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		<title>Ford Uses Wi-Fi to Customize Cars</title>
		<link>http://allthingsd.com/20100826/ford-uses-wi-fi-to-customize-cars/</link>
		<comments>http://allthingsd.com/20100826/ford-uses-wi-fi-to-customize-cars/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 26 Aug 2010 18:29:28 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Matthew Dolan</dc:creator>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://voices.allthingsd.com/?p=28845</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The auto industry is getting fired up about wireless technology in cars and trucks but it's not just for connecting passengers' laptops or streaming Internet radio stations.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The auto industry is getting fired up about wireless technology in cars and trucks but it&#8217;s not just for connecting passengers&#8217; laptops or streaming Internet radio stations. [Note: <a href="http://d8.allthingsd.com/20100726/ford-motor-company-ceo-alan-mulally-at-d8-the-full-uncut-video/">Check out related video from Ford CEO Alan Mulally's appearance at D8 earlier this year</a>.]</p>
<p>Here at an assembly plant outside Toronto, Ford Motor Co. (F) is using Wi-Fi transmitters to load customized phone and entertainment features into its Edge and Lincoln MKX crossovers as the vehicles chug down the production line.</p>
<p>The Dearborn, Mich., company is beaming software wirelessly to the vehicles to set up their information and entertainment systems for various markets: One Edge bound for the U.S. gets Ford&#8217;s 911 emergency assistance package while one to stay in Canada gets the option to speak in French and offers traffic information about Canadian roads.</p>
<p>Ford&#8217;s coming Explorer sport-utility vehicle and Focus compact car will have similar technology when they launch later this year.</p>
<p>But transmitting software for radio and phone systems may be just the start of the customization possibilities at car factories and dealerships.</p>
<p><a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704504204575445642013867472.html?mod=WSJ_Tech_LEFTTopNews">Read the rest of this post on the original site</a></p>
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		<title>A Windows to Help You Forget</title>
		<link>http://allthingsd.com/20091007/a-windows-to-help-you-forget/</link>
		<comments>http://allthingsd.com/20091007/a-windows-to-help-you-forget/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 08 Oct 2009 01:02:03 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Walter S. Mossberg</dc:creator>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://ptech.allthingsd.com/20091007/a-windows-to-help-you-forget/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Walter S. Mossberg calls Windows 7 a boost to productivity and a pleasure to use -- Microsoft's best operating system yet.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>In just two weeks, on Oct. 22, Microsoft&#8217;s long operating-system nightmare will be over. The company will release Windows 7, a faster and much better operating system than the little-loved Windows Vista, which did a lot to harm both the company&#8217;s reputation, and the productivity and blood pressure of its users. PC makers will rush to flood physical and online stores with new computers pre-loaded with Windows 7, and to offer the software to Vista owners who wish to upgrade.</p>
<p><div class="video-wsj"><object width="640" height="360"><param name="movie" value="http://s.wsj.net/media/swf/microPlayer.swf"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><param name="flashvars" value="videoGUID=4082922B-E16F-4B55-A0B9-54B51F771E02&playerid=4001&plyMediaEnabled=1&configURL=http://m.wsj.net/video-players/&autoStart=false" base="http://s.wsj.net/media/swf/"name="microflashPlayer"></param><embed src="http://s.wsj.net/media/swf/microPlayer.swf" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" flashVars="videoGUID={4082922B-E16F-4B55-A0B9-54B51F771E02}&playerid=4001&plyMediaEnabled=1&configURL=http://m.wsj.net/video-players/&autoStart=false" base="http://s.wsj.net/media/swf/" name="microflashPlayer" width="640" height="360" seamlesstabbing="false" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" swLiveConnect="true" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash"></embed><br />[ See post to watch video ]</div></object></p>
<p>With Windows 7, PC users will at last have a strong, modern successor to the sturdy and familiar, but aged, Windows XP, which is still the most popular version of Windows, despite having come out in 2001. In the high-tech world, an eight-year-old operating system is the equivalent of a 20-year-old car. While XP works well for many people, it is relatively weak in areas such as security, networking and other features more important today than when XP was designed around 1999.</p>
<p>After using pre-release versions of Windows 7 for nine months, and intensively testing the final version for the past month on many different machines, I believe it is the best version of Windows Microsoft (MSFT) has produced. It&#8217;s a boost to productivity and a pleasure to use. Despite a few drawbacks, I can heartily recommend Windows 7 to mainstream consumers.</p>
<p>Like the new Snow Leopard operating system released in August by Microsoft&#8217;s archrival, Apple (AAPL), Windows 7 is much more of an evolutionary than a revolutionary product. Its main goal was to fix the flaws in Vista and to finally give Microsoft customers a reason to move up from XP. But Windows 7 is packed with features and tweaks that make using your computer an easier and more satisfying experience.</p>
<div class="media-CENTER" style="width:360px;"><a href="http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/images/EK-AF116_PTECH_G_20091007190001.jpg" rel="lightbox" title="PTECH"><img src="http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/images/EK-AF116_PTECH_G_20091007190001.jpg" width="360" height="240" style="float: none;" alt="PTECH" /></a><br />
<br />
The new taskbar shows small previews of many windows and allows for larger previews.</div>
<p>Windows 7 introduces real advances in organizing your programs and files, arranging your taskbar and desktop, and quickly viewing and launching the page or document you want, when you want it. It also has cool built-in touch-screen features.</p>
<p>It removes a lot of clutter. And it mostly banishes Vista&#8217;s main flaws—sluggishness; incompatibility with third-party software and hardware; heavy hardware requirements; and constant, annoying security warnings.</p>
<p>I tested Windows 7 on 11 different computers, ranging from tiny netbooks to standard laptops to a couple of big desktops. These included machines from Lenovo, Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), Dell (DELL), Acer, Asus, Toshiba and Sony (SNE). I even successfully ran it on an Apple Macintosh laptop. On some of these machines, Windows 7 was pre-loaded. On others, I had to upgrade from an earlier version of Windows.</p>
<p>In most cases, the installation took 45 minutes or less, and the new operating system worked snappily and well. But, I did encounter some drawbacks and problems. On a couple of these machines, glacial start-up and reboot times reminded me of Vista. And, on a couple of others, after upgrading, key features like the display or touchpad didn&#8217;t work properly. Also, Windows 7 still requires add-on security software that has to be frequently updated. It&#8217;s tedious and painful to upgrade an existing computer from XP to 7, and the variety of editions in which Windows 7 is offered is confusing.</p>
<p>Finally, Microsoft has stripped Windows 7 of familiar built-in applications, such as email, photo organizing, address book, calendar and video-editing programs. These can be downloaded  free of charge, but they no longer come with the operating system, though some PC makers may choose to pre-load them.</p>
<p>In recent years, I, like many other reviewers, have argued that Apple&#8217;s Mac OS X operating system is much better than Windows. That&#8217;s no longer true. I still give the Mac OS a slight edge because it has a much easier and cheaper upgrade path; more built-in software programs; and far less vulnerability to viruses and other malicious software, which are overwhelmingly built to run on Windows.</p>
<p>Now, however, it&#8217;s much more of a toss-up between the two rivals. Windows 7 beats the Mac OS in some areas, such as better previews and navigation right from the taskbar, easier organization of open windows on the desktop and touch-screen capabilities. So Apple will have to scramble now that the gift of a flawed Vista has been replaced with a reliable, elegant version of Windows. </p>
<p>Here are some of the key features of Windows 7.</p>
<p><strong>New Taskbar: </strong>In Windows 7, the familiar taskbar has been reinvented and made taller. Instead of mainly being a place where icons of open windows temporarily appear, it now is a place where you can permanently &#8220;pin&#8221; the icons of frequently used programs anywhere along its length, and in any arrangement you choose. This is a concept borrowed from Apple&#8217;s similar feature, the Dock. But Windows 7 takes the concept further.</p>
<p>For each running program, hovering over its taskbar icon pops up a small preview screen showing a mini-view of that program. This preview idea was in Vista. But, in Windows 7, it has been expanded in several ways. Now, every open window in that program is included separately in the preview. If you mouse over a window in the preview screen, it appears at full size on your desktop and all other windows on the desktop become transparent—part of a feature called Aero Peek. Click on the window and it comes up, ready for use. You can even close windows from these previews, or play media in them.</p>
<p>I found this feature more natural and versatile than a similar feature in Snow Leopard called Dock Expose.</p>
<p>You can also use Aero Peek at any time to see your empty desktop, with open windows reduced to virtual panes of glass. To do this, you just hover over a small rectangle at the right edge of the taskbar.</p>
<p>Taskbar icons also provide Jump Lists—pop-up menus listing frequent actions or recent files used.</p>
<p><strong>Desktop organization: </strong>A feature called Snap allows you to expand windows to full-screen size by just dragging them to the top of the screen, or to half-screen size by dragging them to the left or right edges of the screen. Another called Shake allows you to make all other windows but the one you&#8217;re working on disappear by simply grabbing its title bar with the mouse and shaking it several times.</p>
<p><strong>File organization:</strong> In Windows Explorer, the left-hand column now includes a feature called Libraries. Each library—Documents, Music, Pictures and Videos—consolidates all files of those types regardless of which folder, or even which hard disk, they live in.</p>
<p><strong>Networking: </strong>Windows 7 still isn&#8217;t quite as natural at networking as I find the Mac to be, but it&#8217;s better than Vista. For instance, now you can see all available wireless networks by just clicking on an icon in the taskbar. A new feature called HomeGroups is supposed to let you share files more easily among Windows 7 PCs on your home network. In my tests, it worked, but not consistently, and it required typing in long, arcane passwords.</p>
<p><strong>Touch: </strong>Some of the same kinds of multitouch gestures made popular on the iPhone are now built into Windows 7. But these features won&#8217;t likely become popular for a while because to get the most out of them, a computer needs a special type of touch screen that goes beyond most of the ones existing now. I tested this on one such laptop, a Lenovo, and was able to move windows around, to resize and flip through photos, and more.</p>
<p><strong>Speed: </strong>In my tests, on every machine, Windows 7 ran swiftly and with far fewer of the delays typical in running Vista. All the laptops I tested resumed from sleep quickly and properly, unlike in Vista. Start-up and restart times were also improved. I chose six Windows 7 laptops from different makers to compare with a new MacBook Pro laptop. The Mac still started and restarted faster than most of the Windows 7 PCs. But the speed gap has narrowed considerably, and one of the Lenovos beat the Mac in restart time.</p>
<p><strong>Nagging: </strong>In the name of security, Vista put up nagging warnings about a wide variety of tasks, driving people crazy. In Windows 7, you can now set this system so it nags you only when things are happening that you consider really worth the nag. Also, Microsoft has consolidated most of the alerts from the lower-right system tray into one icon, and they seemed less frequent.</p>
<p><strong>Compatibility: </strong>I tried a wide variety of third-party software and all worked fine on every Windows 7 machine. These included Mozilla Firefox; Adobe (ADBE) Reader; Google&#8217;s (GOOG) Picasa and Chrome; and Apple&#8217;s iTunes and Safari. </p>
<p>I also tested several hardware devices, and, unlike Vista, Windows 7 handled all but one smoothly. These included a networked H-P printer, a Canon (CAJ) camera, an iPod nano, and at least five external flash drives and hard disks. The one failure was a Verizon (VZ) USB cellular modem. Microsoft says you don&#8217;t need external software to run these, but I found it was necessary, and even then had to use a trick I found on the Web to get it to work.</p>
<p><strong>System Requirements: </strong>Nearly all Vista PCs, and newer or beefier XP machines, should be able to run Windows 7 fine. Even the netbooks I tested ran it speedily, especially with the Starter Edition, which lacks some of the powerful graphics effects in the operating system. (Other netbooks will be able to run other editions.) </p>
<p>If you have a standard PC, called a 32-bit PC, you&#8217;ll need at least one gigabyte of memory, 16 gigabytes of free hard-disk space and a graphics system that can support Microsoft technologies called &#8220;DirectX 9 with WDDM 1.0.&#8221; You&#8217;ll also need a processor with a speed of at least one gigahertz. If you have a newer-style 64-bit PC, which can use more memory, you&#8217;ll need at least two gigabytes of memory and 20 gigabytes of free hard disk space. In either case, you should double the minimum memory specification.</p>
<div class="media-CENTER" style="width:360px;"><a href="http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/images/PJ-AR928_PTECHj_G_20091007172438.jpg" rel="lightbox" title="PTECHjp"><img src="http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/images/PJ-AR928_PTECHj_G_20091007172438.jpg" width="360" height="240" style="float: none;" alt="PTECHjp" /></a><br />
<br />
Aero Peek lets you see your desktop by making your windows transparent.</div>
<p><strong>Installation, editions and price: </strong>There are four editions of Windows 7 of interest to consumers. One, a limited version called Starter, comes pre-loaded on netbooks. A second, called Professional, is mainly for people who need to tap remotely into company networks (check with your company to see if you need this). A third, called Ultimate, is mainly for techies who want every feature of all other editions. Most average consumers will want Home Premium, which costs $120 for upgrades.</p>
<p>The system for upgrading is complicated, but Vista owners can upgrade to the exactly comparable edition of Windows 7 while keeping all files, settings and programs in place.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, XP owners, the biggest body of Windows users, won&#8217;t be able to do that. They&#8217;ll have to wipe out their hard disks after backing up their files elsewhere, then install Windows 7, then restore their personal files, then re-install all their programs from the original CDs or downloaded installer files. Then, they have to install all the patches and upgrades to those programs from over the years.</p>
<p>Microsoft includes an Easy Transfer wizard to help with this, but it moves only personal files, not programs. This painful XP upgrade process is one of the worst things about Windows 7 and will likely drive many XP owners to either stick with what they&#8217;ve got or wait and buy a new one.</p>
<p>In my tests, both types of installations went OK, though the latter could take a long time.</p>
