Windows Phone 7 Hands on Demo
Windows Phone 7 was unveiled to the world yesterday at the Mobile World Congress 2010 in Barcelona, Spain, marking a new stage in the evolution of Microsoft’s vision for smartphones. Joe Belfiore, the VP in charge of the program management and design for the next generation of Windows Phones, emphasized that Windows Phone 7 represented a new way for the Redmond company to look at its audience. In this context, with the Windows Phone 7 Series of devices and the underlying operating system, the software giant is attempting to produce more than a mobile platform, namely a complete, cohesive and expandable phone experience.
“We are super-excited to bring the design and user experience and feel of the phones really forward. We like to think that what we’re doing is building and delivering a different kind of phone that’s modern and takes advantage of people’s complex lives and their personalities to deliver something that’s unique and individual. And we think about two parts to this. (…) Read more
Stone Circle Launcher
We’ve looked at several Application Launchers in the past few years and they are a genuinely useful way of quickly getting at your favourite and most frequently used programs so there’s always room for another. It’s called Krento and the 3D circular layout is supposed to resemble a stone circle – each app button is called a ‘stone’. Anyway, that’s really all you need to know about the design philosophy; using it is very straightforward too, simply drag and drop your program icons onto the circle, or create program groups, even multiple circles for a really busy PC. The launcher appears when you press the keyboard shortcut Winkey + C, or you can click on the ‘Pulsar’ icon that sits near the System Tray. I have to say Rocket Dock is still my favourite but if you fancy a change or just want to see if an application launcher really will make your life any easier then this one is worth trying.
Sticky Security Wiper
It’s bad enough when ordinary programs on your PC won’t go away but some security applications can be particularly difficult to uninstall. Of course it’s mostly self-defence and a lot of malware programs try to delete or disable anti-virus programs and malware cleaners etc., so they are deliberately made more difficult to remove. But that’s no consolation when you want to get rid of one, maybe because it’s causing conflicts, or you want to switch to another program. Either way there is a solution in the shape of AppRemover, a freeware utility that’s designed specifically to remove security applications, failed uninstalls and the files left behind by these programs.
Nero Free For All
Back in the days when recordable CDs were still a bit of a novelty there were only a couple of applications on the market that could actually make recordings, and one of them was Nero Burning, and it is still regarded as one of the best CD/DVD utilities you can get. Now here’s the good news, you can get it for free, that’s right, Nero 9 Essentials Free version is all yours for the cost of a download. There are no catches unless you count the pre-checked facility to install an annoying toolbar – so read before you click – and the nags to upgrade to the paid for version. Otherwise it’s good to go with a decent set of basic but efficient CD and DVD burning and copying facilities.
iPhone OS 3.0 Officially Released
After a painfully long wait, Apple has finally released the much-hyped iPhone 3.0 Software Update, delivering improved functionality and tons of new features to iPhone and iPod touch users worldwide. Two days from now, the iPhone 3G S will also be available to the public. The device will “unlock” the complete set of new features available with iPhone OS 3.0.
“The new iPhone OS 3.0 is a major software release packed with incredible new features and innovations for iPhone customers and developers alike. It will keep us years ahead of the competition,” said Philip Schiller (Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing) back in March, when the company previewed the first developer beta of iPhone OS 3.0. Read more
Read Your Email on the Go
One of the most powerful email clients available for Symbian devices, ProfiMail, developed by Lonely Cat Games, allows you to read and send your email on the go, without the need of a Desktop PC. The email client is a complete communication solution for Symbian smartphones, which has been designed for businessmen who are using mostly the mail as a means of communication. The interface of the program is simple and offers easy control, as well as many functions that will really ease the work with the emails.
Besides being a standalone email client, ProfiMail works in synchronization with any mail servers, and can be used in conjunction with another email client (Outlook or other). When synchronized, ProfiMail shows the same list of messages as on the mail server. Read more
Free Office SharePoint Designer 2007
Microsoft has made Office SharePoint Designer 2007 available as a free download as of April 2, 2009. The Redmond company explained that customer feedback catalyzed the move, rather than alternative reasons such as the global economic crisis. By making SharePoint Designer 2007 a free download, the software giant is attempting to mirror the perspective that customers had of the tool, with the vast majority regarding the solution as a natural extension of SharePoint, rather than a standalone product.
“Today we are excited to share with you some news about SharePoint Designer 2007. Starting now (April 2, 2009), SharePoint Designer 2007 will be available as a free download! We want more of you customizing SharePoint and feel that this [is] a good way to put the tool in the hands of more people,” revealed a member of the SharePoint Designer Team. Read more
Space on the Tray
I have to say that if you feel the need to install this little application on your PC, then you probably need a larger hard disc drive. Tray DisK Free sits in the System Tray – next to the Windows clock — and it does just one thing, it displays the amount of free space left on your disc drive. If you hover your mouse over the icon there’s a more detailed analysis. Nominally it’s set for your main drive (usually C:) but it can be set to monitor any drive on your PC. The menu option lets you change how frequently the program checks the drive, and if you want to have a fiddle with some command line switches, you can change the display and text colour.
Kodak OLEDing the Way Again
Kodak, once the leading light in the photography biz were famously caught by surprise by the speed at which digital photography took. Despite launching some useful digicams, it has never really come close to regaining its former status. Now, however, they’re leading the way once again, this time with the world’s first consumer photo frame using OLED or Organic Light Emitting Diode technology.
OLEDs, in case you didn’t know, are super thin, and unlike LCDs, do not rely on a backlight. They also offer superior contrast ratios and although not a factor in this application, can be made to be flexible. The display used in this frame is 7.6 inches (measured diagonally); it’s a widescreen format with 800 x 480 pixel resolution and it boasts a contrast ratio of 30,000:1. The viewing angle – another OLED advantage – is 180 degrees. Read more
Repair Kit for Word
Microsoft Word is still the only game in town when it comes to word processing, though on a personal note I have to say that most recent versions are horrible and until MS comes up with something better I’m going to stick to my trusty W2000. Which is just as well because otherwise I wouldn’t be able to use Repair My Word, a freeware program that only works with older versions, up to W2003. Basically it’s a data recovery program dedicated to Word document files. It’s the sort of thing you’d wished you had when you last saw the dreaded message ‘Word cannot open the document’ or ‘The document name or path is not valid’, or worst of all, all you see is a screen full of garbage. Simply run the application, navigate to the iffy file, open it and the program will do its best to sort it out, and if it succeeds it can be re-saved as a bone-fide Word document. Read more
