Nero Kwik Media 12 is quick
Ahead of its official launch of Nero 12, Nero has updated its free media-management software. Nero Kwik Media 12.0.01300 is a minor refresh that follows on from a major update that promised better performance and enhanced tagging capabilities, and offers users a one-stop shop for organizing photos, video and music.
Nero Kwik Media also contains tools for creating picture-based slideshows and photobooks, and can be expanded via a number of paid-for plug-ins, providing additional functionality such as burning video DVDs and Blu-rays.
Kindle Fire HD is bad for Android, worse for iPad
Google is in a tough spot. Apple suddenly looks like an ally now that Amazon has unveiled Kindle Fire HD. Both companies stand to lose big time should the tablet achieve any meaningful sales success. Google Play doesn't offer strong enough ecosystem to battle with either iPad or Kindle Fire, but Amazon's tablet is more likely to scorch Android's earth. Amazon's vertical integration -- store, software and services -- is tight, as good as Apple's and in many respects superior. No matter which wins, Android loses.
Here's the problem: Only Amazon has done any meaningful Android customization on tablets, creating a curated experience similar to Apple's. Like iOS, Amazon Android is tightly vertically and horizontally integrated with siloed services. Kindle Fire is designed to mainly work within the Amazon content/retail sphere and little outside it. Amazon runs its own stores -- everything from apps to movies -- while shunning Google Play. Meanwhile, Kindle Fire supports the custom Silk browser rather than the stock Android one or Chrome. Amazon Android is a competing platform/ecosystem within the larger, more open one Google champions. (The original Kindle Fire is customized Gingerbread and new HD models customized Ice Cream Sandwich.)
'Bing It On' is a real turn-off
Microsoft's "Bing It On" marketing campaign is brilliantly conceived, but don't believe the results. The search comparisons leave out the most important piece of information: Location. Another: relationship. In my blind testing Google and Microsoft searches using Bing It On, the comparison is blind at worst, near-sighted at best.
Bing It On is something like the Coke-Pepsi taste tests from the 1970s. People try both without knowing which is which and say which they like better. Here they blind test Bing and Google, with results presented side-by-side, left and right. But because the tests are anonymous, identity and location are missing elements, or they are for me. Also, both services now offer social graph search, which also is missing when tabulating the comparison. But wait! What about news or image searches, which I often do? Blogs and other sources? It's this richness the comparison lacks, so the taste is bland not sweet. As such, I find the comparison to be fundamentally flawed.
Amazon debuts new Kindle Fires, just don't call them gadgets
Amazon on Thursday unveiled four new Android tablets in the Kindle Fire family: two models with a 7-inch screen, and two with an 8.9-inch screen.
Irrespective of how many Kindle Fires Amazon actually sold, it's hard to argue that the retailer has done anything wrong. It built a content ecosystem first, and then delivered the hardware with which to consume that content. The icing on the cake was that the device was one of the cheapest brand-name tablets on the market.
The quest for the best search engine: Bing It On
If you had to name your favorite three search engines, which would they be? It is almost certain that Google would make the list, and that some Internet users may have trouble naming more than one or two as they rely solely on a single search engine for all of their searches.
Bing may be on that list, although it is less likely that people from outside the United States will name the search engine, as its localized results are not really on pair with its English results. Tech savvy users may name DuckDuckGo or Ixquick, two niche search engines that promise better privacy and unfiltered results that do not put users into a filter bubble. Regional search engines, Chinese Baidu for instance, may also be added to the list by people from those regions.
Samsung sells 20M Galaxy S IIIs, but did you buy one?
Confession is good for the soul, if nothing more than peace of mind. What better place than before the entire Internet? So we invite you to make your Galaxy S III confession. Yeah, your friends have iPhones and perhaps you feel sheepish about being different -- that you won't fit in for wanting something more, or at least something else. There's no longer reason to hide, or to look at your Samsung smartphone and feel guilty. You're not alone. Today the South Korean electronics giant says Galaxy S III sales topped 20 million in the first 100 days.
Sure, 20,000,000 is a heap big many, but not near the number of iPhones sold -- 28.9 million in just the last quarter, according to Gartner. But don't worry. You're in large enough company to stand out, to confess your S3 love. In May, I posted a buying poll, to which 4,959 of you responded; 63 percent say they will buy (or by now have purchased) Galaxy S III.
AVG releases 2013 security software
AVG Technologies has today announced the release of its 2013 product range, including new versions of AVG AntiVirus Free, AVG AntiVirus ($39.99) and AVG Internet Security ($54.99).
And the most obvious change to the lineup is the very Windows 8-like interface, where plain green tiles provide easy access to each program’s features and functionality.
Will you buy Nokia Lumia 920 Windows Phone?
Nokia's fortunes and the future of Windows Phone tie to one device: Lumia 920 running Windows Phone 8. The Finnish handset maker revealed the smartphone yesterday in a joint announcement with Microsoft. This is the Windows phone you waited for, or did you? Perhaps you already gave up and bought Android or iPhone. What I want to know on this sunny September day: Will you buy Lumia 920? If so, when -- and why? If not, why not?