<p>Bottom line: Windows 7 is a very good, versatile operating system that should help Microsoft bury the memory of Vista and make PC users happy.</p>
<p>Correction: The edition of Microsoft&#8217;s Windows 7 operating system aimed at business users is called Windows 7 Professional. This week&#8217;s Personal Technology column erroneously stated it was named Business.</p>
<p><strong>Write to </strong>                Walter S. Mossberg at <a href="mailto:walt.mossberg@wsj.com">walt.mossberg@wsj.com</a></p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>Apple Changes Leopard’s Spots</title>
		<link>http://allthingsd.com/20090826/apple-changes-leopards-spots/</link>
		<comments>http://allthingsd.com/20090826/apple-changes-leopards-spots/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 27 Aug 2009 02:01:13 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Walter S. Mossberg</dc:creator>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://ptech.allthingsd.com/20090826/apple-changes-leopards-spots/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Apple's Snow Leopard operating system improves upon its predecessor, writes Walt Mossberg. But it isn't a big breakthrough for average users, and it isn't a typical Apple lust-provoking product.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>For a company known for breakthrough products with cool features, Apple this week is doing something unusual: It is introducing a key product with very few new features that are visible to its users. This new release, the latest major version of the Macintosh operating system, looks and works almost exactly the same as its predecessor, but has been heavily re-engineered under the covers for greater speed and efficiency, and to add future-oriented core technologies.</p>
<p>The new software, called Snow Leopard, succeeds Apple&#8217;s 2007-vintage Leopard, which I regard as the best computer operating system out there, and markedly superior to its main rival, Microsoft&#8217;s Windows Vista. Snow Leopard goes on sale Friday, Aug. 28, and will be pre-installed on all new Macintosh computers.</p>
<p><div class="video-wsj"><object width="640" height="360"><param name="movie" value="http://s.wsj.net/media/swf/microPlayer.swf"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><param name="flashvars" value="videoGUID=17BCE91E-8BEA-4A2D-AD59-F13135E0E335&playerid=4001&plyMediaEnabled=1&configURL=http://m.wsj.net/video-players/&autoStart=false" base="http://s.wsj.net/media/swf/"name="microflashPlayer"></param><embed src="http://s.wsj.net/media/swf/microPlayer.swf" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" flashVars="videoGUID={17BCE91E-8BEA-4A2D-AD59-F13135E0E335}&playerid=4001&plyMediaEnabled=1&configURL=http://m.wsj.net/video-players/&autoStart=false" base="http://s.wsj.net/media/swf/" name="microflashPlayer" width="640" height="360" seamlesstabbing="false" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" swLiveConnect="true" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash"></embed><br />[ See post to watch video ]</div></object></p>
<p>The company, which often proclaims its new releases as revolutionary, has been very low key about Snow Leopard. For many months, Apple (AAPL) has made it clear the new OS wouldn&#8217;t sport new eye-popping features, but would instead be focused on what it calls &#8220;refinements&#8221; and &#8220;fine-tuning.&#8221; Perhaps its biggest new feature is something only a minority of Mac owners will ever use: built-in compatibility with Microsoft&#8217;s Exchange corporate email, calendar and contacts service.</p>
<p>Snow Leopard is priced accordingly, at just $29 for people upgrading from Leopard. That&#8217;s $100 less than what Leopard cost. And it&#8217;s $90 less than what Microsoft plans to charge upgraders for the main consumer version of its next version of Windows, called Windows 7, which is due out Oct. 22. Windows 7 is also an iteration on its predecessor, rather than a revolutionary new product, though it has some nice tweaks and will be a more dramatic improvement due to Vista&#8217;s failings. I&#8217;ll have a full review of it closer to its release.</p>
<div class="media-CENTER" style="width:360px;"><a href="http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/images/PJ-AR255_PTECH_G_20090826164233.jpg" rel="lightbox" title="PTECH"><img src="http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/images/PJ-AR255_PTECH_G_20090826164233.jpg" width="360" height="240" style="float: none;" alt="PTECH" /></a>
</div>
<p>I&#8217;ve been testing Snow Leopard on three Macs—an older desktop and a laptop of my own that I upgraded from Leopard, and a new MacBook Pro laptop Apple lent me for testing with Snow Leopard pre-installed. I found Snow Leopard easy to install, faster than Leopard, compatible with my most commonly used software and peripherals, and filled with a number of small, useful refinements and additions.</p>
<p>One delightful change: Snow Leopard takes up less than half the room on a hard disk that Leopard did, and Apple says the average user who upgrades will free up about 7 gigabytes of space. On my 2008-vintage MacBook Pro, I gained back a whopping 14 gigabytes. </p>
<p>But I also encountered a number of bugs and glitches, and a few incompatibilities, including a wildly wrong guess by Snow Leopard about which driver to use for an older, lightly used printer on one of my upgraded Macs. (It did fine with my main printer.)</p>
<p>Overall, I believe Snow Leopard will help keep the Mac an appealing choice for computer buyers, and I can recommend it to existing Mac owners seeking more speed and disk space, or wanting to more easily use Exchange. But I don&#8217;t consider Snow Leopard a must-have upgrade for average consumers. It&#8217;s more of a nice-to-have upgrade. If you&#8217;re happy with Leopard, there&#8217;s no reason to rush out and get Snow Leopard.</p>
<div class="media-CENTER" style="width:262px;"><img src="http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/images/PJ-AR260_PTECHj_DV_20090826153757.jpg" width="262" height="262" alt="PTECHjp" />
</div>
<p>For some current Mac owners, Snow Leopard isn&#8217;t an option. About 20% of them are still using older models that aren&#8217;t powered by the Intel (INTC) processors Apple currently uses. Snow Leopard simply won&#8217;t work on these machines, including models designated as G4 or G5 and sold as recently as 2006.</p>
<p>And, for owners of Intel-based Macs who are still using the older Tiger version of the Mac OS, Apple is officially making Snow Leopard available only in a &#8220;boxed set&#8221; that includes other software and costs $169. The reasoning is that these folks never paid the $129 back in 2007 to upgrade to Leopard. But here&#8217;s a tip: Apple concedes that the $29 Snow Leopard upgrade will work properly on these Tiger-equipped Macs, so you can save the extra $140.</p>
<p>Here&#8217;s a quick rundown of what I found in testing Snow Leopard:</p>
<h5 class="subhed">Installation</h5>
<p>Snow Leopard comes in one version, rather than the multiple operating system versions favored by Microsoft (MSFT). And that single version handles hardware and software based on both a standard computer technology, called 32-bit, and a newer one, called 64-bit, which can use much more memory and is faster.</p>
<p>Both my desktop and laptop Macs converted to Snow Leopard quickly and smoothly, in about 45 minutes each. Unlike the upgrade process Microsoft is requiring to get to Windows 7 from Windows XP, the Snow Leopard upgrade preserves all your files, settings and programs where they previously existed, right down to your desktop icons and wallpaper. No disk wiping, file moving, or program re-installation is required. And, as noted above, you actually gain disk space, because Apple has slimmed down the OS and also automatically removes or compresses old system files (not your personal data) that are no longer needed or used often.</p>
<p>However, I did run into a couple of minor problems: on one of my Macs, a screen saver displaying certain of my photos didn&#8217;t work after the switch. Other photos did work. Apple says this is a bug it will fix.</p>
<h5 class="subhed">Speed</h5>
<p>After changing to Snow Leopard, my Macs worked faster. I already considered them pretty speedy, so the overall effect wasn&#8217;t mind-blowing. But Snow Leopard&#8217;s built-in programs, like Mail, the Safari browser, and the Finder—Apple&#8217;s equivalent of the Windows Explorer—have all been rewritten behind the scenes, so these and other specific features are now a lot quicker. I found that email folders stuffed with thousands of messages opened almost instantly, and copying files was noticeably faster, even when the destination was on the Internet or a network. The Safari 4 browser, already very fast with Leopard, is even speedier under Snow Leopard, especially on more complex Web sites that use a popular technology called Javascript.</p>
<h5 class="subhed">New Features</h5>
<p>True to its word, Apple has built few new features into Snow Leopard, and, except for Exchange (explained below), these are small. One touted feature is called Dock Expose, which allows you to see small versions of all the open windows in any running program by clicking on its icon in the Dock at the bottom of the screen. But this is mostly a reworking of a feature that already has been on the Mac.</p>
<p>Apple&#8217;s QuickTime video player has been upgraded, with a clean new interface for playback, and the new ability to record and trim videos. Icons can be more easily enlarged, and you can preview the files they represent, even playing videos in miniature or paging through multipage PDF or PowerPoint files.</p>
<p>My three favorite tweaks, barely mentioned by Apple: </p>
<ul>
<li>&#8220;Substitutions,&#8221; which is like the auto-correct feature in Microsoft Word, but extends the concept to Apple&#8217;s email and other programs;</li>
<li>the ability for Snow Leopard to automatically reset the time zone on the Mac&#8217;s clock based on your location while traveling;</li>
<li>and a new built-in function in QuickTime that allows you to record videos of actions you take on the Mac&#8217;s screen.</li>
</ul>
<h5 class="subhed">Exchange</h5>
<p>Although Exchange is a widely used Microsoft server product, employed by many, many companies to manage employees&#8217; email, calendars, and contacts, it isn&#8217;t built into Windows. To use Exchange, you have to buy add-on software, usually Microsoft&#8217;s Outlook for Windows PCs. It also hasn&#8217;t been built into the Mac OS, and usually required Mac owners to buy Microsoft&#8217;s Entourage program. But, with Snow Leopard, Apple is building Exchange right into the operating system, so it works with Apple&#8217;s free, built-in email, calendar and contact programs.</p>
<p>With the generous help of my company&#8217;s IT folks, I tested this feature, and it worked very well. All my corporate information flowed into Apple&#8217;s programs, very quickly, and I could search the company directory, check the calendars of people with whom I wished to schedule meetings, and more.</p>
<p>However, Apple makes setting up this new feature look simpler than it is. In most cases, I believe, it will require the time and cooperation of corporate IT personnel, who will need time to learn it—especially since, at many companies, relatively few of these folks are Mac experts. In my case, an Apple employee had to help my IT colleagues and me to get it going. But you likely won&#8217;t have that aid.</p>
<h5 class="subhed">Compatibility and Glitches</h5>
<p>Commonly used third-party programs, like the Mac versions of Microsoft Office, the Firefox browser, and Adobe Reader, all worked fine in my tests after the upgrade. But a few things didn&#8217;t. Apple admitted I had found a few bugs and said that some software makers will have to upgrade their software because the programs rely on under-the-hood components that have changed in Snow Leopard.</p>
<p>VMware&#8217;s Fusion program for running Windows simultaneously with the Mac operating system worked, and I was able to use Windows. But it was a bit glitchy. VMware (VMW) provided me with a forthcoming new version tailored for Snow Leopard&#8217;s changed underlying architecture, which worked perfectly.</p>
<p>A Cisco (CSCO) program used to connect to corporate virtual private networks caused one of my test machines to completely crash, a rarity on Macs. But Snow Leopard now contains the same Cisco VPN connector as a built-in feature, and that worked perfectly.</p>
<p>Snow Leopard didn&#8217;t properly recognize my older-model Verizon (VZ) cellular modem card, though I was still able to use the card by digging into Apple&#8217;s network preferences screen. Apple says this is a bug it will fix.</p>
<p>As noted above, Snow Leopard didn&#8217;t work at first with an older networked printer on one of my test Macs, and thought it was a laser printer instead of an inkjet. I did get it working, by manually selecting a different printer driver, but Apple admits this is a bug it will have to fix.</p>
<p>Finally, the Time Machine backup file on one of my Macs stopped working. With my permission, Apple examined the file using a diagnostic tool and claimed it had become corrupted a couple of months ago, before the upgrade, and that Snow Leopard merely exposed the problem. I have no way of knowing if this is true, but Time Machine did work perfectly on the two other test Macs.</p>
<h5 class="subhed">Underlying Technologies</h5>
<p>In addition to greater 64-bit capability, Snow Leopard has two other big under-the-hood additions. One, called Grand Central Dispatch, makes it easier for developers to write programs that make better use of the multiple &#8220;cores,&#8221; or processing units, in modern processors. The other, called OpenCL, makes it easier for developers to offload some non-graphics tasks to today&#8217;s potent graphics chips. These are very important, especially for power-hungry tasks like video production and high-end gaming, but Microsoft is building similar capabilities into Windows 7, and they won&#8217;t really matter on either platform until third-party developers make use of them, which will take time.</p>
<h5 class="subhed">Bottom Line</h5>
<p>Apple already had the best computer operating system in Leopard, and Snow Leopard makes it a little better. But it isn&#8217;t a big breakthrough for average users, and, even at $29, it isn&#8217;t a typical Apple lust-provoking product.     </p>
<p class="tagline">Find Walt Mossberg&#8217;s columns and videos online, free, at the All Things Digital Web site, <a href="http://walt.allthingsd.com">walt.allthingsd.com</a>. Email him at <a href="mailto:mossberg@wsj.com">mossberg@wsj.com</a>. </p>
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		<title>In Browser Wars, The New Firefox Loses Some Edge</title>
		<link>http://allthingsd.com/20090715/in-browser-warsthe-new-firefoxloses-some-edge/</link>
		<comments>http://allthingsd.com/20090715/in-browser-warsthe-new-firefoxloses-some-edge/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 15 Jul 2009 22:02:03 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Walter S. Mossberg</dc:creator>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://ptech.allthingsd.com/20090715/in-browser-warsthe-new-firefoxloses-some-edge/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[In this round of the browser war, Mozilla’s product no longer stands out as clearly superior.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The war of the Web browsers has taken another turn with the release of a major new version of Mozilla Firefox, the No. 2 browser in market share, but No. 1 in the hearts of many of the most knowledgeable computer users.</p>
<p><div class="video-wsj"><object width="640" height="360"><param name="movie" value="http://s.wsj.net/media/swf/microPlayer.swf"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><param name="flashvars" value="videoGUID=B7544F8F-1F14-447B-94C6-BD97AA896B2A&playerid=4001&plyMediaEnabled=1&configURL=http://m.wsj.net/video-players/&autoStart=false" base="http://s.wsj.net/media/swf/"name="microflashPlayer"></param><embed src="http://s.wsj.net/media/swf/microPlayer.swf" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" flashVars="videoGUID={B7544F8F-1F14-447B-94C6-BD97AA896B2A}&playerid=4001&plyMediaEnabled=1&configURL=http://m.wsj.net/video-players/&autoStart=false" base="http://s.wsj.net/media/swf/" name="microflashPlayer" width="640" height="360" seamlesstabbing="false" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" swLiveConnect="true" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash"></embed><br />[ See post to watch video ]</div></object></p>
