By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
Is it sufficient to say “woo-hoo”?! Many have been jonesing for an Asus Eee PC with Windows XP for some time, not just in terms of the upcoming new models, but also because the first-gen Eee PC could supposedly support it as well. Wednesday, in an emailed press release, Asus outlined […]
Asus Outlines Eee PC Windows XP Roll-Out Plan
UK Education Agency Report: Don’t Upgrade to Vista, Office 2007
By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
The British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (Becta) has completed its report (.PDF) on Windows Vista and Microsoft Office 2007, and the conclusions it reached shouldn’t surprise critics of Windows Vista and Office 2007.
In January 2006, Becta announced that it would conduct a review of Microsoft’s Windows Vista and Office 2007 […]
Is Open Source Recession Proof?
DaMan writes “ZDNet asks Is open source recession proof? ‘So, how might a recession affect open source software? Well, first off, I think that any business model that relies on volunteers could certainly see interest decline if times get tough. There are a lot of businesses that rely on people working for them for free because they get a pay check somewhere else, and I think that a recession would make people question working without getting any dollars in return.’”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Too Wired in a Wireless World?
When traveling, I always notice I need to pack extra cables and wires, transformers and adapters.
The luggage I pack is sometimes filled with so many wires, cables, power supplies and other do-das that I am quick to wonder if something about all this is a bit fishy.
Do you have more cables now as a result of all our “wireless” devices or less than when we were “wired”?
ZFS For Mac OS X Source Code Available
nezmar writes “Noel Dellofano, who is part of the ZFS development team at Apple, has a post on Mac OS Forge announcing a late Christmas gift: he is making available binaries and source code, plus instructions, of the ZFS filesystem for Mac OS X.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Windows Vista SP1 RC Refresh available to the public
Filed under: Desktops, Laptops
Just as Microsoft did last month with Vista SP1 release candidate, the latest build (dubbed SP1 RC Refresh) has been loosed from its privately held shackles and is now available for the public to descend upon. According to ZDNet, Redmond decided to make this iteration publicly available “in the interest of gaining additional tester feedback.” Of note, you will likely be forced to install “two or three updates” before SP1 RC Refresh can be installed, but we know you’re quite unconcerned with all the fine print. Nevertheless, that verbiage (and the download link) is waiting below.
[Via ZDNet]
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Put Your Mac Apps on a Diet
MacBoy14 has seen the light:
I have finally given in and bought Xslimmer. This $11.95 app is AMAZING! Since you are now gonna switch to an almost all-Mac house I thought it would be the perfect time to tell you. Anyways, if you haven’t seen this app, or you haven’t bought it, I HIGHLY recommend it. If you don’t know Xslimmer, is an application that will scan through (or you can manually add) all your apps and check them against a database of apps that can be slimmed. If the app is “slimmable,” (Only a few are not, and I have just found one app so far that it said was okay but wasn’t… Airport Utility [The one in the utilities folder]) it will remove the PowerPC architecture of the app and all the additional languages of your choosing. This DRAMATICALLY reduces the size of an app and the time it takes to start an app.
I didn’t have to buy it. I got it for free from this year’s MacHeist. 
Agreed, it’s a nice app - but not without caveats. MacBoy14’s Experience: 154 Apps Slimmed and 1.43GB saved.
Performance: Almost every time I start my mac I launch FireFox, Mail, and iChat. Before the slim (after clicking each rapidly in succession in my dock,) the bouncing icons pause for 3-5 seconds and you can hear the HD of my iMac (2.16GHz Core 2 Duo with 2.5GB Ram) read rapidly… Now if I do the same thing I get absolutely NO delay or pause.
Examples:
- Colloquy - Initial: 16.3MB - Final: 6.87MB
- Address Book - Initial: 47.5MB - Final: 4.06MB
- Boot Camp Assistant - I: 12.4MB - F: 852KB
- Directory - I: 58.3MB - F: 4.76MB
- Terminal - I: 24.8MB - F: 3.24MB
If you don’t have a PPC processor, why load the code? Apple did the right thing by letting apps support multiple platforms, but there’s no use in keeping what you don’t need.
