If your children have an Android mobile or they have access to yours, you can turn to Norton Safety Minder 2.3 to place restrictions on how the Internet can be used and monitor the web pages that are visited. Should you be in the market for a new web browser for your mobile, look no further than Chrome for Android Beta 0.16.4130.199, which is available for Ice Cream Sandwich devices and compares well to the desktop version of Google’s browser, even at this early beta stage.

Burners, PDFs

Moving back to your desktop, BurnAware Free 4.6 is a free disc burning tool that can be used to create your own CDs, DVDs and Blu-rays, including data, music and video discs. If you share your computer with others, it is likely that each user has his or her own preference when it comes to system settings. To avoid users to battling over what screen resolution should be used, Carroll 1.12 makes it possible to choose a different resolution for each user, automatically applied at startup.

This week also saw a number of releases from Nitro PDF. Nitro PDF Reader 2.2.1.14 (32-bit) is a great alternative to heavyweight applications such as Adobe Reader, and there is a 64-bit version available in the form of Nitro PDF Reader 2.2.1.14 (64-bit). Nitro Pro 7.0.2.8 [32-bit] and Nitro Pro 7.0.2.8 [64-bit] are the tools you need if PDF creation and editing for your business. While a little on the pricey side, it is still cheaper than many of its rivals.

Security

The importance of keeping your computer protected against viruses and other forms of malware can never be overstated. Lavasoft Ad-Aware Free 10.0.155 Beta is a free beta version of Lavasoft’s popular security tool. A redesigned interface and improve real-time protection make this well worth checking out.

This is not the only beta security tool released this week; Avast! 7 Free (beta) is another virus protection tool that includes cloud based updating and reporting. From the same company comes the latest version of Avast! Internet Security 7 (beta), which benefits from many of the same improvements and offers even greater protection.

Spybot will be a familiar name to anyone who has been using a computer for a while, and Spybot -- Search & Destroy 2.0 beta 5 is the latest version. It proved to be a little problematic in testing, but you may have a better experience.Boxcryptor 1.2 was also released, and this is an interesting file encryption tool that can be used in conjunction with your preferred cloud based storage service to secure the files that you are storing online.

Browsers

This week also saw a number of important browser releases. After the recent release of Firefox 10, Firefox 10.0.1 FINAL keeps the ball rolling with a number of minor changes. For anyone who wants to stay a little ahead of the game,Firefox 11 Beta 2 offers a few small additions, but there’s little to get too excited about at this stage. While Firefox can be installed on any system, if you want to take full advantage of a 64-bit operating system, look no further thanWaterfox 10.0 which is based on the latest Firefox code and you can install 64-bit versions of Flash and other plugins.

In other browser news, Chrome 17 became the latest stable release of Google browser as Chrome 17 FINAL hit the servers. Improvements include a new Javascipt engine, better protection against malicious files and much more. Google Chrome 18.0.1025.11 Beta was also released, giving users a chance to check out the future direction of the browser.

The past week has brought numerous programs that you might want to check out, and there’s plenty to look forward to in the week ahead. As well as the usual selection of tools, utilities and other apps, there’s also a great giveaway on the Downloadcrew Giveaway site . On Friday 10 February we gave away a free copy of Paragon System Backup 10.5 SE, a great backup tool worth $29.95. On Monday 13 February there’ll be a fantastic competition with the opportunity to win one of 50 copies of Auslogics Disk Defrag Pro 4, while on Tuesday 14 February, you can grab yourself a free copy of Laplink PCmover Express.

Join us the same time next week for another catchup of the biggest software releases.

Photo Credit: ArtisticPhoto/Shutterstock

The study finds a seven percent decrease in box offices revenues on average as a result of piracy. The amount of loss widens as the lead time increases, indicating there is some relation between the two. Essentially, the power to reduce losses as a result of BitTorrent lies within the industry itself.

Shorten these lead times, and the problem lessens. "We find that the longer the lag between the US release and the local foreign release, the lower the local foreign box office receipts", a draft of the study reads. "Importantly, this relationship is larger after widespread adoption of BitTorrent than before".

While pirated copies of in-theater movies are typically available days after its release here in the States, researchers could not find any correlation between the appearance of the movie on sites like BitTorrent and decreases in ticket sales.

"In short, we do not see much evidence that piracy displaces US box office sales in our data, although this result should be taken cautiously as the 'experiment' for examining US piracy is less clean than that for international piracy", researchers write.

This data may give opponents of the entertainment industry's hard-nose strategy some evidence to use in the argument against further regulation. If the industry itself can play a pivotal role in tamping down piracy, a change in strategy certainly appears warranted.

Photo Credit: Leigh Prather/Shutterstock

At its simplest, the program can deliver a simple, static zoom: just press the (configurable) hotkey, then use the mouse wheel or up and down arrow keys to zoom in on the area you need.

As with many similar tools, this is working on a single, still image of your display. So if you zoom to the system tray clock, say, time will appear to have stopped. As long as you’re using Windows Vista or later, though, you can alternatively launch a Live Zoom that uses a dynamic display: you can watch the clock (or any other application) continue to update, even in its zoomed-in form.

Maybe you’d prefer to draw on the screen? It’s just as easy to draw freehand with the mouse. If you’d like a little more help, then there are also options to draw straight lines, rectangles, ellipses or arrows. You can change the pen width and colour, too, and ZoomIt can even copy the image to the clipboard (or save it as a file) when you’re done.

And if you need to enter a text caption somewhere then that’s also straightforward. Press “t” to enter tying mode, use the mouse wheel or up and down arrow keys to set the font size, and enter whatever you need.

What you don’t get here is much in the way of an interface. There’s no convenient toolbar to display your drawing options, for instance -- you’ll have to remember that, say, holding down the Shift key draws straight lines, while holding Shift+Ctrl draws arrows.

This doesn’t exactly take long to learn, though. And by way of compensation for its basic nature, ZoomIt is also seriously lightweight, consuming only a fraction over 2MB RAM on our test PC. So if you need a little help during your presentations (or would just like a versatile screen magnifier), then give the program a try -- it’s compact, versatile and packed with powerful features.

Photo Credit: Login/Shutterstock

Because Microsoft can do it. The software giant wouldn't have dared on x86 PCs.

Steven Sinofsky's nearly 9,000-word Windows on ARM manifesto packs lots of surprises. Among the biggest: "WOA includes desktop versions of the new Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote". Say what? Now why is that? Four reasons stand out: Litigation, protection, competition and adoption.

