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Pay-as-you-go Office 365 cripples apps if subscription expires

Written By Unknown on Kamis, 31 Januari 2013 | 16.00

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Premium YouTube channels to cost $1 to $5 per month, report says

YouTube could be preparing to get into the subscription video business this spring, if one report proves accurate.

According to AdAge's unnamed sources, YouTube wants to offer paid channels at a cost of $1 to $5 per month. There would be about 25 channels at first, possibly launching as early as the second quarter of this year with an announcement in late April.

But don't think of YouTube subscriptions as another Netflix or Hulu Plus. Instead of stacking its channels with well-known TV shows and movies, YouTube reportedly wants to create premium versions of existing YouTube channels, such as those offered by Machinima and Maker Studios, who create their content exclusively for the Internet.

YouTube could also try to attract small cable networks that haven't gained much traction through traditional pay TV services. (As AdAge points out, YouTube CEO Salar Kamangar alluded to that possibilitya year ago.)

It sounds like the premium channels, if they are actually coming, would be an extension of YouTube's original content initiative, an effort compete with broadcast TV by funding entirely new Web-based shows. Google spent over $150 million on the first wave of content in 2011, and last year said it would spend another $200 million to keep the project going.

It sounds good in theory--YouTube sees itself as creating next-generation successors to MTV, CNN and other traditional channels--but as I noted when the first batch of channels launched, the execution could be better. It's still too hard to find longform content, with most videos clocking in under 15 minutes, and it takes a lot of work to separate the wheat from the chaff. YouTube may very well have funded some great television, but it not very easy to find it all.

If YouTube expects people to pay for content, it'll have to improve the browsing and viewing experience, so there's less confusion and hunting around for quality video. Once money's involved, users will need to know exactly what they're getting ahead of time, and why it's worth paying for when YouTube already has so much free content available.


My guess is that the launch will be somewhat subdued, and mainly pitched to people who already tune into Machinima or other channels on a regular basis. That may not be enough to spark a TV revolution, but it's something YouTube doesn't even allow for today, and seems like the logical next step as YouTube tries to move beyond its reputation for cat videos.


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10 open source projects to watch this year

Open source software projects may not typically have the marketing budgets necessary to match launch events like the one Microsoft just held for Office 2013, but that doesn't mean their products are any less valuable.

Canonical surely came close in terms of hype with its Ubuntu phone announcement just after New Year's, but this week Black Duck Software brought a brand-new crop of open players to light.

Following up on last year's list, Black Duck released its "2012 Open Source Rookies of the Year" on Wednesday, highlighting 10 key up-and-comers worth watching over the coming year.

This year's 'Rookies'

Ready for a run-down? Here are 10 projects to keep an eye on:

1. Ansible, a configuration management, deployment, and ad-hoc task execution tool.

2. Chaplin.js, an architecture for JavaScript applications that uses the Backbone.js library. "It provides a lightweight and flexible structure that features well-proven design patterns and best practices," Black Duck explains.

3. GPUImage, an iOS library that allows users to apply GPU-accelerated filters and other effects to images, live camera video, and movies.

4. Hammer.js, a JavaScript library that enables multitouch gestures for the mobile Web.

5. InaSAFE, which produces realistic natural hazard impact scenarios to enable better planning, preparedness, and response.

6. Yahoo! Mojito, a JavaScript MVC framework for mobile and Web applications running on client and server.

7. Sidekiq, which provides simple, efficient message processing for Ruby.

8. Syte, a packaged personal site with social app integrations including Twitter and GitHub.

9. Twitter Bower, a package manager for the Web that aims to make it easy to install images, CSS, and more, including managing dependencies.

10. TypeScript, a language for application-scale JavaScript development that offers a typed superset of JavaScript that compiles to plain JavaScript.

Black Duck did also name an honorable mention, it's worth noting: DCPUToolChain, which is an assembler, compiler, emulator, and Integrated Development Environment for the DCPU-16 virtual CPU.

JavaScript in the spotlight

At least as interesting as the above list of top picks, meanwhile, are the overriding trends Black Duck drew out of its data, which was drawn from Ohloh.net and the Black Duck KnowledgeBase with a weighted scoring system focusing on project activity, commits pace, project team attributes, and other factors.

Included among those three key trends were a growing focus on JavaScript and mobile as well as increasing use of Python and Ruby.

Black Duck President and CEO Tim Yeaton summed it up: "The 2012 Rookies demonstrate how community innovation, particularly within the JavaScript and mobile projects, mirrors the needs for innovation in Web experiences, mobile devices, and enterprise applications."


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Review: Cryptocat chat client includes encryption

Written By Unknown on Selasa, 29 Januari 2013 | 16.00

Chatting online is easier than ever; chatting securely, not so much. The chat clients built into Facebook and Gmail emphasize ubiquity and ease of use over encryption. Cryptocat is one chat client that says you can have both security and convenience, and made quite a splash upon arrival.

CryptoCat's simple aesthetic makes it easy to focus on the conversation.

Cryptocat demonstrates an important lesson about security software: Newer rarely means better. Following a glowing profile piece Wired published on Cryptocat and its developer, 21-year-old Nadim Kobeissi, security guru Bruce Schneier published a cautionary post in his blog letting readers know Cryptocat wasn't as safe as it seemed. At the time, the problem was that Cryptocat handled security host-side, rather than locally. This has since been addressed, and Cryptocat now runs as a browser extension and handles encryption locally. Still, this is an important example to keep in mind: Encryption software, even when it's open-source, can't be considered secure until it's been thoroughly audited and battle-tested (preferably for years).

While I wouldn't use Cryptocat for mission-critical secret communications, it does add a modicum of security and privacy over the features built into Google and Facebook, and is just as easy to use. After installing a Chrome or Firefox extension, all you have to do is pick a nick (a handle) and a title for your chat room, and presto–you can chat with any other Cryptocat user who joins the room. The aesthetic is decidedly old-school 8-bit, but that only adds to Cryptocat's charm. It's a nice way to chat with friends, and can serve as a reminder that it's important to use other forms of security, too.

Note: The Download button on the Product Information page takes you to the vendor's site, where you can download the latest version of the software.


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Review: KeePass makes strong passwords and keeps them safe

If you adopt just one security tool this year, make it KeePass. This free and open-source password manager is available for Windows, with unofficial ports for iOS, Android, Linux, and Mac OS X. A secure, lengthy, completely random password goes a long way towards improving your security–and having a separate password for each and every website and service you use is the single most important thing you can do to keep secure.

For too many of us, the alternative to a password manager is using the same password everywhere. This means that if the user database of any one website you sign up for is compromised, hackers can (and often do) just try your username and password on many other websites and gain access. So, seriously: Use a unique, difficult password for each and every website you sign up for, no matter how little you plan to visit it. KeePass lets you keep all of these username/password pairs in a securely encrypted database, protected behind a single master password, which is the only password you're ever going to have to remember. And unlike commercial competitor LastPass, KeePass doesn't automatically put your password database in the cloud (although you can put it into Dropbox yourself).

KeePass lets you quick-search for passwords and organize them into a complex tree of folders.

KeePass features its own random password generator, so you don't have to come up with random passwords on your own. It includes a quick-search box where you can type just a fragment of a website's name to quickly find it on your list. The list itself is built to contain thousands of records, and you can subdivide it into folders and subfolders to keep things organized. KeePass isn't limited to just usernames and passwords, either: Each entry has several other fields, including a free-form Notes field which you can use for securely storing any sort of text.

