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Windows 8: Some unanswered questions

Publié: novembre 2, 2011, 11:42pm CET par Chris Boss

I have been using Windows 8 Developer Preview (32-bit build) for more than a month now, and must say that I am impressed. The first thing I did was test my own software to see how well Windows 8 supports programs that can run on Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7. So far the tests look good, and I only found one thing that did not work correctly (didn't handle a layered window properly).

I played with some of the supplied Metro applications, and they are quite interesting. At first, Metro totally confused me -- and I am a programmer! For example, you can't terminate a Metro application like you can a desktop application. Coming from the desktop experience, Metro may confuse some users. That said, I need to get some more information about Metro and how it works. Whether you are a programmer or not, I strongly recommend watching the Microsoft Build video about creating (and using) Metro applications, which you can find here.

The video is quite long, but worth your time if interested in how Metro works. Even non-programmers will understand most of the information presented. Now I appreciate more what Metro is all about and I like many of the concepts. I won't go into any details, since the video does a better job than I could.

From everything I have read, ARM-based tablets will only support Metro applications, while x86 (Intel/AMD CPU's)-based tablets will support both Metro and desktop applications. Desktop is how Microsoft describes the current-style applications we are used on Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7.

Questions, Questions

The biggest complaint I've seen: The old Start menu will be replaced by a Start screen that would better be called a "Switch" menu. The big question: What will Microsoft do to improve the current Start menu for those who will work as much on the desktop as with Metro (see the insightful "Building Windows 8" blog for more on Start). I don't know about the average Windows user, but I currently have a Start menu (on Windows XP) that has over 125 items on it (yes, that many applications). My desktop has over 100 icons on it as well (many icons are for stuff not on the Start menu). Microsoft really needs to put more thought into how those who use desktop applications can access those applications (and files) that used to be available from the Start menu.

From a programmer's point of view, I am concerned about how well Windows 8 will support many the new features when it comes to desktop applications. Metro has some really exciting new features, like contracts, which I really wish was supported with desktop applications as well.

It is not enough for Windows 8 to support both Metro and Desktop applications, but the two need to be more seamlessly integrated. So far everything points to the Metro world being closely controlled (e.g. only source for applications will be Microsoft app store), while the desktop world will be "open and free" as in the past. I spent some time trying to find the location of the Metro apps on the hard drive; what a chore. I just wanted to examine some of the files of those Metro applications to see how they were written.

Another very important concern about Windows 8 is the effect on programmers who do not use a Microsoft product to write applications. Some very good software is written today using non-Microsoft tools. Desktop applications shouldn't be a problem, but Metro applications is another story. Will we be able to build Metro applications with non-Microsoft tools?

Metro works well and provides some great new features. The Desktop appears to work like it has in the past. The real question: How well will the two can blend? As a developer, I would like to see more overlap between the two. They need to be melded together so they become one operating system, rather than two uniquely different operating systems simply glued together.

So will Microsoft provide some new API's for developers of desktop applications so they can better blend the desktop with Metro? Will they make such features available for those who write native code applications? Also, will programmers be locked into using Microsoft programming tools when they want to create Metro applications?

What About Hardware?

There also is the question about the hardware necessary to run Windows 8 effectively. The Samsung tablet PC provided at BUILD was a bit more powerful than the average Windows 7 tablet PC of today. If the latest experience in the tablet market has shown anything, price will be a big issue for x86-based tablets. Sure ARM-based Windows 8 tablets may be cheaper to build, but for those of us who want the full Windows experience at a price we can afford, Windows 8 needs to be able to run well on very low-end hardware.

So will we see any very low-cost, mass-market, tablet PCs running Windows 8? We have seen some current netbooks sold at Walmart for as low as $228, but will there be Windows 8 tablet PCss in that price bracket?

You know what would be amazing? If when Windows 8 is officially released, I could go down to Walmart and purchase a x86 based tablet PC running the OS for $250.

I am not interested in iPad, even if it sold for only $250. I want a real Windows tablet that can run my desktop software. For $250 such a tablet would sell better than netbooks have, I think.

