RSSTechnology News Headlines and Software
December 22, 2009, 5:19 PM
The once and future king: Test build of Opera crushes Chrome on Windows 7
That's not glitter or tinsel in the air, that's Chrome dust...from the browser build that just blew by it on the performance racetrack.
News Display:
Google's 'Open' definition: Simply brilliant business, but is it evil?
By Joe Wilcox on December 22, 2009, 7:10 PM
27 Comments
Just about everyone who is anyone has asked "Is Google evil?" some time during 2009. I did, in an early November post. Google's growing dominance is reason enough to wonder. That dominance helped put me out of a job nearly eight months ago and many other journalists since. Google's free business model, supported by advertising, has hugely disrupted news and other information services. More disruption is coming to more business categories in the early 2010s.
Is this disruption evil? The answer may depend upon worldview. In a compelling blog entry posted late yesterday, Jonathan Rosenberg, Google's senior vice president of Product Management, described the company's "meaning of open." But the meaning is broader than open standards or open source. What he lays out, whether intended or not, is a different business worldview -- and it's one that can't help but be disruptive.
Microsoft loses i4i appeal, faces Word injunction in three weeks
By Scott M. Fulton, III on December 22, 2009, 6:17 PM
13 Comments
The US Circuit Court of Appeals in DC has today denied Microsoft's appeal to overturn a court injunction preventing it from selling copies of Microsoft Word (or Office with Word). Those copies contain a feature that a jury last May found infringed upon patents held by i4i, a former Microsoft partner that built Word add-ons for editing XML.
Now, Microsoft says it will be ready to sell revised versions of Word 2007 and Office 2007, beginning next January 11 -- the date the court injunction takes effect.
Facebook users share 'Everything,' including how sorry their lives are
By Tim Conneally on December 22, 2009, 1:20 PM
11 Comments
Social networking site Facebook has more than 350 million active users, and more than 35 million users update their "status" every day. They could be updated with personal information, music, videos, links, or anything that users feel the need to share with their social group.
During 2009, nearly 13 billion of these status updates were posted, and Facebook has released its "Top Status trends of 2009," indicating just what was on people's minds.
Hey, Microsoft, Betanews readers have some 2010 advice for you
By Joe Wilcox on December 22, 2009, 12:28 PM
31 Comments
Betanews readers are an opinionated lot, so it's no surprise they've got a few things to tell Microsoft about how to run the business. On December 7, I asked readers to offer their advice for Microsoft in 2010 -- and, whoa, have they done it.
By the way, I'll offer advice, too, sometime next week. I've been doing it for the last couple years in lieu of making predictions. Meanwhile, here are readers' recommendations:
Shut up and drive: The menace that is mobile technology
By Carmi Levy on December 21, 2009, 7:12 PM
44 Comments
I like my toys behind the wheel as much as everyone else. Between my GPS, iPod, BlackBerry, and DVD player, I've got enough technology to avoid getting lost, stay entertained, stay connected, and keep my seat-belted kids from beating each other silly. I have no idea how my Luddite parents survived the Dark Ages before in-car electronics, and I'm not sure I ever really want to know.
Before setting off on a drive, it takes me about five minutes to get all my doo-dads connected and working. My wife, bless her, usually gives me a small grace period for fiddling before her patience wears thin.
Statistics: Firefox 3.5 surpassed IE7 in global usage share last week
By Scott M. Fulton, III on December 21, 2009, 3:55 PM
31 Comments
At some time during the middle of last week -- quite possibly, on the very day that Microsoft announced its settlement with the European Commission -- Web analytics firm StatCounter registered more Web site hits coming from Web browsers announcing themselves as Mozilla Firefox 3.5 than from either Internet Explorer 7.0 or IE8.
