jAlbum 10.4

Use jAlbum 10.4 to create photo websites

Swedish web album creation tool, jAlbum 10.4, is now available, boasting a number of major new features. Version 10.4 now supports building entire websites rather than simple photo albums, promises up to 40 percent faster page processing on multi-core CPUs and adds support for transparent PNG images and the ability to scale individual images to different sizes.

jAlbum, which is free for personal use and runs on Windows, Mac and Linux, makes it possible to create online photo albums quickly and easily via drag, drop and edit. Pick a template and publish -- either to jAlbum’s own online hosting service or your own website.

By Nick Peers -
COMODO Mobile Security

Protect your Android with COMODO Mobile Security & Antivirus Free 1.1

Viruses are something that are most readily associated with the Windows platform, but the increased popularity of mobile devices means that operating systems such as Android have become targets more recently. It’s easy to question the need for antivirus software for your cell phone, and if the software had a price tag attached to it, you might be right to view it with some degree of suspicion.

But Comodo Mobile Security & Antivirus Free for Android is available free of charge and comes from the reliable security firm Comodo -- and it’s packed with extra features, making it well worth a look.

Daryl Lang/ Shutterstock.com

Should the government be able to shut down mobile networks in an emergency?


That is the big question the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is asking right now in its latest call for public comment.

If there was an emergency situation, such as a mobile-triggered explosive device, or phone-organized "violent flash mob," could and should authorities be allowed to bring down all of the mobile communications networks?

By Tim Conneally -
Windows 8 PCs

9 Windows 8 editions is 7 too many

Two is enough. Windows 8 and Windows on ARM.

Based on a registry key found in Windows 8 Consumer Preview, there are potentially nine different editions coming later this year: Windows 8 Starter; Home Basic; Home Premium; Professional; Professional Plus; Enterprise; Enterprise Eval; Ultimate; and ARM. The six Windows 7 editions already are too many. Nine is bad gone way worse and shows that Windows 8, for all the courageous changes, is too much about the past way of thinking. Microsoft is looking back at the old PC model rather than looking far enough ahead to the cloud-connected device era.

By Joe Wilcox -
CyberLink Photo Director 3

CyberLink PhotoDirector 3 debuts, adds 'People Beautifier' system

CyberLink has released the final version of CyberLink PhotoDirector 3, a brand new version of its high-end photo management and editing tool. The new release boasts a number of powerful new editing tools, including an object removal system, a “People Beautifier” system offering skin smoothing and wrinkle removal among other retouching features, watermark editor and lens correction tools.

The final release comes two-and-a-half months after the public beta was launched, which attracted over 50,000 users and 5,000 comments, which CyberLink says led to several improvements and new features being added to this first stable release.

By Nick Peers -
Mac keyboard mouse hands

Recover deleted photos with EaseUS Mac Photo Recovery Free

The panic that sets in after emptying the Trash folder only to realize that it contained files you actually needed is a feeling that can only be match by the one that arises after hard drive fails and you realize you have no backup.

Losing certain files through user error, hardware failure or some other problem can cause inconvenience and lead to a great deal of work, but when it comes to photos and other images files, it is often the case that replacing files is simply not possible. EaseUS Mac Photo Recovery Free is a data recovery tool that may be able to help.

crazy hare rabbit madness

It's March Madness for Chrome and Internet Explorer

Trouble looms ahead this month for Chrome, while Internet Explorer is poised for a growth surge. Behind this March Madness both browsers share something in common -- their ties to either Google or Microsoft products or services. Chrome will be penalized for one, while IE is set to gain from the other.

Chrome is one of the decade's stunning success stories, in part because of Google's rapid innovation that puts out a new version about every six weeks. But Google also benefits from ties to its other products and services, with search being high among them. Recent browser usage share growth reversals reveal just how much -- in January and February stats compiled by Net Applications.

By Joe Wilcox -
Galaxy Nexus and iPhone 4S

US iPhone ownership catches up to Android

That's one of the startling data points from a report that Pew Internet released today. The non-profit "fact tank" asked American adults what kind of smartphone they own. Twenty percent responded "Android device", up from 15 percent in May 2011. iPhone: 19 percent, up from 10 percent during the same time period. Pew concluded the newer survey in February.

