Latest Technology News

Windows PowerShell may be Microsoft’s scripting choice for the future, but that doesn’t mean it’s all over for the humble batch file -- far from it.

Install the free Advanced BAT to EXE Converter and not only will the program help you develop new batch files, but it also allows you to extend them with new commands, before compiling the results into EXE files which will run on anything from Windows 98 upwards (no .NET or other annoying DLL dependencies).

I heard from dozens of readers yesterday morning about a message IBM sent to its current employees concerning their 401K plan -- changing it from a contribution in every paycheck to a single contribution at the end of the year. Of course if you are laid off that means no annual contribution, less retirement savings, but a real bonus to the company. This, in itself, isn’t worth a column. It’s just Scrooge IBM being more Scrooge-like in search of that 2015 earnings target. What is worth a column is putting this news in the context of IBM having failed its recent internal security audit, which should concern IBM customers.

What, they didn’t tell you?

If you’d like to keep your wireless network secure then turning on the best possible encryption is usually a very good place to start. There may still be room for problems, though (as I discovered, when my brother accidentally turned off his encryption entirely while trying to set up a TV), so it could be worth using NirSoft’s Wireless Network Watcher to keep a lookout for WiFi intruders.

As usual with NirSoft programs, Wireless Network Watcher is compact in the extreme, a tiny download (even when unpacked it requires less than 700KB drive space) which requires no installation: just unzip it and go.

At face value, Podio is a very tough product to describe. Parent company, Citrix, describes it as an "online work platform", which tends to be fairly accurate, but is a definite understatement. Podio has the social likeness of Google+ or Facebook, but don't think Yammer here (Podio politely offers sociability -- it doesn't force it down your throat.) Podio leverages a powerful cloud-based CRM platform that is highly customizable, a la Salesforce. Yet it also happens to integrate useful tabular functionality and spreadsheet importing/exporting to and from Excel. So what the heck exactly is Podio?

After one month of living personally and professionally on Podio, one thing I can say is I know what it isn't. It's not a platform for those looking for a simple cookie cutter solution to a single problem. The product is targeted towards companies small and large willing to invest a little time to get a lot in return. That return, more specifically, is functionality and flexibility. Podio tosses out the "800 pound gorilla" approach to software and instead offers a different perspective: you build it, and they will come.

If you’re at all interested in PC scripting then you’ll probably already know that Windows PowerShell is a very powerful technology that presents all kinds of interesting management and automation possibilities.

Figuring out how best to use PowerShell isn’t always straightforward, though. To put it politely. But the next time you’re struggling to understand how to do something, it’s worth remembering that help is at hand in the shape of Microsoft’s Script Explorer.

The "Microsoft tablet is a failure meme" was old from the start. Every day there's some new blog based on rumor or innuendo assuring everyone who pays attention that Surface is doomed and sales are this side of worse than terrible. There is so much nonsense punditry, I don't know where to start. DigiTimes has unnamed channel sources saying Microsoft cut orders for the tablet by half. The report got widespread attention, despite the publication's record for getting this kind of story wrong. Along come the analysts. DFG slashed shipment estimates to between 500,000 and 600,000 from between 1 million to 2 million. Number was way too high to start. Now Tim Worstall, a Fellow at Adam Smith Institute, whines that Surface RT is way overpriced. It's not.

If Microsoft's tablet has a sales problem -- and let's strut that I-F again -- distribution is the reason. The product isn't overpriced or flawed. Microsoft only sells Surface through the company store; that's online and (by my count) 66 retail shops. Sixty stores are in the continental United States, five in Canada and another in Puerto Rico. There are only a limited number of places anyone can buy the tablet, which limits how many the company can sell. What matters more is how many Microsoft sells per store. Pundits crying "fail" are nincompoops of the nth degree. If any of them bothered to look at Apple Store, they would understand.

Can Google get further into the business world by combining Apps and the popular Play store? We are about to find out because the company has announced just that approach. Google has been making inroads for sometime now with the information technology crowd thanks to its Apps offering and, with some high profile conquests in the corporate and government realm, has made real progress against Microsoft and the powerful Office 365 offering. Now Google is taking a mobile approach in hopes of getting even more attention from big business.

In this case the search giant is looking to its growing Android success and the attached Play store to get a better foothold. The company has announced a new "Private Channel"  for the Play store that will allow for the distribution of internal mobile apps.