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Cyberlink PowerDirector v6 First Look
By Martin Regtien
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews
Recently I bought a JVC Everio HDD camcorder which came bundled with some CyberLink software for editing video.
This OEM version of PowerDirector Express was easy to work with for a neophyte such as me but ultimately would be rather limited.
Subsequently I acquired the full version of PowerDirector v6 and checked it […]
Windows Vista SP1 RC Refresh Now Public
By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
Just a couple of days after sending the Vista SP1 Release Candidate (RC )Refresh to their private beta testers, Microsoft on Friday made an RC Refresh available to the public. Just as with the earlier public RC, the download is small, making a change to the registry to allow you […]
Microsoft sez no OLPC dual-boot, still committed to XP on XO
Filed under: Laptops
Those of you who participated in OLPC’s “Give One, Get One” program will probably be disappointed to learn that, despite earlier reports to the contrary, Microsoft has no intention of developing dual-boot Windows / Linux support for the XO laptop. According to a statement sent to BetaNews, Redmond flat out denied any work on such a project, instead claiming that it “plans to publish formal design guidelines early this year that will assist [any] flash-based device manufacturers in designing machines that enable a high-quality Windows experience.” The blurb goes on to say that the company will be conducting limited XP-on-XO field tests later this month, although BetaNews notes that notebook’s hardware limitations have proven problematic for the software giant, which may be forced to offer the OS on an SD card — a move that would require a new BIOS for the XO to enable booting from removable storage.
[Via Slashdot]
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Video: FlyTunes brings internet radio to iPhone
Filed under: Cellphones, CES, Wireless
Interested in hitting up internet radio on your iPhone with a sleek interface? For those with unmodified iPhones that are already turning away sheepishly, come on back. FlyTunes is simply a web application accessible via Safari, which allows users to customize stations on their PC / Mac and then login and listen from the phone. Also of note, it can queue up to a half hour of music should you want to listen for awhile after leaving an EDGE / WiFi-covered area, and if you’re wondering how much coinage you’ll have to lay down to get in on this, you’ll be stoked to hear it’s free. Onward, to the video!
Continue reading Video: FlyTunes brings internet radio to iPhone
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Amazon.com Quietly Opens Software Download Service
By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
Amazon.com has launched a software download section in their software store. While the product selection is small - meaning, limited to TurboTax products - the fact that they built a software downloader application means that this is not the end of the story.
Install the downloader (in the sidebar on […]
Sprint Releases LG Rumor Update
Late yesterday, Sprint released the V06 Rumor update, which corrects the issues we have covered on PhoneNews.com, affecting the LG LX260 Rumor. Contrary to mis-reporting from others, this update was not available until late yesterday. To update your phone, go to Menu > Settings > Others > Update Phone SW
Dear Microsoft: Please Buy Plaxo
Dear Microsoft:
I saw over at TechCrunch that Plaxo is for sale. Now, I realize that
you guys may not know what Plaxo is because you didn’t create it and it
isn’t located within 25 miles of Redmond, WA, but let me explain to you
why I think it might make sense to part with a very small portion of
your $21.5BN in cash to acquire it.
You see Plaxo is, in theory, one of the single most useful plug-ins
for Microsoft Outlook. I say in theory, because Plaxo is only useful
to the extent other people you know also use it. That’s because Plaxo
automatically synchronizes contact details between yourself and other
Plaxo users. In theory, if everyone used Plaxo, then your contact list
would always be up-to-date and 100% accurate. This would be fantastic
for me and just about every other Outlook user because it would not
only insure that we have always have accurate contact data but it would
eliminate the numerous annoying e-mails we get from people throughout
the year who are changing jobs, cell phone numbers, etc.
