Latest Technology News

In late November, I opined why Microsoft is in trouble. A couple of conversations I had over Thanksgiving led me to believe there are tons of misconceptions about Microsoft consumer products, such as: Windows Phone is dead and Windows PCs are nothing but junk.

But I think the company can correct these problems by aggressively taking action in several key areas: Windows 8 hardware requirements, Windows 8 and Windows Phone marketing, synchronization and natural user interfaces.

Continue reading →

The headline really should be "What Windows 8 and Windows on ARM mean to Microsoft and to you" but that didn't ring right to my ears. But it more aptly describes the train of this analysis.

Simply stated: Windows 8 is the riskiest release ever. Microsoft execs say they are "re-imagining" Windows. Believe them. But it's much more: Reinvention. If successful, Microsoft will be a very different company in five years, and that's as much about the future stock price and company valuation as market position and products. All depends on the risks delivering rewards.

Continue reading →

This week has seen an impressive number of releases, so many that you may have missed one or two. In this roundup we’ve collected together some of the highlights starting with a selection of mobile app. OneNote Mobile has been available to iOS users for a little while now, but the app has just made its way to the Android platform. Offering synchronization with your computer and a comprehensive selection of options, this is a great way to manage notes, lists, to-dos and more.

If your children have an Android mobile or they have access to yours, you can turn to Norton Safety Minder 2.3 to place restrictions on how the Internet can be used and monitor the web pages that are visited. Should you be in the market for a new web browser for your mobile, look no further than Chrome for Android Beta 0.16.4130.199, which is available for Ice Cream Sandwich devices and compares well to the desktop version of Google’s browser, even at this early beta stage.

Continue reading →

Despite the protestations of the movie industry over the harm BitTorrent incurs to its bottom line, there is an ever increasing amount of evidence that this is not true -- at least here in the United States. University of Minnesota and Wellesley College's study does show that internationally there is a correlation, but this is likely more to do with the considerable lead time the United Stats enjoys in movie releases.

The study finds a seven percent decrease in box offices revenues on average as a result of piracy. The amount of loss widens as the lead time increases, indicating there is some relation between the two. Essentially, the power to reduce losses as a result of BitTorrent lies within the industry itself.

Continue reading →

Often, during a presentation, you’ll want to focus on a particular area of the screen. A mouse cursor can help, custom tools like PointerStick are even better, but for real flexibility look no further than Sysinternals ZoomIt.

At its simplest, the program can deliver a simple, static zoom: just press the (configurable) hotkey, then use the mouse wheel or up and down arrow keys to zoom in on the area you need.

Continue reading →

Because Microsoft can do it. The software giant wouldn't have dared on x86 PCs.

Steven Sinofsky's nearly 9,000-word Windows on ARM manifesto packs lots of surprises. Among the biggest: "WOA includes desktop versions of the new Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote". Say what? Now why is that? Four reasons stand out: Litigation, protection, competition and adoption.

Continue reading →

Apple's strategy concerning third party applications on iOS is the target of a good deal of criticism: it's either the App Store or nothing at all. Like it or not, Microsoft will bring the same approach to Windows as it ports the platform to the ARM architecture.

Microsoft has said that Windows on ARM will not support virtualization nor the porting of applications build for the x86 platform. There are solid reasons for this, including system performance and lack of a keyboard and mouse setup in most WOA deployments. Windows and Windows Live president Steven Sinfosky mentions these issues as part of a broader discussion on WOA development.

Continue reading →

In September, about a month before Apple's cofounder died, I asserted that "Steven Sinofksy is the new Steve Jobs". Jobs' on-stage presentations, and the "reality distortion field" with them, are legendary. But chatter and buzz can fill the InterWebs, without seemingly magical Apple events. Sinofsky's blog post, "Building Windows for the ARM processor architecture", while hardly a compelling title, is Microsoft's manifesto for this decade. People are talking, chatting, buzzing -- and they should be.

