Make Windows Sysinternals work better for you
If you need to diagnose some complicated low-level PC problem then there are few better places to start looking than Windows Sysinternals. It's absolutely packed with essential free tools that are a must-have for every PC owners troubleshooting toolkit.
The sheer volume of great utilities can cause problems in itself, though. It takes a while to download what you need, and keeping your favorite tools updated also requires a little work -- unless you get some third-party assistance.
Windows Phone 7 draws 1,200 new developers per week, 11.5k apps per quarter
Though Windows Phone 7 has only been available to consumers for a little over four months, developer tools for the platform have been available for more than a year. To celebrate the first full year of Windows Phone development, Microsoft's Brandon Watson has revealed a list of statistics that loosely approximate the size and scope of the platform's third-party developer community.
Developers
IPv4 address traders delay the Internet's collapse
When Microsoft recently agreed to buy 666,624 IPv4 addresses from bankrupt Nortel you might have asked, at least I did, how this was possible. No mechanism existed in the IP address allocation system for one owner to sell addresses to another.
But now there is, at least for ARIN, the American Registry for Internet Numbers, the authority for allocating addresses for North America and some surrounding territories. Maybe the policy has been there for a while, but ARIN won't say if it has been put to use before.
Craig Mundie questions whether tablets have a future -- does he or Microsoft without them?
Some people are so smart, they're dumb when it comes to everyday things. They lack common sense, or fail to appreciate viewpoints other than their own. It's the only way I can explain Microsoft chief research and strategy officer Craig Mundie questioning whether the media tablet has any future.
"I don't know whether the big screen tablet pad category is going to remain with us or not," Mundie said in Sydney earlier today, during a lunch event sponsored by the Committee for Economic Development of Australia. This is the same man who in summer 2009 predicted that the future of the PC is a room. During Microsoft's Financial Analyst Meeting 2009 he looked into the future and saw "a world where the room is the computer" and asserted that "there will be a successor to the desktop [PC], it'll be the room."
iPad generated nearly 100% of media tablet revenues in 2010
Today, Gartner revealed that spending on media tablets was $9.6 billion last year. Based on Apple financial releases, iPad generated $9.566 billion in revenue during the year -- well, the three quarters the tablet was available. By that reckoning, the other media tablets generated just $34 million in revenue.
I find $34 million to be astonishing, and puts a different perspective on IDC's media tablet shipment data, which gave iPad 83 percent market share for 2010. Until real competitors emerge, iPad owns the media tablet market. Cash is king, market share is the court jester.
Google launches '+1,' search result upvoting
Google on Wednesday announced it will be testing "+1", a button akin to Facebook's "Like" that lets users show their approval for search result relevance.
The +1 feature is only available to Google profile/Gmail users who are signed into their accounts when using Google search. Once the experimental feature is activated, an animated button appears next to all search results, which lights up whenever you mouse over a particular result.
Enterprises will increase spending on media tablets in 2011, and that's really good for iPad
Hells, bells, iPad might be Apple's backdoor to the enterprise, after all -- and, whoa, that can't be good for Windows PCs. Gartner projects that global spending on media tablets will be as much $29.4 billion this year, up from $9.6 billion in 2010. Here's the kicker: IT spending on tablets will be a noticeable chunk of that spending, Gartner predicts.
Today, Gartner reiterated what it forecast in January: IT organizations will spend $3.6 trillion this year. However, the analyst firm notched down growth projections to 5.1 percent from 5.6 percent. Spending would have declined, too, had Gartner not added media tablets like iPad to the mix. The addition boosts hardware spending growth to 9.5 percent from 7.5 percent year over year.
Paul Allen's tell-all memoir: Microsoft cofounders clashed over style, money
I don't know about you, but I have trouble feeling sorry if Paul Allen was cheated out of that 14th billion and stuck in the slums of 57th place on the Forbes list. Of course Paul Allen doesn't really want my pity and he's probably cool with the money he got out of his work co-founding Microsoft. They just could have been nicer to him.
An adaptation from Allen's forthcoming memoir "Idea Man" may be found in Vanity Fair. "Microsoft's Odd Couple" runs all the way from high school, where he met Bill Gates, to February 18, 1983, when he resigned as an officer from Microsoft (although he retained his position on the Board of Directors). It has already generated controversy.