As one of the earliest adopters of Plaxo, I remember feeling giddy at
the prospect of everyone soon adopting Plaxo and thereafter entering
into a state of perpetual contact bliss. Alas, this never happened as
a result a lot of creepy spam-like user acquisition strategies and other generally
bone-headed moves by Plaxo. Sometime around 2005, I entered into a
state of depressive resignation that my Plaxo-inspire contact bliss
would never be realized, but now with the "leaked" news of their
hoped-for sale by their bankers, my own hopes have been raised that
contact nirvana may yet be achieved.
Why should you guys in particular buy it? Well I can think of three very good reasons:
- No one is in a better position to have Plaxo reach its goal of
near universal adoption than you guys. You have the clout to embed
Plaxo into Outlook. In doing so, you would practically guarantee that
adoption would skyrocket and as adoption skyrocketed the perceived and
actual value of Plaxo to its end users would also skyrocket. - Plaxo recently released something called Plaxo Pluse, which is
basically a social network built on top of your contact list. This is
a pretty interesting idea and one that holds great promise in existing
professional circles where someone’s contacts are basically their
social network to begin with. By supercharging Plaxo adoption, you
could also rapidly grow Plaxo pluse which would very quickly create a
highly credible competitor to Linked-In and probably give you a great
chance to establish a professional version of Facebook. What’s more
you could buy 100% of this social network for far less that the $240M
you shelled out for just 1.6% of Facebook. - What with all the other things you guys have going on you may not
have noticed that Outlook really hasn’t added a significant new feature
since, oh, let’s be generous and say 2001. I can assure you as daily
user I have noticed this, especially as other mail clients have rolled
out all manner of cool new features. Sure you’ve added support for all
manner of obscure Microsoft products such as Groove, Sharepoint,
Microsoft CRM, etc., but in terms of actually adding new features that
make my daily task of sending e-mails, scheduling events, and
contacting people, I might as well be using Outlook 97 for all I can
tell. Yes, you bought LookOut and attempted to integrate
indexed-search into Outlook, but the Windows team screwed this up
miserably when they insisted that the whole thing be integrated into
Windows Desktop Search. Now I know you guys are great developers and
all and that no one else appreciates the massive complexity of adding
features to a mail client, but perhaps you guys could suck up your
pride a bit and actually go out and buy a feature that is truly useful
to your patient, but increasingly suffering users. After all, if
there’s one application that I spend the most time in, its Outlook, yet
this application seems to have been completely devoid of innovation in
recent memory while folks such as Zimbra and GMail make it look like it
was coded in Fortran in the 70’s. So, do us dumb-ass end users a favor
and throw us a bone, add something new, sexy, and truly useful to
Outlook (and don’t screw it up the way you did LookOut).
Now I know that buying Plaxo won’t be easy for you guys. After all
it’s a hosted service that uses the Internet and does not take an hour
to install or require you to type in a 30 character sequence of random
numbers and letters. Still, take it from me, it’s actually a useful
application and it has the potential to help reestablish the relevancy
of Outlook in an age when it is increasingly looking like it will soon
go the way of the dodo bird.
Sincerely,
Bill
Top 10 Software Stocks of 2007
2007’s list of Top 10 Software Stocks is a mixed bag. There is an IPO, a few turn-arounds, some SaaS companies and some security companies, but no consistent themes. To be sure, Software as a Service and appliance-based software remain perhaps the most important software themes right now, but they don’t dominate the Top 10.
