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Flip4Mac Universal Binary Now Available
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Movies, Music, PC / Laptop, Software,
Intel Mac users the world over await the day that they can eliminate all Rosetta applications from their systems permanently, and today we are one step closer with the release of the Flip4Mac Universal Binary. For those unfamiliar with the product, Flip4Mac allows Mac users to play Windows Media content from within Quicktime. Since Microsoft decided to shelve Windows Media Player development for the Mac, users have had to suffer through using an old version, running in Rosetta. Now that Flip4Mac has gone Universal, it has changed the game. If you run an Intel Mac, you need this program.
Read More 
| Flip4Mac via Flip4Mac on Microsoft.com
Gallery: Flip4Mac Universal Binary Now Available
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Mac users have had the privilage of working with Adobe’s next generation photo management solution, Lightoom, for quite some time, but today Adobe has finally released the public beta for Windows-based platforms. Adobe recently acquired Pixmantec’s RawShooter product to incorporate into Lightroom, primarily for their excellent Raw workflow. Although this beta is not feature complete, and numerous known issues abound, this is still a great chance to look at, and help shape with your feedback, the future of Adobe’s photo management products.
The Adobe Lightroom beta is a new, exciting product built from the ground up for professional photographers. It is an efficient, powerful way to import, select, develop and showcase large volumes of digital images. It allows you to spend less time sorting and organizing images, so you have more time to actually shoot and perfect them. The Lightroom beta program aims to get direct product feedback from the photography community, via our new Adobe Labs web site, so that photographers will have an impact in what Adobe actually ships.
Known issues, missing features, and other miscellaneous errata after the jump.
Click to continue reading Adobe Lightroom Public Beta for Windows Now Available
Read More | Adobe - Project Lightroom
Gallery: Adobe Lightroom Public Beta for Windows Now Available
Mac OS X Browser Comparison Smackdown
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Internet, Software,
The folks over at Macintalk has done the dirty work for us, putting four major browsers to the test on Mac OS X (although, they disregard Opera completely.) They looked at things such as speed of rendering, RAM usage, Javascript loading, standards compliance, and even RSS handling. Reading through, I must say it is pretty thorough. If you have been wondering if paying for OmniWeb would give you a batter browsing experience on the Mac than sticking with the free Safari, Firefox, or Camino, give this one a read.
Read More | Macintalk
Gallery: Mac OS X Browser Comparison Smackdown
Microsoft Unlocks Private Folder 1.0
Posted by Nino Marchetti Categories: Microsoft, PC / Laptop, Software,
Microsoft has a new free software program available as a Windows Genuine Advantage offer which lets one protect private data in a password protected folder stored on a PC. Microsoft Private Folder 1.0 is available for download through Microsoft’s Web site.
Microsoft Private Folder 1.0 lets users “protect your private data when your friends, colleagues, kids or other people share your PC or account. With this tool, you will get one password protected folder called ‘My Private Folder’ in your account to save your personal files.” The software requires Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition, Professional Edition or Media Center Edition with SP2 to run and, besides requiring genuine Windows validation in order to download, does not come with any product support.
Read More | Microsoft Private Folder 1.0 Download Page via News.com
Gallery: Microsoft Unlocks Private Folder 1.0
Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have developed a Texas Hold ‘Em playing poker program, and they plan to enter it in the American Association for Artificial Intelligence Computer Poker Competition in July. Unlike most poker algorithms, this program, called GS1, bases its strategy on hand analysis rather than taking its cues from human-inspired poker heuristics.
Texas Hold ‘Em Poker is believed to be a better test of artificial intelligence than chess, in which computer players have become nearly unbeatable. In Hold ‘Em, the player must make decisions based upon guesses or assumptions about the hidden cards in others’ hands, whereas the entire board is a known quantity in a chess match. For this reason, a computer program that can win reasonably often at Hold ‘Em would be displaying a different type of intelligence than one that consistently wins at chess. The intelligence gained would be much more appropriate for analysis of real-world situations, in which unknown factors can play a large part.
Read More | Science Daily
Gallery: CMU Builds Poker-Playing AI
Windows Vista - 20 Reasons It Will Be Your Next OS
Posted by John Goulden Categories: Apple, Microsoft, Software,
While it’s a good guess that Windows Vista won’t garner many OS X converts, it will still do fairly well if ComputerWorld’s “20 Reasons Why Windows Vista Will Be Your Next OS” article is any indication. This article builds upon a prior piece that gave you twenty things you wouldn’t like about Vista, and this time around tries to look at things from a more postive light.
Some of the more notable reasons include, “UAC and You”, which concerns the User Account Controls and also made the prior list of things you wouldn’t like about Vista. “Power & Performance” provides insights into the new SuperFetch and ReadyBoost features among others, and “Wireless Networking” details the methods of the new wireless features versus the madness of the old way that XP operates.
In closing, the author believes that Vista is on the right track, but that OS X is still a better operating system.
Windows Vista could be the culmination of Windows, the last in a line before a major shift. And Vista fits that role well. It’s not just the best version of Windows ever, it’s the best Windows upgrade ever. In other words, it’s a bigger advance for this time than other versions of Windows were for their time. Windows 95 is the only one that comes close.
