The Software Complex Latest Software News and Information

With a wide variety of products out there, choosing the best photo software can be a daunting task. The term best, however, is a subjective word. In this case, best denotes what is most excellent for you and not necessarily the software with the most advanced features and control. For example, if you are interested in taking pictures at a party or simple events with friends, a point and shoot camera with auto-focus and auto-flash is more practical than a very advanced DSLR camera.

You need to decide beforehand as to what type of editing you really want to do with your pictures. Make up your mind if you just want to goof around and make the pictures look funny or add effects. You can also choose to edit your pictures and add them to a professional catalogue. Set a cost limit depending on the purpose. These two factors will help you narrow down your search for the right software.

Once you have a list of prospective products, shortlist the ones that provide you with a shareware or time-limited version. Armed with this shortlist, visit forums that deal with photo editing software and talk to its members about the software. Also, you can also read reviews and use the shareware versions that are downloadable. This should help you decide and get a clear idea as to what you can expect from the product.
Finally, keep in mind that generally, the more advanced the product, the longer it takes to learn it. The more knowledge you have in leading up to a purchase, the better informed you will be in making that purchase.

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If you are on the lookout to buy sound recording software, there are some things to consider. The main question you have to ask yourself is why do I need it? Do you need it to record a demo, do you want to make some music for family and friends, or do you simply want to play around with the software? Depending on how you answer, the next question of cost and its justification comes in. Because with today’s technology, more often than not, your recording will sound as good as a proper studio recording. Therefore, the result really depends on your intent and how much you are willing to spend.

Sound recording software also comes in many shapes to suit your requirements. If you are into composing music, interactive composing software and/or software synthesizers and samplers would be the ideal choice for you. However, if you need to record voice and manipulate it, then you should use a more complex recording suite like Nuendo in conjunction with the previously mentioned software. On the other hand, if you want to do some simple DJ work, software such as Virtual DJ would be the best choice.

However, as with any piece of software, there is a learning curve. Sound oriented software especially needs a little bit of tutoring to get started. Besides learning the software, you also need to understand a bit about how your soundcard, external or internal; works, and how to configure inputs and outputs. Besides all these, you also have to consider that you might have to upgrade your computer to handle the software that you have decided to buy. Therefore, do not take the decision to buy the software lightly. Give it some thought and buy the right thing for you.

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While most, if not all, people are more than happy with Google’s search engine, it appears the developers over at Google are not. The new proposed design of Google’s search page has overtones of Google Wave and so far has only one significant feature that is not present in the current offering. Although there is a sidebar that will help you narrow down your searches, most other changes appear cosmetic. What is disappointing is the sidebar performs the same functions the more discreet menu does in the current form. However, the significant feature included in the prototype is the ability to search forums, which makes up for all the disappointment.

If testing the new search page interests you, then all you have to do is paste the following text into your browser address bar when on the Google search page.

javascript:void(document.cookie=”PREF=ID=20b6e4c2f44943bb:
U=4bf292d46faad806:TM=1249677602:LM=1257919388:S=odm0Ys-53ZueXfZG;path=/; domain=.google.com”);

Before you get excited over it or even fall in love with it, keep in mind that this is only a Beta version. Considering the thoroughness that Google employs to test all its products before they hit the market, you can be assured that: 1. It will take some time for the new version to hit your browser window and 2. It may not look anything like this when it does.

Posted under International Software Business, Software, Software Management

Installed on the browser toolbars of many PCs, the RoboForm password organizer has been lauded as a convenient way to keep Internet log-in information organized. RoboForm recently released an app for the iPhone designed to take its functionality to a mobile setting, but CNET News reports that there are multiple problems with the application that limit the ability of users to get results from it.

The story slams RoboForm for forcing you to have its password management software installed on your desktop before being able to use it on your iPhone. In addition, the inability to run multiple third-party applications on the iPhone means that there are multiple steps that need to take place in order to fill the iPhone version of RoboPhone with your password and log-in information.

Using an online password manager such as Mitto.com can solve many of these problems. Because it is Internet-based, there are no issues with being able to only use it on certain devices. And with the ability to instantly get access to your passwords no matter where you are, you don’t need to install software or passwords on different devices.

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With Google’s recent announcement of Android 2.0 support in the Android SDK, the mobile phone open-source platform got a much-needed boost. The key for Android 2.0 are multiple new “feature” updates. It has an improved Web-Kit powered browser, which sports an updated user interface. Bookmarks that have thumbnails of web pages, double tapping to zoom in on content and instant searches by simply tapping on the address bar are just a few these user-interface updates.

In readiness for building next generation apps, Google has included support for HTML5 API’s. Some of these API’s are the Geolocation API to provide location information, the Database API for managing client-side SQL databases and Application cache support for off-line applications. Support for HTML5’s <video> tag is also present, making full screen video possible without installing any plug-ins.

In other features, Android 2.0 supports adding multiple accounts for e-mail and contact synchronization with a one-touch access point for communicating with a friend, called Quick Contact. Simply tap on a contact’s picture and you have instant access to view information, call, SMS, or e-mail that person. Version 2.0 also introduces a search function that works across all saved text messages and multimedia messages. It also has Auto delete, which deletes the oldest message in a conversation thread based on a user-defined limit.

The Camera has received a boost with support for Built-in flash, Digital zoom, Scene mode, White balance, Color effect and Macro focus. An improved virtual keyboard includes a better layout and much needed multitouch support. There is also a smarter dictionary, which now learns from previous word use.

The Android mobile operating system is growing in strength and flavor. Time will tell if individual carriers and vendors will use these new features in future Smartphone lineups.

