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Apple copycats can't compete with iPhone 5

Publié: septembre 30, 2011, 10:20pm CEST par Ian Fogg

Next week Apple will announce new iPhones. There will be a backlash. There will be praise. Much of the significance will be lost in the noise.

Instead, Apple’s metrics should focus rivals’ attention on the importance of multi-year strategies.

Competitors are forever seeking to emulate Apple. But too many deploy me-too tactics, rather than following a consistent and sustained long term strategy:

HP fired its CEO under a year after appointment. There’s only time to kill things, not build them, in such a short period.
Nokia dithered on MeeGo. In 2009, Nokia partnered with Intel on MeeGo, then killed MeeGo just a year later, to focus on Microsoft Windows Phone instead.
Samsung’s Galaxy S of 2010 resembles the Apple’s old iPhone 3GS of 2009, not the designed-from-scratch iPhone 4 that the S actually competed against at the time the S arrived in the market.

Part of the problem is that Apple keeps its strategy to itself: New products seem to appear out of Apple’s magic hat fully-formed at high profile launch events as if they’ve been born an adult, with no incubation or nurturing period. There are rarely betas or pre-announcements months ahead of availability, unlike the perpetually beta services of others. But we know Apple takes years to create these products. The iPad’s origins pre-date the iPhone and go back to around 2004 -- six years before it launched -- while serious development began in 2007, again years before competitors had anything publicly available that they could copy.

By mistaking tactics for strategy Apple’s many competitors are doomed to poor results. The time needed to build products as deeply and well designed as Apple’s can’t be completed overnight. Software design takes years to do. The supplier relationships that Apple is securing are long term. The investment that Apple is placing in key component design -- moving into chip design with the A4 and A5 -- is not something that any company could achieve without clear multi-year strategy.

Despite the Android evangelists and Apple naysayers, Apple’s metrics are nothing short of outstanding:

The iPod is almost ten years old, but Apple anticipated its old age, and created a new generation: the iPhone. Apple has sold 315m iPods cumulatively. In just four years, not ten, and at a much higher selling price, the iPhone alone has shipped 129m units. I estimate there are now over 221m iOS devices.
Apple hasn’t been afraid to disrupt itself by creating a tablet that cannibalizes Mac sales. In five quarters, Apple has shipped 28.7m iPads. New Apple CEO Tim Cook has acknowledge the risk to Mac sales in a recent presentation, but correctly quantified it as greater to other computer makers than to Apple as Apple has a small share of the PC market. If the iPad cannibalizes computer purchases, Apple has more to gain from iPad sales than lost Mac sales. Not many companies would be this shrewd and this prepared to compete against themselves.
Apple has become a games company. It has over 50m users for Game Center, its social gaming initiative for iOS. The iPod touch competes head on with Nintendo and Sony’s PSP as a gaming device. In my view, the iPad is an even better games console that’s only being held back by its current high price.
Apple enjoys an average revenue per phone over $600. By contrast RIM has c$280; SonyEricsson is Euro156; Nokia’s is just Euro62. Only HTC, perhaps the greatest mobile phone maker success story other than Apple, is close with $359.
The iPhone is the most popular smartphone model bar none, despite the hyped antenna teething problems. Almost a year after the iPhone 4′s introduction Apple shipped 20.3m iPhones in Q2 2011; by contrast Samsung’s Galaxy S II shipped 10m in five months. The iPhone4 is still competitive with the latest designs from rivals although it’s now over a year old.
Apple has broken out of the idiosyncratic US phone market to be truly global. Two thirds of iPhones ship outside the US. Google-owned Motorola, RIM (at the high end), and HP Palm have struggled except in North America. SonyEricsson and Nokia have failed to break into the US. LG is losing money. Only Apple and Samsung have succeeded in Asia, Europe and North America.
Apple created the current mobile content market with Apps. Apple have paid $2,500,000,000 to app developers and delivered a total of 14,000,000,000 app downloads. Before Apple, mobile content meant ringtones and wallpapers (mainly) with the odd Java-based game. Now, it’s a massive market that’s so attractive the world’s largest media retailer, Amazon, has created an app store and is becoming a mobile device maker too with the Kindle Fire.

To compete with Apple is far from easy. Those that wish to play that game must focus on the long term at the same time as making money in the present. The real challenge though, is that I’m becoming less and less sure that this battle is one that any company can avoid. Apple is constructing a grand portfolio that ties together publishing, movies, TV, music, telephony, Internet, games, consumer electronics, payments, photography, computing, etc. etc.

Some years ago I would have advised some firms not to compete with Apple, and instead to find a different and less congested market. I’m no longer sure that’s an option for most. The only way to prosper now in this vastly enlarged market is to create a solid long term strategy and then execute it consistently.

Photo Credit: Joe Wilcox

Ian Fogg is a mobile industry analyst, consultant and product manager. He is a former principal at Forrester; research director at Jupiter Research; and marketing and/or product management at Psion, 3/Hutchison and Cable & Wireless Communications.

Will you buy Amazon Kindle Fire?

Publié: septembre 30, 2011, 8:59pm CEST par Joe Wilcox

The hottest tablet to debut in months has pretty puny specs. There's no camera, no Bluetooth, no sensors for orientation and no 3G radio. The device runs Android 2.1, but it's customized such your existing apps probably won't run -- and Amazon has developed its own web browser, too. But the $199 price is compelling, and seemingly everyone is talking about it. So I have to ask: Has Kindle Fire set your wallet ablaze? Amazon is taking preorders for November 15 release. As usual you can answer in comments or email joe at betanews dot com. Then there is the poll below; please take it.

I must admit to having a hearty laugh at the news coverage. For weeks, as Amazon tablet rumors mounted, bloggers and journalists posted story after story asserting that the iPad killer was coming -- like some new-found messiah they worshiped sight unseen who would vanquish the Jesus Pad from Apple cultdom. Over the last two days, many of those same sites posted about how "Kindle Fire is no iPad killer". I laughed my ass off. Seriously, there really needs to be some kind rumor-control meter for the Internet.

Kindle Fire most certainly is an iPad sales killer, much as I loathe the overused death-by-another-product term. Amazon has brilliantly blurred the line separating e-book readers and media tablets. That IDC already reports on the devices together, while counting them separately, says much about how the two categories likely will merge in the future. Fire would also be a Kindle e-reader killer, too, but Amazon fixed that problem by offering a $79 model.

Price Advantage

Yesterday, I posted poll: "What price would be low enough for you to buy a media tablet?" As I write, more than 60 percent of respondents would pay $199 or less and 31.5 percent $199. And what does Fire sell for?

Forrester Research analyst Sarah Rotman predicts that "Amazon will sell millions of tablets, and the rapidfire adoption of the Kindle Fire will give app developers a reason, finally, to develop Android tablet apps. Apple’s place as market leader is secure, but Amazon will be a strong number two, and we expect no other serious tablet competitors until Windows 8 tablets launch".

However, Forrester predicts Aamzon will only sell about 3 million Fires this year because of the late launch date -- November 15. Oh yeah? But Amazon is taking preorders now and heavily promoting the tablet on its home page. Before the launch event this week, Forrester had put the range between 3 million and 5 million units. My money is the upper end, since preorders are underway now. Still, it's likely to be far behind Apple, which shipped 9.25 million iPads during second calendar quarter.

In a research note to IDC clients, analyst Tom Mainelli says that Fire "has the potential to radically redraw the media tablet market". Price it the key. He explains:

By setting the price of its 7-inch product at $199, Amazon has made life very complicated for the long-list of media tablet vendors who have been trying, and mostly failing, to gain traction against Apple’s dominant iPad 2, which starts at $500. One after another we’ve watched these vendors introduced products at the same price point (or higher). And one after another, with the possible exception of Sony’s recently launched Sony Tablet S, we’ve seen the market respond with indifference. Realistically, even top-tier vendors like Sony, Samsung, and Toshiba must realize that to gain any real traction their 9- and 10-inch products must be priced closer to $300 than to $500...

Neither Microsoft nor its partners have announced future pricing for Windows 8 based tablets, but chances are they didn’t expect to be competing with a $200 device. And that’s today’s price. A year from now when Windows 8 devices ship, it’s possible Amazon may well be selling the Kindle Fire 2 at an even lower price.

The Apple Fanclub of bloggers and journalists are rallying behind iPad and chant: "Kindle Fire is no iPad killer". But it is, if the result is that all other tablet prices go down -- leaving iPad between $499 and $829. Apple's tablet will continue to sell well, like the Mac today, but to a smaller, wealthier demographic, while the mass market chooses Fire or one of its many heartier-configured competitors.

Curated Digital Lifestyle

The no-killer crowd doesn't see Kindle Fire as directly competing against iPad 2 because of the huge difference in specs and capabilities, mainly, and the great Apple lifestyle experience. But that may not matter. "Media tablets are additive devices, not replacements for PCs, and that’s why media tablet vendors, aside from Apple, have had trouble selling units at $500 and higher", Mainelli opines. "By pricing the Fire below $200, Amazon gives cash-strapped mainstream consumers permission to own a third device (PC, phone, and now tablet) without having to justify its cost by attempting to use it to replace their PC".

Do you plan to buy Amazon's $199 tablet -- Kindle Fire?

Kindle Fire by every measure that matters -- and not just price -- directly competes with iPad 2. Unlike other Android tablet manufacturers, Amazon takes complete control over the entire stack -- software, hardware, cloud services, retail sales and customer support. Fire features an Amazon-customized version of Android 2.x, its own Android app store, music and movie stores, ebook store, web browser and customized media consumption software and services. Sony is closest, followed by Samsung, among Android tablet manufacturers.

This curated approach reminds primarily of, well, Apple. Amazon is creating a curated experience that matches Apple's and exceeds it in some respects. Consumers can buy Kindle books for Fire, but read them on their iPhone, Android handset or other device. They can stream movies, as well as download them; Apple doesn't offer streaming from its store. Same can be said of music, and Amazon allows movies and music on Kindle Fire or other devices. From Apple it's just devices supporting iTunes Store. People buying into the Amazon lifestyle get Kindle Fire plus something else. That's an added benefit not available from Apple.

However, comparisons to Apple makes risky business for Amazon. As independent analyst Ian Fogg observes, Amazon launched Kindle Fire without giving the news media participating in the event real access to the tablet. "This lack of access to the Fire this close to launch is suspicious", he asserts.

Fogg is concerned that Amazon still has bugs to work out -- that, seven weeks from launch, Fire isn't ready. He warns: "If Amazon’s Kindle Fire isn’t the slickly executed product that everyone is expecting then all of the current forecasts are off. Like Apple, buyers expect Amazon’s digital products to be as smooth as Amazon’s mail order customer service. If not, well, Amazon better have a strong version two on the way".

Gulp. I preorded? Did you? Or do you plan to? Please respond in comments below and answer the poll above.

Is $199 the right price for tablets?

Publié: septembre 30, 2011, 6:13pm CEST par Joe Wilcox

Preliminary results are in from Betanews poll: "What price would be low enough for you to buy a media tablet?" For the majority of respondents (30 percent), $199 is the price. Only about 5 percent of you would spend more than $299.

Not that Apple seems all that perplexed about selling tablets ranging from $499 to $829. But perhaps it should be now that Amazon has lowered the price bar to $199 with Kindle Fire.

In a research note to IDC subscribers, Tom Mainelli writes:

We have long maintained that media tablets are additive devices, not replacements for PCs, and that’s why media tablet vendors, aside from Apple, have had trouble selling units at $500 and higher. By pricing the Fire below $200, Amazon gives cash-strapped mainstream consumers permission to own a third device (PC, phone, and now tablet) without having to justify its cost by attempting to use it to replace their PC. At that price a tablet can just be a tablet: A device that’s quite good at consuming media, writing short emails, and Web browsing.

Prices have got to come down, as our survey suggests. Twenty-nine percent of respondents to our poll would pay $149 or less and 59 percent $199 or less. As I post, we have 665 responses, which is decent but not nearly enough. So I'm reposting the poll and asking you to respond if you haven't. By the way, and I'm surprised by this, only 4 percent of respondents answered: "None, I wouldn't buy a media tablet".

"It's a win for Amazon", rebradley comments. "I ordered several Kindle Fires as Christmas presents. Amazon has deep pockets and will reap much more than its loses on hardware very quickly. Another brilliant move by Amazon".

I ordered one for my wife. She got Kindle for Christmas last year; Fire on December 25.

Betanews reader fulltext (what's the story behind that handle) "pre-ordered a Kindle Fire" too. "It will hold me until 2nd gen Windows 8 tablets are out". What? Did you get one of the Samsung Windows 8 Developer tablets during BUILD? Should that be first-generation otherwise?

Even $199 is too high for VampireFrost: "I am going to wait and let everyone buy high and then when they hit $99 I will get 2 that are newer and better". For 11 percent of our poll respondents, $99 or less-than $99 is the right price.

What price would be low enough for you to buy a media tablet?

The question: Will Kindle Fire set a price war ablaze? If you look at the majority of tablets now available, they offer comparable capabilities -- and all priced well above $299, which, based on early results to our poll, is top-end of acceptable pricing. For any product category, there is always a tipping price that moves from early adopters to mass-market buyers. Something south of $299 is it, with $199 magical I believe -- and that's particularly true if Mainelli's assessment is accurate about how tablets are used.

Gartner and IDC data already shows that tablets are taking sales away from PCs. But it's one thing to delay or choose not to buy a new PC, and it's altogether different to replace it. But people do. During BUILD, I sat next to another journalist who used the ASUS Transformer with keyboard. Is he the exception or the rule? The answer to that question is vital to understanding what Fire's $199 pricing means for the broader tablet market. People looking to replace a PC with a tablet will need more performance and features than Fire or other low-cost tablets can offer.

So, I ask again: What would you pay for a media tablet? But add a second question: Do you or would you use a tablet as your primary PC? Please answer in comments.

Corrected: IDC misidentified as Forrester Research

Skype 5.6 for Windows improves video calling

Publié: septembre 30, 2011, 5:15pm CEST par Mike Williams

Skype has updated its Windows software to version 5.6, and while the build is primarily a maintenance release, it does have a few notable changes. Beginners should find it easier to configure the program, for instance, as an enhanced “getting started” wizard walks them through the process of setting up their audio, webcam, adding a profile picture and more.

If you switch to another window or application while on a call, the call monitor automatically pops up to show you the live video call and give you access to basic call controls.

Screen sharing has been redesigned to make the process more natural and easier to use. So when you start sharing screens you’ll see an option to share in full screen mode or a window, while you can now also select up-front exactly which window or monitor you’d like to share.

And, in particular, this release introduces some in-call advertising: the ads will only appear to “some” non-paying callers during audio calls, though, so if you’ve Skype credit or are on a subscription plan then you won’t see anything. If you do see them, you can simply close the ad window and it’ll disappear indefinitely. And you’ll have to find them, first (on our first tests of the new build we didn’t see any ads at all).

Earlier this week, the company released new Skype versions for Android and iOS . It has been a busy week for Skype, which appears to be more closely aligning development for major supported platforms.

Download Skype 5.6.

Movie Edit Pro MX improves performance, video sharing

Publié: septembre 30, 2011, 4:58pm CEST par Mike Williams

German multimedia specialist MAGIX has introduced the next generation of its high-end consumer video editor, Movie Edit Pro MX.

MX apparently stands for Media-X-change, and represents the idea that MAGIX MX-tagged programs will make it easier to exchange your files with online services, mobile devices and other MAGIX tools.

To demonstrate the point, MAGIX Movie Edit Pro can now directly upload your finished movies to YouTube, Facebook, Vimeo and MAGIX's own Online Album site. While improved export assistants make it easy to optimize your work for its intended target: desktops, the iPhone, iPad or iPod, Android smartphones, the Galaxy Tab and more.

And elsewhere, there’s a heavy focus on improving performance, in particular by making better use of the available hardware. So new NVIDIA CUDA and AMD OpenCL support means that AVCHD export is now around 3 times faster, for instance. And MAGIX say multicore optimisations mean image stabilisation can be up to 10 times faster than the previous version on Intel Core i7 systems.

As before, the program will be made available in two main editions. So if the core functionality is all you need then MAGIX Movie Edit Pro MX can be yours for $69.99.

But MAGIX Movie Edit Pro MX Plus is only a little more expensive at $99.99, and offers many more features: multicam editing (edit together footage from two cameras); professional movie templates for easy trailer creation; high quality, dynamic slow motion effects; improved travel route animations; keyframe animated effect masks; the ability to create full stereo 3D movies; a full audio editor, Dolby Digital 5.1 support, and more.

If either option sounds interesting, then trial versions are available now. Be aware that these will by default install the Ask toolbar; just clear the relevant box during setup if that’s something you’d rather avoid.

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3.5 released -- get it now!

Publié: septembre 30, 2011, 1:32pm CEST par Mark Wilson

Adobe has released an update for Photoshop Lightroom, bringing it to version 3.5 and adding support for an increased range of digital cameras. The update supports more high-end cameras' RAW output.

The list of newly supported cameras includes models from Fuji, Nikon, Olympus, Ricoh, Panasonic and more, and the same cameras are now also supported by the Camera Raw plug-in 6.5 for Photoshop. As well as adding new hardware support, Lightroom 3.5 also adds a number of enhancements and fixes bugs.

Performance issues when using the arrow keys to make adjustments have now been addressed, while problems with preview caching that plagued earlier versions of the program have also been addressed. Users of Lightroom 3.4.1 will have experienced issues with GPS Altitude metadata, but this is no longer a problem.

But it is not just problems with Lightroom itself that this latest update addresses, there are built-in optical correction options for various lenses. If you have been using various lenses manufactured by Canon, Hasselblad , Sony and others, Lightroom can now automatically fix known image defects that can creep in.

Among the newly supported cameras

Fuji FinePix F600EXR
Olympus E-P3
Olympus E-PL3
Olympus E-PM1
Panasonic DMC-G3
Panasonic DMC-GF3
Phase One IQ140
Phase One IQ160
Phase One P40+
Phase One P65+
Sony Alpha NEX-C3
Sony SLT-A35

The list above and below are direct from Adobe's website

Among the newly supported lenses

Lens Mount	Lens Name
Canon	Canon EF 14mm f/2.8 L USM
Canon	SIGMA APO 120-300mm F2.8 EX DG OS HSM
Hasselblad	Hasselblad HC 2.2/100
Hasselblad	Hasselblad HC 2.8/80
Hasselblad	Hasselblad HC 3.2/150
Hasselblad	Hasselblad HC 3.2/150N
Hasselblad	Hasselblad HC 3.5/35
Hasselblad	Hasselblad HC 3.5/50-II
Hasselblad	Hasselblad HC 3.5/50
Hasselblad	Hasselblad HC 3.5-4.5/50-110
Hasselblad	Hasselblad HC 4/210
Hasselblad	Hasselblad HC 4.5/300
Hasselblad	Hasselblad HC Macro 4/120-II
Hasselblad	Hasselblad HC Macro 4/120
Hasselblad	Hasselblad HCD 4/28
Hasselblad	Hasselblad HCD 4-5.6/35-90
Nikon	Nikon AF Zoom-Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8D ED
Nikon	Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24mm f/1.4G ED
Nikon	Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 35mm f/1.4G ED
Nikon	Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 50mm f/1.8G
Nikon	SIGMA APO 120-300mm F2.8 EX DG OS HSM
Pentax	SIGMA 85mm f/1.4 EX DG HSM
Sigma	SIGMA 85mm f/1.4 EX DG HSM
Sony	SIGMA 85mm f/1.4 EX DG HSM
Sony	TAMRON 18-270mm F/3.5-6.3 Di II PZD B008S
Sony	TAMRON SP 70-300mm F/4-5.6 Di USD A005S

You can find out more and download a free trial of the program by paying a visit to the Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3.5 review page.

Intel acquires navigation and location services provider Telmap

Publié: septembre 30, 2011, 3:47am CEST par Tim Conneally

At the close of Elements 2011, Intel's developer conference aimed at the AppUp app store community, AppUp GM Peter Biddle announced that Intel has acquired Israeli navigation and location services provider Telmap.

The acquisition is part of Intel's strategy to grow its software and services portfolio in a meaningful and (most importantly) multi-platform way, where there won't be too much market consolidation on the consumer side, and the app developer side will be given a richer set of tools to work with.

For Intel AppUp developers, this means Telmap's APIs for mapping, navigation, and location-based search, social, and advertising will soon be available for integration into their apps; and that the integration of location into apps will require fewer layers of licensing.

"Telmap isn’t just a great consumer service provider – with Telmap we can directly provide developers with location-based services spanning devices, operating systems and CPU architectures. This is a significant step towards the Intel AppUp services vision we spoke about yesterday," Biddle said.

AppUp began as a program to help developers create and distribute software for Netbooks, and though Intel has plans to evolve it into a more cross-platform, behind the scenes kind of layer (they refer to its backend services as a "brokerage" for apps), it remains mostly the same as when it began, except instead of netbooks, they're aiming at the super-thin and light "Ultrabook" form factor.

So the acquisition of a location-based service provider is really of limited use at present, since live navigation and other GPS-based services are generally reserved for handheld devices, and AppUp isn't supportive of any mobile platforms currently.

Here's the video game you should buy this holiday season

Publié: septembre 30, 2011, 12:16am CEST par Ed Oswald

If you have a gamer in your household, this is a story you might want to read before deciding what to buy them this holiday season.

First person shooters remain hot according to a survey of hotly anticipated upcoming video games, as the top two most sought after games fall in the genre. Research firm Nielsen found that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, available November 8, tops many gamer's wish lists: a quarter of respondents listed the title in their top five holiday games.

This was followed by the popular Xbox 360 franchise title Gears of War 3, which 19 percent of respondents placed in their lists. Gears of War was released on September 20.

Franchise titles also remain popular and out of the top 20 games on Nielsen's list, all but one game is part of a bigger franchise. Notable franchise titles in the top ten included EA Sports' Madden NFL '12, Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, and 2K Interactive's NBA 2K12.

"While Action/Adventure games hold the most spots in the Top 20, the list is a testament to the diverse interests of today’s gamers—from the intense action of First Person Shooters like Square Enix’s Deus Ex: Human Revolution, to the energetic enthusiasm of Music/Rhythm games such as Ubisoft’s Just Dance 3, to the epic sense of adventure in Bethesda’s RPG Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim," the firm said in its report.

In addition to asking what titles gamers are seeking, Nielsen also attempted to understand why. The allure of the launch parties and apparent darker and harder storyline of Call of Duty 3 are among the reasons why gamers can't wait for its release; while downloadable previews and multi-player functionality are attracting gamers to the new Assassin's Creed.

The study was conducted between August 21 and September 17, and interviewed approximately 5,000 gamers who were asked to list five games that they're most excited about this holiday season. The buzz surrounding these titles come from over 417 million online conversations scanned by Nielsen's NM Incite division.

We've obtained the full 20 game list from Nielsen and are curious to hear whether any of these titles interest you. Any title not on the list that is on your top five games of the holidays? Speak up in the comments.

Nielsen’s Top 20 Games to Watch for Holiday 2011
Title	Genre	Platforms	Publisher	% Choosing as Top 5	Key Elements of Online Conversations
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3	Shooter	360, PS3, Wii, PC	Activision	27%	upcoming launch parties, changes in the new game, ‘darker mood’, hardened version vs standard
Gears of War 3	Shooter	360	Microsoft Game Studios	19%	high anticipation for launch, best prices at retailers, sharing info on codes and downloads
Madden NFL 12	Sports (Simulated)	360, PS3, Wii, PSP	Electronic Arts	19%	challenge matches, calling in sick in order to play
Assassin’s Creed: Revelations	Action / Adv	360, PS3, PC	Ubisoft	17%	downloadable previews, multi-player functionality
Batman: Arkham City	Action / Adv	360, PS3, PC	Warner Bros Interactive	15%	new villains in the game
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword	Action / Adv	Wii	Nintendo	14%	nostalgia for series brings back ‘old school’ gamers, similar feel to Ocarina Of Time
Battlefield 3	Shooter	360, PS3, PC	Electronic Arts	12%	many feel this title is superior to competing titles in the genre, differences in game performance by platform
Just Dance 3	Music / Rhythm	360, PS3, Wii	Ubisoft	12%	excitement for new tracks announced
NBA 2K12	Sports (Simulated)	360, PS3, Wii, PC, PSP	2K Interactive	9%	online demos, discussions of how to adjust schedule to allow more time to play
Need for Speed: The Run	Racing / Driving	360, PS3, Wii, PC, 3DS	Electronic Arts	9%	exclusive Porsche models in the game, anticipation as a holiday gift
Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception	Action / Adv	PS3	Sony Computer Entertainment	9%	high expectations of this title being even better than the previous iterations
Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games	Sports (Arcade)	Wii, 3DS	SEGA	8%	gaming experts mention this title alongside other titles announced at the 3DS conference
LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7	Action / Adv	360, PS3, Wii, PC, PSP, DS, 3DS	Warner Bros Interactive	8%	sharing previews and speculation on the upcoming game
FIFA Soccer 12	Sports (Simulated)	360, PS3, Wii, PC, PSP, DS, 3DS	Electronic Arts	8%	FIFA vs Madden, desires for more pro and career mode options in the new release
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim	RPG	360, PS3, PC	Bethesda Softworks	8%	M rating / graphic nature not a deterrent, daily countdown until release
Dead Island	Action / Adv	360, PS3, PC	Deep Silver	7%	looking for gaming partners for online co-op
Kinect Sports: Season 2	Sports (Arcade)	360	Microsoft Game Studios	6%	high expectations for the upcoming sequel, considerable attention from casual gamers
Resistance 3	Shooter	PS3	Sony Computer Entertainment	4%	franchise fans call it a ‘must have’ ‘game of the year’
Dance Central 2	Music / Rhythm	360	Microsoft Game Studios	4%	enthusiasm for the ability to import songs from the original title
Deus Ex: Human Revolution	Shooter	360, PS3, PC	Square Enix	3%	best prices at retailers, differences in game performance by platform
Source: Nielsen

Photo Credit: Joe Wilcox

Finally you can Skype video on Galaxy Tab 10.1 and XOOM

Publié: septembre 29, 2011, 10:54pm CEST par Joe Wilcox

I must have been asleep at the wheel yesterday, because somehow this reporter missed the big Skype for Android upgrade. What? You missed it, too?

Well, hells bells. Version 2.5 adds video-calling support for 14 more devices -- and, finally, some big-brand tablets: Motorola XOOM and Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1. About friggin' time!

Some of the phones are so old, support is almost laughable, like Google Nexus One. But, hey, I've still got one of those in a closet somewhere. My honey used it before she switched to the Nexus S.

Skype 2.5 brings the number of video-calling Androids to 41. Among the new ones, according to Skype:

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1

HTC Nexus One

HTC EVO 3D

Sony Ericsson Xperia Live with Walkman

Sony Ericsson Xperia neo V

LG Optimus Black

LG Optimus 3D

LG Optimus 2x

Motorola Photon

Motorola Droid 3

Motorola Bionic

Motorola Xoom

Motorola Atrix

Acer Iconia

"The Skype 2.5 for Android update also brings you further video enhancements," Dan Chastney, Skype senior product manager, writes in a blog post. "You can now switch between portrait and landscape mode during video calls, and zoom in with a simple double tap on the screen".

He adds: "We also improved support for bluetooth headsets and included a number of bug fixes and performance enhancements, which should further boost the user experience of Skype for Android on your phone".

Yesterday, Skype also updated for iOS, bringing to both platforms something many users may not want: Advertising. "There will be an advertising platform introduced in this new release", Chastney explains. "Advertising will not be shown to users that have Skype Credit, a Calling or Skype Premium subscription".

Finally, my long-languishing $1.35 credit has purpose.

You can download Skype 2.5 from Android Market.

Let the tablet price wars begin

Publié: septembre 29, 2011, 8:50pm CEST par Joe Wilcox

What better way for retailers to celebrate the low-cost Amazon Kindle Fire than to offer cut-rate prices on existing tablets. Woot has a one-day special on Motorola XOOM WiFi, refurbished, for $349.99 plus $5 shipping; the tablet typically retails for $499.99. Meanwhile, Best Buy has dropped the price on BlackBerry PlayBook again to $299.99 -- that's $200 off the list price -- for the 16GB model.

The deals come one day after Amazon announced its 7-inch tablet, for $199. The online retailer is taking preorders now, but Kindle Fire doesn't ship until November 15. Best Buy and Woot deals may or may not be coincidentally timed, but they foreshadow what likely will be a price war during the holidays. Tablet prices are going south for the holidays.

Already, Best Buy offers more than 50 tablet SKUs, the majority from top-tier manufacturers, like Apple, Motorola, Samsung and Sony.

"There is no way there is room on the shelves of America’s retailers for that many tablets", Stephen Baker, NPD's vice president of industry analysis, said earlier this year. "The fight for shelf space is therefore likely to be vicious as we head into...the holiday season -- and robust shelf space competition inevitably leads to one thing: Price Wars".

Retailers typically use a number of tried-and-true techniques to drive interest in different product categories, with short-term discounts, rebates and even gift cards among them. With tablets, they will be looking for that magic price point consumers can't resist. Kindle Fire seems to have found that price already: $199.

To be clear, overall tablet competition will drive the price war, not Amazon's tablet. Baker tells Betanews today: "Unless Fire really sells and really impacts other SKUs then it will not set off a price reaction. It really is not the same thing as a tablet".

Back specifically to these two deals, I'll start with XOOM. It's a helluva tablet for the price -- 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 3.1 (Honeycomb). But it is refurbished. While I'm a big fan of refurb PCs, I'm more cautious about consumer electronics devices. The fine-print matters -- the warranty. I buy when the full warranty backs confidence in the refurb; otherwise not.

Best Buy's BlackBerry PlayBook pricing is altogether different. Sales of the tablet collapsed during second quarter, dropping to 200,000 from 500,000 units sequentially. That suggests an inevitable inventory build up in channel, sitting on store shelves and in warehouses at retailers like Best Buy. "Playbook is marked down because it doesn't sell, not because of competition," Baker observes.

Best Buy also cut prices on TouchBook, not long before HP killed off the product after six weeks of sales. I don't suggest that Research in Motion plans something similar. The discount merely points to Best Buy trying to churn up interest in the tablet, while clearing out inventory -- a common retail practice. Playbook is marked down because it doesn't sell, not because of competition.

What price would be low enough for you to buy a media tablet?

Today's deals foreshadow the first of potentially many price cuts as the holidays approach and retailers feel pressure to move inventory. At what price are you likely to buy a tablet? Please answer in comments below and take the poll above.

T-Mobile joins Verizon to block Apple injunction against Samsung

Publié: septembre 29, 2011, 7:36pm CEST par Ed Oswald

With Apple's battle against Samsung heating up, T-Mobile is doing its best not to get burned. If Apple is successful in getting a preliminary injunction against Samsung, the nation's fourth biggest carrier could find itself in a bad spot. Verizon has iPhone to fall back on. T-Mobile mostly offers Android smartphones, and Samsung makes the flagship models.

On Wednesday, T-Mobile filed a legal brief with the United District Court for the Northern District of California asking a federal judge to reject Apple's request for preliminary injunction against four Samsung devices: Droid Charge, Galaxy S 4G, Infuse 4G and Galaxy Tab 10.1. A hearing is scheduled for October 13. If granted, Samsung would be barred from offering these Android devices in the United States.

T-Mobile would be affected by the injunction on only one of the four devices named: it currently sells the Samsung Galaxy S 4G. It will also sell the Galaxy Tab 10.1 too, so the nation's fourth biggest carrier has a vested interest in ensuring this injunction isn't imposed.

All in all, T-Mobile's filing seems like an effort to protect itself more than any action intended to shoot back at Apple for its failure to work with the carrier. After all, T-Mobile's chief marketing officer on Monday publicly stated the company's interest in the iPhone, and said it had expressed that to the folks in Cupertino.

Its parent company is also a major partner internationally for Apple, and nearly every other T-Mobile division has the iPhone in their lineup.

T-Mobile's brief generally argues the same points as another filed by Verizon. It argues that an injunction would "unnecessarily harm" the carrier and its customers, and in the case of the Galaxy Tab they would have no replacement.

"These investments cannot be recouped easily," the filing states.

Samsung unveils all new components for next-gen phones and tablets

Publié: septembre 29, 2011, 7:35pm CEST par Tim Conneally

At Samsung's Mobile Solutions Forum 2011 in Taiwan, the South Korean consumer electronics leader revealed some major new components that it will use in its next generation of smartphones and mobile tablets: a new dual-core applications processor, and a new 16 Megapixel CMOS sensor and new forward-facing camera sensor, a new 64 GB flash memory module. and a new 4 Gigabit low power DDR3 DRAM memory unit.

These components find their way into all types of mobile devices, and not just those with the Samsung brand stamped on them; so here is what will be going into new devices next year...

The Processor

The Exynos 4212 is a dual-core ARM Cortex A9 application processor made with 32nm process technology. Samsung has increased the power by 25% over the previous generation Exynos, which was a 1GHz 45nm SoC. Samsung also says it is capable of rendering 50% higher resolution 3D graphics over the previous version.

The Cameras

The new CMOS sensor is called the S5K2P1, and it supports a maximum 16 megapixel image resolution and native 16:9 video at up to 8.3 megapixel resolution at 60 frames per second.

The forward-facing camera unit is a 1.2-Megapixel (Mp), 1/8.2-inch CMOS image sensor (CIS) system-on-chip (SoC) called the S5K8AA. Made to be as tiny as possible, the unit can fit into a 5.5 x 5.5mm camera module with profile of only 2.8mm.

The Storage

Samsung's flash memory unit for smartphones and tablets measures only 1.4 millimeters in thickness, has a 64GB storage limit, and uses 64-gigabit NAND with a toggle DDR 2.0 interface. Samsung says the memory unit can perform sequential read speeds at 80 MB per second and sequential write speeds at 40 MB per second. Last year, its memory units were based on 30nm 32Gb NAND flash components, but this batch uses 20nm 64Gb NAND flash, which should provide bettter than 60% improvement in read/write speed.

The Memory

The new memory unit is 500MB, 4 gigabit low-power DDR3 that uses 30nm technology. This can transfer data at up to 1,600 megabits per second, and if two units are stacked on top of one another for 1GB, it is capabale of data transmission rates up to 12.8 gigabytes per second. Samsung said four of these units can be stacked for 2GB of RAM, a level of RAM we should begin seeing in devices early next year.

All of these products will be sampling to manufacturers in the coming weeks for placement in devices in the second half of 2012 and beyond.

Photo Credit: Samsung

Adobe Photoshop Elements 10 released

Publié: septembre 29, 2011, 4:09pm CEST par Mark Wilson

Adobe has updated Photoshop Elements to version 10, and there are a huge range of features to enable you to view, organize, manage and edit your digital photos. For many people, using a photo editing package is all about adding special effects to images, and there are dozens of new effects to choose from here.

If you’re having trouble using any of the tools you find in the program, Guided Edits are on hand to provide you with assistance. While these may not help you to produce the best possible results, it is a good way to get an introduction to any tools you are not familiar with so you can see just what they are capable of.

There are a number of other interesting options such as the ability to search for objects in your image library. For example, select a picture of a cat and you will be shown a list of all the other library images that also feature cats. It is now easy to apply effects to just a portion of an image and there are a host of templates available for creating online image galleries and printed material.

As is almost obligatory these days, social networking gets a look in, and it is now possible to tag your photos using your Facebook friends list, then share your favorite images online. If you’re using Photoshop Elements to work with video clips, they can be uploaded to YouTube from the Organizer, and there is even support for full HD.

You can find out more and download a free trial of the program by paying a visit to the Adobe Photoshop Elements 10 review page.

What can you expect from new Firefox versions?

Publié: septembre 29, 2011, 4:01pm CEST par Nick Peers

Mozilla has started the Firefox development merry-go-round again, updating its Beta, Aurora and Nightly builds to versions 8, 9 and 10, respectively.

The most significant changes between all three versions can be found in Firefox 8 Beta, which includes a number of notable improvements and new features. But there’s also an alternative Nightly build, called Firefox 10.0a1 UX. What is it, and what sets it apart from other releases? Which version should you install? Read on for our updated guide to what’s happening with Firefox.

Firefox 7.0 FINAL

This is the latest stable release of Firefox, and as such is recommended for most users. While noticeable new features are thin on the ground, performance has been vastly improved across the board thanks to improved memory management, which ensures the program no longer gobbles up memory the longer it’s left running.

Firefox 8.0b1 Beta

With the memory hole plugged, Firefox 8 Beta sees attention turn back again to implementing new features and tweaking the user interface. This is apparent from the moment you first upgrade to version 8 -- a new Add-Ons compatibility assistant launches disabling incompatible add-ons and giving you the option to selectively disable others. Once complete, you won’t see this window again until the next time Firefox updates (to 8.0.1).

Related to this is a major sea-change to how Firefox views add-ons. Prior versions installed third-party add-ons without question, now the user must verify they wish to install each add-on. A new option “Don’t load tabs until selected” has been added to the Option dialog box allowing users who restore tabs from previous browsing sessions to speed up the loading process by not refreshing each tab until it’s selected.

The History window has also been tweaked to allow users to display their Downloads history there, too, while swapping and detaching tabs reveals a new graphical effect to make the action more visible.

Firefox 8 Beta will install over the top of any existing stable release, so while it has undergone a lot of testing to this point, it's still not stable enough to be considered safe for less-experienced users, although it’s likely to be robust enough for most day-to-day browsing needs. If installing the beta, take a backup using a tool like MozBackup before you begin.

Firefox 9.0a2 Aurora

Aurora is an “alpha” build of Firefox, which means it’s 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 9 was supposed to see the start of the radical user interface overhaul, which is due to complete by the end of the year. This will see a browser streamlined to look more like Chrome, but sporting a lot of functionality hidden away. Unfortunately it appears none of these changes will be appearing in Firefox 9 as it begins its move to a stable release -- the interface looks as it has in previous versions. As a result version FF9 contains little in the way of noticeable new features.

Firefox 10.0a1 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.

We’d recommend all but developers and serious, knowledgeable enthusiasts avoid the Nightly builds of Firefox.

Firefox 10 Nightly is most notable for coming as an integrated installer for Windows with a 64-bit build included, which is automatically installed on machines running a 64-bit version of Windows.

Firefox 10.0a1 UX

The newest Firefox 10 build looks much the same as the Aurora build at present, but Mozilla offers a parallel Nightly build, called Firefox 10 UX, that allows you to gain a sneak peek into the interface changes Mozilla hopes to implement by the end of the year. Installing this reveals that some of the tweaks outlined back in August are starting to make their appearance.

These include a streamlined top part of the browser, with forward and home buttons removed by default. Also missing is the Address and Search bars when you switch to a pinned web app tab, such as twitter.com. The search box has been tweaked to display the currently selected search engine as a clickable button on its right -- click this to visit the search engine’s home page.

The Download Manager has also been revamped -- when you start downloading a file, it’s no longer displayed in its own window; instead, a download icon appears in the top right-hand corner of the Firefox window: click this to see a list of recently downloaded files.

Finally, there’s also a new Tab page, which displays a list of bookmarks and recently visited web sites in place of the traditional blank page. It all adds up to a radical overhaul of the Firefox interface, and you can preview it now. Firefox 10 UX installs alongside all other Firefox builds, including Firefox 10 Nightly.

So, to Summarize

Which version of Firefox should you try? The Beta and UX builds contain the most interesting changes at the time of writing, but stick to the most stable version you feel comfortable with, and if you do decide to give the Nightly or UX builds a try, back up first, or use a non-critical machine or virtual setup (try VirtualBox), just in case…

Virtualization makes sense for small and medium businesses

Publié: septembre 29, 2011, 2:01pm CEST par Ed Oswald

For small and medium businesses (SMB), the cost of IT can be sometimes prohibitive. Budgets are small and resources are thin: virtualization may be an attractive alternative to the server farm as it is easy to set up and less time consuming to maintain. Through virtualization, SMB IT deployments can be much more expansive and comprehensive due to cost savings typically realized as a result.

A recent survey by VMWare validates this. Of the 309 SMB IT managers surveyed using virtualization, nearly 73 percent saw a significant decrease in the amount of time spent on routine IT tasks. Over two-thirds also were better equipped to adapt to the changing needs of their businesses, and nearly the same number were able to significantly reduce their hardware costs.

Hardware costs can be reduced both directly and indirectly. The direct savings comes from the fact that multiple servers are no longer needed: instead one server can play host to several. The indirect savings add up too -- consider the lower maintenance and electricity costs, and even the square footage of the business freed up as a result of the elimination or capping of so-called "server sprawl."

That is not the only reasons why SMBs should consider virtualization. Unlike large Fortune 500 companies that are able to support deployments with multiple redundancies, SMBs often cannot afford extensive backup systems. This puts these companies' data at a higher risk of loss, whether it would be from hardware failure or in the event of a natural disaster.

One third of all small and medium business have likely experienced a significant outage as a result of hardware failure or natural disaster in the past two years, and one in five have lost data as a result of these issues. Of those losing data, three out of five will lose sales, the VMWare survey shows.

Since virtualization can provide redundancy in a simple and cost effective manner, the risk of data loss can be decreased significantly.

There are some steps to take if your small business is considering virtualization:

1. Assess if the IT department has the knowledge in-house to not only execute but maintain the deployment themselves. If this is not the case, it is smart to seek the assistance of a third-party.

2. It is also important to assess the readiness of your current hardware and software. Will the server hardware be able to support the additional computing power necessary to virtualize the number of servers that you may need? Does the software required to operate your business support virtualization? After researching the costs to move to a virtualized platform, does your business have the budget to do this?

If any of these are a no, then you may need to reconsider your virtualization plans. It may also be a good idea to consider the assistance of a third party to advise on your next steps to ensure whatever adjustments necessary are done in a cost-effective manner.

3. There is one other consideration when going virtual -- and that's measuring success. The easiest way to do this is to compare your budget and expenditures for IT both before and after the deployment, keeping in mind the startup costs may artificially inflate your IT costs initially. Since many SMBs are moving to virtualization in order to save money, it's important that you have some measurement of its success.

Some helpful virtualization primers:

Virtualization Security -- Cisco
vStart50: Ready to Run Virtualization for SMBs -- Dell
Small Business Solutions -- Microsoft
Virtualization for Small and Midsize Business -- VMWare

Photo Credit: James Thew/Shutterstock

Is XOOM 4G LTE better late than never?

Publié: septembre 29, 2011, 1:19am CEST par Joe Wilcox

You were an earlier adopter. You bought Motorola XOOM six months ago -- or five, or three, or one -- on the promise of a free LTE upgrade. Soon. But you waited, and waited, and waited. Then Verizon released Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 LTE first. You felt gipped. Angry. Frustrated.

The wait is over. Finally, Motorola and Verizon are coming through for you. Today Verizon announced that XOOM LTE upgrades start tomorrow, and that XOOM 4G LTE models will be in stores on October 13.

If it's any consolation, you waited longer but Tab 10.1 LTE buyers pay considerably more. Verizon sells the XOOM 4G LTE with 32GB for $499.99. Samsung's 16GB model costs $30 more, and the 32GB Tab 10.1 LTE is $599.99. For the privilege of paying more, Tab buyers also get Android 3.1 and Samsung's TouchWiz UI. XOOMers are rewarded with Android 3.2, consistent updates to the newest Honeycomb version and no tacked-on skins. Now that Google is buying Moto Mobility there's some assurance of purer Android experience for the future. You're a gadget geek, you don't want Samsung crapware, or any other.

If you signed up for a Verizon email alert, you should receive it tomorrow -- or you can go to this website (which isn't live as I post) for instructions. The upgrade is free, but you'll have to wait (gasp) six business days to get your tablet back. Yes, I know you thought the waiting was over. Waiting with your XOOM was bad enough, but this!

I have to wonder, what is it about October and mobile devices this year. Geesh:

That's a shortlist, and surely I left out something.

Back to the story's question. Was it worth the wait? Would you have bought XOOM later or chosen something else had you known how long the wait would be? Did you hold off buying XOOM, waiting on the 4G LTE upgrade? Or perhaps you don't care about 4G and are satisfied with the WiFi-only model which lists for the same price but with no contractual commitment.

As is typical, Verizon's pricing on XOOM 4G LTE requires 2-year contract, and you'll pay dearly for the data: $30/month for 2GB; $50/month for 5GB; and $80/month for 10GB. The cheapest plans adds $720 to the cost of the tablet over 24 months.

To a July post, commenter Xoom_user expresses: "I've had my Xoom since it was first released, and while I could be pissed about the delay in 4G, it really doesn't impact me much. I use my Xoom about 90 percent of the time via WiFi, 10 percent of the time on 3G. Given that Verizon has Draconian bandwidth limits on my Xoom contract, 4G service would only help me exceed my limit much sooner than I'd want".

William Owen shares similar sentiment: "I purchased my Motorola Xoom at Costco on the day it was released, February 24, 2011, and have been very pleased with the device. I use it while doing cardio machines at the gym to check email or to listed to radio stations from throughout the world on TuneIn. Sure, I'm a bit disappointed that the 4G upgrade and SIM card capability did not happen 'within 3 months' as had been floated back in February, but 3G has worked well for me during those times when I don't have WiFi access".

Is XOOM 4G LTE better late than never? You know where to respond.

FCC sued over leaving wireless data out of open Internet rules

Publié: septembre 28, 2011, 10:50pm CEST par Ed Oswald

Media reform group Free Press has filed suit in the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, asking the courts to review the Federal Communications Commission's "Open Internet Rules." Those policies were passed last December in an effort to create a formal code of conduct for broadband providers following accusations of unfair traffic handling.

These rules force providers to be transparent about how they handle Internet traffic and forbid the favoring of one company's traffic over another. But it's not the same for wireless data.

Instead, the new regulations there are much more lax, only calling for transparency in traffic handling as well as applications that delver voice and video telephony. Seemingly other types of apps could viability be throttled at the carrier's discretion.

Those final rules seemed to be a departure from what the FCC had first proposed, which suggested the agency was going to take a hard-line approach to dealing with the issue of Net neutrality. That wasn't the case, and interest groups like Free Press are crying foul.

"When the FCC first proposed the Open Internet rules, they came with the understanding that there is only one Internet, no matter how people choose to reach it," policy director Matt Wood said in a statement. "The final rules provide some basic protections for consumers, but do not deliver on the promise to preserve openness for mobile Internet access."

His group argues that there is no evidence to support the distinction between wireless and wired Internet traffic, and that doing so violates the Communications Act of 1934. It's vital to the Internet's future that the rules equally apply to wired and wireless, in Free Press' eyes.

"It's especially problematic because of the increasing popularity of wireless, along with its increasing importance for younger demographics and diverse populations who rely on mobile devices as their primary means for getting online," Wood argues.

Free Press is seeking the court to either throw the ruling out for being illegal in full or in part, or remand it to the FCC "for further proceedings."

A request for comment with the FCC is outstanding as of press time.

Photo Credit: Yuri Arcurs/Shutterstock

Amazon lights up Kindle Fire advertising [video]

Publié: septembre 28, 2011, 10:04pm CEST par Joe Wilcox

Amazon's new Kindle Fire tablet may be nearly two months from shipping, but that's not stopping the retailer from building buzz now. Amazon only just announced the Android 2.1-based tablet this morning, and the first commercials are ready to go. The 7-inch Kindle Fire goes on sale November 15 for $199. Wanna guess what the hot Christmas gift this year is gonna be? Hint: It ain't iPad 2.

While geeks, tech writers and Apple fanatics will get all hung up on what's missing -- no camera, no Bluetooth, no 3G, no Android 3.x "Honeycomb" -- ignore their complaints. Amazon isn't selling techie features but a digital lifestyle -- that's crystal clear from this one video, and it resonates with marketing for Kindle ebook readers.

I'll blog on what this means for iPad later, but briefly: Amazon is showing its retail prowess by prioritizing features and pricing that matter for living one digital lifestyle around its cloud-connected services, rather than offering the latest, hardware and software. Like Apple, Amazon is offering a stack of content and services that it controls.

But it's apps versus the cloud, baby, and two integrated retail experiences -- one from an experienced online retailer and the other from a successful wannabe. Where the twain meet is marketing; there Apple has a long history of success, but Amazon has done surprisingly well with recent Kindle advertising.

Just "Kindle it" is smart marketing. Some of the most successful products became verbs, with "Google" replacing "search" being one of the most current examples. In some international markets people "MSN" rather than instant message. "Kindle it" also captures the essence of the lifestyle Amazon is trying to sell -- finding the content that's important to you -- and you is very much a part of the lifestyle, as seen in earlier Kindle advertising.

We live in a connected world, where the demands of always-persistent cell phones, social networking posts and email nag us to interact, interact, interact. But what about personal time? Your time. Time when you can disconnect. Kindle let's you get absorbed in a book -- or with Fire other content. That's a major part of the lifestyle Amazon is pitching.

I'll be asking for a Kindle Fire this Christmas, and will prod my wife to preorder early. And you? Will Kindle Fire set your wallet ablaze?

Confused by Windows Registry values? DCode can help

Publié: septembre 28, 2011, 6:14pm CEST par Mike Williams

Some Registry values are easy to understand. Find a file path, say, and you’ll often be able to figure out its purpose at a glance.

Dates and times, though? That’s often a very different matter.

Browse to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Windows in your Registry editor, for instance, and you’ll find the Shutdown value, which is where Windows records when the system was last closed down. Useful information, perhaps, except that for efficiency the system uses a cryptic binary format to save the data, so all you’ll read is something like “8d 67 62 2b b0 7c cc 01″. Which is less than obvious.

With a copy of DCode, though, this doesn’t have to be a problem. Just launch the program (it’s portable, no installation required), enter the mystery value in the “Value to Decode” box, click Decode, and the correct date and time will be displayed (Tue, 27 September 2011 00:55:37 UTC in our example).

By default DCode assumes you’re using the most common Windows date and time format (“64 bit Hex Value – Little Endian”). But the program also supports conversion from a lengthy list of other formats: Windows 64 bit (big endian), Windows Cookie, Windows 64 bit OLE, Windows SYSTEM Structure, Hotmail / Email Filetime, Unix 32 bit (little endian), Unix 32 bit (big endian), Unix numeric, Google Chrome, Apple Mac Absolute, MS-DOS wFatTime, wFatDate, MS-DOS wFatDate, wFatTime, HFS 32 bit (little endian), HFS 32 bit (big endian), HFS+ (big endian) and HFS+ (little endian). So if you know the original value is using one of these, just choose it from the list to see the correct value.

What we really like about DCode, though, are the program’s many thoughtful extras.

It doesn’t mind if you enter spaces in your initial value, for instance (they’ll be stripped out before conversion). It can copy original or converted values to or from the clipboard, at a click. If you’re using it a lot then the option to keep the window on top of others will be convenient. And if the value relates to some other system, then you can even add a time zone bias to be sure you have the exact time.

It’s all very useful, and helps to make DCode an essential tool to have around for anyone who ever goes browsing the Registry (or may need to figure out date values from other binary details).

Skype for iPad, iPhone now supports Bluetooth headsets

Publié: septembre 28, 2011, 5:52pm CEST par Mark Wilson

Skype’s iPhone app proved to be incredibly popular, and the recently released iPad version soon picked up a healthy following as well. Both versions of the app have been updated to include support for Bluetooth devices while the iPhone version has a new anti-shake feature designed to eliminate wobbly footage when conducting a video call.

Bluetooth support has been enabled for iPhone 3GS and 4 users as well as for the iPad 2 and fourth generation iPods. This opens up the opportunity to use headsets to make and receive hands-free calls.

iPhone 4 users can take advantage of the new image stabilization feature that kicks in when the rear camera is in use. This makes it more enjoyable for other parties involved in a video call to see what’s going on without having to endure sea sickness-inducing camera shake.

Another update to both the iPad and iPhone versions of the Skype app sees the introduction of advertisements. Anyone who has Skype credit available will not see ads, and the same is true for anyone with a calling or premium subscription -- everyone else has to view them.

It is worth noting that to avoid potential problems such as slow contact syncing and a misreported loss of Skype credis, it is a good idea to delete your existing version of the app before installing the new one rather than simply updating in the usual way.

Microsoft extracts Android tax from Samsung

Publié: septembre 28, 2011, 5:24pm CEST par Joe Wilcox

What's that saying about my enemy being my ally?

Samsung has finally agreed to pay licensing fees to Microsoft for patents allegedly infringed by Android. I say, allegedly, since Microsoft accomplished this feat without firing one legal shot. It's a diplomatic agreement, of sorts, although the threat of patent warfare was always there. Perhaps Samsung has had enough fighting Apple patent and other intellectual property violation claims and didn't want to open yet another front on the battlefield. Or perhaps Samsung saw how many other phone manufacturers were cutting similar deals with Microsoft. Bottom line: Samsung will now essentially pay a licensing fee for Android, not to Google, but to Microsoft.

The licensing deal offers four major benefits to Microsoft:

1. It levels the competitive licensing landscape between Android and Windows Phone. Android is open source, and there are no licensing fees. But Microsoft charges for Windows Phone OS. The deal removes free as an advantage for Android, and Microsoft gets paid either way, whether patent licensing fee for the open-source software or usage fee for Windows Phone.

2. Microsoft profits from Android, and in a big way. Rumors had Microsoft demanding $10 per Samsung Android phone if there was a cross-licensing deal that included Windows Phone commitment and $15 per device without it. Terms weren't disclosed. But Microsoft has now knocked off most of the major Android licensees. Should it get them all, the potential revenue opportunity, from a competing OS, is dizzying.

IDC claims that Android and Windows Phone will be the first- and second-ranked smartphone operating systems in 2015, with 43.8 percent and 20.3 percent market share, respectively, based on unit shipments. The firm also predicts that 1 billion smartphones will ship that year, which makes for easy math -- Microsoft collecting some kind of licensing fee on as many as 641 million smartphones.

Let's assume, for the sake of simple calculations, that Microsoft collects $10 per license. That works out to a cool $6.4 billion in licensing fees a year by 2015, for Android and Windows Phone. I believe the $10 estimate is a low, but workable figure since it's unclear how many of the nearly 40 Android licensees will pony up and the figure doesn't include tablets, which Microsoft can collect on, too. It's a helluva business opportunity.

3. Patent cross-licensing protects Microsoft from future Samsung IP claims. An agreement like this is akin to a peace treaty, where both sides agree not to attack the other.

4. Microsoft is assured that Samsung will continue licensing Windows Phone and developing handsets for the operating system. Right now, Samsung's most advanced cell phones all run Android, particularly the Galaxy S II line. This guarantee is more significant than it first appears. Samsung has a successful three-OS strategy. Home-grown Bada, which is hardly a year old, outsold Windows Phone in second quarter, according to Gartner.

"Microsoft and Samsung see the opportunity for dramatic growth in Windows Phone and we’re investing to make that a reality", Andy Lees, Windows Phone Division president, says in a statement. "Microsoft believes in a model where all our partners can grow and profit based on our platform".

That model Microsoft wants: Everyone pays for software, and if Google won't collect Android licensing fees, Microsoft is all too willing.

"Through the cross-licensing of our respective patent portfolios, Samsung and Microsoft can continue to bring the latest innovations to the mobile industry", Won-Pyo Hong, a Samsung executive vice president, says in a statement. "We are pleased to build upon our long history of working together to open a new chapter of collaboration beginning with our Windows Phone 'Mango' launch this fall".

Mango -- that is Windows Phone 7.5 -- released to existing WP device owners yesterday as an over-the-air update. As for the long history, Samsung was one of Microsoft's most loyal Windows Mobile licensees until it got all hot for Android.

Samsung joins an increasing number of Android licensees agreeing to pay an Android tax to Microsoft. Casio signed an agreement last week, and Acer earlier in September.

Photo Credit: d3images/Shutterstock

The three big ways Amazon's Kindle Fire wins

Publié: septembre 28, 2011, 5:01pm CEST par Tim Conneally

Online retailer Amazon on Wednesday officially launched its first Android tablet, the 7" Kindle Fire.

Taking its name from the company's already successful line of e-readers, the Kindle Fire introduces a handful of new features to the Android tablet business.

First, it will enter the market at the low end of the pricing scale. At $199, it will cost the same as Lenovo's Ideapad A1 tablet, putting it far below other brand name tablets in price.

Second, Amazon's major differentiator is that it has built its own UI on top of Android that completely focuses on a user's existent Amazon account and all of Amazon's services: its MP3 shop, its Android App Store, the Kindle reader app and bookstore, Amazon Video on Demand and Amazon Prime. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos today said the Kindle ships pre-registered with your Amazon account and will work immediately out of the box. When comparing this to the setup currently related to Apple's iPad or even other Android tablets, it's a major winning factor.

Third, and probably the most surprising revelation from Amazon today was Amazon Silk, a cloud-supported browser which resides locally on the Kindle Fire, but utilizes Amazon's EC2 for handling heavy computation. The user can split computational tasks between the onboard dual-core processor and Amazon's EC2 cloud.

Amazon describes Silk in the following way:

A typical web request begins with resolving the domain names associated with the server and establishing a TCP connection to issue the http request. Establishing TCP connections for each request consumes time and resources that slow down traditional browsers. Silk keeps a persistent connection open to EC2 so that there is always a connection at the ready to start loading the next page. Silk also uses EC2 to maintain a persistent connection to the top sites on the web. This approach reduces latency that would otherwise result from constantly establishing TCP connections. Further, Silk's split architecture uses a pipelined, multiplexing protocol that can send all the content over a single connection.

This is a big deal, and one that we're going to dive into much more deeply today.

Amazon unveils three all-new Kindle e-readers

Publié: septembre 28, 2011, 4:38pm CEST par Tim Conneally

Amazon on Wednesday unveiled the fifth generation of its dedicated Kindle e-readers: the $79 Kindle, the $99 Kindle Touch, and the $149 Kindle Touch 3G. All three go up for pre-order today and will begin shipping on November 21.

The three models each offer the latest high-contrast 6" E Ink Pearl display and an even smaller profile than previous versions, but they're not all the same. The low-end Kindle offers a much smaller chassis, and weighs only 5.95 ounces, while two flagship models, Kindle Touch, and Touch 3G, have infrared touchscreen interfaces like the Nook Simple Touch and Sony Reader and slightly larger bodies.

Kindle Specs:

Size: 6.5" x 4.5" x 0.34"
Weight: 5.98 ounces
Storage: 2GB
Wi-Fi: 802.11 b/g/n (WEP, WPA and WPA2 security using password authentication; does not connect to WPA and WPA2 secured networks using 802.1X authentication methods; does not support connecting to ad-hoc Wi-Fi networks.)
I/O: USB 2.0 (micro-B connector), 3.5 mm stereo audio jack
Formats Supported: Kindle (AZW), TXT, PDF, unprotected MOBI, PRC natively; HTML, DOC, DOCX, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP through conversion.

Kindle Touch Specs:

Size: 6.8" x 4.7" x 0.40"
Weight: 7.5 ounces
Storage: 4 GB internal
Wi-Fi: 802.11 b/g/n (WEP, WPA and WPA2 security using password authentication; does not connect to WPA and WPA2 secured networks using 802.1X authentication methods; does not support connecting to ad-hoc Wi-Fi networks.)
I/O: USB 2.0 (micro-B connector), 3.5 mm stereo audio jack
Formats Supported: Kindle (AZW), TXT, PDF, Audible (Audible Enhanced(AA,AAX)), MP3, unprotected MOBI, PRC natively; HTML, DOC, DOCX, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP through conversion.

The Kindle Touch 3G Specs are identical except for the weight (7.8 ounces) and, naturally, the fact that it has an HSPDA/EDGE/GPRS modem and free AT&T wireless coverage.

Thunderbird 7 ships -- with several annoying bugs

Publié: septembre 28, 2011, 3:54pm CEST par Nick Peers

Mozilla has updated its popular email tool, Thunderbird, to version 7. Thunderbird 7.0 Final follows Firefox 7 out of the door, while Mozilla SeaMonkey 2.4, its all-in-one suite, comprising functionality from Firefox and Thunderbird, has also been released, incorporating the improvements in Firefox 7 into its own build.

Unlike its better-known sibling, Thunderbird 7 features few noticeable changes over previous releases, with highlights including the fact it’s based on the Mozilla Gecko 7 engine, various user interface tweaks, fixes to attachment handling and unspecified platform improvements to the Address Book. Version 7 also promises improved security, speed, performance and stability through various security and platform fixes.

Thunderbird 7 also claims to add a new feature allowing you to print a summary of selected email messages. On the surface this appears to be an incorrect assumption, as selecting more than one message in Thunderbird 6 and selecting File > Print results in a summary being printed.

We did some digging, and discovered the behavior in Thunderbird 6 was reported as a bug. It seems Thunderbird 7 simply reverts the default behavior to that of Thunderbird 5, whereby selecting multiple messages and choosing Print results in each message being printed separately. In fact, we’re left confused as to how the print summary feature can now be enabled, despite many hours digging around Thunderbird and the web.

Thunderbird 7 also ships with one acknowledged bug. The release notes state, “If you are unable to view content for your RSS feeds in the Wide View Layout, you may need to disable the Lightning Calendar add-on if you have it installed or switch to Classic View and restart Thunderbird.”

Thunderbird 7.0 Final is available now as a free, open-source download for Windows, Mac and Linux. Also available from Mozilla are Firefox 7.0 Final and SeaMonkey 2.4.

Intel kills MeeGo

Publié: septembre 28, 2011, 3:43pm CEST par Tim Conneally

Here's a quick mobile Linux primer: Intel had Moblin, Nokia had Maemo, they joined forces and formed MeeGo. After a year, Nokia dropped out because development was too slow and it allied with Microsoft.

Now, Intel is dropping MeeGo and allying with the Linux Foundation and LiMo Foundation in support of a newer mobile Linux OS called Tizen.

Like Google's Chrome OS, Tizen APIs will be based on Web standards such as HTML5 and WAC, and will focus on broad compatibility instead of "walled garden" apps. The Tizen project's page says the APIs will incorporate different platform capabilities like messaging, multimedia, camera, network, and social media, and will, of course, be totally open.

"We believe the future belongs to HTML5-based applications, outside of a relatively small percentage of apps, and we are firmly convinced that our investment needs to shift toward HTML5. Shifting to HTML5 doesn't just mean slapping a web runtime on an existing Linux, even one aimed at mobile, as MeeGo has been. Emphasizing HTML5 means that APIs not visible to HTML5 programmers need not be as rigid, and can evolve with platform technology and can vary by market segment," Imad Sousou wrote in the MeeGo blog last night.

The first Tizen SDK and related NDK will be released in the first quarter of 2012.

We'll have more on Intel's shift to Tizen today.

Photo: Konrad Bak/Shutterstock

Got Windows Phone 7.5? We'd like to hear about it

Publié: septembre 28, 2011, 1:56am CEST par Joe Wilcox

I'm not one of the lucky people who owns a Windows Phone handset, so I'm calling on those of you who do to help me out and your fellow Betanews readers. Today, Microsoft started rolling out Windows Phone 7.5 to most people using a WP smartphone. If that's you, "Mango" is coming soon, as an over-the-air update, if you don't already have it.

If you've got it, please share your first impressions about the software in comments. Or, better, contact me about writing a review. We love reader submissions. Last week, reader Joseph LoRe wrote a first-impressions review of the Epic 4G Touch, Sprint's variant of the Samsung Galaxy S II. Please email me if you're interested in reviewing Windows Phone 7.5: joe at betanews dot com.

Meanwhile, I must heap some well-deserved praise on Microsoft, for doing to Windows Phone what it did with Zune: Put existing customers first, rather than compelling them to get something new. It's very unlike Apple, which pushes customers to the next thing (often with nothing more than clever marketing or introduction of a few new capabilities not backwards compatible with existing hardware).

With Zune, Microsoft released new software that made existing hardware better, essentially rewarding existing customers for their loyalty. Today's update comes out ahead of the first wave of WP 7.5 smartphones going on sale, a big perk for existing customers. Watch to see how differently Apple manages next week's iPhone 5 unveiling.

This is about where some hardcore Apple fan starts writing in comments about how Microsoft's business is different -- it only sells software, whereas Apple primarily profits from the hardware. Bandersnatch! Microsoft sold Zune hardware -- and whoa did it need to sell more against iPod -- and still put the customer first with its software updates. As for Windows Phone handsets, Microsoft needs to see more sales of those, too. How else can it keep WP licensees, when Android is free and doing way, way better? Android's US smartphone OS share is 41.8 percent, compared to Windows Phone's 5.7 percent, according to comScore.

Microsoft shouldn't wait around for new phones to get to market to give loyal customers a taste of the future.

There's another reason to release now and not wait around for new handsets: Marketing. People pining over their seemingly new phones will infect friends and coworkers with their enthusiasm. Those buyers don't need to wait around for new hardware to get the new software.

Well, hell, I thought of one more thing. Next week, the Apple Fanclub of bloggers and journalists will fill the InterWebs with buzz, buzz, buzz (God, get my chainsaw!) about iPhone 5 and iOS 5. Windows Phone 7.5 is better coming out on this side of Apple's October 4th announcement than the other. Hence, there's a bunch of Mango reviews from gadget sites today. If you'd like to be a Betanews star with your WP 7.5 review, don't wait until next week. It will be lost in the iPhone 5 cyclone -- eh, iCyclone 5.

Brilliantly Played

Microsoft's approach to Windows Phone has been remarkably sensible and painstakingly strategic. The company has been playing a shrewd chess game against competitors, sacrificing pieces early on to gain winning position. It's a board strategy that requires patience and stamina -- resisting the temptation to capture pieces now when the long play of exhausting opponents and catching them cocky and unprepared is way of winning the game. From the Windows Phone distribution deal with Nokia to fundamentally different approach to using and marketing the devices, Microsoft is changing the rules of engagement.

The whole "glance and go" approach is sheer brilliance, and I'm convinced will pay off when married to Nokia hardware and its marketing approach. I'm still not buying IDC's Windows Phone forecast for 2015, but do see huge marketing and phone philosophy resonance between Microsoft and Nokia: The phone is a tool for living your life, not for consuming it.

Today's update, going out to all, is part of that phone-as-a-tool approach. Microsoft started the update process at 1 p.m. PDT. The numerical designation for this one is 7720. Some people will get the update fairly quickly, while others will have to wait as much as four weeks. Microsoft's Eric Hautala asks: "Who’s first?" And answers: "This is a simultaneous, coordinated, global update that cuts across carriers, phone models, and countries. This time, almost everybody is going first"

Why is Microsoft staggering the roll out? Hautala explains:

Delivering Windows Phone 7.5 simultaneously to so many phone models and carriers requires the right engineering balance. Speed is a priority -- but so is quality. We’re not just delivering our new operating system but also new software supplied by individual handset makers. This 'firmware' is necessary so your phone -- and apps -- work with all the features of Windows Phone 7.5. But it essentially means that we’re supplying not just one update, but many different ones, given the variety of Windows Phones and carriers out there to choose from.

The process also means, sadly for some existing Windows Phone owners, that they'll wait longer because there's still more work to do. AT&T subscribers are most likely affected. Microsoft has started the update process for WP smartphones on US carriers Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon. But on AT&T, "delivery has begun for the HTC Surround, LG Quantum, and Samsung Focus v. 1.3", according to Microsoft. "The HTC HD7S is currently 'Scheduling', while the Samsung Focus v. 1.4 is 'Testing' and the Dell Venue Pro is in 'Planning'". HD7S users will wait longer, Focus users longer still and it's anyone's guess if Venue Pro users will ever get the update. Microsoft works with the phone OEMs, not controls them. Sorry if you're among these unfortunate AT&T WP users. The update process also has started for "all other operators" and for "open market" phones, Microsoft says.

You Don't Have to Wait

But, c`mon, you're a gadget geek. You don't want to wait hours, days, or (gasp) weeks for a bite into Mango. Well, well, WPCentral has you covered. Today the site posted instructions on how you can use Zune software to get WP 7.5 now. Paul Acevedo shares what is surely a common sentiment among WP users about the four-weeks to update everyone: "That’s practically a month. I don’t know about you, but my go-go lifestyle doesn’t allow for that kind of waiting".

Acevedo offers a 10-step process for forcing the update. Sorry, I won't cut and paste them here. He deserves your pageviews; I won't take them away. Obviously I can't test it, but WPCentral commenters confirm the shortcut works. (See, that's another way Microsoft rewards loyal Windows Phone users. What? You think Microsoft couldn't force the update to only be OTA? Those who tinker receive their bounty.)

