Firefox 5 nears final release, RC launched in beta channel
This week, Mozilla's whirlwind release cycle yielded the first release candidate of Firefox 5 in the beta channel, just a matter of a week before the final version is expected to be released.
Changes in this version include: Support for CSS animations; a more prominent Do-Not-Track header preference; improved canvas, JavaScript, memory, and networking performance; Improved standards support for HTML5, XHR, MathML, SMIL, and canvas, improved desktop environment integration for Linux users; and more.
Hamster Free ZIP Archiver: Easy file compression lickety-split
Editor's Note: We would have posted this story for no other reason than the cute rodent.
File compression tools are funny things. For beginners, they can be confusing affairs with a bewildering number of file formats, many of which are only supported by specific programs. For more advanced users, finding a compression tool that means more demanding requirements can be tricky. In many homes, a computer is used by several people, which means there are likely to be multiple skill levels to cater to. This is where Hamster Free ZIP Archiver can help.
WebGL is just too dangerous to support, says Microsoft
Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC) Engineering has concluded that WebGL, the royalty free cross-platform API for browser-based 3D graphics, is "overly permissive," insecure, and potentially harmful to machines using it. Development of the technology was spearheaded by Mozilla, Google, Opera, AMD, and Nvidia, and was endorsed by the Khronos Group.
Based upon an MSRC Engineering review, and using two Context Information Security reports as supportive evidence, Microsoft on Thursday said it cannot endorse the use of WebGL in its current form.
Chrome 13 beta supports print preview, PDF output
It's taken a long time. A very, very long time. But, at last, the latest Chrome 13 beta sees the browser finally gain a Print Preview function. And this isn't just some half-finished beta version, either -- it's really quite impressive.
To see it this action, just click Print and the preview will appear in a new tab (which seems more natural than the "special" window used in some other browsers). You're able to choose your destination printer from a list, which includes Chrome's own Print to PDF option. You can select your preferred page layout (portrait or landscape), or choose colour or black and white output and the preview window updates immediately. Of course you also get all the usual settings, like the pages to print and the number of copies, and when you're happy then clicking Print will deliver the finished results.
Kid dances with Rihanna at Microsoft Store [video]
Sometimes the most brilliant moments in marketing are the simplest ideas. In the video above, a youngster dance, dance, dances before Xbox 360. Microsoft smartly uses Kinect to connect with customers. The action takes place at Microsoft Store Bellevue, Wash.
I've seen the same kind of youngster dancing here in San Diego at Microsoft Store Fashion Valley. The tikes, middle schoolers or tweens will sometimes draw sizable crowds of gawkers. The store here opened one year ago this month, and it was the first where the public could play with Kinect, nearly five months before its official release. Microsoft placed the Xbox 360-Kinect setup right in the front window, where anyone walking by can see the action.
Will Pandora's share-price collapse burst the IPO tech bubble?
It seems inconceivable that Pandora's public offering could get any worse. But it has. The newly minted stock, which closed down 24 percent, fell another 4.3 percent in after-hours trading this evening. The IPO was only yesterday!
Pandora shares traded for $12.69 after hours, following a close of $13.26 late this afternoon. Pandora's IPO price was $16, but the stock initially surged to $26 in early trading yesterday, closing $1.26, or 8.9 percent, above the start price. In early trading today, Pandora shares buoyed up and down around the IPO price, only to collapse by market's close.
RIM ships half million PlayBooks during first quarter
Research in Motion seemingly took forever to ship its first BlackBerry tablet. None too soon. PlayBook was one of the few bright spots during a quarter that foreshadows a grim year ahead.
After the bell today, RIM announced fiscal first quarter 2012 results -- $4.9 billion revenue, up 16 percent year over year but down 12 percent sequentially. Seventy-eight percent came from hardware, 20 percent services and 2 percent software.
LameXP: A great audio encoder by any other name
At first glance an audio encoder called LameXP doesn't look like it'll be the most appealing of products. You might easily assume that it's just going to be an outdated front end for the LAME MP3 library -- too basic to be really useful. But don't be misled. LameXP is far more interesting than its name suggests.