Before diving into those reasons, there still remains a tad uncertainty about how Office 15 will come with Windows on ARM PCs or devices. Sinofsky, president of Microsoft's Windows and Windows Live division, writes:

Within the Windows desktop, WOA includes desktop versions of the new Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote, codenamed 'Office 15'. WOA will be a no-compromise product for people who want to have the full benefits of familiar Office productivity software and compatibility, an industry-leading hardware-accelerated web browser, apps from Microsoft, and access to apps in the Windows Store.

That statement could be interpreted to apply to the Windows on ARM preview, and possibly limited to the test build(s). However, "a low volume of test PCs specifically designed for WOA will be made available starting around the next Windows 8 milestone", Sinfosky explains. "These devices are for developers and hardware partners". The point: Seems to me he refers to shipping Windows-on-ARM devices, with respect to Office 15 inclusion.

I asked Microsoft PR for clarification and got none. The response: "Unfortunately, we have nothing further to share beyond what’s included in the blog post". Well, hells bells. Mmmm, I should be grateful for any kind of response. Apple PR wouldn't even have done that much.

No Monopoly Here

The first reason supersedes any others. Microsoft's US antitrust case narrowly defined the Windows monopoly as "Intel-based" -- meaning x86 -- PCs. Windows on ARM will allow Microsoft to do all kinds of bundling, not just Office, that otherwise would be strictly or implicitly prohibited by the antitrust case.

What scrutiny? Microsoft antitrust oversight ended last May, technically freeing the company from government scrutiny. However, Office was a sore topic during the trial's later stages. Prosecutors accused Microsoft of establishing, through the Office-Windows duopoly, the "applications barrier to entry" for competing products. It's why the US District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson's remedy, later overturned, was breakup of Microsoft into separate applications and operating systems companies.

Microsoft is better off not testing the Office-bundling-on-x86-waters for antitrust sharks (the closest Microsoft ever came to those waters is Office 2010 Starter, with reduced-function, ad-supported Excel and Word). ARM is safe swimming, because there is no antitrust case to make. Windows on ARM is a new product and separate from its predecessors even though some code is shared with forthcoming v8. Office 15 is but one of the major Microsoft applications or services that will come with or be tightly bound to WOA.

Mine, Not Yours

Four Office 15 apps -- Excel, OneNote, PowerPoint and Word -- come with Windows on ARM and will run in the rather restricted Desktop mode. Microsoft will offer the only real value on the desktop, since legacy apps can't be installed or ported. Sinofsky is clear: "WOA does not support running, emulating, or porting existing x86/64 desktop apps. Code that uses only system or OS services from WinRT can be used within an app and distributed through the Windows Store for both WOA and x86/64".

The restriction is part of Microsoft's approach to security. Windows on ARM is a walled garden, where no unauthorized code runs. Applications are distributed through the Windows Store. These apps must use native code and will be available via the Metro user interface. However, the desktop is Microsoft's sacred ground, where Office resides along with a few carry-over built-in Windows apps and pretty much nothing else.

I expect Microsoft would be less likely to bundle Office if not for the end of antitrust oversight and Windows running on a chip architecture other than x86. The walled garden security approach doesn't depend on Office 15; it's the other way around.

Rotten Apples

Competition is another good reason for Microsoft to bundle Office 15 and other homegrown apps or services. Apple offers many of its own apps with iOS or Mac OS X, such as iLife. Apple has reaped the bundling harvest for years, while Microsoft wiled away sidelined by antitrust oversight.

Apple's three main productivity apps -- Keynote, Numbers and Pages -- sell for $19.99 each from the Mac App Store. By comparison, Microsoft's cheapest Office version, Home and Student, retails for $149.99. So, even where Apple doesn't directly bundle, it has some benefits from the bundled Mac App Store and lower pricing. Apple also offers iOS versions of the productivity apps.

Considering how well Macs are now selling and, by volume, iPad even better, Microsoft should want to leverage every advantage when making a particularly major OS architectural change. Windows on ARM will compete directly with iPad at least, and on the laptop-side Apple's MacBook Air and its successors. That's from a starting point of zero, rather than hundreds of millions of users. On ARM, Microsoft is David and Apple is Goliath.

App Advantage

Adoption is the final reason. Microsoft will ask lots of customers, particularly businesses, to make the Windows-on-ARM switch. Most IT managers tell me the same thing: They make PC and architecture decisions based on applications, not operating systems. It's one major reason why Linux is a corporate non-starter -- there's no Microsoft Office. WOA is DOA without Office, and presented in the manner many businesses and their employees are used to, via the desktop. Shipping Office with ARM assures potential business customers that they'll get the most important app.

Something else: WOA's browser doesn't support plug-ins, for which there is some security justification. That makes Office all the more an important user interface for accessing back-end processes, applications or the cloud. Not that there's Outlook bundled, but mail is better suited to Metro anyway than the desktop, if you ask me. Still, even without plugins, a standards-based Internet Explorer supporting HTML should prove quite capable on the front-end.

Sinofsky hasn't offered much clarity on what the Office 15 bundling practically means (and I got no clarification from my request). I raise this since some people will ask how Microsoft will make money giving Office 15 away. The company hasn't announced Office 15 SKUs yet. One option: Fold the productivity suite's cost into Windows on ARM pricing (which would be invisible to the buyer since the OS will come on new hardware only). Another: Offer higher-value SKUs that businesses or consumers pay for.

Regardless, Windows on ARM is a new beast, and Microsoft needs to bring out the carrots to woo businesses to bite. None is sweeter and more appealing than Office.

Apple's strategy concerning third party applications on iOS is the target of a good deal of criticism: it's either the App Store or nothing at all. Like it or not, Microsoft will bring the same approach to Windows as it ports the platform to the ARM architecture.

Microsoft has said that Windows on ARM will not support virtualization nor the porting of applications build for the x86 platform. There are solid reasons for this, including system performance and lack of a keyboard and mouse setup in most WOA deployments. Windows and Windows Live president Steven Sinfosky mentions these issues as part of a broader discussion on WOA development.

Microsoft will tightly control the Windows-on-ARM application ecosystem. "WOA only supports running code that has been distributed through Windows Update along with the full spectrum of Windows Store applications", he writes.

Why the top-down approach? It's all about security. Microsoft has long been criticized for problems keeping malware under control in Windows. Much of these issues surround Microsoft's insistence on backwards compatibility, which allows the user to run just about any compatible code on current Windows machines.

Such a strategy requires extra (and possibly dated) code to support the feature, bloating the OS itself and making it more difficult for Microsoft to track down and squash bugs and flaws that can invite hackers in. Windows on ARM is a cleaner slate. The OS may look similar to Windows 8, but in the end it's a largely different animal under the hood.

