Friday, February 29, 2008

iPhone to Support Corporate E-Mail Soon

Apple is likely to introduce better support for corporate email solutions such as Lotus Notes and Exchange next week, an analyst said Thursday.
American Technology Research analyst Shaw Wu made the prediction in his latest note to clients Thursday, in which he once again marked Apple's a stock to buy with a US$175 price target.
"Even before the iPhone was launched, our concern was its mediocre corporate email support even though it had strong consumer email capability (Yahoo! Mail, Gmail, .Mac, AOL mail). Our concern stemmed partially from Exchange's lukewarm support of Macs (understandably so as Microsoft needs to defend its Windows franchise)," the analyst notes.
The analyst cites his own industry and developer sources, who suggest that after "months of beta testing" this weakness will be addressed with improvements in iPhone's ability to work with Exchange server and IBM's Lotus Notes.
"What isn't as clear to us is how Apple will accomplish this, whether this is from internal development (most likely), third-parties including MSFT (next likely) with its ActiveSync technology, or RIM Blackberry Connect (possible but less likely), or a combination of two or more."
The analyst also predicts Apple will also deliver improved security, better support of Virtual Private Networks, and enterprise applications such as Customer Relationship Management systems.
"We still have high conviction that Apple will ship ten million iPhones by the end of 2008. To a degree, what gives us confidence is the large number of hacked phones signaling strong intrinsic demand," Wu wrote.
The analyst concluded that Apple's remains a strong stock, noting: "While near-term trends look difficult with a looming recession and a slow-down in consumer spending, we continue to believe Apple is well-positioned to weather the storm better than most with its strong fundamentals."

Thursday, February 28, 2008

LG 50PY3D

The 50PY3D ($2,999.95 list) is LG Electronics' first 50-inch plasma television to feature a 1080p resolution screen. And although the set's performance on my lab tests was mixed, I found its picture quality to be very pleasing—once properly configured, that is. The main problem is with standard-definition (SD) video sources; quality depends on which of the TV's several picture mode presets is used. Some modes overly soften fine details, while others deliver some of the best SD video processing I've seen from an HDTV. With HD video, the picture was detailed, but colors were slightly oversaturated. When processing 1080i video, such as that from broadcast HDTV, the set delivered a picture containing more jagged edges than other 1080p plasmas I've tested.
The TV's glossy black frame incorporates a couple of slick design touches, such as a multifunction display centered along the bottom edge that shows which video input is selected or the channel that's currently tuned. And immediately to the right of the display are a set of stylish, touch-sensitive controls that are visible only when in use; however, these controls were a magnet for fingerprints.
Integrated side-mounted speakers give the set a relatively wide stance for a 50-inch screen. It's similar in width to larger 52-inch LCDs, such as the Sharp LC-52D92U and the Samsung LN-T5265F. With its crescent-shaped swivel stand that provides 40 degrees of total travel (20 degrees both left and right), the 50PY3D measures 34.3 by 51.3 by 14.0 inches (HWD) and weighs 117 pounds. Removing the stand reduces the height and depth to 31.9 inches and 4.3 inches, respectively.
The remote control is similar to those included with most LG HDTVs, including the 47LBX. Its rectangular face has a slight curve that transitions nicely into its beveled sides, and the wedge-shaped profile thickens toward the bottom, providing a natural gripping point. The buttons on this comfortable, well-balanced control also have good tactile feedback, but the only backlit keys are those located along its top edge. Programming the remote to control other components such as a VCR, DVD player, audio receiver, or set-top box requires using the codes provided on an included CD.
Most of the video ports are located on the back of the set and face outward for easy access. I was pleased to find that the three HDMI ports, two component video inputs, and VGA port are all compatible with 1080p60 (60-Hz) input. The TV's HDMI ports are also compatible with 24-Hz signals from capable HD disc players such as the Samsung BD-UP5000. A selection of front-accessible connections occupies the left side of the set. Among them is a USB port for accessing data on portable storage devices. Using the integrated software you can play digital music and display pictures over USB.
The 50PY3D offers a native screen resolution of 1,920 by 1,080 pixels progressively scanned (1080p). Overscan is an issue, though; the set expands the picture and loses some of the viewable image along the edges. As with the LG 47LBX LCD, the 50PY3D unfortunately overscans all HD video sources connected via HDMI by 6.5 percent unless the input label is renamed to "PC" in the TV's option menu. All HD component video sources sacrificed 6.5 percent of the video picture regardless of menu setting, and standard-definition video was overscanned by 7.5 percent (ideally, overscan shouldn't exceed 1 or 2 percent). If you own the HDMI-less version of the Xbox 360, you may want to consider picking up the console's VGA adapter, as the TV's corresponding port allows for 1080p input without any detail-destroying video overscan. On a positive note, the 50PY3D didn't add any lag-inducing video delay that can interfere with game play.
As with all HDTVs, the 50PY3D provides several picture presets that help you easily optimize picture quality for varying room environments. Color and luminance measurements using a Konica Minolta CS-200 chroma meter revealed that the 50PY3D's "mild" picture preset came closest to matching standards used in broadcast TV and cinema production. I found its colors were slightly oversaturated, but uniformly so. The TV's mild preset negatively affected standard-definition (SD) picture quality by softening the picture excessively. This resulted in a loss of some fine details, particularly obvious in a waving flag scene in the HQV Benchmark test DVD. Comparing the mild preset to the other presets available, I noticed that the sharpness control determined how much detail was visible in SD video. Increasing sharpness returned the missing details, but some portions of the picture (particularly along vertical edges) began to look overly enhanced, resulting in ringing artifacts.
Picture quality with HD, as opposed to SD, video sources was less dramatically affected by the 50PY3D's video presets. But when I examined the TV's performance on the section of the HD HQV Benchmark's video reconstruction test, which features three moving bars, I noted jagged edges on all three. I then looked closely at some 1080i satellite TV programming and found more jagged edges than were visible in other 1080p plasma televisions, such as the Panasonic TH-42PZ700U and the Pioneer Elite KURO PRO-150FD. Objects with curved edges were particularly prone to these jagged-edge artifacts.
The 50PY3D, however, easily handled two scenarios that have historically been challenging for plasma televisions: displaying fine color gradients without introducing banding artifacts, and minimizing the appearance of video noise in extremely dark scenes. Grayscale tracking from dark to bright intensities, however, exhibited an increasing amount of variance as it approached black, with some shades tinted slightly green or yellowish-red. A professional calibrator should be able to correct this issue by accessing the set's hidden service menu.
To measure the TV's contrast performance I used a checkerboard test pattern and a 9-point sample. I logged an average contrast ratio of 511:1, which is below average for a modern plasma television. While the TV's black-level measurement of 0.18 cd/m2 wasn't obviously brighter than the Panasonic TH-42PZ700U's result of 0.15 cd/m2 (another 1080p plasma set), the Panasonic was able to generate a peak white level that measured 36 percent greater resulting in a contrast calculation of 847:1. Thus, the extra brightness of the Panasonic plasma would make it better suited for use in a well-lit environment.
Power consumption of the 50PY3D using its default picture preset (dynamic) resulted in a monthly cost calculation of $13.81, based on 8 hours of daily operation at $0.13 per kilowatt-hour (a local average). Switching to the TV's mild picture preset brought this calculation down to $10.64 per month.
The LG 50PY3D doesn't produce the brightest whites or the darkest black levels I've seen. Despite that, it remains a competitive plasma, and professional calibration would greatly improve its grayscale representation for a more natural and realistic picture. Another asset is the 50PY3D's stylish and functional design, with its swivel base and generous assortment of 1080p compatible video inputs. In addition, this TV also offers some of the best standard-definition video processing I've seen from an HDTV—if you can get past its excessively overscanned picture. But with the lights dimmed low and an HD movie rolling, the 50PY3D's detailed picture and room-filling sound may just make you forget its few flaws.

