RSSTechnology News Headlines and Software
April 11, 2011, 5:44 PM
Intel launches Oak Trail chip for tablets: Win7, Chrome, Android, Meego tabs in May
Intel on Monday announced the availability of its "Oak Trail" Atom processors, designed for use in mobile tablets, convertible notebooks, and fanless environments that run Windows, Android, Chrome OS, or Meego.
News Display:
Amazon lowers Kindle's price in exchange for advertisements
By Tim Conneally on April 11, 2011, 10:59 PM
1 Comment
Amazon on Monday announced it had dropped the price of the third generation Kindle e-reader by $25. If this reduction in price came as a result of the usual maturation of technology (where declining manufacturing costs are passed along to the consumer), it would not be an especially newsworthy event. However, the price was reduced for a different reason: because the Kindle e-reader can now display sponsored advertisements.
The Kindle's famous screensavers can now be replaced by full screen advertisements which are customizable in the "Manage Your Kindle" section on a user's Amazon.com account. Users can indicate the amount of screensavers they see that include elements such as landscapes and scenery, architecture, travel images, photography, and illustrations.
Online Armor Free 5.0: Too many alerts but great protection
By Mike Williams on April 11, 2011, 5:15 PM
1 Comment
Once upon a time, not so very long ago, software firewalls would essentially carry out just a single task: monitoring your network, and blocking any unauthorised connections. That's no longer enough to make your product stand out from the crowd, though, and firewalls like Online Armor 5.0 now cram in so many other functions and features -- keylogging detection, behaviour monitoring, browsing protection, script blocking and more -- that they begin to look more like security suites.
The extra functionality is apparent as soon as you launch the Online Armor installer. This doesn't simply unpack its files; its Safety Check Wizard first scans your PC for known dangerous processes that might interfere with the program's operation. This takes a while -- 55 minutes on our test PC -- but is probably worth it, just to be sure that we were starting with a clean system (although if you know you're malware-free then the wizard can be skipped altogether).
Would you cut cable for Netflix?
By Joe Wilcox on April 11, 2011, 2:37 PM
31 Comments
This morning, I tweeted San Francisco Chronicle article "1 million homes cut cable, switch to antenna, Web," which showed up in my RSS feeds. The story is actually three days old. A surprising number of people tweet-replied that they had cut the cable, completely or partially. I've been thinking about doing the same and wondered about Betanews readers. Would you go or have gone from cable to online video streaming (from networks and services like Hulu or Netflix) and over-the-air HD broadcasts?
You can answer the question in comments or email joewilcox at gmail dot com. I'll be swapping out that email address in a day or so as I seek to create, at least temporarily, a Google-free zone. Messages will forward after the switch. Your answer could benefit other people considering a similar move, but struggling to cross that psychological barrier of "What will I give up?"
Mushroom Networks debuts broadband streaming HD TV camera
By Tim Conneally on April 11, 2011, 1:45 PM
5 Comments
At the NAB Show in Las Vegas on Monday, Mushroom Networks debuted the Teleporter live video streaming rig, a portable video streaming module that bonds the connections of multiple cellular data modems for live HD video streaming.
Since early last year, a handful of companies have marketed their own "streaming backpacks" as cost-effective solutions for enabling live, on site video feeds that don't require a satellite truck and a news team of half a dozen people. The Ustream Livepack, and KIT Digital's Kyte LivePro Unwired, for example, utilize multiple cellular data lines to transmit video signals from a handheld camera to the Web or to television stations and can be run by a crew as small as one person.
Aura gives Aero a little Windows 8 flair
By Nick Peers on April 11, 2011, 12:27 PM
8 Comments
It was recently revealed that one of Windows 8's new features will be the ability of Windows Aero to automatically adapt the color of Aero Glass to match the desktop background, so, for example, if you set a background that's predominantly red, Windows Aero will adjust its color so your semi-transparent windows blend in with the new backdrop.
The good news for Windows 7 and Vista users -- particularly if you're the kind of person whose desktop changes with the weather (or at random intervals) -- is that this feature is available now for free. The tool in question is Aura, which was recently updated for a second beta release.
New features of Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 revealed
By Tim Conneally on April 11, 2011, 11:04 AM
5 Comments
Microsoft on Monday offered new information about the next version of its enterprise resource planning software, Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, and revealed that beta testing for the suite is expected to begin this month.
Here's a point by point list of the improvements that Microsoft announced today:
Apple's iOS will be most popular media tablet platform through 2015
By Joe Wilcox on April 11, 2011, 10:44 AM
10 Comments
Are you thinking of developing apps for Honeycomb, or perhaps are waiting to buy an Android 3.0 tablet? Perhaps you should reconsider iPad. Gartner claims that Apple's iOS will dominate the media tablet operating system market at least through 2015. If the analyst firm is right, Apple's tablet -- and broader mobile platform -- will be the premiere choice for the foreseeable future and the one where the larger number of apps will be.