Microsoft is in the process of rebuilding Windows for the post-PC era, by stepping back from its core roots -- Intel processors -- and embracing ARM. Windows will still run on x86 processors, but there's now little doubt that, without major chip changes from AMD or Intel, Wintel is legacy and ARM is the future. The architectural change opens up mobile device categories, even Windows 8 on smartphones, that the OS can't effectively reach today. Essentially, Microsoft is betting the flagship operating system's future on ARM. Sinofsky made a big statement in a small way -- nothing more than one of the longest blog posts you'll read ever (It's more than 8,000 words, closer to 9,000 really, which is enough to publish as a Kindle Single).

Continue reading →

Hot on the heels of the final release of Chrome 17, Google has updated Chrome Beta to version 18. Its headline new feature is improved 2D graphics performance in HTML5 and a software rasterizer to enable older machines to display content rendered using newer, unsupported technologies such as WebGL.

Chrome 18 Beta also sees improvements to the PDF plug-in, plus fixes a number of issues such as full-screen performance under Windows and startup issues in Red Hat Enterprise 6.

Continue reading →

Backing up data is something that every computer user needs to do, but many people simply never get round to -- it is one of those chores that is just too easy to put off. There are a few obstacles that put people off: the time it takes to configure backup software and the amount of money it costs to invest in one are probably the main ones. With today’s special giveaway, you can eliminate both of these issues and safeguard your valuable data by grabbing a free copy of Paragon System Backup 10.5 Special Edition, worth $29.95.

The beauty of working with this particular backup tool, aside from the fact that it can be yours completely free of charge, is that it is so incredibly easy to use. Paragon System Backup 10.5 Special Edition will automatically check your system and determine which of your available hard drives has sufficient free space to be used to store backups -- as such, it is a good idea to ensure that you have any USB drives connected so they can be analyzed. Once this has been done, the program will automatically create a snapshot of your system, getting the protection process underway immediately.

Continue reading →

Nitro PDF has updated its free PDF reading and creation tool with a selection of new features, plus performance improvements and bug fixes. Nitro PDF Reader 2.2 builds on previous releases with minor additions including a new Print option for PDFs in the context menu, automatic keyboard language detection in text insertion tools and support for rich text in both annotation and form fields.

Nitro PDF Reader stands out from other free PDF viewers with its creation and editing tools, which include the ability to convert documents from over 300 file types into PDF without having to invoke the built-in virtual PDF print driver.

Continue reading →

At first glance Auslogics Disk Defrag Pro looks much like any other defrag tool.

There’s the list of your drives, for instance. Choose one, click Analyze and a few seconds later you’ll get a fragmentation report (including the usual cluster map). And if it’s not looking good, click Defrag and the program will rearrange your files for the best possible performance -- just as promised by every other disk defragger.

Continue reading →

As a part of its ongoing restructuring efforts, America's century-old imaging company Eastman Kodak announced it will phase out its "dedicated capture devices business" which includes a big chunk of its consumer portfolio, such as digital cameras, pocket camcorders, and digital picture frames.

The company said it will instead seek revenues through licensing the patents that it has in these areas.

Continue reading →

AVAST Software has released the first public betas of its 2012 security family, in the shape of avast! 7 Free, Pro and Internet Security.

One immediately obvious change comes in the revamped installer. If you’re tired of security tools taking over your entire system then you’ll appreciate the degree of control you get here. Install Internet Security, say, and you can choose precisely which core components you need (firewall, sandbox, spam filter, browsing protection, more), and which real-time shields, making it much easier to create a minimum install which should run alongside other security packages.

Continue reading →

About four months ago, thousands of people held vigil outside Apple stores, honoring deceased cofounder Steve Jobs and joining a sudden canonization -- deification, really -- process that raised him above mere mortals. Today, crowds return to those same shops in anger, protesting workers' treatment at Apple factories in China. Whoa, how brands, and emotions about them, suddenly change.

I'm simply appalled, not by Apple, but by the protesters. This is no Arab Spring, people.

Continue reading →