New Kindle Coming Your Way for $139

Amazon unveils new Kindle; Assessing the e-reader fallout

With the latest Kindle, Amazon is looking to take the offensive on pricing. Barnes & Noble’s recent price cut put Amazon on its heels a bit. Now Amazon is launching a Wi-Fi-only Kindle for $139, $10 cheaper than the Wi-Fi-only Nook. A 3G/Wi-Fi Kindle will run you $189. There is also a sharp Kindle cover that includes a built-in reading light that runs off of the device’s battery, but that’ll set you back $59.99.

iPhone 4 antenna woes "significantly worse" than competition

A UK consulting firm says its tests show the "death grip" problem is real, and "significantly" worse for the iPhone 4 than other smartphones. A review from Norway is less critical, suggesting the iPhone 4 gets better signal than competing phones and may be victim to AT&T's less "robust" wireless network.

10 tweaks to make Office 2010 work the way you want

The latest version of Microsoft Office has some nice new features and usability improvements, but for many of us, the default settings just don’t do the trick. As good as Office 2010 is, you can make it better by customizing configuration settings and installing a few add-ins. In this article, we’ll look at 10 ways you can make your Office 2010 experience a better one.

Five Best Book Recommendation Services

It's disappointing to haul a book home from the library or shell out hard-earned cash at the bookstore only to settle in at home and find you don't enjoy it one bit. Stock your reading list with these five great recommendation services.

Best Free Download Manager

Good download managers also allow you to start several concurrent download sessions from available resources for the one file. This works by splitting the file into parts with each part downloaded at the same time from the various resources. At the end the file is then re-assembled. This can result in dramatic improvements in download speed given a transmission speed limited by internet service providers.

More Trouble for Folks with Something to Hide

WikiLeaks Vows To Put More Documents Online

WikiLeaks has been posting sensitive information to the web since 2006, passing along transcripts, secret videos and more. Now, in the wake of the latest scandal involving reports on Afghanistan, its founder, Julian Assange, pledges to keep posting, fearing only that the group won't be able to "do justice" to the material it's getting in.

Augen's $150 Android tablet hits Kmart circular, coming to stores later this week

We can't say we've heard of Augen before, but the company certainly sparked our interest (and that of Kmart circular readers) this weekend with its $149.99 7-inch Android tablet. Oh yes, you heard right shoppers -- the small Florida-based shop is bringing an Android 2.1 tablet with WiFi, 2GB of storage and 256MB of RAM to a store near you for just 150 buckaroos.

Firefox's next big innovation: A new OS-like interface

During 2010, Firefox has had much of its momentum as an alternative Web browser stolen by Google Chrome. However, a new Firefox innovation called Tab Candy will make Firefox act more like a operating system, with much-improved multitasking and sharing capabilities. In fact, if the Firefox team can pull off all of the features of Tab Candy that it recently demonstrated, it would leapfrog Chrome in functionality.

Sunbird: Your Calendar, Your Way

Computerized calendars are all about convenience. Your calendar app -- perhaps more than any other type of software -- has to work the way you need it. Mozilla's Sunbird gives you customization options for the interface as well as a rich set of under-the-hood controls for setting up where, how and when the application gets its information.

123 Free Solitaire 2009 - Free

As nostalgic as the image of the classic green Solitaire may be, 123 Free Solitaire 2009 7.1 offers the same fun plus more games and sleeker looks.

Secret Afgan War Files Go Public: It Ain’t Pretty

Wikileaks releases massive set of Afghan war files

Wikileaks, the document-leaking organization that has previously released internal U.S. military videos, on Sunday disclosed more than 75,000 confidential files related to the war in Afghanistan. About 76,900 of the files--which the group calls the "Afghan War Diary"--appeared on Wikileaks.org at around 4 p.m. PDT. Wikileaks says it has delayed the release of an additional 15,000 files to allow names and other sensitive information to be removed.

Apple, No. 1 in security holes, report says

In its recently released half year report, Danish security firm Secunia found that Apple surpassed Oracle this year as the software developer with the most vulnerabilities.

Surprising Poll Finds Most iPhone Users Like AT&T

Amid complaints about AT&T's iPhone service that have prompted speculation about rivals T-Mobile or Verizon Wireless getting the iPhone, a poll has found that most iPhone users like AT&T. The author of the Yankee Group study said the results may be more of a reflection on Apple than AT&T. Comedians have had fun with complaints about AT&T.

