Thursday, May 31, 2012

Corel VideoStudio X4 giveaway

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This morning, Corel released VideoStudio X4. We've already published a quick overview and hands-on of the application, and now is the moment you've all been waiting for: We're giving away ten full licenses of this new version, each worth $99.99!

To enter our random draw, you just have to leave a comment. Full terms and conditions are after the break.

Continue reading Corel VideoStudio X4 giveaway

Corel VideoStudio X4 giveaway originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 22 Feb 2011 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony NEX-F3 review

Sony NEX-F3 review

Just shy of a year ago, we reviewed the Sony NEX-C3, a mirrorless camera that quickly became our benchmark when it came to entry-level interchangeable lens cameras (ILCs). We praised its excellent image quality, generally consistent performance, overall solid design and, best of all, its $600 price tag -- including an 18-55mm kit lens. Since then, the landscape has shifted drastically for this particular type of compact shooter, with the Olympus OM-D E-M5 raising the bar for focusing performance, Nikon's cute J1 winning the hearts of many (likely due to a heavy marketing budget and adorable design) and the Fujifilm X-Pro1 pushing the envelope when it comes to price and body size. For its part, Sony also attracted plenty of attention with its flagship NEX-7, which appears to have been the inspiration for the company's brand new NEX-F3.

Based on its price tag and release schedule, you might have assumed that the NEX-F3 is here to dethrone Sony's NEX-C3. That may or may not be the case (we're hoping for the latter) -- the F3 is much more a scaled-down version of the NEX-7 than an update to the C3. Sure, designs can change drastically from one year to the next, but we were quite fond of last year's model, and many of you were, too. From a specification perspective, the F3 has a new APS-C sensor (though resolution remains unchanged), with a higher top ISO setting of 16,000, a 3-inch LCD that can flip 180-degrees to face completely forward, a new NEX-7-esque pop-up flash and a bulkier design. But does bigger mean better in this case? Click past the break for our take.

Continue reading Sony NEX-F3 review

Sony NEX-F3 review originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 31 May 2012 12:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Crazy Kinect Magic Makes Sci-Fi Holograms Real [Video]

We're reaching a point at which the Kinect might be more impressive for everything it does except gaming—and projects like this one might seal the deal. DSLR footage spread over a 3D mapped body? Here's the future. More »


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EVO 4G LTE in Sprint stores this Saturday

Sprint EVO 4G LTE

Finally. Sprint's given us word that the HTC EVO 4G LTE will make its debut in retail stores nationwide this Saturday, June 2, in "most retail channels." Regular store hours apply, and the price is still $199. Until then, be sure to check out our EVO 4G LTE review, and swing by the forums if you have any questions.



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iSites overhauled, now lets you publish cloud-based HTML5 iPhone apps in minutes

iSites -- a zero-code cloud-based 'app creator' -- can now generate HTML5 apps that work on iOS devices. With this new feature, dubbed 'InstantApp', you can now design a single app in your browser and publish it natively on Android and iOS, and as an HTML5 iPhone app.

We haven't looked at iSites before, but it shot to fame last year when it launched with native iOS and Android support. Self-publishing Android apps wasn't a problem because Google does very little moderation of the Market, but iSites ran into trouble with its iOS apps. Thousands of people signed up for the service after it was featured on Mashable and TechCrunch, and you can imagine Apple's chagrin as thousands of cookie cutter apps flooded its approval queue.

Genwi, the developer behind iSites, realized something had to be done -- it had to circumvent the App Store approval process. Genwi, of course, turned to HTML5 Web apps -- which can be pinned to the iPhone home screen and which can be shoehorned into almost behaving like native apps.

Read on for our experiences with iSites' new InstantApp HTML5 iOS app creator.

Continue reading iSites overhauled, now lets you publish cloud-based HTML5 iPhone apps in minutes

iSites overhauled, now lets you publish cloud-based HTML5 iPhone apps in minutes originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 30 Mar 2011 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Firefox 4 Friday: 25 million downloads, anti-aliasing, and how to make it look like Firefox 3

Firefox 4 racks up 25 million downloads in 3 days
If you've had your head under a rock for the last few days, here's this week's Firefox news in brief: Firefox 4 was finally released.

Yes, 13 months after the initial release of Firefox 3.7 alpha 1 and four more alpha builds, a renumbering to 4.0 and 12 beta releases, and finally a release candidate (or two), Firefox 4 has been released into the wild.

