Latest Technology News

Berlin-based O&O Software GmbH has released a free defragmentation tool based on its award-winning O&O Defrag Professional software. O&O Defrag Free Edition, which is free for personal use, takes advantage of the same advanced defragmentation technologies found in the latest version (14.1.425) of its commercial sibling to promise improved drive performance for home and non-commercial users.

O&O Defrag Free Edition offers a set-it-and-forget-it solution to the problem of keeping your hard drive defragged: when first installed it gives you the option of scheduling automatic defragmentation either when the computer is idle or on a specified schedule (weekly to monthly). It also allows you to optimize your hard drive immediately by either performing a standard defragmentation or by also consolidating free space.

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In a short piece, posted in Harvard Business Review, Google CEO Eric Schmidt lays out three priorities for 2011. I'm not exactly sure when this thing was posted. I saw reference to it today on ReadWriteWeb. Google's three priorities are all about mobile, as they should be.

"First, we must focus on developing the under­lying fast networks (generally called LTE)," Schmidt writes. "Second, we must attend to the development of mobile money," he continues. "Third, we want to increase the availability of inexpensive smartphones in the poorest parts of the world."

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T-Mobile currently only has two phones capable of taking advantage of its HSPA+ "4G" network, the myTouch 4G and the G2, but on Thursday the carrier announced the first phone to be able to support the network's theoretical maximum speeds.

Today, as part of the carrier's 4G expansion that is expected to include 25 new consumer devices this year, T-Mobile and Samsung announced Galaxy S 4G, which could be the next 4G smartphone T-Mobile will offer.

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Belgium-based commercial open source software vendor OpenERP today announced the availability of OpenERP v6, the latest version of the company's enterprise resource planning (ERP) suite. OpenERP v6 includes updates to almost all of the components in the suite, including its CRM, Purchase Management, Manufacturing, Warehouse Management, Project Management, Accounting, Marketing, Human Resources, and Point of Sale modules.

OpenERP says this version has more than a hundred new features in total, which are the result of thousands of customer and community suggestions and more than a year's worth of development from its community of 800 individual developers.

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Faced with an increasingly tough go with its US arm, Deustche Telekom met with investors on Thursday to reaffirm its commitment to the division. According to executives, the German telecommunications giant is considering a sale of some of its non-core assets in order to raise cash.

Deutsche Telekom CEO Rene Olbermann and T-Mobile USA Philipp Humm both were in attendance, reportedly aimed at soothing the concerns surrounding the future of the unit. While an outright sale of the division appears very unlikely, the company appears ready to do what is needed to turn things around.

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Responding to a shareholder lawsuit, Hewlett-Packard will begin an investigation into the departure of former Chairman, President, and CEO Mark Hurd. Hurd resigned from his positions in the company last August amid sexual harassment claims brought against him by a former HP contractor Jodie Fisher.

it is believed that Hurd's departure was the result of a failure to cooperate with HP's executive board as it investigated the incidents, and that Hurd offered Fisher a settlement before a full investigation could be conducted.

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Windows Vista and 7 include valuable features carefully designed to optimize your Internet and network speeds. Do these work for you, though? It's hard to say, because they're so deeply buried that there's no obvious way to see how they're set, or turn them on or off -- and so many people don't realize the options even exist.

If you're looking at optimizing your network performance, then, you should probably start by seeing which of these technologies is enabled on your PC -- and this applies even if you think you know already, as there's no telling when a Windows tweaking tool or other package might have decided to "optimize" your connection without telling you exactly what it's doing.

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Ten companies accounted for a third of semiconductor demand in 2010, according to data released today by Gartner. HP, Samsung and Apple topped the list. Gartner measures semiconductors on what it calls a design total available market, or TAM, basis. The leaders accounted for $104.3 billion revenue, which rose 33.7 percent year or year, or $26.3 billion.

"Semiconductor device vendors should closely monitor the changing competition structure of the target market," Masatsune Yamaji, Gartner senior research analyst, said in a statement "Do not just listen to the requirements of the current market leaders. Have a dedicated sales team, with business development sales metrics, looking for new market entrants who will be the next-generation market leaders."

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The Web apps that are easiest to find happen to be the ones that duplicate the functionality of software packed into operating systems (clock, calculator, notepad, etc.), so they really don't have much to offer users in terms of value. But there are actually quite a few Web apps that approximate the functionality of some of the most-purchased third-party desktop software, and are free, to boot.

Here, we take a look at the Web's best alternatives to the most popular boxed software on Amazon.com.

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Microsoft is using social media as foundation for a web-based reality show following the career quests of nine participants. You can follow their exploits online (e.g., at work when the boss isn't looking), no television required. The Career Factor website went live last week, but the nine participants only started updating their quests yesterday.

The website describes itself as an "online reality show based on the experiences of nine IT personalities. Each of our candidates have set a professional goal for themselves, and have invited you to follow their every step along the way." Each participant has a personal page where "you can explore their backgrounds, learn from their experiences and share your findings. You'll find videos, links to learning resources, tips and updates via their blog and various social media outlets."

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Starbucks expanded its mobile payments program to more than 7,500 of its US stores on Wednesday, following a successful pilot program in 1,000 company-owed stores plus all of its Target in-store locations. The offering allows customers to use their smart phones to show a barcode that is linked to their Starbucks Card accounts without carrying the actual card.

The coffee retailer initially began offering the app last year as a method to check card balances, reload the card, and check previous transactions. A pilot program for the mobile payments system was later launched in all Target stores as well as select locations in New York, Seattle, and across northern California.

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Deal site LivingSocial has got a helluva bargain today: A $20 Amazon gift card for 10 bucks. Who could resist that? I could. Should you?

LivingSocial specializes in half-price deals, typically specific to larger cities -- assuming you live there. I went to the site for the first time early this afternoon. By Internet magic, most likely IP address, LivingSocial correctly detected my city as San Diego. I clicked through to see the big deal, the aforementioned half-price Amazon gift card.

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Silicon Valley startup Kno Inc. on Wednesday began accepting submissions to a new pilot program for its education-focused, dual touchscreen 14.1" tablet, also called the Kno. The program is open to qualified undergrad and graduate school students who have submitted a resumé and their list of required reading to Kno.

When accepted into the program, students don't get anything for free. But, they get a 50% discount on either a single-screen or dual-screen Kno tablet. And since these devices carry an MSRP of $600 and $900 respectively, a decent amount of money is saved.

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Apple's record fiscal 2011 first quarter will be the Starbuck's coffee talk of Wall Street today. Apple beat analysts' revenue consensus by about $2.3 billion. Behind the numbers there are lessons to learn about the company and economic opportunities that competitors, non-competitors and partners should be aware.

I've chosen five things, which are presented in no order of importance. As usual, I expect to get whacked aside the head by Apple worshippers who balk at the slightest criticism. For some people, there's only one side to every argument.

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Nintendo 3DS, which proved to be a real scene-stealer at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) 2010, will be launching in North America, Europe, and Australia on March 27, and will cost $249 at retail. It hits the market approximately one month after the device launches in Japan.

At a press event held by Nintendo on Wednesday, the company showed off a few more titles expected to be available when the console launches, including Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D, Kid Icarus Uprising, Pilotwings Resort, Nintendogs & Cats, Steel Diver, Dead or Alive Dimensions, Pro Evolution Soccer 2011 3D, Super Street Fighter IV: 3D edition, Starfox64, Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater, Resident Evil: Mercenaries, Asphalt 3D, Combat of Giants: Dinsaurs 3D, Ridge Racer 3D, Lego Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and a new Madden football title.

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