Opera 11.10 releases after about a month in beta
Less than one month after arriving in beta, Opera 11.10 has been given a final release. One standout feature is an overhaul of Opera's Turbo function, which is designed to speed up browsing on slow networks such as dial-up connections, 3G networks and crowded WiFi hotspots.
Opera Turbo, which works by reducing the size of the web page being requested before its sent to the browser, now uses Google's new WebP image format. This helps speed up browsing further while better maintaining the quality of the page's images after compression. Opera claims that in testing the changes introduced in version 11.10 produce pages that are 35 percent smaller and subsequently 15 percent quicker to load than before.
Khronos to open 3D gesture and touch tech to all PCs with new API
While Microsoft is expected to roll out the Kinect SDK beta at Mix 2011 this week, the Khronos Group announced it has begun work on a free and open standard for new input technologies that will include 3D cameras just like Kinect.
Khronos, the PC industry group best known for inventing OpenGL and WebGL, will create a platform agnostic, royalty-free standard for advanced input devices including everything from Kinect-like 3D cameras and motion sensors, to iPhone-like touchscreens and haptic devices.
Kaspersky TDSSKiller roots out rootkits
Rootkits are the ultimate in stealthy malware, burying themselves so deep into your system that they're often very hard to spot. If you're unlucky enough to encounter one then your antivirus package might detect it, but there are no guarantees, and so it may be wise to equip your PC with a second line of defence in Kaspersky's TDSSKiller.
As the name suggests, TDSSKiller is designed to target a few, specific threats (TDSS, Sinowal, Whistler, Phanta, Trup, Stoned). These can be very dangerous, though, so having another way to pick them up isn't going to hurt -- and the program can also detect hidden services, forged files, MBR changes and other suspicious signs that could indicate infection by a brand new rootkit.
Microsoft debuts IE10, announces PDC 2011 dates
The wait is over. Microsoft's MIX11 conference kicked off today in Las Vegas, with Dean Hachamovitch's opening keynote. Hachamovitch is a Microsoft corporate vice president and the man with a plan when it comes to Internet Explorer.
During MIX10, Hachamovitch debuted the IE9 platform, which got its official release last month. Today, along with Windows divisional president Steven Sinofksy, he debuted IE10 platform. "We're about three weeks into development of IE10," Hachamovitch said. Hachamovitch's clothing foreshadowed what was coming, about half-way through the keynote. He wore a T-Shirt with "Ten,", where the Internet Explorer logo replaced the "e." In another surprise move, Hachamovitch announced that an IE10 preview is available now at the Internet Explorer Test Drive website.
Microsoft launches first Internet Explorer 10 preview
Check out Internet Explorer 10 Platform Preview in Fileforum now!
Fulfilling the hints Microsoft dropped back in March, the Redmond software company unveiled the first platform preview of Internet Explorer 10 at MIX 11 in Las Vegas on Tuesday.
Can you blame iPhone for this? Cisco is closing Flip Video camera business
Somebody surely will blame iPhone in today's analysis, although the move reflects broader problems Cisco is looking to fix. Hey, the dot-com boom of the 1990s, when Cisco router sales soared, is long over.
"We are making key, targeted moves as we align operations in support of our network-centric platform strategy," Cisco CEO John Chambers said in a statement. "As we move forward, our consumer efforts will focus on how we help our enterprise and service provider customers optimize and expand their offerings for consumers, and help ensure the network's ability to deliver on those offerings."
HP applies its sexy new laptop design to 1B-Color DreamColor displays
With top-of-the-line EliteBook laptops launching on Tuesday, HP is adding sexier DreamColor displays to the already sexier FORGE bodies it rolled out in its latest ProBook notebook PC series.
Originally developed with animation studios like DreamWorks and Disney for HP desktop displays, the new DreamColor screen option for HP's EliteBook 8760w and 8560w mobile workstations supports more than 1 billion colors.
Do Bloomberg Businessweek app and iPad click?
For all the griping about Apple's restrictive subscriptions plan, news organizations are beginning to embrace it. News Corp. debuted tablet-only "The Daily" in early February. The New York Times ended March like a lion, with new paywalls that included an iPad subscription. Yesterday, Bloomberg Businessweek app debuted on Apple's App Store, also with subscription pricing.
