Latest Technology News

Have you ever noticed just how cluttered up the context menu -- the one that pops up when you click on a file or folder with the right mouse button -- gets over time? You install a new program, and it adds another option to the menu. It might be a genuinely useful option, but then again it might be completely superfluous.

Worse still, does Windows suddenly stop working when you right-click on an item? That's down to an entry that's corrupt. Question is, how do you identify that entry, never mind disable or remove it? The answer lies with a handy free tool called ShellMenuView.

Going against what seems to be the prevailing logic, the ad-supported Wi-Fi Kindle is now the best selling device on Amazon, the company's bestseller list indicates. The top three are all Kindles, with the Wi-Fi model coming in second and the Wi-Fi+3G model third.

Amazon sells the version of Kindle with ads for $114, $25 less than the $139 price of its sister ad-less Wi-Fi only model. The version that adds 3G connectivity retails for $189. The online retailer has been selling the ad-supported model for about a month, and the devices overall regularly top Amazon's bestseller list.

First in a series. Ten years ago this month, Microsoft introduced the most controversial licensing program in its history: an upgrade rights and maintenance add-on called Software Assurance (SA). The experience was so traumatic that Microsoft has undertaken no comparable licensing initiatives since then. After five major revisions to volume licensing in the decade before 2001, Microsoft has been stuck at Licensing 6.0. That's too bad. The industry is different, Microsoft is different, and it's long past time for a new look at Software Assurance.

A Radical Change

Microsoft announced today that Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V will be able to run CentOS, the popular free Linux distribution for Web servers.

CentOS is one of the top three most popular Linux distributions for Web servers, and could account for as much as 9% of the Web whose host OS information is available, according to a 2010 study.

Amid a string of platform announcements at TechEd 2011 in Atlanta on Monday, Microsoft revealed a little more information about the enterprise-friendly aspects of the Windows Phone 7.5 "Mango" update expected to launch later this year.

Microsoft launched Windows Phone 7 in the exact opposite way it had launched previous versions of Windows Mobile. In other words, Windows Phone 7 launched with consumer features that were never present on Windows Mobile, such as integration with Xbox Live and Zune, and is adding enterprise features incrementally.

Ten years ago today, I stepped into the world of Apple retail. Company CEO Steve Jobs hosted a group of journalists to see the first Apple Store, which opened at Tysons Corner Center in McLean, Va., on May 19, 2001. It was a strange gathering if for no other reason than timing. Recession gripped the country, Apple had reported several consecutive quarterly losses and Gateway was in process of shuttering 40 stores (and would eventually close them all). Apple Store didn't fit.

Apple Store Understated

Is the waiting finally over, or is Sony making more promises? Today, the entertainment giant announced partial PlayStation Network restoration, after a 24-day self-inflicted outage. PSN is being restored in Europe and the United States and, at that, on a rolling basis. This evening, I downloaded the necessary PS3 firmware update necessary to access PSN only to be confronted by that nasty "PlayStation Network is undergoing maintenance" screen, now in dark gray instead of the previous grim green. However, before posting the service went live.

In a video message announcing PSN's return, Sony Representative Corporate Executive Officer and Executive Deputy President Kazuo Hirai says that PSN, Qriocity, and third-party services like Hulu and Netflix are being "restored in phases, and I'm pleased to say that the first phase has been launched in most regions of the world." He claims that Sony has been "working around the clock" to bring gaming and media services "back online."

There's pretty good chance that you are one of the millions of people who have a Facebook account. While the social network has an undeniably huge user base, there are few who would claim that there is not room for improvement. If you've ever wished for a way to customize the appearance of your Facebook account, or would like more control over the way the site works, assuming you're using  Firefox, Safari, Opera, Chrome or Greasemonkey, Better Facebook may be just what you have been looking for -- Internet Explorer users are left out in the cold, however.

