Windows 8 to feature adaptive Aero colorization, get it now on Windows 7

windows 8 aero colorization aura
While we've still yet to see anything truly Earth-shattering, the tandem of Rafael Rivera and Paul Thurrott continues to churn out insight about interesting new features they've discovered in Windows 8 milestone 3. The latest discovery is that Aero in Windows 8 will be able to automatically adapt itself to match your current wallpaper image. It's a bit like what Windows 7 already does with your taskbar icons: if a program alert needs your attention, the icon will glow using the predominant color (e.g. Firefox should glow orange).

And yes, you can already make Windows 7 behave this way if you like. Over at CodePlex, there's a little program called Aura that parks itself in your system tray and automatically adjusts your window borders to compliment your wallpaper images. The effect is quite nice, and you can try it out by minimizing your windows and cycling through your theme's wallpapers (right click on your desktop and choose next desktop background).

Windows 8 to feature adaptive Aero colorization, get it now on Windows 7 originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 07 Apr 2011 07:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/04/07/windows-8-to-feature-adaptive-aero-colorization-get-it-now-on-w/

Dieter Schreiter Monika Kley Heidemarie Frick Maike Beetz

Banshee music player now works in Windows, supports Amazon MP3 downloads

A few moments ago, version 2 of the Banshee music player for Linux was released, bringing with it a whole slew of new features, and the addition of an official -- but alpha-quality -- Windows build. The Mac OS X build of version 2 is due later today.

The most notable new feature is support for the Amazon MP3 store -- you can buy and download music from within Banshee -- but unfortunately it's only available in the Linux build at the moment (OS X and Windows support are planned, however). There have also been some significant improvements to artist, album, and queue interactions -- and yes, you can finally right click a track, album or artist and select 'play after' to insert it into the queue.

Beyond actual playback, the user interface has been tidied up -- it now looks a whole lot smarter -- and the Ubuntu One Music Store and SoundMenu extensions have been made official. For a complete list of changes, additions and bug fixes, check the change log.

When Windows support initially appeared in February, we found it rough around the edges and fraught with stability issues. With version 2, Banshee for Windows is still a bit unstable, but it's shaping up to be a good alternative to Winamp, iTunes, or whatever other music library manager you use. It's almost as attractive as its GNOMEish brother, too!

Download Banshee 2 for Linux and Windows (Mac OS X coming soon)

Banshee music player now works in Windows, supports Amazon MP3 downloads originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 06 Apr 2011 11:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/04/06/banshee-music-player-now-works-in-windows-supports-amazon-mp3-d/

Michael Vollmar Robin Jones Ingeburg Otte Moritz Beller

VioVio Photo Books Review

Several of the ladies on my staff go every year to some cottage somewhere do go “scrap-booking”. I see stores come and go selling scrap-booking stuff, whatever that is.  Personally, I think they really go to sit around and drink wine more than scrapbook (not that there is anything wrong with that….)!  If you want [...]

Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2011/04/22/viovio-photo-books-review/

Gabriela Prell Sylvia Lösche Steven Walnsch Lennart Tonn

Sohu.com Buys Majority Stake In Gaming Company 7Road For Up To $100 Million

Sohu.com, one of China's leading online media, search and gaming companies, this morning announced that its MMORPG subsidiary Changyou.com is to acquire a majority stake in Shenzhen 7Road Technology ("7Road"), an online games developer and publisher. Changyou will acquire 68.26% of the equity of 7Road for approximately $68.26 million in cash (see how that works?), plus additional variable cash consideration of up to a maximum of $32.76 million in performance-based earn-outs.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/AKJ_ILPePsI/

Simone Temme Heidemarie Stegmann Annika Schäffer Edgar Betz

Daily Crunch: Spar Edition

?Folded Leaf? Phone Is Minimalist, But Not Necessarily Practical Psyko Expands Surround Sound Headphone Line With Carbon, Krypton Xoom Too Expensive? Try These 5 Inexpensive Android Tablets Instead Spar Kinect-Style With Urijah Faber In UFC Personal Trainer Solus Spinal Fusion Device Looks Evil

Source: http://www.crunchgear.com/2011/04/08/daily-crunch-spar-edition/

Frederik Faulhaber Svenja Hoferichter Carola Auer Luca Liebe

Altaro Hyper-V Backup beta launched, only 250 places available

hyper-vbackupbeta
This one's for the sysadmins in the audience: Altaro, makers of our favorite "time machine for Windows" back solution, OopsBackup, have just announced a new product entering beta called Hyper-V Backup.