WPCentral comments show loads of excitement for WP 7.5:

oasis1489: "I just may head out for a mango smoothie in celebration...especially since this update seems like its taking years to install. i guess 500 new features take their sweet time making their magical journey onto my HTC Trophy...Mango is now officially working on my HTC Trophy! And MAN it feels slick! Even the animations when scrolling through the alphabetical app list look awesome! Good luck everyone!"

jchapman01: "This worked great!! First time I checked for an update Zune told me it had the latest version. Then I checked again and immediately hit my WiFi switch and KABLAM!! UPDATE AVAILABLE! Thanks WPCENTRAL! USING HTC SURROUND on AT&T".

Not everyone is having such luck installing Mango, but surely persistence pays.

Okay, now that you've read this far, please follow WPCentral's instructions, install Windows Phone 7.5 and come back and post comments here or contact me about writing that review.

Google+ market share grows 1,269% in one week

Publié: septembre 27, 2011, 11:44pm CEST par Ed Oswald

Website traffic analysis firm Experian Hitwise said Tuesday that traffic to Google+ grew some 1,269 percent from the week ending September 17 to the week ending September 24. This was good enough to catapult the site from the 54th most visited site in the Social Networking and Forums category to 8th in just one week.

Research director Heather Dougherty said Hitwise's analysis indicated Google+ had nearly 15 million total US visits in the last week alone, its first since opening up to the public. She also said the company's analysis indicates that a large portion of the services users still remain early adopters.

The company has some funny names it uses to describe the different categories of users it follows across the sites it tracks called Mosaic. Regardless, these are still the influencers and technologically savvy who were the first to jump on board when Google+ launched in late July.

"In comparison to the online population, Google + continued to over-index for and win a high share of its visits from Mosaic USA 2011 Types which contain 'Influencers,' 'Early Adopters' and the internet-savvy, like 'Bohemian Groove,' 'Gotham Blend' and 'Progressive Potpourri;' this indicates that 'Early Adopters' still account for a large share of Google+’s traffic," Dougherty writes.

However, the firm noted that the audience profile of Google+ was shifting to lower and middle-income groups, which likely indicates that the social network is beginning to move past the early adopter phase of its growth.

Nokia debuts MeeGo-powered N9: perfect timing?

Publié: septembre 27, 2011, 9:22pm CEST par Tim Conneally

Nokia officially launched the N9 today, the Finnish mobile phone maker's first (and potentially only) smartphone to be powered by mobile Linux distribution MeeGo.

The slick N9 impressed us quite a bit when it was announced back in July: 3.9" (854 x 480) AMOLED display with convex Gorilla Glass, a 1 GHz TI OMAP3630 processor, 1GB of RAM, 16 or 64GB of storage, an 8 Megapixel flash camera, and front-facing chat cam, and global wireless support. It will be available in 20 countries for €480 (16GB) or €560 (64GB).

The critical issue with the N9 is the fact that it's partially a developmental dead end since Nokia made a commitment to Windows Phone, and officially gave up hope on MeeGo being a competitive OS for the company.

It is therefore only fitting that the N9 should launch on the same day as Microsoft launches the Mango update to Windows Phone.

But this appears to be no scheduling accident.

Tomorrow in Seattle, Intel's Elements 2011 developer conference will open, and MeeGo is going to be one of the major topics of discussion. In fact, the Financial Times of Germany today said that MeeGo is going to be merged with much more penetrative mobile Linux distro LiMo, which has been used on more than 20 mobile devices by Panasonic and NEC, mostly in Japan.

If that happens, MeeGo will receive support from LiMO Foundation members Samsung, NEC, Panasonic, NTT DoCoMo, Vodafone, Orange, SK Telecom, and Telefonica, who could conceivably pick up any slack in development as a result of Nokia's gradual egress from MeeGo support, and it could feel like much less of a dead end.

Of course, this is just rumor, and we have received no confirmation from Intel, Panasonic, or NEC about it. Fortunately, though, we'll be on the floor at Elements 2011 tomorrow with the first word on this if it happens.

Paragon Backup and Recovery 11 Home review

Publié: septembre 27, 2011, 9:01pm CEST par Mike Williams

Paragon Software’s Backup & Recovery has always been one of the most feature-packed backup tools around, and the latest release, Backup & Recovery 11 Home, does its best to carry on this proud tradition.

At a first glance down the “new features” list, though, the strategy doesn’t appear to be entirely successful. The program is more about evolution, than revolution: there’s no game-changer here, it’s really just building on what’s come before.

But still, the new build does have some useful additions, and of course it’s building on a very solid base, so whether you’re familiar with the program, or are a Paragon newbie, it definitely deserves a closer look.

Feature-Packed

As with the previous edition, the program opens with its Express interface, an easy-to-use, front-end menu that helps you get started at speed. Which in most cases will mean launching the Smart Backup Wizard, and having this walk you through the process of creating your first backup.

There’s a good choice of backup types: you can save your media files, documents, emails (Outlook, Windows Mail and Outlook Express only), individual partitions, complete hard drives, or the files and folders you specify, just in a click or two. There’s support for a wide range of backup destinations. Your backup files can be saved to local or network drives; a chosen partition, even if it’s not mounted or supported by your operating system; or burned to CD, DVD or Blu-ray discs. And, new this time around, Backup & Recovery 11 Home can also back up and restore to or from an FTP or sFTP server.

You get an extensive and customizable list of include and exclude filters to ensure your backup contains only the files you need. A new Encryption option allows you to password-protect your archives. And your completed backup job can be run immediately, or scheduled for launch when you log on, every day, week, month or more, courtesy of the scheduler.

Factor in the improved hardware support -- the ability to work with drives bigger than 2.2TB, SSDs, AFDs, USB 3.0 drives, and drives that don’t use 512-byte sectors -- and the program is off to a very good start.

But there was one relative disappointment, in the program’s performance over a wired network (though local and USB drive backup times were fine). We backed up a small test system (107GB of data) to a NAS device, using a specialist imaging backup tool, and the process took 35 minutes. But when we tried backing up the same system with Backup & Recovery 11 Home, it took around 49 minutes, or 40-percent longer.

There are some compensations here. Our imaging program was fast, but heavy on resources; Backup & Recovery 11 Home was a little slower, but much more lightweight, so it’s no problem to carry on using your PC while it runs in the background. And if this doesn’t apply to you because you’re running unattended backups, then you probably won’t care how long a job takes to run anyway.

Still, if you’ve a lot of data to back up then this may become an issue. Make sure you test how the program performs on your system before you buy.

Advanced Interface

The Express interface is fine when you’re getting started, but only displays a few of Backup & Recovery 11′s functions. So to get a complete picture of what the program can do you must switch to the Advanced Interface. This is much more complex, but also looks very similar to other Paragon products, so if you’ve ever used one of these you’ll quickly feel at home.

This interface includes straightforward wizards to run differential partition and incremental file backups, for instance. These can save time by backing up only new or changed data, a great way to cut your backup times.

There are also simple tools to copy partitions or entire disks, including an option to migrate your system to a larger hard drive (Backup & Recovery 11 will resize any partitions appropriately to make best use of the space). And these don’t have to be image copies; the (new to this version) ability to use Exclude filters means that you can avoid copying particular file types – *.bak, *.tmp, *,old or whatever. It’s all very straightforward

Elsewhere, you’ll find a few basic partitioning tools: you can create, format, hide and unhide them, assign drive letters, and so on.

There is a handy Undelete Partitions wizard, too, and a raft of low-level functions. You’re able to view and edit drives at the sector level; update a hard drive’s MBR; change your primary slots; and, new this time is a wizard to easily convert a standard MBR-formatted drive to GPT without losing any data.

Perhaps most intriguing, though, are the recovery options, as Backup & Recovery 11 Home has far more to offer here than most of the competition.

Disaster Recovery

If your PC stops booting for whatever reason then of course you won’t be able to launch Backup & Recovery 11 Home to restore a previous backup. And so the program allows you to create a bootable recovery environment to get everything working again.

At its simplest you can just use the standard image provided with the program, a Linux environment which quickly boots you into a cut-down version of Backup & Recovery. Bonus extras here include the Boot Corrector, which can fix many common Windows boot problems, and so may help you avoid the need to restore any backup at all. But if it fails then you can use the program to restore anything from an individual file to an entire drive backup.

Another option, new this time, is the Windows PE 3.0 boot disk. This includes essentially the 32-bit version of Backup & Recovery Home, so there’s less learning involved: it looks and behaves exactly like the program you’re used to. There’s also an extra option to add (32-bit) third-party drivers on the fly, useful if your hardware isn’t supported by default. And the Windows PE disc is also better at connecting to your network, which will also be important if your backups are saved to some network drive or device.

And the other addition to Backup & Recovery 11 is support for Paragon Adaptive Restore 3.0, which means you should be able to more reliably restore your system backup onto entirely new hardware, as the program injects the necessary drivers for you. This may be useful for some people, but in our experience Windows itself does a good job of coping in these situations, and additional tools are usually unnecessary.

Overall, then, while there’s no single stand-out new feature, Paragon Backup & Recovery 11 Home does have more than enough enhancements to justify your attention: the extended hardware support, backup to FTP/ SFTP servers, encryption, exclude filters when copying a hard drive, and Windows PE 3.0 boot disc are all worth having.

And when you add these to the solid, reliable and highly configurable foundations of the previous version then you’ve got yourself one very powerful backup tool. If you’re looking for a solid, reliable, versatile and highly configurable way to protect your valuable data, then give Paragon Backup & Recovery 11 Home a try -- it could be just what you need.

The software runs on Windows 2000 SP4, XP, Vista, 7 -- all 32 and 64-bit editions -- all lists for $39.95.

Apple will announce one iPhone, not two, on Oct. 4th

Publié: septembre 27, 2011, 7:17pm CEST par Ed Oswald

Patient (or impatient) iPhone aficionados will not have to wait much longer for that highly anticipated iPhone 5: Apple on Tuesday began mailing out invitations to journalists for an iPhone event on October 4, to be held at its headquarters in Cupertino, Calif. Apple often drops hints in the graphic elements accompanying the invites about what's coming. The not-so-cryptic message: One iPhone will be coming, contradicting weeks of rumors about two -- the other being the so-called 4S.

It's not clear why Apple chose to have its event on-campus this time versus its typical launch venue, the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. The YBCA is showing no events for that day. In any case, Apple may be leaning towards a more intimate setting, hoping to maximize press coverage for the device by only inviting the most highly-read news outlets to the event itself.

The invitation is simply titled "Let's Talk iPhone," with an image showing the iOS icons for its calendar, showing the date of Tuesday the 4th, the clock, (showing the time of the event), the Map icon showing a pin where Apple's campus is located, and the phone icon.

If the visual clues extend to the phone icon, this may be the most important part of the whole invite. Notice that the "1" badge is on this image. For several months now, we've waffled between Apple releasing either one or two phones. In true Apple style, the company may have hidden its answer in the invitation itself. Those sneaky devils.

What is still unclear regardless of the number of phones Apple debuts next Tuesday is the release date. Using the iPhone 4 as a baseline for speculation, the announcement came on June 7, 2010, followed by preorders on June 16 (Wednesday) and in-store sales on June 24 (Thursday).

By that reckoning, presales would start October 12 and the phone would be in stores on October 21. But a more ambitious schedule would better rumors of October 15. In that scenario, Apple would begin presales on October 5 and have iPhone 5 in stores on the 13th.

AVG Anti-Virus Free for Android has your back

Publié: septembre 27, 2011, 7:15pm CEST par Mark Wilson

PCs are certainly the most common target for virus attacks, but this does not mean that other platforms are immune. The increased use of mobile devices means that platforms such as Android devices are prone to virus infection and antivirus software is now available to help counter this. AVG is most famous for its desktop virus protection software, but Anti-Virus Free is also available for Android and its aim is to protect your mobile in a number of ways.

As you might expect, the app provide virus protection on a real-time basis as well as enabling you to scan on a schedule or manually. Surfing the web is the source of many threats, and to this end the app includes phishing and malware protection. But Anti-Virus Free also goes far beyond this, and includes a number of handy extra tools and utilities.

If your phone is lost or stolen, there are a couple of remote tools that will be of interest. The app can be used to remotely switch on GPS and then broadcast the location of your phone so you can go and pick it up. Remote locking is also available so you can prevent a thief or anyone that should find your phone from running up a huge bill or prying into your personal information.

While AVG’s focus is understandably on avoiding virus infection and other threats, data protection is also important. There is a beta version of a backup utility that can be used to backup you text messages, contacts and other data while a task management tool is available to enable you to kill apps and processes that become problematic.

You can find out more and download a free copy of the app by paying a visit to the Anti-Virus Free review page.

USPTO denies Apple's 'multi-touch' trademark -- for the final time

Publié: septembre 27, 2011, 6:22pm CEST par Ed Oswald

Apple has made big brouhaha about its multi-touch user interface on iOS products like iPhone, and has for almost four years been attempting to trademark the term here in the United States. That effort is now for naught as a filing made public on Friday shows that the company's application was denied.

Apple originally applied for the trademark back on January 9, 2007, the same day the first iPhone was introduced at that year's Macworld Expo. Its application was initially denied by a US Patent and Trademark Office attorney on the basis that it was "merely descriptive of the applicants goods," but Apple pressed on.

In a resubmitted application, Apple attempted to prove "acquired distinctiveness," but the USPTO was not persuaded and denied it a second time. Running out of options, the decision was then appealed to the full board, which held a hearing in April and handed its decision down last week, again affirming its attorney's opinion on the matter.

The decision seems to reflect the opinion of the USPTO that multi-touch now has become a generic term to describe the interface between the user and most touchscreen devices. Since that is the case, it becomes much more difficult, if not impossible, to trademark the term.

"Simply because the applied-for term has been used in association with a highly successful product does not mean the term has acquired distinctiveness," the USPTO said in conclusion.

The full text of the decision can be viewed here.

Photo Credit: Joe Wilcox

WebM Video Converter is an absolute doddle to use

Publié: septembre 27, 2011, 6:15pm CEST par Mark Wilson

Converting video from one format to another can be a real chore. Whether you are looking to reduce the size of a video file so you can more easily add it to your website, or if you need to have a file in a particular format so you can play it back on your chosen media device, almost everyone will have to battle with video formats and conversion software at some point. Free WebM Video Converter is a free tool that may just be able to make your life a little easier.

There are a large number of applications available that can be used to convert video files from one format to another, many of them are rather expensive and complicated beasts. Free WebM Video Converter is different as it is completely free of charge and an absolute doddle to use. There is no need to fiddle with complex menus or tweak endless options, with Free WebM Video Converter successful video conversion can be achieved in just a few mouse clicks.

The fact that the program is available free of charge does not mean that you have to make compromises about the video formats you are able to work with. Even if your digital camera captures footage in an obscure format, support for the likes of .ivf, .ts, .ogv, .mts, .tod and .mod, in addition to the usual .avi, .mov, .3gp and more, means that you can work with your videos without worries.

The actual conversion process is incredibly simple, and once you have selected the file you would like to work with, you can then select a name, destination and tagging options. After selecting a video format, you can use a drop down menu to choose from one of a number of presets before getting the conversion underway. It is possible to batch convert a number of videos at once and your computer can be scheduled to switch off when this is complete for overnight processing sessions.

You can found out more and download a free copy of the program by paying a visit to the Free WebM Video Converter review page.

T-Mobile's Galaxy S II is a beast

Publié: septembre 27, 2011, 5:59pm CEST par Ed Oswald

T-Mobile won't deny its customers the best. With the AT&T merger in doubt over antitrust concerns, and what appears to be the increasing likelihood that the carrier will not offer iPhone 5 come October when its other large competitors likely will, T-Mobile needs to offer some truly innovative smartphone.

The carrier is showing the best comes to those wait. Its Samsung Galaxy S II variant may be the last to come to these shores, but it is by far most powerful of the three that were launched for Sprint, AT&T and T-Mobile.

When Betanews was up in New York City last month for the unveiling of the device, T-Mobile curiously placed its S2 under glass and wouldn't let the media handle it for themselves. We now know why: the phone's specs exceeds any of its siblings.

While AT&T and Sprint S2 models have 1.2GHz dual-core processors, T-Mobile's version sports a 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S3 processor. You really can't compare T-Mobile's data to Sprint's due to the differences between WiMax and GSM, but comparing it to AT&T's model is fairer: here T-Mobile's S2 maxes out at a top speed of 42Mbps versus 21Mbps for the AT&T variant.

T-Mobile is publicly claiming its field tests in four major markets showed the devices (the HTC Amaze 4G included) averaged download speeds of 8Mbps and peak speeds approaching 20Mbps. That performance would put these near the top of the fastest phones available on the market today, not only for the speed of the hardware but also data throughput as well.

T-Mobile is also enabling NFC on the device, allowing it to take advantage of the growing support for the technology for mobile payments. The carrier itself is part of a mobile payments effort called Isis, although it has been repeatedly delayed since its initial debut in late 2010, and is not expected to be live until next year.

Like the HTC Amaze, T-Mobile's Galaxy S II will also be available October 10 for an online presale, and October 12 in stores. T-Mobile says the phone will cost $279.99 with a two-year contract, but will come with a $50 mail-in rebate bringing the price down to $229.99. It's pricier than the AT&T and Sprint models, which go for $199.99 but without rebate. But they don't have that screaming Snapdragon processor.

Here's the specs we got from T-Mobile:

Size: 5.11 inches x 2.71 inches x 0.37 inches
Weight: 4.77 ounces
Battery: Rechargeable 1850 mAh lithium-ion battery
Processor: Qualcomm® Snapdragon S3 Processor with 1.5 GHz dual-core CPUs
OS: Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread
Outputs: DLNA, HDMI output (MHL adaptor required)
Memory
Internal storage: 16 GB
External storage: Micro SD Memory card slot (up to 32 GB)
RAM: 1 GB
Connectivity
4G: Up to 42 Mbps download speed
Wi-Fi: IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n
Bluetooth® 3.0
Cameras
1080p HD video capture and sharing
8 MP rear-facing camera with flash, 2 MP front-facing camera
Display: 4.52" Super AMOLED Plus WVGA touch screen
800-by-480-pixel resolution

Photo Credit: Ed Oswald

What if iPhone 5 isn't LTE?

Publié: septembre 27, 2011, 4:25pm CEST par Joe Wilcox

Stated differently: what does Verizon know that you don't?

I've been asking both questions after reviewing Verizon's legal filing supporting Samsung in its patent dispute with Apple. America's largest wireless carrier has asked a California judge to reject Apple's request to grant preliminary injunction against four Samsung 4G devices: Droid Charge, Galaxy S 4G, Infuse 4G and Galaxy Tab 10.1. Verizon's major argument, but not the only one, is that the injunction will hurt adoption of its next-generation 4G LTE network. Samsung's Droid Charge, which would be barred from US sales if the injunction is granted, is one of four LTE handsets that Verizon carries. Surely this close to launch Verizon knows whether or not iPhone 5 will support LTE. If iPhone is so important to Verizon, if iPhone 5 sales are expected to be huge (so say financial analysts) and if iPhone 5 could more than fill the void left by Droid Charge, why take a stance against Apple?

There are other questions to ask: If iPhone 5 doesn't support LTE, will it matter? Will potential buyers even care?

Verizon waited a long time to get iPhone 4. The carrier only started selling Apple's smartphone in February of this year -- three-and-a-half years after AT&T, which had exclusive US distribution. The legal filing supporting Samsung really is a stance taken against Apple. Why should Verizon risk that relationship, particularly if iPhone 5 will support LTE? It's about mitigated risk. By any reasonable analysts' sales estimates, and based on still strong iPhone 4 sales, iPhone 5 should be more important to Verizon than Droid Charge.

Verizon offers four LTE smartphones, all running Android: Droid Bionic by Mototola, LG Revolution, Pantech Breakout and the aforementioned Samsung Droid Charge. That's another wrinkle asking the "why stand against Apple" question. Regardless of intentions, Verizon has taken a stand for Android by filing on Samsung's behalf. For good reasons, that's where the sales are. According to data Nielsen released yesterday, 56 percent of new smartphone acquirers bought a device running Android in August. An injunction would reduce the number by one quarter, leaving a huge hole in the lineup unless there was something to replace it -- like iPhone 5.

From Verizon's legal filing:

The motion to enjoin Samsung’s devices comes at a critical moment: when Verizon Wireless is expanding its LTE network to paying customers and right before the holiday shopping season. The proposed preliminary injunction would affect only Samsung devices that make use of wireless carriers’ next-generation networks...the proposed injunction would disproportionally affect the very devices that are most critical to adoption and expansion of Verizon Wireless’s next-generation network.

Verizon says it has spent $65 billion on the LTE network, which includes $9.6 billion for spectrum purchased in 2008. According to the legal filing, the LTE network launched on Dec. 5, 2010 in 39 markets and will reach 175 markets -- and 185 million people -- by end of this year. Interesting, advertisements on Verizon's website say 26 markets. So how many really is it?

Verizon sold 1.2 million LTE handsets during second quarter, but activated twice as many iPhones -- 2.4 million. If LTE is so important as Verizon contends and if iPhone 5 supports the 4G technology, surely Apple's handset would more than make up for the loss of Droid Charge?

Which again raises question: Why would Verizon stand against Apple? There's another way to interpret Verizon's actions -- that it knows iPhone 5 LTE is locked and loaded. So Verizon risks little by backing one of its other major manufacturers and one that has been a partner a helluva lot longer than Apple.

Ultimately only one thing matters. Do you care? Apple launched the original iPhone without 3G support at a time when it was becoming standard -- and still the smartphone sold well. The question: Just how much does LTE matter to you? Would it keep you from buying iPhone 5? No-LTE support certainly hasn't stopped millions of people from buying iPhone 4. Please respond in comments.

Mozilla releases Firefox 7 -- get it now!

Publié: septembre 27, 2011, 3:24pm CEST par Nick Peers

Mozilla has placed the final, stable build of Firefox 7 on its FTP servers. This latest build has one major game-changing improvement to speak of, which should ensure that Firefox performs more efficiently and doesn’t gobble up system resources when left running in the background.

Version 7.0 also sees improved graphics performance in Windows, but as with the recent releases of Firefox 5 and 6, other changes are relatively minor, with a slightly tweaked Address Bar and faster bookmark and password changes during Firefox Sync operations being the most notable, visible tweaks of interest to end users.

The game-changing improvements in Firefox 7.0 surround its memory usage and optimization. Mozilla claims that Firefox 7 reduces memory usage by at least 20 percent, and as much as 50 per cent in some cases, while still delivering improved startup and page-loading times, as well as overall responsiveness.

Of equal importance is the fact the memory leak that has plagued earlier versions has finally been addressed with the Javascript garbage collector, which has been tweaked to run more frequently to free up memory no longer in use. It means the browser can now be left running for an extended period of time without quietly eating up more system resources in the background.

Better still, you’ll now be able to free up system memory simply by closing unwanted tabs as opposed to having to shut the browser down and restart it.

Windows users also get a performance fillip with the introduction of a new graphical component called Azure, which promises better performance when rendering Canvas operations, part of the new HTML5 standard.

Firefox’s Awesome bar (the Address bar to you and me) also features more subtle changes to add to those introduced in version 6 – gone is the “http://” prefix, while the subdomain element of a web address is made even paler to highlight the main domain.

Firefox Sync has also been tweaked to sync password and bookmark changes more frequently as they’re added or edited, while other changes are more minor, involving support for a new CSS3 Text Overflow method (ellipsis) and a new web timing spec, allowing developers to measure page load times and site navigation, enabling them to identify website performance improvements.

The latest release comes six weeks to the day after Firefox 6 shipped, right on schedule according to Mozilla’s new rapid release cycle. Those unhappy with this switch to a new version number every six weeks will be alarmed to hear that Mozilla has discussed, and not completely rejected, the idea of shortening the release cycle to just five weeks -- although it’s clear from the discussion this won’t be happening any time soon.

Firefox 7.0 is available for download now under the open-source license for Windows, Mac and Linux. It will be shortly be offered as an automatic update to all existing Firefox users.

Verizon stands against Apple in Samsung patent dispute

Publié: septembre 27, 2011, 4:14am CEST par Joe Wilcox

You'd think that Verizon would show more gratitude. Everyone knows how important iPhone is to America's largest cellular carrier. We know because the rabble of pro-Apple bloggers and journalists (and, whoa, there are so many) told us so. Over and over and over again. But, no, Verizon isn't showing gratitude or loyalty to Apple at all. Last week, the carrier filed a legal brief with the United District Court for the Northern District of California asking a federal judge to reject Apple's request for preliminary injunction against four Samsung devices. A hearing is scheduled for the afternoon of October 13.

The filing is really unsurprising when looked at rationally. Verizon has much more invested in Android than iPhone. The devices in question use Verizon's 4G LTE network. Holiday sales are another consideration. The latter two points are among the cornerstones of Verizon's arguments for why the judge should reject Apple's request for preliminary injunction. Then there is that pesky loyalty thing. iPhone 5's launch is imminent, and Verizon will be one of the major beneficiaries. So why risk the Apple relationship? If the judge doesn't wonder, perhaps you should.

Apple is asking the court to issue an immediate preliminary injunction against four Samsung devices: Droid Charge, Galaxy S 4G, Infuse 4G and Galaxy Tab 10.1. I've repeatedly observed that Apple's patent and other intellectual property claims are selective: Against devices that compete against iPhone. The three smartphones and LTE version of the Tab 10.1 all offer faster data bandwidth than does iPhone 4.

Verizon offers two of the four products: Droid Charge and Tab 10.1, which both run on its LTE network. Only four of Verizon's smartphones are LTE; Galaxy Tab its legal filing as much about Android vs iPhone as anything else. Verizon has made tremendous investments in Android, particularly the Droid brand, which it controls. For example, Verizon launched the original Droid with a $100 million advertising campaign in autumn 2009.

Whether or not its main goal, Verizon has taken a stand for Android by filing on Samsung's behalf. For good reasons, that's where the sales are. According to data Nielsen released today, 56 percent of new smartphone acquirers bought a device running Android in August. Just 28 percent bought iPhones.

From Verizon's filing, about its LTE network:

An injunction would prohibit some of the newest, most advanced wireless devices sold today and impede the growth of Verizon Wireless’s high-speed 4G network. The accused Samsung devices are among the few products that can access Verizon Wireless’s next-generation high speed network and, therefore, are among the most sought-after devices by early-adopting consumers -- a critical market segment in the industry. Verizon Wireless has invested and is investing billions in developing and deploying its next-generation Long Term Evolution (LTE) 4G network; that investment depends on consumers having access to devices that can make use of that network.

How big an investment? Verizon says it has spent $65 billion on the LTE network, which includes $9.6 billion for spectrum purchased in 2008. The LTE network launched on Dec. 5, 2010 in 39 markets and will reach 175 markets -- and 185 million people -- by end of this year. By the way, that 39 markets is from the legal filing, but advertisements on Verizon's website says 26 markets.

From Verizon's filing about its LTE devices:

Samsung is one of only six manufacturers (including HP, HTC, LG, Motorola, and
Pantech) that has developed and is offering a limited number of such devices today. Moreover, the motion to enjoin Samsung’s devices comes at a critical moment: when Verizon Wireless is expanding its LTE network to paying customers and right before the holiday shopping season. The proposed preliminary injunction would affect only Samsung devices that make use of wireless carriers’ next-generation networks.

During second quarter, Verizon sold 1.2 million LTE devices. "The Samsung Droid Charge, one of the smartphones at issue in the motion, is one of the marquee products offered by Verizon Wireless to showcase its LTE network. Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1, which is also the subject of the motion, is the first LTE tablet sold by Verizon Wireless". Verizon started selling the Tab 10.1 LTE on July 28.

Verizon makes two major arguments about why an injunction would either be unfair or harmful. Why it's unfair:

The utility patent at issue in the motion has nothing to do with the 4G network technology that makes the accused smartphones and tablet uniquely attractive to consumers. Instead, the patent covers the way documents can be viewed on the devices. There are nearly two dozen other devices accused in the current lawsuit that are not part of Apple’s preliminary injunction motion. But those devices are mainly older devices that are not designed to make use of Verizon Wireless’s and other carriers’ next-generation networks. Thus, the proposed injunction would disproportionally affect the very devices that are most critical to adoption and expansion of Verizon Wireless’s next-generation network.

Why the injunction would be harmful, according to Verizon:

The harm from a preliminary injunction would be substantial to both consumers and Verizon Wireless. Consumers cannot benefit from the billions of dollars that Verizon Wireless has invested in its next-generation network unless they can purchase and use 4G devices compatible with that network.

Protecting against consumer harm is one of US competition law's primary objectives. I'm not a lawyer and don't feel competent to evaluate the likelihood the judge would accept this argument, particularly from a third-party with no real legal standing in the case.

Additionally, Verizon asserts that an injunction against Samsung LTE devices would be devastating, because:

The carrier has so few other LTE devices available to use
Should Samsung re-engineer its LTE devices, they would return to market too slowly
LTE adoption is at the crucial early-adopter stage, where loss of the LTE devices would discourage adopters

"An injunction that limited the availability of 4G devices in the market could substantially reduce the number of customers who could or would purchase those devices", Verizon's filing asserts. "Such a loss in sales of 4G devices, in turn, undermines the business justification for continuing to expand Verizon Wireless’s LTE network".

More: "The rate of technological changes in the wireless industry further exacerbates the harm from impeding early adopters’ access to 4G devices. For example, analysts predict that consumers will replace 50 percent of their smartphones and 30 percent of their tablets within two years".

I probably shouldn't start rumors, but...Surely Verizon must know by now if iPhone 5 will support LTE. Could it be inferred from this that iPhone 5 won't be LTE?

Verizon also presents the holiday sales as another area of harm the preliminary injunction would inject:

The harm from the proposed preliminary injunction would be increased if it issued during the holiday and year-end sales season. Holiday sales form a significant percentage of Verizon Wireless’s yearly revenue. Verizon Wireless has been preparing for the holiday period for months. Its build-up to this season has involved ordering smartphone and tablets, developing and launching new marketing campaigns, and training additional sales personnel. The holiday season will begin in November, with holiday commercials starting the first week of that month. If an injunction issued in the midst of the holiday season, after Verizon Wireless has begun its holiday sales campaigns, the time and money spent on those campaigns would be lost.

Verizon then also claims that the injunction would have larger economic impact, which includes employment. That reads to me more like a political than legal argument. But it's timely nevertheless.

That's the gist of the Verizon filing. I intentionally left out the legal nuances and case law. The purpose of this news report is presenting Verizon's rationale and its context. Something else: I'm more than a day late on this story because I chose to get the legal filing rather than cite FOSS Patents, as most of my peers did yesterday. I wanted to read and report on the original source material -- the legal filing -- rather than have it selectively filtered by FOSS Patents' Florian Mueller. Yesterday, on Google+ I wrote about the single-sourcing problem plaguing online news reporting today. Having actually read Verizon's filing, I must say that Mueller's analysis is unreasonably conspiratorial.

Musical accompaniment while writing this story -- album "Torches" by Foster the People.

Photo Credits: Verizon

Google+ sees explosive growth, 50 million-plus users in less than 3 months

Publié: septembre 27, 2011, 1:10am CEST par Ed Oswald

All that talk of Google+ becoming a "ghost town" seems premature. Paul Allen, founder of Ancestry.com and self-titled "Google+ unofficial statistician," said his model which attempts to estimate the number of Google+ users by counting unusual surnames shows that the social network grew some 30 percent just in the two days following its opening to the public.

It gets even better than that: Allen estimates that as of Monday ("plus or minus a few days"), the site had reached some 50 million users. Google+ would have achieved this feat in just 88 days. Compare this explosive growth to other services: MySpace took 1,046 days to reach that level; Twitter 1,096 days; Facebook 1,325 days; and LinkedIn 2,354 days. It's clear that Google's social networking service has captured the interest of consumers and continues to grow quickly.

"I think we are witnessing the most exciting battle in tech history as two well-funded, fast-growing, highly-profitable, genius-led Silicon Valley companies are competing from very different starting points to affect how we find information, how we connect with people, how we view the world, and how we spend our time," Allen said in a Google+ post highlighting the milestone.

He cautioned against assuming that this achievement isn't necessarily bad for competitors such as Facebook; instead he believes the competition will only make both sites better.

"Customers will benefit as these two innovative tech companies try to empower users with the best social tools," he writes. "Some people will choose one social network over the other and will evangelize their choice. Others will use both to communicate with different groups of people."

Indeed, we may have seen the first salvos in the coming social media wars through Facebook's announcements at its f8 developer conference. It made a significant change to the way profiles work by introducing Timeline, and strengthened its offering overall by partnering with entertainment providers.

At the same time, we may also have the first concrete evidence that Facebook's widely-criticized redesign may have pushed many to try out Google+ for the first time, as Allen describes the strong growth rates in the days following as not seen since the initial limited launch back in July and early August. Another explanation: Google+ opened to anyone last week, after being in invite-only trial.

Photo Credit: AHMAD FAIZAL YAHYA/Shutterstock

This is how Facebook tracks you

Publié: septembre 27, 2011, 12:15am CEST par Nik Cubrilovic

On September 25, Nik Cubrilovic posted a terrific analysis looking at how Facebook uses cookies to track users even when they have signed out of the service. His findings about Facebook cookie tracking raises yet more red flags about subscriber privacy. We asked and he granted permission to repost the analysis, which differs in two subtle ways from the original: Slight editing for house style and incorporation of two updates into the main text. We also changed the headline.

Dave Winer wrote a timely piece yesterday morning about how Facebook is scaring him since the new API allows applications to post status items to your Facebook timeline without a user's intervention. It is an extension of Facebook Instant and they call it frictionless sharing. The privacy concern here is that because you no longer have to explicitly opt-in to share an item, you may accidentally share a page or an event that you did not intend others to see.

The advice is to log out of Facebook. But logging out of Facebook only de-authorizes your browser from the web application, a number of cookies (including your account number) are still sent along to all requests to facebook.com.

Even if you are logged out, Facebook still knows and can track every page you visit.

The only solution is to delete every Facebook cookie in your browser, or to use a separate browser for Facebook interactions.

Here is what is happening, as viewed by the HTTP headers on requests to facebook.com. First, a normal request to the web interface as a logged-in user sends the following cookies:

Note: I have both fudged the values of each cookie and added line wraps for legibility.

The request to the logout function will then see this response from the server, which is attempting to unset the following cookies:

To make it easier to see the cookies being unset, the names are in italics. If you compare the cookies that have been set in a logged-in request, and compare them to the cookies that are being unset in the log-out request, you will quickly see that there are a number of cookies that are not being deleted, and there are two cookies (locale and lu) that are only being given new expiry dates, and three new cookies (W, fl, L) being set.

Now I make a subsequent request to facebook.com as a 'logged out' user:

The primary cookies that identify me as a user are still there (act is my account number), even though I am looking at a logged-out page. Logged-out requests still send nine different cookies, including the most important cookies that identify you as a user

This is not what 'logout' is supposed to mean. Facebook are only altering the state of the cookies instead of removing all of them when a user logs out.

With my browser logged out of Facebook, whenever I visit any page with a Facebook Like button, or Share button, or any other widget, the information, including my account ID, is still being sent to Facebook. The only solution to Facebook not knowing who you are is to delete all Facebook cookies.

You can test this for yourself using any browser with developer tools installed. It is all hidden in plain sight.

If you wish to view the raw logs, I have saved them here. Specifically the datr and lu cookies are retained after logout and on subsequent requests, and the a_user cookie, which contains your userid, is only cleared once the session is restarted. Most importantly, connection state is retained through these HTTP connections. There is never a clean break between a logged in session and a logged out session.

An Experiment

This brings me back to a story that I have yet to tell. A year ago I was screwing around with multiple Facebook accounts as part of some development work. I created a number of fake Facebook accounts after logging out of my browser. After using the fake accounts for some time, I found that they were suggesting my real account to me as a friend. Somehow Facebook knew that we were all coming from the same browser, even though I had logged out.

There are serious implications if you are using Facebook from a public terminal. If you login on a public terminal and then hit 'logout', you are still leaving behind fingerprints of having been logged in. As far as I can tell, these fingerprints remain (in the form of cookies) until somebody explicitly deletes all the Facebook cookies for that browser. Associating an account ID with a real name is easy -- as the same ID is used to identify your profile.

Facebook knows every account that has accessed Facebook from every browser and is using that information to suggest friends to you. The strength of the 'same machine' value in the algorithm that works out friends to suggest may be low, but it still happens. This is also easy to test and verify.

I reported this issue to Facebook in a detailed email and got the bounce around. I emailed somebody I knew at the company and forwarded the request to them. I never got a response. The entire process was so flaky and frustrating that I haven't bothered sending them two XSS holes that I have also found in the past year. They really need to get their shit together on reporting privacy issues; I am sure they take security issues a lot more seriously.

To clarify, I first emailed this issue to Facebook on the 14th of November 2010. I also copied the email to their press address to get an official response on it. I never got any response. I sent another email to Facebook, press and copied it to somebody I know at Facebook on the 12th of January 2011. Again, I got no response. I have copies of all the emails, the subject lines were very clear in terms of the importance of this issue.

I have been sitting on this for almost a year now. The renewed discussion about Facebook and privacy this weekend prompted me to write this post.

The Rise of Privacy Awareness

Ten to 15 years ago when I first got into the security industry the awareness of security issues amongst users, developers and systems administrators was low. Microsoft Windows and Internet Information Server were swiss cheese in terms of security vulnerabilities. You could manually send malformed payloads to IIS 4.0 and have it crash with a stack or heap overflow, which would usually lead to a remote vulnerability.

A decade ago, the entire software industry went through a reformation on awareness of security principles in administration and development. Microsoft re-trained all of their developers on buffer overflows, string formatting bugs, off-by-one bugs etc. and audited their entire code base. A number of high-profile security incidents raised awareness, and today vendors have proper security procedures, from reporting new bugs to hotfixes and secure programming principles (this wasn't just a Microsoft issue, but I had the most experience with them).

Privacy today feels like what security did 10-15 years ago. There is an awareness of the issues steadily building, and blog posts from prominent technologists is helping to steamroll public consciousness. The risks around privacy today are just as serious as security leaks were then -- except that there is an order of magnitude more users online and a lot more private data being shared on the web.

Facebook are front-and-center in the new privacy debate just as Microsoft were with security issues a decade ago. The question is what it will take for Facebook to address privacy issues and to give their users the tools required to manage their privacy and to implement clear policies - not pages and pages of confusing legal documentation, and 'logout' not really meaning 'logout'.

Erratum: I refer to the wrong cookie name in the post above. I also say 'all sites' can be tracked, when I meant to say 'all sites that integrate facebook'.

Nik Cubrilovic is an Australian-born serial entrepreneur, writer and hacker. He currently is working on pre-launch startups, previously at Techcrunch, Omnidrive and a number of other startups since 2000. He has lived in Australia, Bosnia, the UK, South Africa and the USA; Cubrilovic is currently based in Wollongong, Australia.

T-Mobile announces dual-core HTC Amaze for October

Publié: septembre 26, 2011, 10:03pm CEST par Tim Conneally

Following extensive leaks earlier in September, T-Mobile and HTC finally made an official announcement that provides the launch date and price for the HTC Amaze 4G, T-Mobile's latest HTC exclusive.

Going up for pre-sale on October 10th, and for regular retail on October 12th, the Amaze 4G will cost $259 after a $50 rebate and new two-year service contract with T-Mobile. Though it's a somewhat steep price; the power and feature set somewhat justify the expense.

HTC Amaze 4G Specs:

Size: 5.12" x 2.58" x .46"
Weight: 6.1 ounces
Battery: 1730 mAh Li-ion
Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon S3 Processor with 1.5 GHz dual-core CPUs
RAM: 1 GB
OS: Android 2.3.4 (Gingerbread)
OEM layer: HTC Sense 3.0
Screen: 4.3” qHD WVGA (540 x 960) TFT
Storage: 16 GB Internal, MicroSD slot (up to 32 GB)
I/O: HDMI output (with MHL Adapter)
Wireless: HSPA+ 42 Mbps, IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 3.0, Near Field Communications (NFC), GPS, FM radio
Camera: 8 megapixel (1080p video) rear, 2 megapixel front
Other: Digital compass, Dual microphones

56% of new smartphone buyers choose Android, only 28% iPhone

Publié: septembre 26, 2011, 9:37pm CEST par Joe Wilcox

Well, so much for Apple Fanclub antics a few months ago, when a wave of blog and news posts asserted that Verizon iPhone's launch had stalled Android sales and iPhone 5 would beat them back. It's more wishful thinking published as fact, that has spread yet another iPhone urban legend across the web. The truth is far different. Androids continue to gain massively against iPhone, according to data Nielsen released today. This isn't abnormality but a trend Nielsen has tracked for more than a year.

Among new smartphone buyers -- "acquirers" in Nielsen perlance -- 56 percent chose an Android handset in August. Among all phone buyers: 43 percent. iPhone was 28 percent for both categories. "The preferences of these so-called recent acquirers are important as they are often a leading indicator of where the market is going", Don Kellogg, director of Telecom Research & Insights, explains in a blog post.

By that reckoning, most of the market is going Android, which market share also grows unabated, while iPhone is consistently flat. In May, three months after the Verizon iPhone launched, iPhone share was 27 percent, compared to 38 percent for Android. Nielsen measures the data based on smartphone operating systems among US handset subscribers.

"But those figures could change quickly in the months to come", Kellogg asserts. "Every time Apple launches a new iPhone or makes it available on a new wireless carrier, there is an increase in their sales". That's certainly true, but an increase in sales doesn't necessarily correspond to a bump in market share or massive change in overall new buyer purchases.

During second quarter 2010, iPhone subscriber share among new acquirers was 23 percent -- down from 34 percent two quarters earlier, according to Nielsen. During the same time frame, Android share rose from 6 percent to 27 percent. iPhone 4 launched late in Q2 2010. At the end of August 2010, after more than two full months of iPhone 4 sales, iPhone share among new buyers had risen by only 2 points -- to 25 percent. By comparison, Android was 32 percent, so up 9 points.

Market share among all US phone subscribers tells a similar story. At the end of Q2 2010, iPhone share among all phone subscribers was 28 percent, same as the end of August 2011, up just 1 percent from two quarters earlier. During the same time frame, Android share rose from 6 percent to 13 percent. A year later, it's the aforementioned 43 percent. At the end of August 2010, iPhone share was still 28 percent, while Android's had risen 6 points to 19 percent.

The point: While iPhone is a hot-selling smartphone, it's not keeping pace with the rapidly growing US smartphone market. It's overall market share is flat and that among new buyers is nowhere near the hype. Among the reasons iPhone is running in place: The smartphone market is growing faster than Americans are buying iPhones. At the end of second quarter 2010, 25 percent of US cell phone subscribers had smartphones. It was 43 percent at the end of August and 58 percent among new buyers.

I call all of thus out for two reasons: 1) Kelloggs statement is misleading about iPhone after the next-gen model ships, particularly in context of Nielsen's own data. 2) Numerous reports from the Apple Fanclub of bloggers and journalists are claiming that iPhone's current market position is merely a calm before the storm, as buyers wait for the new model. Neither Nielsen's data nor that from Apple quarterly statements or other analyst firms support such supposition. In the United States, Apple share has been largely flat since second quarter 2010 -- and that despite the hugely successful iPhone 4 launch in June 2010 and its coming to Verizon in February 2011.

You'll read lots of rhetoric and justification today about iPhone's position to Android and how the tide will soon turn. That urban legend is at least a year old now, and it still hasn't proved to be true. Fourteen months of Nielsen's data is consistent on two points: iPhone isn't gaining share among US cell phone subscribers, while Android grows leaps and bounds, particularly among new buyers.

mysql.com hacked and serving malware, stolen data sold on hacker forums

Publié: septembre 26, 2011, 8:34pm CEST par Ed Oswald

Users visiting mysql.com are being infected with malware, say security researchers. According to security firm Amorize, the hack is delivering malicious code through the use of an iFrame which in turn infects users with the Black Hole exploit.

Black Hole exploits security holes within the user's browser -- including plugins -- to find a hole through which a piece of malware can be used without the user's consent. Users would not need to agree to anything: Amorize found that simply visiting the site will lead to an infection.

The firm has tracked the two malware-serving domains to Florida and Sweden. The attacker is unknown, and as of Monday afternoon the site was still serving malware to visitors. Obviously use of mysql.com is being discouraged as a result until the all-clear is given, which had not occurred as of Monday afternoon.

"There's a lot of potential damage here and we need answers from MySQL ASAP", Kaspersky senior researcher Roel Schouwenberg told Betanews. "User credentials may be compromised. People are strongly advised to change their passwords on other sites if the same password was used for mysql.com".

Making matters worse, in its own research Trend Micro found that root access to mysql.com is being sold in Russian underground hacker forums. For $3,000 USD, hackers are being permitted to use a shell console from the seller to gain access to mysql.com's servers.

"We contacted MySQL.com about this issue last week," Trend Micro's senior threat researcher Maxim Goncharov said. "We are making this public to stress the fact that hackers do not only profit from selling stolen data or by inserting bad links into spammed or phishing messages, websites and other possible infection vectors".

Schouwenberg emphasized: "People should be extra suspicious of phishing emails. If the bad guys managed to get access to email addresses we may see 'please install this MySQL update'-type emails shortly".

Samsung to release its first Windows Phone 7.5 mobile in Italy

Publié: septembre 26, 2011, 7:44pm CEST par Ed Oswald

Samsung unveiled a new smartphone based on Microsoft's Windows Phone 7.5 "Mango," the Omnia W on Monday. The Omnia W is the latest in a line of higher-end Microsoft-powered smartphones from the company, all which carry the "Omnia" brand.

The Omnia W features a 1.4GHz processor and HSPA capable of 14.4Mbps connectivity. The screen is a 3.7" Super AMOLED and features both front and rear facing cameras. It also features built-in Facebook, Twitter, Windows Live, and LinkedIn connectivity through Microsoft's "People Hub."

"Mobile consumers increasingly expect to be socially networked through their phones anytime, anywhere, and instantly," Samsung's mobile communications chief JK Shin said in a statement. "They are looking for high-performance devices that are easy and intuitive to use, look great, and enable them to create and share rich multimedia content with ease."

Omnia W users would also gain access to Windows Live SkyDrive, giving them 25GB of online cloud-based storage. Mobile versions of Word, Excel, Powerpoint and OneNote are included, which would likely help Samsung attract business users.

The handset is slated to debut in Italy next month. According to Samsung, the Omnia would gradually be rolled out globally to Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America next.

Samsung did not specifically mention a release in the United States. That could be due to the impending release of the Focus Flash this fall on AT&T, a device that appears to have nearly identical specifications to the Omnia W.

Specifications

Network: HSPA14.4/5.76Mbps 900/2100, EDGE/GPRS 850/900/1800/1900
Processor: 1.4 GHz
Display: 3.7” WVGA(800X480), Super AMOLED
OS: Windows Phone 7.5 "Mango"
Cameras
Main(Rear): 5 MP AF with LED Flash
Sub (Front) : VGA for Video Call
Video
Codec: MPEG4/H.263/H.264/WMV
Playback: 720p @30fps
Recording: 720p@30fps
Audio
Codec: MP3/AAC/AAC＋/eAAC＋/WMA/AMR-NB
Zune Player
3.5mm Ear Jack, FM Radio with RDS
Value-added Features
Marketplace Hub – free and paid Apps
People Hub – Windows Live, Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin built-in
Picture Hub
Music & Video Hub – Zune Experience
Game Hub – Xbox Live
Office Hub – Microsoft Office
Samsung’s Enriched Apps
- Now, RSS Times, Video Call(3G), Photo Studio, Mini Diary, All Share(DNLA),
Fun Shot, Wireless Manager
- Dictionary (downloadable, except US, Canada, Mexico), Photogram (downloadable),
Rubik’s Cube(downloadable)
Windows Live Skydrive® (Free 25GB Storage)
Tile-based Metro UX / IE9 mobile
A-GPS / Bing Map
Connectivity
Bluetooth® technology v 2.1
USB 2.0
Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n
Sensors: Accelerometer, Ambient Light, Proximity, Magnetometer, Gyroscope
Memory: 512MB(RAM) ＋ 8GB Internal Memory
Size: 115.97 x 58.8 x 10.9mm, 115.3g
Battery: Standard battery, Li-on 1,500 mAh

Are Apple products really more secure?

Publié: septembre 26, 2011, 7:10pm CEST par Mikko Hypponen

One thing I hear regularly when working in the computer security field are comments from Apple users along the lines of: "Why doesn't everybody use Apple because there are no viruses for Macs?" or "All viruses target Windows because Windows sucks so bad" or "Microsoft is the target because Microsoft sucks!"

None of these comments are based on accurate information about the real security situation facing Apple products. In fact, I would claim that the current security level of Windows 7 is better than on Mac OS X, and that it's more likely we will see a major mobile worm outbreak on iPhone than on smartphones running Windows Phone.

Some years ago, Apple was running a version of their popular "I'm a Mac" TV ad campaign. This particular ad made fun of the PC and the high likelihood of virus infections. Macs, on the other hand, simply had no virus problems, at least according to the advert. This kind of an attitude is still quite common among Mac fans.

What those same Mac fans don't want to hear is the simple truth that the current version of Mac OS X operating system isn't in any significant way more secure than Windows 7. The main reason why Macs have not been attacked more is because there are so few of them compared to PCs. In other words, they simply have not been a very interesting target for online criminals because there is a lot more money to be made from the much larger number of people using PCs.

This is changing, however. Especially Apple laptops have been gaining in popularity and in some markets 10 percent or more of new laptop sales are already Macs. This is starting to make them a more lucrative target for the online criminals.

Attitudes inside Apple are changing, too. The latest release of the OS X operating system actually has an extremely simplified antivirus program built-in. Apple also released this statement: "With virtually no effort on your part, OS X offers a multilayered system of defenses against viruses and other malicious applications, or malware".

We see all this in our labs here at F-Secure. In fact, years ago we used to have our own Mac antivirus product but it was discontinued in 1998 because there was no market for it. Now we have seen more than one hundred new Mac OS X viruses and Trojans, so we are bringing the product back to the market.

Target: iPhone

The situation regarding iPhone is also very interesting. If we look at the global market shares of the smartphone operating systems, Symbian had traditionally been the king of the hill, with more than 50 percent of all smartphones running it; but Symbian share is falling fast -- beaten back by surging Android and iPhone sales and Nokia's transition to Windows Phone 7. Symbian's market share, based on actual sales to end users, fell from 40 percent to 22 percent year over year in second quarter, according to Gartner. In less than four years, the iPhone has gained more than 18 percent of the smartphone market and it's share is still growing fast.

The amount of underground interest in the iPhone has been phenomenal. On the iPhone, you can't install unapproved third-party applications, and you can't use it with the cell phone carrier of your choice. These kinds of restrictions are not taken lightly by the computer underground and as a result, there is a vast amount of information on iPhone internals available on hacker boards and elsewhere.

According to one study, 7 percent of iPhone users have already 'jailbroken' their devices, which means removing all the restrictions on the device so they can use it as they want.

Jailbreaking is dangerous, and we do not recommend it. The main reason why we haven't seen more mobile malware on any smartphone platform is exactly because the code signing or application approval mechanisms make it harder to create simple Trojans or other malware.

Think about it. On all the popular computer operating systems, the application development is totally open. Anybody can write applications and anyone else can run them. This is not the way it works on mobile phones. Anybody can write code, but the code can be run by others only if it is approved by the vendor. This is a major difference in mindset.

The first iPhone worms targeting jailbroken devices, which remain the most vulnerable. Infecting such devices is much easier than trying to access the standard device. Interestingly, while we haven't seen many financially motivated attacks on smartphones, the second known iPhone worm was a banking Trojan. In this particular case, the Trojan targeted customers of a particular Dutch bank and redirected them to a copycat site when they try to do online banking from their phone. We do not believe this attack was particularly successful in stealing money, but it's a clear sign of the kinds of risks that we expect to see more of in the future. Newer Trojans pose greater risk.

Malware that infects iPhones or any other smartphones can also make phone calls which are also money transactions since you pay money for each call. Especially if the call is to an expensive premium-rate number.

However, so far we haven't seen massive mobile malware that infects large numbers of smartphones through these exploits. They either rely on the user to install the malware because he or she thinks it is something useful, or by using known system passwords to gain access, like the first iPhone worms did. It’s also perfectly possible that we will also see more exploit-based worms on standard iPhones in the future. In theory, such worms would be able to go around the world in minutes. F-Secure identified the first iPhone Trojan more than three-and-a-half years ago, and luckily that was just as prank. The clock is ticking.

It's also possible that some criminals will come up with ways of subverting the iPhone signing process. We have seen similar systems bypassed before. For example, a malicious application could be submitted for approval as something harmless, and it would activate at a later date or based on some other threshold.

Finally, it’s worth remembering that even if Apple users don't have as many viruses to worry about, they do still have the same amount of spam and phishing emails as anyone else. So at least some data security headaches are distributed democratically.

Photo Credit: 1000 Words / Shutterstock

Mikko Hypponen is the Chief Research Officer for F-Secure and is based in Finland. He has worked with computer security for more than 20 years. Please follow him on Twitter.

Streaming is big business: Amazon signs Fox, Netflix signs Dreamworks

Publié: septembre 26, 2011, 6:43pm CEST par Tim Conneally

Monday, Amazon and Netflix, two major competitors in the video streaming space announced new content partnerships that broaden their catalogs and represent the next generation of carriage agreements that occur every three years in the cable and pay TV business.

Amazon announced it had signed a licensing deal with 20th Century Fox that would bring streaming movies and TV shows to its Amazon Prime Instant streaming service. It will join CBS, NBCUniversal, Sony, Warner Brothers, and Amazon's other current partners, who now bring a total of 11,000 movies and TV shows to the premium service.

This is more than double the total content Amazon Prime had when the streaming service launched seven months ago.

Netflix, who is still the most imposing presence in the streaming space, announced it had signed a multi-year licensing deal with Dreamworks Animation SKG, which will bring Dreamworks' content instantly to Netflix at the exact same time as it's launched on Pay TV.

This is significant because Hollywood studios have long staggered the release of movies on different formats so consumers will have more incentive to buy high-margin DVDs rather than rent them. Streaming has thus far been one of the last places content is released.

But as DVD sales have crashed and burned for the last couple of years, Hollywood is taking a revised approach to its release window strategy.

Last March, for example, Warner Brothers, Sony Pictures, Universal Studios, and 20th Century Fox signed up to release their films on pay TV just two months after theatrical release, shortening the time between exclusivity in theaters and availability at home.

No longer are box office revenues or home video sales the main money-makers for Hollywood studios: Digital distribution, off-network syndication, and content licensing are the future.

Photo: Jim Barber/Shutterstock

Samsung launches Galaxy S II LTE

Publié: septembre 26, 2011, 3:38pm CEST par Joe Wilcox

The day after revealing that 10 million Galaxy S II smartphones had sold (or is that shipped?) in five months, Samsung unveiled LTE models. S2 LTE and HD LTE smartphones will first be available in South Korea, where Samsung already has sold 3.6 million original S2s.

The Galaxy S II HD LTE features a stunning 4.65-inch Super AMOLED display -- 1280 x 720 screen resolution. The 316-ppi pixel density is slightly less than iPhone 4, but the larger display, greater resolution and crisper contrast of the Super AMOLED screen should outshine Apple's smartphone. However, that Super AMOLED lacks the "Plus" screen found on other S2s, including the new LTE model.

The S2 HD LTE should send geeks pining for the Nexus S successor into a tizzy. If not, here's a reason: Google's flagship stock-Android phone is due for an upgrade -- and, whoa, rumors are rampant that it will have a 4.65-inch display. Could it be that the Nexus Prime -- or whatever it will be called -- also will pack same high resolution, high pixel-density screen and LTE as the new Galaxy S II? Consider that gadget geeks before plunking down your hard-saved cash for AT&T's S2 when it goes on sale October 2.

Samsung redesigned the case to keep the S2 HD LTE thin; the phone is just 9.5mm thick. The company is promoting the phone's screen as providing "HD Theatre in hand".

The Galaxy S II LTE features a 4.5-inch Super AMOLED Plus display, like the US model shipping from Sprint and coming from T-Mobile. AT&T's S2 packs the same 4.3-inch screen as the original model shipping internationally.

The upgrades don't stop with the screens or LTE. Both phones feature 1.5GHz dual-core processors; the non-LTE S2s have 1.2GHz dual-core processors. From that perspective, AT&T hasn't even started selling Galaxy S II and it's outdated. Welcome to the new PC era, folks. Like PCs in the 1990s, when something new and faster seemingly came along days after the next-best thing debuted, so are smartphone features advancing at fast click. Today's smartphone screamer is tomorrow's has been.

It will be interesting to see how Apple alleges these new Samsung smartphones copy iPhone 4. Surely some lawyer will think of something.

Yesterday afternoon, I stopped by a Sprint Store to look at the carrier's Galaxy S II -- the Epic 4G Touch. I was struck by how little it looks like iPhone 4. The Epic 4G is thinner; there's no metal band around the side; the display is huge by comparison; the screen is remarkably brighter with more vivid colors and better contrast; and TouchWiz UI behaves quite differently than iOS, among other attributes.

By the way, the Super AMOLED Plus display is simply amazing. I nearly bought the Epic 4G on the spot, and I'm not a Sprint subscriber (which is what held me back).

So, gadget geeks, I've got to ask: If considering one of the US Galaxy S II models, will you now hold out for the Nexus Prime (or whatever it's called) on the chance of faster processor, bigger, beefier display or LTE?

Photo Credit: Samsung

Rainmeter 2.1 'NowPlaying' rocks

Publié: septembre 26, 2011, 3:28am CEST par Mike Williams

It has taken a while, but after months of beta testing, desktop customization tool Rainmeter 2.1 has finally been released -- and it includes one of the most interesting new features for some time, in the "NowPlaying" plugin. You won’t see this by default, at least not initially. Install the program and you’ll be presented with the more usual monitoring tools, displaying date, time, CPU and RAM use, hard drive stats, RSS feeds and so on.

But install and configure an appropriate skin and you’ll see a neat “Now Playing” console, which not only displays the details of whatever audio track you’re playing right now, but also allows control to your player: you can stop, pause or restart a tune, rate it, step backwards and forwards through your tracks, toggle shuffle and repeat settings, adjust volume and more.

This is perfect if you’re tired of your desktop being cluttered by a bulky, overweight media player, then. And better still, it works with just about everything. The new plugin fully supports AIMP, Foobar2000, iTunes, MediaMonkey, MusicBee, Winamp, VLC Media Player, and Windows Media Player. And there’s partial support for Last.fm, Media Player Classic, OpenPandora, Spotify, TTPlayer and Zune.

Elsewhere, Rainmeter 2.1 sees the start of a process which will see the program’s many add-ons properly integrated in the interface, which should simplify setup and use. The development team have sensibly started with Rainmeter Manager: just right-click the Rainmeter system tray icon, select Manage, and you’ll be able to view your skins, edit settings, tweak themes, create backups and more.

And a raft of additional optimizations across Rainmeter 2.1 have delivered fast launch times, memory savings and better performance all round, while the new ability to use Aero blur (where available) means your skins will look better than ever.

Not everyone is waiting for iPhone 5, Samsung Galaxy S II sales top 10 million

Publié: septembre 25, 2011, 10:20pm CEST par Joe Wilcox

Samsung announced the internal sales record today. But how many really depends on your definition of sold. Samsung certainly shipped 10 million Galaxy S2s since the smartphone's launch in April. But is that sold into the channel, or out to consumers? Samsung's self-congratulatory announcement suggests sales-in rather than sales-out.

Still, the number is a stunning achievement for one of the best smartphones available anywhere and arguable top-of-class among Android handsets (I'm judging by the rave reviews, since I don't have the S2). Galaxy S II sales reached 3 million units during first the 55 days of sales and 5 million after 85 days. But because Samsung reiterated the 5 million number when announcing US availability on August 30, I asked if the company was being honest about the numbers. Today's announcement, really tomorrow in South Korea, puts the answer at yes.

But there remains the cagey question of sold-in or sold-out of the channel. Samsung's disclosed sales figures answer that question, I believe. According to Samsung, Galaxy S II sales breakdown as:

South Korea: 3.6 million
Europe: 3.4 million
Asia: 2.3 million

Perhaps my math skills are challenged, because I count 9.3 million units. So, either Samsung left some region out, sales aren't 10 million or the missing 700,000 represents sell-in to somewhere else. If Samsung didn't reveal all regional figures, sales would be more likely going out of the channel to consumers. If sales-in, those 700k units would be to stock the channel in a new market. Could that be here? In these old United States? Sprint started selling the Galaxy S II as the Epic 4G Touch less than 10 days ago, and AT&T's model goes on sale October 2.

I don't have an answer, just speculation. But I have put the question to Samsung, which may not respond today. In the official statement released earlier Samsung says that "with this record, Galaxy S2 has become the fastest ten million sold Samsung phone in all time, breaking the records of the company’s previous international hit models Star Phone and Galaxy S which took 6 and 7 months respectively for ten million sales".

The reviews of the international Galaxy S2 glowed. For example: "The finest Android phone we've seen so far, the Samsung Galaxy S II isn't just a competitor to the current iPhone. It competes with the next iPhone", writes Sascha Segan for PC Mag.com, giving the smartphone an "Editor's Choice" rating. That last statement is the clincher. Samsung already is one generation ahead of Apple.

"The Galaxy S II's screen is nothing short of spectacular", writes Vlad Savov for Engadget. Praise continues -- from the "onscreen keyboard is terrific" to "general responsiveness is absolutely exemplary". Savov concludes: "It's the best Android smartphone yet, but more importantly, it might well be the best smartphone, period".

The first reviews of the US models are just last week appearing. "The Super AMOLED Plus that comes with the Galaxy S II is simply stunning", Cory Gunther writes for SlashGear. "Between the brilliant display, fast and extremely fluid performance of the dual-core processor, and the overall sleek and thin design I can tell you from my initial hands-on I’m going to love this phone".

Kevin Tofel, writing for GigaOM: "The phone is a speed demon; I haven’t yet used an Android phone this fast. You tap the screen, and the phone reacts". Betanews reader Joseph LoRe reviews the Sprint model, in an exhaustive first-look posted two days ago. He writes: "It is easy to see why Samsung sold 5 million Galaxy S IIs in 85 days in Europe and Asia. The phone, due to its size, speed, and screen quality, absolutely demands your attention. In fact, come to think of it, it demands your attention in a way that is different than the first time you laid eyes on an iPhone".

Someone is paying attention. More than 4,300 people have responded to Betanews' poll asking "Will you buy Galaxy S II?" More than 80 percent of respondents say they will buy within 6 months -- 76 percent within 3 months.

Will you be among them?

Photo Credit: Samsung

Will you cancel Netflix?

Publié: septembre 25, 2011, 8:39pm CEST par Joe Wilcox

It's time to ask that question, following last Sunday's stunning news -- that Netflix would separate into two companies, one offering monthly streaming subscriptions and the other by-mail DVD rentals. Actually, I asked the question a few days ago, and 55 percent of you say you will "cancel account". But the number of respondents is too low to be reliable. Additionally, peoples' initial anger might subside after a few days. So I'm reposting the poll, to increase the sample and to measure response after a few days emotional cool down.

Netflix will continue but as the streamer. The core DVD-rental business that made Netflix a household name will go to new company Qwikster. If I still rented DVDs, I would drop both because the companies will bill separately for services that were once one. I started renting from Netflix in February 1999, when watching DVDs, particularly on laptops, was sheer novelty. But long ago I stopped renting DVDs, switching to streaming instead. I'll keep Netflix for that. So there is one person's answer to prime your response to our poll and also to explain your reasons for yeah or nay in comments.

So far, Betanews commenters have offered mixed reaction to Netflix/Qwikster, which is another reason to expand the poll's sample. "People are too easily inconvenienced", Renée Marrano writes. "We get DVDs. We get streaming. It's still a good deal".

Jason 'Zeus' Brown: "Lack of integration means that there's no motivation for me to keep both. Most likely I'll drop Qwikster and use Redbox for movies that aren't available on Netflix. If I could expect the proposed game aspect to compete with GameFly I might consider dropping GameFly instead, but I expect it to be over-priced and under-featured, being new to the game side of things".

"Netflix should keep the two together, separating is a big mistake", mshulman comments. "It certainly isn't something that would make me go back to either".

Mark Young sees the split as further enabling the streaming business:

This is indeed an odd move--inconvenient to customers who both stream and get discs (and Netflix still has a far larger title inventory of discs than streams), but it makes perfect sense if Netflix plans to sell off the DVD operations to raise cash to buy more streaming content; the two operations have to be decoupled to be able to sell one of them. I just don't think there will be a shutdown of the disc operations any time soon because one doesn't just suddenly cut off 14.2 million paying customers -- that's too much revenue to blindly ignore".

But there's risk, too. I have AT&T, which recently instituted data caps. What happens if the broadband carriers turn against Netflix, demanding fees for carrying competing content across their networks?

Netflix will separate into two companies -- original for streaming and the new Qwikster for DVD rentals. How will you respond?

Bryan Lee will "probably keep subscribintg to DVDs via Netflix (or that silly name they'll switch it to which I won't type here). At least for now. I would have just used Netflix streaming by default too, but now that it's going to be a separate service, I might have to look into this Amazon Instant Video".

Rusty Shano:

Sticking with both for now (and I stress for now). Once our Qwikster queue is devoid of older TV series, etc., we'll have to evaluate if it's worth it. If it comes down to just new releases then Redbox will probably earn my business. I've read that video game rentals will also be available. I'm guessing it will be a miracle if that doesn't cost extra.

Streaming just isn't up to snuff with new releases. It's been convenient for immediate gratification, but 9 times out of 10, a movie we're interested in watching isn't available. I see streaming being the future, BUT, it's still the present.

PC_Tool is sarcastic: "Qwikster and Netflix should totally combine forces and become Qwikflix. Can you imagine both a DVD rental AND streaming provider? How awesome would that be?? it would be EPIC!"

Please answer the poll(s) directly and explain your reasons in comments.

Update:

Did you cancel your Netflix account?

Several commenters observed there should be an option in the poll for "already cancelled". Adding that now would ruin any validity to the results. So I've created a new poll, asking if you cancelled. The dates are deliberately chosen to coincide with recent Netflix events: Price increase announcement; price increase taking effect; Startz streaming contract cancellation (announced but not effective until February 2012); and split into two separate companies. Please spread the word, and take the new poll.

Weekly roundup: 17 downloads you won't want to miss

Publié: septembre 25, 2011, 1:25am CEST par Mark Wilson

Another busy week of software updates has passed. What could you possibly have missed?

Right Click Enhancer 2.0 is a handy tool that gives you the chance to add new option to Windows’ context menu. There are a number of pre-defined examples that you can add by simply selecting from a list, or you can go to the effort of creating menu links of your own as well as adding and removing entries from the Send To menu.

It has been another busy week for Windows 8 tools, with both Windows 8 Transformation Pack 1.0 and UX Pack 3.0 seeing the light of day. The former can be used to give the look and feel of Windows 8 to any previous version of Windows from XP upwards, while the latter has been designed specifically with Windows 7 users in mind. As we wait for the completed version of Microsoft’s next operating system to be released, there is Microsoft WebMatrix 2 Beta from the same stables to take a look at. The tool can be used to create a website using any of a number tool including Joomla!, WordPress and Drupal.

If you prefer to build your websites from scratch, or you are involved in application design, WireframeSketcher 2.7.0 is likely to be of interest. The program is a sketchy, doodle-style way of piecing together web layouts and interface ideas quickly and easily, and it is available for not only Windows but also Mac and Linux. For anyone with a website of their own looking for a way to display photographs effectively, Jalbum 10.0 is an impressive tool. In next to no time you will be able to put together a photo gallery that can be easily added to your existing site or blog, and support for xmp metadata means that image information can be shared between applications.

Moving into the field of system tools, WinBuilder 082 can be used to create custom Windows boot discs. Ideal for creating diagnostic and fix-it discs, handy extra tools can be added to your disc that can be helpful in fixing a problematic computer. Autoruns 11.0 enables you to easily, and freely, analyze and fix startup problems. This Microsoft tool can be used to probe startup files and processes so you can determine where problems stem from before setting about the task of fixing them.

On the subject of system maintenance and improvement, O&O Defrag 15 -- available in both 32- and 64-bit versions -- makes it easy to keep your hard drive in good shape. The program can be used to automatically defrag your hard drive on a schedule, while Explorer integration means that individual files can be defragmented when required. The move to version 15 brings dramatic program performance improvements in a program that could dramatically improve the performance of your system.

