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HP

Submission + - HP Discontinues Upline Online Backup Service (appscout.com)

Submitted by mikemuch
mikemuch writes: Today, users of HP's slick but troubled online backup service got an e-mail notifying them that HP Upline would be discontinued at the end of March, just less than a year after the service launched. Paid subscribers would be reimbursed their full outlay, according to the email. The company hasn't yet issued a statement, and the site still looks like everything's dandy in Upline Land.
Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft Releases Internet Explorer 8 RC1 (pcmag.com)

Submitted by mikemuch
mikemuch writes: IE8 has left beta, as of noon Pacific time today. The development team now considers the browser platform- and feature-complete, but won't say how long till it goes gold. PCMag.com got an early look and has posted a full review of Internet Explorer 8 RC1. The release candidate differs only slightly from Beta 2, most notably in tweaks to its InPrivate Browsing feature, aka porn mode. That feature has been decoupled with InPrivate Filtering, which blocks third-party content providers from creating profile of your browsing habits. RC1 also improves on performance, especially in startup time, but still trails Firefox and Chrome in JavaScript speed. Protection against the relatively new threat of "clickjacking," where a site tries to get you to press buttons underneath a sham frame page, has also been added--the first browser to include such protections. Versions for 32-bit and 64-bit Vista, as well as for 32-bit XP are available, but Windows 7, which will ship with IE8, is stuck with an older beta for now.
Windows

Submission + - 5 Remote Support Services Compared (pcmag.com)

Submitted by mikemuch
mikemuch writes: PC Magazine loads up a Windows XP machine with junkware and asks five remote support services to clean it out. Well-known player Geek Squad was pitted against Circuit City's new firedog, YourTechonline, support.com, and Florida-based FixFlash. The testing is of necessity anecdotal, but gives some insight into the remote support process of each service, and results vary widely among them in how much junk was cleaned out.
Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft Takes Windows Live Software out of Beta (pcmag.com)

Submitted by mikemuch
mikemuch writes: This evening Microsoft took the wraps off several of its Windows Live free consumer software: Mail, Writer, Photo Gallery, OneCare Family Safety, and Messenger 8.5. All of the software requires at least XP SP2 and a Windows Live ID (formerly .NET Passport). The apps include some slick features: Mail can work with non-Hotmail/Live accounts and includes RSS and Usenet readers. There's also an option to subscribe to your contacts' updates so that you're not stuck with a lot of out-of-date email addresses. Photo Gallery is a respectable answer to Picasa, with an impressive panorama creator. OneCare Family Safety comprises both a service and installed software; it provides online filtering and activity reporting on Live accounts you designate as children's. Writer isn't a word processor but a very WYSIWYG blog updater that works with non-Spaces blogs an includes image resizing in the editor. The new Messenger is mostly a face-lift of version 8. A unified installer lets you pick which pieces you want without multiple downloads/installs.

Comment Is it now assumed Microsoft = Facebook? (Score 3, Insightful) 148

by mikemuch (#21241555) Attached to: Redmond's Heavy Guns Go After OpenSocial
I haven't seen the comment made anywhere that perhaps the real motivation for the bit OpenSocial announcement could be that Google lost the bidding war for a stake in Facebook. This could explain MS's lack of interest in creating a cross-SN API, though I can't picture them doing that anyway, except maybe as an option in their dev tools.
Software

Submission + - Microblog Roundup: Twitter and Beyond (pcmag.com)

Submitted by
mikemuch
mikemuch writes: "Whether you love it or hate it, Twitter has spawned a growing community of micro- and mobloggers, along with imitation services, many of which go beyond the original in capabilities. PC Magazine has just posted reviews twitter and several of its offspring. One of them is Pownce, which has generated its own buzz and adds file storage to the Twitter model. Another, Jaiku, was just purchased by Google in a gesture of support for the genre."
Hardware Hacking

Submission + - A 5-Watt, Tiny Linux or Windows PC

Submitted by
ThinSkin
ThinSkin writes: "Meet the fit-PC, a tiny 4.7 x 4.5 x 1.5-inch PC that only draws 5-watts, consuming in a day less power than a traditional PC consumes in one hour. By today's standards, the fit-PC has very little horsepower, which makes it apt for web browsing and light applications; today's games need not apply. Loyd Case over at ExtremeTech reviews the fit-PC and puts it through its paces, noting that performance is not this PC's strength, but rather its small size and price tag of $285."
Unix

Submission + - Build a Solaris Workstation for Under $300 (extremetech.com)

Submitted by
mikemuch
mikemuch writes: "Christian Cruz built a compact, very low cost UNIX workstation using Sun's new open-source Solaris 10 as the operating system. At under $300, it's pretty bare-bones, but it's quite functional as a server or for basic web and document use. He had to guess about whether his mATX motherboard would be supported, as it wasn't on Sun's HCL — there weren't any suitable for a small-form-factor personal computer there. One hurdle was that the graphical intstaller didn't work with his chosen hardware, so he had to partition the HD via the command line."
Google

Submission + - GPhone to Appear in Two Weeks? (extremetech.com)

Submitted by
mikemuch
mikemuch writes: "Murmurings of GPhone are again crossing the web today, with claims by a respected Indian news service that telecoms are in talks with the search behemoth to launch the mobile device in two weeks. Google won't deny or confirm, and the report should certainly not be taken as gospel, but there are clear signs of Google's intentions to create the 3G and WiFi capable handheld."
Data Storage

Submission + - eSATA External HD Roundup (extremetech.com)

Submitted by
mikemuch
mikemuch writes: "As well as comparing five 500GB external drives, Joel Durham's article compares the newer eSATA interface with USB 2.0. Products include: Cavalry CAXM37500, Iomega Silver Series Professional Hard Drive, LaCie d2 quadra, Seagate ST305004FPA1E3-RK FreeAgent Pro, and Western Digital MyBook Premium ES Edition. They vary quite a bit in terms of performance and included software. From the article: "The FreeAgent software included with the Seagate drive offers interesting remote access functionality, while the WD drive's capacity gauge is a useful add-on. However, in their zeal to reduce power usage and noise, these drives are also slower than the rest. That may have been fine in the day of USB 2.0 drives, but the performance issues become more glaring with eSATA's higher throughput.""

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