To qualify for this list a
company had to start 2006 with at least $50M in market cap and its main
business had to be selling software as a license or a service. So,
without further ado, here are the Top
10 Software Stocks of 2007:
- ZIXI
Price Change: 287% Ticker: ZIXI
Comment:
in SaaS-based digitally signed e-mail and prescriptions sees stock soar as revenue growth picks up and speculators target stock. - VM Ware
Price Change: 193% Ticker:VWW
Comment: The software industry’s most anticipated IPO of 2007 lived up to its top billing. VM Ware dominates the rapidly growing virtualization space and the market has rewarded it with a premium price. - Phoenix Technologies
Price Change: 186% Ticker: PTEC
Comment: Living up to its name, PTEC rose from its own ashes in 2007 on the backs of successful restructuring and new management team. - BlueCoat Systems
Price Change: 175% Ticker: BCSI
Comment: BlueCoat saw rapid growth in its core markets of WAN security and acceleration as well as increased adoption of appliance-based solutions by the security market in general. - EBIX Inc.
Price Change: 162% Ticker: EBIX
Comment: EBIX accelerated in 2007 as its focus on providing Internet solutions to the insurance industry helped it rapidly grow revenues while avoiding any fallout from the problems hitting the rest of the financial sector. - Innodata Isogen
Price Change: 148% Ticker: INOD
Comment: Innodata saw revenues accelerate as its "flat earth" approach to content management and production gained favor with customers. - Vasco Data Security
Price Change: 136% Ticker: VDSI
Comment: Years of trying to convince banks to deploy authentication software and tokens (as well as a few hackers making some big scores) finally paid off in 2007 as Vasco benefited from a surge in interest in multi-factor authentication. - Broadvision
Price Change: 130% Ticker: BVSN
Comment: After a near death experience in 2006, Broadvision bounced back as a stable and profitable player in the content management space. - Concur
Price Change: 126% Ticker: CNQR
Comment: This SaaS poster child benefited from its domination of online T&E reporting as well as software investor enthusiasm for all things SaaS. - Taleo
Price Change: 118% Ticker: TLEO
Comment: Taleo saw its stock rise as investors began to recognize the importance of the talent management sector and wanted to own the #1 player.
Twitter Sucked the Blogging Out of Me
I often post pictures and words about weather. Bits of me here and there. Then, somehow, Twitter sucked the blogging out of me. Made me write in 140 characters less.
People ask “why don’t you blog so much anymore, Molly? Is it your work?”
Nah, it’s Twitter. Sucked the blog out of me in 2007.
I’m almost ready to make 2008 Twitter-free.
Close to making it IM-free too.
How about you?
Microsoft Fixes Office 2003 File Format Blocking the “Right Way”
By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
As I wrote earlier, installing Office 2003 SP3 also meant you were blocked from using some file formats. Microsoft had a workaround, but for most people this meant editing the registry. You would have thought they would have learned from the earlier IE6 mess what public reaction would be […]
Intuit Warns QuickBooks Bug May Reoccur at Public Hot Spots
By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
You’ll recall the issues Mac QuickBooks owners had in mid-December, when a bug could cause QuickBooks 2006 owners to lose their Desktop folder when updating the product. Intuit believed they had fixed the issue with a patch issued on Dec. 29th, but it appears they missed one little thing.
According […]
Keep Your Software Up-to-Date and Secure with Secunia [Featured Windows Download]
Windows only: Freeware application Secunia Personal Software Inspector is sort of like Windows Update for your installed software, monitoring your installed apps and notifying you of available security updates. When you run your first scan after installing Secunia, you’ll be presented with a list of insecure apps that have available updates, “end-of-life” apps that are no longer being supported by the developer, and patched apps that have the latest security updates. Keep in mind that Secunia is not an anti-virus software, but more of a preventative tool for ensuring that your software is secure as it can be. For a less security-focused angle, check out mass-update apps File Hippo Update Checker or UpdateStar. Secunia PSI is freeware, Windows only.
