Oracle has announced the release of VirtualBox 4.2.6, the latest edition of its powerful cross-platform virtualization tool.

This is a maintenance release, and so looks more or less unchanged. But the build does include plenty of welcome bug fixes and other small improvements.

UK software developer Comodo Group has launched the 2013 range -- version 6.0 -- of its free internet security products. COMODO Internet Security Premium 2013, COMODO AntiVirus 2013 and COMODO Firewall 2013 all debut a brand new, radically revamped and simplified user interface, plus come with the promise of being the lightest, fastest version of COMODO’s security tool yet.

The latest build also improves virtualization technology for running applications in their own sandbox, while COMODO Internet Security also ships with a number of new integrated products, including Autorun Analyzer and COMODO Cleaning Essentials.

Keeping track of your medical history is no easy task (there’s just so much to record), which is probably why many people simply don’t bother. And most of the time that probably won’t matter, as your doctor should maintain all the key details for access whenever necessary.

If you’re changing doctors, though, or seeing a specialist, or need to monitor a particular condition, then it can be very useful to maintain records of your own. And the free HeyDoc! makes this much more straightforward than you might expect.

CMOs and CIOs frequently deal with outdated, legacy intranets that lack the interaction and functionality characteristic of Web 2.0 platforms. It’s no wonder that the intranet has frequently been pronounced dead by industry experts and reporters alike.

But according to IBM, the intranet isn’t dead, only evolving into what the firm calls Intranet 2.0, a new platform that combines social capabilities, data collection and a dynamic infrastructure to help business leaders create a smarter, more effective workforce. I discussed this transition with Larry Bowden, IBM’s Vice President of Portals and Web Experience.

It is that time of year. Every search engine and social media site is posting its top-10 lists. People are shopping, putting up lights and decorations and even getting their computers into the spirit with Windows themes, Chrome New Tab themes and Firefox Personas. Your Android phone or tablet can also get into the spirit of the holidays with some handy apps. The Google Play store and Amazon App Store are both resources for holiday music and and movies, but there are also a number of apps to keep your spirits high.

There are holiday games, shopping apps and wallpapers. You can track Santa's journey around the world or track the calories you consume at that big meal. No, sorry, I am not covering the latter here. You can search for those on your own.

Angry users say they will ditch Instagram over policy changes granting the service the rights to use their photos. Of course, what people say they will do in the heat of the moment isn't necessarily what they eventually do, especially when extra effort is required -- in this case, recovering images from the service. Still, among respondents to a BetaNews poll, the number planning to keep Instagram is statistically zero (5 votes). Forty percent will stop using or cancel the service. However, a much larger number, 60 percent, already aren't users.

The Instagram backlash is nothing but fierce, for terms like these: "Instagram does not claim ownership of any Content that you post on or through the Service. Instead you hereby grant to Instagram a non-exclusive, fully paid and royalty-free, transferable, sub-licensable, worldwide license to use the Content that you post on or through the Service". The photo-sharer later claimed misunderstanding and poor wording, but you tell me what's unclear here.

It’s that time of year again, when everyone feels festive and we find ourselves in the Downloadcrew Giveaway mood. This year, we’ve lined up five great software giveaways to share with you. From midday this Saturday until Jan. 4, 2013, you’ll be given the opportunity to grab up to five free commercial packages without having to pay a single cent.

We’re kicking things off with a doozy too – for 48 hours from Saturday December 22nd, we’ll be giving away free copies of O&O Defrag 15.8 Professional, worth $29.95. If your PC feels sluggish, then this powerful defrag tool is just the ticket for giving your hard drives a much needed speed boost.

By now most of us have read or heard that Instagram (now part of Facebook) proposes a change to its terms of service to allow the company to use your pictures and mine in any fashion it chooses, including selling the pics to third parties. So if you don’t want your baby pictures to risk being used in a beer ad, we’re told, you should close your Instagram account by January 15th. One pundit called this move Instagram committing suicide, but I think something else is going on.

Can’t you just see the meeting at Facebook in which this idea was first presented? ”It’s a whole new revenue stream!” some staffer no doubt howled. “If our users are oblivious or stupid enough to let us get away with it, that is. Maybe we can sneak it through over Christmas”. We’ll see shortly, won’t we?