This open-source program doesn't just run on Windows XP, for instance, it acts as a front end for several encoders. So it's able to import AC3, MP4/ AAC, ALAC, AIFF, DTS, FLAC, ADPCM, APE, MP1/ MP2/ MP3, Musepack, Shorten, Speex, Au, TTA, WAV/RIFF, WavPack and WMA files, and can convert these to AAC, MP3, Ogg, AC3, FLAC or WAV/RIFF.
Now anyone, not just cops with a warrant, can peek inside your Dropbox
Forensic computer security company ATC-NY on Thursday released a new, free tool called Dropbox Reader which helps investigators read "evidence files" associated with Dropbox cloud storage accounts.
Dropbox Reader is actually a series of six command line Python scripts which parse the configuration and cache files of a Dropbox account, including the user's registered e-mail address, dropbox identifier, software version info and list of recently changed files stored in config.db, the information about shared directories and files marked for sync stored in filecache.db.
Power Data Recovery: Lifeline when disaster strikes
Program bugs, hardware problems, virus attacks, human error -- there are many possible reasons why you might lose valuable data. And so it's a very good idea to have a file recovery tool to hand, ready to call into action just as soon as you notice there's a problem.
Which one, though? That's a tricky question. There's plenty of choice, but if you're a home user then MiniTool's Power Data Recovery Free Edition has more to recommend it than most of the competition.
Microsoft officially opens up Kinect to indie developers with SDK beta
Fulfilling its promises from earlier this year, Microsoft on Thursday released the Kinect SDK Beta for Windows, giving creative interface designers legitimate access to the famous 3D motion controller without the need for a hacked third-party driver.
Along with the software development kit, Microsoft has published a series of "quickstarts" to help aspiring developers get a jump on installing and using the Kinect Sensor, setting up a Kinect development environment in Visual Studio, as well as setting up and working with code samples. These samples require Microsoft's DirectX SDK (June 2010 or later) and the current runtime for DirectX 9, as well as Microsoft Speech Platform Runitme 10.2 and SDK 10.2.
Pandora stock falls to IPO price in second day trading
Pandora's second day on the New York Stock Exchange hasn't been much better than the first. In midday trading the stock was down over eight percent, amid a fairly stable market overall. The stock has traded as low as $15.50 in intraday trading, 50 cents below its IPO price.
The music service's continued weakness followed yet more doubts from financial analysts that the company could ever pull a profit. Simply put, Pandora's userbase may be growing faster than its growth in ad revenue, which makes up 87 percent of its total revenues.
Vivek Kundra steps down as nation's CIO for Harvard job
The nation's first chief information officer is leaving the White House. Vivek Kundra, who was named to the post in March 2009 to manage the day-to-day technological operations of the US Government, is leaving for a fellowship at Harvard University in August.
Kundra is credited by the Obama White House in saving taxpayers about $3 billion annually by streamlining government IT operations. He was also instrumental in moving Washington into the cloud, and strengthening the country's cybersecurity defenses.
92% of social network users are on Facebook, just 13% on Twitter
Today, Pew Internet released an 85-page report that is best described as a love letter to Facebook. The study smooches up to the social networking service in just about every conceivable way. Bottom line: Facebook has fundamentally changed where people spend time online and with whom they interact.
Pew surveyed 2,255 Americans 18 or older between Oct. 20 and Nov. 28, 2010. Among them: 1,787 were Internet users and 975 used social networking services.
Panasonic annnounces Toughbook Tablet, Android's first rugged enterprise tab
More than 100 different Android device designs have been released over the last three years, but there have only been a handful of "ruggedized" smartphones (Motorola i1, Defy, Casio G'Zone Commando) and no rugged tablets. Thursday, Panasonic announced it will be releasing the first enterprise-grade rugged Android tablet under its Toughbook line in the fourth quarter of 2011.
"The vast majority of tablet devices--regardless of the OS--are engineered for consumers and don't offer appropriate levels of security and durability or the functionality needed for business use," Rance Poehler, president, Panasonic Solutions Company said in a statement on Thursday. "Like all Toughbook products, our Toughbook tablet will be designed and constructed with the mission-critical mobile user in mind."
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