On Tuesday, AT&T announced it would begin selling the 4G Acer Iconia Tab A501 in the second quarter of 2011. Naturally, it became one of the devices on my list to get some hands-on time with.

The tablet, however, wasn't out on the show floor of CTIA this week like it was last month at Mobile World Congress. That's because the devices on display there were running FroYo, and the model AT&T announced this week will be running Gingerbread.

Continue reading →

Non-profit organization VideoLAN has released a minor update to its open-source and acclaimed cross-platform media player, VLC Media Player 1.1.8. This release is notable largely for the fact the Mac OS X version sports a subtly redesigned interface, but also includes various codec, demuxer and language updates, some new encoder packages and various fixes that apply to all platforms.

VLC Media Player is renowned for being able to handle most video formats without requiring the installation of additional codec packs. All major formats -- including Windows Media Video, QuickTime, Real and Flash -- are supported by VLC, which is also capable of capturing, playing and even streaming video from external sources. These include online streams, DVD, DVB and supported MPEG encoding devices, making it a popular one-stop solution for video playback.

Continue reading →

There are numerous reasons why anyone would like to browse the Internet anonymously, and there are various programs available that can clean up traces of Internet activity after the fact. There are also great concerns about IP addresses, which can be used to track users and even restrict access to web sites. CyberGhost 2011 is a free VPN tool that can be used to route web traffic through anonymous servers, hiding users' real IP addresses.

The main purpose of the program would appear to be ensuring that you remain anonymous online, but the 'Video portal' section of the software interface reveals that the tool can also be used to watch online videos that might ordinarily be subject to regional restrictions. With various servers in use around the world, CyberGhost can make it appear as if users are actually located in different countries.

Continue reading →

A decade ago today, Apple released Mac OS X 10.0. But the real celebration should be for v10.1, which released in September 2001. Apple gave birth to a new operating system that spent six months in an incubator, having been born prematurely. How strange that yesterday, a day before Mac OS X's tenth anniversary, Apple announced the departure of Bertrand Serlet, who is regarded as the father of Mac OS X.

Into the Incubator

Continue reading →

Startup mobile application developer Color Labs launched a new social networking app Wednesday night, while simultaneously announcing that it had secured a staggering $41 million in funding for its project. Called Color, the application shares your photos and videos with those within 150 feet of you.

It's not like other social networking services, where you find and connect to friends on your own. Instead, by using the integrated GPS within smart phones, Color decides what pictures and videos you see based on two variables: your location and how often another Color user is near you.

Continue reading →

At the Microsoft Management Summit on Thursday, Microsoft announced the release of Windows Embedded Device Manager 2011, an extension for System Center Configuration Manager 2007 that allows IT to manage Windows Embedded Standard and POSReady devices such as thin clients, digital signage, and, of course point of sale terminals.

Microsoft is accelerating the evolution of enterprise embedded devices, and today's announcement of Windows Embedded Device Manager 2011 follows the release of Windows Embedded Standard 7 SP1 earlier this month.

Continue reading →

Today, one of the largest wireless tradeshows anywhere comes to a close. Perhaps Consumer Electronics Show in January or Mobile World Congress in February stole some thunder, because CTIA Wireless 2011 doesn't feel as exciting as it should during a year when smartphones and tablets are such hot commodities. Too much of the show is about the future, and that's a problem shared by the other events.

Gartner essentially has declared 2011 the year of the smartphone, while IDC forecasts 50 million tablet shipments, with at least 35 million of them going to Apple. With competition so fierce and demand so hot, shouldn't there be more coming out of CTIA Wireless, particularly as the show takes place when nearly one-quarter of the year is over? Here's some of what I see missing:

Continue reading →

Tawkon, makers of a mobile application that measures cellular radiation, have been blocked from releasing their app for iPhone. In response, the company on Wednesday released the tawkon app for iPhone via the Cydia jailbreak.

Apple's GSM iPhone 4 has been highly criticized for its antenna issues, and the relative ease with which users can completely block its reception with the "death grip." Journalists coyly referred to the resulting fallout from this issue as "antennagate."

Continue reading →

HTC and Microsoft are in their third year of creating smartphones in the "HD" product line, and the two companies look to have finally hit their stride with the new HD7S, which is a slightly revamped version of the four-month-old HD7, completely ready for a world where T-Mobile USA no longer exists.

