Final Cut Pro X is Mac App Store's top seller, but buyer reviews are scathing
Apple only released the software today, but Final Cut Pro X already is a hit. Perhaps that big price reduction -- to $299.99 -- has something to do with buyers' enthusiasm. Motion 5 and Compressor 4, which also released today for $49.99 a piece, rank second and fourth, respectively. Too bad so many of buyers' give the software a 1-star rating.
But there's more, and it's a wonder anyone else other than Apple is profiting from Mac App Store. Today's introductions put Apple products as the top-7 paid apps. There's an eighth, with iPhoto as No. 9. T-boneapps.com's iSplash, which is on sale today for 80-percent off -- that's 99 cents -- is No. 8, while Angry Birds is tenth.
76% percent of you use Windows 7
Two-thousand votes and 93 comments later, we have an answer to the question I posed late last month: "Could 70 percent of you be running Windows 7?" The answer is no. Three quarters of respondents are running Microsoft's flagship operating system. Well, so much for Mac OS X 10.7 Lion coming out next month.
That 76 percent of Betanews readers -- well those of you responding to the poll -- run Windows isn't surprising. Most people do. But the number of Windows 7 users is simply astounding, which says much about Microsoft's success courting developers, IT folks and techies -- among other Betanews readers.
Look to the heavens and fight malware with Panda Cloud Antivirus 1.5
It seems as though every type of software imaginable now exists in the cloud, and this is even extending to security software. Panda Cloud Antivirus has just been updated to version 1.5, offering a number of important improvements over previous releases of the program. Most of the improvements are to be found in the area of performance but there are also a few new features to look out for.
The first thing that you will notice about the updated software is that scanning times have been reduced. The fact that a great deal of processing is done on remote computers helps to take the strain off your own, and the new Background Scan helps to further reduce CPU usage.
Will the US government be more efficient with iPads and Google?
What legacy will Vivek Kundra, the first Federal Government CIO, leave when he goes to academia? For all the grand plans to modernize, rationalize and streamline IT, so far he's mostly taken the government out computer shopping at Best Buy.
Most of the news stories about his recent resignation have focused on his plan to move the government into cloud computing and whether it would survive his departure. But Kundra also modernized government in other ways, with a flare for adopting some consumer technologies.
Bonus Firepower: Assign keyboard shortcuts & macros to a guitar foot pedal
Proficient use of keyboard shortcuts is a hallmark of the diehard PC user. By using these commands, the hands don't have to ever leave their position on the keyboard, and general PC use becomes much faster.
Now think about what these users are doing with their feet. Probably nothing, right?
SiteLauncher: Easy bookmarking for Chrome and Firefox
Finding your way around online as quickly as you can is becoming more and more important. Current net users want to zip from site to site without worrying about remembering addresses or working out where they're stored in bookmarks.
SiteLauncher for Firefox and SiteLauncher for Chrome are browser extensions that provide fast access and keyboard shortcuts to your most popular sites. It's already chock full of useful bookmarks, but you can add your own and customize all the existing ones too.
Nitro PDF Reader 2.0 gets big release without big price tag
Nitro PDF Software has released version 2.0 of its popular free PDF editor/creator software, Nitro PDF Reader. Available in separate 32-bit and 64-bit builds, Nitro PDF Reader 2.0 is actually the first stable release of the software -- previous 1.x versions were classed as beta.
PDF Reader 2.0 offers PDF conversion, creation and editing tools in addition to its basic viewing capabilities. Nitro markets the software as "no strings attached" software because of its extended functionality and lack of registration nags or ad-supported components. Version 2.0 includes some notable performance improvements, particularly in the field of PDF creation -- as well as a number of new features.
Microsoft presents attractive new SkyDrive after Dropbox security blunder
Microsoft this week is upgrading its free consumer cloud storage and collaboration service SkyDrive, making it faster, cleaner, and more competitive with services such as Amazon Cloud Drive, Apple iCloud, and Dropbox.
"While we have always focused on improving the performance of our websites, it was clear that we had reached a point where the kinds of performance gains we were hoping for would not come without an assessment of our entire experience from the ground up," Omar Shahine wrote in the Windows Live Blog yesterday. "SkyDrive has been around since 2007 and was simply not built for the modern web."
Scotland Yard arrests possible LulzSec leader, group denies
The "lulz" for LulzSec may be about to end as worldwide authorities begin a push to apprehend those responsible. The British Metropolitan Police Service -- better known as Scotland Yard -- said Tuesday that it had arrested a 19-year-old man believed to be one of the lead individuals within the hacking collective.
