Written By Unknown on Selasa, 04 Desember 2012 | 16.00
If you were among the many Linux fans whose interest was piqued by the PengPod "true Linux" tablet and mini PC line announced a few weeks ago, then this past weekend brought some good news for you.
Specifically, the project—which last month was still seeking crowdfunding on Indiegogo—surpassed its funding goal of $49,000, meaning it can now take the next step into production.
"We are now taking pre-orders directly through our site after a successful Indiegogo crowdfunding effort in which we raised more than $72,000," explains the website for the project, which is the brainchild of Peacock Imports.
The Allwinner A10
To recap, there are currently three devices in the PengPod line: both 7- and 10-inch tablet models as well as a mini PC. All of them feature the Allwinner A10 system on a chip.
The 7-inch tablet, called the PengPod700, features a capacitive touch screen, 1GB RAM, 8GB flash, speakers, and a front-facing camera. Pricing is $120.
The $185 PengPod1000, meanwhile, is the 10-inch version and comes with a higher-resolution display, while the $85 PengStick is a 3.5-inch mini PC similar to the MK802 that comes with 1GB of RAM and 4GB flash storage.
Ubuntu-based Linaro
All three devices can run both Android 4.0 and Linux, including a dual-booting option through which Linux runs from a bootable SD card. Buyers can add $5 to have Linux installed on the on-board flash; an 8GB Linux SD card for dual booting costs an extra $8.
Ubuntu-based Linaro is the standard Linux distribution offered with the device, but "I also plan to offer an openSUSE image for download for those that want to try Plasma or KDE," Peacock Imports' Neal Peacock explains in a forum on the site.
The video below demonstrates the dual-booting capability in action.
Interested in picking up one of these devices for yourself? They're now available for preorder on the PengPod site, with shipment expected early next year.
Directory Opus is an extremely powerful and flexible Explorer replacement. Directory Opus Light is slightly less powerful and flexible, but still really good. I've had some bad experiences with "Light" versions of software that are so limited as to be nothing more than teaser ads for their higher-powered siblings. Directory Opus Light handily avoids this trap, perhaps because it's not a free program (at $30 AUD, it is less than half the cost of the Pro version, which costs $70 AUD), and thus needs to be worth paying for. Short answer: It is.
The installer includes both Light and Standard versions, and users can freely flip between them during the trial. To compare the feature differences, see our review of Directory Opus Standard 10.
Directory Opus Light creates a lister, or file/directory viewer. This lister can be configured in a variety of ways: single pane, dual pane, directory tree, dual directory tree, viewer pane, and so on. You can save favorite configurations and switched the lister to them at any time. Each file pane can contain multiple tabs, each tab showing a folder. Files can be dragged from tab to tab to copy them, and each tab can be sorted or viewed independently
In addition to this, each tab has a filter option, so that you can quickly reduce the files shown to only those matching a criteria, such as "*.pdf". The filter toolbar can be shown or hidden with a single key press.
Directory Opus Light includes many advanced features, such as file viewers and complex search options.
Searching in Directory Opus Light can use the Windows Search system (by typing in the location bar), or the more advanced search engine, which involves bringing up the "Find Panel". This allows the user to specify individual directories to search in, whether or not to include subfolders, to look in archive files, or to look for text in files instead of file names.
Other Directory Opus Light features include a built-in archiver, a file viewer that supports many formats (movie, image, document, and other), high levels of graphic customization (colors, highlighting, etc.), and a "Favorites" menu for easy access to commonly-used folder.
I don't find much to complain about in Directory Opus Light. It lacks the ability to open up multiple viewer windows, something a longtime Explorer user might want, although the multi-pane, multi-tab interface makes this mostly unnecessary. If you need the multiple viewer windows, you'll need to upgrade to Standard. That said, even the Light program has a lot of features and options, which presents something of a learning curve. The thirty-day (sixty if you ask for an extension) trial provides more than enough time to get comfortable with the program, and to prove that it's worth the cost.
Those who just launch programs from the toolbar and always accept all the defaults for file storage, and who barely use File Explorer, might not gain anything from Directory Opus Light. Anyone else should at least download the trial.
