It’s Christmas! Get into the holiday spirit with these desktop decorations
Christmas is coming. And soon! Okay, we don’t have time to prepare just yet, either, but there are quick and easy ways to get into the holiday mood. Just giving your PC a little desktop decoration can make a real difference, and there are plenty of fun options around.
Microsoft’s Snowy Night theme is a great place to start, thanks to 13 beautiful winter photos from around the world. (The theme only works on Windows 7/ 8, but 7-Zip will extract the wallpapers so that you can use them anywhere.)
AVG enters Mac anti-malware market with AVG AntiVirus for Mac Free
Czech security developer AVG has launched AVG AntiVirus for Mac Free Edition 14.0, its first major foray into the increasingly crowded Mac anti-malware market. The new release comes with the promise of "triple protection" against not just Mac malware, but Windows and Android malware too.
The release is a no-frills affair, with real-time protection, a simple on-demand file scanner and automatic updates the sum of the application’s whole.
Best Windows 8 apps this week
Fifty-ninth in a series. Last week's positive growth continues this week, as 2,786 new apps have been released in the last seven days in the Windows Store.
The number may have even crossed the 3,000 apps mark were it not for Sports category which listed 247 apps less than last week.
YouTube slaps copyright violation notices on game footage videos
A number of YouTube users who post game walkthroughs and feature footage from games in other ways are finding that their content is being flagged for copyright violation. It seems that uploaders are falling victim to YouTube's automated ContentID system which is responsible for weeding out all manner of copyrighted material. What is interesting is that videos are not being removed from YouTube, but are unable to earn money from advertisements, leading to a loss in revenue for a lot of people.
Uploaders are warned that their videos are still viewable but told that the flagged video's copyright is owned by someone else. What is confusing is the fact that the companies named in relation to the warnings do not actually seem to be the copyright holder. For example, VentureBeat cites the case of warnings being handed out for videos featuring footage from the game Metro: Last Light.
Kaspersky Internet Security 2014 tops latest AV Comparatives 'real-world' test
Security software testing lab AV Comparatives has released its August-November 2013 "real-world" protection report, which assesses the accuracy of leading antivirus tools when confronted by a range of malicious files and websites.
Topping the tables this time was Kaspersky Internet Security 2014, with the package achieving a detection rate of 99.9 percent without blocking a single legitimate domain or file.
A Start button and menu won't save Windows 8.x, but Windows 7 could
I know what you’re thinking -- BetaNews doesn’t need yet another Start button/menu story surely! But actually, I think we do, so bear with me. My colleague Brian Fagioli believes that Microsoft most definitely shouldn’t restore the Start menu in a future version of Windows, and in fact wants the OS to run "legacy" (aka desktop) software full screen like a Modern app. Mark Wilson on the other hand, thinks Microsoft should re-introduce the menu and leave the Modern UI to tablets.
Both are interesting viewpoints, and the comments accompanying the articles show that there’s a firm split in opinion among Windows users. But the Start button and menu isn’t a magic bullet. Adding it to Windows 8.2, aka "Threshold", or even bringing it back to Windows 8.1 as a mini update, as some tech watchers have suggested could happen, won’t save the day. There’s too much negativity surrounding the tiled OS -- and that’s what Microsoft really needs to work to fix.
Grab discounted apps for Windows Phone this holiday season
Let me get this out of the way first -- the "12 Days of Red Stripe" has absolutely nothing to do with Jamaican beer. Instead, it's Microsoft's latest holiday push (named after the Windows Phone weekly deal), going with the 12 Days of Geekmas and the 12 Days of Deals previously announced. This latest campaign is designed for Windows Phone customers.
"The Windows Phone Store just kicked off a big holiday sale on twelve apps, indie games, and Xbox titles", announces Microsoft's Michael Stroh.
Social networking and cyber crime worries -- another day at the small business
Many surveys of how employees use technology focus on larger companies, but the latest 2013 Small Business Employee Survey from GFI Software looks only at firms with between two and 99 employees.
The survey of more than 1,100 employees across the US asked about job satisfaction, use of social media, connecting to company networks, attitudes to cyber crime and more. The results are interesting. While the majority of employees (75 percent) believe that mobile computing has improved their lives because they can work from anywhere, they’re also concerned about privacy and data protection. The other 25 percent said that it had made their lives more stressful because it made escaping work harder.
