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Review: Alter and enhance your picture files with Image Tricks for Mac

With the large number of photo editing programs available, choosing a useful one can be difficult. Image Tricks for Mac does have some good features, but it appeared to be missing one of the most basic editing options. And with its muddled interface and lack of user guidance, less experienced users might feel that the learning curve is too steep.

Tricks for Mac offers a free trial version with some filter restrictions. The full version requires a payment of $19.95 to activate. The download completed quickly and there were no unnecessary user agreements to accept, which was welcome. Unfortunately, … Read more

Nokia Lumia 900 gets a Windows Phone 7.8 boost

At long last, Nokia Lumia 900 owners will receive an update that can make its interface look like modern Windows Phone 8 handsets -- cosmetically, anyhow.

Although the Lumia 900 and other Windows phones of its generation hit something of a dead end in software development, Microsoft's Windows Phone 7.8 update gives them the appearance, at least, of being Windows 8 phones.

OS 7.8 installs resizable widgets that let you cram or expand more-dynamic live tiles onto the home screen at will. You'll also find an expanded color palette at your disposal, and the ability to … Read more

LinkedIn pushes news with Channels

CNET Update is big on Mars:

In this edition of Update:

- LinkedIn is pushing personalized business news to users with Channels on LinkedIn Today. The professional social network has been busy lately with the acquisition of Pulse and adding the ability to put images and video in profiles.

- Windows 8 users could see the Start button again someday, according to a Windows executive.

- Ford's Sync system now works with the Amazon Cloud Player iOS app, so iPhone owners can stream music from their Amazon cloud storage.

- If you can't go to Mars, at least … Read more

Toshiba: Microsoft confused tablet buyers with Windows 8

Microsoft's strategy to push both Windows 8 and Windows RT tablets has confused the market, according to a Toshiba executive.

In a Toshiba product launch on Wednesday in Sydney, Australia, Mark Whittard, managing director of Toshiba Australia, criticized Microsoft's dual operating system approach. Marketing two types of tablets -- one line with Windows 8, the other with Windows RT -- confused consumers, Whittard said, according to The Australian.

"I think one of the challenges is, there was a lot of confusion with Windows 8, my personal view is that they (Microsoft) confused the market with a couple … Read more

Microsoft revamps YouTube app for Windows Phone 8

The appearance of a new app suggest that Microsoft and Google have made progress in resolving their feud over YouTube.

Microsoft announced Tuesday the release of an overhauled YouTube app for Windows Phone 8 to make the most of the mobile operating system's features. While the previous iteration of the app was rather bland -- a situation Microsoft blamed on Google compatibility issues -- the new app is "completely redesigned" to take advantage of the platform's live tiles presentation.

Microsoft claimed that Google, which bought YouTube in 2006, had been blocking Windows Phone 8 access to … Read more

Windows Blue preview to hit in late June, Microsoft exec says

NEW YORK--Users will get a preview of Windows Blue in late June, a Microsoft executive said Tuesday.

Julie Larson-Green, Microsoft's corporate vice president for Windows, said a public preview of the update to the Windows 8 operating system will be available in time for Microsoft's developers' conference next month.

She declined to provide many details about Windows Blue, the codename for the update, but she said it will enable device makers to create products with smaller screen sizes. She added that despite some reports, Windows Blue won't have any major changes from Windows 8.

"We're … Read more

Windows Start button could make a comeback, Microsoft exec says

NEW YORK--The Windows Start button could make a comeback in future versions of the software, Microsoft's head of Windows confirmed Tuesday.

Julie Larson-Green, corporate vice president of Windows at Microsoft, said the company is having "meaningful discussions" about bringing certain older features of the Microsoft's operating system to Windows 8. That could include a Start button that remains on the screen.

However, she said Microsoft believes "fully in the start screen and model of having live tiles and access to everything you want in a glance."

"The Start menu was never built for … Read more

What's new about Windows Blue (FAQ)

Microsoft may be the only company on the face of the planet where the sale of 100 million licenses is seen by some as a disappointment.

Tami Reller, the chief marketing officer and chief financial officer of the Windows division, noted Monday that Microsoft has sold more than 100 million licenses of Windows 8 since its October debut. But slowing PC sales have sparked some hand-wringing, leading to speculation about the coming update for Windows 8, codenamed Blue. The significant changes in Windows haven't been universally embraced, Reller acknowledged to The New York Times.

"The learning curve is … Read more

Send Windows 8 to Boot Camp

Running Windows on your Mac's hardware makes it possible to run virtually any program, regardless of what platform it was coded for. While virtualization is a closer-to-seamless approach to this, Apple's built-in Boot Camp feature offers a quick way to set up Windows in a secondary partition. When you run the Boot Camp Assistant, the system will create a partition to use, and then install Windows from your installation media. However, when doing so you may run into a problem in which the Windows installer claims, "We couldn't create a new partition or locate an existing … Read more

Seagate steps strongly into the solid-state market with four new SSDs

Seagate's involvement in solid-state storage market shifted into high gear today as the company unveiled four new drives: the Seagate 600 SSD, the Seagate 600 Pro SSD, the Seagate 1200 SSD, and the Seagate X8 Accelerator.

Among these new drives, the Seagate 600 SSD is the first from the storage vendor that's designed for general consumers; the rest are geared toward enterprise use.

The Seagate 600 SSD comes in both 7-millimeter and, for the first time among SSDs, 5-millimeter thicknesses. The drive retains the 2.5-inch laptop design, supports SATA 3 (6Gbps), and offers up to 80,000 … Read more