Note: The "Try it for free" button on the Product Information page takes you to the vendor's site, where you can download the latest version of the software appropriate to your system. It is available in 32-bit and 64-bit editions.
Written By Unknown on Senin, 03 Desember 2012 | 16.00
PCWorldSecurity firms warn of malware that exploits Windows AutoRun'The Human Face of Big Data' shows how tech changes livesArchify free service stalks your Web travels to build archivesNetflix CEO likens cloud computing to early coding eraInternet meeting spurs controversyMicrosoft may bring music player to SkyDrive, codes revealPower laptops, some HDTVs are best buys for DecemberGoogle buys BufferBox, a parcel storage service for shoppersSurface with Windows 8 Pro: what we still don't knowFacebook rolls out photo sync to Android and iPhone users
http://www.pcworld.com en-us Mon, 03 Dec 2012 00:48:59 -0800 Mon, 03 Dec 2012 00:48:59 -0800
Antivirus vendors are warning customers of a spreading malware that can infect computers through a well-known bug in the Windows AutoRun software used to automatically launch programs on a DVD or USB device.
The significant increase in infection is curious because Windows 7 and Windows 8 PCs will not launch autorun.inf files, and Microsoft has released two patches for older systems. Therefore, security experts believe infections are happening through a combination of unpatched computers, shared folders and files, and social media.
Someone inserting a USB drive or memory stick carrying the malware can infect unpatched PCs. On other systems, an infection can occur once the malware travels to a network share and someone clicks on an infected file or folder. Trend Micro reported that malware was also spreading on Facebook.
Other vendors tracking the malware include McAfee, Symantec, and Sophos. While it is interesting that cybercriminals are still exploiting a four-year-old AutoRun bug, Sophos says most corporate PCs are being infected through network sharing.
To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
]]> http://www.csoonline.com/article/722724/Security_firms_warn_of_spreading_Windows_AutoRun_malware Sun, 02 Dec 2012 12:05:00 -0800
"The Human Face of Big Data" is an ambitious and attractive new large-format book that aims to give readers, through photography and short articles, a glimpse of how powerful new data processing capabilities are changing people's lives.
Rick Smolan
Author Rick Smolan is a photographer who gained fame for his "Day in the Life" series, which included an edition focused on the Internet in 1996, "24 Hours in Cyberspace." Another collection, "America at Home," is available as an app from iEnvision. He says that his latest work is based on the premise that "our planet is beginning to develop a nervous system."
The book is accompanied by an iPad app that debuts Tuesday—the same day that Smolan is sending a copy of the book to 10,000 people whom he considers the world's most influential. He's hoping to start a "global conversation about the tools and technologies" that he and others think will have an even greater impact than the Internet.
Among the stories highlighted in the book, and illustrated by some of the 100 photojournalists who contributed their work, are the following:
To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
]]> http://www.pcworld.com/article/2017827/the-human-face-of-big-data-shows-how-tech-changes-lives.html Sun, 02 Dec 2012 11:15:00 -0800
Archify is a free Web service that you might want to have stalking you.
Once you set up an account with the service, it will automatically catalog, index, and capture web pages that you travel to and allow you to search through them at any time.
Archify has been in private beta since February, but last week it opened its doors to the public.
Personal stalker
To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
]]> http://www.pcworld.com/article/2017843/archify-free-service-stalks-your-web-travels-to-build-archives.html Sun, 02 Dec 2012 10:20:00 -0800
Reed Hastings, CEO of video streaming company Netflix, says that the current state of cloud computing is akin to the era before compilers took some of the heavy lifting away from coding.
Netflix started its move to Amazon's cloud in late 2009, and according to Hastings, who addressed the recent AWS re:Invent customer conference in Las Vegas, 95 percent of the company's computation and storage is provided by Amazon Web Services.
CEO Reed Hastings with relics from Netflix's early days, before streaming.
"We've got some remaining low value systems that we haven't yet converted but we hope by the end of next year to be the largest business in the world that's 100 percent on AWS outside Amazon retail," Hastings said.
Hastings said that Netflix was ahead of its time when it started to shift to the cloud, but it had little choice due to extraordinary growth. "So streaming at that time in 2008 was about a million hours a month and now it's about a billion hours a month," Hastings said. "So we've had this thousandfold ramp up in computational resources necessary over just four years ... and so we had to take some risks.
