Software Blog » Desktop

Leaked Info Offers Glimpse of WinPho’s Muscular Future

admin — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 22:22:54 +0000

Microsoft is overhauling Windows Phone 8, which is still in development, to make it more competitive with market leaders iOS and Android, according to leaked information. The mobile OS will add support for multicore processors, up to four new screen resolutions, and removable microSD card storage. It will also support near-field communications, the technology that enables mobile wallets. “This builds upon what Mango has,” Ramon Llamas, a senior research analyst at IDC, told TechNewsWorld, referring to Windows Phone 7.5.

Avid Packs a Prosumer Video Editor Into an iPad

admin — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 13:00:00 +0000

Avid is well-known for its chops as a maker of professional video editing suites, but on Thursday it grabbed some notice in consumer circles with a new offering for Apple’s iPad 2. Avid Studio, available from Apple’s App Store for a limited time at $4.99, brings a solid set of video editing tools to the iPad. For instance, clips can be quickly arranged along a storyboard. Frames can be precisely trimmed in the app’s timeline. Cuts can be made on the fly with the software’s razor tool.

iOS and OS X: Time for Some Real Convergence

admin — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 13:00:00 +0000

Lately I’ve found myself more frequently irritated and dissatisfied with my Mac than ever before. This is a weird feeling, made all the more powerful by the fact that Mac OS X Lion is the most useful operating system ever. With a simple two-fingered swipe on my Magic Mouse, I can flick my entire screen to a whole new desktop view, and with a swipe in the other direction, go back. This feature alone is freakishly powerful for people who have a lot of different kinds of content on their Macs.

US Cautions on ‘Boot Up’ Cyberthreat

admin — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 13:00:00 +0000

The routine is almost universal. Every day, millions of workers turn on their computers, take a second or two for a sip of coffee as their desktop or laptop “boots up,” and then get to work. In those few seconds, the basic input-output system, or BIOS, of the computer loads the protocols that actually run the PC — in effect, acting the same as the shot of coffee that helps the worker wake up and start functioning. Pretty simple. Only when it’s not.

The Surprisingly Juicy Desktop Linux Market Share Report

admin — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 13:00:00 +0000

There’s no doubt the Linux world has seen its share of good news over the past year or so, but every once in a while a tidbit comes along that calls for a little extra fanfare. Case in point: Recent data from research firm Net Applications suggests that desktop Linux’s market share has jumped considerably over the past few months. Want specifics? Here goes: The company’s NetMarketShare service just recently reported that Linux’s market share on the desktop has steadily increased since the summer, going from 0.97 percent in July to a new high of 1.41 percent last month.

Mint With Cinnamon: A New Sweet Spot for Desktop Linux?

admin — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 13:00:00 +0000

Well CES is nearing its conclusion for another year, winding down an event that may well have brought Linux more mainstream attention than any other in the show’s four-decades-long history. Much of that heightened focus has been due to the widely trumpeted Ubuntu TV debut, of course. There’s no doubt Ubuntu has had its share of the limelight this past week, but it’s another Linux distro entirely that’s captured many bloggers’ attention. Linux Mint, that is — and its tantalizing new desktop environment, Cinnamon.

All Eyes on Ubuntu as CES Draws Near

admin — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 13:00:00 +0000

“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious,” a very wise man once said, and that’s surely as true in the tech world as it is in the rest of life. Maybe that’s why so many have been so intrigued by Canonical’s cryptic announcement last week about its plans for this week’s CES event. “Canonical will have a presence at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas,” wrote Canonical blogger John Bernard. “On display will be the latest in Desktop, Cloud and demonstrations on Ubuntu One, plus an exclusive Ubuntu concept design which will be announced during the show.”

gDesklets: Semi-Sweet Eye Candy

admin — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 13:00:00 +0000

My interest in desktop eye candy vacillates with the seasons. The added productivity it brings to a particular desktop design is also a factor. Now that GNOME 3 forces a desktop without icons, I took a look at how useful the gDesklets Project might be. When it comes to little desktop applets or widgets on the Linux platform, you have two choices: gDeklets and Screenlets. While both projects have a similar look and feel, gDesklets is more of a latecomer to the party. It has a good amount of catching up to do in order to grow beyond the basics.

Scribes: A Sturdy Reinvention of the Text Editor

admin — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 13:00:00 +0000

Text editors are usually replacements for full-fledged word processing suites. They can offer very simple one-trick functionality such as Leafpad or multi-functional tabbed writing tools with even some semblance of character enhancements like Gedit. Or they can offer something completely different and much more efficient, such as Scribes Text Editor. Scribes developer Lateef Alabi-Oki has reinvented the concept of what a text editor can do. In some ways it is a throwback to the stark, simple look and feel of DOS writer applications in the pre-Microsoft Windows days.

Tomboy’s Got Some Major Note-Taking Muscle

admin — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 13:00:00 +0000

Small packages can be deceptive, especially when it comes to evaluating desktop note-taking systems. Tomboy Notes can easily fool you into thinking you need a bigger, more powerful note-taking app. But the latest stable version 1.8.3 released on Nov. 14 offers enough heavy-duty features that you will not need to look elsewhere to organize your notes and track your daily activities. I first looked at Tomboy Notes last year as part of a note-taking package review. I was torn between Tomboy and Notecase Manager for my personal note-taking needs.