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Cell phone sales hit 1 billion mark

Sales of cell phones skyrocketed to more than 1 billion in 2007, according to data released Wednesday from market research firm Gartner.
More than 1.15 billion mobile phones were sold worldwide in 2007, a 16 percent increase from the 990.9 million phones sold in 2006, the firm said.
The developing world helped boost sales significantly. And in the developed world, sales of new cell phones was drive by consumers looking for replacement phones with tons of features.
"Emerging markets, especially China and India, provided much of the growth as many people bought their first phone," Carolina Milanesi, research director for mobile devices at Gartner, said in a statement. "In mature markets, such as Japan and Western Europe, consumers' appetite for feature-laden phones was met with new models packed with TV tuners, global positioning satellite (GPS) functions, touch screens and high-resolution cameras."
Nokia leads the market, gaining 40 percent market share for the first time during the fourth quarter. The company sold some 435 million phones in 2007. Meanwhile, Motorola lost market share during the year, slipping to third place in terms of total market share. Other companies like LG, Samsung, and Sony Ericsson helped take up the slack. These companies all gained market share in 2007.
Gartner's analysts expect mobile handset sales to decelerate slightly in 2008 with sales growing only 10 percent. While most of the new growth will come in the developing market, it will be the saturation of the market in North America and Western Europe that will cause momentum to slow a bit. North America and Western Europe are expected to account for about 30 percent of global mobile device sales in 2008.
As for the handset makers themselves, a few questions loom large in 2008. First, will Nokia be able to keep up its momentum? It will need to penetrate the North American market to do so, say Gartner analysts. Nokia has not had great success in the U.S. market despite its efforts. The Finnish company has set up a design facility in Southern California specifically to address the North American market. And with U.S. consumers primed with the Apple's iPhone for cool new phones, maybe Nokia will finally be able to get some of its high-end N-series phones in with a major carrier like Verizon Wireless.
There might also be opportunity for Nokia as Verizon Wireless opens its network to allow uncertified devices to operate on its "open" network. But it is still unclear how Verizon will charge for this service. If it is priced too high, consumers may not opt for a service that allows them to bring whatever device they want to the network.
The other big question, of course, is what will happen to Motorola? The company's executives don't expect a major turnaround this year of its mobile device business. The company has said that it is considering its "strategic options," which may or may not include selling the handset business. Even though Motorola executives say they'd rather not sell the handset business, the option is still on the table for now.
In its report, Gartner also noted the emergence of new players in the handset market, including ZTE, a Chinese company that sells low-end phones at aggressive prices, and Research In Motion and Apple, each selling more feature-rich phones designed to take advantage of data services.
And with Google's Android cell phone software making its way into the market sometime this year, it will be interesting to see where the industry is a year from now.

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Yahoo Set to Open Search Engine to Third Parties

New open-source application programming interfaces will allow Web site owners to add information directly to the Yahoo Search results Web page.

Yahoo Inc. is planning to open its Yahoo Search engine to allow third parties to add a wide variety of data to search results.
Code-named "Search Monkey," the new open-source application programming interfaces (API) will allow Web site owners to add information such as ratings and reviews, images, deep links and other data directly to the Yahoo Search results Web page.
"Our intent is clear -- present users with richer, more useful search results so that they can complete their tasks more efficiently and get from 'to-do' to 'done,'" noted Vish Makhijani, senior vice president and general manager of Yahoo Search. "So instead of a simple title, abstract and URL, for the first time, users will see rich results that incorporate the massive amount of data buried in Web sites."
Web site owners can supply Yahoo with data, and the company's Machined Learned Ranking technology will ensure that the results are presented to users at the correct time, he added.
"We believe that combining a free, open platform with structured, semantic content from across the Web is a clear win for all parties involved -- site owners, Yahoo and, most importantly, our users," Makhijani said. "And by the way, users will be in complete control of the experience and will be able to turn off anything related to open search if they so desire."
In an example provided by Yahoo, a search result for a Japanese restaurant in California that previously would have included the URL, an abstract and an address would provide ratings, price information and links for reviews and photos with the new tools. Yahoo plans to provide additional details on how the open search tool will work over the next few months.
Not to be outdone, Google Inc. posted a reminder Monday that its similar effort, called Subscribed Links, allows users to create custom search results that users can add to their own Google search pages. Matt Cutts, a Google software engineer and head of Google's Webspam team, noted that Subscribed Links, which Google debuted in 2006, allows users to "display links to your services, answer questions, and calculate useful quantities and more."

