Chrome's New Stable Release Brings Extensions, Bookmark Sync to the Masses - Friendly Computers

Windows: Google just pushed an update to the stable channel of Chrome on Windows, bringing support for extensions and bookmark syncing to everyone who isn't living on the bleeding edge of Chrome. - Friendly Computers

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The major features in this release (officially labeled 4.0.249.78—uh, we'll just call it 4.0):


Extensions
Bookmark sync
Enhanced developer tools
HTML5: Notifications, Web Database, Local Storage, WebSockets, Ruby support
v8 performance improvements
Skia performance improvements
Full ACID3 pass, due to re-enabled remote font support (with added defense against bugs in operating system font libraries)
HTTP byte range support
New security feature: "Strict Transport Security" support
Experimental new anti-reflected-XSS feature called "XSS Auditor"

They've also pushed out a handful of security fixes, listed on the Chrome Releases blog post. Google's spinning this release as adding "over 1,500 new features" to Chrome by virtue of the number of extensions already available to the Chrome community. This update isn't the final blow to Firefox or anything along those lines, but we can't help but think the folks at Mozilla would be a little worried. Extensions are a large part of what's set Firefox apart from Chrome, while Chrome has often out-paced Firefox in arenas like performance. As Chrome extensions hit the mainstream stable release, we could see a lot of people considering the switch.

Chrome 4.0.etc. is a free, stable release for Windows only.

Source: http://lifehacker.com/5456369/chromes-new-stable-release-brings-extensions-bookmark-sync-to-the-masses

SlideScreen Renovates Your Android Home Screen with Info Streams - Friendly Computers

Android: The default home screen in Android is fine and mostly functional. - Friendly Computers

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SlideScreen, a replacement utility, provides way more information on messages, weather, calendar events, Twitter or RSS streams, stocks, and whatever else you want, in a slick-looking black wrapper.

Grab the free version of SlideScreen from the Market, and after installing and setting up your weather location and other logins, you'll be given the option to replace your standard home screen with SlideScreen, or just keep it as an app you can open at any time. Give SlideScreen the home screen tryout; you just might fall for its visual scheme and organization.

A center weather/time/date bar can be slid up or down to reveal more information from the "top" (email, SMS, calendar items, missed calls) or "bottom" (stocks, Twitter, and Google Reader items). Long-press on an item to get more information, or click the icon on the right to launch its corresponding app. Swipe an item to the right to dismiss it (or mark as read, in Reader feeds), with a satisfying haptic buzz that happens when you do. Hit your Menu button to pull up the app launcher (pictured at left), which keeps 8 slots open at the top for your most frequently accessed apps, and otherwise acts like the pull-up app drawer on the stock home screen.

My only complaints have to do with SlideScreen defaulting to the default Messaging app for SMS, when I have Google Voice installed and supposed to run as a default messaging app. I'd also like to add a few other items—Google Talk chat notifiers, non-Gmail email pings, and Voice updates—that show up in my normal Notifications bar to SlideScreen's home page. I can still get at them from the app launcher page, but that's far from ideal. Otherwise, I'm impressed with how well it runs, even on my not-so-snappy HTC Dream. Like Dan at Gizmodo, I'm considering trying it out as my default home screen. If you don't use the apps that SlideScreen doesn't pick up data from all that often, you'd have even more reason to give it a go.

Source: http://lifehacker.com/5453654/slidescreen-renovates-your-android-home-screen-with-info-streams

Circle Dock Arranges Your Shortcuts in a Mouse-Centered Application Dock - Friendly Computers

Windows: Sure you could use the start menu or even install an application launcher like Launchy but you'd be missing out on the rotating eye candy and application management of Circle Dock. - Friendly Computers

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We first covered Circle Dock when it appeared out of of a Donation Coder contest two years ago. Since then it has undergone quite a few revisions and is more polished than ever.

One of the initial complaints about Circle Dock was the lack of comprehensive help file—even in the beginning the application did a lot but it wasn't always clear on how you could get it to do what you wanted—the new release has a huge help file that launches immediately after the installation so you can dig right into tweaking settings. You can tweak just about everything in Circle Dock short of tweaking into being Square Dock.