Use the Reliability Monitor to Find What's Wrong with Your PC

Windows has had a Performance Monitor since the earliest days of NT, but with Windows Vista, Microsoft added a great new utility, the Reliability Monitor, which tracks the overall reliability of your PC over time, keeping up to a year of PC use history. In Vista, the Performance Monitor and Reliability Monitor were part of a combined tool. But now, in Windows 7, they live as separate tools. You can access the Reliability Monitor, shown here, by typing relia into Start Menu Search.

Free Fonts

Want Free Fonts to use on your projects and designs? Look through our free font downloads here. We have files for both the PC and MAC computers so nobody is left out except Linux. Use these fonts on your photoshop, illustrator or any graphics software package you use.

Friday Errata…But Still Interesting

TrueCrypt levels up: Hardware acceleration, convenience improvements

There's no killer feature update to TrueCrypt 7 as there was in version 6. Still, the latest revision to the popular open-source and free encryption program for Windows, Mac, and Linux debuts some new features and security enhancements that make it worth the upgrade.

Adobe Photoshop CS5 Review

The latest version of Photoshop offers a huge number of updates and new features—large and small—so I’m going to concentrate on the standard version of Photoshop CS5 and its photo-centric features. Two factors that may affect whether or not you use Photoshop are cost and a misperception that this program is only for professionals.

Microsoft debuts beta of new Security Essentials

The new engine is smarter at detecting and removing security threats and offers a better performance, according to a Microsoft blog. The software also now integrates directly with Windows Firewall and gives users the option to turn the firewall on or off.

Windows Live shares your Messenger contacts

Anticipating its "Wave 4" Windows Live rollout of new Hotmail and Messenger apps, Microsoft made sweeping changes in how it connects you with its latest social-networking construct. With the new Live format, Microsoft pays a great deal of lip service to maintaining your privacy; but my tests show you can't trust what you see on the screen.

CintaNotes 1.1c (Windows), from Cinta Software

A free, lightweight and user-friendly personal notes manager. CintaNotes is your essential assistant in the daily task of organizing information, such as your own thoughts and ideas, article excerpts, blog postings, quotes from famous people, research data, curious facts, Wikipedia entries, you name it.

Facebook Now One of the Largest Countries in the World

Facebook's half-billion milestone is official

One of the most hyped and least surprising tech industry milestones of the past few years is finally official: Facebook announced midmorning on Wednesday that it has reached 500 million active users around the world, an unprecedented number for a social-networking site.

Amazon Sells More E-Books Than Hardcover Copies

The introduction of Apple's iPad appears to have had little effect on Amazon.com's sales of Kindle e-readers. In fact, Kindle sales grew each month in the second quarter as Amazon lowered the price. And Amazon reports customers are buying more e-books than hard covers. An analyst predicted the decline of brick-and-mortar bookstores.

Microsoft says Windows 7 Service Pack 1 due in first half 2011

Let me say upfront that this statement doesn’t necessarily mean that Microsoft won’t deliver SP1 this year. The Windows team is still chanting the underpromise/overdeliver mantra. With recent Windows releases, the team has provided estimated delivery dates that were considerably later than what they expected they could achieve, in order to make sure there were no (public) missed ship dates.

Chrome 6: What made the cut--and what missed it

Want the ability to print preview in Chrome? Me, too. But we'll have to wait, because it's one of the features that didn't make the Chrome 6 cut.

Duplicate Cleaner - Find Duplicate Files

Duplicate cleaner is a useful program to help you organize the contents of your home hard drive or corporate network. You'd be surprised just how many redundant or duplicate files you could find forgotten in an obscure documents folder. Duplicate Cleaner will deep scan for all types of files - photos, music, films/video, Word documents, PowerPoint presentations, text files - you name it, if it appears twice on your computer then Duplicate Cleaner will find it.

Why You Should Be Using LastPass

Steve Gibson is the one man I trust for security information. He runs a company called GRC (Gibson Research Corporation) at GRC.com.  There, he offers free programs and advice to test the security of your computer. My favorite is “Shields Up” that checks the security of your router.