Monday, February 25, 2008

Good Looks Ahead: What's Next for HDTV?

Thinner, more stylish, and better-connected sets are on the way--eventually. But don't expect huge price cuts anytime soon.
Five years ago, just about any flat-panel television could induce oohs and aahs, and high-definition was a rarity. Today, although flat-panel HDTVs are in only 25 percent of American households, they're common enough that the gee-whiz factor is gone. So where do HDTVs go from here?
Improvements in picture sharpness and advances in screen size are likely to be gradual. "It's kind of like computers: If you wait around, there will always be something better around the corner," says DisplaySearch HDTV analyst Paul Gagnon.
But the next step for HDTV isn't about technology per se. It's about the experience of watching, which brings previously peripheral considerations--such as design, ease of use, and integrated audio--to the fore. As a result, you'll not only like what you see on your set, but you'll also have a better time experiencing that content in your home.
A Nod to Style

In this post-iPhone world, where industrial design is king, TV manufacturers are paying particular attention to the look and feel of their products and to integrating software with hardware.
"Everyone is looking for a unique characteristic," notes Gagnon. "You see it in laptops, you see it in cell phones--and now everybody wants a unique statement of design in a TV."
Just as cell phones, digital cameras, and laptops now come in colored packages, TVs too are moving beyond basic black. Manufacturers are also taking a cue from the sleek details found on smaller products. LG Electronics, for example, recently introduced TV sets with color and style tweaks. The 32-inch LG40 features such accents as a curved pedestal and a red front-drop bezel; the back of the LG60 is red, too, and you can see a flash of color peeking through the side and front.
An even bigger emphasis this year is on thinness. Hitachi, JVC, and LG have all revealed thin sets, ranging from 1.5 inches to 1.7 inches thick. Crafting such a slim TV is a technological challenge. LG, for instance, achieved its products' 1.7-inch depth by reengineering the circuitry around the LCD module--and reengineering the TV's cabinet--to remove unused space. In the future, you'll see even more slim sets on the market: Sharp's newest manufacturing facility begins mass production next year, and it will be capable of producing ultrathin 60-inch panels.
Despite the slimmer profiles, television manufacturers are stuffing new features into this year's cabinets, improved speakers being chief among them. A slew of companies, including Panasonic, Philips, Samsung, Sharp, and Westinghouse, have added speakers that fire down instead of forward, which audio experts claim achieves more full-bodied sound. And in its latest models, LG has positioned hidden speakers--they're located behind the cabinet, so that the front bezel looks smooth. JVC has even introduced multiple models that have an integrated "Made for iPod Dock," which lets you play both audio and video from an iPod on your television.
Also taking flight this year: televisions that connect to your home network so you can tap into its content. Last year Hewlett-Packard and Sony were at the fore of this trend, and Pioneer offered some sets that comply with the Digital Living Network Alliance certification (an assurance that they'll be able to interact with other DLNA devices such as PCs, gaming systems, and storage devices that are on your home network). HP is installing in all of its 2008 models a Windows Media Center Extender, which lets you access multimedia on your PC via a home network. Later this year Sony will add a DMeX (Digital Media Extender) option to its sets, allowing them to interact with DLNA-compliant networks.
Internet connectivity comes in for a boost, as well. At the Consumer Electronics Show in January, Sharp introduced models with its Aquos Net service (for receiving customized Web-based content); Panasonic unveiled its VieraCast service (for watching YouTube videos and accessing photos via Google's Picasa photo-sharing site); and Samsung showed TVs that could receive an RSS newsfeed powered by USA Today. All are expected to be released sometime this year.
As with all new bells and whistles, some of these developments are likely to be here today and gone tomorrow. The challenge for manufacturers is to find the right balance between next-gen features and price in a competitive market.
"For now, they're just testing the waters," observes DisplaySearch's Gagnon. "I think a lot of manufacturers are hesitant to build in features that they're not sure will take off." The downside of such a misstep is obvious: Increasing the prices of televisions to add a new feature that no one uses is a waste of money for both manufacturers and consumers.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Windows Movie Maker

License Type: FreePrice: FreeDate Added: Nov 2006Operating Systems: Windows XP Downloads Count: 950315Author: Microsoft
Use your PC to create, edit, and share home movies. Microsoft, a scrappy little software company from Washington state, has released another version of their Movie Maker software. With Movie Maker 2, you can create, edit, and share your home movies. You create movies with drag-and-drop commands, and you can edit your footage so you highlight only the best scenes. Then you can share your movie via the Web, e-mail, or CD; you can also save your movie back to the video tape in your camera to play back on a TV or on the camera itself.

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Toshiba After HD DVD: What Lies Ahead?

What's next for Toshiba and for HD DVD consumers? The answers may be hidden in Toshiba's own words.