Nokia and Microsoft need Lumia 920 and sibling 820 to succeed. Once the global phone leader, Nokia is now second to Samsung. During Q2, Nokia's global sales share fell to 19.9 percent from 22.8 percent a year earlier, according to Gartner. Meanwhile Microsoft's mobile platform share rose to 2.7 percent from 1.6 percent. But that's behind Samsung's Bada. Combined, Android and iOS have 82.9 percent share, forming a near impenetrable barrier of the likes Microsoft has never seen. Like Windows on PCs, Android and iOS command a broad ecosystem of applications, peripherals, developers, retailers and other services or providers.
Kobo, Canada's answer to Kindle, debuts latest Android tablet ahead of Amazon
Just hours ahead of Amazon's debut of a new Kindle tablet on Thursday, Kobo, the e-book company that can be thought of as "Canada's Kindle" debuted a new color Android tablet called the Kobo Arc.
Kobo Arc is the company's second Android tablet, following up on the Kobo Vox which debuted around this time last year.
Pogoplug debuts first consumer cloud service to utilize Amazon Glacier
Consumer and enterprise cloud storage company Pogoplug on Thursday announced it has integrated Amazon Glacier long-term archival storage into the Pogoplug service. In its usual fashion, Pogoplug mirrors content from your local drives in the cloud and makes them accessible through a Web interface and mobile apps. Now, with Glacier integration, PogoPlug can also back content up to cold storage at the same time.
This announcement comes just two weeks after Amazon Web Services announced Glacier, making Pogoplug the first consumer cloud service to integrate with Amazon's new offering.
Android 4 dulls Droid RAZR's edge
I expect better from Google than this. Its Motorola Mobility subsidiary today announced three seemingly sizzling new Droids coming to Verizon, but they're not running the current operating system but instead will be "upgradeable to Android 4.1 Jelly Bean by end of 2012". We've heard promises like this before on Verizon "with Google" devices. Just ask Galaxy Nexus or XOOM 4G LTE owners about the broken upgrade promises and the long wait for, well, nothing.
Google officially released Jelly Bean in mid-July, when Galaxy Nexus HSPA+ models automatically upgraded, but CDMA models available from Sprint and Verizon did not. Hell, users still clamored to get from Android 4.0.2 to 4.0.4 on Verizon models and couldn't. C`mon, Google, you own Motorola now and should be able to do better. If Verizon is the problem, fix it! Droid users deserve some respect, and you owe them and Verizon, too. Because if not for Droid, the green robot might not be nearly as popular today. Hat tip goes to Apple, too, for helping Android along (next paragraph explains why).
Acronis True Image 2013 review
Backup software comes in many different varieties -- file-based, disk imaging, synchronization tools, continuous data protection, and more -- which can make it tricky to identify precisely which package you need.
But if that sounds too much like hard work, then you could simply buy a copy of Acronis True Image 2013, which can handle just about anything you might want to do.
Motorola: Big batteries, skinny phones, and $100 back if you don't get Jelly Bean
Motorola Mobility on Wednesday afternoon unveiled three new devices in its Droid Razr family of Android smartphones: the Droid Razr HD, Droid Razr Maxx HD, and Droid Razr M. With these new devices, Motorola continues the very straightforward approach to Android devices began early this year: offer physically skinnier devices with better battery life.
The Droid Razr HD has a 4.7" Super AMOLED display, a 1.5 GHz dual-core processor with 1GB of RAM, Verizon 4G LTE/3G WCDMA connectivity, an 8 megapixel camera and 1.3 megapixel forward-facing chat cam, 12GB of onboard storage and a 2530 mAh battery.
Android and iOS shut out Windows Phone, BlackBerry
For the three months ending in July, Android and iOS combined US smartphone subscriber share reached 85.6 percent, according to comScore. That's 3.4 percentage points higher than April. Meanwhile, Research in Motion and Microsoft mobile platforms receded to 9.5 percent and 3.6 percent share from 11.6 percent and 4 percent, respectively. While comScore combines defunct Windows Mobile and Windows Phone, we henceforth refer to both using the latter name.
The smartphone market clearly consolidates around Android and iOS, leaving even less share for Windows Phone or BlackBerry. Android and iOS will soon face the new batch of Windows Phone 8 handsets, including the Nokia Lumia 920 announced today. However, as it stands now, Microsoft's mobile operating system has plenty of ground to cover to even count as a worthy adversary to the two major platforms.
Meet Nokia Lumia 920 Windows Phone
Finnish mobile phone maker Nokia on Wednesday morning announced the latest smartphone in the Lumia family, the Nokia Lumia 920, which is the company's flagship Windows Phone 8 device. The device bears a strong physical resemblance to the previous Lumia flagship devices, but this time around, Nokia has innovated in design rather than simply overload with more powerful specs, and it showed off its innovations today by unveiling some exclusive new apps and capabilities.
The Lumia 920 has a 4.5" (1280 x 768) WXGA display, a 1.5 GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor with 1GB of RAM, 32 GB of storage and an 8.7 Megapixel rear-facing camera/1.2 Megapixel forward facing camera combo, the internal specs are good, but not insane top-of-the-market specs like those provided by Android smartphone makers.
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