Steve also does a weekly podcast called “Security Now” with Leo LaPorte on Leo’s TWIT network. Last week, Steve did an in-depth study of a free browser add-on called “LastPass.” And when I say in-depth, I mean really in-depth. Steve studied it for a long time, dissecting it every which way and pronounced it safe to use and recommended that everyone use it to store their passwords.

Your passwords are the weakest link in the security of your computer and your privacy. Too many of us use the same password on almost every site. Many are easily cracked. We use the name of a spouse, a child, a dog, or a word that can be found in the dictionary. Many have way too few characters. And yes, I have been guilty of this in past myself.  These kind of passwords are easily cracked…and could open up your life to identity theft.

A good password, according to Steve, should be 10 characters long, have upper and lower case letters, include some numbers and should not be words found in a dictionary…in other words, gibberish.  If you do that, the number of permutations would be on the order of 7.6 x 10¹⁷.  To put that number in perspective, that would be approximately the number of yards in a light-year. Good luck trying to guess that kind of password.

Of course, the problem with this kind of password is trying to remember it. LastPass will do it for you. Not only that, when you go to a Web site for the first time and create a login, LastPass will offer to generate random passwords for you of any specified length and store them for you. When you back to that Web site, the program will automatically pop-up and log you in. How far you want LastPass to go is up to you. LastPass is extremely intuitive.

But, how safe is LastPass? It is so safe that even the parent company doesn’t know your passwords. They are stored on their servers in the cloud using a random method of encryption that is between you and your computer. No employee of LastPass can retrieve it. I have set LastPass on my laptops to automatically log off LastPass if my browser has not been used for an hour, so if my laptop is stolen, they cannot get at my passwords.

Another great feature of LastPass is automatic form filling. I filled out a long form on LastPass that has all my personal data, and when I run into a form on the Net that must be filled out, LastPass pops up and asks if you want it filled out.  Again, it is very intuitive.

I have been using LastPass for sometime now, but even I did not know about many of its features until I listened to Steve’s podcast.  If you would like to hear Steve’s analysis of LastPass, check out the podcast on the TWIT Network site.  Skip ahead to approximately the last hour of the show.  I warn you that Steve is very detail oriented and might lose you sometimes in the details, but if he says it is good…believe him.

Even if you don’t listen to him, check out LastPass and add it to your browser’s add-on’s.  It works with almost all browsers.  And it is free.

This Was Not Apple’s Best Day

Apple's 'Antennagate' mea culpa - free case until Sept 30

After being dogged by problems with the iPhone 4, Apple today held a press conference announcing what it hopes will solve the problem for good. As the NYTimes predicted, Apple didn’t issue a sweeping recall. Instead I can summarize Apple’s response in five words “free case until September 30.”

Apple was warned about iPhone 4 antenna issues

Possible reception problems with the iPhone 4 were raised early in the design process by Apple’s antenna expert, according to a Bloomberg report Thursday. A carrier partner also issued some red flags about possible antenna problem.

Whoopi Goldberg smashes up her iPhone 4

As the iPhone 4 is tossed in the winds, real and imaginary, of public relations, one of America's most influential commentators admitted she had assaulted, nay, "murdered," her new iPhone.

What to do with passwords once you create them

Cryptography expert Bruce Schneier used to write his passwords down on a slip of paper and keep it in his wallet. Today, he uses a free Windows password-storage tool called Password Safe that he designed five years ago and released into the open-source community. The desktop application lets users remember only one master password to access their password list. I prefer LastPass as its cross platform and has so many options to help you out. Totally safe...even LastPass employees have no access to your passwords.

Connect to Any PC Remotely with Team Viewer

Microsoft left out of the Home Premium versions Vista and Windows 7 the ability to remotely connect to another PC. That feature is only available in the Professional and higher versions of Windows. But why pay extra to upgrade when you can get get the same capabilities using a free remote connect utility. Indeed our Hot Finds editor has a particular favorite which he feels is even better than Microsoft's Windows Remote Desktop program.

A Little News and a Few Tips

Music Moguls Helping to Make Lawyers Rich

RIAA forks out $64 million to catch music pirates, recovers just $1.3 million in 3 years

Microsoft Office 2010 sales on the slow side

Analyst firm NPD Group says sales of Office 2010 have been disappointing to date. Yes, sales so far are roughly in line with those of Office 2007 right now, but it’s selling more slowly than Office 2007 did at launch three years ago.