By only allowing software delivered through the Windows Store and Windows Update to be installed on WOA, Microsoft assumes a direct role in managing security for all users. The result is a much more reliable and safe experience. It may irk some of us who enjoy the freedom to install what we want from wherever we want, but it's an unfortunate concession in this day and age to ensure an acceptable level of security.

(I can only hear the howls from some BetaNews readers about "personal responsibility" in what we're putting on our devices. Lets face it, a majority of users don't really give it much thought. The unfortunate truth, no matter what we think.)

"Our focus on delivering a new level of security for consumers using WOA is paramount", Sinofsky says. "In one public event, we were asked if we would 'make it easy for existing viruses and malware to run.' Now you can see the answer is decidedly, 'no.'"

Yes, the criticism of Apple's system is valid, but only when it comes to how the Cupertino, Calif. company controls the content of applications through the walled garden. It's much harder to argue against a controlled environment when it comes to security.

Maybe the walled garden isn't such a bad idea after all.

Photo Credit: Kate Connes/Shutterstock

In September, about a month before Apple's cofounder died, I asserted that "Steven Sinofksy is the new Steve Jobs". Jobs' on-stage presentations, and the "reality distortion field" with them, are legendary. But chatter and buzz can fill the InterWebs, without seemingly magical Apple events. Sinofsky's blog post, "Building Windows for the ARM processor architecture", while hardly a compelling title, is Microsoft's manifesto for this decade. People are talking, chatting, buzzing -- and they should be.

Microsoft is in the process of rebuilding Windows for the post-PC era, by stepping back from its core roots -- Intel processors -- and embracing ARM. Windows will still run on x86 processors, but there's now little doubt that, without major chip changes from AMD or Intel, Wintel is legacy and ARM is the future. The architectural change opens up mobile device categories, even Windows 8 on smartphones, that the OS can't effectively reach today. Essentially, Microsoft is betting the flagship operating system's future on ARM. Sinofsky made a big statement in a small way -- nothing more than one of the longest blog posts you'll read ever (It's more than 8,000 words, closer to 9,000 really, which is enough to publish as a Kindle Single).

ARM-twisting x86

"With Windows 8, we have reimagined Windows from the chipset to the experience -- and bringing this reimagined Windows to the ARM processor architecture is a significant part of this innovation", Sinofsky explains. "Expanding the view of the PC to cover a much wider range of form factors and designs than some think of today is an important part of these efforts".

Sinofsky maintains Microsoft's commitment to x86: "We have had a deeper level of collaboration with Intel and AMD on the full breadth of PC offerings than in any past release". But the core context is about the PC, such as ultrabooks, and not the new category of mobile devices, which include media tablets, where ARM is so successful today and where Windows has little presence.

As such, he concedes: "We created WOA to enable a new class of PC with unique capabilities and form factors, supported by a new set of partners that expand the ecosystem of which Windows is part". In other words: Beyond the PC as businesses and consumers think today. He repeatedly describes the new operating system as "reimagined Windows", which says much about Microsoft's vision.

That vision means more choices, and likely more confusion with it, for customers, developers and other partners. Microsoft announced Windows support for ARM processors during Consumer Electronics Show 2011 and expanded on the vision during September's BUILD developer conference. All along it seemed like there would be one Windows for both processors, as Microsoft put so much emphasis on x86 backward compatibility. But Sinofsky, who is president of the Windows & Windows Live division clarifies: Windows on ARM is a separate edition. While not disclosing actual SKUs, Sinofsky is clear about WOA being its own product.

Who Needs Windows 8?

The reasons for this aren't just strategic or logistical. They're legal, too. US courts narrowly defined Microsoft's Windows monopoly as being on "Intel-based" PCs. ARM moves Windows out of the antitrust crosshairs and allows Microsoft to do some quite unexpected things (which I'll explain in my next post). It's another reason why ARM is the future of Windows -- or the beginning of it -- when, or perhaps soon after, v8 ships later this year.

Unless, I misunderstand, the separation is finer still. Windows on ARM is not Windows 8. Sinofsky references them separately several times in his manifesto. For example, describing benefits of the new Metro UI over the desktop motif: "WOA (as with Windows 8) is designed so that customers focused on Metro-style apps don’t need to spend time in the desktop". Microsoft isn't doing away with the desktop, just diminishing its relevance.

That's all part of prepping Windows for new device classes. It's vitally important to understand what this means, because Sinofsky waffles in his explanation -- perhaps to calm customers or partners clinging to the Windows, applications, processes and hardware they've got. But the undercurrent is clear, Windows on ARM changes everything for customers and partners that let it.

For example, "One of the new aspects of WOA you will notice is that you don’t turn off a WOA PC", Sinofsky presents. "WOA PCs will not have the traditional hibernate and sleep options with which we are familiar. Instead, WOA PCs always operate in the newly designed Connected Standby power mode, similar to the way you use a mobile phone today". It's a brave new world, baby. Embrace it.

Developers, Developers, Developers

Suddenly the Windows 8 Developer Preview distributed in September takes on new significance looking at WOA and preparing for the renewed emphasis on native code. Sinofsky writes:

WOA has all the WinRT capabilities present in the Windows Developer Preview, and all the tools and techniques that you can use to build new Metro style apps for x86/64 are available to developers to also target WOA. Developers can use our tools to create native C/C++ code for maximal performance and flexibility, in addition to the C#, XAML, VB, and HTML5 based tools, to target apps for WOA, so long as their code targets the WinRT API set.

Additionally, developers with existing code, whether in C, C++, C#, Visual Basic, or JavaScript, are free to incorporate that code into their apps, so long as it targets the WinRT API set for Windows services. The Windows Store can carry, distribute, and service both the ARM and x86/64 implementations of apps (should there be native code in the app requiring two distributions).

Additionally, Windows on ARM will demand much more of all Microsoft partners. Actually, the undertaking is enormous. Because of ARM architecture and strategic and logistical choices Microsoft makes, WOA devices will be more like integrated end-to-end hardware, software and services projects than are PCs today -- and that applies to computers as (and in some ways more) smaller devices.

"Because of the necessarily tight connection between SoC [System on a Chip], peripherals, firmware, and the OS, WOA PCs should be thought of as joint engineering that goes well beyond industry partners merely collaborating", Sinofsky explains. "A WOA PC will feel like a consumer electronics device in terms of how it is used and managed".

PC as CE

The point: Windows on ARM will require tight integration along the hardware and software stack, something Apple succeeds at by controlling everything and something Microsoft hopes to achieve by working with partners. Android is model for success. Google controls the operating system, around which mobile manufacturers create smartphones and tablets running on ARM processors. They're CE devices, not PCs.