Of course, as I've been repeatedly writing, the categories media tablet and smartphone are in such huge flux, making any prediction is questionable at best. However, with iPad selling so well and most Honeycomb tablets MIA until at least summer, this forecast is more credible than Gartner's predictions about smartphones in 2015 -- at least in the short term.
iPad becomes fully integrated Photoshop tool, Android and PlayBook next
By Tim Conneally on April 11, 2011, 12:01 AM
8 Comments
Adobe is fully integrating mobile tablets into Photoshop CS5, turning them into powerful peripherals for content creation and display. On Monday, Adobe announced the Photoshop Touch SDK, and three iPad applications (Color Lava, Eazel, and Nav) which show the impressive new capabilities that an iPad or touchscreen tablet can give your Photoshop setup.
With the launch of the iPad 2 earlier this year, Apple launched iPad-optimized versions of Garageband and iMovie, two pieces of software that finally began to prove mobile tablets aren't just for content consumption, but also content creation. But those apps, like Photoshop for iPad, are just pared down versions of desktop software meant to stand on their own.
7 things Microsoft should do at MIX11 and probably won't
By Joe Wilcox on April 10, 2011, 11:56 AM
27 Comments
Microsoft's big web developer event, MIX11, unofficially begins tomorrow, with the big action taking place from April 12-14 in Las Vegas. It's Microsoft's most important MIX ever, because of the user interface and user experience (UX) changes accompanying the tumultuous move from the PC era to cloud-connected devices. Then there is Microsoft's increased emphasis on making you the natural user interface for all CPU-driven devices.
This year's keynoters include three important Microsoft execs: Joe Belfiore (Windows Phone), Scott Guthrie (.NET development) and Dean Hachamovitch (Internet Explorer). Sessions cover a wide range of Microsoft development tools or platforms, including Azure, IE, Silverlight and Windows Phone. Like the last two years, attendees can expect to hear lots about natural user interfaces, cutely referred to as NUIs.
Is Microsoft dead meat without a tablet?
By Joe Wilcox on April 8, 2011, 7:21 PM
72 Comments
Or should that be goose is cooked? Perhaps you have a better cliché.
It's a good week to end with the question. On Tuesday, Gartner told CIOs to get off their butts and start adopting tablets right away. Today, a Google AdMob survey revealed that 28 percent of tablet owners have made the device their primacy PC. Gartner's recommendation cuts into Microsoft's core business. The tablet survey foreshadows dramatic consumer, and eventually business, behavioral changes ahead.
Feds approve Google's buy of travel data company with conditions
By Ed Oswald on April 8, 2011, 6:23 PM
10 Comments
Google's planned $700 million acquisition of flight data provider ITA was given the go-ahead by the justice department on Friday, but not without some key concessions. One of them may erase any competitive advantage from the deal: it will require to both develop and license travel software as a result.
For a period of five years, the company will be required to provide these licenses "on commercially reasonable terms." Google will also be required to keep investments in research and development at similar levels to past years for those five years as well.
Acer aims for Apple with the Iconia Tab tablet at $449
By Ed Oswald on April 8, 2011, 4:02 PM
17 Comments
Aiming to take on the iPad where few competitors have -- on price -- Acer on Friday said that it would begin shipping its Iconia Tab tablet for $449 later this month. The device sports a 10.1-inch screen, a NVIDIA 1GHz dual-core processor, 16GB of storage and runs on Android 3.0 "Honeycomb."
The Iconia Tab's feature set will put it on par with Apple's top-selling tablet, and will be one of the few that sells at a lower price yet matches the iPad on features. Tablet manufacturers have so far struggled to produce devices that could viably compete with Apple's tablet, likely due to economies of scale.
Former Epsilon CEO likens massive email breach to shopping mall master key
By Tim Conneally on April 8, 2011, 3:57 PM
8 Comments
The list of victims in last week's security breach at email marketing firm Epsilon Interactive continues to grow, expanding to as many as 50 companies and exposing thousands -perhaps even millions- of customers' names and email addresses to potential spammers and phishing scammers.
Email marketing expert and CEO of Zeta Interactive, Al DiGuido served as CEO for Epsilon Interactive from 2001-2007. On Friday, he gave us his insight into what possibly went wrong at Epsilon and what could have been done to prevent the breach.
Skype 5.3 improves video to mobile calling
By Mark Wilson on April 8, 2011, 3:55 PM
5 Comments
Skype for Windows has been updated to version 5.3, with the latest release offering a number of enhancements including better quality video during calls received from mobile devices. Skype improved calling by moving the video rotation tasks from the mobile device to the computer receiving the call, making it possible to send higher resolution video and therefore producing a better overall video call experience.
Other new features include the return of the icon that appears in reduced-size contact cards, making possible to see the online stats of contacts at a glance. It is now also possible to change conversation topic by clicking the 'i' button that appears in the header of all conversations.
Tried of crackly PC audio? Diagnose with LatencyMon
By Mike Williams on April 8, 2011, 1:59 PM
3 Comments
There are many possible reasons why a PC might suffer from audio glitches, like pops, crackles or dropouts. And so troubleshooting the problem often becomes a matter of trial and error, where you'll maybe close down every possible background process that you can in an effort to find anything that might help.
