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15 downloads you shouldn't miss this week

Publié: octobre 22, 2011, 8:25pm CEST par Mark Wilson

It has been another busy week in the world of software releases, so we wouldn’t be at all surprised if some titles escaped you attention. Some of the highlights from the last seven days include WebSite X5 Free, which is a surprisingly effective free template-based web editor that has been designed for beginners looking to create their first site. With a huge range of stylish templates to choose from and a built-in FTP client, there’s everything you need to start and finish your perfect site.

If looking after your computer is more up your street OSForensics 1.0.1001 may well be of interest. This powerful tool can be used to unearth a wealth of information about your system including details of hardware that is or has been connected, and while there are limitations in the free-for-personal-use version it could still furnish you with the information you need to help overcome all manner of problems.

When it comes to analyzing your computer, there is more than one tool that may be of interest.Speccy 1.13 can be used to check all manner of hardware details such as the type of memory you have installed, but there is much more to this versatile tool. If you are the sort of person who helps out friends and family to fix problem with their computers, the updated Speccy Portable 1.13 will be a handy addition to your USB drive. For people who like to listen to music while they work at their computer, Volume Concierge 1.0.0.0 is a handy utility that can be used to automatically adjust system volume depending on the time of day so you can avoid annoying others as you work late at night or early in the morning.

O&O SpeedCheck 2.0.45.0 is a system optimization tool that analyzes the state of your hard drive and determine whether it is worth performing a potentially lengthy defragmentation. For on-going system maintenance, there are times when it is necessary to manually terminate applications that may have become unstable If you fancy the idea of using a tool that’s easier and faster to access than Windows’ Task Manager, take a look at Task ForceQuit Pro 1.0.0.0.

MailStore Home 5.0 is a free email archival tool that can be used to keep on top of an ever-growing amount of communication. The latest version of the app includes a completely redesigned interface and an automatic configuration mode that helps you to get up and running as quickly as possible. If you are more concerned with dealing with your incoming mail, Mozilla Thunderbird 8 Beta 3 is the latest version of Mozilla’s email client which is undergoing the same rapid development cycle as the Firefox browser

Of course, there has also been the usual raft of updates to web browsers. Pale Moon x64 has now reached version 7.0.1, offering huge performance improvements over the previous release, while Firefox 8.0 Beta 4 gives an interesting preview of what’s coming up in the next version of the Mozilla web browser. Opera has also been updated, with Opera Next 12.00 build 1116 and the same is true of the Internet Explorer based Maxthon. Maxthon 3.2.0.1000 blends the best aspects of Internet Explorer, Chrome and Safari to create a feature-packed browser that boasts a real turn of speed.

When you’re out and about and want to make use of the Internet, you will need to know where the nearest wifi hotspots are, ad this is something that Hotspot Shield 2.09 can help with. Whether you’re browsing the Internet at home or out of the house, you will undoubtedly have to contend with numerous web sites and programs that require the use of password. If you have a tendency to forget your login information, KeePass 2.17 can take care of things for you.

What type of software tends to tickle your fancy, there is sure to be something here for you to try out over the weekend.
Is 'Hawaii 5-0' one long Microsoft commercial?

Publié: octobre 22, 2011, 6:45pm CEST par Joe Wilcox

Product placement is the ultimate in marketing. It's relatively cheap -- that's assuming the company pays anything at all -- the value worth millions in potential sales and/or savings paying for actual advertising. Why pay for a 30- or 60-second TV commercial when your product can be part of the show? Or on CBS cop drama "Hawaii 5-0" be one of the stars of the show?

I've been pondering writing about Microsoft's product placement since 5-0's first season aired (season two started last month). The program's actors routinely use the company's big-ass table -- that is Surface -- and Bing to search from Windows Phone. But this week, in episode "Ma'ema'e", Windows Live SkyDrive joins the active placement of Microsoft products -- or cast, if you will.

It's not unusual to see products placed on TV shows or films. "New Trends in Product Placement", an early 2007 UC Berkely paper written Lilia Gutnik, Tom Huang, Jill Blue Lin and Ted Schmidt, identifies trends in the mid-Noughties:

In the 2004-2005 television season, over 100,000 product placements were embedded in the broadcast networks alone: ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, UPN, and the WB. The product placement market is growing rapidly; the value of the industry in 2005 is estimated at $4.24 billion. This figure includes barter, where the use of the product is the payment for the placement, and gratis, where the product's placement enriches the storyline or amplifies the character's profile.

Product placement is even bigger business today. According to Nielsen, product placement among 12 major networks during primetime, rose 22 percent from 2006 to 2010. Its value is even greater when people can record programs on DVRs and fast-forward past the commercials.

For years, the Apple logo has been a staple on television and movies. Apple has a longstanding product placement program that is so successful the company often doesn't pay. Apple gets gratis placement, perhaps because its products are popular among the creatives making the shows/film and because the tech looks so good -- they have camera appeal. Two things worth noting, I'm seeing more Apple laptop placements where the logo is covered and the products are typically used passively.