You can alter the size, shape, rotation speed, and transparency of the circle as well as what hot keys and mouse combos will summon it and interact with it. You can reorder icons, swap them out—don't think the default icon for an app is sexy enough for your new circle launcher? You can grab a new one and replace it—and rearrange them by drag and drop.

Circle Dock is freeware, Windows only. Have a novel application launcher? Let's hear about it in the comments.

Source: http://lifehacker.com/5452732/circle-dock-arranges-your-shortcuts-in-a-mouse+centered-application-dock

MightyMeeting Hosts Remote PowerPoint Presentations from Your Smartphone, the Web - Friendly Computers

Web/iPhone/Android: Got a PowerPoint presentation you want to share with co-workers or clients on short notice, or who are in a different timezone? Free tool MightyMeeting lets you conduct presentations remotely via the web or its iPhone and Android applications. - Friendly Computers

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Upload any PowerPoint presentation or PDF to the site to get started (or just forward presentations from your email account to a private email address) to get started. Once your presentation is in the cloud, you can invite anyone to join you. When they click through to your presentation, they're looking at the presentation as controlled by you—again, either from a web browser, iPhone or Android device.

As I mentioned, the free webapp could come in particularly handy for short-notice presentations—you don't have to set up any projectors or have any files on hand. All you need is a supported device on your end and a laptop the people you're presenting to can look at. (You can invite multiple guests, too, so a room full of people could watch your presentation directly in front of them.)

Source: http://lifehacker.com/5450275/mightymeeting-hosts-remote-powerpoint-presentations-from-your-smartphone-the-web?autoplay=true

Free Antivirus: Panda Cloud Antivirus - Friendly Computers

Every windows computer should make use of a Antivirus system to protect themselves from frequent attacks from viruses. - Friendly Computers

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However finding a Antivirus software to suit users needs is a bit difficult task, considering that many AV softwares are known to slow down a system resulting in lesser performance for other applications.

Also Read: How To Keep your PC Safe and Secure?

Panda Cloud Antivirus is a new innovation which uses cloud computing to scan and eliminate viruses from your PC, regularly monitoring and protecting your computer in real-time.

Panda Cloud Antivirus is extremely fast and uses a very low memory footprint ~20MB, which is way much better than a traditional AV software.

The Antivirus is still in the beta stage and available as a Freeware, however this may change in future and Panda may start charging users, however they will still leave it as a free product for personal use.

So if you are unhappy with your current AV and want to tryout something fast, go ahead and download Panda Cloud Antivirus and keep your PC safe and secure.

Source: http://techie-buzz.com/featured/free-antivirus-panda-cloud-antivirus.html?rel=web_related&utm_source=self&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=web_related

Real Estate Search for iPhone Helps You Find Your Dream Home by Location - Friendly Computers

iPhone/iPod touch only: The next time you're driving around a nice neighborhood and wonder if there are any homes for sale in your price range, whip out your iPhone and check with Realtor.com to find out. - Friendly Computers

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This nifty app for the iPhone and iPod touch taps directly into the listings at Realtor.com to give you all kinds on information on nearby homes for sale. You can search by town, state, zip code, price, or the amenities you're looking for. You can even search by Multiple Listing Service (MLS) number assigned to a specific property if you happen to know it.

The app also checks your location and lets you know about any open houses going on in the area so you can scope houses from the inside out. If you want to know everything going on in the housing market in your area, save your searches and Realtor.com will email you every time there's an open house or new listing. Be advised, the app updates every 15 minutes, so you may get a lot of alerts if you're searching a major metropolitan area.

Each listing contains tons of information about the home for sale, including the asking price, property details, agent information, and pictures if there are any. You can view the property on a map, email it to someone else, and even contact the listing agent, all without leaving the app.

If you're in the market for a new home, or just want to daydream about what's out there, then this app is a good start. It's a handy way to carry around a comprehensive overview of the housing market right in your pocket or purse.

