Microsoft's modern.IE scanning tool goes open source
Microsoft rolled out Internet Explorer 11 Preview for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 yesterday, and also updated modern.IE -- a set of tools and resources designed to make developing for the browser just a little bit easier.
The software giant additionally announced that the modern.IE scanner, which analyzes the HTML, CSS, and JavaScript of a site or application looking for common coding issues, is now open source (under Apache 2.0 license) and available to download from GitHub.
Kaspersky tops real world protection test
Independent testing organisation AV-Comparatives has released the results of its real world protection test for March to June 2013. The tests use each security suite on its default settings and live URLs that point to malware executables along with drive-by exploits.
Using a total of 1,972 test cases over the four month period the results show that all of the major security packages offer high levels of protection. Bitdefender and Kaspersky top the charts with 99.9 percent protection levels, F-Secure also manages 99.9 but ranks slightly lower as it relied on user interaction to block three of the threats.
Internet Explorer 11 Developer Preview now available for Windows 7
Almost a month after launching Internet Explorer as a key part of the Windows 8.1 preview, Microsoft has today launched a stand-alone Internet Explorer 11 Developer Preview for Windows 7.
The new release places a major focus on performance. JPEG decoding, text rendering and WebGL support will make the most of GPU acceleration; HTML 5 prefetching and pre-rendering helps to get pages ready before you even click the link; and optimizations to Chakra, IE’s JavaScript engine, mean it’s even faster than before.
Google Chromecast -- Fabulous product or fabulous demo?
Yesterday Google announced a product called Chromecast -- a $35 HDMI dongle that’s essentially YouTube’s answer to Apple TV. While the event was more Googlish than Applesque (the venue was too small, the screens were too small, the presenters weren’t polished, and as a result the laughs and applause didn’t come) the product itself was astonishing -- or appeared to be.
The press picked-up on the most obvious headline item in the announcement -- the $35 selling price which drops to $11 if you factor in three months of free Netflix per dongle even for existing Netflix customers (now sadly dropped). That’s like Google attaching an $8 bill to every Chromecast -- something Apple would never do.
Mozilla: Browsers could share your interests with websites
Your web browser records everything you do on the web. It knows where you go, it knows where you’ve been, what your favorite websites are, and it likely even knows your passwords. But fortunately it doesn’t share that information with the world. At least not yet.
Mozilla, the non-profit behind Firefox, is proposing to change that. The organization wants your browser to be able to tell websites the sort of things you’re into, allowing those sites to serve up personalized content tailored just for you.
Suck it up -- you're still going to get spied on after House votes for continued NSA surveillance
A move to close down NSA surveillance of US phone records bites the dust after a vote at the House of Representatives. The closely fought battle ended with a nail-bitingly tight vote that saw 217 votes against limiting the Agency's data collection abilities and 205 for.
Republican Justin Amash looked to end the indiscriminate collecting of phone records that was brought to light by whistleblower Edward Snowden. Rather than looking to simply stop the NSA's actions, the proposed amendment took a slightly different approach and aimed to block funding instead.
Twitter says sorry for faking tweets from real user accounts
Advertising rarely proves popular, but Twitter has made something of a boo-boo with its latest venture -- one that has led to the microblogging site having to apologise to three of its users.
The company mocked up a series of tweets from three genuine Twitter accounts, and used them in a promotional blog post. All without the account owners' knowledge or consent.
LibreOffice adds new features, improves document compatibility
The Document Foundation has released LibreOffice 4.1 for Windows, Mac and Linux, a major new release of its open-source office suite. Comprising word processor, spreadsheet, presentations tool and database, as well as drawing and math tools, LibreOffice 4.1 has been billed "the most interoperable free office suite ever" by TDF, keen to establish itself as the most viable free alternative to Microsoft Office.
Version 4.1 not only comes with a large number of improvements in the area of document compatibility, it also ships with a number of notable new features, including support for font embedding across the suite as well as app-specific improvements like a new Photo Album feature in Impress.
