Better last than never. Colleagues Ian Barker, Alan Buckingham, Brian Fagioli, Mihaita Bamburic, Wayne Williams, and Mark Wilson have all picked their favorite tech for the year. I join them. Only things I actually have used qualify for consideration.
My list focuses on one aspect: Value. Which products I see delivering the most value for money spent. Surely your value choices will differ. You can spend 25 cents and get loads of value from something or $2,500 and little at all. With that short introduction, I present my five favorite tech products of 2013 (and one from 2005, newly discovered).
Bold Brew
My first choice is arguably low-tech and didn't release in 2013. I simply discovered it during the year. AeroPress makes the best brew I've ever tasted. The device requires a little muscle, and for $25 street price is unbeatable value. Manufacturer Aerobie claims the little coffee press makes the "world's smoothest, richest brew". I have to agree.
In April, NY Daily News headline "When it comes to single-cup coffeemakers, it turns out that cheaper is better: We tested seven models and the $30 AeroPress beat out the $5,500 Jura Giga 5", gripped my attention. I emailed the story to my wife, who after doing some research bought AeroPress. What a value! We use Trader Joe's Espresso blend and get coffee that, yes, tastes like 5,500 bucks!
"You don't often find the best and brightest when searching for products", my wife says. In all her Amazon searches for coffee makers, AeroPress didn't appear once. What a tragedy.
Picture This
During the days of analog cameras, Fujifilm competed unsuccessfully against kingpin Kodak. How strange events turn. Kodak is history, while Fujifilm is the future, producing some of the best and most affordable digital cameras anywhere. My second choice is the company's X-Series mirrorless digicam family. Fujifilm released three new compacts (X100S, X20, XQ1) and as many interchangeable lens digicams (X-A1, X-E2, X-M1) during 2013.
Digital SLRs are large and bulky because of the mirror. Fuji's design removes the mirror, putting the lens closer to the sensor and thus reducing overall footprint -- that's body and lens. Higher-end models, like the X100S or X-E2, put controls where photographers expect them: On the body, rather than in menus. Some models also come with digital -- and in the case of X100, X100S and X-Pro1 hybrid optical -- viewfinders. Oh, yeah, the cameras take fantastic photos.
I gave up my beloved X100 this year, looking to either go with the S model or XE-2. Then Amazon offered 12-month credit with no financing on a new camera, and I gazed at the XE-1's heavily discounted price following release of its successor. I bought the older model for $899 rather than spending $1,399 on the XE-2 or $1,299 for the X100S. I give up dual digital/optical viewfinder but gain an excellent interchangeable lens system within my budget. Kit lens is same on XE-1 as XE-2. Fuji, to its credit, still updates older X model firmware, which keeps the value strong years later.
Finger Friendly
My third choice will surprise some readers: iPad Air. The Apple tablet isn't the lowest-cost but it delivers high value, as I explain in my review. Air is the first iPad I like, and it changes how I work. Apple's 64-bit architecture is so smooth, I now use iPad Air more than my notebook, which has me contemplating big change for 2014.
For years I have toyed with the idea of replacing laptop with tablet. But none has offered the right combination of performance, usability, and productivity apps. iPad Air is a tablet that can replace a notebook, and I contemplate putting aside Chromebook Pixel for the Apple tab.
Crickey! Chromie
In October, HP unveiled Chromebook 11, which Google co-designed. But the laptop fumbled down the field, because of a faulty charging brick. The companies temporarily suspended sales, recalled the chargers, and replaced them with new ones. But those troubles aside, Chromebook 11 offers lots of value for low price.
At $279, the laptop isn't the cheapest Chromebook. But, as I explain in my review, the design, exceptional keyboard, and display -- best of class for the price -- make the HP-Google portable right choice, if no one else, for students. If I had kids in the house, I would buy one Chromebook 11 for each.
The keyboard is a writer's dream machine -- just right for students. The design, one of four color accents against white, is trendy. Design is a benefit, too. This is a handsome little machine, nicely accented against white, which is canvas for greater personalization. Get out the stickers, kids!