<p>This new edition of Firefox is the third big new browser release this year, following new editions of Microsoft’s (MSFT) Internet Explorer and Apple’s (AAPL) Safari. Unlike Firefox, these two browsers come bundled with the two major computer platforms, Windows and Mac. By contrast, Mozilla must convince users to download Firefox, which comes in essentially identical versions for both systems. And it has done a reasonably good job, garnering by most estimates around 23% market share, versus between 60% and 70% for IE, which is by far the leader. Meanwhile, Google (GOOG)—a former Firefox supporter—has joined the battle with its nascent Chrome browser, which so far runs only on Windows, but is due on the Mac one day and is to morph into a whole new operating system next year. And there are other very capable browsers with small user bases, the most notable of which is Opera.</p>
<p>I’ve been using Firefox since its inception years ago, and have been testing this latest iteration, version 3.5, since it emerged June 30. I can continue to recommend it as a fine way to surf the Web. The new version is improved, and worked very well for me on both my Windows and Macintosh computers.</p>
<p>But, in this round of the war, Mozilla’s product no longer stands out as clearly superior, for two reasons. First, Firefox has lost its traditionally biggest advantage: greater speed than its rivals. While Firefox 3.5 is about twice as fast as the previous version 3.0, and handily beat Internet Explorer 8 in my tests, it lagged behind both Safari 4.02 and the beta edition of Chrome 2.0 a bit in most test scenarios. Overall, Safari was fastest in most of my tests, both on Mac and Windows (yes, Apple makes a little-known version of Safari for Windows).</p>
<p>In fact, Mozilla no longer is claiming to be the fastest browser. It now prefers to say it is one of what it calls the “modern” browsers, along with Safari and Chrome, whose under-the-hood technologies make them better at handling a growing breed of sophisticated Internet-based applications that mimic traditional computer programs like photo editors and word processors and spreadsheets.</p>
<p>Second, this version of Firefox has relatively few new features, and some of them are merely catch-ups to those introduced earlier by Microsoft and Apple. Most notable among these is a private browsing mode, first popularized in Safari, and greatly expanded in IE, which allows you to traverse Web sites without leaving traces on your computer to show what you’ve been doing.</p>
<p>Mozilla says its main goal from now on will be to turn Firefox into the ideal platform for running Web-based applications. It shares the belief, also fervently embraced by Google, that consumers will gradually migrate away from programs stored on their computers’ hard disks to those stored in “the Cloud,” the industry’s term for the servers that run the Internet.</p>
<p>To show this, the new Firefox can do a few new tricks, like streaming video directly from Web pages without requiring plug-ins like Adobe’s (ADBE) Flash. Alas, this works only with obscure video formats little used on the Web at the moment.</p>
<p>Firefox 3.5 does include some new features, in addition to private browsing. It can pinpoint your location, so that any properly configured Web site can serve up locally relevant content. It has a nice option that lets you “forget” any Web page in your history, wiping out all traces you’ve been there, even if you neglected to turn on private browsing mode beforehand. And it can recover your open tabs after a crash.</p>
<p>Also, Firefox continues to lead its rivals in the number and variety of third-party add-ons that enhance browsing in myriad ways, such as adding features to sites like Twitter or making bookmarking easier.</p>
<p>As for speed, I tested Firefox 3.5 against its main rivals by timing how long it took to launch into the same home page, and how long it took to completely load popular Web sites like Facebook and YouTube. I tested how long it took to completely load folders containing numerous sports and news sites simultaneously. I also ran an industry benchmark test that measures the browsers’ speed at handling an important Web language called JavaScript. I did these tests on the same home network on both a Dell (DELL) and an Apple computer.</p>
<p>While Firefox won a few of these tests, Safari and Chrome won more of them. In most cases, the speed differences weren’t large, except in the case of IE, which was dramatically slower than the others. But this is the first new version of Firefox I’ve tested that didn’t win most of the tests.</p>
<p>Firefox is still a great Web browser, and still much faster than its main rival, Internet Explorer. But its edge is being eroded.</p>
<p class="tagline">Find all of Walt Mossberg’s columns and videos online, free, at the All Things Digital Web site, <a href="http://walt.allthingsd.com">walt.allthingsd.com</a>. Email him at <a href="mailto:mossberg@wsj.com">mossberg@wsj.com</a>.</p>
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		<title>Gates Logs Off</title>
		<link>http://allthingsd.com/20080630/gates-logs-off/</link>
		<comments>http://allthingsd.com/20080630/gates-logs-off/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 30 Jun 2008 18:00:34 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>John Paczkowski</dc:creator>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/?p=2651</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[[ See post to watch video ]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><div class="video-wsj"><embed src="http://s.wsj.net/media/swf/microPlayer.swf" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" flashVars="videoGUID={1638858173}&playerid=4001&plyMediaEnabled=1&configURL=http://m.wsj.net/video-players/&autoStart=false" base="http://s.wsj.net/media/swf/" name="microflashPlayer" width="320" height="240" seamlesstabbing="false" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" swLiveConnect="true" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash"></embed><br />[ See post to watch video ]</div></p>
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		<title>Reporting Digital Map Errors</title>
		<link>http://allthingsd.com/20080626/reporting-digital-map-errors/</link>
		<comments>http://allthingsd.com/20080626/reporting-digital-map-errors/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 26 Jun 2008 00:01:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Walter S. Mossberg</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Mossberg's Mailbox]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://mailbox.allthingsd.com/20080626/reporting-digital-map-errors/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Walt Mossberg answers questions about reporting errors on digital maps, "virtual private networks" on Amtrak trains and saving Internet Explorer favorites.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Here are a few questions I&#8217;ve received recently from people like you, and my answers. I have edited and restated the questions a bit, for readability.</p>
<hr />
<p class="question"> <em>All of the major digital maps contain erroneous information about our street in Virginia, and don&#8217;t even show several new streets near our home that were built over three years ago. I infer that there is one source of cartography used by these Web services, and also by my Garmin navigation system. But I can&#8217;t find out what it is. How can an individual get something like this corrected?</em></p>
<p class="answer"> There are actually two main companies that make the underlying maps that most of the navigation-device makers and digital-map sites use. One is called Tele Atlas (TLATF.PK), and one is called Navteq (NVT). Garmin (GRMN) uses Navteq. Each mapping company has a Web page where users can report errors or changes.</p>
<p>For Navteq&#8217;s error-reporting Web page, go to <a href="http://navteq.com" rel="external">navteq.com</a> and click on &#8220;Map Reporter.&#8221; For Tele Atlas&#8217; similar page, go to <a href="http://teleatlas.com" rel="external">teleatlas.com</a> and click on &#8220;Report Map Changes.&#8221;</p>
<p class="question"> <em>In reading your review of the new Gogo in-flight wireless Internet system, I wondered about two things: Does it support &#8220;virtual private networks,&#8221; and when will it be installed on Amtrak trains?</em></p>
<p class="answer"> While I didn&#8217;t test this, Gogo&#8217;s maker, Aircell, says that VPNs, which are used by many big companies, do indeed work over the service.</p>
<p>As for Amtrak, the Gogo system wouldn&#8217;t work for trains, because its antennas point up, into the sky, and don&#8217;t cover ground locations like railroad tracks. However, if you are on an Amtrak train in an area where cellphone towers are near the tracks, and your laptop computer or cellphone can pick up cellular data signals, you can already surf the Web and do email and other online tasks on the train.</p>
<p>In fact, I happen to be writing this column on an Amtrak Acela train between Washington and New York, and, using a Verizon (VZ) laptop card, my laptop is able to access the Internet with only occasional lapses.</p>
<p class="question"> <em>Because of problems I had with my computer, I lost my Internet Explorer favorites. How can I save them so I can easily restore them if they get wiped out again?</em></p>
<p class="answer"> There are several methods. You should, of course, be backing up all your key data, including your browser favorites or bookmarks, regularly, either to a local external disk, or to an online backup service. That would create a fairly fresh backup of your favorites. You could also use one of several Web sites that specialize in hosting, and sharing, bookmarks or favorites. They allow you to add bookmarks to your online list as you surf, and also to upload and download the favorites and bookmarks you keep locally on your computer. The best known of these sites is probably del.icio.us, which is at <a href="http://http://del.icio.us" rel="external">http://del.icio.us</a>.</p>
<p>The simplest method, however, is probably to just export your favorites to a file and save it in your Documents folder, on your desktop, or on a USB thumb drive. You can then use this file to restore your favorites in case of disaster. To do this in the latest version of Microsoft (MSFT) IE, click on the &#8220;Add to Favorites&#8221; button, select &#8220;Import and Export,&#8221; click &#8220;Next,&#8221; then click &#8220;Export Favorites&#8221; and walk through the steps that follow. Detailed instructions for all versions of IE are at: <a href="http://support.microsoft.com/kb/211089" rel="external">support.microsoft.com/kb/211089</a>.</p>
<ul>
<li>You can find Mossberg&#8217;s Mailbox, and my other columns, online for free at the new All Things Digital web site, <a href="http://walt.allthingsd.com" rel="external">http://walt.allthingsd.com</a>.</li>
</ul>
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		<title>PC Options Without Preinstalled Software</title>
		<link>http://allthingsd.com/20080619/pc-options-without-preinstalled-software/</link>
		<comments>http://allthingsd.com/20080619/pc-options-without-preinstalled-software/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 19 Jun 2008 00:01:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Walter S. Mossberg</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Mossberg's Mailbox]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://mailbox.allthingsd.com/20080619/pc-options-without-preinstalled-software/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Walt Mossberg answers questions about ordering a Windows PC without any extra software preinstalled, the co-existence of Internet Explorer and Firefox 3.0 and transferring emails between two Windows machines.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Here are a few questions I&#8217;ve received recently from people like you, and my answers. I have edited and restated the questions a bit, for readability.</p>
<hr />
<p class="question"> <em>Does any PC manufacturer offer an option to order a Windows (MSFT) PC without any extra software preinstalled?</em></p>
<p class="answer"> Dell&#8217;s XPS models can be ordered without most preloaded third-party software if you are very careful about clicking all the &#8220;no&#8221; options when ordering online. But you still are likely to find yourself with Dell&#8217;s (DELL) own sometimes annoying networking software.</p>
<p class="question"> <em>I have two Windows machines, one for work and one for home. Both use Outlook for email. How can I best transfer many emails from the machine at work to the one at home and still be able to read them in Outlook &#8212; without forwarding them all?</em></p>
<p class="answer"> Outlook has an &#8220;Import and Export&#8221; function that will allow you to export any of your email folders to, say, a transferable medium such as an external hard disk or flash drive. You can then take this removable medium to the home computer, plug it in, fire up Outlook, and then import the folder you had exported earlier at work. You can find these import and export functions under Outlook&#8217;s File menu.</p>
<p class="question"> <em>Can Internet Explorer and Firefox 3.0 coexist on the same computer?</em></p>
<p class="answer"> Yes. In fact, you can have 2, 3, or 4 different Web browsers installed on the same personal computer, whether Windows or Mac (AAPL). You can even run different browsers simultaneously. For instance, as I type this, I am running IE 7, Firefox 3.0 and Safari 3.0 on the same computer at the same time.</p>
<p>The only slight hassle is that you will have to decide which to designate as the default browser, the one that launches when, say, you click on a link in an email.</p>
<ul>
<li>You can find Mossberg&#8217;s Mailbox, and my other columns, online for free at the new All Things Digital web site, <a href="http://walt.allthingsd.com" rel="external">http://walt.allthingsd.com</a>.</li>
</ul>
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		<title>Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Missing White House E-mails</title>
		<link>http://allthingsd.com/20080617/encyclopedia-brown-and-the-case-of-the-missing-white-house-e-mails/</link>
		<comments>http://allthingsd.com/20080617/encyclopedia-brown-and-the-case-of-the-missing-white-house-e-mails/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 17 Jun 2008 18:00:13 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>John Paczkowski</dc:creator>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/?p=2551</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[[ See post to watch video ]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><div class="video-wsj"><embed src="http://s.wsj.net/media/swf/microPlayer.swf" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" flashVars="videoGUID={1612710969}&playerid=4001&plyMediaEnabled=1&configURL=http://m.wsj.net/video-players/&autoStart=false" base="http://s.wsj.net/media/swf/" name="microflashPlayer" width="320" height="240" seamlesstabbing="false" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" swLiveConnect="true" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash"></embed><br />[ See post to watch video ]</div></p>
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		<title>Firefox Download Day Forces Postponement of IE Vulnerability Festival</title>
		<link>http://allthingsd.com/20080617/firefox-30-sets-world-record-for-most-over-hyped-browser-release/</link>
		<comments>http://allthingsd.com/20080617/firefox-30-sets-world-record-for-most-over-hyped-browser-release/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 17 Jun 2008 16:07:52 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>John Paczkowski</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/?p=2550</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[After seven months in beta the latest iteration of the application that reignited the browser wars is finally here. Firefox 3 debuts today and to mark the occasion, Mozilla, the nonprofit behind the popular open-source Web browser, is rallying users to help it set a Guinness World Record for highest number of software downloads in a single day.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img src="http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/files/2008/06/firefox_circle.jpg" alt="" title="firefox_circle" width="350" height="226" class='centered' style="border: 1px solid #000;" /><br />
