Recently in Software Category

Today's the day when Firefox 3 is officially released, and they are trying to set a record for the most downloaded software in 24 hours.

We have been beta testing it for a while and it definitely seems faster and more reliable to us.

Download Firefox 3

Wouldn't you think two people with a combined net worth of $73B could afford sweaters that fit properly, or maybe the laid back Laurel and Hardy-esque appearance is designed to evoke a feeling of relaxed coolness about the reveal of Windows 7 (in a out-maccing the mac kind of way).

All they really revealed was that Windows 7 will have multi-touch support which is nice if you want to manipulate pictures or maps but otherwise isn't exactly earth-shattering.

We expect Microsoft to keep quiet about Windows 7 ahead of it's planned 2010 release to avoid the fubars and snafus of their disastrous Vista launch.

via engadget

Installing other operating systems on ultra-compact laptops such as the HP mini-note and the eee pc is usually a pain in the "you know what" due to issues with drivers to make sound, wifi and graphics work correctly.

A guy called Lee on the MiniNote forums has made it a lot easier for HP mini-note users to install the popular Ubuntu 8.04 linux operating system by releasing a ISO file called MinBuntu that can be burned to a CD and then used to install a fully working version of Ubuntu complete with all the correct drivers.

MinBuntu: Ubuntu for the HP Mini-Note via liliputing

Opera has announced the availability of version 4.1 of their opera mini web browser for mobile phones.

Opera mini 4.1 is said to be 50% faster than opera mini 4.0 and has a number of cool new features including suggesting url completions, fast page searching, and off-line viewing.

opera mini 4.1 press release

Microsoft just announced that they have resumed downloads of XP service pack 3 and Vista service pack 1 through Windows Update.

We have service pack 3 installed and it isn't anything earth shatteringly new, but it does make sure you are up to date with all the latest security fixes so in that regard it is worth installing.

PC World has published an interesting article on what the claim are the top 18 software features Windows Vista (and XP) should have but don't.

I disagree with 3. Back to My Mac: if you were smart enough to keep automatic backups on Amazon's S3 service then you could get the file easily and pay a lot less than $99/yr. A lot of the other features are already handled in windows by free third party software - why should Microsoft reinvent the wheel?

Overall I see nothing in their list that would make me ditch XP on my main PCs for Mac or Linux (even though I also use and like Linux).

(pcworld, via digitalhomethoughts)

Weather Underground has announced their new Wundermaps feature that superimposes precipitation maps and radar on the familiar Google maps interface.

They go way beyond what weather.com offers by also including all the weather stations that upload data to their service so you get a realtime picture of temperature and wind at multiple locations in the area.

Full press release:

Toshiba's laptops with "fusion finish" (the U400, M300, A300 and P300) will now come with facial recognition software that won't let you login unless your face (or whatever other part of your anatomy you waved at the webcam during setup) matches a database of stored user images.

In unrelated news police expect the number of decapitations associated with laptop thefts to increase.

"Hand over your laptop or else!, hold on that's one of them fancy Toshiba ones, sorry mate I'm just going to have to decapitate you as well."

(via hothardware)

Trusted Reviews took a first look at Adobe's beta of Photoshop Lightroom 2 software for working directly with the RAW file output from high-end digital cameras.

Their verdict?

"This is by no means a full and finished product, but it's coming along nicely thank you very much. Adobe has listened to users and by letting them continue to try the beta is sure to provide a very useful and elegant imaging solution on final release.

It's still not perfect - there's a few file handling issues, I'd like to see more web gallery options and I personally would like the camera LCD display from Bridge to quickly see camera settings in the Library. As it stands now though, I can't wait to get my hands on the final version. If you're a DSLR user Lightroom is proving to be an essential."

(more at trustedreviews)

As promised Windows XP service pack 3 is now available for download via Windows Update as a 70MB download.

Not the most exciting update ever but worth installing to make sure you have all the latest bug fixes.

Of course to download it Firefox users will have to start up IE and hope they can avoid spyware and malware while online the Microsoft way.

(windowsupdate)

It's April 24th and you know what that means: Hardy Heron!

Hardy Heron is the latest version of the free Ubuntu linux operating system, and it is also the first version in a few years where Ubuntu is promising long ern support for the release (through 2011).

We like Ubuntu as a alternative to Windows on some of our PCs, it isn't for everyone but if you are a bit technically minded it is very powerful and extendable.