By now Toshiba's decision to no longer develop, manufacture, or market HD DVD players and recorders is public knowledge. What's next for the company, and for consumers who bought into the format it supported? A close look at Toshiba's press release reveals some answers.
Long-Term Impact
"We carefully assessed the long-term impact of continuing the so-called next-generation format war and concluded that a swift decision will best help the market develop," says Atsutoshi Nishida, Toshiba president and CEO.
There's irony here, for sure: After all, Toshiba forged ahead with its technology two years ago, at a time when a format war could have been averted before products went to market and consumers were dragged into the mess. Perhaps this is the company's way of apologizing for the whole debacle.
High-Def Lives
Nishida continues, "while we are disappointed for the company and more importantly, for the consumer, the real mass market opportunity for high definition content remains untapped."
That Toshiba still sees the market opportunity for high-definition content is no surprise. This is a company that makes HDTVs. What will you play on those enormous HDTV screens if not high-definition content?
But will Toshiba enter the Blu-ray Disc player market? It's doubtful. In part thanks to the format war, prices have deteriorated so quickly that the margins just aren't there. Plus, the market is fast moving toward commoditization. Give it another two years, and we'll see Blu-ray Disc players being sold for under $200.
Beyond the Disc
At the same time Toshiba announced its withdrawal from HD DVD, the company said it would increase its focus on high-capacity NAND flash memory and small hard drives. Toshiba also said it would work on maximizing next-generation CPUs, visual processing, and wireless and encryption technologies.
Shortly after making its HD DVD announcement, Toshiba revealed that it has partnered with SanDisk to build a new flash memory chip factory; the companies will share the output from the factory. Toshiba is also launching another chip factory of its own for NAND flash memory.
If Toshiba could get costs down and capacities up on its portable hard drives, the company could pursue another market: high-definition recording to hard disk for DVR-like networked media players. Converged devices such as these could be attractive to network-savvy users who want everything networked throughout the home, including their high-definition content.
That said, Apple's foray into the field--Apple TV--didn't exactly get consumers humming. For Toshiba to make a go of it, the company would have to make its product easier to use and better than the solution that cable and satellite operators currently provide: high-def DVR boxes that require few cables. Toshiba could offer a premium high-definition DVR that also supports streaming media around the home network; years ago Toshiba had prototype designs for such a concept (sans the high-def). Toshiba has already dipped into media streaming with its Network NAVI interface introduced on the RD-XS54 DVD recorder a few years ago.
HDi: Does It Still Have a Future?
Toshiba says it intends to "maintain collaborative relations with the companies who joined with Toshiba in working to build up the HD DVD market, including Universal Studios, Paramount Pictures, and DreamWorks Animation and major Japanese and European content providers on the entertainment side, as well as leaders in the IT industry, including Microsoft, Intel, and HP. Toshiba will study possible collaboration with these companies for future business opportunities, utilizing the many assets generated through the development of HD DVD."
Translation: The company plans to maintain good relations with its current partners.
However, this may be an oblique reference to the HDi interactivity initiative Toshiba and Microsoft began in 2007, which involved expanding the advanced interactive layer used in HD DVD media authoring. As recently as late January Microsoft was pushing its HDi technology at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. And Toshiba and Microsoft have revealed that the larger vision for HDi included a universe where multiple devices--including portable media players, servers, and content stored on the Internet--would use HDi to talk with one another.
It's quite possible that Toshiba plans to continue exploring HDi--assuming Microsoft plans to continue pursuing the technology in light of HD DVD's demise.

Monday, February 18, 2008

Somebody Tell Toshiba: Blu-Ray Won

The vendor may still be mulling, but word on Main Street is that the DVD format wars are over.

NEW YORK/LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Toshiba Corp may not have officially given up on its HD DVD format for high definition DVDs, but the word on the street on Sunday was that rival Sony Corp's Blu-ray had won the war.
Buyers Decide
"Blu-ray won. It's fantastic and I trust Sony," said one customer, William, browsing the DVD player aisles at the Best Buy Co Inc store on New York's Fifth Avenue.
"Blu-rays are flying off the shelves, but we have to order if you want HD," said Tania Bonetti, who works in the home theater section of the store, where DVD players cost from $399 to almost $1,000.
Another sales assistant, Michael, said: "We still sell HD DVD's but we are telling customers that Blu-ray won."
And in a sign that Main Street has already anointed Sony the winner, Blu-ray disc prices were slashed drastically at both Best Buy and at the next-door Circuit City Stores Inc , another of America's huge consumer electronics stores.
Both stores' fliers for their President's Day sales prominently featured select movie titles such as "300," "Ocean's Thirteen" and "The Departed" in Blu-ray format.
"Step into Hi-Def with Blu-ray," said Circuit City's ad, listing discs at $24.99 -- up to $10 less than normal. The ad did not even mention HD DVD format.
Best Buy had the same deals, with some Blu-ray titles as low as $14.99. "I have never seen Blu-rays on sale like this before," said Bonetti at Best Buy.
On Saturday, a Toshiba source told Reuters the Japanese company is planning to give up on its HD DVD format, conceding defeat to Blu-ray.
Separate consortiums led by Toshiba and Sony have battled for years to set the standard for the next-generation DVD and compatible video equipment.
The war, often compared to the Betamax-VHS battle in the 1980s, was blamed for slowing the growth of what is expected to be a multibillion dollar high-definition DVD industry.
A Boost for DVD Sales
Stephanie Prange, editor in chief of Home Media Magazine, said the war's end should boost high-def DVD adoption.
"It would definitely help. The two formats, though both were good, have confused consumers and prevented them from moving into the high-def future," she said.
Prange said Sony, which lost its Betamax bid, had its ducks in a row for the current format war. It lined up early studio support and included a Blu-ray player in its new PlayStation 3 video game system, creating an instant customer base.
"This time I guess they learned from their mistakes," Prange said of Sony.
Toshiba suffered several setbacks in recent weeks, including Friday's announcement by retailing giant Wal-Mart Stores Inc that it would abandon the HD DVD format and only stock Blu-ray movies.
"Toshiba's plan all along was to be the low-price version. If Wal-Mart isn't going to sell their players, who will?" Prange said, noting that Wal-Mart calls itself the low-price leader.
Akeem, the Circuit City sales assistant, said he was still selling lots of players in each format. And for customers who did not necessarily care about the format, there is a model by LG, selling for $599, that plays both HD and Blu-ray.
And Best Buy's Michael said some people were buying Toshiba units, even though they know Blu-ray will be the format of the future. "They figure that HD discs will become cheaper."

