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BetaNews.Com (8 non lus)

We'd like to give you IObit Advanced SystemCare PRO 5 for free

Publié: février 21, 2012, 9:20pm CET par Nick Peers

When it comes to keeping your Windows setup lean and mean, you don’t need to look much further than Advanced SystemCare PRO 5. IObit’s flagship system tuneup utility has come on leaps and bounds since its initial release, and now offers comprehensive maintenance and optimization options for keeping your PC in tip-top condition.

With new Active Boost technology maintaining your computer’s key resources in real-time, improved malware detection and extra maintenance and optimization tools, ASC PRO 5 is an essential tool for all PCs. But get this, for a limited period ending at 23:59 Central European Time on February 22, you’ll be able to pick up a free single-license copy worth $19.95, complete with all the additional features and functionality over the free version.

To get your free copy of ASC PRO 5, which runs on any PC with Windows 2000 or later installed, just visit the Downloadcrew Giveaway site before the deadline. Follow the instructions provided to download the software and unlock the full version with the serial code provided.

There’s no registration involved, so you don’t have to sign up for anything – everything you need to get and use the software is provided at its Download page.

Optimize Your PC

Why download and install IObit Advanced SystemCare PRO 5 for your PC? It’s basically your one-stop shop for maintaining and optimizing your computer through a series of utilities designed to improve performance, root out problems and even detect and remove malware.

The program’s divided into four sections: Quick Care for those who want a quick and easy tune up, plus Deep Care for more experienced users happy to delve deep into the program’s innards to get the performance they specifically want. Turbo Boost speeds up your system with just a few clicks while Toolbox provides shortcuts to 25 more tools spanning categories including clean, optimize, repair and security.

Version 5 introduces Active Boost technology, which optimizes your application’s RAM and CPU use in real time. Malware detection is improved greatly thanks to new cloud-based technology for up-to-the-minute scans, while Turbo Boost is able to recover more system resources than before. Also enhanced are the Quick and Deep Care sections.

It’s all very simple to use, but because you’re potentially making fundamental changes to your system, it’s good to know that ASC PRO 5 flags potentially harmful changes, plus backs up every tweak it performs, so if -- for example – you run into problems after using the Registry cleaning portion of the program, you can quickly and easily roll back your computer to a working state.

Key Facts

If you’ve got more than one PC to look after, you might be interested to learn that throughout February we’ve got a massive 68 percent off the three-PC license of ASC PRO 5. You pay just $12 instead of $39.95 as a result of this discount.

Important reminder: the download offer lasts through 23:59 Central European Time Wednesday February 22,. You will need to register your license by Friday 24 February. See the Downloadcrew Giveaway site for full details.
It doesn't get much more post-PC than this: Ubuntu for Android

Publié: février 21, 2012, 9:19pm CET par Tim Conneally

Back in October, Canonical Ltd. announced that Ubuntu would be coming to smartphones, tablets and TVs. Tuesday, Canonical announced it is not only bringing Ubuntu to phones, tablets, and televisions, but it is doing so through Android, and in a form very similar to Motorola's Webtop interface.

"Your Next Desktop Could be a Phone," Canonical says.

It's quite a statement coming from a company that makes desktop operating systems. "Forget the office PC. Just dock your corporate phone and enjoy Ubuntu. Anywhere. One address book. One set of bookmarks. One place for your text messages and email. No more typing on a tiny screen when all you want is a keyboard and a mouse. Seamless integration of your desktop and mobile worlds."

When a phone equipped with Ubuntu for Android is docked into an appropriate hardware dock with HDMI out and Keyboard, it launches the Ubuntu environment in parallel with Android. It is not virtualized, but is instead a native linux environment running off of the same Linux kernel that Android uses. It requires a dual-core device, however, so that both environments can run and share services.

Canonical bills Ubuntu for Android as a complete desktop, and it includes applications for office (Google Docs), web browsing (Chromium), email (Thunderbird), media (PiTiVi, VLC Player, Ubuntu Music Player) and messaging (Android dialer, Gwibber). Personal files stored in the phone such as contacts, calendars, photo galleries, and music can all be accessed via the Ubuntu desktop interface.

Text messages and voice calls are also routed through the desktop in a fashion more like a desktop VoIP and messaging client than a phone to allow a seamless experience.

With this, Canonical looks to be taking a slightly different approach than it has with other builds of its operating system, and the company is primarily targeting OEMs and devicemakers with today's announcement. Canonical says it's a "just cause for more cores" and that it could seed "a whole new peripheral ecosystem" similar to the one associated with Motorola's Webtop.