However, Google works with partners experienced in producing consumer electronics or CE-like devices on ARM. This will be mostly new to Microsoft's core Windows PC partners. Can they adapt? Will new CE partners make ARM PCs? Those are questions to be answered in the future, and they will determine whether or not Windows on ARM tablets, for example, can make inroads against iPad.

Keeping to the consumer electronics approach, "WOA will not be available as a software-only distribution", Sinofsky emphasizes. That's right, Windows on ARM will come on new devices and will not be separately sold in stores.

There, Microsoft will imitate Apple. "WOA PCs will be serviced only through Windows or Microsoft Update, and consumer apps will only come from the Windows Store, so you never have to worry if a program will run because you are not downloading or installing from a DVD outside of the store experience", Sinofsky writes.

Make no mistake, Windows on ARM opens up a different path for the PC and the devices that augment or replace it. For Microsoft, and eventually its customers and partners, Windows on ARM is the future.

Chrome 18 Beta also sees improvements to the PDF plug-in, plus fixes a number of issues such as full-screen performance under Windows and startup issues in Red Hat Enterprise 6.

Most Windows and Mac users should start to see major performance improvements from certain web apps and websites thanks to support for GPU-accelerated rendering for 2D Canvas content. Because of the wide variety of hardware configurations out there, the Chromium development team has taken a conservative approach to this new technology, enabling just a few features and keen to hear feedback from anyone who encounters performance issues as a result of the tweaks. To see what new features are supported by your system, type chrome://gpu/ into the URL bar.

Because many computers with older drivers and graphics systems aren’t natively capable of displaying certain technologies such as WebGL, Google has licensed a software rasterizer, SwiftShader from TransGaming, for use in Chrome. While acknowledging that performance won’t be as good as for those without graphics that natively support the newer technologies, Google claims that SwiftShader, will improve things for those running older OSes, including Windows XP. It will automatically kick in on older systems where native support from the GPU isn’t forthcoming.

Other tweaks are more minor; those people using the PDF plug-in will now find two new options for rotating PDF files clockwise and anti-clockwise using the context menu, perfect for documents that have been scanned in horizontally.

Google Chrome 18 Beta is available for download now for Windows, Mac and Linux. Note, installing this will switch your copy of Chrome to the beta channel. You won’t be able to switch back to Chrome 17 without first uninstalling Chrome 18 and then downloading and installing Chrome 17 afresh.

The beauty of working with this particular backup tool, aside from the fact that it can be yours completely free of charge, is that it is so incredibly easy to use. Paragon System Backup 10.5 Special Edition will automatically check your system and determine which of your available hard drives has sufficient free space to be used to store backups -- as such, it is a good idea to ensure that you have any USB drives connected so they can be analyzed. Once this has been done, the program will automatically create a snapshot of your system, getting the protection process underway immediately.

From this point onwards, your backup will be constantly updated so you do not need to worry about manually creating new ones every time you create new files. Having these tasks taken care of for you leaves you free to simply get on and use your computer without having to think about the backup process -- everything is done for you automatically.

If you do want to get a little more hands on, you can opt to change how frequently your backup is updated, choose to exclude certain types of file from the backup. Should you ever need to make use of the backup you have created, you can choose between restoring a snapshot in its entirety, or browsing through the contents and selecting the individual files you are interested in.

Free Registration

Please note that in order to unlock Paragon System Backup 10.5 Special Edition, you will need to obtain a serial number. After downloading the software, start the installation process and click the Registration link to the right of the dialog to be taken to the registration web site. Enter all of the details requested of you and click the Submit button -- a few moments later you will receive an email contains your code. Return to the installation program and you can continue with the setup process -- just enter the Product Key and Serial Number you have been provided with and click OK (it is a good idea to copy and paste the codes to avoid the risk of typing mistakes).

The installer can also be used to create a recovery disc that you can use should you ever need to restore your data but find yourself unable to boot into Windows in the usual way. To do this, select the Recovery-Disc option from the installer and then click Next. You can then choose between burning the necessary files directly to a recordable CD or DVD, and creating an ISO image of the disc that you can burn at a later time.

When you need to make use of the disc, you just need to remember to configure your computer to boot from the DVD drive and you’ll have access to the recovery tool that will help you to get your data back where it should be.

To take advantage of this special giveaway, go to the Downloadcrew Giveaway site, grab your copy of the program and get a free serial code. Be quick as the offer is for February 10th only, and expires at 23:59 Central European Time. (Americans, as we post, it's already tomorrow CET, so don't wait. Get it now!)

Photo Credit: Modella/Shutterstock

Nitro PDF Reader stands out from other free PDF viewers with its creation and editing tools, which include the ability to convert documents from over 300 file types into PDF without having to invoke the built-in virtual PDF print driver.

Version 2.2, also available as a standalone 64-bit build, adds a a number of new features. When set as the default PDF viewing application, Nitro 2.2 now adds a Print option to the context menu that appears when right-clicking PDF files.

Also added are keyboard language detection to Nitro’s text insertion tools, which include Type Text and Form Fields. This ensures all characters available as part of the user’s preferred input language will be available when adding or editing text. There is also support for rendering both annotations and form fields with rich text, including bold and italics, when it’s used.

Fixes and improvements include keyboard shortcuts no longer being overwritten, allowing customized shortcuts to be used across multiple sessions of the program. JPEG2000 image rendering is also vastly improved, while unspecified improvements to PDF rendering, printing and “general application quality” have also been cited in the release notes.

Nitro PDF Reader 2.2 32-bit and Nitro PDF Reader 2.2 64-bit are both freeware downloads for PCs running Windows XP or later.

Photo Credit: cybrain/Shutterstock

There’s the list of your drives, for instance. Choose one, click Analyze and a few seconds later you’ll get a fragmentation report (including the usual cluster map). And if it’s not looking good, click Defrag and the program will rearrange your files for the best possible performance -- just as promised by every other disk defragger.

This is just the start, though. Look a little closer and you’ll find Disk Defrag Pro has plenty of interesting and more unusual features.

The program isn’t just able to consolidate free disk space and run a basic defrag, for instance. It can also optimize the layout of your files, and in multiple ways: by access time (recently-accessed files are moved to the fastest area of the drive), by modification time (recently changed files get that privilege), or by Prefetch Layout (Windows Prefetch information is used, to speed system and application launches).

If that’s not enough, then you might choose to defrag your drive by Disk Zone, which sees the program apply various rules to decide which files will be moved to the fastest area of your disk (typically folders, Registry and system files, recently accessed files and more) and who’s left in the slow lane (rarely used and large files, archives, temporary files and more).