gOS 2.0 “Rocket” set to debut at CES
Filed under: CES, Desktops
Considering the absolutely lackluster hardware present in the Everex gPC, it’s a tad difficult to get psyched up about the next revision of the gOS. Nevertheless, gOS 2.0 (or Rocket, as it were) is all set to launch on Monday at CES, and while there’s not much to phone home about, the inclusion of Google Gears is the most notable feature. The aforementioned bundle is an “online / offline synchronization technology from Google that enables offline use of web apps.” More specifically, users can look forward to gBooth (a browser-based web cam), integration with Facebook, shortcuts to launch Google Reader, Talk, and Finance on the desktop, an online storage drive courtesy of Box.net and Virtual Desktops, which is hailed as “an intuitive feature to easily group and move applications across multiple desktop spaces.” Additionally, Adobe Flash Player 9 for Linux will come preloaded, and if you’re so inclined, you can download the package yourself on January 7th.
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MacOS Market Share Hits Record at 7.31%
By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
According to Net Applications’ December 2007 market share data for operating systems, MacOS has hit a new high in terms of usage with 7.31%. At the same time, the iPhone OS hit a high of .12%. These were up from 6.80% and .09%, respectively, in November.
Check out the iPhone […]
Open Source Questions and Answers
Add to iTunes | Add to YouTube | Add to Google | RSS Feed
John Perez is a college Freshman who is doing an argumentative paper on Open-Source applications. He sent me a list of questions that I am going to answer in simple terms. Also, we’re using our GoToMeeting to allow you to follow along with everyone as they use Open-Source applications.
What do you think Open-Source stands for and signifies? It’s a fundamental shift in how we think about software, its use and development. Unfortunately, I’m not a Developer. The mainstream still believes that you must walk into a store to buy software. That simply isn’t the case. There are tremendous alternatives to major applications that are available legally for free, via Open-Source.
What would be the advantages or disadvantages of adopting standards? Imagine you had 1000 people in the same room, all with different great ideas. How impossible would it be to get them all to agree on ONE idea? I look at things differently than most standards committees. There are politics inside the Open-Source community. But, for the common good, coming together to agree on a set of standards would be amazing, and make the community stronger.
For businesses, what do you think would be the effects of adopting standards? It depends on the business model. I am able to exist as a business online largely due to Open-Source programs and applications. Much of this is accomplished using Apache.
In the US, many Universities have made a switch to Open-Source. What do you think caused them to make the switch, and what will it take to get others to follow? I think it boils down to cost. Universities have lost large amounts of money from the government. One way to help keep tuition costs down, is to obtain good software alternatives for free. You also have to look at the education factor, by being able to turn the Open-Source applications into learning tools.
What would be the effects of using Open-Source in homes? We’re seeing a lot of lower-cost computers. Instead of having to pay a licensing fee, you can get an Open-Source Linux Distro. You can also obtain software for almost any type of program you need, from image editing to web browsing and email applications. This will save household consumers quite a lot of money.
Are there there sufficient Open-Source alternatives to proprietary software suites? Absolutely!! Open Office can replace your existing office suite for free. The Gimp can replace your image editing software. FireFox can replace your web browser. For 99% of the population, Open-Source is a GREAT alternative.
Want to embed this video on your own site, blog, or forum? Use this code or download the video:
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What 2008 May Hold In Store for FOSS
eldavojohn writes to mention that LinuxPlanet has a brief discussion on what 2008 may hold for FOSS. The list includes thoughts on KDE 4, OOXML, DRM, and 3-D desktops. What boons for FOSS are you looking forward to in 2008?
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
iPhones upgraded to 1.1.3 can’t be downgraded?
Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds
Not to say it’s actually easy to get your hands on the rumored 1.1.3 firmware at this point, but in the event that you do, proceed with caution. Nate True, the guy that brought us a video walkthrough of the supposedly leaked goods, is reporting that he can’t seem to downgrade to 1.1.1 or 1.1.2 after performing the install. Locked phones show an “Incorrect SIM” error — a problem unlockers of yore are all too familiar with — while previously unlocked phones can’t be upgraded to 1.1.3 at all. Let’s be honest, though: if you somehow managed to score a copy of 1.1.3, is that really going to stop you from going for it?