One way the baddies circumvent password protection is with a keylogger: an application (or a physical hardware dongle connected to your computer) that sits in the background, quietly logging every single keystroke you type, to later transmit this information to an attacker. With a keylogger installed on your system, an attacker could potentially learn every single word you type throughout the day, including all of your usernames and passwords. This is another thing KeePass protects against: Thanks to its AutoType feature, you never have to manually type individual website passwords. KeePass pastes them into the browser window using a combination of virtual keystrokes and clipboard obfuscation, making it all the more difficult for a keylogger to figure out what the password is. AutoType is sometimes finicky, but when it works, it's very useful. KeePass also lets you enter your master database password in a prompt protected by UAC, which protects it from any software keylogger that isn't running with Administrator rights on your machine.

Get KeePass, and start using it right now. You'll thank yourself next time a major website breach vents thousands of usernames and passwords into cyberspace.

Note: The Download button on the Product Information page will download the software to your system.


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HP will jump on the Chromebook bandwagon: Report

Another week, another major PC vendor announcing that it's planning a Chromebook offering of its own. Last week, it was Lenovo; this week, according to reports, it's none other than HP.

Acer, meanwhile, is riding high on its own Chromebook sales, and Samsung's offering is currently the No. 1 top-selling laptop on Amazon.

As Windows 8 continues to lag, it's difficult not to envision rising anxiety levels at Microsoft in Redmond.

A 14-inch display

According to a PDFthat the Verge found earlier today on HP's site (since apparently taken down), the company is planning what's referred to as a Pavilion Chromebook.

Google's own Chromebook

Featuring a 1.1GHz Celeron processor, 2GB of RAM, and a 16GB solid-state drive, the device will also sport a 14-inch, 1366-by-768 display, the publication reports—considerably bigger than the 11.6-inch screens offered by most of its competitors, though apparently on par in terms of resolution.

Battery life is apparently another key differentiator, however, with the spec sheet listing just 4 hours and 15 minutes. Samsung's Chromebook, by contrast, offers closer to seven hours.

'Another nail in Microsoft's coffin'

Still, it's difficult not to marvel over the growing Chromebook phenomenon, particularly now that such major vendors tre getting involved.

Acer President Jim Wong told Bloomberg that Chromebooks have accounted for 5 percent to 10 percent of Acer's U.S. shipments since November.

The Street, meanwhile, recently referred to Lenovo's Chromebook as "another nail in Microsoft's coffin." The success of Samsung's entry, of course, speaks for itself.

No love lost

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer will always be famous for calling Linux a "cancer."

And it wasn't all that long ago that he expressed more concern over competition from Linux than from Apple. Soon afterwards, he also didn't hold back in expressing his views of Google's Linux-based Chrome OS.

With four key PC makers now jumping on the Chromebook bandwagon, is Microsoft in a fresh batch of trouble? Sound off with your views in the comments.


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Cloud computing ecosystem will arrive in 2013, analysts say

Written By Unknown on Senin, 28 Januari 2013 | 16.01

The global cloud computing market will continue to grow in 2013 as enterprises look to reduce costs and boost innovation, according to analyst firm Ovum.

In its 2013 Trends to Watch: Cloud Computing report, Ovum has forecast that public, private and hybrid cloud models are evolving and becoming enterprise grade.

Enterprises to "get real" about cloud in 2013:Forrester

Cloud 101: Australia's cloud outlook

Need for more Australian specialist cloud providers: CIO study

According to Ovum Software UK senior analyst Laurent Lachal, the emergence of cloud computing ecosystems will also take place this year.

"Public clouds are increasingly approached not only as technology delivery platforms but also as ecosystem hubs for cloud service providers and consumers," he said in a statement.

"These public clouds offer a new way to accelerate participation in the rapidly evolving social networking and mobile solution ecosystems of the Internet age."

Big data

The Ovum report also predicts that data will be the new cloud computing `oil' during 2013. According to Lachal, this is because cloud computing services, and the social or mobile applications that cloud platforms underpin, generate a lot of data which in turn requires cloud services and applications to make sense of it.

"This trend connects with and fuels other industry trends such as the Internet of Things, open government data, consumerisation of IT, and, last but not least, big data," he said.

"The market's attention under the big data banner, is currently mostly focused on technology issues, but from 2013 onwards there will be growing interest in the cultural shift required by vendors and enterprises to turn data into a resource to manage and monetise."

This management will include data abstraction from underlying IT systems, sharing within and outside the enterprise, and valuation via a model from cloud service providers such as Accenture.

"Some vendors played the cloud data card early , but the cloud data production, brokerage, and consumption ecosystem is still in the making and will continue to evolve over the next five years," Lachal said.

Follow Hamish Barwick on Twitter: @HamishBarwick

Follow CIO Australia on Twitter and Like us on Facebook… Twitter: @CIO_Australia, Facebook: CIO Australia, or take part in the CIO conversation on LinkedIn: CIO Australia


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Why the One Laptop Per Child devices are white and green

The white case and bright green trim of One Laptop Per Child's laptops have made them among the most recognizable in the world, but what's the story behind the choice of colors? Last week, Nicholas Negroponte, former head of the OLPC project and co-founder of the MIT Media Lab, explained the backstory.

The newest version of the OLPC is a 7-inch tablet, announced at CES earlier this month. Like its predecessors, the unit is a bright green and white, durable device with flexible power input and charging functions. The inexpensive OLPC units are designed to bring computing and education to children in developing countries.

The origin of the color scheme dates back to late 2005, just after the first OLPC prototype was shown to reporters at the World Summit on the Information Society in Tunis.

Nicholas NegroponteOLPCNicholas Negroponte

"After the Tunis meeting, I was asked to go to Nigeria and present to President Obasanjo and his cabinet," said Negroponte. The MIT professor arrived and was ushered into a meeting room with a large table. Seated along one side were many of Nigeria's government ministers, and on the other was a lone Negroponte, he recalled. The former president's seat was empty, as those gathered awaited his arrival.

"He comes in and—he always wore robes, so he was a big, imposing man with tribal robes—he points at me and says, 'Professor Negroponte, I have one word for your project: enchanting,'" Negroponte recalled. "I was in seventh heaven."

He returned to MIT full of enthusiasm for the project and quickly turned the prototype seen in Tunis into the first working OLPC laptop.

"About six months later, I went back to Nigeria and asked to speak with the president," he said. "I told him, President Obasanjo, your comment was so inspiring that I want to say 'thank you,' and as a token of our gratitude, we want to make the laptop the colors of your country."

And that's how Negroponte came to choose the white and green of the Nigerian flag as the color scheme for the first OLPC.

"It's the color right down to the Pantone number," he said.

Negroponte spoke last week at the Fujitsu North America Technology Forum, held at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California.

Martyn Williams covers mobile telecoms, Silicon Valley and general technology breaking news for The IDG News Service. Follow Martyn on Twitter at @martyn_williams. Martyn's e-mail address is martyn_williams@idg.com


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Hands on with Swipp: Compare global opinions in real time

The latest contender in social networking emerged from stealth mode this week, offering yet another forum to share and compare opinions in a social stream of your acquaintances and the web at large.

Hush-hush development of the Swipp Social Intelligence Network has been going on for two years, but its appearance this week may have been hastened by Facebook's announcement of Graph Search, which like Swipp gathers and shares information about people, places, and things.

swipp

Swipp offers a graphical representation of its participants' opinions about a variety of topics, such as a movie or a restaurant, a city or a celebrity. Your rating on a 10-point scale (+5 to -5) contributes to a graphical map of those opinions, which can also be sorted by gender, location and other factors.