And once you’ve made your choice, the program can defrag your system in several different ways:

1. You can run on-demand defrags whenever you like.

2. A flexible scheduler allows you to set up unattended defrags.

3. The program can run an “Offline Defrag”, which launches before Windows starts to defragment key system structures (the MFT, paging, hibernation and Registry files).

4. An Auto Defrag option sees the program left to run in the background, launching when your system is idle to fix any new fragmentation issues right away. Run in the background? Yes, but don’t worry -- Auslogics have gone to a great deal of trouble to minimise Defrag Pro’s impact on your system.

Resource Management

Any defrag job you run in Disk Defrag Pro is assigned a “Resource Profile”, which defines how much access it will have to your CPU and hard drive: this might be very little, you could impose no restrictions at all, or picking the “Balanced Profile” means the program decides how much it can take without seriously impacting other applications.

The “Balanced” option is the default setting, and in general it works well: we were able to run other programs without really even noticing that a defrag was running in the background.

If you’re not happy with the standard profiles, though, you can create as many additional examples as you like. And these can be customized in other ways, for example, pausing a defrag if your laptop is running on battery power, or not launching the defrag at all if you’re running some particularly resource-hungry app (a game, say).

And it’s this configurability that is, if anything, the real strength of Disk Defrag: wherever you look, the program is packed with useful options.

So you can have Disk Defrag Pro check for drive errors and delete temporary files before starting a job, for instance.

You might reconfigure the low-level details of your chosen defrag algorithm to better suit your needs.

And you can tweak the interface, apply special rules for SSD or VSS-enabled drives, even replace the default Windows defrag tool with Disk Defrag Pro, if you like.

Despite all these options, though, the program never feels complex: you only see this kind of setting if you go looking for it. And if you prefer a simpler life then you can always just run the Defrag Wizard, which asks you a few basic questions and then sets everything up for you.

Usage

Auslogics Disk Defrag Pro is certainly adaptable, then, but how does it feel in real life?

It can take a while to figure out how the program works. As we’ve mentioned, it’s possible to optimize your drive layout by last access and modification dates, for instance, but you won’t find those options available up-front: you’ll have to locate and manually enable those profiles before they can be used. Which isn’t difficult, but may be a step more than you expect (and, annoyingly, there’s minimal local help you can study to figure these things out: the main details are in an online PDF file).

Your first defrag may take a while, too. We tried a “Prefetch Layout” optimization on a hard drive with 206GB of data, 29-percent fragmented, and the entire process took more than 7 hours. Which was longer than we expected, although at least the program’s lightweight nature means you don’t have to stop using your system while it’s running.

But then to be fair, the initial run only takes this long because it’s doing so much work. Which delivered worthwhile results, too, with boot time falling by around 4 seconds, Outlook and Firefox launch times dropping by around 10 percent, and the entire system feeling a little snappier. And after this, subsequent top-up “simple defrags” were a very different story: we ran another around half an hour later and it completed in a mere 29 seconds.

Our favorite aspect of Disk Defrag Pro is its vast configurability. If one defrag algorithm doesn’t deliver what you need then there are plenty more, or you can create something entirely new, customized to your own requirements -- it’s hugely versatile.

If you’re a novice PC user, or someone who doesn’t want to spend any money on defrag tools, then Disk Defrag Pro probably isn’t for you. It’s certainly not difficult to use, but you’ll need to invest a little time to get the best out of the program, and while there’s a free build this leaves out all the best bits (the choice of defrag algorithms, resource management, boot-time defrag, detailed reports and more).

If you’re just a little more experienced, though, or willing to take the time to master the program,Auslogics Disk Defrag Pro will prove an excellent tool which should do a great job in maintaining your hard drive at its best possible performance.

The software lists for $29.95 and runs on Windows XP, Vista and 7 -- 32-bit and 64-bit editions.

Photo Credit: Zadorozhnyi Viktor/Shutterstock

The company said it will instead seek revenues through licensing the patents that it has in these areas.

This means Kodak's consumer product portfolio will now be limited to personal and retail-based photo printing and inkjet printing solutions, traditional film and photo paper, camera accessories, and the Kodak Gallery website and Facebook apps.

Speaking as a part-time user of Kodak's pocket camcorders myself, I meet the announcement with mixed emotions.

It is in no way surprising that the company would make such an announcement, considering the dead ends that traditional point-and-shoot cameras and pocket camcorders have become thanks to the rise of smartphones.

However, I thought Kodak was heading down the right track with its camcorders by equipping them with features that smartphones do not have.

Its PlaySport line of camcorders were waterproof, ruggedized, and cheap, making them good for family vacations and outdoors trips, and if they got lost, no big deal.

In both the Zi8 and its follow-up, the Playtouch HD, Kodak included the ability to run audio directly into the camera, or for the camera to be paired with an external microphone. It may seem like a small, inconsequential feature, but it is one still not found in most pocket camcorders, and it is literally nonexistent in mobile phone cameras. Simply by including more inputs and outputs in a device, it can be differentiated from the hybrids.

They were not without their problems, and were by no means professional solutions, but Kodak's departure from the business makes the shrinking pocket camcorder space feel even more barren after the unceremonious departure of Flip.

Kodak's non-consumer businesses moving forward will include commercial digital and functional printing, enterprise services and solutions, as well as graphics, entertainment and commercial films units.

AVAST Software has released the first public betas of its 2012 security family, in the shape of avast! 7 Free, Pro and Internet Security.

One immediately obvious change comes in the revamped installer. If you’re tired of security tools taking over your entire system then you’ll appreciate the degree of control you get here. Install Internet Security, say, and you can choose precisely which core components you need (firewall, sandbox, spam filter, browsing protection, more), and which real-time shields, making it much easier to create a minimum install which should run alongside other security packages.

The redesigned interface seems to be an improvement, too. The program organizes its functions across a set of tabs on the left hand side: Summary, Scan Computer, Real-Time Shields, Firewall and so on. Clicking any of these gives you a summary of that area right away, and most related options and configuration settings are usually only a click or two away -- it’s all very simple.

Functionality-wise, all the avast! 7 editions now benefit from cloud technologies, including streaming updates for more rapid response to the latest threats, and a file reputation service.

AVAST Software also report more general improvements in sandboxing and browsing protection.

And a little more unusually, there’s a new Remote Assistance option that allows you to connect to and share desktops with other avast! users. A good idea? We’re not sure, but anyway it’s available in all the editions, even avast! 7 Free.

