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BetaNews.Com (8 non lus)

WinZip System Utilities Suite is Windows' Jack of all trades and master of one

Publié: février 16, 2011, 11:57pm CET

By Nick Peers

WinZip has released version 1.0 of a new all-in-one system suite, comprising of no less than 20 separate tools covering most aspects of system maintenance, including fixing problems, cleaning out redundant files, providing improved privacy and security, and optimising performance. The tools are brought together under a single front end that includes a tool that quickly scans and fixes problems that it finds.
WinZip System Utilities Suite starts with the Smart PC Care tool, which scans your PC for problems and issues. These can then be fixed with a single click, and the tool scheduled to run at set intervals ensuring your PC remains in tip-top condition.
Advanced users can also access each tool separately for individual fine-tuning. The 20 tools are split into seven distinct categories: Registry Optimizer, Disk Cleaner and Optimizers, Windows Optimizers, Security and Privacy, Backup and Recovery, Common Problems Fixer and Regular Maintenance. Selecting a tool launches the application in its own window, which sits on top of the main program window to enhance the integrated look and feel.
Most common tools found in similar system suites are here: Registry cleaning and optimising, disk cleaning and defragging, data shredding and so on. There are some interesting tools that will appeal to those looking for a unique slant: the Games Optimizer allows you to run games in their own virtual space, which enables them to use all available resources for a performance boost. The Backup & Recovery tool allows you to protect key system files, while PC Fixer includes one-click fixes for common PC ailments.
WinZip System Utilities Suite costs $39.95 for a single year's subscription, and runs on Windows XP, Vista and 7 (both 32- and 64-bit). A feature-limited demo is available for download.
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010
Symantec releases web app/desktop gadget for daily threat advisories

Publié: février 16, 2011, 10:28pm CET par Tim Conneally

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

When Symantec released its Norton 2011 products back in September, the company spoke of "engendering goodwill" among potential customers with free tools to educate and protect their vulnerable systems. Today, the company released yet another free tool to keep users aware of the ever-changing daily threat landscape.
With the update of Norton 360 to version 5.0 today, Symantec also unveiled the Norton Cybercrime Index, a free service that gives a daily snapshot of the most dangerous websites and the most hijacked search terms, as well as top scams, identity theft ploys and spam.
The daily data from the Cybercrime Index can be viewed in a Web portal, on a mobile site, or as a free desktop gadget for Windows 7 and Vista. The main tool is a daily risk level meter similar to the Department of Homeland Security's threat advisory level.
Today, for example, is an 82 on the Norton Cybercime index, which falls closer to the historic low of 57. The historic high, by comparison, is 179, which occurred in late December, because of a seasonal increase in identity theft and fraud.
The service includes a daily list the most malware-ridden sites, the top malware vectors, the most hijacked search terms (today's top is "translator") the top spam categories, the volume of spam, categories most subject to fraud and ID theft, and a list of recent incidents of ID theft with detailed descriptions.
The daily risk level is determined by information from Symantec's Global Intelligence Network, which monitors more than 130 million servers and pulls data from ID Analytics and the Open Security Foundation's DataLossDB. All this data is then plugged into an algorithm that assigns values to the number of online threats every day.
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010
Would you pay $600 for the Motorola XOOM tablet?