PeaZip 4.0 is a free archiving tool that can be used to open and create a variety of compressed files formats. As well as the usual performance enhancements and big fixes, the latest version of the program adds thumbnail support for images contained in archives. There is also a 64-bit version of the program available.

On the browser front, there has been the usual flurry of activity. Comodo Dragon 14.0 is the latest version of the Chromium based web browser, focusing one performance and security. Google Chrome 15.0.874.24 Beta, Google Chrome 16.0.889.0 Dev and Google Chrome 14.0.835.186 FINAL all saw the light of day, as did Firefox 7.0 Beta 6.

SecretSync 1.261, despite the version number, finally came out of beta this week. The free version of this tool, will enable you to encrypt up to 2GB of data using your Dropbox account. You can also use other backup/synchronization tools such as SugarSync or SpiderOak. Alternatively use the free TrueCrypt to encrypt your Dropbox content.

Finally, take a look at the freeware Free Studio 5.2.1. This toolbox offers you a a suite of video and audio conversion tools and, from what we’ve told, this won’t be free for much longer. Grab it now whilst you can.

O&O Defrag 15 Professional review

Publié: septembre 24, 2011, 6:40pm CEST par Mike Williams

When you’re looking to squeeze the very maximum speed from your system, a good defrag session, optimizing your hard drive layout for the best performance, remains one of the more effective techniques you can apply -- and there are few more feature-packed and versatile defraggers than O&O Defrag 15 Professional.

The program offers multiple ways to report on your drive’s levels of fragmentation, for instance. You get eight built-in defrag strategies, and it’s also possible to customize the final results further, by, say, sorting specified files by name, last access or modification date, and repositioning large files to better optimize your overall system performance.

And there are so many ways to use the program. You can defrag specific files or folders from an Explorer right-click; run whole-drive defrags on demand, via an excellent scheduler, or when your system is idle; a boot-time defragger can optimize system files; an Automatic Optimization option can run in the background, defragging files as soon as fragmentation is detected; and there’s even support for optimising SSDs with regularly-scheduled TRIM commands.

But what does all this mean in real life? We installed the program on a Windows 7 PC to put it to the test.

User Interface

Launch O&O Defrag 15 Professional and it immediately analyzes your drives, before producing some detailed reports. As well as revealing the total number of fragmented files, these also provide a list of the most fragmented files, the largest files on your system, locked files, fragmented system files and more.

If you’re new to the program then that may seem a little overwhelming, but there’s plenty of guidance here. Simply clicking the QuickStart button will launch a dialog where you can run a defrag immediately, and set up your system to run defrags later, either on a schedule or when the screensaver is active.

And the well-designed GUI provides multiple ways to get your system properly optimized. So you might click Start to launch a basic defrag; right-click a particular drive for more options; or use the New Job dialog to create a defrag task that runs just as you’d like.

This latter approach is the most impressive of all. You can specify tasks to run before or after the defrag, for instance, and decide whether you’d like to optimize multiple drives in parallel. There are options to exclude particular files and folders, or files above a certain size from the defrag. A flexible scheduler allows you to decide exactly when the job will be run, and repeated.

And if you’re tired of scheduled defrags running when you’d rather they didn’t, then you’ll appreciate O&O Defrag 15 Professional’s ability to optionally avoid running your job if the CPU and hard drive is currently busy, if specified programs are running, or when your system is running on battery power. And you can set a maximum time for the defrag job, so if there’s only 30 minutes to spare, say, you can be sure that’s all it will use.

There’s a huge amount of functionality here, then, but a clean and clear interface means it’s all easy to access and configure. Five minutes of exploration and most people will have the system set up to run basic defrags just as they’d like.

Performance

Having plenty of options is great, but how do they perform?

O&O Defrag hasn’t previously been known for its speed of operation. Version 15 has been optimized for performance, though, and the company say its defrags can be up to 40 percent faster than before.

View your drive before and after defragmentation

Certainly the more lightweight defrag modes are quick. Optimizing a lightly defragged drive with Windows 7 took almost four minutes; use O&O Defrag 15 Professional it was all over in 12 seconds, with a new “Before and After” screen showing how our drive map had noticeably changed even in that short time.

A full-scale defrag and optimisation will take far, far longer, though. We ran a complete defrag which also sorted all our files by name, and that required just over five hours. But the first scan always takes the longest: after that you can leave Defrag 15 running the background and it’ll keep future fragmentation to a minimum. It requires little CPU time (typically just 1 or 2 percent), only around 60MB of RAM even when active, and generally we’d carry on using our system without even noticing that a defrag was running in the background.

And the end result of all this work? The benefits were small, but measurable. Boot times were around 5-percent faster after an O&O optimization, than a Windows-only defrag. Outlook launch time fell from around 5.5 seconds, to just over 4, a 25 percent improvement. And the system generally felt snappier and more responsive. We can’t guarantee what results you’ll see -- it depends how your system is set up now, the hardware and software you’re using -- but we can say that Defrag 15 Professional consistently delivered worthwhile performance improvements for us.

Advanced Features

If you’d like to try and improve Defrag 15′s results even further, then the program makes this possible by allowing you to tweak its low-level optimization rules.

Essentially these separate your files into three zones -- one for programs, another for data, a third for seldom-used files that can be moved to the slowest part of the drive -- and it’s easy to add new rules of your own. And so, for instance, you might create special rules to make sure a specific file, a certain file type (*.mpg) or everything in a given folder is optimised just as you’d like.

Figuring out exactly which optimization is best can be an issue. Should you sort the contents of a particular folder by name, modification date or last access time, for instance? There’s usually no way to tell for sure, so you’ll probably have to try various options to see what happens. Which will take a while.

Get feedback about your defrag performance from the History tab

Still, Defrag 15 does at least offer more feedback with the new History tab, which plots the degree of fragmentation and the files optimised for each of your drives, over time. So if fragmentation is increasing then you could, say, activate Defrag 15′s background optimization and see the results immediately.

Or, if your system is underpowered, you might turn off background optimisation, use scheduled defrag jobs instead, and the History tab will soon reveal just how much extra file fragmentation you’ll have to deal with. The History reports are a welcome addition to the package, then. As is the other major new feature this time, Live Update, which sees the program able to detect, download and install updates without requiring any manual intervention.

Put it all together, and O&O Defrag 15 Professional clearly won’t be for everyone. It takes time to learn how to best optimize your system, and run the necessary defrags, and while the program does deliver improved performance, the benefits aren’t huge.

But then again, this program has the tag “Professional” for a reason. It’s a high-end tool, packed with features, highly configurable and surprisingly lightweight. So if you’re looking for something more than the usual freeware alternatives, which delivers better performance as standard, and is far more customisable, then O&O Defrag 15 Professional makes an excellent choice. Take the trial version for a spin, and see what it can do for you.

The software is available for Windows XP, Vista and 7, both 32 and 64-bit editions, and sells for $29.

Apple patent lawsuits are hypocritical

Publié: septembre 24, 2011, 4:27pm CEST par Joe Wilcox

I've been fairly critical of Apple's recent patent bullying -- what I call innovation through intimidation/litigation. The Apple Fanclub of bloggers and journalists defend the company's patent and other intellectual property claims as protecting its innovations from copying, particularly by Samsung. But who's copying whom?

As several Betanews commenters recently point out, Apple cofounder, current Chairman and former CEO Steve Jobs admits to the company copying from others. From a mid 1990s interview: "Picasso had a saying, he said: 'Good artists copy, great artists steal'. We have, you know, always, ah, been shameless about stealing great ideas".

Jobs proudly proclaims that Apple steals great ideas. Shamelessly. I don't have a problem with that. I don't believe there are any original ideas, anyway, something that is becoming more apparent as social media services connect more people. We take cues from the natural world and the people around us. Innovation is a process not so much of creating something new but taking what we know and applying it in different ways or adapted to new situations.

I remember when Apple introduced Mac laptops with backlit keys, which got rave (and deserved) praise from Mac fans and others. But light in darkness isn't a new concept, nor backlit keys. Look no further than your car's dashboard and radio when the headlights are on. Apple innovated in how it brought that concept to the Mac. But even then, the company worked with technologies already available. It's not like Apple engineers spent hundreds of millions of dollars producing a new light source for lighting laptop keyboards. I'm not trying to diminish Apple invention but look at it from a different viewpoint.

Apple defenders don't see it that way. I hear it so often: "No one created touchscreen cell phones shaped like iPhone until Apple, then everyone copied". "Galaxy Tab looks like iPad 2 -- it's copying, stealing". But what's wrong with that? The cornerstone of patent law is limited monopoly. The government grants the inventor a limited-time monopoly on the invention in exchange for publishing it. The idea is to spur more invention by way of derivative works, and in a sense that's innovation by copying on the work of others. Society hugely benefits from this approach, as one inventor's creation leads someone else to make something else -- thus pushing technology's advance. Patents are supposed to spur innovation, not prevent it.

Here's another-universe hypothetical: Apple owns rights to all the technologies in iPhone and its look and feel. The courts rule that no one else can create a touchscreen phone, use proximity sensors, gestures or other functions. As a result, Apple locks up the market for smartphones, and no one else can compete. What happens? Innovation stops. Without competition, Apple has little incentive to innovate. iPhone prices remain high, and the company seeks to protect its market and sales position rather than develop something new.

That just about describes every monopoly that ever existed. Another reason for the foundational principles behind patent law and the granting of limited-time monopoly: Prevent real monopolies from forming like this hypothetical one.

Instead, Apple files patent and intellectual claims with the International Trade Commission and the courts against competitors like HTC or Samsung. Apple uses the legal process to prevent others from innovating, by engaging in competition by litigation. The company's legal filings accuse competitors of copying its products.

But who's copying whom? Jobs' 1979 visit to Xerox PARC, where he was introduced to the concepts of graphical user interface and mouse that he later incorporated into Macintosh, is legendary. Apple is a notorious copier -- granted taking others' ideas and doing something else with them, or something at all. Few months back, I identified five things iOS 5 copies from Android, for example. I could write a lengthy post on Apple's copying practices, there are so many examples.

But that's okay. Building on the work of others is how societies benefit. It's cornerstone of concepts like public domain or even fair use, and absolutely how patents are meant to be used -- not to protect one's invention but to spur even more from others.

Is there something hypocritical here? That it's okay for Apple to copy -- in Jobs' words steal -- but unacceptable for others to do the same or invent something new learned from Apple innovations? I pose the question to you.

Be careful, that PDF might be a Mac Trojan

Publié: septembre 24, 2011, 2:04am CEST par Joe Wilcox

Well, hello Mac users! The 1 billion Windows users of the world welcome you to the wonderful world of malware. F-Secure has identified a new one, and like Mac Defender, this piece of nastiness borrows from malware already released for Windows.

"We may have come across a Mac malware in the making. Detected as Trojan-Dropper:OSX/Revir.A, the malware disguises as a PDF file to trick user into triggering its payload", F-Secure warned earlier today.

The fake PDF is not yet perfected: "As of this writing, the C&C of the malware is just a bare Apache installation and is not capable of communicating with the backdoor yet. The domain was registered on 21 March 2011 and was last updated on 21 May 2011".

Mac security is a hot topic, in part because users are such passionate defenders of the platform. This despite clear signs that cyber criminals are bringing Windows malware software and techniques to Mac OS X. In February Sophos identified back-door Trojan BlackHole RAT, a variant of the free "remote administration tool" darkComet RAT for Windows. The Trojan was written in December 2010 and took months to spread, in beta, but posed no serious threat, even after version 2.0 appeared in April, because it wasn't stable.

In May the first credible piece of Mac OS X malware ever documented started spreading around the Web. Mac Defender used a long-successful technique on Windows -- pretending to be antivirus software while instead infecting the computer. Cyber criminals poisoned search results with fake sites that prompted users with warning of virus infection. Following instructions to take action, they downloaded fake antivirus software to the Mac.

Many Mac defenders (not to be confused with the malware) dismissed the security threat, and Apple with them. But as the number of infections increased, Apple finally acknowledged the problem -- three weeks after it started.

The same day, new variant Mac Guard appeared in the wild, with the capability of downloading and installing without user interaction. The behavior mimicked the drive-by-downloads long part of the Windows landscape.

I conducted polls to gauge just how unprotected are Mac users, and the results didn't surprise. Among Windows users, 86 percent of respondents said they have anti-malware software installed. Startling contrast: 82.74 percent of Mac users do not run anti-malware software. I've re-embedded both polls to see if the results have changed much. The Q: Are more Mac users protecting their computers, following the ruckus Mac Guard cased?

Is anti-malware software installed on your primary home computer?online surveys

Is anti-malware software installed on your primary home Macintosh?customer surveys

Mac users potentially are more vulnerable, because of behavior. Windows users are accustomed to malware trickery, often via phishing emails or bogus links from instant messaging or social networking services. Then there are the website pop-ups warning the PC is infected with a virus, like Mac Defender. The offered solution infects rather than cures the computer. It's an old tactic applied to a new platform.

Many Windows users have also learned, well hopefully, to be wary of file attachments, like the fake PDF Trojan. Your risk to this piece of nastiness isn't the problem, but the one that comes next -- the Trojan capable of infecting tens of thousands of Macs. Apple has hardened Mac OS X pretty well, but the first line of defense is the user. That's you. Security is only as good as the person using the operating system. Ask this question: Is your Mac safe from you?

Art Credit: Albert Ziganshin/Shutterstock

C Spire Wireless: the new underdog 4G mobile network?

Publié: septembre 24, 2011, 12:58am CEST par Tim Conneally

A new national wireless operator will open for business on Monday, and its name is C Spire Wireless.

To be fair, it's not really a new company, it's just the new name for Cellular South, the regional network operator whose CEO, Hu Meena, has been a defender of the "little guy" wireless carriers of the U.S. by refusing to share its LTE network with Verizon Wireless, and testifying against the merger of AT&T and T-Mobile.

The name change represents an impending shift in Cellular South's business toward more data-centric services.

“We have entered a new era in wireless – an era centered on broadband networks, mobile computing devices and now personalized services. Completing calls is only a small part of what we deliver our customers,” Meena said in a statement on Thursday. “Since 1988, our main focus has been on providing exceptional service for our customers and their wireless needs. Those needs have changed dramatically and will do so at an even more rapid pace in the future. In the new era of wireless, given our continued focus on the customer, we have been inspired to sharpen our vision for delivering the best possible experience in wireless and look forward to doing just that under the C Spire brand.”

The emphasis on broadband has been in place for a long time at Cellular South; and this year, it spent more than $90 million to build up its LTE network in Mississippi, Tennessee and Alabama.

Any further growth, however, will be almost entirely contingent upon LightSquared, who partnered with Cellular South five months ago to provide wholesale 4G LTE services for the rest of the company's coverage area.

LightSquared remains hung up in regulatory proceedings over GPS interference issues that its network was shown to have, and right now, the future of that network is uncertain at best.

Without LightSquared, C Spire will stand alongside MetroPCS and U.S. Cellular as regional carriers with limited, standalone LTE deployments. MetroPCS, who was the first carrier in the United States to commercially launch LTE, has networks in Nevada, Georgia, Massachusetts, Texas, Michigan, California, New York, and Pennsylvania. U.S. Cellular hasn't launched its 4G networks yet, but is on track to launch in Iowa, Wisconsin, Maine, North Carolina, Texas, and Oklahoma for the holiday season.

So among these three, C Spire actually has the smallest 4G network; but it looks like it will have other tricks up its sleeve for its dense concentration of smartphone users*, such as an App recommendation service called "Scout," an opt-in analytics system called "Pulse," a new system of customer care that will involve deeper use of social networking and user-suggested initiatives, and "multi-screen converged services" platform, which the company will talk about in greater depth next week.

*Cellular South frequently repeated two factoids about itself: That it is the largest privately-held mobile network, and that it has the highest concentration of smartphone users of any U.S. mobile carrier.

Blockbuster thinks the problem with Netflix is billing

Publié: septembre 23, 2011, 9:34pm CEST par Tim Conneally

After taking a serious beating in the DVD rental business by Netflix and Redbox for five years, Blockbuster was driven into bankruptcy and acquired by satellite TV company Dish Network.

But now, Dish and Blockbuster are attempting to gain the favor of disgruntled Netflix subscribers who have faced major changes to their subscription packages as the company spins off its DVD-by-mail rental business.

How is it hoping to do this?

Not so much by offering a better service, but by simplifying its billing.

Netflix used to include DVD-by-mail and unlimited online movie streaming in a single package, and chose to split them into two separate businesses that have two separate subscription fees. This is what has driven customers crazy recently.

If they wanted the streaming and DVD services they had previously, not only would they have to pay more, but they would have to pay more to two different places.

So today, Blockbuster announced it's rolling its Movie Pass DVD/Game-by-mail and streaming subscription package into Dish Network Pay TV subscription fees, simplifying its billing even further.

"Unlike other companies, we offer the simplicity of one company, one bill and one connection." said Joe Clayton, CEO of DISH Network.

Blockbuster's Movie Pass is supported by Dish Network's HD-capable set top boxes, of which there are several, and the new package will be available beginning October first. The package starts at $10 per month.

Logo: IQoncept/Shutterstock

Smart move: Bing sticks with daily deal aggregator instead of launching its own

Publié: septembre 23, 2011, 7:49pm CEST par Tim Conneally

Six months ago, Microsoft's search engine Bing launched a mobile daily deals site called (what else) Bing Deals. The idea was that it wasn't a standalone Groupon or LivingSocial competitor, but rather an aggregator of other daily deal sites that partnered with the search engine. Today, Microsoft has launched the desktop version of Bing Deals, and it keeps up what began earlier this year.

Bing Deals aggregates more than 200,000 daily and local deal sites (including Groupon, LivingSocial, Tippr, and retailers like Best Buy, Nordstrom and Zappos) and lets users browse by retailer, location, keyword, or category.

The Bing team today said "Despite lots of recent news coverage about the death of daily deal sites, people still love a great deal. The number of daily deal sites may be narrowing, but there are still over 300 sites to choose from and consumer interest shows no signs of slowing down. Comscore data reveals the deals audience grew by 24 percent in the past year, and according to a recent Bing/Impulse survey, 61% of people have increased their use of daily deals in the last six months."

Still, by not setting up its own daily deal service, and instead aggregating all the competing sites, Microsoft has distanced Bing from the volatility and uncertainty surrounding daily deals.

According to venture capital database CB Insights, 72 acquisitions have occurred in the daily deal space in the last two years, and 44 of those took place just in the second and third quarter of 2011.

Google recently bought DailyDeal and The DealMap to integrate into Google Offers, CrowdSavings went on a buying spree and bought up seven smaller daily deal sites, just yesterday Rearden Commerce bought daily deal startup Homerun for $133 million.

The fierce activity in the space is the result of the extremely high valuations of the two leading daily deal sites: Groupon and LivingSocial, which were each independently valued at between ten and twenty-five billion dollars.

This "Groupon mania" appears, however, to be wearing off. CB Insights says concerns about the viability of the market, as well as macroeconomic concerns have brought down the daily deal optimism. Facebook killed its early attempt at Facebook Deals, and Yelp said it's scaling back on yelp deals.

And to top it all off, both Groupon and Livingsocial have forestalled their IPOs, the reasons for the mania in the first place.

Comodo Dragon: Better browsing security with less bloat

Publié: septembre 23, 2011, 6:54pm CEST par Mark Wilson

Spending time browsing the Internet can be fulfilling, but it can also be fraught with dangers. Every web browser claims to have a wealth of security options built in, Comodo Dragon goes a little further aiming to not only ensure that life online is as safe as possible, but also that the experience is not dogged by poor performance. Based on a Chromium core, Comodo Dragon is a bloat-free browser that balances speed and security.

The installation of the browser gives you the option of installing a portable version of the application, while the option to import your history, password, cookies and other settings from your current browser means that it makes switching easy.

Installing the software also enables you to use Comodo SecureDNS, not only with the web browser, but with any application that connects to the Internet. This makes it easier to avoid malicious websites without the need for additional software, and thereby eliminating the strain on your system. The browser’s clean and uncluttered interface is a pleasure to use, but it is the peace of mind Comodo Dragon offers that is particularly appealing.

There is enhanced certificate security and the now obligatory private browsing mode, here known as Incognito mode. Cheap domain-only SSL certificates are highlighted, alerting that you may be visiting sites that do not have the most scrupulous security. A small memory footprint is impressive, and the fact that the browser is free means that even if you already have multiple browsers installed, Comodo Dragon is still worth checking out.

You can find out more and download a free copy of the secure web browser by paying a visit to the Comodo Dragon review page.

Get Chrome 15 Beta now!

Publié: septembre 23, 2011, 6:26pm CEST par Nick Peers

One week after releasing the first stable build of Google Chrome 14, both Beta and Dev channels have been updated, to versions 15 and 16 respectively. In terms of new features, Google Chrome 15 Beta sees the most radical developments with a redesigned new tab page and the ability to synchronize the Address/Search bar history across multiple installations.

Google Chrome 16 Dev offers one interesting new development in the fact that multi-user support, where users log into a single instance of Chrome with different accounts, has now been enabled by default on Windows and Mac machines.

Beta Changes

The most visible change in Chrome 15 Beta is the redesigned new tab page. Instead of displaying apps, most visited sites and recently closed windows on a single page, the user must now navigate between them using a series of sections at the bottom of the screen. A new “bookmarks” entry allows users to access their favorite sites from this screen, while apps can be rearranged into customizable sections such as work and productivity through drag and drop.

Other changes to the beta build include the enabling of the Javascript Fullscreen API by default. The Omnibox History -- a history of everything entered into the Address/Search bar -- gains its own entry in Google Sync, giving the user control over whether its contents are synchronized with other user data. Verified sites will also be able to install Chrome Web Store items inline, which means users won’t need to leave a site in order to install a related app.

Pushing the Boundaries

The Dev channel has also been pushed to a new version number, 16.0.889.0, although its litany of changes is far less radical. One major new feature that has been enabled by default, however, is support for multi-user profiles on Windows and Mac machines.

First announced last year , these profiles aren’t linked to your computer’s built-in user accounts, but accessed -- and switched -- within Chrome itself. New profiles can be simple off-line affairs tied to that computer or synced with a Google account.

Multi-users is accessible from the Personal section under Chrome’s Options. Clicking New User opens a new window with an icon in the top left-hand corner indicating which user is currently browsing using that window. Multiple windows containing different users can be opened at once, while accounts can be configured to sync with a Google account, be renamed and have their identifying icon changed.

Other changes in the Dev build are minor updates and stability fixes.

Pick the Right Version

As always, installing an early, unstable build comes with its risks. Switching to the new channel overwrites your existing installation -- should you later wish to switch back, the simplest thing to do is uninstall Google Chrome and then install the latest stable version.

Google Chrome 15 Beta and Google Chrome 16 Dev are available for download now for Windows, Mac and Linux.

Samsung Galaxy S II Epic 4G Touch first impressions review

Publié: septembre 23, 2011, 5:50pm CEST par Joseph LoRe

Sunday, September 18. Sprint Store, North Jersey.

This fanboy stalked his Sprint Dedicated Care rep for many moons, leading up to this day. What hardship getting here. Samsung announced the Galaxy S II in February, and it started selling everywhere else in the world in April. But not the United States. As if the waiting wasn't enough, 10 days earlier the rep informed me that I would have to go to the local Sprint Store to pre-order the Samsung Galaxy S II Epic 4G Touch, but only if I bought a $50 gift card first. Then I would have to return to the store on Sept. 18. Sprint couldn't mail the phone to me. Surely this was a joke.

When I pre-ordered, one other person was on the list.

I arrived at the store, expecting great fanfare. The Galaxy S II is considered top-of-class for Android phones, and Sprint has the prestige of offering the phone here first. But there were no signs, announcements or funky T-shirts proclaiming the arrival of the most powerful, thinnest, most beautiful smartphone ever to arrive in these United States.

I coughed up my gift card and was handed the SGS2E4GT (cue harps).

The Sprint tech turned it on, thus activating the number for the line I opened to qualify for the phone. But when I informed him I needed to do phone swaps, he referred me to customer care.

WOW!

I went to the parking lot to unbox the phone and to call Sprint Premier Care. This is one handsome phone. Not only is the Epic 4G beautiful-looking, it is a marvel of modern technology. Here are the stats (I hope you are sitting down):

1.2 Ghz dual-core processor; 4.52-inch Super AMOLED display, with 800 x 480 pixel resolution; capacitive touchscreen; huge battery -- 3.7 volt, lithium ion, 1800mAh; claimed 10.5-day standby time and 8.7-hour continuous talk time; 16GB internal memory, expandable to 32GB with microSD card; 8-megapixel rear-facing camera/camcorder with 4x digital zoom, auto-focus with varying shot modes and various software add-ons like geo-tagging, photo editing and HD playback via adapter, video-share, and TV out (also with an adapter); 2-megapixel front-facing camera; Bluetooth (BT profiles: A2DP, AVRCP, GAVDP, HFP 1.5, MAP, OPP, PBAP); WiFi and WiFi Hotspot (known issue that is being resolved -- check Sprint site); WiMax; Samsung's TouchWiz 3.0 UI; and the expected standards like GPS, accelerometer, proximity sensor, etc. The Epic 4G Touch runs Gingerbread, but despite the rumors of Android 2.3.5 it's 2.3.4. The phone measures 5.11 x 2.74 x .38 inches -- yes, .38 inches thick. Right now it comes in just black, however, an all white version was released on a Canadian carrier recently.

Some things I observed while unboxing the Epic 4G Touch:

Samsung/Sprint didn’t include earbuds.
The charger is smaller than its predecessor.
There is no SD card. Other Sprint Android phones I purchased usually came with one.

Sprint Premier Care had me activated with my old number in no time; 30 minutes, and I helped, but she did most of the heavy lifting.

Finally I could marvel over the phone and the amazingly fast boot time. My Nexus S 4G and the SGS1 before took twice as long to boot. I guess Samsung's boast that it "virtually eliminated waiting and disruptions by installing a 1.2 GHz dual core processor" can be taken quite seriously.

Once I get over the speed, my attention turned to the 800 x 480 pixel, 4.52 inch, Super AMOLED screen. The display is so large, that even when the phone is not in landscape view, the touchscreen keyboard is bigger than I -- and likely you will -- need. Turn the phone sideways to landscape mode and the keyboard is laughably large.

Samsung's lock screen is an improvement. I enjoy changing backgrounds often, so to have a family pic as the lockscreen and another one as the wallpaper means I won't as easily get bored by my wallpaper.

Samsung's Touch Wiz 3.0 user interface is what it is. It’s straightforward and maintains continuity from the SGS1, so the casual user will have no trouble adapting. The Epic 4G Touch runs Gingerbread, but it's not a pure Android experience. While it is not as polished or free of debris (those darn Samsung and Sprint modifications) as the version that shipped on the Nexus S 4G, it is still otherwise the slickest version of Android. The Motorola Photon 4G is closest competitor, and I have to say that I did not like that phone in or out of the dock. I was there on release day at the Sprint Store and played around for about thirty minutes with it and was not impressed. The Photon 4G didn’t make me want to give up my Nexus S 4G. Not even close.

Digital Maverick

The Epic 4G Touch's 8-megapixel, rear facing camera takes jaw-dropping photos. This is eight times as many megapixels as my first digital camera. Images are crisp, with vivid contrast, there is a LED flash. The word on the street about the HD Camcorder capabilities are true. The phone eliminates the need for a separate camcorder -- shooting 1080p video at 30fps.

Sound quality is just as good as its predecessor. Sprint Stores have the hard case with kickstand in stock. Netflix & Crackle streams have to be seen to be believed. If you happen to have one of those DLNA cables, you can stream in HD to any DLNA equipped TV. This is what the directions and the website stats say. I wouldn’t know because I have only seen DLNA one time, at Sprint’s NYC 4G/SGS1 Epic launch. Needless to say, they didn’t let me handle the phone for more than ten seconds during the demonstration.

Something struck me as really odd; the phone comes pre-loaded with Sprint Mobile Wallet. I had initially thought it was Google Wallet all gussied up for Sprint in the partnership. This is clearly not the case. Take a look at the photo of the welcome screen. Further down it talks about their partnered retailers. These include Namco Wireless and Skymall with more "coming soon". When you click the signup button you are brought to the EULA where it rambles on about how you give up your rights regarding most disputes, but makes no mention of Google Wallet. After that it takes you to a signup page where you enter your profile information. That is where my investigation stopped. Googling Sprint Mobile Wallet just made me more confused.

Aside from that, the rest of the software is not as eyebrow raising. Unsurprisingly, there is a bunch of Sprint-branded apps, and the Sprint ID pack -- it's serious bloatware. But new widgets, Social Hub, and pre-loaded Kies Air (browser-based wireless tethering) more than makes up for the bloatware.

Bottom line, I am a lucky man, because in the end I didn't get the Epic 4G Touch for me. My wife has been waiting for this phone for months. For anyone wondering if this behemoth is too big, my wife is a good test case. I had already upgraded to the Nexus S. She didn’t want to because she liked the SGS1 Epic’s full qwerty keyboard. She has used the SGS2E4TG (how silly is the name?) for the last five days and reports: she's in love.

I am not giving up my Nexus S 4G -- yet. If you believe the rumors, the Nexus Prime is not far from release; maybe 30 days? And I really have become accustomed to its predecessor. The Nexus S 4G may be slower and smaller, but it is a damn solid phone. Couple that with the non-bloatware, stock Android 2.3.5 experience, and it is a steal at $45.00 with new Sprint contract. (And it is an even better phone if you are looking to try out some of the mods that are out there. Currently I am running Oxygen -- very clean AOSP -- but I have also run Cyanogen 7.)

It is easy to see why Samsung sold 5 million Galaxy S IIs in 85 days in Europe and Asia. The phone, due to its size, speed, and screen quality, absolutely demands your attention. In fact, come to think of it, it demands your attention in a way that is different than the first time you laid eyes on an iPhone.

Sprint's Samsung Galaxy S II variant has a magnetic quality that, as I expressed earlier, has to be seen to be believed.

Photo Credits: Joseph LoRe

Joseph LoRe is chief of operations for LoRe Sweeping Co., Inc. He is married and a father of three. You can follow him on twitter: @DarthSpacegrass

Trapped in 'Facebook purgatory': new design pushed to accidental testers months ago

Publié: septembre 23, 2011, 1:55am CEST par Ed Oswald

When Facebook rolled out its new layout late Tuesday, like past redesigns it was met with a good deal of acrimony from users.

However, for some like Regina Shade, a self-described "Facebook challenged" mother of two, they had been dealing with the reworked popular social networking site for at least three months if not longer.

"It was like Facebook purgatory," she mused. Shade told Betanews that since June, she had seen the future of Facebook but didn't realize she was essentially a guinea pig for the social networking site's future plans. "I have hated this since about the middle of the summer. Oh, you ain't seen half of what I have seen over the last several months."

Unwilling Participants

Ms. Shade and others -- possibly as many as 30,000 to 40,000 -- have a similar story: changes to layout and functionality almost daily, features disappearing and reappearing, and absolutely no communication from Facebook on what was happening all without their knowledge or consent.

"We thought our accounts were broken," advertising executive Susan Leverentz recounted of her own experience. "At first you couldn't see anything that wasn't a top story." Things only got worse as time went on say those Betanews spoke to.

The issues ranged from the merely annoying -- the once often-malfunctioning (and now much maligned) ticker was moved around to several places on the page before finally working as it does now about a week ago -- to the downright bizarre.

"I had music coming from no where a couple of times when I only had Facebook open," Jen Robison, another one of Facebook's accidental testers said. "One time I was hearing a commercial for Purina One." The only way Robison could get it to stop was to close out Facebook outright.

These testers also reported seeing other wacky changes to their Facebook pages, including old statuses (sometimes several years old) appearing in their feeds, times where the news feed listed "no posts at this time" yet the ticker showed current activity, and content from people they weren't friends with showing up as "top stories" in their feeds.

Changes Made Facebook Nearly Unusable

With Facebook changing so frequently, some decided to close their accounts and re-register for the service. This was for naught: according to posts on several groups that were created by those affected, some actually saw their accounts morph back to the test design.

Enterprising users frustrated by the redesign then turned to workarounds to get their old profiles back. While these worked for the time being, Leverentz and others told Betanews that Facebook would typically close those holes within a matter of days or weeks.

"They treated us with absolute disregard," Leverentz argued. "We bitched for the past three months non-stop and they still did this?"

She also offered the only possible solution that may explain how Facebook users were selected. At some point in the past, she had agreed to beta test new Facebook features. After the changes begun to frustrate her and inhibit her usage of the site, she attempted to opt-out of beta testing, but the option had disappeared.

Others that Betanews had spoken to did not recall ever consenting to become part of any test, although they may have done so accidentally. Either way, it only deepens the mystery of how these people were chosen, and better yet why they weren't informed of what was happening.

Facebook so far is staying mum on its procedures surrounding the test, as well as whether these users did indeed give consent. The company has not responded to requests for comment on this report.

Frustration, But Is There A Solution?

"The monster is starting to show his true colors," Axel Traut said of the move on one of the "support" groups. "I am afraid it's either love it, hate it, limit your action on Facebook or quit altogether."

Moving away from Facebook is what some may now consider, and a few of these testers already have. Ironically, on the same day the social networking site began switching all users over to the new layout, the Google+ social networking service opened itself up to the public.

There's one issue, though. As some have already pointed out, Google+ still has a very long way to go before it becomes a useful alternative. Leverentz knows: she depends on Facebook not only to keep tabs on her friends, but also for her professional life in advertising.

"A lot of people are still so dependent on Facebook," she lamented. Leverentz has made the move to Google+ herself, but acknowledged its adoption issues. "For me, Facebook has stumbled so many times. They don't communicate up front, and jack with your stuff."

Shade seemed to agree. "Why wouldn't they want to let us know what they were doing; what they were trying to achieve?" she asked. "We could have given them feedback, either positive or negative, but without any idea of where they were going, [it was] all negative."

The simple fact that Facebook has become so ubiquitous in the social networking fabric of the internet makes complaining about it and threatening to quit practically a lesson in futility.

The company makes it fairly difficult to completely remove yourself from the social network, and has in the past asserted claims to ownership of content posted on Facebook. In the end, it seems as the argument may now center around whether or not the social networking site has a responsibility to its users.

How to enable Facebook Timeline in 4 steps

Publié: septembre 23, 2011, 12:41am CEST par BetaNews Staff

Facebook's new Timeline profiles go live on Thursday, September 29, 2011, but you can convert yours now. You just have to pretend you're an app developer (or continue being one if you already are.)

It's a simple four-step process that can be done in a couple of minutes. Here's how you do it:

Install "Developer" app

The easiest way to do this is just by typing "developer" in the search field. Simply click on the first app (it looks like the picture we've inserted above.) Once you click on the app, it will automatically take you to the developer portal.

Create a new app

You'll also have to enter a CAPTCHA to verify that you're a real person (even though you might not be a real developer.)

Name the app

Enable Open Graph

Name your Open Action

Return to your user profile

Once you return to your profile, you should have the prompt asking if you'd like to enable the new Timeline interface and make it public before it actually launches publicly.

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Léo Apotheker ousted at HP, Meg Whitman in as president, CEO

Publié: septembre 22, 2011, 11:16pm CEST par Ed Oswald

In what could only be considered a full rebuke of Léo Apotheker's leadership, HP's board of directors announced late Thursday that it had appointed former eBay CEO Meg Whitman as president and CEO of the company, and Ray Lane as executive chairman of the board.

Apotheker would be pushed completely out of the company, including giving up his seat on the board. The news confirms reports that first surfaced on Wednesday from several sources indicating a rumored executive shakeup.

A replacement for Apotheker's board seat was not immediately named, or whether Whitman would assume that position.

In speaking for the board, Lane voiced the typical niceties associated with a departing executive. However, he also seemingly criticized Apotheker for failing to move the company forward.

"The board believes that the job of the HP CEO now requires additional attributes to successfully execute on the company’s strategy," Lane said in a statement. "Meg Whitman has the right operational and communication skills and leadership abilities to deliver improved execution and financial performance.”

During his year at the helm of HP, Apotheker pushed for the company's exit from the consumer business and also killed the company's tablet efforts. At the same time, however, HP kept missing sales targets, further damaging Apotheker's position.

Where Whitman plans to take HP is not yet known, as her statement accepting the position was short in both length and details.

"I am honored and excited to lead HP," Whitman said. "I believe HP matters -- it matters to Silicon Valley, California, the country and the world."

During a conference call today, Whitman kept in place Apotheker's most controversial, recent strategies -- spinning off or selling off the PC business and killing TouchPad -- moves that would seem to have precipitated his ouster. "The initiatives taken on August 18th are right," she said.

But in Q&A that followed, Lane waffled on the fate of the PC division -- the Personal Systems Group: "Our intent all along was to look at whether there was a benefit to investors or customers. I imagined a PSG that would carry an HP brand with it...[that] would be stronger for customers outside. He emphasized: "If it cannot be better on the outside, it'll stay inside."

Photo Credit: Eugene Berman/Shutterstock.com

You don't have to wait for Windows 8

Publié: septembre 22, 2011, 9:50pm CEST par Nick Peers

Why wait until Windows 8 is released before you sample the look and feel of the next version of Windows? WindowsX has released not one, but two tools that can revamp the Windows interface and give you a fresh new look that matches Windows 8’s look and feel quite closely, right down to Metro-like functionality.

Windows 7 users should take a look at the Windows 8 UX Pack, recently updated to version 3.0, which contains everything you need. Vista, XP and Windows Server users will need a bit more help in the form of the Windows 8 Transformation Pack.

The Transformation Pack works by roping in various third-party tools that help give older versions of Windows, particularly XP, updated features like an Aero-like semi-translucent background, new icons and a revamped Start menu. It, along with the Windows 8 UX Pack, then skins the interface to provide you with the look and feel of Windows 8’s Metro interface.

Sadly, that’s all there is; XP users get the most benefit from this approach, as you’re given features that close the gap between your ancient OS and its successors Windows 7 and Vista. There is some good news if you’re a Windows 7 user, however, and that’s in the form of a free tool called Pulmon, currently in Beta. This does more than simply provide the simplified Metro-like interface, it also allows you to experiment with some gadgets created to take advantage of the new approach utilized in Windows 8, allowing you to get a greater feel for what’s coming soon.

To integrate Netflix into the new Facebook graph, you have to e-mail Congress

Publié: septembre 22, 2011, 8:46pm CEST par Tim Conneally

At f8, the Facebook developer conference in San Francisco today, Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg unveiled the new Facebook "Timeline" layout, and the deeper, realtime integration of third party apps it will bring. This deeper integration is a part of Facebook's new "Open Graph."

One of the premier Open Graph partners is Sweden-based streaming music service Spotify, which launched in the United States just two months ago. Using the new open graph, the music that Spotify users are listening to is posted live to their Facebook feed, and their friends can click that post and join into the listening session live.

Netflix, another premier partner, will be doing something similar for its streaming movies... but only in Canada and Latin America.

Unfortunately, United States users won't be getting the feature due to "A 1980s law that creates some confusion over our ability to allow U.S. members to share what they watch."

For the feature to exist, a law has to be passed.

"We’ll continue to look at these issues and find ways to bring you the easy, convenient and quality experiences you have come to expect, including ways to automatically share with your friends on Facebook," Michael Drobac, director of Government Relations at Netflix wrote on Thursday. "The good news, however, is that some forward-thinking members of Congress have introduced legislation, H.R. 2471, that would allow you to make this choice. We’ve got some big supporters in Congress, including Representatives Bob Goodlatte, Howard Coble, Jim Sensenbrenner, Zoe Lofgren, Linda Sanchez, John Conyers, Henry Waxman, Darrell Issa, Judy Chu, Loretta Sanchez, Lee Terry and Sue Myrick but we can use more."

Drobac and the Netflix team are asking users to email congress about voting on H.R. 2471.

Verizon CEO gives blessing to AT&T T-Mobile merger

Publié: septembre 22, 2011, 8:41pm CEST par Ed Oswald

AT&T and Deutsche Telekom are busy scrambling to save their $39 billion dollar merger, assembling a top-tier legal team and getting support from an unlikely ally: Verizon Wireless.

Verizon Wireless CEO Lowell McAdam publicly voiced his support for AT&T's plans, although the company planned to "stay on the sidelines" while the Justice Department and AT&T negotiate a settlement. If regulators cannot provide the carriers with adequate spectrum to operate in a timely fashion, then these mergers must be permitted to occur, he argued.

McAdam did not rule out the company taking an official position at a later date, however.

“We need to be very thoughtful on what the impacts would be to the overall industry if this is a way to regulate the industry without actually passing regulation," he told attendees of an investor conference this week. McAdam had been in touch with regulators as well as government officials, asking them to "step up" and offer some guidance when it comes to the spectrum issue.

Some analysts believe that T-Mobile may struggle to remain relevant alone, due to both a lack of spectrum and decreased leverage in attracting the most sought after mobile devices. A merger with AT&T seems to make the most sense for the company.

With regulators and politicians alike seemingly leery of AT&T's plans, the company may sense that the deal itself may be in danger of rejection. To that, the carrier has assembled a team of high-profile lawyers to argue its case. The lawyers on its team include those who have worked in the Justice Department's legal division as well as those who have worked in high-level roles at the Federal Trade Commission.

Also on the team are lawyers with previous experience in antitrust negotiations as well as those with experience with Judge Ellen Huvelle, Reuters reports. Huvelle is the judge who has been tasked with overseeing the case.

The two companies are also reportedly shopping around to the regional carriers in an attempt to shed some assets that may be enough to win regulator's approval. Bloomberg reported on Sunday that AT&T had reached out to MetroPCS and Leap Wireless, and had also contacted Sprint, Dish Network, and CenturyLink to gauge interest.

Facebook completely redesigns layout with 'Timeline'

Publié: septembre 22, 2011, 7:54pm CEST par Tim Conneally

If the population of Facebook users was outraged at the site's new layout unveiled yesterday, they're going to completely lose it over Timeline, the new Facebook experience that turns a user's profile into a literal life history timeline. In short, Facebook combined its social feed with the plugin-supported self-publishing of WordPress and magazine-style readability of Flipboard.

Instead of simply piling new Facebook information on top of the page, and hiding all the previous information, everything you do becomes a historical item that can be curated and published as your own personal story.

"As you scroll down past your cover, you'll see your posts, photos and life events as they happened in time. You choose what's featured on your timeline. You can star your favorites to double their size or hide things altogether," Facebook product manager Sam Lessin said today.

Central to Timeline is the addition of social apps, which contribute to the "historical" curation of information, and instead of making users "like" things, like books, movies, recipes and music, the users simply do what they like, and it will be added to their timeline.

"The last five years have been about getting people signed up, and getting them connected," Zuckerberg said today. "The next five years are about apps and the depth of engagement."

Timeline is not yet available to the public, but it will be coming in the "next few weeks," and the beta phase begins today.

Use layered security to protect your small business PCs

Publié: septembre 22, 2011, 7:05pm CEST par Larry Seltzer

The hallmark of effective security in any field, especially computers, is defense-in-depth. There is always a way around any particular defensive measure, so you need multiple defenses in order to stop attacks with a high level of confidence. Large organizations are full of multilayered defenses, but they are no less essential to small businesses.

It's never big news, but small businesses get hit all the time by cybercrime. Reporter and analyst Brian Krebs has many stories of small businesses that fell victim to attacks, losing hundreds of thousands of dollars. Specialized malware (malicious programs) named Zeus and SpyEye find ways to get into your bank accounts and steal your money. In some cases, businesses have sued their banks to get their money back, but the courts have sided with the bank. It's the business's responsibility to secure the access the bank has given to the account.

Taking your money isn't the only thing a criminal can do once they breach your computer security. Your computers and accounts can be co-opted to perform other tasks. One common abuse is to have them perform searches on Google and other engines in order to "poison" the search results of others. Abuses like this can get your company in trouble with your Internet service provider.

Build a Strong Defense

So what do you do? Let's assume that you've bought an Internet security suite with antivirus and all that because everyone knows you need one of those. But there's more to it than that. The anti-malware parts of these suites may be very good, but the sheer enormous volume of malicious programs released every day means that there are always some that will be undetected. So you have to plan for the possibility that some will get through, and you have to stop them some other way.

One general rule to follow, which almost always improves the security of your systems, is to keep your operating system and applications up to date. That definitely means applying all security updates promptly and may mean upgrading to a newer software version. For instance, while Microsoft still issues security fixes for Windows XP and will for over 2 more years, XP is far less securable than Vista or Windows 7.

The protections you get with updates and more recent software versions are from vulnerability exploits. These are errors in software that attackers can use to take control of the software and run their own programs. Windows Vista and 7 offer significant protections against exploits beyond those in XP, and to this day XP users are far more likely to be exploited than Windows Vista and 7 users.

Sometimes you can be compromised through a vulnerability in your web browser simply by surfing a web page that has been set to serve malware; this is called a "drive-by" attack. It's also common for vulnerabilities in Adobe Reader and Acrobat to be exploited through malicious PDF files. So make sure to keep your applications up to date, too. Sometimes Internet security suites can detect malicious data files.

There's another security measure you should take as a fallback position against malicious code getting through either your security suite or a vulnerability exploit: following the principle of least privilege. When you are logged in to a computer you have a particular set of permissions, usually Administrator or User (also called Standard User). Administrator, as a general rule, has permission to do anything on the computer, from installing new programs to searching files on the hard disk for anything a program wants (like your usernames and passwords). User is much more restricted; it has access only to that user's files and cannot make system-wide changes.

When you run a malicious program or are exploited through a software vulnerability, the malicious code runs in the context of the user you are logged in as. Anything you have permission to do, it can do. So if you run as an Administrator and are compromised, you're toast. The malicious program can and will take control of your computer. If you're just a Standard User, there is much less damage that they can do, although it may still be significant damage. But most malware will fail if you or your employees are running as standard users.

The final, and perhaps most important layer, is the user. There is nothing as resistant to attack as an educated user, one who knows what not to click on and how to see when something is wrong. The best tool for such users is skepticism: Before you run a new program or click on a new link, think about whether it came to you through unusual circumstances. It may be worth checking first. The user can be the weakest part of the system security, or the strongest.

Five Easy Steps

Recapping the layered-security defense every small business should take:

1. Use anti-malware software, but don't solely rely on it. Keep it up to date.

2. Upgrade to the newest software versions -- at the least that means Windows 7 and current web browser, whether Firefox, Google Chrome or Internet Explorer.

3. Apply updates as soon as they're available for your operating system, web browser or applications, like Adobe reader. Most of these programs have auto-update features. Don't turn them off!

4. Run your PCs as "standard user", an option you can set when adding new users. For you the small business owner or IT manager, let Windows Vista or 7 help you. The default setting for "Administrator" runs in a lower-privileged state.

5. Train yourself and your employees to trust nothing. Never click on file attachments in email from people you don't know. Always hesitate before clicking on them from people you do know. If you weren't expecting that email attachment, it might not be safe. Like grifters and con artists, hackers exploit your trust.

Photo Credit: OleGunnarUA/Shutterstock

Larry Seltzer is a freelance writer and consultant, dealing mostly with security matters. He has written recently for Infoworld, eWEEK, Dr. Dobb's Journal, and is a Contributing Editor at PC Magazine and author of their Security Watch blog. He has also written for Symantec Authentication (formerly VeriSign) and Lumension's Intelligent Whitelisting site.

Google just doesn't 'get it'

Publié: septembre 22, 2011, 5:30pm CEST par Joe Wilcox

Contrary to testimony given before the US Senate yesterday, Google has not learned lessons from Microsoft's antitrust case -- not enough of them, or the right ones. More importantly, Google is looking at the wrong company. It is Intel's dealing with the Feds that could help Google navigate the shark-infested regulatory waters before it.

If the company fails to respond, and quickly, regulators will step in. Google can only avoid being eaten by way of contrition and compromise, and Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt didn't signal enough of either during his prepared statement or responding to questions that followed.

Schmidt started out right, referring to Microsoft unnamed:

Twenty years ago, a large technology firm was setting the world on fire. Its software was on nearly every computer. Its name was synonymous with innovation. But that company lost sight of what mattered. Then Washington stepped in. I was an executive at Sun and later Novell at the time. And in the years since, many of us in Silicon Valley have absorbed the lessons of that era. So I’m here today carrying a long history in the technology business and a very short message about our company: We get it. By that I mean that we get the lessons of our corporate predecessors.

The reference to Novel and Sun is significant. Both companies filed cases against Microsoft, and it was Sun complaints that set off major antitrust investigations on two continents. Sun was first-mover in Microsoft's landmark US case. From Sun, to Novel, to Google, Schmidt had a front-row seat watching Microsoft's rise, competing against the company and watching its arrogant downfall before the US legal system. Microsoft wasn't contrite and took a no-compromise approach in its dealing with the government. I had a front-row seat, too, reporting on the US cases from 1997.

Defiant Microsoft

US trustbusters sought compromise. There were settlement talks at many junctures, even right before the Justice Department and (initially) 20 states filed the big case in May 1998. Microsoft wouldn't give ground. Then-Microsoft CEO Bill Gates was arrogant, and unwilling to bow before the government overlords. He took his lessons from a different monopolist. IBM battled the government in 40 antitrust investigations over two decades, losing but one case.

Gates sat where Schmidt did yesterday -- in March 1998, just two months before the big case was filed. He was neither contrite or willing to compromise -- or to make changes that would quell the political winds on Capitol Hill. Politicians are publicity hounds, looking to at least appear to be doing the right thing for the constituents. Big senators wanted something from Microsoft, and many of the 20 state attorneys general had political ambitions. Richard Blumenthal is example, as he was Connecticut attorney general and one of the major players in Microsoft's antitrust case. Now he is a democratic senator for the state.

In watching Schmidt testify yesterday, I was washed over by waves of déjà vu. It could have been Gates sitting in that chair. Schmidt spoke of learning lessons, but exhibited none of them in the questioning that followed. Herb Kohl, D-WI, probed Schmidt and other witnesses about monopoly -- whether Google was one and how dangerous. Mike Lee, R-UT, clearly had decided that Google is a monopoly and a dangerous one. His questions were searing, as were his comments. At one point he accused Google of cooking search results in its own favor.

Blumenthal repeatedly looked for compromise, from Schmidt and in the advice of witnesses that followed. He clearly leaned towards Google's dominance being anticompetitive but sought voluntary changes rather than imposed ones. In statements made following the hearing, Lee also encouraged Google to make voluntary changes, too.

Defiant Google

Schmidt would have none of it, like Gates before him. What irony! That one of Microsoft's opponents on the monopoly front would stand before senators asking him about being a monopolist.

Blumenthal was clear about the problem: "You run the racetrack, you own the racetrack -- and for a long time you had no horses. Now, you have horses, and you have control over where the horses are placed, and you're horses seem to be winning". The senator asked Schmidt if he could propose changes to "avoid government regulation". Schmidt's response: Google was already doing as much as it could, a stance he held to even as Blumenthal pressed further for some concession, or even contrition.

The horse race analogy could easily apply to Microsoft, which started out making development tools and operating systems and then moved into applications, thus competing with its software developers and wooing them away from competing platforms. Many of the questions reminded of competitive concerns about Microsoft's monopoly, such as shutting startups out or bullying smaller companies.

Perhaps we all misinterpreted Schmidt's "We get it", because the lesson I heard in his responses was defiance -- like Microsoft in the 1990s. He should look to Intel instead. By every measure, Intel has a monopoly, too. For more than a decade Intel fought off the government antitrust overlords through compromise and contrition. Antitrust complaints have dogged the chip maker since the 1990s, resulting in several investigations. Along the way, Intel appeased antitrust investigators.

Of course, contrition and compromise can only go so far. Intel eventually, and only recently, got slapped around by the European Competition Commission and Federal Trade Commission for monopoly abuse. But its willingness to bow before government overloads -- or at least to appear such -- provided a get-out-of-jail card for more than a decade. Schmidt and CEO Larry Page would be wise to look to Intel and not Microsoft, before the FTC cracks the antitrust whip and forces Google to kneel before it. There's a difference between bowing politely and being forced to the ground.

AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II arrives October 2

Publié: septembre 22, 2011, 4:29am CEST par Joe Wilcox

Finally, the news you've been waiting for from AT&T -- and it's not iPhone 5. The Samsung Galaxy S II goes on sale October 2 for $199.99 with 2-year contract and minimum $15/month data plan. No commitment price: $549.99.

That works out to a two-week delay for all the folks (me among them) who were ready to buy, or tried to, just three days ago. Sprint started selling its version, the Epic 4G, on September 16. The question now: With rumors of iPhone 5 launch just two days later (October 4) and next Google Nexus smartphone running Ice Cream Sandwich coming as soon as late next month, do you buy the S2 now or wait? One option is to hold AT&T to that 30-day return policy by buying a week from Sunday and deciding later (it's closest to having your cake and eating it, too).

The Galaxy S II is a late-comer to the United States, and even later thanks to the nation's second largest carrier and no show at the largest (Verizon has decided that Droid Bionic is good enough). Samsung announced the S2 in February and started sales pretty much everywhere else in late April. By July, even before debuting in China, Galaxy S II had set Samsung sales records. Samsung announced the US versions on August 30.

"We consumers in the Australian Market have had access to this phone for a few months now and it is definitely miles ahead of the iPhone 4", Ishraque Siddiqui writes. "I can sympathize with you US folks. I suppose one way to look at it is it will be well worth the wait".

Commenter Marvin couldn't wait:

I'm on AT&T with an unlocked Galaxy S2 bought from Newegg. The phone and AT&T have exceeded my expectations since Sept 1, 2011. So far WiFi, GPS, speedy mobile web and email, clear phone calls and no bloatware have been great. Like many of you I read the glowing reports on this device from all parts of the world and had to have it. Currently, I'm on a monthly contract waiting to buy another S2 (from AT&T) and move entire family to this provider. I empathize with the everyone patiently waiting and trying to hold out with AT&T but there is another way --- Newegg for approximately $585.00 -- unlocked also. Waiting is frustating and unproductive and this postponement will resolve itself with time.

US buyers will be rewarded for their patience. The Sprint S2 (and one coming from T-Mobile) have larger displays than the international models -- 4.52 inches. AT&T's model is 4.27 inches, like its international cousins, but a tad thinner -- 8.89mm (iPhone 4 is 9.3mm).

The phones share some things in common: 1.2GHz Samsung Exynos dual-core processor (international variants use the Nvidia Tegara 2); Super AMOLED display (it's viewable in sunlight); Gorilla glass, 8MP rear-facing and 2MP front-facing cameras; 1080p video recording; 16GB storage (expandable to 32GB with microSD card); Android 2.3; and Samsung's TouchWiz UI -- plus all the expected stuff, like Bluetooth, WiFi, GPS, accelerometer, capacitive touchscreen, etc. There's 4G, via WiMax for Sprint and 21Mbps HSPA+ for AT&T.

Samsung Galaxy S II is available internationally and goes on sale in the United States on 9-16-11. Will you buy Galaxy S II?

When first announced, Samsung listed AT&T model's battery life as a pathetic 3 hours continuous talk time, but has since updated it to 8 hours -- same as the Epic 4G. I assume that corrects a major typo in the specs. Besides its ultra-slimness as differentiator, the AT&T model supposedly has near-field communications, a feature shared with the Samsung Nexus S.

Customer anger at the delay is a measure of enthusiasm for the Galaxy S II.

"I've been waiting for this phone for months and months", Jason Vickery comments. "The phone has everything I want in a phone and then some. And just when I thought I was finally going to be able to pick one of these bad boys up -- nope. Nothing, nada, zero, zilch! So yeah, I guess you could say I am really irritated by the failure to release when specified".

KK Choi: "I've been waiting Galaxy S2 since May 2011. I couldn't wait anymore. Sprint, here I come".

Another measure of enthusiasm: 76.94 percent of the 3,587 people who responded to our poll say they will buy Samsung Galaxy S II within three months. Will you? The poll is embedded above.

HP board looking to Meg Whitman to solve its problems, say insiders

Publié: septembre 22, 2011, 1:01am CEST par Ed Oswald

The man behind the change in strategy at Hewlett Packard may be on his way out. Kara Swisher of All Things Digital reported on Wednesday that sources indicated that HP's board was considering replacing current CEO Leo Apotheker with former eBay chief Meg Whitman.

If true, the move could signal deep divisions within HP over its future. Apotheker was behind the company's move out of the consumer business and WebOS. The simple fact that the board now is looking for new leadership may indicate that abandoning the consumer market was not an opinion shared by all of HP's executives.

Swisher reports that a significant portion of the board wants Apotheker gone after what they see as mismanagement of the company. Indeed, his record is by no means stellar: he has cut sales forecasts for the company at least three times during his tenure, and has pushed the company towards a significantly smaller market.

While it is true that the enterprise sector offers higher margins, HP would find itself competing with already established players in the sector such as IBM and Oracle.

The company would have to build that business up on its own, and it probably would require significant shifts in how the company works internally.

While Whitman's hopes to become the next Republican governor came up short, her ten year tenure at eBay's helm should certainly be considered a success.

She led the company to become one of the web's premier e-commerce destinations, and while eBay had its share of mistakes Whitman was able to maintain that success. It is said that Whitman wants to return to management following a brief stint as a consultant with venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins.

HP could not be immediately reached for comment on the report.

The move would also mean that HP would see its third CEO in two years. Apotheker replaced disgraced former CEO Mark Hurd, who was ousted in August 2010 over accusations of improper relations with an HP consultant. Before that was Carly Fiorina, who also had her share of troubles surrounding HP's botched merger with Compaq.

Apotheker at the time of his hire was seen as a "strategic thinker with a passion for technology, wide-reaching global experience and proven operational discipline" by the board. It now seems that even his previous experience did little to solve what appears to be deep structural issues in HP's overall business.

Photo Credit: Joe Seer/Shutterstock.com

Microsoft isn't (necessarily) going to take 30% of Windows Store 8 sales

Publié: septembre 21, 2011, 11:36pm CEST par Larry Seltzer

Microsoft contacted me about yesterday's story on Metro-style apps only being available at the Windows store. One of the prominent facts in the story, which I got from Microsoft presentations, was that they would be taking a 30 percent cut of app proceeds from the store.

Turns out it was all a big mistake. The reference to a 70/30 split "...was actually a placeholder we neglected to remove (realize it was a mistake). We will have more to share about economics when the Windows Store goes live", according to a Microsoft spokesperson. Can you believe that? Editor: No.

Straight off, it's tempting to think that this wasn't so much a mistake as a trial balloon. It was, after all, entirely believable because, as I said yesterday, it's the Apple-set industry standard now. But not taking Microsoft at their word here would be cynical and ungentlemanly, and that's just not us here at Betanews! Editor: Yes, but we've been lied to before.

And in fairness, Microsoft was clear at Build (see Ted Dworkin's presentation above) that they would not be talking about specific store policies or business terms. Near the end of the presentation he demonstrates the "Developer Dashboard," which is the site where developers submit apps and monitor their progress. There is a prominent "Finance" link in it which Dworkin ignores. Editor: We're just saying what you might want to but are too much the gentleman, Larry: Perhaps developers screamed about the 30-percent cut, and Microsoft backed off because it needs them writing those Metro apps.

Dworkin does say that Microsoft will be a lot less restrictive about apps than Apple is. For instance, you can use your own transaction models and servers. There will be a Microsoft check for "content appropriateness". Dworkin also makes clear that the Windows Store is the only place to buy Metro Style apps, and that this will allow them to enforce standards for such apps.

This will likely be my last article for Betanews. Next week I will be working full-time elsewhere. I thank Betanews, especially Joe Wilcox, and I thank you readers for being so involved and passionate about technology. Keep up the good work.

Editor: We'll miss you, Larry. It has been a pleasure working with you. Where are we going to get balanced Microsoft stories now, without you? We're surrounded by iPhone idolaters and the Android army. Can't you write just one more?

Eric Schmidt's testimony to the Senate in Google antitrust hearing [document]

Publié: septembre 21, 2011, 11:15pm CEST par BetaNews Staff

Google's Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt on Wednesday testified before the U.S. Senate in a hearing called "The Power of Google: Serving Consumers or Threatening Competition?". The Senate Judiciary subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights sought to determine the impact Google's dominance (considered by some to be a natural monopoly) is having on competition.

Schmidt's oral testimony is embedded here.

ES Oral Testimony - As Prepared for Delivery - Google Docs

LightSquared reveals its own device for fixing GPS interference issues

Publié: septembre 21, 2011, 9:21pm CEST par Tim Conneally

LightSquared is a still-under-construction wholesale 4G network that utilizes the "L band" for part of its communications infrastructure. This block of frequencies was formerly used in satellite communications, and was re-banded for mobile broadband use in the FCC's project to add 300MHz of spectrum to wireless data communications by 2015.

Due to the L-band's close proximity to frequencies used in satellite communications, about half of the frequencies LightSquared planned to use in its network were shown to cause interference on some GPS receivers.

The "Coalition to Save our GPS" called the interference issue one of "life or death", so LightSquared reduced its proposed base station power, which the company said would reduce its interference to about 200,000 devices. It said a simple five-cent filter could be installed to prevent issues with the rest.

The GPS industry did not accept these changes, and continued to pressure the company to come up with a solution.

Just yesterday, the coalition said, "LightSquared has always been prohibited from interfering with GPS, and it should have done its homework on this critical issue before spending its investors’ money. It is not the fault of government GPS users or the GPS industry that LightSquared has failed to offer proposals that actually solve the problem. LightSquared must accept the responsibility to provide technical proposals that do resolve the problem, as well as its financial responsibility to address any interference issues that it cannot resolve by technical proposals.”

Today, to prove that it had been doing its homework, LightSquared unveiled a prototype GPS device that it had been developing with Javad GNSS that eliminates interference for high-precision GPS devices.

"This interference problem is not a difficult one to solve, once you decide to solve it," Javad GNSS founder Javad Ashjaee. "We’ve begun manufacturing preproduction models and expect to have 25 available within two weeks – we are not talking in hypotheticals here."

Javad GNSS took existing receivers and reconfigured their filters and linear amplifiers to make them completely compatible with LightSquared’s bottom 10 MHz of spectrum, the area found to cause interference. The company today said it is simple, inexpensive, and only took days to develop.

"The tests conducted so far by the GPS industry did not take into account the GPS modernization plan that is in place,” said Dr. Ashjaee. "Since we have demonstrated that LightSquared can certainly coexist with the current GPS satellite signals, the coexistence will be even stronger when the new GPS satellites with modern L1C, L2C and L5 un-encrypted codes are launched."

The Coalition responded by saying "LightSquared…ignores that fact that availability of new products, even if confirmed, does not address this very large existing base of equipment. If and when solutions are available, LightSquared must accept responsibility for paying to replace the existing base of existing equipment with new products."

Photo: Neo Edmund/Shutterstock

Eric Schmidt to US Senate: 'We get it'

Publié: septembre 21, 2011, 9:03pm CEST par Joe Wilcox

Google's executive chairman began his testimony before the US Senate by citing, unnamed, Microsoft and its dominance in the PC industry and how trustbusters stepped in to correct a company that had lost its way. "We get it", Eric Schmidt said. "We get the lessons of our predecessor". Schmidt testified before the Senate's antitrust subcommittee.

Before Schmidt spoke, Sen. Mike Lee, R-UT, put forth that Google had become kind of a gatekeeper to the Internet, holding the fate of other companies by how they rank in searches. "The open Internet is the ultimate playing field", Schmidt answered during his opening remarks. "We don't trap our users".

Not surprisingly, Schmidt claimed there is plenty of competition, referring to companies Apple and Facebook among others. "We welcome that competition", said Schmidt, who emphasized competition makes better products and benefits consumers.

In questioning that followed, Sen. Herb Kohl, D-WI, quoted Google Marissa Mayer's 2007 statement about favoring Google Finance in search rankings. Kohl repeatedly pressed, asking if the statement contradicts what Schmidt had said about using more than 200 metrics when evaluating search rankings. Schmidt said that Google makes a choice to provide information quickly. He used the example of a stock quote, which Google displays immediately.

In a second round of follow-up questions, Kohl pressed on the point of monopoly, whether or not Google had one. In pressing questioning, he got Schmidt all but to admit that Google is a monopoly. To be clear, monopolies aren't illegal in the United States. Abuse of monopoly power, such as foreclosing competition or fixing prices is illegal.

Lee quite explicitly asked if Google uses a separate algorithm for its products and services. He showed a study of shopping searches. "You're always third...how do you explain that?" Lee and Schmidt bantered back and forth, with Google's executive Chairman saying there is a difference between shopping for products and shopping comparison sites. It's an "apples and oranges" comparison, he said.

"You've cooked it so you're always third", Lee accused. "Senator, I can assure you we haven't cooked anything", Schmidt answered. In follow-up questions, Lee pressed harder. "I am troubled", Lee told Schmidt about what had been revealed during the hearing. Lee concluded that Google has "extraordinary advantage" over others by giving preference to its own services preference in search queries. Related to the advertising tie-in benefits, Lee alleged there is a "clear and inherent conflict of interest".

Sen. Schiumer, D-NY, offered supportive words about Google. He said that in asking small businesses about the search giant, "four-fifths of them said that Google is a positive force".

Sen. Al Franken, D-MI, is another supporter. "I love Google". But he went on to express concern about how Google might affect future innovation and wondered if it is playing fair. Franken expressed surprise that when asked earlier in the proceeding about Google's algorithm treating the company's products and services equally to others, Schmidt had answered: "I believe so".

"If you don't know, who doesn't?" Franken said, probably meaning "does" instead. "That really bothers me. That's the crux of it, and you don't know".

Franken moved on to Yelp, and accusations that Google was taking its smaller rival's content. He concluded by specifically asking if Google was using Yelp data with its own location services. "As far as I know -- not", Schmidt answered.

In follow-up questions, Franken probed about Android, and how search works there and if handset OEMs could install there own apps -- to which Schmidt answered yes.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., offered Schmidt a chance to suggest voluntary changes that could avoid government intervention. "Making the Internet win guarantees strong competition", Schmidt responded. That didn't satisfy Blumenthal, who gave specific example of Google displaying information from its own services, like Finance and Maps, and asked how that might be changed. Schmidt answered that changing it would prevent consumers from getting the information they're looking for quickly.

However, Schmidt's response contradicted the "We get it" that opened his testimony. Blumenthal was one of the main attorneys general supporting the US government's antitrust case against Microsoft, and he alluded to two things: Questions about the effectiveness of the antitrust intervention and the company's unwillingness to voluntarily make changes to avoid it. He again pressed Schmidt to suggest changes. The response: Google is already doing as much it should.

Take control of Startup programs with Microsoft Autoruns 11

Publié: septembre 21, 2011, 7:49pm CEST par Nick Peers

The art of streamlining your PC’s startup to reclaim system resources and speed up boot times is an ancient one. Windows even comes with its own built-in tool, msconfig, for tweaking the system startup, but it’s limited and awkward to use.

Novices who want a quick-and-easy speed boost without having to think too hard about it should consider free products like Soluto and Startup Delayer, but if you want full control over what starts with your PC, and aren’t afraid to delve deep into your system, then take a look at Microsoft’s free Autoruns tool instead, which has recently been updated by its authors, Mark Russinovich and Bryce Cogswell, to version 11.0.

Autoruns makes it possible to do more than just disable or delete unwanted startup programs, it allows you to go even deeper into your system, too. New to version 11, just released, is the “Jump to folder” option in the Entry menu -- selecting this opens the folder containing the file being executed by the currently highlighted startup entry. This complements the “Jump to entry” option, which either selects the parent folder or Registry entry that references the entry.

Once downloaded, extract the contents of autorun.zip to a suitable folder, then either double-click autoruns.exe (XP) or right-click it and choose “Run as administrator” (Vista or Windows 7). Once launched, switch to the Logon tab to view all the startup entries.

Autoruns will display an admirable amount of information about each one, helping you to identify it. If you still can’t work out what an entry is, right-click it and choose Search Online to Google the startup program name.

Entries can be disabled -- just untick them -- or deleted completely (right-click and choose Delete). Never delete an entry before disabling it and then rebooting to see what, if any effect, it has on your PC.

You’ll notice Autoruns boasts a massive number of tabs, 18 no less, that allow you to peek into other parts of your system, so long as you know what you’re doing. From here you can examine, disable and delete scheduled tasks, drivers, Services, audio and video codecs, Explorer extensions, IE plug-ins, Sidebar gadgets and more.

