analyze

Adding, deleting, or upgrading files on your computer, especially when they're executables, can cause changes that aren't easily identified. This program makes it easier to see what's going on with snapshots you can compare side-by-side.

SysTracer has a well-designed user interface, but it still took a visit to the Help menu for us to get started. But after that, we found it easy to navigate. The nice thing about the interface is that only the buttons you need are activated. Basically, you take a snapshot of your PC's Registry, files, and applications that serves as your … Read more

MySQL has long built a great database. It's increasingly also building a great database business.

MySQL made two big announcements on Wednesday, one product-related (the final release of MySQL 5.1) and the second licensing model-related (improvements to the subscription-only MySQL Enterprise Monitor service with Query Analyzer). Of the two, I believe the latter is the more important as it helps Sun to monetize the research and development investments it has been making in the MySQL product.

The product announcement is that MySQL 5.1 will ship on or before December 6. Sun announced MySQL 5.1 back in April, but now it's ready for release. MySQL 5.1 is not important because it adds transactions capabilities (MySQL has had this functionality for years), but rather because it augments MySQL's sweet spot: industry-beating scalability and performance.

Better than Oracle? Absolutely, as Sun senior vice president of Database Products, Marten Mickos, told me in a phone interview:

Performance and total cost of ownership are the two areas where we beat Oracle. Having said that, we aren't adding new functionality in order to compete with Oracle, but rather to serve our existing market and new markets.

Which markets? As the enterprise moves applications to the Web, that's MySQL wins. That's where we want to be relevant. That's why in 5.1 we have new features in replication and partitioning, for example. Both are targeted at scaling out, meaning that we're delivering enhanced throughput more than syntactical features.

As Google, Facebook, and other Web companies know, MySQL is the gold standard of Web-savvy databases. The more enterprises move to the Web, the better for Sun's MySQL business.

But only if Sun actually knows how to make money with its open-source assets like the MySQL database. This is why the addition of MySQL's Query Analyzer tool to the MySQL Enterprise Monitor service is so important. The Query Analyzer helps database administrators to quickly resolve problems in their database queries, thereby boosting performance. … Read more

With the NFL season under way many football fans are just getting started with another great season of Fantasy Football. If you're a Fantasy sports fan, you've probably already mapped out who your favorites are at each position and right now you're hoping your picks will reap big rewards as the numbers start rolling in. If you're looking to join a late-starting league, you know that every pick counts and any help with organizing your team is what could push you to the top of your league.

Here at CNET Downloads we know that being successful … Read more

Here at Crave, we don't normally think of ourselves as sociologists, psychologists, or anything else that claims to be particularly insightful about the human psyche. We write about gadgets, games, and things that are more likely to lighten your wallet than elevate your soul.

But after a day's worth of poll-taking, we can offer a little insight about our readers: they still prefer women to gadgets, even the wicked big expensive ones.

We posted an item Monday on a new Playboy reality TV show that even the great Chuck Barris, he of The Dating Game, The Gong Show, … Read more

Founded to two MIT Media Lab alums, The Echo Nest is focused on what it calls "music intelligence." The company is developing software technology that can analyze the sounds within music files, text within online articles and blog postings about music, and other online data (such as songs being downloaded in a particular week). It will then license this technology to developers--commercial and non-commercial--to help them create a whole new class of music software and Web applications.

It's possible to imagine hundreds of possibilities. A music company could build an application to identify current trends in order … Read more