In December, Canonical-founded nonprofit Linaro announced it had completed middleware for low-cost dual-core ARM boards that allowed for deployment of either Android Ice Cream Sandwich or Ubuntu Oneiric Ocelot, and this could play into the initial availability of Ubuntu for Android.
Windows Phone isn't boring

Publié: février 21, 2012, 8:15pm CET par Joe Wilcox

Well, that's what many of you say.

Last week I asked: "Are you bored with Windows Phone?" Simple reason: Windows 8 and Windows 8 on ARM share in Metro a similar tile-like user interface, and I had seen some user complaints about being bored with WP 7.5. I asked the question in anticipation of Windows 8 Consumer Preview, which Microsoft promised to release by month's end.

Given the UI similarities, WP users are a good measure for assessing Metro's viability as the new window to Windows. Windows 8 will bring the most fundamental change to the UI since the graphical user interface adopted for version 3.0 and then revamped for Windows 95. Such change comes with risks users will resist, stalling adoption or leading some customers to adopt something else (with Mac OS X near top of list).

Maybe my post rallied the fanboys or represents a broad base of Windows Phone users. Whichever, neither or both, you give a rousing endorsement to the tile-like UI.

"I have a had windows phone for a few months now, and I love it", Jesse Dobson comments. "The simplicity is cool, but I mostly like the phone because of the live tiles, social network integration, Windows Live services integration, the Xbox 360 Companion app, and, most importantly, Zune music pass!!" Many of these same features/benefits are expected with Windows 8's Metro UI.

Jason Kohlhoff loves "Metro, and I can't wait for Windows 8". He and his wife have the HTC Trophy.

Perhaps not meaning to, reader Carlos Ribeiro da Fonseca makes a point that is central to the reason why I posed the "boring" question:

Yup, the tiles look boring. On paper or, well, the Interwebs. But that's because you can't show anything 'live' in a static image. On the actual phone, the tiles change, a lot. In fact, if one isn't careful, they can change too much and the home screen can become quite a mess. If anything, they're the complete opposite of boring.

"Are you mad?" Dinesh Pabbi asks, in all caps, no less. "Metro is so good to use and looks absolutely beautiful".

R Walrond, who develops Windows Phone apps, unsurprisingly isn't bored. "I switched to WP7 because I was bored of my iPhone (plus it was much easier to develop for). I don't understand the complaints about the tiles. They come to life with content all the time at least on my Samsung Focus".

Rodney Jones:

Windows Phone is visually, technically, and intuitively awesome to use everyday, even after a year with the device. The apps have the best aesthetics of any platform, and the live tile system works great, and displays the info I choose instantly. Windows Phone's design concept is perfect, and could never be boring because of its natural disposition. Those who say otherwise simply have not used WP!

"'Boring' is certainly not the word I would use, but 'comfortable' is", Eric King comments. "I've had my WP7 for over a year now, and I can't imagine wanting to switch to either the iPhone or Android interfaces".

"I've had a Samsung Focus since October 2010 and I love it. I did buy my teenage daughter an iPhone 4S and honestly I hated setting it up", David Cornelson writes. "I wouldn't trade my Windows Phone OS for anything and certainly not an iPhone. I have the Lumia 900 on pre-order too".

Nokia announced the Lumia 900 Windows Phone in early January. The smartphone is expected to go on sale in March, and Microsoft started taking preorders about two weeks ago. Most readers responding to our poll plan to buy one.

Carlo Mendoza is "not bored at all". I've had an HTC HD2, but have been running WP7 on it a little more than a year". He's "very excited to get Lumia 900. It's only going to get better with Apollo & Windows 8. I see it from the 'Data/Information first' perspective, which is really what the Metro user experience is about in my opinion".

Frequent BetaNews commenter "woe" isn't giddy with enthusiasm and breaks from the largely favorable comments:

The question should be: "Are you bored with Metro?" My answer is yes. When it came out on the Zune is was pretty cool. Microsoft moves as fast as a glacier, because here we are how many years later and its on everything they own finally.

Metro is boring. It was different and new yes, but plain and boring. It is fast -- because its so simple. Simple colors on a simple single-color background. No 3d effects or raised effects, so it's fast. Smart move in terms of a smartphone, since you don't have to waste CPU/GPU cycles on the fancy GUI features -- but boring. In some places, like the calendar on Windows Phone Metro is boring and ugly.

I have recently seen Windows 8 server screen shots, some of the NIC teaming dialog boxes and they were all Metro -- YUK!!!