Go download Ubuntu now

Blogger "Taxman" has managed to get the 7.1 version of Ubuntu running on his ultra-mobile Samsung Q1.

What's even more impressive is that he got it to recognize both the touchscreen and his Sierra Wireless 875U AirCard, and has posted full instructions on his blog.

More from Taxman

(via jkontherun)

AVG Technologies have announced a new version of their free antivirus software will be available for download April 24th.

We have AVG on all our PCs and have never been successfully infected with a virus.

“With the release of AVG Free 8.0, we are underscoring our belief that all computer users, regardless of their computer usage needs, have the right to a safe and worry-free computing experience,” says Karel Obluk, chief technology officer at AVG Technologies. “However, it is important for users to remember that AVG Free does not protect against the full range of today’s web-borne threats. For complete protection, users should consider AVG’s commercial products, which scan for and block threats before they can infect the computer or disrupt the user experience.”

Microsoft has announced that Windows XP service pack 3 has been released to manufacturing and will be available for download on April 29th (if you use the automatic update feature of windows if will download it sometime this summer).

(full announcement below)

Apple really knows how to milk their fanatically loyal customer base with a $130 operating system upgrade every year.

This year's release is MacOS X version 10.4, aka Tiger (Grrrowl), and the main things you get for your $130 are the following:

Spotlight: basically a hard drive search application that is built in the OS to make it nice and fast.

Dashboard: Lots of cure little widgets for your desktop

RSS: The Safari web browser now supports RSS feeds

Compatibility: Plays nicer with Windows PCs

Is it worth the $130?, our verdict is nope, but if you're thinking of buying a mac make sure it comes with 10.4.

We took a look at Meedio and their software last night and it seems to me a good alternative to a Media Center PC, especially if you want to do home automation as well.

Meedio Essentials acts as the home page for your home media, allowing you to view pictures, listen to music, view video, check the weather, and launch applications, and there are lots of add-ins to expand it's functionality.

Meedio TV is PVR software allowing you to view, record, and time-shift TV. It operates asa standalone program or as a plugin for Meedio Essentials.

Meedio Housebot is a home automation server which works with all the standard home automation hardware such as X10 and powerlinc.

We hope to be reviewing their software in the future, and in the meantine you can get more information at meedio.com

If you have bought one of the newer high-end digital cameras you may have been bummed to find out that Photoshop CS didn't support the RAW image format on those cameras.

Well, Adobe has just released a public beta of their Adobe Camera Raw plug-in that adds support for the RAW format of the following cameras to Photoshop CS:

* Canon EOS 20D
* Canon PowerShot S70
* Canon PowerShot G6
* Canon EOS-1Ds Mark II
* Konica Minolta DiMAGE A200
* Konica Minolta MAXXUM 7D
* Nikon D2X

Time for us to switch to using RAW format on our 20D and see what the results are like.

Download Page for Windows or Download Page for Mac

The free Mozilla Firefox open-source web browser has at last been officially released, and 10 million downloads are expected over the coming days.

Features of Firefox listed as improvements on Internet Explorer include: tabbed browsing (multiple pages in one web browser window), good handling of popups and cookies, built-in google search, RSS integration, and loads of extensions that add functionality.

Almost 10% of visitors to ShinyPlastic.com already use Firefox and I expect that number to get higher.

Get Firefox

I have been using X1 since mentioning it yesterday as an alternative to Google Desktop Search and it is a great piece of software.

It has now fully indexed my PC and I have instant search capabilities inside 45,000 emails, 10,000 attachments, and 150,000 files! (I am an email hoarder).

On the email tab I start typing "united sfo" and I imstantly get the list of 45,000 emails cut down to 56 related to flights I have taken in the last 8 years to/from San Francisco airport on United.

There are also privacy issues being raised about Google's desktop search as it indexes all the emails and files of all the users on the PC:

"This is not a bug, rather a feature," says Marissa Mayer, Google's director of consumer Web products. "Google Desktop Search is not intended to be used on computers that are shared with more than one person." (via slashdot)

The only downside to X1 is the price, $75 is way too expensive for the average computer user wanting to search their files. If X1 were to cur their price to something much lower (maybe in the $20 range) they would probably end up making more money from the much higher sales volume they would achieve.

Jason over at the unofficial google weblog suggest X1 as an alternative to Google's new desktop serarch tool.

One advantage of X1 is that it keeps all the data locally so there are less privacy concerns and you can find your files/emails without being connected to the internet.

There is a good flash demo at X1.com.

(more from theunofficialgoogleweblog)