What sets "Hawaii 5-0" apart from most other TV shows is how the products are placed -- and, more importantly, how actively characters are engaged with the objects. In this week's episode, Steve McGarrett tells Danny "Danno" Williams to upload photos to the SkyDrive -- that's Microsoft's online storage service -- and he does, using a Windows Phone handset to snap and send them. The scene immediately cuts back to 5-0 headquarters where the photos are viewed on a Surface Computer and the young woman in them is identified. This is much more than product placement. It's product engagement.

Something else: McGarrett's laptop has a prominent Windows logo on the back. It's hard to miss. The point: Microsoft tech owns this show, and its products are as much actors in the drama as the human stars.

Then there is the DVR advantage. Someone might fast-forward one of the new Microsoft family commercials, but how many will skip Danno uploading photos of a scantily-clad female volleyball player to Windows Live SkyDrive?

The product placements aren't exclusive to Microsoft, just the degree of interaction. "Hawaii 5-0" has plenty of them. During May 2011 -- the end of the 2010-11 primetime viewing season -- there were 26 product placements on the cop drama, according to Nielsen, putting it tenth. "Celebrity Apprentice" had 145 and "American Idol" 127, but they like most of the others were reality shows. Only one other non-reality program had more product placements than 5-0: "Friday Night Lights".

I dunno what it is about "Hawaii 5-0", which is a remake of the 70's show I watched as a kid. The plots are obvious (I knew Kono was working undercover to get bad cops three episodes ago); the acting (or perhaps just the dialogue) is laughable; and dramatic tension might enthrall six year olds. Or perhaps retirees. I've long viewed CBS as the network for old folks (CBS can't over-excite aging hearts). My fav networks are Fox, CW, TBS and TNT. But somehow I can't stop watching "Hawaii 5-0". Perhaps the actors all look so damn good, or Hawaii is such an exotic setting -- although with all the murder, drug trafficking and other mayhem (Hey, someone killed the governor and framed McGarrett in the season one cliffhanger), the islands don't look like such a great place to settle down.

For Microsoft, this show is invaluable, because each week its products are actively used by the handsome actors in the exotic setting. The subliminal connotation is cutting-edge tech, something Surface evokes more than any other Microsoft product on the show. I've got to say that if real law enforcement would be way more efficient if able to capture and analyze information as fast as the cops on 5-0 using surface. If only cops had the same tools in real life as they do on television.

So when will Danno use Office 365 on "Hawaii 5-0", or has he and I missed it?
Remember the Milk for Android Review

Publié: octobre 22, 2011, 6:35pm CEST par Mark Wilson

When it comes to to-do apps and reminder tools, Android is the perfect platform thanks to its mobile nature and the various synchronization options that are available to ensure that the same data is available on your PC or Mac. So ideal is the platform for this type of app, there is no shortage of titles that have been designed to help you to keep your life in order, avoid missing deadlines and appointments, or keep track of things you need to do and buy. Even before days of iOS and Android, Remember The Milk was available as an online app and the level of control the service provides over your to do list is unparalleled.

The iOS app has been available for the iPhone and iPod for a little while now, but the update to version 2 for Android has seen the software evolve into a free app that brings the same powerful options that have been available to iOS devotees for so long a time. The interface has been given a major overhaul, but it is the fact that anyone with a Remember The Milk account -- both free and paid-for -- can now make use of the app free of charge that is the real headlines news.

When created, tasks and reminders can be easily organized into categories to allow for easier sorting in future by assigning them to lists. To make it even easier to manage very extensive lists of things you need to remember, additional fields can be added to individual entries including tags, location information, web links and more. As you would rightly expect from any to-do app worthy of note, Remember The Milk allows for different priority levels to be assigned to tasks so that you can see at a glance what you need to be focusing on next.

Despite the huge range of options available in the app, the interface remains remarkably uncluttered and allows for easy navigation. By default you are greeted by the list of tasks you have to complete today, but links are available so you can see what needs to be done tomorrow and in the week ahead. You can also view all of the lists you have created and this makes it easy to separate the tasks that you have created that are related to work, and those that are more personal in nature, but it can also be used to manage large project by breaking them down into a series of smaller sub-tasks.

Other options come into play when you have assigned a task to a particular location. This can then be used as another method of sorting all of your incomplete tasks, but you also have the option of using location services to determine if you have anything on your to-do list that could be done in the surrounding area -- for shopping this can be a real time-saver as it is all too easy to drive home only to realize that there was one more shop you needed to visit. Depending on how you work and what you are using the app for, you may want to adjust the search radius for what qualifies as 'nearby'. By default this is set to 1 kilometer, but can be reduced to as little as 250m or increased to up to 50km.

