Mozilla sets a date for Firefox 4 (March 22) – After 12 betas, 1 release candidate, and more than 10 months of work, Mozilla has determined that Firefox 4 is ready to join the competing high-wire acts of modernized browsers. The company has announced a release date of March 22.
Take charge of Windows 7 with these 10 power tips - You can get a lot more mileage out of Windows 7 if you perform a few tweaks and tap into some timesaving tricks. Here’s a collection of 10 popular Windows 7 Quick Tips.
Create a Windows 7 (Vista and XP as well) installation flash drive with WinToFlash – One such tool that I frequently use is WinToFlash by Novicorp. This tool can take your Windows 7 (Vista or XP) installation CD/DVDs and pull the contents onto a USB drive. And better still, WinToFlash also preps the USB drive for you and sets the drive as bootable.
Internet Explorer 9: A Getting Started Guide – The revamped browser’s taskbar shortcuts, jumplists, extensive HTML 5 support, and better graphics performance warrants taking another look at Internet Explorer.
Master your new iPad 2 with these quick tips and convenient shortcuts – Your new iPad 2 might not be as full-featured (or as complicated) as a laptop or desktop PC, but a few neat tricks are still hidden between the surface. Read on to learn how to secure your iPad, sync your bookmarks, and more.
4G Wireless Speed Tests: Which Is Really the Fastest? – AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon: PCWorld?s exclusive performance tests reveal which 4G network delivers the fastest data speeds.
Online Fraud Hotspots Named - Online fraud against U.K. merchants is at levels that have forced many to refuse orders from certain countries, with Nigeria, Ghana, and the U.S. heading the list, a new e-commerce report has found. According to payment company CyberSource’s annual fraud analysis of 200 companies, 55 percent of U.K. companies questioned refused to ship to Nigeria at all, ahead of Ghana on 34 percent, and, surprisingly, the U.S. on 25 percent.
Google accuses China of meddling with Gmail – Search giant says “government blockage” is responsible for disrupting operations of the company’s popular service in China.
Company News:
AT&T and T-Mobile: Wireless mega merger – The No. 2 and No. 4 wireless carriers announce $39 billion merger deal, creating a company with nearly 130 million subscribers, easily leap-frogging Verizon Wireless for the No. 1 spot.
Sprint dials up Google Voice for all subscribers – A new deal between Sprint and Google imbues every cell phone in Sprint’s service with Google Voice’s powers.
MySkypeOffice Offers Google Voice Alternative for Call Management – As an alternative to Google Voice, MySkypeOffice provides a phone-management calling system for small businesses that routes in-coming calls and transcribes voice mail, among other perks.
Facebook to acquire app maker Snaptu – Facebook has agreed to acquire Snaptu, an Israeli start-up that makes apps for feature phones, for an estimated $70 million. Facebook recently worked with the mobile development firm to build an app for lower-end cell phones that will be accessible free of data charges in a handful of overseas markets. The company says its app provides a smartphone-like experience to more than 2,500 devices.
Report: Sony to strike with ‘Thunderbolt’ laptop – Sony is readying a Vaio laptop sporting Intel’s Thunderbolt tech and a second component that provides a high-end graphics chip, according to a report.
Off Topic (Sort of):
Linking to copyrighted material makes you a US terrorist – There are signs that the US taxpayer is footing the bill for Big Content’s anti-copyright crusades. Anti-terrorist police force Homeland Security has arrested a a New York website owner, claiming that his linking to copyrighted material was a crime. Brian McCarthy’s domain name was seized after his site linked to others containing dodgy copyrighted material. (submitted by Dar)
iPads fuel flight of paperless planes – Tablet computers such as the iPad are revolutionizing aircraft cockpits as tens of thousands of private pilots bring the powerful mini-computers into planes. Several of the nation’s largest airlines are poised to follow suit. (submitted by Michael F.)
A Tsunami 100 Times Worse Than Japan: Apocalypse Looms in Landlocked Central Asia – The earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan last week has killed at least 10,000 people. It is terrible. It may be a sneak preview of something 100 times worse. The next Big Flood will probably be the worst natural disaster in history. It could easily be avoided. Yet no one is lifting a finger to save the lives of one to five million people. (submitted by Dar)
Brick Road Construction – Tiger-Stone is a Dutch paver laying machine that can produce brick roads. Paving bricks are put onto the angled plain. As the electric crawler moves forward along a sand base layer, all the stones are packed together by gravity.
Today’s Quote:
“We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid.”
- Benjamin Franklin
Today’s Free Downloads:
10 Must-Have Free Downloads – Some software is so good that you just have to download it. Unfortunately, often you have to pay for it after you try it out. But every once in a while, a must-have program is totally free. Such indispensable, no-cost tools are the hardest programs to find–but we’ve found the best ones for you.
Sandboxie 3.53.08 Beta – Tired of dealing with rogue software, spyware and malware? Worried about clicking unfamiliar Web links? Sandboxie runs your programs in an isolated space which prevents them from making permanent changes to other programs and data in your computer.
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