Big Music Label Foe LimeWire’s Newest Executive: A Big Music Label Veteran

 

Friendly Computers read that an Executive of a record label accepted a job working for LimeWire. Cliché? Read below:

What do you do when your job working for a big music label disappears? You go to work for a pirate-friendly file-sharing service that’s being sued by the big music labels.

That’s the path that Jason Herskowitz has chosen. Old job: VP of product management at Total Music, Universal Music and Sony’s (SNE) attempt to create a service that offered either free downloads or free streaming music as a way to combat file-sharing. It collapsed earlier this year and Project Playlist bought some of its parts.

New job: VP of product management at LimeWire, one of the last (one of the only?) high-profile peer-to-peer file-sharing companies based in the U.S. Not surprisingly, the service was embroiled with industry lawsuits for three years running.

Here’s Herskowitz’s blog post announcing his new job and his pending move to Brooklyn (Welcome, Jason! Pretty sure we’re neighbors.) from Washington D.C. It’s not a crazy career move: A job is a job and there aren’t that many in digital music these days. Besides, I hear that LimeWire has nice offices.

Which reminds me: How is it, exactly, that LimeWire stays afloat when the labels have been able to force so many of its peers to shut down? Good question. I’ve asked around and heard murmurings that the labels and the file-sharing service may be able to work out some kind of agreement, but I’ve heard that every 12 months or so. So I’ll believe it in when I see it.

In the meantime, LimeWire continues to allow you to download just about any song (and many other things) you can imagine over the Web for free, without paying anyone a cent. Though if you do try to download a copyrighted song, you do get this stern warning from the service. I take it in the same spirit as the warnings head shops give you when they say the bong they’re selling is for tobacco use only.

Source: http://mediamemo.allthingsd.com/20090629/big-music-label-foe-lime-wires-newest-executive-a-big-music-label-veteran/

Expert: China's Green Dam software is unsafe

 

The content filtering software which the Chinese Government is requiring be installed on all new PC’s comes under fire as being unsafe and poorly programmed. Read the article below that Friendly Computers found:

The content-filtering software the Chinese government wants installed on all PCs sold in that country beginning next week was poorly developed and puts users at risk of having their computers compromised, a security expert who examined the code said on Thursday.

The Chinese government is requiring that all PCs include the Green Dam-Youth Escort software to block pornography, but it also blocks access to content related to violent computer games, illegal drugs and political speech, said Ben Feinstein, director of research at SecureWorks, a managed security service provider.

Critics are worried that the Chinese government could use Green Dam, a free download, to block all kinds of content and monitor online activities of users, as well as worried that the software could allow for a massive botnet to be created, either by cybercriminals or the Chinese government itself.

Green Dam allows users to specify categories of sites to block.

(Credit: University of Michigan)

Feinstein and colleagues at SecureWorks' Counter Threat Unit examined the Green Dam code earlier this month and found that it uses a variety of unsafe programming practices that have been banned at Microsoft and other U.S. companies, he said.

An example is the use of Strcpy, or string copy, a library function in the C programming language that copies memory from one buffer to another, according to Feinstein. If the copied string doesn't fit in the destination buffer, it will overwrite memory and can be used in a buffer overflow attack.

"This software appears to be of low quality and to have not been developed with a secure methodology," Feinstein said. "It likely suffers from a whole host of problems."

The way Green Dam is designed to inspect all Internet traffic coming into and going out of a PC means more parts of the code are exposed to potential attack compared with programs that are more limited in scope and process less data, he said.

In addition, having the software on all PCs in China, as mandated, would create a huge install base and be an attractive target for attackers who could attack millions of computers by targeting just this one program, Feinstein said.

China historically has censored the Internet using filters on the network, blocking access to pages that deal with politically sensitive subjects like Tiananman Square, Falun Gong, and Tibet. Installing filtering software on the end-user computers will make it easier to block content than doing it in the network, according to Feinstein.

"You get efficiencies of scale if you push the filtering down to the end point rather than inspect huge Trans-Pacific pipes entering and leaving your country," he said. Green Dam was published by Jinhui Computer Systems Engineering, which is run by a former officer of the Peoples' Liberation Army, he added.