Raging Flame
Last up: Kindle Fire HDX 8.9". I like Amazon's tab for very different reasons than iPad Air, which I will more fully explain in my forthcoming, belated review. For now, simply, HDX 8.9" is the choice for anyone looking for the Goldilocks tablet. The tweener isn't too big or too small -- it's just right.
Improved screen resolution (2560 x 1600) and pixel density (339 ppi), updated Android, and tighter integration into the larger Amazon ecosystem make the Kindle Fire an exceptional choice for anyone living the Amazon lifestyle. Parents, rejoice. No tablet, other than the HDX's sibling, is as kid-friendly.
Amazon Prime users get best value, from extras like book borrowing and free movie and TV show streaming. Many of our more techie readers might scold and say Nexus 7 is better, or even iPad mini. But looking at the whole package -- device, apps, and services -- Amazon offers better value for the price.
Photo Credit: Matt Honan
Right before the end of the year, Microsoft releases an update for its OneNote Android app which adds major features and improvements, as well as better integration with the mobile operating system.
After almost two years in the planning, alpha and beta stages, open source 2D drawing tool 
Unsurprisingly tablets proved to be a very popular gift this Christmas. According to mobile measurement firm Flurry, device activations were up by 63 percent on Christmas day, compared to any other average day in December.
Well, that's another year out of the way! It's customary at this time of year to make resolutions... for some people at least. It's something I've always shied away from, but this year is going to be different.
Windows 8.1 delivered plenty of worthwhile improvements: extra app docking and resizing options, a "boot to desktop" option, automatic app updates, SkyDrive integration in Explorer, and a sort-of Start button, amongst many others. But it also took one feature away in the form of the Windows Experience Index (WEI), a simple tool for benchmarking your PC hardware.
Having said that 2013 has been dominated by hardware, KitKat also impressed me. This is a highly polished version of Android and the performance boost included, make it worthy of installation. Better integration with Google Drive, built in Quick Office, Chromecast support, app sandboxing, and improved apps make this one OS upgrade not to skip.
Chrome has been my browser of choice for a good couple of years now -- Firefox fell out of favor a little while back -- so the move to Chromebook seemed like a natural one. Google's changes to browser apps made the idea of a Chrome-based browser feel far more natural and in terms of looks, there's no denying that the Chomebook 11 is going to turn a few heads.
This was something of a slow-burner for me. I was first introduced to Chromecast at the same time as the Nexus 7, and I was initially somewhat indifferent to it. But I did try it out and learned to love it. Recent updates such as the addition of Plex mean that Chromecast is now permanently plugged into my TV and gets pretty much daily use. Movies and webpages can be thrown from laptops, tablets and phones, and the ability to view YouTube videos on a larger screen is great for sharing. Worth every penny.
I have long been a fan of HTC hardware and the One range won me over again. The HTC One mini is impressive enough, but the flagship One really steals the smartphone crown. For me the One Max is a little too large, but this is personal preference. Build quality is simply stunning, and I would not hesitate in recommending this handset to anyone on the lookout for an Android phone.
When 2013 dawned, I still maintained an HTPC in my entertainment cabinet. It ran Windows 7, with Media Center set to launch upon startup. The computer was quickly becoming old and slow, and I considered building a replacement. But before I did so, I decided to take a look at alternatives.
The tiny WD My Passport drive is what I keep plugged into my Windows 8.1 laptop for easy backup of my files. It’s barely larger than a wallet, works via USB 3.0 and holds 500 GB of files (there’s a 2 TB model if you need that much).
This hass been a much quieter week than usual with Christmas meaning that many companies have been on a virtual shutdown. But there has still been a bit of activity over the past seven days. We've reached the end of the year and the BetaNews team finds itself in a reflective mood. Mihaita was the first to pick 
If you regularly use removable drives on PCs then you probably already know they should be ejected (right-click in Explorer, select Eject) before you unplug them. This is because Windows normally caches disk writes for performance reasons, temporarily saving them in RAM; unplug a drive before its cache is flushed and you’re going to lose data.
