PCWorld Dec-12

BY THE TIME you read this, a small army of Windows 8 tablets and other touch-centric devices should have hit the market, each one loaded with the same burning question: How does the new gear compare to Apple’s iPad? I haven’t tested enough Windows 8 devices to pass judgment on the hardware battle here. But I’ve spent enough time with Win 8 tablets, hybrids, and other touchy-feely portables to assess how Microsoft’s OS stacks up against Apple’s iOS, its most formidable competitor. First the bad news: Navigating the Windows 8 touch interface involves a steep learning curve. The new touch gestures aren’t intuitive, whereas iOS is so simple that farm animals could probably figure it out. But great power is often locked within a forbidding UI. Consider that as I share the…

Beware of Free Trials... I liked Tom Spring’s article, “The Truth About Free Trials” [October]. It’s one thing to cancel a free trial; it’s another to cancel an automatic renewal. I bought a service at a huge discount for the first year and then saw a charge on my credit card the next year that was 10 times the original amount. I called my bank to dispute the charge, and was told that the only way to have the charge removed was to cancel the credit card. That’s a gigantic problem if you have many automatic payments set up. So what I do is use a gift card for all free trials and for anything that I order online. Al Bjork, Rockford, Illinois Several days after I read this article, I found two…

AFTER YEARS of solid growth and no fundamental changes, aside from an ill-fated flirtation with netbooks, the clamshell is now being threatened by phones and tablets. In response, PC makers are ushering the laptop into the era of touch, with help from the drastic operating system overhaul that is Windows 8. They will be introducing hybrid designs with swiveling touchscreens and detachable displays. But what happens after that? PCWorld spoke with chip makers, PC manufacturers, and analysts to learn more about what laptops will offer circa 2018. Join us as we peer into a multifaceted crystal ball to decipher the future of the notebook. Refining the Hybrid As PC manufacturers ready the first round of Windows 8 laptop-tablet hybrids, they’re willing to admit that their concepts are works in progress. Over time, they’ll…

LYTRO HAS UPGRADED its light-field camera just in time for the innovative product’s introduction at Amazon, Best Buy, and Target. The company recently announced new manual controls, colors, and accessories for its rectangular camera, which permits photographers to set the focus of their pictures after shooting. New Controls Lytro’s new controls include shutter speed, ISO sensitivity, a neutral density filter, and an automatic exposure lock. The maximum shutter speed is 8 seconds; the minimum speed is 1/250 second. New cameras will also have an ISO range of 80 to 3200 to take photos in a wide variety of lighting environments, from low-level to brightly lit. The neutral density filter helps photographers capture and adjust the level of brightness in their pictures. The new controls address criticisms claiming that the camera is a bit too simplistic…

25 Percent of Adult Americans Own a Tablet The number of U.S. adults who own tablet computers reached 25 percent in the first eight months of 2012, according to the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project. Survey results released in early October reveal a 6 percent increase in tablet ownership over the January figure, and a 21 percent increase over the number in September 2010. The survey found that more women (27 percent) than men (24 percent) own tablets. Google Project Glass–like Smart Watch Gets Patent Google’s Project Glass may soon extend to watches. Google was recently granted a patent for a smart watch with a flip-up display that appears to work much like Google’s highly anticipated augmented-reality glasses. The patent indicates that the watch will contain a processor, a wireless…

ROKU MADE SEVERAL announcements in September regarding its streaming video players. The company updated its iOS and Android remote apps with new music and photo features, slapped a price and a (rough) ship date on its new Streaming Stick product, and added a Vudu channel to its lineup. App Updates With the latest versions of its remote control apps for iOS and Android, Roku has added a new feature called Play On Roku. Users can now stream photos and music from their smartphones or tablets to the TV via a Roku hardware player; the feature is similar to AirPlay on the Apple TV. With Play On Roku, you can advance through photos with a simple swipe of your mobile device’s screen, or enable a slideshow (complete with musical accompaniment). With music, you’ll see…