Software I never actually used Iris (my image editor of choice is still Pixelmator ), but the one-window image editor released a few years ago certainly had its share of fans. Unfortunately, those fans may be disappointed to hear that Iris’ developer, Nolobe, has suspended development on the app . Nolobe’s principal Matthew Drayton says that back in 2007, when Iris started development, there were no cheap yet quality image editors, and nowadays, the app has simply become a “me too” app. He doesn’t want to do that, so he’s out.
Windows Live Writer, pretty much our favorite Windows Live application, can be run from a thumb drive, and it can even incorporate all the settings and sites you’ve already set up on your existing Live Writer setup. How-to blog Online Tech Tips details the use of Windows Live Writer Portable to create a portable app to be run off a USB drive, a network drive, or any other storage space. If you’re already running Live Writer, the portable tool will ask you to point to it on your hard drive, and then pick up your setup from there. If you’re planning on being away from your laptop, but still need to update or manage a site, you can do much worse than a portable Live Writer setup.
Hardly has the dust settled on the Microsoft Pink Verizon leak , when along come live – if blurry – shots of one of the handsets themselves. You’re looking at the device codenamed Pure, a touchscreen slider with a full QWERTY keyboard and – according to a leak of the firmware – a 480 x 320 display. The firmware also confirms the Verizon launch, together with traces of of Zune, as well as Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo! and Windows Live. It also confirms that the Turtle has a 320 x 240 display, and that there are alternative codenames – Pride and Lion – for the Turtle and Pure CDMA versions respectively. There’s also what’s believed to be a social networking center, called The Loop, and the whole thing is based on Windows CE albeit heavily hidden with a distinctive UI that borrows from the Zune and Windows Phone 7 .
Sony haven’t exactly been on a roll lately, but that could all be about to change. According to the WSJ, Sony are planning a new smartphone capable of playing downloaded PlayStation games together with a hybrid netbook/ereader/PSP to take on Apple’s iPad . Both devices will apparently work with a new online media platform that the company are tipped to launch in the US later in March 2010. As they have before, Sony are partnering with Sony Ericsson on the design of the new smartphone, but according to “people familiar with the matter” are now taking a more active role. That, they say, is because of a growing realisation as to how central smartphones are becoming to the company’s overall strategy.
As everyone knows, Garmin and TomTom have their backs against the ropes in a fight to remain relevant in an age of free GPS turn-by-turn navigation on smartphones (thanks Google and Nokia ). While dedicated personal navigators are almost always superior to their converged competition, the gap has certainly narrowed such that it’s become difficult to justify another device when an increasing number of people already carry a fine navigation device in their pockets. But that’s just gut instinct talking, where’s the hard evidence? Certainly not speculative stock prices . A good place to start is in forward-looking financial statements like the one Garmin, the leading navigation device maker in the US, just issued.
Tips and tricks I have to admit that I don’t always use them, but I do always enjoy reading the hints over at Mac OS X Hints — there probably isn’t a more eclectic or helpful mix of random hints about how to use your Mac or iPhone available on the Internet. So I was saddened to read today that editor Rob Griffiths (who always adds in his confirmations and other testing on the various hints posted) is leaving the editor’s position . He’s moving on to join Peter Maurer at Many Tricks , where he’ll handle the business aspects of the company . He mentions that they’re working on “some good stuff in the pipeline, especially for the upcoming iPad .” As for Mac OS X Hints, the site is owned by Macworld , so it will continue to run under the oversight of a new editor, who will have the benefit of Griffiths around for training as long as necessary. But it will be a little bit of a disappointment to not see the little “robg” notes on the hints in the future.
Teen entrepreneur Daniel Brusilovsky has been fired from his internship at TechCrunch following allegations that he traded startup coverage for compensation. TechCrunch Editor Michael Arrington broke the news in a post last night titled, “ An Apology to Our Readers .” He said that “someone I trust” had accused an intern of asking for a Macbook Air in exchange for writing a TechCrunch post about the startup. The allegation was supported by a subsequent investigation, and Arrington also uncovered “at least one other occasion” when Brusilovsky “almost certainly” received a computer in exchange for a post. In response, TechCrunch fired him and removed all of his posts from the site. Initially, Arrington didn’t disclose the name of the intern in question, but his identity has since been revealed as 17-year-old Brusilovsky, who is also founder of the teen publishing startup Teens in Tech .
Filed under: Features , Odds and ends You know, at first I wasn’t so impressed with the iPad, but the more I thought about the ways in which you can use it, the more excited I got. As a piece of leisure technology – something you just have laying around your living room like a newspaper – it’s a lot more user friendly than a laptop or an iPhone. However, I don’t think the iPad is revolutionary. By now we’re well familiar with multi-touch devices and apps stores. And let’s face it, ebooks are nothing new.
French president Nicolas Sarkozy recently announced the so-called Google tax, which would tax online advertising revenues and then use the money to help “legal music platforms.” The tax was, among a few other ideas , suggested by a committee lead by Patrick Zelnik. (Funny enough, Zelnik is also the producer of France’s First Lady and pop singer, Carla Bruni Sarkozy.) That committee’s mission is to suggest ideas to boost digital music sales in France when at the same time, the controversial HADOPI law, which targets illegal file sharers, is about to take effect. Sponsor The way the French government handles the booming French digital revolution is quite unique. But the Google tax is just the tip of the iceberg, and is part of a very frightening story, at least for a country that thinks of itself as the inventor of modern democracy. This guest post was written by Fabrice Epelboin, the editor of the French edition of ReadWriteWeb .
Gadget-recommendation service Measy launched a smartphone tool this week to help users find the perfect smartphone based on their needs. The engine asks users their ideal price as well as the importance of several factors including carrier, functionality (business, texting, apps and software, video/camera), customer service, and speed. It then recommends one of over 60 smartphones in the engine. Measy’s technology pulls quotes about specific characteristics from review sources their editor-in-chief deems trustworthy, scores each characteristic, and then runs an algorithm over that to create proximity between what a person wants and how it stacks up against the products that have been reviewed. Sources Measy deems trustworthy are those with good information but also recognition as a good source and include CNET, PC Mag, PC World, and Wired.
Now that we’ve had some time to play with the Office 2010 Professional Beta , we thought we’d share what’s new and useful inside Microsoft’s big suite. Take a gander at the pictoral evidence below. Overall, Office 2010 is not the kind of leap forward that Windows 7 was from Vista (or, for most PC upgraders, from XP). It adds a lot of stuff that’s previously been available only through plug-ins, makes performing the basic tasks of opening, printing, and sharing documents a good deal more convenient, and throws in a few new features that will expand the repertoire of those who really know their Office. The free Office 2010 Professional Beta doesn’t include access to Office’s online component (ReadWriteWeb has taken a quick peek at them ), and we’ll mostly be sticking to Word, Excel, Outlook, and PowerPoint components on this tour.
Criterion, the studio behind Burnout, are at work on a “revolutionary take” on the Need For Speed franchise . When’s it out