Sunday, February 17, 2008

Spybot Search & Destroy 1.5

Spyware seems so ubiquitous these days that it's hard to remember it wasn't always so. I first wrote about the topic in 2000, and in that same year Patrick Kolla started developing a program to counter the threat. In the early 2000s, Kolla's Spybot was one of the few antispyware utilities available, and it became hugely (and deservedly) popular. Unfortunately, over the years it hasn't kept up with modern malware. I stopped recommending it some years ago. But when we ran our roundup, Nine Ways to Wipe Out Spyware there was a great outcry at its omission. Apparently, many of you stuck by this elder statesman of spyware long after I gave up on it. I decided that if so many of you still swore by it, I owed it to you to put the latest version of Kolla's app through the same tests as all the rest—either to confirm your opinions or to warn you that Spybot didn't measure up. Accordingly, I ran the current version, Spybot – Search & Destroy 1.5, through my standard testing regimen.


The program hasn't visibly changed in years. It's still separated into a main Spybot scanning module and a real-time protection module that goes by the unusual name of TeaTimer. Installation is quick and it leads you through getting the latest updates and running its immunization process, which is supposed to prevent certain unauthorized changes to your system. I was a bit surprised at the date on the latest immunization files: July 25, 2007. That was over six months ago—not a good omen for Spybot.

Friday, February 15, 2008

H&R Block TaxCut Home & Business 2007

If you trust the H&R Block name but don't necessarily want to deal with the rigmarole of making an appointment or waiting in the office to see someone, software from the U.S.'s most famous tax-preparation service can guide you through the process of trying to get some of your money back from the government in the comfort of your own home—or on your own computer, at least. H&R Block's TaxCut software provides a powerful tax-processing system with plenty of extras. The question is, can it stand up to the competition, and especially the long-time favorite, TurboTax from Intuit?

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Toshiba gearing up to drop HD DVD?

We're not exactly sure what's going on in Toshiba land, but shortly after not-exactly-believable whispers made the rounds of the firm suddenly deciding to try its hand at making a Blu-ray player, we're now seeing reports stating that it will pull the plug on its beloved format "in the coming weeks." Citing unnamed industry "sources," The Hollywood Reporter is suggesting that the end may be nigh for the HD DVD format. Jodi Sally, VP of marketing for Toshiba America Consumer Products, was quoted as saying that "given the market developments in the past month, Toshiba will continue to study the market impact and the value proposition for consumers, particularly in light of its recent price reductions on all HD DVD players." Of course, we aren't exactly equating said statement to waving the white flag or anything, but whatever the case, it seems the death watch is in full effect.

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Motorola gets snubbed again, Samsung won't be buying either

It looks like Motorola is fast running out of potential suitors for its cellphone business, with Samsung now joining LG and Sony Ericsson is saying that it has no interest in picking up the division that Motorola is supposedly still "committed" to. Specifically, Samsung's Choi Gee-sung said that Motorola would not make a good "supplement" for the company, and that there are "many overlapping areas and little to gain," which pretty much echoes the sentiment from the two aforementioned companies. Despite increasingly appearing like the player no one wants to pick for their team, however, some unspecified "analysts" think that the division valued at $9 to 12 billion could eventually find a buyer, and they're throwing around names like Huawei and even Dell as possibilities. Needless to say, we'll believe that last one when we see it.

Monday, February 11, 2008

Microsoft Steps Up Mobile Consumer Push

Microsoft prepares to release a new application for delivering "snippets" of data to Windows Mobile devices at the Mobile World Congress.


Microsoft is releasing a new application for delivering "snippets" of data to Windows Mobile devices, one of several announcements planned for the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, which opens today.
Microsoft plans to announce that it will offer software for Windows Mobile users based on MSN Direct, a service it developed to deliver data snippets to watches. The new application displays small bits of information like weather, stocks and news on the home screen of the phone. "This is an innovative take on how to get information in a glanceable way on handsets," said Brian Arbogast, vice president of mobile services at Microsoft.
Windows Mobile users can download the application, which will initially be offered as a beta.
Fierce Competition
Microsoft and its competitors Yahoo and Google are jockeying for lead position in the mobile market. Each is working to draw mobile users to their services in hopes of ultimately establishing a revenue stream from mobile advertising. So far, the market is relatively open.
Microsoft also said it is offering a new software development kit that will give developers access to additional Microsoft mobile services protocols. With the new tools, Microsoft's software vendor partners will be able to build richer clients that access additional Windows Live for mobile capabilities. For example, a developer could make an application that lets a user click to record a voice clip and send it to an MSN Messenger buddy, even if the sender is using a Windows Mobile phone and the recipient has a Nokia S60 phone.
"These are rich and fun and engaging features in Messenger that we had on some of our top-end platforms that are now opened up through this protocol," said Arbogast.
Another New Program
Microsoft also introduced a new program, Windows Live @mobile, aimed at making it easier for operators to quickly begin offering Windows Live and MSN mobile services across their device portfolios.
While Windows Mobile has been seen primarily as a product for business users, Microsoft is increasingly trying to push it into the consumer market. "This is about us really extending our focus to be, instead of predominantly on the work part of life, to be about delivering phones for your entire life," said Arbogast.
Microsoft also recently hired a new marketing executive tasked with positioning Windows Mobile to appeal more to consumers.
Still, Microsoft isn't shifting away from its business customer focus. It is stepping up its efforts to sell mobile products to small businesses. Through a new partnership, Brightstar and TechData will sell Windows Mobile phones to small and medium businesses in Europe. The companies will offer a portfolio of products and services to customers, including servers, devices, services and support.
In the U.S., Microsoft said that Cbeyond, a provider of communications services for small businesses, will offer a new hosted Exchange e-mail service that supports mobile devices for small and medium businesses.

Friday, February 8, 2008

Dell Trims AMD-Based Consumer PC Offerings

Don't look on the Dell Web site for home AMD-based PCs. The company is selling them only in brick and mortar stores or via phone orders now.