Publié: février 16, 2011, 10:06pm CET par Joe Wilcox

By Joe Wilcox, Betanews

Last week, I asked about $800, and most Betanews readers answering the question said emphatically "No!" Today, Reuters is reporting some potentially exciting news from Mobile World Congress: A WiFi-only version of the XOOM tablet will be available for $600. Is the price low enough for you? You know how to answer -- in comments or by emailing joewilcox at gmail dot com.
Surprisingly, Verizon, which will carry the 3G/4G model, is doing so unsubsidized -- so that previously leaked $800 price still applies. The Verizon model does WiFi, too, but based on leaked Best Buy documents buyers must use at least one month of data service first; then WiFi is enabled. How whacked out is that?
Yesterday I complained that carrier contractual commitments for data put Android tablets at unfair competitive advantage to Apple's iPad. In January, I posted "5 things every tablet needs to succeed" --"right price" and "no carrier commitment" appeared as items one and two. The two points are intertwined, since Apple offers WiFi-only iPad for $499. That puts the XOOM just one hundred bucks higher. Again, is that cheap enough for you?
Certainly XOOM's specs are compelling: 1GHz dual-core nVidia Tegra 2 processor; 10.1-inch display with 1280 x 800 resolution; 1GB of RAM; 32GB internal storage, expandable with MicroSD card; 5-megapixel back-facing and 2-megapixel front-facing cameras; 720p video recording; 1080p video playback; HDMI and USB 2.0 ports; accelerometer; barometer; gyroscope; Android 3.0 (Honeycomb).
The comparably-priced ($599) WiFi-only iPad: 1GHz single-core Apple A4 processor; 9.7 inch display with 1024 x 768 resolution; 256MB of RAM; 32GB internal storage (non-expandable); 720p video playback; accelerometer; and iOS 4. There are no cameras, there is no HDMI port and external USB connector costs $29 extra. Another option: Spend $100 less for the 16GB WiFi-only iPad.
Fans of the iPad are quick to claim apps are an advantage, but that's a gap Android is closing. Google One Pass set against Apple's more subscription plan should open the floodgates of content, including video as well as written information. Apple says that the average selling price for iPad is $600, so surely someone is willing to pay that much? Is it you, for the Moto XOOM?
Last week in comments, Betanews reader Utomo wrote: "I believe $599 is best price for this gadget. More than that it will not [be] big success." OK, Utomo, XOOM is $600. Are you buying? Commenter Tom Kyne made a smart prediction: "This could be part of their marketing scheme. Shock everyone with a leaked $800 price, but on the day it's revealed, it's only $600, so we are all relieved we save $200." Well, the price is both ways, but Kyne's speculation feels about right.
That's a wrap. Please share your reaction with us all -- and answer not just "would you pay" but "will you pay" $600 for the Moto XOOM tablet, meaning are you ready to buy one. Again, please answer in comments or e-mail joewilcox at gmail dot com.
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010
Without auto-update, 2 million users downloaded IE9 RC

Publié: février 16, 2011, 8:43pm CET par Tim Conneally

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

Raw first-week sales numbers are often used to indicate the efficacy of a product's launch. But really, the thing these numbers best represent is the level of user excitement. Today, Microsoft revealed that users were very excited about Internet Explorer 9 RC, which launched last week.
According to Microsoft, IE9 RC was downloaded 2 million times in the six days following its launch. While a big number, it's doubly significant because these were users who actively downloaded the software without a Windows Update auto update, or a system alert telling them an update was available. These users knew the update was there and went out and got it.
Starting on Friday last week, IE9 Release Candidate began rolling out as an Automatic Update to a small group of IE9 Beta users. The Internet Explorer Engineer's blog said it will eventually expand to cover all beta users.
For IT organizations that are testing IE9 beta for security and compatibility, Microsoft last week pushed out the auto-update blocker toolkit to manage updates if they may not be finished with tests. Organizations using Windows Server Update Services or System Center Configuration Manager would not need to install the toolkit.
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010
Google One Pass gives back what Apple's iPad subscription plan takes away