It’s an undeniably powerful program, and Autoruns should be used with care, but if you’re an experienced user who wants to delve deep into parts of your system untouched by other start-up managers, then this is the tool for you.

Autoruns 11.0 is a free download for PCs running Windows. In addition to adding the new “Jump to folder” option, version 11 adds several new auto-start locations to its monitored list. The command-line tool also gains a new switch showing file hashes alongside an option to show auto-start entries for all users of the PC.

Facebook, stop it, just stop it

Publié: septembre 21, 2011, 7:39pm CEST par Ed Oswald

On the same day that Google+ opened itself up to the masses, Facebook launched its latest redesign. The change seems almost ironic considering the opposite trajectories these two social networks are on: Google+ on the way up, Facebook on the way down.

Forget the hit piece that journalism professor Dan Reimold wrote earlier this week for PBS calling Google+ a "ghost town." Even if Reimold's premise was even remotely correct (he needs to remember that up until now, Google was invite-only so of course usage is sparse), that's about to be blown out of the water.

Why? The new Facebook layout sucks, period. While the last redesign split the news feed into a Facebook-decided "top news" feed and the live feed, the two have now been combined. There's a problem though: I've yet to figure out how the new system's supposed to work and now there appears no easy way to get back to the way things were.

Instead, that live feed has been replaced with an all-but seizure inducing ticker on the upper right hand corner of the page. If you're like me and getting close to having many hundreds if not thousands of friends, this thing can move so fast that it's useless.

But back to this new news feed. Like I said, I have no clue how it works. Facebook claims it places your top stories at the top, with chronological statuses below that. Uhh, at least for me this is not working: all I saw were top stories, now denoted by a blue triangle at the upper left of the status itself, and no recent statuses, at least on the first pageful.

I have been able to figure out how to get to what seems to be close to the old live feed, but I had to click away from the home page first and then come back. That's a pain in the rear.

The events list, which I always liked, is now condensed into your most recent event and pushed further down the column to make way for the new ticker, making that nearly useless, too. Ads are untouched though; isn't that a shocker?

I'm not Alone

Can you tell I am not a fan of the new Facebook? You don't have to take my word for it.

Harry McCracken of Technologizer is confused by the change. "Didn't understand how Facebook used to order things in my feed. Don't understand how it orders things in my feed now," he wrote in a recent status.

Over on Google+, the change may cause blogger Daniel Ionescu to use that service more: "I guess I should start using this more, since it's open for everyone and the new FB design is annoying to say at least."

Bloggers and journalists aren't the only haters. Among my own personal friends, finding fans of the new layout were very difficult to come by. "New facebook is freakin creepy," one said. "And you wonder why I was tellin everyone to get on Google+...enjoy your 'new and improved' Facebook lol," another mused.

It doesn't get much better from there: "I definitely prefer being able to toggle from most recent to top stories," complained a friend. I may have found a fan of the new system though: "I don't mind these changes. I like the activity feed. (I don't like the chat becoming archived as messages and continued conversation, that's broken). But it seems the biggest change is that every story in my feed has to do with Google+. Bet they didn't see that coming."

Google+ Benefits

Not entirely good news for Facebook after all.

See, the biggest winner here is indeed Google+. Facebook has a long and sordid history of making changes to its product that a majority of its users either are at best nonplussed by, and at worst downright angry about.

But there was a huge difference in the past. People had nowhere to go, so essentially Facebook could tell you to shut up and take it. With Google+ now becoming a viable option, and now available to anyone, that's no longer the case.

Facebook, you need to stop. Based on the reaction I'm seeing on my own news feed and across the web, there aren't many that care for this latest redesign. You can't tell me that this didn't come up in testing. There's just no way.

If Facebook continues to take advantage of its users like this, it will end up like MySpace. Customer satisfaction is now job #1 for Mark Zuckerberg and the Facebook leadership team -- now with Google+ in the rear-view mirror, and they're doing an awfully crappy job of it.

Microsoft WebMatrix 2 beta available -- get it now!

Publié: septembre 21, 2011, 6:37pm CEST par Mike Williams

Microsoft has released the first beta of WebMatrix 2, a powerful development tool that makes it easier than ever to build web applications; and as with the previous version, the program packs a raft of essential features into a simple and straightforward interface.

The installation process equips your PC with several core development components, for instance, including SQL Server Compact 4.0 and IIS 7.5 Express. And then you can build sites from an improved set of templates (“Bakery”, “Photo Gallery”, “Calendar”, “Personal Site”, and so on) or a lengthy list of popular web applications: DotNetNuke, WordPress, Drupal, SugarCRM, phpBB, Tiki Wiki, Joomla! and more (there’s support for 59 in total). Just choose your preferred application and WebMatrix 2 will download and install it for you.

This initial configuration process has been streamlined in WebMatrix 2, with the program now able to generate database passwords, users and other key details entirely automatically: all you have to do is keep clicking “Next”.

The WebMatrix 2 code editor is now smarter, supporting intellisense for .NET, PHP, HTML, CSS and JScript. If you’re still confused about something then the new integrated help links may clear things up. And you’re now able to use WebMatrix to remotely edit files on your web server, so there’s no need to republish; any tweaks you make are visible right away.

And other steps forward in this version include improved database management, easy access to a raft of WebMatrix extensions, and an integrated NuGet Package Manager for more streamlined ASP.NET WebPages 2 development.

This is a beta, and so of course not everything works quite as it should: the program had problems installing some web applications on our test PC, for example. And there are plenty of other known issues, so be sure to check these out before installing WebMatrix 2, just to get a feel for how you might be affected.

Considering the complexity of what it’s trying to do, though, WebMatrix 2 is already fairly solid, and if you’re a web developer then it could greatly simplify the process of setting up a site on a new platform. The beta is available now.

The world's average download speed: 580KBps [data]

Publié: septembre 21, 2011, 5:43pm CEST par Tim Conneally

Pando Networks, the content delivery network company that opened up its traffic data to show that Idaho has the United States' slowest Internet connections has released a "State of the World" tally of Internet speeds across most of the globe, revealing how 224 countries stack up in terms of network speeds.

Based on 27 million downloads by 20 million different computers between January and June 2011, Pando has come up with its own official average world download speed: 580KBps.

via chartsbin.com

What is somewhat surprising is that the U.S. is only just slightly above average with 616KBps. Unsurprisingly, however, is the fact that long-running data infrastructure leader South Korea was far ahead of the pack with 2,202KBps and developing nations in Southeast Asia, Central America, and Africa were at the bottom of the list.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo officially has the slowest Internet in the world, creeping in at just 13KBps.

"The disparities we found were striking. While, in general, developed economies outpaced the developing world in average download speeds, big names such as the US, UK, France, China and Canada were not even close to being the fastest. Instead, we saw high speeds in markets such as Eastern Europe where focus on infrastructural development and favorable geography promote a higher level of connectivity,” said Robert Levitan, CEO of Pando Networks.

The speeds in Eastern Europe were generally quite high, as Romania (1,909KBps) and Bulgaria (1,611KBps) took the number two and three spots behind South Korea in the fastest nation category.

jAlbum 10 drops freeware license, adds features

Publié: septembre 21, 2011, 5:15pm CEST par Nick Peers

Swedish web album creation tool jAlbum has reached a landmark release. jAlbum 10.0, which runs on Windows, Mac and Linux, sees a number of new features and expanded image format support alongside a change in licensing terms. Previous versions of the software were available as a freeware license; the new version switches to free for non-commercial use.

Commercial users, and those who wish to remove ads and jAlbum branding from their web albums, will now need to purchase the Pro version for $55. Anyone with a Premium or Power subscription to jAlbum’s online storage service will get a complementary Pro license while their sub lasts.

Version 10 introduces a number of new and improved features to jAlbum’s arsenal. A new “Embed album” feature makes it easy to incorporate photo albums into existing websites and blogs. Skin developers will be able to manually tweak the appearance of the album to the existing site’s design via a new embed.htt template file.

Another major addition is the ability to move album elements, specifically folders and images, between different album projects. Version 10 also expands the program’s support for specific image formats, most notably TIF and partial support for Photoshop’s native PSD format.

jAlbum now offers full XMP metadata support, allowing users to view and edit photo’s metadata (including caption, title and keywords) within jAlbum itself. This information can then be exchanged with other XMP-aware applications like Photoshop. This new feature comes with a tool -- accessible from Tools > External Tools -- that allows you to inject file metadata into old album projects.

Other changes include new filter bar options -- color/flag and XMP label -- and the ability to flag images by color during slideshows using the [6]-[9] keys. Albums are now created more quickly, the upload button now defaults to the advanced upload window for those albums hosted outside of jAlbum’s servers.

jAlbum 10.0 is available now as a free download for Windows, Mac (OS X 10.4 or later) and Linux. It requires Java 1.5 or later to be installed.

Amazon launches Kindle Library Lending program

Publié: septembre 21, 2011, 5:00pm CEST par Tim Conneally

Last April, Amazon announced the Kindle Library Lending program would let Kindle users borrow books from more than 11,000 U.S. libraries. Today, the program officially launched at all participating libraries.

Users can search their local library's website, and when they find a book, they can choose "Send to Kindle," which then redirects them through Amazon.com and syncs their book down to their e-reader or Kindle app for Android, iOS, Windows, Mac, BlackBerry or Windows Phone, or to the browser-based Kindle Cloud Reader.

Like Sony's Reader Library Program, this lending program is powered by solutions from Ohio-based digital distribution company OverDrive, but Amazon's program is more squarely aimed at its strongest competitor in the e-book space, Barnes and Noble. The Nook e-reader has been able to download public library books through OverDrive and Adobe Digital Editions for well over a year already.

Now, both Amazon's Kindle and Barnes and Noble's Nook allow public library borrowing, user-to-user book lending and textbook rentals.

The only problem is that Barnes and Noble's e-book prices remain much higher than Amazon's.

Despite Amazon's announcement today, all of the libraries we checked at random today for the Kindle Library Lending Program (Baltimore County Public Libraries, Kentucky Libraries Unbound, Suffolk County (NY) Live-brary, and Marin County (CA) Free Library's MARINet) all still had "coming soon" banners for the service.

Photo:Songquan Deng / Shutterstock.com

Apple will unveil iPhone 5 on October 4?

Publié: septembre 21, 2011, 4:41pm CEST par Joe Wilcox

Let the iPhone 5 rumors begin in earnest now. All Things Digital, which has a pretty good track record reporting rumors right, says that Apple will hold a big media event on October 4, presumably to announce iPhone 5. Uh-oh, AT&T's unexpected and unexplained Samsung Galaxy S II delay could get ugly now.

Predicting what the event means, assuming it's happening as rumored, is trickier than you might think. Apple has been holding October media events for years, usually to announce new Macs. This year is different. Apple didn't announced new iPods in September or iPhone in June, as is typical. So this event could be much bigger than iPhone 5 -- or not, if Apple chooses to announce iMacs and iPods as is seasonally typical -- and iPhone 5 later. Then there is Tim Cook's role as new CEO. This will be a big day for him, and, therefore, big for Apple.

If launched October 4, then many people will ask when iPhone 5 will be available in stores? Apple 2.0 blogger Philip Elmer-DeWitt has prepared a chart comparing launch dates to sale dates (now I don't have to). There have been rumors of October 15, which I discounted because it's a Saturday. Apple typically starts selling iPhone in stores on a Friday. My guess: Friday October 14 in stores, with preorders starting no later than October 7; if Cook is smart, sooner.

That's the other challenge with this launch and why sooner is more likely than later, unless Cook wants some criticism for muffing it up. Holidays are approaching fast, and Apple needs to get this phone out the door globally as quickly as possible. That's nearly 230 carriers worldwide, which is a potential logistical nightmare as Christmas approaches. Well, perhaps Apple can scare up broad distribution for Halloween.

LOL, maybe new CEO Cook has stage fright, and that's the reason for delaying everything. He does have big shoes to fill in Apple Chairman Steve Jobs, whose so-called "reality distortion field" spellbounds people listening to his product launches. Jobs has a unique way of highlighting products' benefits, mixed with charisma. I've often said that when Jobs is having an off day, people leaving his speech feel like their lives will be better if they buy product X, Y or Z. If Jobs is in the zone, people leave feeling that if they don't buy product X, Y or Z their lives will be worse.

Sorry, but Cook simply doesn't have that kind of charisma. He's more soft-spoken, analytical. He is Spock to Jobs' James T. Kirk. So it will be interesting to see how Cook and company pull off what will be a massive product launch, whether measured by iPhone 5's introduction or launch of new products in three categories -- Macs, media players and smartphones. Five really, because of iOS 5 and Apple's further push into connected online services with iCloud.

So those shoes aren't just big because of Jobs, but how much Cook must deliver, even if only iOS 5, iPhone 5 and iCloud. Isn't stage fright a bitch?

WireframeSketcher: user interface mock-ups made fast and easy

Publié: septembre 21, 2011, 2:07pm CEST par Mark Wilson

The days of using a drawing board are not quite behind use, and when it comes to sketching out a quick idea for a website, or even a program interface, it is quite common to reach for a pen and paper rather than a computer. But this may change if WireframeSketcher has anything to do with it. This is a design application that makes it easy to create rough mockups for websites and applications.

Whether you are designing for the Internet, Windows, Mac or mobile platforms, WireframeSketcher can be used to quickly knock up an interface. The program can be used on solo projects, but there are also tools for collaborative work. There is an extensive library of page and interface elements that can be dragged and dropped onto your workspace to create an interface design in moments.

The app is something of a dream for designers. One of the problems with working with pen and paper is that it can look somewhat unprofessional when the time comes to present ideas to prospective clients, while creating fully-fledged mockups in a graphics package can be extremely time-consuming. The semi-hand-drawn look of WireframeSketcher is cute and appealing, but means that it is easier to focus on layout and basic ideas rather than the finished look of a product.

Basic behaviors can be added to interfaces so it is possible to try them out rather than just look at a theoretical layout. The free download is a trial version of the program which allows for use of all features. Any files you export from the application with be watermarked and a reminder dialog will be displayed each week.

You can find out more and download a free copy of the app, pay a visit to the WireframeSketcher review page.

Enterprise cloud email and collaboration has reached the 'tipping point', or will in 2012, maybe 2014 -- well, someday

Publié: septembre 21, 2011, 6:01am CEST par Joe Wilcox

The new math that analysts use to make predictions is sometimes amazing to comprehend. Gartner predicts that so-called cloud email and collaboration services (CECS) have reached a "tipping point" based on projected 10 percent enterprise adoption by 2014. So it's not even 10 percent yet, but, hey, that's okay, enterprises are rushing to the cloud. Or are they?

I'm a big proponent of cloud computing, and have predicted the big push to cloud-connected devices for years. But even I have to gape in wonder at the concept of 10 percent in three years being a "tipping point".

"Ultimately, we expect CECS to become the dominant provisioning model for the next generation of communication and collaboration technologies used in enterprises", Tom Austin, Gartner fellow, says in a statement. "However, it is not dominant today, it will not be the only model, and it will take a decade or more for the transition to play out. Right now, the list of reasons to move to CECS is long, as is the list of reasons to avoid it".

So Gartner is doing some long math here, looking at investments made over the next couple years that will lead to a long transition to the cloud. But, hell, could Austin use enough qualifiers?

But wait! This whole "tipping point" thing gets more other universe-like. Gartner previously predicted that 10 percent number would be reached by end of 2012. The analyst firm pushed out the forecast by two years. Is this "tipping point" more wishful thinking on Gartner's part?

Austin acknowledges problems:

The first is asset inertia. Organizations seek to extract maximum value from their investments in email, and switching early can be like trading in a 2-year-old, low-mileage automobile. Secondly, senior IT managers are much more focused on strategic initiatives that help them to grow or transform their enterprise's business, and moving to cloud-based or SaaS email services is generally viewed as a cost-saving move rather than a strategic initiative. Finally, the practical realities of the vendors' CECS offerings, when examined up close, are sometimes less compelling than the glossy stories they tell.

Perception is another problem. Enterprises are used to paying an "early adopter premium" when adopting new technologies "ahead of the curve", Austin says. "However, cloud-based collaboration services appear to be forward priced and, while we do expect the cost of CECS to follow a cost-learning curve, the motive for much of the investment in CECS appears to be cost reduction. Thus, if CECS otherwise makes sense for an enterprise, it would be far better off proceeding now, while requiring that the CECS supplier guarantees to continue to reduce prices as prices in general fall in the market".

The point: In the future, prices may rise as more enterprises adopt and become dependent on cloud email and collaboration services. Right now, service providers are aggressively pricing to woo enterprises into adopting.

Of course, at the speed this "tipping point" is coming, higher pricing might be years -- who knows, even a decade -- away.

Photo Credit: Alexander Kirch/Shutterstock

Google+ opens to all

Publié: septembre 21, 2011, 1:38am CEST par Joe Wilcox

It's two days before Facebook's developer conference and one before Google Chairman Eric Schmidt gives his testimony on Capitol Hill. So it's good timing for a big Google+ announcement before there's competing big news. Yes, there's the new Hangout features that my colleague Tim Conneally wrote about earlier today. But this is better: Now most anyone can join Google+. Well, damn, there goes the neighborhood. :)

Google+ has moved from field trial to public beta, whatever the hell that means. It's a big change for a social network just three months old and already 20-million-plus subscribers strong. The real test of Google's infrastructure comes now -- then there's the question about how the service will demographically change. Looking at my Circles, they're all geek to me. I don't know if there's a normal person on the service. Here they come!

Earlier today, Vic Gundotra, Google senior veep of Engineering, blogged about the now 100 enhancements made since field trials began in late June.

"For the past 12 weeks we’ve been in field trial, and during that time we’ve listened and learned a great deal", he writes. "We’re nowhere near done, but with the improvements we’ve made so far we’re ready to move from field trial to beta, and introduce our 100th feature: open signups. This way anyone can visit google.com/+, join the project and connect with the people they care about".

Shameless Misinformation

Public beta comes just as negative Google+ buzz intensifies. Five days ago, TechCrunch stirred up a hornet's nest in a stinging story about how no one is really using Google+ anymore. The stingers are still striking, as other blogs spread the buzz. Yesterday, the pests buzzed that Google's very own CEO doesn't use Google+. Bwahahaha. What idjuts.

TechCrunch reported stats collected by 89n, using its ManageFlitter service. Analytics derived from one vendor's product shouldn't be measure of anything, but it's common for TechCrunch (and other blogs) to report them anyway. Based on a measurement of an average .40 public posts a day (between August 19-September 19), down from .68 posts a day (between July 19-August 19), 89n concluded that Google+ public posts declined 41 percent during the measurement period. Oh, the problems this simple analysis presents. Let me count the ways:

It's too small a measurement to draw real-world conclusions. Less than one-half posts a day!
The data only reflects the small number (compared to larger number of Google+) subscribers using ManageFlitter. How many: 7,280.
The data looks at public posts, which should decline over time. The whole point of Google+ is filtering -- using Circles to communicate with select groups of people.

Cloud enabler 89n draws some big conclusions from a sample of 7,280 people using its service to connect Google+ and Twitter. Robin Wauters bought into it in TechCrunch post: "Raise your hand if you're still using Google+". I just put mine down so I could continue typing. "It’s now been a while since I’ve last visited or posted anything on Google+, but I figured that was just me. Turns out I might not be the only one after all", writes Wauters, who updated acknowledging -- er, defending -- the post. "Relax a little".

Considering how widely the story was re-reported and peoples' ability to remember headlines -- or nuggets like Google+ posts are down by 41 percent -- "relax a little" should be a corrected, more accurate story. Next up came reports that Google CEO Larry Page hasn't posted publicly on G+ for a month. Which means what? There's very good chance he uses Google+ everyday, but to post privately to select Circles. That's the big benefit of Google+, compared to Facebook.

So, welcome you newcomers to Google+. Ignore all the InterWeb's misinformation about this service. If it was doing so badly, why would Google invest so much in it -- the 100 enhancements in 90 days? I wouldn't be shocked to eventually learn when sound numbers are crunched that public posts declined 60 percent or more since the social network launched -- while private posts increased by a corresponding amount.

AHMAD FAIZAL YAHYA/Shutterstock

Mac OS X Lion passwords super easy to crack, says researcher

Publié: septembre 20, 2011, 11:42pm CEST par Ed Oswald

A two-year old security issue in Mac OS X has reared its ugly head once again in Mac OS X 10.7 Lion, allowing users of a computer to easily modify the passwords of other users.

Mac OS X stores encrypted passwords in what are called "shadow files." These files are placed in secure locations on the drive, which are intended to be only alterable by the user himself or the administrator, provided they authenticate themselves.

Security blog Defence in Depth, who originally found the issue in 2009 in Mac OS X 10.4, 10.5, and 10.6, wrote this week that the issue still remains in Lion.

However there is a crucial difference which makes the issue worse.

Whereas in the previous version of the flaw administrative privileges were required to make the hack work, with Lion that is unnecessary. Instead, the user only needs to look in Directory Services for the hash file (that is, the file needed to decode the encryption) which is accessible by any user.

"It appears in the redesign of OS X Lion's authentication scheme a critical step has been overlooked," Defence in Depth's Patrick Dunstan wrote. He did note that non-adminstrative users would still not be able to access the hash file directory, but the fact the hash data is stored in Directory Services makes the point moot.

What saves this from being a major issue is that it is only executable locally. This means a remote attacker would not be able to exploit the vulnerability. Still, it raises serious security concerns for those Macs used as shared machines.

Apple was not immediately available for comment on the issue. There are steps that can be taken in the meantime to protect Macs running Lion while Apple addresses the issue.

First, all guest accounts should be disabled. This will prevent the easiest route to hack the computer. Additionally automatic login should be disabled, thus requiring an administrative password at startup.

Users should also set a password for the screensaver and sleep states, thus preventing anyone from accessing the computer while the user is away.

Photo: Yellowj/Shutterstock

Kaspersky introduces ONE license for PC, smartphone & tablet security

Publié: septembre 20, 2011, 9:05pm CEST par Tim Conneally

Security company Kaspersky Lab on Tuesday announced a new program called Kaspersky ONE, where a single license covers the security software across all of a user's devices: desktop, notebook, smartphone, and tablet.

Having security on your PC should be a given. It's just a matter of personal preference which security suite you use. But when you own multiple PCs with vastly different hardware configurations, or multiple PCs and multiple mobile devices, comprehensive security is often not a priority. Kaspersky suggests that this is due to the hassle of multiple licenses for the different platforms we deal with.

So on October 17, Kaspersky will begin selling the Kaspersky ONE security licenses for three ($79.97), five ($99.95) or ten devices ($149.95) which covers Windows or Mac OS X, Android, Symbian, Windows Mobile or BlackBerry smartphones, and Android-based tablets.

The product will also be available globally in 2012, but an exact launch date has not yet been announced.

Share 1-minute clips with Klip Video

Publié: septembre 20, 2011, 9:05pm CEST par Mark Wilson

If you have an iOS device, be it an iPhone, iPod or iPad, you are equipped with everything you need to not only watch, but also record video footage. Just like photos, half of the fun of shooting videos is sharing the content with other people and for many people this will mean turning to YouTube. But having test driven Klip Video for iOS, this may soon change.

The app can be used to record with the front or rear camera of your device and the integrated video editor can be used to trim the footage down to a clip that is one minute in length. While there is no limit on the number of files you can upload, the length of one minute cannot be exceeded, and this helps to keep Klip Video fresh and lively.

Of course, the app is not just about sharing your own videos, you can also browse through clips that have been uploaded by other people. just like Facebook and YouTube you are free to leave comments on videos, and Twitter-style hash tags can be used to follow videos of a particular theme.

Klip Video feature a couple of interesting navigation options; shake your device to preview all of the video thumbnails at the same time, and swipe an individual clips to control playback speed. To ensure the best possible performance, video streams are constantly analysed and the image quality is adjusted according to the available bandwidth.

You can find out more and download a free copy of the app by paying a visit to the Klip Video review page.

Video Hangouts in Google+ get massive feature upgrade

Publié: septembre 20, 2011, 8:17pm CEST par Tim Conneally

One of the most forward-thinking features of Google's three-month old social network Google+ is its ability to set up multi-person live video chatrooms called "hangouts," here, users with webcams can convene over a youtube video, set up impromptu performances or instructional sessions, or just hang out.

Tuesday, Google announced four new feature upgrades to Hangouts in Google Plus.

Mobile Hangouts

The Google+ mobile app didn't support hangouts, but now users with Android 2.3 and a device with a forward-facing camera can join hangouts on their mobile phone. This requires a new version of the Google+ app, which is available in the Android Market today. Google says this functionality will be available on iOS soon.

Hangout Broadcasting

Hangouts were limited to small groups of only 10 users, but with the new feature called "Hangouts On Air," users can start a normal hangout, accept up to 10 participants, and then broadcast the discussion or performance for everyone to see. It could be an ideal solution for public panel discussions or even more creative applications.

Hangout Collaboration

No longer are hangouts limited to video chats or video chats over a YouTube video. Now, hangouts support screensharing, shared sketchpad, Google Docs collaboration, and hangout naming. Collectively, these features are called "Hangouts with Extras."

APIs

It's only been a few days since Google launched the first APIs for Google+, and today, the team released the developer preview of a basic set of Hangouts APIs.

"The integration model is simple -- you build a web app, register it with us, and specify who on your team can load it into their Hangout. Your app behaves like a normal web app, plus it can take part in the real-time conversation with new APIs like synchronization. Now you can create a “shared state” among all instances of your app so that all of your users can be instantly notified of changes made by anyone else. (This is how the YouTube player keeps videos in sync.) And we’ve added our first few multimedia APIs so you can, for example, mute the audio and video feeds of Hangout participants," said Richard Dunn, Technical lead of the Google+ platform for Hangouts.

iPhone 5 has a big problem

Publié: septembre 18, 2011, 6:46pm CEST par Joe Wilcox

Apple has been doing a good job covering it up.

As I've so often asserted: In business, perception is everything. Successful companies often create positive perceptions about their brands, products and business practices. But there also is the tactic of misdirection, of controlling perceptions by getting people to look somewhere else so that they miss flaws with the company's products or business strategies. Apple uses "magical" to describe some of its products. Magicians are all about getting people to look over there so they don't see the secret behind the trick over here. Apple's patent assault on Samsung, and even HTC, is very much misdirection, so that eyes turned away from iPhone 5 problems.

I should have connected the dots sooner. About two weeks ago, I asked: "Is Apple engaging in innovation by intimidation?", where I explained the implications of Apple singling out Android creator Andy Rubin in a patent suit against HTC. Rubin worked for the Apple filers of an obscure 1994 patent part of the HTC case. The intimidating message: Anyone who worked for Apple could be guilty of intellectual property theft by association, and the companies now employing them.

In August, I asserted that "Apple is a patent bully", as it's clear that legal attacks against HTC, Samsung and others aren't so much about protecting Apple intellectual property rights but asserting them as competition by litigation. Proof point: Apple's IP cases are focused at major competitors. Particularly, Apple has systematically increased legal attacks against Samsung, as its market success has grown. Apple isn't seeking damages so much as to stop Galaxy S II smartphone and Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet from launching in many countries.

Making Excuses

But I failed to fully connect the dots, as Elias Samuel brilliantly has done in today's post: "Apple’s iPhone 5 Dilemma: Is it Samsung Galaxy S2 or Android OS?" Samuel puts the patent lawsuits in another context: Apple's late delivery of iPhone 5. Of course!

"Backed by huge production of the upcoming iPhone 5 and cheaper iPhone 4S, Apple has revealed its fear of Samsung phones as they continue to sue them for patent infringements", he writes. Yes. Yes.

Look at how things really are. The first four iPhones launched in summer -- July for the original model and June for the others. But June 2011 passed without a new iPhone. First there were rumors of August, then September, more recently October and now perhaps even later -- as new rumors (if you believe them) suggest a production delay. But if you take a close look at the rumors -- and leaks behind -- they are really a series of justifying excuses for why iPhone is shipping later and that it's okay.

Let's be clear: Apple changed its delivery pattern for iPhone. It's a delay, and a big one. Potential buyers, carriers, peripheral partners, software developers and Wall Street analysts clearly expected summer launch before June's Worldwide Developer Conference when the company said that iOS 5, and presumably iPhone 5 with it, wouldn't ship until autumn.

Samsung Rises

Meanwhile, Samsung launched the hugely successful Galaxy S II, which has set sales records for the company and helped propel it to a close rivalry with Apple. During second quarter, Apple shipped 20.3 million smartphones, with Samsung following close behind with 19.2 million units, according to IDC. A year earlier, Samsung shipped just 3.1 million smartphones. Do the math -- that's 520 percent year-over-year growth.

Samuel rightly concludes: "By suing Samsung, Apple has actually taken away the public attention from the problems the company is facing, of late. After Samsung Galaxy S2 was received with rave reviews, it looks like Apple, which usually launches the iPhone versions in June failed to introduce their next iPhone".

Reviews are sizzling: "The Galaxy S II's screen is nothing short of spectacular", writes Vlad Savov for Engadget. Praise continues -- from the "onscreen keyboard is terrific" to "general responsiveness is absolutely exemplary". Savov concludes: "It's the best Android smartphone yet, but more importantly, it might well be the best smartphone, period".

Another: "The finest Android phone we've seen so far, the Samsung Galaxy S II isn't just a competitor to the current iPhone. It competes with the next iPhone", writes Sascha Segan for PC Mag.com, giving the smartphone an "Editor's Choice" rating. That last statement is the clincher. Samsung already is one generation ahead of Apple.

Apple's Indecision

Samuel emphasizes:

As most predictions point towards two models being produced -- iPhone 4S and iPhone 5 -- it is becoming evidently clear that the iPhone 4S which should have been introduced earlier would have lost the appeal of its iPhone fans had it been released along side Galaxy S2. Hence, Apple’s rampant rumor that the iPhone 5 prototype was lost in a bar and suing Samsung paved the way to deflect the public curiosity from the company’s actual issues.

The IP attacks against Samsung make the South Korean electronics giant appear to be the bad guy -- a copycat of Apple's good work. But the lawsuits serve another purpose, generating news about Apple vs Samsung rather than Samsung the successful competitor vs Apple the suddenly indecisive. Seemingly every day, this misdirection keeps pageview-hungry blogs and news sites writing about the lawsuits rather than asking the big question: Why hasn't iPhone shipped yet?

Apple is undergoing a major leadership change, which occurred during the late-stages of iPhone 5 development. What? You think Steve Jobs gave Apple's board or new CEO Tim Cook no advance notice? Surely, his eventual resignation, and ongoing health problems impacted his participation in the iPhone development process. Meanwhile, Samsung emerged as a sudden, unexpected competitor.

The lawsuits are as much, if not more, about misdirection as they are enforcing Apple patent rights. Apple is grappling with co-related problems: A serious smartphone competitor's emergence and unfortunately-timed leadership change. iPhone 5 will be the first major Apple product launch of the post-Steve Jobs era. Is misdirection really the measure of executive execution?

Photo Credit: Daniel Wiesheu

17 downloads you may have missed this week

Publié: septembre 18, 2011, 4:13am CEST par Mark Wilson

Another week, another slew of software releases and app updates. The undoubted headline stealer is the release of the Developer Preview of Windows 8, but there have been plenty of other releases worthy of investigation for anyone not interested in Microsoft’s up-coming operating system. Available in both 32- and 64-bit varieties, the Microsoft Windows 8 Developer Preview is freely available for anyone to install, not just developers -- although there is also a version available that includes developer tools.

While the successor to Windows 7 is showing great signs of promise, it’s probably not a good idea to use it as your main operating system or use it for handling any mission critical data. But for seasoned users and anyone keep to keep on the cutting edge of software development, the preview gives you a chance to try out the Metro interface and a redesigned Explorer interface.

While you could set up a dual boot system to test drive Windows 8, you could also turn to VMware Workstation 4 or VMware Fusion 4 to install the operating system in a virtual environment. VMware Workstation 4 is a virtual machine manager for Windows and this latest release includes support for up to 64GB of RAM, HD audio and USB 3.0. There have been a number of visual chances to the program interface, with a new machine library replacing the old favorites sidebar and an update fullscreen toolbar provides access to more options than before.

Mac users need look no further than VMware Fusion 4 to cater for their virtualization requirements. The program can be used to host Linux and Windows operating systems so you can run software that is not available for OS X. The latest version of the virtualization tool brings Lion support that enables you to add Windows apps to Launchpad, and there is enhanced general and graphics performance. VMware Fusion 4 can also be used to host virtual copies of Lion, Snow Leopard and Leopard.

Windows users with safety in mind will have been heartened by the release of Paragon Backup & Recovery 11 Home which makes it easy to backup selected folders of your data or create an image of drives in their entirety. Having created a backup, should you find that your computer is rendered unbootable, a bootable restoration disc is available to help get your data back where it should be.

Being a computer user can be a frustrating experience, particularly when it comes to diagnosing and fixing performance issues and other problems. The updated release of Soluto may be able to help, using a connected cloud community of user data to diagnose and fix everything from serious system crashes to slow start times. Aside from fixing problems and gaining a speed boost, security is one of the primary concerns of any PC users. ESET 5 is a suite of tools that includes realtime virus protection as well as a firewall, parental controls, spam filtering and more. Security analysis is enhanced through the use of the cloud based Live Grid that is used to assess the threat level of different files and programs.

Dexpot 1.6 beta is a great tools for anyone who feels they are running out of screen space. Rather than investing in a larger monitor, the applications enables you to take advantage of virtual desktops to maximise the amount of screen real estate available to you. The latest version of the app includes support for multiple monitors and enables you to configure individual applications to open on a particular desktop or monitor.

And no week of software releases would be complete without the usual selection of browser updates. Pale Moon 6.0.2 is the latest version of the speed-optimised browser based on Firefox 6 which is well worth a look. Other browser updates released this week include Firefox Portable 7.0 Beta 4 , Firefox 7.0 Beta 5, Opera Next 12.00 build 1065, Google Chrome 15.0.874.15 Dev, Google Chrome Portable 14.0.835.163 Beta, and Google Chrome 14.0.835.163 Beta.

Seven attorneys general join fight to block AT&T T-Mobile merger

Publié: septembre 17, 2011, 12:39am CEST par Ed Oswald

The Justice Department's move to block AT&T's planned merger with T-Mobile gathered steam today with attorneys general from seven states signing on to the effort. An amended complaint was filed Friday, adding California, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Washington as co-plaintiffs.

California was one of the first states to voice its concerns with the deal, and began an investigation in May. Officials in other states have expressed their unease with the combination of the nation's second and fourth biggest wireless carriers, all but ensuring that the deal will need serious alterations if it has any hope of being approved.

Not everyone is souring on the deal, and AT&T is finding newfound support elsewhere, including in some unlikely places. On Thursday, a group of 15 Democratic legislators sent a letter to President Obama asking for him to pressure regulators to approve the deal.

"I urge the President to strongly consider the vast benefits this merger will have on job creation and the economy and quickly resolve any concerns the Administration may have with the proposal," Rep. Health Shuler (D-NC), the author of the letter said in a statement.

The deal already counts about a dozen state attorneys general, as well as "hundreds" of federal, state, and local officials as supporters according to AT&T.

Officials for AT&T did not respond to requests for comment as of press time.

Questions still remain as to the merger's true effect, whether approved or denied. While opponents maintain that the deal would result in less competition and higher prices, there is also the question as to whether or not T-Mobile could survive a merger rejection.

"AT&T will have to raise money and build out their network if they want to compete with Verizon," business development consultant Shelly Palmer recently wrote for Seeking Alpha, arguing such moves would put its smaller competitors out of business. "AT&T will have to compete on price while it builds, and that will put so much pressure on T-Mobile and Sprint that they will not survive."

Photo Credit: stockpix4u/Shutterstock

Will Windows 8 make security software obsolete?

Publié: septembre 16, 2011, 11:44pm CEST par Larry Seltzer

Security vendors will have an increasingly hard time making a case for expensive subscriptions as Microsoft keeps pushing Windows to be "secure enough" out of the box. Windows 8 adds a number of impressive features that really should make a difference in the "ecosystem".

The main feature chart for security improvements in Windows 8 is described by the ubiquitous Steven Sinofsky of Microsoft in this blog entry entitled "Protecting you from malware".

It's most of the way down the article, but the point that has gotten the most press is the fact that Microsoft will include, in effect, their Security Essentials antivirus product. They're rolling those capabilities into Windows Defender, which began life as an "antispyware" product (a questionable product category at the time and a long-obsolete one now). Suddenly Defender becomes relevant.

Neil Rubenking of PCMag asks a more specific version of the same question I ask: Will Windows 8 Destroy the Consumer Antivirus Market? Neil asks many respected representatives of many respected security companies about it and they're all pretty much of the opinion that Security Essentials isn't in their class of product. They make a lot of good points. In any serious anti-malware test I've seen, Microsoft Security Essentials is at best average, probably a little below average. But for a number of reasons it may be good enough in Windows 8.

The are several reasons why I feel this way; first of all, there's the fact that it's included in the product, turned on by default and updated frequently. There are the other architectural improvements described by Sinofsky, including increased use of ASLR, increased protection for the heap, and special protections to block "use after free" vulnerabilities. None of these are airtight and when a method is found to bypass one of them it generates a lot of press, but it's indisputable that they raise the bar for attacking Windows and Windows apps substantially.

But the main reason I think malware may meet its match in Windows 8 is the inclusion of SmartScreen, an executable file reputation service previously implemented in Internet Explorer. I've discussed this before, but Microsoft has now made the feature official. Along with Defender and the other security improvements in Windows and IE, SmartScreen adds the likelihood of flagging all unknown malware. Unless attackers find some way to game the reputation system—a problem which Microsoft has undoubtedly considered and is on guard against—any new malware which would evade Defender and other anti-virus products would be flagged as "not commonly downloaded and could harm your computer".

The configuration of this particular feature is a high-risk/high-reward point for Microsoft. Remember that this isn't even beta code and the buttons in the dialog box above (not really a "box" anymore, but anyway...) may change. Some would say that users will tune out warnings like this and just click "Run". To the extent that's true, they've been warned and you can only do so much to protect people against their own reckless behavior. But Microsoft says it's not that true. Sinofsky:

We expect average users to see a SmartScreen prompt less than twice per year and when they do see it, it will signify a higher risk scenario. Telemetry data shows 92 percent of applications downloaded via Internet Explorer 9 already have an established reputation and show no warnings. The same data shows that when an application reputation warning is shown, the risk of getting a malware infection by running it is 25-70 percent.

If you're still worried about your users ignoring the warnings, Sinofsky adds: "SmartScreen gives you administrative controls to prevent your non-techie friends or children from ignoring these warnings".

That still leaves the problem of false positives, the 30-75 percent complement to the risk Sinofsky cites. While I'm sure that very few users will be affected by a meaningful false positive, this is the part that has me concerned, because the only real answer, I think, is user judgement. For instance, if the user knows to expect a modified program from a developer then they may be able to see that the SmartScreen warning is a false one. It all depends on the circumstances.

This is why I think Microsoft has to make the SmartScreen warning dialogs more verbose and instructive. Perhaps there could even be a wizard of some kind at this stage. I think it's worth trying to get the most out of the user at this point, because the benefits would be substantial: entire serious categories of malware could be rendered obsolete. It's a pleasant thought at least.

Photo Credit: kentoh/Shutterstock

President Obama signs 'America Invents' patent reform act into law

Publié: septembre 16, 2011, 10:52pm CEST par Tim Conneally

The America Invents Act, which passed through the final stages of Congressional approval one week ago was signed into law by President Barack Obama on Friday morning.

The Act represents the largest single overhaul to the U.S. patent system in almost 60 years, and is the result of more than a decade of legislation.

According to the White House on Friday, the act will help businesses, inventors and entrepreneurs in four ways:

Speed- The new law establishes a "fast track" option for patent processing which has a guaranteed 12-month review turnaround. The average turnaround time in the traditional review process is three years, the White House said today.
A bigger USPTO- To tackle the immense patent backlog of nearly 700,000 existent applications (and the subsequent increase in filings expected from the new Act), the US Patent and Trademark Office will have more resources allocated to it.
Tighter Quality Control- Another product of the additional resources for the USPTO, the White House today said new quality management guidelines will "tighten [the USPTO's] standards for the issuance of patents," and allow patent challenges to be resolved in-house through expedited post-grant processes.
International Compatibility-- The new law turns the United States into a "First to File" system, which most of the rest of the industrialized world uses. Also, The Patent and Trademark Office has expanded "work-sharing" programs with other patent offices around the world so patent filers can get their patent approved simultaneously in the U.S. and abroad.

“I am pleased to sign the America Invents Act. This much-needed reform will speed up the patent process so that innovators and entrepreneurs can turn a new invention into a business as quickly as possible,” said President Obama. “I’m also announcing even more steps today that will help bring these inventions to market faster and create jobs. Here in America, our creativity has always set us apart, and in order to continue to grow our economy, we need to encourage that spirit wherever we find it.”

US Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra will be answering questions with USPTO Director David Kappos during an Open for Questions event on WhiteHouse.gov at 5:00 p.m. EDT today.

Questions can be sent via Twitter with the hashtag #WHChat, or through the White House Live Facebook App. The Q&A session can be watched on whitehouse.gov/live.

Photo: Vacclav/shutterstock

Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 preorder is pricey

Publié: septembre 16, 2011, 9:16pm CEST par Joe Wilcox

In child psychology there's a concept called the middle child syndrome, where the kid in-between feels unloved by the parents or jealous of attention given the older and younger siblings. Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 might just be that middle child. I'm not loving it.

Best Buy has started taking preorders for the tablet nestled between Tab 7/7.7 and 10.1 and for surprising price: $469.99 for the 16GB model, or just $30 less than the 10.1. From a price perspective, Best Buy isn't giving buyers much reason to choose Tab 8.9 over 10.1, other than smaller size. But is it really small enough for the price?

I've yet to handle one -- hey, it is only preorder -- so can't make the most important comparison to Tab 10.1. But given just how thin and light is the larger tablet (which I am using), it's hard to see the benefits of an 8.7 inch tablet for 470 bucks when the bigger one is just $30 more.

There's an art to product pricing, which Apple has refined to a science. Competing iPad 2 is good example. Apple differentiates iPad by storage capacity and wireless capabilities. WiFi-only models sell for $499 (16GB), $599 (32GB) and $699 (64GB). The same capacity models with 3G radios sell for $629, $729 and $829, respectively. The price move up from the entry model is $100 or $130 depending on whether 3G or increased storage matters more.

A $399.99-priced Tab 8.7 would make more sense compared to $499.99 Tab 10.1. The larger cost gulf creates more value for both products, while making the 8.7 more affordable for more buyers. Affordability in a smaller tablet should be bigger priority.

Samsung and its retail partners should take a cold, hard look at what happened to Research in Motion. Yesterday, RIM reported that BlackBerry PlayBook shipments declined from 500,000 to 200,000 over three months. Playbook packs a 7-inch display, smaller than iPad 2's 9.7 inches, but selling for the same price. Similarly, TouchPad flopped at 500 bucks, and HP killed the product after just six-weeks of sales, selling off remaining inventory for the Crazy Eddie price of $99.99 a piece.

Simply stated: Best Buy will find that, for most shoppers, $470 will be too high a price for an 8.7-inch tablet. Consider that Amazon is expected to launch an Android tablet at any time. I'm expecting a price of around $200 (even $250) -- the same price as the Lenovo A1. The Samsung tablet has Android 3.1, which is an advantage over the A1's v2.3, but the price is right: $199.99.

Then there is the Motorola XOOM, which Amazon has in the WiFi configuration and 32GB of storage for $449.99. The tablet supports Android 3.2, too!

I do believe there is a market for an 8.7-inch tablet, and Samsung's model packs pretty much all the capabilities of its larger sibling, including 1080p video playback, but in smaller size. It's purse gear. But it's not that appealing for $469.99, WiFi-only and no 3G radio.

Do you agree? Please answer in comments.

Google pushes impressive new features in Chrome 14 stable build

Publié: septembre 16, 2011, 9:13pm CEST par Tim Conneally

Friday, Google rolled out the stable build of Google Chrome 14 (14.0.835.163) for all platforms, a more or less market-ready version of the beta channel release from August.

With this release, Google is highlighting two technologies that Chrome now supports; and fortunately, they're quite shiny and easy to appreciate.

Tech 1: Web Audio API--audio effects

Earlier in the year, I looked at Web app alternatives to the best-selling software packages on Amazon, and mentioned Aviary's "feather" HTML5 photo editor. Aviary also has an HTML5 music sequencer in Alpha that takes advantage of the audio element by letting users create drum beats or musical phrases directly in the browser window. It kind of blew me away when I first tried it.

The ">Web Audio API can take a Web app like that and make it even more impressive. The API gives web apps the ability to process audio and video media elements and add many different types of reverb, including 3D space modeling effects, multiple sends for layered effects and submixes.

With this, a web app could pull multiple html5 video elements from YouTube, split their audio into multiple tracks, and let the user apply different envelopes, effects, fades, blends and sweeps. What's more is that this lays the foundation for even more sophisticated audio capabilities in the future because it sorts out many of the fundamental synchronization and routing issues inherent in complex audio processing.

Google's Chromium project has some impressive examples of this API at work.

Tech 2: Native Client SDK

For a non-developer, Native Client is a little less easy to appreciate.

Native Client is another cohort in the Web technology gang that includes Flash, Java, Silverlight, ActiveX, .NET, and so forth.

Google rather modestly says it can be faster, more secure, or more compatible across operating systems than some of these other technologies "in appropriate contexts," but its defining feature is that it gives Web developers the ability to run native code from within supportive web browsers (i.e. Chrome.)

Native Client will let C and C++ code be executed within Chrome in a secure sandbox, and Google says it is ideal for porting existing software components for use in a web app,
porting legacy desktop applications, handling browser-side encryption and decryption for an enterprise application, handling multimedia for a web app, and handling various aspects of web-based games, including physics engines and AI.

It's kind of limited in what it can do right now, but it is Chrome exclusive.

Other Improvements

In this version of Chrome, Google has branched out in a couple of ways. This time around it has included support for new OS X Lion features: Overlay Scrollbars, and Full-screen mode, and the Chrome Web Store has expanded internationally to 24 new countries: Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

Download Chrome (14.0.835.163) in Fileforum now!

Scan your brain with Nokia N900 [video]

Publié: septembre 16, 2011, 7:44pm CEST par Joe Wilcox

Oh, why did I sell my Nokia N900 smartphone last year? The N900 can now perform real-time brain scans right in the comfort of my home -- or yours. Seriously, it doesn't get much more geek than this. Watch the video, and you'll see.

I loved the N900. It truly was a pocket computer and shows just how much innovation Nokia can produce -- or did before CEO Stephen Elop killed off what he called the "burning platform". A team from Technical University of Denmark has created what they call the Smartphone Brain Scanner, built around the N900 and wireless 14-channel EEG headset. Arkadiusz Stopczynski, Carsten Stahlhut, Michael Kai Petersen, Jakob Eg Larsen and Lars Kai Hansen developed the scanner, which they promote with clever tagline: "Holding your brain in the palm of your hand".

Larsen posted the above video on September 8, but it's getting play today because of a story in New Scientist.

"The smartphone provides a touch-based interface with real-time brain state decoding and 3D reconstruction", he explains. "Our system provides a fully portable EEG based real-time functional brain scanner including stimulus delivery, data acquisition, logging, brain state decoding and 3D activity visualization. The software is realized in Qt".

Say, isn't the Qt development framework yet something else Elop would like to throw out (it will continue in open-source afterlife, surely).

"The headset transmits the EEG data to a receiver module connected to a Nokia N900 phone", Larsen continues. "The binary data is decrypted directly on the phone, filtered and passed to the source reconstruction module that outputs the colors of model vertices for the visualization".

Seriously this is so cool and is proof point for Americans obsessed with Apple's iOS and iPhone, there's cool innovations elsewhere -- and in this case with lots of help from open-source software and Volvo-like hardware.

Investors flee as RIM burns

Publié: septembre 16, 2011, 5:18pm CEST par Joe Wilcox

As if Research in Motion's co-CEOs haven't done enough, shareholders inflicted serious pain overnight and early today. RIM shares plummeted, following yesterday's dire earnings report -- by about 22 percent in after-hours trading.

RIM opened at $22.89 this morning, off yesterday's close of $29.54. The stock is fairing better in mid-morning trading, well if down nearly 19 percent could be called better. Shares are down 66 percent from their February 52-week high.

Investors are punishing RIM for what can only be called a disastrous quarter: PlayBook sales -- 200,000 units; year-over-year decline in BlackBerry shipments (after about a decade run of gains); 59 percent fall in profits (to $329 million); and 10 percent drop in revenue (to $4.17 billion). Rome is burning, as RIMs co-Neros are playing their fiddles.

"Management remains in blatant denial, in our view", say sBernstein analyst Pierre Ferragu. "For instance, the co-CEOs do not recognize the failure of the Playbook and continue to sell its merits in terms of security. The tablet shipments fell from 500k to 200k units in one quarter...we expect investors to lose all confidence in RIM’s earnings power".

Earlier this year, Nokia CEO Stephen Elop called Symbian a burning platform. But it's RIM's platform that is burning now, as Android competitors and Apple snatch users from BlackBerry. It can only get worse come iOS 5's release, when Apple unleashes its competitor to BlackBerry Messenger.

One question lingering now: What will co-CEOs Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis do next? Already there is expectation RIM could follow HP down price-cut row. Last month, HP gave up on TouchPad after only six weeks of sales, cutting the price from $499.99 to $99.99 before exiting the WebOS tablet market altogether. RIM isn't likely to give up on tablets, but it also can't let all that inventory rot on store shelves.

Earlier this week, IDC put RIM's global tablet share at 4.9 percent, which now looks to be roughly 50,000 units too high.

But it is bad decision-making and increasing competitive pressure on BlackBerry that has set fire to RIM. BlackBerry shipments fell to 10.6 million units from 12.1 million a year earlier. While new BlackBerry OS 7 devices are off to a solid sales start, the company says, next-gen QNX won't be ready for new smartphones until some time next year. Meanwhile, Samsung's hot Galaxy S II smartphone goes on sale today from Sprint and on September 18 from AT&T. Then there is iPhone 5, which is sure to sock BlackBerry sales as much or more than the current model already has.

Photo Credit: J. Helgason/Shutterstock

Cheetah Sync wirelessly connects Android and PC

Publié: septembre 16, 2011, 2:26pm CEST par Mark Wilson

Synchronizing files between devices usually entails one of two methods. The first involves establishing a physical connection between the two devices so that the contents of folders can be compared, while the second option takes advantage of cloud storage to act as an intermediary store for files. Cheetah Sync for Android eliminates the need for the middleman and allows you to synchronize files over your wireless network.

The app is available free of charge from the Android Market and in order to use it you will also need to download a copy of the desktop software for your Mac or Windows PC. You can then set about the task of configuring folder pairs and Cheetah Sync will take care of the rest for you. If you regularly work with more than one computer, you can choose to synchronize to multiple machines and there are advanced options for controlling filtering and resolving version conflicts.

Cheetah Sync offers a great way to keep the photos you take with your Android’s camera in sync with your main photo library on your computer. Rather than having to manually copy files into place, or using complicated software, automatic synchronization means that the photos you take can be copied into place for you so they are ready and waiting in the folder you would expect.

Of course, the same idea can be extended to any file type so documents are always where you need them. But you are not limited to using the app for standard synchronization -- it can also be used as a valuable automatic backup tool that takes the hard work out of safeguarding your data.

You can find out more and download a free copy of the app by paying a visit to the Cheetah Sync review page.

Few files are out of reach with OpenWith Enhanced

Publié: septembre 16, 2011, 1:03pm CEST par Mike Williams

If you discover a file type on your system which you can’t open, then you’ll probably start searching the web for applications that might be able to help. But while this will return plenty of information, it’ll probably take a while to sort through everything to discover your best options. And so a better solution may be to try OpenWith Enhanced, which provides everything you need on your own desktop.

The program replaces the standard Windows “Open With” dialog with an extended version, so it’s easy to use. Just right-click a file type, and select Open With, or Open With > Choose Default Program.

When we tried this with an Excel spreadsheet (*.xslx), we first saw an icon for Microsoft Excel, which was installed on our test PC. The program then went online, though, accessed a constantly-updated database of the most commonly-used applications for opening this file type, and displayed the top five as alternatives: OpenOffice.org Calc, LibreOffice Calc, the Microsoft Office Excel Viewer, and more.

If this reminds you about LibreOffice, say, then hovering the mouse cursor over its icon will display a little more information. And double-clicking it opens a web page at the LibreOffice download page, so you can quickly grab and install a copy.

We do have a few issues with this scheme. In particular, it doesn’t always return the applications you might expect. The “Microsoft Application Virtualization DDE Launcher” was one of its suggestions to view our Excel spreadsheet, for instance (not a useful choice at all). And when we checked to see what it suggested for opening a PowerPoint presentation, LibreOffice was on the list, but for some reason OpenOffice.org wasn’t included.

Still, OpenWith Enhanced did supply at least some useful recommendations, most of the time. And it also provides a couple of useful extras, in the ability to remove particular file associations and types, or manage their Open With menu options, making the tool a handy free extension for most Windows PCs.

Paragon 11 offers four different recovery modes

Publié: septembre 16, 2011, 11:08am CEST par Nick Peers

Paragon Software has updated its home drive-imaging backup tool, Paragon Backup & Recovery Home to version 11. This new build offers four different recovery environments, adding WinPE 3.0 to existing Linux, Windows and DOS recovery options.

It also updates Paragon Adaptive Restore, which allows the user to restore a backup on to a computer with completely different hardware, to version 3.0, adds support for hard drives larger than 2.2TB, supports MBR>GPT conversion without data loss and allows users to encrypt their backups.

Paragon Adaptive Restore 3.0 includes a number of new technologies to help migrate a drive image to a different computer. A P2P Adjust OS Wizard helps simplify the migration process, and can now report missing drives, search the existing Windows repository for those drivers and notify the user about missing boot-critical drivers such as RAID, with a prompt to provide the driver repository to add those drivers.

The new WinPE 3.0 recovery environment makes it possible to restore backups stored over the network, while a new asynchronous backup method promises faster backup times, particularly on USB 3.0 drives and internal hard disks.

Paragon Backup & Recovery 11 Home is available as a free trial download for PCs running Windows XP or later. The full version costs $39.95.

Manage your money with Manilla

Publié: septembre 16, 2011, 9:15am CEST par Mark Wilson

Whatever sort of life you lead, there is no avoiding finances. We all have some form of bills to pay each month and bank accounts of one sort or another to keep track of. Keeping on top of what’s coming in and what’s going out and when can be tricky, often meaning having to visit one website after another, each with their own login requirements. Manilla is a great online service that enables you to access details of all your accounts and bills from one place. There are also apps available for iOS and Android devices.

The Manilla website is almost obscenely useful. At its most basic you can use the service to monitor the various bank accounts you have, making it possible to get all of your balances in one place without the need to log into multiple websites. For this reason alone, Manilla is well worth checking out, but the fact that the service could also save you money by helping you to avoid late fees is also a great draw.

You can configure accounts for all of your monthly bills -- from your phone and internet to electricity and gas -- and the app can then be configured to send you reminders whenever a bill is due. Bills can then be marked as paid so you do not lose track of where you are with your outgoings. But it is the amount of time Manilla can save you each month that is so impressive -- the simple marvel of being able to view so much of your financial information in one place cannot really be appreciated until you’ve tried it out.

If you want to view more details about any of your bills, the Manilla app has a built in document viewer that can be used to open PDF and other files. Other handy features include support for Living Social and Groupon so you can be sure that the coupons you have bought will not be left forgotten to expire unused.

You can find out more by paying a visit to the Manilla for iOS and Android review pages.

Facebook for Android lags iOS version

Publié: septembre 16, 2011, 7:32am CEST par Mark Wilson

It was only last week the iPhone version of Facebook was updated; the Android app followed suit this week. The Android app is not quite as fully featured as the iOS version, but the update brings a number of important improvements that bring it in line with the features of the Facebook website.

The big news here is the mirroring of the privacy controls that can be found on the Facebook website. When making a post, it is now possible to choose its visibility and choose whether location data should be attached to it. The same options are available when tagging images and sharing content online.

Much of your time in the app is likely to be spent looking at the News Feed page, and this has been updated in a number of ways. iPhone users, and users of a wide range of other apps, will be familiar with a downward swipe gesture being used to update the current view. This can now be used in Facebook for Android to check for new posts. Swiping left and right can also be used to navigate between images when browsing a gallery.

Facebook for Android does not quite have the polish, nor indeed quite the same feature set, as the iOS version, but it is a great step in the right direction. Some users have found that updating to this version of the app leads to stability problems, but these can be overcome by removing any existing version of the app before installing this one.

You can find out more and download a copy of the app by paying a visit to the Facebook for Android review page.

ESET Security 5 adds gamer mode, updates cloud protection

Publié: septembre 16, 2011, 5:59am CEST par Nick Peers

Slovakian security firm ESET has updated its anti-malware and all-in-one security packages to version 5. ESET Smart Security 5 32-bit/64-bit and ESET NOD32 Antivirus 5 32-bit/64-bit both include ESET Live Grid, a renamed and revamped cloud-based protection based on the previous release’s ThreatSense.Net technology.

Also new to version 5 of both products is Removable Media Control, which prompts the user to scan a removable drive when it’s plugged in, and Gamer Mode, which reduces ESET’s system footprint and suppresses all pop-up windows. Also new to ESET Smart Security 5 is a new parental control module and improved startup performance.

ESET Live Grid introduces two new features: the ability to speed up scan times by utilising a cloud-based whitelist of safe files, which can be safely skipped during the scanning process. It also utilised cloud-based reputation from other ESET users to help add an additional layer of protection against potentially malicious files.

Removable Media Control is a new tool that automatically triggers an alert whenever a removable drive, such as a USB thumb stick or camera memory card, is plugged into the computer. This extols the user to scan the drive for potential malware, and has been added in response to the increasing amount of malware that is using removable drives as a means of spreading between machines.

Both ESET Smart Security 5 and ESET NOD32 Antivirus 5 adds HIPS (Host Intrusion Prevention System), a tool for advanced users that allows them to customise how different parts of the system -- including the Registry, system processes, applications and files --behave.

Gamer Mode allows both tools to be switched to “silent mode”, which minimised system resource use and suppresses pop-ups, allowing resource-intensive processes such as games to run without being interrupted by ESET itself.

Finally, ESET Smart Security 5 also gains new parental control tools for blocking unsuitable websites based on user profiles, while the program has also optimised its startup procedure, so the program doesn’t hold up Windows after booting while it waits for signature downloads to complete. ESET stresses that this is done without compromising system security.

ESET Smart Security 5 32-bit and ESET Smart Security 64-bit, and ESET NOD Antivirus 5 32-bit andESET NOD Antivirus 64-bit are all available as free trial versions for PCs running Windows 2000 or later.

Nintendo: We have 'absolutely' no intention to develop mobile games

Publié: septembre 16, 2011, 12:02am CEST par Ed Oswald

Nintendo made it clear that despite investor pressure to develop game titles for smartphone platforms, it had no intention to even consider the idea. The smack down came in the form of a bluntly worded response to questions from Japanese news outlet Nikkei.

"This is absolutely not under consideration," president Satoru Iwata told reporters. "If we did this, Nintendo would cease to be Nintendo. Having a hardware development team in-house is a major strength."

Iwata does not deny that in the short term, developing for smartphone platforms like iOS and Android would likely be a profitable venture. Regardless, the Japanese exec is looking mid and long term, and in his eyes smartphone games are not a wise investment.

So why is Nintendo being pressured to look outward? It comes from its struggles to sell its current handheld console, and its insistence on sticking it out with 3D.

Nintendo has already been forced to drop the retail price of the 3DS handheld console by $100 to $169, but even that does not appear to be enough to salvage the device: the 3DS is likely to miss its sales target of 16 million by at least 16 percent according to an average of analyst predictions compiled by Bloomberg.

Even after the price cut, sales have drifted back down to where they were after the launch, about a fifth of the average sales in the first three months of availability.

The starkest difference is found in comparing sales of the previous handheld console to the current one. Nintendo has sold about 150 million DS units since the launch in 2004 and had consistently high sales up until the debut of the 3DS, which only sold about 4.5 million units in the past six months.

There's also something else that the original DS had going for it that the 3DS doesn't: and that was a lack of solid competition. With mobile phone gaming now quite popular, consumers have little need for a separate gaming device.

Microsoft's antitrust case stifled innovation

Publié: septembre 15, 2011, 11:25pm CEST par Joe Wilcox

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer hit me with a club yesterday -- okay, figuratively, but it didn't feel that way. He boomed onto the BUILD developer conference Day 2 keynote stage with an unexpected message: Microsoft is re-imaging -- that is reinventing -- around Windows. Now that's talk I haven't heard from the big boss in about 10 years.

"Our point of view is Windows is at the center", Ballmer told financial analysts a few hours later. The proclamation is stunning because of timing and what Microsoft is doing with Windows 8. In mid May, US trustbusters finally ended oversight of Microsoft; the company plans to integrate into Windows 8 the kind of stuff it hasn't since, well, XP launched a decade ago next month.

Case in Point

Federal prosecutors, and their attorneys general partners, filed the antitrust case to prevent Microsoft from stifling innovation in the tech industry. However, government oversight failed to quash Microsoft's twin monopolies -- Office and Windows. The vast majority of x86 PCs still run Windows -- 90 percent or more, depending on the analyst crunching the numbers. In 2010, nearly eight out of every 10 dollars spent on a desktop or server operating system was for Windows, according to Gartner.

As for the other monopoly, "Office is our biggest business", Ballmer told financial analysts yesterday. "Office is growing rapidly". The product now generates more revenue than Windows.

By that measure, the antitrust case filed in May 1998, initially by the Justice Department and 20 state attorneys general, is a failure. But it succeeded in something else, which is worthy of debate particularly as Google's search monopoly comes under increasing antitrust and anticompetitive scrutiny: Stifling innovation at Microsoft.

Windows innovation stagnated during the last decade, as Microsoft backed off the so-called middleware categories covered by the antitrust case and withheld integrating new technologies into the operating system that should have kept the platform vital and created more opportunities for third-party developers.

Microsoft Imprisoned

Ballmer's statement and Windows 8 plans revealed this week sound very much like Microsoft in 1999, before US District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson ruled the company had violated the Sherman Antitrust Act. Microsoft's behavior before, during and after government oversight makes clear the impact.

Microsoft settled the antitrust case in November 2001, a month after Windows XP shipped. The company immediately began complying with the consent degree even though another year passed before being approved by Jackson's successor. Microsoft agreed to:

* Hide access to four so-called middleware categories -- email, instant messaging, media playback and Web browsing -- and to provide a Windows utility for setting the default application for each.

* License protocols -- to facilitate interoperability between third-party products and Microsoft desktop and server operating systems.

* Treat all OEMs equally, by licensing Windows on the same terms to all.

What happened afterwards is revealing. Microsoft stopped developing Windows Messenger and only lightly iterated Outlook Express -- applications that were later removed from the operating system. Microsoft abandoned Internet Explorer development and only resumed when the launch of Mozilla Firefox in late 2004 renewed browser competition. Windows Media Player got modest upgrades, but nothing on the order of the development that occurred before the antitrust settlement; later Microsoft released Zune software, which isn't integrated into Windows and clearly received more development priority.

Microsoft gingerly advanced or passed on new technologies that made sense going into Windows or closely tied to it. For example, Microsoft released anti-malware software during the mid-Noughties but separately from Windows (and with antivirus vendors crying unfair competition about integration). Microsoft should have launched a Windows app store long ago -- hell, other vendors were doing it. Surely, Microsoft product managers and lawyers asked about everything related to Windows: "What if?" "What if we integrate this into Windows? Or that?"

Taking the bars off Windows

Now compare what happened before antitrust oversight to some of the announcements made this week:

* Microsoft's antitrust problems started with Internet Explorer and its integration into Windows 98. The approach dissuaded developers from competing platforms, Justice Department lawyers argued. As aforementioned, Microsoft toned down IE development following XP's release. Now, with oversight over, the company is back making the browser a core development element of the operating system.

* Related, Microsoft pushed the Active Desktop during the Windows 98 era, but gave up on it during the antitrust trial. Windows 8's Metro UI is all about active content, and developers using HTML5, JavaScript and native code to write apps and to support connected services.

* At the turn of the Millennium, Ballmer trumpeted about a set of consumer web services codename HailStorm. Microsoft abandoned it. But this week, BUILD presenters showed how Live services, and, most importantly, synchronization services tightly tie to Windows 8 and Metro.

* Coming into the new century, Microsoft planned to use Passport as a universal, single sign-on authentication system aligned with Windows. Following privacy group complaints, a Federal Trade Commission investigation and subsequent settlement, Microsoft backed off the authentication strategy. Yesterday, at BUILD, Microsoft showed off single sign-on capabilities that developers can add to their applications using the Windows Azure Toolkit.

* As previously mentioned, during oversight Microsoft chose to release security apps separately rather than make them a core part of the operating system. Microsoft did venture as far as firewall but not to integrated antivirus. On Monday, BUILD demonstrators showed off Windows 8's built in anti-malware protection.

Integration has long been a Microsoft development philosophy, and other platform developers do it, too. But Microsoft did it much less over the last decade, and in doing so made Windows a much less appealing product for consumers or platform for developers. Judging from this week's developer conference, Microsoft is ready to engage in the kind of platform innovation that someone felt necessary to hold back. Competitors like Google frequently filed complaints about Windows during the oversight period.

"Windows Centered"

Nothing is more revealing about what's different than Ballmer's fresh statements over the last two days about a "Windows centered" approach and re-imaging not just the operating system but the entire company around it.

"Certainly I can read plenty of places where people will question whether that's a good idea or not", he told financial analysts yesterday. "I think it's an exceptionally good idea, and if you took nothing else out of BUILD, you certainly should have taken that Windows is front and center in our strategy.

"As Steven Sinofsky said about Windows 8 on the client, we have to re-imagine Windows, we have to change Windows but there's absolutely no reason to build on the incredible technology strengths, the incredible base of applications and skills, the incredible brand strength in Windows".

To be clear, US antitrust oversight didn't end and suddenly Windows became important again. The product development cycle leading up to BUILD long preceded the end of government scrutiny. But Microsoft's top brass knew it was coming years ago. They planned for it, and they're ready to make Windows a vital platform again.

If you look carefully at Microsoft product development -- for Azure, Live services, Office and server software -- it has skirted around the core issues of antitrust oversight and limitations placed on Windows development. But also you can see how Sinofsky, who runs the Windows & Windows Live division, his team and Microsoft's top brass prepared for this time, when oversight was over.

In December 2009, I described the first 10 years of the new millennium as "Microsoft's decade of shattered dreams". The dreamers are back to work and Windows innovation with them.

Photo Credit: Liv friis-larsen/Shutterstock

Google launches first Google+ APIs

Publié: septembre 15, 2011, 9:52pm CEST par Tim Conneally

Since Google launched its new social network Google+ last June, developers have been promised eventual access to the site's data through APIs. Today, Google+ developer advocate Chris Chabot announced that the first Google+ APIs are now available to the public.

"These APIs allow you to retrieve the public profile information and public posts of the Google+ users, and they lay the foundation for us to build on together - Nothing great is ever built in a vacuum so I’m excited to start the conversation about what the Google+ platform should look like," Chabot said today.

They are limited in their scope to just what Chabot said: reading public profiles and public posts only.

The complicated matter of circles and their varied level of permissions is an issue to be tackled at a later date.

Developers need to register their apps before they can hook up with Google+ and start making calls to public feeds, and once they do, there is a "courtesy usage quota," so really this first set of APIs is just for testing integration and starting the whole process of working with Google+ and its data.

To start using the API to build apps or integrate into existent apps, visit the Google+ Platform developer site.

Identify TV shows with your iPhone camera and VideoSurf

Publié: septembre 15, 2011, 7:29pm CEST par Tim Conneally

Deep video search company VideoSurf on Thursday launched its mobile application for iOS which lets users point their iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad camera at a TV screen and the app can identify what show is currently being displayed.

Something like Google Goggles and Shazam combined, the app can identify shows, episodes and actors as they appear on the screen to give viewers more information more immediately.

The app was first shown off at CES 2011 in January, and was officially released to the public on the Android platform earlier this summer. The application gained some further recognition just a couple of weeks ago by being a pack-in app on the Droid Bionic on Verizon Wireless.

Now the company is hoping to make its biggest splash on the iOS platform.