It's a backup solution for virtual machines running on Microsoft's Hyper-V virtualization solution. If that sentence just seemed like a bunch of buzzwords crammed together, Hyper-V backup is not for you. But, if you actually use Hyper-V and are hankering for a good backup solution, Altaro might be worth checking out.

The beta run is limited - Altaro are looking for just 250 testers. All participants will get a free license key to the final, production version. So if you're interested in helping test Hyper-V Backup, get yourself over to Altaro now and join the beta.

Altaro Hyper-V Backup beta launched, only 250 places available originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 02 Mar 2011 05:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/03/02/altaro-hyper-v-backup-beta-launched-only-250-places-available/

Edith Berner Lea Linden Kevin Fickenscher Amelie Schweizer

Tiny Trailer (With Bed) Trails Behind Mobility Scooters

The QTvan, from the Environmental Transport Association in the UK, is a trailer (or caravan in British English) that is hitched behind a mobility scooter — the kind of scooter used by old folks to speed around and terrorize youngsters. It is billed as “the world?s smallest and greenest caravan”. It is also likely to [...]

Source: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2011/04/tiny-trailer-with-bed-trails-behind-mobility-scooters/

Edith Hupertz Heinrich Peller Viktoria Barz Emma Sauter

VCs and IT Security Firms: Not Much Love in the Air

Although security breaches make the headlines regularly and Washington has plans to upgrade the security of the United States' national infrastructure, up-and-coming IT security companies are having difficulty securing investment funds. The U.S. Defense Department, for instance, plans to spend $500 million on researching new cybersecurity technologies.

Source: http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/72322.html

Arno Zimmerling Jacqueline Kiesel Michel Rohr Hilde Baaden

Klhip Nail Clippers Review

If you could reinvent an often used product to make it better, which product would it be? Are fingernail clippers at the top of your list? They were for the folks that are offering the new Klhip Ultimate Nail Clippers. They have taken the nail cutting device that we’ve all used for years and brought [...]

Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2011/04/23/klhip-nail-clippers-review/

Rosemarie Ramsauer Jörn Domenighini Marion Dallmeyer Hanna Wohlrab

Yahoo! Messenger now censors the links you share

Yahoo Messenger Big Brother censorshipWe've all thought it, but never dared think it could be true: what if Microsoft, Yahoo, and AOL actively monitor our instant messenger chats? What if mentions of 'bomb' and 'underage' are tracked and sent to law enforcement agencies? What if chat providers don't agree with the things we say, or the links we share, and filter or censor the content of our transmitted messages?

Well, it looks like our fears may actually have some basis in reality: Yahoo Messenger strips FilesTube links from instant messages. It doesn't tell either party that a URL has been removed from chat -- it just deletes it. Poof. FilesTube, in case you were wondering, is one of the largest file hosting meta search engines on the Web -- it indexes RapidShare, Megaupload, Mediafire, and many other 'cyberlocker' services.

It's fairly obvious why FilesTube links are being removed -- the Censor General at Yahoo is probably one of those perplexed primates who think all uses of BitTorrent are illegal -- but this situation poses a far more important question: is Yahoo censoring messages on the client side, or the server side. Does the messenger client itself maintain a list of 'blacklisted' words -- and if so, why are we not told that FilesTube links are banned? What other words and terms does Yahoo protect us from?

Continue reading Yahoo! Messenger now censors the links you share

Yahoo! Messenger now censors the links you share originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 30 Mar 2011 05:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/03/30/yahoo-messenger-now-censors-links-raises-serious-privacy-issue/

Svenja Hoferichter Carola Auer Luca Liebe Finja Kerkhoff