Okay, so only most of you say Windows Phone isn't boring. Will you have the same opinion about Windows 8? I'll ask the question again after you have spent some quality time with the Consumer Preview.
mRemoteNG -- your client for RDP, VNC, ICA, SSH, Telnet and more

Publié: février 21, 2012, 6:56pm CET par Mike Williams

Launching your various remote network connections normally requires a host of different tools: Remote Desktop, VNC Client, Citrix ISA, SSH, Telnet, Rlogin and RAW clients and a whole lot more.

But if you prefer a simpler life then installing mRemoteNG (a fork of the mRemote project) could make a lot of sense.

When you first launch the program it’ll check your system to see which remote connection technologies it currently supports. On our test PC, for instance, mRemoteNG reports that we were currently set up to support RDP, VNC, PuTTY (SSH/ Telnet/ Rlogin/ RAW) and more.

We weren’t configured to support Citrix ICA connections, unfortunately, but the program didn’t just say that. A helpful error message also told us where to download the appropriate client, and even provided instructions on how to register the relevant file manually.

Once you’re properly configured, it’s then very easy to create a new connection, provide the appropriate host name, username and password.

You’ll then have to select the connection protocol from a list: RDP, VNC, SSH versions 1 and 2, Telnet, Rlogin, RAW, HTTP, HTTPS and ICA.

After that, you’ll be able to set up all the appropriate settings for that protocol. So for RDP, say, you’re able to tweak “Appearance” settings including resolution, number of colours, bitmap caching, whether to display wallpaper, themes and more.

And once you’ve built up a library of connections then you’re able to launch them at any time with a quick double-click, and view the results in mRemoteNG’s straightforward tabbed interface. It’s all very easy, and the program could be a useful tool for anyone who regularly works with multiple remote connection technologies.

Photo Credit: Sergej Khakimullin/Shutterstock
LibreOffice Productivity Suite 3.5.0 review

Publié: février 21, 2012, 6:03pm CET par Mark Wilson

There aren’t many things in life that you can say are completely free. In the case of free software, you often find that you must make some sort of compromise, whether it be putting up with a limited version of a commercial application, enduring advertisements, or simply having to work with something that is less than impressive in terms of standards. Almost every computer user has need for an office suite, or at least some component of it, at some point, if not every day of their lives.

Microsoft Office may be the most widely-installed suite, but for the average user it is expensive and unless a copy came pre-installed on your computer, you may not feel inclined to part with that amount of money. This explains the increased interest in free alternatives, and one such suite is LibreOffice Productivity Suite, which has just hit the milestone release number of 3.5.0.

It is fair to say that an office suite is not the most exciting piece of software anyone is going to install, but it is something vital to so many people and it is important that it does its job well. One of the reasons Microsoft Office is so popular: It's feature-packed and caters to almost any requirements you may have. When you start to look at free alternatives, you’ll often find that quality starts to slip and important features get dropped.

These are not charges that can be leveled at LibreOffice, which is just about as riddled with features as you could possibly hope. Should you be unfamiliar with the suite, this particular set of office programs comprises a word processor, spreadsheet, drawing tool, presentation application, a database and an equation editor.

Fully-loaded Suite

It is impressive to see that a database tool has been included, and while this is not something that everyone will need no corners have been cut. For many people, the cornerstone of any office suite is the word processor, and LibreOffice’s offering is suitably adorned with everything you would expect. On-the-fly spell checking has become a fairly standard feature of modern word processors and while grammar checking is sometimes available, it is often slow and unreliable. The latest version of LibreOffice introduces a faster checker and improved handling of errors to help make it clearer what issues have been detected. Recent changes to the handling of headers and footers make these document components even easier to work with.

But an office suite is about more than the word processor, and the spreadsheet tool is just as important. Calc is an extremely competent program that is Excel compatible and now boasts support for documents that contain up to 10,000 sheets.

Elsewhere in the suite you’ll also find the presentation tool Impress, drawing and logo creation app Draw, and Math the equation and formulae editor. Each of these programs has very much the same look, so once you have spent time using any of them, you’ll immediately feel at home in any of the others.

Speedy Development

This is an office suite that has come a long way in a relatively short space of time. Breaking away from OpenOffice has led to a faster development cycle, which in turn has mean that it has been possible to address issues long causing problems for users in different ways.

Something that has long deterred serious writers from making the switch to LibreOffice was the lack of a live word count. This might seem like a minor point, but when you need to write to a word count, you want to be able to focus on getting the words down on the page rather than having to keep checking through menus to see how many more words you have left to work with. The addition of a live word count to the latest version is a small but important change, and just goes to demonstrate that such a little thing makes such as big difference, and is an excellent example of listening to the target audience.