According to the fairest interpretation of StatCounter's data, that means Firefox 3.5-branded browsers are more actively used, on all platforms including Linux, than any single version of any other browser, including IE. As of Monday morning, FF 3.5 was responsible for 21.93% of HTTP requests tracked by StatCounter, versus 21.2% of requests from IE7, 20.33% from IE8 (buoyed recently by Windows 7's success), and 13.89% from IE6.
10 things Microsoft did wrong in 2009
By Joe Wilcox on December 21, 2009, 3:26 PM
62 Comments
Earlier today, I posted "10 things Microsoft did right in 2009." I originally planned to post the did-wrong list tomorrow. But in view of today's news about Microsoft's out-going chief financial officer, Chris Liddell, I changed the timetable. Liddell's departure is one of the things Microsoft did wrong in 2009 (He will become CFO at GM).
The did-wrong list was way too much easier to compile than the did-right list. I could easily put 20 items here. The year 2009 was perhaps the most difficult for Microsoft since Bill Gates and Paul Allen founded the company nearly 35 years ago. Company executives can thank economic turmoil for the hardships. But Microsoft could have handled 2009 much better than it did. Hopefully, 2010 will be better.
Microsoft's interoperability pledge not free enough for Free Software
By Scott M. Fulton, III on December 21, 2009, 3:20 PM
7 Comments
The agreement between the European Commission and Microsoft announced last Wednesday did not mention "Free Software" by name. There is no corporation or partnership by that name, at least not officially, though up until the resolution of the dispute last week, there had been occasional hints from outgoing Commissioner for Competition Neelie Kroes that any agreement with Microsoft must take "free" into account, almost as though it were "Free Software, Ltd."
It's a very serious issue for many European developers, as Free Software had been treated as a worthy-of-all-caps entity in drafts of the European Interoperability Framework from last year. But recent discussions on revising the EIF have included suggestions from many sources, including a controversial one from the Polish government, that strike references to Free Software as a legal entity, especially as one that deserves equal protection as a limited legal body.
Live Poll: Are we done with Microsoft, Microsoft, Microsoft?
By Scott M. Fulton, III on December 21, 2009, 12:51 PM
28 Comments
With Microsoft promising to abide by new interoperability standards for PCs, while losing ground in mobile, should it remain the focus of our interests in 2010?(opinion)
We exit 2009 with what appears to be the first sign of a plate-tectonic shift in both consumer and business technology -- specifically, a shift in interest and focus. It's a broader world out there, full of new and old companies with different names and real technology agendas that suddenly seem very realistic. Could we really be emerging into that competitive playing field that so many technologists had been seeking for so long?
The mobile shopping Web isn't evolving in step with consumers' needs
By Matthew Poepsel, E-Commerce Times on December 21, 2009, 12:25 PM
1 Comment
The year 2009 is expected to be the first when mobile phones start gaining real traction in holiday shopping. Nearly one in five consumers will use a mobile device to assist in their holiday shopping this year, according to Deloitte's most recent Annual Holiday Survey of retail spending and trends. Shoppers will use their mobile devices to find store locations, research prices, find product information, get coupons, read reviews and more. An estimated one in four consumers will even make a holiday purchase with their phone, representing a sizable chunk of potential sales.
It's little wonder then that retailers are showing more interest than ever before in the mobile Web. Recent Nielsen data shows that the mobile Web audience in the US grew a whopping 34 percent between July 2008 and July 2009, in spite of the economic climate and otherwise bleak consumer spending. Ironically, the down economy may be a key factor luring consumers to the mobile Web this holiday season, as they use their mobile phones to compare prices and find the best bargains, even in real-time as they peruse malls and stores.
Apple's iPhone carrier woes extend to the UK with O2 3G outage
By Scott M. Fulton, III on December 21, 2009, 12:07 PM
3 Comments
2:30 pm EST December 21, 2009 · UK-based carrier O2 is now saying, through its Twitter feed, that the fault related to iPhone data service outages throughout Britain has been fixed. Customers may continue to see some delay, however, before their service is fully restored.
