Island Dog's Articles In Personal Computing » Page 47
June 10, 2014 by Island Dog
I’ve been saying since Google bought Nest there would be a great opportunity for a company to create a good competitor to Nest, and Honeywell might just be on track to do that.  It announced Lyric today, which is a new smart thermostat which will work with an accompanying iOS or Android app to help you control and maintain efficiency of your cooling and heating systems. Lyric will use geofencing to know if you’re home or not, and you can set distances so when you are getting clo...
May 29, 2014 by Island Dog
The so-called Smartwatch seem to be the thing people are watching and expecting to be the next big thing in tech.  There are a few available now like Pebble , but many are waiting to see what technologies come from the big players like Apple, Google, and Microsoft.  A patent filing shows Microsoft is working on with a rumored two day battery life. Devices like this are rumored to be focused on health and fitness, which makes sense as devices such as the Fitbit have been po...
May 13, 2014 by Island Dog
I've been talking about recommending Snagit from the folks over at Techsmith for many years.  I use it daily, and it's an essential app in my toolbox that I use for my work at Stardock and any other projects I might be working on.  They are also from Michigan, and I've had the pleasure of interacting with them for a while as well, so I was happy to see they released a new version of Snagit for both PC and Mac today.  Among the variety of new features, it has...
April 2, 2014 by Island Dog
The Windows 8.1 Update 1 will arrive to users on April 8th, and at that time you will be able to update via the Windows Store.  There’s quite a few changes in store for this update, and our friends over at Neowin have the details. Read more: http://www.neowin.net/news/windows-81-update-1-everything-you-need-to-know
March 4, 2014 by Island Dog
This is something I’ve talked about many times before, but it always deserves repeating and a reminder every once in a while.  When you purchase a subscription to Object Desktop you get a great deal on a whole suite of the best desktop enhancement and skinning applications available.  Included with your subscription is: WindowBlinds DeskScapes Fences Start8 ModernMix Tiles and more! Get Object Desktop here! As long as ...
February 18, 2014 by Island Dog
Still behind Windows 7, but not as bad as people make it out to be.   "Based on the current rate of sales, from launch to today, Windows 8 is selling at a rate of a little over 420,000 licenses per day.  For reference, Microsoft sold roughly 240 million license of Windows 7 in a 12 month time period but it has taken Windows 8 15 months to hit 200 million sales. It’s quite clear that, while 200 million is a massive number, it is at a slower pace than Windows 7.  " ...
February 17, 2014 by Island Dog
It seems Kickstarter is the latest site to have their data hacked and customer info possibly stolen. https://www.kickstarter.com/blog/1269 " No  credit card data of any kind was accessed by hackers. There is  no  evidence of unauthorized activity of any kind on all but two Kickstarter user accounts. While no credit card data was accessed, some information about our customers was. Accessed information included usernames, email addresses, mailing addresses, phone nu...
February 4, 2014 by Island Dog
Around the holidays Adobe had a sale where you could get a subscription that includes both Photoshop and Lightroom 5 for just $9.99 a month.  They are bringing back that deal again and will be available until March 31st. Photoshop/Lightroom 5 Deal
February 4, 2014 by Island Dog
After months of rumors and speculation, Microsoft has officially named it’s third and newest CEO, Satya Nadella.  He was previous the head of Cloud and Enterprise at Microsoft. “As Satya Nadella becomes the third CEO of Microsoft, he brings a relentless drive for innovation and a spirit of collaboration to his new role. He joined Microsoft 22 years ago because he saw how clearly Microsoft empowers people to do magical things and ultimately make the world a better pla...
January 29, 2014 by Island Dog
I’ve really gotten to like SkyDrive, so much in fact that I use it way more than Dropbox now.  The integration with Windows 8 and other devices such as Windows Phone and Surface are also a big reason for that.  There’s been an ongoing trademark dispute between Microsoft and BSkyB in which Microsoft agreed to change the SkyDrive name .  They revealed this week that the new branding will be ‘OneDrive’. If you are a current user, there’s nothing that will really affect how you ...
January 22, 2014 by Island Dog
Start8 from Stardock has made computing life much easier for users of Windows 8 since it was first released. Start8 brings back the start menu to Windows 8 along with other functionality that gives users a more familiar and enjoyable user experience. Start8 is very easy to use, but I always like to write about tips that maybe some people might not know about, but should. Get Start8 for just $4.99   Start8 Works with WindowBlinds WindowBlinds is another application...
November 26, 2013 by Island Dog
Since quite a few of us here have Windows Phones, including myself, I thought we could keep an ongoing thread where we can talk about new and useful apps for the platform. If you have a Windows Phone, you can grab apps from the Store app itself, or through your browser at the Windows Phone Marketplace . I'll be talking about my favorite apps, and please feel free to join in.  
November 18, 2013 by Island Dog
It seems “big” phones and devices are now in as we have a bunch of devices arriving that some are calling “phablets”.  The latest is the Lumia 1520 which is a 6-inch Windows Phone device with a 1080p display and 20mp camera. I have a Lumia 920 and it was quite the size upgrade from the iPhone.  I haven’t held a device of this size yet, but I’m curious if it’s too big or if it hits the right size spot.  Engadget has a great review up with more detail on the 1520 . A...
November 13, 2013 by Island Dog
If you are an Amazon Prime member they have Adobe Photoshop Elements 12 on sale for $49.99.  Not a bad price for this piece of software. Link : Adobe Photoshop Elements 12            
November 8, 2013 by Island Dog
With the recent news about the lack of quality passwords in the Adobe hack, and other online security news, I don’t have to remind you how important a good password is.  I’ve been using LastPass for quite a while now and they just released the big 3.0 update.  LastPass is a great password manager that also lets you generate secure passwords.  It can also fill forms with your information, and it’s all done with an easy to use interface. New in LastPass 3.0: Revamped ...