Just like every other Firefox release, initial reception for the new browser has been nothing short of insane. 7.1 million downloads were registered in the first 24 hours and the download rate continued to accelerate, clocking in more than 15 million downloads after two days. At the time of writing, three days in, Firefox 4 has been downloaded over 25 million times. In case you're wondering, the United States accounts for 7 million of those downloads, just beating out Germany's Firefox-downloads-per-capita.

But now that you've installed Firefox 4 (you have, right?), what do you do now? Well, obviously, in true Download Squad fashion, it's time to tweak Firefox 4 using add-ons and about:config hacks!

First up is an add-on called Stratiform that lets you change every aspect of the Firefox 4 browser chrome -- including the color of that orange button!

Continue reading Firefox 4 Friday: 25 million downloads, anti-aliasing, and how to make it look like Firefox 3

Firefox 4 Friday: 25 million downloads, anti-aliasing, and how to make it look like Firefox 3 originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 25 Mar 2011 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Facebook Looking at Opera Acquisition, Smartphone: Report

To better compete with Google and Apple, Facebook may be entering the smartphone business and snapping up Opera Software. - Two rumors related to the social networking behemoth Facebook surfaced over the weekend, one relating to its potential acquisition of the Web browser firm Opera and one from a report in The New York Times that suggested Facebook is still working on a smartphone of its own to challenge Samsung, Apple...


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Google Chrome and Chromium add protection against malicious downloads

google chrome malicious download
Google Chrome already sports a number of security-minded features, from Incognito mode to a software sandbox which makes exploiting the browser a Herculean task. Now, Google has announced additional protection for Chromium and Chrome users.

Built upon the Safe Browsing API, the new feature introduces protection against malicious downloads. If a download link appears in the Safe Browsing blacklist, Chrome and Chromium will warn users against downloading -- a save button is still presented, of course, in case you're convinced a file is perfectly safe to download.

We'd like to see something a bit more eye-catching than the red warning icon -- like perhaps painting the entire bar red. Many of the people a feature like this aims to protect probably won't notice the icon or change in wording as they'll be focused on clicking the save button.

Google is initially making download protection available to Chrome dev channel users, and you'll likely see it in Canary and Chromium snapshot builds as well. After thorough testing, beta and stable users will be next in line.

Google Chrome and Chromium add protection against malicious downloads originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 05 Apr 2011 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Microsoft's Ballmer Swipes at Google

We can learn at least one thing from Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer's talk at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco: When it comes to smartphone competition, Microsoft sees Android as a bigger threat than Apple.

I'm basing that solely on the vitriol that Ballmer leveled at Android (and Google in general) while leaving Apple relatively unscathed. Indeed, he offered faint praise for the iPhone, grouping it along with Windows Phone as a device that feels "good in your hand." His most damning criticism was that the iPhone offers "seas of icons," versus Windows Phone's goal of placing "information front and center."

But he launched an attack on Android. First he said, "You don't need to be a computer scientist to use a Windows Phone," as if you somehow need a Ph.D to use an Android-based device. Then he added, "It is very hard to be excited, for me, about the Android phones," which, well, is exactly what you'd expect the CEO of Microsoft to say under such circumstances.

It makes sense that Ballmer would reserve the bulk of his fire for Android, considering that both Microsoft and Google are following roughly the same strategy in smartphones: Persuade hardware manufacturers to load your software onto as many devices as possible, in a bid to saturate the market. But Android's a dominating platform while Windows Phone, roughly a year after its release, is still struggling for adoption.

At the same time, though, maybe Ballmer should curb some of that ire: The more Android devices sold, the more Microsoft gets paid, thanks to a series of patent-licensing agreements with Android manufacturers.

That Android strategy (Microsoft's alternative for Android manufacturers who refuse to enter into a licensing agreement: an intellectual property lawsuit) is just one piece of Microsoft's larger competitive thrust against Google. During his talk, Ballmer also insisted that, with the release of Office 365 and other cloud-productivity platforms, Microsoft was making more progress against Google in the cloud. "Our ramp rate of sold seats, it's got a nice trajectory," he said, "We've got a highly functional product that's highly available."

He also painted Microsoft as gaining search-engine traction with users despite Google's dominance of the search space. Bing's progress was good "not just for share but for having enough data to continue to improve the product," he said, according to a video of the talk posted on YouTube, "to make search more than just 10 blue links." He sidestepped a moderator question about whether Microsoft would create its own social platform along the lines of Google Plus, suggesting instead that "we're adding what we would call connectivity to our products."

In other words, don't expect this battle to end any time soon.

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