Data Security - Outlook Links To Facebook, Windows Live Messenger

Facebook and Windows Live Messenger have been added to the Outlook Social Connector in Office 2010. Plug-ins allow the 2003 and 2007 Office versions to use the Outlook Social Connector from the in-box. Microsoft expects to add more social links to Outlook Social Connector. Status updates and photos display with e-mail.

Phone Scoop

Looking for a new cell phone? Check out this Website to find the exact right phone for you before you head to the store. Enter your needs and see the phones that could work for you. Very good info here also.

How to Stay Safe on Public Wi-Fi Networks

Starbucks is offering free Wi-Fi to all customers at every location. Whether you're clicking connect on Starbucks' Wi-Fi or some other unsecured, public Wi-Fi network, here's how to stay safe and secure while surfing a public hotspot. You truly need to read this if you are using a public Wi-Fi.

Consumer Reports Backs Off of iPhone Recommendation

Consumer Reports: 'We were wrong about the iPhone 4"

One of — if not the — most respected product-testing labs has reversed its original positive opinion of the iPhone 4, citing results of its comprehensive testing of the Jobsian handheld's pesky antenna.

Patch Tuesday Will Fix Flaws in XP, Windows 7, Servers

July's light Patch Tuesday will fix remote-code vulnerabilities in Windows XP, Windows 7, and Windows Server versions. The four bulletins will also patch Microsoft Office, especially a flaw in Outlook. Security researchers are irked by Google engineer Tavis Ormandy, who gave Microsoft just five days to fix the Windows XP vulnerability.

Peer into Firefox's future in latest beta

Mozilla released the first beta for Firefox 4 on Tuesday, introducing a new interface design to a wider Windows audience, support for multiple technologies that aim to be essential to Web browsing in the future, and a plan for updates far more aggressive than those of the past. Check out the video to see all the changes in the user interface. You will be surprised.

How to Buy a Desktop PC Roundup

When buying a Desktop PC, you still need to make some choices when it comes to CPUs, memory, hard drive capacity and graphics technology. The good news is your money has never gone further.

25 great games you can play on a Netbook

So you finally broke down and purchased a Netbook. After all, these low-cost, low-power laptops are great for tossing in your bag, working at the coffee shop, or taking to class. You knew all along that these systems were not made for gaming, and obviously you planned to spend all your time doing Netbook-like things, such as Web surfing and working on office documents. Still, somewhere along the way, the thought crept in: maybe I can find some games that will run on an Intel Atom processor and integrated graphics.

Google and China are Friends Again

China renews Google's Web site license

The rocky relationship between Google and Beijing had cast doubt as to whether the license would be renewed. The tension became public in January when Google said it would cease censoring search results in China and also pointed a finger at Beijing as the source of cyber attacks on Google and other U.S. companies.

Congress weighs curbs on state 'iTaxes'

If there are two things state tax collectors seem to agree on, the first is that finding more money could really come in handy right now. The second is that taxing iTunes and other digital purchases might just do the trick. A new proposal in the U.S. Congress is, however, designed to curb many of these "iTaxes," which have popped up all over the country in the last three years.

Hotmail Overhaul Adds Spam Fix, New Features

Windows Live Hotmail is Hotmail's new incarnation, offering a spam-protection overhaul and a bevy of new features that make it a contender. The new Hotmail is integrated with other Microsoft services, notably Windows Messenger (instant messaging), Bing search, online versions of Office and a web-based storage repository called SkyDrive.

Ask Maggie: On dumping cable for online video

There is a growing amount of video content online. Some of it's free, from places such as Hulu. And some of it costs money. For example, Netflix has a monthly subscription fee ($9), and Amazon offers an on-demand service that allows you to rent or buy movies and shows. For some people, mainly those who don't need live news or sports programming, cutting the cord and streaming video from the Web onto a large screen TV is a great, low-cost alternative to paid subscription TV.

Free Utility Makes MS SkyDrive Even More Useful

Microsoft is offering all users 25GB of free online storage through its SkyDrive service. This free utility allow you to access that 25GB just as if it were a local disk drive. Simple, effective, useful and free; what more can you ask?