Using Swipp requires a Facebook account, although Swipp's developers are quick to point out the differences between Facebook and Swipp. They say that Swipp gives its users greater control over their own content. Downloading and reusing material, for example, will be easier than Facebook, they say. Swipp's API will be more open, too.

However, Swipp's business model calls for creating custom analytics from information collected from its users. This data may be valuable to the organizations or individuals that Swipp users assess. But somewhere down the road, Swipp may have to balance data-collecting with privacy expectations in the same way that occasionally trips Facebook.

Have FB, go Swipping

Setting up a Swipp account is easy, as long as you have a Facebook account and are willing to allow Swipp to access your public profile information, friends list, email address, and birthday.

An iPhone app is also available for the service.

swippSearch for something to Swipp (click to enlarge) swippSee who is Swipping, and on what topics. swippCompare Swipps by a variety of analytics. swippFlag offensive Swipps easily. swippCustomize your settings. swippCheck your Swipping history.

Swipp will also request to make postings to your friends' Facebook pages on your behalf, but you can deny that request and still open an account. However, whenever you log into Swipp in the future, it will hound you about posting to your friends' pages before letting you access your account.

From inside your account, you interact with Swipp. That means browsing and commenting on a person, place, item, or issue on the current Swipp stream. You can view the streams of comments from others on the service before entering your own. You also can control your settings for the Swipp service and view information about your activity on it.

At the "Swipp It" screen, you can enter a person, place, or thing you'd like to Swipp (the term is intended as a verb as well as a noun). You can choose the target of your commentary from items listed in the current stream, or enter a new topic. As you type, Swipp will suggest matches for you, in a type of auto-complete function. Swipp's developers explain this will help ensure consistency, so the stream isn't littered with references to "San Francisco," "San Fran," "The City" and "Frisco" that all refer to the same place, for example. You simply choose what you're looking for, add a comment if you choose, and rate it—from -5 to +5—using the graphical slider control at the bottom of the Swipp box.

The process is simple enough, especially if you're commenting on something already easily identifiable in the stream. You can turn to the Explore screen to browse a list of topics that have been Swipped by others. You can choose a topic already in the stream and add your own Swipp to the collection of global opinions and comments. Or you can scope it out a bit, checking the tally of ratings and comments already Swipped. You can also choose to track it, which is form of bookmarking, to watch global opinion progress.

In addition to sharing a comment, you can add photos and files to your Swipps. However, the add photo feature can be painfully slow. And I couldn't find a file type that the system would accept. Dragging a Microsoft Word file to a Swipp, for instance, produced a "file not supported" error.

Results information displayed in Swipp includes a list of people who have Swipped the topic, their rating of it, and the shelf life of the Swipp (the number hours or days it has been building). The Results screen also provides a map showing a geographic distribution of ratings for a topic, as well as the ratings split between males and females, and mapped by age.

In addition to the analytical information in results, Swipp offers an information tab. Clicking on that tab will display additional information about a topic from a crowd source information site called Freebase, operated by Google.

You can see what's being Swipped in real time from the Stream screen. You can view what your friends are Swipping on the screen or see what any participant is Swipping.

As with the Explore screen, you can Swipp an item in the stream, as well as view results, track it, or flag it. Flagging a Swipp is a way to sanitize the system from things like hate speech, pornography, spam, and copyright infringement. Swipp developers note that only public people may be Swipped, so you can't typically rate your neighbor or classmate.

Your Swipp account can be customized from the settings screen, which includes options such as language. There you can toggle among social networks, sharing your Swipped comments via your Facebook and Twitter accounts. You can tailor how the notifications are sent to you, such as by text message or email. This is also where you invite friends to join Swipp, which is what the service will need to hit that critical mass of usefulness.

Swipp's Me screen tracks your personal activity on Swipp. There you can see which topics you've Swipped, the topics you're tracking, and which of your friends are on Swipp.

Got room for Swipp?

With social networks like Twitter and Facebook already sucking up many a person's online time, Swipp will have an uphill battle attracting eyeballs. Its slogan "Social intelligence" is intended to emphasize its distinction by offering compilations and analytics of the Swipped items.

In fact, sophisticated functions like grading topics—a superior system to Facebook's crude "like" system—and instant access to statistics on topics are nice features. But it remains to be seen if they're enough to make Web wanderers carve out time to stop by and participate in yet another social network.


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Web services battleground heads to Africa

Written By Unknown on Minggu, 27 Januari 2013 | 16.01

In the latest example of how Africa is becoming an important battleground for Western and Asian tech competitors, Web services giant Baidu will face off against Google following the Chinese company's move last week to bring its mobile browser to the continent in a deal with France Telecom's Orange unit.

Baidu joins other Chinese companies including telecom equipment vendors Huawei Technologies and ZTE in seeing Africa as a promising market.

Baidu's announcement with Orange follows Google's move last year to enter a deal with South Africa's giant telecom operator Telkom's cellphone network unit 8ta, to offer free Internet access to mobile phone subscribers who cannot afford typical data-usage costs.

In Baidu's case, the deal with Orange is its largest international expansion to date. The deal covers 20 countries in the region, where Orange has more than 80 million subscribers. Orange will pre-install Baidu's mobile browser for users of Android-based mobile phones in Africa and the Middle East.

Orange plans to ship the first smartphones preloaded with the browser later this year. The main benefits for users will be the browser's enhanced data compression capabilities and one-click access to Web-based apps and services.

Meanwhile Google is powering the Free Zone service, which gives people access to mobile Gmail, Google+ and Web search with zero data charges. However, when a user clicks on a link or attachment within an email, they are directed to a page where they can purchase a data package. Additionally, users can search the Internet and access the first page of websites from the search results for free; however, if they click further into a website, they again are directed to a page offering data packages that require payment.

Google also rolled out a new service in Ghana, Nigeria and Kenya last year that lets Gmail users send and receive emails using the built-in SMS features on their mobile phones for free. Google's free email service is also active in Zambia through the operator Zambia Telecommunication Company (Zamtel), a government-owned telecom company.

The companies want to consolidate their positions by offering free service, to pave the way for a growing number of users paying for services, according to Amos Kalunga, a telecom analyst at Computer Society of Zambia.

"Or it may be that the companies want to control the browser first on smartphones and then later control the search," Kalunga said.

Africa's appetite for mobile Internet services has been growing steadily over the past few years, mainly as a result of the flattening growth curve in voice communications in the region's more mature markets, forcing operators to cut prices and compete more aggressively on the provision of data services.

"Orange recognizes that Internet usage in emerging markets is more likely to be via low-cost small screens," said Emeka Obiodu, principal analyst for telecom strategy at Ovum Research.

As a result, Orange and Baidu will seek to deliver enhanced data compression capabilities so as to reduce the strain on Orange's network and the cost for users, Obiodu said.

But Baidu's deal with Orange may limit Baidu's maneuverability in the market, Obiodu said. If Baidu sticks to Orange exclusively, it will depend on Orange's expansion of its geographical footprint. "Over time, this lack of maneuverability will influence, and maybe undermine, Baidu's ability to exploit emerging opportunities in the market," he added.

Google has prospered by maintaining its independence, even though it has sought partners on a tactical, case-by-case basis.

Meanwhile, Baidu joins a growing list of Chinese companies looking to get a slice of Africa's lucrative mobile and data market. Chinese manufacturers of low-cost networking equipment and smartphones Huawei Technologies and ZTE are using their emerging market expertise to cash in big as customers upgrade to data-enabled handsets from basic phones.

Baidu is expected to get a big cut from the sales of low-cost smartphones by Orange, in addition to revenue collected from data usage. Orange has stressed that it believes Africa will be the world's most dynamic telecom market over the next few years, and that the Baidu deal will help further drive mobile data adoption in markets where the operator is already seeing increased demand for Internet access via smartphones.

