Google’s generosity with Gmail invitations continues – my Gmail invitation count is back up to 50 again. If you’d like an invitation to open a Gmail account, leave your comment request here.
Category: Software
Switching to a Mac isn’t for everyone
Ever think about dumping your Windows-based PC and buying a Mac? Perhaps one of those gorgeous-looking G4 PowerBooks? I know I have, usually at times when some inexplicable problem happens with some app on my primary Windows PC, a customized Toshiba Satellite laptop. While that machine’s getting a bit long in the tooth now, it […]
Blogs and wikis change the dynamics of business
Tom Foremski, publisher of Silicon Valley Watcher and ex-FT correspondent, writes a terrific piece in today’s Financial Times on a new phase of the internet that’s emerging, fuelled by a new class of technologies coming out of Silicon Valley that don’t even have a name yet, but have the potential to be disruptive in their […]
eWeek: Blogger blogs can spread spyware
Can this really be true – blogs hosted by Blogger can spread spyware? Yes, according to a report in eWeek: Dozens of blogs hosted by Google Inc.’s Blogger service can install programs that are widely considered to be spyware and adware onto visitors’ computers, warn users and spyware researchers. In many cases, users are discovering […]
A mobile device wish list
Reuters via eWeek: Sony Corp. said on Wednesday it would stop making personal digital assistants for Japan in July, completing its withdrawal from a market hit by multi-functional cellphones and casting a shadow over the tools’ growth potential. The move was widely expected after the electronics and entertainment conglomerate said last year it would stop […]
Skype approaches a crossroads
Is Skype reaching a sort of crossroads with its internet phone service in terms of customer satisfaction? Quite a few people think so, it seems. So perhaps I should really say – customer dissatisfaction. I’ve commented recently on the poor service with SkypeOut, which looks as though it’s at the heart of the many and […]
Microsoft brings in outside marketing expert for Longhorn
The Financial Times reports today that Microsoft has hired Michael Sievert, a marketing expert who was most recently chief marketing officer of AT&T Wireless, to be in charge of bringing Longhorn to market. Longhorn is the next generation of the Windows operating system, much delayed and now widely expected to be delivered in 2006. The […]
Firefox extensions add great functionality
One of the great things about Firefox is the vast range of extensions you can add it to. These are little applications that you install into the browser which give you some great additional functionality. My two current favourites are Tab Browser Preferences (adding enhanced control over what you can do with tabs) and Spellbound […]
Use Gmail as a hard drive
A nifty idea – set up your Gmail account so that it lets you use Gmail as a place to store things: files, games, music, images, programs, whatever you want to store: GMail Drive creates a virtual filesystem on top of your Google GMail account and enables you to save and retrieve files stored on […]
Coming soon – Skype voice messaging rollout, SkypeIn numbers
More interesting developments with Skype. Stuart Henshall reports in the new Skype Journal that Skype’s voice messaging service currently in beta trial could be rolled out soon. New information on Skype’s website has pricing details: The price for Voicemail is 5 Euro for a 3 month subscription or 15 Euro for a 12 month subscription. […]
SkypeIn beta launched
Things move very quickly these days, especially in the technology industry. No sooner had I posted commentary yesterday about more developments at Skype including SkypeIn – the new pay-for service from Skype, where you can get a phone number and people can call you, expected to be launched soon – than a tip-off from a […]
Why SkypeOut calls sound different
Now this is useful to know – a simple explanation as to why a phone call via SkypeOut doesn’t always have good audio quality. I’m thinking in particular of the interview with Michael Wiley of GM that Shel and I did last month for our bi-weekly podcast show. Shel and I were on Skype and […]
Brits invade US again at SXSW
My RSS reader this morning is full of posts about SXSW, the South by Southwest Festivals and Conferences taking place in Austin, Texas, from 11-20 March. Most of these posts are about the SXSW Interactive Festival, which runs from 11-15 March. This event “brings together uber-geeks and digital innovators from around the world for four […]
How to optimize Firefox
If you want to set up Firefox on your Windows PC so that it runs as fast and smoothly as possible, and without having to figure out all those cryptic programming commands when you type ‘about:config’ in the address bar, then Firetune looks like the number. As evangelized by David Taylor in Home Computer Magazine: […]
Easy podcast tag editing
If you do podcasting on a Windows PC, you’ll find AudioShell extremely useful. AudioShell is a freeware Windows Explorer shell extension plugin which allows you to view and edit music file tags directly in Windows Explorer. It adds tag editor and viewer tabs to the properties page of music files. You can edit tags file […]
BeOS gets a new life
Om Malik writes: Hey anyone remember the funky ole BeOS which became such a darling of the hackers, and died a horrible death with Apple chose to buy NextOS and bring back Steve Jobs. Well looks like it is not dead after all, thanks to a German software start-up, Yellow Tab. They have turned BeOS […]
Hardly a gap between Windows and Linux
Most US businesses say there is very little difference between the cost of maintaining a Windows versus a Linux-based corporate computing environment, according to a new study from IT industry analysts, the Yankee Group. A Reuters report via eWeek quotes Yankee Group analyst Laura DiDio saying that the main cost difference is determined by the […]
More Skype and more MSN
Internet phone service provider Skype has released a new update to version 1.2 of its desktop application for Windows. The new version offers enhanced user benefits including a centralized contacts list (meaning you can access your list of contacts from any computer you use to connect to Skype, not just the one you usually use), […]
VoipBuster and free phone calls
My online friend Uri Levanon called me today from Israel. He called to my SkypeIn number. That’s in itself isn’t remarkable. What is, perhaps, is that he called that number – which is a normal landline number in London – from his internet phone service. Not Skype this time. Uri was calling from The VoipBuster. […]
Firefox blush at browser protection ad
CNET News: The Mozilla Foundation passed on using a condom-themed poster to tout its Firefox browser, but volunteers want to revive the ad to emphasize the software’s security features. And here’s the Firefox poster that isn’t going to run, at least for now (click on it for larger image): Why isn’t it running? Because it […]