http://www.pcworld.com en-us Tue, 20 Nov 2012 00:46:14 -0800 Tue, 20 Nov 2012 00:46:14 -0800 Fans of Linux in general or Ubuntu in particular may remember the launch late last month of System76's Sable Complete all-in-one Ubuntu desktop PC featuring a 21.5-inch, high-definition 1080p display and quad-core, third-generation Intel Core i5 or i7 processors. Now priced $50 cheaper than it was at the time, that new device surely made it onto more than a few holiday wish lists. On Monday, however, System76 unveiled another Linux-powered machine that some may find even more compelling: the 17.3-inch Bonobo Extreme featuring "the world's fastest GPUs," in the company's own words. The new laptop is sure to appeal to legions of gamers, but its high-performance focus will likely attract the attention of plenty of business users as well. Here's a rundown of some of the key features you'll find in this intriguing device. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Xtravo Web Browser (free), a browser by Jawoco that has gone through numerous iterations, retains a focus on a clean, minimalist interface and numerous idiosyncrasies in version 6. Here's the rub: Because of the robustness of the leading browsers, and the number of ways they can be extended or customized, an alternative browser has to offer more than just a functional feature set. Xtravo includes a few interesting extras, but none of them is likely to sway someone from their current favorite. Xtravo's newest feature is a beta version of what they're calling the "Acid Bar." This is a hybrid address bar/search bar that attempts to take you to an appropriate page based on what you type in. For example, typing in "Transformers" took me to the Hasbro Transformers website, which works for me, but how did it decide I wasn't looking for electrical power supplies? Entering "Arab Riots" didn't take me to CNN or Google News, but to an article on uprisings in the 1920s, of all things. Well, the feature is a beta. Typing in a full URL will take you to the requested page, of course. The Acid Bar can be turned on and off in the options. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Facebook is a weird place. Most of the time, it's filled with passive-agreement statements and photos of people you barely recognize. Once in a while, however, you stumble over things like Silk. Yuri Vishnevsky's gorgeous experiment in generative art is an absolutely enthralling little diversion that will, more likely than not, keep you busy for far too long. If you've ever wanted to draw psychadelic, silk-like patterns across your screen in a variety of colors, you're in luck because Silk lets you do exactly that. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Just as suddenly as it arrived, the option to sign up for a monthly Amazon Prime membershipswiftly disappeared. Two weeks ago, the company rolled out the $7.99-a-month Prime membership, which included access to Amazon's Instant Video library, in what many tech analysts and experts said was an attempt to compete with streaming giant Netflix. Netflix and Hulu both offer plans that start in the $7.99 sweet spot. When Amazon rolled out the new pricing option, a spokesperson said the company was testing the subscription. The test ended without much fanfare. In a statement, Amazon said: "We regularly test new options for our customers. At this time, we are no longer signing up new customers for monthly memberships of Amazon Prime." To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here An expert on user interface design has called Windows 8 "disappointing" for novices and power users alike. Jakob Nielsen, principal of the Nielsen Norman Group, studied how a dozen experienced PC users interacted with Windows 8, and the conclusion was not good. "Windows 8 on mobile devices and tablets is akin to Dr. Jekyll: a tortured soul hoping for redemption," Nielsen wrote. "On a regular PC, Windows 8 is Mr. Hyde: a monster that terrorizes poor office workers and strangles their productivity." Although the sample sizes of Nielsen's studies are small, he argues that they provide more insight than larger studies focused on metrics. Even if you don't agree with that assertion, Nielsen does make some good points about how the design of Windows 8 needs improvement. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here As a longtime AT&T cellular customer, I was intrigued when the company announced its Mobile Share shared data plans this year. With two iPhones and a 4G iPad in our house, having access to a pool of data and unlimited texting (especially with the somewhat frequent iMessage outages these days) sounded pretty good. Getting iPhones onto a Mobile Share plan is easy. But as editorial director Jason Snell found out, adding an iPad is a bit trickier. Part of that difficulty involves the way you may be enjoying cellular data on your iPad today, and the other part is the poorly trained (or perhaps strictly coached) AT&T customer service representatives. First off, Apple makes it easy to sign up for month-to-month data plans directly from your iPad. In