I lost hope for Windows 8 last night, after visiting my local Best Buy store and seeing gads of cheap computers vying for customers' attention and losing it to tablets and smartphones. The prices are insanely low, which is more surprising because Microsoft has a new operating system that's supposed to generate demand and lead to market innovative touchscreen and convertible designs that offer real benefits to buyers and higher margins to manufacturers and retailers. Ba! Humbug! Gimme Grinch. There's no Santa coming to this island of misfit toys. There, have I mixed enough metaphors to make the point?

This morning, I looked at PC prices from other retailers and the shock is greater still. I'll look first at Best Buy, which has some terrific bundles, starting at $299.99, for Windows 8 Dell or HP laptop, case, mouse, USB stick and security software (with 12-month subscription). Is that too much for you to spend? Best Buy has a Toshiba model for $269.99 with AMD dual-core processor, 15.6-inch LED display, 2GB RAM, 320GB hard drive, DVD burner, WiFi and all the ports you'd expect. For $329.99, you can move up to Intel processor, 4GB RAM and 500GB with a Samsung Series 3 laptop. At my local store, boxes fill the main aisle adjacent to the tablets. Meanwhile, Best Buy tucks expensive Ultrabooks further back, in a smaller side-isle display area almost anyone could miss.

Instagram sure knows how to feed the frenzy. Shortly after the photo-sharing social network revised the rights policy, interpreted by many people as a sign of major changes regarding handling of user content and ownership, the company issued a response to the numerous complaints, blaming legal speak for the misunderstanding.

"Many users are confused and upset", so Instagram's co-founder, Kevin Systrom, took it upon himself, on behalf of the Facebook-owned social network, to inform concerned Instagrammers that everyone got it wrong. Systrom states: "Legal documents are easy to misinterpret", which basically implies that the problem is with reading the rights policy in the appropriate manner and not with the rights policy in itself. That's not overly reassuring, however, considering that what is basically a major change in philosophy can be so easily subject to interpretation.

SlimWare Utilities, makers of SlimCleaner, is hosting a special-access beta for its newest software product, SlimImage, and BetaNews readers are invited to be among the first to try it out.

SlimImage integrates directly with Windows 8 to preserve and safeguard a computer’s operating system, applications, files and documents independently. SlimImage is like a time machine for Windows 8 devices, incrementally backing up personal documents and files through versioning, while simultaneously, but separately, imaging the Windows 8 operating system and installed applications. In this way, SlimImage solves the problem of users losing data and personal documents when reinstalling their operating system in order to correct a system malfunction or crash.

Let’s be frank: most free internet TV apps are utter rubbish, little more than a front end to a collection of web links which either don’t work, or point to channels or shows which you’d never want to watch anyway.

One or two applications are a little more interesting, though. And ChrisTV Online! FREE, in particular, shows rather more ambition than most of its more basic competition.

CloudMagic is a superb search tool that sadly doesn’t get the attention it fully deserves. If you’ve ever complained about how long it takes Google to find a certain message in Gmail, or have wasted far too much time trying to track down a particular tweet or Facebook status update, this is the solution you need (full disclosure: I’m a massive fan and couldn’t imagine life without it).

I spoke to co-founder Rohit Nadhani about his product, how it began, and the company’s plans for the future.

BN: For the benefit of readers who may not be familiar with CloudMagic, can you tell us a bit about it?

Audio loops are a great way to speed up the process of creating your own music, but it can be hard to get the precise sound you need. One possible solution might be to spend an age browsing your favorite online loop libraries in the hope that something turns up, but a simpler option it just to install LoopJam, which can remix existing WAV loops with a click.

Launch the program and it’ll immediately start playing a demo sample. This is also displayed as a waveform and divided into segments, each of which can have one of several effects applied (Highpass, Lowpass, Stutter, Reverser, and so on) by clicking in a grid.

While the cloud generally provides for better reliability than on-premise systems, having a solid backup plan is still a universal necessity. Cloud solutions like Google Apps and Office 365 have nearly eliminated the notion of data loss due to technological failure. The systems and processes in place that govern the storage of your important data with players like Google and Microsoft are rock solid. We can fault providers for service downtime any day of the week; but you'll be hard pressed to read about cases where they actually lost your data.

The biggest issue with data loss on cloud platforms lies within the acute problem of human error. We aren't perfect and will likely always be dealing with data loss stemming from incorrect clicks, mistaken deletion, and other similar circumstances. For this very reason, even with its inherent safety nets, the cloud needs a fallback of its own.