Researchers at the University of Michigan issued a report two weeks ago that found two major security vulnerabilities in Green Dam that could allow someone to remotely take over a computer running the software. The software was later updated and patched, according to an update to the report issued a week ago, however the researchers said they had discovered an additional security hole that remained unfixed.

Separately, a security researcher said he had released on a public Web site an exploit for a buffer overflow that remained unpatched in the Green Dam update.

 

Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10273354-83.html?tag=newsEditorsPicksArea.0

Free Windows 7 won't last forever

 

Microsoft has been letting people download the release candidate of Windows 7 for a while now. Below are some helpful tips and reminders about the software and how long this “testing” version will last. Friendly Computers thinks you may be able to use this information:

Microsoft has been pretty generous in letting folks play around with Windows 7 for free. But it has put some time limits on that generosity.

Those who want to try out the release candidate of Windows 7 only have until August 15 to download the code. After that date, you can still install a copy you have downloaded (and even get additional product keys), but most folks won't be able to get the code from Microsoft's Web site.

For those who have a spare machine to try out Windows 7, it's worth a try. I have been using it for months now and find the release candidate stable enough to use as my everyday machine. It's a particularly nice option for Mac users who have wanted to try Windows on their Mac but haven't wanted to steal a copy from work or fork over the money to be legit.

A separate deadline is looming for those still running the beta version, as opposed to the release candidate. Starting July 1, that software will start shutting down every other hour. (Here's the place to insert your best anti-Windows joke. I'll get you started: "Why, that makes it just like Windows ME.")

In any case, to avoid that nastiness, one should move from the beta version to the release candidate version in the next seven days or so. In addition to the shutdowns that start July 1, the beta software will expire completely on August 1.

Similarly, the release candidate also won't last forever. Microsoft says it is set to expire on June 1, 2010, with the bi-hourly shutdowns starting March 1. And, Microsoft also says that those moving from the release candidate to the final version of Windows 7 will have to do a clean installation, so be prepared for that, as well.

 

Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10271092-56.html?tag=mncol

Mozilla Firefox 3.5 RC 2 Released for Download

 

A  new version of Firefox has been released. Friendly Computers read that this new release has better tools and features then its previous version which was released not too long ago. Find out more below:

Mozilla announced the release of the Firefox 3.5 Release Candidate which is now available for download. The RC2 has many new changes over the previous RC1 which was recently released. Of the new features is improved tools for controlling data through the Private Browsing Mode, and HTML5 support, and better performance with the new JavaScript engine.
Speaking of performance, Firefox 3.5 has faster page rendering as well thanks to "speculative parsing". This means when the parser would normally block on a Javascript code, it keeps going instead. It doesn't create a DOM based on the things it parses, but looks for the SCRIPT and LINK REL codes and starts those resources loading in parallel with what its blocked on. Just take our word on it, it makes things load faster.
What's Private, Should Stay Private
One of the things you may have noticed when using "Private Browsing" in Chrome, which Google calls Incognito Mode and in Internet Explorer which Microsoft calls InPrivate Mode, is that they both should an icon or notification on screen that you are in this "private browsing" mode. Mozilla goes a step further to help make the private browsing even more private by NOT showing any sort of icon on the browser indicating you are browsing privately. This makes your private browsing session even more private, because nobody knows that you are browsing privately if they happen to peep over your shoulder, besides the intial popup message which is displayed once before entering "Prviate Browsing".
In addition, the Privacy preference pane has been completely redesigned to offer users more control over their private information. Users can choose to retain or discard anything including history information, cookies, downloads, and form field information.  In addition, users can specify whether or not to include history and/or bookmarks in the location bar's automated suggestions, so you can keep private web addresses from popping up unexpectedly while typing in the location bar.
Remember, Don't Forget
A great feature of Firefox is it's ability to remember opened windows and tabs in the event that the browser crashes or you close it and want to come back to the same browsing session later. The only thing that we all wish Firefox would do with this session restoration, is remember what we have typed into forms. Perhaps, I am writing an article to be posted on Tech Fragments and my browser suddenly crashed by some other Javascript running on another tab at another web site. All of my typed information would have been lost in the forms. Not anymore! FireFox 3.5 has the ability to remember everything you type in forms and will restore it if you desire.
Even More, FireFox 3.5 RC2 Features