This is the first beta release, so, of course, has plenty of problems. AVAST Software have already detailed some known issues in the official beta release thread on their own forum:

• In some cases, WebRep Chrome plugin is not installed correctly
• The Safezone browser is opening each time when you switch back and to the Safezone
• Plugins for Outlook 2k3 and 2k7 show “runtime error” message
• Sometimes autosandbox toaster does not close correctly
• Problems with avast sounds on Win 7 and Win Vista
• Remote assistance feature sometimes crashes on Win 7 32b, Win Vista 64b
• avast! account functionality is disabled
• The help hasn’t been updated yet, it’s still from v6
• Many of the translations haven’t been updated yet, so you’ll see new items in English

Avast! 7 isn’t something you should install on a production system, then, or use for long-term protection anywhere. But if you’re a fan of the program (or the company) then these new releases definitely merit a few moments of your time: the custom installation options in particular are welcome, and we can only hope that other security vendors will follow suit.

About four months ago, thousands of people held vigil outside Apple stores, honoring deceased cofounder Steve Jobs and joining a sudden canonization -- deification, really -- process that raised him above mere mortals. Today, crowds return to those same shops in anger, protesting workers' treatment at Apple factories in China. Whoa, how brands, and emotions about them, suddenly change.

I'm simply appalled, not by Apple, but by the protesters. This is no Arab Spring, people.

Foxconn, the Chinese manufacturer producing iPhone and other Apple gadgets, is a hot topic following New York Times and "This American Life" exposés last month. Reporters found questionable working conditions -- by supposed American standards. People rushed to the InterWebs to criticize and defend Apple; I purposely wrote nothing, disgusted by bloggers and journalists looking to profit from the scandal -- riding the buzz to fame (in some cases infamy) and higher pageviews.

Media Mayhem

Many of these writers change positions depending which way opinions blow, while others are Apple apologist turncoats that are seemingly credible but really don't want to be on the wrong side of popular sentiment. Well, what they perceive it to be. Bloggers, journalists or anyone else looking to benefit from Apple's Foxconn problems are bad or worse, for they stand on the backs of the same Chinese workers they claim to defend. (I debated linking to some of these posts, but decided not to single out any writers.)

If critics were sincere, rather than capitalizing on topic of the moment, they would have gone after Apple in early 2010, ahead of iPhone 4's launch, when a rash of suicides at Foxconn factories made big headlines -- and they would have kept up the public pressure, even after Apple publicly worked with Foxconn to make changes to improve working conditions. The Foxconn furor died down as iPhone 4-crazed hipsters, many of them seemingly the same people attacking Apple today, snatched up the smartphone -- and iPad, too.

The recent furor really started in early January with "This American Life" segment "Mr. Daisey and the Apple Factory" and two Times stories: "How the US Lost Out on iPhone Work" and "In China, Human Costs Are Built Into an iPad". I applaud the reporters and their outstanding investigative work. It's the pundits and protesters who followed them that bug me -- the ones pretending Foxconn factory problems are suddenly new, that Apple has done nothing to improve working conditions or that products for other high-tech firms aren't produced there. All the blame is Apple's.

Idiot Wind

I can understand this position from the non-bloggers and non-journalists, meaning those not riding the wave of perceived popular sentiment. Apple hipsters who use little or no other vendors' tech might be blind to all others outsourcing manufacturing to Foxconn facilities. They might feel blood on their hands, too, for buying Apple products produced in China; their guilt relief is to accuse Apple. I say, look to yourself. You paid for the over-priced gadget. You empowered Apple manufacturing in China by your purchases.

Something else: Apple is now the largest tech company -- actually biggest of all by market valuation -- and that makes it a target. I remember when during the 1990s, Microsoft's size and success brought all kinds of accusations with it. Apple was cuddly and lovable when the feisty upstart, but it no longer flies the pirate's flag (as it did during the first Steve Jobs era). Apple is the establishment -- the man! Who do people protest? Or hold most accountable?

I'm not here to defend or criticize Apple's, or any other vendor's, responsibility to Chinese workers sweating over tech products. I will say this: For American protesters, there are plenty of injustices here at home to worry about. A parade of down-and-out or homeless folks go through our recycle and trash bins every day. We help who we can. There are hundreds, maybe thousands, of homeless students here in the San Diego school system. Where's the humanity in that, and what are you willing to do about it? People can easily protest -- walk up to an Apple Store and hand in a petition -- when asked nothing more.

Gutless Guilt

Our family cat disappeared nearly a month ago, and we're now fairly confident that a coyote got him. But we go every other day to the San Diego animal shelter and the adjacent Humane Society. I was stunned to see the luxury the cats live in at the Human Society. Some rooms, where one cat waits for adoption, are larger than my bedroom. Meanwhile, people live on the streets -- and some of them with jobs -- while these animals are coddled. Who's protesting for the street people?

I say this to Apple protesters: Shareholders have a right to make demands of Apple. You do not. They own the company. If you're a protester and not an Apple shareholder, you have no real right to tell Apple what to do. Exercise your real power. Show your support for Chinese workers with your wallet. Don't buy Apple products. By protesting, what you want from Apple is a guilt-free purchase -- to have your cake and eat it, too, as the saying goes. That's not justice or better working conditions in China, but really about you and your feelings about Apple and buying its products.

As today's planned protests approached, several petitions appeared online, such as this one at Change.org, which has about 200,000 signatures. To Apple protesters, I say: It's easy to demand change when you don't have to make any. I would take more sincerely a petition where signers agreed to pay XX dollars more per iPad or iPhone -- hell, let's just say $50 -- to improve working conditions at the factories producing the tech. Now that is meaningful. Anything else is more about purging signers' guilt for buying Apple products than committing to substantive change.

You're either part of the problem or the solution. If you buy Apple products and protest for change, you're not part of the solution. You're part of the problem.

Photo Credit: 1000 Words / Shutterstock

Apple enthusiast blog 9to5Mac reported that before external access to the company's intranet was cut off, it was able to verify several of the login credentials as legitimate. This includes credentials for company CEO Terry Gou. It is not immediately clear if any sensitive information has leaked.

"So Foxconn thinks they got 'em some swagger because they work with the Big Boys from Intel, Microsoft, IBM, and Apple? Fool, You don't know what swagger is", the group taunts. "We got somethin' served up good...real good. Your not gonna' know what hit you by the time you finish this release. Your company gonna' crumble, and you deserve it".

Swagg Security makes direct reference to Foxconn's working conditions, but says the hack is not a direct response. Instead the group appears more interested in causing trouble, including the release of login credentials for its manufacturing partners. This may have allowed for fraudulent orders to be placed on behalf of those partners by people using passwords pilfered by the group.

