Microsoft all but buys Netscape with AOL patent acqusition
It's truly the final curtain call for Netscape. A portion the company's technologies are part of a massive $1 billion patent sale between AOL and Microsoft, announced Monday morning. Microsoft was the top bidder in an auction to sell off non-essential technologies that include about 800 patents.
Microsoft is also acquiring a subsidiary of AOL. While AOL did not specify the subsidiary by name, sources tell All Things Digital that it is Netscape. AOL still retains the right to the brand and related businesses, but all the technologies behind it are now owned by the Redmond, Wash. company.
10 things you might not know about RMS Titanic
April 14 is the 100th anniversary of Titanic's sinking. As the height of technological and engineering innovation of its day, the great ocean liner is more than fascinating for its sinking -- reminder that today's tech obsessions are nothing new.
In 1977, before the wreck had been discovered and when few people knew much about Titanic, I wrote a term paper on the ill-fated vessel in between college and high school. I participated in the federally-funded Upward Bound program for teenagers from low-income families wanting to go to college. I spent three summers at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine. The Titanic paper completed my three-year participation. Much about the disaster has changed since the wreck site was found, more than 2 miles beneath the Atlantic, in 1985, and my research. I confess. I am a Titanic buff.
Start April right, with one of these 17 downloads
We now find ourselves well into Spring, so what better excuse is needed to start spring cleaning your computer? You can set about doing this manually, but it’s easier if you turn to a dedicated tool to take care of system maintenance.
iolo System Mechanic Free 10.8.3.51 is a free tool that can be used to delete unnecessary files, defrag your hard drive, clean out the registry and much more. If you’re someone that takes a keen interest in the smooth running of your computer, you probably have some form of application monitoring software installed, and Bad Application 1.0 is a simple little utility that will enable you to test these out, checking what happens with crashed and hung applications.
Is this Android "mutiny" happening at Sony, Intel, somewhere else?
Recently, an article ran in the MIT Technology Review blog, in which Skyhook Wireless CEO Ted Morgan said "a lot of companies" are forking Android; that "nobody wants to just be a manufacturer for Google," and that a major non-Google Android device is coming out later this year.
The headline claimed Android manufacturers are "mutinying."
CyberLink MediaShow 6 supports 3D, burns Blu-rays
With a host of free media organizers around, selling commercial equivalents can be something of a challenge. CyberLink isn’t giving up just yet, though, and its latest release, MediaShow 6, has some interesting new features to help it stand out from the crowd.
Top of the list must be the program’s new 3D support. MediaShow can now display 3D MPO pictures and videos, for instance. Or, if you don’t have any, it can convert your 2D photos or videos to 3D. MediaShow 6 can edit them, too, and when you’re happy is able to export the finished results as a 3D movie, or by burning your files to a 3D DVD or Blu-ray disc.
Draw Nothing: Popular app opens up your Facebook to data theft
50 million people downloaded OMGPOP's Draw Something over the past two months, and it's at the top of the App Store charts. But for those of us who connected our Facebook accounts to the app, there's an even bigger problem: it stores a Facebook access token in plain text.
Want that in plain English? A hacker gets this little file, and he's got access to your private data.
Keep your PC fit with these April software bargains
Looking to save some money on your software purchases? Look no further than the Downloadcrew Software Store this April, where you’ll find all manner of bargains on everything from security tools to audio and video editing programs.
Genie Timeline Professional 2012 is an exciting new release that simplifies and automates the backup of your computer and you can save a massive 50-percent off the MSRP when you buy this invaluable tool for just $29.95. In the store there are also a number of tools suitable for anyone looking to get creative with audio and video files. A top deal is available for CyberLink PowerDirector 10 Ultra, a powerful video editing application that brings professional level tools to the home user -- you can save 30 percent when you buy the program for just $69.96.
Three-quarters of Mac owners don't use anti-malware software
Early results from our "do you have anti-malware installed on your primary computer" polls are in, and there's some change from the ones conducted last May. More respondents on Mac and Windows use security software, but the split remains polarized: 75 percent of Mac users don't, while 90 percent of their Windows counterparts do. Welcome to the wonderful world of Apple denial. There are no pesticides to save this crop.
