PCWorld Oct-12

THAT IRRESISTIBLE WORD free? To borrow a line from one of my favorite movies, The Princess Bride, “I do not think it means what you think it means.” Anyone who imagines that free means “not requiring payment” should prepare for sticker shock. Consider the experience of Executive Editor Tom Spring (see “The Truth About Free Trials,” page 79), who let himself be lured into dozens of purportedly free online offers, and then struggled to extricate himself without having to cough up any cash. As he found, once some of these sites have your credit card info—a requirement for most free trial offers—you may end up paying something, even if you had never intended to. Free trials are lures. “You can subscribe in under 2 minutes with 2 clicks,” Spring says, “but it can…

Data Snatchers Your in-depth article “Data Snatchers: The Booming Market for Your Online Identity” [August] is among the best I have read. It would have been even better if you had also provided instructions on how to find out exactly what “they” know about us, whether as persons, IP addresses, or digital devices. Edward Kausel, Wellesley, Massachusetts Editor’s reply: Greater transparency in this area may depend on congressional action; for details, see our online article at go.pcworld.com/dataminers. The author posits a science-fiction “dataverse” where evil powers magically penetrate your Social Security file, credit cards, insurance and medical records, usernames, passwords, and IP and MAC addresses. All to learn that $6/hour Wal-Mart clerk Joe Schmedley bought a bass boat instead of paying his rent. Sorry, you don’t make your case. GrossTyro, PCWorld.com forums Microcontroller Alternative I was delighted to find…

WHY ARE SO many car interfaces so darn bad? I’m not referring to the basic driving components. I’m talking about all the bells and whistles: the navigation systems and multi-CD-changer/satellite radio/media interface/DVD-player entertainment centers. Sit down in a rental, a Zip-car, or a friend’s vehicle, and typically you’re confronted by an obtuse set of dials, knobs, sliders, and—worst of all—a touchscreen. The poor usability of the electronics and media system in my new Volkswagen GTI stand in stark contrast to the rest of the car, which is otherwise well designed. But the audio system lacks the same level of quality. Fair warning: This article is based on my personal experiences, largely with my GTI. Bad Touch I firmly believe that whoever first thought it was a good idea to put a touchscreen in a car should…

IN JULY, MICROSOFT previewed a webmail service —called Outlook.com—to replace Hotmail. Hotmail has fallen far: Nearly a decade ago, it was sitting on top of the webmail heap. Then, as rivals such as Gmail surged, it seemed to lose its way; it even went through at least one rebranding, as Windows Live. Outlook.com is Microsoft’s attempt to gain that mojo back. The Metro interface appears, and with it comes a much cleaner presentation. The result is a 30 percent increase in the number of viewable messages, according to Microsoft. In addition, the company is doing away with large display ads. Another major feature of Outlook.com is social networking integration. Instead of the standard email inbox, users will be able to view status updates and content from Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, and Twitter (automatically sorted,…

Google Mobile Search Adds Handwriting to Easy Text Input Google now lets you input a search query on your smartphone or tablet by writing it out with your finger, instead of making you tap it out on a keyboard or say a voice command. Called “Handwrite,” the new feature is timely: When Windows 8 starts shipping in October, it will have a similar function. Handwrite removes the pain of pecking, and should be more accurate than voice-activated search. Hulu Plus Debuts on Apple TV Apple has quietly added support for Hulu Plus to the Apple TV, bringing the TV- and movie-watching service to paid subscribers. The Apple TV interface for Hulu is very similar to that for Netflix and other video services. Unfortunately, streaming restrictions prevent a substantial number of shows from being…

IEEE 802.11AC, the latest wireless networking standard, isn’t actually finished yet. Today’s 802.11ac routers are based on a second draft. But no compatibility problems have surfaced to date. No manufacturer is selling an 802.11ac USB Wi-Fi adapter today, so your existing laptop computer won’t benefit from the significant speed boost that the new technology promises to deliver. Because 802.11ac routers are backward compatible with the older 802.11n standard, you’ll still be able to connect your existing wireless gear to the new routers, though you won’t gain any performance boost. The real reason to buy an 802.11ac router today is to stream high-definition video to and from the devices in your entertainment center, such as your Blu-ray player or home-theater PC. To do that, you must purchase an 802.11ac ethernet bridge as well…