To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
]]> http://www.techworld.com.au/article/443251/netflix_ceo_cloud_currently_akin_pre-compiler_era/?fp=16&fpid=1 Sun, 02 Dec 2012 09:33:00 -0800
Internet freedom could be at stake at a secretive meeting of governments that begins Monday in Dubai.
The United Nations International Telecommunication Union will negotiate new international telecom regulations, including Internet issues, at the World Conference on International Telecommunications that runs through Dec. 14.
Many companies, organizations and individuals oppose the meeting because it is a secretive session that involves some countries that oppose a free and open Internet.
According to the Center for Rights, some proposals allow for access to be cut off more easily, threatening privacy, legitimizing monitoring and blocking online traffic. Others seek to impose new fees for accessing content, the group says, adding that there could be consequences for businesses and human rights.
To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
]]> http://www.pcworld.com/article/2017842/internet-meeting-spurs-controversy.html Sun, 02 Dec 2012 08:40:00 -0800
Microsoft may bring a music player feature to its SkyDrive cloud storage service.
That would mean if you have songs saved to SkyDrive you could play them from any browser or mobile device, similar to how Google Play Music or Amazon Cloud Player work.
The website LiveSide found references to a SkyDrive music player in SkyDrive.com codes, as well as related images from an internal testing version of SkyDrive.com.
It's not clear how a SkyDrive music player would relate to Xbox Music, but it's a good bet the two will be integrated.
To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
]]> http://www.pcworld.com/article/2017841/microsoft-may-bring-music-player-to-skydrive-codes-reveal.html Sun, 02 Dec 2012 07:24:00 -0800
April may be the cruelest month for the soul, but December can be the cruelest for electronics shoppers. Many of the best electronics deals occur during the Black Friday-Cyber Monday weekend in November. Nevertheless, electronics bargains continue to appear as Christmas and the New Year approach.
"If you didn't jump on the electronics deals during Black Friday weekend, then at this point, you might as well wait until January and February to buy a digital camera, TV, or other device," advises bargain hunter site DealNews Its reasoning? "The Consumer Electronics Show in January is the official launch for many 2013 models, which means that all the goods from 2012 will begin to see a round of discounts."
Still, DealNews points to some worthwhile prices on laptops and HDTVs this month.
Laptop deals continue
To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
]]> http://www.pcworld.com/article/2017825/power-laptops-some-hdtvs-are-best-buys-for-december.html Sat, 01 Dec 2012 12:19:00 -0800
Google has bought some more storage, but not the digital kind. The company has acquired BufferBox, a Canadian startup that offers temporary storage lockers where people can receive online purchases when they're not at home.
BufferBox is based in Waterloo, Ontario, and has a network of storage lockers in the area around Toronto. Users sign up for the service and then provide a BufferBox shipping address to online retailers.
Parcels get delivered to the lockers, and users retrieve them with an access code sent via email. The locker can then be used for someone else.
The purchase could help Google expand its e-commerce business, though rivals including Amazon.com already have similar services.
To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
]]> http://www.pcworld.com/article/2017826/google-buys-bufferbox-a-parcel-storage-service-for-shoppers.html Sat, 01 Dec 2012 11:17:00 -0800
Microsoft last week answered more questions about its upcoming Surface with Windows 8 Pro (Surface Pro) tablet, but also left out a few essential details as we approach the device's January debut.
We know the Surface Pro will be available with a storage choice of 64GB (for $900) and 128GB ($1000). Microsoft's tablet will come loaded with an Ivy Bridge Core i5 processor, 10.6-inch screen with 1920 by 1080 resolution, 4GB RAM, front- and rear-facing cameras, one USB 3.0 slot, a microSDXC card slot, a miniDisplayPort, 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi support, Bluetooth 4.0, and, of course, Windows 8 Pro.
A free digital pen comes with your Surface Pro, but an external keyboard such as the Touch Cover or Type Cover will cost extra, as with the Surface RT. The new tablet also lacks GPS and cellular connectivity.
If you don't mind the price, the Surface Pro sounds like it could be a good tablet; but a number of questions remain.
