Ok ok... maybe not that exactly. Turns out Mark Shuttleworth, shepherd of the Ubuntu Linux Distribution last week posted to his personal blog on how Linux very much needs to become "pretty" to be more competitive. His focus is on how Linux and Open Source software in general might be technically great,but it lacks the ability to connect with the average user who puts a high value on usability and general prettiness. The visual example he provides is a very sleek Ubuntu logo des...
This year has been a bad one for privacy minded individuals, with numerous reports of laptops being stolen that contain thousands of social security numbers, medical records and other vital identity information. It has resulted in a break-neck race by companies who deal with such information (insurance companies, hospitals, the government etc.) to encrypt all of their "at rest" data (Any data sitting on a disk. Different from "in motion" data, or data being transferred over a network...
As recalls fly fast-and-furious from laptop manufacturers who used certain models of Sony batteries, concerns are mounting that these recalls, and the subsequent disposal of yet-unshipped laptop batteries could create a shortage this holiday season. Sony can only produce so many batteries in time for Christmas, and with manufacturers like Dell, HP, Gateway and Apple having dumped significant portions of their previous battery inventory, they may not be able to meet the demand. Ev...
It's time again to pimp some of the interesting things our community is producing. I've posted about these guys before, but CerebroJD and DoctorNick, two of our forum moderators here at WinCustomize do this periodic podcast you might have heard of called Under The Skin . Originally started by Paul Boyer, Doc and Cerebro have taken over and just this week posted Episode 15 . This episode is especially noteworthy because October Skinner of the Month, 47songs , is their specia...
Several weeks back, Brad posted a bit of news talking up some of the new features of WinCustomize 2007, and everyone seemed pretty excited about it. Since then though we've been pretty quiet about the project, and that's left some of you just chomping at the bit for more details, maybe a screenshot or two. Something, anything to show that we are in fact still working on it! Well, today we're ready to toss you your first taste of the new site. I've posted an article with som...
If you're looking to learn how to make really outstanding DesktopX widgets, you need go no further than RomanDA's ongoing tutorial series here at WinCustomize.com. Just this morning, he posted part 5, focusing on WMI to extract all sorts of interesting and useful data directly from your Windows operating system. This is very useful for people looking to make drive, CPU and RAM meter gadgets. The tutorial walks you through all of that from start to finish, though you will have t...
Frequent flyers breathed a sigh of relief yesterday when the FCC announced that it would uphold the current ban on cellular phone usage on airplanes while in flight. The stated reason was over concerns about interference with ground-based cell users. However, the response they received from the flying public was largely emotional, with thousands of letters and emails sent in describing horror story situations that could happen if phones were allowed on flights. Imagine the person ...
ITNews.com.au is running a story about how the days of "Big Bang" service packs for Windows are a thing of the past, that Vista will instead receive a steady stream of patches and fixes over time. However, service packs will still exist, they just won't be the massive affairs of Service Pack 1 for XP that came in at 30mb and bundled together a great number of fixes and updates. The change in approach, according to Michael Sievert, corporate VP for Windows marketing, is due to new develo...
First it was ads on their search results, then it was contextual ads on your webpage and eventually followed by radio and newspaper ads. Now, search giant Google is ready to tackle the next major ad domain; television. Google signed an agreement on Monday with EchoStar Communications to sell commercial ad spots on the company's DISH Network. Now, advertisers will use the Google AdWords system to bid on television advertising spots much like they would for placement on a web page ...
It's Opening Day for the Major League Baseball season here in the US, and droves of people are skipping school and work for this unofficial national holiday. Now, if you're a baseball nut but are stuck at your desk during those pesky day games, there's a plethora of technological solutions available to you to keep up to date on the latest scores. Koop passed along an article from Wired.com about desktop widgets for the baseball season. The article looks at 6 different widgets for...
Every day, WinCustomize serves up well over 1 million pages to users all across the globe. Our forums hum with activity and dozens of user submissions come in every day. There's no question that WinCustomize is a very popular site with a thriving community surrounding it that grows every day. We've been working a lot behind the scenes to improve the daily experience here through things like the new website, contests such as the GUI Champs and the St. Patrick's Day Icon Contest...
Maybe you don't have immediate access to your PC with all your editing software, or maybe you're a poor student without the vast resources to scrape together to go out and purchase a graphics package to edit your vacation photos. Well, instead of obtaining the software through more questionable means, you could turn to free and legal options. All you need is a web browser, a good net connection, and a stack of photos ready to edit. ExtremeTech takes a look at 5 web-based photo edi...
It seems that those poor electronics store chains just can't get a break lately. BestBuy misleads consumers with their intranet site, CompUSA is forced to close over half of all of its stores nation-wide, and now Circuit City has to lay off about 3,400 "overpaid" employees. The goal is to replace them with lower-cost workers as part of their cost restructuring plans for the company. These people, representing roughly 8% of the company's overall workforce, will receive 4 weeks ...
Back in December of last year, we solicited user feedback on how to make WinCustomize a better resource to the skinning community on the article "How Stardock Failed the Skinning Community in 2006" . If you haven't read the original article and the subsequent discussion, it's worth your time to check out. And your cries haven't fallen on deaf ears, we are in the process of addressing the issues brought up by the community. To start with, we're trying to tackle one of the most commo...
BestBuy announced today that they intended to purchase Speakeasy, an independent broadband and IT services provider for around $97 million. This expands BestBuy's small business technology portfolio and grows the electronics retailer in a new direction. Speakeasy will operate as its own business unit, and provide services to small businesses through the Best Buy for Business unit. Speakeasy was one of the first Internet cafes, having opened in Seattle in 1994. Since then it ...