Publié: février 16, 2011, 7:46pm CET par Joe Wilcox

By Joe Wilcox, Betanews

Well, that didn't take long. One day after Apple dropped its subscription plan bomb on suspicious publishers, Google officially countered with One Pass. Google strips out the onerous restrictions Apple imposes. It's a brilliant marketing response, and aptly timed with new Android tablets like the HTC Flyer, Motorola XOOM and Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 going on sale within weeks. More significantly, the program isn't restricted to mobile devices. Can you say Internet?
Apple's subscription plan places many restrictions on publishers. Apple takes a 30-percent commission on all sales, requiring publishers to offer prices the same or lower in-app as elsewhere; that hugely limits promotions, for example. Apple's plan would prevent publishers from making in-app subscriptions free as a benefit to existing subscribers elsewhere (e.g., consumers pay more because of Apple policies). Publishers will likely loose access to vital customer data, since Apple is requiring an option that lets subscribers opt-in to this disclosure.
By comparison, One Pass gives publishers "control over how users can pay to access content and set their own prices," according to Google. "They can sell subscriptions of any length with auto-renewal, day passes (or other durations), individual articles or multiple-issue packages. Google One Pass also enables metered models, where a publisher can provide some content or a certain number of visits for free, but can charge frequent visitors or those interested in premium content based on the business model that the publisher prefers."
The flexibility is compelling. What publishers need in this era of overwhelmingly free content is more flexibility charging for their valuable stuff in ways that make sense for their businesses and customers. For example, One Pass conceptually would allow a publisher to offer, say, limited access to one digital magazine to subscribers of another.
One Pass "also allows publishers to grant access to existing subscribers through a coupon-based system, so it is easy to give full online access to current customers. Publishers can give their customers codes verifying their subscription status, or can seamlessly offer content to existing subscribers via solutions enabled by Google One Pass."
Don't expect One Pass on Apple iOS devices any time soon, if ever. The service leverages Google Checkout through mobile or PC Web browsers. Apple's revised content policies prohibit this kind of transaction -- something Amazon does today with Kindle ebooks; readers leave the app and purchase through web browser. Where Apple is locking down subscription payments to one platform, Google seeks to reach many via the open web.
From the user's perspective, a single Google ID logs into any publisher's digital content using One Pass. That suddenly makes more sense of Google's announcement last week about offering 2-step account verification.
Something else, regarding Apple's subscription plans: In posts on February 3rd and yesterday, I asserted that Apple's monopoly position in mobile apps and tablets raises antitrust concerns about the restrictive subscription plan and content rules changes affecting Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Today, at the Apple 2.0 blog, Philip Elmer-DeWitt asks: "Does Apple have a Monopoly?" Meanwhile, at the Wall Street Journal, Nathan Koppel writes: "Apple's Subscription Rules Raise Possible Antitrust Issues." Not that either journalist reciprocated links.
Google's One Pass FAQ:
Q: Who sets the price of Google One Pass content? Publishers decide the price and terms of the content they choose to sell through Google One Pass.
Q: Who determines the terms for access to content available through Google One Pass? Partners determine the duration and extent of access to their content. For instance, this may include setting a one-week or 30-day limit on the accessibility of a given article.
Q: Who determines what content is accessed through Google One Pass? Partners have total control over what content is accessed through Google One Pass and what content is free to users.
Q: How is Google One Pass implemented? Publishers will continue to host their own content. They will upload the list of the content they want to monetise into the Google interface. Publishers will need to add a small amount of code to their website, but development effort is minimal.
Q: Why is Google launching Google One Pass? Google cares a lot about helping high quality content thrive online and about the future of journalism. That's also why we built things like First Click Free, Fast Flip and Living Stories.
Q: Will Google One Pass allow users to read existing subscriptions on all their devices? Google One Pass will enable users to access content on connected, browser-enabled devices and from mobile apps where the mobile OS terms permit publishers to access the web via the app for Google One Pass transaction or authentication services.
Q: Where is Google One Pass available today? Google One Pass is currently available in France, Germany, Spain, the UK, and the US and Canada. Publishers in any country where Google Checkout is available can implement Google One Pass.
Q: What types of content can Google One Pass support? Google One Pass is currently intended for periodicals, such as news and magazines, but is a flexible payment system that can be used for many other types of content.
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010
iPad accounted for 12 percent of global mobile PC shipments in Q4 2010