Source: http://lifehacker.com/5447276/real-estate-search-for-iphone-helps-you-find-your-dream-home-by-location

Restore the XP Backspace Functionality in Windows 7 and Vista - Friendly Computers

If you've settled into Windows 7 but find the change in the functionality of the backspace key while browsing files to be too much to bear, use this simple hack to turn the backspace key back to its XP state. - Friendly Computers

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For the unfamiliar: in Windows XP pressing the backspace key while browsing files in Windows Explorer would navigate you up one folder level. In Windows Vista and Windows 7 however, the same keystroke doesn't move you up a folder level but back one stop in the history. It's a small thing but if you've coded the backspace into your muscle memory as a quick way to navigate up the folder hierarchy it can be a very annoying small thing to deal with.

Over at How-To Geek they've put together a guide to using AutoHotkey to resolve the backspace issue. You can either add their script to your AutoHotkey installation or download a stand alone executable—both are provided. Throw a link to the application in your Startup folder and you'll never have to deal with the backspace key not navigating the way you want. Check out the link below for full details and the files.

Make Backspace in Windows 7 or Vista Explorer Go Up like XP Did [How-To Geek]

Source: http://lifehacker.com/5445499/restore-the-xp-backspace-functionality-in-windows-7-and-vista

RaopX Streams Any Audio (Not Just iTunes) from Your Mac to Your AirPort Express - Friendly Computers

Mac: One of the coolest parts about Apple's AirPort Express router is wirelessly playing music from iTunes through speakers all over your home. With RaopX, however, you're no longer limited to iTunes; you can play any system audio through AirTunes. - Friendly Computers

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In order to play audio through your AirPort Express, you'll need RaopX and inter-application audio router Soundflower. After installing both, all you need to do is go to Sound in System Preferences and change your default input and output to "Soundflower (2ch)" and start up RaopX in a Terminal session (just launch Terminal [Utilities -> Terminal], type in RaopX, and hit Enter). RaopX will build a 9 second buffer and then stream all audio from your computer to any speaker connected to an AirPort Express.

It's certainly not as easy as picking "AirTunes" from a drop-down menu, but it's hard to complain when you can finally stream Pandora, Mixtape.me, or your other favorite non-iTunes media player to AirTunes. Note: RaopX does not currently support Apple TV or iTunes Speaker Passwords.

RaopX is a free download, Mac only.

Source: http://lifehacker.com/5443786/raopx-streams-any-audio-not-just-itunes-from-your-mac-to-your-airport-express

Skype 4.2 Beta Makes HD-Quality Video Calls - Friendly Computers

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For some head-scratching reason, Skype didn't mention a major upgrade to its recent Windows beta when it dropped in early December. That would be the ability to make 720p, HD-quality video calls if your video hardware supports it.

No word yet on a Mac (or Linux) release with HD calling yet, and PC World guesses they wanted to make the announcement at the Consumer Electronics Show, next to news about HDTV integration. I discovered the video boost, in hindsight, after recording a recent TV news appearance, so I can testify to the beta being worth an early upgrade.

Skype's 4.2 beta is a free download for Windows systems only. If you're seeing HD-quality video on your Skype beta setup, tell us what camera is giving you the good stuff in the comments (I was using this Adam-recommended Logitech 9000 during my brief video interview)

Source: http://lifehacker.com/5440503/skype-42-beta-makes-hd+quality-video-calls

Sothink HD Movie Maker 1.2.90818 - Friendly Computers

HD Movie Maker is a professional Blu-ray burner. It encodes almost all video formats into high definition Blu-ray movies, including WMV, MKV, AVI, DivX, XviD, MPEG, MP4, QuickTime Movie, Real Video, H.264/AVC, M2TS, etc. - Friendly Computers