Windows 8.1 is a great operating system. So if you received it for Christmas, either as a boxed copy, or installed on a new PC or tablet, the first thing to do is not -- as some people will say -- swap it for Windows 7.
There are plenty of free third-party Start menus available which replace the Modern UI and make Windows 8.1 behave more like Windows 7.
Edward Snowden says 
For a longtime, I was a last-minute shopper. You could find me on Christmas Eve, picking through the remaining greeting cards and scrambling to buy gifts. However, as I got older, I learned to finish my shopping early to avoid the stress.
Converting your favorite photos into a video slideshow can be a great way to share them with others, and there are plenty of free tools to handle the task (
After a few years of using Samsung Android smartphones, I made the decision to 
A lot of people weren’t keen on Jony Ive’s redesign of iOS, but I really like it. The look is modern, and I for one am glad to see the back of skeuomorphism. I’m used to, and appreciate the new app switcher, and make great use of the new notifications screen and control center.
I take a lot of digital photos (on my Canon DLSR, smartphone and occasionally on my iPad) and have been storing them on an external drive, and in the cloud. This year I decided to add a NAS drive so I could add and view images from anywhere, and I chose WD My Cloud. I can now view my photos and videos from everywhere -- including on my tablet, or TV -- as soon as they are taken, which is great. There are apps so I can upload, access and share from anywhere using a tablet or phone.
My iPad 4 is so full of apps there’s not much space on there for photos, videos or music. Luckily I’ve expanded the available storage using AirStash. This is a USB pen drive with built in Wi-Fi that you can connect to and stream or copy content from. Storage comes in the form of SD cards, so it’s infinitely expandable. I’ve taken lots of films and TV series on the road with me when traveling, and used it to review photos from my camera. A great little device.
I love my iPad and take it pretty much everywhere, but occasionally it’s good to have a smaller tablet to hand, and the new Nexus 7 is superb (I could have bought an iPad mini, but it’s expensive for what really will only ever be a second tablet). Android 4.4 KitKat is a marked improvement, the device itself is speedy, and I find myself actually using it more than I expected to. It's also great because I now have a home for all of the apps I used to use on my Samsung Galaxy S III.
I have a 100Mbps internet connection at home (because, as I said I don’t like waiting), but my house has had several extensions added to it over the years -- from before I moved in, I hasten to add -- and so is an odd shape, long and tall, with thick walls. As a result my Wi-Fi doesn’t quite reach to some of the rooms, and there’s no signal at all in the garden, so no browsing the web outside in the summer months. The TP Link device (TL-WA850RE) is a very affordable, very easy to use range extender that you plug into any spare electrical socket. I picked up a couple of these for a song via Groupon and now my Wi-Fi reaches everywhere, which is fantastic. The product also includes an Ethernet port so you can turn wired devices into wireless ones.
Dr Alan Turing, the mathematician who helped to crack the Enigma code during the second world war, has been granted a royal pardon 59 years after he took his own life. His crime? Homosexuality. In spite of his role in code cracking -- which is widely regarded as having helped to shorten the war -- he was convicted for engaging in homosexual activity, and underwent experimental chemical castration as "cure" and punishment in 1952. Two years later he killed himself aged just 41.
The PC market might still be in the doldrums, but there’s good news in the screen department at least. After three quarters of solid decline, the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly PC Monitor Tracker finally reports some growth.
You likely realize that a rather big holiday is fast approaching, and the children are growing antsy. It's only a matter of time before the old guy in the red suit takes to the sky to pay a visit to each and every home. You've also perhaps heard that both Microsoft and Google have trackers up and running to keep you informed of reindeer progress.
