PCWorld Jun-13

MICROSOFT IS DITCHING the lethargic release schedule of past years in favor of continuous development. The move to smaller, more rapid updates has gigantic implications for the entire PC ecosystem. First, more frequent updates should cost less. Rather than dropping $100 to $200 on a whole new Windows operating system every three years, you may pay $30 to $50 annually for access to the latest tweaks and features. The change also means more frequent updates to Office and the company’s many other apps and services. The steady jog of updates required to keep pace with innovation should yield faster delivery of new features and design tweaks than before—without drastic overhauls that inspire cold-water shock in users of earlier-generation software. Changes in the Air Already, recent updates to Windows 8’s Mail, Calendar, and People apps…

Chromebooks: Just a Fad? Regarding “What’s With All the Chromebooks?” [Forward, April]: The benefit of a Chromebook is price and availability and therefore uptime. If it’s lost, smashed, or stolen, I just walk into a store to buy a new one, log in, and I am back at 100 percent functionality. And I can re place my Chromebook four times for the price of one MacBook Air. Juliusb, PCWorld.com forums Netbooks [as opposed to Chromebooks] have fantastic battery life. They have 250GB of SSD storage, lots of ports and card slots, and the ability to connect to an infinite number of devices using Bluetooth or USB. And netbooks cost less than Chromebooks! Every Chromebook sold is a monument to the cluelessness of the purchaser. jwchenard, PCWorld.com forums Blame the “dummification” of computers on Google and…

THE EMERGENCE OF downloadable mobile apps to deliver a cab, luxury car, or shared ride to you seemed to happen overnight. But in reality, the process of de veloping the services, recruiting drivers, building a following, and expanding into new cities has taken at least a year. Uber, one of the first taxi apps on the market, launched in San Francisco in 2010 on iOS and Android. Originally it connected passengers with the drivers of already licensed private high-end sedans and SUVs (most of them black). High-End Rides The core service is still Uber Black, but the company has added UberX (normal cars at lower rates), Uber SUV (on the higher end), and Uber Taxi (an e-hail dispatch service). Uber Black typically costs more than a taxi, but the company says its high-end cars…

ATTACHING LARGE files to email messages used to be a major hassle, but email providers are tapping into cloud storage services to simplify it. Yahoo Mail is the latest service to get in on the action with Dropbox support. Yahoo Mail users can now add files directly from Dropbox, allowing attachments to exceed Yahoo’s 25MB size limit. Users can save attachments directly to their Dropbox accounts, too—a handy option if you’re using a public computer. Choice Options The built-in Dropbox file chooser has a couple of other useful features: It includes a quick link to the Photos folder, as well as a search option. Users can upload files to Dropbox without having to leave Yahoo Mail first. Yahoo Mail isn’t the first service to integrate cloud storage. Gmail now permits attachments directly from Google…

Firefox 20 for Android Bolsters User Privacy The new Firefox 20 for Android supports private browsing on a per-tab basis, Mozilla says, enabling users to open a new private-browsing tab during their current browsing session and to switch between private and standard tabs within the same browsing session. Also new in the open-source mobile browser is a way to customize shortcuts on the home screen that link to the user’s most frequently visited sites. Adults May Text While Driving More Than Teens A pair of new surveys, funded by AT&T, found that nearly half of commuters admit to texting or sending email while driving, versus 43 percent of teens surveyed. Since 60 percent of respondents said that they never sent text messages from behind the wheel three years ago, the survey results suggest…

MICROSOFT HAS altered its hardware certification program to lower the minimum allowable screen resolution for Windows 8 tablets from 1366 by 768 pixels to 1024 by 768 pixels. The change opens the door to officially approved Windows 8 tablets with displays smaller than 10 inches. But inviting resolutions lower than 1366 by 768 is only one issue Microsoft must address before 7-inch Windows 8 tablets become a reality. Adverse Side Effects Lowering the minimum resolution might kill Snap, a dual-pane feature of Windows 8 that allows you to display two modern UI apps (or one modern UI app and the traditional desktop) side by side. In current Windows 8 builds, Snap, which requires a minimum screen resolution of 1366 by 768, offers the only way to view two full-screen, modern UI apps…