[Thanks, cingular#1]
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Strangest Dream: End to Browser Wars?
(original lyrics by Ed McCurdy and known to most because of Paul Simon, thx guys)
Strangest Dream (Web version)
Last night I had the strangest dream
I’ve ever dreamt before
I dreamed we had all agreed
To put an end to browser war
I dreamed I saw a mighty room
Filled with women (but mostly men)
And the papers they were signing said
They’d not do specs wrong again
And when the specs all were signed
And a million copies made
Some joined hands and thought they’d have a prayer
About the specifications, made
And the people on the Web below
Were running up and down
While markup and scripting and browser wars
Were scattered all around
Last night I had the strangest dream
I’ve ever dreamt before
I dreamed that we had all agreed
To put an end to browser wars.
Arguing For Open Electronic Health Records
mynameismonkey writes “openEHR guru Tim Cook discusses why Electronic Health Record developers should use open standards in a guest blog at A Scanner Brightly. Why are so few doctors using EHR systems? And, as more and more hospital EHR systems come online across the country, what do we have to fear from proprietary databases? It’s one thing to find out your social security number was stolen. Now add your mental health and STD results to those records.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Long Live Closed-Source Software?
EvilRyry writes “In an article for Discover Magazine, Jaron Lanier writes about his belief that open source produces nothing interesting because of a hide-bound mentality. ‘Open wisdom-of-crowds software movements have become influential, but they haven’t promoted the kind of radical creativity I love most in computer science. If anything, they’ve been hindrances. Some of the youngest, brightest minds have been trapped in a 1970s intellectual framework because they are hypnotized into accepting old software designs as if they were facts of nature. Linux is a superbly polished copy of an antique, shinier than the original, perhaps, but still defined by it.’”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Tony-b Machine: Keyboard Fun
By Alice Hill
RealTechNews
Having a New Year’s party or just want to have a little fun? The Tony-b Machine is an online synthesizer you play with your computer keyboard. Tons of beats and special effects and best of all, you can record your track and share them for free. Source: RedFerret
We Say: What else? Rock on!
Try […]
Apple Files Anti-Piracy Tech Patent Application
By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
Many accuse Microsoft of copying Apple, but is the reverse now happening? Say it isn’t so!
Microsoft’s Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA), when it works (and that’s the problem; it doesn’t always) is an anti-piracy measure that currently disables functions in the OS when a pirated copy is disabled. However, due […]
What products or software are you looking forward to in 2008? [Ask The Readers]
Looking back on 2007, you can’t say there was a shortage of new products and services. While the word “beta” became a synonym for “new and free,” there were a few projects launched this year—including TV-watching site Hulu, Pownce, GrandCentral, and Joost, to name a few—that remain invite-only, and others, like Google’s to-do list, the full Windows Live suite, and third-party iPhone apps, set to drop after the new year.
What productivity tools, web apps, or software are you most looking forward to seeing unveiled or made fully public in 2008? Which products have you gotten in on the ground floor of and are eager to have your friends start using? Give us your predictions, thoughts, and user experiences in the comments.
End of an Era: Netscape Browser Development to Cease
By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
It’s a sad day and the end of an era. Development is to cease on the Netscape browser, which at one time held the largest market share of all browsers, and was the first browser to gain mass popularity.
However, it had been evident for a while that this move was […]
Science Debate 2008 movement picks up key leaders
Science Debate 2008 is a nonpartisan effort to promote a public discussion of science and technology policy in the coming U.S. Presidential election.
Supported by numerous university presidents, Nobel Laureates, and other scientific leaders, the effort appears to have reached viability with the announcement of its co-chairs, two congressmen from different political parties.
read more
Google Reader’s Sharing and Privacy: Overblown or Not?
By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
Privacy and Google: many people say they don’t mix, or at least, don’t mix well. Seems like every day we hear about some new Google privacy flap. Here’s still another problem, but is it somewhat overblown?