After seven months in beta, the latest iteration of the application that reignited the browser wars is finally here. Firefox 3 debuts today and to mark the occasion, Mozilla, the nonprofit behind the popular open-source Web browser, is rallying users to help it <a href="http://www.spreadfirefox.com/en-US/worldrecord">set a Guinness World Record for highest number of software downloads in a single day</a>.</p>
<p>There isn&#8217;t yet a Guinness World Record for most software downloaded in a single day, so Mozilla will truly have rewritten the record books if it manages to set one. The group&#8217;s hoping for 5 million downloads&#8211;not an unreasonable figure, given that Firefox 2 was downloaded 1.6 million times the first day of its release. Indeed, Mozilla&#8217;s already well on its way to reaching that goal: 1,721,775 users had already pledged to download the browser upon its release today at 10 a.m. PDT.</p>
<p>What can they <a href="http://ptech.allthingsd.com/20080605/mozilla-firefox-30-is-the-best-browser-for-web-for-now/">expect from Firefox 3</a>? More sophisticated bookmarking, endless customization possibilities, an &#8220;<a href="http://www.webware.com/8301-1_109-9944662-2.html">awesome bar,</a>&#8221; more robust malware protection and a browsing experience that Mozilla claims is seven times speedier than Microsoft&#8217;s (MSFT) Internet Explorer. <a href="http://ptech.allthingsd.com/20080605/mozilla-firefox-30-is-the-best-browser-for-web-for-now/">Said Walt Mossberg</a>, &#8220;Firefox 3.0 is the best Web browser out there right now&#8221; and that it &#8220;tops the current versions of both IE and [Apple's (AAPL)] Safari in features, speed and security.&#8221;</p>
<p>Clearly, Firefox 3.0 is a force to be reckoned with now more than ever before. As of May, the browser&#8217;s worldwide market share was 18.4%, while Internet Explorer&#8217;s stood at 73.8% according to Web metrics company Net Applications. Where will it stand after setting that world record?</p>
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		<title>A Photo-Sharing Site Where Active Participation Is Allowed</title>
		<link>http://allthingsd.com/20080611/a-photo-sharing-site-where-active-participation-is-allowed/</link>
		<comments>http://allthingsd.com/20080611/a-photo-sharing-site-where-active-participation-is-allowed/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 11 Jun 2008 00:01:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Katherine Boehret</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Katherine Boehret]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://solution.allthingsd.com/20080611/a-photo-sharing-site-where-active-participation-is-allowed/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The once-frustrating process of sharing digital photos and videos has improved over the past year, thanks to seamless Web-based programs. One such application, shwup, serves as a neat, artistic way to share photos quickly -- when it works.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Wouldn&#8217;t it be great if, after attending an event &#8212; like a wedding &#8212; at which friends and family took digital photos and videos, everyone could contribute to the same online album? It would be even better if everyone could access the album through a simple email invitation instead of having to create yet another log-in profile.</p>
<p>The once-frustrating process of sharing digital photos and videos has noticeably improved over the past year, thanks to seamless Web-based programs that work like desktop applications. But many of these sites give all the power to whoever created the album, leaving invited guests to simply look at photos or add comments.</p>
<div class="media-CENTER" style="width: 300px;"><img src="http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/images/PJ-AM550_MOSSBE_20080610134814.jpg" alt="Shwup by muvee Technologies gives friends a common album in which to share digital photos and videos." height="189" width="300" /><br />Shwup by muvee Technologies gives friends a common album in which to share digital photos and videos.</div>
<p>This week I tested shwup (<a href="http://www.shwup.com" rel="external">www.shwup.com</a>), a free Web-based application that&#8217;s available starting Wednesday from muvee Technologies and works as described above with only a few pitfalls. The concept is simple: Anyone who signs up for a shwup account can create an album filled with digital photos and videos, and this album can be shared with anyone else via email whether they have a shwup account or not. Recipients of these email invitations can click on an embedded link to view and add content to the album. Or users can completely skip visiting the site and instantly upload content by replying to the email invitation with attached photos and videos.</p>
<p>Muvee Technologies is best known for selling software that automatically creates short movies, or muvees, by blending digital videos and photos with music and transitions. Muvee&#8217;s namesake technology is a part of the free shwup site; a few muvees are automatically generated in each of the albums and everyone who is invited to the album can create muvees using its content. But shwup&#8217;s main focus is making sharing easier for everyone. It differs from most of the company&#8217;s software programs in that it&#8217;s free and completely Web-based.</p>
<p>A shwup album takes just a few minutes to set up and even less time to share. It works on Microsoft&#8217;s (MSFT) Internet Explorer and Mozilla&#8217;s Firefox 2.0 and 3.0 browsers but won&#8217;t work on Apple&#8217;s (AAPL) Safari until the fall. Shwup is available Wednesday but is still technically in its beta, or testing, phase, and I ran into a few kinks. I had trouble getting its useful reply-to-email uploading capability to work when two friends and I tried to upload content to my album using attachments in email replies. My friends had to visit the site to upload content. Muvee couldn&#8217;t figure out what went wrong when I asked the company about it.</p>
<p>I did, however, add content to someone else&#8217;s album using the reply-to-email method, uploading a digital photo in seconds. And in another instance I received a shwup email invitation on my BlackBerry and replied to it with an attached photo, which &#8212; in seconds &#8212; sent that photo from my BlackBerry to the specified shwup album.</p>
<div class="media-CENTER" style="width: 300px;"><img src="http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/images/PJ-AM551_MOSSBE_20080610214429.jpg" alt="Shwup automatically makes muvees, or short movies with music and transitions, using album content." height="217" width="300" /><br />Shwup automatically makes muvees, or short movies with music and transitions, using album content.</div>
<p>A glaring omission from shwup is the ability to view photos in full-screen view, a feature that most photo-sharing programs offer in slideshow mode. A friend of mine said he would use shwup over other photo-sharing Web sites that require user names and passwords if only it had full-screen photos. Muvee recognizes this as one of shwup&#8217;s biggest issues and says it will add this feature in August.</p>
<p>I uploaded over 60 high-resolution digital photos into my first shwup album, noting that the only limitation on files is that no individual file can be larger than 100 megabytes. These images can come from your computer, Flickr, Facebook or any Web site. Out of curiosity, I plugged www.cnn.com into the Web site entry box and shwup automatically grabbed images from the site that were available for me to use. I checked two of the images and they were added to my album in seconds.</p>
<p>Shwup automatically made and added three muvees to my album, using my photos put to music it chooses with dramatically timed transitions. These short clips looked really well-done, and were labeled as &#8220;sample muvees&#8221; so as not to be confused with my content. I followed a few simple steps to create a muvee of my own for the album by dragging photos into a tray, choosing from seven different layout styles and a handful of stock music licensed by shwup.</p>
<p>An option lets you upload your own music to play with your muvee, which I did. Seconds later, my homemade muvee played with transitions that were perfectly timed to the beats of a Fountains of Wayne song. After filling an album with digital photos, videos and muvees that I made, I invited friends to my album using emails generated from shwup.com. Within each album, a clear list of whoever was invited to the album can be seen on the top right side of the page. If someone hasn&#8217;t shared content yet, he or she can be &#8220;poked&#8221; by anyone invited to the album, sending them yet another email invitation.</p>
<p>Everyone invited to an album receives notifications from shwup whenever someone contributed content to the album and everyone can change the layout of the album to one of three settings: Grid, Simple or Mosaic. Moving my cursor over an album&#8217;s images showed data about each file including who contributed the photo or video, when it was captured and how many comments it had received in the album. (Comments are readable after clicking on an image to see a bigger version of it.)</p>
<p>Digital videos are labeled with small Play icons to distinguish them from digital still images. But a friend who uploaded a video to my album pointed out that the still image representing his video was a gray square rather than a still of the first scene as it did with the other videos &#8212; perhaps because this is where the camera was focused at the start of the video. Without an image to illustrate what the video was, it wasn&#8217;t as appealing as the other videos and images. Muvee explained that the ability to select a still image to represent a video was available in its pay software, but not yet in shwup, though the company plans to add this to shwup in the future.</p>
<p>Another hitch: If you invite someone to your album and then add something to the album you&#8217;d rather they not see, you can&#8217;t un-invite the person. Muvee says it plans to add the ability to un-invite members in July. Individual contributors have the ability to delete or &#8220;unshare&#8221; the content that they added to an album, while album creators can unshare and delete all pictures or entire albums. Album creators also are given the authority to merge albums.</p>
<p>Along with shwup, muvee also announces a new version of its downloadable pay software Wednesday: muvee Reveal. This $100 software has much more detailed features that specifically tweak your videos to become extra personalized.</p>
<p>When it works, shwup serves as a neat, artistic way to share photos quickly. Friends and family will be relieved that it doesn&#8217;t require any forgettable usernames and passwords, and the email-uploading tool will make anyone who knows how to attach something to an email feel like he or she can contribute to a photo-sharing Web site without a second thought. After shwup adds its full-screen photo-viewing option and clears up the glitches of its email-uploading feature, I&#8217;ll be using shwup for many group events to come.</p>
<p class="tagline">Edited By Walter S. Mossberg</p>
<ul>
<li>Email <a href="mailto:mossbergsolution@wsj.com" rel="external">mossbergsolution@wsj.com</a></li>
</ul>
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		<title>Mozilla Firefox 3.0 Is the Best Browser for Web -- For Now</title>
		<link>http://allthingsd.com/20080605/mozilla-firefox-30-is-the-best-browser-for-web-for-now/</link>
		<comments>http://allthingsd.com/20080605/mozilla-firefox-30-is-the-best-browser-for-web-for-now/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 05 Jun 2008 00:01:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Walter S. Mossberg</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Personal Technology]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://ptech.allthingsd.com/20080605/mozilla-firefox-30-is-the-best-browser-for-web-for-now/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Mozilla Firefox 3.0 is the best Web browser out there right now, and it tops the current versions of both IE and Safari in features, speed and security, writes Walt Mossberg. It is easy to install and easy to use, even for a mainstream, non-technical user.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>If you buy a new Windows Vista PC, it comes with a decent built-in Web browser, Internet Explorer 7. If you buy a new Macintosh computer, it comes with a decent built-in Web browser, Safari 3.0. So why would you want or need a different Web browser?</p>
<p><div class="video-wsj"><object width="640" height="360"><param name="movie" value="http://s.wsj.net/media/swf/microPlayer.swf"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><param name="flashvars" value="videoGUID=8FB9C2ED-B167-49D6-AAF5-838843475427&playerid=4001&plyMediaEnabled=1&configURL=http://m.wsj.net/video-players/&autoStart=false" base="http://s.wsj.net/media/swf/"name="microflashPlayer"></param><embed src="http://s.wsj.net/media/swf/microPlayer.swf" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" flashVars="videoGUID={8FB9C2ED-B167-49D6-AAF5-838843475427}&playerid=4001&plyMediaEnabled=1&configURL=http://m.wsj.net/video-players/&autoStart=false" base="http://s.wsj.net/media/swf/" name="microflashPlayer" width="640" height="360" seamlesstabbing="false" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" swLiveConnect="true" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash"></embed><br />[ See post to watch video ]</div></object></p>
<p>That is the question that Mozilla, the nonprofit organization that makes the leading alternative browser, hopes to answer this month when it releases version 3.0 of its Firefox Web browser. In some tech-industry circles, Firefox already is preferred over Microsoft&#8217;s (MSFT) Internet Explorer and Apple&#8217;s (AAPL) Safari, but it still isn&#8217;t used by most people, and Mozilla is hoping to broaden its appeal.</p>
<p>The new version will be released simultaneously for Windows and the Mac&#8217;s OS X operating system, as well as for Linux. While each of the three editions will have the visual style of the operating system on which it runs, all three will have the same features.</p>
<p>I&#8217;ve been using prerelease versions of Firefox 3.0 for months, and have recently been testing a near-final version and comparing it closely to IE and to Safari. I have tested it on multiple Windows PCs and Macs, on desktops and laptops, over slow connections and fast ones. I have tried it with well over 100 Web sites.</p>
<p>My verdict is that Firefox 3.0 is the best Web browser out there right now, and that it tops the current versions of both IE and Safari in features, speed and security. It is easy to install and easy to use, even for a mainstream, non-technical user. It can be downloaded, free, at <a href="http://mozilla.com" rel="external">mozilla.com</a> by clicking on &#8220;Firefox 3 Sneak Peek.&#8221;</p>
<p>This situation may change. Microsoft is working on a new version of IE, scheduled to be unveiled later this year, with some impressive new features. And Apple is always working on new iterations of Safari, though it is secretive and hasn&#8217;t disclosed its plans. But for now, in my view, Firefox 3.0 rules on both Windows and Mac.</p>
<p>I couldn&#8217;t find any significant downsides to Firefox 3.0. Every page I tried rendered properly and rapidly on both platforms. I ran into only one glitch, in a preference setting. That problem appeared on only one of my four test machines and was fixable with the help of Mozilla, albeit via a geeky method.</p>
<p>In the one or two cases where Firefox lacked a feature I thought important, such as the &#8220;auto fill&#8221; feature in Safari that can quickly fill out an online form, I was able to find an add-on that did the trick from Mozilla&#8217;s vast library of add-ons, which are written by people all over the world. (One caution: Some existing add-ons won&#8217;t work with the new version until their authors update them.)</p>
<p>When Firefox first came out, it was the fastest browser, but it lost that title over the years. However, in my tests, this new third version of Firefox regained the speed crown. It beat IE 7 handily on my test Windows computers and edged Safari slightly on my test Macs.</p>