"This is an exciting time, and we're thrilled to be at the forefront of video discovery and bringing this new technology to the iPhone," said VideoSurf CEO and Co-Founder Lior Delgo today.

VideoSurf is available for free in both the Android Market and iTunes App Store today.

AT&T launches first 4G LTE networks in Georgia, Illinois, Texas on Sunday

Publié: septembre 15, 2011, 6:53pm CEST par Tim Conneally

According to a statement made by AT&T CFO John Stephens at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Media, Communications, and Entertainment Conference 2011, AT&T will be launching its "real" 4G network this Sunday in its first five markets.

AT&T announced earlier this year that these first LTE markets would be: Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio. The rollout roadmap includes 15 total markets for the year 2011.

Just over a month ago, the carrier debuted its first LTE-supportive hardware, a five-device mobile hotspot and USB modem.

The carrier has labeled some of its newer handsets as being "4G-capable" already, but these only support the HSPA+ protocol, and none currently support LTE.

Lost your laptop? Norton Anti-Theft could recover it

Publié: septembre 15, 2011, 6:52pm CEST par Mike Williams

If you’re worried about losing your smartphone or tablet then there’s no shortage of services around that claim they can help you to protect it. There’s not quite as much choice for laptop and PC owners, of course. But if you’re worried about thieves, help is at hand in the shape of a new Symantec web service, Norton Anti-Theft, released this week in beta form.

If you’ve ever tried one of the mobile device location and recovery services then Symantec’s take will seem quite familiar. After creating a Norton Beta account, all you have to do is install the Anti-Theft client and leave it running on your system. And if your laptop is stolen, then logging in to the Anti-Theft website will provide all the recovery features you’d expect, as well as one or two you might not.

If your missing system has connected to the Internet, for instance, then Anti-Theft will use Skyhook’s technology to try and identify its location and plot this on a map. (The service has only been officially launched in the US, but in theory at least should work elsewhere.)

A “Sneak peek” option will grab a frame from the system’s webcam, maybe allowing you to see where it is, or to identify the thief. The ability to remotely lock your system should prevent anyone from browsing through your files. And Anti-Theft is able to display a custom message on the system, maybe providing your phone number, offering a reward, or whatever else you think might help to get it back.

This is all very simple to use. The Anti-Theft client software is compact, with no configuration options at all; the core website is also very straightforward; and despite the beta tag, for the most it looks and feels very “finished”.

When the beta is over and Symantec adds support for smartphones and tablets, then, Norton Anti-Theft could be a very useful system. Of course at that point it’ll probably also start to cost you a fair amount of money, too, so if you’d like to sample what the service has to offer at no charge, then give the beta a try. The client is available now.

Netflix expects 1 million fewer subscribers thanks to new pricing

Publié: septembre 15, 2011, 4:52pm CEST par Tim Conneally

In a message to its shareholders on Thursday, DVD rental and video streaming company Netflix revealed that its subscriber acquisition has significantly slowed due to the revised subscription rates it announced two months ago.

Under the company's new pricing structure, its unlimited video streaming feature, which was previously included freely in its DVD-by-mail subscription packages, would incur its own subscription cost for all subscribers. The effect this had on the price at the consumer's end was shocking, and for some subscribers, it represented a 90% price increase in their subscription packages.

At the time, We posed the following question to Betanews readers:

"Netflix has separated DVD and streaming plans -- raising prices 60 percent for many customers. How will you respond?"

Only 14.39% of responders said they would continue with their current plan and nearly 60% planned to close their account.

Now, Netflix says it expects to end the quarter with 2.2 million DVD-only subscribers instead of the 3 million it expected in July, and 9.8 million streaming only customers instead of the 10 million it had previously projected.

The net loss from their prior projection is a million subscribers.

It should be noted that this 36 million total still represents growth from last quarter, which Netflix ended with 24.59 million subscribers, it's just that growth has been happening considerably slower than the company initially expected.

"We know our decision to split our services has upset many of our subscribers, which we don’t take lightly, but we believe this split will help us make our services better for subscribers and shareholders for years to come," the company's statement today said.

The company has not changed its financial guidance as a result of this projected loss in subscribers, and its international subscriber guidance is the same as it was in July, but the market didn't take today's announcement too kindly, and shares of Netflix opened 15% lower than yesterday.

Windows 8 Developer Build is...what's the word? [video]

Publié: septembre 15, 2011, 2:16am CEST par Tim Conneally

One keynote. One word.

Used 33 times.

PlayBook, TouchPad steal share from Android tablets

Publié: septembre 15, 2011, 12:56am CEST par Ed Oswald

Android's recent success in the tablet market seems to have hit a minor roadblock, as increased competition from RIM's PlayBook and now HP's fire-saled TouchPad chip away at its slice of the pie. Apple seems unaffected for the time being, with its market share increasing quarter-to-quarter.

Apple took a 68.3 percent share in the second quarter, up about 3 percent from the previous period, according to research firm IDC. Android tablet share on the other hand dropped significantly, falling to 26.8 percent from 34 percent in the first quarter.

Some of this drop could be explained by the release of the RIM PlayBook during the period. While sales of the device haven't been exactly what RIM was looking for, it still managed to grab about 4.9 percent of the market.

Making matters worse for Android is HP's decision to clearance its HP TouchPad inventory. IDC believes that this move will help HP's TouchPad garner a 4.7 percent market share in the current quarter.

As a result, Android would likely fall further to about 23 percent before making up some of those losses during the holidays. WebOS market share is also expected to drop to near zero in early 2012 given HP has no plans currently to license out the platform.

"We expect shipment totals to continue to grow in the third and fourth quarter, as additional vendors introduce more price-competitive Android products into the market and Apple works to maintain its dominance in the category," research director Tom Mainelli said.

While Amazon is expected to release its own Android powered tablet, IDC says the device expected to be launched later this year will resemble an e-reader more than a tablet and is not being included in their forecasts.

Bing brings voice search to Xbox

Publié: septembre 15, 2011, 12:29am CEST par Joe Wilcox

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer made absolutely clear today why the company continues to invest in search, even though it's a money-losing business and Google's market share is so big (and not really declining). He described Bing as a "fundamental set of core technologies" that Microsoft plans to leverage seemingly everywhere.

Earlier in the day, during the BUILD developer conference Day 2 keynote, Server and Tools President Satya Nadella gave several examples how developers can incorporate Bing datasets into their applications development. Bing isn't just about search, but about information made available for third-party applications and services and for software development.

The approach sets an absolute collision course between Google and Microsoft in a way that hasn't been much discussed. Google also leverages search and supporting data to third-party products and its own, too. But Microsoft is increasingly positioning search and related informational technologies as a development platform -- or at least an adjunct to its other development platforms.

Ballmer gave one example how Microsoft will further search, by bringing Bing to Xbox for the the holidays. "We're trying to give the TV a new voice. Your voice", he said. Microsoft plans to greatly increase the amount of content available via Xbox. "It brings a new challenge", he observed. "How are you going to find things?" Microsoft's solution is combining voice commands with Bing search. "You say it, Xbox finds it", he said.

While discussing Xbox, Ballmer said that Microsoft would also start to bring live TV broadcasts to Xbox, beginning during the holidays. I've got to ask: Is it live or is it Xbox?

Ballmer also identified Microsoft's go-forward priorities:

* Windows centered (hub for all-company strategy)

* New hardware form factors (PCs and devices)

* Natural user interfaces (such as Kinect)

* Cloud (Azure, Office 365, hosted app servers)

* Enterprise and consumers (consumer innovations filter down to businesses)

* First-party applications (Microsoft's own software)

He affirmed Microsoft's commitment and hope for Windows Phone. Ballmer acknowledged that first-year sales weren't what he would have hoped. But he praised the software's advance from version 1 to 2. (Isn't it really 1.5?) Ballmer emphasized the importance of bringing Nokia to Windows Phone as a dedicated hardware partner.

Microsoft's CEO also spoke at length about the importance of acquiring Skype. The company, the technology, the customers and other relationships are essential for the future. Ballmer sees video as being a hugely important form of user-generated content and communications in the future.

SharePoint is 'Facebook for the enterprise'

Publié: septembre 14, 2011, 11:01pm CEST par Joe Wilcox

Make no mistake. Microsoft's big development push this week is around Windows, but Office and supporting software, such as SharePoint, are more important at the bottom line. During today's Microsoft Financial Analyst Meeting, COO Kevin Turner said that the Business division "is 32 percent of the company". Windows is 27 percent and Server and Tools is 24 percent.

Microsoft typically holds FAM during July, within weeks of closing its fiscal year on June 30. But this year Ballmer and his team delayed the annual event until this week's BUILD developer conference. That's smart, because Wall Street analysts have a chance to see some new Microsoft's products, Windows 8 in particular.

During the Day 2 keynote, Ballmer made clear that Microsoft is in a process of reinvention around Windows. So the venue clearly is deliberate for financial analysts. But the pitch is interesting, considering Business division's role against Windows & Windows Live.

Turner highlighted some milestones that marks the Business division success:

* Office 2010 is the most successful version of the software.

* SharePoint is the most successful Microsoft product ever -- "fastest to $1 billion" revenue, Turner said. He called it "Facebook for the enterprise". In the cloud, Microsoft has sold 5 million Office 365 seats, with more than half of them deployed.

* Not surprisingly, businesses are Microsoft's most successful combined segment by revenue: Enterprise 37 percent; OEM 24 percent; 21 percent small and medium business.

Turner said that in his six years at Microsoft, he has never spoken about "operating momentum" before, particularly as the company cuts costs and maximizes profits. Microsoft's revenue per head grew from $630,000 in fiscal 2009 to $744,000 in FY 2011.

Microsoft operates in 191 countries around the world, supported by 690,000 channel partners.

Aging Facebook tries to evolve into Google+ with new 'subscribe' feature

Publié: septembre 14, 2011, 7:52pm CEST par Tim Conneally

Popular social network Facebook today unveiled a new feature to help the seven and a half year old site stay competitive as newer sites redefine the norms of social sharing.

Facebook's new feature is simply called "the subscribe button," and it lets users receive only the updates of users they have subscribed to, just like microblogging service Twitter and its progenies.

With this new subscription model, users have the ability to customize who their status updates go to. They can select from: the public, just their friends, or a customized list of recipients.

Recipients, meanwhile can select to see all incoming updates, most updates, or only important updates, and select which types of updates they receive.

While the initial subscription feature looks like an attempt to copy Twitter, this new set of features more closely mimics the sharing mechanisms of Google Plus, which lets users pick "circles" of friends with which to share their content, and subscribers can fine-tune the amount of updates they receive by putting certain people in certain circles.

The Subscribe feature is not turned on by default and must be activated at the new Facebook Subscription page

Windows 8 Developer Preview downloads top 500,000

Publié: septembre 14, 2011, 7:31pm CEST par Joe Wilcox

"We still have a long ways to go with Windows 8", Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer told BUILD developer conference attendees today. "We've got a lot of work to do". But the work is off to a good start, as he announced 500,000 downloads of the developer preview released last night at 11 p.m. ET.

Yesterday, Steven Sinofsky, Windows & Windows Live president, described the "re-imaging" of Windows. Today, Ballmer went further, calling the strategy bigger -- the re-imaging of Microsoft. "We're all in. We're retooling all that we do" around all Microsoft's platforms.

"Windows [is] at the center", he emphasized and that Microsoft's future and new products and services will "pivot around the changes we're making to Windows". Ballmer didn't diminish Microsoft's push to the cloud but put it in context of Windows. He emphasized that it's still "extremely early" for cloud services. So while many competing executives or developers talk about the cloud as the center, Ballmer made clear the importance of Windows -- whether on PC, phone or server -- as the hub.

It's a sensible perspective for Ballmer, whose job is to maintain the relevance of Windows and PC software rather than letting relevancy shift to cloud-connected devices. Along that path and Windows supporting new chips, Ballmer told developers: "It's not going to be Intel or ARM, it's going to be Intel and ARM".

"This year there will be 350 million Windows devices sold, and that creates opportunities for developers", Ballmer said. "There's never been a better time to have software development as a core skill". When Windows 8 ships, "there will be at least 500 million Windows PCs" that can be upgraded.

"We want you to make money from the work you've done...that's super important to us", Ballmer told developers. To that end, Microsoft is improving the Windows platform so that developers can capture more capabilities while writing less code.

"It's the day and age of the developer", Ballmer proclaimed. "It's the day and age of the Windows developer" -- to which the BUILD audience clapped.

Ballmer wrapped up the Day 2 keynote. "Let's move forward together and seize the opportunity for: Developers! Developers! Developers!"

Stream TV anytime, anywhere with OrbLive

Publié: septembre 14, 2011, 6:50pm CEST par Mark Wilson

Few people could imagine a TV viewing life that involved the rigid scheduling of a few years ago. The advent of devices such as Tivo and services such as Hulu and Netflix means that TV programms can be watched whenever it suits you. But while it can be useful to be able to timeshift you viewing in this way, OrbLive, used in conjunction with Orb Caster, can be used to stream video from your PC or Mac or your iOS or Android device.

Videos can be watched away from your computer without the need to synchronize files -- all that is required is that the streaming software be installed and your computer be left switched on. With these two conditions met, install the OrbLive app on your mobile and you’re good to go. The ability to stream your existing video library from one device to another is great news, but it doesn’t end there.

The Orb applications can also be used with Hulu and Netflix so you can search for your favorite shows wherever you are -- streaming can also be achieved over the internet, not just over your own network. The apps can also be used as an elaborate means of streaming video to your TV. Providing you have the necessary cables, you can stream video form your computer, that may be located in the office, to your mobile, and view the footage on your large-screen TV in the bedroom.

Of course, it is also possible to stream music as well as accessing photos. This not only means the content of your iTunes library, but music you have stored in any other folders. When it comes to working with photos, you can browse through images stored in folders as well as those in your Flickr and Facebook account. But it doesn’t end there. If your computer has a TV card installed, or a web cam connected, the Orb software can also be used to view and control these devices.

While the desktop software is available free of charge, the mobile apps will set you back $9.99. You can find out more and download the software by paying a visit to the Orb Caster review page and the OrbLive review page.

Microsoft takes Visual Studio and Windows 8 Server to the cloud

Publié: septembre 14, 2011, 6:26pm CEST par Joe Wilcox

Today, Microsoft dropped the other ball during the second big BUILD developer conference keynote. The company is releasing Visual Studio 11 Developer Preview and Windows Server 8 Developer Preview. The software will be available for MSDN subscribers.

Yesterday, Steven Sinofsky, president of the Windows & Windows Live division, formally unveiled Windows 8, which is available in a developer preview you can download now. Today, Jason Zander, vice president for the Visual Studio team, connected the dots to developing apps supporting Azure services also connected to Windows Phone 7.5. He created the Windows 8 Metro-style game pictured above.

Zander used Visual Studio 2011 Developer Preview, which features, among other things, a new visual image editor that supports Expression Blend.

Microsoft is making available Visual Studio Team Foundation, running on Azure, which takes the software to the cloud as a service.

.NET 4.5 Preview and ASP.NET MVC 4 Preview will also be available, supporting Microsoft's big emphasis on HTML5 and improved support for CSS3. Developers will also get jQuery, which when announced, generated clapping from the BUILD audience.

Windows 8 Server is also getting more cloud capabilities. During today's keynote, Server and Tools President Satya Nadella described Windows 8 Server as the "most cloud optimized operating system".

To support the new cloud capabilities, Microsoft today released the Windows Azure Toolkit for Windows 8, which is "designed to make it easier for developers to create Windows Metro Style applications that harness the power of Windows Azure Compute and Storage", according to the Windows Azure Team.

Windows 8 also features the "web authentication broker", as described during today's keynote. This technology is part of the Windows Azure Toolkit. Microsoft is using Azure, the authentication broker and cloud sync to provide single sign-on for applications/services.

The cloud announcements didn't stop there. Microsoft also announced Windows Azure SDK 1.5 and that the Windows Azure Marketplace is expanding to 25 countries next month.

The marketplace is where developers can buy and sell cloud apps/services and data. Nadella used eBay as an example. In creating its Windows Phone app, eBay tapped into Bing for pulling in data for language support. He predicted that Bing would be "critical namespace" for developers taking advantage of the marketplace.

Microsoft also announced updates to Service Bus.

VMware releases new virtualization clients for Mac and Windows

Publié: septembre 14, 2011, 5:47pm CEST par Nick Peers

Virtualization specialist VMware has announced the release of VMware Workstation 8 for PC and VMware Fusion 4 for Mac. Both tools allow users to run different operating systems in virtual windows through one computer.

Both releases include a number of new features, additional hardware support and are updated to take advantage of the latest operating systems (VMWare Fusion 4 has been optimized for Lion). VMware Workstation 8 also introduces a new system requirement: it will only run on PCs with 64-bit processors.

VMware Workstation 8

One of the major new features in VMware Workstation 8 is its improved hardware support. Version 8 now supports USB 3.0, Bluetooth, HD audio with 7:1 surround sound and up to 64GB RAM, and includes improved 3D graphics performance.

It includes new remote connection options for connecting to other hosts running Workstation, VMware vSphere and VMware Center. Version 8 also makes it possible to share VMs across the network, so colleagues can easily access them for testing purposes.

The program also simplifies the creation of virtual machines for uploading to VMware vSphere -- once created, the new VM can be simply dragged from the user’s desktop into vSphere.

VMware Workstation 8 also features a revamped user interface, promising simplified menus, live thumbnails of running VMs, improved preferences screens and a new virtual machine library with enhanced search functionality that works across desktops, servers and other PCs running VMware Workstation.

A full list of changes are detailed in the program’s release notes. VMWare Workstation 8 is available as a trial download for PCs with 64-bit CPUs running Windows or Linux. The full version costs $199, upgrades from version 6 or 7 cost $99.

VMware Fusion 4

VMware claims more than 90 new features are present in VMware Fusion 4. It promises to provide the best Windows experience on OS X Lion, allowing users to add Windows applications to Launchpad, access them through Mission Control and view them at full screen while using Mac gestures to switch between them.

It also promises better performance and faster graphics -- up to two-and-a-half times faster 3D graphic performance than in previous versions due to being optimised for multi-core Macs and being a complete 64-bit Cocoa application. Interface changes echoing Workstation 8 include the redesigned virtual machine library and snapshot menu along with a brand new settings menu.

VMware Fusion 4 also supports both OS X Lion and OS X Lion Server in virtual machines, in addition to support for OS X Leopard Server and OS X Snow Leopard Server. VMware has also announced a limited promotional price of just $49.99 for the software, a saving of $30 on its SRP.

VMWare Fusion 4 is available as a trial download for Macs running OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) or later. A detailed list of all changes and improvements are found in the program’s release notes.

Don't wait for Windows 8! Download it now!

Publié: septembre 14, 2011, 5:34pm CEST par Mike Williams

Microsoft has used its BUILD developer conference to make available a developer preview edition of Windows 8, which gives the closest look yet at what the next generation of the operating system is going to offer.

And it’s going to provoke plenty of debate.

The new system uses an extension of Windows Phone 7′s Metro interface, for instance -- it’s very touch-oriented. You can still use it with just a keyboard and mouse, of course, but the constant need to swipe and scroll, even on a regular PC, will initially feel a little odd.

The standard desktop is still there, of course, if you feel lost. But there is no Start menu. And if you forget and click the Start button then you’ll switch back to the Metro view, which quickly becomes annoying. Carry on exploring, though, and as you begin to find your way around Windows 8 you’ll find plenty of new features that can help you get organized.

The Start menu may have disappeared, for instance, but you can still search for your applications. Just press the Start key on your keyboard, start typing a few letters of the program name, and a new Search Apps pane will appear to help you find and launch it.

The Windows 8 Lock screen isn’t just about having an attractive photo to display when you’ve logged off. You can also pin apps there, or choose others that will display details of what’s been going on while you’re away (missed emails, say).

You can rearrange and resize your Metro apps as you like (try dragging and dropping or exploring right-click options), or run two apps next to each other, similar to Windows 7′s Aero Snap. One of these apps could be the Windows desktop, too, so it’s not a matter of choosing between Metro or regular applications, you can run them side by side.

While it’ll probably take you quite some time to organize and arrange the new interface exactly as you’d like, Windows 8 does at least include a built-in Sync feature, so you can have your other Windows 8 systems automatically update themselves to work in exactly the same way.

And there are plenty of other features to explore, including a whole set of Metro apps: games, social networking tools, a Paint program, RSS feed reader and more. These are basic, just sample apps, and not the ones that will appear in the full release of Windows 8, but they’re still good examples of the direction Microsoft is trying to take.

To properly test the performance of Windows 8 you should install it on a laptop or PC, but beware. This is a pre-beta version; there’s no support. It only supports clean installs and can’t be uninstalled, so make sure whatever system you choose holds nothing important. And be prepared for problems, even then.

Or, if you prefer an easier life, the Windows 8 Developer Preview will install and run happily in a VirtualBox virtual machine. It’ll also be much slower, but if you’re more interested in safety and convenience then that would be our recommendation. Note there is a separate download for 64-bit computers.

Steven Sinofsky is the new Steve Jobs

Publié: septembre 14, 2011, 4:57pm CEST par Joe Wilcox

Don't laugh. I'm quite serious.

Yesterday during the Day 1 BUILD developer conference keynote, Steven Sinofsky delivered one of the most inspiring new Windows introductions ever. He was energetic and engaging. He honed in on key product benefits -- and that's tough to do with Windows because of the breadth of supporting third-party products and connection to Microsoft stuff like Windows Phone 7.5 or Live services. He spoke aspirationally and convincingly about Windows 8's benefits to developers and their customers. Apple Chairman Steve Jobs couldn't have done better. Whereas, Jobs casts the so-called "reality distortion field", Sinofsky brought reality into focus.

Jobs is gone. He no longer is Apple's CEO. Jobs won't breathe into Apple the same kind of innovation and hands-on leadership that transformed a company near bankruptcy in 1996 to become hugely dominant in 2011. The new Steve is another Steve, strangely. Sinofsky is reinventing Microsoft's core product in ways unimaginable three years ago. He calls it the "re-imaging" of Windows, which he must say to keep enterprise customers and developers from having catastrophic heart failure. But it's the reinvention of Windows.

No Microsoft executive has shown such good judgment or meaningful leadership since cofounder Bill Gates ran the company. But Sinofsky has something Gates lacked: Charisma, and that's in a way digressing from Jobs. Their keynote styles are quite different, but nevertheless compelling. More importantly, they both have shown real vision and assembled a core and loyal team of risk takers.

The parallels between the two men are quite surprising.

Unofficial leader. Jobs came back to Apple in late 1996 with the acquisition of his company NeXT. Apple bought NeXT for the operating system, but Jobs ended up running Apple as interim CEO, starting in September 1997. But he wouldn't take the title of CEO until January 2000.

Sinofsky took over running the Windows division around the time Vista shipped. He was tasked with the responsibility of getting successor Windows 7 out the door and in good shape, which he did. After the operating system released to manufacturing, Microsoft named him president of the Windows & Windows Live division -- in July 2009.

The ax-man. Jobs began his return to Apple by ending the Mac clone program and streamlining the company's product lines -- actions that received a fair bit of criticism at the time but in retrospect were quite sensible. Many people had viewed the clone program as essential to Apple's future and its ability to compete against Windows. Cancellation upset many Apple partners.

Sinofsky has streamlined Windows code and now is in process of making major cuts on the development side -- stuff quite imaginable even three years ago. .NET and Silverlight are clearly on their way out -- or for .NET taking on a diminished role. Both technologies were supposed to anchor Windows and supporting services development for the foreseeable future. No longer. The eventual end or dramatic role change of .NET will upset many Microsoft partners who have committed to the technology.

Provocateur of good taste. Jobs made his first big mark as iCEO with the introduction of the bondi blue, all-in-one, translucent-encased iMac in summer 1998. The original iMac marked a push by Apple to develop products that were as beautiful as they are functional.

As Windows 7 development started, Sinofsky assembled a team charged with refreshing the look-and-feel of the operating system and to develop natural user interface motifs. The changes were less dramatic in Windows 7, because Sinfosky's core responsibility was to get a stable product out quickly, ensure enterprise customers of backwards compatibility and restore confidence in Windows. Still, Sinofsky's team incorporated touch capabilities and refined the UI. The big changes, with focus on functionality and fluidity is Windows 8's Metro motif.

His team also worked with Acer to produce a thin-and-light laptop for PDC 2009 developer attendees. Yesterday at BUILD, developers got a Samsung slate running Windows 8 Developer Preview. Both computers are reference designs and development computers. Yesterday, he also clearly articulated a strategy of refining Windows 8 so that OEMs can produce more provocative PCs.

Platform risk taker. In March 2001, Apple released Mac OS X, about a half year before Windows XP. Jobs couldn't have picked a worse time to make a major platform transition. Windows owned the PC and developers were preparing for Microsoft's big consumer OS. Meanwhile, Apple was asking them to port their apps to a whole new architecture, and not just software -- peripheral and other hardware makers, too.

Mac OS X's launch proved disastrous, with no support for DVD drives shipping on Apple computers or many third-party devices. Major developers like Adobe and Microsoft didn't immediately update their applications. OS X really wasn't ready as a stable platform until v10.1 shipped in September 2001. Later, the platform switch proved instrumental in reviving the Mac ecosystem and being foundation for iOS that powers iPad, iPhone and iPod touch.

Sinofsky is leading Windows through a major platform transition at the worst time. Microsoft has fallen behind Apple and Google in smartphone OS market and applications share and iPad has opened up the media tablet category in a huge way, so big as to cannibalize PC sales. One analyst told me yesterday that he sees tablets sapping 20 percent or more of PC sales over the next two years. Microsoft will ask developers to commit their applications to a dramatically new user interface and Windows architecture (emphasis on native code) at a time when developing for Android and iOS is so much more appealing, because the volumes are so big.

But there's sense to the timing and where the risk can lead. By the time Windows 8 ships, the core of Microsoft's business customer base will recently have transitioned to v7. They won't be ready for Windows 8 and therefore be as threatened by architectural or user interface changes; v8 will prepare them for Windows 9. Meanwhile, Microsoft can get a leaner, meaner Windows for consumer devices. I fully expect to see ARM-base devices that run only Metro and the WinRT core announced yesterday. That's a huge divestiture from Windows legacy, but Sinofsky's way of providing a lifeline to customers and developers committed to Windows as it is while letting go the old code baggage for future PCs and mobile devices.

Keeper of secrets. Jobs is renown for keeping Apple product development hush-hush. That approach gives the company more control over how information is disseminated, which is hugely sensible from market messaging and hype generation perspectives. Apple only communicates as much as it needs to developers and other partners -- at a fault. Product design changes often catch hardware partners by surprise.

Sinofsky chose to do something surprising at BUILD: wrap it in a veil of secrecy. Attendees signed up without any knowledge of the full agenda or sessions. Microsoft disclosed no details on the BUILD website, nor in the initial packets of information given out when attendees registered. There wasn't even information on who would give the keynotes -- not that it was hard to guess. Microsoft distributed full agenda brochures concurrently with the Day 1 keynote.

Microsoft took control over the messaging this way, but without being as overly secretive as Apple. Developers are receiving loads of information, and bloggers and reporters can attend sessions (unlike Apple's developer conference). This new-found secrecy is more like standard operations at the Office group (where Sinofsky also was leader). Development information is more need to know and controlled. Sinfosky has been blogging about Windows 8, but, like Jobs, he is the one delivering the big news.

Don't be surprised if Sinofsky becomes Microsoft CEO someday.

Norton Internet Security 2012: Nothing radically new, but plenty to like

Publié: septembre 14, 2011, 2:53am CEST par Mike Williams

The 2012 security suite party is now well under way, and Symantec are the latest company to join in with the release of Norton Internet Security 2012. The 2011 edition was excellent, and perhaps as a result this build is more about building on that, than providing anything radically new. Still, there’s plenty to like here.

Identity Safe, for instance, the browser tool for storing your logons and other information, then automatically completing web forms, can now hold your data in the cloud so it’s accessible from anywhere. Symantec’s reputation-based system, Insight, is now being used to check your downloads, and even try to identify brand-new malware.

Symantec’s behavioural monitoring SONAR technology has also been improved to better pick up malicious programs; a new management tool allows you to remotely check the security status of computers running Internet Security 2012, apply fixes, change settings and more; and the usual interface tweaks aim to make this easier to manage than ever.

Nothing spectacular, then, but there does seem to be some useful new additions here. So we decided to take a closer look.

Getting Started

As with previous editions, Norton Internet Security 2012 installed very easily. No complex questions, no demands to remove this or that program for compatibility reasons, not even a request to reboot when it’s finished: you can begin to use the program right away.

The interface has been simplified, with only the most common available from the main screen, and so we started by clicking “Scan”. NIS 2012 is extremely configurable here, able to check whatever you like, and with a very flexible scanner. You can run scans daily, every few hours or days, weekly or monthly at the days you specify, and there are options to scan only when the system is idle, or, for laptops, only when the system is running on AC power

However you run it, though, the results should be excellent, with NIS 2012 cleanly removing 93 percent of our test samples. Performance wasn’t quite as good as AVG Internet Security 2012 -- whole computer scans typically took 40percent to 50 percent longer at more than 10 minutes on our test system (3 minute “quick scans” are available, though), Outlook and Firefox were a little slower to load, though boot times were similar with very little effect from installation, but the program did appear to be marginally more thorough.

There are also more false alarms at the moment, however, with NIS 2012 claiming several small utilities on our system (some NirSoft tools, for instance) were malware. This could be annoying, depending on what’s on your hard drive, but hopefully these false positives will reduce over time, and right now it’s fairly easy to exclude particular files from scans, if necessary.

Firewall, Antispam

When we tried the beta of NIS 2012, the firewall was something of a disappointment, prompting us for permission when even the most well-known internet programs wanted to go online.

It seems this was just a temporary beta-related issue, though, as the final version had no such problems. It correctly blocked attempted malware while allowing all our applications online, even the most obscure, without requiring any user input. It hid all our ports while online and protected us from network attacks. And if you do have a problem with how the firewall works, then in a couple of clicks you can have full control over the events it monitors (code injection, direct network access, COM control, key logger monitoring and more), although this gets highly technical and is strictly experts-only.

The spam filter was similarly impressive. It also installed and configured itself automatically, no questions or decisions involved. And its accuracy proved better than some commercial products, with the filter correctly blocking 82 percent of our test junk mails, and only misidentifying a single legitimate email as spam. (And even that was a commercial advertising message, not something we’d have missed.)

You don’t get the same level of configuration options here; there’s nothing equivalent to AVG Internet Security 2012′s filters for language, country, character sets and so on. But then if a filter does its job then this shouldn’t really be necessary, and NIS 2012 does its job very well indeed.

Browsing

As with previous editions, NIS 2012 includes several protective security layers to keep you safe online.

The program checks links against a database of known malicious sites, for instance. It analyses pages in real time to look for elements common to phishing scams. A Facebook-specific scan checks your wall for dangerous links, and of course the core antivirus engine examines any files you download to ensure they’re safe.

To test this we tried to visit 20 links sampled from recent spam emails (all received with the last 24 hours), and security sites which report on the latest dangers. But in every case NIS 2012 popped up within a fraction of a second, either reporting that it had blocked a particular exploit, or recommending that we didn’t visit the page.

Better still, we saw no false alarms. Although if the program does make a mistake, the “Web Page Blocked” message does include a small “Continue to site anyway” link, so if you’re sure a page is entirely safe then you’ll still be able to reach it.

The other major online tool here is Identity Safe, an excellent password manager. In a click or two it’s able to import your existing IE logons (or data from text files), and then will automatically log into sites or fill in forms for you. A redesigned interface makes it all a little easier to use than previous editions, and in a new touch you can now connect your details to your online Norton account, so easily syncing them with other systems.

Identity Safe has one or two small limitations. You store your details in Identity Cards, for instance, and these can only hold one credit card number (though you can create multiple Identity Cards). It’s easy to use and reliable, though, and if you currently use the same, easy-to-guess password everywhere then making use of a tool like this will make your various accounts much more secure.

Other Features

Symantec’s Insight technology maintains a “reputation” score for files to help it decide which can be trusted, and which really can’t. Conveniently you can see the results for yourself by running a reputation scan, which lists your files and whether they’re trusted, or commonly used, very handy if you think you may be infected by something and are looking for clues to identify the malware.

And the remaining major component in NIS 2012 is its Performance module, which tracks resource use on your PC, alerts you to problems, and can help to optimise your system speeds.

At its most basic, you’ll notice this via occasional pop-ups warning that a particular application is using a lot of RAM, monopolizing your hard drive, or whatever the issue might be.

What’s more interesting, though, is the ability to track this over time. A simple calendar shows the alerts you’ve had recently, so if your PC seemed slow yesterday, for instance, a single click will tell you more.

And new this time is the Startup Manager. This displays your current startup programs, and highlights their resource use so it’s easy to identify any which might be slowing you down. You can disable particular programs at a click, or set some startup programs to be delayed; they’ll still launch, but not immediately on boot, so your desktop may appear just a little quicker.

Install Norton Internet Security, then, and you’ll get accurate antivirus, an intelligent firewall, reliable spam filter, and excellent browsing protection. As we’ve pointed out, there are a few minor issues -- false positives with smaller utilities, some applications taking a little longer to load - but that doesn’t detract from the fact that every component here is above average, and even the extras, the Identity Safe password manager and performance module, are better than many similar stand-alone utilities. And that’s why Norton Internet Security 2012 remains, for now, our pick of the security suite crop.

Hands on with the Samsung Windows 8 slate

Publié: septembre 14, 2011, 1:33am CEST par Joe Wilcox

Microsoft is handing out 5,000 Samsung-manufactured tablets running Windows 8 Developer Preview here at BUILD, the company's developer conference. I spent some quality time with one this afternoon. While my overall impressions are good, I must say that Windows 8 demos better than using it. Perhaps I'd feel differently having used the Windows 8 slate for a longer time.

Earlier today, Steven Sinofsky, Windows & Windows Live president, and several top lieutenants gave one of the best operating system demos ever. Not even Apple CEO Steve Jobs, in younger and healthier days, could have evoked such energy and enthusiasm as Sinofsky did today. It was infectious and aspirational in all the right ways.

If Jobs had shown off Windows 8 instead, tech bloggers and journalists would have cooed like pigeons over their laptop keyboards about how Apple had done it again. Instead, one after the other -- and analysts, with them -- compared Microsoft's efforts to iPad, singing that "catching up is hard to do" song. I heard nothing more than muted enthusiasm, even among the group of reviewers who each yesterday got one of those Samsung tablets on three-day loan.

You'd Want One

The tablet is the event's big prize. Samsung manufactures the Windows 8 slate, which bears very little resemblance to iPad, for anyone asking. Analysts Gartner and IDC classify Androids and iPad as media tablets. The Samsung slate is a PC running full Windows. From the processor to ports, this tablet is as much PC as stereotypical tablet. It will run all the apps Windows users are accustomed to using.

Core specs: 11.6-inch Super PLS display (1366 x 768 resolution); 1.6GHz Intel i5-2467M dual-core processor; 4GB of RAM, 64GB solid-state storage; Intel WDDM 1.2 integrated graphics; USB, microSD and HDMI ports; WiFi; and 3G -- 2GB/month free from AT&T for one year. Like Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1, the Windows 8 developer tablet is longer and narrower in landscape mode than iPad -- and thicker, more like Motorola XOOM or Asus Transformer. Windows Experience Index is 4.3, because of graphics.

The screen is overly reflective, which made taking photos uncharacteristically difficult. There is also high smudge factor -- about as bad as XOOM. Tab 10.1 smudges less easily, and iPad 2 is even more smudge resistant.

Microsoft is right to put this machine in developers' hands, so they can experience Windows 8's Metro UI, code apps for it and use new tools. Updated versions of Blend and Visual Studio are installed on the tablet. But it's the new operating system that will interest them and many other people.

Wake Me Up

Windows 8 wakes nearly instantly, and it's a hugely important feature, because:

* It makes a good impression. Slow startup contributed to Windows Vista's bad reputation. Many people will delight in instant-on capabilities.

* Time is valuable, particularly on portable devices. Pull it out, do something quick and put it away.

* Smartphones and media tablets start nearly instantly -- as does Apple's MacBook Air. These products create expectation that a computing device should start fast.

Windows 8 is smooth and responsive to touch on the Samsung slate, as it should be with a PC processor inside. Touch sensitivity is excellent. You can feel the power, because of the tablet's heft (but not overly heavy) and fluidity of Metro UI.

Beneath Metro is an updated version of the traditional Win32 desktop and file manager, which includes the Office Ribbon adapted for Windows. I found the older motif to be less responsive to touch. But it is beta software, after all, with the objective of introducing developers to Metro. Microsoft has plenty of time to get to fit and finish.

The tile motif is immediately intuitive, like no other computing interface I have ever used. Microsoft has done a remarkably good job, even at this early development juncture, putting navigational elements alongside live content. Some tiles are for tasks, while others are active.

I'm immediately reminded of Microsoft's attempts to bring live content to Windows 98 with the Active Desktop. It was a concept way ahead of its time. The strategy failed for many reasons, dial-up Internet connections being one of them. That vision is fulfilled in Windows 8's Metro UI.

Metro, like the Windows Phone UI, looks nothing like competing motifs. Apple won't be suing Microsoft, like HTC or Samsung -- or if it does will reveal willingness to litigate to innovate. The tile concept is simply refreshing and suits the use of fingers and touch like no other UI I've seen.

Little Letdown

But I found using it to be a bit of a letdown, and perhaps my reaction would have been better if not for today's BUILD keynote demos. Sinofsky and his team did things with Windows 8 that I can't. The apps aren't there, or supporting Windows Live services -- at least in the same way. He showed off stuff not available to the masses, but that's to be expected this early in the development process.

As for my peers, I don't share the sentiments of those asserting that iPad has won the tablet wars. It's still early days, and Windows 8 is much bigger than tablets. Microsoft is rightly focusing on all computing devices of many screen sizes and functions. The Windows ecosystem is larger, and Sinfosky made clear that developers and not Microsoft are in control of their destinies -- and that was an unsaid dig at Apple and the tight controls it places on iOS developers.

BUILD Day 1 started off big. How can Microsoft possibly do better tomorrow? Well, Windows 8 slate is a gift that should get better from use -- better every day. If not, we'll see hordes of them on eBay. But I think not many. Some prizes you don't part with.

Crazy: Android is coming to Intel processors

Publié: septembre 13, 2011, 9:52pm CEST par Tim Conneally

Intel and Google jointly announced on Tuesday that future versions of Android will offer support for Intel's Atom mobile processor family, meaning Android will finally make the jump from being ARM-exclusive, to also supporting x86.

The x86 instruction set has historically been used only in computers that run desktop operating systems, and the reduced instruction set ARM has been used in devices that run mobile operating systems.

Since the beginning of 2011, we've known that Windows 8 was going to run on both; but today Intel dropped a bomb by announcing Android will be doing exactly the same thing.

Earlier this year, the chipmaker formed a new business unit dedicated to Mobile Communications after acquiring Infineon AG's Wireless Solution business (WLS) for $1.4 Billion, which would work on integrating baseband processors into Intel's CPUs for more complete mobile solutions. With Android on its side, Intel could create a complete mobile design package from processor to baseband to OS.

"By optimizing the Android platform for Intel architecture, we bring a powerful new capability to market that will accelerate more industry adoption and choice, and bring exciting new products to market that harness the combined potential of Intel technology and the Android platform," said Intel President and CEO Paul Otellini in a statement today. "Together we are accelerating Intel architecture and bringing new levels of innovation to a maturing Android platform."

Officially, Android has thus far been only on ARM-based devices, but has been available unofficially on x86 devices for more than three years.

The two companies have been working together to bring Google's Chrome OS and Google TV products to devices with Intel chips, so moving Android over is the result of this collaboration.

Symantec puts cloud-based certificate management system in beta

Publié: septembre 13, 2011, 9:37pm CEST par Larry Seltzer

Digital certificate problems are much in the news, owing to the scandal over compromised certificate authority DigiNotar, but the more common certificate problems are much simpler and more confined. Large, complex organizations often have trouble keeping track of all their certificates.

It's surprisingly common to find management of external CA-issued digital certificates to be decentralized and unorganized. Different groups buy them for different sites and some guy keeps track of them, including minor details like the private keys and expiration dates, in an Excel sheet. One day when he falls through a manhole or leaves for another job, what's going to happen? You may not even remember about it until one of the certificates expires and users start getting errors. "I think that file was somewhere here in his network folder..."

This stuff really does happen a lot. And yet there aren't a lot of professional solutions for certificate management. Many certificate management products are designed only for a particular CA, or an internal CA.

The best-known general solution is Director Certificate Manager from Venafi. It's not just a management system and it's not just for SSL certificates; it has tools for seeking out and inventorying your existing encryption assets. It allows you to use high-protection technologies like hardware security modules to guard the inventory.

I haven't tested this product; I've heard it's as complex as it is comprehensive, and help from Venafi Professional Services is often necessary, but I'm sure you get what you pay for.

Now Symantec has their own solution in this space. Symantec Certificate Intelligence Center is a cloud-based solution. Even though Symantec now owns VeriSign, the biggest certificate in the business, CIC will work with certificates from any certificate authority.

[Note: I have, in the past, done paid consulting work and writing for VeriSign, before and after their acquisition by Symantec.]

CIC appears to have many of the same features of Venafi, such as discovery and inventory of certificates, but the cloud approach may be advantageous for many, in terms of distribution and access across a large enterprise, not to mention robustness against downtime and other errors in your own infrastructure.

It's too early to evaluate CIC, especially as compared to the competition, but one thing's for sure: It sure beats a post-it note on the side of your monitor. The DigiNotar scandal shows that enterprises need to be able to move quickly with their certificates if there is a failure in trust of the CA. If you don't use an organized management system for your encryption assets then you're leaving yourself potentially helpless against severe attack.

Windows 8 Developer Preview launches tonight at 8:00PM (PST)

Publié: septembre 13, 2011, 8:41pm CEST par Tim Conneally

Beginning at 8:00pm Pacific Time (3am GMT), Microsoft is making the first Developer Preview of Windows 8 available for download at the new Windows Developer Center ([dev.windows.com]) for anybody with a Windows Live ID to download.

This preview won't yet support ARM machines, but will be available in both 32-bit and 64-bit variants for x86 machines. It will also be available with the new Visual Studio and Expression tools on it, or just as the bare .iso that has only the sample applications on it.

There's no activation needed this time around, so it's just download and install, but there's also no support at this point, either.

Internet Explorer 10 platform preview 3 comes with BUILD tablets

Publié: septembre 13, 2011, 8:09pm CEST par Tim Conneally

The 5,000 Samsung tablets that Microsoft is giving out to developers today at the BUILD conference will be the first items to include the third platform preview of Internet Explorer 10.

Steven Sinofsky, President of the Windows Division at Microsoft, showed off the fact that this preview will include both the traditional desktop IE10 view and a Metro UI interface. This included a demonstration on a Touch-based IE test drive site, which unfortunately was running from the demo tablet's C: drive rather than from the live Web, so we don't yet have the ability to preview the test site Sinofsky was showing during his keynote.

The demo shown in the picture above, "Touch Effects," is not yet listed on the IE10 test drive site. We'll let you know when it arrives.

450 million copies of Windows 7 sold, consumer usage passes XP

Publié: septembre 13, 2011, 6:54pm CEST par Tim Conneally

In his Keynote opening the Build developers conference, President of Microsoft's Windows Division Steven Sinofsky touched on some updated facts on the still-relatively-young Windows 7 before diving into the demonstration of the next-generation Windows 8.

-Sales of Windows 7 is approaching 450 million copies.
-Windows 7 consumer usage is now greater than Windows XP.
-1,502 non-security product code changes have been delivered.
-Internet Explorer 9 is "the fastest-growing Windows 7 browser."
-542 million people using Windows Live services every month.

It's important to note that the second point is focused on consumers and not the enterprise, where XP is deeply entrenched.

Windows 8 developer preview UX in pictures

Publié: septembre 13, 2011, 6:31pm CEST par Tim Conneally

Today at Microsoft's BUILD developer conference, Microsoft has begun to provide a more detailed look at Windows 8, and has just rolled out some screenshots of the developer preview of the new OS. Including the new lock screen, start screen, picker, touch-based Internet Explorer 10, and some shots of the touch keyboard options.

Many of these features were shown off at the D9 conference three months ago, but these are much higher resolution shots than previously available directly from Microsoft.

The now-familiar Windows 8 lock screen:

The Windows 8 Start Screen:

Windows 8 file Picker:

Internet Explorer 10:

Touch Keyboard:

"Thumb" Keyboard:

Live from Microsoft BUILD

Publié: septembre 13, 2011, 6:11pm CEST par Joe Wilcox

LIVE BLOG

Steven Sinofsky, Microsoft's president of the Windows & Windows Live division, walked on the stage like a rock star this morning. "I'd like to invite everyone to Windows 8" Sinofsky says. He said that later this week, consumer usage of Windows 7 would exceed XP. Microsoft has sold nearly 450 million Windows 7 licenses. More than 500 million use Windows Live services.

"We're going to re-imagine Windows", from the chipset (ARM support) to user experience (Metro UI), Sinofsky says. Windows 8 is at the developer preview stage, he notes.

Julie Larsen-Green is on stage showing off Windows 8 Metro UI tiles. The fluidity and freshness of the presentation is breathtaking. Sinofsky steps in and describes the Start screen of tiles as a "unification" of programs, app launchers and widgets. It's all touch activated.

Internet Explorer for Metro Style ships with Windows 8, Larsen-Green says. Sinofksy pipes in and observes that it's completely Chrome-less, referring to Google's browser. "There's nothing better than a Chrome-free browsing experience", he says.

I'm immediately reminded of Microsoft's attempts to bring live content to the desktop during the Window 98 era. The strategy flopped for many reasons, limited bandwidth being one of them. That vision is fulfilled in Windows 8's Metro UI. The Internet is as much a part of UI as local file storage. For example, search works for file system and Internet. "It's webs and apps working together...a web of apps on your machine", Sinofsky says.

Sinofsky is holding up an ARM-based tablet. "You are going to get so addicted to using this product", Sinofsky proclaims. He describes the UI as "fast and fluid", and I would agree.

Now comes the developer nuts-and-bolts stuff. Windows 8 features the WinRT API, which is new and Sinofsky insists isn't something added on to the operating system. It is Windows. The new API will let developers write native code. I've got a slide showing the new Windows 8 architecture that I'll add to this post after the keynote.

Antoine Leblond is on stage building an app. I'm not a developer so will highlight benefits from his demo. Without writing a line of networking code or calling the Facebook UI, Leblond creates app PhotoDoodle and connects to Facebook photo-sharing in Windows 8's built-in Socialite app.

All this is being done in real time, using HTML5 and calling Windows 8 native code. This is what a platform is for, exposing capabilities that developers tap into -- reduce the amount of code they write. Leblond used 58 lines of code. This is one of the most impressive Microsoft developer demos I've seen in about 10 years (I'm ignoring the great stuff for Longhorn during PDC 2003 that never came to be).

OMG. The version of Visual Studio LeBlond is using has a post to the Windows Store option. Developers will be able to package, upload and choose licensing rights for their apps. There will be an applications certification process, Leblond explains. That process is designed in part to keep customers "safe". Developers will be able to view their apps certification process, and see how close it is to appearing in the store. Microsoft will provide developers with compliance tools so they can check their APIs and code beforehand. That reduces likelihood an app would be rejected for some technical reason.

The Windows Store will list Win32 and Metro-style apps. Microsoft will not impose its own licensing requirements but let developers with existing apps -- and maybe offering for download somewhere else -- to use their own licensing model. "We're giving these Win32 apps a free listing service", Leblond says.

Sinofsky is back talking about hardware. Developers can expect "full platform support with these Metro-style applications". Write once and runs on X86 or ARM, or different form factors.

Michael Angiulo is now demoing different computers. He's showing several systems booting nearly instantly. Microsoft is finally making anti-malware a part of the OS. Angiulo inserts a virus-infected USB key into a Windows 8 slate and starts up. The computer detects the malware and won't boot.

Windows 8 supports up to 256TB drives. "It's like science fiction or something", Angiulo says. Can you say video storage?

Windows 8 supports various screen sizes, which makes sense -- backward compatibility for Windows 7 systems and to support the various types of PC hardware styles Microsoft expects from OEM partners.

Microsoft is carrying hardware-accelerated graphics from IE9 to Windows 8. Developers write the code and Windows provides the hardware acceleration to the apps.

Windows 8 supports various motion sensors -- like gyroscope and accelerometer -- accessed from a single API written with three lines of code. These capabilities are essential for tablets.

Angiulo and Sinfosky are showing off some pretty damn smoking Ultrabooks that aren't yet released. These are Windows 7 systems that I'd love to run v8 developer build on right now.

Sinofsky just announced what was rumored earlier -- "the Samsung Windows Developer Preview PC". The portable has Intel i5 processor, 64GB SSD, 4GB of RAM and get this one year free AT&T 3G with 2GB data per month.

Developers are managing to stay in their seats, rather than rush out for their Windows 8 slate. Sinofsky is back, showing off the new task manager. "It's been about 20 years...so let's give it a shot", he says referring to the makeover.

In Control Panel is the new "refresh and reset" PC feature. Refresh reinstalls Windows 8, keeping Metro-style apps and files. Reset restores to factory state. The new Windows Assessment Console allows developers to test their apps in different hardware states.

There's a new Metro-style Remote Desktop app. Sinofsky remoted into a touch PC. Slick. He is now showing Hyper-V running in the Windows 8 client.

We're most of the way through the keynote, and Sinofsky is only now making the first real reference -- and that's in passing -- to the Ribbon. Is that because Microsoft wants developers focused on Metro apps or the negative reaction to the Office Ribbon coming to Windows 8?

The keynote must be running behind because Sinofsky is talking super speed. He's showing off Metro-style IE10 again. The Windows 8 developer build includes Internet Explorer 10 Platform Preview 3.

Windows 8 is designed for "everyone", Sinofsky says. He shows the digital keyboard with different installed language packs. Language can be changed in a tap or click.

Finally, Microsoft does synchronization right. Personal settings roam with you from Windows Live. Chris Jones is demoing Live services, which are "rewritten in Metro-style" -- "all written in HTML and JavaScript". He emphasizes: "It's all written to be immersive". These Metro-style Live services make Google services look like something from the 1940s and Apple stuff from the 1970s. Apple hasn't even released iCloud yet, and it's antiquated.

Sinofsky interrupts and says that all this is powered by WinRT. Jones is demoing photos, rendered spectacularly, from Windows Live SkyDrive. Whoa, he's pulling photos from a Windows PC in Redmond, Wash., across firewall there and firewall here all connected and authenticated using a Windows Live ID. Think about the implications of connecting simply around the ID without complicated third-party VPN software. "You can integrate SkyDrive storage into your apps", Sinofsky tells developers.

Jones is showing the SkyDrive experience on a Windows Phone 7.5 HTC handset. It's impressive. For years I've said that sync is the killer app for the connected world. Finally Microsoft is going to deliver. Tough luck Apple and Google. Well, someday, "We're not releasing these applications today", Jones says. Since Windows 8 isn't available, of course not.

Uh-oh, Sinofsky says all the apps shown today are just "samples". Samples? They were created by college interns. Sinofsky introduces 20 of them and now there's a video about their "summer of apps". Looking at the video, it's clear that the samples are different from some of the stuff shown here.

Next milestone is Windows 8 beta, then release candidate, gold code and general availability. "We're going to be driven by quality not the date", Sinofsky says. Microsoft will update the developer preview using Windows Update -- to test that feature.

Microsoft will post the Windows 8 Developer Preview online tonight at 11 p.m. ET. "No activation" is required, Sinofsky says. Download and run at your own risk. Get it here.

See the Windows 8 slate [photo]

Publié: septembre 13, 2011, 6:10pm CEST par Joe Wilcox

This morning before the keynote started here at Microsoft's BUILD developer conference, I got a chance to handle a tablet running Windows 8.

There you see it. Move over Apple and iPad. Microsoft has got a fluid and lively user interface, and Apple won't be suing Microsoft for patent infringement like it is seemingly everyone else.

There's a new operating system in town folks. Windows 8 looks great.

5,000 Samsung Windows 8 developer tablets to be given out at BUILD

Publié: septembre 13, 2011, 4:10pm CEST par Tim Conneally

Big news will be coming out of Anaheim, California today as Microsoft holds its BUILD developer conference, which is expected to focus largely on the next frontier of Windows development: the cross-platform Windows 8.

Your friend and mine, Betanews managing editor Joe Wilcox will be covering the event, and early leaks suggest that he might be heading back to his hotel room today with a brand new Windows 8 developer tablet from Samsung, which is pictured above.

MobileTechWorld got the tip today about the photo, which was posted by Michelle Hu from IT168 on Weibo (a Chinese Twitter clone) this morning, just a few hours before the event's opening keynote is scheduled to begin.

We'll be paying strict attention to BUILD today, so if you're looking for a steady stream of Windows 8 news, stick with us.

UPDATE: Just like Samsung did at Google I/O, the South Korean tech giant is giving 5,000 of these tablets to BUILD attendees today.

Here's the full specs from the picture above, taken from Sinofsky's keynote: 11.6" (1336 x 768) touchscreen, second generation Intel Core i5 processor,4GB DDR3 memory, 64GB SSD storage, USB, MicroSD, HDMI, Pen input, free AT&T 3G for 1 year (2GB per month cap), Windows 8 developer build, and UEFI BIOS (which Michael Angiulo, Corporate Vice President of Windows Planning, Hardware & PC Ecosystem, said posts in three seconds.)

One of the coolest features of this tablet and its desktop dock is that it supports multi-monitor output by default.

Who will buy Samsung Galaxy S II?

Publié: septembre 13, 2011, 2:44am CEST par Joe Wilcox

Close to 50 percent of respondents to a recent Betanews poll said they will buy Samsung's flagship smartphone within 6 months. But the majority -- 40.72 percent -- want the S2 sooner, opting to buy within 3 months. They won't wait much longer. Sprint's Galaxy S II version goes on sale September 16 and AT&T's two days later. I must admit to being tempted to buy myself.

But I'm not enthused with the poll results, just 307 respondents as I post; so the poll is back for new readers to have their say about the other hotly-anticipated smartphone (see, there is mobile life other than iPhone 5). :) I'd like to see a bigger sample before making any grand predictions about who is going to buy this heaping beauty -- 4.3-inch display from AT&T and 4.5-incher from Sprint.

The phones share some things in common: 1.2GHz Samsung Exynos dual-core processor; Super AMOLED display (it's viewable in sunlight); Gorilla glass, 8MP rear-facing and 2MP front-facing cameras; 1080p video recording; 16GB storage (expandable to 32GB with microSD card); Android 2.3; and Samsung's TouchWiz UI -- plus all the expected stuff, like Bluetooth, WiFi, GPS, accelerometer, capacitive touchscreen, etc. Samsung and the carriers are touting 4G, via WiMax for Sprint and 21Mbps HSPA+ for AT&T.

According to Samsung, AT&T's S2 has battery life of (gasp) 3 hours continuous talk time. My God, could that be a typo? By comparison, the larger Epic 4G Touch from Sprint has 8.7 hours battery life with continuous talk time. Surely bigger screen means more battery consumption. But Sprint has chosen a substantially higher-capacity battery -- 1800 mAh, compared to AT&T's 1650 mAh.

Sprint's model, the Epic 4G, sells for $199.99 with two-year contract. If AT&T has released pricing, I can't find it.

Please answer the poll below (if you didn't two weeks ago) and explain your buying intentions in comments -- S2, iPhone 5, something else, nothing else, etc. I'll update poll results sometime in the next week or so.

Samsung Galaxy S II is available internationally and goes on sale in the United States on 9-16-11. Will you buy Galaxy S II?

There's a better way to troubleshoot Win32 crashes

Publié: septembre 12, 2011, 9:58pm CEST par Mike Williams

Figuring out exactly why an application has crashed can be tricky. Especially if you don’t see any useful error messages. And while Windows 7 does its best, the most you’re likely to see -- much, much later -- is a message suggesting that you upgrade to a new version.

Prolific freeware developer Nir Sofer has just released a new tool that can help, however, in WinCrashView. And although it’s targeted at developers and other expert users, anyone may be able to gain some useful crash troubleshooting clues from the data this program has to offer.

Launch WinCrashView and you should immediately see a list of your recent 32-bit application crashes in the upper pane. (It’s empty? Click Options > Show Internal Exceptions. Or, if you use disk cleaning tools, keep in mind that these may delete the crash files, so the program will have nothing to analyse; stop running your disk cleaner for a while, just until you’ve had a chance to examine the files in more detail.)

Select a crash relating to the application you’re worried about, click View > HTML Report, and you’ll see the core information: the crash time and date, application name and version, and so on. The most interesting option here will probably be the exception code and description. Enter these (separately) at Google, along with your application name, to look for similar crash reports.

The next section, “strings in the stack”, will offer clues as to what your processes were doing when the crash occurred. Some of the strings will be meaningless, but others may list file names, web URLs, email addresses and more. Think about how these might relate to what you were doing when the program crashed. If, say, there’s a network file name on the stack, then could your application have problems accessing network shares?

Next up you’ll find a couple of attempts to identify the call stack, essentially a list of the DLLs and other executables that were involved in what was going on at crash time. And you also get the CPU registers, perhaps with pointers to functions which were running when the application crashed; a module displaying the DLLs that were loaded at the time; a section which details all your running threads and what they were doing; and there’s even more stack data to finish.

If you’re a PC novice, then, WinCrashView can at least make it easy to find out the basic details about recent crashes. More experienced users might be able to identify possible causes from the stack data. But the program works best for anyone who regularly has to troubleshoot crashes on other people’s PCs.

In particular, there’s no need to try and remember what crash data is available for the version of Windows you’re using, or how to to find it; just run WinCrashReport from a USB flash drive and it’ll deliver the same detailed report on every edition of Windows from 2000 upwards. The only significant issue right now is that while the program can run on 64-bit Windows, it can only analyse the crashes of 32-bit apps. The author says this may change in future, though, and Nir Sofer is so very prolific that we probably won’t be kept waiting for too long.

AT&T launches 4G Iconia Tab with oldest Honeycomb version

Publié: septembre 12, 2011, 9:34pm CEST par Ed Oswald

AT&T said Monday that it will begin selling the 10.1-inch Acer Iconia Tab A501, becoming the latest 4G-capable device on the carrier's network. Running Android 3.0 "Honeycomb," the tablet will be available in stores beginning on September 18.

As if Android fragmentation wasn't enough already, Android 3.0 puts Iconia behind the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 (with v3.1) and Motorola XOOM (with v3.2), for example. Potential buyers must ask: Which matters more? 4G, or newer Honeycomb?

Customers will have the option to purchase the device outright for $479.99 with no contract agreement, or at $329.99 with a two-year contract which requires a $35 per month plan with 3GB of data.

Other plan options for both prepaid and postpaid customers include a $14.99 monthly 250MB plan and $25 plan for 2GB of data. AT&T offers similar priced plans for iPad 3G customers.

For those wondering, here's the specs, which are the same as the Iconia Tab A500, just adding the HSPA+ radio chip to enable 4G connectivity.

General Model Name: Acer Iconia Tab A501
Network: No Voice Communication, Data Transfers Only, 2G – GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900, 3G & 4G LTE
Size – Dimensions: 260 x 177 x 13.3 mm
Weight: 730 g
Display Type: LCD capacitive touchscreen, 256K colors display
Display Size: 10.1 inches
Display Resolution: 800 x 1280 pixels
CPU: Chipset – Tegra 2, Processor – Dual Core 1GHz
GPS: Yes, with A-GPS (Google Maps with Navigation)
Special Features: Accelerometer Sensor, Proximity Sensor, Gyro sensor, Multi-touch input, HDMI output
Camera: 5 MP, 2592 x 1944 pixels, autofocus, LED flash
Video Recording: Yes, 720p
Others: Secondary 2MP Camera
Features: Speakerphone, 3.5 mm audio jack
Memory: Internal Memory 16 or 32 GB storage, 1 GB DDR2 RAM
Memory Expandable: Yes, up to 32GB (microSD)
Battery Type: Standard battery, Li-Ion 3260 mAh (8hrs Gaming, 10 hrs over Wi-Fi)
Connectivity: GPRS / EDGE Yes / Yes, 3G HSDPA, 7.2 Mbps; HSUPA, 5.76 Mbps
WLAN / Wi-Fi: Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Wi-Fi hotspot
Bluetooth: Yes, v2.1 with A2DP, EDR
USB: Yes V2.0 (Type – microUSB)
Operating System: Android OS, v3.0 (Honeycomb)
Applications/ Organizers: Alarm, Calendar, Calculator, Notes, Google Maps, Latitude, Places
Java: Yes, via 3rd party software
Web Browser: Yes, Wap, HTML, xHTML Rendering
Games: Yes
E-Mail: Email with Push notifications, Gmail, MS Exchange Active Sync

Forget 2012 end of the world, the PC apocalypse comes in 2015

Publié: septembre 12, 2011, 9:14pm CEST par Joe Wilcox

Damn, if only some analyst firm other than IDC supported my long-standing position about cloud-connected mobile devices displacing PCs. After all, I dissed IDC's crazy forecast about Windows Phone being No. 2 smartphone OS in 2015. Now the firm is back with another 2015 prediction, which I must agree with.

Spurred on by smartphone and media tablet adoption, more US Net users will access the Internet through wireless mobile devices than those wired to PCs; within four years. IDC predicts stagnation and then decline in number wired Internet users. Stated another way: Decline of the PC, since -- c`mon -- who really uses one without the Internet.

"Forget what we have taken for granted on how consumers use the Internet", Karsten Weide, IDC research vice president, says in a statement. "Soon, more users will access the Web using mobile devices than using PCs, and it's going to make the Internet a very different place".

Oh yeah? It's going to make the PC a very different place. IDC has lovely timing, dropping this atomic bomb on the eve of Microsoft's BUILD developer conference and coming out party for Windows 8. If tomorrow's keynote demos aren't all about tablets and mobile devices, there's still time to change them! Quick, somebody call Windows & Windows Live president Steven Sinofsky off the stage. It's time to change the keynote rehearsal.

Maybe I can disagree with IDC after all. How could it possibly take that long, given how many Americans already have smartphones, which require data plans. According to comScore, 82.2 Americans aged 13 or older had smartphones at the end of July -- that's 35 percent of all cell phone users. Perhaps it's really a question of replacement, when that tablet -- or, gasp, smartphone -- is good enough to displace your PC.

On Halloween 2008, I asked in a Microsoft Watch post: "Will your next PC be a smartphone?" I've been on a tear about the PC era waning before the cloud-connected mobile device era for years. Feature phones and smartphones are much more personal than are PCs. In March 2010, writing about a prediction made by a Google employee, I followed up with, here at Betanews: "Will the smartphone replace the PC in three years?" My answer was "Yes". Months later, I qualified it by adding tablets to smartphones replacing PCs, something that's already occurring, according to Gartner and IDC.

When will smartphones and tablets displace the PC as primary computing device?

Every time I broach this topic, commenters come out in droves. So to spice it up, let's do a poll to go along with your surely heated comments.

Photo Credit: Lou Oates/Shutterstock

Philadelphia papers court subscribers with $99 Android tablet

Publié: septembre 12, 2011, 8:11pm CEST par Tim Conneally

The Philadelphia Media Network, parent company of the Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Daily News, and Philly.com, on Monday officially announced its program to subsidize Android tablets for newspaper subscribers.

The program first came to light two months ago, when Philadelphia Media Network said it expected to begin a pilot program in August, where it distributed 2,000 Android tablets at a discounted price with each $2.99 weekly subscription to its publications.

Today the company has announced the brand and specs of the Android tablet, the cost, and the cost of the subscription.

The tablet is made by Archos' international brand Arnova. The Arnova 10 G2, a 10.1" (1024 x 600) tablet which has a 1 GHz processor, Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) 4GB of onboard storage, forward-facing VGA chat camera, and support for Flash. It will also come pre-loaded with the new Philadelphia Inquirer Android app.

The tablet will go on sale tomorrow, September 13, and cost as little as $99 with a two-year digital subscription to both The Inquirer and The Daily News, which cost $9.99 per month each, or for a combined $12.99 per month together.

The program is additionally funded (i.e. sponsored) by Main Line Health, Comcast Corporation, and Wells Fargo.

“We are proud to partner with the Philadelphia Media Network on this opportunity to take media and the consumption of it to the next level,” said Henri Crohas, Arnova's President. “This is a partnership that both brands can be proud of as we both continue to push the boundaries of technology with the goal of improving everyday life.”

Windows 7 tablets have a bad rap

Publié: septembre 12, 2011, 7:07pm CEST par Chris Boss

As a software developer I do lots of market research into the current trends of both software and hardware. I read, read, read as much as I can about what is going on in the industry, for starters. There's a whole lot of hype about iPad, and near silence about Windows tablets. But there are plenty of them out there.

Windows 8 will be a boon for tablets, particularly with ARM support and the new Metro UI, but it's still a future release product. Windows 7 is here now. What is its value as a tablet PC operating system? This week, Windows 8 will have big tablet buzz at Microsoft's Windows BUILD conference. Is there really reason to wait? I'd like to offer my impressions of what's here right now, from a developer's viewpoint, about Windows 7 tablets.

Impression #1: Windows Tablets are Seemingly Invisible

When you read the latest online computer tech blogs or magazines you see lots of articles about tablets. There are reviews of tablets, comparisons of them and favorites lists. Generally only Android tablets, like Motorola XOOM or Samsung Galaxy Tab, and iPad 2 are discussed. It's like Windows doesn't exist on tablets.

Part of the problem is target market. Windows tablets are more generally optimized for businesses rather than consumers. But I assure you there are Windows tablets. Just look at some sold by Microsoft at its online store: Acer Iconia Tab W500, Asus Eee Slate, EXOPC Slate, Fujitsu Stylisitic Q550 and Motion Computing CL900 Tablet. Not that you would know from reading the tech news or reviews.

Impression #2: Windows 7 is Backwards Compatible

Whenever you see discussion online about Windows tablets, it usually abounds in comments about what v8 will do for tablets and not about using v7 on them. Chatter will be near-deafening starting tomorrow, when Microsoft formally introduces Windows 8 to developers. While Windows 8 will target tablet PCs better, it's still a long ways from release. Windows 7 is here now, and it offers one fundamental benefit that businesses and developers can depend on: Backwards compatibility.

Microsoft's challenge will be moving Windows forward without abandoning the past investments made by its customers and developers in the operating system. Microsoft isn't rewriting Windows 8 from scratch, but there will be some architectural changes and the new Metro UI. One key question on my mind: how backward compatible will Windows 8 be? Maintaining backwards compatibility is one of the keys to Windows' success story. Given the changes Microsoft is expected to make to Windows 8, more businesses and developers should give more consideration to what Windows 7 already does well on tablets. At the least, the operating system offers assured compatibility with existing applications and hardware.

Impression #3: Intel gets a Bad Rap, Too

Windows is based around Intel CPUs (and x86 competitors like AMD); as mentioned above, Windows 8 will add support for ARM processors. Many technical articles complain about performance problems running Windows 7 on tablet PCs (and netbooks), and authors often blame Intel for the poor performance because of their low-power CPUs (e.g., Atom). Some programmers blame Intel saying the Atom CPU is just too slow to run Windows 7 applications.

That's funny. I have been coding for quite awhile, and I remember writing a complete point of sale and rental software package for a local video store that ran on a Kaypro computer running CPM. There wasn't even a harddrive on the thing and data was stored on 5 1/4 inch floppy disks! Programmers had to learn to optimize their software to get the most out of the hardware and operating system. Funny, I don't see many complaints about coding apps for iPad or smartphones, which also pack low-power processors. It's all a matter of perception.

Today's CPUs -- even the low cost, low-power ones like the Atom -- are amazing little powerhouses. They are extremely fast compared to the CPUs of days gone by. Years ago, one would simply rate a CPU by its speed. A 200-MHz CPU was about twice as fast as a 100-MHz CPU. No longer. Today there are so many factors that effect the speed of a CPU that you get more power from them than you might think.

For example, I recently purchased a netbook that has an Intel SU4100 CPU with a speed of 1.3 GHz I figured it would be slow compared to my current desktop computers. My 8-year old Windows XP computer has a 2.5-GHz CPU and my Vista machine has a 3.6-GHz CPU. It turns out the design of that little 1.3-GHz CPU makes it nearly twice as fast as my desktops. Even the lowly Atom CPUs found in some Windows tablet PCs are about as fast as my older desktop PCs. The problem is not the Intel CPUs but with Windows itself and how applications are written for the operating system (and there, in fairness, is where Windows 8 could have real advantage over Windows 7).