Borders eBook Store Now on Line

Borders Launches eBook Store, BlackBerry and Android Apps

To compliment its desktop, iPhone, and iPad apps, Borders unveiled new BlackBerry and Android eReader apps today, and opened the doors on its new eBook Store that allows users to purchase books directly from Borders.com and download them to their eReader of choice. I downloaded a couple of free books to my Calibre software, converted it to a Kindle format, then sent it to my Kindle. Works great...so anyone with an e-reader can use this site.

Big-name Windows apps neglect security

Five years after Microsoft baked Data Execution Protection into Windows, many ubiquitous applications -- including QuickTime, Picasa, and OpenOffice -- still don't use it

Windows XP SP2 updates end July 13 -- but don't panic

Scare stories abound about risks as Microsoft ends support for Windows XP, but updates will continues if you've installed SP3

First Look at the Improved and Redesigned Firefox 4

Windows/Mac/Linux: Mozilla today released the first beta build of Firefox 4, complete with a new look, new features, and support for more HTML5 specs. Here's a quick screenshot tour of how it's shaping up: The big changes come in the form of an interface overhaul and some updated support for HTML5 features.

Handy Windows Utilities That Stand Out

Some third-party Windows utilities are so helpful and productive that you wonder why Microsoft didn't think of them first. With a plethora of Windows utilities to choose from, here are a few that are among the best in their categories, including tools for file synchronization, file copying, screen capture, file browsing and more.

Helpful Tips Day

10 Expert Tips For Microsoft Word 2010

Microsoft Office 2010 is vast and powerful, but there are secret techniques you've got to know to get the most out of it. Our latest collection of tips features power-user tricks for Microsoft Word 2010.

How to make the most of Starbucks' free Wi-Fi

Starbucks is now offering free, unlimited Wi-Fi access at nearly 7,000 company-operated locations across the United States. The policy change came into effect Thursday, a little more than two years after Starbucks began offering two hours of free Wi-Fi to Starbucks card holders. Now, however, the time limits are gone, and you can enjoy unlimited free Wi-Fi at your local Starbucks any time you like for as long as you like.

Google Voice newbies, start here

Once invitation-only, Google Voice's free telecommunications service for U.S. residents is now available to all. There are so many features, getting started can be confusing for first-timers.

Calibre Is an Elegant E-Book Librarian

Calibre allows for easy e-book library management, file format conversions, e-book reading and syncing with an e-reader, all from a desktop, notebook or netbook computer. Some of its best functions include downloading content from Web sites and RSS feeds and converting it to e-reader-friendly formats, as well as providing a built-in content server for easy access from any computer. Highly, highly recommended for use with any e-book reader!!

SharpEnviro Is a Smart and Crisp-Looking Windows Desktop Replacement

SharpEnviro takes your Windows desktop and remixes it beautifully. It's not as minimal as the Windows 7 default, nor as data-heavy as many alternatives. Everything—the launcher menu, the taskbar, system tray, and desktops—gets some work. Take a look.

Apple and Dell’s Big Boo Boos

A Big Error: Apple Says iPhone Meter Needs Update

Apple has admitted to an iPhone 4 problem: Its calculation for signal strength is "totally wrong." Because the iPhone 4 incorrectly displays more bars of signal than it should, Apple said, the signal drop when the iPhone 4 is gripped is larger than reality. Apple will update the iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, and iPhone 3G with an AT&T formula.

The ignominious death of Dell

How can you trust a company that sells faulty PCs and then blames its customers? Dell is dead to me

Office 2010's Web tools raise security questions

Microsoft's newest Office adds some nifty Internet features, including easy access to shared documents via SkyDrive and PowerPoint Broadcast. But putting personal and business information into the cloud opens up potential security risks that all Office 2010 users should be aware of.

Seagate unleashes 'world's first' 3TB external desktop drive

For the serious digital archivers out there, Seagate has just unveiled the FreeAgent GoFlex Desk external hard drive with a new capacity of 3TB of storage space to fill as you please.

The Best Browser: Summer 2010 Edition Roundup

With the Chrome-Opera JavaScript speed war, HTML5 video support coming in IE9, and an improved Safari from Apple, can Firefox keep our Editors' Choice?