<p>For example, using a new Dell (DELL) XPS One desktop, I opened identical folders containing the same 16 bookmarks on both IE 7 and Firefox 3.0. IE took 37 seconds to completely display the 16 pages, but the new Firefox did it in just 23 seconds. On a new Apple iMac, I did a similar, but more daunting, test &#8212; opening identical folders containing 24 bookmarks. Safari rendered all of the pages in 36 seconds, but the new Firefox finished the job in 32 seconds.</p>
<p>The latest Firefox has a number of new and improved features. If you type any word or phrase into its address bar, the browser instantly searches your history and bookmarks for a possible match, to save you from typing or combing through your bookmark list.</p>
<p>The whole process of managing bookmarks has been vastly simplified. Every Web address is accompanied by a star icon at the right. To bookmark the site, you just click the star once. No other action is required. To specify where to file the bookmark, you click the star twice. You also can remove bookmarks by clicking the star. And you can tag bookmarks with key words, to make it easier to find them.</p>
<p>There are also smart bookmark folders, which gather your most visited sites, or most recently bookmarked sites, automatically into folders. You also now can more easily back up and restore your bookmarks, complete with tags.</p>
<p>Security is also improved. The old version of Firefox would warn you when a site you were visiting appeared to be a fake, designed to steal your identity. (IE has a similar feature, though Safari doesn&#8217;t.) But Firefox 3.0 now warns you about sites that are known for trying to plant viruses, spyware and other malicious software on your computer, a warning the other big browsers don&#8217;t yet provide.</p>
<p>With one click, Firefox 3.0 also provides details about who owns the site you&#8217;re visiting, and whether it&#8217;s encrypted, if the site owner has adopted a special type of security certificate.</p>
<p>My bottom line: Even though you already have a built-in browser, Firefox 3.0 can improve your Web experience.</p>
<ul>
<li>Find all of Walt Mossberg&#8217;s columns and videos online, free, at the All Things Digital Web site, <a href="http://walt.allthingsd.com" rel="external">walt.allthingsd.com</a>. Email him at <a href="mailto:mossberg@wsj.com" rel="external">mossberg@wsj.com</a>.</li>
</ul>
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		<title>Part Man. Part Machine. All Ballmer. The Future of Corporate Leadership</title>
		<link>http://allthingsd.com/20080603/ballmer-bot/</link>
		<comments>http://allthingsd.com/20080603/ballmer-bot/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 03 Jun 2008 21:29:11 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>John Paczkowski</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[applications]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ballmer-bot]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Bill Gates]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[developer]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[robot]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Steve Ballmer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tech-Ed 2008]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/20080603/ballmer-bot/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates delivered his last scheduled speech as the full-time chairman of Microsoft this morning. He spoke at length about  Microsoft's application development plan, the August debut of Internet Explorer 8, and the company's efforts to compete with Google. And then the 'Ballmer-Bot' showed  up ...]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates delivered his last scheduled speech as the full-time chairman of Microsoft (MSFT) this morning. He spoke at length about Microsoft&#8217;s application development plan, the August debut of Internet Explorer 8 and the company&#8217;s efforts to compete with Google (GOOG). But all paled in comparison to his discussion of Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio and the egg-throwing Ballmer-bot created with it.  <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/exec/billg/speeches/2008/06-03teched.mspx">Transcript</a> and video below &#8230;</p>
<blockquote><p>
<strong>Robot:</strong> Developers, developers, developers, developers, developers, developers; developers, developers, developers, developers, developers, developers, developers.</p>
<p><strong>Bill Gates: </strong>Good; we&#8217;ve got the Ballmer-bot pretty excited here. It&#8217;s an amazing-looking robot. It&#8217;s just balancing itself, and fantastic.</p>
<p><strong>Patrick Deegan:</strong> Yeah, what you see here is the latest in robotics technology. The Ballmer-bot features a dynamically stable mobile base, a rotating torso and two dexterous arms. This makes it so that it&#8217;s even able to throw eggs.<br />
</a>
</p></blockquote>
<p><div class="video-wsj"><embed src="http://s.wsj.net/media/swf/microPlayer.swf" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" flashVars="videoGUID={1578139129}&playerid=4001&plyMediaEnabled=1&configURL=http://m.wsj.net/video-players/&autoStart=false" base="http://s.wsj.net/media/swf/" name="microflashPlayer" width="320" height="240" seamlesstabbing="false" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" swLiveConnect="true" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash"></embed><br />[ See post to watch video ]</div></p>
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		<title>Moving Photos off a Cellphone</title>
		<link>http://allthingsd.com/20080508/moving-photos-off-of-a-cellphone/</link>
		<comments>http://allthingsd.com/20080508/moving-photos-off-of-a-cellphone/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 08 May 2008 00:01:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Walter S. Mossberg</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Mossberg's Mailbox]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://mailbox.allthingsd.com/20080508/moving-photos-off-of-a-cellphone/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Walt Mossberg answers questions about transferring photos from a cellphone to a computer, avoiding identity theft and Vista security features.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Here are a few questions I&#8217;ve received recently from people like you, and my answers. I have edited and restated the questions a bit, for readability.</p>
<hr />
<p class="question"> <em>I recently lost my cellphone for a few hours. What was most upsetting was that I have nearly three years of family photos stored on my phone&#8217;s memory card. Other than emailing all of these photos to myself and then saving, is there any way you can think of how I can move these en masse (over 100 pictures) to a hard drive or disc?</em></p>
<p class="answer"> Well, assuming the card is removable, you can simply remove it from the phone, pop it into your computer, and copy the pictures to the computer&#8217;s hard disk. Depending on what slots your computer has, and the type of memory card the phone uses, this might require using a cheap, small adapter for the computer.</p>
<p>This should work with any modern computer, Windows (MSFT) or Mac (AAPL), and no special software should be required. The memory card should show up as an external disk drive, and you would just open the folder or folders containing the images and copy them to a folder on your hard disk, as you would with any other file. You can leave the originals on the card if you wish. Alternatively, you could import the pictures using photo software like the Vista Photo Gallery or Apple&#8217;s iPhoto, although you will want to be sure that the photo software is set to save a duplicate of each photo on the hard disk.</p>
<p class="question"> <em>I read your column about avoiding identity theft last week, but am still concerned. I look at my T. Rowe Price (TROW) account, my Chase account, and my J.P. Morgan (JPM) account every day. I also pay my bills online. Is it safe to do this? I am afraid someone will try to steal my passwords and get my money.</em></p>
<p class="answer"> There is nothing wrong with checking your accounts and paying your bills online. Millions of people do that safely. All I was saying last week is that there are some rules you should follow to avoid falling into traps commonly set by crooks. One important rule is to never, ever trust any email you get purporting to be from a financial institution, even if it looks official. Never click on any link in any such email, or enter any login or account information in such an email.</p>
<p>Beyond that, just log into the sites manually or using bookmarks you created yourself. Keep your login IDs and passwords for these sites safe, either by memorizing them or writing them someplace where they won&#8217;t be easily seen or found. Choose passwords that are hard to guess, and change them every so often. I would also advise against checking financial sites or doing online banking when on public networks, especially wireless networks at hotels, coffee shops, or airports, because some crooks monitor what is typed on such networks.</p>
<p class="question"> <em>What exactly was Microsoft&#8217;s thinking in moving from XP to Vista as its operating system? If it was for improved resistance to viruses and phishing, I can accept the slower operating speeds along with the few other glitches.</em></p>
<p class="answer"> As with any new operating-system project, the development of Vista had numerous aims, including easier networking and an improved user interface. However, Microsoft officials at the time repeatedly said that much more robust security was the main design goal for Vista. And, in fact, Vista does have an array of security features Windows XP lacked. However, much of the antiphishing work is contained in version 7 of the Internet Explorer Web browser, which is also available to XP users. And Vista didn&#8217;t eliminate the need to operate add-on security software.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s also worth noting that Microsoft is continuing to bolster the security and other features of Windows XP, and will soon release a major XP update called Service Pack 3, or SP3. It includes improved security.</p>
<ul>
<li>You can find Mossberg&#8217;s Mailbox, and my other columns, online for free at the new All Things Digital web site, <a href="http://walt.allthingsd.com" rel="external">http://walt.allthingsd.com</a>.</li>
</ul>
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		<title>Adobe Web Photo Site Is Great for Editing, but Lacks Some Basics</title>
		<link>http://allthingsd.com/20080417/adobe-web-photo-site-is-great-for-editing-but-lacks-some-basics/</link>
		<comments>http://allthingsd.com/20080417/adobe-web-photo-site-is-great-for-editing-but-lacks-some-basics/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 17 Apr 2008 00:01:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Walter S. Mossberg</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Personal Technology]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Photoshop]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://ptech.allthingsd.com/20080417/adobe-web-photo-site-is-great-for-editing-but-lacks-some-basics/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Adobe's Photoshop Express offers the nicest set of Web-based photo editing tools I have seen. They are sophisticated for a consumer application, yet easy to use. However, it's rough around the edges.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The biggest name in photo software for many years has been Adobe&#8217;s Photoshop. But, as more and more photos migrated online, Adobe (ADBE) became concerned that people would associate photo software less with its own locally installed programs than with Web-based products and services.</p>
<p>So, last month, the photo giant introduced Photoshop Express, its free Web-based service for storing, sharing and editing photos, in an effort to compete with established online photo services such as Yahoo&#8217;s (YHOO) Flickr, Google&#8217;s (GOOG) Picasa Web Albums, or the photo-laden Facebook social-networking service.</p>
<p><div class="video-wsj"><object width="640" height="360"><param name="movie" value="http://s.wsj.net/media/swf/microPlayer.swf"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><param name="flashvars" value="videoGUID=326FD349-D880-4B2E-A65E-680436603307&playerid=4001&plyMediaEnabled=1&configURL=http://m.wsj.net/video-players/&autoStart=false" base="http://s.wsj.net/media/swf/"name="microflashPlayer"></param><embed src="http://s.wsj.net/media/swf/microPlayer.swf" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" flashVars="videoGUID={326FD349-D880-4B2E-A65E-680436603307}&playerid=4001&plyMediaEnabled=1&configURL=http://m.wsj.net/video-players/&autoStart=false" base="http://s.wsj.net/media/swf/" name="microflashPlayer" width="640" height="360" seamlesstabbing="false" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" swLiveConnect="true" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash"></embed><br />[ See post to watch video ]</div></object></p>
<p>Photoshop Express has many of the same features as Flickr and its ilk. It gives you two free gigabytes of photo storage. But Adobe is hoping to make its mark with editing.</p>
<p>Most online photo services offer little or no editing, assuming you&#8217;ll do that using software on your computer before you upload your pictures. But Photoshop Express, borrowing from Adobe&#8217;s deep knowledge of photo editing, offers the nicest set of Web-based editing tools I have seen. They are sophisticated for a consumer application, yet easy to use. They edge out those in Picnik, a pioneering Web-based photo editor I hailed last year.</p>
<p>These slick editing tools are not only available for use with photos you&#8217;ve uploaded from your hard disk. You can also use them to edit pictures stored in your accounts at Facebook, Picasa Web Albums and another big photo-storage service, Photobucket &#8212; all without leaving Photoshop Express. You can even move pictures between Photoshop Express and these three services just by dragging and dropping.</p>
<p>Adobe&#8217;s new service is available in the U.S. only, at <a href="http://www.photoshop.com/express" rel="external">www.photoshop.com/express</a>.</p>
<p>I&#8217;ve been testing Photoshop Express and its service overall is pretty good, even though it&#8217;s still labeled &#8220;beta.&#8221; It&#8217;s a nice example of the Web 2.0 trend, where programs accessed via a browser can look and feel like applications that live on your computer.</p>
<p>But Photoshop Express is rough around the edges. It can be slow at times, and it&#8217;s missing some obvious features, like the ability to easily download publicly shared pictures from other members or to print photos. Adobe says it is working on these things.</p>
<p>Photoshop Express isn&#8217;t meant to replicate all the features and power of Photoshop. It&#8217;s more like a Web-based version of Photoshop Elements, Adobe&#8217;s consumer software package.</p>
<p>I tested Photoshop Express on multiple computers: PCs running Microsoft&#8217;s (MSFT) Windows XP and Windows Vista, and Macs running Apple&#8217;s (AAPL) Leopard operating system. I used it in all three major Web browsers: Internet Explorer for Windows, Firefox on both Windows and Mac, and Safari, also on both platforms. It worked fine in all of these operating systems and browsers, though it does require Adobe&#8217;s free Flash software.</p>
<p>For my tests, I uploaded from my computers dozens of photos, from very large images captured with good digital cameras to smaller shots from cellphones. All were handled perfectly by Photoshop Express. I also opened and edited pictures in Photoshop Express from my accounts on Picasa Web Albums and Facebook. All of this worked well, though uploads of large images can be slow if your Web connection is pokey.</p>
<p>Photoshop Express is a handsome product, presenting your photos on a gray background with controls and features arrayed at the top and bottom, and down the sides, in a logical, clear manner. Your own photos are presented in a section called &#8220;My Photos,&#8221; and can be organized into albums. Photos that other Photoshop Express users have chosen to publicly share are organized into collections called &#8220;Galleries,&#8221; which can include multiple albums. You access these community photos by simply clicking on &#8220;Browse&#8221; or performing a search.</p>