Dell Inc said today that it has cut from its Web site most consumer computers with chips from Advanced Micro Devices Inc.
The PC vendors sais it would sell AMD-based PCs mainly in stores and by phone.
The news sent shares of AMD down as much as 4.7 percent to $6.28. A Dell spokesman said the shift, which took place over the past week, only affects consumer computers available on its Web site and could change.
Shares of AMD rival Intel Corp. were up 15 cents at $20.20 and Dell added 14 cents to $19.57.
Still Offering AMD-Based Products to Businesses
Dell, the second-largest PC maker after Hewlett-Packard Co , is still selling one AMD-based consumer desktop computer on its Web site, and the Web site will continue to offer AMD-based systems to business customers, spokesman David Frink said.
"We regularly change the way we merchandise our product portfolio," Frink said. "Currently, this is the mix we've put in place for our consumer systems of all types."
Frink said the change affects "a few" Dell laptop and desktop computers offered on its Web site.
AMD had been gaining ground on Intel in the last few years until 2007. By then, Intel had revamped its product line with more advanced chips that used less power.
AMD stumbled in 2007, missing expected shipment dates of a key microprocessor code-named Barcelona as Intel regained its footing after missteps of its own in 2005 and 2006.
The world's biggest chip maker has since regained much of the market share lost to AMD.
For years AMD sought to land Dell, once the world's biggest PC maker, as a customer. Dell said in May 2006 that it would begin using AMD processors for the first time in a shift that was viewed then as a coup for AMD.

Thursday, February 7, 2008

Vista, Leopard, Linux to compete in hack contest

Apple's OS X, Microsoft Windows, and Linux operating systems are to be pitted against each other in an ethical hacking contest in Vancouver next month.
Run by the organizers of the CanSecWest Vancouver 2008 security conference, the competition is a repeat of the "PWN to Own" contest at CanSecWest in 2007, when security researchers competed to win a MacBook Pro and $10,000. The prize was shared between security researchers Dino Dai Zovi and Shane Macauley for their successful use of a zero-day QuickTime vulnerability, which they used to compromise the MacBook. The vulnerability was subsequently found to also affect Windows platforms.
The hacking competition at CanSecWest 2008 will pit the Linux, Leopard OS X, and Vista operating systems against each other, according to CanSecWest organizer Dragos Ruiu.
"The fur is flying right now about which is more secure--Linux, Vista, or Leopard," Ruiu said on Thursday. "Linux guys have their propaganda, Windows guys are saying this and that, Apple guys have buried their heads in the sand as usual. I guess the proof is in the pudding."
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The prizes for the contest will be "several laptops," according to Ruiu. When he spoke to ZDNet UK, on Thursday, the security researcher was in Tokyo partly to organize a CanSecWest event and partly to go "shopping for laptops." Ruiu had not yet decided which laptops to buy, but said he was looking for something "new and thrilling."
"We want the prizes to inspire lust amongst geeks," said Ruiu. "It's going to be something lustworthy."
Last year the $10,000 prize money was supplied by security firm TippingPoint. This year's contest still needs a sponsor, and it is possible that the nature of the contest could still change, said Ruiu, although he declined to say what other form it might take.

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

SanDisk unveils a 16-gigbit, 3 bits per cell flash chips, plans to move 43nm NAND into production

Usually with SanDisk flash announcements we just list a new higher capacity and post a shot of a memory card with the new number on it, but this time around the announcements are little deeper: two new memory technologies. The first, which will go into production in March, is a 16-gigbit flash chip that contains three bits per cell, based on Toshiba's "3D" flash tech we heard about over the summer. The chip offers 8MB/sec write performance, but is much smaller than conventional MLC chips. Speaking of MLC, SanDisk also announced that it's moving forward on 43nm MLC fabrication, which will allow it to ship 32 gigabit flash chips in the latter half of the year. Either way, it looks like we're going to have a lot of memory cards with bigger numbers on them to post up soon, eh?

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Wi-Fi Off the Freeway

Our road trippers Karen and Eric give you their tips for getting wireless when you think you're out of luck.
by Karen Catchpole and Eric Mohl
During our three-year road trip through North, Central, and South America, we have been avoiding big cities in favor of small towns—or no towns. Here's our down-and-dirty guide for getting a wireless connection even when you're officially in the middle of nowhere.
Some states, including Texas, have installed Wi-Fi technology at all their highway rest stops and welcome centers. Stops on the New York Thruway are also proudly Wi-Fi, and visitor information centers across the country provide free Wi-Fi access, including the State Information Center in the tiny town of Calais, Maine, where we stopped for a quick e-mail check before crossing into Canada.
Amazingly, most motels still don't lock their Wi-Fi signals (one exception is the Best Western chain), which means that discreetly lurking in the parking lot near the registration office, where the router is usually located, can be a quick and easy way to connect.
Many public libraries, even in the smallest towns, now offer Wi-Fi access that usually doesn't require an access code. Signals are often accessible from the parking lot—but many libraries turn off their routers at closing time.
No one needs to stay in touch on the road more than long-haul truck drivers. That's why trucker haven Flying J offers Wi-Fi hotspots at more than 300 locations in the U.S. and Canada (www.fjcomm.com/internet-hotspots.asp). Plans start at $4.95 per day.
If you still can't find a signal, you can try one of the hot-spot locator services. With a database of more than 208,000 Wi-Fi hot spots in 135 countries (including Zambia and Lichtenstein), the Web site JiWire (www.jiwire.com) can help you find hot spots no matter where the road takes you. For $25 a year you can download and use an application from the site that lets you see these hot spots offline. And Boingo (www.boingo.com) provides Internet access at almost 6,000 Wi-Fi hot spots across the U.S., including every Barnes & Noble and every Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf cafĂ©—for $21.95 per month for laptops and $7.95 for mobile phones.
Even with so many Wi-Fi networks out there, you still might find yourself outside the sweet spot of a hot spot's range. The InField Wi-Fire ($79, hfield.com/wifire.htm) is an external USB antenna that claims to triple the standard laptop wireless range. We've found it useful for boosting a weak signal and finding networks that didn't otherwise show up.