Impression #4: Windows Tablets need Better-Coded Applications

One of the problems inherent to programming is the common mindset of many programmers. Correct me if I am wrong, they tend to always want the leading edge in computer hardware. This means they develop their software, not on the average consumer PC but on computers that, simply put, are "hot rods" compared to the computers you may buy at Walmart. If their software runs slow, they may not optimize it better, but instead they add more memory and faster CPUs to their computers. When that software is released to the public, the system requirements for it go up. Applications drop support for older versions of Windows, and they require more and more RAM.

Remember Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer's rant: "developers, developers, developers, developers". Well, maybe we programmers need to hear "tablet developers, tablet developers, tablet developers, tablet developers". We need to find better ways to write software that matches the small footprint of the average tablet PC running Windows 7.

I recently watched an interesting video online where Microsoft employee developers discussed how they personally are going back to native coding and compiling. Rather than C# (C Sharp) which uses .NET, they are using C++ and the native Windows API. This is where things get interesting. Maybe rather than HTML5 or Javascript, programmers need to go back to native code and native APIs. That's where the speed (and small footprint) lies.

I write software that can run on Windows 95 to Windows 7 (how's that for backward compatibility); the software has so small a footprint it can sometimes fit on a floppy disk. I write software using native APIs, too. The resources of the average Windows 7 tablet PC is far richer than many people might think. Changes need to be made in how we write software for Windows 7 today, rather than wait for Windows 8 to solve all our problems in the future. My business motto (I sell programming tools): "there is no need to wait for Windows 8".

Impression #5: Windows 7 is an appealing Tablet OS

Absolutely! I am not saying that Windows 7 has no weaknesses. Rather, we programmers must take responsibility for the user experience on Windows 7 tablets. The operating system is already an amazingly rich environment to run software. Maybe we programmers need to appreciate that environment more. Also rather than "passing the buck" onto hardware manufacturers like Intel and others, we programmers need to start earning our keep and start writing software that better makes the most out of an already robust operating system. So am I waiting in expectation of what is soon to be revealed about Windows 8? I sure am. Am I waiting for Windows 8 before I start writing software optimized for Windows tablets? Absolutely not. In my opinion, there is "no need to wait for Windows 8".

Photo Credit: Adriano Castelli/Shutterstock.com

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.

7 Windows Phone Mango devices are coming to AT&T: 3 new, 4 upgrades

Publié: septembre 12, 2011, 6:45pm CEST par Tim Conneally

AT&T on Monday announced its complete launch lineup of Windows Phone "Mango" devices, which will include both new hardware and already-released models that will be receiving a software upgrade to the new version of Windows Phone.

"Mango" represents a major upgrade to the Windows Phone platform, and Microsoft in the past said it includes more than 500 new features such as multitasking, improved search, new hubs, and so forth. When the upgrade arrives in the fall, Windows Phone will have been at the bottom of the smartphone popularity ladder for at least six months.

Which Windows Phones will get a Mango update?

AT&T says it will be updating four of its current Windows Phones to Mango "in the fall," with no specific date yet. These include:

HTC HD7S

HTC Surround

LG Quantum

Samsung Focus

Which New Mango Phones will AT&T be getting?

Two weeks ago, Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC announced two new Mango phones, Titan and Radar. AT&T today announced the 4.7" HTC Titan will be one of the new Mango devices it will carry. The HTC Titan ousts the 4.5" Samsung Infuse as the largest smartphone in AT&T's repertoire.

The other two Mango phones will both come from Smartphone leader Samsung, the Focus S and Focus Flash. Focus S has a 4.3" Super AMOLED Plus display, a 1.4 GHz processor, "4G" (HSPA+) connectivity, a front facing 1.3 megapixel chat cam and a standard 8 megapixel camera.

Samsung's Focus Flash has slightly smaller size and more modest features, including a 3.7" Super AMOLED screen, 1.4 GHz processor and a 5-megapixel camera with front-facing VGA chat camera.

The entire lineup is expected in the fall, and AT&T will remain in the position of top Windows Phone supporter.

Last but not least, Dolphin Browser comes to iPad

Publié: septembre 12, 2011, 5:01pm CEST par Tim Conneally

In late August, software developers MoboTap released Dolphin, the popular browser formerly exclusive to the Android platform, on iOS. Today, the tablet-specific version called Dolphin Browser HD is available for free in the iTunes App store.

Though Dolphin has a number of useful browser features such as tabs, sidebars, speed dial, desktop mode, and auto-completing URLS, there are two features that make this browser remarkable: Gesture browsing and Webzine mode, which launched on Android back in July.

Dolphin Webzine should be an easy concept to grasp for anyone who has followed the transition of print media as it embraces the mobile tablet. Webzine mode automatically reformats websites in a paginated "tablet magazine" format like Flipboard, Zite, The Daily, Livestand, and Google Catalogs. Dolphin includes Webzine links to Twitter, Facebook, Techcrunch, Wall Street Journal, and Wired, but lets users select from a long list of approved sites to add to their reading list.

Gesture browsing is probably the most noteworthy feature of Dolphin, it lets users assign actions to gestures they draw on their tablet screen. By default, there are nine gestures programmed into Dolphin: load URL, forward, back, refresh, go to top, go to bottom, new tab, and add bookmark.

Users simply click on the "Gestures" button to launch the recognition screen and enter their input. It's quite a novel workaround to the onscreen keyboard and changes the browsing experience significantly. There are 19 pre-defined actions that can be added to gestures, and any number of linked URLs could also be assigned to gestures.

Gave up Microsoft Outlook but need your PST file? There's an app for that

Publié: septembre 12, 2011, 4:32pm CEST par Nick Peers

Microsoft Outlook is undoubtedly a powerful app, with its feature set going beyond that of a mere email manager to encompass contacts, calendars and other organizational tools. Everything you do in Outlook is stored in your own personal PST file, but what happens if you find yourself locked out of your PST file, or Outlook no longer recognizes the file?

In extreme cases -- say, you ditched Outlook for another email program -- you may need to refer back to your old email messages, but without Outlook you’re unable to open the PST file. What then? The solution lies in using a free tool called Kernel Outlook PST Viewer.

Fire up the app, and either load or search for your chosen PST file. Many people have just the one, others utilize multiple files. Either way, Kernel Outlook PST Viewer will allow you to access each and every one, without Outlook being present (if Outlook is present, make sure it’s not running when you launch the program).

Once a file has been opened, you can browse its contents using a similar interface than that found in Outlook itself. Everything can be seen, from emails (organized into their usual folders) to contact lists and calendar entries.

What you will notice, however, is the lack of any editing or exporting tools, and that’s because there are none. This is a pure viewer utility, so while you can browse the contents of your PST file you can’t do anything with the content you find: that means no copying and pasting of emails or email addresses, and no previewing or exporting of file attachments.

Kernel Outlook PST Viewer is largely designed to let you peek into the contents of your PST file, with the idea you’d then explore Lepide Software’s paid-for recovery products if you needed them. But if you simply want to refer back to a past email in a PST file with no access to Outlook it works a treat.

Kernel Outlook PST Viewer is a freeware download for PCs running Windows 2000 or later. It can handle PST files from any version of Outlook from 97 onwards.

O&O DiskImage Professional 6: Very capable but slightly limited backups

Publié: septembre 12, 2011, 3:47pm CEST par Nick Peers

The importance of backing up your data, settings and even your entire hard drive is finally starting to hit home. With the comprehensive backup tools supplied in Windows 7 and high-end versions of Vista, you may think Microsoft has you covered, but it seems third-party vendors still have different ideas.

O&O’s entry into the backup marked is a drive-imaging tool designed to back up your entire hard drive. Version 6 also adds an option for backing up individual files, so the question is, does it contain everything you need to back up your computer?

A Friendlier Approach

Past versions of O&O DiskImage, while perfectly usable in themselves, didn’t exactly garner a reputation for being beginner-friendly. Version 6 attempts to widen DiskImage’s appeal by making things simpler and more intuitive to use. This includes a one-click option to image your entire hard drive when the program first runs, plus a small Help label in the bottom left of the main screen aims to provide pertinent information about what to do when each option is selected.

Also new to version 6 is the Control Center, which shows you a graphic listing which hard drives have yet to be imaged or haven’t been backed up in a while, complete with an option to rectify that with a single click.

DiskImage 6 can now be operated in "express" mode, taking up minimal screen space.

While welcome, however, DiskImage is still not a package for novices. Anyone experienced with drive-imaging tools will know where to start and what to do, but beginners will quickly find themselves overwhelmed by the jargon being displayed, reinforcing the fact that DiskImage is very much aimed at the more professional or technically proficient user.

New Features

One of the biggest criticisms of DiskImage in the past is its relative lack of features compared to the competition. Perhaps mindful of this, one of the biggest new additions to DiskImage’s armory is the inclusion of a file backup option, allowing you to select specific files and folders to back up individually. It’s reasonably straightforward to use: select your chosen files and folders by ticking them, then choose an output folder (your backup drive), set any options you wish to take and off you go.

The problem is, it’s not as intuitive as it should be: there’s an incremental option for future backups that will reduce the overall backup size as changes are updated, but you have to take a full backup first before you can use it. And while you can schedule your backups to run automatically, you have to visit a completely different part of the program (Jobs and Reports) to set it up.

It all adds up to an option, while welcome, that needs a lot of work before it can rival similar offerings from other products. We’d like to see options for automating backups of emails and selected program settings, for example, while advanced users might like to include selected Registry entries too.

One good thing about file backup is that you can restore your files outside of O&O DiskImage -- the files are stored in the BZIP2 format, which can be read by archive tools like WinZip and IZArc, meaning you can restore your files without having to install the program first.

Forensic Imaging

O&O boasts two potentially useful drive imaging options, forensic and direct forensic, in addition to the complete, differential and incremental options found in most competing products. These are set by clicking the Options button when setting up your image.

The regular forensic option is for those who want to image a drive containing lost or deleted data they wish to try and recover at a later date. It makes an exact sector-by-sector copy of the drive, which can then be mounted in Windows via O&O DiskImage’s Tools button and accessed using data recovery tools in the hope of restoring data.

The second option is “direct forensic” -- this enables you to back up (and restore) encrypted drives, something that is normally beyond the ability of most drive imaging tools. It won’t appeal to everyone, but along with the standard forensic option is a welcome addition, particularly if you have security issues to consider.

Performance and Stability

One of DiskImage’s selling points is that it images hard drives substantially quicker than the opposition. It seems slightly quicker, but on one of our test machines performance could be best described as temperamental, hanging whenever we attempted to do anything else during the imaging process. However, on our second machine it worked flawlessly in the background as well went about our daily tasks, highlighting the importance of keeping your PC well maintained.

Addressing Other Concerns

Previous versions of the software have also been criticised for the relatively poor performance of the emergency recovery disc. This is supplied as standard if you purchase a boxed version, but if you purchase the program as a download you’ll be emailed a download link to the tool that will create your own.

It’s a slightly convoluted process, involving downloading the Windows AIK, but the good news is that this new version creates smaller recovery discs based on Windows 7, so should address some of the compatibility issues of earlier versions. It also allows you to create a recovery USB stick instead of the CD too.

Other new features include the ability to mount and browse ISO images in the same way standard disk images can be mounted, plus you can now convert Virtual PC (VHD) disks to and from O&O drive images. Both are useful additions, but won’t appeal to a major audience.

Conclusion

O&O DiskImage Professional 6 is a very capable, but slightly limited, tool for backing up your computer. It does offer more functionality than the standard Windows 7 imaging options, and there are some welcome additions in this latest version: forensic imaging and a slightly more intuitive interface. But it’s still very much a work in progress, although if O&O can significantly improve the file backup tool and simplify the user interface even further, it could have a true crossover hit on its hands in the future.

The software is available for Windows XP, Vista and 7 and retails for $29.

We need an international police force to fight cybercrime

Publié: septembre 12, 2011, 3:30pm CEST par Mikko Hypponen

In the real world, you only have to worry about the criminals who live in your city. But in the online world, you have to worry about criminals who could be on the other side of the planet. Online crime is always international because the Internet has no borders.

Today computer viruses and other malicious software are no longer written by hobbyist hackers seeking fame and glory among their peers, but by professional criminals who are making millions with their attacks. These criminals want access to your computer, your Paypal passwords and your credit card numbers.

Criminal online gangs recruit people with high level computing skills but no job opportunities in the real-world economy. There is now a global market for sinister crimeware -- viruses, worms, trojans, spyware -- that is produced and sold on underground market sites on the Web.

The international community has failed to address the real nature and extent of the problem. National police forces and legal systems are finding it extremely difficult to keep up with the rapid growth of online crime. They have limited resources and expertise to investigate online criminal activity. The victims, police, prosecutors and judges rarely uncover the full scope of the crimes that often take place across international boundaries. Action against the criminals is too slow, the arrests are few and far between, and too often the penalties are very light, especially compared with those attached to real-world crimes.

Virtual Gunman roam Free

We are sending the wrong message to the criminals and that's why online crime is growing so fast. Right now would-be online criminals can see that the likelihood of their getting caught and punished is vanishingly small, yet the profits are great.

If a gunman walks into a bank and demands cash, the police are ready to leap into action. If international borders are crossed during such a crime, the international police agencies become involved. If the gunman is caught, there is always a trial and the bank will push the prosecutor for the maximum penalties possible.

This is not the case with online crime. Virtual gunmen are free to roam with almost nobody to stop them. Online crime is always international but local police authorities usually only have their local resources to conduct the investigation. Online crime is easier to carry out than "offline" crime and costs less to get started.

Computer security companies are doing their best to protect their customers' computers but little can be done directly by non-governmental organizations to fight the criminals at the heart of the matter. Anti-virus companies are not law enforcement, nor should they be. Tackling online crime requires a serious investment of resources on the international level and expert law enforcement agencies need to follow criminals into the online world.

Traditionally, international law enforcement has focused on large international crimes such as drug trafficking or smuggling. Countries involved in investigations like these can easily see the value of catching such criminals.

Cops and Robbers

However, online crime is typically composed of small individual crimes. The attackers don't hack the bank, they hack the bank's customers. One victim might lose a few hundred dollars from his or her bank account. Starting an international investigation looks like overkill and thus getting international cooperation might be difficult. The problem is, of course, that there is more than one victim. A banking trojan botnet might steal money from tens of thousands of people at the same time.

What we need is an international police force with the enforcement power to really target the organized crime that operates on the net. It would investigate the top of the crimeware food chain and track down the people who are running the online crime syndicates. Each member country would be required to co-operate with others, regardless of the apparent size of the crime.

Of course, establishing such a new force would mean a number of legal challenges. For example, malicious code is often created in countries where it is not even illegal or where the perpetrators are not prosecuted.

In my opinion, such an agency should focus only on fighting international malware crime gangs. If it would try to extend to other areas, such as fighting pirates or hactivists, things would get much more complicated. Nobody wants banking trojan gangs around, and we should focus on this problem. The last thing I'd want is some sort of a net police that would try to restrict the freedom of the net. This very freedom is the reason the Internet has become as useful as it is.

But we need to take action now. If we don't, online crime will continue to grow stronger and we might risk losing all the great benefits the Net has brought to us. Our generation is the first generation that got online. We should make sure this resource will stay around for future generations.

Photo Credit: ostill/Shutterstock

Windows better protects apps, users from rogue DigiNotar certificates

Publié: septembre 12, 2011, 8:30am CEST par Larry Seltzer

It's received wisdom in software development generally that you don't write your own code when a perfectly good implementation is there for the taking. It's the old saw about reinventing the wheel. But it's especially true of cryptographic code. Windows programs that utilized the OS standard crypto functions got fast and automatic protection from the rogue certificates distributed during the DigiNotar scandal.

Over the last couple weeks, as stories about the hacking of certificate authority DigiNotar increased, various companies retracted their trust and the Dutch government stepped in. Given that the criminal who did the hacking announced the fact, it was potentially too late for anyone to protect themselves, but still time is of the essence in such matters.

Mozilla issued updates to the supported versions of their products to remove DigiNotar from the trust lists. So did Adobe and, eventually, Apple, although only for OS X and not yet (as of Sunday night) for iOS, so iPhones and iPads remain trusting -- and that means of some rogue certificates; more than 500 were issued.

But Microsoft moved fastest, and the scope of its fix was much wider than is generally appreciated. "On August 29, 2011, Microsoft removed the trust from one DigiNotar root certificate by updating the Microsoft CTL." The Microsoft CTL or Certificate Trust List is a list of trusted and untrusted certificates maintained online by Microsoft. It acts as a backup certificate trust check to the rules in the Windows Certificate applet.

All Windows apps on Vista, Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2 that use standard Windows APIs for cryptography get checks against the CTL for free. The list is dynamically fetched under a number of circumstances, mostly when a new root certificate is encountered while checking a server certificate, but also once per week by default. This means that users Windows crypto apps on those systems were protected as soon as Microsoft made this change on their list. Automatically. Microsoft later issued an actual update to Windows systems to mark the DigiNotar certificates as Untrusted to cover Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 users and on later Windows versions just as another defense-in-depth measure.

The CTL change protected Internet Explorer users, but it also protected a lot of third-party apps. Google Chrome and Apple Safari on Windows were both protected earlier on Windows (Vista/7) than on any other platform.

I asked Alun Jones of Texas Imperial Software, which creates and sells secure Windows software, mostly secure FTP, about crypto programming for Windows. Jones chose SChannel (COM interfaces for TLS/SSL) for WFTPD Pro rather than OpenSSL for a few reasons:

* He doesn't have to keep supplying updated libraries to his users (if they stay up to date with Windows they are up to date with SChannel).

* The certificate store is controlled by Group Policy and is global to the computer, rather than specific to his application.

* The CryptoAPI and SChannel was (at the time) slightly better documented than OpenSSL. Now, of course, their documentation is much better than OpenSSL's.

I have to say that the one time I tried to do something non-trivial with OpenSSL I was dismayed by the documentation. I suspect that most developers have to go ask questions on mailing lists and such to do complex things. But don't read this praise of Windows Crypto as condemnation of OpenSSL. It's high-quality software depended on by many respectable companies; in fact, indirectly at least, almost everyone on the Internet relies on OpenSSL.

And using standard libraries is no guarantee of bug-free crypto code; you can still make your own SSL-related mistakes. According to Jones "a relatively recent example is the renegotiation attacks against web servers (including IIS), where the web server would treat some information sent before the SSL renegotiation as if it was authenticated by SSL."

If major web servers were making these mistakes then surely less-experienced developers do it all the time. But certainly your code will be safer using standard crypto libraries, especially those on Windows.

Photo Credit: Andrea Danti/Shutterstock

There was no Facebook, Twitter or YouTube on 9-11

Publié: septembre 11, 2011, 7:05pm CEST par Joe Wilcox

Today, around the globe, people are, sadly, commemorating the 10th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. In posting my remembrance, I got to thinking how much has changed technologically and how much circumstances could have been different that day if the resources we take for granted now were available then.

Advanced communications technology of the day was the cell phone, which people trapped in the Twin Towers used to reach family and friends. The cell phone helped warn passengers of United Airlines 93 about the other hijackings. The heroes of that flight sacrificed their lives to save many others. That couldn't have been possible without the cell phone. But what if the people living in 2001 could have used social services widely available today to warn others or offer dramatic, first-hand accounts, photos and videos of events as they unfolded. The historical record -- and tribute to the lives lost that tragic day -- would be much different.

The most dramatic technological changes occurred not during the last 10 years but the last five. Consider YouTube, which is now very much a part of global culture. Its influence is seemingly everywhere. But YouTube only opened to the public in November 2005. Google bought YouTube about 11 months later -- less than five years ago. Twitter also debuted in 2006, but didn't reach mass awareness for another three years. Facebook opened to the public in 2006, as well. The majority of the most popular or growing popular tools for community and self expression launched within the last five years: Disqus, Google+, tumblr, Qik and USTREAM, among many, many others.

For all the babble about iPhone, it's a recent invention, debuting just four years ago. Apple's App Store came in 2008, as did Google's Android and Chrome browser. The list of services that people use to connect are, for the most part, just five years old. The first real sense of what the tools could mean for connecting people, getting out information and even how it's reported the world over came in summer 2009 -- just two years ago -- on the streets of Tehran. The best reporting on the Iranian protests wasn't from CNN or many news organizations but Flickr, Twitpic, Twitter and YouTube. Tweets, images and videos poured out in real time. Where did CNN get some of its best material? Citizen journalists, like this story and images from CNN’s citizen-driven iReport.

But the videos, captured by compact digital cameras and cell phones, told the most dramatic stories. Example: This 40-second video of young woman, Neda Soltan, dying. It’s seared into my psyche, like the image of the student standing before tanks in Tiananmen Square a decade ago. The video is raw and unfiltered. It’s the kind of footage that only a few years ago professional news organizations could capture and broadcast, and there would have been tight control over when and how it was broadcast and copyrights against redistribution. Now, people can self-broadcast to YouTube.

The recent wave of protests sweeping Northern Africa and the Middle East were similarly documented and even coordinated. Some countries shut down or sought to limit Internet access, in attempts to control information's flow and prevent protesters from communicating with one another -- in Algeria, Egypt and Syria, for example. Look how well-documented was the Japanese earthquake and Tsunami, such as these videos posted to YouTube.

I can't help but wonder what the availability of these tools might have meant 10 years ago today. What if people trapped above the raging fires where the planes impacted the Twin Towers could have posted last-minute photos (via service like TwitPic) or videos (to YouTube). Messages to friends and family -- and to everyone trying to cope with national trauma. Forensic investigators could have used the videos to better reconstruct what happened to the towers and when, as they sought to understand what brought the towers down and what changes should be applied to future buildings.

What if because of Facebook Wall Posts or tweets, more people rushed to get out of the towers faster. Confusion and miscommunications during the early minutes after each plane's impact kept many people in place. Sure there were text messages, but many Facebookers are obsessive about checking their mobiles. Many people follow breaking news events on Twitter. Many more lives could have been saved, if people had this information in hand on their mobiles.

What ifs are pointless, I know. But they mean something for now and the future. I'm glad we have these social media tools. Humanity is closer because of them, and news of disasters or other important events travel faster now than five years ago and certainly a decade ago this on this tragic day.

Photo Credit: Ken Tannenbaum/Shutterstock

A 9-11 remembrance

Publié: septembre 11, 2011, 6:04pm CEST par Joe Wilcox

Ten years ago this morning, my wife remarked about the perfect fall day. Clear skies, low humidity and freshness in the air. Washington, DC hadn't seen such a refreshing day in months. The sweltering heat and humidity gave way to autumn's charms.

Around 9:20 a.m. ET, I checked the headlines at Washington Post. I had been online for hours, but not looking at local news. I was writing a news story for CNET. Across the top of the page was a one liner about an airplane striking the World Trade Center. We naturally assumed a small plane had struck one of the towers. While I looked for more details online, Anne checked CNN and gasped in the living room. I walked out to see video of both towers aflame. This was no small plane incident.

Events unfolded in rapid succession. Within minutes, the Pentagon was in flames; separately, the President talked about terrorist attacks. By the time we learned about the Pentagon, news reports clearly indicated that airliners had struck both towers. We figured this had to be the case in Virginia at the Pentagon. About 25 minutes after we first learned about the devastation at the Twin Towers, a plane crashed in Pennsylvania -- fourth highjack of the morning.

I flipped from channel to channel, riveted to the news coverage, but found MSNBC to be most useful. We watched in awe and confusion when the first tower collapsed. “Oh my, God! It’s gone,” my wife gasped; she's a New Jersey native, and The World Trade Center had more personal meaning for her. Neither of us could believe the tower had collapsed. My stricken wife went out for a walk and so didn’t see the second tower fall.

About a year earlier, a good friend of ours relocated from Takoma Park, Md. to northern New Jersey; he had taken a job with the Federal Communications Commission in New York, where he worked at Seven World Trade Center. We called his wife and learned that he had left the building, which collapsed later that day, and started walking out of New York.

I struggled to get work stuff done for about 10 days following the terrorist attacks. I wasn’t depressed or even frightened. I personally felt that death and devastation -- like the extension of a humankind psyche had been wounded. But something else: We knew people personally impacted both in New York and Northern Virginia.

We really all are connected, in more obvious ways than we realize. There’s a concept called “six degrees of separation”, which Hungarian writer Frigyes Karinthy proposed in the 1929 short story “Chains.” The concept proposes that no two people are separated by more than five intermediaries, which works out to six degrees of separation. Long ago, I realized there is the "9-11 degrees of separation". You don't have to go too far from your circle of family or friends to find someone impacted by the terrorist attacks 10 years ago today.

Photo Credit: US Department of Defense

Released this week: 29 must-see downloads

Publié: septembre 10, 2011, 6:05pm CEST par Mark Wilson

This has been another busy week in the world of software releases, and there has been more news than normal in the field of security; both AVG and Norton products have been unveiled. AVG Internet Security 2012 is a step up from the free antivirus tool that many people will be familiar with, adding a number of handy protection tools to the equation including parental controls and online backup. Anyone looking for extra security, should look no further than the premium version of the program which offers protection against identity theft as well as system tuning tools.

AVG also updated its flagship virus protection software, AVG Anti-Virus -- both the free and paid-for versions, with the latter providing additional checks for downloaded files amongst other things – and there is now a strong focus on minimizing the use of system resources whilst maintaining security. The company’s Rescue CD app, designed to fix problems with unbootable system, was also update, including the USB flash drive version.

But security news is about more than AVG -- the 2012 range of Norton security products was also released. Norton Anti-Virus 2012 is now faster and sleeker than previous versions of the app, while still offering great levels of protection. The cloud philosophy is used in the Download Insight 2.0 feature to share details about potential dangerous files between Norton users, while the full security suite Norton Internet Security 2012 features an updated firewall and the same refined interface and improved performance.

It doesn’t end there. The free avast! anti –virus software was also updated, as was its paid-for big brother avast! Internet Security. So whether you are looking for free security software for your computer, or you are willing to part with a few cents, there is plenty to choose from at the moment. Tackling security from a different angle is the updated version of O&O DiskImage which hit version 6. The latest enhancements include the option to backup individual files while the Machine Independent Restore feature enables you to restore a backup to a new computer, and you now have the ability to created backups of virtual partitions.

Moving away from security software, Screenshot Captor was updated to show that taking a screenshot can be much improved if you move away from simply pressing Prnt Scr. Converting videos and audio files can be a painfully time-consuming and complicated process, potentially involving the use of several different tools. The updated Free Studio, however, helps to make things easy as possible by bundling a whole load of converters into one handy tool. If you’re looking to convert video to watch on your iPod or PSP, or you like the idea of creating a DVD from YouTube footage, look no further.

If you like the idea of getting creative, Corel PaintShop Photo Pro X4 is a cut above the competition. There are more than 75 improvements and new features in total, including a redesigned workspace that makes it easier to work the way you find best -- the addition of dual monitor support is something that will be welcomed by graphic workers everywhere.

IObit Uninstaller 2.0 has been released to make it easier than ever to remove unwanted software from your hard drive. The Forced Uninstall option makes it possible to wipe out even the most troublesome of programs, while the dedicated Toolbar section enables you to quickly find out what unwanted add-ons you have to remove. There is also a portable version of the app available for use on the move.

Finally, a number of updates to the major web browsers. Chrome 13 FINAL, Chrome Portable 13, Chrome 14 beta, Chrome Portable 14 beta, Chrome 15 dev, Firefox 6.0.2 FINAL, Firefox Portable 6.0.2, Firefox 7.0 beta 4, Firefox Portable 7 beta 4 and Opera Portable 11.51 were all updated in the last week. Opera Next v12.00 (build 1060) is an early preview of the next generation Opera, whilst Maxthon 3.17.1000, a web browser that mixes the best of Chrome and Internet Explorer, was made available. If you’re a Chrome fan, make sure you check out Comodo Dragon 13.2.

5 Things Microsoft should do at BUILD

Publié: septembre 10, 2011, 4:37am CEST par Joe Wilcox

Can you hear it? Can you hear it coming? Microsoft's Windows developer conference is almost here. BUILD kicks off September 13 in Anaheim, Calif., and it's going to be big, big, BIG. Microsoft will give Windows 8 its formal unveiling -- everything else before was just movie previews. No new Windows version is really official until Microsoft presents it to developers.

But there's more. Microsoft moved its annual Financial Analyst Meeting from July to September, coinciding with BUILD. It's a colossally smart move. Wall Street geeks and technophobes will have chance to get caught up in the energy and enthusiasm of Windows 8 -- and Windows Phone "Mango", too. Microsoft really needs to energize analysts about these products and how they're not so much the past but vital forces for the so-called post-PC era.

I present five things Microsoft should do next week. These aren't recommendations, since it's too close to BUILD for Microsoft to follow my lowly advice. It's what I expect from Microsoft, if the Windows operating system teams hope to churn up the kind of positive reaction that can ignite developers and spread the fire to Windows enthusiasts and customers.

1. Give everyone Windows 8 slates. No developer, no financial analyst, no news media attendee should leave BUILD without an ultraportable or tablet PC running Windows 8 beta. Hell, Google gave participants to its I/O developer conference Samsung Chromebooks and Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablets. Microsoft should do even better.

There's precedent. PDC 2009 developer attendees received free thin-and-light laptops designed by Microsoft and Acer. These portables were reference designs for developing apps. Microsoft should do at least the same next week.

"Windows 8 slates are great". Now there's a slogan.

2. Give all participants Mango smartphones. Why stop at ultrabooks or tablets? The first Mango smartphones are ready to ship, and Microsoft needs to rally developers. What? Microsoft should let its core use iPhones or Androids? Hell, no! Give developers phones and free cellular and data service for a year, if they personally use them. Make it hard to say no. Some wonky bloggers will scream "Bribery!" Frak them. Windows Phone is part of a larger Microsoft ecosystem of products and services (see #3).

3. Introduce a new far-reaching strategy: "Three screens and a cloud" Catchy, eh? For years Microsoft has talked about its three-screen and cloud strategies, separately and loosely connected. With the development and platform changes coming next week, Microsoft should formally and exactly tie together three screens and the cloud.

It's clear that when looking at XNA, HTML5 and other technologies, Microsoft is rapidly unifying development around Windows 8, Windows Phone, Xbox and its cloud services. The vision must be communicated with absolute clarity and certainty next week, as much for financial analysts as anyone else. They have to see the vision of the Microsoft connected lifestyle. Too many of them drank the Apple Kool-Aid. Don't believe that? Count how many analysts will be carrying iPhones and MacBook Airs or Pros next week.

4. Unveil a unified Windows marketplace, one place for apps of all varieties -- cloud productivity, Internet Explorer 9, Windows Phone, Windows 7/8 and Xbox. Microsoft must present to developers and customers a connected business and personal lifestyle. A unified app store should be one of the experience's pillars. Developers get the convenience and assured revenue confidence/piracy protection from a single, unified market for all Microsoft platforms.

5. Debut Metro OS. One of Windows 8's most exciting new benefits is the tile-like Metro desktop UI, which is optimized for touchscreens. But behind it remains Windows legacy code for the seemingly zillions of enterprises and developers needing support for existing apps. Why not break out Metro instead, as a separate operating system? It would be much more than a Windows lite or embedded but much less than the legacy operating system.

Now that Windows will support ARM processors, Metro OS could be adapted for all kinds of touchscreen devices, everything from ATMs, to retail kiosks to tablets. Sure, Microsoft has Windows embedded, but Metro OS would be better because of the emphasis on touch. These third-party products could help sell Windows, too, because people would become used to the tile motif everywhere.

Metro OS also could extinguish Chrome OS. Google's browser-based operating system has merit, but the motif is archaic in a touchscreen world. HTML5 already is core to Microsoft's development approach for Metro UI. How hard would it really be for Metro OS to push Chrome OS into the waste bin?

MimoPlug: The touchscreen is a feature, not the main driver

Publié: septembre 10, 2011, 2:56am CEST par Tim Conneally

REVIEW: To me, plug computers are exciting because they can perform low-to-mid-level computational functions at an extremely low overall energy cost. They are sort of like fanless PC's of the smallest order...General purpose computers that have the small physical and ecological footprints of embedded systems without the usage case limitations.

A couple of months ago, the people at Mimo Monitors released a bundle called MimoPlug that combined a touchscreen version of their famous USB mini-monitor with an equally miniature plug computer based upon Marvell's SheevaPlug platform that booted Debian off of an included SD card.

I was naturally intrigued by this package because:

1.) Mimo Monitors are cool.
2.) Ultra energy efficient computers are cool.
3.) Mimo looked to be taking a more PC-like approach to plug computing than other companies had previously done.

So the people at Mimo were nice enough to let me try one of these systems for myself, and I quickly learned that despite the touchscreen monitor and touchscreen Linux distro it ran, this is still VERY MUCH A PLUG COMPUTER.

That is to say, you're going to want to access it remotely with a nice, solid keyboard, set up your desired touchscreen applications, and then let it do its touchscreen thing.

I say this for several reasons. First, the default touchscreen keyboard is seismically slow. If you tap a letter on the on-screen keyboard, it takes no fewer than three seconds for the input to be recognized. Then when you log in, you are presented with the option of having a much more responsive persistent keyboard onscreen. But with it up, it obscures just about half of the 7" screen, and sometimes you can't see what you're typing.

Secondly, it's set up with a standard gnome desktop that responds to touch input, yet is not optimized for a touchscreen.

You know how your standard desktop OS (no matter which one it is) pushes all the important stuff to the edges of the screen to give you maximum workspace? Imagine that with a touchscreen, where you have to accurately touch the tiny margins where the edge of the screen hits the monitor bezel to pull up your important menus...It's pretty dumb.

So even though the actual GUI runs at a fast clip and reacts much, much more agreeably than the onscreen keyboard, it's not touch-friendly by default at all.

I tried my best to do everything through the GUI, as I thought it was designed to be used, but after pecking through the tiny keyboard for a while, I found myself desperately wishing I had a Mini USB keyboard (because that was the only free port left on the plug).

Call me old fashioned, but how can you base a system on a Linux distro and then make it extra difficult to use the command line?

I got the feeling that this isn't really how the system should ideally be run, and the existence of an onboard GUI is more or less a feature meant to be exploited by graphical applications rather than being the main driver of the system. It's just too clunky and weird to be primary input.

Mimo says the plugs are "great for a range of cloud computing applications -- from retail kiosks and application stations, to manufacturing and remote network monitoring." So I came away with the feeling that even though this has all the trappings of a tiny touch PC, it's really best suited as the embedded controller of single-purpose touch-based software.

For home users, this could mean management for network audio and entertainment systems, home automation (I imagine graphical dimmer switches), serving network attached storage or printers, or home security.

And of course, there's always using it to water your plants.

The package I played with costs $419 at retail. It seems kind of steep, but the expense is somewhat offset by the fact that you can use the 7" (800 x 400) touchscreen Mimo monitor with whatever PC you want to. Sold individually, the monitor is $139, exactly one third of the price of the whole package, and if purchased individually through NewIT (Mimo's UK partner), the plug and GUI SD would cost $185. So if you think plug computing is cool, too...you can assemble this setup yourself and save a couple of bucks in the process.

Imitate Windows 8 with Mosaic Desktop

Publié: septembre 10, 2011, 2:22am CEST par Mark Wilson

As the launch of Windows 8 draws closer and closer, and increasingly tantalising details creep out about the operating system, the number of tools that enable you to mimic the look or copy the features of the next version of Windows also increases. One such tool is Mosaic Desktop. which enables you to bring the look of the redesign to your Windows 7 computer.

The tiled interface can be used to display a range of information -- from the date and time to the state of your inbox. There are a number of tiles that can be added to the interface, some of which show information about your computer, while other pull in information from the Internet. In order to add new tiles to the basic set that is included by default, you need to pay a visit to the Mosaic ‘store’.

Here you can choose from tiles that provide access to the Control Panel or the desktop, make it easy to interact with your Hotmail or Gmail accounts, or keep an eye on the weather. Mosiac Desktop can also be used as a launcher tool, as it is possible to add program and web site shortcuts to the interface to provide easy access to those that you use most frequently.

It is worth bearing in mind that this is beta software, and in tests it did prove to be a little unstable at time. That said, if you just can’t get enough of Windows 8, it is worth taking a look at and keeping an eye open for future updates.

You can find out more and download a free copy of the tool by paying a visit to the Mosaic Desktop review page.

German ban on Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 sticks

Publié: septembre 9, 2011, 6:58pm CEST par Tim Conneally

Two weeks ago, German courts awarded Apple with a preliminary injunction on Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1, saying the tablet looked too much like the Community Design for handheld computers Apple registered with the European Union (shown above, Design Number 000181607-0001). Friday, that preliminary injunction was upheld in Düsseldorf regional court by Judge Johanna Brueckner-Hofmann.

The ban does not even consider the software or technology behind the two devices, and really only pertains to the design of the chassis, which Brueckner-Hofmann reportedly described as "minimalist" and "modern."

German newspaper Der Spiegel said today that Samsung used early Galaxy Tab form study prototypes to prove that its design actually pre-dated Apple's 2004 EU filing, but the court was unconvinced.

Though Apple and Samsung are battling over the design in 19 countries, this ban only applies to Samsung's German subsidiary, and even then, it's far from over. Samsung has the option to appeal the ruling in the upper regional court of Düsseldorf (Oberlandesgericht Düsseldorf) and attempt to overturn the ban.

Sprint offers the best mobile data value, study says

Publié: septembre 9, 2011, 6:51pm CEST par Ed Oswald

If you’re a data-heavy smartphone user, you belong on Sprint. That’s the findings of Validas, a company that specializes in tools to analyze cellular plan usage and spending. The average Sprint user spends about eight cents per megabyte, Validays says, which equals 12.5 megabytes for every $1 of data.

Sprint's numbers may be skewed though: its customers enjoy unlimited data plans, and a larger number are on its 4G network. Both factors likely contribute to higher data usage overall.

The worst deal in cellular data may surprise you, though. It’s actually T-Mobile, whose 23 cents per megabyte rate comes the worst of the big four. That equals about 4.3MB per $1 of data. While the carrier offers the least expensive data plans, T-Mobile’s coverage issues probably contribute to less data being used by its customers, resulting in higher overall data cost.

AT&T and Verizon are in the middle of the pack, with the former coming in at 18 cents per megabyte, and the latter 20 cents per megabyte.

"We think a usability issue like this may speak to a main reason why so many people are clearly not using nearly as much data as they’re buying: it’s not that people don’t want to use the data–it’s that they’re hampered by slow network speeds", the company said of the results in a blog post.

A year later, Bing+Yahoo still treading water against Google

Publié: septembre 9, 2011, 6:38pm CEST par Ed Oswald

It has been a year since Bing began powering search results for Yahoo. That pairing has done little to increase the overall market share of Microsoft's search engine entrant, increasing only four percent during the period.

In an even starker example of Bing's troubles, it still lags behind Yahoo in terms of searches launched directly from bing.com. A larger portion of Bing's overall share still comes from Yahoo, Experian Hitwise has found.

Google's search share in August was 65.09 percent, down a little under one percent from the previous month and down from 71.59 percent a year ago. Bing's total searches rose to 28.99 percent, up from a combined 24.56 percent one year ago.

Searches from yahoo.com itself made up 15.89 percent of that number, while Bing searches coming from bing.com made up 13.10 percent.

While it is clear that having Yahoo under Bing's belt is helping Microsoft overall, it appears as if overall consumers are still reluctant to make a change in their search habits.

Bing is also fighting a losing battle against Google in mobile search: Windows Phone continues to struggle against both iOS and Android, which default to Google for web searches.

As more consumers turn to their mobile devices for web searches, lacking a strong foothold in the market could hurt Bing in the future unless Windows Phone begins to gain traction in the marketplace.

I survived the great San Diego power outage

Publié: septembre 9, 2011, 6:20pm CEST par Joe Wilcox

What happens when there's no Internet?

Yesterday, afternoon I feverishly worked on a commentary about Florian Mueller's ridiculous commentary (it doesn't qualify as analysis) on Google actions in relationship to Android OEMs, based on documents from a lawsuit with Oracle. I had real writing flow, likening Mueller to Santa Claus bringing Apple Fanclubbers and their anti-Google kin a heap load of presents. They've been blogging, tweeting and sharing about how evil is Google; they're giddy as can be. But I explained the bag contained nothing but coal, and that Mueller had cast a spell over them, as they were trying to do to others. I never finished that missive, and won't now. At 3:38 p.m. PDT, the electricity went out. The outage was massive -- parts of Arizona, New Mexico, Northern Mexico, all of San Diego County and sections of Orange County, which is just south of Los Angeles.

No power meant no Internet, and I was working on the Samsung Series 5 Chromebook. Google's Chrome OS would preserve the work already done in the browser, but I dared not do anymore since persistent Net connection is recommended. So I fired up the laptop's built-in Verizon wireless 3G modem, which I had never used. One of Chromebook's benefits: Free 3G data for two years -- 100MB per month, with option to get more without contractual commitment. I managed to activate the modem but couldn't make another connection and wouldn't until 5 hours later.

I hadn't ever worried about connecting Chromebook before should I lose Internet connectivity at home because 1) There was the 3G modem as backup and 2) WiFi is everywhere. But neither is anywhere when everywhere is powerless.

Initially, there was cellular telephony and data, but only within the first 45 minutes after the power failed. That was enough time for me to use the Nexus S to post a notice on Betanews' group chat service and to Google+. Then data died. Three or four times during the outage Google+ and email notifications came through and one text message. But otherwise I had no Internet connection. My daughter, who has iPhone 4, was offline, too. But not my wife, who also has Nexus S but running on T-Mobile. She had data connection throughout most of the power outage (so much for #1 largest US carrier Verizon and #2 AT&T).

Feeling Powerless

She got online and started checking news headlines. A local Fox News affiliate reported first: The outage was widespread, with uncertain cause. We would later learn that 1.4 million were without power and every one of San Diego Gas & Electric customers. The company sent an email at 7:23 p.m. PDT acknowledging widespread outage related to a "widespread transmission issue on the grid that serves Western Arizona and Southern California".

The only information I had at around 4:45 p.m. was what my wife got from her phone. I immediately asked her to rush to the local market for ice. Surely, the guy running it wouldn't let the power stop sales. Sure enough, he was taking cash, calculating tax in his head and writing down transactions on paper. My wife bagged two bags of ice, behind someone with 10. Minutes sale, the market sold out. That ice allowed us to save the food in our refrigerator.

Later I drove to the local plaza, where there is a Ralph's supermarket and Trader Joe's. Both were closed. Outside the TJ's, employees sold water -- at the astronomical price of (get this) 50 cents a bottle. That's what it usually costs. Rather than gouge customers as someone else might have, these guys were fair; it's helluva great customer service and helped calm people frantic to stock up supplies. I bought five bucks worth as precaution.

The power outage put our family, and I observed many others, at grave informational disadvantage. We were blind ducks quacking around for water, which had dried up and we didn't know why it was gone or when it was coming back. We don't have radios. Ours is an Internet household. We don't even watch news on TV. Without Internet, we had no source of news. Throughout the neighborhood, I spotted groups of people gathered around cars, SUVs and trucks listening to their vehicular radios. Most of the local stations weren't broadcasting because they had no power. The few on air had stopped all regular programming for blackout coverage.

While driving to the local plaza, one news reporter interviewed people who had fled the freeway looking for gas, because their tanks were low. One guy didn't make it. He abandoned his vehicle. Others waited in a line of cars -- a "parking lot", the reporter said -- outside a closed gas station, where employees huddled close together inside in the dark. They dared not leave, and perhaps for good reason. The line of cars went on and on and on, the reporter said.

Another reporter talked about the information crisis and how some people still had Twitter and that was the only way they got any news about the blackout. They had no radios, either. TVs were out, of course, because there was no power. But mainly people communicated by text message, which was the only sure thing still flowing across local cell networks.

But for the most part, there was no Internet anywhere. Habits die hard. I walked outside my apartment complex and saw a couple young men, woman and dog hanging out by a truck listening to its radio. The guys had tuned in a sports game. The woman held her cell phone, screen lit up. "You have Internet?" I asked. She shook her head. She clearly was trying to get it but couldn't. My daughter commandeered my wife's phone, which had consistent flow of text messages and even Facebook access. Hey, she belongs to the connected generation. Losing the Internet is like cutting off a limb.

I study people; it's one of the things that makes me good at my job. I observed startling changes throughout the neighborhood. People gathered outside in little groups on the grass, because it was too hot indoors. The power failed during a heat wave, one weather forecasters promised would break as early as overnight. But that was no respite yesterday afternoon.

I've lived here nearly four years and got to meet many neighbors for the first time. The sound of talk was everywhere. I saw pairs of people or groups walking around chatting away. Normally, I see individuals walking dogs or using smartphones or iPods. Suddenly people interacted with those closer to them rather than those far away on Facebook, text messaging or Twitter. It was a refreshing change.

Goddamn DRM

Back home, as darkness fell, my daughter settled down to watch a movie she had bought from iTunes years ago. I decided to read an ebook on the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet. But damnit, I hadn't downloaded most of my purchased books from Amazon. I remembered fetching them, but that must have been a mis-memory; I had done it for the cell phone, which power was near gone. That was my first bitter taste of digital rights management problems of the evening. Another soon followed.

My daughter's aluminum MacBook battery had run down before the movie finished. No problem, my wife's computer has the same movie. I fired up iTunes and clicked the movie and got a username and password dialog. The computer hadn't been authorized to play the movie, which had been purchased on my daughter's iTunes account. No Internet. No authorization.

No problem, still. I had purchased some movies, too. I switched to my account and clicked a film, only to get the same dialog box. WTH? I wasn't authorized, either! After the power resumed, I authorized the computer for my daughter's account and tried to do the same with mine. But iTunes brought up notice that the MacBook Pro already was authorized for my account. Lovely. Goddamn DRM.

Around 10 p.m., I tried to connect up the Chromebook to Verizon's 3G network and did! Woo hoo! About 40 minutes later, the power came back on. Soon after, AT&T's data network started working again. So my wife asked for her smartphone. But my daughter wouldn't give it up. She complained that AT&T service wasn't working, but I could see that it was. I think my daughter liked the Nexus S, not that she might ever admit it.

Soon as I got back online, I zipped over to Amazon. Everything had changed. Whoa! It's a site redesign. Then I ordered the radio that's been on my shopping list for more than a year: Grundig Satellit 750. I also looked over the Mueller commentary and decided I wouldn't have time to finish it. But there's a great response everyone should read: "The Bombshell That Wasn’t: FOSS Patents’ Android Scoop Misses The Mark" by Jason Kincaid for TechCrunch.

Last night, around 11:30, my daughter popped out of her bedroom and warned: "Don't drink the water". "Why?" my wife asked. "It's contaminated", she answered. "How do you know?" "Someone put it on Facebook". There you go, the authority on everything. Eh?

Photo Credit: TebNad/Shutterstock

Mozilla raises specter of death sentence on insecure CAs

Publié: septembre 8, 2011, 11:25pm CEST par Larry Seltzer

The security requirements for certificate authorities have, so far been, well, there haven't been any. Mozilla is attempting now to impose some and giving CAs precious-little time to come up to standard. Could the Mozilla "death sentence" be imposed?

Moailla's letter to certificate authorities demands some significant information by September 16, 2011, the end of next week. While it shows nothing about breaches, we know from the EFF's SSL Observatory project that many certificate authorities aren't sticklers for detail when it comes to security issues.

If a CA were not to respond in time or not meet Mozilla's demands, could they receive the Mozilla Death Sentence -- removal from the collection of trusted roots? Such a fate would mean that Mozilla users who visited an HTTPS site with that CA's certificate would get a big, ugly warning that the site isn't protected by a trusted authority. Mozilla doesn't make this threat explicitly, but does say: "Participation in Mozilla's root program is at our sole discretion, and we will take whatever steps are necessary to keep our users safe".

Some of Mozilla's demands could be problematic to implement in a week. The one that really sticks out for me is: "Confirm that multi-factor authentication is required for all accounts capable of directly causing certificate issuance". I have a story related to this.

As I pointed out in my recent piece on the DigiNotar hack, the hacker names himself COMODOHACKER and appears to be the same guy who hacked a subsidiary of Comodo back in June. The details of that hack made it clear that the subsidiary had just single-factor authentication—a username and password -- to gain access to an account with certificate issuance privileges.

I happened to meet with a senior Comodo exec right about then and suggested that maybe two-factor authentication would be a good idea for such powerful accounts, but the exec dismissed the idea. The problem lay elsewhere he said, in the insecurity of the DNS (a problem for which his company just happened to be working on a great solution!). So anyway, I'm sure Comodo subsidiaries aren't the only ones who don't meet these standards.

Some of Mozilla's other demands aren't, or at least shouldn't be, that hard. For instance, a complete list of subsidiary CAs is something you'd hope they'd have easy access to. If not, they could steal the data off of the Observatory map of all CAs on the IPv4 Internet.

This example of cheating on the audit raises the fact that Mozilla's audit is a self-reported affair, kind of like PCI compliance audits. Mozilla's only knowledge of whether a CA uses two-factor authentication may come from the CA. If the CA lies about it there may be no way of finding out.

Another potentially tough one is "Confirm that you have automatic blocks in place for high-profile domain names (including those targeted in the DigiNotar and Comodo attacks this year). Please further confirm your process for manually verifying such requests, when blocked". You'd think any CA would be smart enough to do this, but you'd also think they would use two-factor authentication.

I do know that many large CAs (Symantec for example, for whom I have done paid consulting work) have long bragged of their strenuous security measures for protecting the certificate issuance process. It's reasonable to believe that they can afford this better than the el-cheapo $11.95/year domain-validated SSL certificate vendors, although all of them are in Mozilla's and other browsers' roots. Perhaps that's where the problems will be concentrated.

I have to think that a large number of CAs will either be failing this test or lying on it. If you do lie and get caught, it's reasonable to believe that you'll get the death sentence, but if you just don't make the grade? My guess is that Mozilla will see what the results are and work with CAs to shape up quickly or ship out of the root database.

Photo Credit: Kheng Guan Toh/Shutterstock

Mozilla issues ultimatum to Internet certificate authorities

Publié: septembre 8, 2011, 10:33pm CEST par Joe Wilcox

Mozilla has decided that once broken trust isn't easily restored. Today, the open-source developer of Firefox issued an ultimatum to certificate authorities, in wake of the spreading damage caused by the DigiNor hack. Certificates like those DigiNor and other CAs issue are the backbone of Internet trust. That lock you see in the browser represents security and trust in the website where transactions occur. But third-parties issue the certificates, presumably being more trustworthy than your local bank or other online service.

The hacker claiming to have broken into DigiNor, who goes by handle COMODOHACKER, also claims to have breached four other CAs and issued at least 531 rogue certificates. Major browser developers -- Microsoft among them have banned DigiNor and dispatched updates to block rogue certificates.

Mozilla is going further, by demanding CAs provide certain assurances and also make changes to restore the organization's trust in them and the certificates they issue. Mozilla set a September 16 deadline. The aggressive posture is meant to restore trust, and for good reason. News about the DigiNor hacks increases every day. Once afraid, people aren't quite to trust.

Kathleen Wilson, module owner of Mozilla's CA Certificates Module, writes in the letter:

"Dear Certification Authority,

This note requests a set of immediate actions on your behalf, as a participant in the Mozilla root program.

Mozilla recently removed the DigiNotar root certificate in response to their failure to promptly detect, contain, and notify Mozilla of a security breach regarding their root and subordinate certificates. If you ever have reason to suspect a security breach or mis-issuance has occurred at your CA or elsewhere, please contact secur...@mozilla.org immediately.

Please confirm completion of the following actions or state when these actions will be completed, and provide the requested information no later than September 16, 2011:

1. Audit your PKI and review your systems to check for intrusion or compromise. This includes all third party CAs and RAs.

2. Send a complete list of CA certificates from other roots in our program that your roots (including third party CAs and RAs) have cross-signed. A listing of all root certificates in Mozilla's products is here.

3. Confirm that multi-factor authentication is required for all accounts capable of directly causing certificate issuance.

4. Confirm that you have automatic blocks in place for high-profile domain names (including those targeted in the DigiNotar and Comodo attacks this year). Please further confirm your process for manually verifying such requests, when blocked.

5. For each external third party (CAs and RAs) that issues certificates or can directly cause the issuance of certificates within the hierarchy of the root certificate(s) that you have included in Mozilla products, either:

a) Implement technical controls to restrict issuance to a specific set of domain names which you have confirmed that the third party has registered or has been authorized to act for (e.g. RFC5280 x509 dNSName name constraints, marked critical).

OR

b) Send a complete list of all third parties along with links to each of their corresponding Certificate Policy and/or Certification Practice Statement and provide public attestation of their conformance to the stated verification requirements and other operational criteria by a competent independent party or parties with access to details of the subordinate CA's internal operations.

Each action requested above applies both to your root and to these third parties.

Participation in Mozilla's root program is at our sole discretion, and we will take whatever steps are necessary to keep our users safe. Nevertheless, we believe that the best approach to safeguard that security is to work with CAs as partners, to foster open and frank communication, and to be diligent in looking for ways to improve. Thank you for your participation in this pursuit.

Regards,
Kathleen Wilson
Module Owner of Mozilla's CA Certificates Module"

Photo Credit: Lichtmeister/Shutterstock

'Star Trek' aired 45 years ago today [videos]

Publié: septembre 8, 2011, 7:10pm CEST par Joe Wilcox

I know we're all supposed to be working, but you deserve a YouTube break. I took one preparing this post; so should you.

Star Trek is 45 years old. The series was sold as "wagon train to the stars" at a time when Westerns dominated US network TV. I've pulled together some video spoofs and others for your viewing pleasure and some trivia -- all accurate from memory; I was a Trekkie in my youth. They're called Trekkers now, I believe.

No television series predicted more future technologies than Star Trek -- everything from touchscreens to cell phones -- although much sooner than the 23rd century. It's the original series for gadget geeks. However, "Star Trek" got some things way wrong. Humanity has fled from the stars rather than reached out to them. When the series aired, the United States planned to put man on the moon by decade's end (and did). There's no space program at all today -- is there really?

Trek Triva

1. "Star Trek" debuted on NBC, Sept. 8, 1966; a Thursday, like today. There's some confusion about the network because CBS now owns the rights.

2. CBS had a chance to take "Star Trek" -- creator Gene Roddenberry pitched there first -- but the network wanted just one Scifi drama, family-oriented "Lost in Space".

3. The first episode to air was "Man Trap" about a creature capable of sucking all the salt from a human's body. But it wasn't the first episode filmed.

4. Roddenberry filmed two pilots for NBC executives. While they were impressed with "The Cage", execs viewed it as too cerebral for viewers. So, in a first for television at that time, they requested a second pilot, "Where No Man Has Gone Before", which later aired as the series' third episode. The video below features the pilot's original opening that never aired.

5. The original pilot featured actor Jeffrey Hunter as Captain Christopher Pike; the second pilot William Shatner as James Tiberius Kirk. In the series lexicon, Pike preceded Kirk, although he could have been the captain had NBC accepted the original pilot.

6. "Beam me up, Scotty" is folklore. While the sentence is popular vernacular, no one spoke it during the series' three seasons on NBC. Captain Kirk said, "Beam me up, Mr. Scott".

7. The first interracial kiss on television came during the third season of "Star Trek" (episode "Plato's Stepchildren").

8. One of the series' best episodes -- "City on the Edge of Forever" was most disputed. Harlan Ellison's script varied dramatically from the one aired. Both are excellent works of art, but producers made the right call on the rewrite. Ellison disagreed and still fumes about it, in mid-1990s book The City on the Edge of Forever: The Original Teleplay that Became the Classic Star Trek Episode and a lawsuit filed two years ago against CBS. In 1967, the teleplay won a Hugo Award, Scifi's highest honor.

9. Apple is having a merry-old time suing seemingly everyone developing a tablet, claiming the devises imitates iPad, but they first appeared on "Star Trek" 45 years ago.

10. Amazon Instant Video now carries every episode from every Star Trek series -- free for Prime members. CBS started streaming the original series years ago.

My Trek Tale

I grew up in Aroostook County, sometimes referred to as the Crown of Maine, but commonly called "The County" statewide. Aroostook is the largest county east of the Mississippi River; it's one-fifth the state of Maine but has only one-fifth the population. During the 1960s only one US TV station served The County and had the unique distinction of being the only one anywhere permitted to be multiple network affiliates -- ABC, CBS and NBC. So the program director chose which programs on which networks would air. "Star Trek" wasn't one of them.

One Sunday afternoon in December 1966, I flipped the channels and came across an exciting science fiction movie. Some guy had been zapped by some force that turned his ESP abilities into God-like powers. I was enthralled but disappointed when the movie ended, then excited: The announcer said: "Tune in next week for more adventures of "Star Trek". I was 7 years old. The episode: "Where No Man Has Gone Before".

The CBC TV station across the border in New Brunswick, Canada, carried "Star Trek" but chose to air it Sunday afternoons at 2 p.m. Within weeks, the whole family would gather just to watch Trek. Hey, what else to do on snowy Sundays in Maine?

Have you got a Trek tale to share? Please take a moment to do so in comments.

Google buys esteemed restaurant review guide Zagat

Publié: septembre 8, 2011, 6:51pm CEST par Tim Conneally

Google today announced it has purchased Zagat, the 32 year-old ratings guide considered to be a definitive standard of quality for restaurants, hotels, transportation services, and public attractions.

Marissa Mayer, Vice President of, Google Local, Maps and Location Services, said Zagat will become the cornerstone of Google's local offerings.

"The Zagats have demonstrated their ability to innovate and to do so with tremendous insight. Their surveys may be one of the earliest forms of UGC (user-generated content)—gathering restaurant recommendations from friends, computing and distributing ratings before the Internet as we know it today even existed. Their iconic pocket-sized guides with paragraphs summarizing and 'snippeting' sentiment were 'mobile' before 'mobile' involved electronics," Mayer said on Thursday.

The acquisition came as a surprise on Thursday, but Google's intent to put greater emphasis on location-based services has been very clear.

In 2009, the company was even reportedly in talks with Yelp, the popular Web site that offers customer reviews of businesses very similar to those provided by Zagat.

Earlier this year Google revealed a new service called HotPot in which users posted reviews of restaurants with their Google Profiles directly within Google Maps. Just three months ago, Google launched a redesigned mobile site that focuses on providing information about nearby businesses such as coffee shops, bars, ATMs, and more.

Colossal change to U.S. Patent system nears with today's 'America Invents' vote

Publié: septembre 8, 2011, 6:25pm CEST par Tim Conneally

The United States Senate is scheduled to vote on House Resolution 1249 at 4:00pm today; the bill also known as the "America Invents Act," which will begin a major overhaul to the US Patent System.

In a Senatorial debate last night, a bipartisan majority voted to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed, or in other words, to summarily end the debate and move along to the voting stage.

UPDATE: H.R. 1249 passed the Senate in an 89-9 vote. The bill will next have to be signed by the President and it will become a law.

The bill (H.R. 1249) was approved by the House of Representatives in late June 2011.

In a statement Wednesday evening, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt), the bill's sponsor, said "The America Invents Act is bipartisan legislation that will lead to long-needed improvements in our patent laws and system. No one Senator, industry or interest group got everything it wanted in this bill. But that is the nature of compromise, and this bill represents a significant step forward in preparing the patent office, and in turn businesses, to deal with the challenges of the 21st Century. Support for the bill has grown over time and it is now endorsed by an extensive list of supporters."

Supporters included prominent tech companies such as Microsoft which expressed its support for the Act earlier this week.

Microsoft Corporate Vice President and Deputy General Counsel Horacio Gutierrez said three areas of the bill will "ensure that innovators in our troubled economy can benefit from a predictable and rational patent system."

These include:

-Increasing funding for the US Patent and Trademark Office through new and revised patent fees (including an "electronic filing incentive" which adds a $400 fee for people who do not file patents through electronic means.)

-Changing the U.S. from a "first to invent" system to a “first to file” system.

-Increasing the amount of administration and review over already-granted patents, "to help eliminate questionable patents."

But not everyone believes this law will help.

Lewis Lee of patent law firm Lee & Hayes, and founder of IP Street said, "China has made bold moves in the past few years to overtake the U.S. on every innovation measure before the decade is out, and just this year surpassed the U.S. on the number of patent filings. The legislation will not help the U.S. overcome the China challenge, and only marginally addresses some longstanding issues like patent office funding. If the PTO can truly reinvest all of the fees it charges filers then the net effect should be a patent system that is more agile and scalable."

One of the most controversial aspects of the bill is its fundamental restructuring of the Patent system from its traditional "first to invent" system (first to actually produce an item or system that the patent reflects) to one that uses a "first to file" system (first to patent an idea before actually physically inventing it.)

The Bill says, "It is the sense of the Congress that converting the United States patent system from 'first to invent' to a system of 'first inventor to file' will promote the progress of science and the useful arts by securing for limited times to inventors the exclusive rights to their discoveries and provide inventors with greater certainty regarding the scope of protection provided by the grant of exclusive rights to their discoveries."

The United States will be the last country in the world to give up its "first to invent" patent system, and the adoption of "first to file" would bring the country in line with the rest of the world. Opponents, however, believe that a "first to file" system would trigger a huge rush in patent applications, which could deepen the Patent Office backlog and result in a spike in weak patents that are used in frivolous lawsuits.

Photo: gary718/Shutterstock

Wi-Fi Finder for Android and iOS hunts down hotspots

Publié: septembre 8, 2011, 5:17pm CEST par Mark Wilson

If you have an iPhone or an Android phone, the chances are that you frequently connect to the internet using a 3G connection. The same is true for some iPad users, although there are more WiFi-only Apple tablets in circulation. Whether you are working with a device that only offer WiFi connectivity, you are out of range of a 3G signal or you just need faster Internet access, there are numerous reasons you might want to find a wireless Internet connection when you are out and about, and this is something that Wi-Fi Finder can help with.

The app is available for iPhone, iPad and Android, and native versions have been released for each type of device. If you do have a 3G connection, you can use the app online and check in the area for the availability of wireless networks. The database of hotspots includes both free and paid-for networks and you can use filtering to track down particular types of establishment offering WiFi -- you might want to avoid hotels, for instance.

A map and contact details is provided to help you get within range of the network and with a database covering over 140 countries, Wi-Fi Finder is great for use at home and abroad -- it is certainly worth installing before you head off on holiday or on a business trip.

This in itself is useful enough, but the app can also be used in offline mode. It makes sense that at least some of the times you are trying to find a wireless Internet connection, you may well be without an Internet connection of any sort. If you find yourself in this predicament, the offline database can be used to search for available networks; this can also be useful if you are planning a trip and want to check where you will be able to get online on your journey.

Even if you only use it a couple of times, this is an app that deserves your attention. Find out more and download a free copy of the app by paying a visit to the Wi-Fi Finder for iPhone/iPad and Wi-Fi Finder for Android review pages.

AVG Internet Security 2012 in-depth review

Publié: septembre 8, 2011, 5:08pm CEST par Mike Williams

Some security companies appear to think that enhancing their software is just about adding new functionality. But while this can make for an enticing feature list, there’s usually a price to pay, in terms of extra complexity and layers of overweight code that slows down the rest of your PC.

So it’s good to see AVG take a different approach with their latest Internet Security 2012 release.

The package comes with everything you’d expect from a consumer security suite. A powerful antivirus engine, browsing protection, firewall, spam filter, identity theft protection, rootkit detection and more.

New features include a revamped, more intelligent LinkScanner, to detect even more malicious web pages; and a new behavior monitoring layer that can detect even brand new, undiscovered fake antivirus tools just by their actions.

But a strong focus on performance sees the addition of the AVG Advisor, which alerts you to system resource hogs, and the AVG Accelerator, which can (it’s claimed) improve YouTube and Download.com downloads by up to 50 percent.

And despite all the extras, AVG claims Internet Security 2012 has less impact on your boot times, uses less processes and requires up to 20-percent less RAM than before.

Sounds good to us. But could the suite live up to these promises? Let's take a closer look.

Getting Started

After an easy installation, we rebooted our test PC, nd timed the results -- then repeated the process for good measure, because boot times are one good indicator of how bloated (or otherwise) a security suite might be.

The results were impressive. With AVG Internet Security 2011 installed on this system, average cold boot times were around 55 seconds. Replacing it with Internet Security 2012 cut this to 43 seconds, little more than the typical boot time with no security suite installed at all (39 seconds).

If you’ve chosen to install AVG’s desktop gadget then this also makes for a very straightforward initial interface. The gadget warns you of the lack of an updated antivirus database; you can fix this with a click, and then check your system by clicking the Scan Now button.

Or you might alternatively launch the program’s main console via its system tray icon, when you’ll see this is simpler, too. AVG Internet Security 2011 packed its opening screen with 17 icons; the 2012 edition cuts this down to ten, and three of those relate to optional AVG add-ons (Family Safety, $0.99 for a year’s subscription; LiveKive’s online backup, from $49; and PC Tuneup, $34.99): it’s far easier to use.

There are still small interface issues here. Open the Browser Extensions module, for instance, and you’ll see a table of IE browser add-ons, but this can only display four at a time, and even if you maximize the program window it won’t resize to show any more: annoying, and there are one or two similar problems elsewhere.

But for the most part, the Internet Security 2012 interface is a useful step forward: clean, easier to use, while still being familiar to anyone who’s used the previous version.

Antivirus

Internet Security 2011 was great at detecting malware, and 2012 also excelled, detecting and removing 91 percent of our test samples.

Speed matters too, though, and the new package delivered on its performance promise here, too. In comparison with Internet Security 2011, the first optimization scan was around 7-percent faster (58 minutes 8 seconds vs 62:31); the second showed massive improvements as 2012 immediately decided what didn’t have to be scanned (8:31 vs 41:24); 2011 then caught up a little, but 2012 retained a small lead for scan 3 (7:09 vs 7:56), and the new build remained faster for all our subsequent tests.

Notably, Internet Security 2012 was also more consistent in its scan times; 2011 delivered occasional blips (one scan 9:54, the next 16:26, even though the system was virtually unchanged); the scan times for 2012 were a much closer match, and it never kept us waiting unexpectedly.

If there’s one small annoyance with the scanning process, it’s that this won’t detect rootkits; there’s an entirely separate anti-rootkit scan. This is fast, though: a full scan on our system completed in around 4 minutes, a “Quick Scan” took 67 seconds, and both are good at identifying stealthy malware and hidden objects in general, with the program picking up 83 percent of our test samples. The results can be a little complex, however: we’d hazard a guess that lines like “i8042prt.sys, hooked import ntoskrnl.exe IoCreateDevice” won’t mean much to the average user, and this makes it tricky to separate rootkits from false positives regarding legitimate drivers.

Browsing Protection

AVG Internet Security 2012 protects your browsing via its LinkScanner technology, which includes three components:

1. Search-Shield displays icons next to results from the main search engines (Google, Bing, Yahoo, Baidu) to indicate whether they’re safe, questionable or dangerous. It’s not too reliable; we were still able to reach some newly reported malicious pages, but it does identify a few more dubious websites than the browsers alone, and as it imposes little performance impact (the icons loaded within a second on our test PC), Search-Shield is worth having.

2. Surf-Shield monitors for websites that include phishing scams, exploits and other hacks. This also was far from perfect (we were able to reach around half of the dangerous sites we tried), but then our sample sites were brand new, and again it was better protection than you’d get from browser features like IE’s SmartScreen filter alone.

3. Online Shield checks the pages you’ve visiting for files (downloads, forced downloads, even JavaScript), aiming to identify anything dangerous and preventing it from causing havoc on your PC. This followed a similar pattern to the others, detecting around 70 percent of our test samples, not the best of scores.

But, when you put all three layers together, and factor in the regular antivirus engine waiting on your PC to inspect anything that should get through, there is plenty of protection here, and nothing was able to reach and infect our system.

And, keeping up with the promise of improved performance, it’s far less likely to slow you down: Firefox load times on our test PC were around 20-percent faster than under Internet Security 2011.

Antispam, Firewall

AVG’s antispam offering proved easy to use, integrating seamlessly with our Outlook 2010 installation (though it works with most other clients, too). However, by default the program uses the least aggressive spam detection settings. This was good, as it meant not a single legitimate email was falsely highlighted as spam; but it was also bad, because around 45 percent of our test junk emails weren’t detected as spam, either.

