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Take one of these 27 downloads out for a spin

Publié: mai 27, 2012, 7:08pm CEST par Mark Wilson

May is coming to a close, and as June beckons there are still countless software releases to keep track of. If you’ve had trouble keeping up with everything, this handy roundup is here to bring you up to speed.

This past week saw the release of WikidPad 2.1_01, a wiki-style text editor that can be used to capture thoughts and ideas -- stored locally or exported as an HTML file to upload to the web. If you need to store reminders of things you need to do and appointments you need to attend, PNotes 9.0.107 is a great sticky note tool that may be able to help you out. There’s also PNotes Portable 9 for anyone who likes the idea of running the same program from a USB drive. If pictures are more important to you than words, Juicebox 1.0.2 can be used to create a stunning gallery to show off your digital photos -- all in HTML5 glory.

The week was than usual on the browser update front, but there there were still important advancements for Chrome and Pale Moon. Google Chrome 20.0.1132.17 Beta hit the download servers as the browser’s march up the version numbering system continues, but there is little to report aside from a range of bug fixes -- if you want to keep your browser on a USB drive, look no further than Google Chrome Portable 20.0.1132.11 Beta. If you want an even more up to date version of Google’s browser, the Dev channel is for you and Google Chrome 21.0.1145.0 Dev and Google Chrome Portable 21.0.1145.0 Dev are the latest releases in this area.

The Firefox 12-based browser Pale Moon has also seen an important update this week which brings in smoother scrolling, better memory handling and improved stability. Various versions of the browser are available -- Pale Moon 12.1, Pale Moon x64 12.1, Pale Moon 12.1 Portable and Pale Moon x64 12.1 Portable.

O&O is a company that produces a large number of handy utilities and if you have a few of them installed, O&O LaunchPad 3.0.107 is a great way to access them all. The famous system cleanup tools CCleaner has received a couple of updates, CCleaner 3.19 and CCleaner Portable 3.19, which eliminates User Account Control warnings and adds support for new applications. While you’re looking at cleaning up and optimizing your computer, take a look at Defraggler 2.10413 and Defraggler Portable 2.10, both of which offer speed improvements of up to 30 percent on previous versions.

To help you to keep an eye on your hardware, Acronis Drive Monitor 1.0.0.566 can be used to check the health of your hard drives, and ESET Rogue Applications Remover 1.0.1.1b (32-bit) and ESET Rogue Applications Remover 1.0.1.1b (64-bit) are valuable tools for looking after your system and protecting it from malicious software.

If you have a keen interested in privacy and security, Free Hide IP 3.7.9.8 is a simple way to help stay anonymous online by masking your real IP address. Privacy concerns also exist offline, and Encryption Wizard 3.3.3 is an easy to use yet powerful utility that enables you to encrypt files on OSX, Windows and Linux machines, while Eraser 6.0.10 can be used to ensure that the files you delete cannot be recovered.

To help you to manage the files you do want to keep, Total Commander 8.0 FINAL is an advanced alternative to Windows Explorer that can handle local and remote files and has been updated to include an improved image viewer. If you want to store your important files online, Wuala “Wollishofen” build 401 enables you to do so securely, with the latest version adding customizable filters for synchronization and backup as well as numerous other bug fixes and improvements.

The final updates for this week’s roundup are for anyone looking to run virtual copies of operating systems -- VirtualBox 4.1.16 includes a range of minor fixes, and VirtualBox Extension Pack 4.1.16 adds even more options to an already powerful virtualization tool.

Remember to keep one eye on Downloadcrew Giveaway, Serif PagePlus 11, previously sold for $99.99, which ends May 27.

That’s it for this week. We’ll be back in about seven days’ time with another roundup.

Photo Credit: corepics/Shutterstock
Smartphones put privacy on the tsunami hazard map

Publié: mai 27, 2012, 6:54pm CEST par Mike Feibus
Now, finally, the tide of public opinion on Internet privacy begins to flow in the other direction. Consumers are becoming more hesitant to share their data and are less tolerant when those with access to their data violate trust. That presents a tremendous threat to some of the titans of our day -- and an equally monstrous opportunity for others. Apple, Google, are you listening?