On Dec. 14th, in Google Reader Help and on the Official Google Reader […]
How to Save Money on Mac Software (With Santa!)
Add to iTunes | Add to YouTube | Add to Google | RSS Feed
Software and the holidays go hand in hand. There are many great deals to be found this time of year online. Today, I want to let you know about a great site to save up to 20% on Mac Software this season. The video that is playing right now on my monitor is found on YouTube. Santa put this on our first computer that we actually received for Christmas when I was a kid… our old Commodore64. Seeing this brings back a lot of memories, and really puts me in the holiday spirit.
Awhile back, I told you about a website to save you HUGE amounts of money on Mac software, called Give Good Food 2 Your mac. For a limited amount of time, you could save up to 70% on popular software titles for your Mac. Well, now I want to tell you about another site. MacSantaDeals is posting five new deals every day, that you can save 20% on! Once those deals of the day are finished, they are archived, and you can still save 10%. So, don’t worry if you’re just now discovering it, and the title you wanted has already been on special. You can still save 10%!
Another fun and great site is MacHeist. This site has a game you can play, with clues and riddles to follow. I actually won a free copy of WireTap Pro, simply by playing along! There are great deals to be had, if you just look for them.
Be sure to keep checking out our Coupon Section every day, to find even more great deals!
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GNU Octave 3.0 Released After 11 Years
Digana writes “GNU Octave is a free numerical computing environment highly compatible with the MATLAB language. After 11 years of development since version 2.0, stable version 3.0 released yesterday. This version is interesting because unlike other free or semi-free MATLAB competitors like Scilab, specific compatibility with MATLAB code is a design goal. This has manifested itself in goodies like better support for MATLAB’s Handle Graphics, a syntax closer to MATLAB’s own for many functions, and many functions from the sister project Octave-Forge ported to the core Octave project for an enriched functionality closer to the toolboxes provided by MATLAB. GUI development is underway, but still no JIT compiling, which is a show-stopper for Octave newbies coming from MATLAB with unvectorized code.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Antivirus Program Labels Windows Explorer a Virus
By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
Linux users might actually agree with this “false positive”. On the other hand Microsoft breathes a sigh of relief, as for once the antivirus software in question is not Windows Live OneCare.
Kaspersky Labs, a smallish but well-respected (in fact, many believe it to be the most effective AV solution) […]
Comparing Browser JavaScript Performance
Thwomp writes “Over at Coding Horror Jeff Atwood has an interesting writeup on JavaScript performance in the big four browsers. He used WebKit’s newly announced SunSpider to produce the results. If a probable anomaly in the IE7 results is overlooked, Firefox 2 is the slowest of the bunch. Atwood has also benchmarked the latest Firefox Beta, and its performance seems to be improved significantly.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Simple 2000: The Japanese Software Chart: Prologue [Media Create]
Here’s something you might not have expected. Despite having debuted in the second week of November, Mario Party DS for the Nintendo DS tops this week’s Japanese software sales chart. It beat out the recently released Wii Fit—now past the half-million mark—and new debut Gran Turismo 5 Prologue for the PlayStation 3. In fact, this past week represents Mario Party DS’s best sales week ever. In general, software for Nintendo platforms was way up, with Wii Sports and Wii Play returning to top ten glory. Probably going to be a good week for the console.
What didn’t perform too well? The long-awaited sequel NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams, which, according to Media Create, charted at #27 in its first week. Poor Sega. I almost feel bad for them! I’ll try to maintain a straight face while you check out the top ten for the week of December 10th to 16th. More after the jump.