New Mobile App Rating System May Be Missing Some Teeth

admin — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 19:10:40 +0000

The Entertainment Software Rating Board and CTIA have unveiled a new ratings system for mobile software applications intended to help parents monitor activity as the number of children with smartphones and access to wireless content increases. The ESRB has had a similar system in place for video games since 1994, and it said it aims to put a system in place for the hundreds of thousands of apps and online games now available on devices like phones, personal media players and tablets.

RIM Gives iOS and Android a Tentative Embrace

admin — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 19:59:19 +0000

Research In Motion on Tuesday announced a mobile device management solution that will include iOS and Android devices. BlackBerry Mobile Fusion will consist of BlackBerry Enterprise Server version 5.0.3, new management capabilities for BlackBerry Playbook tablets, and MDM capabilities for iOS and Android mobile devices. However, Mobile Fusion won’t extend BlackBerry Balance, a feature that separates personal and business data on BlackBerry smartphones, to the iOS and Android platforms.

Malware for Sale

admin — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 13:00:00 +0000

The holiday shopping season is in full swing, even for malicious hackers. Cybercriminals are lining up to lay hands on a new exploit that takes advantage of a recently patched critical security flaw in Java, security researcher Brian Krebs warned recently. On the other side of the security line, Twitter is buying up Android security solution provider Whisper Systems. That may be a timely move, as security experts have warned that the Android platform is ripe for a malware deluge.

White House, Congress Renew Cybersecurity Push

admin — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 13:00:00 +0000

In a rare showing of bipartisanship, members of Congress and the White House are trying to breathe new life into the effort to enact national cybersecurity legislation. In a recent flurry of activity, mainly between the Obama administration and the Senate, the issue got back on the legislative track. In addition to putting the legislation at the top of the agenda, lawmakers signaled that agreement was beginning to emerge on substantive components of the complex initiative.

Does Any App Play Straight Poker Anymore?

admin — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 13:00:00 +0000

When Apple pulled its popular “Texas Hold’em” game from the App Store, I was moderately surprised, but then again, it’s not like Apple was actively developing the game over the years. And besides, after racking up $100 million or so against the Artificial Intelligence engine, it’s been a long time since I’ve actively played it. But the move sparked my attention. Why did I stop playing, anyway? After all, I like poker, and I really like “Texas Hold’em.” While Apple’s take on the game was pretty good, I realized that there were several reasons why I stopped playing.

Linux Mint Is a Refreshing Palate Cleanser

admin — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 13:00:00 +0000

The Linux community and Linux users are at odds over the transition from GNOME 2 to GNOME 3 as the backbone desktop environment for the OS. Ubuntu’s developers muddied the situation with its newcomer Unity desktop alternative. Given the situation, Linux Mint may offer the best solution if you need time to adjust to the radical changes in the GNOME 3 desktop. I was an avowed Ubuntu user until its developers created and pushed the Unity desktop shell as the default approach that avoided GNOME 3.

The Fretful Future of Flash

admin — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 14:00:00 +0000

What’s the future for Flash devs now that Adobe has turned its back on Flash Player for mobile devices and has shifted focus to HTML 5? Will Flash for the desktop survive or will it die out too? Adobe has pledged to enable Flash devs to package native apps with Adobe AIR for all the major mobile app stores, but it won’t develop Flash Player for new mobile device technology after version 11.1 for Android and the BlackBerry PlayBook is released. However, source code licensees will be able to work on and release their own implementations, raising the specter of fragmentation.

FriendCaster Pro: A Friendlier Facebook App

admin — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 13:00:00 +0000

Of Facebook’s 800 million active users, more than 350 million of them currently access Facebook through mobile devices, according to the company. October saw Facebook’s updated Messenger app, labeled 1.5, rolling out to iOS, Android and BlackBerry with updated features, including the ability to see when someone is typing, and verify that they haven’t fallen asleep. We also saw Facebook challenging Apple with an iPad app that allows mobile developers to bypass the Apple Store.

Adobe Sends Mobile Flash Packing

admin — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 20:04:38 +0000

Adobe announced on Wednesday that it would no longer continue to develop Flash Player for mobile devices after the release of Flash Player 11.1 for Android and the BlackBerry PlayBook. It will instead switch to HTML5 for mobile devices. Adobe will continue supporting Flash Player for existing device configurations, provide critical bug fixes and security updates, and enable Flash developers to package native apps with Adobe Air for the major app stores. The company will focus on using Flash where it will have the most impact, in areas such as advanced gaming and premium video.

One More Time: Is It Really ‘Game Over’ for Linux?

admin — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 12:00:00 +0000

Every so often here in the Linux blogosphere, a headline pops up in the news and you just know it’s going to be a rough week. Case in point: “Mobile Proliferation Killed Linux Hopes for World Domination.” Yes, for those who missed it, that was a real headline in the news last week, courtesy of Forrester analyst Mike Gualtieri, and yes, it’s made more than a few bloggers’ blood pressure rise. We’ve all seen this play before, of course, but who can resist another rousing round of the Linux Desktop Debate? Not many in the Linux blogosphere, that’s for sure.