Google comes clean: Yes, your kernel panic is Chrome's fault
The last thing Google needs following its exciting developer conference (ending today) is for something sharp to pop its big fun beach ball called Chrome. The search and information giant scrambles to fix a bug that sends the newest MacBook Air into kernel panic. That's "crash" to you Mac layfolk.
Starting just shortly after the release of Sandy Bridge-powered Macbook Airs earlier this month, troublesome reports appeared on Apple’s support communities where, owners complained their slender machines crashed to the point of kernel panic -- and frequently.
Ashampoo Photo Optimizer 5 sports a new look
German developer Ashampoo has released Photo Optimizer 5, the latest edition of its fast and easy-to-use photo editing tool.
The revamped interface gives the program a very different look, but its core functionality is unchanged. You open with a thumbnail browser, and after browsing to your photo collection, can optimise the color, sharpness and lighting of any shot with a click.
ADOBE FLASH IS DEAD -- on mobile!
From the halls of Adobe come the bells of impending death tolls. The master slayed its dragon. Flash is dead. The words from Adobe today in a public blog post mark another major blow to Flash, at least in the mobile form. The company announced that it will no longer develop Flash for Android after Android 4.0. There will be no certified implementations for Android 4.1.
Earlier this week, during its developer conference, Google officially unveiled the newest Android version -- Jellybean -- which replaces the stock browser with Chrome, for which Flash already isn't available. Google released Chrome for Android beta, supporting on v4 Ice Cream Sandwich, in February. From that perspective, the announcement, and timing, isn't super surprising.
I run my business from iPhone 3G
Second in a series. Editor's note: To commemorate iPhone's fifth-anniversary, we present several stories looking at its debut and colorful history -- so far. Who says you need the newest tech to be productive, eh?
As a writer and freelance IT contractor, I am in effect running my own business. I have multiple clients, assignments with deadlines, meetings with suppliers and contacts, and lots of marketing to arrange. Over the last few years I’ve noticed that I can manage all of these activities from my humble iPhone 3G. In effect I’m running my business from my phone, which is pretty amazing when you think that the original iPhone is only five years old today. In that short time the ‘God phone’, as some dubbed it at the time, has completely transformed what a phone can be.
Project Now iOS app generates a soundtrack for your life -- Kind of
Reality Jockey is responsible for some of iOS’s more interesting audio apps, including RjDj, Inception and Dimensions. The London-based developer’s latest offering, Project Now, is an ambitious music app that aims to choose the perfect music for every situation you find yourself in. For example, if you’re just relaxing at home, it will play a selection of suitable tunes from your music collection. Go to work and it will switch to something more fitting for the business environment. Visit the gym, and you’ll hear music to work out to. Cleverly it also mixes in external sounds from your microphone, so you can still hear the world around you when you’re out cycling, or in the office.
When you first run the app it will import your music, which will take a while to complete. After then it will attempt to assess your situation, based on the current day, time, location and sounds around you, and find music to match. It can identify 21 different circumstances, including calm, active, asleep, snowy, night out and full moon. Quite why you’d want to listen to different music when the moon is full I’m not sure.
Secunia PSI 3 keeps your PC software up to date
Danish software developer Secunia ApS has released a brand new version of its free security audit tool for Windows users. Secunia PSI (Personal Software Inspector) 3.0 allows users to automatically scan their computer for missing Windows updates and outdated software, and, in many cases, the program can then automate the update process where necessary.
Version 3.0 boasts a cleaner, simpler user interface, automated patching support, localization support and improvements to underlying features.
Will iOS users dump Safari for Chrome?
That's really my question for iPad and iPhone users. Today Google released Chrome for iOS. Will you dump Safari for Chrome? I would. But can't. I boycotted Apple earlier this month because of its patent bullying, which later succeeded in blocking Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 imports. What madness!
In May, I claimed that I would use iPad if Chrome was available. Well, the browser is here and I won't, mainly because of the boycott. But also because I'm mad. To receive holy admittance into the Apple App Store shrine, Google sacrificed a lamb and prostrated before the great iOS idol. Chrome and Safari may both be based on WebKit, but Google's browser actually uses a different rendering engine. Well, not on iOS.