The console's role in the modern livingroom has moved past gaming, as the Xbox One also wants to be the central entertainment hub for the non-gamer. Microsoft has cast a wider net, which makes it more appealing to folks like me who want to watch movies, listen to music, browse the Internet, chat with friends and so on, and also play the occasional game for old time's sake. The way the system works, in conjunction with Kinect, makes it my top pick as a livingroom device. And, because switching between users is so seamless, the Xbox One is family-friendly as well (no bickering about signing in and out, or using someone else's profile).
As you can imagine, the reason why Apple's latest MacBook Air generation made this list is not ultimate performance or portability. There are much more powerful and more portable devices around, that dwarf this device.
The Surface Pro 2 is the Windows 8.1 tablet that may finally convince prosumers to ditch their small ultrabook. It has not changed drastically on the outside, compared to its predecessor, but the internal improvements are huge.
Since I mentioned the new MacBook Air above, it is only fair that I do the same for the latest OS X iteration, known as Mavericks. The new version of Apple's Mac operating system gets a lot of things right, including, finally, proper multi-monitor support. It also tremendously 
I have had a love-hate relationship with Windows 8. The operating system was designed with touchscreens in mind, but my laptop did not (and does not) have a touchscreen. Its new UI (Modern UI) revolved around apps, but the Store did not have many popular offerings to choose from. There are other examples, but you get the gist.
A virtualization software is an odd choice for a list of favorite tech products. After all, it is not particularly exciting from a consumer point of view. But Parallels 9's entry is well-deserved, and here is why.
Even though the new iPad Mini with Retina Display is just as powerful and pixel-packed, there is something about the bigger iPad Air that makes it the more attractive tablet for me.
Nowadays, consumers who want to purchase a well-built and visually attractive Android phone have little to no good options, unless they want to jump ship to the iPhone camp. Too many vendors prioritize meaningless hardware specifications and small footprints, which makes HTC and its One so much more refreshing.
Sameer Singh is an M&A professional and business strategy consultant focusing on the mobile technology sector. He is founder and editor of 
One of the problems with big data is its sheer size. This leads to problems when it comes to moving files around and can lead to a loss of competitiveness if companies aren't able to process files in a timely manner. The issue can be magnified if it involves transferring files to and from cloud platforms.
There was a time when "activist investor" Carl Icahn actually owned and ran businesses, one of which was TransWorld Airlines (TWA), eventually sold to American Airlines. In an attempt to cut costs, TWA under Icahn outsourced reservation service to a call center built in a prison with prisoners on the phone. When you called to book travel you were giving your credit card number to a felon and telling him when you’d be away from home. Smart move, Carl, and very akin to what may have caused the post-Thanksgiving theft of 40 million credit card numbers from Target, the U.S. discount retailer.
Windows Sysinternals has unveiled 
This is the final roundup before Christmas and the penultimate one of 2014. Things are very much starting to wind down for the year, and the world of tech is starting to go into something of a hibernation mode. But that's not to say that there hasn't been a fair select of big stories over the past seven days. If you're dreading the prospect of traveling across the country to meet up with family, Microsoft may have a solution -- 
Regardless of your beliefs, it's rather difficult to resist a good Christmas movie. There is something soothing about gathering the family around the TV to watch that annual classic, be it Miracle on 34th Street or National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. Neither is new, but neither ever seems to get old.
Christmas is upon us and that means two things -- travel and guilt. While most Americans will be travelling for the holiday, a good portion of them will not be spending it with family. This ultimately leads to the aforementioned guilt. After all, for some, it may be the last Christmas they get to spend with older relatives before they pass away. These people are opting for alternative plans -- how cold! However, Microsoft has a 
Business systems specialist 
It's probably not something you need worry about in relation to your personal files just yet, but according to a 
Having uncovered the 
When Oppo unveiled the CyanogenMod version of its N1 phablet, the Chinese company did not provide any details as to whether the new model would receive Google's stamp of approval and, therefore, official access to the Play store. I was very skeptical that this would happen, seeing as CyanogenMod has never been certified for prime time use.
