenses and end up on the front page because it is interesting, novel, broadly applicable, or simply charming.

Now, Inventec deals in some hokey re-inventions of user-propelled transportation devices: scooters, skates, hydrofoils, and such. Solowheel is a re-invention of the Segway, which is itself a very hokey vehicle, but built on compelling gyroscopic balancing technology and eco-friendly energy consumption.

It shrinks the Segway concept down to a smaller and more affordable profile. Its single wheel is small enough to fit in an airport locker, and costs a little less than half of the retail price of a new Segway. A single charge lets the rider travel 15 to 20 miles at 10 miles per hour, and the Lithium-Ion battery can be fully recharged in 2 hours using standard AC current.

That's not bad when considering a Segway can travel about 24 miles at 12.5 mph, and a full recharge takes 8 to 10 hours.
Hands-on: Android-powered Smart Camera from Polaroid [video]

Posted: January 11th, 2012, 5:38pm MST by Tim Conneally

Like Kodak, film company Polaroid was wrecked by the gradual takeover of digital cameras and demolished by the smartphone taking over the role of the casual/disposable point and shoot.

So Polaroid has embraced Android, and released what is effectively a super high megapixel smartphone without all that pesky communications gear.

The Polaroid SC1630 Smart Camera has a 16 megapixel image sensor, 3x optical zoom, Wi-Fi, GPS, GSM/CDMA network connectivity, up to 32GB of memory via microSD, and a touchscreen interface powered by Android.

Polaroid says the SC1630 will be available in 2012, but did not announce a price, release date, or global availability.
Call me when Nokia Windows Phones connect

Posted: January 11th, 2012, 1:38pm MST by Joe Wilcox

I'm a fan of Windows Phone and its glance-and-go concept, and Microsoft has made lots of noise at Consumer Electronics Show 2012 about the future. Say, how's that "Get smoked by Windows Phone" competition going, anyway?

But somebody is blowing smoke about how grand will be Nokia Windows Phone sales this year. Thirty-seven million? Cough. Cough. iPhone may have reached that number during holiday quarter 2011. Besides, it's pitiful compared to the Nokia we all used to know.

Morgan Stanley put out that 37 million figure -- 43 million, when including HTC -- and 64 million Nokia Windows Phones in 2013. Those numbers are a shadow of Nokia's former self, from the company that invented the smartphone category more than a decade-and-a-half ago. In 2008, Nokia sold 472 million cell phones, for 38.6 percent share, and handily led the smartphone market -- that despite shipment delays, according to Gartner. For example, in fourth quarter 2008, Nokia sold 15.6 million smartphones for 40.8 percent market share. For all 2009, 80.9 million phones with Symbian -- then Nokia's flagship OS -- sold worldwide, for 46.9 percent market share.

It's all downhill from there. In third quarter 2011, Samsung snatched Nokia's smartphone crown. If Morgan Stanley's projections are right, Nokia will sell about half as many smartphones in 2012 as four years ago, when the market was considerably smaller. For example, smartphones accounted for 26 percent of global handset sales in third quarter 2011, according to Gartner. Three years later, smartphones accounted for 11.8 percent of global handset sales. IDC predicts that smartphone shipments, not actual sales, will reach 1 billion in 2015.

I simply don't see much reason to coo about 37 million shipments when looking at Nokia's past and Androids' and iPhone's future. I sure would like to. Windows Phone stands apart from the rabble. The user interface is fresh and, honestly, refreshing.

Nokia has announced three Windows Phones -- the Lumia 710, 800 and 900 -- but only two have shipped. T-Mobile started selling the Lumia 710, the first Nokia Windows Phone available from a US carrier, today for $49.99 with contract. Earlier at CES, Nokia announced the Lumia 900, which will come to AT&T later this year.

I'm a long-time Nokia enthusiast, who would really like to see a comeback -- marriage of exceptional hardware and Microsoft software. Perhaps I'll be more excited when Lumia 900 ships. For now, the sales numbers will look paltry if iPhone achieves in one quarter what Nokia Windows Phones might do in a year.