In anticipation of growth in the region's data market, Orange has recently been deploying 3G networks in countries where it has operations. Mobile data and broadband technologies are increasingly being used by operators as a substitute for poor or non-existent fixed-line infrastructure in the region.

Social media networks including Facebook and Twitter are said to be responsible for the high demand of smartphones in the region. Marc Rennard, senior executive vice president for Orange activities across Africa and the Middle East, said Africa's appetite for Internet services is very strong -- a key reason for the deal with Baidu.

"Price and access have been a barrier to entry but partnering with innovative companies like Baidu provides unique solutions that gives our customers affordable access to all services they desire without compromising on features or ease of use," Rennard said.


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Square Enix brings multiplayer to Tomb Raider

Square Enix took advantage of CES 2013 to introduce a brand new kind of gameplay to the Tomb Raider franchise. When the reboot launches March 5 for PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, up to eight players will be able to engage in multiplayer gameplay for the first time ever in a Tomb Raider game. While Crystal Dynamics developed the single-player experience starring the new, and younger, Lara Croft on her first adventure, Eidos Montreal created the multiplayer modes. Karl Stewart, global brand director for the Tomb Raider franchise at Crystal Dynamics, sat down to talk with us about what's in store for gamers when they dive into a Tomb Raider multiplayer match.

Game On: Why has it taken so long for multiplayer to be added to the Tomb Raider universe?

Karl Stewart: It was probably about two years ago when we started developing this. One of the early projects that we did with Tomb Raider was look at how, using the island from the single-player game as a backdrop, we could find unique and innovative ways to be able to break off and try and do something new. As people may remember, Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light was a very exciting project for us because it was our first digital project. As a studio we're constantly looking at ways to be able to be innovative, and so in the early stages of this Tomb Raider game multiplayer seemed like a really cool thing to do.

It was a great setting with many unique locations, great characters in the Survivors and Scavengers, but then we actually shelved it for quite a while. It's always been on the table, but it was only probably two years ago that we picked it back up and we brought our sister studio, Eidos Montreal, and had them develop it from the ground up for us.

What were the challenges of creating a multiplayer mode that feels like a Tomb Raider experience?

In the very early stages when we were starting to develop Tomb Raider, we wanted to make sure that it felt like the pillars of the franchise were there. It was Lara Croft, it was a Tomb Raider experience and it had things like traversal and exploration and puzzle-solving. Some of those things you can bring across into a multiplayer experience and some you can't, but things like traversal, combat, and verticality in multiplayer matches were all things that we wanted to make sure felt like Tomb Raider. It's not just about putting Lara Croft in a multiplayer match and saying, "there you go;" It's Tomb Raider multiplayer. It has to have the attributes that define the series and there are need to be characters that you get to meet and play alongside inside of the single player. We brought them across -- Jonah, Alex and Reyes -- in an effort to make sure that it felt like a proper Tomb Raider multiplayer mode that simultaneously doesn't detract from the single-player experience. It has to be able to stand up on its own.

What multiplayer maps and modes are you debuting?

Right now we're showing a new map and two modes from the complete package that will be on disk on Day One, which will include four maps and five modes. The idea is that every single mode feels really different, whether it's Team Death Match (which is a traditional mode) or it's Rescue Me, which is where you have to find the pilot and the medical pack and bring them back to base.

We want everything to have the elements of survival that you get in single player. At the same time, Team Death Match is a mode that everybody is accustomed to; everybody knows how it works. So we didn't want to try to totally reinvent the wheel when building this multiplayer game.

There are different characters on the Survivors and on the Scavenger side. Are those just skins or do they have different abilities?

In some cases, yes they can have different abilities depending on the loadouts and on the type of mode that you play. But in general, we wanted it to be as balanced as possible. We wanted as many people to jump in and feel like Jonah or Reyes or Alex. We try not to get into unique physical attributes because one's bigger than the other or smaller than the other, or they run at different speeds. It's more about how you load your character out and you choose new attributes for them.

What were your goals heading into multiplayer?

We looked at multiplayer and wanted to build a solid structure. This is our first time building multiplayer, so we focused on how to build modes that people feel comfortable being able to jump in on very quickly rather than trying to reimagine something and make it too complex. For us it's about successfully building that broader structure, because this is our first time doing it. Hopefully, in the future when we develop more multiplayer, we will have that system and it will start to build up and hopefully get to the point where multiplayer becomes an equal facet of the Tomb Raider experience. Right now we see it as something that partners very well, but absolutely does not detract from the single-player game.

How did you draw from the single-player game for this experience?

There are certain places in the single player game that have very epic moments, and they are just great spaces to be able to show off the verticality of the multiplayer game. They afford players the chance to do cool things like go underneath the monastery or jump up on the side of a cliff, use the climbing axe to get to the very top and use it as this great sniper zone.

The idea of taking locations from the game was very important. Things like using the climbing axe is a great thing for verticality, but in the single-player game there's no need for it to be too fast. You are very comfortable climbing, whereas now in multiplayer it needs to be really snappy, really punchy. The common landscapes create a really nice symmetry from single-player to multiplayer.

Can you talk about some of the environmental traps?

Traps are a big deal for us because when you play the game they're part of the entire experience, since there's a bit more guerilla warfare. You're constantly aware of everywhere you go, whether or not you're going to get strung upside-down and whether or not you have to shoot yourself free in the middle of combat. Taking that across to multiplayer, there's a very real fun aspect to the likes of traps, things like putting up lightning rods that, if anybody gets close to them, we can use to blow them away with electrocution. You can also choose to put exploding ammo boxes out there, so while you're running around picking up ammo you have to be wary that one may be a hazard and blow you up. It adds a really intriguing dimension to the multiplayer experience.

 


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Google's 'transparency report' doesn't reveal everything

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Acer sheds eMachines, turns to Gateway and Packard Bell for post-PC era

Written By Unknown on Jumat, 25 Januari 2013 | 16.01

Acer is trying to adapt to the slowdown in the PC market by shutting down its eMachines unit and refocusing Gateway and Packard Bell to offer new products that are "beyond the PC."

Earlier this week, Acer took charges to the tune of $120.1 million related to the lost value of assets including the Gateway, eMachines and Packard Bell product brands. The company announced it would discontinue the eMachines brand, which is U.S.-focused, but will continue to offer Gateway and Packard Bell products.

"As computing devices are used in new ways, both on the go and throughout the home, Gateway and Packard Bell will adapt their product portfolios to meet these needs," said Lisa Emard, an Acer spokeswoman, in an email on Thursday.

Emard did not comment on what types of products would be offered under the Gateway and Packard Bell brands. But the new computing environment involves new and different usage models and form factors, and Acer will continue to invest in Gateway and Packard Bell to sell "a variety of devices that would have been thought of as beyond the PC in the past," Emard said.

The products could include tablets, which are increasingly being used as an alternative computing device to PCs. Other devices like smart TVs, media-streaming boxes and smartphones are also being used to browse the Web, write email and stream movies from sites like Netflix.

Acer in 2007 paid $710 million for Gateway, and in the process acquired Packard Bell's assets. Gateway acquired eMachines in 2004, and Packard Bell in 2007. Gateway's laptops, desktops and displays are now being sold in the Americas and Asia-Pacific, while Packard Bell products are sold in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Acer already offers a range of PCs, tablets, smartphones, servers, networking and storage products worldwide. But the company's main business still revolves around PCs, which is a slumping market with overall worldwide unit shipments dropping by 6.4 percent in fourth quarter compared to the same quarter in 2011, according to IDC. Acer was the fourth largest PC vendor behind Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo and Dell, with shipments of around 7 million units, a drop of 28.2 percent compared year over year.