• Supports HTML 5 Offline Resources
• Supports HTML 5 Drag and Drop API
• Downloadable CSS Fonts Support
• CSS Media Queries
• localstorage DCOM - Ability for Web Apps to Store Data on Clients Computer
• geolocation - Allows apps to obtain users precise location if installed and enabled.
• Mouse Gestures
• Controlling DNS Prefetching feature

There are hundreds of other features which can be found at the Firefox 3.5 Developers Log.

Source: http://techfragments.com/news/908/Software/Mozilla_Firefox_3-5_RC_2_Released_for_Download.html

Farkie: Download YouTube Videos via the Web

 

At some point in time you may wish that you could download that youtube video and take it with you. Maybe where you need to play it does not have internet access. Friendly Computers read this, which may offer an easy solution:

There are a number of reasons why you may want to download a YouTube video; maybe you know the people featured in the video and want to save it for posterity, maybe you want to collect episodes of a web series that's only released on YouTube and watch them all on your TV. In any case, if you want to download a YouTube video, you usually have to install a browser add-on or use a utility that will strip out the flash video file, but leave you to the task of converting the video to a usable format.
Farkie is different; the service allows you to simply provide the URL of a YouTube video and you can download the video instantly. You can choose the high or low quality versions of the video, and convert the video to the format of your choice before the download begins.
Farkie isn't terribly special; these kinds of utilities are a dime a dozen. Some require you to install a brower plug-in before you can start downloading, others come and go as their popularity rises and falls until they disappear altogether. Farkie has been around for a while and allows you to download videos directly by plugging in the URL. You can download a browser add-on to facilitate the process, but the service works well using the Web site.

The service supports audio downloads as WAV or MP3 files and you can download video as an AVI, MOV, WMV, MP4, or even a 3GP for use on your cell phone. If you prefer the source Flash video, you can download the FLV file. Farkie also supports downloading linked items, javascripts, images, and other objects on the page if you're interested in them. To select the media file, just check the box corresponding to the page element that you'd like to download after you've pasted the YouTube URL.
After you have the page objects selected, simply click to convert any of the objects that need to be changed from one format to another and Farkie will automatically convert and download them. If YouTube isn't your thing, Farkie also supports video downloads from MySpace Video, and Break.com.

 

Source: http://www.appscout.com/2009/06/farkie_download_youtube_videos.php

D’oh! With help from TomTom, Homer Simpson could be your co-pilot

 

Friendly Computers learned today that you will be able to download Homer Simpson’s voice for your TomTom. Check it out below:

First it was the voice of KITT, the talking car from the popular television show “Knight Rider.”

Now Homer Simpson is getting his turn. Starting today, TomTom, a GPS manufacturer with US headquarters in Concord, Mass., will allow users to add Homer’s voice to their navigation systems. The cost of TomTom’s newest “voice skin” is $12.95.

According to press materials provided by TomTom, “Homer’s hilarious, encouraging and sometimes unusual advice will ensure that drivers will not only reach their destination on time, but have a lot of fun along the way.” With voice work by Dan Castellaneta, who plays Homer on the “The Simpsons,” the download reportedly spits out advice like, “Take the third right. We might find an ice cream truck! Mmm … ice cream.”

TomTom, a Dutch company, markets upward of 70 preloaded voices in a variety of languages. English speakers can also download voice skins from actors Dennis Hopper, Kim Cattrall, and John Cleese, among others.

“Celebrity voice downloads are one of the many features TomTom offers to our customers to personalize their driving experience,” Jocelyn Vigreux, president of TomTom, explained in a statement. “With Homer Simpson’s voice helping them to navigate their trip, TomTom customers will not only travel safely and with less stress, but will also be highly entertained along the way.”