To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
]]> http://www.pcworld.com/article/2017824/surface-with-windows-8-pro-what-we-still-dont-know.html Sat, 01 Dec 2012 10:35:00 -0800
Facebook has broadly launched a feature it began testing earlier this year that automatically syncs photos you take on your mobile phone to a private album on the social network where you can later choose to share them if you want.
If you have the latest Facebook app for Android or iPhone, you'll now see a notification about photo sync when you visit your timeline using your handset.
If you turn photo sync on, Facebook will upload all the photos you have saved on your phone, as well as any future shots you take — up to 2 GB worth of images. To use photo sync on an iPhone, you need to be running iOS 6.
You can also turn on photo sync from your computer by going to your timeline>Photos>Synced From Phone.
To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
]]> http://www.pcworld.com/article/2017823/facebook-rolls-out-photo-sync-to-android-and-iphone-users.html Sat, 01 Dec 2012 09:38:00 -0800
PCWorldSecurity firms warn of malware that exploits Windows AutoRun'The Human Face of Big Data' shows how tech changes livesArchify free service stalks your Web travels to build archivesNetflix CEO likens cloud computing to early coding eraInternet meeting spurs controversyMicrosoft may bring music player to SkyDrive, codes revealPower laptops, some HDTVs are best buys for DecemberGoogle buys BufferBox, a parcel storage service for shoppersSurface with Windows 8 Pro: what we still don't knowFacebook rolls out photo sync to Android and iPhone users
http://www.pcworld.com en-us Mon, 03 Dec 2012 00:48:59 -0800 Mon, 03 Dec 2012 00:48:59 -0800
Antivirus vendors are warning customers of a spreading malware that can infect computers through a well-known bug in the Windows AutoRun software used to automatically launch programs on a DVD or USB device.
The significant increase in infection is curious because Windows 7 and Windows 8 PCs will not launch autorun.inf files, and Microsoft has released two patches for older systems. Therefore, security experts believe infections are happening through a combination of unpatched computers, shared folders and files, and social media.
Someone inserting a USB drive or memory stick carrying the malware can infect unpatched PCs. On other systems, an infection can occur once the malware travels to a network share and someone clicks on an infected file or folder. Trend Micro reported that malware was also spreading on Facebook.
Other vendors tracking the malware include McAfee, Symantec, and Sophos. While it is interesting that cybercriminals are still exploiting a four-year-old AutoRun bug, Sophos says most corporate PCs are being infected through network sharing.
To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
]]> http://www.csoonline.com/article/722724/Security_firms_warn_of_spreading_Windows_AutoRun_malware Sun, 02 Dec 2012 12:05:00 -0800
"The Human Face of Big Data" is an ambitious and attractive new large-format book that aims to give readers, through photography and short articles, a glimpse of how powerful new data processing capabilities are changing people's lives.
Rick Smolan
Author Rick Smolan is a photographer who gained fame for his "Day in the Life" series, which included an edition focused on the Internet in 1996, "24 Hours in Cyberspace." Another collection, "America at Home," is available as an app from iEnvision. He says that his latest work is based on the premise that "our planet is beginning to develop a nervous system."
The book is accompanied by an iPad app that debuts Tuesday—the same day that Smolan is sending a copy of the book to 10,000 people whom he considers the world's most influential. He's hoping to start a "global conversation about the tools and technologies" that he and others think will have an even greater impact than the Internet.
Among the stories highlighted in the book, and illustrated by some of the 100 photojournalists who contributed their work, are the following:
To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
]]> http://www.pcworld.com/article/2017827/the-human-face-of-big-data-shows-how-tech-changes-lives.html Sun, 02 Dec 2012 11:15:00 -0800
Archify is a free Web service that you might want to have stalking you.
Once you set up an account with the service, it will automatically catalog, index, and capture web pages that you travel to and allow you to search through them at any time.
Archify has been in private beta since February, but last week it opened its doors to the public.
Personal stalker
To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
]]> http://www.pcworld.com/article/2017843/archify-free-service-stalks-your-web-travels-to-build-archives.html Sun, 02 Dec 2012 10:20:00 -0800
Reed Hastings, CEO of video streaming company Netflix, says that the current state of cloud computing is akin to the era before compilers took some of the heavy lifting away from coding.