Keeping in Sync

It is hard to find any complaints with the app -- it's so well thought out. If there is one minor niggle it would be using Remember The Milk with a standard, free account; you are limited to synchronizing once every 24 hours. Upgrading to a Pro account also adds support for push notifications and badges, and this can make it easier to monitor how many tasks you have left to complete.

For everyday use, such as shopping lists and reminders for doctors’ appointments and the like, this should not be an issue, although it does mean that you have to plan ahead with your syncs. Of course, the premium subscription allows unlimited synchronization, but this does come at a cost -- albeit a fairly low one. The homescreen widgets that are also available with a Pro account are available mean that you can monitor your to-do list at a glance, while the app in never far away for when you need more detail or more control.

In many ways, Remember The Milk for Android is something of a strange app, particularly for a web-based service. Rather than simply complementing or replicating the options that are available at the RTM website, the app actually makes the service easier to use. If you have signed up for a Remember The Milk account in the past but have been put off by the way in which the website works, downloading the app will enable you to completely re-evaluate the service and see it in a new light.

Many people will find it difficult to get excited about what is essentially a to-do app, but until you have tried out Remember The Milk, it is hard to understand just how much better it is when compared to other similar tools. The range of options available is simply unrivalled, and this is coupled with a delightful ease of use that actually manages to make tasks management a pleasure.

You can download a free copy of the app by paying a visit to the Remember The Milk page.
Want to break into iPad 2? Get a Smart Cover

Publié: octobre 22, 2011, 2:50am CEST par Ed Oswald

iPad 2 owners need to reconsider just how secure their tablets are following the discovery of a flaw that allows attackers with Apple Smart Covers to unlock iPads, even if they are password protected. The issue was first disclosed in the forums of German Apple enthusiast site apfeltalk.de, and has since been replicated numerous times including in tests by BetaNews.

As opposed to an issue where Siri allowed access to phone features from the lock screen -- that actually can be disabled with Siri's settings -- the locking issue actually appears to be a legitimate flaw. The issue was verified by Betanews in iOS 5, however, Internet reports seem to suggest that it can also be recreated in iOS 4.3.

The procedure to break into a password-protected iPad 2 is pretty simple. First, lock the iPad as you normally would. After this occurs, hold down the power button till the slider appears on the screen. When this happens, close the Smart Cover over the iPad. Open the Smart Cover back up, and click cancel on the screen. With that, you now have full access to the device.

Betanews has sent out a request to Apple for comment on the matter, as well as asking for a timeframe on a possible fix.

In the meantime, Apple enthusiast site 9to5Mac has shared a stopgap fix in their own invesigation of the flaw. "We have discovered that you can temporarily fix this bug by disabling Smart Cover unlocking in the iPad 2 settings menu under the General tab," iOS developer and 9to5Mac contributor Mark Gurman wrote on Friday.
Big data and archival will drive $22 billion in cloud storage spending, says IDC

Publié: octobre 22, 2011, 12:35am CEST par Tim Conneally

Information Technology market intelligence company International Data Corporation (IDC) released a report on Friday that forecasts the future growth in corporate spending on cloud-based storage. According to the report, spending on equipment for both public and private cloud storage systems will reach $22.6 billion by 2015.

IDC says we should expect public cloud service providers to increase their spending on storage hardware, software, and professional services over the next five years, and that it should amount to a compound annual growth rate of 23.6%.

Even though IDC said in a study in July that it expected one of every seven IT dollars to be spent on packaged software, servers, and storage offerings for public cloud services, today's report on storage actually predicted a more substantial growth in spending for private cloud installations.

IDC says enterprise spending on private cloud storage will grow by 28.9% between now and 2015.

Still, cloud service providers and enterprises share some common needs in the storage space. IDC cites five requirements that are common between them: more efficient delivery of information and applications to web-based customers; less time and money spent on deploying new IT and compute infrastructure, less investment on internal IT infrastructure associated with unpredictable workloads, lower costs for long-term information archival, and the addition of real-time analysis of "big data."

The overlaps in these areas are pretty big, too. Take Netflix, for example. One would think the company's primary interest would be in establishing a more efficient content delivery over the Web for its instant streaming service. However, Netflix is using "big data" too; it analyzed data from its subscriber base of more than 24 million users on directors, actors, and genres to decide to obtain streaming rights for the show House of Cards earlier this year. Heavy duty information analysis and archival are on the roadmap for many.

"The challenge facing the storage industry will be to balance public cloud service providers' demand for low-cost hardware while boosting demand for advanced software solutions in areas such as object-based storage, automated data tiering, Big Data processing, and advanced archiving services," noted Villars. "Big Data developments will be perhaps the most critical new marketplace for storage solutions providers in the coming decade. Providing a strong portfolio of complete Big Data solutions – hardware, software, and implementation services – will be a high priority to succeed. Similarly, a strong portfolio of active archival storage solutions will be a critical differentiator for private content/archive cloud deployments."

Photo: Eugene Kozmenok/Shutterstock