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It can burn HD movies into Blu-ray discs (BDMV) or regular DVDs (AVCHD) up to 1920x1080p. The supported disks include DVD+R/-R, DVD+RW/-RW, BD-R/BD-RE, BD-25/BD-50, etc. With Sothink HD Movie Maker, people can enjoy HD movies freely on Blu-ray players or Sony PS 3. This HD Movie Maker also supports the world TV broadcast standards: PAL and NTSC, and 5.1 surround sound; calculates proper video bit rate automatically according to target disc’s capacity, convenient to skip videos with remote control; auto generates chapters for multiple videos; can preview videos conveniently with a built-in video player; supports multi-core CPUs and speeds up concurrent video encoding on multiples; loads external subtitle files to enjoy Blu-ray movies perfectly. Main features: 1. Create high definition Blu-ray videos from any video formats including WMV, MKV, AVI, DivX, XviD, MPEG, MP4, QuickTime Movie, Real Video, H.264/AVC, M2TS, M2T, MTS, etc. 2. Make HD Blu-ray movies of different resolutions up to 1280x720p, 1440x1080p, 1920x1080p. 3. Manage and burn HD Camera videos to Blu-ray Movies, supporting Sony (*.m2ts), Cannon (*.m2t), Panasonic (*.mts), etc. 4. Burn BD movies on various discs like DVD+R, DVD+RW, DVD-R, DVD-RW, BD-R, BD-RE, etc. 5. Convert videos to BDMV, and burn on Blu-ray Discs like BD-25 (single layer with 25 GB capacity), BD-50 (dual layer with 50 GB capacity), etc. 6. Burn HD Blu-ray movies into regular DVDs with 4.7 GB (DVD-5, so-called D5) or 8.5 GB (DVD-9, so-called D9) storage capacities, which is particular to make HD Blu-ray discs even without Blu-ray burners. The output is AVCHD (or called BD5/BD9) 7. Display thumbnails of the imported source videos and the thumbnails’ size are editable. 8. Support pausing, resuming and stopping.

Source:

Form Docs 7.6.2 - Friendly Computers

Form Docs provides a wealth of business forms and documents that are perfect for small businesses. In addition, its design elements ensure that it can create a document for any need. - Friendly Computers

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The program's interface is incredibly simple to operate, thanks to its excellent tutorials. An intuitive layout simplifies navigation between different documents, which helps ensure each document is filled out properly. Form Docs offers an impressive collection of document templates, including human resources hiring forms, project quotes, tax forms, purchase orders, and easily a dozen more, all fully customizable and with clearly labeled fields. Its simple operation leaves you with a professional-looking document that is ready for business. Form Docs' greatest assets are probably its automatic serial number generator and its ability to store up to 1 million company profiles for easy filling of forms. This is a great tool for small businesses because it handles all aspect of your business itself. Form Docs' design tools will also have particular appeal to entrepreneurs and start-ups because the program can build virtually any form from scratch to exactly meet all your changing and growing document needs.

Form Docs has a 30-day trial period. It installs desktop icons without asking permission and leaves folders behind after uninstalling. This is an impressive program that makes dealing with business documents a lot less daunting, and we recommend it.

Publisher's description
From Formdocs :

Form Docs for Windows Electronic Forms software includes everything you need to design and fill in any type of form for small business, big business, industry, government, and law enforcement. Provides built-in spell checking, automatic serial numbers, drop-down lists, and easy to define calculations for simple forms. More complex forms can add ODBC database connections, E-Mail, Routing and Approval with Digital Signatures, and International currency support. Optional forms to PDF conversion and built-in scripting language make FormDocs a complete Electronic Forms management solution for any size business or organization. Easily create, fill-in and manage thousands of Invoice, Purchase Order, Purchase Requisition, Proposal, Quotation, Incident Report, and other forms on your PC or Network. An optional multi-user Office edition enables up to 100 users to concurrently share and work with a single form file. Also enables users to attach documents, drawings, photos or files to a form so that everything can be stored together in 'one place'.

Version 7.6.2 allows users to enter an unlimited amount of data into new scrolling form fields and scrolling table rows.


What's new in this version:

•No more 'running out of space' when filling in a form. Version 7.6.2 allows users to enter an unlimited amount of data into new scrolling form fields and scrolling table rows.
•Additional form pages are automatically printed as needed to display all of the data.

Source: http://download.cnet.com/Form-Docs/3000-10743_4-10124018.html?tag=contentMain;contentBody