 

Source: http://features.csmonitor.com/innovation/2009/06/16/doh-with-help-from-tomtom-homer-simpson-could-be-your-co-pilot/

Eight Top Free Downloads for Palm Pre

 

There is a lot of talk about the new Palm Pre in the news lately. Friendly Computers found these free downloads that work with the device:

The Pre, Palm's first device to run the brand new webOS mobile operating system, just hit the U.S. market, but application developers are already working studiously away on Pre apps to populate the company's equally new app store, the Pre "App Catalog."

Right now, App Catalog pickings are relatively slim--at least in comparison to Apple's iTunes App Store or RIM's BlackBerry App World. But that doesn't mean there's no quality Pre software to be had. On the contrary; I found eight great free Pre apps that I know you'll love.

I've got apps for baseball fanatics, music lovers, movie buffs, social networking hounds, constant travelers and more. Keep moving for my list of hand-picked free Pre apps. And if you still seek more Pre-goodness, read, "Palm Pre Tips & Tricks: Killer Keyboard Shortcuts, Touch-Gestures and More".

Sporting News for Pre: Everything Baseball

If you're a Palm Pre owner and a baseball fan, you need to check out Sporting News Pro Baseball. I'm an avid Red Sox fan, and I'm constantly searching for new ways to stay up to date with my team's various happenings. I'm also a connoisseur of fine mobile applications--I write weekly free BlackBerry apps stories. And I can honestly say I've yet to find another baseball app for any platform that I like more than Sporting News Pro Baseball for Pre.

The free app not only provides the basics like league-wide scores and statistics, users have easy, one-click access to news from around the American and National leagues, as well as team-specific stats and rosters, schedules and standings. You can even create your own fantasy baseball team within the app.

Navigation is a breeze, thanks to well-designed pages and intuitive controls. And marking certain teams as "favorites" brings scores and other information on those teams directly to the app's landing page for quick and easy access.

To find Sporting News Pro Baseball, search the Palm Pre App Catalog for "baseball."

LinkedIn for Palm Pre: Get Connected on the Go

LinkedIn is one of the most popular business-oriented social networks, and the LinkedIn for Pre app gives you access to most all of its basic features from wherever you have wireless connectivity.

The main LinkedIn for Pre landing screen displays all of your "Connections," which you can scroll through by dragging a finger up or down on the device's display. Click on a connection and you can view individual profiles, which include information like geographical region, industry, number of connections, work experience, education and current company listings, as well as a "Message button" that lets you quick compose messages to contacts.

A tiny Inbox icon in the bottom right corner lets you check your inbox for new messages with a single click. And an Add New Contact icon in the lower left corner on the app's main screen means you can quickly send out invitations to connect with new contacts.

It's also worth noting, that no such BlackBerry app exists--I honestly have no idea why--so Pre owners have a leg up on BlackBerry users in that regard.

To find the app, search the Palm Pre App Catalog for "LinkedIn."

mobile by Citysearch for Pre: Don't Leave Home Without It

Frequent travelers and weekend road-trippers alike will love mobile by Citysearch for the Palm Pre. The free app employ's the Pre's built-in GPS to detect your location--unless you'd rather set it yourself--and then serve up location-aware search results for restaurants, bars, shopping centers, hotels, spas and much more.

In each search category, you can choose from Recommended and Nearby listings. And if you click on an item of interest, the app displays a variety of new options, including contact info, addresses, hours of operation and a message from the establishment's owner, where available. By tapping the sides of the screen, you scroll through other listings. And you can also read reviews from additional users, leave your own evaluations, show locations in Google Maps and share listings via e-mail, text or Twitter.

Many entries include a photo, as well, so you can get a look at the property. And bookmarks enable you to save listings that catch your eye for future use.

To find mobile by Citysearch, search the Palm Pre App Catalog for "Citysearch."

Flixster for Pre: Your Movie Theatre Companion

Flixster is a Pre-owning, movie buff's best friend. The free application provides everything you need to find nearby theatres, movie information, listings and reviews. And you can even buy tickets via MovieTickets.com directly from the app.

Flixster delivers location-aware search results for movie show times, along with descriptions of popular box office films and theatre information, with maps, so you can find your way to the movies wherever you may roam. A Browse DVDs section lets you query a database of more than 50,000 films on DVD, according to Flixster. The Upcoming Movies section lets you know what's in store for the coming weeks and months. And reviews from both Flixster.com and RottenTomatoes.com are available without ever leaving the app.