<p>For each album you create, you can choose to share it publicly or to keep it private. Whichever option you choose, you can email friends either a link for viewing the album or a single photo. Your own photos can be downloaded at a variety of resolutions, including original size.</p>
<p>When you view shared galleries or albums, they appear as slide shows. You can select a number of slick effects by which the slides appear, allowing them to zoom and glide into place from various directions.</p>
<p>The editing features really stand out. In addition to standard tools such as auto-correction and red-eye elimination, Photoshop Express lets you touch up areas; adjust exposure, saturation, and lighting; and even make certain colors pop &#8212; so grass is greener, for instance. And, in most cases, it shows you small example images illustrating the changes, then previews those changes in the larger main image just by moving your mouse over the example. You can revert to your original at any time.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, there are a number of problems. Photos, especially large ones, can take awhile to appear in the editing module and to snap into focus. Captions sometimes get lost or mixed up when you move photos to other services. You can view shared albums only as slide shows, not as individual photos.</p>
<p>Still, Adobe has made a good start with Photoshop Express, and it&#8217;s worth a try if you want better online editing for your pictures.</p>
<p>Email me at <a href="mailto:mossberg@wsj.com" rel="external">mossberg@wsj.com</a>. Find all my columns and videos online, free, at the new All Things Digital Web site, <a href="http://walt.allthingsd.com" rel="external">http://walt.allthingsd.com</a>.</p>
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		<title>An Appointment for Sharing Online Videos</title>
		<link>http://allthingsd.com/20080416/an-appointment-for-sharing-online-videos/</link>
		<comments>http://allthingsd.com/20080416/an-appointment-for-sharing-online-videos/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 16 Apr 2008 00:01:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Katherine Boehret</dc:creator>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://solution.allthingsd.com/20080416/an-appointment-for-sharing-online-videos/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Video-sharing service SeeToo lets users watch videos along with the people with whom they're sharing it and type comments to each other in real time. But SeeToo sounds too good to be true, and in many tests, it was.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>It&#8217;s still too hard to share personal videos with friends and family in a truly satisfying manner. Huge video files take a long time to upload and download. And, even when you share clips via online streaming services that eliminate tedious downloads, you don&#8217;t get the fun experience of watching your videos together with others.</p>
<p>This week I tested SeeToo, a free service that lets you share videos in the same time that it takes to open and watch them on your own computer. Even better, you get to watch the video along with the people with whom you&#8217;re sharing it and type comments to each other in real time.</p>
<p>SeeToo works when one user selects a video to share with other people, who get an emailed hyperlink to SeeToo&#8217;s Web site, <a href="http://seetoo.com" rel="external">seetoo.com</a>. After opening the link, these people join a SeeToo session during which everyone can watch the same video at the same time.</p>
<div class="media-CENTER" style="width: 380px;"><a href="http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/images/PJ-AM191_MOSSBE_20080415214936.jpg" rel="external" title="Click to enlarge graphic"><img src="http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/images/PJ-AM191_MOSSBE_20080415214936.jpg" alt="graphic" height="292" width="380" /></a><br />With SeeToo, you and your &#8220;buddy&#8221; can watch and chat about a video at the same time.</div>
<p>While the video is playing for the group, each viewer can pause, rewind and fast-forward the video. A space below the playback screen allows friends to send instant messages to one another during the session. There aren&#8217;t any limits to the size or type of video file that is shared, and other types of media &#8212; including music and photos &#8212; can also be shared on SeeToo without size restrictions.</p>
<p>SeeToo sounds too good to be true, and in many of my tests, it was. The service became available to the public in January in its beta, or test, stage. But I&#8217;ve used many other products in beta that were in better shape than SeeToo. And there is one major catch: Once a video-sharing session is over, the participants, other than the person sharing, can no longer access the video.</p>
<p>People who are invited to watch videos on the service can do so using any popular Web browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox or Safari) on Windows (MSFT) computers and Macs (AAPL). But the person actually supplying the video and initiating the sharing session can use only a Windows PC. The initiator also must download a browser plug-in, which seems old-fashioned in the world of Web-based applications. And sharing sessions time out after 15 minutes of inactivity on the initiator&#8217;s side, after which point the email link doesn&#8217;t work.</p>
<p>I was able to successfully initiate a SeeToo session using Firefox and Internet Explorer on an older Windows XP computer but had trouble with two computers running Windows Vista: Neither worked with SeeToo using Internet Explorer and only one worked using Firefox. SeeToo says this is due in part to Microsoft&#8217;s new Service Pack 1 for Vista, and the company claims it will have this problem fixed by today. I also had trouble with the sound.</p>
<p>The concept behind SeeToo is also somewhat limiting. Some people may not be able to watch a video exactly when someone else wants to watch it. Some might rather watch videos alone than with others. And typing out back-and-forth chats while videos are playing could be somewhat of a distraction from watching the video.</p>
<p>I tested SeeToo by sharing video with family and friends and watching video they shared. My sister and I got a kick out of watching video footage from a wedding I attended in October. I shot the video using an inexpensive, low-resolution Flip Video camera and the footage looked pretty good. But SeeToo&#8217;s site shares video on a rather small screen, and we both wished it were larger.</p>
<p>We sent instant messages to one another in a small space below the screen, making comments about the guests&#8217; dance moves and the DJ&#8217;s choice of music. I used on-screen tools to pause the video when the camera passed by a friend whom I wanted my sister to see. To take a second look, she selected her screen&#8217;s Take Control button and rewound the footage to see my friend.</p>
<p>For the first two seconds of a video, users can see a small image in the top right corner of their screen that displays what the other people are seeing. SeeToo explained that this is a way of confirming one person is indeed seeing the same screen as another person.</p>
<p>I originally invited three people to watch the video with me. One friend I invited was at work, where his computer restricts him from watching videos. When he got home that night, the email hyperlink didn&#8217;t work &#8212; nor did it explain that the session had expired. Instead, it crashed his Firefox browser. I also invited my boss to watch the video with me, but he only saw my invitation two hours later when the session was over.</p>
<p>I didn&#8217;t even try to invite my parents to see the video because neither of them sit in front of a computer all day long and they wouldn&#8217;t have received my invitation in time to see the video.</p>
<p>In some ways, it was probably better that the other people I invited to watch the video weren&#8217;t able to see it, because the instant-message chat screen currently labels everyone as &#8220;buddy,&#8221; without distinguishing one person from another. SeeToo hopes to change this in future versions of the service by offering users a chance to register, thus receiving a specific nickname for chatting purposes. As of now, no one who uses SeeToo needs to enter any personal information such as a name or email address, which is a plus. SeeToo is also ad-free as of now, but the company plans to monetize parts of the service sometime this summer.</p>
<p>I also shared music and photos with friends using SeeToo, but this feature isn&#8217;t obvious; the site is primarily focused on sharing videos. Music playlists can&#8217;t currently be shared with friends, nor can photo slideshows be shared. Instead, individual songs or photos must be selected and shared within a session, one at a time.</p>
<p>SeeToo has high hopes of adding many features in the future, probably by June. Those features include a full-size, higher-resolution viewing screen for sharing and watching videos; a fully Web-based, download-free version of SeeToo; photo slideshows; using names to distinguish viewers; and sharing sessions that don&#8217;t time out. In addition, it hopes to let Mac users initiate sharing sessions. The site aims to be out of its testing stage by September.</p>
<p>Right now, SeeToo can come in handy if you know someone else is at a computer and ready to watch a video. The invited guest never downloads anything and neither party needs to register to use SeeToo. But its screen is a bit on the small side, and the service needs to become more versatile before it can be seen as a reliable sharing site.</p>
<ul>
<li>Email <a href="mailto:mossbergsolution@wsj.com" rel="external">mossbergsolution@wsj.com</a></li>
</ul>
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		<title>Microsoft Announces AIEEEEEEE!!!!!! 8</title>
		<link>http://allthingsd.com/20080305/ie8-2/</link>
		<comments>http://allthingsd.com/20080305/ie8-2/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 05 Mar 2008 23:17:18 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>John Paczkowski</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/20080305/ie8-2/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Turns out the highlight of today&#8217;s MIX08 event wasn&#8217;t Silverlight and Microsoft Expression Studio, but IE8 (Internet Explorer 8). Speaking at the Microsoft Web development conference, Dean Hachamovitch, the IE group&#8217;s general manager, announced IE8 Beta 1. In addition to Web standards compliance, the new browser showcases some new features and improvements, among them Activities&#8211;&#8221;contextual [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img src='http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/files/2007/12/aieeeeeeeeeee.jpg' style="border: 1px solid #000;"  alt='aieeeeeeeeeee.jpg' /> Turns out the highlight of today&#8217;s <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/events/mix/default.mspx">MIX08</a> event wasn&#8217;t Silverlight and Microsoft Expression Studio, but IE8 (Internet Explorer 8). Speaking at the Microsoft Web development conference, Dean Hachamovitch, the IE group&#8217;s general manager, announced <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/ie/ie8/readiness/Install.htm">IE8 Beta 1</a>. In addition to Web standards compliance, the new browser showcases <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/ie/ie8/readiness/NewFeatures.htm">some new features and improvements</a>, among them<br />
<a href="http://visitmix.com/blogs/Joshua/IE8-Activities-With-Jane-Kim/">Activities</a>&#8211;&#8221;contextual services to quickly access a service from any Web page&#8221;&#8211;and Web Slices, &#8220;a new feature for Web sites to connect to their users by subscribing to content directly within a Web page.&#8221;</p>
<p>These sound <a href="http://on10.net/blogs/larry/First-Look-Internet-Explorer-8/">pretty slick</a>. Still, as <a href="http://www.microsoft-watch.com/content/web_services_browser/daddy_did_you_break_the_web.html">Joe Wilcox notes over at Microsoft Watch</a>, it&#8217;s a little odd that Microsoft would introduce proprietary browser specifications like these after its <a href="http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/20080304/ie8/">recent commitments to interoperability</a>.</p>
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		<title>EU Fine Expands Microsoft&#039;s Support for Web Standards</title>
		<link>http://allthingsd.com/20080304/ie8/</link>
		<comments>http://allthingsd.com/20080304/ie8/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 04 Mar 2008 15:20:01 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>John Paczkowski</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Brad Smith]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/20080304/ie8/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Microsoft is serious about its newfound commitment to interoperability&#8211;serious enough to make Internet Explorer 8 Web standards-compliant out of the box. In a complete reversal of earlier policy, the software giant has decided to make IE8 default to a standards-compliant mode of rendering Web pages that favors interoperability, rather than an IE7 rendering mode that [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img src='http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/files/2008/03/interop.jpg' class='centered' style="border: 1px solid #000;" alt='interop.jpg' />Microsoft is serious about <a href="http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/20080221/microsoft/">its newfound commitment to interoperability</a>&#8211;serious enough to make Internet Explorer 8 Web standards-compliant out of the box.</p>
<p>In a complete reversal of earlier policy, the software giant has decided to make IE8 default to a standards-compliant mode of rendering Web pages that favors interoperability, rather than <a href="http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2008/01/21/compatibility-and-ie8.aspx">an IE7 rendering mode that favors Microsoft (MSFT)</a>. &#8220;Microsoft recently published a set of Interoperability Principles,&#8221; Internet Explorer General Manager Dean Hachamovitch wrote in a post to the IEBlog. &#8220;Thinking about IE8’s behavior with these principles in mind, interpreting Web content in the most standards-compliant way possible is a better thing to do. We think that acting in accordance with principles is important, and IE8’s default is a demonstration of the interoperability principles in action.&#8221;</p>
<p><a href="http://www.webstandards.org/2008/03/03/microsoft-rethinks-ie8s-default-behavior/">Quite the change of heart</a>. Guess a record <a href="http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/20080227/microsoft-eu-2/">$1.35 billion in antitrust fines</a> changes your perspective on these things. Certainly, Hachamovitch implies as much in his post. Writes Hachamovitch, &#8220;While we do not believe any current legal requirements would dictate which rendering mode a browser must use, this step clearly removes this question as a potential legal and regulatory issue.&#8221;</p>
<p>It certainly does. And if you don&#8217;t believe Hachamovitch, just ask Brad Smith, Microsoft senior vice president and general counsel. He said exactly the same thing, using exactly the same words in <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2008/mar08/03-03WebStandards.mspx">a company press release announcing IE8&#8242;s Web standards compliance</a>.</p>
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		<title>EU Fine Expands Microsoft's Support for Web Standards</title>
		<link>http://allthingsd.com/20080304/ie8-3/</link>
		<comments>http://allthingsd.com/20080304/ie8-3/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 04 Mar 2008 15:20:01 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>John Paczkowski</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/20080304/ie8/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Microsoft is serious about its newfound commitment to interoperability&#8211;serious enough to make Internet Explorer 8 Web standards-compliant out of the box. In a complete reversal of earlier policy, the software giant has decided to make IE8 default to a standards-compliant mode of rendering Web pages that favors interoperability, rather than an IE7 rendering mode that [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img src='http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/files/2008/03/interop.jpg' class='centered' style="border: 1px solid #000;" alt='interop.jpg' />Microsoft is serious about <a href="http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/20080221/microsoft/">its newfound commitment to interoperability</a>&#8211;serious enough to make Internet Explorer 8 Web standards-compliant out of the box.</p>