Netflix started its move to Amazon's cloud in late 2009, and according to Hastings, who addressed the recent AWS re:Invent customer conference in Las Vegas, 95 percent of the company's computation and storage is provided by Amazon Web Services.
CEO Reed Hastings with relics from Netflix's early days, before streaming.
"We've got some remaining low value systems that we haven't yet converted but we hope by the end of next year to be the largest business in the world that's 100 percent on AWS outside Amazon retail," Hastings said.
Hastings said that Netflix was ahead of its time when it started to shift to the cloud, but it had little choice due to extraordinary growth. "So streaming at that time in 2008 was about a million hours a month and now it's about a billion hours a month," Hastings said. "So we've had this thousandfold ramp up in computational resources necessary over just four years ... and so we had to take some risks.
To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
]]> http://www.techworld.com.au/article/443251/netflix_ceo_cloud_currently_akin_pre-compiler_era/?fp=16&fpid=1 Sun, 02 Dec 2012 09:33:00 -0800
Internet freedom could be at stake at a secretive meeting of governments that begins Monday in Dubai.
The United Nations International Telecommunication Union will negotiate new international telecom regulations, including Internet issues, at the World Conference on International Telecommunications that runs through Dec. 14.
Many companies, organizations and individuals oppose the meeting because it is a secretive session that involves some countries that oppose a free and open Internet.
According to the Center for Rights, some proposals allow for access to be cut off more easily, threatening privacy, legitimizing monitoring and blocking online traffic. Others seek to impose new fees for accessing content, the group says, adding that there could be consequences for businesses and human rights.
To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
]]> http://www.pcworld.com/article/2017842/internet-meeting-spurs-controversy.html Sun, 02 Dec 2012 08:40:00 -0800
Microsoft may bring a music player feature to its SkyDrive cloud storage service.
That would mean if you have songs saved to SkyDrive you could play them from any browser or mobile device, similar to how Google Play Music or Amazon Cloud Player work.
The website LiveSide found references to a SkyDrive music player in SkyDrive.com codes, as well as related images from an internal testing version of SkyDrive.com.
It's not clear how a SkyDrive music player would relate to Xbox Music, but it's a good bet the two will be integrated.
To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
]]> http://www.pcworld.com/article/2017841/microsoft-may-bring-music-player-to-skydrive-codes-reveal.html Sun, 02 Dec 2012 07:24:00 -0800
April may be the cruelest month for the soul, but December can be the cruelest for electronics shoppers. Many of the best electronics deals occur during the Black Friday-Cyber Monday weekend in November. Nevertheless, electronics bargains continue to appear as Christmas and the New Year approach.
"If you didn't jump on the electronics deals during Black Friday weekend, then at this point, you might as well wait until January and February to buy a digital camera, TV, or other device," advises bargain hunter site DealNews Its reasoning? "The Consumer Electronics Show in January is the official launch for many 2013 models, which means that all the goods from 2012 will begin to see a round of discounts."
Still, DealNews points to some worthwhile prices on laptops and HDTVs this month.
Laptop deals continue
To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
]]> http://www.pcworld.com/article/2017825/power-laptops-some-hdtvs-are-best-buys-for-december.html Sat, 01 Dec 2012 12:19:00 -0800
Google has bought some more storage, but not the digital kind. The company has acquired BufferBox, a Canadian startup that offers temporary storage lockers where people can receive online purchases when they're not at home.
BufferBox is based in Waterloo, Ontario, and has a network of storage lockers in the area around Toronto. Users sign up for the service and then provide a BufferBox shipping address to online retailers.
Parcels get delivered to the lockers, and users retrieve them with an access code sent via email. The locker can then be used for someone else.
The purchase could help Google expand its e-commerce business, though rivals including Amazon.com already have similar services.
To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
]]> http://www.pcworld.com/article/2017826/google-buys-bufferbox-a-parcel-storage-service-for-shoppers.html Sat, 01 Dec 2012 11:17:00 -0800
Microsoft last week answered more questions about its upcoming Surface with Windows 8 Pro (Surface Pro) tablet, but also left out a few essential details as we approach the device's January debut.