Publié: février 16, 2011, 6:15pm CET par Joe Wilcox

By Joe Wilcox, Betanews

NPD's DisplaySearch has joined Canalys as labeling iPad as PC, pushing Apple to the top spot in global mobile PC shipments during fourth-quarter 2010. According to DisplaySearch, Apple shipped 10.2 million mobile PCs, including iPad, compared to second-ranked HP's 9.3 million. Apple's market share: 17.2 percent. It's noteworthy that Apple shipped considerably more smartphones, exceeding 16 million units, during the same quarter.
The findings pit Canalys and DisplaySearch against Gartner and IDC, which categorize iPad as a media tablet. IDC makes puzzling demarcation: Media tablets range in size from 5 inches to as much as 14 inches and run so-called lightweight operating systems, such as Apple's iOS and Google's Android OS, on ARM processors. However, IDC classifies tablets running Windows on x86 processors as PCs.
I first raised the "Is iPad a PC?" question in August and October 2010 posts, and it's a question with increasingly broader significance, given some of the multi-core Android tablets introduced over the last six weeks, such as the HTC Flyer, Motorola XOOM and Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1.
"While we anticipate increased competition in the tablet PC market later this year with the introduction of Android Honeycomb-based tablets, Apple's iPad business is complementing a notebook line whose shipments widely exceed the industry average growth rate," Richard Shim, DisplaySearch senior analyst, said in a statement. "Apple is currently benefiting from significant and comprehensive growth from both sectors of the mobile PC spectrum, notebooks and tablet PCs."
The larger question: Will iPad cannibalize mobile PC shipments? "Cannibalization seems limited at this point," Shim said. However, Gartner and IDC both reported that in fourth quarter iPad did cannibalize netbook sales at the least. It's a fundamental reason often overlooked in explaining why so many manufacturers are suddenly so hot for tablets. Sure, Apple blew open the category last year, shipping 14.8 million units in the first nine months, generating $10 billion in fresh revenue. More broadly, there is the inevitable shift to smaller more portable devices, a longstanding trend tablets are accelerating. PC OEMs need to worry as much, if not more, about shifting existing lines of their PC business to tablets as competing with upstart Apple.
Last week I asserted that "the PC era is over," as cloud-connected devices, including smartphones and tablets, take on more computing and informational relevance to businesses and the consumer mass-market. From that perspective, DisplaySearch's lumping tablets in with notebook PCs is sensible.
DisplaySearch offered up mobile PC shipment data with and without tablets, which indicates future growth trends and how the market is changing (and it sure looks like there is cannibalization to me). OEMs shipped 59.6 million mobile PCs, including tablets, in fourth quarter 2010, up 17 percent year over year and 8 percent sequentially -- the highest growth rates since DisplaySearch started tracking the market in 1999. Without tablets, shipments grew only 4 percent year over year and an anemic 1 percent sequential growth. The sequential figure, going into the big holiday sales quarter, foreshadows increased cannibalization -- that's my assertion, not DisplaySearch's.
Looking at the numbers differently, iPad accounted for about 12 percent of global mobile PC shipments, including tablets, during fourth quarter 2010.
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010
Low-end Android handsets poised for eventual market takeover

Publié: février 16, 2011, 5:47pm CET par Tim Conneally

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

Noted tech industry analyst Ross Rubin posed a fun question Wednesday morning on Twitter at which I thought I'd take a Quora-like stab. He asked, "So when does this deluge of low-end Android handsets start and from which OEMs?"
It's really one of the most important questions about Android, because it has long been presumed that Android will be the operating system that finally puts smartphones in the hands of every consumer. Rubin's timing is also impeccable, because for everything we're seeing, the deluge has already begun.
But don't go saying Android has failed to capture the mass market just yet; it won't reach true ubiquity for a few more years.
According to the UK's Juniper Research, there will be over 185 million entry-level Android phones in circulation by 2015, and market research firm Gartner estimated last September that Android would become the smartphone market leader in 2014. Lower-end phone manufacturers have already targeted 2011 as the year they will begin their big pushes into the U.S. mainstream device market, so Android's gradual takeover has only just barely begun.
Entry-level smartphone manufacturers have been playing with Android since it was first introduced in 2008, and most of them have already released products into the international market in the mid-range class and below. These include Chinese companies Huawei and ZTE, Japan's Kyocera/Sanyo, South Korea's Pantech, France's Alcatel, India's Micromax, as well as white-label carrier-branded devices coming from the likes of Foxconn, the same manufacturer who makes Apple's iPhone.
At Mobile World Congress this week, these companies had new Android products to show off for the coming year. Alcatel, for example, showed off its OneTouch 990, which offers the "with Google" Android experience that purists love at a (still unnamed) mass market price.
Huawei unveiled the IDEOS X3, another Android handset which will hit international markets with a sub-$200 MSRP, putting it in the free category after applicable carrier subsidies.
The telltale sign that a new Android phone is targeted at the lower end of the consumer spectrum is the 600 MHz CPU. This is common among most of the devices I've covered above, and even Taiwan's venerable HTC debuted an Android device at this CPU speed this week, The Wildfire S.
These devices -and many more- will be released at various points throughout the year with different regional availability, and will make up this "Android deluge." After this initial torrent of cheap Android devices, the following generation could then have power equal to some of the most commanding superphones on the market today thanks to ARM's yet unrevealedCortex A5 mass market chipset.
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010
The real reason Android tablets don't stand a chance against iPad -- onerous monthly data fees

