10 Windows 8 apps for IT workers
When you look at the app offerings from Microsoft's Windows Store, the bulk is made up of programs targeting a casual audience. Games seem to be popular, for instance, making up a fifth of all apps currently listed in the store. While there is nothing wrong with playing a game of solitaire during a break or wait period, it doesn't help Microsoft sell the operating system to a professional audience.
Digging deeper, however, you will find decent apps that IT workers will come to love if they take the plunge and decide to work with apps under Windows 8. There is certainly no need for that unless the system is running Windows RT, as desktop programs provide you with a similar, and often even a better, feature set than store apps at the moment.
If HTC customer satisfaction is so high, why are smartphone sales so low?
That's my question after scanning a survey JDPower and Associates released yesterday. The firm ranks customer satisfaction on a scale of one to 1,000. For the eighth consecutive survey, Apple is tops with a score of 849. But HTC is second, at 790, which has me scratching my head trying to put two and two together and getting three. Perhaps my math should be similar for Apple, since Samsung, which scored 782, sells more smartphones than any other manufacturer -- that's here and abroad.
My point: High customer satisfaction doesn't necessarily equate to big sales. There are many other factors to consider, particularly subsidized products like smartphones. Among them: Carrier contracts and pricing; device promotions; on-shelf experience in stores; handset look and feel; color choices; cases and other add-on options; carrier availability (no iPhone at T-Mobile USA, for example) and advertising, which Samsung does much more of than HTC -- or that's my observation. None of these reasons considers features, which aren't that different phone to phone as they used to be.
We need an IPO renaissance
Third in a series. As many readers have pointed out, the IPO drought of the last decade has many causes beyond just decimalization of stock trading. Sarbanes-Oxley has made it significantly more expensive to be a public company than it used to be. Consolidation in the banking and brokerage industries have resulted in fewer specialists and hardly any true investment bankers surviving. The lure of derivatives trading and other rocket science activities on Wall Street have made IPO underwriting look like a staid and prosaic profession, too. Fortunately, people in positions of influence are finally starting to realize that there is no economic future for this country without new public companies.
One requirement of the JOBS Act, passed last April, was that the SEC look at trading decimalization, and especially tick sizes, to see if there has been an effect on small-cap company liquidity. If the SEC decides there is such a negative effect there’s the possibility that they introduce a new minimum tick for smaller companies of perhaps a nickel (up from a penny) to as much as a dime. I believe this would help the IPO industry, but many people disagree.
What Windows 8 needs to succeed
As a long-time Windows user, as well as software developer, I have pondered about what would make Windows 8 and the new modern UI (aka. Metro) a success. Microsoft can spit and polish the operating system, but people will interact more with applications. As good as Windows 8 might be, it won't satisfy if the apps aren't good enough.
That's why I believe Microsoft needs to rethink Windows Store. One isn't enough for Windows 8. There needs to be a second Signature store that offers only the highest-quality apps, however few they be. I'll explain.
Sprint Samsung Galaxy Nexus gets a dose of Jelly Bean
Sprint has (once again) announced the elusive Android 4.1 Jelly Bean is coming to its Samsung Galaxy Nexus variant. But when will you get it is the question. According to a Sprint employee, the update will slowly be rolled-out to the Samsung Galaxy Nexus S as well and it should take "little over a week" for all Nexus S owners to receive Jelly Bean.
Sprint surpassed Verizon in the "race" to deliver Android 4.1 that was nowhere to be seen on the LTE models at least until Sprint announced it. Sprint is rolling out Android 4.1.1 Jelly Bean JRO03R, with a newer build number than the factory images posted by Google on its Developers page.
I don't need a smartphone
Call me old fashioned. I do not now, and never have in the past, owned a smartphone. Whether it was due to geographic isolation (the iPhone debuted after I'd moved 11,000 miles to the Indian Ocean), fear of being a too-early adopter, or simply an inability to rationalize the cost of a non-subsidized device, I have somehow resisted the siren song of the smartphone revolution.
But that doesn't mean I'm stuck in the past. More than any of my contemporaries, I have embraced the post-PC concept with gusto. From my first attempts using an HP Mini 2140 netbook (great machine), through my awkward BlackBerry PlayBook (still love my 32GB unit) days to my present infatuation with rooted, customized Android tablets (thanks xda community!), I've seized every opportunity to put my 30+ year relationships with the "wintel" cabal behind me.
Get Aero on Windows 8
Hot on the heels of the RTM version of Windows 8, a swathe of tools that can be used to either emulate the appearance and features of the latest version of the operating system, or tweak Windows 8, have emerged. Windows 8 Transformation Pack 6.0 and Windows 8 UX Pack 6.0 both fall into the former camp. Something that has annoyed many long-term users: Microsoft dropped Aero from the latest release -- with these tools you can regain it.
Now that the final release version of Windows 8 has been unveiled, many of the changes that have been are fairly minor updates that bring this duo of tweaking tools in line with the very latest code. In the Transformation Pack this means that wallpapers from the RTM version of Windows 8 are now available, and changes have been made to the use of the Segoe font family for better compatibility. Elsewehere you’ll find the very latest icons, buttons, boot screen and more, so you can get the full Windows 8 look.
Ice Cream Sandwich distribution tops 20 percent
What's the most popular sweet in the Android universe? It's not Jelly Bean, or even Ice Cream Sandwich, based on the number of devices accessing Google Play during the 14 days ending September 4. Gingerbread has the largest share on devices. Again.
Capitalizing on the number of Samsung Galaxy Nexus smartphones and Google Nexus 7 tablets, Android 4.1 Jelly Bean manages to reach a 1.2-percent Android distribution. The number pales in comparison to its older siblings, but represents a 50-percent increase of 0.4 percentage points from a month earlier when the OS reached just 0.8 percent of Android devices.
AVG Internet Security 2013 review
AVG Internet Security has always been a likeable security suite, with all the core components you need to keep your PC safe: antivirus, firewall, spam filter, browsing protection and more.
But of course it’s not perfect, and so it’s good to see AVG Internet Security 2013 doesn’t waste time introducing irrelevant new features, and instead largely concentrates on addressing many fundamental issues. The new release aims to accelerate scanning performance, for instance, reduce memory consumption, cut your boot time and improve core modules like the firewall and spam filter, which sounds great to us.
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.
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