In early 2009, the HTC Touch HD was unveiled, a 3.8" WVGA touchscreen device which was obviously a post-iPhone device in chassis design, but was powered by Windows Mobile 6.1 which mandated a stylus and resistive touchscreen. By 2009, this was already something of a doomed interface in the smartphone category.

Continue reading →

I know this is a frivolous post, but I'm a sucker for good marketing -- and Sony Ericsson's Xperia Play promo videos are among the best seen for a long time. If you haven't tasted the fun, fury and frenzy, now is the time. If these videos can't help sell Xperia Play, Sony Ericsson should pack it up and go away.

Surely the handset manufacturer needs something to liven sales. During 2010, Sony Ericsson fell out of the top-5 cell phone manufacturers, as measured by end-user sales, according to Gartner. Market share fell from 4.5 percent in 2009 to a puny 2.6 percent in 2010. Unit shipments also declined from about 52 million units to nearly 42 million. How the mighty has fallen.

Continue reading →

It is fair to say that there is no shortage of to-do list apps and services, but finding one that is genuinely useful and easy to use means working with a much smaller list. One of the best known apps is Things, but weighing at $49.99 (and additional costs for the iPhone and iPad editions), the price tag is off-putting to many potential users. By comparison, Springpad is a comprehensive data management tool that can be used on iOS and Android devices, as well as on desktop computers -- thanks to a browser extension. Best of all, it is completely free of charge.

Despite its popularity, Things is actually much more limited than Springpad. The service can be used in a number of ways, from creating basic shopping lists or to-do reminders, to gathering information for a project you are working on. One of the major advantages of using Springpad is the fact that any data added to the mobile app is automatically synchronized online so it can be accessed through the Springpad web site or synchronized with another device.

Continue reading →

Diskeeper Corporation has released a brand new version of its commercial defragmentation utility. Diskeeper 2011 comes in three editions for home users depending on computer use: Home for light users, Pro for everyday use and ProPremier for high-end, heavy users. All three editions feature two major new features -- IntelliWrite fragmentation-prevention technology and InstantDefrag, which anticipates which files are about to be accessed and defrags them if necessary.

Also new in Diskeeper 2011 is a Performance Report for each drive that clearly states how much gains have been made by the program's optimization, while Pro and ProPremier users also get two additional features: Efficient Mode, which cuts overheads by prioritizing "problem" files that require urgent fragmentation, plus a new engine for consolidating free space.

Continue reading →

It's no secret that good hard drive management is a vital part of PC maintenance, and this is just as true with virtual machines. But a lack of compatible tools means it can be difficult to get your virtual disks in order.

There is an easy solution, though, in Paragon Software's Partition Manager 10 for Virtual Machines. It's a full stand-alone version of Partition Manager, optimized for virtual disks, that includes all the drive management features you'll need: partition tools, defrag, backup and restore, a host of essential troubleshooting and disaster recovery tools and much, much more. Best of all, it's free.

Continue reading →

Viewing PDF files in your web browser can be a troublesome experience. Your PDF viewer (typically Adobe Reader) might have trouble accessing certain web-hosted PDF files, causing your browser to hang and force you to quit and start again. Then there's the question of sharing or archiving web pages on your computer. PDF is a quick and convenient format for both purposes, but your existing PDF creation tool (typically a free solution that installs as a basic PDF printer driver) is unlikely to be able to do a reasonable job of retaining the original web page's layout and content.

PDF Download is a plug-in for Firefox and Internet Explorer that aims to fix all of these problems and more besides. Once installed, it can be used to display web-hosted PDFs in your browser without the need for a third-party viewer (configure this from the Opening PDF tab of the plug-in's Options dialog). You can also opt to convert a PDF file into a HTML file -- use the Viewing PDF tab to set this up -- when attempting to view it.

Continue reading →

This week, T-Mobile lit up its highest speed HSPA+ networks in Orlando, New York, and Las Vegas, promising a theoretical maximum speed of 42 Mbps downstream. The company expects to deliver this level of service to 25 major U.S. markets by mid-year.

On the CTIA show floor today, we've pitted T-Mobile's 3G and 4G networks against one another on two devices which are nearly identical in design: the Samsung Galaxy S Vibrant and the Samsung Galaxy S 4G.

Continue reading →