Monday, February 4, 2008

Intel's Silverthorne a 'Building Block' for the Future

It's becoming clear that the low-power Silverthorne processor is more than a new chip. It is a building block for Intel's future road map.

As Intel Corp. gets ready to reveal new information about its upcoming low-power Silverthorne processor at the International Solid State Circuits Conference this week, it's becoming clear that the technology is more than a new chip.
Silverthorne, designed for ultra mobile PCs and mobile Internet devices, is a building block that will be critical to a good portion of the chips listed on Intel's future product roadmap, according to industry analysts.
"Silverthorne isn't just a processor. No, it's much more than that," said Jim McGregor, an analyst at In-Stat in Scottsdale, Ariz. "It is really a building block for not just part of Intel's strategy, but a big part of their strategy going forward. It's one step toward them getting down toward a power range that can compete with other embedded architectures."
McGregor noted that the Silverthorne architecture will be worked into future processors, like the upcoming Morristown platform, which is slated to ship in 2009.
Pankaj Kedia, a director at Intel, told Computerworld that Silverthorne will be a key piece of many other Intel products. "The low-power micro-architecture we're going to be rolling out next week is establishing a foundation that will spawn multiple processors in different segments," he added. "We believe mobile Internet devices is a big market -- a high growth market. More and more consumers want to access the Internet wherever they are... We think more and more consumers will want to carry the Internet with them in their pocket. Silverthorne will be the heartbeat of this category. From a growth perspective, Silverthorne is very important."
In a press briefing last week, Intel CTO Justin Rattner said Silverthorne is still on track to ship in the first half of this year. The low-power processor is designed to be compatible with the Core 2 Duo instruction set and gets down into the 2 watt to .6 watt power range. The processor is based on Intel's 45-nanometer technology.
Kedia said Silverthorne's power needs are about 15 times lower than the company's lowest power dual-core processor. And Rattner said the performance is in the range of the early Centrino processors. "It's quite respectable performance for a processor this little," he added.
However, Kedia noted that the "innovation" in the new architecture lies in its low-power technology. "Other product lines will leverage this innovation," he said. "Other roadmaps, laptops and servers... and other segments like the embedded space and entertainment systems in cars... will all leverage the power management innovation that we have in the Silverthorne architecture."
And being able to extend the technology that way is a key strength fro Intel as it looks to break into new markets like processors for mobile devices, said McGregor.
"The big thing for Intel is that they're on this edge," he explained. "They've been the shining star in high-tech for a long time. They're the most profitable semiconductor manufacturer in the world. They've dominated the markets they're in, but they've failed to get into other markets, like TVs and cellular handsets. It's important for them to find new growth opportunities for the future. It's still going to be hard to maintain the margins they do in computing but if they want to continue to grow, they have to move into new markets."
Dan Olds, an analyst at Gabriel Consulting, said with Silverthorne, Intel is showing the industry it's serious about advancing into the ultra mobile PC market.
"It's important from the standpoint that Intel is putting a stake in the sand," he said. "For what it does, it's good. It's not the universal chip that will run everything from laptops to cell phones. As an entrance in the tablet PC and small laptop arena, it's a very good chip. This is the basic technology that's going to be the foundation for a lot of other Intel ultra mobile form factors."

Friday, February 1, 2008

Net Nanny 5.6

Back in 1994, Bill Clinton's first term was in full swing, Windows 3.1 was the operating system du jour, and Net Nanny appeared as the first consumer Internet filter. ContentWatch acquired the venerable product in January of 2007 and married it to the home version of its existing ContentProtect content-filtering utility. The offspring of this union, called Net Nanny 5.6, bears a much stronger resemblance to ContentProtect than to its other parent, but bits of Net Nanny surface here and there.

As soon as you install Net Nanny, it starts working. Out of the box, it blocks access to eight categories of undesirable Web sites and records all Web activity and IM conversations. That may be fine for some, but if you share the same computer with the kids or if the kids span a wide age range, you'll want to configure per-user settings. You can associate settings with Windows accounts, define user profiles specific to Net Nanny, or use a combination of the two—it's very flexible. Program-specific profiles can be configured to log off automatically after a set time, so Preschool Persephone doesn't wind up surfing under Teenage Tony's less-restrictive settings. There are no predefined age-specific profiles like those in Webroot Parental Controls, but when you configure a new profile you can duplicate settings from an existing one.
Like Safe Eyes 5, Net Nanny offers excellent support for the multi-computer family (additional licenses are half-price). Just give each child the same profile name on each computer—the Windows account name need not be the same. The configuration changes you make on one computer are stored on ContentWatch's servers and replicated on the other computers when you choose "Refresh Profiles," or when any user logs on.—Next: Comprehensive Categories

ContentProtect 2.0 relied totally on real-time analysis of page content to categorize sites. This allowed it to handle brand-new sites and to block individual pages rather than a whole a site, when appropriate. However, the analysis slowed browsing slightly and could be fooled by sites using pictures instead of text. The current version first checks a site database acquired along with the Net Nanny product and escalates to full text analysis only if the site hasn't been categorized, or if the site's content is known to change rapidly. And it filters Web traffic below the browser level: In testing it blocked every browser I tried, including several virtual unknowns and one that I wrote myself.