Security vendor Agnitum has announced the availability of 
The holiday season is upon us, and utilities developer Piriform has delivered a Christmas gift to all CCleaner users with an update to 
If you've recently used your payment card in a Target store in the US you might want to check your statements carefully. In a 
The Nexus 5 is both beautiful and inexpensive. Even though the smartphone doesn't cost a lot, it is still a good idea to protect it with a case. However, finding a good case can be hit or miss. When I 
Citrix has launched GoToMeeting for Windows Phone 8, an app which allows users to create or join online meetings from their smartphone. The popular solution arrives in Store following its release on Windows, OS X, iOS and Android, and is one of the latest high-profile releases on the platform alongside Instagram, Vine and others.
The finished version of Windows 8.1 has been out for a couple of months now, but if you’re still using the free preview build, time is running out. Windows 8.1 Preview and Windows RT 8.1 Preview are both set to expire on January 15.
Opera Software has announced that 
It's that time of year once again. Approaching the end of another 365 and a quarter days cycle puts us all in a reflective mood. It's not uncommon to look back at what has happened in the previous 12 months and pick out the highlights of the year. It's also quite common to look forward in anticipation of what the coming year might have to offer. But how about something a little different, something a little more downbeat? What have been your lowlights and disappointments? There's no need to end the year on a high, after all!
We increasingly rely on technology for the success of our businesses and even of our national economies. Yet that technology is under more and more threat from cyber criminals who adapt quickly to exploit any weaknesses. The resulting financial losses worldwide are estimated to amount to billions of dollars each year.
Chrome OS is primarily a laptop-focused affair. In other words, most users of the platform utilize Chromebooks. Sure, there have been mini-desktops called Chromeboxes, but they have been few and far between.
Just a short three years ago, skeptics called outgoing Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer as utterly foolish when he uttered his 
Derrick Wlodarz is an IT Specialist who owns Park Ridge, IL (USA) based technology consulting & service company 
It seems as if we should have reached this moment long ago -- like, perhaps, when the Roku debuted? The little, inexpensive set-top box seems capable of doing most anything, with the obvious exception of acting as your DVR. But, until today, it was incapable of playing content from the most popular streaming video service on the internet.
Many Linux users have been holding their breath in anticipation for the 20th version of Fedora Linux, codenamed Heisenbug. While not the most popular distribution overall, it is the distro of choice for one influential user -- Mr. Linus Torvalds, creator of the Linux kernel. Not to mention, many other users around the globe.
I believe that every individual possesses within them the innate ability to be great. To me, being great means being yourself... to the power of 10. It means tapping into your full potential so that you can be all you can be.
Lisa Dyble is an author/webmaster who strives to empower women to maximize their full potential in all areas of their lives. Her projects can be viewed at 
Sameer Singh is an M&A professional and business strategy consultant focusing on the mobile technology sector. He is founder and editor of 
Earlier this year, 4K televisions and monitors seemed unachievable for the average consumer. Some pundits wrote the technology off, as these displays would be priced out of reach for many people. While this was true initially, Black Friday brought some very affordable 4K televisions to market. And so, the technology seems poised to have longevity.
It’s hard to believe sometimes, but I began writing my columns -- in print back then -- during the Reagan Administration. It was 1987 and the crisis du jour was called Iran-Contra, remember it? Colonel Oliver North got a radio career out of breaking federal law. The FBI director back then was William Sessions, generally called Judge Sessions because he had been a federal judge. I interviewed Sessions in 1990 about the possibility that American citizens might have their privacy rights violated by an upcoming electronic surveillance law. "What would keep an FBI agent from tapping his girlfriend’s telephone?" I asked, since it would shortly be possible to do so from the agent’s desk.
It's a fairly typical situation these days: a small business approaches me with a need to replace an aging Exchange 2003 server and Office 2003 for 14 users. They want to compare purchasing their upgrades outright vs just renting them from Microsoft. The in-house server approach for email and Office software will run them roughly $10K USD before any consulting labor -- or they could opt to have us move them into Office 365 E3 for $280/month.