As of late Monday afternoon in the UK (late Monday morning in the US), a data network outage continues to impact O2 network customers -- specifically those using Apple iPhone 3G and 3G S models. O2 acknowledged the problem yesterday via Twitter, and once again this morning.
10 things Microsoft did right in 2009
By Joe Wilcox on December 21, 2009, 2:27 AM
43 Comments
The year 2009 was pretty good to Microsoft, even as the weak economy ravaged sales. Microsoft actually did a few things right. The did-wrong list will come later today (not tomorrow as previously posted). For now, I present the list of 10 things Microsoft did right in 2009 -- in no order of importance. They're all important. Microsoft:
1. Flawlessly launched Windows 7. There's a metaphor somehow in Microsoft launching Windows 7 during the 40th anniversary year of the Apollo moon landing. Microsoft's precision reminds of NASA sending man to the moon. While the human risk wasn't as great and many of the engineering challenges were far less than Apollo 11, Windows 7 needed perfect launch and delivery, from testing to release candidate to voluming licensing availability and retail release. Microsoft pulled it off.
10 last-minute gifts for geeks
By Joe Wilcox on December 19, 2009, 3:24 AM
1 Comment
It's the last shopping weekend before Christmas and perhaps you just don't know what to give that special geek in your life. I've prepared a list of 10 gifts, none of which might make your holiday list without a little prodding. I intentionally picked gifts I would want to give that you might not think to give. If you've got other, hopefully better, ideas, please share them in comments. A list of 10 suggestions isn't enough.
1. Panasonic Lumix LX3K -- Earlier this week, Amazon had this compact digital camera for $398.95 but sold out. Adorama lists the camera for $499.95, but the price drops to $398.95 in the shopping cart. B&H Photo offers the LX3K for the same price. Four hundred bucks is simply an excellent price for what is one of the most versatile compact digicams available -- and it's suitable for novices or pros.
'Operation Chokehold' shows the social media mob has influence
By Joe Wilcox on December 18, 2009, 8:21 PM
5 Comments
"Operation Chokehold" has come and gone, with no sign it even put AT&T in a headlock. But with so many people complaining of service already so spotty, could anyone really tell the difference short of network failure? For AT&T, there is little victory in surviving the coordinated, customer-driven denial-of-service attack. The publicity has done damage enough, and, as I blogged yesterday, everything is different now for companies looking to manage their brands and customer relations.
Dan Lyons, writing as Fake Steve Jobs, called for Operation Chokehold -- a coordinated effort by AT&T users to overwhelm the network with heavy data requests -- at 3 p.m. ET today. Lyons started backpedaling on December 16, perhaps after realizing that Operation Chokehold had become a serious movement, with a Facebook fan page and buzz spreading across social networks, blogs and the news media.
Firefox 3.6 Beta 5 moves ahead, but more work to be done
By Scott M. Fulton, III on December 18, 2009, 7:14 PM
16 Comments
Download Mozilla Firefox 3.6 Beta 5 for Windows from Fileforum now.
Betanews tests with the latest Beta 5 release of Mozilla Firefox 3.6 show some respectable performance improvements, in the race to catch-up to Google Chrome. One of those improvements -- the full impact of which we'll see over time, as Web servers improve their scripting to support it -- is asynchronous scripting. It's a feature added to the HTML 5 standard, and Firefox 3.6 will be the first browser to support it.
Verizon: Even with higher termination fees, we still lose money
By Tim Conneally on December 18, 2009, 4:11 PM
28 Comments
Verizon has filed its response to a December 4 Federal Communications Commission probe which examined the carrier's recent increase to early termination fees for subscribers with "advanced devices" such as BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, Android and Palm handsets. The FCC asked why such an increase was necessary, how customers are informed of the new fees, and why the fee is not prorated all the way down to zero.