In the past, if you wanted to keep up to date with the latest version of the suite, it meant performing a manual check online to see if anything new had been released. Arguably one of the most useful additions to the software is the update availability notifier; when a new release hits the servers, the program will let you know so you can update your program straight away.

LibreOffice does fall down slightly in terms of looks. The toolbars are a little cluttered and the design of some of the buttons a too busy, and the aforementioned live word count, while useful, has been oddly implemented so a separate window needs to be kept open to monitor a changing word count.

The way the installer works is interestingly different to other apps and recognizes the fact that making the switch from one office suite to another is a big step. On the one hand, the installer informs you that it could be used as the default handler for Word, Excel and PowerPoint document -- but importantly, does not steal file associations by default -- and also points out the fact that if you are only trying out the suite you might want to leave this option disabled. This is a small touch, but it irons out an annoyance that has plagued too many other programs in the past.

Cross-platform Compatibility

A big plus point for LibreOffice: it is available for Windows, Mac and Linux. Cost-conscious computer users may have opted to go down the Linux route to save money on hardware and software, and this suite is available for users of this operating system. But if you are working in a multi-platform office environment, or want a reliable way to collaborate on projects with people using different systems, this is a great way of ensuring a level playing field on which everyone has access to the same tools and options and does not have to worry about incompatibility issues.

Overall, this is an office suite that comes highly recommended. The decision to break away from the main OpenOffice product has led to a faster development cycle and this has resulted in the impressive product we now see before us.

Choosing an office suite is quite a personal affair, and it is not possible for one suite to cater to the needs of every user. LibreOffice Productivity Suite 3.5.0 achieves an excellent balance of everyday features that are intuitive and more powerful options that will be welcomed by businesses and power users.

Whether you are currently in the market for a new office suite or not, this is well worth taking a look at as you may just be swayed. However, it is worth noting that this release (version 3.5.0) is recommended for power users. The Document Foundation recommends that less technically minded users and businesses hold off updating for the time being.

Photo Credit: Liv friis-larsen/Shutterstock
Should Microsoft release Office for iPad?

Publié: février 21, 2012, 5:36pm CET par Joe Wilcox

That's my question for you this Tuesday morning, following new rumors about Office for iPad and its imminent release. Over at The Daily, Matt Hickey insists Microsoft has nearly finished development and "the app will soon be submitted to Apple for approval". The software supposedly has capabilities from Excel, OneNote, PowerPoint and Word and inherits characteristics from Windows 8's Metro UI.

Whoa, can this really be a good idea, Office on iPad?

I'm unconvinced that Office for iPad is a good idea from a Windows platform perspective. Reports from numerous analyst firms -- Canalys, Gartner and IDC among them -- are clear: iPad hurts PC sales, which in turn impacts Windows. During fourth quarter (fiscal second for Microsoft), Windows and Windows Live division revenue declined by 6 percent year over year and profits even more; 11 percent. Microsoft blamed a hard drive shortage, but Mac sales rose to record numbers -- 5.2 million, up 26 percent year over year, while the broader PC market declined by 1.4 percent, according to Gartner). The reasons are more complex than Microsoft states, then, and iPad is high among them. So why in hell would Microsoft contribute to its own OS platform's decline?

Most IT mangers tell me the same thing: They make OS platform decisions based on applications. By offering Office on iPad, Microsoft makes adopting iPad an easier decision for many corporations, which also happen to make up Microsoft's core market base. So why give them incentive to deploy iPads that might take away PC sales today and Windows on ARM sales in the future? There are reasons. Among them:

1. Office as platform is another matter. Viewed from revenue and profit, the Business Division is more important to Microsoft than Windows and Windows Live. During calendar fourth quarter, Business division generated $6.28 billion revenue and $4.15 billion profit compared to Windows and Windows Live's $4.74 billion and $2.85 billion, respectively. That's a trend, not a one-off quarter. Office accounts for more than 90 percent of Business division revenues.

Additionally, Office is front end to many back-end Microsoft server products and to cloud services. Trickle down sales are huge.

2. Enterprises use Office and already are adopting iPad. According to a recent IDG Connect study, enterprise business or IT managers with iPads use their laptops less (54 percent) or have replaced notebooks with the tablets (16 percent). Office is the productivity app standard among corporate users, but software not available to them on iPad.

From customer retention and service perspectives, Microsoft should make Office available wherever these customers want to use it. Then there is the additional revenue potential from selling these customers yet another version of Office. Why sell once what you can sell again and again?

3. iPad doesn't really threaten Windows. That's a view common among BetaNews commenters and no doubt at Microsoft, too. The company offers Office for the Mac, which certainly helps Apple computer sales but hasn't (yet) caused Windows any real hurt.