YouTube live streaming to reach all channels
YouTube has announced that the live streaming feature will be rolled out to all channels, after previously making it available only for a select number of users. It will be offered gradually, over the next couple of weeks, and will be complemented by the option to launch a Google+ Hangout on Air straight from the YouTube Live events dashboard.
"Over the last year, we've seen creators across music, gaming, sports, news and more categories use the power of live video to create amazing experiences for their audiences, and build new fans", says YouTube. "Now, all YouTube channels that verify their account and are in good standing will be able to live stream live video to the world".
Oracle helps enterprises exploit the power of data
Data is the lifeblood of modern business, but to exploit it effectively requires user-friendly tools to help with development and management. Oracle, one of the biggest players in the database field, has launched a new version of its developer tool to address this.
Oracle SQL Developer 4.0 is aimed at streamlining database adoption to the Oracle Database 12c and helping increase productivity for a broad list of database development tasks so organizations can fully capitalize on the power of their enterprise data.
Compress PNGs up to 40 percent with Image Optimizer
PNG is a great format for compressing images without any loss in quality, but its files are usually much larger than the equivalent JPEGs, and that can be a problem. Especially when you’re using them on a website.
There are tools which can help, though, by using various lossless compression techniques to slim down your graphics. Daanav Software’s Image Optimizer is the latest, and we downloaded a copy to run a few tests.
Don't fall prey to Gmail's image problem
As the flu subsides some, I feel ever so cranky and, hehe, suspicious. So I look askance at the newest Gmail changes and ask my favorite question: "Who benefits?" By product manager John Rae-Grant's reckoning, you do. But Google gains more from plans to display remote images.
Yeah, images make your email look prettier, when Uncle Duck sends a collage of his vintage Winchester and new truck. But they also snazz up spam -- the stuff you don't want -- and advertising collateral you desire about as much but which is gold to Google and its partners. Stated differently, and I will explain why later: Gmail image changes make Google spam's middleman. Say, can some grifter give a con game's name in comments to this thing?
Microsoft slashes the price of the first-gen Surface Pro -- 64GB model already sold out
If you’ve been putting off buying Microsoft’s slate until the price dropped a little, now’s your chance to pick up a bargain. As part of a holiday deal at the Microsoft Store, the devices and services giant has slashed $200 off the price of the 64GB version of the first-generation Surface Pro, and $220 off the 128GB model.
This brings the price of the 64GB slate down to $599 from $799. The larger capacity model is now $679, as opposed to $899. The price of the Touch Cover has been reduced to $49.99 also, so you may want to pick one of those up at the same time. The price includes free shipping and free returns.
Stop being so bloody-minded, Microsoft -- bring back the Start menu!
Unlike my colleague Brian Fagioli, and many other disillusioned users, I think Microsoft made a serious mistake when the Start menu and button were removed from Windows 8. The company practically admitted as much when Windows 8.1 saw the reintroduction of the Start button. But this was simply not enough. Windows is all about the Start menu, and for many people the Start button and Start menu are so inextricably linked that to have either without the other just makes no sense.
Sure, we have the Start screen in Windows 8.1 and from it you can achieve pretty much what you were able to do with the Start menu. But it is not the same. Windows 95 was all about the Start button and the Start menu that it conjured up. Yes, we may be the thick end of 20 years down the line, but this is at least partly the point. We have had almost two decades to get used to a particular way of working. It would be strange if there wasn’t a backlash against something we have become so used to.
Microsoft would be foolish to return the Start Menu to Windows
The year 2013 has been a roller-coaster ride for me -- full of surprises when it comes to computing. After all, I am a self-proclaimed Linux user who fell in love with Windows 8. While I struggled with the operating system, I have ultimately settled in with it (Windows 8.1 helped improve the experience).
However, I am a bit dismayed -- no, livid -- that Microsoft is allegedly considering bringing the Start Menu back in the next version of Windows (code named "Threshold"). While it is only a rumor thus far, it warrants some consideration. The Modern UI is the future of Windows and Microsoft should not listen to naysayers. In other words, the company should ignore these customers, even if they are the majority.
BetaNews, your source for breaking tech news, reviews, and in-depth reporting since 1998.
© 1998-2025 BetaNews, Inc. All Rights Reserved. About Us - Privacy Policy - Cookie Policy - Sitemap.