The photo above and infographic below are courtesy of Microsoft.
Guitar Apprentice: a legit iPad guitar [video]

Posted: January 11th, 2012, 1:21pm MST by Tim Conneally

I've been saying it for almost three years now...the iOS app ecosystem has truly changed the music industry. Nearly everything you needed to do in order to be a working musician you could do in some way with your iPhone/iPod/iPad.

And that was before the core MIDI spec was rolled out.

Now, with the ability to hook up MIDI peripherals, iOS-powered instruments are impacting music performance too, as ION's new Guitar Apprentice shows in the video above. It cuts out the need for a MIDI breakout box, and gives guitarists a unique way to record and perform for relatively little money ($99).
Criticism grows over Google's social search transition

Posted: January 11th, 2012, 11:41am MST by Ed Oswald

Google faces an increasing tide of criticism over its decision to tightly weave Google+ into its search results, with at least one legal expert saying that its behavior may be grounds for antitrust action. Twitter is the most vocal critic so far, with General Counsel Alex Macgillivray describing the Mountain View, Calif. company's move as "a bad day for the Internet".

"For years, people have relied on Google to deliver the most relevant results anytime they wanted to find something on the Internet", Twitter says in a statement to All Things Digital. "We’re concerned that as a result of Google’s changes, finding this information will be much harder for everyone. We think that’s bad for people, publishers, news organizations and Twitter users".

Indeed, Google's social results pull from no other social networks except for the company's own. While the search giant might not any longer have access to real-time tweets after the expiration of an agreement last July, publicly available feeds should be enough to populate Google's social search features at least at a high level.

But it may have been Twitter who ended the agreement, Google maintains. "We are a bit surprised by Twitter's comments about Search plus Your World, because they chose not to renew their agreement with us last summer, and since then we have observed their rel=nofollow instructions", the company shoots back in a Google+ post. It also says that it didn't have the permission from other services to use their content.

In plain English: Twitter allegedly asked Google not to use links included in tweets to influence Google's rankings.

Facebook, potentially the other aggrieved party here, so far has made no public statements on the matter.

When SearchEngineLand's Danny Sullivan pointed out through public feeds Google would have any permission that it needs, Google CEO Eric Schmidt responded "that's your opinion". Schmidt also appears uncomfortable with the line of questioning in a YouTube video posted to the site, and at times combative.

Regardless of Google's defense, at least one legal expert says the actions of Google here may rise to the level of exclusionary conduct, which makes it an antitrust issue. Max Kennerly of The Beasley Firm in Philadelphia previously suggested Google's moves to favor Chrome in its search results also raised antitrust concerns.

"[Google Plus Your World] -- a mixing of search with Google verticals, or church and state, so to speak -- raises the antitrust stakes considerably", Kennerly says. "Did Google make that change as part of, in the Supreme Court's words, 'the willful acquisition or maintenance of that power as distinguished from growth or development as a consequence of a superior product, business acumen, or historic accident?'"

From that definition of exclusionary conduct, Google is definitely skirting the line. Kennerly does say that Twitter and Facebook's failure to allow the search giant to crawl either service as deeply as it can with Google+ could offer some protection.

"That might convince a judge that the new move was intended to improve user results, not to exclude Twitter and Facebook", he argues. "It’s an aggressive move, one without considerable risk".
Shazam Player launches for iOS, and I'm mad about it

Posted: January 11th, 2012, 11:09am MST by Joe Wilcox
I'm whining about Galaxy Nexus this afternoon, not because of the phone, which is exceptional. It's an app wanna-have thing. Today, Shazam launched a cool new mobile app, but it's iOS-only, baby. Got Android? You're out of luck. Dunno `bout you, but Shazam is among my top-five most-used apps. The new one, Shazam Player, could be, too.

The app combines music playback with the discovery tools, including the cool lyrics feature, available with Shazam. There's integration with iTunes for playback and music buying. Users can watch YouTube videos of fav artists and share the "soundtrack" of their day on Facebook or Twitter.