Does that make it better than Apple’s Mac OS X? I’m afraid not. OS X is still, all things considered, a better operating system. But OS X is little more than a test tube compared to the vast user base that Windows commands. Vista will have a huge impact on the entire world of computing, while Apple’s OS—which Apple still foolishly insists must run solely on its hardware—continues to languish as the choice of a paltry few. Microsoft wins again.
Read More | ComputerWorld
Gallery: Windows Vista - 20 Reasons It Will Be Your Next OS
ReplayTV Debuts PC DVR Software
Posted by Nino Marchetti Categories: Home Entertainment, Smart Home, PC / Laptop, Software,
DVR pioneer ReplayTV, looking to “redefine the DVR experience”, today unveiled a new PC-based DVR solution which lets users with PCs equipped with TV tuners enjoy a Tivo-like experience. The new ReplayTV PC Edition, expected in September, will cost $99.95, with additional yearly fees after the first year of $19.95.
The ReplayTV PC Edition makes a compatible PC much like any DVR currently on the market. Specialized features of this software product include a “surprise me” mode which automatically records programming featuring favorite actors, directors and genres; a mode for finding other shows and movies that are similar in genre or feature the same actors or directors as the one being watched; a variety of ways to search; and networking functions which include multi-room support and consolidating listings.
Beyond the highlighted features other notable items include presenting shows by airing, recorded shows organization which reportedly makes navigating through large listings less painful; overlap management; and a add-on product for viewing shows on computers with without tuners.
Read More | ReplayTV Product Page
Gallery: ReplayTV Debuts PC DVR Software
LibraryThing: MySpace For Books?
Posted by Stace Johnson Categories: Smart Home, Internet, Software,
Remember the naysayers of years past who said that computers would kill books? The ones who said that Ray Bradbury’s apocalyptic visions in Fahrenheit 451 would come to pass? Yeah, I don’t remember them, either; I don’t run in those circles. But if those people ever did really exist, they are being proven wrong by a new killer app: LibraryThing.
Think of LibraryThing as kind of a MySpace for bookworms; users enter their libraries into a website database for personal use or to share with others. As of this writing, the site catalogs over 3.3 million titles, the most popular of which are fantasy and science fiction titles, with J.K. Rowling’s books topping the list. Users who already have their libraries in databases (we know you’re out there, you bibliophiles) can import their books in one fell swoop or export a database to a file. Imagine being a bookseller whose inventory is on this system; you could check availability of a particular book from just about anywhere, even your mobile phone.
The service allows users to enter up to 200 titles into the database for free. Beyond that, there are two options: 1) pay for unlimited service at the rate of $10.00 per year, or 2) pay for a lifetime unlimited account for only $25.
(Thanks, Jason Musgrave!)
Read More | LibraryThing
Gallery: LibraryThing: MySpace For Books?
“When it rains it pours” goes the old saying, and with Adobe snagging Pixmantec and now Microsoft grabbing iView, digital workflow companies seem to be vanishing left and right. iView Multimedia is the maker of MediaPro, an image cataloging application that is quite popular. One difference between this acquisition and that of Adobe/Pixmantec, is that Microsoft will keep the product line intact and continue to sell both the Mac and Windows versions.
It is important for current iView customers and those considering buying iView products to know the following:
* All iView products will continue to be sold on the iView web site and through many of iView’s existing partners/channel. Existing customers and new customers who buy iView products will continue to receive full support, per their iView software agreements.
* Macintosh versions of iView products will continue to be available and fully supported.
* Users of iView products will be offered promotional upgrade pricing for any future products that Microsoft releases that are based on the existing iView products.
* Users of earlier versions of iView MediaPro (pre v3.x) and iView Media will continue to qualify for upgrades to the version 3.x product line, and can upgrade now and in the future to the latest version.Therefore, customers can continue to use and buy iView products knowing that they will be fully supported as Microsoft evolves the iView product line in the future, for both Windows and Macintosh platforms.
Read More | iView Multimedia via Rob Galbraith DPI
Gallery: Microsoft Acquires iView
Pixmantec RawShooter was a great RAW workflow and processing application that was easy to use and produced superb results. Why the need for past tense? Well, because Adobe has acquired Pixmantec’s technology assets, and will be incorporating the technology into Lightroom and anywhere a RAW application process is required. Lightroom is Adobe’s RAW application that is currently in beta for the Mac platform. A Windows version of Lightroom is planned but there is no word on when it will be available.
“With high quality digital cameras now within reach of every photographer, customers are gravitating to raw file formats that allow them to get more control over final results,” said John Loiacono, senior vice president of Creative Solutions at Adobe. “By combining Pixmantec’s raw processing technology and expertise with our own, we’re continuing to deliver on the promise that even your existing raw files can be processed with increasing quality as our software technology evolves.”
Pixmantec is a privately held company headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark and currently ships the RawShooter® line of digital photography software products. Adobe plans to integrate Pixmantec raw processing technologies into Lightroom™ and wherever customers will be working with raw files.
In preparation for this integration, the Pixmantec RawShooter Premium product is being discontinued, though the free RawShooter Essentials product will continue to be available until the Lightroom public beta program is completed. Existing Pixmantec customers will continue to be supported by Adobe and will be provided with an upgrade path to the Adobe digital imaging product family.
So, if you want to snag a free copy of RawShooter Essentials, or an upgrade to RawShooter Premium, then there’s no time like the present as they won’t be around forever. Get them here.
Read More | Adobe via Rob Galbraith DPI
Gallery: Adobe Acquires Pixmantec
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