We know the Surface Pro will be available with a storage choice of 64GB (for $900) and 128GB ($1000). Microsoft's tablet will come loaded with an Ivy Bridge Core i5 processor, 10.6-inch screen with 1920 by 1080 resolution, 4GB RAM, front- and rear-facing cameras, one USB 3.0 slot, a microSDXC card slot, a miniDisplayPort, 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi support, Bluetooth 4.0, and, of course, Windows 8 Pro.
A free digital pen comes with your Surface Pro, but an external keyboard such as the Touch Cover or Type Cover will cost extra, as with the Surface RT. The new tablet also lacks GPS and cellular connectivity.
If you don't mind the price, the Surface Pro sounds like it could be a good tablet; but a number of questions remain.
To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
]]> http://www.pcworld.com/article/2017824/surface-with-windows-8-pro-what-we-still-dont-know.html Sat, 01 Dec 2012 10:35:00 -0800
Facebook has broadly launched a feature it began testing earlier this year that automatically syncs photos you take on your mobile phone to a private album on the social network where you can later choose to share them if you want.
If you have the latest Facebook app for Android or iPhone, you'll now see a notification about photo sync when you visit your timeline using your handset.
If you turn photo sync on, Facebook will upload all the photos you have saved on your phone, as well as any future shots you take — up to 2 GB worth of images. To use photo sync on an iPhone, you need to be running iOS 6.
You can also turn on photo sync from your computer by going to your timeline>Photos>Synced From Phone.
To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
]]> http://www.pcworld.com/article/2017823/facebook-rolls-out-photo-sync-to-android-and-iphone-users.html Sat, 01 Dec 2012 09:38:00 -0800
Written By Unknown on Minggu, 02 Desember 2012 | 16.00
Microsoft last week answered more questions about its upcoming Surface with Windows 8 Pro (Surface Pro) tablet, but also left out a few essential details as we approach the device's January debut.
We know the Surface Pro will be available with a storage choice of 64GB (for $900) and 128GB ($1000). Microsoft's tablet will come loaded with an Ivy Bridge Core i5 processor, 10.6-inch screen with 1920 by 1080 resolution, 4GB RAM, front- and rear-facing cameras, one USB 3.0 slot, a microSDXC card slot, a miniDisplayPort, 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi support, Bluetooth 4.0, and, of course, Windows 8 Pro.
A free digital pen comes with your Surface Pro, but an external keyboard such as the Touch Cover or Type Cover will cost extra, as with the Surface RT. The new tablet also lacks GPS and cellular connectivity.
If you don't mind the price, the Surface Pro sounds like it could be a good tablet; but a number of questions remain.
When will it go on sale?
So far, Microsoft has only said Surface Pro will be available in January 2013. It's not clear if the company plans to take advance orders as a pre-sale period during the holiday season leading up to the New Year.
When will Surface Pro ship?
Closely related to the first question is when Microsoft plans to put Surface Pro in the hands of paying customers. Just because the new tablet will be available to order in January doesn't necessarily mean it will start shipping immediately.
Since Microsoft is expected to roll out the Surface Pro in a manner similar to its release of the Surface RT, it is probably safe to assume the new tablet will start shipping right away. But there's no guarantee.
Which processor?
We know the Surface Pro will come with an Intel "Ivy Bridge" Core i5, but we don't know which model it will use and what the clock speed will be.
How much storage space do you really get?
Surface Pro tablets will come in 64GB and 128GB storage sizes, but don't expect to be able to use even close to that amount of space to store personal files and other data.
Michael HomnickBrowsers at a Microsoft store
Microsoft's storage FAQ on the Surface Website does not specify how much real storage space is available on a Surface Pro. But the company warns under the upcoming tablet's specifications that the "system software uses significant storage space."
Microsoft means it when it says the OS will take up "significant storage space." A 32GB Surface RT, for example, translates into 16GB of actual storage space; and the 64GB model offers just 45GB for your stuff. The good news is that Surface Pro will come with a microSDXC card slot supporting up to 64GB of removable storage. You can pick-up a SanDisk 64GB microSDXC card on Amazon for about $50.
How bad is the battery life?