Posted under Technology

Former Yahoo engineer and blogger Andy Baio once pointed out “If you want to know which areas of big companies are being ignored, watch for spam taking over.” Google Groups, now infested with spam, fits the description. The mailing-list and discussion-board services have remained short on features since its start in 2001. The problem seems ridiculous considering Groups and Gmail are from the same company, but while Gmail can filter out spam and Groups does not have a clue.

“As far as I’m concerned, Google Groups is dead” says John Resig, the lead developer of JQuery. Because of the overwhelming spam the JQuery mailing list, one of the most popular Google Groups with over 20,000 members, is leaving the service. Resig noted that while Groups is still usable for private mailing lists, its inability to stop spam, the insufficiency of moderator tools and general neglect have made it useless for large public mailing lists like JQuery.

The moderation does help, but as Resig points out, it makes joining and posting a complex affair for first-time users who arrive at the group seeking help. The quality of the tools provided for moderators are not up to “Google” standard as well. “The problem mostly lies in the cases that we’re trying to support,” Resig says in an e-mail to Webmonkey. “We need to support people who are actively trying to help new users, and we also need to support people who just want a simple question answered.” Considering spammers have realized that spoofing e-mail addresses works in Google Groups and with nothing done to stop them, the signs do not look good.

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Mozilla has released the first beta release of Firefox 3.6, the next version of the popular open-source browser. At first glance it merely seems like a performance upgrade to the current Firefox version, 3.5 that was released in June. However, when you spend some time browsing around, especially with JavaScript heavy web apps, you realize that the page load times are significantly faster. This new beta also has better support for the latest emerging web standards like HTML5 and CSS3, better native video playback, a new plugin updating mechanism and some new tab behaviors.

The performance boost in the new browser is thanks to a few tweaks to TraceMonkey, Mozilla’s own engine for rendering JavaScript on web pages. The new version of TraceMonkey has been optimized to work within Firefox, which means that will speed up Firefox UI elements written in JavaScript as well. However, as with Firefox’s previous releases, the browser still requires quite a bit of RAM. Firefox 3.6 beta still requires more RAM than Safari or Opera.

Mozilla has also tweaked the behavior of the tabs. Ctrl+click on a link or Open in a New Tab opens the tab right next to the active tab; a significant improvement from previous versions of the browser where the new tab opened at the end of the line of opened tabs. Firefox 3.6 beta also has the long awaited tab preview when switching tabs using the inbuilt tab switcher. However, this feature does not come enabled as default. Hopefully, it will be enabled when the final release is made available, sometime before the end of 2009.

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Software giant Adobe has announced the release of a new set of tools based on its Flash Platform, that will give developers new and easier ways to build, deploy and track their apps on the social web’s various application platforms. Adrian Ludwig, group manager for the Flash Platform said that the new Flash Platform Services will “help app developers building on Facebook and other social networks reach a larger audience.”

With the popularity of social networks like Facebook growing rapidly, developing and deploying a application is like tossing a needle in to a needle stack. However using Flash Platform Services, developers will be able to quickly develop and deploy flash applications using in-built tools allowing them to automatically create elements like “share this” buttons, email links and mobile delivery options. Creation of these elements is extremely simple. Since the new tools are component based, therefore adding these features is as simple as dragging and dropping. The Flash components themselves are free, however, Adobe has included a few neat tools and enhanced capabilities that are available on a pay per use basis.
Adobe also announced its partnership with Gigya, the widget distribution service, which will give developers access to usage statistics that are taken from Gigya and then displayed on an Adobe Air interface. This will be available as a separate download. Adobe also plans to release a Flash Platform Services package called Social, that will allow developers a method to create write once, deploy anywhere apps on all major social networking websites.

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Less than just three months after the US Naval Acadamies of Science suggested that the United States set official policy on cyberwarfare, both the US and South Korea have been hit by cyber attacks believed to have originated from North Korea. The academies suggested that the US government lead the world in setting international norms governing the deployment of cyberwarfare as an offensive instrument, preferring to eliminate and anticipate cyber threats before they strike.

Further analysis revealed the attacks to be unsophisticated, reinforcing the belief that the origin was North Korea. However, the relative lack of advanced techniques will only last so long and it is only a matter of time before other nations catch up technologically. This attack has begun a serious discussion on the merits of an offensive approach to cyberwarfare and network security. The basis of this discussion is a report that was prepared by James Lewis for the Center for International and Strategic Studies. There is very little discussion in the report specific to the Korean attack as it has been described purely as a noisy demonstration.

In terms of the actual attacks, the belief is they fall into two broad categories, sabotage and espionage. An example of sabotage would be the Korean attack and others like the incidents in Estonia and Georgia. They provoke international outrage but rarely escalate to international warfare.

Espionage on the other hand, includes acts that could inflict long term damage to physical and virtual properties. Fortunately, no evidence currently exists that anything of this nature has happened but it is well known that few nations, like China, Russia and Israel have the expertise to do it.

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CIO Magazine reports that more realtors than ever are searching for new tools to help with secure password sharing. Realtors can be especially impacted by this problem, as associations typically sell single-seat licenses to real estate agents in their area that gives them access to local MLS home listings. However, many real estate agents share this information with co-workers and friends, costing the realtors association money. Even worse, some MLS listings have detailed information that is meant to be kept private, such as how to enter certain homes.

One solution to this is to use an online password manager. This type of password keeper can detect when and where a person accessed a password from, and limit access to certain people. Other advanced software can even detect keystroke patterns to determine if multiple people are using a password meant for a single seat.

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