"This is a momentous occasion for the company as it is the first separate app we’ve introduced since the launch of the Shazam App for iPhone in 2008", Andrew Fisher, Shazam CEO, says. "With the Shazam Player App we are staying true to our core music fans by enabling them to experience their own music libraries in a more engaging and social way".

Mr. Fisher, you do know that people with Android phones listen to music, too, right?

Among other Shazam Player features:
- Arist bios
- Tour dates
- Static lyrics
- Streaming lyrics as music plays
- Access to iTunes playlists and create new ones
Okay, I'm done whining. I'll just limp along with Shazam, the included LyricPlay feature and Spotify. And you?
T-Mobile USA expands HSPA+, won't 'move very fast' on LTE

Posted: January 11th, 2012, 11:01am MST by Ed Oswald

With its planned merger with AT&T now dead, T-Mobile USA must find ways forward to continue as a viable entity. The company late Tuesday announced that it had completed HSPA+ network upgrades in new markets, further expanding its "4G" footprint. That said, it appears in no rush to move to 4G.

T-Mobile now offers 42Mbps HSPA+ in 175 of its markets, covering an estimated 186 million people. Its slower 21Mbps HSPA+ service has also expanded, now covering 217 markets. This will likely widen shortly, as the carrier receives spectrum due as part of the merger breakup with AT&T -- but it first must gain regulatory approval.

While T-Mobile USA CEO Phillip Humm called its HSPA+ "good enough" in an interview with All Things Digital Tuesday, it still does not change that the carrier does not have a clear path to LTE, which its three larger competitors do. Humm says that LTE is in the long-term plan, but it "doesn't see a need to move very fast".

T-Mobile also debuted two 4G devices -- the Samsung Galaxy S Blaze 4G, and the Nokia Lumia 710 -- at Consumer Electronics Show 2012. "While Android powers the majority of T-Mobile smartphones, the company expects Windows Phone to also play an important role in its 2012 portfolio", according to an official statement.

Lumia 710 is the first Nokia Windows Phone to go on sale in the United States, starting today, from T-Mobile -- $49.99 with contract. On Monday, during his final CES keynote, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said the Lumia 800 is coming as well. At CES, Nokia unveiled its flagship Windows Phone, the Lumia 900, which will come to AT&T later this year.
Hands-on: Intel's Android smartphone reference design [video]

Posted: January 11th, 2012, 10:54am MST by Tim Conneally

Leading PC chipmaker Intel shook the Consumer Electronics show on Monday with the announcement that its Atom processors will be shipping in Android-based smartphones by Motorola and Lenovo in the second half of the year.

“The best of Intel computing is coming to smartphones,” said Intel President and CEO Paul Otellini in a statement on Monday. “Our efforts with Lenovo and Motorola Mobility will help to establish Intel processors in smartphones and provide a solid foundation from which to build in 2012 and into the future.”

Until now, Intel's presence in the smartphone world was extremely limited, but the company announced in September that it was working on porting Google's Android operating system to its x86-based mobile processor family on the processor platform formerly codenamed "Medfield."

While not a game-changing innovation for Android (there are now at least three x86 chipmakers who have built their own version of the operating system), it certainly changes the game for Intel, who had been more or less sidelined by the explosion in ARM-based processors.
Dell gives more ultrabook in smaller body

Posted: January 11th, 2012, 10:12am MST by Joe Wilcox
As expected, Dell has joined the ultrabook foray, announcing the XPS 13 at Consumer Electronics Show 2012. Thin and lights aren't new for Dell, but joining the announce-now-and-ship-later CES crowd is disappointing. As a build-to-order maker, Dell is known for shipping right away. If you want an XPS 13, however, the Round Rock, Texas PC maker will make you wait until the "end of February".

The XPS 13 inherits from its predecessors, like the XPS 14: The screen is edge-to-edge, allowing for a larger display in a smaller enclosure. Dell boasts a 13.3-inch screen in the size of an 11.6-inch portable, claiming the frameless display reduces XPS 13's footprint by 15 percent compared to comparable 13.3-inch laptops. Looking at the product photo, I don't see how the screen is any more frameless than Apple's MacBook Air.