When Microsoft said the Surface Pro was a PC, it wasn't kidding. The company's Surface social marketing team recently told several customers via Twitter that Surface Pro will have about half the battery life of the Surface RT. That would put Microsoft's battery life claim for Surface Pro around 4.5 to 5 hours. PCWorld's Loyd Case recently noted that battery life for Ultrabooks averages six hours or more, making the Pro's promised battery life fairly disappointing.
Even more concerning, third-party independent testing often finds real-world battery life to be worse than manufacturer claims. Bottom line: you may want to hold off on buying a Surface Pro until you see some reviews that include battery life tests.
If you need a tablet or new laptop right now and can't wait for Surface Pro to launch, check out PCWorld's top 100 products of 2012 to see if other critically acclaimed Windows-powered devices will work for you.
Google has bought some more storage, but not the digital kind. The company has acquired BufferBox, a Canadian startup that offers temporary storage lockers where people can receive online purchases when they're not at home.
BufferBox is based in Waterloo, Ontario, and has a network of storage lockers in the area around Toronto. Users sign up for the service and then provide a BufferBox shipping address to online retailers.
Parcels get delivered to the lockers, and users retrieve them with an access code sent via email. The locker can then be used for someone else.
The purchase could help Google expand its e-commerce business, though rivals including Amazon.com already have similar services.
BufferBox remains free of charge until the end of the year, though the company eventually planned to charge US$3 or $4 per delivery, according to a newspaper that was briefed on the deal.
BufferBox will continue to build out its service under Google, according to a blog post Friday on the startup's website. Google confirmed the deal but didn't provide details, including how much it paid. It was reportedly an investor in the company, and its regional office is upstairs from BufferBox's headquarters.
"We want to remove as much friction as possible from the shopping experience, while helping consumers save time and money, and we think the BufferBox team has a lot of great ideas around how to do that," Google said in a statement sent via email.
Earlier this week, Google was said to have bought ICOA, a Wi-Fi service provider, but that deal turned out to be a hoax.
James Niccolai covers data centers and general technology news for IDG News Service. Follow James on Twitter at @jniccolai. James's e-mail address is james_niccolai@idg.com
April may be the cruelest month for the soul, but December can be the cruelest for electronics shoppers. Many of the best electronics deals occur during the Black Friday-Cyber Monday weekend in November. Nevertheless, electronics bargains continue to appear as Christmas and the New Year approach.
"If you didn't jump on the electronics deals during Black Friday weekend, then at this point, you might as well wait until January and February to buy a digital camera, TV, or other device," advises bargain hunter site DealNews Its reasoning? "The Consumer Electronics Show in January is the official launch for many 2013 models, which means that all the goods from 2012 will begin to see a round of discounts."
Still, DealNews points to some worthwhile prices on laptops and HDTVs this month.
Laptop deals continue
Prices on 16-inch Core i5 Ivy Bridge notebooks reached a surprising low of $360 during the gala holiday shopping weekend. Shoppers can expect to find similar deals throughout December at outlets like Best Buy, the Microsoft Store, and Fry's electronics, according to DealNews.
It also expects good deals will continue on so-called desktop replacement notebooks. Celeron-based 17-inch laptops have been selling for as low as $360 and decently configured Core i7 17-inch units reached lows not seen since February: $645.
Top TV bargains
Retailers offer tremendous discounts on televisions during the Black Friday weekend, but if you didn't pick up a TV at that time, don't worry. Deals will continue through December.
According to DealNews, prices on some sizes of TVs will continue to drop during the month. For example, prices for name-brand 42-inch LCD HDTVs dropped an additional 5 percent from Black Friday prices last year. Prices for 46- and 47-inch LCD HDTVs dropped an additional 8 percent in December 2011.
Those pricing trends are likely to continue this year because demand for TVs appears to be flat. According to comparison shopping site PriceGrabber, search traffic at its webpost for TVs was the highest for any product category. Yet traffic was flat compared to last year—despite selling prices being 10 percent lower than 2011.
Televisions attracting lots of search traffic at PriceGrabber were three Samsung models—UN46EH5000 46-inch LED TV, UN32EH4003F 32-inch LED TV, and the PN51E530 51-inch plasma TV—plus the MitsubishiWD-73C12 73-inch DLP projection TV.