Flixster search lets you look for films by title, director or lead actors. And the app's navigation it intuitive; a nav bar gives quick access to current Box Office Movies, Nearby Theatres, Upcoming Movies, DVDs and Search from any screen within Flixster for Pre.

You can also watch a number of trailers, though the ones I checked out were poor quality.

To find Flixster, search the Palm Pre App Catalog for "movies."

Tweed: Twitter via Pre

The central motivating question behind the popular "micro-blogging" service Twitter is this: What are you doing? And there's no better time or place to answer that question than when you're out and about doing whatever it is that you do best, right? I mean, there are only so many things one can do while sitting in front of a computer screen...

Thanks to Tweed, Pre owners can share and communicate with their followers, on the go or otherwise, via an intuitive and easy to use--if a bit barebones--Twitter app. Tweed gives Pre users access to all the basic Twitter features, like Friends Timeline, Public Timeline, Replies, Direct Messages, Trending Topics, Favorites and more. And you can turn on notifications, so a tiny icon appears at the bottom of your Pre's display whenever you have new activity.

As for "advanced functionality," Tweed doesn't have much to offer, except for a location feature which lets you include your current whereabouts in "tweets." I was particularly disappointed that Tweed doesn't currently support TwitPic, which lets you post images along with Twitter messages.

Note: There's another player in the Pre-Twitter-game, as well, called Spaz. I used both apps and found that Tweed delivers a better overall experience, at least for me. Also, Spaz is currently free, but its creators plan to throw a price tag on it in the near future.

To find Tweed or Spaz, search the Palm Pre App Catalog for "Twitter."

Pandora Radio: Free Internet Radio in Your Pocket

I'm a huge fan of Pandora Radio, and I've recommended the BlackBerry and iPhone apps on CIO.com numerous times. I feel just as strongly about the new Pandora for Pre offering, because, well, it's almost exactly the same. It's more similar to the iPhone application, because of the touch-based navigation, but all of the same basic functionality is present in Pandora for Pre.

Quick description of Pandora Radio: Pandora is an Internet radio "station" that lets you program personalized channels based on artists you like. For example, a John Lennon fan could create a 'The Beatles' station that plays tunes from the Fab Four, mixed in with songs recommended by other Beatles fans on Pandora. The service is a great way to find new artists you may have never heard before.

The Pandora interface is very simple, and that's one of its strengths. It's easy to add new artist channels, and all of your existing channels are displayed alphabetically or by creation date on the app's home screen. Just tap one and your music starts playing. A small Add New Channel icon in the home screen's lower left corner lets you easily add new stations. And if you already have a Pandora account, all your previous stations populate to the Pre app once you sign in.

And you can "vote up" or "vote down" songs to let the app know whether or not you want to hear more similar content--and skip up to six songs per hour, per station.

To find Pandora Radio, search the Palm Pre App Catalog for "radio."

WHERE for Palm Pre: Local Search Done Right

WHERE for the Pre is the only local search application you'll ever need. The app uses your Pre's internal GPS to detect your location and then delivers a wide variety of local search results.

For example, you can employ WHERE to find nearby movies and movie times. You can quickly query business listings via a built-in YellowPages.com widget. Detailed weather reports for single days and extended forecasts are available. A Starbucks section helps ensure you're never without a latte when in need. Local traffic can be found in the Traffic section. And the Yelp.com integration means you can instantly read reviews from Yelp.

The app has a fairly detailed News section, where you can pick from U.S. news, entertainment, sports, technology, odd and local happenings and query Microsoft's new Bing search engine.

You can also communicate with other WHERE users a la Twitter-style status updates on the "WHERE Wall," though you have to create a separate account to do so.

To find the app, search the Palm Pre App Catalog for "Where."

Speed Brain for Pre:

The Palm Pre doesn't ship with any games, but thankfully, App Catalog already has a few third-party options listed. One that caught my eye is Speed Brain, which is a very basic matching game that claims to "provide a mental workout that will help you quickly understand information and react to it."

