Opera 10 (alpha) now available for download
Title says it all, really. Features list promises standards support, better performance, SVG…
Archive for 'Software'
“RealPlayer: like the Black Death, but made of software”
Feeling ranty? Techradar’s just uploaded “48 things we hate about tech“, which enabled yours truly to cheer himself up by being nasty about things. Any I’ve missed?
Evernote: organise your life
Evernote looks interesting: it’s an information organiser for PC and Mac with some clever features including web clipping and the ability to email photos to it from your mobile phone. It then scans the pics and runs character recognition on ‘em. It can also store audio and video, and seems happy with Office files and PDFs.
It’s in beta (by invitation only) just now, but if you want a go I’ve got a bunch of invites kicking around. Just ask for one in the comments.
Panasodding camcorders
If you’re thinking about getting a cheap camcorder and you’re using Leopard, beware: I’m having huge problems with my El Cheapo Panasonic camera. It uses Mini DVD, which means I can’t play the discs in my Macs (they’re all slot-loading drives), so I need to connect it via USB.
Unfortunately Leopard doesn’t like Panasonic’s files (they’re .VRO format, I think) and Panasonic’s Mac software doesn’t like Leopard. So while I can connect the camera to my Mac, I can’t do anything with the video unless I convert it in MPEG Streamclip and shell out real cash money for Apple’s QuickTime MPEG plugin. Damn, blast and arse.
DVD Jon strikes again
Fed up with DRM and file format compatibility hassles? The entertainment industry’s favourite chap, DVD Jon, may have the answer: DoubleTwist.
As CNet reports, DoubleTwist is “a free desktop client that essentially allows any kind of music, photo, or video file to be shared between a long list of portable media players, and through Web-based social networks.”
The idea, according to DoubleTwist founder and CEO Monique Farantzos, is that media files should be more like e-mail. It shouldn’t matter what service you create the file in, or on what type of hardware, it all should work together seamlessly, she says.
The PC version is available now, and a Mac version’s in development.
Firefox 3 beta 3 is out
Download link here. As ever, some extensions aren’t compatible yet, browser sniffers like the ones used by online sodding banking will lock you out, blah blah blah. But I’ve been using Beta 2 as my main browser for ages now, and it’s great.
Microsoft makes Yahoo an offer it might refuse
Microsoft to Yahoo!: Here’s 44.6 billion dollars. Let’s hook up!
Update: a good piece in the Guardian covering the problems such a merger might cause.
NetNewsWire and FeedDemon are now freeware
Excellent news about excellent software:
NetNewsWire 3.1 is free!
By free I mean both that we’ve released it from its cage and that it costs no money. Zero dollars.
Upgrades are free. It’s free for new users. It’s freeware.
You can download it right away. Here are the change notes.
NetNewsWire is not alone—we’ve also made FeedDemon, NewsGator Inbox, and NewsGator Go! free.
Firefox 3 beta 2…
…is really, really fast on the Mac. Seems stable enough too, although inevitably online banking goes in a big huff about unsupported browsers.
Download link here, beta software may taunt your relatives and eat your computer, etc etc etc.
Netscape RIP
AOL’s focus on transitioning to an ad-supported web business leaves little room for the size of investment needed to get the Netscape browser to a point many of its fans expect it to be. Given AOL’s current business focus and the success the Mozilla Foundation has had in developing critically-acclaimed products, we feel it’s the right time to end development of Netscape branded browsers, hand the reins fully to Mozilla and encourage Netscape users to adopt Firefox.
Of course Netscape has been dying for years, but it’s still a shame. For me (and millions of others) it was the program that introduced me to this internet lark, and I can vividly remember what I thought when I first used it: “The internet is rubbish! And brilliant!”
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