More Software Opinion

  • 28 July 2011

  • Opinion: Thanks to MeeGo, Asus Makes Good on $200 Laptop Promise

    Keen observers may recall that Asus's debut of the Padfone back at Computex in May was accompanied by another, albeit less-trumpeted announcement. Specifically, the company promised a $199 netbook computer -- the MeeGo-based Eee PC X101 -- and this week that device took several steps closer to reality.

  • Opinion: Julia Roberts Ad Banned in the UK for Abuse of Photoshop

    There's airbrushing ... and then there's airbrushing. And while using post production techniques such as Photoshop image editing software is standard in the advertising industry, L'Oreal clocked some serious overtime on Julia Roberts' face in a Lancôme ad, and now that image has been pulled by the UK's Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). The ASA declared that "the ad must not appear in its current form again" on the basis that it's "misleading."

  • Opinion: Choose a Palatable Colors With ColorSchemer Studio

    When using an application or browsing a website, few people ever pause to consider the colors used. If they do notice, it's usually because the designer got something wrong--either a jarring combination, or a lack of contrast that makes text difficult to make out. But for the designer, picking the right colors to use is not an easy task, especially if the brand already has a base color which they must use. ColorSchemer Studio ($50, 15-day free trial) offers multiple tools that aim to make it simpler to come up with attractive, usable schemes.

  • 27 July 2011

  • Opinion: Download a Free Home-Inventory Spreadsheet

    In recent weeks I've had something of a wake-up call: several friends and family members have had their houses broken into and some expensive possessions stolen. I'm talking laptops, big-screen TVs, and the like. This got me wondering how prepared I'd be if the same thing happened to me. For example, would I be able to provide serial numbers to the police? And how could I prove my losses to my insurance company?

  • Opinion: Nine Creepy Apps

    There was an old Andy Griffith episode involving a stranger who arrived in Mayberry and knew so much about the townspeople and the goings-on of the town that it was as if he’d lived there for years. Everyone was mystified, but it turned out that the stranger was getting his information from the local paper, which he’d been receiving in the mail.

  • Opinion: Take Control of Files With Total Commander

    I have been using Total Commander ($46, 30-day free trial) since the days it was still called Windows Commander (before Microsoft's legal team made the developer rename it). This Windows Explorer replacement is the one window that is constantly open on my desktop. Whenever I need a file, I instantly reach for it.

  • Opinion: Quit apps without Lion remembering their open windows

    One of Lion’s new features is Resume, which automatically reopens every window you last had open in a given application when you relaunch it. That’s magical sometimes—when you relaunch Safari or Word and welcome the sight of all your last open documents. Other times, though, it’s annoying: Say you opened a dozen PDFs in Preview, and now you’re finished, and you know you don’t want them to reopen the next time you launch the app. Hints reader xplora discovered the delightfully simple solution.

  • Opinion: Why the mobile software world needs Boot to Gecko

    Mozilla's attempt to create an open, web-based OS for mobile devices can only be a good thing for software developers. Here's why.

  • 26 July 2011

  • Opinion: Apple iPad, Day 24: Securing and Protecting the iPad

    30 Days With the iPad: Day 24

  • Opinion: How To Unlock the Hidden Facebook iPad App (Again)

    Yesterday, after Facebook accidentally leaked their long-overdue official iPad app, the blogosphere erupted with instructions on how to unlock the hidden app. Facebook quickly responded by blocking Facebook for iPad. Clearly there is a lot of interest in the app, because today hacker chpwn released a tool called FaceForward that re-enables the hidden feature.

  • Opinion: Adjust the size of Mail sidebar icons

    Mail looks pretty different in Lion: it's got a new layout, a variety of new interface elements, and a revamped sidebar, too. Hints reader michaelj wasn't thrilled with that last one: He found that his mailbox icons were displayed much larger in the sidebar than he'd prefer. It turns out that Mail's sidebar icons are (bizarrely) linked to the size of the icons in the Finder's sidebar. Really. Here's the fix:

  • Opinion: Extract essential email data

    It’s not uncommon to receive email messages jammed with important links and addresses. If you often wish you could save these bits of information without having to archive (and search through) the messages that contain them, you'll be happy to hear that Lion’s version of Automator makes it possible.

  • 25 July 2011

  • Opinion: Stream Video from Windows Media Center to iPhone or iPad

    One of the limitations of using Windows Media Center as my DVR is that there's no easy way to watch recorded TV shows and movies on my mobile devices. Specifically, Microsoft's WTV files (the format used for said recordings) aren't compatible with my iPhone, iPod, or iPad. And anyway, they consume too much space to be practical for mobile viewing.

  • Opinion: AT&T Customers Attempt to Block T-Mobile Merger

    AT&T's plan to buy T-Mobile isn't just making industry rivals uneasy, it's also spurring resistance from customers.

  • Opinion: See the whole conversation in Lion Mail

    One of the many changes in Lion's edition of Mail is the Gmail-inspired Conversations view. Conversations combines messages from a thread into a simple chronological view. But those conversations are incomplete: by default, messages that you sent are not included. That can make the thread harder to parse. Though Dan Frakes mentioned that you could tweak the default behavior in his Lion Mail review, it's worth spelling out just how to do it. Hints reader nathanator11 did just that.

  • Opinion: Windows Installation in Sad Shape?

    It's rare that a piece of "miracle" software actually lives up to its developers' claims. The $70 program Reimage--which claims to provide hassle-free relief for damaged Windows installs--delivers on its promise.

  • 22 July 2011

  • Opinion: Instant Elevator Music Plays When Your PC Makes You Wait

    Whether you're copying, downloading, or opening them, big files mean long waits. Soothe your irritated nerves with Ben Stone's Instant Elevator Music. This small free/donationware program plays a pleasant tune in a loop while your PC sets about its work.

  • 21 July 2011

  • Opinion: Mozilla Gets to Work on Enterprise Firefox Support

    Mozilla's new rapid release schedule may help the best new Firefox features get to market faster, but it's also caused no small amount of consternation among business users of the open source browser. This week, Mozilla took a big step in trying to address that gap.

  • Opinion: Apple B2B App Store Open for Business

    The Apple B2B App Store is open for business. Only a week after first revealing details of the new platform, Apple has launched the service and businesses that use iOS devices can begin to take advantage of the benefits it has to offer.

  • Opinion: Revert OS X Lion's Page Scrolling To the Old Direction

    I wouldn't exactly call myself an old-fashioned guy, but I'm a little surprised at how long it's taking me to get accustomed to one of the minor little tweaks in OS X Lion, the new version of Apple's Mac operating system that launched today. I'm talking about page scrolling, which Apple has just inverted by default, and the newly tweaked feature can take more than a little getting used to.

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