Honestly, I’m amazed that the issue was ever able to germinate and flower, particularly here in the United States, a country that distinguishes itself on the right to privacy. And a country that spent much of the last century wringing its collective hands over the Orwellian nightmare that awaited us down the road of technological advancement.

Discount Cards and the Dystopian Vision

Then in the 1990s -- the decade after the one in which George Orwell set his oppressive dystopian vision -- grocery stores kicked off their discount card programs, which enticed consumers to surrender personal information in exchange for lower prices. Consumers by and large agreed.

Privacy became a bit more of a concern in the "oh-oh's" with the explosion of social networking. To be sure, there’s no shortage of tussles along the way between consumers and the likes of Facebook, for example. For the most part, though, consumers have continued to participate.

I’m not sure exactly when the perception started to turn, though I suspect it was sometime last year. Maybe it had something to do with persistent reports that reveal what Apple and Google know about us. Or maybe it was the outcry over the discovery of Carrier IQ’s tracking software on smartphones from US carriers.

But you don’t need a tidal chart to see that the waves now are crashing closer to shore. A survey released a few weeks ago by University of California-Berkeley professors found that 79 percent of Americans "definitely would not allow" their phones to share information with stores they visit but don’t buy anything. Another 17 percent said they would "probably not allow" it.

Smartphones Make Privacy Personal

Nielsen earlier this month released a study on smartphone attitudes and behaviors that suggests consumers are quite concerned about privacy. According to the report, 73 percent of smartphone owners worry about the issue of personal data collection. That’s up a bit from an already high 70 percent in 2011.

Even if we can’t determine exactly when the tide changed, it’s not difficult to pinpoint why.

In a word, smartphones.

Our loyalty cards are basically walled gardens of personal information. We know exactly what we are divulging. Even Facebook is a walled garden to an extent. Obviously, the walls encompass far more than what you buy at a single store. But we still exercise control over what’s published and shared about us.

There’s nothing penned in, though, about what our smartphones know about us. Our calls pass through them. So do our texts, IMs and emails. They know where we are and where we’ve been. And the more useful our smartphones become, the more we integrate them into our lives.

The more we integrate them into our lives, the more they know about us. And the more they know about us, the larger and more hostile the waves of anger become. Count on it.

This sentiment should be top of mind for every strategist and decision-maker in the smartphone ecosystem. For Apple and Google, yes. But also for hardware vendors, carriers, app developers -- even cloud services. If your goods or services have the ability to collect or store our data, then you should consider your sales and profits to be on the tsunami hazard map. So prepare.

Gain More by Collecting Less

One of the better suggestions I’ve heard for tackling this issue proactively comes from Ian Chen, a longtime colleague and friend now at Sensor Platforms in San Jose: establish an Office of Privacy. Hire a big-name lawyer to head it up, and have him or her report to the CEO.

Establishing an Office of Privacy is an opportunity for a company to distinguish itself as a sentry for consumer data. The company that succeeds in building that perception will have an inside track against its competition. It will be the provider that consumers trust at a time when trust in the smartphone ecosystem is eroding.

Here are a couple other things to consider:
- Develop a privacy policy that is more restrictive than the competition’s. Don’t share consumer data, for example.
- Even better, don’t allow your product to collect any personal information at all. Someone will notice, and spread the news. That will more than offset the sacrifice you’ll make to your data mining efforts.
- Develop a way to have apps tap a sandbox of personal data that’s housed on the smartphone itself rather than in the cloud -- and prove to consumers that app developers can’t gain access. This can be at the platform level, or on the hardware itself.
Whatever you choose to do, do something. Smartphones are becoming our companions, our confidants. And the closer they get, the more virulent our reaction will be when they violate our trust.

Photo Credit: Viorel Sima/Shutterstock

Mike Feibus is principal analyst at TechKnowledge Strategies, a Scottsdale, Ariz., market research firm focusing on client technologies. You can reach him at mike at techknowledge-group dot com.