For comparison, 11.6-inch MacBook Air measures 0.11-0.68 inches thick by 11.8 inches wide by 7.56 inches deep. XPS 13: 0.24-0.71 by 12.4 by 8.1 inches deep, putting it midway between the smaller MacBook Air and the 13.3-inch model, which measures 0.11-0.68 by 12.8 by 8.94 inches.

"From the edge-to-edge frameless display that packs more screen into a compact body, to the innovative carbon fiber base that is lightweight and cool to the touch, the XPS 13 exemplifies our commitment to offering industry-leading mobile solutions that deliver durability and performance without compromise", Jeff Clarke, Dell vice chairman, says.

Specs, according to Dell:
- Ultrathin laptop (0.24-0.71"/6-18mm) with Microsoft Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium; precision machined aluminum with a carbon fiber composite base
- Intel Core i5 2467M and i7 2637M processor choices
- 13.3” HD WLED, 300-nit (1366x768) 720p; edge-to-edge hardened Gorilla Glass
- Intel HD 3000 video graphics
- 4GB DDR3 SDRAM 1333Mhz memory
- 128 GB SSD or 256GB SSD drive options
- Full size, backlit chiclet keyboard; glass integrated button touchpad with multi-gesture support
- Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6230 802.11 A/G/N and Bluetooth 3.0 wireless connectivity
- High definition audio with Waves MaxxAudio 4
- Built-in 47WHr 6-cell battery (Dell XPS 13 batteries are built into the laptop and are not replaceable by the customer) offering up to eight hours, fifty-three minutes of battery life^[5]; 45W AC adaptor
- USB 3.0 (1) + USB 2.0 with PowerShare (1), mini Display-Port, and headset jack (1)
- Built-in 1.3MP webcam (H.264 enabled via Skype ^[4]) with dual array digital microphones
- Dell ProSupport for business customers, Dell Configuration Services and Windows Trusted Platform Module options for commercial models
- Dimensions: Height: 0.24-0.71" (6-18mm) / Width: 12.4" (316mm) / Depth 8.1" (205mm); Weight: starting at 2.99lbs (1.36 kg)
XPS is Dell's premium brand, and it shows in the ultrabook's pricing, which starts at $999 with Core i5 processor, 128GB solid-state storage and 4GB RAM. That makes XPS 13 among the priciest ultrabooks announced at CES.

The XPS brand "is now 20 percent of Dell’s total consumer laptop business" the company says. "Revenue for XPS laptops has increased 207 percent over last year when the company re-launched the brand".

XPS 13 buyers will receive 100GB of cloud storage from Dell and 12-month Skype Premium subscription. The first 10,000 buyers also will receive a T-Mobile 4G Mobile Hotspot with 90-days free service.

Photo courtesy of Dell

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Posted: February 7th, 2012, 2:35pm MST by Joe Wilcox