doing so, however, you're setting up a new prepaid plan completely unrelated to any other AT&T plan you may have for other devices (a Family Plan for multiple iPhones, say). As the Director of AT&T Corporate Communications, Emily J. Edmonds, told me in an email: To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here <a style="text-decoration:none;display:block;border:0;" href="//r.flite.com/syndication/backuplink/i/2286fef9-fb61-4450-bd71-1f7d29e8667a?ct=" target="_blank"> <img border="0" src="//r.flite.com/syndication/backupimage/i/2286fef9-fb61-4450-bd71-1f7d29e8667a"/> </a> It's a cliché at this point to talk about how business has been transformed by technology. Much of today's workforce has never known a time without PCs, email or the Web. As ingrained as technology is, though, it continues to adapt and evolve, and the businesses that leverage new developments most effectively have a strategic advantage over their competitors. Today, businesses are faced with an explosion of data, an evolving trend toward mobile productivity and exponential growth of malware and other threats. You're faced with the challenge of equipping users with the right tools to get the job done as effectively and efficiently as possible, while also safeguarding company data and preventing PCs and other devices from compromise or exploit. It's a complex balancing act. You have to implement and maintain servers that are both powerful and reliable, while also keeping an eye on energy consumption and the bottom line of your IT budget. You have to empower users to be productive no matter where they go, yet still be able to enforce policies and protect the sensitive data stored on their mobile PCs. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here ]]> http://www.pcworld.com/article/2015071/leverage-today-s-technology-to-optimize-your-business.html Mon, 19 Nov 2012 12:14:00 -0800 Lenovo's Yoga is aptly named – it's flexible in more than one way. Not only can this Ultrabook be used as a laptop and a tablet, its screen can actually swivel around the hinge 360 degrees to maximize the tablet experience. Sure, at 0.67 inches thick and 3.4 pounds with a 13-inch screen, the Yoga isn't the most comfortable, portable tablet on the market. But it's a pretty cool device when you consider that, oh yeah, it's both a laptop and a tablet. Our review model, which costs $1099 as configured, has a third-generation Intel Core i5-3317U processor, 4GB of RAM, and a 128GB solid state drive. The Yoga has a 13-inch multi-touch touchscreen, a 720p webcam, and built-in Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n, and runs Windows 8. In our new WorldBench 8 benchmark tests, the Yoga scores 60 out of 100. This means that the Yoga is 40 percent slower than our baseline testing model, which has a third-generation Intel Core i5 desktop processor, 8GB of RAM, and an Nvidia discrete graphics card. The Yoga's score of 60 isn't great for a desktop, but the Yoga isn't a desktop – it's an Ultrabook. Its score is actually quite good for an Ultrabook – the only other Ultrabook we've tested on WorldBench 8 is the HP Envy TouchSmart 4 (57), which has the same i5-3317U processor as the Yoga, 4GB of RAM, and a 500GB hard drive. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Smartphones made by Nokia and HTC and running Windows Phone 8 have been spontaneously rebooting and freezing for some users, according to complaints in several online forums. Some users of the HTC 8X handset have reported anywhere from one to eight random reboots a day after purchasing their phones. The misbehavior appears to have disappeared for some users after they uninstalled an app on their phones for Facebook. "Had no reboots today," wrote one member of the Windows Phone Central forum. "Then opened the FB app and half an hour later got a reboot." At last count, 165 comments had been posted to the forum about the rebooting problem. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here What does your teen do when he or she is online? Do you know? Teens in general partake in riskier online behavior than your average user, but according to a recent study from McAfee—Exploring the Digital Divide—teens in the United States are even more likely to engage in shady online activities. The new report is a follow up to McAfee's "The Digital Divide: How the Online Behavior or Teens Is Getting Past Parents", released earlier this year. The original survey focused solely on the United States, but the new one expands the scope to include teens in European countries for comparison. The results might be a bit discouraging for parents of US teens. Teens in the United States lead in almost every category of shady online behavior. Nearly a third of US teens have used the Web to intentionally surf for porn. US teens also "lead" in using mobile devices to cheat on tests, and are tied for second in using the Internet as a platform for cyber bullying—only half a percentage point behind the Netherlands. Go USA? To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Performance