This isn’t necessarily the end, though. At a minimum you can simply increase the filter’s sensitivity to spam by dragging a slider. And experts can also tweak the filter in many different ways (adding Realtime Blackhole Lists, configuring white or black lists, filtering by language, country, character sets and more), which should help, though it may take some work and time to achieve the results you need.

Meanwhile, Internet Security 2012′s firewall also installed and configured itself without problems on our test PC. Although if you have problems then it’s easily reconfigured, just by choosing an appropriate profile from the Firewall module (“Small home or office network”, “Computer within domain”, “Directly connected to the internet”, and so on).

Once active the firewall then correctly stealthed our ports and blocked a test network attack.

However, as with Internet Security 2011, if the firewall sees a program it doesn’t recognize then it’ll display an alert, asking you for permission. As we said last year, these prompts are reasonably clear, but there’s no guarantee that the user will always know exactly what should be done, which is why some competing firewalls are intelligent enough to make most of these decisions themselves.

Other Features

Internet Security 2012 also includes “Identity Protection”, a module which, the program says, uses behavior monitoring to automatically block “any activity that could lead to ID theft”. Sounds great to us, although as there are few details on how this works we were unable to construct a meaningful test for it.

The “System Tools” component provides a useful view of what’s happening on your PC. You can look at running processes and some of their attributes (processes with hidden windows, for instance, are highlighted). There’s a display of currently open Internet and network connections, with the option to close anything that looks suspicious. You can similarly view startup programs and IE browser extensions, removing whatever you like, while a final screen provides a more technical list of your installed Layered Service Providers. These aren’t going to replace tools like Process Explorer any time soon, but they’re a welcome inclusion here.

New this time around is AVG Accelerator, an Internet speedup tool which uses some proprietary AVG technology to accelerate downloads from YouTube and Download.com (support for more sites will be added later, we hear). This is difficult to evaluate accurately, but files did appear to download perhaps 30-percent faster for us, so if you currently have problems watching higher definition YouTube videos on a slow connection then maybe the Accelerator will help.

And you also get the AVG Advisor, which during our tests displayed pop-up alerts a few times to tell us that IE or Firefox were using too much RAM, and should be rebooted. This isn’t a bad idea, but it’s currently a little basic. A history of RAM use might be useful, or the ability to define what “too much RAM” means to you, but there are no such controls: all you can do is turn AVG Advisor alerts off or on.

Still, at least it doesn’t seem to have made the suite any more overweight. Open Task Manager, say, and you’ll see lots of obvious AVG processes (10) and there are others, but the total has fallen since Internet Security 2011, and RAM requirements have dropped too (AVG says by 20 percent, our own tests show a fall of 18 percent in just one scenario: it could easily be more in others).

AVG Internet Security 2012 isn’t perfect, then: the browsing protection components could benefit from being a little smarter, and we’d like to see more intelligence in the firewall, too.

Elsewhere, though, the program provides a simpler interface, greater malware detection accuracy, and easier integration with AVG’s online backup and parental control tools, if you need them. The AVG Accelerator appears to be a promising Internet acceleration tool (though more tests are required), and best of all, the suite is faster and more lightweight than ever, with a reduced performance impact on your PC. If you’re thinking about changing your security suite for the new year, particularly because it’s slowing you down too much, then AVG Internet Security 2012 more than merits a place on the shortlist.

The software is available for Windows XP, Vista and 7 -- all 32 and 64-bit editions and retails for $54.99.

Is IcoFX 2 worth the price?

Publié: septembre 8, 2011, 3:21pm CEST par Nick Peers

For the past few years, IcoFX has lain apparently dormant, despite noises from the developer that a new version was in development. This powerful icon editor has suddenly resurfaced, however, with a major new version number, IcoFX 2.0, and a shock for those who’ve been using the previous build: IcoFX is no longer freeware.

IcoFX 2.0 is now available to download as a trial version, and the full version will set you back the princely sum of $59. The question is, what’s exactly changed to justify the new price tag?

The new trial version will run 15 times before it reverts to a cut-down demo with the save functionality disabled. Once launched, the program sports a brand new user interface, with certain tools, such as brushes, more visible.

IcoFX now supports the creation of both static and animated cursors, with additional options such as creating a cursor’s “hot spot” and testing it accessible from the Image menu. These features were previously available via a separate sister tool called AniFX, which, like previous free builds of IcoFX, is no longer available.

IcoFX 2.0 also introduces support for layer-based image editing via its own proprietary IFX format. This is accompanied by a host of new image-editing features, including more sophisticated brushes, a wider range of selection tools (including the magic wand) and a host of multi-colour gradients.

All of these are welcome for those looking to create striking icons from scratch, but other changes are harder to discern; the release notes for IcoFX 2.0 don’t help here, simply listing “Major release with many new features”. We were able to glean that IcoFX 2.0 can now import TIF images in addition to other formats already supported in the earlier version, such as PNG and JPEG, for example.

While these changes are welcome, it’s hard to see exactly what’s so new in IcoFX to justify its new price tag. As a freeware icon editor, it was the number one choice of Windows users, but by slapping a prohibitive $59 price tag on to the software, it will be interesting to see what existing users make of the hike in price for new features that won’t necessarily appeal to a wide group of people.

That’s a shame, but although the software is more powerful and easy to use than ever, the fact remains that for many people, the features already present in version 1.6.4 are more than sufficient. You might want to quickly snaffle a copy of the last freeware version by Googling IcoFX 1.6.4 before it disappears forever.

IcoFX 2.0 is available as a 15-use trial for PCs running Windows XP or later.

iOS Calendar shoot-out: Calvetica vs Weave

Publié: septembre 8, 2011, 2:19pm CEST par Mark Wilson

The simple fact that iPhone, iPod and iPads have been designed specifically with portability in mind, they are perfectly suited for use as task management tools. As you are likely to have your iOS device with you at all times, it makes sense to store details of upcoming appointments, information about the projects you are working on, and to keep track of everyday data such as income and expenditure. Two of the most well received iOS apps in this category are Weave and Calvetica. We decided to put them head to head to see which comes out on top.

From the offset Weave is at a major advantage by virtue of being free. This gives the app instant appeal, and the fact that trial versions of iOS app do not exist, save for so-called ‘lite’ versions of apps, it is more likely to be installed by someone browsing the App Store.

But the absence of a price tag is not the only thing that works in Weave’s favor. The way the app works in unlike other comparable tools. There are plenty of nice little touches such as the option to turn off reminders on particular days of the week, which means that if you choose to take a couple of days off here and there, you can do so without having to worry about be pestered about deadlines you need to hit.

On the downside, there is no iPad version of Weave, and this means that iPad users have to endure the magnified mode that blights non-universal apps. This is not a problem that affects Calvetica; it is a universal app that looks good on the large or smaller screen. Or at least that is the way it would seem to start with. The iPad version of Calvestica makes excellent use of space and manages to convey a huge amount of information without ever looking cluttered.

The same cannot be said when the app is viewed on an iPhone or iPod; the screen restraints mean that it is simple not possible to show all of the information you have recorded about appointments and tasks. There is little that can be done to change this but it does mean that the iPhone and iPad version of Calvetica are almost different apps, and iPad users definitely get the better deal.

Calvetica is clearly designed with the power user in mind, and support for a wide range of gestures means that app navigation and accessing common features is quick and easy. Whether you are creating events or tasks, you can add notes, location information and more, and these details can be used to perform searches when you need to home in on certain information. Natural language style configuration of repeating events is interesting and unique, and the speed of event creation is incredible.

Choosing an app for any purposes is a very personal thing, and an app that is perfect for one person could not be more unsuitable for someone else. Weave and Calvetica are both very capable apps, and they both take dramatically different approaches to the age old problem of keeping on top of your tasks and events. Weave is undeniably simpler but it is perfectly designed to handle specific, keys pieces of information and presents it in a beautifully accessible form. Calvetica is somewhat more feature-rich, but this will not necessarily be to everyone’s tastes. The app you choose will depend very much on your individual circumstances, but in either case you are going to have a valuable tool at your disposal.

To help make your decision, pay a visit to the Weave or Calvetica review pages.

Norton Security 2012: Better protection, less overhead

Publié: septembre 8, 2011, 1:06am CEST par Nick Peers

Symantec has released brand new versions of its antivirus and Internet security products. Norton Internet Security 2012 and Norton AntiVirus 2012 both launch with new and improved features to boost the brand's security reputation even further.

Norton 2012 promises improved Norton Protection System and Insight features, a new parental controls tool and built-in optimization for netbooks, claiming it will conserve battery life and preserve network usage while running on battery power.

Both 2012 editions are available as free updates to anyone running the 2011 version with a current subscription; to update, either download the full install file or open the Support menu and choose New Version Check to download via Symantec itself.

Norton Internet Security 2012 and Norton AntiVirus 2012 appear on the surface to be light on new security features, but behind the scenes Norton continues to evolve its background protection technologies. These include SONAR 4.0, which can now block potential threats based on their behavior while also extending its reach to cover Non Process Threats (NPTs), which inject themselves into legitimate processes in an attempt to hijack the system.

Norton Power Eraser, which helps clean up malware-infested systems, is now be capable of running from the Norton Bootable Recovery Tool, where it can more easily dispatch malicious software because no malicious processes are running.

Norton Download Insight has been updated to version 2.0 in Norton 2012. The original release scanned all newly downloaded files, comparing them with known threats and community-led feedback to provide you with a security rating. Version 2.0 now allows users to also rate applications for stability, adding an extra element of protection against potentially problematic programs.

Norton Internet Security 2012 also introduces a new start-up manager component, accessible from the Performance section, that provides information about each startup entry that helps you determine if it’s worth disabling or not; it’s also possible to delay startup programs, too, so they launch at a “quieter”, less disruptive time. It’s a straight port of the startup manager bundled with the current version of Norton 360.

Other changes to Norton Internet Security include a redesign and tweaking of Norton’s Identity Safe, which now works in a similar way to Lastpass, meaning it’ll auto-fill login details and syncs across all your devices via the cloud. Norton Web Safe -- the browser add-on that alerts you when you attempt to visit risky or malicious websites -- has also been expanded to cover Google Chrome, and it now also scans your Facebook news feed for dangerous links and downloads too.

Elsewhere, new features applicable to both Norton Internet Security and Norton AntiVirus include Norton Product Management that allows you to control all of your Norton product installs from a single location, and Metered Network Settings, which allow you to restrict what updates the program can download according to specific network adapters. The idea here is that if you’re on a capped or slow connection, you can instruct Norton to download critical updates only. This feature is configured from the Settings > Network > Network Security Settings menu.

The user interface has also been tweaked -- all of the options displayed on the Norton 2011 interface have been hidden from view (click the Advanced button to view them all again) in favour of a simple, streamlined interface.

Norton Internet Security 2012 and Norton AntiVirus 2012 can be downloaded as free trial versions for PCs running Windows XP SP2 or later. A full subscription lasting 12 months costs $40 (Norton AntiVirus) or $70 (Norton Internet Security).

Will Apple steal Windows 8's thunder?

Publié: septembre 8, 2011, 12:30am CEST par Joe Wilcox

Microsoft's BUILD developer conference is almost here (save the date, September 13). It's going to be a big event for Microsoft and the official debut of Windows 8 (c`mon, you know there's going to be a developer beta).

Apple could spoil it all, with one of its famously-timed leaks or official product announcements. With iPhone 5's launch expected as soon as October, timing would be right for an Apple spoiler. Blogger, news media and Wall Street obsession about Apple is sure to succumb to a competing gravity well that pulls attention and online posts/print stories from Windows 8 during its special week.

Apple has skunked many competitors' events before. Windows 8 is ripe for the picking, because the user interface changes and support for tablets running ARM processors are simply so big. Then there's Windows Phone "Mango", which Microsoft will present to developers in a big way. BUILD is going to be an Apple compete-fest like Microsoft hasn't had in years. But wait! There's more. Microsoft's annual Financial Analyst Meeting takes place during the event, too. Apple's stock is high flying, while Microsoft's is laid low. How could Apple possibly resist?

As a journalist covering BUILD, the last thing I want is another big distraction from "can't keep junk in its pants Apple". How many times must it show off the equipment as distraction to others' big things? But Apple has done it so many times before, I've got to wonder.

Apple has refined the science of leaks and selectively-timed product announcements into an art form, and the Apple Fanclub of bloggers and journalists are so eager to oblige. Besides, people want to know. Curiosity draws attention and builds anticipation. Selective information release, by way of blogs or even leaks, generate buzz. Fanclubbers and others trip over themselves to post first and drive up pageviews, generating anticipation and providing Apple loads of free advertising.

The examples are simply so numerous, I chose just use as few:

* In an unprecedented move, Apple preannounced iCloud ahead of its unveiling by Chairman Steve Jobs during the Worldwide Developer Conference. I can't recall an example in recent history where Apple issued a press release announcing something before Jobs could do it himself. For all the talk of Apple innovation, Jobs and Company have yet to invent time travel. Computex and the D9 conference took place the week before WWDC; Jobs couldn't present ahead of them. I wrote about iCloud's preannouncement: "Surely Apple is looking to steal some thunder" from both events, which started the same day. Intel unveiled Ultrabook at Computex and Microsoft Windows 8's Metro UI at D9, and Apple stole attention from each show.

* Verizon iPhone went on sale February 10, just as attendees and participants were arriving for Mobile World Congress 2011. Apple didn't participate, but its presence was everywhere.

* Apple distracted from Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer's Consumer Electronics Show keynote -- and big Windows 8 news there -- by launching the Mac App Store. Suspiciously, many new product announcements came before CES started and Microsoft preempted its keynote, presumably as vendors sought to get ahead of Apple news.

* Apple stole the thunder from other Consumer Electronic Shows -- rumors about the iPad during December 2009 ahead of its headline-stealing January 2010 announcement. Rumors about the original MacBook Air before its mid January 2008 debut. Who can forget iPhone, announced in January 2007 after weeks of rumors?

There are many more examples of Apple's thunder-stealing ways, but these make the point. The company employs clever marketers who realize there's more to selling products than spending millions of dollars on advertising. Buzz is priceless. I've been saying for years that in business perception is everything. So is timing.

Motorola Droid Bionic: What's the big deal?

Publié: septembre 7, 2011, 10:22pm CEST par Tim Conneally

Verizon Wireless and Motorola Mobility on Wednesday announced the Droid Bionic will go on sale nationwide on September 8. It will be Verizon's thinnest LTE smartphone, and the second Motorola smartphone (after the Atrix 4G) to utilize a Lapdock and Firefox 4-based Webtop environment on top of Android.

Who could forget the Motorola Atrix 4G, right? That Android smartphone that could fit into a notebook dock or an HDMI dock and turn into either a netbook computer or a set-top box?

The Droid Bionic follows up on the ground broken by the Atrix 4G, and changes a few major things in the process.

How it's different from Atrix 4G

It's actually 4G - Droid Bionic is a "true" 4G device with an LTE radio. The Atrix 4G has an HSPA+ radio, which is 4G in name only.

It isn't built on Tegra 2- Motorola has gone with a dual-core 1GHz TI OMAP processor instead of the Nvidia Tegra 2 it used in the Atrix 4G.

It's incompatible with the Atrix docks- Even though the Atrix 4G and Droid Bionic both offer the same 11.6" laptop shell as a $299 accessory, the connector dock has been changed so an Atrix 4G cannot plug into a Droid Bionic dock and vice versa.

It's got a smaller battery- The Atrix 4G had a 1930 mAh battery, and the Droid Bionic has a 1735 mAh. This, in all likelihood was done to make the Bionic as thin as possible, even though it ended up being marginally thicker than the Atrix. This smaller battery capacity could prove troublesome for the device since LTE radios consume quite a bit of power. In fact, early reviewers said the Bionic got only 4 hours of battery life when connected to a 4G tower.

It's got a better camera- Droid Bionic has an 8 megapixel camera instead of 5, and it can capture 1080p HD video instead of 30fps 720p.

It's got a bigger screen- With a 4.3" qHD screen with Corning's Gorilla Glass, the Droid Bionic is larger and moderately heavier than the Atrix 4G.

The rest of the specs:

It runs Android 2.3.4 (Gingerbread), has 1GB RAM and 16GB of onboard memory plus a 16GB microSD pre-installed, 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1 +EDR, aGPS, sGPS, magnetometer, Adobe Flash 10, Motoprint Wi-fi print support, built-in Citrix Receiver and GoToMeeting support.

Droid Bionic will be available beginning September 8 for $299 plus a two-year service contract.

Since we're talking about Motorola, here's Tim Conneally's laundry list of disclosures

We wanted to give you a free HP TouchPad...

Publié: septembre 7, 2011, 10:07pm CEST par BetaNews Staff

Like many of you, we spent hours slogging through HP's overwhelmed order system to get 2 TouchPads. They're giveaways for lucky readers, in appreciation for your loyalty. We really should do more of this.

But HP took more orders than it could fill from its stock of leftover TouchPads -- the product line killed just six weeks after retail sales started. We figured that was the end of our order, but then HP decided to produce one last batch of TouchPads, increasing the likelihood we might still get our two, for you.

Today, we got an email from HP informing us that our order might be fulfilled, but we'll have to wait for it. The message:

"HP Small and Medium Business Customer,

Thank you for your interest in webOS and the HP TouchPad – the response to our price reduction has been overwhelming – both in terms of volume and in the energy and enthusiasm it has generated in our customers.

It has taken us longer than anticipated to work through the high volume of orders that were received. We apologize for any uncertainty this caused, but we are now in a position to understand our ability to fulfill your order.

Your order will be fulfilled at the discounted price. However, we do not have enough stock to satisfy your order at this time. It will take 6-8 weeks to build enough HP TouchPads to meet our current commitments, during which time your order will then ship from this stock with free ground shipping. You will receive a shipping notification with tracking number once your order has shipped. We apologize that these timelines are longer than indicated on the website at time of purchase.

At the significantly reduced price, the HP TouchPad does not qualify for our standard 30 day return policy and is not returnable.

If this delay is not acceptable, please send an email to TouchPadCancel@hp.com with your instructions for cancellation within a week. Be sure to include your HP order number and the name and ship-to address on the order. Also please indicate clearly if this is the only order requiring cancellation or if you wish all orders in your name to be canceled. You will receive an automated cancel notification when your order cancellation request has been processed. Please be aware, however, that cancellations cannot be reversed, and our US SMB store has sold out of HP TouchPad and will not make any further available for sale.

We are pleased that we will be able to fulfill your order and look forward to you joining the exciting community of webOS!

Sincerely,
Your HP Small and Medium Business Team
www.hp.com/go/touchpadFAQ"

Are you still waiting on TouchPad? Will you keep or cancel or your order?

Google Offers lights 5 more cities, while Groupon burns

Publié: septembre 7, 2011, 8:35pm CEST par Joe Wilcox

Starting today, people living in Austin, Boston, Denver, Seattle and Washington, DC, can get local discounts from Google Offers. These five cities join New York, Portland, Ore. and San Francisco. The Groupon competitor may not have anywhere as much reach, yet, but Google Offers' expansion comes as concerns continue to rise about the category leader's longevity.

Like Groupon, Google Offers provides daily deals with hefty discounts. For example, today's Seattle deal is half off a day pass to the local aquarium -- a fee that can be applied to a year's membership. Google plans to expand Offers to 27 more cities, including Atlanta, Baltimore, Houston, Miami, Pittsburgh and San Diego.

What distinguishes Offers from Groupon or its competitors is Google's ability to leverage search, its existing network of services and mobile. More cell phones run Google's Android than any other mobile operating system in the United States. Offers are redeemable using Google Shopper 2.0 for Android.

Google isn't the only big entrant Groupon should worry about. Living Social is considered to be the main competitor, but it's one of many. For example, several metropolitan newspapers have launched Groupon-like services, leveraging existing subscribers and locally-known brand names against the category leader. Among Groupon's big challenges: Acquisition and retention.

About 10 days ago, Hitwise's Bill Trancer observed: "Overall visits to a custom category of Daily Deal & Aggregator sites were down 25 percent" from the second week of June through the third week in August. While deal fatigue is one culprit, Trancer focuses on another: "PriceGrabber released results from its Local Deals Survey in June, stating that 44 percent of respondents said they use or search daily deal Websites. However, 52 percent expressed feeling overwhelmed by the number of bargain-boasting emails they receive on a daily basis".

But there is something quite shocking in Hitwise's look at web traffic (but not mobile). Trancer explains: "The drop-off in Groupon traffic this summer has been significant -- nearly 50 percent since its peak in the second week of June 2011... During the same time, Living Social has achieved 27 percent growth in visits to its site".

Uh-oh, that's not good timing, given Groupon's IPO and cash burn rate. Groupon has been burning through venture capital and private investor cash like a California wildfire -- $117 million per quarter, spending $1.43 for every dollar of revenue. Spending on subscriber emails rose to $263.2 million last year from $4.5 million in 2009 -- granted on a huge influx of new subscribers. The number of Groupons sold per customer is down by one-third and revenue per subscriber is down by 37 percent.

"While revenues grew by 2,000 percent last year, making Groupon one of the fastest growing companies in history, the cost of that growth was huge", writes Dan Solin, senior vice president of Index Funds Advisors. "The company's operating expenses increased by almost 6,000 percent".

Groupon filed papers for the IPO in early June. The startup is looking to raise between $750 million to $1 billion, which would put the company's valuation at somewhere in the $15 billion to $20 billion range. But at the current burn, there has been increasing speculation among Wall Street watchers that Groupon needs the IPO because the burn rate will soon exceed what it can viably sustain from private investors.

Groupon had hoped to hold the IPO sometime this month, but there are signals a delay is forthwith.

Is that Groupon traffic drop-off a fluke? Or are there now plenty of alternatives to Groupon, Google Offers among them? Newer traffic data should answer both questions.

Art Credit: Cartoonresource/Shutterstock

Google bids big for Hulu, but to win or drive off competitors?

Publié: septembre 7, 2011, 5:13pm CEST par Ed Oswald

Fresh off its $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility -- which by the way, was about both its patents and the hardware too -- the company is now said to be the high bidder in the race to acquire Hulu.

After being shut out in the bidding for Nortel patents, Google is suddenly willing to spend what's needed to get hot products/services or perhaps, with Hulu, end bidding altogether.

Peter Kafka of All Things Digital reported late Tuesday that Google has apparently proposed a "larger scale" acquisition than its counterparts. Hulu had already attracted bids of up to $2 billion including Google, Yahoo, Amazon, and DirecTV, but reports indicated that the Hulu board was not satisfied with those offers, and was ready to take itself off the market.

Tuesday's news seems to indicate that some consideration may be given to Google's offer. Details are not known, but it could be that in addition to a higher sales price the search giant could be looking for a longer period of exclusivity, something the networks don't appear to be willing to offer.

Why are talks continuing? Kafka suggests that Google may be willing to pay quite a bit to get more than Hulu's network partners may want to give, thus giving the site some pause in cutting acquisition talks off.

There's one more very plausible reason.

Google TV so far has not been all that successful, and Hulu could be a valuable piece in spurring device sales. Bringing a content provider in house could have benefits for the project and make it more attractive to the consumer, as currently it is much more search and advertising focused.

AT&T debuts $30 Android smartphone

Publié: septembre 7, 2011, 5:07pm CEST par Tim Conneally

Last March, I said low-end Android handsets had already begun their market takeover, and cited a half dozen companies that had released, or were planning on releasing mass market Android smartphones in 2011 and 2012.

One of the companies I mentioned, Chinese telecommunications equipment maker Huawei, had just released the Ideos X3, which had a consumer-friendly unsubsidized price of $199, falling in line with the company's tradition of releasing cheaper mass market handsets and modems.

Wednesday, Huawei announced it will begin selling a close cousin of the Ideos X3 called the Impulse 4G through U.S. carrier AT&T starting on September 18.

Known internationally as the Ideos X5, the Impulse 4G will cost only $29.99 with a new two-year contract with AT&T.

Impulse 4G, as the name suggests, uses AT&T's current "4G" HSPA+ network. It is equipped with a 3.8" touchscreen, a 5 megapixel flash camera capable of 720P HD video capture, Wi-Fi and GPS, and runs Android 2.2 (FroYo).

The features of this device are modest, but the features aren't necessarily the main point of this device anyway. Currently, you can buy Android smartphones for as low as one cent with AT&T, but they are all phones that have been available for a year or more. The Impulse 4G is launching at a price far below the launch price of all of those devices.

And with a two-year cycle of obsolescence, phones like the Impulse 4G will be free much sooner, and as more companies release more mass market Android phones, AT&T's portfolio of free smartphones will increase rapidly.

The Pew Internet and American Life Project did a study of smartphone adoption in July, and found that only 35% of adults in the United States were using a smartphone, but there were three main groups where smartphone adoption was higher than the national average: The financially secure (those with an income of $75k or more), those under 45 years of age, and African-Americans and Latinos.

"Smartphone owners under the age of 30, non-white smartphone users, and smartphone owners with relatively low income and education levels are particularly likely to say that they mostly go online using their phones," the study says.

The cheaper a device, the lower the barrier of entry to a service contract becomes, and earning more subscribers is ultimately the goal.

Facebook 3.5 for iOS adds privacy controls but no dedicated iPad app

Publié: septembre 7, 2011, 5:02pm CEST par Mark Wilson

The good news: Facebook 3.5 for iOS is available, packing some new privacy controls. The bad news: There's still no dedicated iPad app. For now we’ll have to content ourselves with a less major updates. The v3.5 app reflects some of the privacy changes that have been made to the Facebook website, as well as bringing in tagging and location options.

New privacy settings are in place that can be configured to control who will be able to see and comment on the posts you make. You can choose to make posts public, limit them to your friends list or a particular group you have already set up. The settings you choose for a particular post remain in place until you change them for a future post, so be sure to check before making more status updates.

It is now also possible to tag people in photos and posts, while the location option means that you can broadcast your current location with your status update, although you do have the option of choosing to check into somewhere completely different.

If you find that clicking a link in a friend’s status takes you to an external website, it is now possible to share links you find interesting whilst in web view. Other minor updates include changes to the appearance of profiles and group walls and there is the usual quota of bug fixes and performance improvements.

You can find out more and download a copy of the app by paying a visit to the Facebook for iPhone review page.

IObit Uninstaller 2 nukes pesky toolbars and anything else you don't want

Publié: septembre 7, 2011, 4:31pm CEST par Mark Wilson

Hard drives are larger and cheaper than ever before, meaning there is less of a need to reclaim disk space for reasons of capacity. But there is still a market for disk cleanup and uninstaller software. It's a perception thing: switching from the idea of looking at such tools as freeing up megabytes to instead regarding them as clearing up the mess left behind by other programs; it’s then easy to see their worth. One such utility is IObit Uninstaller 2.0, which comes with the added benefit of having being free.

Windows includes a dedicated section of the Control Panel to help make it easier to remove software you have decided that you no longer need, and used in conjunction with an application’s own uninstaller things generally go smoothly. But can you really be sure that all traces of the program you just nuked has been completely wiped out? The obvious program folder may have disappeared, but what about entries that may have been added to the registry, or files that have been added to system folders?

There are also those troublesome apps that simply refuse, for reasons unknown, to uninstall in a tidy fashion. IObit Uninstaller can help to ensure that when you opt to remove a program form your hard drive, it really is completely eradicated. The program automatically creates a System Restore point in case anything goes wrong, before allowing the normal uninstall routine to run through its paces. Once this is complete, a scan of your computer will reveal any remnants that have been left behind and give you the opportunity to eliminate them. Should you encounter any software that does not want to play ball when it comes to removal, a forced uninstall option is available.

Unwanted browser toolbars are not only irritating, they can also prove tricky to remove. IObit Uninstaller has a dedicated section that lists any toolbars that may have found their way onto your system, and provides you with the same cleanup options to wipe them out. If you are having trouble deciding what to remove from your hard drive, browsing through the Rarely Used section may reveal a few potential candidates and the Batch Uninstall option helps to speed up the process of removing several programs without having to separately start the uninstaller for each app you no longer need.

You can find out more and download a free copy of the program by paying a visit to the IObit Uninstaller 2.0 review page.

TechCrunch just exposed what is wrong with tech journalism today

Publié: septembre 7, 2011, 3:32pm CEST par Ed Oswald

Ed Oswald argues that TechCrunch embodies some of the worst ethics in journalism today. In counterpoint "AOL will ruin TechCrunch," Joe Wilcox argues that under Huffington Post management the tech site's good original reporting will greatly diminish.

I have been thinking about writing a story on the sorry state of tech journalism for a good part of my seven years in this business. Why's that? All too often objectivity, ethics and accuracy seem to have taken a backseat 'round these parts.

These three precepts are basic tenets that you learn from day one in journalism classes. Tell the story, and let your reader decide. Be forthcoming with your conflicts, and avoid topics you have a vested interest in. Having your facts straight and your nose clear is more important than being first or padding your own image.

For some reason, technology journalists seem to forget what they've been taught. Too often our biases come through in the stories we write, and we become defensive when we're called out on it. We often are not forthcoming on our potential conflicts, and there seems to always be the gold rush to have the earliest timestamp on our posts.

Case in Point: TechCrunch

The TechCrunch saga has brought all these warts we've been trying to cover up into the open, and too many of us are acting surprised that their modus operandi is so against everything journalism is supposed to be.

Come on guys, this is nothing new. We all know how the business works -- "pay-to-play" has been going on for years. Those businesses we cover have often developed relations with particular journalists who they know will cover them positively, and expect positive coverage.

Decisions on stories can often come based on advertising relationships: Harry McCracken's much publicized exit from PCWorld (the first time) was directly related to such an incident. Today with a blog anybody can become a journalist: even a millionaire investor like Mike Arrington.

Let's remember that TechCrunch started out as Arrington's own personal blog. Got to give him credit: his investing prowess, and his knack for writing persuasive content is top notch.

A problem arose, however, when TechCrunch made the switch from a personal blog to a "legitimate" news source, with a team of writers. At the helm was still an investor in many of the companies the site covered, and (for better or worse) the site's coverage seemingly is still overwhelmingly positive of Arrington's investments, no matter who is writing.

A Real Conflict of Interest

This is what made the idea of the CrunchFund so disgusting to some, because now that journalistically unpalatable arrangement was laid out in the open. It promised positive "deal flow," meaning TechCrunch would become a mouthpiece for those companies lucky enough to get venture capital from it.

In other words? In exchange for funding, you agree to break your news with TechCrunch first.

Good lord. So essentially what you're doing is using your financial clout to scoop your competition who is doing it the right way -- WORKING for that story -- and on top of it, likely sugar-coating your coverage so that others would link back. Wow, so not only were you inflating your page views, but the boss could make a pretty penny too!

Dang, there goes out the window nearly all those precepts I mentioned at the top of this commentary.

Making matters worse is watching writers of TechCrunch all of a sudden feign ignorance and act as if they are being unfairly attacked. Are you serious? You cannot tell me they didn't know what the standing operating practice of TechCrunch was.

Your boss made that bed, now you've all chosen to sleep in it. Sorry. And you can't tell me you aren't influenced in any way by him.

Somebody's Always Running the Show

See, there's a term media professors like to use called "gatekeepers." Without boring you with a lot of communications theory, essentially in any news organization there is always somebody watching the herd.

While Arrington may indeed not have interfered with actual stories, I find it hard to believe he did not have influence over his staff, helping to guide the overall brand. TechCrunch would not be as successful as it is if there wasn't somebody behind the scenes as the captain of the ship.

Kara Swisher of AllThingsD echoes this in a conversation I had with her Monday night over Twitter. "This line out of TC now reminds me of Rupe acting like he was not running the show at the PhoneGate hearings," she tweeted. It's true -- it is almost impossible to run a news organization without direction. Rupe refers to News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch, of course.

Maybe this lesson in journalism ethics being played out before our very eyes will give some of us pause in how we're conducting ourselves. Honestly I don't have much hope for that though, because what is happening/happened at TechCrunch is happening elsewhere, too.

They're not the only ones folks. And that's a damned shame for objective journalists, and you the reader.

Photo Credit: marekuliasz/Shutterstock

O&O DiskImage 6 speeds up backup and recovery

Publié: septembre 7, 2011, 2:20pm CEST par Nick Peers

German developer O&O Software has announced the immediate release of O&O DiskImage 6, its drive backup tool. DiskImage 6, which is also available as a separate 64-bit build, allows users to take exact byte-for-byte images of their hard drives, adds a plethora of new features, including the ability to back up individual files and folders.

Other new features include the ability to mount standard ISO image files as virtual drives as well as DiskImage backup images, plus a revamped user interface designed to make the backup process simpler and clearer for less experienced users, which includes a one-click backup option.

DiskImage 6, which costs $29 for the Professional Edition or $49 for a three-computer Family Edition license, also claims to provide significantly faster performance when backing up or recovering a drive image, and also revises the program’s machine independent restoration (MIR) feature, which allows the drive image of one computer to be copied to another.

The major new feature, file-based backups, produces image files in the proprietary obk format. These are basically compressed archives based on the open-source BZIP2 format, and can be accessed either from within DiskImage itself, or using compatible third-party utilities, such as WinZipand IZArc, to restore entire folders or selected files.

Individual files can also be recovered from images -- DiskImage allows you to mount your image as a virtual drive, letting you access it via Windows Explorer. Version 6 also adds the ability to mount standard ISO images -- typically images of CDs and DVDs -- in the same way.

Other notable new and revised features include a choice of imaging methods, including a forensic imaging option that allows the user to attempt data recovery from the drive image. DiskImage 6 also now supports the conversion of Microsoft Virtual PC (VHD) hard disks to DiskImage images and vice versa.

The user interface has also been tweaked to make the program more accessible to novices. There’s an Information Bar that displays all the key options -- clicking one then reveals the next steps to follow. All selected options are displayed before starting a backup, with others, such as shutting down the computer after the backup completes, accessible during the actual process.

O&O DiskImage 6 Professional 32-bit and O&O DiskImage 6 Professional 64-bit are both available to download as free trial versions for PCs running Windows XP or later. Look out for our in-depth review later on in the week. Single-computer Professional licenses cost $29 each; a three-computer Family license costs $49.

Carol Bartz was the wrong fit for Yahoo

Publié: septembre 7, 2011, 4:50am CEST par Joe Wilcox

She has guts and character and should be CEO somewhere. Just not Yahoo.

But Carol Bartz deserves better treatment than this, if the account of her dismissal is correct. "I’ve just been fired over the phone by Yahoo’s Chairman of the Board", she claims in an email sent to Yahoo employees. I believe it. This stinks of boardroom coup.

Still, I'm not surprised at Bartz's sacking -- more that it didn't come sooner. In a scathing January 2009 commentary, I expressed strong misgivings about Bartz then becoming CEO, writing: "The media company is finished" and Bartz's "credentials are all wrong for Yahoo". More:

"Yahoo is a consumer media company, but Carol is all enterprise cred. She led Autodesk and worked for both Digital Equipment Corporation and Sun Microsystems. DEC might as well be a segment on the VH1 show 'Where Are They Now?'...Sure, Autodesk is successful, but in a specialized, niche market. Going from Autodesk to Yahoo would be like changing from governor of Rhode Island to president of the United States".

She quickly started remodeling Yahoo, cutting people and properties, which set off an exodus of hugely talented executives. In a stunning February 2009 reorganization, Bartz literally destroyed the technology and product division line of Yahoo. Among the many firings: CFO Blake Jorgensen. She promised then: "Look for this company's brand to kick ass again".

That's the opposite of what I warned a month earlier: "If Carol cuts up Yahoo, its brand value must diminish".

The chop-shop activities continued well into Bartz's second year as CEO. In March 2010, she dismantled Yahoo's mobile group, a stunning move considering the enormous popularity of cell phones (5 billion subscribers globally at the time) and the huge potential to sell advertising and deliver rich-media content. Within a month, Apple launched iPad. I pleaded: "Would someone please take away the axe from that woman!"

In December 2010, Yahoo jettisoned 8 more web properties and identified nearly a dozen more as "sunset". While chopping Yahoo to pieces, Bartz bolstered some media properties, such as the May 2010 acquisition of Associated Content for $100 million. But chopping Yahoo to pieces defined her time running the media company.

The greatest cut was by far the most long-term damaging to Yahoo, its media assets and brand. Bartz cut a deal with Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to outsource search. I later wrote: "Yahoo is little more than a beloved brand without search, particularly with CEO Carol Bartz dismantling the company's other prized assets".

Microsoft launched a $44-billion hostile takeover of Yahoo in early 2008, giving up a few months later. In May 2008, Ballmer expressed interest to acquire search only. I wrote:

"How stupid, or perhaps desperate, do Microsoft execs think is Yahoo's board of directors? So let me try to understand: Yahoo wouldn't sell the whole company, but it would give up crown jewel search? Seriously, are Microsoft execs totally psycho? Delusional? Definitely, Yahoo's board would be nuts for taking this kind of deal...Yahoo is just going to let this crown jewel go? Yahoo started as a search company. Search is core to Yahoo's business, strategic and technological identity". I called the separation of search from Yahoo a "lobotomy".

But stupid Bartz and Yahoo's board were, by outsourcing search to Microsoft and in process giving up future research and development. Search isn't just a hugely valuable asset because of what Yahoo was or what it could be -- or could have been: The future of search is mobile, which Google and Microsoft understand so well. Bartz sold the media company's future through the Microsoft search deal and mobile division reorganization. Microsoft and Yahoo announced the search outsourcing agreement in July 2009. Microsoft started serving up Yahoo search results in August 2010.

Recent financials hint at Bartz's ouster. During second calendar quarter 2011, Yahoo revenue fell by 23 percent year over year, largely because of its search revenue-sharing agreement with Microsoft. Income rose by 9 percent. A quarter earlier revenue fell by 6 percent, but income by considerably more: 29 percent.

It looks like some investors are giddy about Bartz's firing, which really should include the people doing the duty. Yahoo's board brought on Bartz and sanctioned her chopping the company to pieces and making that lobotomizing deal with Microsoft; who holds them accountable? Yahoo shares are up more than 6 percent in after-hours trading this evening.

Photo Credit: Yodel Anecdotal/Yahoo Inc.

Yahoo CEO Bartz: 'I've just been fired over the phone'

Publié: septembre 7, 2011, 2:27am CEST par Tim Conneally

About to enter her third year as CEO of Internet services company Yahoo, Carol Bartz on Tuesday reportedly sent a message to all Yahoo employess stating that she had been fired.

Bartz ascended to the rank of CEO of Yahoo in early 2009, after the departure of the company's co-founder Jerry Yang.

She wrote in the memo:

"To all,

I am very sad to tell you that I’ve just been fired over the phone by Yahoo’s Chairman of the Board. It has been my pleasure to work with all of you and I wish you only the best going forward.

Carol"

Shortly after the publication of Bartz' message, Yahoo's executive board announced it had appointed CFO Timothy Morse as the company's interim CEO, and that it would be searching for someone to permanently fill the position.

"The Board sees enormous growth opportunities on which Yahoo! can capitalize, and our primary objective is to leverage the Company's leadership and current business assets and platforms to execute against these opportunities," Roy Bostock, Chairman of the Yahoo Board said in a statement on Tuesday. "We have talented teams and tremendous resources behind them and intend to return the Company to a path of robust growth and industry-leading innovation. We are committed to exploring and evaluating possibilities and opportunities that will put Yahoo! on a trajectory for growth and innovation and deliver value to shareholders."

The board announced it had formed an "Executive Leadership Counsel" to assist Morse for day-to-day operations, and work on "a comprehensive strategic review that the Board has initiated to position the Company for future growth."

This counsel will include Michael Callahan, Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary; Blake Irving, Executive Vice President and Chief Product Officer; Ross Levinsohn, Executive Vice President, Americas; Rich Riley, Senior Vice President & MD, EMEA Region; and Rose Tsou, Senior Vice President, APAC Region.

Move over GarageBand and make room for MAGIX Music Maker MX

Publié: septembre 6, 2011, 11:40pm CEST par Mark Wilson

Music creation software has something of a poor reputation, with many people regarding it as being expensive to buy and complicated to use. This is a reputation that MAGIX is trying to change with its Music Maker program, and the latest version, MAGIX Music Maker MX goes a long way to achieving this aim. While the program is incredibly simple to use, the music creation you produce using the software can be made as basic or as complex and involved as you like.

Used at its most basic, MAGIX Music Maker MX provides you with 64 audio tracks onto which you can arrange a series of samples to create the skeleton of a musical composition. If you want, you can leave things as they are, but even the least musically minded of people could not resist tinkering with special effects, dropping in a few loops here and there, and then there is the drum machine to play with. Before you know it, you have become fully engrossed in the process of putting together a piece of music -- and it does not matter that you’ve never picked up an instrument in your life.

Creating music using the building blocks of readymade loops and samples is the easiest way to get started with the program, and even in this way it is possible to create something quite impressive. With samples covering everything from hip hop and rock to dance and electronic, there’s sure to be something that inspires you. A wide range of drum and melody loops means that a completed track is never far away.

Of course, to get the most from the application, it is necessary to take things to the next level, and MAGIX Music Maker MX has a fairly gentle learning curve that enables you to take things at your own pace. You can learn how to use individual components of the music suite and each will enable you to come up with something new that can be added to your current project. One such a component is the Lead Synth which is an analog synthesiser that can be used to create your own melodies. Used in conjunction with a selection of realistic Vita Solo instruments, the results can be stunning.

Dance To Your Own Beat

Few tracks would be complete without some sort of percussion being present, and this is where the Drum engine comes into its own. Whether you are looking for a basic beat to keep things going, or you like the idea of recreating a classic drum sound, all the tools you need are available to enable you to do so.

The MX part of Music Maker’s name stand for Media eXchange and is a reference to the fact that it is now easier than ever to share tracks between different MAGIX products. For example, if you use Music Maker to record yourself playing an instrument, there may be unwanted background noise. It is now quick and simple to transfer the recording to Audio Cleaning Lab for enhancement before passing it back for use in your music project. Music Maker need not just be about creation stand-alone music; it can also be used to create soundtracks for videos. If you have a video project that you have been working on in Movie Edit Pro, it can be imported into Music Maker so you can get to work.

While the program is very easy to get started with -- if you are not the most musically minded of users, one of the best ways to learn about the various tools is by trial and error -- there are a number of online video tutorial that can point you in the right direction if you get stuck at any point. But the point is that MAGIX has made its name by producing software that makes potentially complicated things, such as music creation, simple for anyone to try their hand at.

Premium Edition

While the standard version of the program is packed with features, there is even more to work with in MAGIX Music Maker MX Premium. If you were worried that the 64 audio tracks available to you in the standard version of the software, the Premium version gives you 96 top work with as well as a wider range of effects, samples and instruments. BeatBox Plus is an enhanced version of the MAGIX drum machine, while tools such as the analog compressor and high quality synthesiser allows for great experimentation. To help with the process of creating loop and samples, a dedicated audio editor as well as a MIDI editor are available. Going Premium also unlocks the ability to work with 5.1 surround sound and includes a mastering suite to help with the production of CDs.

Whether you opt for the standard or premium version of MAGIX Music Maker MX, you are investing in a quality program that will service your music creation needs well. You can find out more and download a free trial of the program by paying a visit to the MAGIX Music Maker MX download page. The software runs on Windows XP/Vista/7.

Google says Gmail has been up 99.99% of the time in 2011

Publié: septembre 6, 2011, 11:14pm CEST par Tim Conneally

Google has set a pretty high bar for itself, guaranteeing 99.9% availability of Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Talk, Google Docs, Google Groups and Google Sites to its Google Apps customers. If it cannot meet that level of availability, all of its customers are entitled to a certain amount of free days worth of service in each billing cycle.

In a somewhat self-aggrandizing blog about Google's cloud services today, Google Apps product manager John Collins reiterated that Gmail was up for 99.984% of 2010, and revealed that it's currently at over 99.99% uptime for the first half of 2011.

Looking through the Google Apps Status list reveals how comparatively isolated Gmail outages have been. On August 29th, for example, there was an outage for 3 hours that affected less than .05% of the Gmail userbase, and the last outage was a little over a month prior, affecting less than .01% of the Gmail userbase for about 8 hours, by the unofficial number of registered Gmail users, that amounts to less than 20,000 users.

Partition Wizard 7 offers little new in free version

Publié: septembre 6, 2011, 9:24pm CEST par Nick Peers

MiniTool Solution Ltd has released a brand new version of its non-destructive partitioning software. MiniTool Partition Wizard 7.0, available as a free-for-personal-use Home Edition, is also can be had in a number of paid-for editions, with prices starting from $30 for Partition Wizard 7.0 Professional.

The biggest update in Partition Wizard 7.0 is actually restricted to paid-for editions of the program, namely the added support for Simple, Spanned, Striped, Mirrored and RAID-5 volumes, with the addition of a brand new Dynamic Disk menu offering a host of new options for handling such volumes.

Although the Dynamic Disk menu is present in Partition Wizard 7.0 Home Edition, it’s grayed out, indicating the option isn’t available. Other options restricted to paid-for editions include merging partitions, converting dynamic disks back to basic ones without data loss and changing a partition’s cluster size.

Dynamic volumes can be created, deleted and formatted, plus you can resize or move volumes without data loss as well as error-check and repair file system errors on dynamic volumes. You can also change dynamic volume cluster sizes as well as securely wipe volumes if they contain sensitive data. You can also explore volume contents before you change any parameters.

Partition Wizard 7.0 Home Edition does gain one feature, albeit one that was previously restricted to paid-for customers: the ability to “hot extend” the Windows NTFS system partition without having to reboot your computer as part of the process.

Despite the lack of new functionality in the Home edition, the free bootable CD version has also been updated to version 7.0, complete with grayed out Dynamic Disk menu. This is downloadable as an ISO file which you subsequently burn to a bootable disc using software like Active@ ISO Burner. Once done, boot from the disc and you gain the same functionality as found in the Home edition of Partition Wizard.

Partition Wizard 7.0 Home Edition is available now as a free-for-personal-use download for Windows XP, Vista and 7.

Sprint files antitrust lawsuit against AT&T, T-Mobile merger

Publié: septembre 6, 2011, 8:24pm CEST par Tim Conneally

On the last day of August, the U.S. Department of Justice filed an antitrust lawsuit in the District of Columbia to block the proposed merger of national wireless network operators AT&T and T-Mobile. Tuesday, competing national carrier Sprint Nextel announced it had filed a similar antitrust suit in federal court, saying the $39 billion merger is, in short, illegal.

"Sprint opposes AT&T’s proposed takeover of T-Mobile,” a statement from Susan Z. Haller, vice president of litigation at Sprint, said today. “With today’s legal action, we are continuing that advocacy on behalf of consumers and competition, and expect to contribute our expertise and resources in proving that the proposed transaction is illegal.”

Sprint has already been very outspoken about the potential harm it sees coming from the merger, and CEO Dan Hesse has said the merger would stifle competition and growth, and that "wireless innovation will be jeopardized" if it passes.

"AT&T’s proposed takeover of T-Mobile is brazenly anticompetitive," Sprint's complaint says. "In one fell swoop, AT&T’s proposed purchase would eliminate one of four national competitors and marginalize a second (Sprint), pushing the market back toward a 1980s-style cell phone duopoly that would force consumers to endure higher prices and be denied the fruits of vigorous innovation...No matter how market shares are measured – all wireless services for consumers, postpaid wireless services for consumers, wireless services for business and governmental accounts – the proposed transaction would leave AT&T controlling in excess of 40 percent of the national markets, and would give it the ability to exercise market power both unilaterally and in coordination with Verizon, as these Twin Bells together would control more than three quarters of all wireless services."

AOL will ruin TechCrunch

Publié: septembre 6, 2011, 7:37pm CEST par Joe Wilcox

Joe Wilcox argues that TechCrunch produces boatloads of original content using a method called process journalism. In counterpoint, "TechCrunch just exposed what is wrong with tech journalism today", Ed Oswald contends that the blog is rife with conflict of interest and questionable news reporting ethics.

Have you been on the Internet long enough to remember Global Network Navigator -- yeah, that's GNN. It was the first web portal I used to get news and quick access to other useful sites. O'Reilly & Associates (now O'Reilly Media) launched the site in 1993. AOL bought GNN in 1995 and closed it in 1996, quite unceremoniously. The domain is still active and points to Huffington Post. Old-time Netters will remember GNN and a long list of other properties and products purchased by AOL that were later abandoned or closed -- all part of a decade-and-a-half plan to reinvent as a new media company.

Another AOL acquisition is on the hit list. TechCrunch, rather than writing tech news, is tech news following several days of tumultuous commentaries both inside and outside the organization. The AOL property, acquired in September 2010 for $30 million, is ripe for major shakeup. What was good about TechCrunch could be gone by year's end; heck by the end of the week, if core staffers bolt or are canned. Love him or hate -- and there seems to be little between these emotions -- TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington is out, or soon will be in the inevitable AOL slaughter.

Arrington's fate, and that of TechCrunch, was certain in February 2011, when AOL announced the $315 million acquisition of Huffington Post. It was never a question of if but when things would change. There isn't room enough for two big blog media personalities at AOL, particularly with such opposing worldviews about news acquisition.

About 90 minutes after I posted, Arrington made a startling admission and demand of AOL:

"I believe that AOL should be held to their promise when they acquired us to give TechCrunch complete editorial independence. As of late last week TechCrunch no longer has editorial independence. Some argue that the circumstances demanded it. I disagree. Editorial independence was never supposed to be an easy thing for AOL to give us. But it was never meaningful if it shatters the first time it is put to the test".

Perhaps editorial independence looked easier 12 months ago, before AOL handed over control of its blogs to Huffington. Arrington:

"We’ve proposed two options to AOL.

1. Reaffirmation of the editorial independence promised at the time of acquisition. Given the current circumstances, that means autonomy from Huffington Post, unfettered editorial independence and a blanket right to editorial self determination. To put it simply, TechCrunch would stay with AOL but would be independent of the Huffington Post.

or

2. Sell TechCrunch back to the original shareholders.

If AOL cannot accept either of these options, and no other creative solution can be found, I cannot be a part of TechCrunch going forward".

My content below takes on richer context in light of Arrington's official response to AOL.

The Huffington Way

Ariana Huffington is the queen of news aggregation, and it is a heap successful business model that many long-time journalists loathe. Huffington also is queen of free; the site summarizes news content many other organizations pay some writer to produce. The practice is now widespread, as other sites imitate the aggregation-by-summarization model.

By contrast, TechCrunch mostly produces original content, which is an increasing rarity on the web, particularly among blogs. There has been fierce debate about Arrington's ethics -- running a site that reports news about companies he invests in -- but few critics can legitimately argue that TechCrunch doesn't produce boatloads of original content. From that perspective, TechCrunch is a model of traditional journalism and values of in-depth, original reporting.

But that's not the kind of content company AOL wants to be, and that's warning to other profile AOL acquired blogs -- Engadget and The Unofficial Apple Weblog. Already, Engadget had a mass exodus of senior staff, following the Huffington Post acquisition, to form a new tech news site. Engadget editor Paul Miller left within 10 days of the acquisition. The Huffington Postification of AOL media sites had begun.

Last month, AOL CEO Tim Armstrong couldn't gush enough about Huffington Post, in the media company's second-quarter earnings press release and on the conference call. "The Huffington Post traffic surpassed The New York Times during the quarter and passes nearly 10 million monthly unique users", Armstrong said. AOL launched 17 new sites during the quarter, mostly from the Huffington Post Media Group. "In the consumer side area, we launched AOL Healthy Living, Huffington Post Canada and Huffington Post U.K., Huffington Post Women, Huffington Post Celebrity, Huffington Post Parent, Huffington Post BlackVoices", Armstrong said. "We've been very busy in the content business".

The AOL Way

Change is inevitable at AOL, which has been trying to reinvent as a media company since the mid 1990s. GNN was one of the earliest casualties. In her November 1996 SFGate.com news story on the closure, Julia Angwin wrote about the "little-known GNN": It "actually helped make the World Wide Web a household name". That's a fact. As did the more visible Netscape, which AOL bought and later killed, just as browser competition was starting to pick up again. The company has smart sense for good products or properties but often doesn't understand what to do with them, once it has them.

Overnight, TechCrunch's MG Siegler wrote overly-whiny "TechCrunch may be over as we know it":

"This is a post I never thought I’d have to write. Unfortunately, I do. And the worst part about it is that it should be Michael Arrington writing this post, not me. But he can’t. TechCrunch is on the precipice. As soon as tomorrow, Mike may be thrown out of the company he founded. Or he may not. No one knows...

By now, if you read TechCrunch, you likely know about the nuclear situation that has exploded over the past several days. Mike unveiled an investing entity known as the 'CrunchFund' with full AOL support -- so much support, mind you, that they’re the largest backers of the fund -- only to have his legs kicked out from under him due to what can only be described as nonsensical political infighting and really poor communication. To make matters worse, some Journalists (with a big “J” and even bigger senses of entitlement) have".

Siegler explains how he sees TechCrunch differences from traditional journalism in a personal blog post. He attributes the news blogs' success to its lose organizational structure.

The Arrington Way

I see more fundamental reasons for the site's success. By my observation of TechCrunch business practices, Arrington, who is an attorney by trade, applies lawyer’s ethics to the blogging operation. Lawyer principles seek to protect client relationships. Pretty much anything else is OK, except disclosing information clients share with the attorney. Journalists protect sources, which isn't so dissimilar, but are obliged by other ethical standards obligations -- like getting the facts straight. Lawyers are not bound by such principles and they often misrepresent things to benefit their clients. Lawyers are notorious for floating out trial balloons -- information, misinformation or rumors to gauge somebody’s reaction. TechCrunch regularly floats trial balloons by way of rumor stories. The blog uses rumors to advance the reporting process. The stories generate helpful comments and other leads.

Traditional journalists are expected to get the facts right before a story is published. TechCrunch takes a different approach. "Stories evolve on our blog", Arrington explained in June 2009. "It can start with a rumor, which we may post if we find it credible and/or it’s being so widely circulated that the fact of the rumor’s existence is newsworthy in itself. But then we evolve a post to get to the truth".

There's a name for it: process journalism, which Jeff Jarvis, associate professor of journalism at City University of New York, explained two summers ago. Print journalism is obsessed with perfection. A story isn’t ready until it is authoritatively written and fact checked, which makes sense when the medium is print. The story needs to be nearly as perfect as possible. Jarvis explains about the myth of perfection held by journalism and some other industries:

"If you have just one chance to put out a product and it has to serve everyone the same, you come to believe it’s perfect because it has to be... Online, the story, the reporting, the knowledge are never done and never perfect. That doesn’t mean that we revel in imperfection…It just means that we do journalism differently, because we can. We have our standards, too, and they include collaboration, transparency, letting readers into the process, and trying to say what we don’t know when we publish -- as caveats, rather than afterward -- as corrections".

For TechCrunch, the process can be surprisingly good reading. I haven’t done an official count, but I’d guess that TechCrunch posts more unfinished stories than the more complete kind published by, say, the New York Times. TechCrunch stories evolve -- and, I must assert, too often from unsubstantiated rumors. It’s a process I must grudgingly acknowledge that TechCrunch can be quite transparent about. The process, of the story unfolding over time, produces original content that often is interesting reading, and readers participate in that process, through comments and other social media tools.

AOL puts that process at risk. Where Huffington Post processes news stories like pieces of coal moving down an assembly line, TechCrunch uses process journalism to produce diamonds. Which is more valuable? They both have their place, but as a journalist I'll take TechCrunch over Huffington Post every day of the year.

Photo Credit: Joi Ito

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No more waiting for annoying cell phone salesmen to configure your new gear while they try to sell you accessories

Publié: septembre 6, 2011, 6:01pm CEST par Tim Conneally

While the short-range wireless technology known generically as Near-field communications (NFC) is still in its early stages of consumer adoption, the technology is already in its seventh year of development and it is maturing beyond the point where it can be used simply for exchanging small bits of information or payment authorization. Imagine if companies could make a single production run of smartphones, tablets, or notebooks without having to regionalize the software on it, and that was done the moment the machine was purchased.

Switzerland-based semiconductor company STMicroelectronics on Tuesday launched a new dual-interface EEPROM memory unit (M24LR64) that is specifically designed to make a system's data available via NFC at all times. EEPROM is a non-volatile form of memory commonly used in microcontrollers in industrial machinery, and can often be found in digital sensors and timers.

But the company today pointed out that RFID and NFC are becoming especially common in supply chain management, because it reduces the amount of time spent counting individual items in a shipment. If each item contains an RFID chip, a pallet of items could be scanned and counted instantaneously. With this new type of EEPROM memory, ST says these products could not only be counted, but be activated upon delivery, and updated with regional settings and firmware when they're sold.

Because NFC can be paired through sealed packaging, an NFC-capable terminal could, scan your new product when you purchase it at Best Buy, for example, and tell the system clock EEPROM that you're on Eastern Standard Time so when you flip open your new Notebook for the first time, you wouldn't have to choose your region and language or connect to the cloud to run an initial setup.

To show off how data can be manipulated via NFC, ST has constructed a prototype temperature sensor and datalogger with this new chip which pairs with an Android app called Dual EE. This is meant to show how the smartphone can perform both read and write functions on the chip, including starting and stopping temperature collection and changing settings, downloading logged data, displaying metrics and creating graphs, and so forth.

Tim Conneally's all-encompassing disclosure statement

DigiNotar scandal worsens: 500+ rogue certificates issued, five CAs breached

Publié: septembre 6, 2011, 4:58pm CEST par Larry Seltzer

The hacker who breached the DigiNotar certificate authority has come out, or at least claimed to. He appears to be the same hacker who breached Comodo, another CA, several months ago. (Hat tip to F-Secure.) "COMODOHACKER" seems to have a problem with the Dutch government.

He claims to have gotten past numerous sophisticated protections in DigiNotar's systems, the details of which he will divulge later, and that he retains inside access to four other "high-profile" CAs and can still issue rogue certificates from them. He also claims that the password for the PRODUCTION\Administrator account (the domain administrator of certificate network) is "Pr0d@dm1n".

As more details come out about the actual hack, the news just gets worse and worse. Among the fraudulent certificates issued were the wildcards *.*.com and *.*.org. Some of the best detail can be found in this blog posting at the TOR Project.

The TOR posting includes a link to a spreadsheet with 531 rogue certificates issued by COMODOHACKER on behalf of DigiNotar. One of them appears to be a calling card. I quote the TOR posting:

"Of particular note is this certificate:
CN=*.RamzShekaneBozorg.com,SN=PK000229200006593,OU=Sare Toro Ham Mishkanam,L=Tehran,O=Hameye Ramzaro Mishkanam,C=IR
The text here appears to be be an entry like any other but it is infact a calling card from a Farsi speaker. RamzShekaneBozorg.com is not a valid domain as of this writing.
Thanks to an anonymous Farsi speaker, I now understand that the above certificate is actually a comment to anyone who bothers to read between the lines:
"RamzShekaneBozorg" is "great cracker"
"Hameyeh Ramzaro Mishkanam" translates to "I will crack all encryption"
"Sare Toro Ham Mishkanam" translates to 'i hate/break your head'"

Reactions continue to roll in from around the web. Microsoft has updated their response to it. They dismiss the significance of the *.windowsupdate.com certificate as the domain is not used and Microsoft's update software has multiple protections against false updates. They note the *.microsoft.com certificate but make no particular remarks about it.

Vista, Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2 users have been protected for some time against these fraudulent certificates because of updates Microsoft made to an online CA list they maintain. The picture for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 users is less clear. KB2607712 says that "Microsoft will release a future update to address this issue for all supported editions of Windows XP and Windows Server 2003." Are they still vulnerable? The lack of a claim that they aren't would seem to be confirmation that they are.

Trend Micro's Malware Blog argues that these certificates were used to spy on Iranian Internet users on a large scale. The certificates were encountered by users across the country.

Kaspersky's Roel Schouwenberg says that the DigiNotar scandal may turn out more important than Stuxnet, not because of sophistication, but because of ominous consequences. DigiNotar had operated a CA used for Dutch government operations and that CA is also presumed broken. Government services and communication have been disrupted. Schouwenberg: "Because of this one could make an argument the attack is an act of cyberwar." He also expresses concern that Apple has taken no actions to revoke the bogus certificates nor made any announcements that they plan to.

Many claim that this is proof of the failure of the CA system. I'm not sure it's worth going that far, but this incident does underscore the main weakness of that system, namely the great amount of trust placed in certificate authorities by client software, mainly web browsers, and therefore by users of those programs. If the CAs are not trustworthy, the security of the system collapses.

Photo Credit: Jimmi/Shutterstock

InstantShot: Better screen capture for your Mac

Publié: septembre 5, 2011, 7:24pm CEST par Nick Peers

It’s a strange quirk of OS X that it boasts not one, but two separate screen-capture utilities. One is triggered simply by pressing [Cmd] + [3] or [4] depending on whether you want a full-screen shot or a portion of the screen. While configurable, you’ll need to fiddle about with the command line each time you want to change a setting.

Open the Applications > Utilities folder and you’ll find the other: Grab. It allows you to take timed grabs, place your choice of cursors on the screen and save the finished output with your choice of filename in your chosen location. Each tool has its own pros and cons, but what if you could combine the best of them into a single free utility for your Mac? The good news is you can, in the form of InstantShot! 2.5 for Tiger, Panther and SnowLeopard, or InstantShot! 2.6b for Lion.

Once launched, InstantShot! is accessible from your menu bar via its scissors icon. From here you can instruct the program to capture the entire screen or capture a portion (rectangle) of the screen, which can either be a selected window or a user-defined region (click and drag the mouse). To select a region that can subsequently be resized before you capture it, hold the [Shift] key.

The program can also take timed screen captures, but whereas Grab makes you wait 10 seconds before it grabs the screen, InstantShot! allows you to set this time yourself (default, five seconds). Oh, and you can capture specific windows or portions of the screen using the timer too.

InstantShot! also allows you to take multiple screen captures in one go, with a pre-selected interval between each shot. All of these shots can be output as PNG, TIF or JPG, and can be saved to a folder of your choice using a naming convention of your choice too. And of course you can add hotkey combinations for any or all of these different screen capturing techniques.

It doesn’t end there: you can opt to remove the background display from your captures, scale or limit the size of the captured shots (perfect for thumbnail images) and more besides. It all adds up to the perfect alternative to OS X’s screen-capture tools, helped enormously by the fact InstantShot! is completely free to use.

InstantShot! 2.5 is a free download for Macs running OS X 10.4 (Tiger), 10.5 (Leopard) or 10.6 (Snow Leopard). OS X 10.7 (Lion) users should install the beta of InstantShot! 2.6 instead.

Is Apple engaging in innovation by intimidation?

Publié: septembre 5, 2011, 6:30pm CEST par Joe Wilcox

"So the next day, my father went to see him; only this time with Luca Brasi -- and within an hour, he signed a release, for a certified check for $1,000...Luca Brasi held a gun to his head and my father assured him that either his brains, or his signature, would be on the contract". -- Michael Corelone, "The Godfather" movie.

There has been much debate about whether the recent rash of patent lawsuits will stifle innovation. Debate no more. In its patent claims against HTC, Apple is targeting Android creator Andy Rubin for work done for the Mac maker -- get this -- in the early 1990s. The message is clear: If you ever worked for Apple, we'll sue your new employer, too, simply because you were here when X, Y or Z patented software process or technology was developed.

Consider HP. What if the computing giant viewed TouchPad as more trouble than it's worth, from an Apple patent lawsuit perspective, versus potential profits and marketing position. HP's decision to kill off TouchPad after only six weeks of sales is perplexing -- but perhaps more sensible in light of recent patent litigation. Jon Rubinstein helped Apple invent the iPod before going to Palm and later becoming CEO (June 2009). Palm hired Rubinstein to sprinkle some of that Apple-like magic into its products, and he did; webOS is easily the most fluid and synchronization-capable mobile operating system available today.

Surely Rubinstein's work for Apple creates all kinds of potential patent problems for HP, whether webOS or TouchPad. The legitimacy of any patent claims is immaterial to Apple's willingness to sue and entangle any competitor in costly and distracting litigation.

Then there's Amazon. Rubinstein joined Amazon's board of directors in December 2010, and the company is working on an Android tablet that many analysts are already calling iPad killer sight unseen. Why? Because Amazon proved its mettle jump-starting the long-languishing ebook market. Kindle and Kindle Store are huge successes -- the e-reader is category leader, based on shipments, according to IDC. Amazon also is expected to price its Android tablet well below iPad 2. Then there is its depth of retail experience, supporting digital stores (games, music and movies), Android app store and the likelihood Amazon retail shops will be a core part of the modified Android to consider. Yeah, an Amazon tablet could be heap loads of iPad competition.

If you listen really, really carefully, you can hear Apple lawyers clamoring in the distance discussing the lawsuit. What will Apple allege Rubinstein learned about patented processes or technology while working there?

Apple's Legal Strategy

Rubin is the model for personal attacks against Rubinstein and other traitors -- eh, former Apple employees.

Rubin was a "low-level engineer" at Apple, when his bosses developed one of the disputed patents in the case against HTC -- U.S. Patent No. 6,343,263:

"A data transmission system having a real-time data engine for processing isochronous streams of data includes an interface device that provides a physical and logical connection of a computer to any one or more of a variety of different types of data networks. Data received at this device is presented to a serial driver, which disassembles different streams of data for presentation to appropriate data managers. A device handler associated with the interface device sets up data flow paths, and also presents data and commands from the data managers to a real-time data processing engine. Flexibility to handle any type of data, such as voice, facsimile, video and the like, that is transmitted over any type of communication network with any type of real-time engine is made possible by abstracting the functions of each of the elements of the system from one another. This abstraction is provided through suitable interfaces that isolate the transmission medium, the data manager and the real-time engine from one another".

This "`263 real-time API patent" -- as intellectual property analyst Florian Mueller describes it -- was developed for products released in a different computing era for another operating system. Apple's iOS is based on Mac OS X, which foundation is NeXT, which the company purchased in late 1996. That's how cofounder Steve Jobs returned to Apple, 11 years after getting booted out in a boardroom coup -- NeXT's acquisition. The patent certainly could apply to iOS or other operating systems. I'm no patent attorney, of course, but there's two things obvious enough:

* The description is overly broad and surely is overlapped by other patents held by other companies.

* Apple filed the patent in August 1994, which shows just how far back the company is willing to claim infringement related to former employees.

The US Patent and Trademark Office granted the patent in January 2002. James Nichols and John Lynch are listed as inventors. According to a recent Apple filing in the HTC lawsuit: "Mr. Rubin began his career at Apple in the early 1990s and worked as a low-level engineer specifically reporting to the inventors of the '263 patent at the exact time their invention was being conceived and developed...It is thus no wonder that the infringing Android platform used the claimed subsystem approach of the '263 patent that allows for flexibility of design and enables the platform to be 'highly customizable and expandable' as HTC touts".

Warning to Former Apple Employees

Mueller explains: "It's possible that [Rubin] then contributed to the implementation of the claimed invention". Much depends on whether Apple can convince the International Trade Commission or another legal entity that Rubin "willfully infringed" on a software process his former bosses worked on when he was a "low-level engineer" in the early 1990s.

Mueller writes: "If the ITC upholds the initial determination that the '263 patent is valid and infringed by Android, Google should be very concerned. An ITC decision doesn't bind the federal courts, but the likelihood of Apple being able to enforce this patent -- and thereby have Andy Rubin declared a willful infringer of a patent developed at Apple while he worked there, by the very people he worked for -- would certainly be much greater than if the ITC decided differently".

I ask then: What claims could Apple make against former high-level employees like Rubinstein or "low-level" employees who left and succeeded elsewhere?

Apple has failed to compete successfully against Android, so the company has engaged a patent war -- innovation by intimidation. Android smartphone subscriber market share was 41.7 percent at the end of July, up 5.4 point in three months, according to comScore -- that's for the United States. By comparison, iPhone/iOS grew by 1 point to 27-percent share. Globally, Android smartphone share was 48 percent in second quarter, according to Canalys.

At Apple, it has long been operating practice: our way or the highway (Just ask company partners and customers). Now Apple will run you down if you do. Or in going another way you challenge Apple to drag race (compete with it). Apple thugs (its lawyers) and cops (the courts) will take you to jail (block your product from shipping) for even thinking about dragging Apple. The company then wins by default and keeps its title of drag-race king.

Does all this legal activity stifle innovation? That's a question for mobile and cloud startups or companies that employ former Apple employees to answer.

Looking for work and got an offer by email? Criminals want you to be their money mule

Publié: septembre 3, 2011, 10:33pm CEST par Mikko Hypponen

I like reading my spam. Sounds strange? Perhaps it is, but from the perspective of an eCrime investigator, there's often something interesting inside a spam folder.