<p>In a complete reversal of earlier policy, the software giant has decided to make IE8 default to a standards-compliant mode of rendering Web pages that favors interoperability, rather than <a href="http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2008/01/21/compatibility-and-ie8.aspx">an IE7 rendering mode that favors Microsoft (MSFT)</a>. &#8220;Microsoft recently published a set of Interoperability Principles,&#8221; Internet Explorer General Manager Dean Hachamovitch wrote in a post to the IEBlog. &#8220;Thinking about IE8’s behavior with these principles in mind, interpreting Web content in the most standards-compliant way possible is a better thing to do. We think that acting in accordance with principles is important, and IE8’s default is a demonstration of the interoperability principles in action.&#8221;</p>
<p><a href="http://www.webstandards.org/2008/03/03/microsoft-rethinks-ie8s-default-behavior/">Quite the change of heart</a>. Guess a record <a href="http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/20080227/microsoft-eu-2/">$1.35 billion in antitrust fines</a> changes your perspective on these things. Certainly, Hachamovitch implies as much in his post. Writes Hachamovitch, &#8220;While we do not believe any current legal requirements would dictate which rendering mode a browser must use, this step clearly removes this question as a potential legal and regulatory issue.&#8221;</p>
<p>It certainly does. And if you don&#8217;t believe Hachamovitch, just ask Brad Smith, Microsoft senior vice president and general counsel. He said exactly the same thing, using exactly the same words in <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2008/mar08/03-03WebStandards.mspx">a company press release announcing IE8&#8242;s Web standards compliance</a>.</p>
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		<title>Apple Discontinues Think Secret</title>
		<link>http://allthingsd.com/20071220/ddv20071220/</link>
		<comments>http://allthingsd.com/20071220/ddv20071220/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 20 Dec 2007 19:00:15 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>John Paczkowski</dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[[ See post to watch video ]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><div class="video-wsj"><embed src="http://s.wsj.net/media/swf/microPlayer.swf" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" flashVars="videoGUID={1351254742}&playerid=4001&plyMediaEnabled=1&configURL=http://m.wsj.net/video-players/&autoStart=false" base="http://s.wsj.net/media/swf/" name="microflashPlayer" width="320" height="240" seamlesstabbing="false" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" swLiveConnect="true" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash"></embed><br />[ See post to watch video ]</div></p>
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		<title>Opera to Microsoft: You Might Have Mentioned This Before We Made Fools of Ourselves</title>
		<link>http://allthingsd.com/20071219/ie8-acid2/</link>
		<comments>http://allthingsd.com/20071219/ie8-acid2/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 19 Dec 2007 22:47:23 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>John Paczkowski</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/20071219/ie8-acid2/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Well, Opera must be a little red in the face right about now. A week after it complained to the European Commission about Microsoft&#8217;s failure to support Web standards, the company said that a preliminary version of its Internet Explorer 8 browser passed Acid2, a test developed by the Web Standards Project to help browser [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img src='http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/files/2007/12/acidtest2.png' width='146' height='168' alt='acidtest2.png' />Well, Opera must be a little red in the face right about now. A week after <a href="http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/20071213/opera-microsoft/">it complained to the European Commission about Microsoft&#8217;s failure to support Web standards</a>, the company said that <a href="http://www.molly.com/2007/12/19/yes-ladies-and-gentleman-we-have-a-smiley/">a preliminary version of its Internet Explorer 8 browser passed Acid2</a>, a test developed by the Web Standards Project to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acid2">help browser vendors ensure proper support for Web standards</a>.</p>
<p>Passed it the <a href="http://www.opera.com/pressreleases/en/2007/12/13/">day before</a> Opera filed its complaint, too.</p>
<p>&#8220;With respect to standards and interoperability, our goal in developing Internet Explorer 8 is to support the right set of standards with excellent implementations and do so without breaking the existing Web,&#8221; <a href="http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2007/12/19/internet-explorer-8-and-acid2-a-milestone.aspx">Internet Explorer GM Dean Hachamovitch wrote in a post to IEBlog</a>. &#8220;&#8230; We have a responsibility to respect the work that sites have already done to work with IE. We must deliver improved standards support and backwards compatibility so that IE8 (1) continues to work with the billions of pages on the web today that already work in IE6 and IE7 and (2) makes the development of the next billion pages, in an interoperable way, much easier. &#8230; Now, with all that context, I’m delighted to tell you that <a href="http://channel9.msdn.com/showpost.aspx?postid=367207">on Wednesday, Dec. 12, Internet Explorer correctly rendered the Acid2 page in IE8 standards mode.&#8221;</a></p>
<p>So much for Opera&#8217;s saber rattling &#8230;</p>
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		<title>Microsoft&#039;s New Antitrust Opera</title>
		<link>http://allthingsd.com/20071213/ddv20071213/</link>
		<comments>http://allthingsd.com/20071213/ddv20071213/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 13 Dec 2007 19:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>John Paczkowski</dc:creator>
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		<title>Microsoft's New Antitrust Opera</title>
		<link>http://allthingsd.com/20071213/ddv20071213-2/</link>
		<comments>http://allthingsd.com/20071213/ddv20071213-2/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 13 Dec 2007 19:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>John Paczkowski</dc:creator>
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		<title>Opera Asks EU to Make IE Stink Less</title>
		<link>http://allthingsd.com/20071213/opera-microsoft/</link>
		<comments>http://allthingsd.com/20071213/opera-microsoft/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 13 Dec 2007 08:01:12 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>John Paczkowski</dc:creator>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/20071213/opera-microsoft/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Looks like Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer may have a shot at a second dinner date with EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes. Less than three months after agreeing to comply with key elements of the European Commission’s 2004 antitrust order against it, the company is facing new accusations of monopoly abuse. Norway&#8217;s Opera Software ASA said [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img src='http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/files/2007/12/aieeeeeeeeeee.jpg' style="border: 1px solid #000;"  alt='aieeeeeeeeeee.jpg' />Looks like Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer may have a shot at a second <a href="http://www.computerwire.com/industries/research/?pid=0F7926E1-3D58-4F28-8E8D-BF12E8690799">dinner date with EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes</a>.</p>
<p>Less than three months after agreeing to <a href="http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/20071022/microsoft-eu/">comply with key elements of the European Commission’s 2004 antitrust order against it</a>, the company is <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119754405249826367.html?mod=googlenews_wsj">facing new accusations of monopoly abuse.</a> Norway&#8217;s Opera Software ASA said today it has <a href="http://www.opera.com/pressreleases/en/2007/12/13/">filed an antitrust suit against Microsoft</a> in the European Union, <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/pcworld/20071213/tc_pcworld/140528">accusing it of stifling competition</a> by tying its Internet Explorer Web browser to Windows and hindering interoperability by not implementing widely accepted Web standards.</p>
<p>&#8220;We are filing this complaint on behalf of all consumers who are tired of having a monopolist make choices for them,&#8221; Opera CEO Jon von Tetzchner said in <a href="http://www.opera.com/pressreleases/en/2007/12/13/">a rather here-I-come-to-save-the-day statement</a>. &#8220;In addition to promoting the free choice of individual consumers, we are a champion of open Web standards and cross-platform innovation. We cannot rest until we&#8217;ve brought fair and equitable options to consumers worldwide.&#8221;</p>
<p>And reminded the world that Opera is not just a drama set to music, but an unpopular Web browser, as well.</p>
<p>Opera asks that the EC&#8217;s competition division force Microsoft to unbundle IE from Windows and require the company to follow fundamental and open Web standards,  which is an interesting twist on the old antitrust classic. And one that may have some legs, <a href="http://svextra.com/blogs/gmsv/2005/08/microsoft_our_b.html">given IE&#8217;s inability to pass the Web Standards Project Acid2 test.</a> &#8220;Microsoft often participates and even promises to support these standards, but we find it often isn’t the case,&#8221; <a href="http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=7332">Opera  CTO Håkon Wium Lie told ZDNet</a>. &#8220;We find bugs and programmers have to code around (Microsoft).&#8221;</p>
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		<title>Leopard: Faster, Easier Than Vista</title>
		<link>http://allthingsd.com/20071025/leopard-faster-easier-than-vista/</link>
		<comments>http://allthingsd.com/20071025/leopard-faster-easier-than-vista/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 25 Oct 2007 00:01:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Walter S. Mossberg</dc:creator>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://ptech.allthingsd.com/20071025/leopard-faster-easier-than-vista/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Apple's new version of OS X, called Leopard, builds on Apple's quality advantage over Windows, says Walt Mossberg. Leopard is better and faster than Vista, with a set of new features that make Macs even easier to use.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The Mac is on a roll. <a href='http://online.wsj.com/quotes/main.html?type=djn&#038;symbol=aapl'>Apple </a>Inc.&#8217;s perennially praised but slow-selling Macintosh computers have surged in popularity in the past few years, with sales growing much faster than the overall PC market, especially in the U.S. By some measures, Mac laptops are now approaching a 20% share of U.S. noncorporate sales, up from the low single digits where they once seemed stuck.</p>
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<p>There are several reasons for this, including the security problems in the dominant Windows platform from Microsoft; spillover from Apple&#8217;s blistering success with its iPod music players; the fact that Macs can now run Windows programs; and Apple&#8217;s highly successful chain of company-owned retail stores.</p>
<p>But another key factor has been the Mac operating system, called OS X, which came out in 2001. It has proved to be as powerful and versatile for mainstream consumers as Windows, yet easier to use and more secure. And Apple has upgraded OS X far more rapidly than <a href='http://online.wsj.com/quotes/main.html?type=djn&#038;symbol=msft'>Microsoft</a> Inc. has upgraded Windows, bringing out major new releases roughly every 18 months, while Microsoft struggled for more than five years to produce the latest Windows iteration, Vista, which came out in January.</p>
<p>On Friday evening, Apple will release yet another new version of OS X, called Leopard, to replace the current version, known as Tiger. I&#8217;ve been testing Leopard, and while it is an evolutionary, not a revolutionary, release, I believe it builds on Apple&#8217;s quality advantage over Windows. In my view, Leopard is better and faster than Vista, with a set of new features that make Macs even easier to use.</p>
<p>Leopard will come preinstalled on all new Macs. It can also be purchased for $129 as an upgrade to existing Macs that, depending on configuration, can be as many as six years old. Unlike Vista, which is sold in four noncorporate upgrade versions ranging from a $100 stripped-down &#8220;basic&#8221; edition to a $259 deluxe &#8220;ultimate&#8221; edition, there&#8217;s only one version of Leopard. It includes all the features, from those aimed at novices to those aimed at power users.</p>
<p>For me, the marquee features in Leopard are a new function called Time Machine that automatically backs up your entire computer in the background; two new methods, called Cover Flow and Quick Look, for rapidly viewing the contents of files without opening any programs; and new techniques that allow you to access the files in, and to remotely control, other computers on your network or connected over the Internet with a few clicks and no technical expertise.</p>
<div class="media-CENTER" style="width: 271px;"><img src="http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/images/MK-AM500_PTECHc_20071024212422.gif" alt="Spot Check" height="303" width="271" /></div>
<p>Plus, Apple&#8217;s free software for running Windows on a Mac, called Boot Camp, which was formerly an add-on users had to download and install, is now built right into the operating system. And, in my tests, the third-party Fusion program for running Windows and Mac programs simultaneously continued to work fine in Leopard.</p>
<p>I did notice a few drawbacks, but they were minor. The menu bar is now translucent, which can make it hard to see the items it contains if your desktop picture has dark areas at the top. The new folder icons are dull and flat and less attractive than Vista&#8217;s or their predecessors on the Mac. While Time Machine can perform backups over a network, the backup destination can only be a hard disk connected to a Mac running Leopard. And, on the Web, I ran into one site where the fonts on part of the page were illegible, a problem Apple says is known and rare and that I expect it will fix.</p>
<p>While Apple claims the new system includes more than 300 new features, there is nothing on the list that could be considered startling or a major breakthrough. Some of Leopard&#8217;s features are unique, but many others &#8212; such as backing up data and quickly viewing files &#8212; have been available on both Windows and the Mac via third-party programs or hard-to-find geeky methods buried in the operating systems. Leopard has made them easy to find and use.</p>
<p>When I upgraded my personal iMac desktop to Leopard, it took less than an hour, and after the process was complete, all my programs, including the Mac version of Microsoft Office, the Firefox Web browser and Adobe Reader, worked rapidly and fine. I was still able to run Windows XP via Fusion. And my previous installation of Boot Camp, which turns the iMac into a speedy, full-fledged Vista machine after a reboot, worked perfectly. All my Vista programs and files continued to function properly.</p>
<div class="media-LEFT" style="width: 245px;"><img src="http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/images/MK-AM484_PTECH_20071024183517.jpg" alt="Ptech" height="186" width="245" /><br />With <highlight type="BOLD">Cover Flow</highlight>, users get a visual preview of a computer&#8217;s files without having to open programs.</div>
