Articles about Software

Rogue Amoeba has released Airfoil for Windows 5.0 and Airfoil for Mac 5.0, a major new version of its tool for streaming audio from computers to supported networked devices, including AirPlay hardware such as Apple TV and AirPort Express.

Version 5 adds support for Bluetooth devices, plus introduces a new free tool -- Airfoil Satellite -- that turns other PCs, Macs and iOS devices into clients for the main Airfoil tool.

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A security specialist has discovered a flaw in Sparkle, a third-party framework that Mac apps use to receive updates, which makes a man in the middle attack possible when unencrypted HTTP connections are used.

If the attacker has the ability to intercept the unencrypted data stream for example on a public Wi-Fi hotspot they could possibly inject malicious code.

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Likely just about everyone has installed software from SourceForge at some point in their computing history. In 2013, the software repository enabled a feature called DevShare which developers could opt-in to. This wrapped developer software in SourceForge’s own installer, which also, unfortunately, came with bundled junk  -- something many users might breeze right past during an installation.

But last month Sourceforge, along with Slashdot, was sold to BIZX and some changes are going to take place under the new ownership, and that means no more DevShare.

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ConeXware has released PowerArchiver 2016, a major new release of its trialware archiving tool for Windows. The new release is the first version of the program to be developed using IDE, a process that began over two years ago.

Version 2016 adds 4K resolution and touch-screen support, a major new user interface and the splitting of key features into separate, fully independent apps.

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Iterate GmBh has shipped Mountain Duck 1.0, a smart tool which mounts remote volumes as local drives in Windows Explorer and the Mac’s Finder.

Based on the developer’s Cyberduck technology, Mountain Duck connects to FTP and SFTP servers, WebDAV, Amazon S3, Azure and OpenStack Swift storage.

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No matter how much money your company spends on software, it’s likely to spend less if your boss reads this article.

A new survey by American software company Flexera Software suggests that most companies are wasting their software budget, and the software they buy is often either underused or overused.

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Password management provider Dashlane has unveiled Dashlane 4.0 for Windows and Mac alongside Dashlane for iOS 4.0 and Dashlane for Android 4.0. The new release -- available in free and a paid-for Premium package -- shows off a brand new interface.

The new design -- which Dashlane claims has been "enhanced and optimized for convenience" shows off menu upgrades, improved search, wider support for its automatic password changer tool and support for five more languages.

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Continuum is one of the novel features that Microsoft has baked into Windows 10 Mobile. This enables users to essentially turn their smartphone into a more basic PC, using a Display Dock to connect the usual pieces of hardware -- a mouse, keyboard and monitor.

I say "more basic" because the device is severely limited in the number of apps it can display at the same time, as well as the type of apps that it can run: proper Windows software is out of the question with current hardware, only apps designed for Windows 10 Mobile are supported. But, now that Microsoft has introduced Continuum support in the Remote Desktop client preview, this feature is much more useful, and offers a more compelling argument for giving Windows 10 Mobile a chance.

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AgileBits has released 1Password for Mac 6 a major new update for its Mac password manager client. The app, which works in conjunction with 1Password for iOS 6.2 as well Windows and Android apps, features a number of new and improved features.

The new release kicks off with a brand new All Vaults view. It enables users to view all items in both the main app and 1Password mini view without having to move between vaults.

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The average desktop search tool doesn’t exactly have much initiative. Run a search for "Stephen" and it doesn’t matter how many Steves or Stevens you’ve got, records with the original spelling is all that you’ll see.

AIKIN Desktop Search ($99) uses fuzzy searching to take this further. Search for Stephen here and you might get hits for Steven, Steve, Stevie, Stephanie, right down to Staten Island any anything similar, all neatly organized with the best results (usually) at the top.

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S.M.A.R.T. which stands for Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology is a fantastic tool for anticipating hardware errors on hard disk drives. The utility can test for bad sectors and some software can even test for temperature, core speed and system fan speed anomalies. When S.M.A.R.T. software indicates an imminent hard drive failure, the user is notified so that data can be backed up and data loss avoided. Diagnostic programs are widely used on mechanical hard disk drives and RAID, but how reliable are they on solid state drives SSDs?

Checks include electrical and mechanical performance and read/write error rates. Electrical tests include RAM and read/write circuitry. Mechanical tests seek servo information on data tracks, scanning for bad sectors across the entire disk surface. However solid state drives are constructed very differently, although flash media does develop errors over time -- normally bad flash blocks in the NAND memory chips. Just like traditional hard disk drives, the controller manages these bad blocks and re-maps them to ‘extra’ blocks. Eventually the drive will run out of ‘extra’ blocks and S.M.A.R.T. is quick to identify this.

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More than 3,000 prisoners in the state of Washington have been released early from prison as a result of a software bug. The formula used to calculate sentence reductions was found to be inaccurate, and while the average early release prisoner mistakenly had 49 days shaved from their sentence, one was set free almost two years early.

The software bug stems from a software update way back in 2002. The update introduced a new way to apply good behaviour credits, and governors are astonished that the problem has been on-going for 13 years. The Washington Department of Corrections says that it has been aware of the issue since 2012.

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Now this is a real doozy -- a $90 graphical powerhouse for nothing! Xara Photo & Graphic Designer 9 covers all your design needs, from photo editor to DTP package, vector drawing to web graphics (including Flash animations).

Xara Photo & Graphic Designer 9 may retail for $89.99, but for 24 hours from from midday EST on December 24th, you’ll be able to pick up a one-PC license of this superb design tool for nothing, nada, zilch.

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Let’s face it, backups are pretty boring, which is probably the reason why they often get overlooked and people find themselves staring into the abyss of lost data. Part of the reason why so many of us hate backups is that the software used often seems to overcomplicate things with lots of options that many people never use.

Bvckup 2 aims to change all of this with a backup solution that’s clean, simple to use, elegant and fast. Produced by Swiss company Pipemetrics, Bvckup 2 is small -- the installer is less than 2MB in size - but packs in a surprising amount of sophistication.

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Ashampoo has announced the release of Ashampoo Burning Suite 16 ($59.99), and its more limited free version, Ashampoo Burning Suite 2016.

The new edition does a better job of finding song covers, even when there are no tags available, and can optionally blend multiple covers together into a single photo mosaic.

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