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Review: Rip DVDs to your hard drive for backup with Mp4DVD for Mac

Those with large DVD collections may want a program to back them up on their computer hard drives. If so, you'll pass on Mp4DVD for Mac, which didn't work well for us.

Available as freeware, Mp4DVD for Mac downloaded quickly and installation did not require any user interaction. It also didn't include any user instruction, and technical support did not appear to be available. Fortunately, the user interface was easy to use, albeit dated. The program asks the user to drag and drop a DVD icon into it for ripping. There are no options available for file … Read more

Review: Protect passwords and other personal data with Concealer for Mac

Keeping personal information like credit card data or Social Security numbers safe is becoming ever more important. Concealer for Mac is fairly well designed, making it an adequate option for users trying to store their private information securely.

Concealer for Mac offers a free trial version with a storage limit. The full version is available without limitations for a payment of $19.95. Despite the lack of a native installer, the program downloaded and installed quickly. After initiating the program, it brings up a menu for tutorial videos, although none of them loaded. After closing this menu, the program requests … Read more

Acer to launch Win 8 tablets with smaller screens this year

Acer plans to launch Windows 8 tablets with smaller screen sizes in the second half of the year, an executive said Friday.

Such devices will feature touch screens smaller than 10 inches, Emmanuel Fromont, Acer president for the Pan America region, and Sumit Agnihotry, Acer vice president of product marketing, told CNET in an interview following an Acer product launch event in New York.

They likely will cost below $400 -- the typical entry point for Windows tablets today -- and will be pushed as productivity devices that link to the traditional PC world more easily than Android devices, the … Read more

Windows 8 Wikipedia page vandalized

Every time I see a squirrel squashed, a house painted yellow, or a discarded condom on a sidewalk, I wonder what sort of human might have perpetrated such a deed.

Was it someone angry, someone merely tasteless, or someone who simply hasn't been educated in even the most basic elements of human decorum?

I found myself with somewhat similar feelings on discovering that a human being, or beings, took to the Wikipedia page for Microsoft's Windows 8 and attempted to pervert the course of truth.

For a random visit to this page revealed this notice from the Wikipedia … Read more

Latest Windows 8.1 build beefs up IE developer tools

Developers who need to peek at the code behind Web pages in Internet Explorer will find more robust tools in Windows 8.1.

A leak of Windows 8.1 Build 9385 reveals an overhaul to the developer panel in IE. Pressing F12 in any current version of Internet Explorer displays a panel that allows you to examine the HTML and CSS code, scripts, and many other elements. Developers can use this feature to analyze the code behind third-party Web sites or to troubleshoot problems with their own Web pages.

Windows 8.1 has upped Microsoft's browser to Internet Explorer … Read more

Microsoft's Surface Pro 'is not there yet,' says IDC

An IDC analyst has tough words for Microsoft on tablets. Fixing Surface Pro is job one.

"Surface Pro today is an interesting product, but it's just not there yet," Tom Mainelli, IDC's research director for tablets, said in a phone interview with CNET.

"The battery life's not there. It's too heavy," he added.

And even Surface Pro's touted high performance is a double-edged sword. "While it performs like a notebook, Surface Pro is always going to be compared to other tablets, and tablets really need to run 8 to 10 … Read more

How to choose an entry-level Windows 8 tablet

If the current crop of Windows 8 tablets, at least the majority that run Intel's low-power Atom tablet, were put edge to edge in a police lineup, you'd have a hard time telling them apart. Nearly all are virtually identical slabs of glass over black metal and plastic bodies.

Upon closer inspection, some have more ports and connections built into their outer edges, but this stylistic similarity indicates a larger issue: they all run essentially the same components inside, namely an Intel Atom Z-series processor, 2GB of RAM, a 10- or 11-inch 1,366x768-pixel touch screen, and either … Read more

Windows 8 inches up in desktop OS market

Windows 8 is slowly scratching its way up the OS food chain.

Microsoft's latest version of Windows took home 3.8 percent of all traffic captured by Web tracker Net Applications in April. That proved a small gain from its 3.2 percent share in March.

Starting with a 1.09 percent share in November, Windows 8 sliced out a 1.72 percent share in December. A 2.26 percent share in January helped it sneak past Mac OS X 10.8 to grab fourth place among all desktop operating systems. And February saw another small gain to 2.7 percent.… Read more

Microsoft shares hit five-year high despite Windows 8 flop

The news may seem bleak for Microsoft these days, what with Windows 8 sales disappointing, and the PC market itself sliding.

But don't tell Wall Street. Microsoft shares closed Tuesday at $33.10, their highest level in more than five years.

Microsoft shares have been moribund for the better part of the last decade. Investors have come to view the company, once the most valued stock in the world, as one with limited growth opportunity, particularly as rivals Apple and Google race ahead in key consumer markets.

The recent stock bounce, which gained momentum earlier this month, is largely … Read more