Responses are unusually low to both polls. I should know better asking anything over the Easter holiday weekend and start of Passover. I'm re-embedding the polls, hoping to jack up the numbers -- 315 for Mac and 358 for Windows, as I write. But the polarized results are consistent enough with the previous polls, when 86 percent of Windows PC users answered yes and 81 percent of Mac owners no. The difference between the polls is within reasonable margin of error, particularly considering respondents aren't qualified. Responses also could represent increased anti-malware usage in both camps.
Trend Micro DirectPass hardens your passwords
Trend Micro has launched DirectPass 1.0, an online password management tool for Windows. Trend Micro DirectPass, which also comes as a free app for iPhone and iPad and Android, includes online password manager, automatic form filling, secure notes taker and built-in secure browser for accessing sensitive websites securely.
Trend Micro DirectPass enters a crowded market, with established tools like Lastpass and KeePass being joined by the likes of Norton Identity Safe Beta. While Symantec’s offering is free, DirectPass will require an annual subscription for unlimited password storage.
Take your mouse out for a spin and Feel the Wheel
If you’ve ever thought Windows really should make better use of your mouse wheel, then Feel the Wheel will probably be of interest. It’s a tiny portable tool, and we do mean tiny, a 4.5KB download, which allows you to resize windows or tweak their transparency with the mouse wheel alone.
To give this a try, grab your copy of the download file, unzip it somewhere safe, double-click FeeWhee.exe and a high-pitched beep will tell you it’s loaded.
Got a heap load of images to process? Try ImBatch
When you need to convert, resize or otherwise process a set of images then of course you could work with them all individually. And that will probably deliver the best results as you can tailor your tweaks to whatever each image requires. But if you’ve not just 4 or 5 photos, but 20, 50, 100 or more than you may want to look for a little batch processing assistance from a tool like ImBatch.
Getting started is as easy as dragging and dropping your preferred images onto the program. ImBatch imports all the usual formats -- PNG, JPG, GIF, BMP and so on -- as well as many other file types which you might not expect (PSD, TGA, PCX, TIFF, WDP, HDP and more).
BASIC: Making a case for an old favorite
Are you looking for a way to increase productivity when it comes to your software development? Are you willing to try something different? How would you like to speed up software development, decrease time spent on software maintenance and improve the reliability of your software?
Many a long-time C programmer will likely tell you that C (or C++, C#) is the only serious programming language worth using today in business or the enterprise. To even suggest otherwise would likely make one a laughing stock by one's peers. Yet think about this for just a moment: Of all the software projects you or your company have undertaken, how many of them have come in over budget? How many have actually failed completely? How many, though finished, were plagued with bugs that never seem to get resolved? How easy has it been to maintain such projects, years after they were developed?
Do you use a smartphone or tablet and watch TV?
I occasionally do. My wife does every day, multiple times, either using her Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket or Amazon Kindle. "In the US, 88 percent of tablet owners and 86 percent of smartphone owners said they used their device while watching TV at least once during a 30-day period", Nielsen says today. That's me. "For 45 percent of tablet tapping Americans, using their device while watching TV was a daily event". That's my better half. What about you?
I do tend to use my smartphone more often than a tablet while watching TV, that's to Shazam music -- something I frequently do everywhere. I was a deejay in an earlier life and compulsively search for good music. I'm not alone. Shazam audio QR codes appeared in Super Bowl ads for Best Buy, Pepsi and Toyota, among others. I see more QR codes in ads and TV shows every day. They're everywhere, and in some surprising places.
Apple, two publishers resist ebook settlement
The Justice Department is nearing a settlement with publishers over allegations of ebook pricing, but finalizing the deal is proving problematic as Apple and two publishers are balking at the terms of the deal. Amazon will be permitted to once again discount ebooks to its customers as a result.
Penguin Group and Macmillian have joined Apple in resisting the settlement, the Wall Street Journal reports. The deal voids the contracts Apple signed with publishers in 2010, and permits a return to "wholesale pricing", where the retailer determines the price.
Sex offender? No online gaming for you!
The state of New York has pulled more than 3,500 registered sex offenders from various online gaming platforms, Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced on Thursday. The initiative, supported in part by Microsoft, Apple, Blizzard Entertainment, Electronic Arts, Disney Interactive Media Group, Warner Brothers and Sony, is called "Operation: Game Over."
New York State's law requires convicted sex offenders to register all of their online identities with the state, be they email addresses, screen names, or whatever. "Operation: Game Over," however, is the first time the New York law has been applied to online video games.
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