One day I was going through the spam folder of my inbox and came across an interesting job offer. A company was looking for people who could speak English, had an email box and a PC, could work unsupervised, and had no criminal record.

Cool, I fulfilled all the criteria! It seemed like the perfect opportunity for a career change so I sent in my reply: "Oh yes, what do I need to do?"

In no time at all, I received an answer: "We are glad to inform you that you have been chosen for this position. Welcome". The reply also explained that my new job was a "payment processing manager". All I needed to do was to receive money in my bank account and transfer it to another account. Very tempting offer, but I decided to stay in my current career.

Why? Because the job offer was a criminal scam. Criminals dupe victims with such offers into helping them launder money. They were trying to recruit "money transfer agents" -- also known as money mules. Typically, these money transfer agents or financial operators are promised a 5-10 percent commission for "processing payments" or "transferring funds" through their personal bank accounts.

The mules are asked to set up a new bank account in a local bank and send over the account number. After this, the money starts to flow in. It may be money the criminals are making from online banking scams, stolen credit card numbers, auction fraud or other illegal activities. The mules are instructed to withdraw it in cash and send it further by using money transfer services like Webmoney, E-Gold, Fethard or Western Union. These transfer services can be used for good or bad motives, but the key thing is that they are irreversible and anonymous, making it much harder for investigators to follow where the money goes and catch the criminals.

There are many ways in which criminals use the Internet to recruit money mules. Most common are spam messages and unsolicited emails, as well as job adverts placed on real recruitment sites. Sometimes criminals create (or clone) professional web sites that look perfectly legitimate to the untrained eye or steal the whole template for a web site from a reputable company. On rarer occasions a reputable wesite is ripped off or hacked by criminals and used to host the mule site. In all these cases the criminals aim to convince the job seekers that the employment opportunity is made by a genuine, legal company.

The promise of easy money for a few hours of simple work has lured many people to sign up as money mules. But when the police and banks uncover these cases, the trail always leads only as far as the money mule, not the real criminals. It is the money mule at the bottom of the crime chain who is the first to get caught.

The consequences can be serious. People suspected of receiving and forwarding stolen money may have their bank accounts frozen while they are being investigated. Becoming a money mule can also ruin a person's credit history and lead to criminal charges.

In one particular attack against a large European online bank system, the real attackers were never found. They infected tens of thousands of home computers with a banking trojan. The trojan modified online transactions on-the-fly while people were doing their normal banking. The trojan wired money from the victims’ accounts to hundreds of accounts that were set up for this purpose.

The accounts had been created by local money mules, and as the accounts were in the same bank that was being attacked, the money was moved without any interbank delays. In this case the money mules were informed with text messages that the money had arrived and they were supposed to wire it to Central Europe via Western Union. The real criminals were never found, but over 200 local money mules were charged in court. Some of the money mules turned out to be grandmothers who were trying to make some extra money with "an easy part-time job".

So in the end I'm glad I decided to stick with my current job. On the Internet if something looks too good to be true, it often is.

Photo Credit: Armin Rose/Shutterstock

Mikko Hypponen is the Chief Research Officer for F-Secure and is based in Finland. He has worked with computer security for more than 20 years. Please follow him on Twitter.

I shacked up with Chromebook

Publié: septembre 3, 2011, 8:31pm CEST par Joe Wilcox

Earlier this week, writing for ZDNet, Scott Raymond proclaims: "Chromebooks are dead, they just don't know it yet". He makes a good argument, which I partly agree with regarding Android tablets. I'll get to that later. He also asks: "Why would I want to switch to a Chromebook when my MacBook Air runs OS X and Windows and is at least a pound lighter?" That's exactly what I did -- sold my MacBook Air and switched to Chromebook, which I used for the entire month of August; still today.

Chromebook is an interesting invention, because of the concept: The browser is the operating system -- well, Chrome running on top of Linux. The browser is the user interface. There is no desktop, although file system and local storage are accessible. Acer and Samsung each make two models, both running Chrome OS, one with WiFi-only and the other with 3G, too.

Sharp Edges

To be clear at the outset, Chromebook isn't for everyone, and probably not for most people. Chrome OS has some sharp edges that will bleed the user experience for many, if not most, users. While enjoying the overall computing experience and finding plenty of performance and utility, I couldn't do video editing, and photo editing (using Picnik) requires some sacrifices (such as shooting in JPG rather than RAW). Some Web-based services are either torturous to use or behave badly. For example, AIM is dreadfully taxing on overall system performance and the group messaging service we use here at Betanews reports me as idle when I switch browser tabs. These are minor annoyances I can live with that others wouldn't.

Adobe Flash plugin frequently crashes -- and that's not surprising -- as does Google Talk, which is unexpected. Browser tabs crash too often, as in sometimes on my Chromebook compared to almost never when using Chrome browser on Mac OS X. So there's no confusion: I've been getting Chrome OS updates through the regular release channel rather than the beta, which is an option, so that's not the reason for any crashes. The OS locked up only once during the 35 days I have used Chromebook as primary PC and later the only one.

Benefit: crash recovery. However, Chrome OS recovers faster than any operating system I've ever used. Whenever I've had to reboot, mainly because Flash screwed up something, Chromebook powered off, powered on and returned to the previous state in typically less than 20 seconds. I should emphasize: Returned to previous state, meaning all tabs restored where they were with the writing or other work exactly how it was before the reboot. This amazing recovery capability is one of Chromebook's most differentiating benefits compared to Mac OS X or Windows 7. But by no means is it the only one.

December to September

I first used Chrome OS on Google's unbranded Cr-48 test laptop for 7 days in December. I had another 7-day go round in March, when my MacBook Air failed and Apple Store replaced the five-month old computer. I was so psyched by the quality of customer service, I bought an iPhone 4 that night and iPad 2 the next day, when it went on sale here in the United States. I sold all three Apple products in August, as part of a broader experiment -- to go all Google products and services. Next week, I'll start writing about that Google-only experience -- hopefully. I had expected to throughout much of last month, but typically slow news month August was anything but.

I am using the Samsung Series 5 Chromebook with WiFi and 3G. Basic 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).

This model lists for $499.99 but Amazon sells it for $50 less and the WiFi-only one for $399.99. The Acer model has similar specs but 11.6-inch glossy display; Amazon sells the WiFi model for $349.99 and the 3G cousin, which is backordered, for $429.99.

Crappy Netbook?

Chromebook critics often cite the need for constant Internet connection as reason -- the only one needed -- for why the portable is FAIL. Many of these people have never used Chromebook. We live in the connected era, where most everyone needs a network or Internet connection all the time. Air travel is one of the major exceptions. But even there Chromebook provides adequate offline access to Gmail, Google Calendar and Google Docs, as well as some applications. Hey, you can play Angry Birds if offline, baby.

My Chromebook has a Verizon 3G cellular modem and 100MB free data per month; it's a benefit guaranteed for two years. I have yet to activate the service, because I've always been able to find a WiFi connection. Not once during the last month did I lose one second of productivity because the Internet wasn't available.

Chromebook critics also often compare the laptop to netbooks for price, configuration and battery life, arguing that at least netbooks run a real operating system. Oh yeah? So what's Linux then? I would take Chromebook over a netbook running Windows 7 Starter Edition any day. At my daughter's high school, students use netbooks for a required college preparatory class. Considering they also use Google Docs and Search -- and many of them Gmail -- and spend most of their computing time in a browser, Chromebook would be better fit.

Google has a subscription program for schools -- $20 per Chromebook per student per month. Earlier this week, Google spotlighted three schools that signed up for the program. One institution got 110 Chromebooks. For that $2,200 per month, Google provides tech support and Chromebook replacement/upgrades.

Benefit: frequent updates: Google frequently updates Chrome OS, which removes a major administration headache, whether for these schools, businesses or the average Jane or Joe. Chrome OS development is closely aligned with Chrome browser, which is on a fast-track of six-week cycles -- generally with three different browsers at some stage -- during the time. Google has released four browser upgrades this year so far. My colleague Larry Seltzer argues this is a pain for IT; I won't disagree.

But when it comes to Chrome OS, frequent updates are a benefit. I'm not exactly sure the count, but Chrome OS updated at least five times during the last 35 days. Each time, something got better. It's refreshing to get new features and see performance improvements on a regular basis rather than waiting for major updates for Mac OS X and Windows. My Chromebook is better today than it was last week. I can't complain about that.

Switcher's Story

I made Chromebook my primary PC on July 31. Because I was using Chrome on MacBook Air as my browser, moving was about as difficult as flipping a light switch.

Benefit: easy setup. Chromebook boots up faster than any computer I've ever used, in about 13 seconds and 1.5 seconds from sleep. To set up Chromebook, I powered on, selected wireless network, entered Google account credentials and turned on browser sync. Within seconds of that last action, Chromebook synced tabs, web apps and other stuff from Google's cloud. That's it. My mom inherited the Cr-48, and setting it up was that easy. It's a truly amazing benefit. Because of Chrome sync, the experience follows me to other computers or should I switch Chomebooks.

Benefit: guest users. Chrome OS supports multiple Google user accounts and there is a guest one, which is ideal for people who sometimes share their laptop. Say, kids, concerned Arnie or Abby will get your Facebook log in and ruin your reputation? Chromebook lets you log on without giving away your credentials left in cookies or password manager on your friends' accounts.

During my first week with Chromebook, I used it about 90 percent of the time, falling back to my wife's MacBook Pro. It was easier to do some image capture and photo-editing tasks there, for example. I also needed my wife's computer to upload my library of about 11,800 songs to Google Music beta, which took the better part of 40 hours. Now I stream from my own library or from MOG. I spent $7.99 on music last month, a huge reduction from buying. That's the cost for streaming from MOG and downloading tunes to Samsung Nexus S for offline listening.

Following BetaNews' relaunch on August 20, I finally moved to 100-percent Chromebook. There is nothing that I typically would do on MacBook Air I can't on Chromebook. I'll look at this in-depth user experience perhaps in a follow-up post.

Google has done a remarkably good job connecting Chrome OS to its other services. For example, if I receive an email with Word file in .docx format, clicking the attachment opens Google Docs in view mode, and I have the option to edit the document. Another example: In file manager, if I highlight a photo, there is open to "send to Picasa".

But some of the rough edges cut arteries. I recently received some .rtf files that couldn't be opened for editing in Google Docs. WTH? What's more basic than rich text format? I had to open the files on my wife's MacBook Pro in Apple Pages. Another: ZIP files. Unless the Chrome OS update received two days ago changed something, there's clunky support for ZIP files. Say, Google, this is Platform 101 stuff.

Benefit: battery life. One of Chromebook's best benefits is battery life. I typically unplug from power around 4 p.m. and take the laptop out into our apartment complex's courtyard, where there is a set of table and four chairs I bought from Costco. The set is there for public use, but I'm its biggest user. I typically work there for three or four hours before shutting the lid for the night. Chromebook remains unplugged overnight before I resume work, back in the courtyard, around 6:30 a.m., where I stay until the mid-day sun or dead battery drives me out, which typically is between 11 a.m. and Noon. You do the math. I typically have no less than 10 tabs open. From full charge, the laptop claims about 8 hours battery time. That's typically the least I get.

By comparison, the MacBook Air used before Chromebook typically delivered 4 hours battery life, sometimes a bit more. So unplugging on a full charge at 6:30 a.m., the Apple laptop rarely made it to 11 a.m. and more often an hour earlier. By measure of productive time when mobile Chromebook is an exceptional performer. Chrome OS is major reason. Rather than running bloated apps on the desktop, lighter apps or connected services run in browser tabs. If not for Flash's negative impact, battery life might be considerably better even.

Android or Chrome OS?

My big problem with Chrome OS is Android. Why have both? Android 3.x Honeycomb is visually more appealing than Chrome OS and there are many more useful apps. Do you really need one when you've got the other? I think not. Of the two, I would choose Android on a tablet over Chrome OS on a laptop, assuming all functionality was equal -- and it's not yet. The browser is the key.

Scott Raymond writes: "Apparently the WebKit folks are working to consolidate the source code for WebKit and Chromium. The end result of this would be that the browser on Android tablets will eventually be replaced by a Chrome browser...if we had the Chrome browser on an Android tablet, why would we want a Chromebook? For the price of a Chromebook you could pick up an Android tablet with a keyboard that connects via dock or bluetooth. You would have the same functionality, plus the added capabilities of Android".

I agree. The Android tablet gets my vote over Chromebook, much as I like it -- rough edges and all.

I'm now debating what next? Should I continue using Chromebook through end of September (even longer), or switch to something else? While I've found using Chrome OS satisfying enough, I expect Microsoft to release some kind of Windows 8 beta around September 13, when the BUILD conference begins. Returning to MacBook Air is an option, which would let me run Mac OS X Lion, too. That's new enough to deserve more of my time, and perhaps a review. There are also plenty of enticing Windows laptops worth trying and reviewing. I'm taking suggestions for makes and models, if you've got one.

Another option is to go Android tablet solo, even if just for a week. I replaced my mainstream laptop with Chromebook. Could I do the same with, say, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 (which I have) or the Motorola XOOM (which I don't have)? I'm itching to find out

Photo Credits: Joe Wilcox

AT&T's T-Mobile buy could repeat mistakes of Verizon and Alltel merger

Publié: septembre 3, 2011, 12:31am CEST par Tim Conneally

This week, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a civil antitrust lawsuit in the US District Court for the District of Columbia against national wireless carrier AT&T, who is attempting to acquire T-Mobile USA. The Department of Justice says the attempted acquisition is a violation of the Clayton Antitrust Act, shrinking the market for nationwide wireless coverage from four competitors to just three.

"Although smaller providers exist, they are significantly different from these four. For instance, none of the smaller carriers’ voice networks cover even one-third of the U.S. population, and the largest of these smaller carriers has less than one-third the number of wireless connections as T-Mobile," the lawsuit complains.

The predominating opinion in the wireless industry is that the acquisition is anticompetitive beyond question, since AT&T and T-Mobile's coverage overlaps in 97 of the 100 biggest cellular markets in the United States, and even a major divestiture from those markets would cause further antitrust problems since the only other potential buyers would be the nation's largest and third-largest wireless carriers Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel Corp.

But beyond those antitrust matters, if Verizon or Sprint acquired T-Mobile's leftover assets, it could be a virtual repeat of the mess left over from the 2008 Verizon Wireless' acquisition of Alltel.

You see, one of the conditions of Verizon's merger with Alltel, was that it had to divest from 105 mobile markets where the two companies competed.

Fair enough, right? These assets were then sold to AT&T and Allied Wireless in late 2009, and approved by the FCC on June 22, 2010.

Of those 105 markets, 79 markets in a span of 18 states (Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, and Wyoming) were bought by AT&T.

But because Verizon and Alltel were the only competitors in these markets, many customers effectively lost all of their roaming coverage after Alltel was acquired because the towers were switched from CDMA to GSM/UMTS.

"Prior to the transition, Alltel customers were able to roam using Verizon towers," the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission warned new AT&T subscribers earlier this year. "This is no longer possible after your AT&T activation date. AT&T customers will no longer have coverage in the areas where Alltel customers used to roam on Verizon towers."

If AT&T were to acquire T-Mobile and all of T-Mobile's assets had to be sold off to a CDMA carrier, this could conceivably happen again in areas with a lot of T-Mobile "Off-Net" (aka roaming partner) coverage.

Or if the remaining T-Mobile assets were to spin off and become a "Mini T-Mobile" (as PC Magazine's Sascha Segan suggested today) owned by a different parent company, customers would potentially have to go through a period where roaming agreements were renegotiated and the previous lines of coverage were redrawn.

Either outcome doesn't look too favorable.

Photo Credit: Dr.OGA/Shutterstock

Calm down, Final Cut Studio is back -- but for how long?

Publié: septembre 2, 2011, 11:45pm CEST par Ed Oswald

In what is most certainly a move aimed to silence critics of Apple's move to Final Cut Pro X, Apple has quietly made available again the previous version, Final Cut Pro 7. It's going to take a little work in order to get it, though: you need to call 1-800-MY-APPLE to order.

Apple will not offer Final Cut Studio 3 -- which includes Final Cut Pro 7 as well as Motion 4, Soundtrack Pro 3, DVD Studio Pro 4, Color 1.5 and Compressor 3.5 -- in stores or online. There would be no discount for the old software either: it's still $999 for the package, or $899 for educational customers.

The Cupertino, Calif.-based company released Final Cut Pro X in June, cutting the price of the new version to $299.99 and offering Compressor and Motion as $49.99 add-ons, all available through the Mac App Store.

Users of the software almost universally panned the release, in many cases accusing Apple of oversimplifying the application making it less useful in professional applications.

Betanews readers echoed these complaints.

"I am an editor with more than 25 years experience and compared to FCP 7 this is total crap. Sure it looks pretty and does some nice new tricks but as a pro this is not good," commenter danmarz wrote in a recent article. "My biggest gripe is I can't import previous projects, but there are many other problems that are too numerous to mention."

Barrettdb seemed to agree. "The real issue is the name, not the functionality. This is a completely new app. It is not an 'upgrade,' and that is why so many people are scathing."

Regardless, Apple's move feels more like a band-aid than a true fix. There are still no announced plans to continue to provide updates to Final Cut Pro 7, meaning users will be eventually forced to upgrade to Final Cut Pro X anyways.

ABBYY FineReader now supports popular e-reader formats

Publié: septembre 2, 2011, 9:15pm CEST par Nick Peers

Moscow-based optical character recognition specialist ABBYY has released a major new update of its renowned OCR application. ABBYY FineReader 11 Professional Edition, which allows users to convert images or scanned documents into editable text, boasts improved processing speeds of up to 45 per cent thanks to a new black and white processing mode.

Version 11 also adds an ebook creation tool and direct support for OpenOffice Writer, plus incorporates a tool to improve the bulk processing of documents while promising to improve the accuracy when scanning and formatting complex documents.

The new black and white processing mode is joined by an improved Fast Reading mode, which ABBYY claims delivers results up to 70 percent quicker than its Thorough Reading mode. It also promises to scan and process Asian text 45 percent quicker than before too.

Complex documents containing charts, tables and other non-standard elements are now formatted more correctly thanks to FineReader’s Enhanced Advanced Document Reading Technology (ADRT), which preserves formatting and other critical elements whatever your choice of output format.

A new ebook creation tool supports EPUB and FB2 format, and can even send your finished ebooks directly to your Kindle account or electronic archive. The program also adds support for OpenOffice/LibreOffice Writer documents (ODF), allowing users to convert documents and images directly into editable ODF documents, complete with preserved layout.

With text processing up to 45-percent faster than the previous version, you can work through scanned documents more swiftly.

FineReader 11 also promises a more enhanced user interface, with improved Verification and Style Editor tools, while there’s a new Split Documents Tool that allows a mix and match of documents to be processed in bulk and then arranged into separate files.

The program also improves its handling of photos taken by cameras and smartphones, and has beefed up its image-editing tools to add new brightness, contrast and tonal tools to aid in improving the document’s subsequent processing. PDF conversion has also been improved, with file sizes capable of being compressed by up to 80 per cent smaller than the previous version with minimal quality degradation. There’s also a tool for exporting images in the DjVu format, which take up very little disk space.

ABBYY FineReader 11 Professional Edition is available now as a free trial with some minor feature restrictions, which will either expire after 15 days or when 50 pages have been processed. It requires a PC with 1GHz processor running Windows XP or later. The full version costs $170, or $100 as an upgrade from a previous version.

'I was on the Apple board until I couldn't stand it anymore'

Publié: septembre 2, 2011, 8:26pm CEST par Ed Oswald

Former Google CEO and now Chairman Eric Schmidt offered some insight into his time on Apple's board to attendees of Salesforce.com's Dreamforce 2011 conference on Thursday, saying that while he was proud of his time with the company differences eventually caused him to leave.

Schmidt would not specify the reasons why he left the Apple board in 2009, although many believed it had to do with Google's involvement in Android. That is likely not entirely the reason: the search company purchased the rights to Android in 2005, and Schmidt joined Apple the following year.

"I was on the Apple board until I couldn't stand it anymore", he said.

Both companies have been slowly encroaching on each others turf. The most obvious battle is in mobile: Android vs. iOS. But there are several other areas where the companies are butting heads: Google through its moves into hardware, and Apple through its moves into advertising, for example.

Then Apple CEO Steve Jobs found that unpalatable and apparently a threat to his business, as his statement on Schmidt's resignation from the board states. "Eric’s effectiveness as an Apple Board member will be significantly diminished, since he will have to recuse himself from even larger portions of our meetings due to potential conflicts of interest", he said at the time.

Whatever truly may have led to Schmidt's departure is not exactly known, but it did not stop the Google CEO from praising Jobs for his work.

"What Steve has done at Apple is certainly the best performance of a CEO for over fifty years, maybe a hundred years. But not only did he do it once, he did it twice. We’ve all benefited from the tremendous innovation at Apple," Schmidt said.

At the same time, he pulled no punches in contrasting this with Microsoft and CEO Steve Ballmer, who have struggled in the spaces that Apple thrives in. "The difference is ability," he mused, causing some in the audience to snicker at what sounded like an obvious diss to Ballmer's leadership style.

He quickly corrected himself, though, adding "We're not talking about the people, but the corporations".

Google cuts security corners to gain market share

Publié: septembre 2, 2011, 7:53pm CEST par Larry Seltzer

It has been obvious for some time that Google's app standards for Android are lenient to say the least. That's why Android is the favored platform for mobile malware. But it turns out that Chrome extensions are a huge, and similar problem that I'm beginning to really worry about.

When Android phones started coming out Google had a lot of catching up to do. Back then there was a lot of mindless talk about how many tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of apps a phone had. Obviously 200,000 apps is twice as good as 100,000, right? The way Google structured their app system for Android seems to me to be designed to maximize the number of apps by making it cheap and easy to create and distribute them. And this happens at the expense of security.

Everyone knows that lots of people jailbreak their iPhones, but if you don't your chances of installing a malicious app are pretty damn slim, near-zero I'd say. Apple tightly controls who gets into the App Store, which is the only way to get apps to users, and they do some checking. Furthermore, it costs $100/year to be a developer.

On Android it costs something like $20 to get an account to distribute apps through the Android Market, and many malicious apps have been found there. But even that trouble isn't necessary. Android embraces jailbreaking. Just go to Settings-Applications and check the "Unknown sources" box and then you can install apps from one of the many third-party app marketplaces.

There's another point about Android apps vs. iOS: Both must be digitally signed, but with iOS they're signed with Apple keys. On Android you are effectively required to use self-signing, which eliminates any authentication possibility for the signature process. (I say 'effectively' because you are required to have a 25+ year life span for the signature, and nobody can afford that kind of lifetime on a code signing certificate. As a result, the only thing the signature is good for is that Google can blacklist apps signed with it, but since self-signing is free this isn't any impediment.)

Attack by Extensions

This is old, bad news, but the other day I heard something which reminded me of it. At BlackHat a few weeks ago, Matt Johansen, a member of the WhiteHat Security's Threat Research Center, gave a presentation on hacking Google's Chrome OS. The key to hacking Chrome OS, as they did it, is to create a malicious extension. Chrome OS extensions are exactly the same as extensions for the Chrome browser. There's a Google Chrome Web Store where you can go to get more extensions (many of them very useful, like Angry Birds).

It turns out that extensions get full access to content in all tabs of the browser. This means that if you're using Gmail in Chrome (or Chrome OS) and have a malicious extension installed, the extension has access to all your mail and all your contacts. It can read them, it can write to the tab and show you fake mail, it can do anything. As Johansen said, even though those web pages may have no vulnerabilities in them, Chrome extensions make all of them fully vulnerable to cross-site scripting.

But surely you can't just put any old extension up in the market, right? The bar isn't very high. "A one-time developer registration fee of US$5.00 is required to verify your account and publish items". To test, WhiteHat Security created a test malicious app called "Malicious App" and published it in the store. As soon as they saw it was there and available to be downloaded they took it down. Point made.

The bigger point is that Google's philosophy seems to be that it's better to have a lot of market share with insecure products than lesser share with secure ones. The truth of this is becoming clear to many on Android, and now we know it too for Chrome/Chrome OS. How much longer can Google get away with this?

Photo Credit: alexskopje/Shutterstock

Data can be saved from your water-soaked computer

Publié: septembre 2, 2011, 6:37pm CEST par Steven Brier

Irene's assault on the Eastern Seaboard earlier this week is just the beginning of what is expected to be another heavy season of hurricanes and tropical storms. What happens to your data if raging rains or flooding waters damage your computer? The electronics may be gone but your precious files are likely recoverable.

It’s tempting to turn that water-logged computer back on and see if anything can be saved. Don’t. The disk drives contain contaminants that can destroy the drive and all the data on it. You pose the greatest risk to your valuable data. Here's what you should or should not do instead:

Hard Disk Drives

* Never assume that data is unrecoverable.

* Do not shake or disassemble any hard drive that has been damaged.

* Do not attempt to clean or dry water-logged drives or tapes.

* Before storing or shipping wet media, it should be placed in a Ziploc bag or other container that will keep it damp and protect shipping material from getting wet. Wet boxes can break apart during transit causing further damage to a drive.

* Do not use software utility programs on broken or water-damaged devices.

* When shipping hard drives, tapes or other removable media to a data recovery service, package them in a box that has enough room for both the media and some type of packing material that allows for no movement. The box should also have sufficient barrier room around the inside edges to absorb impact during shipping.

* If you have multiple drives, tapes or other removable media that need recovery, ship them in separate boxes or make sure they are separated enough with packing material so there will be no contact.

Floppy Disks / Tapes

* Water-damaged tapes and floppy disks are fragile. If a tape is wet, store it in a bag so it remains wet. If a tape is dry, do not rewet it. Many data recovery services can unspool tapes and recover data.

* Floppy disks have so little capacity that they typically aren’t worth the expense of trying to recover.

CDs/DVDs

* CDs and DVDs are reasonably sturdy. Unless they had been sitting in a corrosive mix or are visibly damaged they can be cleaned and the data recovered.

* If they were on a spindle or stacked, and are now stuck together, do not try to peel them apart.

* Mix a solution of 90 percent clean (potable) water and 10 percent isopropyl alcohol. Soak the stack of CDs until they become unstuck. Wipe dry with clean, lint-free cloth if possible.

* To clean CDs or DVDs, rinse them in the water/isopropyl alcohol solution. If necessary to remove grime, wipe them again with cotton swaps or cloth soaked in isopropyl alcohol. Remember, scratches will cause loss of data, so be gentle.

* After cleaning, place CD in a functioning computer and copy any recovered data.

USB Flash Drives

* USB flash drives contain no moving parts. Unless physically damaged or corroded, the drives usually work. Ensure the drive is dry and clean (Use a Q-tip soaked in the alcohol/water solution to wipe the USB contacts) before using a water-soaked flash drive.

* If a drive has been physically damaged, some data recovery services will remove the flash chips and connect them to a new device in an effort to recover the data.

What Will Professional Services Cost You?

Data recovery is a two-step process. Flood-damaged devices need to be opened and cleaned in a clean room. Hard drives need to be functional, requiring data recovery services to keep a large inventory of obscure parts on hand. All of this is expensive.

Once a drive is functional, it is evaluated and the customer provided with a list of the files and the probability of recovering them. If the customer gives the go-ahead the data is then recovered, copied to CD, external hard drive or some other medium and delivered to the customer.

Hard Drive: The evaluation fees for hard drives run between $200 and $300, though companies such as DriveSavers and Ontrack Data Recovery often will waive that for hurricane or disaster victims. The recovery fees average is about $1,000 per hard drive, though the aforementioned companies often offer discounts.

Floppy: $100-$300, depending on damage. Discounts wll apply.

Tape: Cost depends on type of tape, amount of damage.

USB drive: Cost depends on amount of damage.

Contact a data recovery service before shipping them an item in order to get a job number, estimate and any special shipping instructions. Some services will ship a special case to the customer to be used for sending the drive.

DriveSavers: www.drivesavers.com (800) 440-1904
Ontrack Data Recovery: www.ontrack.com (800) 872-2599

Sources: IBM Crisis Response Team; DriveSavers, Inc.; Ontrack Data Recovery

Photo Credit: Carmen Steiner/Shutterstock

Steven Brier is a free-lance journalist and consultant focusing on the use of technology in the real world. He is s former New York Times editor and newsroom technology consultant.

Want something other than Mobile Safari? Try Dolphin Browser

Publié: septembre 2, 2011, 4:55pm CEST par Mark Wilson

The choice of browsers for iOS is hardly overwhelming, so any new additions are always welcome. Dolphin Browser is the latest contender to vie for mobile Internet users’ attention and it has a number of unique features that make it well worth a look. The headline feature is support for gestures, but there is also desktop style tabbed browsing, an impressive smart address bar and space-saving sidebars that can be used to access bookmarks and app options.

There are already a handful of Safari replacements available, including the iOS version of Opera, so Dolphin is going to have its work cut out for it to stand out from the competition. The fact that the app is available free of charge certainly works in its favor, but it is the way the interface has been implemented, particularly the way in which you interact with it, and the intelligent use of available screen space that makes Dolphin Browser interesting.

Support for gestures means that valuable screen space that would otherwise be dedicated to navigation buttons can be reclaimed, and an all-important full-screen mode means that every millimeter of space can be used. This is particularly important at the moment for iPad users as there is only an iPhone/iPod version available; there is currently no universal app or dedicated iPad app at the moment.

The gestures make it easy to jump back and forth between pages as well as to the top and bottom of pages -- a much faster option than scrolling through lengthy web pages. There are a number of default gestures built in as standard, but you also have the option of creating your own. Taking inspiration from Opera, Dolphin Browser includes a Speed Dial feature for accessing common websites easily, and the idea is extended to the webzine component that can be used to quickly access your Facebook and Twitter accounts as well a news feeds.

Hidden sidebars can be called up with a simple swipe to the left or the right, with the former providing access to your bookmarks. A right hand swipe brings up the app’s toolbar where, amongst other things, you can configure program options. This is a refreshing change to the approach taken by other browsers, but the crowning glory of Dolphin Browser is the address bar. Autocomplete pulls in entries from your bookmarks as well as your browsing history and there is also a menu entry that makes it easy to perform searches; there are also handy buttons to add common domain suffixes.

You can find out more and download a copy of the app by paying a visit to the Dolphin Browser review page.

5 smokin' Android tablets launched this week

Publié: septembre 2, 2011, 4:38pm CEST par Tim Conneally

As it stands right now, there are no fewer than 50 different Android tablets on the international market, many from competitors you've probably never heard of unless you regularly shop in Chinese electronics shops, so differentiation is of crucial importance.

At IFA 2011 in Berlin this week, quite a few new Android tablets were either announced or launched, and each of the top-tier manufacturers who debuted a new product seemed to have homed in on a specific quality that they've improved over previous generations or over their competitors.

Here's what we saw this week:

Samsung went for MORE SPEED

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 is a refresh of the 7-inch model the company debuted last year. While it did get bumped up in size and screen quality, the main improvements to the device are in speed. Instead of a single core 1GHz processor, it now has a dual-core 1.4GHz processor, and its 3G connectivity has been bumped up in speed to 21 Mbps HSPA.

HTC went for BIGGER SCREEN

When HTC debuted the pocketable Flyer earlier this year, I made the case that it would be an excellent cloud notepad.

But this week, HTC released a much bigger (and much more expensive) 4G tablet called JetStream.

It's got the same processor as the Flyer/View, but brings HTC up to the big tablet class and ditches Gingerbread for Honeycomb in the process.

Toshiba went for SLIMMER PROFILE

This week, Toshiba debuted its second Android tablet, the AT200, a 10.1-inch Honeycomb device that not only shaves off the excess girth of the Thrive (Toshiba's first attempt at Android tablets,) but it actually manages to be thinner than Samsung's Galaxy 7.7. Like the Thrive, the AT200 is rich in I/O, with a micro USB and micro HDMI jack for hooking into home theater systems and media players.

Lenovo went for LOW PRICE

Lenovo is still new to the Android tablet market, and in this humble journalist's opinion, didn't do such a great job making its new products exciting or memorable. However, with the new 7" IdeaPad A1, it is breaking in the easy way: by being the cheapest. At only $199 for its base model, the IdeaPad A1 will be the cheapest new Android tablet out there with a big brand name.

Sony went for UNIQUE DESIGNS

Sony, now somewhat late to the Android tablet game, opted to make a splashy design entrance with the Wedge-shaped Vaio S, and dual-screen clamshell Vaio P. Outwardly they are instantly memorable, and since Sony has a pretty commanding retail store presence, this visual impact is important.

Use these tools to get the Windows 8 look now

Publié: septembre 2, 2011, 1:49pm CEST par Mark Wilson

Windows 8 is just around the corner and it seems that almost every week there details emerge about just what can be expected from the latest version of Microsoft’s operating system. With every new Windows that is announced, there follows a rush to mimic the look and features long before the software hits the shelves, and things are no different with Windows 8.

There are a number of skins and customization packs available that can be used to get the Windows 8 look, including Omnimo for Rainmeter, but if you prefer the idea of getting a little more hands on, there are a range of tools you can use to mimic the elements of Windows 8 you most like the look of.

While transformation packs have their place, they are a little impersonal and tend to present you with a standard set of options. Going down the manual route means that you can add and change precisely what you want. At the heart of any version of Windows is Explorer, so it makes sense to make this your starting point. Windows 8 brings the Ribbon that Office users have become familiar with, and this can be almost perfectly replicated using Styler and a suitable skin. Using the ribbon skin, Windows 8 toolbar goodness is not far away.

Windows 8 also features a re-designed Start button and this is something that has been difficult to tweak in the past. StartOrbz is a free tool that changes this, and used in conjunction with the Windows 8 Start Orb you can quickly and easily match the look of Windows 8′s button. There is also Windows 8′s new Metro interface to consider and by using Metro Home you can add customizable weather and date gadgets to your desktop just like in Windows 8.

If you would like a more involved desktop makeover to mimic Windows 8, Zetro VS may be just what you have been looking for. The skin closely replicates the flat look of the Metro UI and also includes a re-designed Start menu as well as Windows 8 desktop images. Whether you want to go the whole hog or not, you can use a great looking wallpaper from the latest beta of Windows 8 to brighten up your desktop. This isn’t the only Windows 8 inspired theme that is available, and you may also like to take a look at Aero Lite with Glass.

All of the customization options we have looked at so far enable you to change the way Windows looks once you have logged into your user account. But by installing Windows 7 Logon changer you can customize your computer right down to the login screen. This is something that would normally require tinkering with system files, but with this application installed, it is a simple matter of selecting an image by browsing from the program interface, or taking advantage of the context menu option that will enable you to select any image you would like to use.

Of course, there are plenty of other tools that can be used to take your desktop customisation even further -- there really is no limit to the level of personalisation you can achieve. However far you want to take it, you’re sure to be able to find something to keep you going until Windows 8 finally sees the light of day.

Android makes big gains in the post-Steve Jobs era

Publié: septembre 2, 2011, 5:14am CEST par Joe Wilcox

Apple cofounder Steve Jobs has repeatedly talked about the post-PC era. But he resigned last week as Apple's CEO. The post-Steve Jobs era has come, and Android is doing just fine whipping iPhone in his absence. This week, comScore put Android's US smartphone share way up against iPhone's minuscule gains, and today Nielsen added supporting stats, including some startling buying intention trends.

"What?" You ask. "Jobs has only been gone a week". Yes, but as I explained over the weekend, his influence waned long ago. Tim Cook, while only CEO since Thursday last, has been running Apple since January. How's iPhone doing against Android, during the Tim Cook era? Certainly not bad, but not as well as many people believe. I was talking with a neighbor tonight about phones and he was sure that iPhone outsells Android. I hear this often.

The comScore and Nielsen data also impugns the Apple fanclub of bloggers and journalists who just months ago cried Android's doom based on wrong presumptions about Verizon iPhone. Late-June TechCrunch post "The Verizon iPhone Halted Android's Surge. The iPhone 5 Could Reverse It" reflects the kind of misinformation spread by Apple fanclubbers.

Android gained a stunning 5.4 points of share sequentially, based on smartphone subscribers, during the three months ended July 31, according to comScore. By comparison, Apple's platform grew by 1 point of share. That puts iPhone share at 27 percent compared to 41.8 percent for Android. For the same three-month period, Nielsen put Android smartphone share at 40 percent and iPhone/iOS at 28 percent.

Nielsen also measures buying intentions. Don Kellogg, Nielsen's director of Telecom Research and Insights, blogs:

"Among those who say they are likely to get a new smartphone in the next year, approximately one third say they want their next smartphone to be an iPhone and one third say they want an Android device. However, among those who say they are usually the first to embrace new technologies, “Innovators” or the earliest of early adopters, Android leads as the “Next Desired Operating System” – 40 percent for Android compared to 32 percent for iOS. (Survey respondents were asked several questions to determine their attitudes toward new technologies.)".

Android is unstoppable, unless something changes. Perhaps iPhone 5 will be so astonishing or people will find iCloud so remarkable, sales with soar. Cook could also show the kind of innovation in logistics that Apple showed in product design and marketing under his predecessor, such as take drastic pricing action when iPhone 5 ships. In May, I explained how Apple could stop the Android army's advances by cleverly pricing iPhone 4 after its successor ships. Follow the success of the iPhone 3GS, which AT&T sells for $49, and offer iPhone 4 or a 4S model for, say, $99. Globally. Free would be even better, with carrier subsidy, in some regions.

That's the kind of risk Cook should consider during the early post-Steve Jobs era. It's a trade-off of margins for marketshare but would open new categories of buyers for Apple, particularly in emerging markets. With respect to pricing and margins, Apple has long played it safe. Is it time for change?

Netflix shares plunge after Starz ends streaming contract

Publié: septembre 2, 2011, 2:57am CEST par Joe Wilcox

Investors pounded Netflix in after-hours trading today, after Starz Entertainment cut off contract renegotiation. Netflix shares fell by 8.7 percent to $212.99. The stock had closed at $233.27. Starz content is a major anchor of Netflix's steaming service.

"Starz Entertainment has ended contract renewal negotiations with Netflix", Starz CEO Chris Albrecht says in a statement. "When the agreement expires on February 28, 2012, Starz will cease to distribute its content on the Netflix streaming platform".

While Starz is going it won't be gone for six months, so there's no immediate effect on Netflix or its customers.

Starz may be looking at the success of HBO GO as a future direction. "This decision is a result of our strategy to protect the premium nature of our brand by preserving the appropriate pricing and packaging of our exclusive and highly valuable content", Albrecht says. "With our current studio rights and growing original programming presence, the network is in an excellent position to evaluate new opportunities and expand its overall business". Controlling the streaming experience like HBO does -- where the media player and content is available exclusively to subscribers -- would be one alternative.

The timing couldn't be worse for Netflix, at least symbolically. Controversial price increases went into effect today. Netflix announced the price increases in mid July, and negative subscriber reaction was immediate.

More than 4,200 people responded to a Netflix pricing poll conducted by BetaNews. We asked Netflix subscribers how they would respond to the price increases:

* 58.44%: cancel account

* 26.49%: go streaming-only

* 8.38%: go DVD-only

* 6.69%: go DVD and streaming

Starz's exit could lead to even more people abandoning the service. I'll stick with Netflix steaming. Will you?

Lenovo Ultrabook moves in on MacBook Air's turf

Publié: septembre 2, 2011, 1:00am CEST par Ed Oswald

Aiming to fight Apple's MacBook Air on one of its primary advantages -- its size -- Lenovo on Thursday introduced its Ultrabook, claiming it is thinner than Apple's signature ultra-thin laptop.

Indeed, at .6-inches thick, the Lenovo Ultrabook U300S comes in slightly thinner than the Air's .68 inches. The laptop is part of a broader effort introduced by Intel in May to revive interest in laptops overall. The chipmaker is rightly worried about tablets, a device category Intel does not have a strong foothold in. Thus pushing these ultra-thin laptops has become a major part of its current business strategy.

Like the MacBook Air, the U300S uses a unibody construction. This allows manufacturers to shrink down the size of the casing while maintaining strength, and also reduces the weight of the laptop overall. The U300S weighs around 2.2 pounds, more than a half pound less than the Air.

Consumers will have the option of up to a 1.8GHz Intel Core i7 processor and 256MB of storage space using a solid-state drive; 4GB of DDR3 memory will come standard on the device.

Lenovo is also making some pretty hefty claims when it comes to battery life. It says the average user should be able to squeeze some eight hours of use, and a month on standby. The battery will also allow for rapid charging -- 50 percent of capacity in 30 minutes, the company claims.

While the U300S will come standard in a graphite grey casing, Lenovo says it plans to offer a limited edition Clemintine Orange model. Pricing starts at $1,199.99 and is slated to become available in November.

HTC unveils Mango phones: Titan and Radar

Publié: septembre 1, 2011, 11:25pm CEST par Tim Conneally

Taiwanese smartphone veterans HTC today unveiled their new Windows Phones, Titan and Radar, which are powered by Mango, the latest version of Windows Phone. They both come in familiar HTC shapes, but offer some improvements in performance and design.

Titan, as the name suggests, is rather big. With a 4.7" screen, it's actually HTC's largest smartphone to use the company's 9.9mm aluminum casing. HTC drew inspiration from Apple's Macbook laptops, and originally debuted these aluminum shells on the Legend early last year, but that was a single machined piece, and the phone was considerably smaller.

Titan has a 1.5 GHz processor, 512MB of RAM, 16GB of built-in storage, an 8 megapixel camera and a 1.3 megapixel chat camera.

Radar looks a lot like HTC T-Mobile Wildfire S, except without the Android-centric accoutrements, and with the same aluminum body construction used in the Titan. It has a 3.8" touchscreen, a 1GHz processor with 512MB of RAM, 8GB of built-in storage, a 5 megapixel camera and a VGA chat camera.

HTC says Titan and Radar will be "broadly available" beginning in October 2011 globally, with the first launches taking place in Europe and Asia. No prices have yet been announced.

Samsung sweetens Galaxy Tab 7.7 with Honeycomb

Publié: septembre 1, 2011, 9:06pm CEST par Ed Oswald

In an age where our phones seem to be getting bigger and our tablets smaller, Samsung's latest addition to its Tab family is no exception. The Korean company introduced a 7.7-inch version of its popular tablet, complete with Android 3.2 and Super AMOLED Plus display.

The device is a followup to last year's original 7-inch Tab, but is the first tablet from the company to use Samsung's better display technology. It also features 1280 x 800 resolution, one of the best in its size class. Super AMOLED means the display will be viewable in sunlight.

As to pricing and availability, that's still up in the air. At its press conference at IFA Berlin, Samsung would only offer that the device would be available "in the next coming months". Tab 7.7 is among a small but growing number of smaller tablets running Honeycomb, which has been more common among 10.1-inchers.

While the device weighs in at about 12 ounces, its .31 inch thickness makes it just a hair thinner than Apple's iPad 2. A 1.4GHz dual-core processor powers the device, with size options of 16GB, 32GB and 64GB. An included MicroSD slot allows for 32GB of additional storage.

For connectivity, Tab 7.7 supports Wi-Fi and HSPA+ capable of up to 21Mbps. Samsung is also claiming 10 hours of battery life for video playback, quite impressive for its class.

Other features include the company's proprietary TouchWiz user interface, universal remote functionality, support for Samsung's Hub entertainment services and voice and video support.

"The new Galaxy Tab 7.7 demonstrates Samsung's commitment to offering consumers the most choice in the mobile tablet market". Samsung mobile communications chief JK Shin says in a statement.

Trash that rooted Nook Color, Lenovo A1 is cheapest brand name Android tablet

Publié: septembre 1, 2011, 8:47pm CEST par Tim Conneally

Barnes and Noble's Android-powered e-reader, Nook Color, gained considerable popularity in the Android community for being a relatively cheap device ($249) that could be rooted to become a full-fledged Android tablet that runs surprisingly well, considering the device's somewhat limited 800MHz processor.

But today, Lenovo just completely smashed the Nook Color by revealing to the media at IFA Berlin the price for its baseline model IdeaPad A1 Android tablet will be just $199.

At that price, the tablet offers 8GB of storage, but Lenovo will offer models in 16GB ($249) and 32GB ($299) configurations as well.

The A1 has a 7" (1024 x 600) screen, a 1GHz single core ARM Cortex A8 processor (reportedly Texas Instruments' OMAP platform), a 3 megapixel camera and forward-facing VGA chat cam, slots for both SD and microSD cards, Wi-Fi, and Android 2.3 (Gingerbread).

Lenovo has not yet officially launched the A1 nor even given a solid launch date for the low-price tablet. Instead, the company says to look for it in "late September."

CyberLink bulks up PowerDVD 11, releases Android tablet app

Publié: septembre 1, 2011, 6:54pm CEST par Nick Peers

CyberLink has released a new major update to its PowerDVD 11 Standard and PowerDVD 11 Ultra software, build 2024. PowerDVD is billed as the “world’s leading universal media player”, supporting all major media formats. In addition, the Ultra version supports both 3D and Blu-ray playback in addition to DVD, most video formats and social media video.

The latest release adds a new Digital Media Server, which supports wireless transfer and playback of media between computers, tablets and DLNA devices. To complement this, a new app for Android 3.0 tablets, PowerDVD Mobile, has also been released.

PowerDVD 11 Ultra now also supports Intel WiDi 2.1, which makes it possible to wirelessly stream Blu-ray and HD content via its Digital Media Server. Other changes to both Standard and Ultra editions are minor, including a redesigned user interface for Cinema Mode, support for two more 3D formats (MVC 1080i 3D and M2TS 3D, and a new Portrait Mode option for playback, perfect for non-widescreen displays.

The new release comes with a complementary license for the brand new Android app, which runs on tablets powered by Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) or later. PowerDVD Mobile for Ultra can be downloaded for free from the Android Market. Non-Ultra users must purchase the app separately for $19.99.

Once downloaded and installed PowerDVD Mobile allows content to be shared between Android device, PC and other DLNA devices via the new Digital Media Server. There is also a photo enhancement tool for touching up photos and creating slideshows.

PowerDVD 11 Standard and PowerDVD 11 Ultra are both available for download now as a free 30-day trial for PCs running Windows XP SP3 or later. Additional hardware requirements exist for specific functionality, such as watching 3D or Blu-ray content. PowerDVD Mobile for Android requires an Android tablet running Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) or later.

Windows 8 has a split personality

Publié: septembre 1, 2011, 6:42pm CEST par Joe Wilcox

The new operating system, which is expected in developer beta in about two weeks, will take not one but two approaches to main user interface. Windows 8 will come with the streamlined, touch-friendly Metro and quasi-traditional file system. It's quasi because Microsoft is replacing major elements of Windows Explorer with the Office Ribbon.

Earlier this week I expressed my horror learning of the Ribbon's role in Windows 8, which quelled my excitement about the Metro user interface. But Microsoft has set the record straight, and I'm feeling good about Windows 8 again. You should too.

Before continuing, an apology. Steven Sinofsky blogged about the two-UI approach about 27 hours ago. You should be reading this post on Wednesday. But in the aftermath of the atomic bomb dropped by the Justice Department yesterday -- its civil suit to block AT&T's acquisition of T-Mobile -- I missed Sinofsky's post. I was behind writing and editing all day and didn't check my RSS feeds until late evening, when I saw his post.

"We started planning Windows 8 during the summer of 2009 (before Windows 7 shipped)", Sinofsky writes. "From the start, our approach has been to reimagine Windows, and to be open to revisiting even the most basic elements of the user model, the platform and APIs, and the architectures we support. Our goal was a no compromise design".

What Sinofsky means by "no compromise":

1. Maintaining Microsoft's longstanding single-most important operating system design tenet: Backwards compatibility. That any new version of Windows must provide support for existing applications and APIs. The approach has long held back Windows, I contend. But Microsoft has a huge install base of customers, the majority businesses, for which dramatic platform changes can be costly and disruptive.

Sinofsky writes: "The role of the Windows desktop is clear. It powers the hundreds of thousands of existing apps that people rely on today, a vast array of business software, and provides a level of precision and control that is essential for certain tasks. The things that people do today on PCs don’t suddenly go away just because there are new Metro style apps...We knew as we designed the Windows 8 UI that you can’t just flip a bit overnight and turn all of that history into something new. In fact, that is exactly what some people are afraid of us doing".

2. Pushing Windows forward for newer-class devices, such as touchscreen tablets. Metro UI will be new, without all the legacy baggage for those customers looking to leap ahead. The approach is Microsoft's way of pushing the Windows experience forward while providing a safety net for legacy applications and processes. Customers can live in the future or the past, if they like -- or straddle between them. This is Windows 8's split personality.

Sinofsky explains: "Why not just start over from scratch? Why not just remove all of the desktop features and only ship the Metro experience?...We believe there is room for a more elegant, perhaps a more nuanced, approach. You get a beautiful, fast and fluid, Metro style interface and a huge variety of new apps to use...If you want to stay permanently immersed in that Metro world, you will never see the desktop—we won’t even load it (literally the code will not be loaded) unless you explicitly choose to go there! This is Windows reimagined".

3. Providing developers with tools necessary for both user experiences. I'll be watching the execution on this one, as surely will be many Microsoft customers and partners. Microsoft will have lots more to say about developing apps and how the two UI experiences will mess together at the BUILD conference, which starts September 13.

Sinofsky briefly explains: "This is an ambitious undertaking -- it involves tools, APIs, languages, UI conventions and even some of the most basic assumptions about a PC...Developers can target the APIs that make sense for the software they wish to deliver".

I'm truly excited about the Metro UI and see it as a potentially huge step forward in user interfaces. It's the kind of innovation that makes Apple's newest Mac OS version, Lion, and the forthcoming iOS 5 look dated. It's also the kind of innovation that would get huge blog and news media coverage if done by Apple but is too much ignored because Microsoft is the developer.

'Patent Pledge' companies promise not to sue startups into oblivion

Publié: septembre 1, 2011, 5:04pm CEST par Tim Conneally

In response to the current state of the United States' patent system (and its parasitic twin, the industry of patent litigation), Y Combinator co-founder Paul Graham has launched what he calls "The Patent Pledge," a brief, thirteen word long statement for technology companies to sign to affirm that they have no interest in suing startups over software.

The Pledge itself is quick, and to the point:

"No first use of software patents against companies with less than 25 people."

Graham says the deliberately vague slogan is intended to read like Google's "Don't be evil" catchphrase, and when a company signs the patent pledge, it identifies them as a company that wants to protect a healthy innovation environment for startups.

"Already most technology companies wouldn't sink to using patents on startups. You don't see Google or Facebook suing startups for patent infringement. They don't need to. So for the better technology companies, the patent pledge requires no change in behavior. They're just promising to do what they'd do anyway. And when all the companies that won't use patents on startups have said so, the holdouts will be very conspicuous," Graham says.

Right now only 18 companies have signed, and they're mostly small to mid-range companies that were startups themselves not long ago, including Airbnb, Disqus, Dropbox, Justin.tv, Loopt, and Wepay.

Though small, it's still a potentially strong grassroots solution to decreasing the number of "innovation killing" patent lawsuits that are a hallmark of the United States' broken patent system.

AVG 2012 security software cuts the bloat, runs faster

Publié: septembre 1, 2011, 4:45pm CEST par Mike Williams

If you’ve felt that AVG’s security tools have become a little bloated in the last few years, then we’ve some good news: the 2012 range, released today, focuses strongly on improving performance and reducing their impact on your PC’s speed. And their efforts do seem to have produced some worthwhile results.

Grab a copy of the new AVG Internet Security 2012, for instance, and you’ll find the download is half the size, installation is faster, and the suite’s footprint on your hard drive is cut by an average of 45 percent when compared to the previous edition.

Internet Security 2012 also has less processes running in the background, and uses up to 20-percent less memory, while this improved efficiency means its load time is cut by 10 percent.

A new AVG Advisor tool is also available across the range (Internet Security 2012, Anti-Virus 2012 and Anti-Virus Free). This monitors your system for various problems, and pops up messages to provide warnings and offer solutions (it told us that Firefox was using too much RAM, for instance, and recommended we close and restart it).

A new AVG Accelerator, available only with Internet Security 2012, optimizes file and video downloads on “selected sites” (apparently just YouTube and Download.com, at the moment). AVG claims this can cut download times for YouTube videos by up to 50 percent, helping to improve HD playback on slower Internet connections; we’ve yet to test the feature, but if they can achieve only half of this then it’s still going to be a feature worth having.

And of course there are a few smaller tweaks and changes dotted around each package. AVG’s LinkScanner technology has been optimized to more accurately protect you from dangerous websites, for instance. And the programs now have integrated links to three AVG addons: Family Safety, LiveKive for online backups, and AVG PC Tuneup. (These are still chargeable extras, though.)

The 2012 range isn’t offering any revolutionary changes, then, but still appears to be moving in the right direction overall, and that works for us. If you’d like to sample AVG’s latest for yourself, then trials of Anti-Virus Free 2012, Anti-Virus 2012 and Internet Security 2012 are available now.

Monitor Windows activity with DiskLED

Publié: septembre 1, 2011, 2:29pm CEST par Mike Williams

At first glance, DiskLED doesn’t exactly appear to be the most interesting of programs. Flashing a system tray icon to indicate hard drive activity can be useful, but it’s nothing new and there are plenty of other tools that do the same thing.

What makes DiskLED a little different, though, is that it’s not tied to highlighting hard drive accesses alone. The program can also monitor any Windows performance counter in the current PC, enabling you to keep a close eye on whatever activity you like.

To see how this works, right-click the DiskLED system tray icon, select Configure, and browse the Object list. This shows everything you can monitor, and there’s plenty to choose from -- processes, threads, RAM, hard drives, network activity and much more.

Select the Processor object, as an example, then choose the CPU attribute you’d like to monitor in the Counter list; “% Processor Time” is the simplest option if you’re unsure.

And then the Instance list will include the precise item you’d like to check. As you’ve selected the Processor object, you’ll be able to monitor the activity of individual CPU cores, or overall CPU use if you prefer (just choose “_Total”).

Click the “Build path from selection” button, choose the bar-type icon (the black/ yellow indicator), click Apply, and that’s it: DiskLED’s system tray icon will now highlight the activity of your chosen processor icon.

Once you know how it’s done, DiskLED then becomes an easy way to track any aspect of your PC’s performance. Network use, USB activity, page faults, whatever you like – just select the relevant details and it’s ready to go.

And better still, DiskLED is also portable and doesn’t require admin rights, so you can use it almost anywhere.

The one small issue we noticed is that DiskLED grabs more RAM than many more specialist monitoring tools, using around 7MB on our test PC. Of course that doesn’t exactly make it a memory hog, though, and on balance the program is still very useful, as it makes it very easy to keep an eye on any system activity without having to run the Windows Performance Monitor.

Document Foundation declares LibreOffice 3.4.3 enterprise ready

Publié: septembre 1, 2011, 1:23pm CEST par Nick Peers

The Document Foundation has announced that LibreOffice 3.4.3 has been released, signalling the latest version of its open-source office application is now suitable for wide deployment on an enterprise scale.

LibreOffice is based on the better known, but now practically defunct OpenOffice suite. It features a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation tool, database, equation editor and drawing tool, and is completely open source, making it an attractive alternative to expensive products such as Microsoft Office.

The release of LibreOffice 3.4.3 sees TDF feels confident enough in its stability to recommend it to enterprise users for the first time. Version 3.4.3 follows one month after the previous (3.4.2) release that saw an expanded feature set combined with streamlined code for better performance.

Version 3.4.3 consists largely of a relatively small number of minor bug fixes and tweaks to render the program stable enough for a large-scale corporate deployment. TDF has also announced that the LibreOffice community will be co-hosting this year’s HackFest in Munich, Germany, this weekend with the objective of improving collaboration between the community and corporate users of LibreOffice in order to improve the timescale of future corporate-safe releases of the software.

A similar release schedule -- with version 3.4.6 planned for release 14 days after version 3.5.0 makes its first appearance in early February 2012 -- is currently planned, although TDF hopes in the future to be able to streamline the process to help speed up future development of LibreOffice.

LibreOffice 3.4.3 is available now as a free open-source download for Windows, Mac and Linux.

Will you buy Samsung Galaxy S II?

Publié: septembre 1, 2011, 12:00pm CEST par Joe Wilcox

Perhaps if you live outside the United States or are a US-based hard-core phone geek, you already bought Galaxy S II. But for the majority of us, the big chance to score one of these big-screen beauts will be September 16 or 18, when they go on sale at Sprint and AT&T, respectively.

The United States is one of the last countries where the Galaxy S II launched -- Tuesday night. Heck, even China got the smartphone before us. But it's coming. Are you itching to get your grubby hands on one?

There are lots of considerations. Verizon subscribers are shut out, as the carrier chose the Samsung Droid Charge instead. T-Mobile announced the phone but no price or launch date. Sprint released pricing -- $199.99 -- but not AT&T. Some Android enthusiasts might prefer to hold out for the rumored Nexus Prime (my choice) because they want the pure Google experience and latest Gingerbread (or Ice Cream Sandwich) version. Others might look at 4.3-inch or 4.52-inch screens as making the phones too big (my opinion).

Then there is iPhone 5. Do you wait for it, or take the Galaxy S II right now? All three US variants are 4G -- iPhone might not be. There's Super AMOLED display, Gorilla glass, 8MP camera, 1080p video recording and microSD for expanding storage. Apple's next-gen smartphone is an unknown. Do you wait or throw the dice?

You tell me. That's what this post is for. Before you respond, some existing owners have some advice for you.

"My 2 months old Samsung Galaxy II is showing seriously low battery performance, now requesting a recharge before the end of the day, under light use", Pierre Dybman comments.

Battery life has been a contentiously debated topic on support and other user forums. Most of the reviews I've seen either don't mention battery life or find it to be adequate. "The battery life is appalling, I can't believe reviewers ignore this or even praise its battery life", Betanews reader TomasF complains.

As a baseline, my Nexus S has a 1500mA battery. Samsung doesn't give talk time, but Google puts it at 6 hours. I certainly get 4 hours continuous talk, at the least, and for daily data and calling recharge about every 40 hours. For heavy use, I can get through a regular work day (for me typically more than 10 hours).

Samsung Galaxy S II is available internationally and goes on sale in the United States on 9-16-11. Will you buy Galaxy S II?

My guess: Sprint S2 buyers will be a whole lot more satisfied with battery life than those choosing AT&T.

Size is another consideration. My Nexus S, which has a 4-inch screen, measures 63mm wide, 123.9mm high and 10.88mm thick and weighs 129 grams. Sprint's Epic 4G Touch is 69.6mm wide, 129.9mm high and 9.59mm thick and weighs 129 grams. The larger phone is thinner and weighs the same!

"As for the size of the phone, it's light enough, but it is getting really wide, and people with smaller hands (like me) may find it a little uncomfortable, at least not fit anymore for one hand use in some cases", Dybman explains.

Commenter Adamodeus looks forward to the larger size phone: "4.5 inches are a very welcome change from the puny screens of smaller phones. The days of 'the smaller the cooler' went the way of the dinosaurs when the Nokia 9210 Communicator was born and decimated the markets in its heyday. Today, we watch movies and play games on our phones, which is why the postage stamp iPod screens went the way of dinosaurs too".

For you there remains the simple question: Will you buy Samsung Galaxy S II? Please answer in comments, and there's the poll above.

Photo Credit: Marcus Carlsson

Parallels 7 knits Windows 7 more tightly into OS X Lion

Publié: septembre 1, 2011, 3:39am CEST par Tim Conneally

OS X virtualization software company Parallels on Wednesday released the latest version of its eponymous desktop virtualization suite for Mac, Parallels 7, which adds support for new Lion-specific features and improves overall performance from the previous generation.

Apple began including iSight webcams in all its laptops in 2006, and since that time, Parallels support for them has been less than perfect. In fact, in some cases it's been downright terrible, requiring the camera to be dismounted from OS X before starting the Windows virtual machine, and remounting it once Windows had booted.

This time around, Parallels supports use of the onboard camera in both Windows and OS X Lion simultaneously.

Getting the Lion experience down in the application was important this time around, so Parallels 7 lets Windows virtual machine run in Lion's full screen mode, and also allows Windows applications to be "pinned" to Launchpad, or broken out as separate sessions in Mission Control.

Since it's a virtual machine, it doesn't necessarily have to be Windows that you use in Parallels 7. Support has been added for Lion, Lion Server and Snow Leopard Server as guest OSes. Sure, there are only a few scenarios where a user would have to virtualize an OS X machine within an OS X machine, but this feature's inclusion isn't without warrant.

Parallels Desktop 7 for Mac will be available for $79.99 on September 6 in English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Russian, and Japanese.

Is that the Samsung Galaxy S II in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?

Publié: septembre 1, 2011, 3:04am CEST par Ed Oswald

I had the pleasure of seeing the Galaxy S II up close last night at Samsung’s big reveal at their retail location in the Upper West Side of New York. Samsung has done good with this phone: bright beautiful screen, camera that actually takes worthwhile (and clear) pics, speedy interface, and very, very light and thin.

One thing stood out at me, and that was the size. It must be because I’m a long time iPhone user who is accustomed to the smaller-sized smartphone. This thing is big. Let’s be clear, though: AT&T’s version of the device has a 4.3-inch display, already making it quite a bit larger than the iPhone that measures just 3.5 inches. But then you come to the Sprint variant -- Epic 4G Touch -- and T-Mobile version, which is a damned monstrosity. With its screen coming in at about 4.52 inches, this thing just feels strange to hold. You might as well put a tablet up to your face.

Call me crazy but I could feel a difference in just that .22 inches. While the AT&T phone felt kind of big, I could still get my hand around it and grip it without too much discomfort. With the Sprint phone (and T-Mobile too, but only a guess there since it was under lock and key), that was a different story.

I honestly didn’t feel like I had a solid grip on the device, and that’s not a great feeling to have when you’re holding a cell phone. Yes, I understand the desire among these manufacturers to show off the increasingly impressive cell phone displays -- it really is beautiful. But do phones really need to be this big?

My iPhone 3GS measures 4.5 (height) x 2.4 (width) x .48 (depth) inches and weighs 4.8 ounces. iPhone 4's dimensions are 4.5 x 2.31 x .37 inches, and 4.8 ounces. Compare this to to the Epic 4G Touch, which comes in at a bulky 5.1 x 2.7 x .38 inches, and a weight of 4.55 ounces. It's lighter but larger.

While, yes, BlackBerries of the past have indeed been quite plump, those phones were also shorter top to bottom. This allowed you to cradle it in your palm a bit better, easing the discomfort of holding a large phone. With phones like the Epic 4G Touch that are made the same size as a regular smartphone -- just bigger -- that’s a different story.

Look, if you need a bigger display on a smart device, there are plenty of options that work much better like a small tablet. Heck, Samsung makes a great alternative itself -- the original, 7-inch Galaxy Tab!

I guess the argument is the entertainment side of things. But speaking from experience, trying to watch content on my phone for extended periods of time isn’t enjoyable. It’s just too small of a screen. Bump it up to a 7- or 10-inch screen and it's a much better experience.

Additionally, it’s not like applications are going to gain anything from the additional real estate. The difference is too small to give developers a reason to take advantage of it. So, I don’t really see the point.

Is it just because I’ve been using an iPhone too long? Am I being old fashioned? I don’t know, but I haven’t seen a valid argument yet for the tabletization of our mobile devices.

Photo Credit: Daniel Wiesheu

Gregarius » BetaNews.Com » septembre 2011

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BetaNews.Com (211 non lus)

Publié: septembre 30, 2011, 10:20pm CEST par Ian Fogg

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Publié: septembre 29, 2011, 8:50pm CEST par Joe Wilcox

Publié: septembre 29, 2011, 7:36pm CEST par Ed Oswald

Publié: septembre 29, 2011, 7:35pm CEST par Tim Conneally

Publié: septembre 29, 2011, 4:09pm CEST par Mark Wilson

Publié: septembre 29, 2011, 4:01pm CEST par Nick Peers

Publié: septembre 29, 2011, 2:01pm CEST par Ed Oswald

Publié: septembre 29, 2011, 1:19am CEST par Joe Wilcox

Publié: septembre 28, 2011, 10:50pm CEST par Ed Oswald

Publié: septembre 28, 2011, 10:04pm CEST par Joe Wilcox

Publié: septembre 28, 2011, 6:14pm CEST par Mike Williams

Publié: septembre 28, 2011, 5:52pm CEST par Mark Wilson

Publié: septembre 28, 2011, 5:24pm CEST par Joe Wilcox

Publié: septembre 28, 2011, 5:01pm CEST par Tim Conneally

Publié: septembre 28, 2011, 4:38pm CEST par Tim Conneally

Publié: septembre 28, 2011, 3:54pm CEST par Nick Peers

Publié: septembre 28, 2011, 3:43pm CEST par Tim Conneally

Publié: septembre 28, 2011, 1:56am CEST par Joe Wilcox

Publié: septembre 27, 2011, 11:44pm CEST par Ed Oswald

Publié: septembre 27, 2011, 9:22pm CEST par Tim Conneally

Publié: septembre 27, 2011, 9:01pm CEST par Mike Williams

Publié: septembre 27, 2011, 7:17pm CEST par Ed Oswald

Publié: septembre 27, 2011, 7:15pm CEST par Mark Wilson

Publié: septembre 27, 2011, 6:22pm CEST par Ed Oswald

Publié: septembre 27, 2011, 6:15pm CEST par Mark Wilson

Publié: septembre 27, 2011, 5:59pm CEST par Ed Oswald

Publié: septembre 27, 2011, 4:25pm CEST par Joe Wilcox

Publié: septembre 27, 2011, 3:24pm CEST par Nick Peers

Publié: septembre 27, 2011, 4:14am CEST par Joe Wilcox

Publié: septembre 27, 2011, 1:10am CEST par Ed Oswald

Publié: septembre 27, 2011, 12:15am CEST par Nik Cubrilovic

Publié: septembre 26, 2011, 10:03pm CEST par Tim Conneally

Publié: septembre 26, 2011, 9:37pm CEST par Joe Wilcox

Publié: septembre 26, 2011, 8:34pm CEST par Ed Oswald

Publié: septembre 26, 2011, 7:44pm CEST par Ed Oswald

Publié: septembre 26, 2011, 7:10pm CEST par Mikko Hypponen

Publié: septembre 26, 2011, 6:43pm CEST par Tim Conneally

Publié: septembre 26, 2011, 3:38pm CEST par Joe Wilcox

Publié: septembre 26, 2011, 3:28am CEST par Mike Williams

Publié: septembre 25, 2011, 10:20pm CEST par Joe Wilcox

Publié: septembre 25, 2011, 8:39pm CEST par Joe Wilcox

Publié: septembre 25, 2011, 1:25am CEST par Mark Wilson

Publié: septembre 24, 2011, 6:40pm CEST par Mike Williams

Publié: septembre 24, 2011, 4:27pm CEST par Joe Wilcox

Publié: septembre 24, 2011, 2:04am CEST par Joe Wilcox

Publié: septembre 24, 2011, 12:58am CEST par Tim Conneally

Publié: septembre 23, 2011, 9:34pm CEST par Tim Conneally

Publié: septembre 23, 2011, 7:49pm CEST par Tim Conneally

Publié: septembre 23, 2011, 6:54pm CEST par Mark Wilson

Publié: septembre 23, 2011, 6:26pm CEST par Nick Peers

Publié: septembre 23, 2011, 5:50pm CEST par Joseph LoRe

Publié: septembre 23, 2011, 1:55am CEST par Ed Oswald

Publié: septembre 23, 2011, 12:41am CEST par BetaNews Staff

Publié: septembre 22, 2011, 11:16pm CEST par Ed Oswald

Publié: septembre 22, 2011, 9:50pm CEST par Nick Peers

Publié: septembre 22, 2011, 8:46pm CEST par Tim Conneally

Publié: septembre 22, 2011, 8:41pm CEST par Ed Oswald

Publié: septembre 22, 2011, 7:54pm CEST par Tim Conneally

Publié: septembre 22, 2011, 7:05pm CEST par Larry Seltzer

Publié: septembre 22, 2011, 5:30pm CEST par Joe Wilcox

Publié: septembre 22, 2011, 4:29am CEST par Joe Wilcox

Publié: septembre 22, 2011, 1:01am CEST par Ed Oswald

Publié: septembre 21, 2011, 11:36pm CEST par Larry Seltzer

Publié: septembre 21, 2011, 11:15pm CEST par BetaNews Staff

Publié: septembre 21, 2011, 9:21pm CEST par Tim Conneally