They only need a 32GB SSD instead of a hard drive. I have Windows 8 (32-bit) installed on a 20GB hard drive right now and there is plenty of room left. Also since there is a lot of emphasis today on using online services for data storage (aka. the cloud), users can store a lot of stuff using that. Programmers can (and should) be able to write efficient software that requires minimal space (and memory) on PCs, so such a tablet would suffice.

Now if Microsoft wants to make a big splash when Windows 8 releases, let's see if they can (with their partners) produce a $250 tablet PC running x86 Windows 8. In my opinion it can be done, but will they?

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.
House passes five-year ban on new wireless taxes, now it's up to the Senate

Publié: novembre 2, 2011, 11:00pm CET par Tim Conneally

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution called the Wireless Tax Fairness Act of 2011 late Tuesday, which seeks to put a five-year moratorium on new wireless taxes; including those placed on consumer services and property, and also those placed on providers.

The resolution, unsurprisingly, sprung from the heart of the U.S. high tech world, Silicon Valley. The bill's co-sponsor is Zoe Lofgren, a Democratic representative for the 16th district of California, an area which includes the City of San Jose, and Santa Clara County. The bill's Republican sponsor is Trent Lofgren, of the sixth district of Arizona.

"This bill is a common sense approach to tackling the rapidly increasing and discriminatory nature of local and state wireless service taxation," Lofgren said on Tuesday. "We need to encourage the development and adoption of wireless broadband, not tax it out of existence. My legislation simply places a five-year freeze on new taxes that are solely imposed on wireless services. I’m hopeful that the Senate will take up and pass Senators Wyden and Snowe’s companion measure, S 543, so we can get this on the President’s desk."

Senator Wyden's (D-OR) take on the bill is slightly more vitriolic than Representative Lofgren's.

"Wireless is a prime example of how every time a new innovation hits the market – governments invent new ways to tax it. We should be encouraging wireless usage as it continues to revolutionize the way Americans work, study and interact with friends and family, and yet, the only products subject to more layers and higher levels of taxation in the U.S. are alcohol and tobacco products," a statement from Wyden said. "New innovations have a hard time realizing their promise when they’re buried under multiple layers of discriminatory taxes. This is why we took steps to bar multiple and discriminatory taxes on Internet access and services – like email — and I’m glad we are finally moving to extend those same protections to wireless products."

The companion bill in the Senate that Wyden and Snowe introduced has not moved since it was moved to the Senate Finance committee last March.

Still, the wireless industry considers the passage of the House resolution a victory.

"On behalf of the 300 million wireless customers in the U.S., CTIA applauds the Wireless Tax Fairness Act’s lead sponsors, Representatives Lofgren and Franks, who worked tirelessly to get the bill approved in the House," A statement from CTIA, The Wireless Association said. "Today’s vote is a crucial step toward providing wireless subscribers with some much needed relief by putting a five-year freeze on new, discriminatory taxes and fees on their monthly bills. In light of the challenging economy, we hope the U.S. Senate moves swiftly to pass the companion bill."
GameStop's Android tablets appear ready for action

Publié: novembre 2, 2011, 9:15pm CET par Tim Conneally

To keep up with the shifting tide of video game distribution and the increasing popularity of mobile tablets and smartphones as video game systems, brick-and-mortar video game retailer GameStop was said to be working on an "Android-based gaming platform."

Now, the retailer has begun its push by offering the 7" Acer Iconia Tab A100, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, and the Asus Eee Pad Transformer in bundles that come with a special Bluetooth game controller, the Kongregate Arcade app, digital subscription to GameStop's Game Informer magazine, and a handful of exclusive games.

Kongregate, which GameStop acquired late last year, is a social gaming portal with thousands of free games built in Flash or the Unity 3D game engine. It works on a system of credits which are used to buy in-game items or to "tip" game developers directly.

Because the Android ecosystem is ripe and ready for a game console, the question becomes: with whom is GameStop competing?

Two months ago, GameStop made it abundantly clear that it was going to be competing with streaming game service OnLive, when employees were instructed to discard vouchers for free OnLive versions of Deus Ex: Human Revolution that were packed into PC versions of the game. OnLive lets subscribers play full PC games without installing anything other than the OnLive client, this allows them to play games on their TV, Mac, PC, and iPad or Android tablets. Naturally, this makes the service a competitor to GameStop as it's another "over the top" gaming service for Android.

