Finally, Apple provides OS X Lion recovery tool
Apple has released Lion Recovery Disk Assistant for beleaguered OS X Lion users, allowing them to start the Lion recovery process directly from a USB drive. Previously anyone who'd purchased the Lion upgrade through the Mac App Store would be forced to reinstall and update Snow Leopard before they could reinstall Lion if disaster struck, forcing them to replace the hard disk.
The Lion Recovery Disk Assistant requires an external USB hard drive or USB thumb drive with at least 1GB free space. It will partition the entire drive, so follow the guidelines at this Apple KB article for details of partitioning the drive so the rest of its capacity can continue to be used for general data storage if required.
Can Vizio snatch the Android tablet biz like it did with LCD TVs?
Four years ago, California-based electronics company Vizio rocketed from virtual anonymity to the position of number one LCD TV maker in the United States ahead of much larger international rivals Samsung, Phillips, Sharp, and Sony. Now, Vizio is hoping to have that same impact in the field of Android tablets with the new 8" Vizio Tablet, officially launched to all retail channels late Monday evening.
Vizio's breakthrough success in the LCD TV market was largely thanks to the affordability and widespread availability of its products through partnerships with big box retailers Costco and Sam's Club. Naturally, this formula will be applied to the Vizio Tablet too, and customers will be able to pick one up at Costco Wholesale, Sam's Club, Walmart, Target, BJ's Wholesale, and Amazon.com for just $299.
Windows Phone evangelist quits Microsoft, says he'll still use Windows Phone
Charlie Kindel, a 21-year Microsoft veteran, and most recently General Manager of Windows Phone developer experience, publicly posted his departure from the company to work on his "super secret stealth startup," based in the Seattle Area. For the last two and a half years, Kindel led the team that built the current Windows Phone application platform, and was responsible for much of the evangelism and outreach that accompanied the complete revitalization of Microsoft's mobile ecosystem.
There is no doubt that the last two and a half years have brought the most drastic changes to Microsoft's approach to mobile operating systems. The long-running Windows Mobile came to a screeching halt at version 6.5 when it launched simultaneously with the new "Windows Phone" brand, which at the time, wasn't even an operating system yet.
Apple, Google, Microsoft and other techs close way down following massive sell-off
US stock markets closed markedly down on Monday, following a massive but expected sell-off. Late Friday, Standard & Poor's downgraded the United States' coveted AAA rating to AA+. Even the sturdiest of tech stocks couldn't avoid being collateral damage that stripped billions from their valuations.
For example, Apple's market cap was $327.46 billion, down from $337.04 billion during mid-day trading that already had sapped billions in valuation and reversed gains against Exxon Mobile. The energy giant is the most valuable company as measured by market cap of $345.76 billion. Still, it's likely that barring some utter catastrophe Apple's valuation could top Exxon's before iPhone 5 ships.
iPad's dominance will last through 2020, says analyst
While Apple's iPad currently enjoys a healthy advantage over its competitors presently, at least one analyst expects the bestselling tablet to enjoy its advantage for the next decade if not longer. Needham & Co. analyst Charlie Wolf expects competitors to eat into the iPad's lead, but the device will still have a 60 percent market share by 2020.
Wolf speculates that competition among competitors will mainly cannibalize market share among those competitors, rather than affect the iPad's market share in any demonstrable way. Such a prediction may not be far from the truth: while dozens -- if not hundreds -- of new tablets have popped up in recent months, none have been able to gain any traction against the iPad.
Network Stuff: More Internet tools than you'll likely ever use
Network management can be a complex business, often requiring a whole suite of tools to carry out properly. Or you could just download a copy of the free, open-source Network Stuff, which crams much of what you'll need into a 1.3MB portable executable.
There are graphical Ping and Traceroute tools, for instance. You're able to run TCP, UDP, ICMP or CGI scans on the IP address and ports you specify. And a Stats tab displays everything from the currently open network and Internet connections, to assorted TCP, IP, UDP and ICMP statistics, and a real-time graph charting the current activity on whatever network interface you specify.
Text Editor Everywhere does what its name says
If you've ever found yourself in a position whereby you're expected to enter some kind of text, including snippets of code, into an application or web form that you struggle to get to grips with, then Text Editor Everywhere could be a lifesaver.
This handy free tool allows you to compose your required text in another application -- say, your favorite text or code editor -before automatically transferring it into the other application or web form once you're done. The end result is that you get to work in an environment you feel comfortable while maybe gaining access to features not available in the original application or window, such as spell checking or syntax highlighting.