<p>In fact, every piece of software and hardware I tried on two Leopard-equipped Macs &#8212; a loaned laptop from Apple and my own upgraded iMac &#8212; worked fine, exhibiting none of the compatibility problems that continue to plague Vista. My old Hewlett-Packard inkjet printer, for which Vista lacks the proper software, worked instantly in Leopard, even over the network. And, unlike with Vista, it was able to print on both sides of the page. I popped my old Verizon cellphone modem card into the test Leopard laptop and it worked, too, with no software installation or tweaking.</p>
<p>Leopard felt about as fast as Tiger, and it started up much faster than Vista in my tests. I compared a MacBook Pro laptop with Leopard preinstalled to a Sony Vaio laptop with Vista preinstalled. Even though I had cleared out all of the useless trial software Sony had placed on the Vaio, it still started up painfully slowly compared with the Leopard laptop.</p>
<p>It took the Vista machine nearly two minutes to perform a cold start and be ready to run, including connecting to my wireless network. The Leopard laptop was up, running and connected to the network in 38 seconds. In a test of restarting the two laptops after they had been running an email program, a Web browser and a word processor, the Sony with Vista took three minutes and 29 seconds, while the Apple running Leopard took one minute and five seconds.</p>
<p>Here&#8217;s a rundown of some of Leopard&#8217;s key features. Much more detailed information is available at <a href="http://apple.com/macosx" rel="external">apple.com/macosx</a>.</p>
<p><strong>File management:</strong> Apple&#8217;s Finder, the equivalent of Explorer in Windows, now offers two new ways to quickly see what your files contain. You can still view them as icons or lists. But you can also use Cover Flow, the same system Apple uses in iTunes and on the iPhone to display album covers for music. In Leopard, a large preview of each file you select appears above the list of files in a folder, and you can rapidly scroll through these icons. These previews are live, and their contents can be viewed without opening the program that is normally needed to display them.</p>
<div class="media-RIGHT" style="width: 245px;"><img src="http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/images/MK-AM485_PTECH2_20071024183519.jpg" alt="Leopard" height="253" width="245" /><br /><highlight type="BOLD">Time Machine</highlight> backs up files.</div>
<p>For instance, if the file is a video, you can just click on it, and it will play. If it&#8217;s a multipage PDF file, you can click on it, and arrows will appear allowing you to flip through the pages.</p>
<p>An even better and deeper look can be obtained using a feature called Quick Look. Just hit the space bar or click on a toolbar icon, and a preview of any selected file zooms out. You can even view multiple sheets in an Excel file via Quick Look without launching Excel.</p>
<p>Another quick new way to see your files is available in the Dock, the Mac&#8217;s equivalent of the Windows Task Bar. Here, any folder you place on the right side of the dock will display its contents, after a single click, either as a grid of icons displaying miniversions of the file or as a &#8220;fan,&#8221; or arc, of such icons. These special Dock folders are called &#8220;Stacks.&#8221; Leopard includes one by default that is the destination for everything you download from the Internet, so your desktop will no longer get cluttered with downloads,</p>
<p><strong>Time Machine:</strong> This built-in feature will continuously back up all of the contents of your Mac to either an external hard drive directly connected to the computer, or to a hard disk connected to another Mac running Leopard that&#8217;s on your network. The initial backup, in my tests, took all night, but after that, the system updates the backups hourly and I didn&#8217;t notice any slowdown during the process.</p>
<p>To recover any file you deleted, you simply click on the Time Machine icon, and you are taken to a view that shows file folders &#8212; or your email or address book or photo collection &#8212; in a stack of windows that appear to go on infinitely. You click on an arrow and the stack of windows zooms until you arrive at the last view in which the missing file existed. Then, you click &#8220;restore,&#8221; and the file is recovered in your normal desktop view. You can also restore whole folders, groups of files, or even an entire hard disk.</p>
<p><strong>Shared computers:</strong> In Leopard, any computer that has been set to be shared on your network shows up on the left side of every Finder window. Click on it, and you can access whatever folders have been shared on those machines. Depending on the remote computer&#8217;s security settings, you may first have to enter a user name and password. It&#8217;s the simplest method I&#8217;ve ever seen for accessing other computers on a network. And it works with Windows PCs as well as Macs. When I first turned on the Leopard laptop in my office, it immediately found a shared folder on my colleague&#8217;s old Dell running Windows XP. She hadn&#8217;t even remembered sharing the folder, which contained files from 2003.</p>
<p>You can copy or move files to and from these shared computers, or view their contents with Cover Flow and Quick Look, or open them in programs on your own computer.</p>
<p>If you are a member of Apple&#8217;s optional .Mac service, which costs $100 a year, you can use a feature called &#8220;Back to My Mac,&#8221; which can access your Macs from thousands of miles away over the Internet. However, this feature works only over certain kinds of routers (not all of them Apple&#8217;s) and, as my router didn&#8217;t qualify, I couldn&#8217;t test it.</p>
<p><strong>Remote control:</strong> For any Mac in your shared-computers list for which you have permission, you can take over the screen by simply clicking on a button called &#8220;Share Screen.&#8221; You can also remotely control distant Macs over the Internet using Apple&#8217;s built-in iChat instant messaging program, as long as you have permission and the Macs are running Leopard.</p>
<div class="media-LEFT" style="width: 150px;"><img src="http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/images/MK-AM486A_PTECH_20071024183511.jpg" alt="ptech" height="227" width="150" /><br /><highlight type="BOLD">Stacks</highlight> displays the files in folders in the dock.</div>
<p><strong>iChat:</strong> Apple now allows you to use its instant messaging program with Google Talk as well as AOL&#8217;s AIM service, and you can set up a video chat in which you can present a slide show or display a document. You can also add special backgrounds that can make it look as though you&#8217;re someplace else, like Paris. In my tests, this even worked with someone on the other end using a Windows XP computer running the latest version of AIM.</p>
<p><strong>Spaces:</strong> In order to cut down desktop clutter, Leopard lets you set up as many as 16 different desktops that can run simultaneously, with different programs open in each. You switch among these desktops by using keyboard commands or a menu.</p>
<p>For instance, you might have your iPhoto and iTunes running in one &#8220;space,&#8221; or desktop, your Web browser and email program in another, and Windows XP in another.</p>
<p>Leopard isn&#8217;t a must-have for current Mac owners, but it adds a lot of value. For new Mac buyers, it makes switching even more attractive.</p>
<p><em>Email me at <a href="mailto:mossberg@wsj.com" rel="external">mossberg@wsj.com</a>. Find all my columns and videos online free at the new All Things Digital web site, <a href="http://walt.allthingsd.com" rel="external">http://walt.allthingsd.com</a>.</em></p>
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		<title>Printing Parts of the Web</title>
		<link>http://allthingsd.com/20070926/printing-parts-of-the-web/</link>
		<comments>http://allthingsd.com/20070926/printing-parts-of-the-web/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 26 Sep 2007 00:01:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Katherine Boehret</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Katherine Boehret]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://solution.allthingsd.com/20070926/printing-parts-of-the-web/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The H-P Smart Web Printing program is a useful free solution that organizes online research right in your browser, but only works for PC users of Internet Explorer -- for now.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>There&#8217;s no denying the Web&#8217;s value as a resource, but the temptation to quickly navigate from one site to the next makes it challenging to remember where the content was found.</p>
<p>A query on hotels in Italy might lead you to select a link about Florence, then two links about Michelangelo and four links to Italian Renaissance art. Suddenly, the home page for a carefully researched hotel is forgotten. It&#8217;s especially tough to backtrack through research using new sites with rich Web 2.0 features that display extra data directly within a Web page.</p>
<p>Some people try to organize Web research by opening Microsoft Word documents alongside their browsers. They copy and paste data from sites into the documents, but this is usually a messy process that traps users into wasting time fixing formats and deleting ads. Others press Print whenever a helpful site appears, resulting in wasted paper and ink. Savvier users create folders within their Web browsers that hold multiple URLs about a research topic, but these data can&#8217;t easily be shared or printed for use away from the PC.</p>
<div class="media-LEFT" style="width: 245px;"><img src="http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/images/PJ-AL002_MOSSBE_20070925204606.jpg" alt="photo" height="530" width="245" /><br />The HP Smart Web Printing Software gathers Web content into one document that can be printed.</div>
<p>There&#8217;s a better way, and this week I took it for a spin. I tested the HP Smart Web Printing Software, a free program from<a href='http://online.wsj.com/quotes/main.html?type=djn&#038;symbol=hpq'> Hewlett-Packard</a> Co. that aims to help users compile a virtual clip book of content from Web sites while they&#8217;re browsing, within the same window. Using a tool in the browser, users highlight and copy images and text from a Web page and add them to the clip book. These clips can be edited, enhanced, saved as a PDF or printed out, without excess banner ads or sidebars.</p>
<p>I tried a version of this program that will be available for download at the end of next month from <a href="http://www.hp.com/go/smartwebprinting" rel="external">www.hp.com/go/smartwebprinting</a>. It improves on the first version of the program (available now using the same URL) in various ways, including allowing you to add your own text to the clip book and crop clip-book items.</p>
<p>HP Smart Web Printing Software isn&#8217;t without its quirks: It only works on Windows computers, not Macs, and only with Microsoft&#8217;s Internet Explorer 6.0 and 7.0. Not everything copies over to the clip book perfectly. Also, typed-in text has its limits: changing the font type, size or color of one word changes all words in the text box.</p>
<p>But all in all, I found this smart program to be a real boon. It&#8217;s unobtrusive enough to stay hidden until used, and you&#8217;ll remember how it works even if you only use the program once in a while. It functions as a printing assistant, helping to send certain sections of a Web site to the printer, and it will also save whatever you&#8217;re working on as a PDF &#8212; the universal format for sharing with others.</p>
<p>H-P likes to tout its HP Smart Web Printing Software&#8217;s environmentally friendly qualities, namely its ability to print just what you want, without wasting ink or paper on extra pages that would otherwise print. But make no mistake about it: This product, while helping users not to print extra items from Web sites, still encourages users to print, thus helping H-P sell more of its high-margin ink and paper.</p>
<p>I used the program to trim content from Web sites, printing more of what I wanted to read in fewer pages. I focused on this program&#8217;s clip-book functionality, which works as a bare-bones virtual scrapbook to organize research.</p>
<p>I downloaded and used the newest version of this free program on computers running Windows Vista and XP operating systems. I came across a few items that, when highlighted and moved over to the clip book, didn&#8217;t actually move, but most of the text and image clips moved without a problem. H-P explained that some images are rendered on Web sites in such a way so as to not be copied for copyright and protection purposes.</p>
<p>A small HP Smart Select icon appears in the Internet Explorer command bar after this program is downloaded; selecting it toggles its highlighting capability on or off. By default, the clip book is hidden from view, but a quick change in settings opens this on the right edge of the Internet Explorer window.</p>
<div class="media-LEFT" style="width: 245px;"><img src="http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/images/PJ-AL004_MOSSBE_20070925204836.jpg" alt="photo" height="180" width="245" /></div>
<p>The HP Smart Web Printing program proved useful for online-shopping research. I&#8217;ve been gathering a lot of information from various Web sites to find a special new handbag for work, including which bag is sold where, how much it costs and what it looks like.</p>
<p>When I saw a bag that interested me, I selected it by holding the left mouse button down and moving my cursor over the text or image. Releasing the left mouse button automatically opens a tiny drop-down menu with two simple options: clip (place in the clip book) or print (send directly to the printer). Items that I clipped were moved into the right panel clip book in order of most recently added items at the top.</p>
<p>A helpful checkbox appeared beside each item in the clip book; items without checkmarked boxes weren&#8217;t visible when I edited clips. Within the editing screen, I dragged and dropped images around the page, organizing bags in ascending price order. I resized photos to make them smaller or larger and cropped a couple shots such as an image of a black leather bag with an unrelated text description below it.</p>
<p>I filled the equivalent of two clip-book pages with images of bags and brief descriptions of each, copied directly from store sites. I added my own text boxes in to write my impressions. As I worked, opening the edit screen and closing it to return to the browser, I clicked on a simple Save button so my work wouldn&#8217;t be lost each time I closed this screen. When finished, I selected one button to save the document as a PDF, which I could email to friends for their feedback on which bag they liked best.</p>
<p>In another test, I assembled a clip book filled with various news blurbs about presidential campaigns from online sites including WSJ.com and CNN.com before printing a single page that included bits and pieces from each in a neat format without ads on the page.</p>
<p>I also tried organizing a few maps in the clip book; these copied from Google Maps and Yahoo Maps without a problem, and in one instance I cropped a map to include just the section of Manhattan where The Wall Street Journal is located.</p>
<p>The more I used this program, the more I wished it offered the ability to work with two clip books at once. For instance, if I was planning a trip and was researching hotels and tourist attractions at the same time, I could clip the hotel data into one book and store the touristy information in the other.</p>
<p>H-P says it will release a version of this program for Mozilla&#8217;s Firefox browser sometime in the next six months, and it also hopes to introduce a version that is compatible with Apple&#8217;s Safari browser within a year.</p>
<p>The HP Smart Web Printing program is a useful free solution that organizes online research right in your browser. Its ability to modify and preview documents before printing is also a help.</p>
<p><strong>Email</strong> <a href="mailto:mossbergsolution@wsj.com" rel="external">mossbergsolution@wsj.com</a></p>
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