01. Mario Party DS (DS) - 180,000 / 826,000
02. Wii Fit (Wii) - 124,000 / 535,000
03. Gran Turismo 5 Prologue (PS3) - 116,000 / NEW
04. Professor Layton and Pandora’s Box (DS) - 74,000 / 444,000
05. Super Mario Galaxy (Wii) - 74,000 / 550,000
06. Dragon Quest IV (DS) - 73,000 / 868,000
07. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (Wii) - 64,000 / 212,000
08. Wii Sports (Wii) - 55,000 / 2,341,000
09. Wii Play (Wii) - 55,000 / 1,921,000
10. Chocobo’s Mysterious Dungeon: The Labyrinth of Forgotten Time (Wii) - 41,000 / NEW
11. World Soccer Winning Eleven 2008 (PS2)
12. Mario Party 8 (Wii)
13. Power Pro Kun Pocket 10 (DS)
14. Kirarin Revolution Tsukutte Misechao! Kime*Kira Stage (DS)
15. Pokémon Mysterious Dungeon: Time Expedition Party (DS)
16. Mario Kart DS (DS)
17. Taiko Drum Master DS (DS)
18. Pokémon Mysterious Dungeon: Shadow Expedition Party (DS)
19. Hot Shots Golf Portable 2 (PSP)
20. SD Gundam G Generation Spirits (PS2)
21. New Super Mario Bros. (DS)
22. Wario Ware Smooth Moves (Wii)
23. Tales of Innocence (DS)
24. Kingdom Under Fire: Circle of Doom (Xbox 360)
25. World Soccer Winning Eleven 2008 (PS3)
26. Sengoku Basara 2: Heroes (PS2)
27. NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams (Wii)
28. Tamagotchi no Puchi Puchi Omisecchi: Mina San Kyu (DS)
29. Nep League DS (DS)
30. Professor Layton and the Curious Village (DS)
Looks like Mario Party DS will easily pass the 1 million sold mark by the end of the year, with Wii Play passing 2 million as well. Go mini-games!
Media Create Weekly Software Sales [Gpara]
Yes Ladies and Gentleman, We Have a Smiley
During the past week’s drama related to Microsoft’s lack of transparency and problems with working groups and browser vendors, it literally pained me so to have to keep my mouth shut when I knew there were some very good things happening.
I’m glad Bill Gates truly took the time to look into the communication issues, because to quote the man himself from our conversation last week: “There’s not like some deep secret about what we’re doing with IE.”
From the IEblog today, Dean Hachamovich writes:
“Now, with all that context, I’m delighted to tell you that on Wednesday, December 12, Internet Explorer correctly rendered the Acid2 page in IE8 standards mode. While supporting the features tested in Acid2 is important for many reasons, it is just one of several milestones for the interoperability, standards compliance, and backwards compatibility that we’re committed to for this release. We will blog more on these topics . . .
For IE8, we want to communicate facts, not aspirations. We’re posting this information now because we have real working code checked in and we’re confident about delivering it in the final product. We’re listening to the feedback about IE, and at the same time, we are committed to responsible disclosure and setting expectations properly. Now that we’ve run the test on multiple machines and seen it work, we’re excited to be able to share definitive information.
Would jumping up and down and saying “I told you so” be in order? No, because I couldn’t tell you so. However, I have long been saying that some good things are happening up in Redmond. I applaud the developers who had to keep their mouths closed due to NDA’s and did so under heavy scrutiny, and I applaud all those at Microsoft working hard and proving that they not only hear developer’s needs but understand them and are truly working to make a difference.
Bravo, IE Team, for the hard work and most especially for finally getting the go-ahead to restart this much needed conversation.
Major Australian ISP Pulls OpenOffice
thefickler writes “Australia’s largest Internet service provider Telstra BigPond has removed OpenOffice from its unmetered file download area following the launch of its own, free, hosted, office application, BigPond Office. The removal of OpenOffice was brought to TECH.BLORGE’s attention by a reader, who complained to Telstra BigPond’s support department about no longer being able to download OpenOffice updates. The support people were quite open about why OpenOffice was no longer available, i.e. because it was perceived to be competitive with BigPond Office.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.