What is not presently clear is GameStop's position on native Android game titles, and benefits of the relationships it has forged with game publishers. The first "GameStop Tablets" come with a couple of exclusive games not yet available in the Android Market, such as Dead Space, which has only been available directly from EA, and Sonic CD, which has not yet been officially released.

The retailer could conceivably establish its tablet platform as a priority venue for new releases, thereby adding value to its services.
Facebook users make their personal data easy to retrieve, researchers say

Publié: novembre 2, 2011, 8:47pm CET par Ed Oswald

Here's a story that will make you think twice about what you share on Facebook. Researchers with the University of British Columbia's NetSysLab let loose what are called "socialbots" on Facebook, and came away with 250 gigabytes of personally identifiable data. The results of the study show that Facebook users need to be much more cognizant of exactly what they share, and who they add as friends.

A socialbot is a bot that comes in the form of a faked user profile. The bot friend requests users on the site, and then once the requests are accepted, it downloads the personal information on the profile. NetSysLab researchers report a success rate of up to 80 percent in tricking Facebook users into adding the fake profiles and making matters worse, Facebook's protective measures did little to detect or prevent the researcher's infiltration.

Three years ago the social network created the Facebook Immune System, which has since evolved into a complex set of algorithms that inspects nearly every status and action on the site. It is intended to detect suspicious patterns of behavior, but NetSysLab researchers say it did little to prevent their efforts.

Researchers found that one in five Facebook users it initially targeted accepted friend requests from the bots even though they had no mutual friends. This increased to a 60 percent success rate among its friends of friends, allowing the 102 socialbots on the network to amass 3,000 friends within just the first few weeks of the eight week study.

About 46,500 Facebook users were affected, with 14,500 of them also having their physical address mined from their profile. The success with which these researchers had in not only adding Facebook users at random -- but also retrieving personal details -- should raise a red flag.

Security firm Sophos recommends that users practice caution in who they add on Facebook, and only share personal information with their closest friends. "You can choose to make people 'limited friends' who only have access to a cut-down version of your profile if you wish", the firm says. "This can be useful if you have associates who you do not wish to give full friend status to, or feel uncomfortable sharing personal information with".

Moral of the story? Don't add people you don't know.

Photo Credit: De Mango/Shutterstock
Will you buy AT&T LTE phones -- HTC Vivid or Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket?

Publié: novembre 2, 2011, 8:02pm CET par Joe Wilcox

I'm feeling kind of cranky today and having bad flashbacks to the 1990s, when the honking PC bought one day seemed oh-so last year weeks later. On October 2, I bought the Galaxy S II from AT&T. Problem: On November 6, the carrier will launch its first two LTE phones -- and service in four new markets -- the HTC Vivid and Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket. I so want the Skyrocket. It's an investment for the future, because of LTE. But AT&T probably won't let me have it, because the new S2 releases a couple days outside the 30-day return period for the older model. Not hopeful, I will nevertheless try.

What about you? Would you buy either phone, and would the main reason be LTE -- that is, if an AT&T subscriber? Verizon's LTE rollout already is farther along and reaches many more people, and the carrier offers six LTE phones (seven with the forthcoming Droid Razr) and two tablets. Have you bought a Verizon LTE phone, with faster data being a reason? Please answer in comments below.

We've had some fiercely contentious discussions here at BetaNews about the value of LTE, and whether it really matters to many phone users. I'm in the "hell, yes, it does" camp. Verizon surely thinks so, given its network expansion -- $65 billion, including $9.6 billion for spectrum purchased in 2008 -- overall, including LTE. But there's division here in the newsroom about how many people really choose a phone or carrier because of LTE.

According to a report In-Stat released last week, 75 percent of survey respondents listed 4G as one of the features they'd like in their "ideal phone". It's my experience that what people say they want on a survey but actually take differs dramatically. Factors like affordability often matter more.

A few days before Apple announced iPhone 4S, when everyone thought it would be something else, I asked: "What if iPhone 5 isn't LTE?" Reader Lori Johnson responded: "It needs to be LTE!!!!" Commenter James: "Why buy a new phone that only supports old 3G and runs slower in major markets".