Better Facebook is a browser extension that can be used to completely change the way Facebook looks and works. In all, there are more than 70 settings that can be applied in various combinations to personalize the social network to your liking. Anyone who has a fairly extensive list of friends will be all too aware that it does not take long for your Facebook news feed to run out of control. Better Facebook adds options such as tabbed news feeds and news filtering so you can concentrate on what is most important or interesting.

There has been a lot of talk of a "standing desk" movement in the media in the last six months, people who are getting rid of their chairs and doing all their work while standing up. For people who spend all their time in front of a computer (i.e. most of the tech industry) this topic has garnered quite a bit of interest of late.

Men who spent more than 23 hours a week sitting, according to one widely circulated report, have a 64% greater risk of dying from heart disease than those who reported sitting less than 11 hours a week.

Yesterday, Edge reported that the PlayStation Network outage is negatively affecting PS3, with gamers trading in their consoles -- half for cash, the rest for Xbox 360. Today, the story is being picked up everywhere, it seems, and repeated as gospel. One problem: Edge's report is largely about the United Kingdom (there was one Belgian retailer quoted). What about the United States? Based on a massive poll conducted by Betanews and random calls to a half-dozen GameStops, there is no evidence of mass consumer exodus from PlayStation 3 to Xbox 360 -- at least in the States.

The Problem at Hand

Not surprisingly, Dropbox's recent ToS changes have upset many users. In late April, I posted a poll asking people to describe their reaction to changes that would allow law enforcement access to some subscribers' Dropboxes. About 71 percent of respondents are unhappy with the changes.

The ToS revision was unexpected. Before the change, the service boasted that "Dropbox employees are unable to view user files." Now it's "Dropbox cooperates with United States law enforcement when it receives valid legal process, which may require Dropbox to provide the contents of your private Dropbox." Essentially, Dropbox strips off encryption when the cops come asking for access to specific user files -- or at least I should hope specific instead of broad fishing expeditions.

BitTorrent has released the first beta of Project Chrysalis, the next generation redesign of BitTorrent's Mainline filesharing client.

About six months ago, BitTorrent announced it was doing an experiment with the Mainline BitTorrent client that would be "more than a radical aesthetic and UI overhaul, more than cool new features," but "a new beginning."

Microsoft's latest Security Intelligence Report highlights rogue security software as "one of the most common methods that attackers use to swindle money from victims," and it's hard to disagree. We're forever coming across sites that display fake antivirus messages, system "scans" and more, all claiming our PC is "infected" in an attempt to make us download their scareware.

If you're familiar with these cons then there's no real problem: you just close that browser window and carry on as before. But if you follow the links on these warnings, download and run the executable they'll offer, then you're in trouble: the fake antivirus will mess up your system, causing all kinds of odd problems, and demand your credit card details to put everything right. (Although, of course, parting with those will only cause you more problems.)

Google's Chromebook announcement couldn't have been more timely, for its irony. Yesterday, during Google I/O, the company gave Chrome OS its big official debut and set June 15 as launch date for the first Chromebooks -- from Acer and Samsung. Today, Microsoft antitrust oversight ends -- a decade after an appeals court upheld most of the claims against the company while throwing out a remedy threatening breakup into two entities. Chrome OS and Microsoft's U.S. antitrust problems are strangely linked, as the ghost of Netscape rises from the grave to haunt the company cofounded by Bill Gates. Google couldn't have successfully developed Chrome OS, if not for government oversight.

History of an Antitrust Case

The proposed $39 billion merger between T-Mobile and AT&T was the focus of a Senate antitrust committee Thursday, with its chair warning of the "profound implications" of such a deal. While the two companies have repeatedly said the deal would take a year to close, in recent weeks regulators have appeared ready to slow down the process.

Combining the second and fourth largest wireless providers in the US would create a wireless behemoth that would likely far eclipse market-leading Verizon Wireless, and leave current third place Sprint in a precarious and unfavorable position facing two much larger competitors. Such a merger could prove difficult to approve.