I'm not so sure of the validity of that statement, but Speed Brain is fun. The concept is simple: The game shows you a shape on the main screen, when you're ready to start, you tap the screen and another similar or identical shape appears. If the shape is the same, you click the Match button. If not, you tap No Match. The object of the game is get more and more correct answers in the 45 seconds you're allotted.

The game keeps track of your high scores and even gives you a "percentile" rating so you can see where you stack up against other players. And after time, Speed Brain creates a "Brain Profile" that lets you track your progress and compare performance and check percentile data.

 

Source:http://www.pcworld.com/article/166782-2/eight_top_free_downloads_for_palm_pre.html

6 multiclient IM apps to chat about

 

There are a lot of instant messaging services out there. Friendly Computers read about these 6 applications which can run more then one IM client at a time. Check them out below:

A variety of multiclient instant-messaging services have cropped up that allow users to communicate with each other over the Web. Some can be downloaded onto your desktop, while others can be accessed on the Internet. In either case, they're worth trying out, if you want to enjoy a fine experience communicating with your friends.

Multiclient IM resources

Adium Adium is my favorite multiclient instant-messaging tool for a few reasons. It supports practically any IM platform around, including AIM, Yahoo Messenger, Facebook, MySpace, Google Talk (via Jabber), and more. It even has a plug-in for Skype.

You'll rarely have any trouble communicating with friends in the service. But its most redeeming quality is that it's open source. So, if you want to modify the code to fit your own IM desires, that's possible. And those in the open-source community are constantly improving the product, whose updates typically install with ease.

When you download Adium (it's available for Mac OS X), you'll have the option of choosing your IM service. By default, Adium takes on the same design as Mac OS X. But with the help of some plug-ins from Adium's site, called "Xtras," you can customize it as you see fit. Those add-ons include emoticons, dock icons, scripts, and more. I could go on about Adium, but I think that you get the point: if you're a Mac OS X user, it's worth trying out.

Adium takes on the look of Mac OS X by default.

(Credit: Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET)

Digsby Digsby is a multifaceted tool that lets you communicate with friends over instant messaging, e-mail, or social networks. I recently took a look at its social-networking capabilities. After having the opportunity to use its IM services, I was just as impressed.

After installing Digsby on my Windows PC (Mac and Linux versions are reportedly on the way), I was able to log in to my accounts on AIM, Yahoo Mail, Facebook, and others. Digsby's app is designed well, with a more attractive interface than Adium's default skin. Digsby also gives you the option of sending an SMS text message from the application. Overall, I liked Digsby.

Digsby lets you chat with anyone at any time.

(Credit: Digsby)

eBuddy eBuddy is a Web-based multiclient instant-messaging app through which you can connect to AIM, Yahoo IM, MSN, Facebook, ICQ, and MySpace. Although it provides a bunch of options, eBuddy doesn't quite stand up to the competition. It's not as responsive as some of the other apps in this roundup, and I was unimpressed by its design. That said, I did like that I could view my Facebook friends' profiles by clicking on a link in the client. I also liked that the app opens in a separate window--I find it more convenient than switching to a tab. Plus, it's available for Android-based phones, as well as the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP.

eBuddy isn't the best-looking service, but it still works well.

(Credit: Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET)

Meebo Like eBuddy, Meebo is a Web-based instant-messaging tool that lets you communicate with friends on AIM, MySpace, Yahoo, and MSN. You can also chat with Facebook and Google Talk friends.

When you go to the Meebo home page, you have the option of inputting your credentials for any of those services. The instant messaging on Meebo is outstanding. It's the same interface for all the sites, but you can get buddies' contact information, see their Facebook status, and even check out their entire Facebook profile by clicking on the appropriate link, which opens the profile in another tab. Meebo is one of the more popular multiclient IM tools on the Web for good reason--it's simple, responsive, and boasts support for a variety of clients. Even better, you can use it on your iPhone.

Meebo lets you chat with your Facebook friends.

(Credit: Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET)

Pidgin Similar to Adium, Pidgin is an open-source IM client that allows you to modify it as you wish. If you don't want to do that, you'll still be satisfied with the software.