That's exactly my quandary today. Had I known AT&T would release a Galaxy S II LTE model 36 days after the HSPA+ model, I would have waited. I've been here before, on PCs, when faster microprocessors, modems and USB came along. In the so-called post-PC era, better mobiles come out quickly, like personal computers in the 1990s. At least I could upgrade the PC, and there was no long-term monthly payment commitment. So it makes sense to me, if committing to a two-year cellular and data contract, to get LTE -- invest in the future. But fast data matters to me. Does it to you?

Then there's the "What's fast enough?" question. WiFi is widely available in coffee shops and even McDonald's, and that's free data. Both Galaxy S II models support HSPA+, with theoretical data maximum of 21Mbps (iPhone 4S is only 14Mbps). That's plenty fast and pitched as 4G, too. Skyrocket adds LTE, which, in theory, delivers up to 70Mbps.

"Although 4G is an important feature for handset buyers, there is a lot of confusion surrounding 4G", says In-Stat analyst Greg Potter. "When survey respondents were asked which carrier offered the fastest 4G speeds, the majority of the respondents either didn’t know or felt they were the same across carriers".

Perhaps I'm the confused one. Since all this speed is theoretical, does any of it really matter? And what's really fast enough? Here in the San Diego area, I frequently got over 6Mbps on T-Mobile with Google-branded, Samsung-manufactured Nexus S. I've yet to reach that speed on AT&T's network with Galaxy S II, which theoretical maximum is three times greater than Nexus S.

Additionally, LTE isn't available in my area. On Sunday, AT&T will add LTE service in Athens, Ga., Baltimore, Boston and Washington, DC, which will join Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston and San Antonio. San Diego may not get LTE service for some time. But I'm thinking that either I or someone else in the family will still be using this phone when it does -- after all there is a two-year contract.

Then there is the phone, which features impress -- and same applies to HTC Vivid. Quick specs:

HTC Vivid: 1.2GHz Qualcomm APQ 8060 dual-core processor; 4.5-inch qHD
super LCD display with 960 x 540 resolution; capacitive touchscreen; LTE/HSPA+/UMTS/GSM/GPRS/EDGE; 1GB RAM; 16GB storage (expandable to 32GB with microSD card; 8-megapixel camera; 1080p video capture; Bluetooth 3.0; WiFi "N"; 1620mAh battery and Android 2.3.4. Dimensions: 5.07" x 2.64" x .44". Price with two-year contract: $199.99.

Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket: 1.5GHz dual-core processor; 4.5 Super AMOLED Plus display with 800 x 480 resolution; capacitive touchscreen; LTE/HSPA+/UMTS/GSM/GPRS/EDGE; 1GB RAM; 16GB storage (expandable to 32GB with microSD card; 8-megapixel camera; 1080p video capture; Bluetooth; WiFi "N"; Near-Field Communications (NFC); 1850mAh battery and Android 2.3.5. Dimensions: 5.15" x 2.75" x 0.37". Price with two-year contract: $249.99.

So, would you buy? Or have you got another LTE phone on another carrier? Please respond on comments.
Forget the consumer tablet market, Dell's Android devices get military approval

Publié: novembre 2, 2011, 5:18pm CET par Tim Conneally

The consumerization of IT isn't just taking place in the private sector. Consumer mobile devices are moving uncharacteristically quickly through public sector regulations to be used in government and military as well, and the Department of Defense is now on board with Android.

This week, Dell announced its Mobile Security for Android platform has been certified for use within the U.S. Department of Defense by the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA).

Dell's platform was developed in cooperation with Good Technologies, and gives defense employees secure access to email, documents, and a discrete, partitioned method of distributing apps securely (In June, the DISA said "Several DoD agencies are considering standing-up a DoD mobile application distribution center, but this capability is not expected to be available until mid-late 2011 at the earliest.")

The DISA has been testing Dell and Good's solution for the last five months using the Dell Streak 5 tablet and Android 2.2. This doesn't mean the discontinued Streak is necessarily going to find its way into the Pentagon, but rather, Dell says that the "next wave of Dell Android devices, set for release next year," will be able to be rapidly integrated into military environments.

Dell's CEO Michael Dell recently admitted the consumer tablet market belongs to Apple's iPad, So Dell's weak presence among consumer Android devices could be heavily offset by a strong presence in the public sector and military.