RIM Death Watch: Revenues plummet, jobs cut, BB10 delayed until 2013
The news for Research in Motion went from bad to worse after the close of the market Thursday, as the company reported a sharp 33 percent drop in revenues quarter-to-quarter. Worse yet, its next-generation BlackBerry 10 operating system is postponed until the first quarter of next year, meaning any major new device releases are also delayed.
As part of its earnings announcement, RIM is also giving some bad news to its employees: layoffs for 5,000, or about a third of its workforce. Looks like it's time to start the RIM death watch once again.
What Recon Instruments' HUD SDK means to you [video]
Yesterday at Google I/O, Recon Instruments announced the HUD SDK. I couldn't get time at the booth until today, they were so busy. Recon is best known for its goggle mods, which put an Android computer inside a heads up display that provides alpine skiers and snowboarder with all kinds of useful information such as speed, navigation and location, among others. Oh, yeah, music, too.
The development kit turns the device into a platform. Now third parties can write their own apps -- it's no longer a Recon affair. Tyson Miller explains what the SDK means for the company, its customers, developers and future products.
Google+ celebrates 1st birthday with Events and History
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One year ago today, Google moved onto Facebook's turf and stunned techdom in the process. How much has changed? Google+ now has a total of 250 million users. Of that figure, Google says 150 million people use the service at least monthly, and 50 percent of those active users do so daily. That doesn’t actually mean 75 million people go to Google+ every day though -- it just means that they have some sort of interaction with Google’s social features, or more likely, click +1 buttons.
What’s the next Google Nexus smartphone going to be like?
By now, we've all seen the Nexus 7 tablet, Google's first attempt to penetrate the tablet market directly. For $199, the Nexus 7 will be a huge hit among tablet fans worldwide. It will be directly supported by Google, which means updates will actually be released on time. That is a major advantage over any other Android tablet currently on the market, and will remain an advantage over future ones as well. Google is known to deliver a consistent "stock" Android experience, which is what most cutting-edge tech fans love.
But what about the next Google Nexus phone? It’s totally overshadowed by the tablet right now, so it's a perfect time to think about what's next for the Nexus brand.
Google takes on Amazon with Compute Engine cloud service
Google has Amazon in its sights. The Mountain View, California company has announced Google Compute Engine, its answer to Amazon's Elastic Compute (EC2) service. While the company currently only offers its cloud platform in limited preview, it is likely wider availability will come in short order, likely later this year.
Google will provide customers with virtual machines in 1,2,4, and 8 core-configurations running Linux. Each virtual machine will come with 3.75GB of RAM per virtual core, and storage is provided through Google's new persistent block device, or its newly announced Google Cloud Storage product.
Google polishes iOS, adds Chrome trim
In its second day keynote at the I/O 2012 developer confab, Google announced it has brought the Chrome browser to Apple's iOS.
Macquarie analyst Ben Schacter recently released a report that stated that Apple may already be reviewing the app, estimating that it should be released second quarter of this year. However, due to the restrictions in Apple's developer terms of service, it's not going to be the full Chrome experience.
Weirdest software launch ever: BlueStacks marries Android to Mac
In what was undoubtedly the strangest event at Google I/O this year (and possibly even of all time,) Mac and Android exchanged vows and were married. Yes, you heard that right. Outside of Google I/O in San Francisco yesterday, Android virtualization software maker BlueStacks launched the alpha version of its BlueStacks App Player for Mac OS and celebrated it with a mock wedding.
The company officially announced its Android App Player would be headed to the Mac platform last November, in the very vague time frame of "sometime next year," but the bombastic way in which the company debuted the software came totally out of left field.
Would you sell your iPad and buy Google Nexus 7?
I ask because this morning I got email from a reader who is doing just that. "I ordered my Nexus 7 yesterday for $249, and I am selling my iPad gen 1 for $200", Brian Fagioli writes. It's not a bad trade-off. The original iPad is obsolete when iOS 6 ships, while Nexus 7 packs the newest Android version, Jelly Bean. But would you, and even for a newer iPad?
Google announced the tablet yesterday at Google I/O. Two models are available for preorder -- 8GB ($199) and 16GB ($249) -- and ship in mid-July. I wouldn't call Nexus 7 an iPad-killer, since it's a product with different ambitions: Reclaiming the Android tablet ecosystem from Kindle Fire. But the lower price and smaller size, and Android 4.1, do appeal. The question is to whom.
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