Google Translate adds handwriting support and tries to make sense of your scrawl
Why type it when you can write it? Google Translate users can now scribble symbols using a new handwriting input tool. While this is unlikely to be a faster option for translating a lot of languages, it does prove useful for inputting certain foreign characters. Want to find out what that Russian or Chinese phrase means? Don’t bother trying to work out how to input these characters via your keyboard, just draw them.
This is an option that has been available to users of the Google Translate Android app for a little while, but it's now also available to desktop users. Things are a great deal easier if you have access to a graphics tablet, but the onscreen handwriting input panel can also be used in conjunction with a mouse.
Sony announces Android 4.3 Jelly Bean upgrade plans for (some) Xperia devices
Just a day after Google officially announced Android 4.3, Japanese maker Sony revealed, on Thursday, that a number of its upscale Xperia devices will receive a software upgrade to the third Jelly Bean iteration.
Sony did not provide an exact date as to when users can expect the upcoming update, but said that Android 4.3 Jelly Bean will be rolled out to the Xperia Z, Xperia ZL, Xperia ZR, Xperia Tablet Z, Xperia SP and Xperia Z Ultra, and likely other devices judging by the added ellipsis, following the list.
Nokia Lumia 520 lands on AT&T, available now with GoPhone
Starting today, the Nokia Lumia 520 Windows Phone is available at US mobile operator AT&T, with the GoPhone program. Subscribers can pick up the smartphone, without a contract, but on a pre-paid plan, for a mere $99.99.
The Lumia 520 is Nokia's entry-level Windows Phone 8 device, and offers pretty appealing specifications for the money: 4-inch IPS LCD display with a resolution of 480 by 800, 1 GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor, 512 MB of RAM and 8 GB of internal storage, as the main highlights.
Ring around the nerdy -- NFC ring hits kickstarter
Nerds love rings; it's a fact. Don't believe me? How do you explain Green Lantern, the Wonder Twins and Lord of the Rings? Exactly. Unfortunately, we nerds can only dream of owning a magic ring -- we have to settle for cheap knock-offs for cosplay. However, things are about to change, well sort of, as an NFC enabled ring has been introduced on the crowd-funding site, Kickstarter.
NFC stands for Near Field Communication -- it enables communication between two touching NFC-enabled devices. Have you seen the commercials where people transfer pictures by touching their smartphones together? That is NFC. According to the ring's inventor, John McLear, the NFC technology in the device "can be used to unlock doors, mobile phones, transfer information and link people. Best of all the NFC Ring glides right onto your finger -- no updates, no charging, and no fuss". In other words, technology has enabled nerds to finally feel like they have a magic-powered ring.
Take shareable snapshots of a folder tree with Snap2HTML
If a friend asks you to help troubleshoot his or her PC problems then it’s often useful to check their hard drive to see exactly what’s installed and where. But if they don't live nearby, and there’s no convenient screen sharing or remote access technology to hand, then don’t worry: there’s always Snap2HTML.
Point this tiny program (a 185KB download) at any location on the hard drive, click "Create Snapshot", and it’ll quickly scan the system, recording any files or folders it contains in a ready-to-email (after zipping, at least), self-contained HTML report.
Google aims for TV everywhere, Netflix rides along
Google is dreaming big, but those fantasies are no larger than ones held by cord-cutters everywhere. We wish for TV without the cable or satellite and services like Hulu, Netflix, Amazon Prime and others aim to deliver the experience. Now Google tosses its own hat into the ring.
"Today, with the launch of Chromecast and the new Nexus 7 tablet, it’s even more effortless to enjoy content you care about—whether it’s video, music, movies, games—wherever you are, across your devices".
Google adding textbooks to the Play Store
While most people associate Android with text-messages, Google hopes you will think of it in another "text" aspect too -- textbooks. Today, Google announces that it is bringing textbooks to the Play Store. The company has partnered with all five major textbook publishers -- Cengage, Wiley, Pearson, McGraw-Hill and Macmillan.
This is a huge win for students, as they will no longer have to carry a large backpack full of books (chiropractors should be worried). Google will also be giving students' wallets some relief -- while they can buy textbooks at normal price, they can also rent them for six months at up to 80-percent off.
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