Photo: Straight 8 Photography/Shutterstock
Stuck in iPhone 4S battery hell? Here's a way out

Publié: novembre 2, 2011, 5:14pm CET par Ed Oswald

Just like many other iPhone 4S users, I am experiencing poor battery life that has left me running for the charger far more than I would like to. The issues are a black eye on what has been an otherwise stellar experience with Apple's latest smartphone.

Although I never owned the iPhone 4, I am told by those who have used both that there is a definite decrease in battery performance. We should have known, though -- in the slides of the keynote introducing the 4S, astute observers noted the standby time advertised by Apple (200 hours) was a full 100 hours less than its predecessor.

What's the cause? Is it the dual-core processor? Perhaps iOS 5's heavy dependence on Location Services? Maybe Siri, even? We really don't know. Apple has been pretty much silent on the issue.

My iPhone 3GS was piss poor when it came to battery life, generally requiring a recharge at least once a day. At points it certainly seems like the battery drains on the iPhone 4S far faster, and for a heavy smartphone user like myself that is a problem.

Frustrated users have started a thread in Apple's support forums that now has surpassed 3,000 replies and has nearly 200,000 views as of midday Wednesday. Like myself, they complain of 3GS-like battery life: "Seems to lose 1 percent every 3-4 minutes, even when locked/asleep". The posts also have users engaging in crafty tactics to conserve battery power.

What can you do in order to squeeze more life out of the 4S' seemingly bum battery? Here are five tips to keep you away from the phone charger which I have already been using.

1. Turn off features. Location Services will run continuously. Crappy battery or not, this will significantly reduce battery life regardless. Look through the list in Location Services and turn it off for apps which make no sense to have it (for example, Angry Birds actually uses your location. WTF?) Bluetooth should also be shut off if you're not using it.

2. Do you really need those emails right away? Some of us are truly connected to our e-mail accounts at the hip. But, every time our phones go out to check for new messages, it's sucking a bit of your battery. Set it to longer periods of time, or on demand -- meaning you have to tell it to check. Don't worry, those who email you can wait a few extra minutes for a reply.

3. Your screen doesn't need to be that bright. Just like a laptop, screen brightness plays a direct role in overall battery life. Just turning the brightness down by a quarter of what it is will give your 4S a bit of a power boost.

4. Forgo WiFi sync. While it's certainly cool that you can sync that iPhone without wires, it's a battery drain. Using WiFi (or heck, 3G) to transfer large amounts of data is a battery drain. Just connect your device to computer via USB like you used to. Your battery will thank you.

5. Maintain your battery. While batteries these days suffer far less from "memory" issues from being recharged before being fully depleted thus shortening battery life overall, it still happens. Every once in a while it's a very good idea to let your battery drain completely, and then recharge completely. Some on the support forums have even reported this simple process has resulted in a noticeable increase in battery life. It may be worth a shot.

Are you a disgruntled iPhone 4S user, perturbed over its battery life? Sound off below. We'd also love to hear your own tips that you may be using. In any case, we can all hope that Apple fixes this problem soon.

Photo Credit: Ed Oswald
VIPRE Internet Security 2012: Light on resources, heavy on protection

Publié: novembre 2, 2011, 4:39pm CET par Mike Williams

GFI Software today unveiled the latest editions of the company’s security products, VIPRE Antivirus 2012 and VIPRE Internet Security 2012.

And while much of the competition tries to win you over by adding ever more malware-hunting features, GFI takes a different tack, concentrating just on the basics, but making them as simple to use as possible.

This starts with a more streamlined installation process. Everything’s up and running in a click or two, no need to reboot, with sensible default settings ensuring you’re protected right away.

The user interface has also been simplified. Everything you need to know -- protection status, last and next scan times, subscription expiration date and more -- is displayed on the opening screen, where you can also initiate a new scan or download definition updates at a click.

VIPRE Internet Security 2012 includes the core features you’d expect in any security suite, many of which have been enhanced this time around. So the firewall is now more intelligent, for example, using whitelisting of known safe applications to reduce the number of alerts. The spam filter is able to work at the protocol level, enabling it to protect any POP3 client. While browsing protection blocks dangerous downloads and keeps you away from malicious websites.