Things are starting to get festive, and that means there's also a lot going on. This past week has been quite a busy one! It might not come as a surprise, but the figures are in -- Windows 8.1 is not performing anywhere near as well as 
An old friend has been telling me for months that the future of personal computing was coming with new Windows tablets using the Bay Trail system-on-chip architecture built with Intel Silvermont cores. Silvermont is the first major Atom revision in years and is designed to be much faster. Bay Trail would lead to $199 8-inch Windows tablets while also fixing the limitations of Intel’s previous Clover Trail. Well Bay Trail units are finally shipping but my techie friend is sorely disappointed with his.
Bartels Media has announced the availability of 
Christmas is coming. And soon! Okay, we don’t have time to prepare just yet, either, but there are quick and easy ways to get into the holiday mood. Just giving your PC a little desktop decoration can make a real difference, and there are plenty of fun options around.
A number of YouTube users who post game walkthroughs and feature footage from games in other ways are finding that their content is being flagged for copyright violation. It seems that uploaders are falling victim to YouTube's automated ContentID system which is responsible for weeding out all manner of copyrighted material. What is interesting is that videos are not being removed from YouTube, but are unable to earn money from advertisements, leading to a loss in revenue for a lot of people.
Security software testing lab AV Comparatives has released its August-November 2013 
Data is the lifeblood of modern business, but to exploit it effectively requires user-friendly tools to help with development and management. 
It’s often said that the great thing about standards in the technology industry is that there are so many to choose from. That's just as true in today's world of mobile devices as it was in the days of mainframes when it was first coined.
Do you have someone on your shopping list who is part of the Amazon ecosystem? Chances are you do, given that anyone with an Android device can install and use the Amazon App Store, Kindle App, MP3 player and more. What you may not be familiar with is something called Amazon Coins.
With an early start into the digital technologies, Kodak was able to create industry leading technologies and digital cameras ahead of its competition. It took another ten years before the digital cameras became the largest segment of the camera market. Total sales of digital cameras surpassed those of analog cameras for the first time in 2002. In hindsight, Kodak had had over twenty years to respond to an existential threat. Given the extraordinary time Kodak had, and the massive and decisive action it took, we would expect Kodak to have easily handled this major technological change in its industry. Unfortunately, the reality was something else. By 2003, Kodak was only one of five large players in the digital camera arena and was losing money. Its market share in digital cameras was less than 25 percent, and within the next few years it continuously lost market share and profits. On January 19, 2012 Kodak filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, marking the end of a 131-year history as one of America’s leading companies.
When faced with the dark side of innovation, Kodak and Polaroid behaved alike. When people with differing personalities behave alike in some situations, social psychologists use this evidence to show that the context is more powerful in determining behavior than personality is.
Finnish mobile maker Nokia has released a new app called Motion Monitor which allows Lumia 1520 users to track their physical activity, similar to some wristbands. The offering is currently undergoing beta testing and is available exclusively for the company's new Windows Phone 8 flagship.
A new report by information research specialist 
Adobe has updated 
Fedora is my favorite Linux distribution. Sadly, the next release, version 20, has been delayed until later in the month. This news has ruined my holidays -- it is like Santa Claus gave my computer coal.
According to Microsoft watcher 
Support.com has announced the availability of 
I’m a huge fan of 
On my 
To avoid the thorny issue of legality, there are strict limits to what you can and can’t do with it. First, you can’t share your media with the wider public -- only specific contacts with their own Streamnation accounts. Second, that sharing is directly from one person to another -- your friends can’t subsequently share your media with other people. Neither can people browse your content -- only media you share with them specifically can be seen.
Berlin-based utilities developer O&O Software has announced the availability of 
If you need to scroll an application window on a PC then spinning the mouse wheel is probably the simplest route. This only works on the foreground window, though, the one where you’re currently working. And so if you want to scroll some other window, you must click it first.
Alternate Pic View EXESlide is a lightweight free tool which helps you build extremely basic slideshows. And we really do mean "basic": you can’t annotate an image, add captions or apply effects, and there’s no support for transitions at all.