Importance of the first two reasons is greater as well. By the way, I do see iPad taking away Windows PC sales, but what Microsoft managers presumably think matters more.

4. Office for Macintosh is hugely profitable and iPad can be, too. People often ask me why Microsoft offers Office on Mac, given Apple computers compete with Windows PCs. Simple answer: Microsoft makes money and could generate additional revenue on iPad. Apple shipped more than 15 million iPads in fourth quarter -- 55 million to date -- and none with Office, the most successful desktop productivity suite ever.

Why let Apple take all that cash to the bank with iWork apps? Pages, which Apple sells for $9.99, is the third top-grossing iPad app. Do the math. What if Microsoft offers Office on iPad for $39.96 ($9.99 per app) and one-quarter of the iPad install base upgrades? That's nearly $550 million in sales. Too bad Microsoft has to share 30 percent with Apple, eh?

5. Less is more. Microsoft has already announced plans to offer Office with Windows on ARM. Price is uncertain, and possibly free or cost invisible to the customer. Office on iPad would be good way to showcase what users can expect from Office for Windows on ARM -- and more. Surely Microsoft can offer more capabilities and different, if not better, user experience. Microsoft reaps revenue rewards today from iPad while preparing something similar but better for Windows later.

Okay, I've made a case for why Office on iPad could make sense. There remains your answer to the question: Should Microsoft release Office for iPad?

Photo Source: The Daily
PlayBook OS 2.0: A Lesson in tech humility

Publié: février 21, 2012, 4:32pm CET par Ed Oswald

Say you are building a mobile operating system. What are the major applications you build into that OS? Email, calendar, and contacts apps right? Not Research in Motion. The company that built its business on business productivity failed to include that in the original PlayBook OS.

Fast forward to today. RIM attempts to right the sinking ship and fix the disastrous initial release of Playbook OS 1.0 with the second version of that mobile operating system. You guessed it: the signature additions to the operating system are those native email, calendar, and contacts apps missing from RIM's first try.

"Building on the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet's proven web browsing, multimedia and multitasking strengths, the new BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 introduces a range of new communications and productivity enhancements as well as expanded app and content support", mobile computing senior vice president David Smith says.

A little confused here: shouldn't your strengths in any device your company releases be about keeping in touch, something you've made millions on over the past decade or so, not basic features that should be expected out of any device? Let's not beat up RIM too much here though, at least the company is making an effort to answer critics.

Hold the presses, there's still something missing yet: BlackBerry Messenger. I would call that a glaring omission, as the application is popular among the CrackBerry set. I guess RIM will fall back on its excuse to connect your PlayBook to your phone, but this was the strategy that got them into trouble with the technorati the first time.

Maybe we'll see that feature in PlayBook OS 3.0? Oh RIM, you are so fun to pick on.

There is some cool stuff to report: calendar and contacts include social integration, which pulls in information from friends and followers on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. There are also enhancements to BlackBerry Bridge -- the application that connects the BlackBerry to the PlayBook -- offering faster file transfers and the ability to use the BlackBerry as a wireless keyboard and mouse.

If you're interested in finally getting the features that you should have had back in September, PlayBook OS 2.0 is available immediately as a free download. Now go and get that update, all ten of you (I kid, I kid).
Nvidia's first 'complete' smartphone: ZTE Mimosa X

Publié: février 21, 2012, 3:38am CET par Tim Conneally

Nvidia's Tegra 2 system-on-a-chip architecture has thus far been used in a handful of high-end Android "superphones": Motorola Atrix 4G, Photon 4G, LG Optimus G2X, and the Samsung Captivate Glide, to name a few.

Today, Nvidia and Chinese smartphone maker ZTE announced the Mimosa X, the first Android smartphone to use Nvidia's products for both applications processing and wireless communications since the company acquired wireless modem maker Icera last June.

The Mimosa X is powered by the dual-core NVIDIA Tegra 2 mobile processor, GeForce GPU, and Icera 450 HSPA+ (21Mbps) modem, it will run Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0), feature a 4.3-inch (960 x 540) screen, a rear-facing 5 megapixel camera and a forward-facing chat camera, as well as 4 GB of storage expandable to 32 GB via microSD.

The ZTE Mimosa X doesn't yet have an exact launch date or price, but it will debut some time in the second quarter, with pricing targeted at the "mainstream" smartphone consumer. This is a departure from all former Tegra 2 smartphones, which all entered the market at the high end. So not only does this phone usher in the total Nvidia chip solution, it also brings Tegra to the masses.