Publié: février 16, 2011, 4:29am CET par Joe Wilcox

By Joe Wilcox, Betanews

Yesterday, I decided to buy the Galaxy Tab, even though Samsung announced its successor hours earlier. I like the 7-inch form factor, and the Tab seems plenty fast to me, even without those extra cores coming to the Galaxy Tab 10.1. The price is appealing, just $250 after $50 rebate. But the sales process ended abruptly, without a purchase -- not because of last-minute qualms about iPad or worries there wouldn't be enough Android apps. The problem: T-Mobile, like other US carriers, charges too much for the data plans, and they're mandatory.
Tech blogger and Rackspace employee Robert Scoble claims that iPad will win the tablet wars because of mobile applications. "The only thing that matters is the apps," he asserts. Scoble most certainly is wrong about that. What matters more is the price -- how much more people pay for one product compared to the other. As for the apps, Android has huge momentum and plenty of great apps to compete with Apple's App Store -- and more are coming. But that's a separate topic.
People do care about price. When Motorola XOOM tablet pricing leaked out as $800, Betanews readers howled in terror at the high pricing. [Update, 2-16-09: Reuters reported that a WiFi-only XOOM tablet will cost $600.]
But that 800 bucks doesn't include the obligatory data plan, something that smacked me in the face yesterday. T-Mobile has two 7-inch tablets available, the Tab and the Dell Streak. The Streak is only $200 after $50 mail-in rebate. While the Dell appeals on price and full support for T-Mobile network speeds, the Tab's construction and display makes the extra $50 a worthwhile investment. Both tablets' pricing make the XOOM seem even more expensive. To a point.
For the Streak and Tab, T-Mobile requires a data plan and two-year commitment, and it's not cheap. The two sales guys told me what a bargain $40/month for unlimited data is. "Other carriers charge $60/month," one of them said. The other expressed that I could pay 50 bucks a month at T-Mobile, but qualified for lower pricing as an existing customer. Ah, yeah, thanks. By the way, that unlimited plan really isn't. T-Mobile throttles back bandwidth after 5GB consumption during any single billing period.
The math wasn't hard. My total cost for a soon-to-obsolete tablet would be minimum $1,210 -- more when adding taxes, regulatory fees and other rip-off charges -- over 24 months. The entry-level, WiFi-only iPad costs $499. Additional costs the following month: $0. After six months: $0. The iPad might cost twice as much as the Galaxy Tab, but six months of mandatory carrier data fees make them equal.
So I walked away, remembering #2 of my late-January post "5 things every tablet needs to succeed": "No carrier commitment." These tablets all come with WiFi, which is what I prefer to use. I might squander $15/month for 200MB data transfer. But $25? No way. As for the unlimited plan, I've got one of those for my smartphone. I understand that T-Mobile and other carriers subsidize iPad-competing tablets, but shouldn't eventual pricing attempt to be competitive with the market leader? The whole data pricing thing reminds of cell phone data plans before the June 2007 launch of Apple's iPhone -- ridiculously expensive.
Apple sells iPad with or without cellular network radios. Buyers can choose WiFi only. Even if they buy a 3G model, the data plan is optional and there is no contractual or time commitments. That Verizon can sell iPad without 3G (since the radios are for AT&T), shows there is demand for the right tablet that offers just WiFi.
Apple may have more apps, and its tablet may be the early market share leader. But iPad's biggest competitive advantage is price. As long as Android tablets are sold through carriers with costly and mandatory data plans attached, iPad will always be cheaper and more appealing to the mass market. Earlier today HTC unveiled the enticing 7-inch Flyer tablet. It's smaller than iPad, like the Galaxy Tab, but has more powerful processor and more storage than Samsung's tablet. What will it cost? Any price with hefty carrier data fees will be, compared to iPad, too much.
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010