FBI releases app to assist in finding missing children
Echoing a move made by other government agencies as of late, the FBI on Monday debuted its first in-house mobile application called Child ID. The iOS app aims to give parents a central location to store information about their children in the event they are lost or kidnapped.
The app will store information such as vital statistics and pictures of the child, which then can be easily e-mailed to law enforcement to aid in their investigations. The FBI has also included information on keeping children safe, as well as what to do if your child does indeed go missing.
How does the US downgraded credit rating compare to major tech companies?
The United States may have lost its coveted AAA credit rating with Standard & Poor's, but, hey, it's still higher than most tech companies -- but not as good as Microsoft's. That's right, Microsoft is rated AAA and one of the few tech stocks that is.
Friday's stunning downgrade rocked stock markets across the globe today, with tech stocks also taking a hit. But Moody's today reaffirmed the United States' AAA rating, offering relief that could help mollify investors' fears, which are exacerbated by continued debt crises in Europe.
Sony, Panasonic, Samsung team up to standardize active shutter 3D glasses
Consumer electronics companies Panasonic, Samsung, Sony and XPAND 3D (X6D Ltd.) announced on Monday that they have begun collaboration on a new standard for active shutter 3D glasses called the "Full HD 3D Glasses Initiative."
Even though electronics companies are pushing 3D as the next great frontier for cinematic, home theater, and video game-based entertainment, it's been pretty much a flop all around.
HTC to improve cloud sync for Sense-enabled devices
Taiwanese smartphone trailblazer HTC will be acquiring Seattle-based mobile Web services company Dashwire for approximately $18.5 million, Dashwire's key product offering is Dashworks, a licensable software platform that runs branded services on top of mobile operating systems.
HTC says it will use Dashwire's cloud sync and device set-up products in HTCSense.com, the cloud services platform that launched in beta last year with the Desire HD and Desire Z in Europe and introduced remote access to users' smartphones, cloud backup, and locate and lockdown features. Currently, the service is still in beta and works with 20 different HTC smartphones, including the EVO 4G, EVO 3D, Incredible, and View/Flyer tablet.
Market sell-off slams tech stocks
Friday's Standard & Poor's downgrade of the United States' crediting rating from coveted AAA to AA+ has set off a trading tsunami that is washing over tech stocks. Apple, Google and Microsoft are among the heavy-hitters taking a hit in early trading -- the first day since the shocking announcement.
"The downgrade reflects our opinion that the fiscal consolidation plan that Congress and the Administration recently agreed to falls short of what, in our view, would be necessary to stabilize the government's medium-term debt dynamics", S&P says in the Friday statement. "More broadly, the downgrade reflects our view that the effectiveness, stability, and predictability of American policymaking and political institutions have weakened at a time of ongoing fiscal and economic challenges to a degree more than we envisioned when we assigned a negative outlook to the rating on April 18, 2011".
Got Lion but feel insecure? Symantec releases two compatible beta security apps
Security firms are always keen to release new versions of their products, and the unveiling of a new operating system is as good a reason as any. Mac users who jumped on OS X Lion the moment it was released have found that there are a number of applications that do not work correctly, or at all, and this can be a serious issue when it comes to security software. Symantec has just released two Lion compatible security products in the form of beta versions of Norton Internet Security 5 and Norton AntiVirus 12 for Mac.
Lion support is one of the main reasons for the existence of both of these new versions, but there are also a number of changes and additions. Performance improvements are always something of a subjective claim, but the new Norton software takes advantages of some of Lion's new underlying features to help speed things up.
My problem with Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1
I can't apply updates. C`mon, how hard must this be?
Generally, I prefer Galaxy Tab 10.1 to iPad 2. I like how the device feels in the hand, and I'm now accustomed to its longer, narrower shape when held in portrait mode. I find Tab to be generally faster and more responsive than iPad 2, and Android 3.1 is considerably more pleasing than iOS 4. I could go on -- and would -- in a full review, which I was saving for Samsung's TouchWiz UX user interface/skin that released Friday. I can't install it -- hell, I can't even come close.
Partition Master 9 adds partition-merge, dynamic disk resizing
CHENGDU Yiwo Tech Development Co has announced the immediate release of EaseUS Partition Master 9. Available in both free (Home) and various paid-for (including Professional and Server) editions, EaseUS Partition Master provides non-destructive tools for partitioning Windows PCs that go beyond the basic functionality offered by Windows' own Disk Management tool.
Version 9 of EaseUS Partition Master includes several major new features, including the ability to merge two or more adjacent partitions on the same physical disk. Paid-for versions also include support for dynamic volumes, including copying, resizing and converting without data loss.
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