Island Dog's Articles In Personal Computing » Page 42
September 9, 2014 by Island Dog
Today we updated Object Desktop™ with ShadowFX™ our latest desktop customization product. Now you can easily focus on your most important desktop work spaces by adding distinctive drop shadows to your window frame in Windows® 8. ShadowFX is also available to try as a free 30-day trial and can be purchased for only $4.99. Visit Windows 8 Drop Shadows to learn more.  
September 9, 2014 by Island Dog
Home Depot is the latest to have a security breach of customer data.  In response Home Depot if offering a free year of credit monitoring if you shopped at a Home Depot since April. "The Home Depot is truly sorry for any inconvenience caused by this incident and we are committed to taking steps to protect your payment card information. If you need identity repair assistance during the next 12 months, starting on September 8, 2014, the team at AllClear ID is ready and standing by to a...
August 21, 2014 by Island Dog
We are going to start to see the Windows 9 preview fairly soon according to various reports.   Link:  http://www.neowin.net/news/microsoft-expected-to-announce-windows-9-on-september-30 We've heard the rumors of supposed features and user interface changes, so we can only wait and see what really to expect in Windows 9. The real question is, what do you want to see changed or added in Windows 9?   Image via Neowin.
June 10, 2014 by Island Dog
I’ve been watching the news about 3D printers for a while, and one of the reasons is the very cool ability in Galactic Civilizations III that allows you to print your ship designs with a 3D printer.  Most people think 3D printers aren’t affordable at least for the general consumer, and in most cases they are exactly right.  However, within the next year we should be seeing several consumer-level 3D printers available for just a few hundred dollars or less. Image via @draginol :...
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...