Latest Technology News

The recent release of Firefox 15 FINAL means the whole developmental cycle has moved on again with Mozilla’s web browser, and as expected versions 16 (Beta), 17 (Aurora) and 18 (Nightly/UX) have made their first appearances.

Sadly, there’s not an awful lot to get excited about in these new releases, but a handful of new features are worthy of attention. It seems to confirm what Mozilla developer Martin Best said on the release of Firefox 15, namely that Mozilla’s focus for the rest of 2012 will shift more to the Android and Firefox OS builds.

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I have followed the development process of Microsoft's upcoming operating system closely, ever since first tidbits of information leaked on the Internet. But instead of just reading about it, I also installed all public versions of Windows 8 on one of my desktop PCs to get a first-hand experience of what the OS is all about.

Like many of my fellow BetaNews authors, I was torn apart by the operating system. Chris Williams, for instance, believes that Windows 8 is pointless for the Enterprise while Mihaita Bamburic imagines what Metro could have been. It becomes even more apparent when you read Windows 8 will be the new Vista and Windows 8 deserves a chance.

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With effective antivirus software installed, you can protect yourself against a range of online threats such as viruses, spyware and other malware. But there are some forms of malicious software that manage to evade detection by even the newest and completely updated protection tools. In this situation, you may feel as though there is nothing left to do but to format your hard drive and start from scratch, but Norton Power Eraser 3.1 and Norton Bootable Recovery Tool 5.1, both updated yesterday, prove otherwise.

You may have noticed popup windows that you do not seem to be able to eliminate, but there could be countless other symptoms indicating that something is wrong with your computer. But before you reach for the installation disc for Windows, grab yourself a copy of the latest version of Norton Power Eraser, which can be used to scour your hard drive for instances of malware that may not otherwise be detected.

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Setting up a local installation of WordPress on your own PC can be a convenient way to test themes and plugins, but it’s not the simplest of tasks. Along with WordPress itself you’ll need to install and configure PHP, a server, database and more.

Sounds too much like hard work? Then you might prefer Instant WordPress, which provides everything you need and requires no complex configuration at all.

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CyanogenMod 9.1 and NFC payments -- curious already? The CyanogenMod team has announced a joint partnership with SimplyTapp to offer Near Field Communication payments for the Android modding community along with their latest custom ROM, CyanogenMod 9.1. The NFC app is named Tapp!, and it is offered as a separate download to the popular CM ROM.

SimplyTapp is founded by Doug and Ted, two "CM enthusiasts" that have contributed towards extending the NFC capabilities as well as to the development of CyanogenMod. So how does it work?

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Microsoft's Internet Explorer was the uncrowned king back in 2008 with Mozilla's Firefox snagging away half a percent or so from IE's market share each month. Mozilla in that year released Firefox 3.0, a controversial version of the browser that divided the browser's user base into the Firefox 2.x and 3.x camp. Microsoft released Internet Explorer 8, a version of the browser that still fell short in many areas even though it was seen by many as a huge improvement over the company's previously released Internet browsers.

And in that year came the first public release of Google Chrome for Windows, and with it fundamental changes to the web browser landscape. Chrome's impact in the browser's first year of existence was limited, and while Google managed to increase the market share over the important 1 percent mark in 2008, it took the company another year to surpass Opera and Safari to take the coveted number three spot for the first time near the end of 2009.

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Add this one to the Smart column. Earlier today, Microsoft unveiled Windows Azure Mobile Services, initially for Windows 8 apps, with support planned for Android, iOS and Windows Phone. The concept is a natural extension of Azure as development platform. Hey, why should Microsoft let Amazon and Google build out the infrastructure enabling the cloud-connected device era to trample the PC?

For now, the new service is available in a "public preview", during which time the first 10 Windows 8 apps are free. Developers who don't have an Azure account can create a 90-day free trial one.

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In addition to releasing Firefox and Thunderbird 15 Tuesday, Mozilla also released a new version of Firefox for Android tablets running ICS and Honeycomb!

Last year, I put together a list of what I believed were the ten best apps for Android Honeycomb, and I included both the Dolphin Browser and Opera Mobile in the list. At the time, not even the Nightly build of Firefox was available for Honeycomb devices. That did not come until five months later, and it was still in a very early UI form.