No eMachine-branded products will be sold in the future, but its website will remain live for customer support, Emard said. Gateway stopped selling PCs through its website in 2008, and is now selling fixed configuration products through third-party online stores and retailers.

Acer became a bloated company with all those acquisitions, and the latest moves are an effort to shed excess fat and be more agile, said David Daoud, research director at IDC.

Acer has had trouble making operational adjustments since the 2011 departure of former CEO Gianfranco Lanci, who orchestrated the acquisitions and promoted a multi-branded strategy. Lanci now works with Lenovo.

"They spent a lot of time and resources in the netbook market, and that hasn't paid off," Daoud said, adding that eMachines did well in the entry-level PC market many years ago, but customers have moved away from those products.

The company now has to step back and see what existing customers want, Daoud said. Gateway could ultimately offer tablets, but it is hard to see smartphones in their mix, Daoud said.

Acer's moves are also part of a larger trend for PC companies to offer simpler products. There is more focus on cloud, software, graphics and other features that are critical to boost hardware sales.

While Acer's market share is dwindling, its Taiwanese counterpart Asustek has done well, with PC shipments growing 5.6 percent year-over-year in the fourth quarter. Both companies were top netbook vendors, but after a few quarters of struggling Asus is now growing, while Acer is flagging.

Acer and Asus are have different management styles, with Asus' team being more proactive and flexible, and Acer's team being slow to react, Daoud said.

Asus is also well-respected by channel partners, while Acer can't say the same, Daoud said. Asus has also been praised for innovative products like Taichi, while Acer is more cautionary. Asus has been much more keen on embracing Windows 8 and RT with products like the VivoTab RT tablet, while Acer is still waiting to see how the OS does before releasing a product.

"For Acer it's a bit of work in progress," Daoud said.


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RIM's mobile management software supports iOS, Android

A look at the BES 10 interface. Credit: RIM

A look at the BES 10 interface. Credit: RIM

BlackBerry maker, Research In Motion has announced new mobile management software that adds support for Apple and Android devices but analysts say time will tell if the company's new emphasis on bring-your-own-device (BYOD) will succeed.

RIM announced BlackBerry Enterprise Server 10 (BES 10) is available to download as of today. The product combines mobile device management (MDM), mobile application management and mobile security. Unlike previous versions, BES 10 enables BYOD with support for Android and iOS devices in addition to BlackBerry.

The decision to support non-BlackBerry devices "was really driven by our customers," RIM senior director of enterprise product management, Jeff Holleran, told Computerworld Australia.

Enterprise customers told RIM they were "really under pressure from our end users to start supporting additional devices."

RIM may also woo back some old customers with the new version, Holleran said. For example, the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency moved from BlackBerry to iPhone last year, but the agency is now testing BlackBerry 10 and the BES 10 platform, he said.

BYOD 101: What are BYOD and the consumerization of IT?
How to create a BYOD policy
Problems with BYOD and avoiding BYOD pitfalls
Creating a BYOD user agreement

While BYOD may be the new emphasis, BES 10 still does not support Windows Phone. "We're waiting for market demand in support of it," Holleran said. "We just haven't really seen it in our enterprise customer base at this point.

"If market relevance is there, we'd be happy to add [Windows Phone] to the product."

Another feature of BES 10 acknowledging the BYOD movement is BlackBerry Balance, which separates protected work apps and data from personal content users may store on BlackBerry devices.

The feature helps businesses manage a BYOD user who wants to use one device for both work and play, Holleran said. If the user ever leaves the organisation, only their work data will be deleted, he said.

Research In Motion has also changed its pricing structure with BES 10. "We have moved from a licensing model that included a server price to just a device licence model," Holleran said. Licences are US$99 per user in the US. RIM couldn't provide Australian pricing.

RIM will run a BES 10 promotion this year to encourage purchase of BlackBerry 10 devices. Existing BES customers can trade in old licences on a one-for-one basis for every user that upgrades their device to BlackBerry 10, Holleran said.

RIM is seeing much early customer interest in BES 10, said Holleran, adding that globally 1600 enterprise and government customers are registered for the company's BlackBerry 10 education program, BlackBerry Ready.

Supporting Android and iOS devices in BES 10 is "really a survival strategy" for RIM, Gartner analyst Ken Dulaney said in an interview. "Given the problems [BlackBerry] has had, customers have gone to other devices."

"The consumer mobile market ran away from BlackBerry a while ago so BES must manage multiple devices to remain relevant," said Telsyte analyst Rodney Gedda.

"There are a lot of companies vying for a piece of the MDM pie—with corporate and personal devices—and RIM has a lot of experience managing its own BlackBerry devices," he said.

"We're still in the early stages of MDM generally so if RIM branches out to non-BlackBerry devices and applications then there is no reason why that part of its business won't pay off. BYOD shows no sign of slowing so the more devices BES can manage the more appeal it will have with organisations looking to deploy a mobile management solution."

However, Gartner's Dulaney said it's unlikely RIM will win back customers who have already fled from BlackBerry.

"The only way they'll come back in is if they just use Exchange ActiveSync" to manage devices, Dulaney said. "If they've invested in MDM, they're probably not coming back."

While BES 10 may now support other devices, Dulaney said BES 10 has a "middle of the road" feature set that may only attract those organisations that want BlackBerry 10 handsets.

Other mobile management products in the market have more features, including support for Windows Phone and the ability to build an enterprise app store, the analyst said.

However, RIM has forced companies to buy BES 10 if they want to securely support BlackBerry 10 devices because the company has not allowed other MDM companies to support its new OS, he said.

"It all comes down to this: If you believe that BlackBerry 10 devices are compelling and you want to support them, then put in BES 10."

Before buying BES 10, organisations should remember that BlackBerry's future success depends on how well they do in the consumer space, Dulaney warned. "You may want to wait about six months to see how they perform."

Follow Adam Bender on Twitter: @WatchAdam

Follow Computerworld Australia on Twitter: @ComputerworldAU, or take part in the Computerworld conversation on LinkedIn: Computerworld Australia


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Questions linger after Microsoft reports earnings

We still don't know how many Surface RT tablets Microsoft sold to close out 2012. But the Windows reboot and its associated hardware helped the tech giant rake in record revenues of $21.46 billion in its fiscal second quarter which ended Dec. 31.

Microsoft on Thursday reported few surprises in its second-quarter earnings call. The 4 percent slip in profit, from $6.62 billion, or 78 cents per share, down to $6.38 billion, or 76 cents per share, was in line with analyst expectations.

Revenues in the Windows Division jumped 24 percent to $5.9 billion, despite talk of disappointing Surface sales. Microsoft has sold more than 60 million Windows 8 licenses so far (which is unrelated to sales of devices built for Windows 8), which the company says is a faster adoption rate than Windows 7 saw three years ago.

But Microsoft's report left a few questions unanswered.

How well is the Surface selling? The exact number of tablets shipped remains a mystery. During the company's earnings conference call Thursday, Microsoft chief financial officer Peter Klein said the Windows Division saw a 40 percent increase in non-OEM revenue on sales of Windows 8 and Surface RT.

The Surface RT tablet, the company's first piece of hardware, will see an expanded rollout this year as it hits additional retail outlets and rolls out to 14 additional countries. So far, the tablet has only been available at Microsoft's own stores and in select locations.

"Demand exceeded the limited assortment of touch devices available," Klein said.