Early bargains on mobile devices
Based on Black Friday traffic at Pricegrabber, tablets, e-readers, and smartphones appear to be holiday favorites this year.
Search traffic for tablets and e-readers increased 81 percent over last year, with the devices selling at prices 3 percent lower than last year. For smartphones, traffic increased 60 percent, while average pricing fell 16 percent.
Meanwhile, interest in digital cameras, MP3 players, and GPS devices waned. Traffic for digital cameras dropped six percent from 2011, while prices increased 14 percent. Those numbers reflect erosion of demand for budget point-and-shoot digital cameras because of improved performance by shooters in cell phones, and the introduction of more higher-end models.
The 40 percent drop in traffic for MP3 players and GPS devices can also be attributed to the introduction of more capable mobile phones that have incorporated those functions.
Overall, Pricegrabber reported a 14 percent increase in search traffic during the Black Friday weekend, 27 percent of it from mobile devices—a 114 percent increase over 2011.
Those searches aren't just because people have more mobile devices, according to Mike Solomon, vice president for marketing strategy at The Search Agency, an online marketing firm in Los Angeles. "There isn't a trade-off of searches going from desktop to smartphone," he said in an interview. "It's that people are doing more searches overall."
He said that consumers are performing more searches and consulting more sources of information than ever before making a purchase. "We're taking in more information because we want to make sure we're making the right purchase," he said.
Serious geeks spend a lot of time at the command line. But Windows' antique command line doesn't even resize properly, and it takes a mouse command to paste into (hitting Ctrl+V will just result in ^V being printed). Microsoft's answer to this is PowerShell, an alternative command processor bundled with Windows from XP SP2 to Windows 8. PowerShell can do lots of things, and its default console application is an improvement, too, because you can resize it—but you still can't select text using the keyboard, paste with Ctrl+V, or even resize its font quickly. Plus, the PowerShell command processor itself is not easy to learn, and you may have to adjust your computer's security settings to be able to use it. Take Command 14 is a $100 utility (30-day free trial) that proves the Windows command line really doesn't have to feel this ancient or be this complex.
Take Command takes a powerful yet simple command processor and marries it with a beautifully modern interface, for a result that leaves the default Windows interface years behind. The command processor, TCC, is a superset of the one built into Windows. So, dir is still dir, and del is still del, and everything you already know about working in the command line is still valid. But there are lots of extra commands, and even the existing commands get switches in TCC their cmd.exe counterparts can only dream of. This means that, like VBScript and AutoHotkey, TCC is a language you can gradually grow into; you can start with simple things, and you probably already know some of it.
Bundled with Microsoft Office, VBA lets you record macros and then customize them to do just about anything Office-related.
As for the console interface: It's done just right. The window is tabbed, so you can have multiple console sessions at the same time. Hitting Shift and the arrow keys selects text. Hitting Ctrl+V pastes text into the console (amazing, I know!). There's an integrated file manager letting you see the impact of your actions on the file system in real-time. And when you're comfortable with the language and feel ready to write some batch scripts, you'll discover the best part: A built-in programmer's editor with a line-by-line debugger.
Take Command is expensive, but if you find yourself spending lots of time in the command prompt or having to manually figure out why batch files are breaking, it's a great investment.
Note: The "Try it for free" button on the Product Information page will download the software to your system.
A court in Mexico has entered a $2.7 billion judgment against Yahoo in a breach-of-contract suit over a yellow-pages listing service.
The 49th Civil Court of the Federal District of Mexico City issued the non-final judgment against Yahoo and Yahoo de Mexico in a case brought by Worldwide Directories and Ideas Interactivas, Yahoo announced on Friday. Yahoo said the plaintiffs' claims are without merit and it will appeal the judgment.
Worldwide Directories and Ideas Interactivas claimed breach of contract, breach of promise and lost profits in the case, which involved contracts related to a listing service.
Directory Opus Light includes many advanced features, such as file viewers and complex search options. 
Michael HomnickBrowsers at a Microsoft store 
Bundled with Microsoft Office, VBA lets you record macros and then customize them to do just about anything Office-related. 
