Virtualization has become so popular that it is even available as an integrated option in Windows 7. Many people prefer to turn to a dedicated virtualization tool, however, and VirtualBox has proved to be one of the most popular and impressively powerful programs available. Version 4.0.6 of the app has been released, bringing with it a sizeable list of bug fixes.

There have been major improvements in the stability of the app, helping to provide a far more user-friendly virtualization experience. Memory leaks have also been plugged, and the option to store snapshots in the same directory as virtual machines has been added.

Continue reading →

Software company Ashampoo has been forced to issue a warning to customers after one of its servers was hacked. While no financial or credit-card information was taken, Ashampoo is keen to stress this information was not held on this server, hackers are believed to have obtained names and email addresses.

Ashampoo is warning that affected customers could be targeted by emails containing malware payloads, such as a bogus order confirmation email containing an attachment or link to a spoofed website. As the company says in its statement, "It is always important that you stay suspicious of unknown senders and that you do not respond to requests that tell you to open attachments."

Continue reading →

CyberLink has released the latest version of its do-everything media player, PowerDVD 11, which the company now boasts will "play any media format, from any source." This starts with support for playing all the main video formats, now including MKV (H.264), FLV (H.264), WTV, 3GP and 3G2 files. The program can also play your music files, though, and this version adds support for playing photos in slideshows, too.

If the content isn't on your hard drive, then PowerDVD 11 adds new support for streaming files from DLNA servers. It's able to access files on Apple and Android devices, and enhanced social media tools mean you're able to able to access YouTube videos, Facebook and Flickr images, all from within the program.

Continue reading →

iOS users are spoilt for choice when it comes to keeping up to date with their favorite social networks. There are a number of official and unofficial apps available for the likes of Facebook and Twitter, and there is always the option of using the mobile versions of web sites. RockMelt is an iOS app that make interacting with social networks a little easier, enabling you to view updates from Twitter, Facebook and a number of other sites in a single location.

Used to access Facebook and Twitter, RockMelt provides access to your timeline so you can view update from your friends and people you follow. Any notifications you receive from Facebook can be viewed in the app's overview screen and from here you can also create new posts complete with a photo. RockMelt allows you to post comments on items in your newsfeed so you can interact with your Facebook friends.

Continue reading →

Nero Software has released a free tool, Nero Kwik Media that promises to give users greater and easier control over their media files: photos, video and music. The program boasts a number of headline features, such as the ability to automatically apply face recognition across a library of photos and effortlessly move files between different portable devices and your computer, but this additional functionality comes at a cost.

This is because Nero Kwik Media offers only core functionality for free: the software can organize, play and share all media content, but editing facilities are limited to photos while the program can only burn music CDs by default. Additional functionality must be added through the program's built-in App Store, with prices ranging from 99 cents to $29.99 for add-on components and additional themes.

Continue reading →

Dropbox has a juicy carrot and one big sick for subscribers. The cloud storage service announced 25 million users and revised terms of service. The new ToS is the stick and one that could beat away some subscribers. Among the updates to its service terms and conditions: alteration when it comes to "Compliance with Laws and Law Enforcement."

While the change won't affect the majority of the people, unless they are suspected of breaking the law, some subscribers may be put off, particularly since Dropbox previously indicated that not even its employees could access subscriber files. According to Dropbox's help docs: "Your files are actually safer while stored in your Dropbox than on your computer in some cases. We use the same secure methods as banks and the military to send and store your data...Nobody can see your private files in Dropbox unless you deliberately invite them or put them in your Public folder."

Continue reading →

San Fransisco-based social network Tagged has announced that it will buy the popular Social/Instant Messaging Client digsby.

Digsby is a multi-platform Social and Instant Messaging Client available for Windows (eventually due on Mac and Linux) and brings a combined buddy list for all your AIM, MSN, Yahoo, ICQ, Google Talk, Jabber and Facebook Chat Accounts. Not only that, digsby delivers everything important from your Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and LinkedIn accounts and has a fully featured email client integrated. With more than 3 million registered users as of today it will remain a standalone product in the 100 million user community Tagged.

Continue reading →

Internet Explorer's security zones provide support for more than 70 key settings, which gives you very fine control over what websites can and can't do on your system. These settings are spread around several dialogs, though, and it can be difficult to get a feel for your current configuration, or spot any problems -- unless you get a little help from IEZoneAnalyzer 3.