The percentage of people saying they own iPhone nearly doubled between surveys, which is stunning growth compared to Android. Meanwhile, BlackBerry ownership fell to 6 percent from 10 percent. Those respondents describing themselves as Windows Phone owners was unchanged, at 2 percent.

By Joe Wilcox -
Windows 8 Pictures Library

Windows 8 Consumer Preview: 1 million downloads first day

That's the official count as delivered rather surreptitiously via the Building Windows 8 twitter account. I guess some things just can't wait for a press release or blog post.

The tweet: "One day later...one million downloads of the Consumer Preview".

By Joe Wilcox -
surrender white flag

Consumers win as AT&T backs off on data throttling

AT&T is publicly conceding defeat after treating its long-time customers like second-class citizens, merely because they have an unlimited data plan. On Thursday the company announced changes to its throttling policy, boosting the throttling level to 3GB for customers using the HSPA+ network, and 5GB for those on its LTE network.

There is no other way to describe this than a win for consumers. AT&T was left to defend an untenable position where current customers paid $30 for 3GB of unthrottled data, yet long-time customers paying the same price were essentially cut off at 2GB. The position has already gotten the company sued once, and a judge found AT&T's practice unfair and awarded the plaintiff $850.

By Ed Oswald -
Steven Sinofsky and Windows 8 Metro

Windows 8 'Metro' is revolutionary

February 29 is the day I waited for for a long time. I downloaded the Windows 8 Consumer Preview to test out the work Microsoft has done so far, and I am very impressed. There are still some rough edges, though, but I like what Microsoft is doing. Strangely, I seem to be one of the few people that actually "get it".

As a designer, I am perfectly on board with anything that allows print and digital to come together in interesting ways. Mike Kruzeniski, who is a Creative Director at Microsoft, gave presentation "How Print Design is the Future of Interaction" at SXSW 2011 discussing this convergence. In interactive, content is important. We are quickly moving to a time where the lines between print and interactive content are blurring. And herein lies the problem with Windows 8. I refer to Metro, Windows 8's new motif that is receiving mixed reaction from testers.

By Robert Johnson -
Spying

You can trust Google to spy on you


Google's new privacy policy takes effect today, March 1. There are significant changes on how your data is handled across the Google family of sites, and that's enough to raise the concern of privacy regulators in both the European Union and Japan.

Their concern should be yours, too. Who's that looking over your shoulder online? Google.

By Ed Oswald -
Ninja Blocks with motion sensor

This little ninja could control the world

There are ups and downs to trying out new software and apps and web services every day. On the up side, you discover lots of things that simplify your life. On the down side, they often only simplify one thing, and don't integrate with the rest of the things in your life. This is why services like If This Then That (IFTTT) feel essential; they force these disparate services to play nicely with one another to simplify your life even further.

Ninja Blocks serves a similar purpose, but jumps an even bigger gap.

By Tim Conneally -
Genie Timeline

Genie Timeline Professional 2012 preview

Backing up your PC occasionally is clearly a very good idea, but it’s also one of those tasks that doesn’t inspire much enthusiasm in most people. And part of that may be due to the complexity of some backup software. You’ll typically have to specify what you want to back up, define various include or exclude filters, choose a suitable backup type, sort out a schedule and configure a host of other advanced options: it can all feel just like too much hassle.

There are plenty of more straightforward alternatives, of course, and Genie Timeline is one of the better known: just point the program at your destination drive, tell the program generally what you’d like to back up, and it’ll then run in the background, backing up your key files in real time. Works for us -- but could the latest edition of the program, Genie Timeline 2012, do even more to simplify the backup process? When the company offered us an exclusive first look we were eager to find out.

By Mike Williams -
Hard Drive

The wait is over, Paragon releases Hard Disk Manager 12

Paragon Software Group has officially launched Hard Disk Manager 12 Suite and Hard Disk Manager 12 Professional, the latest versions of its renowned hard drive management tool.

As revealed in our exclusive first look, Paragon Hard Disk Manager 12 features a new partitioning engine it claims to the “fastest available” plus introduces a number of new features, including the ability to split a partition in two.

By Nick Peers -
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