http://www.pcworld.com en-us Tue, 20 Nov 2012 00:46:14 -0800 Tue, 20 Nov 2012 00:46:14 -0800 Fans of Linux in general or Ubuntu in particular may remember the launch late last month of System76's Sable Complete all-in-one Ubuntu desktop PC featuring a 21.5-inch, high-definition 1080p display and quad-core, third-generation Intel Core i5 or i7 processors. Now priced $50 cheaper than it was at the time, that new device surely made it onto more than a few holiday wish lists. On Monday, however, System76 unveiled another Linux-powered machine that some may find even more compelling: the 17.3-inch Bonobo Extreme featuring "the world's fastest GPUs," in the company's own words. The new laptop is sure to appeal to legions of gamers, but its high-performance focus will likely attract the attention of plenty of business users as well. Here's a rundown of some of the key features you'll find in this intriguing device. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Xtravo Web Browser (free), a browser by Jawoco that has gone through numerous iterations, retains a focus on a clean, minimalist interface and numerous idiosyncrasies in version 6. Here's the rub: Because of the robustness of the leading browsers, and the number of ways they can be extended or customized, an alternative browser has to offer more than just a functional feature set. Xtravo includes a few interesting extras, but none of them is likely to sway someone from their current favorite. Xtravo's newest feature is a beta version of what they're calling the "Acid Bar." This is a hybrid address bar/search bar that attempts to take you to an appropriate page based on what you type in. For example, typing in "Transformers" took me to the Hasbro Transformers website, which works for me, but how did it decide I wasn't looking for electrical power supplies? Entering "Arab Riots" didn't take me to CNN or Google News, but to an article on uprisings in the 1920s, of all things. Well, the feature is a beta. Typing in a full URL will take you to the requested page, of course. The Acid Bar can be turned on and off in the options. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Facebook is a weird place. Most of the time, it's filled with passive-agreement statements and photos of people you barely recognize. Once in a while, however, you stumble over things like Silk. Yuri Vishnevsky's gorgeous experiment in generative art is an absolutely enthralling little diversion that will, more likely than not, keep you busy for far too long. If you've ever wanted to draw psychadelic, silk-like patterns across your screen in a variety of colors, you're in luck because Silk lets you do exactly that. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Just as suddenly as it arrived, the option to sign up for a monthly Amazon Prime membershipswiftly disappeared. Two weeks ago, the company rolled out the $7.99-a-month Prime membership, which included access to Amazon's Instant Video library, in what many tech analysts and experts said was an attempt to compete with streaming giant Netflix. Netflix and Hulu both offer plans that start in the $7.99 sweet spot. When Amazon rolled out the new pricing option, a spokesperson said the company was testing the subscription. The test ended without much fanfare. In a statement, Amazon said: "We regularly test new options for our customers. At this time, we are no longer signing up new customers for monthly memberships of Amazon Prime." To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here An expert on user interface design has called Windows 8 "disappointing" for novices and power users alike. Jakob Nielsen, principal of the Nielsen Norman Group, studied how a dozen experienced PC users interacted with Windows 8, and the conclusion was not good. "Windows 8 on mobile devices and tablets is akin to Dr. Jekyll: a tortured soul hoping for redemption," Nielsen wrote. "On a regular PC, Windows 8 is Mr. Hyde: a monster that terrorizes poor office workers and strangles their productivity." Although the sample sizes of Nielsen's studies are small, he argues that they provide more insight than larger studies focused on metrics. Even if you don't agree with that assertion, Nielsen does make some good points about how the design of Windows 8 needs improvement. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here As a longtime AT&T cellular customer, I was intrigued when the company announced its Mobile Share shared data plans this year. With two iPhones and a 4G iPad in our house, having access to a pool of data and unlimited texting (especially with the somewhat frequent iMessage outages these days) sounded pretty good. Getting iPhones onto a Mobile Share plan is easy. But as editorial director Jason Snell found out, adding an iPad is a bit trickier. Part of that difficulty involves the way you may be enjoying cellular data on your iPad today, and the other part is the poorly trained (or perhaps strictly coached) AT&T customer service representatives. First off, Apple makes it easy to sign up for month-to-month data plans directly from your iPad. In doing so, however, you're