This is still primarily an essentials-only suite, so there’s no online backup, no parental controls, no sandboxing. But there are a few bonus extra features in both Antivirus and Internet Security 2012. So the Secure File Eraser securely deletes confidential files so they can’t be recovered, while the History Cleaner can clear your tracks in Windows and a few browsers and applications. And the PC Explorer displays low-level system details that may help you diagnose an infection: downloaded ActiveX controls, startup programs, Internet Explorer BHOs, HOST file changes, LSPs, Shell Execute hooks, and more.

The key advantage of the new products, though, is that they’re so lightweight. Even when scanning your system and displaying the program’s interface, we saw no more than three running processes, which rarely reached 10-percent CPU utilisation and consumed under 50MB of RAM (dropping to 5-6MB when idle).

The new VIPRE 2012 range really should be able to protect your system without noticeably slowing it down, then. And if that sounds appealing, then try it for yourself: trial versions of VIPRE Antivirus 2012 ($39.95) and VIPRE Internet Security 2012 ($49.95) are available now.

Photo Credit: Albert Ziganshin/Shutterstock
Nitro Pro 7 released

Publié: novembre 2, 2011, 3:15pm CET par Nick Peers

As we revealed just over a week ago, NitroPDF was readying the release of Nitro Pro 7, its commercial tool for creating, editing, annotating and sharing PDFs. Nitro Pro’s feature set rivals that of Adobe Acrobat, but is available for a significantly lower price -- just $80 for a limited period at launch.

Now, as planned, Nitro Pro 7 is now officially available for download in both 32-bit and 64-bit trial versions for PCs running Windows 7, Vista or XP.

Nitro Pro 7 introduces a number of major new features, as we revealed last month. You can now edit text in paragraph blocks, for example, giving you more control over the flow of text when making text-based changes.

Version 7 also introduces redaction features for blocking out sensitive material, plus introduces Digital Signature Profiles for speedy digital sign-offs off PDF documents. It also claims better performance, a tweaked user interface for more intuitive use and the ability to preview PDF files in Windows, Outlook and your browser without having to open them first.

Nitro Pro 7 is available now as a free trial download in 32-bit and 64-bit editions for Windows 7, Vista and XP. For a very limited period, the full package can be purchased for just $80, making it substantially cheaper than Adobe Acrobat.
Postbox 3 supports gestures on Mac, jumplists on Windows

Publié: novembre 2, 2011, 1:45pm CET par Nick Peers

Postbox 3.0 has been released for both Windows and Mac users. This commercial mail client is aimed at those who rely heavily on email and who find the various free email tools, such as Thunderbird or the clients supplied by OS X and earlier versions of Windows too restrictive.

Postbox 3.0’s headline new feature concerns tighter integration with numerous third-party apps and services, including Gmail, Dropbox and a range of popular social networks. It also includes handful of interface tweaks designed to take better advantage of new features in Windows and OS X, plus throws in a handful of minor new improvements.

Postbox 3.0′s improved integration with Gmail promises native Gmail Label support as well as support for Gmail keyboard shortcuts and a dedicated view for mail marked as "important". Postbox 3.0 also integrates popular social networks, including Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, more fully. You can now access your profile pages directly from the app, plus Postbox can now import extra information from social network profiles, such as photos, job titles and workplaces.

You can now email links from your Dropbox folder instead of the actual file, and use Date Detection to create events in supported apps such as Google Calendar and iCal. Postbox 3.0 also supports notifications from the latest version (1.3) of Growl.

A smattering of new usability features are also present. The Favorites bar can now be used to quickly access those accounts and folders you use most, while clicking Quick Reply includes an option for quoting the original message as part of the reply. Send and Archive functions can now be performed in a single step, and reusable templates for message replies have also been added to the program’s feature set.

Finally, version 3.0 also takes advantage of features in the latest versions of OS X and Windows. Lion users can now use gestures with their trackpad or Mighty Mouse, plus run the program in full-screen view, while Windows 7 users get to use jumplists and gain better integration with the app’s “popular” Minimize to Tray icon, which minimises the application to the Notification area of the Windows taskbar.

Postbox 3.0 is available now as a free trial download for Windows (XP or later) and Mac (OS X Snow Leopard or later). The full version costs US$29.95.