The company is clearly committed to the idea that Surface offers the best use of Windows 8's touch capabilities; in the third quarter, Microsoft will focus on increasing production and distribution, Klein said.

The Surface Pro joins the rollout of Windows RT-powered hardware next month.

The more powerful version of the tablet, the Surface Pro, also rolls out this quarter, with a February 9 launch date.

Is Windows Phone 8 changing the mobile landscape? Not yet, though Microsoft has high hopes for its new mobile OS, which also launched in the second quarter. Klein said sales of Windows phones were four times higher than they were in the same quarter last year. Again, though, Microsoft shied away from providing specific numbers.

Microsoft's Entertainment and Devices Division, which includes the Xbox and Windows Phone 8, saw revenue slip by 11 percent to $3.8 billion. Adjusted for video game deferral revenue, or when players have rights to buy content in the future, that revenue drop was only 2 percent.

Is enterprise where it's at? It certainly seems so. Microsoft reported a 9 percent revenue increase in the Server & Tools division, helped by the launch of SQL Server 2012 and Windows Server 2012. Klein said double-digit increases in multi-year software licensing agreements with businesses contributed to the record revenues last quarter.

But many of those businesses are upgrading from Windows XP to Windows 7, not to Windows 8. So the question remains: Are people buying Microsoft's "reimagining" of the future, as Klein and company CEO Steve Ballmer have often called it?

"Windows 8 is a big, bold, reimagining of Windows across the whole ecosystem," Klein said. "This [quarter] was the start of that process."


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Windows Phone triples U.K. market share in a year

Written By Unknown on Kamis, 24 Januari 2013 | 16.01

Microsoft's Windows Phone is still lagging a long way behind Android and iOS in terms of market share, but new figures indicate that the mobile operating system has experienced strong European growth over the last year, particularly in Britain and Italy.

The figures from research firm Kantar Worldpanel Comtech show that Windows Phone has almost tripled its market share in the UK, rising from 2.2 percent to 5.9 percent in the last twelve months.

This growth appears to have come mainly at the expense of RIM's BlackBerry platform, whose market share fell from 16 percent to 6.4 percent during the same period. Symbian's share also fell from 3 to 0.7 percent and iOS fell from 34.1 to 32.4 percent, while Android grew from 60.7 to 66.6 percent.

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Overall, in the EU5 (Britain, Germany, France, Spain, Italy), Windows Phone's market share grew by 2.8 percent, and in Italy shares hit a very respectable 13.9 percent – up from just 2.8 percent a year ago.

"It has been far slower than Microsoft would have liked, but Windows Phone is now starting to gain respectable shares in a number of key European countries," said Dominic Sunnebo, global consumer insight director at Kantar Worldpanel ComTech.

"However, its performance in the Chinese and US markets remains underwhelming. As the two largest smartphone markets in the world, these remain key challenges for Microsoft to overcome during 2013."

The research also found that, among the handset manufacturers, Samsung has held onto the number one spot in Britain, claiming 35 percent of smartphone sales, although Apple is now biting at its heels with 32 percent.

Nokia is experiencing something of a turnaround in Britain with its smartphone sales share at 6.2 percent and actual sales growing by over 50 percent compared with last year.

Meanwhile, BlackBerry continues to find trading tough in the run up to the BlackBerry 10 release; however, its 9320 handset gave it a boost over Christmas with two-thirds bought as a gifts.

Smartphone penetration in the UK hit 61 percent in the latest period; 82 percent of all mobile phone sales over the past 12 weeks were smartphones.


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White House announces 'National Day of Civic Hacking'

It's not unusual for free and open source software projects to enlist the help of their fans and supporters in debugging and other efforts to make the software better.


What's less common is for major national governments to do the same thing.

Sure enough, though, the White House Office of Science Technology and Policy on Tuesday announced  the National Day of Civic Hacking on June 1 and 2, calling it "an opportunity for software developers, technologists, and entrepreneurs to unleash their can-do American spirit by collaboratively harnessing publicly-released data and code to create innovative solutions for problems that affect Americans."

NASA challenges

Civic hacking communities have existed for some time already, of course, but this summer's event will be the first time local developers from across the nation unite for this shared purpose, the White House said.

A coalition of organizations, companies, and government agencies have banded together in support of it and will host activities across the country that invite anyone to become part of the civic hacker community, regardless of their skills.

The event is taking place in conjunction with Random Hacks of Kindness and Code for America's Brigade meetings, and is being modeled after the Innovation Endeavors'  Super Happy Block Party.

Federal agencies including NASA, the Census Bureau, and the Department of Labor are offering specific challenges for hackers during the event.

'An ecosystem for change'

"This is an opportunity for citizens in every town and city across the nation to roll up their sleeves, get involved, and work together to improve our society by cultivating an ecosystem for innovation and change," the White House announcement explains.

Activities are now being planned in cities including Austin, Texas; Bend, Ore.; Boston; Chicago; Denver; Detroit; Palo Alto, Calif.; Portland, Maine; New York City; Philadelphia; San Diego; San Francisco; and Seattle.

Participants can help by planning an event, supporting an event, or contributing data, code, or other resources.

Ready to do your bit? More info is available on the Hack for Change site.


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Review: Epson Expression Photo XP-850 Small-in-One Printer

The Epson Expression Photo XP-850 Small-in-One Printer's talents may lean toward photos, but along with the superior image quality, it's also a full-featured, fairly fast color inkjet multifunction (MFP) with automatic duplex printing and scanning. Its $300 price (as of 01/22/2013) is steep, but it includes other premium features, like CD/DVD printing.

The Expression Photo XP-850 is generally a joy to use. Setup is easy, and the touchscreen and contextually lit buttons, plus nicely thought-out menus, make operation simple. The software is the current standard Epson bundle that includes the company's venerable Epson Scan, as well as Abbyy FineReader 9.5 Sprint for OCR chores. There's also mobile printing via e-mail and Wi-Fi. By 'generally a joy' we mean that one of these first days, Epson needs to fix a long-standing push-scan issue. This is at least our third printer from the company that has required either tweaking the Windows firewall, or waiting for a number of minutes, before PCs on the network will show up as scan destinations. No other vendor's printers suffer this issue.

Paper and media handling are top-notch for small volumes. Duplex printing is automatic, and augmenting the 100-sheet main paper cassette and 20-sheet photo cassette is a rear, single-sheet vertical feed that allows straight-path (no bending) photo printing. The automatic document feeder (ADF) holds 30 sheets and supports automatic two-sided scanning. The scanning platen itself is letter/A4-sized, and the lid telescopes a small distance to accommodate magazine-thick media. Optical media may be on its way out for some, but on the bottom of the Expression Photo XP-850, you'll find a removable adapter for feeding printable CD or DVD media. The adapter inserts into a slot above the 50-sheet output tray.

Before we quote speeds, note that upping the photo-printing setting from 'Photo' to 'Best Photo' slows output to a glacial pace, with little improvement in quality. At default settings, monochrome text and graphic pages print at an aggregate 7.1 pages per minute (ppm) on the PC and 6.8 ppm on the Mac—average times. Snapshot-sized (4-by-6-inch) photos print at above-average speeds of 4.6 ppm to plain paper and 1.6 ppm to glossy paper. A full-page color photo prints at about 0.4 ppm--a shade slower than average.

The Expression Photo XP-850 uses a six-ink system that adds light magenta and light cyan to the usual cyan, magenta, yellow, and black. While the individual ink costs are slightly cheaper than average overall, the cost potential is higher when you have six inks in play rather than four. The standard-capacity $10.99/240-page black and $10.99/360-page colors are 4.6 cents per page and 3 cents per page, per color, respectively. The high-capacity $19.99 black lasts for 500 pages and the $16.99 color cartridges, 740 pages, which work out to 4 cents per page and 2.3 cents per page per color.