Google gets 20 years of FTC audits in Google Buzz privacy blunder
Google has agreed to settle with the Federal Trade Commission over allegations that Google Buzz, the social network launched in 2010, violated the FTC Act.
When Google launched Buzz last year, it immediately came under fire from privacy groups, who complained that the social network/microblog created a too-easy way for Google to convert Gmail contact lists into publicly searchable information.
MAGIX MP3 deluxe 17: Better than a boombox
As well as being a useful tool for carrying out work and accessing the internet, many home computers are used as storage for large music collections. While the likes of iTunes and Windows Media Player include music management options, they can be cumbersome to use, and this is something that MAGIX MP3 deluxe 17 aims to help with. Covering everything from importing music from CDs and adjusting tags and album art to creating playlists and recording online radio stations, this burgeoning suite of tools has almost every MP3 related base covered.
The main program has an easy to use interface that can be used to extract music from CDs and import folders full of music files into your library. If you have already spent time working with iTunes and have therefore created a music library in Apple's software, this can be quickly imported into MAGIX MP3 deluxe 17 to help save time. Of course, the program can also be used to play back music, and there are a number of options available in this area.
Xara Web Designer 7: Rolex features on a Timex budget
Creating a modern, professional website can be a complex business, requiring a host of skills: design, HTML, scripting, Flash, graphics optimisation -- the list goes on. Which, if you've yet to master any of these, may seem just a little intimidating.
Fortunately Xara Web Designer 7 offers a much simpler alternative. It's a WYSIWYG web editor that includes a host of attractive web templates to get you started, and makes it easy to customize them with all kinds of content, even if you've no web development experience at all.
3 years and 1 million boxes later, Roku players finally come to nationwide retail
Even though they were only sold directly to consumers, Roku's streaming set top boxes managed to become fierce competitors in the connected media player category against AppleTV, Boxee, WDTV, and countless others. Roku announced on Wednesday that the Roku XD streaming player will finally be available in retail nationwide through a partnership with Best Buy.
"Having sold over 1 million Roku players through online sales only up until now, we are incredibly excited to announce our entrance into brick and mortar retail with nationwide availability from the preeminent consumer electronics retailer," said Anthony Wood, founder and CEO of Roku, Inc.
Android Market finally gets in-app billing
That didn't take long. On March 24th, Google launched in-app billing in test mode so that developers could test their mobile applications at the Android Market. This evening, Google announced that the service is live.
In-app billing is an important catch-up feature for Android Market. Developers can now collect additional revenue by offering customers option to purchase extras after the initial sale. "Several apps launching today are already using the service, including Tap Tap Revenge by Disney Mobile; Comics by ComiXology; Gun Bros, Deer Hunter Challenge HD, and WSOP3 by Glu Mobile; and Dungeon Defenders: FW Deluxe by Trendy Entertainment," Eric Chu writes at the Android Developers blog.
Some things that Firefox 4 can do that Android's stock browser can't
Mozilla today released the final version of Firefox 4 for Android and Maemo, just one week after general availability of the mobile browser's release candidate.
It's kind of hard to believe the first version of "Firefox Mobile" is finally done. The browser that was originally launched under the name Fennec back in 2008 wasn't even available on Android until April 2010, and even then it was only a "pre-alpha" release. After the mobile browser switched names and became Firefox 4 six months ago, finalization of the browser has been rapid.
If Windows Phone is No. 2 by 2015, I'll kiss Steve Ballmer's feet
Now here's something you don't see everyday, an analyst firm predicting that Microsoft's mobile operating system will trump Apple iOS and Research in Motion's BlackBerry. Don't believe it. I surely don't, and with good reasons.
The skinny: Today IDC predicted that by 2015, Windows Phone 7 and Mobile would reach 20.9 percent global market share, as measured by shipments, on smartphones -- up from 5.5 percent this year. By comparison, iOS share is predicted to be nearly flat over four years, with smartphone OS share of 15.3 percent in 2015. IDC predicts Android will grow to 45.4 percent from 39.5 percent.
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