The tech world seems to be slowling down slightly in the run up to Christmas, but there have still been a lot of stories over the past seven days. There are sure to be a whole new raft of sales to look forward to both before and after Christmas, but if the 
Shahbaz Ali, the President and Chief Executive Officer of 
Phishing scams are a blight on the internet that will never be totally eradicated. If you aren't familiar with the term, "phishing" is when someone attempts to glean information through means of impersonation. Sending you a message purporting to be from your bank for example. Try as we may, this crime will always be a part of life. However, there is no reason that the risk of these dangerous emails cannot be decreased.
Like PCs, Android phones and tablets are susceptible to all kinds of security threats. Thankfully there’s a rich choice of free protection out there, and Avira hopes to woo Android users across to its offering with the release of 
The permissions screen that pops up during the installation of an Android app has become the new EULA. Very few people bother to read through what is on screen before clicking through and going ahead with the installation -- you could be signing your life away for all you know!
Three weeks ago Microsoft unveiled its new 
Given all of the current buzz surrounding mobile you'd think that businesses would be falling over themselves to embrace the technology. But a new survey of IT decision makers by enterprise application and security expert 
Last week I began this series on large companies in turmoil by looking at Intel, which I saw trying to guarantee its future through enlightened acquisitions that actually emulated this week’s company -- Cisco Systems.
The PC world has plenty of hex editors; does it really need another? Our first thought was probably not, but that was before we’d spent a little time with the fast, feature-packed and extremely capable 
As online retailers in the US attempt to benefit from the opportunities of global eCommerce, they must rethink their business requirements and systems from the ground up. To successfully conduct business across borders and cultures, there are several considerations that US-based entities must acknowledge, including variances in taxes and regulations, content and process localization, and seamless experiences for mobile customers.
Scott Dahlgren is the Managing Director of 
Last month we reported on research showing that 
The Windows 8.1 virtual machine can show up in the OS X Dock. From there, users can exit full-screen mode, tweak the virtual machine configuration, turn it off and so on. That is pretty basic functionality. What I like about Parallels 9 is that it also shows the running Windows 8.1 software in the Dock, alongside the virtual machine icon. This might not seem like something out of this world, but when I am dealing with the touch-optimized Windows 8.1 it makes it easier to close running apps, or switch to other opened ones.
In August of this year, the USB 3.1 specification 
For the last 18 years, 
Remote access tool 
Michelle Smith is a freelance writer with a focus on technology. She can be found typing away on her laptop in sunny Boca Raton, Florida. Michelle welcomes your feedback via 
Tiny, yet powerful audio editor 
Increased use of mobile devices by consumers means that companies face challenges in terms of making their services and data available on a range of different gadgets. To give customers a properly interactive experience you need more than just a website. The key to doing this is APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) which allow connections to be established between your data and your customer's devices.
Facebook was never really meant to be about news. It is a social network that's about keeping in touch with people. But companies quickly cottoned onto the site as a valuable tool for reaching out to customers, delivering information about product launches, app updates and other news. Despite the fact that Facebook users are invited to update their "status", anything that is posted appears in the "News Feed" of others. Now Facebook is trying to make your News Feed more about news.
If you’d like to preserve your online privacy then it can be a good idea to clear your Firefox cookies, but there’s usually a price to pay. Even if you’re careful, the chances are you’ll delete genuinely useful cookies, and be forced to manually log in when you revisit some of your favorite sites.
Apple is a company that, generally speaking, likes to keep itself to itself -- but that's not to say it doesn't like to keep its finger on the pulse and learn about what others are talking about. This is demonstrated perfectly by the company's latest purchase. This time around Apple has invested a reported $200 million in 
The official holiday shopping season kicked off last week and reached full speed today with Cyber Monday. Like every year, Microsoft hopes to see a Windows product on everyone's wish list. This year the company is even planning to throw in a little something extra to sweeten the deal.