Once installed, Pidgin gives you the option of signing into your various IM accounts. You can chat with friends on AIM, Google Talk, ICQ, MySpace, and others at the same time. It's not as good-looking as some of its competitors, but it's designed more for the power user who wants to be able to chat with as many people at a time as possible. Pidgin is ideally suited for Windows machines, so that may be a problem for some. If you want to use an open-source instant-messaging platform on a Mac, Adium is your best bet.

Pidgin asks you to create accounts when you first start it up.

(Credit: Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET)

Trillian Trillian is a desktop IM client that supports instant messaging on AIM, ICQ, MSN, Yahoo Messenger, and Internet Relay Chat. Unfortunately, it's available only to Windows users at this time. The company is promising Mac and iPhone support in its follow-up version of the software, called Trillian Astra.

Overall, I was really impressed by Trillian. It supports the standard features like group chat, audio chat, and the option to view profiles. But having the ability to change skins was quite appealing. I was able to customize the experience to match my tastes. From dark to bright, there's at least one skin for everyone. Trillian is, quite simply, the most beautiful multiclient IM service in this roundup. If you want more functionality (such as bringing in your Google Talk contacts), you can also buy Trillian Pro, which costs $25.

Trillian Astra is coming to Trillian.

(Credit: Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET)

 

Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10264755-2.html?tag=contentMain;contentBody

Apple's Safari 4 tops 11 million downloads in 3 days

 

Friendly Computers found out that Safari has already topped 11 million downloads in only three days? Why are so many people using the new browser? Read on to see why: 

pple's Safari 4 Web browser was downloaded more than 11 million times in the first three days of release, the company said Friday.

And more than 6 million of the downloads came from Windows users.

Safari's Top Sites feature.

(Credit: Apple)

Since Safari 4's public beta release in February, Apple has touted the browser as the fastest in the world, when compared with other popular browsers like Firefox and Internet Explorer 8.

According to Apple, Safari 4 tops IE 8 and Firefox by three times or more when loading HTML Web pages. With its Nitro JavaScript engine, the company claims, Safari executes JavaScript almost eight times as fast as IE 8 and more than four times as fast as Firefox.

Based on the open-source Webkit browser engine, Safari includes HTML 5 support for offline technologies and is the first browser to pass the Web Standards Project's Acid3 test.

Safari includes several enhancements, such as Top Sites, the ability to search history, Google Suggest, and Full Page Zoom, to make browsing the Web a bit easier.

Safari is free for download for both Mac and Windows users.

 

Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10263494-37.html

Dell selling downloadable Microsoft software

Dell will be the first non-Microsoft company to offer online downloads of Microsoft Office and many other MS programs. Friendly Computers got the scoop! Check it out below:

You no longer have to drive to your local Staples or Best Buy to grab the latest copy of Microsoft Office.

Dell has become the first non-Microsoft company allowed to sell downloadable Microsoft products at its Dell Download Store. The agreement, announced Thursday, gives Dell the right to sell Microsoft Word, Excel, Outlook, Expression Web and similar Microsoft programs directly to online customers.

"With everyday savings plus on-demand access, the Dell Download Store addresses our customers' two main concerns: price and immediacy," said Geoff Surkamer, general manager, Dell Global Digital Distribution. "In addition, downloading is a more environmentally friendly way to purchase and distribute software because there's no need for packaging material."

A search for Microsoft Office Professional 2007 found Dell offering the software for $448, while Staples and Best Buy were selling it for full retail at $499.

Opened in January, the Dell Download store grabs around 10,000 visitors each month, said Dell. The store also offers a variety of programs from other manufacturers such as McAfee and Intuit.

Dell has been on the go lately, exploring diverse new markets to bump up its bottom line. The company recently said it plans to offer free, open-source software to small and midsize businesses. Dell also may be eyeing a takeover of another high-tech firm to expand its sales reach.

Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-10805_3-10262617-75.html?tag=mncol

Trillian beta goes public

Trillian, which allows you to use several messaging services in one program just released its new beta version to the public. Friendly Computers found this out:

Trillian Astra, which has been in development for nearly three years, is now available to users as a public beta. You won't need to register for a private key to download it, although if you've been using it since we reported on the Astra beta in April, it might be time for an upgrade.