If you'd like an overview of your current security settings, for instance, don't waste time browsing around the Tools > Internet Options dialog. Just launch IEZoneAnalyzer, choose "Internet" in the Security Zone box, click "View Effective Settings," and the program will display your configuration in a single dialog. This includes the source of each setting, so you'll know if a particular restriction was applied by your preferences, machine preferences or Group Policy. And a couple of clicks will export this data to the clipboard, a CSV file, or even directly to Excel, if you'd like to run further analysis or just save it for posterity.

Continue reading →

German software house Jumping Bytes Software has released PureSync 3.0 for Windows PCs, a file backup and sync tool. Version 3.0 includes a number of bug fixes for both Personal (free for non-commercial use) and Professional Editions (€14.95; about US $21.50), but significantly adds to the feature set of the paid-for Professional Edition.

PureSync 3.0 Professional, which is unlocked via a license file after purchase, now supports synchronizing over FTP, plus the ability both to compress and encrypt files. It's also now capable of copying open and locked files and can provide email notification of a finished job, complete with log.

Continue reading →

Apple has released a minor update for its iTunes software application for Windows and Mac users. iTunes 10.2.2 features a number of minor bug fixes, plus closes several security holes in the Windows client (these holes were closed on the Mac platform in a recent update to the Safari browser).

The bug fixes resolve a problem whereby iTunes becomes unresponsive when syncing to an iPad. It also resolves a problem whereby syncing photos to iOS devices took longer than necessary, plus prevents video previews from skipping during playback on the iTunes store. The update also addresses other non-specified issues with stability and performance.

Continue reading →

ALICANTE, Spain -- For as long as I've been a tech journalist -- and it's been a long time -- I always thought of the United States as the single biggest market for consumer electronics, followed by Japan with China rapidly rising in the ranks.

My oh my, have I been wrong. In fact, the biggest market is Europe. Last year, it accounted for 29 percent of the $913 billion worldwide market for "technical consumer products," a designation that also allows for counting appliances that are becoming smart and connected, too. Turns out we Yanks finished second, accounting for 21 percent of all goods sold. Third place went to China, with 12 percent share.

Continue reading →

ALICANTE, Spain -- 3D TVs aren't ready for prime time, so to speak. They'll let you watch Avatar at home in all its epic Cameron-esque glory. But you gotta wear glasses, and there isn't much programming. As a result, TV makers have found themselves ahead -- way ahead -- of market demand. It's that old chicken and egg conundrum: Which comes first, the applications or devices/platform?

The 3D device/platform is there, from the likes of Samsung or Sony but where's the content where you really need it -- in the living room during prime time? Then there are those godawful glasses. Thankfully, no one needs see them in the comfort of your cozy chair, unlike the crowded theater.

Continue reading →

The digital revolution continues apace, and if you fancy the idea of reading books on your computer or other digital device (such as your iPad or dedicated ebook reader), then Calibre is a must-have tool. It exists to organize, convert and even transfer your ebook collection to and from your ebook reader.

That's not all it does: you can use it to download RSS feeds and convert them into a format for reading on your eBook reader. You can even configure it as a web server, allowing you to access your books from any Internet-connected browser.

Continue reading →

The open-source Dual Monitor Tools collection, designed to help those with multiple monitor setups, has been updated to version 1.8. As the name implies, it's a collection of five separate tools, each of which runs independently to provide additional functionality for multiple monitor setups. No installation is required, each tool runs directly from its program executable. All five tools have been updated for this new release, with additional functionality, performance enhancements and bug fixes the order of the day.

The Swap Screen tool, which is designed to simplify the task of moving windows and applications between monitor displays, has a couple of feature enhancements. You can now move the active window to any of 10 user-defined areas on another display, plus there's an option to allow sticky or locked cursors to return freely to the primary display. The program has also been tweaked to reduce memory allocations.

Continue reading →

On Friday, Oracle announced that it will discontinue commercial development of the OpenOffice suite, handing it back to the open-source community for future development. The news has been anticipated for some time, ever since The Document Foundation was set up to try and prevent a single company dominating the development of OpenOffice, a response to Oracle's purchase of Sun Microsystems, which previously owned the open-source project.

The news coincides with the announcement that rival office package, LibreOffice, which branched off from OpenOffice six months ago, has announced the launch of a beta version 3.4.

Continue reading →