Posted: February 7th, 2012, 11:37am MST by Tim Conneally

Posted: February 7th, 2012, 11:31am MST by Chris Boss

Posted: February 7th, 2012, 10:04am MST by Tim Conneally

Posted: February 7th, 2012, 9:10am MST by Mark Wilson

Posted: February 7th, 2012, 8:48am MST by Nick Peers

Posted: February 7th, 2012, 7:22am MST by Tim Conneally

Posted: February 7th, 2012, 7:15am MST by Mike Williams

Posted: February 6th, 2012, 4:52pm MST by Ed Oswald

Posted: February 6th, 2012, 2:54pm MST by Joe Wilcox

Posted: February 6th, 2012, 2:00pm MST by Joe Wilcox

Posted: February 6th, 2012, 11:38am MST by Joe Wilcox

Posted: February 6th, 2012, 11:09am MST by Tim Conneally

Posted: February 6th, 2012, 10:38am MST by Mike Williams

Posted: February 6th, 2012, 10:28am MST by Nick Peers

Posted: February 6th, 2012, 9:38am MST by Joe Wilcox

Posted: February 6th, 2012, 9:06am MST by Tim Conneally

Posted: February 5th, 2012, 7:51pm MST by Joe Wilcox

Posted: February 4th, 2012, 10:45am MST by Mike Williams

Posted: February 4th, 2012, 10:24am MST by Mark Wilson

Posted: February 3rd, 2012, 4:41pm MST by Ed Oswald

Posted: February 3rd, 2012, 2:51pm MST by Tim Conneally

Posted: February 3rd, 2012, 12:38pm MST by Jeremy Liu

Posted: February 3rd, 2012, 11:50am MST by Tim Conneally

Posted: February 3rd, 2012, 10:57am MST by Joe Wilcox

Posted: February 3rd, 2012, 9:43am MST by Tim Conneally

Posted: February 3rd, 2012, 9:13am MST by Nick Peers

Posted: February 3rd, 2012, 8:26am MST by Joe Wilcox

Posted: February 3rd, 2012, 7:30am MST by Mike Williams

Posted: February 3rd, 2012, 6:00am MST by Mike Williams

Posted: February 2nd, 2012, 3:53pm MST by Ed Oswald

Posted: February 2nd, 2012, 3:17pm MST by Mark Wilson

Posted: February 2nd, 2012, 3:01pm MST by Tim Conneally

Posted: February 2nd, 2012, 2:37pm MST by Chris Boss

Posted: February 2nd, 2012, 1:05pm MST by Joe Wilcox

Posted: February 2nd, 2012, 12:20pm MST by Joe Wilcox

Posted: February 2nd, 2012, 11:49am MST by Ed Oswald

Posted: February 2nd, 2012, 10:18am MST by Joe Wilcox

Posted: February 2nd, 2012, 9:59am MST by Tim Conneally

Posted: February 2nd, 2012, 9:18am MST by Chris Wiles

Posted: February 2nd, 2012, 8:56am MST by Joe Wilcox

Posted: February 2nd, 2012, 8:13am MST by Tim Conneally

Posted: February 2nd, 2012, 6:37am MST by Nick Peers

Posted: February 1st, 2012, 12:15pm MST by Joe Wilcox

Posted: February 1st, 2012, 12:10pm MST by Ed Oswald

Posted: February 1st, 2012, 11:25am MST by Joe Wilcox

Posted: February 1st, 2012, 10:55am MST by Tim Conneally

Posted: February 1st, 2012, 10:05am MST by Mark Wilson

Posted: February 1st, 2012, 9:25am MST by Mark Wilson

Posted: February 1st, 2012, 9:18am MST by Ed Oswald

Posted: February 1st, 2012, 8:41am MST by Joe Wilcox

Posted: February 1st, 2012, 7:27am MST by Tim Conneally

Posted: January 31st, 2012, 1:19pm MST by Tim Conneally

Posted: January 31st, 2012, 12:54pm MST by Nick Peers

Posted: January 31st, 2012, 12:41pm MST by Ed Oswald

Posted: January 31st, 2012, 11:45am MST by Joe Wilcox

Posted: January 31st, 2012, 11:13am MST by Ed Oswald

Posted: January 31st, 2012, 10:53am MST by Ed Oswald

Posted: January 31st, 2012, 10:08am MST by Joe Wilcox

Posted: January 31st, 2012, 8:36am MST by Mike Williams

Posted: January 31st, 2012, 8:24am MST by Nick Peers

Posted: January 31st, 2012, 8:16am MST by Tim Conneally

Posted: January 31st, 2012, 6:58am MST by Mike Williams

Posted: January 30th, 2012, 7:09pm MST by Tim Conneally

Posted: January 30th, 2012, 4:28pm MST by Mark Wilson

Posted: January 30th, 2012, 4:14pm MST by Joe Wilcox

Posted: January 30th, 2012, 12:14pm MST by Tim Conneally

Posted: January 30th, 2012, 11:59am MST by Ed Oswald

Posted: January 30th, 2012, 11:34am MST by Ed Oswald

Posted: January 30th, 2012, 11:22am MST by Chris Boss

Posted: January 30th, 2012, 11:05am MST by Tim Conneally