Foxconn is a key partner for Apple, Microsoft, HP, Dell, IBM and Intel. This is only a small segment of the companies the Chinese manufacturer has a working relationship with though; the full list numbers in the dozens.

Foxconn cut off access to services.foxconn.com late Wednesday, apparently one place where these logins work. "Guess you guys made one too many orders", Swagg Security tweets.

A request for comment from Foxconn was not returned as of press time, although the company has told other outlets it "does not comment on matters of internal network security".

Photo Credit: Gunnar Pippel/Shutterstock

This is a mandatory update because Adobe has changed the install and update mechanism of the software. Once this beta is downloaded and installed, future beta builds will be sent automatically. The initial release of Muse is expected to be some time in early 2012, under a different name, as a subscription-only product.

Just some of the improvements in this build include: autoscrolling (when an item is dragged to the edge of the view, the view automatically scrolls in that direction;) improved export and publish times; automatic image resampling for very large images, which optimizes performance; HTML Element ids don't change from one export to the next; new right-click "Delete Unused Styles" action, new "Clear Overrides" button in the Character Styles and Graphic Styles panels; a revised font menu UI, new support for "tel:" and "callto:" prefixes; and many more.

To check out the beta of Adobe Muse (code name) Beta 6, head over to FileForum now!

Good marketing is all about subtly and communicating a complex message simply. But in the era of tech events, particularly Apple's during the second Steve Jobs era, their announcement is something of an artform. Microsoft's Windows 8 Consumer Preview event announcement is rich in subtly and foreshadowing, simply by a date. February 29.

Leap Day comes once but every four years. It's a special day that seems to have been specially chosen: Microsoft will hold the Windows 8 event in Barcelona, Spain, during Mobile World Congress (Feb. 27 to March 1). Not on Day One or Two, which customarily are when vendors make their big announcements (as is Day 0), but on Day 3 -- and that's typically when people already bug out of the show. February 29 isn't random then.

Windows 8 is a big product for Microsoft -- and its hardware, software and channel partners. Windows PC sales are way down, even as Mac sales soar and iPad chips away new computer purchases. Meanwhile, the new operating system marks Windows' support for ARM processors, re-emphasis on native code development, major user interface changes (Metro, Ribbon and even Kinect) and push to reclaim tablets from Android and iOS.

Leap Day's subtle message is leap ahead -- that Microsoft plans to leap ahead with Windows 8. I see something else: Customers and partners (developers, particularly) making a leap of faith. Windows 8 will bring much change, which many customers will see as increased risk. Many don't want to leap anywhere. They want to stay where they are.

But the date isn't the only subtle message here, veiled in foreshadowing. So is the name. Microsoft isn't calling the public test software "Beta" or "Beta 1" but "Windows 8 Consumer Preview". There's meaning to that choice. In January 2009, Microsoft made Windows 7 Beta publicly available, then skipped Beta 2 and went right to Release Candidate. The use of "Preview" foreshadows similar timeline, and as I explained last week, timing along such a path assures gold code release to manufacturing by August and so official launch by late October.

There is other meaning behind the name. "Preview" is the new "beta". All of Microsoft's major, recent public testing releases -- what once would have been betas -- were previews. Look back, Preview was the darling of 2010 betas. What proceeded this month's big consumer test OS? Windows 8 Developer Preview. It's forebear and subset: Internet Explorer Platform Preview. Perhaps you remember Office 2010 Technical Preview, back in 2009, among many other like-named betas.

Preview has a nice ring to it, don't you think? Beta is loaded with baggage connotations from a by-gone era. Preview's connotations are forward-looking, getting a sneak peak of something special. Developers got their sneak peak in September, consumers will get theirs, too.

Preview also removes barriers to download. Beta's connotations are too much testing, which will put off some people. Preview entices more than does beta. Microsoft wants as many people as possible who are willing to download Windows 8's pre-release code. There are lots of changes to evaluate from usability and technical perspectives before RTM.

Then there is the huge marketing potential, of widely distributing Windows 8 ahead of its launch (and likely converting many Previewers to buyers) and generating lots of ongoing buzz to drown out persistent clamoring about the next Apple thing. You know, that compact 9.7-inch iPad 4 with 4,000 ppi display that folds out into 110-inch flexible-screen TV and syncs content with iFridge, iCar and iBaby Stroller.

Huh, and you thought Microsoft lacked subtly.

Beta testers, get ready: Windows 8 is coming on Leap Day. The first public beta release that is, which keeps it on track for an October release. My colleague Joe Wilcox details the timeline in this post on Windows 8, which hints at Microsoft's announced date -- calling it "six or more weeks later" than the early January release of Windows 7's public beta. I'd say he was pretty close.

Microsoft is celebrating the release of the Customer Preview with an event in Barcelona, Spain on February 29, which is being held there to coincide with Mobile World Congress, also taking place during that week.

That Microsoft is using MWC as its platform to launch a traditionally desktop OS reinforces how important the Redmond, Wash. company sees a merger of its desktop and mobile efforts. I won't be shocked if the majority of the presentation has a decidedly mobile feel to it.

Despite Microsoft being a little later in its public release than Windows 7 was, the company still has six months to work out the beta bugs before a release to manufacturing in August.

If it can make that August time frame, Microsoft could leverage the back-to-school shopping season by giving OEMs the opportunity to offer guaranteed upgrades to consumers purchasing PCs during that time (which traditionally occur over the summer). Microsoft could also opt to include the Consumer Preview on these machines, but it seems that an arrangement along the lines of the former is more likely.

This will prevent the bastardization of PC purchases over the summer months. It also solves the issue of missing the back-to-school season, and holdouts. And the most important aspect of making that August RTM goal? An October release, and Windows 8 on computers for the holidays.

With an insurgent Apple figuring out ways to sell more and more Macs each quarter, getting Windows 8 into partners' hands for the second biggest computing buying season of the year is pretty darn important.

We'll monitor Mobile World Congress for Microsoft's announcement, and will have a first look at the Consumer Preview as soon as we can get our hands on it. Stay tuned.

Google promises security improvements with the new release and something else: Faster page loading, as you type and in some cases barely before you start typing the address. Chrome essentially pre-renders websites, extending the search page pre-rendering already available. The feature is disturbing in practice -- a little too prescient, like mind reading, when it works.

On the security side, Google has long used a number of features, such as tab sandboxing, to diminish malware risks. Chrome 17 improves security by enhancing the Safe Browsing mechanism. Google's Niels Provos and Ian Fette explain last week:

To provide better protection, Safe Browsing has two additional mechanisms that can detect phishing attacks and harmful downloads the system has never encountered before.