Unsurprisingly, Verizon said the increased early termination fees reflect the higher cost of these advanced devices and their larger subsidies (a.k.a., cost differential), the higher costs and risks of providing mobile broadband services, as well as the costs of advertising, commission, store costs, and general network upkeep.
Cisco acquires 4G tech vendor Starent Networks for $2.9B
By Tim Conneally on December 18, 2009, 1:05 PM
5 Comments
Today, Cisco announced that it has completed its acquisition of Starent Networks, a name that has been popping up in greater frequency as wireless networks evolve into their next generation.
Starent deals in core multimedia technology used in all types of mobile radio networks, and has made a strong showing in emerging technologies. Just this year, the company became a partner in Verizon's LTE deployment, it has worked with 3GPP on new Femtocell standards, and launched a new method of network traffic management for 3G/4G network operators.
Slow performance may have triggered Visual Studio 2010 delay
By Scott M. Fulton, III on December 18, 2009, 12:53 PM
5 Comments
A delay of what Microsoft Developer SVP S. Somasegar calls "back a few weeks," in the final release of Visual Studio 2010 and its accompanying .NET Framework 4, is the apparent result of performance issues that beta testers would not let rest.
Somasegar's post yesterday afternoon started out by saying, certainly you've noticed how VS 2010 Beta 2 is faster than Beta 1: "As you may have seen, we significantly improved performance between Beta 1 and Beta 2." But then he transitions smoothly into an admission of just the opposite: "Based on what we've heard, we clearly needed to do more work. Over the last couple of months, our engineering team has been doing a push to improve performance. We have made significant progress in this space since Beta 2."
Add-ons make Google Chrome for Linux beta competitive against Firefox
By Jack M. Germain, LinuxInsider on December 18, 2009, 11:37 AM
13 Comments
Download Google Chrome Dev version 245.1 for Linux from Fileforum now.
Google finally released a beta version of its Chrome Web browser for Linux on December 8, slightly more than one year after releasing its Chrome browser for Windows. The wait was worth it, especially given the more than 300 extensions already available to customize the new browser.
Live Poll: Should Facebook give you your privacy?
By Scott M. Fulton, III on December 18, 2009, 11:28 AM
15 Comments
Now that Facebook has altered its privacy policy for users, what statement best reflects your personal stance on social networks' privacy policy?(polls)
Last week's change to Facebook's privacy policy resulted in tens of thousands of users being directly confronted with a choice over how Facebook should change its stance. The initial result was confusion, but as folks worked out what the question really meant, they came to a discovery that they were not only being asked, but encouraged, to turn off their privacy settings altogether as a benefit to "Everyone" -- Facebook's new default class.
Looking for the full list of software downloads you used to find here? That same listing is now over at Fileforum!
ChrisTV Lite 5.50
December 23 - 12:11 PM ET
µTorrent for Windows 2.0 Build 17668 RC2
December 23 - 11:50 AM ET
CCleaner 2.27.1070
December 23 - 11:29 AM ET
BitComet 1.17 Build 20091223 Beta
December 23 - 11:08 AM ET
IpfilterX B14-Lindelof Beta
December 23 - 10:57 AM ET
ESET NOD32 Antivirus for Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7 (32-bit) 4.2.22.0 Beta
December 23 - 10:46 AM ET
ESET Smart Security 4.2.22.0 Beta
December 23 - 10:35 AM ET
WinMerge 2.13.10 Experimental
December 22 - 5:16 PM ET
IsoBuster 2.7
December 22 - 5:16 PM ET
WinSCP 4.2.5
December 22 - 5:15 PM ET
Enterra Download Manager 0.6.0.2
December 22 - 2:16 PM ET
XMPlay 3.5
December 22 - 1:55 PM ET
n-Track Studio 6.0.8.2533 Beta
December 22 - 1:34 PM ET
UltraMon 3.0.8 Beta
December 22 - 1:13 PM ET
WildBit Viewer 5.6 RC 1.0
December 22 - 12:52 PM ET
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