The Filter Settings page initially displays nine categories that you probably want to block, such as Pornography, Gambling, and Drugs/Alcohol. All of these except Chat are blocked by default. The Proxy category, new in this version, is a useful addition: It blocks access to "anonymizer" sites that could be used to subvert Net Nanny's content filtering. Opening up the full list of 30 reveals categories like Games, Religious, and Sports. Besides the expected options to allow or block access for each category, you can choose just to warn the user and offer a choice whether or not to continue—a nice feature.
In addition to setting which categories are blocked for each user, you can fine-tune the blocking process itself. For younger children, you can include a button on the warning dialog that lets them send you an override request if Net Nanny blocks a site they think it shouldn't. You may choose to trust older children with an override password instead; you'll see from the log reports whether they've used it. I like this approach, because it lets you treat the kids with trust rather than control but still start a discussion if their surfing seems to go astray. You can also specify whether this dialog should identify the blocked site's offending category. If you wish you can have Net Nanny redirect to a user-specified Web page rather than display the blocking dialog.
On the other hand, trust may not be in the picture. If your aim is to catch the kids doing what they shouldn't, you can sneakily set it to display just a browser error message. By using the error message mode and hiding the program's tray icon, you can run it in a limited kind of stealth mode. This strategy obviously represents a very different philosophy from trusting kids with their own override. If that's what you need, Net Nanny is flexible enough to supply it.
Sentry At Home lets children send an override request if they believe a site has been blocked in error, and the parent can override the block locally or via remote management. Net Nanny takes this concept significantly further: Your child can request an override for the entire site or just for a particular page, and can also request that the site be assigned to a different category. This category change, if permitted, remains local to your own Net Nanny installation—it doesn't affect the overall database.—Next: Blocking Below the Surface

Besides blocking Web sites with inappropriate content, Net Nanny can cut off Web browsing, IM, chat, newsgroups, or peer-to-peer file sharing at the protocol level. Your teen won't be able to evade IM blocking by switching to a third-party client like Trillian because Net Nanny blocks the IM protocol, not the specific client. Choosing to block Web browsing affects any browser, just as content filtering works in any browser. That's how it should be: Solutions like Sentry At Home, iShield Plus 2.0, or SnoopStick, which block only specific browsers and programs, are too easy to evade. Blocking at such a low level is a powerful technique that might possibly block something it shouldn't—for example, a nonbrowser financial program that needs Web access. If that happens, however, you can override the protocol-based blocking for the specific application.

By default, Net Nanny records all Web-site visits and all conversations using instant messaging services from AOL, Google, Microsoft, MySpace, Yahoo!, and others. You can turn off either type of monitoring for specific users—you surely don't want it to monitor your own account or other adults. Net Nanny also monitors IM at the protocol level, so here again your kids can't escape its view by using a third-party client the way they could under Safe Eyes. It can't record conversations that use a totally Web-based client like Meebo.com or Yahoo! Messenger for the Web, so you may want to cut off access to these by blocking the Chat category. Also, it can't log encrypted protocols like Google Talk. I thought it might be like PC Pandora, which simply skips logging Google Talk. But in testing I found that Net Nanny instead forces Google Talk to forgo encryption. Nice!—Next: Time and Game Control


Time and Game ControlLike most parental-control programs, Net Nanny lets you schedule when and how much your kids can use the Internet. For each child, you can define a weekly schedule in half-hour increments and optionally set a daily or weekly cap on total Internet time. Net Nanny uses Internet time, so unlike Webroot Parental Controls or Bsafe Online it can't be fooled by tweaking the system clock or time zone: Believe me, I tried! Unfortunately, there's no built-in way that your child can appeal for an override to the time scheduler.

Last and definitely least is an option to control access to Internet Games. Unchanged since ContentProtect 2.0, it lets you control access to seven specific obscure Internet games—my kids have never even heard of them! ContentWatch is looking at the possibility of adding rating-based game blocking like that in Vista's built-in parental-control system. Until that happens, Vista users can run both, as Net Nanny is designed for full compatibility with Vista's built-in system.—Next: But I'm at the Office…


But I'm at the Office…
If you were at home all the time you might not even need software to manage the children's computer use. An occasional well-timed shout of "Hey, cut that out!" could well do the job. But you're not home all the time, and Net Nanny takes that into account. Any time it blocks a child's access to a Web site, to the Internet, or to a program type such as IM, it can optionally send an e-mail notification. You can also opt to receive notification when the child gets a warning, requests an override, or uses the override password.

It's easy to have Net Nanny send notifications of all events for all users to a single e-mail address, but you can optionally tune this feature down to the finest level. For each user it can send notification of each event type to a different e-mail address or to multiple addresses—so Mom and Dad can both get the message.
By logging into account management at, netnanny.com you control all aspects of the program's configuration. When you get an e-mail notification of an override request, you can accept or reject it right away. If your teen IMs you saying she's run out of Internet time before she ran out of homework, you can change her profile to offer more time. You'll have to IM her back and tell her to choose "Refresh Profiles", though, or log out and in again. At least this version allows the kids to trigger a refresh; ContentProtect required administrator-level access to do that.
Net Nanny will eventually pick up the new settings even if you don't log in a different user or refresh the profiles. But because remote changes are immediate only if you have cooperation from the kids, you can't reasonably use that feature to tighten up restrictions. Remote changes in Safe Eyes, SnoopStick, and Webroot Parental Controls all take effect within minutes.


Remarkable Reports
Most parental control utilities can monitor Web sites visited, and many also record IM conversations, but Net Nanny outshines all the rest in its presentation of the logged information. From the administrative console, you can request a Web or IM report for the last day, week, fortnight, or month. You can make these reports available on a per-user basis from the remote management console as well.

The Web report starts with a series of graphs: a pie chart of sites visited by category; a bar chart showing sites allowed, blocked and warned; a bar chart of Web time for each user, and a graph of total Internet time for each day. But that's just the start. You can click any element of the Flash-based report to drill down. Click a pie slice for a list of users who viewed sites in that category, and click a user for full details on which sites were visited, when, and for how long. Drill into the Web time chart for a full list of all sites visited by a particular user during the report period. You can also print the charts and detail reports.
In a similar fashion, the IM report offers a pie chart of IM services used, a bar chart breakdown by user, and a graph of time spent on IM each day. Drilling down to the maximum level of detail, you can see the full text of all recorded conversations along with the screen names used and the date and time. Here again you can print the charts and detail reports.
Net Nanny includes a number of other small improvements over ContentProtect. It now has a full help system rather than just a PDF manual. It no longer requires you to define (and remember) a plethora of passwords, all different. And it now sends e-mail notification of new override requests. Kids are now able to refresh the local system with remote profile changes (though I'd like to see changes accepted automatically and immediately). It's an excellent choice for controlling and monitoring what your kids do online.