Melissa RiofrioThe Epson Expression Photo XP-850's inks are reasonably priced. Because there are six of them, however, your page might end up costing a bit more in the end.

While you pay a lot for the ink, it's worth it when you print photos. The color palette is generally cool, but the Expression XP-850's glossy prints show very nice detail and overall color accuracy. Most users will like what they see. Text printed on plain paper is sharp, but the dye-based ink means that larger fonts and black areas tend more towards dark-gray. The weakest aspect of the Expression XP-850's output is color graphics printed on plain paper, which look washed-out.

The Epson Expression Photo XP-850 would work well as a photo printer that will occasionally double as an office MFP. It's at least one feature better than the Canon Pixma MG8220 Wireless Inkjet Photo All-In-One, which lacks an ADF. The HP Photosmart 7520 e-All-in-One Printer is a comparable and worthy alternative with a lower price tag.


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Mega: Hands-on with the encrypted cloud storage service

Written By Unknown on Selasa, 22 Januari 2013 | 16.01

Get ready for Mega from the flamboyant Kim Dotcom. The Internet entrepreneur and accused digital outlaw recently launched Mega (short for Mega Encrypted Global Access), a new file storage and sharing service that features 50GB of free storage. Mega is just one component of what Dotcom and his team hope will be a suite of online encrypted services from Mega Ltd. including email, voice calling, instant messaging, and video streaming.

For now, Mega is a Web-based end-to-end encryption file storage service that encrypts your files in the browser before uploading them to Mega's servers. You can also use Mega to share files with others, and add other Mega users to your contact list for easy drag-and-drop sharing.

I've been playing around with Mega recently, and the service is pretty slick. However, it also appears that a few lingering bugs hamper overall functionality of the service.  Let's take a look.

Mega browser

megaMega's Browser instructions (click to enlarge).

Mega says it "pushes the browser to its limits" thanks to the technology it uses for encryption and file transfers. All the current versions of the major browsers (IE, Safari, Firefox, Chrome, and Opera) are supposed to be compatible. The problem is all except one work very poorly.

Use of Internet Explorer 10, for example, has a bug that forces you to close and reopen your Mega tab every hundred megabytes or so worth of uploads, according to Mega. For best results use Google Chrome; Mega says its only deficiency is lower-grade text rendering. Chrome also has the added advantage of allowing you to upload folders with one drag-and-drop action.

Getting started

megaMega's start screen (click to enlarge).

To get started, click "Register" at the top right-hand side of the page. Then enter your name, email address, and a password. Make sure you use a particularly strong password with sufficient length and random characters, since your password also serves as the master encryption key for your account.

You will then have to click on a confirmation link you receive via email before you can start using the service.

megaMega creates an encryption key for file management.

Once you confirm and sign in, Mega will create a 2048-bit RSA public/private key pair for the service's encryption features.

megaManage files at the dashboard (click to enlarge).

After that's done, you will arrive at your file manager dashboard where you can upload and download files, share public links to files, and share files with other Mega users. At the far right is a drop-down menu aptly titled "Menu" that contains links to Mega's blog, pricing for Pro accounts, help, terms of service, and other informational links. On the left side is the Cloud Drive showing all your uploaded files, and navigation links to the trash bin, your inbox, and contacts.

To add a contact, just click on the contacts section and click "Add contact" at the top of the page. Once the person signs up for Mega they will be automatically added to your contacts list. One of the handier features in Mega is that you can share files with other Mega users by dragging and dropping a file to their name in your contacts section. Mega plans to add Instant Messaging to the service so you will be able to do more than just send and receive files with your contacts.

If someone shares a file with you, it will pop up as a notification in your Mega inbox. You can then decide what to do with the file.

Adding files from your desktop is a pretty straightforward process. You can either drag and drop files right onto your file manager, or you can click the upload buttons at the top of your cloud drive. File uploads are monitored in the lower half of the screen. In my tests, file uploads were a little slow, possibly because of the encryption process, and it took a few minutes before the file was listed on my cloud drive even after the upload was complete. Complete folder uploads are also available and are added the same way files are, but only Chrome users can add folders from their desktop.

megaFile management functions (click to enlarge).

Right-clicking a file shows you several menu items, including the capability to download a file; get a link; rename a file; move, copy, remove, and reload. You can also drag and drop your files into new folders.

Similar to Windows Explorer, you can expand folders and subfolders in the left-hand column and then drop files directly into subdirectories.

megaFile-sharing options (click to enlarge).

You can share a file with anyone, regardless whether they have a Mega account. To share a file, you either right-click on the file and select "Get link," or you can click the link icon to the far right of the file name.

Either method will open a window that shows you an extremely long link to your file that includes a secret key (a string of numbers and letters).

Mega URLs are composed like so: https://mega.co.nz/#!FileAddress!SecretKey.

For someone to access this file, they will need both the file's URL and the key. Mega warns that if the secret key is exposed, anyone can access and download your file. If you are concerned about keeping your files private, Mega suggests you should not share the key through insecure channels such as plain email.

To hide the file key, just uncheck the "File key" checkbox and then copy the file's URL to the clipboard. You can then send the link to the file via email, and then send the key in an encrypted email or IM session.

Because files and folders are encrypted on Mega's servers, the site cannot supply thumbnail previews of images or video, offers no online streaming component for video and audio files.

Folders

Sharing a folder is a little different from sharing a single file, and you can share folders only with other Mega users. If you share a folder with someone who is not a Mega user, they must sign up for an account in order to access it.

megaFolder-sharing options (click to enlarge).

To get started, right-click the folder and select "Sharing." You will then get a pop-up window where you can see a list of users with whom you have already shared the folder, and can add new users. To add someone, enter their email address and choose the level of access you want them to have, which ranges from read-only, read & write, or full access.

Once a folder is shared, the folder icon in your main file manager dashboard will have a hand underneath it to indicate it is a shared folder.

Folders that others have shared with you will appear in a list under your friend's name in the contacts section. Let's say Tom@gmail.com shares a file with you. The shared folder will appear under Tom's email address in your contacts section where you can, depending on your level of access, add or delete files. This could be a great feature for group collaboration on a set of files, or to share a photo folder with family and friends, but sharing is where Mega starts running into problems.

Bugs, bugs, and more bugs

I came across many bugs during my Mega tests even while using Chrome. The most obvious problem is an SSL encryption error that denies access to the site or specific pages in the site. A few times I couldn't even open the site's help page because of the SSL issue. You can usually fix the problem by refreshing the page once or several times, but in some cases you may have to close the page and start over.

File sharing is also problematic. Sending files and folders to others is no problem, but once someone receives the file, they may have problems accessing them. I shared a file with one of my dummy accounts for testing as well as to a colleague's account. In both cases the file was "Temporarily unavailable" for download, even up to an hour after the file landed in the other Mega account.

Kim Dotcom at the Mega introductionHarley Ogier /PCWorld New ZealandKim Dotcom at the Mega introduction.

Mega also says that you can stop and restart interrupted uploads and downloads as long as you don't close your current browser tab. In my tests, this didn't appear to the case. Interrupted uploads and downloads are supposed to restart automatically. But when I pulled the wired connection out of my PC and switched to Wi-Fi, that didn't happen. The uploads just stalled and I eventually had to cancel them and restart.

Perhaps the worst bug of all, however, is one that prevents you from signing in to Mega. This caused me to lose access to a dummy account. Even though I entered the password correctly, Mega kept telling me there was a log-in error. I thought I might have forgotten my password, until a colleague said the same thing happened to him. That's a big problem, since Mega does not have an account recovery process.