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Well, Microsoft certainly took long enough. SkyDrive for Android is now available. I guess it takes nearly 65 percent mobile OS market share for the software giant to notice. Yeah, the wait is over. If you love Android but not Google Drive, or even Dropbox, Microsoft's cloud locker is your ticket.

There's real sense to this belated release. By market share, most everyone using a smartphone will have Android, while those on PCs most likely will have Windows (and likely Office, too). Windows 8 makes Microsoft Account the required identity, which also unlocks services like SkyDrive. But most mobile users will have Android or iOS, which combined mobile operating system sales share was 82.9 percent in second quarter, according to Gartner. Windows Mobile/Phone: 2.7 percent, or just behind Samsung's Bada. So likely lots more Windows 8 users with required Microsoft Account will have Android or iOS than Windows Phone. Hey, late is better than never, right?

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In my previous post, I explain how to install Windows 8 on VMware Workstation. But some of you may not have a license to the software and would choose VMware Player instead.

Either option should be preferred by anyone not ready to put Windows 8 into production. Virtualization offers many advantages for testing the new operating system, while minimizing effects on your primary PC.

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Windows 8 released to manufacturing earlier in this month (wow, it seems longer ago) and the Enterprise version is available for download as a 90-day trial directly from Microsoft. If you want to test the new operating system before the October 26 public release you can download and install the ISO.

Virtual machine is another option, and one less likely to disturb your workflow or upset the comfort of your current Windows settings. We suggest using VMware Workstation and provide here this how-to guide.

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The outcome of the recent Apple vs Samsung trial isn’t particularly surprising -- the American company was always going to benefit from home-court advantage -- but the comprehensiveness of the victory shocked a lot of people, and at a stroke changed the smart devices industry for good. Yes, Samsung will appeal, and might succeed in overturning some of the findings or reduce the amount owed Apple (although, equally, the South Korean company might end up paying even more as the wilfull infringement finding is very damning). But there’s no question the result, as it stands, has repercussions not just for Samsung but for several of Apple’s other rivals.

My colleague Mihaita Bamburic claims that the ruling is bad for everyone, and while his position has merit, I view things differently. I see the result as having a positive impact in the long term, and here’s why.

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Mac OS virtualization software company Parallels on Tuesday revealed a new crowdsourced project called the "Apple-in-the-Workplace Barometer", which lets users fill out a questionnaire about their workplace to create an overall view of how the business world is changing in terms of Mac adoption, acceptance of personal devices ("BYOD"), and of course, use of desktop virtualization.

The project tracks responses from IT professionals, managers, and knowledge workers, and plots their responses on an X-Y axis of Apple Support (current mobile policies) over Apple Adoption (opportunities for expansion). It is broken into four quadrants, "Players" versus "Laggards" and "Leaders" versus "Rookies." Obviously because it's a project from Parallels, it is primarily interested in creating a clearer picture of Apple's place in enterprise today.

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Making a USB key bootable sounds like it should be a reasonably straightforward task, but the reality can be very different. There are a lot of variables to consider, and in some cases it can take a very long time to figure out how things should work on your particular system.

If you’re having difficulties, though, one way to improve your chances of success is to ensure you’re using a program that gives you plenty of options, and there are few tools quite as versatile as RMPrepUSB.

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I can't win. Just when I think I've finally cooked-up the perfect post-PC computing recipe, along comes some killjoy to spoil all the fun. This time around it's Apple. The Cupertino goon squad is on a mission to stomp out all unauthorized uses of lowercase letter "i" (among other things), and my latest pet project -- moving my entire computing life to a non-PC device -- is about to fall victim to their litigious ways.

You see, I made the unforgivable decision to deviate from Apple's proscribed post-PC formula (i.e. iPhone/iPad) and instead embrace the ways of the rebel Android Army. After several weeks of tweaking and tuning, I've finally achieved a level of PC-independence I never thought possible. But given last week's Apple-Samsung jury decision, I fear it may have all been for naught. That's because the reverberations from such a landmark case will no doubt spread far beyond its principle defendant (you didn't really think this was about hardware, did you?) to strike at the very heart of Google's OS strategy.

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