LatencyMon offers a much simpler solution. The program uses Microsoft's Event Tracing for Windows technology to monitor what's happening on your PC, and in just a few minutes can produce a detailed report that will highlight some of the processes and drivers that are the most likely cause of your audio issues.
Sony and SanDisk look to improve video streams by predicting what you'll want to watch
By Tim Conneally on April 8, 2011, 1:35 PM
4 Comments
Flash memory company SanDisk, along with content studio Sony Pictures Entertainment and mobile carriers SoftBank Mobile and Orange, are working on an IEEE draft standard that seeks to tackle the mobile network traffic problem created when too many people watch streaming video at the same time. The standard, called HQME (High Quality Mobile Experience) partitions off a section of a phone's memory and automatically caches the most popular web media content when network traffic is at its lowest.
The demand for mobile bandwidth is extremely high already, and only getting worse. At two points in the work day, there are huge spikes in consumption when everyone is simultaneously logged in and attempting to connect to some form of media.
The Bat! 5.0 improves comm features and email management
By Nick Peers on April 8, 2011, 1:26 PM
5 Comments
RITLabs has released a major update to its email client. The Bat! 5.0 features a complete rework of the program's intercommunication mechanisms, which significantly improves the way it access mail via IMAP. Not only does this make the program more stable and secure, but it also allows for the implementation of new search capabilities.
The Bat! 5.0 also boasts several new features, including folder information panels that display dynamically updated information about the currently selected mail folder, and a "smart" hints function that pops up relevant options when the mouse is pointed at specific parts of the program.
AdMob survey shows 28% of tablet owners use device as primary PC
By Joe Wilcox on April 8, 2011, 12:50 PM
14 Comments
Google is putting its AdMob acquisition to good data analysis use, releasing some fascinating findings about tablets. A March survey of 1,430 (presumably) tablet owners reveals that the majority (77 percent) use their desktop or laptop PC less after buying the device. Twenty-eight percent use the tablet as their primary PC. A tablet may not be a PC by definition, but it's functionally equivalent enough for some people.
Like I wrote in February: "The PC era is over."
Bing for iPad rocks
By Joe Wilcox on April 7, 2011, 7:13 PM
16 Comments
Earlier today, Microsoft released its Bing app for iPad -- and, whoa is it beautiful. The iPad screen grabs here are poor representations of how good this app looks and how functionally useful it is. Bing for iPad is so delish I could lick the screen. Did I mention that it's useful? I'd pay, even if Microsoft charged a buck ninety-nine.
Microsoft doesn't get the credit deserved for applications development. The company seems to do its best work when freed from Windows. Yes, that's a criticism. Windows is a ball and chain for Microsoft developers. Office for Macintosh is one of Microsoft's best applications, and it's exceptional among Mac software titles. Xbox and Xbox Live also show what Microsoft developers can do when their creative juices are freed from Windows. Kinect is even better example, and Bing for iPad is another.
FCC votes to force wireless data roaming agreements
By Ed Oswald on April 7, 2011, 6:10 PM
5 Comments
On a party line vote, the Federal Communications Commission mandated larger carriers to sign roaming agreements for mobile data with their smaller competitors, a move that had been widely expected. Previously such agreements had been voluntary, allowing big carriers such as AT&T and Verizon to hold a competitive advantage over rivals.
Three Democratic commissioners -- Chairman Julius Genachowski, Mignon Clyburn, and Michael Copps -- voted for the deal, while the two Republicans -- Robert McDowell and Meredith Baker -- voted against it. McDowell went a step further and maintained the FCC lacked the legal authority to enforce the measure.
Looking for the full list of software downloads you used to find here? That same listing is now over at Fileforum!
Aml Pages 9.26 Build 2210 Beta 2
April 11 - 6:01 PM ET
MediaMonkey 4.0.0.1355 Beta 2
April 11 - 3:17 PM ET
CPU-Z 1.57.1
April 11 - 2:56 PM ET
µTorrent for Windows (v3.0) 3.0.25184 Alpha
April 11 - 2:35 PM ET
Speccy 1.10.248
April 11 - 2:14 PM ET
SiSoftware Sandra 2011.SP1x.17.47
April 11 - 1:53 PM ET
Vispa 0.5.6.1
April 11 - 1:32 PM ET
McAfee AVERT Stinger 10.1.0.1516
April 11 - 1:11 PM ET
GPU-Z 0.5.3
April 11 - 12:50 PM ET
Opera (v11.10) 11.10 2092 Snapshot
April 11 - 12:29 PM ET
Ultimate Boot CD Full 5.1 Alpha 2
April 11 - 12:08 PM ET
Power PDF Compressor 1.0 Beta 2
April 11 - 11:47 AM ET
LinkCollector 3.6.1 Beta
April 11 - 11:26 AM ET
NZB Completion Checker 0.7
April 11 - 11:05 AM ET
DisplayFusion 3.3.1 Beta 6
April 11 - 10:54 AM ET
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