Phishing attacks are often only active for a few short hours, so it’s especially important to detect new attacks as they happen. Chrome now analyzes properties of each page you visit to determine the likelihood of it being a phishing page. This is done locally on your computer, and doesn’t share the websites you visit with Google. Only if the page looks sufficiently suspicious will Chrome send the URL of that page back to Google for further analysis, and show a warning as appropriate.

Malicious downloads are especially tricky to detect since they’re often posted on rapidly changing URLs and are even “re-packed” to fool anti-virus programs. Chrome helps counter this behavior by checking executable downloads against a list of known good files and publishers. If a file isn’t from a known source, Chrome sends the URL and IP of the host and other meta data, such as the file’s hash and binary size, to Google. The file is automatically classified using machine learning analysis and the reputation and trustworthiness of files previously seen from the same publisher and website. Google then sends the results back to Chrome, which warns you if you’re at risk.

Google is taking an even more proactive approach to browser security than it already does. While I would never dissuade anyone from using anti-malware software, I do wonder if the changes -- added to existing capabilities -- diminish the value of security apps offering safe search capabilities.

Many other changes are cosmetic, as Google continues to clear clutter from Chrome and give it a more modern, streamlined look. A full list of changes is available from the Google Chrome Releases blog.

Something else: If you've got Ice Cream Sandwich running on Google Galaxy Nexus, Motorola XOOM, Samsung Nexus S or other smartphone or tablet and Chrome for Android, do get the new stable desktop build. For me, Chrome for Android wouldn't sync right with Chrome desktop until after I upgraded. Now it's smooth as silk syncing.

Chrome 17 is available for Mac OS X, Windows and Linux. Follow the links to BetaNews FileForum to download.

If you do not own an Android device capable of running the Chrome Beta, you probably looked around at the reviews and got a general feeling for the new software and why it's "the platform's best new browser," or the native browser killer with an improved interface and simple tab handling. But none of these reviews really addressed the burning question:

Is it going to do what I need it to do?

The Android platform has no perfect browser --insofar as there can be a perfect browser-- and third-party browsers have been crafted to suit specific needs of certain users. There are users who want to have a fast experience on slow connections, there are users who want to block ads, and there are users who never want to see the mobile version of a website, and so on. Each user is likely to use a different browser and frankly, Chrome for Android might not be the answer for them just yet.

So rather than give you a generic overview of the new browser, we're going to examine a few general needs for a mobile browser and see whether Chrome for Android answers those needs.

I need to sync my desktop browser

Chrome for Android's number one killer feature is its ability to sync with a user's Google account live. If the user has Chrome open on their desktop, they can drop into the "Other Devices" menu, and see all the tabs they have open without having to save anything or consciously send sync commands.

The feature is extremely well-done and easy to manipulate. But if you are not a desktop Chrome user, this feature will hold little sway. As of January 2012, Chrome had a third place share of the desktop browser market with 18.94 percent, behind Firefox which had 20.88 percent. Firefox for Android lets users access their desktop browsing history, bookmarks, passwords and open tabs from their mobile device. Similarly, Opera Mini and Mobile for Android can also sync tabs, history, and favorites with the Opera Link feature.

Syncing with the desktop browser is a widely available feature in third-party browsers, but Google is turning it into a feature deeply ingrained into the user's Google ID, which is a cornerstone of Android control.

I need to set my user agent string to Desktop

Some users need their mobile browser to default to the full desktop version of a site, others just prefer it that way. The ability to simply change the user agent string with a click of a menu item is a big feature in many Android browsers, such as Dolphin HD, Skyfire, Angel, and Boat. Unfortunately, in the Chrome for Android beta, there's no way to change this setting yet, and sites will default to their mobile version.

I need media of all sorts

We've known for at least the last three months that Adobe's Flash Player for mobile is finished. But Flash still carves out a giant presence on the Web, and a browser's inability to handle it guarantees an experience that does not match the desktop. This is one of the areas where Skyfire shines among third-party Android browsers. It offers support for Flash, and for a $2.99 charge, users of Skyfire can have access to the browser's proprietary video optimization technology -- which accelerates the video experience.

Chrome for Android lacks support for Flash, and is unlikely to ever receive it. Adobe published a blog confirming the fact that the stock Android browser will continue to have Flash support, but Chrome for Android will not.

"Adobe is no longer developing Flash Player for mobile browsers, and thus Chrome for Android Beta does not support Flash content. Flash Player continues to be supported within the current Android browser," Flash Platform product manager Bill Howard said.

I need an in-browser download management system

The desktop version of Chrome has the URI "chrome://downloads" which lets users view, launch, and manage all the content they're downloading through the browser. This is not present yet in the mobile version of Chrome, and download management in the new browser isn't quite up to the levels of Firefox and Skyfire for Android.

I need [some feature provided by an add-in or extension]

Chrome and Chrome OS are customizable with a growing library of browser extensions which add specific features to the browser which aren't available by default. Chrome for Android currently lacks extension support as well, and the main browsers for Android that tout this feature are (again) Dolphin HD and Firefox, which have approximately 50 and 110 mobile-specific add-ons respectively. With these, users can customize their experience with capabilities such as Bookmark to SD, Screenshot to SD, Adblock, Personas, and more.

Though Chrome for Android is fast, fluid, pretty, and easy to use, it is still far too early to know if it is going to be the "right" browser for any user besides the one who wants to share his desktop Chrome content with his mobile device.

I don't know what's stranger, Pizza Hut's Valentine's Day marketing gimmick or one of our editors finding it on Facebook. BetaNews FileForum managing editor Eddie Elmore consistently drops interesting links into group chat. The link to the Pizza Hut promo churned up so much discussion among the staff, I had to post.

If you're willing to pay Pizza Hut $10,000 and another 10 bucks for a Dinner Box, the restauranteur will help you propose marriage. Besides the food, you get a ruby ring, limo service, flowers (hey, it's Valentine's Day), photographer, videographer and your own fireworks show. My question: What if he or she says no. You want to be damn sure of the answer beforehand.

Pizza Hut has only 10 of these things to give away. There's an option to "buy" on the proposal promo page, which means right away online, I guess. In this era of Apple-loving, whole-grain hipsters, I can think of few things more juxtaposed than pizza and proposals. "Yes, let's start off our marriage right, with starch and tomato paste".

What does this have to do with tech? Social media for one and the bride (or groom) to be, of course. C`mon geeks, wouldn't you feel better about the relationship's future if this was a $10,000 package from Best Buy or Fry's? Do you really want to skulk around and hide future gadget purchases from you know who?

Now I got to ask: Are you proposing this Valentine's Day and by what creative means?