setting up a new prepaid plan completely unrelated to any other AT&T plan you may have for other devices (a Family Plan for multiple iPhones, say). As the Director of AT&T Corporate Communications, Emily J. Edmonds, told me in an email: To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here <a style="text-decoration:none;display:block;border:0;" href="//r.flite.com/syndication/backuplink/i/2286fef9-fb61-4450-bd71-1f7d29e8667a?ct=" target="_blank"> <img border="0" src="//r.flite.com/syndication/backupimage/i/2286fef9-fb61-4450-bd71-1f7d29e8667a"/> </a> It's a cliché at this point to talk about how business has been transformed by technology. Much of today's workforce has never known a time without PCs, email or the Web. As ingrained as technology is, though, it continues to adapt and evolve, and the businesses that leverage new developments most effectively have a strategic advantage over their competitors. Today, businesses are faced with an explosion of data, an evolving trend toward mobile productivity and exponential growth of malware and other threats. You're faced with the challenge of equipping users with the right tools to get the job done as effectively and efficiently as possible, while also safeguarding company data and preventing PCs and other devices from compromise or exploit. It's a complex balancing act. You have to implement and maintain servers that are both powerful and reliable, while also keeping an eye on energy consumption and the bottom line of your IT budget. You have to empower users to be productive no matter where they go, yet still be able to enforce policies and protect the sensitive data stored on their mobile PCs. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here ]]> http://www.pcworld.com/article/2015071/leverage-today-s-technology-to-optimize-your-business.html Mon, 19 Nov 2012 12:14:00 -0800 Lenovo's Yoga is aptly named – it's flexible in more than one way. Not only can this Ultrabook be used as a laptop and a tablet, its screen can actually swivel around the hinge 360 degrees to maximize the tablet experience. Sure, at 0.67 inches thick and 3.4 pounds with a 13-inch screen, the Yoga isn't the most comfortable, portable tablet on the market. But it's a pretty cool device when you consider that, oh yeah, it's both a laptop and a tablet. Our review model, which costs $1099 as configured, has a third-generation Intel Core i5-3317U processor, 4GB of RAM, and a 128GB solid state drive. The Yoga has a 13-inch multi-touch touchscreen, a 720p webcam, and built-in Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n, and runs Windows 8. In our new WorldBench 8 benchmark tests, the Yoga scores 60 out of 100. This means that the Yoga is 40 percent slower than our baseline testing model, which has a third-generation Intel Core i5 desktop processor, 8GB of RAM, and an Nvidia discrete graphics card. The Yoga's score of 60 isn't great for a desktop, but the Yoga isn't a desktop – it's an Ultrabook. Its score is actually quite good for an Ultrabook – the only other Ultrabook we've tested on WorldBench 8 is the HP Envy TouchSmart 4 (57), which has the same i5-3317U processor as the Yoga, 4GB of RAM, and a 500GB hard drive. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Smartphones made by Nokia and HTC and running Windows Phone 8 have been spontaneously rebooting and freezing for some users, according to complaints in several online forums. Some users of the HTC 8X handset have reported anywhere from one to eight random reboots a day after purchasing their phones. The misbehavior appears to have disappeared for some users after they uninstalled an app on their phones for Facebook. "Had no reboots today," wrote one member of the Windows Phone Central forum. "Then opened the FB app and half an hour later got a reboot." At last count, 165 comments had been posted to the forum about the rebooting problem. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here What does your teen do when he or she is online? Do you know? Teens in general partake in riskier online behavior than your average user, but according to a recent study from McAfee—Exploring the Digital Divide—teens in the United States are even more likely to engage in shady online activities. The new report is a follow up to McAfee's "The Digital Divide: How the Online Behavior or Teens Is Getting Past Parents", released earlier this year. The original survey focused solely on the United States, but the new one expands the scope to include teens in European countries for comparison. The results might be a bit discouraging for parents of US teens. Teens in the United States lead in almost every category of shady online behavior. Nearly a third of US teens have used the Web to intentionally surf for porn. US teens also "lead" in using mobile devices to cheat on tests, and are tied for second in using the Internet as a platform for cyber bullying—only half a percentage point behind the Netherlands. Go USA? To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click herePerformance
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