For this reviewer, the $2.99 monthly price is the most exciting thing about the app. Definitely it's a price I'd like to see more weekly magazines adopt. I'd ditch print The New Yorker, which costs me 29 bucks for a year, for iPad digital version, if available for three bucks a month. Last I checked, the magazine was available only per issue -- for $3.99. Get a gun so I can shoot the dog, too.
Amazon lowers Kindle's price in exchange for advertisements
Amazon on Monday announced it had dropped the price of the third generation Kindle e-reader by $25. If this reduction in price came as a result of the usual maturation of technology (where declining manufacturing costs are passed along to the consumer), it would not be an especially newsworthy event. However, the price was reduced for a different reason: because the Kindle e-reader can now display sponsored advertisements.
The Kindle's famous screensavers can now be replaced by full screen advertisements which are customizable in the "Manage Your Kindle" section on a user's Amazon.com account. Users can indicate the amount of screensavers they see that include elements such as landscapes and scenery, architecture, travel images, photography, and illustrations.
Intel launches Oak Trail chip for tablets: Win7, Chrome, Meego tabs in May
Intel on Monday announced the availability of its "Oak Trail" Atom processors, designed for use in mobile tablets, convertible notebooks, and fanless environments that run Windows, Chrome OS, or Meego.
With more than 35 design wins to its name so far, Intel's Oak Trail Atom chipset (Z670) is expected to make its first appearance next month, and continue to appear throughout 2011.
Companies such as Asus, Samsung, Evolve III, Fujitsu, Lenovo, Motion Computing, Razer, and Viliv have all announced products based on the platform.
Online Armor Free 5.0: Too many alerts but great protection
Once upon a time, not so very long ago, software firewalls would essentially carry out just a single task: monitoring your network, and blocking any unauthorised connections. That's no longer enough to make your product stand out from the crowd, though, and firewalls like Online Armor 5.0 now cram in so many other functions and features -- keylogging detection, behaviour monitoring, browsing protection, script blocking and more -- that they begin to look more like security suites.
The extra functionality is apparent as soon as you launch the Online Armor installer. This doesn't simply unpack its files; its Safety Check Wizard first scans your PC for known dangerous processes that might interfere with the program's operation. This takes a while -- 55 minutes on our test PC -- but is probably worth it, just to be sure that we were starting with a clean system (although if you know you're malware-free then the wizard can be skipped altogether).
Would you cut cable for Netflix?
This morning, I tweeted San Francisco Chronicle article "1 million homes cut cable, switch to antenna, Web," which showed up in my RSS feeds. The story is actually three days old. A surprising number of people tweet-replied that they had cut the cable, completely or partially. I've been thinking about doing the same and wondered about Betanews readers. Would you go or have gone from cable to online video streaming (from networks and services like Hulu or Netflix) and over-the-air HD broadcasts?
You can answer the question in comments or email joewilcox at gmail dot com. I'll be swapping out that email address in a day or so as I seek to create, at least temporarily, a Google-free zone. Messages will forward after the switch. Your answer could benefit other people considering a similar move, but struggling to cross that psychological barrier of "What will I give up?"
Mushroom Networks debuts broadband streaming HD TV camera
At the NAB Show in Las Vegas on Monday, Mushroom Networks debuted the Teleporter live video streaming rig, a portable video streaming module that bonds the connections of multiple cellular data modems for live HD video streaming.
Since early last year, a handful of companies have marketed their own "streaming backpacks" as cost-effective solutions for enabling live, on site video feeds that don't require a satellite truck and a news team of half a dozen people. The Ustream Livepack, and KIT Digital's Kyte LivePro Unwired, for example, utilize multiple cellular data lines to transmit video signals from a handheld camera to the Web or to television stations and can be run by a crew as small as one person.
Aura gives Aero a little Windows 8 flair
It was recently revealed that one of Windows 8's new features will be the ability of Windows Aero to automatically adapt the color of Aero Glass to match the desktop background, so, for example, if you set a background that's predominantly red, Windows Aero will adjust its color so your semi-transparent windows blend in with the new backdrop.
The good news for Windows 7 and Vista users -- particularly if you're the kind of person whose desktop changes with the weather (or at random intervals) -- is that this feature is available now for free. The tool in question is Aura, which was recently updated for a second beta release.
New features of Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 revealed
Microsoft on Monday offered new information about the next version of its enterprise resource planning software, Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, and revealed that beta testing for the suite is expected to begin this month.
Here's a point by point list of the improvements that Microsoft announced today:
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