On the heals of yesterday's smartphone forecast, the soothsayers at IDC are back with another bold, brash, and probably foolhardy prediction -- this time for tablets. Once again, Microsoft plays third fiddle to Apple and Google. In a market so fast changing, no one should take any 2016 forecast seriously. But, hey, clients don't pay IDC for doing nothing. Is there a refund policy, because few analysts (okay, none really) get the numbers right. IDC has revised its forecast at least three times this year. Now what does that tell you?

Let's start with the newest revision and then look back at how IDC got the numbers wrong and why those four years hence are probably worthless, too. For this year, the firm predicts 122.3 million tablets shipped, up from 117.1 million forecast in September. Yeah, three months ago. That number revised 107.4 million made in June. You can see where this is headed, right? No surprise, 2013 is higher, too: 172.4 million, up from 165.9 million in September and 142.8 million in June. For 2016, new forecast is 282.7 million, up from 261.4 million in September and 221.1 million in June.

Wednesday, Finnish smartphone maker Nokia introduced the Lumia 920T, the first TD-SCDMA variant of the Lumia 920 that will be available later this year on the world's largest carrier, China Mobile. Off-contract, the Windows Phone 8 handset runs for roughly $720 and ships in the typical black, red, yellow or white trim.

Nokia has given little away regarding the device's hardware specifications. That is likely due to the fact that the two Lumia 920 device types share most of the same underpinnings, except support for the TD-SCDMA wireless standard used in China. As a result, buyers can expect a 4.5-inch PureMotion HD+ display with a resolution of 1280 by 768, a 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor, 32GB of internal storage, an 8.7 MP rear-facing camera with LED flash, 1080p video recording and PureView technology, and a 1.3 MP chat camera.

Open source enterprise software company Red Hat Inc on Wednesday released the latest version of its VMWare competitor, Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization (RHEV) 3.1. This is the first version upgrade the platform has received in nearly a year.

Red Hat offers a handful of improvements in this version, including support for as many as 160 logical CPUs and 2 TB of RAM per virtual machine, and support for the latest generation of x86-based processors. It also offers a revamped interface with a new Web admin portal, new reporting dashboard, and a new power user portal with resource quota capabilities for private cloud deployments.

Whether you are looking at how to best capture and share a video of baby’s first Christmas or the excitement of a marriage proposal this holiday season, cell phone, digital camera or camcorder often isn't enough. Some editing is required to tell a compelling and concise story.

I've prepared a list of 10 tips based on frequently asked questions from the more than two million consumers on CyberLink's DirectorZone social media site. Please add your own in comments, or sharing story about successful video-editing project.

Do you remember Napster? Not the paid streaming music service sold last year to Rhapsody, but the original peer-to-peer music sharing service that was hugely popular from 1999-2001 when it went down in a legal ball of flames over copyright infringement. Well something Napster-like is emerging from Amoeba Music, the huge pre-owned music and video stores in Berkeley, San Francisco and Los Angeles and some musicians and vinyl junkies are up in arms about it, though I can’t understand why.

Napster was a peer-to-peer service that allowed people to share their music collections online. Amoeba's Vinyl Vaults service is similar in that the company rips tracks from old records as they come into the stores then throws them up on a webpage where they can be downloaded, but not for free. Amoeba charges money.

Google unveiled two major iOS app updates with the release of Gmail -- email from Google 2.0 and YouTube for iOS 1.1.0. Gmail 2.0 is completely rebuilt from the ground up, debuting a brand new look and feel, the promise of better performance and a number of major new features.

YouTube for iOS adds native support for both iPhone 5 and iPad, plus the capability of streaming videos via Apple’s AirPlay wireless technology.

Surely Microsoft is not overcome by joy after IDC placed Windows Phone as the third largest player in the 2016 smartphone market, lingering behind the biggest competitor -- Android. Taking vengeance upon the green droid, the Redmond, Wash.-based software corporation initiated the #DroidRage campaign on Twitter, inviting users to share their Android "malware horror story".

As an Android user myself, I can't help but feel overly amused by Microsoft's idea. The #DroidRage campaign exudes desperation, considering Windows Phone's lowly popularity and embodies anything but a professional attitude, which is expected from one of the largest software companies in the business. Furthermore, Twitter users responding to the save-the-world-from-Android-malware campaign are not necessarily on Microsoft's side.

Nir Sofer has announced that several of his network applications, including  CurrPorts, NetworkTrafficView, SmartSniff and CountryTraceRoute, now support the free MaxMind IP geolocation database.

In practical terms that means the programs now include a “Remote IP Country” column in their report tables, and in some cases this will list the country (and, occasionally, the city) for that IP address.