UK law enforcement was under increasing pressure to find those responsible after LulzSec said that it planned to release the entire database from Britain's 2011 census. That would have meant some 62 million people could have their personal data exposed, the biggest hack yet for the group.
Final Cut X Pro: Apple uses carrot and stick to drive Mac OS X upgrades
Today, Apple debuted Final Cut Pro X for the ridiculously low price of $299.99, along with Compressor 4 and Motion 5 -- $49.99 each. The previous version, available as a suite, sold for $999. The price cut reflects Apple passing savings onto customers through the Mac App Store. But digital distribution also is a means of compelling people using older Mac OS X versions to upgrade.
Final Cut X is available via digital download, exclusively for Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard customers and perhaps those folks lucky enough to be testing successor Lion. The price reduction is no means the first and unlikely the last. For example, Apple dropped photo-editing suite Aperture's price from $199 to $79 when Mac App Store launched in January. Presumably, Apple is passing savings onto customers. Digital download means Apple doesn't have to manufacture disks and boxes or distribute them.
FL Studio breaks its 13-year Windows-only run, launches new iOS app
Image-Line studios on Tuesday released FL Studio Mobile and FL Studio Mobile HD, the first mobile versions of the company's popular Windows-based music production and beatmaking software FL Studio, which is now in its 13th year on the market.
Like many other iOS music apps, FL Studio Mobile can be used as a multi-track sequencer to create music from scratch, giving users resizable piano keys and assignable drum pads to link to the app's built-in synthesizers. The major difference that FL Studio Mobile offers over other music creation apps, however, is its interaction with the desktop software. Projects created in the desktop version of FL Studio can be exported and loaded into FL Studio Mobile for manipulation on the go, and vice-versa.
What a waste, Nokia launches hot, MeeGo smartphone
Nokia deserves the award for most mixed-marketing messaging, by today announcing the luscious N9 smartphone. What a beauty, too. Just one problem: It runs MeeGo, which is effectively DOA since Windows Phone will soon be Nokia's primary mobile operating system. The N9 is the handset that most any technophile should want to buy and probably won't. Why invest your hard-earned cash in MeeGo, when Nokia won't?
By the specs, the N9 is one impressive handset and worthy of being a Nokia flagship handset. Quick specs: 3.9-inch AMOLED display -- curved Gorilla glass -- with 854 x 480 resolution; 1GHz ARM Cortex-A8 OMAP3630 processor; 1GB RAM; 16GB or 64GB storage; 8-megapixel rear-facing camera -- Carl Zeiss f/2.2 lens with 2x LED flash; front-facing camera for video conferencing; 720p video recording; Near-Field Communications; Bluetooth 2.1; GPS: 1450 mA battery; and MeeGo 1.2 "Harmattan."
Groupon may not have a viable business model, but it has a twisted sense of humor
Today Groupon finally responded to naysayers expressing deep caution about its upcoming IPO -- the so-called great cash grab before burning through venture financing. Groupon coyly used the so-called "quiet period" defense for defying news media requests for comment about its business model. I'm confused. Didn't the Security and Exchange Commission largely eliminate the quiet period six years ago?
"The 'Quiet Period' is the time right before a company 'goes public', during which it is legally prohibited from saying anything to the press that may make the company look 'good', 'successful', or 'not currently on fire'", according to a blog post on Groupon's website.
Webian Shell: Full-screen browser replaces Windows, Mac OS
The much prophesized life in the cloud is now all but upon us. Software in its traditional form is still popular, but it is losing ground to web-based apps. Sites such as Google Docs and Aviary, go a long way to proving that working with online applications does not mean having to make compromises. As the Internet is now more important than ever, it is entirely possible that your web browser is your most frequently used program -- something Google is exploiting with its Chromebook. Using Webian Shell, you can achieve the same with your current computer.
The application has really been designed for use on publically accessible terminals that do not need to be used for anything other than internet access, or running a limited number of web apps, but there is no reason that it cannot be put to good use at home. As it is likely that you spend a large proportion of your time online, it seem pointless to clutter you screen with other distractions such as the Windows taskbar or OS X's dock.
LulzSec, Anonymous team up to steal and expose government secrets
Anonymous, the hacker collective famous for performing cyber attacks as public retribution, has reportedly teamed up with LulzSec, the hacker group that attacks mostly for entertainment, for a mission going by the title AntiSec (Anti-Security) which seeks to expose any government-classified information that can be stolen.
LulzSec, which has recently stolen headlines for a rash of denial of service attacks issued an AntiSec manifesto today, asking everyone to join the rebellion.
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