In announcing on the Trillian blog Tuesday that the beta is now public, Cerulean Studios also said the latest build of the multi-protocol chat client fixes bugs related to server-based problems. The company clearly has confidence in the beta, though, since they've made it the featured product on their download page. Users can still grab Trillian 3.1, the latest stable build, but only from a link off to the side.

On the Trillian download page, you can also see that Cerulean Studios has plans for Mac, iPhone, and Web-based clients. So far, none of those versions is available for public testing.

 

Source: http://download.cnet.com/8301-2007_4-10261145-12.html

Cool new Jonas Brothers stuff at Walmart (omg!)

 

If you love the Jonas Brothers then you may find this interesting. Friendly Computers discovered that starting today, you can download a free track from the Joans Brothers on Wal-Mart’s website. See the details below:

Jonas Brothers and Walmart! Can there be any better combination to get a Tuesday rolling into real excitement mode!

Of course, if you are a Jonas Brothers fan. This is big news, so let's share:

Beginning today, only at Walmart.com, Jonas fans can catch an exclusive of the band performing songs from its upcoming Lines, Vines and Trying Times. The music comes with additional exclusive behind-the-scenes clips and interviews.

You can download a free mp3 of the track "Lovebug," off the new album, also at walmart.com/jonasbrothers. More info below:  

Beginning today and only at Walmart.com, Jonas Brothers fans can now watch an exclusive performance of the band performing songs from their upcoming album, “Lines, Vines and Trying Times,”  as well as see special behind-the-scenes footage and exclusive interviews.

The private concert, hosted by Walmart.com in Hollywood last month, can be accessed at www.walmart.com/jonasbrothers.

Fans can check out the live performance and download a free MP3 of the new track “Lovebug” from the private concert at www.walmart.com/jonasbrothers.  Also, customers can preorder the new Jonas Brothers album at Walmart.com for only $9, and receive an instant track of the radio single, “Paranoid.” 

 

Source: http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment_music_blog/2009/06/cool-new-jonas-brothers-stuff-at-walmart-omg.html

Apple’s Revolutionary App Store Downloads Top One Billion in Just Nine Months

Apple recently had its 1 billionth download on their App Store. Find out more about the store and the lucky winner who was # 1 Billion below. Friendly Computers thinks this may be of useful to you:

Apple today announced that customers have downloaded one billion applications from its revolutionary App Store, the largest applications store in the world. The one billionth app, Bump created by Bump Technologies, was downloaded by Connor Mulcahey, age 13, of Weston, CT. As the grand prize winner of Apple’s one billion app countdown contest, Connor will receive a $10,000 iTunes® gift card, an iPod® touch, a Time Capsule® and a MacBook® Pro.

“The revolutionary App Store has been a phenomenal hit with iPhone and iPod touch users around the world, and we’d like to thank our customers and developers for helping us achieve the astonishing milestone of one billion apps downloaded,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “In nine months, the App Store has completely revolutionized the mobile industry and this is only the beginning.”
Today, the groundbreaking App Store has more than 35,000 applications available to consumers in 77 countries, allowing developers to reach tens of millions of iPhone™ and iPod touch users around the world. This summer the iPhone OS 3.0 software update will provide developers with over 1,000 new developer APIs enabling In-App Purchases, Peer-to-Peer connections, App control of accessories, and Push Notifications. The iPhone OS 3.0 release will also add over 100 customer features including cut, copy and paste; Spotlight™ search; landscape keyboard and view for all key iPhone apps; MMS* support; and expanded parental controls for apps, TV shows, and movies from the App Store.
*MMS messaging is available only on iPhone 3G; fees may apply. MMS may not be available in all areas.
Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Today, Apple continues to lead the industry in innovation with its award-winning computers, OS X operating system and iLife and professional applications. Apple is also spearheading the digital media revolution with its iPod portable music and video players and iTunes online store, and has entered the mobile phone market with its revolutionary iPhone.

 

Source:http://www.khabrein.info/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=22758&Itemid=62