Part of Mega's setup is that all encryption takes place in the browser and the company doesn't have access to your encryption keys, preventing them from knowing the content of your files. So if you lose access to your account by forgetting your password, which is also your master key, you're out of luck.

Finally, a warning

If you decide to use Mega, whatever you do, do not, I repeat, do not rely on Mega as the sole location for any of your files. You absolutely must have backups on your local hard drive, on another cloud service, on a thumb drive, on Gmail, anywhere. The reasons for this should be obvious for anyone who keeps up with tech news, but in case you're new here, let me spell it out for you.

Kim Dotcom and his Mega co-founders are also the brains behind MegaUpload, which was shut down by U.S. authorities last January. Dotcom and his cohorts were charged with criminal copyright offenses, among other charges, and are currently facing extradition from New Zealand to the United States. MegaUpload, and its complementary services such as Megavideo, were widely seen as havens for pirated content.

It's not clear if Mega will share the same fate as MegaUpload, but it's pretty much a given that law enforcement will be watching Mega very closely. If, one day, Mega is shut down in a similar manner to MegaUpload, all your files could be gone for good. Mega may be a useful service, but there is no way you can trust it as the sole repository of your files on a long-term basis.

Mega introductionHarley Ogier /PCWorld New ZealandDecorations at Mega's launch.

Bottom line

Overall, Mega could be a very good service one day; however, several bugs need to be fixed and, considering Kim Dotcom's infamous reputation, you would be crazy not to have copies of your Mega files stored elsewhere.

For now, I would not recommend paying for Pro accounts until some of the service's problems are solved. Once they are, however, you can purchase three different Pro accounts. Pro I provides 500GB of storage for $10 per month. Pro II includes 2TB of storage for $20 per month, and Pro III offers 4TB storage for $30 per month.

Dotcom and his friends have big plans for Mega. Feature enhancements slated for the coming months include mobile apps for multiple platforms; calendar, word processing, and spreadsheet Web applications; instant messaging; and desktop file mounts for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. Let's just hope the team fixes Mega's bugs before adding new stuff.


16.01 | 0 komentar | Read More

Review: Ashisoft Duplicate Finder can get rid of duplicate files, if you help it

Finding and removing duplicate files is a great way to organize your hard drive and free up some space. You can make this process easier with a utility that scans your entire hard drive to find these duplicate files. Ashisoft Duplicate Finder is one option you can try, and with its $30 price tag, sits comfortably between the free Auslogics Duplicate File Finder and the $40 Easy Duplicate Finder by WebMinds.

Ashisoft Duplicate Finder is free to download, and you can use it for free indefinitely if you don't mind giving up most of its features and making do with basic scanning abilities. In the $30 Pro version, you'll find filtering abilities, more scanning options, advanced marking of duplicates, the ability to protect important folders, and more. The program comes with four scanning options: Byte by Byte, Same File Names, Music Duplicates, and Non-Duplicate Unique Files. According to the program's own manual, Byte by Byte should be your go-to option if you really want to get rid of those duplicates.

The interface is easy to use, but not the most intuitive. To add a folder to scan, click on the "Add Path" button. You can add any folder from your hard drive, and from the filters tab, choose to include or exclude subfolders. While the folder display acts like a regular text editor, you can't actually edit it manually, but you can paste a path using a dedicated button. To delete a path, you need to highlight it with your mouse or place the mouse cursor next to it, and click the "Remove" button.

The Ashisoft Duplicate Finder interface is easy to use, with a useful preview panel.

When put to the test, Ashisoft Duplicate Finder scanned my entire hard drive in a matter of seconds, and came up with only 67 duplicate files, making a total of around 13MB. Compared to the 2GB found by the Auslogics product and the 6GB found by the WebMinds product on the very same hard drive, this is not very impressive. However, when I pointed the program to my photos folder manually, it managed to find 750MB of duplicates, despite this folder being located withinthe previously scanned drive.

Despite its confused showing when it comes to duplicate finding, Ashisoft Duplicate Finder does include several very useful features. To start, you can fine-tune your scan to look for files with customized name similarity, same file size, same date, same extension, etc. When it comes to music, you can have the program bore into your music files to find title, artist and album similarities. You can easily set up filters and exclude whole folders, and even mark folders as important so you don't delete files from within by accident.

When scanning your results, the preview panel can come in very handy. If it's images or music files you're looking at, Ashisoft Duplicate Finder will show a preview of the duplicates side by side, helping you decide which one to get rid of. With music, you can double-click the preview to automatically launch your default music player and listen to the song in question. If you need some help deciding about your duplicates, you can use the Easy Marking feature, which can help you automatically mark all duplicates or all duplicates in a certain folder, or the Advanced Marking feature which automatically marks all older (or newer) files, smaller (or bigger) files or files with shorter (or longer) names.

The advanced marking feature offers convenient automatic marking of duplicates.

Compared to similar programs, Ashisoft Duplicate Finder's interface feels relatively modern and easy to understand. It's abundant with useful features, and once your duplicates are found, can help you delete them, move them, copy them to another folder or rename them. The only serious downside is the program's inability to properly scan subfolders, forcing you to manually add specific folders in order to find all duplicates, but there is a chance this bug is unique to my system. The safest option is to try the free option first and make sure it does a good job of scanning your hard drive.

Note: The Download button on the Product Information page will download the software to your system. The vendor has stated that the product name will change to "Duplicate File Finder" in the near future; the new name is already reflected at the vendor site, though not in the software itself.


16.01 | 0 komentar | Read More

Meet PicUntu, a lightweight Linux designed for tiny PCs

Anyone who's watched the PC industry at all over the past year or so has surely noticed the flood of tiny, Linux-powered PCs that have been flooding the market.

raspberry pi

The Raspberry Pi is certainly the best-known example of this growing new class, but it's by no means the only one, accompanied as it has been by the likes of the MK802, the Cotton Candy, the UG802, the Mele A1000, and virtually countless others.

While there certainly are exceptions—perhaps most notably, the $160 CuBox Pro—most of these devices include just 1GB RAM. Typically, they also run Linux-based Android and/or Ubuntu Linux.

Now, however, there's PicUntu, a Linux distribution tailored specifically to the deliberately minimal specs of these diminutive devices.

'No more than 170 MB'

"We are happy to announce the world's first complete Linux distribution for the RK3066," wrote the PicUntu team in a recent blog post, referring to the chip that powers the Android mini-PC by the same name as well as numerous other tiny devices.

"Starting with a minimal download of no more than 170 MB, you can use menus and simple selections to configure your system to be a full fledged system," the project team added.

Potential applications for the resulting device include a company Web server, corporate mail server, central database server, content manager, "developer's paradise," or power GUI desktop, it says, with optional extras available such as Flash, graphics programs, and Office suite clones.

A 'smooth' experience

Based on Ubuntu 12.10 "Quantal Quetzal," PicUntu 0.9 release candidate 2.2 is the latest version of the operating system available, and—as of last week—it's available as a free download with numerous bug fixes over previous versions.

For Linux users, it requires only a 23 KB download, yet it can run most complex computer tasks at no more than 10W of power. Performance, in fact, nears that of i3-based laptops, the company says. Configuration, meanwhile, is entirely menu-driven.

PicUntu has also been tested on the MK808 and UG802 devices, and "we confirm, this time your experience with this will be much smoother," the project team says.

Do you have an RK3066-based tiny device? If so, please post your reactions in the comments if you decide to try out this new OS.


16.00 | 0 komentar | Read More
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