Welcome to the dawn of the SSD age. Solid-state drives now offer great performance at affordable prices, which is why more and more users are choosing them in new PCs and adding them to older ones. I'm a big fan myself, but I want to share a cautionary tale. About six months ago, an acquaintance of mine installed an SSD in his laptop. Initially, he was delighted: the drive helped his system boot faster and run longer between trips to the wall socket. Then, one day, out of the blue, the drive died. No clicking, no "imminent failure" message, no warning of any kind--just a dead drive. It's under warranty, but so what? He has a laptop that won't boot and data he can't access. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here More...

Thin clients introduced this week by Dell and Hewlett-Packard have faster processor than existing thin clients as well as high-definition graphics capabilities, so they could be alternatives to traditional PCs as computing continues moving to the cloud.The desk-side thin clients also have advanced virtualization features for virtual desktops to host multiple applications in one session. They were announced at the Citrix Synergy conference in Los Angeles.Dell introduced its first quad-core thin clients called the Wyse D90Q7 and Z90Q7, and also its first dual-core thin client, the Xenith Pro 2. HP upgraded its TM40 thin client to run Advanced Micro Devices' A-series processors code-named Richland, which are an upgrade from Intel's third-generation Celeron processors. The thin clients are optimized to work with Citrix's virtualization stack, which includes Xen hypervisors and server and client software.The latest thin clients are PCs with network connectivity but no local storage. Virtual desktops on thin clients typically run applications stored in remote servers, using virtualization technologies from Microsoft, Citrix and VMware. The new thin clients have the ability to run high-definition games delivered over the cloud or full instances of Windows 8 complete with touch interaction.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here More...

It's been almost a year since Microsoft moved its newly acquired Skype for Linux out of beta with the release of version 4.0, surprising more than a few Linux fans with its apparent commitment to maintaining a telephony client for the free and open source operating system. This week, however, that commitment became even harder to dispute given the release of yet another significant update to the software. We rolled up our sleeves and reconsidered the heart of the Skype for Linux client, wrote Skype software engineer Marco Cimmino in a blog post on Monday. Not only did we conquer the navigation issues and bugs from previous releases, but we increased the stability when logging in from a Microsoft Account. The new version 4.2 of the proprietary Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) client brings a number of tweaks and enhancements, in fact. Here's a rundown of some of the highlights. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here More...

Box has acquired an unreleased application called Folders, designed to give iPhone and iPad users a mobile front-end interface for the cloud storage and file management and sharing service as well as for competitors Google Drive and Dropbox. The Folders technology will be deeply integrated with Boxs own iOS application, which will be upgraded with the Folders improvements later this year, Boxs Vice President of Engineering Sam Schillace said in a blog post on Thursday. When we saw Folders we saw a beautiful experience and set of design patterns that we had to bring to Boxs users, he wrote, adding that Boxs iOS app will become cleaner, faster and more beautiful. Folders includes a PDF viewer, a music player, document, photo and video viewers, a photo and video recording tool and the capability to create and edit notes. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here More...

Foxit Software's PhantomPDF (in both Standard and Business editions) make a good choice for basic office needs, but it suffers from an identity crisis once you get to the high-end features. Foxit's download page makes the bold claim that it is "Better than Adobe Reader and Acrobat," but a more accurate statement would be that it might be better, in very specific circumstances that may or may not apply to you. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here More...

Samsung released datathis morning showing that their newest flagship model, the much hyped Galaxy S4, has been a huge success with consumers. Since its release on April 27, the S4 has sold 10 million units. To celebrate the milestone, the manufacturer announced the production of a slew of new colors to supplement the stock white and black models that are currently available. Ten million sales is a pretty impressive benchmark for the Galaxy S4, and reaching it in under a month shows a clear trend of rising popularity for Samsungs phones. The S4s predecessors, the S3 and S2, took 5 and 2 months, respectively, to reach the same level of sales. Samsungs Galaxy series is well known for integrating innovative features like Air View and Air Gesture technology, which economize your finger movements and make for a faster, easier experience. Each model in the series has also boasted impressive hardware, with the S4 feeding its 5-inch AMOLED screen and 13 MP camera with a super fast Qualcomm Snapdragon processor. Perhaps intended as a gesture of gratitude to Samsung fans, the company also announced the imminent arrival of several new colors to the S4 line. The stock White Mist and Black Forest models will soon be accompanied by Blue Arctic, Purple Mirage, and Brown Autumn. There will also be a Red Aurora model, which is being reported as an AT&T exclusive color. It should make for an exciting summer for Samsung fans. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here More...

Lyft, the ridesharing service known for its fleet of pink mustache-festooned cars, is eyeing international expansion supported by its biggest funding round yet. The company will be looking at entering new markets, including overseas, between now and the end of 2014, Lyft co-founder John Zimmer said Wednesday. Specific countries of interest were not named. Lyft currently operates its cars in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, and Chicago. Zimmers remarks were made on the eve of Lyfts first anniversary, and its official announcement of having secured a new round of funding from Andreessen Horowitz. The amount of funding, Lyfts largest yet, was $60 million, Zimmer said. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here More...

Windows 8 has changed the way we navigate the desktop, so its not surprising that Microsoft has a pair of new wireless mice designed specifically for Windows 8 (theyre also compatible with Windows 7 and the Mac OS X OS). Sculpt Mobile Mouse Microsofts Sculpt Mobile Mouse will fit into the tightest backpack or pocket while youre on the go, and it will keep you from swearing at your notebooks annoying trackpad or touchscreen when you reach your destination. MicrosoftThe Sculpt Mobile Mouse is compact enough to fit into the tightest pocket on the go. The mouse is very smallin fact, its almost as long as it is wide. As such, the mouse isnt the most comfortable to grip if you have large hands: Your palm will drag over the surface, but the high arc will keep your fingers resting happily. Those with smaller paws will appreciate its ambidextrous design and the rubber sides that provide a good grip. The mouse uses Microsofts BlueTrack laser technology, which enables it to track over any almost any surface (except for clear glass or mirrored surfaces). When youre on the road, the only available mouse pad might be the fabric covering your leg, and the Sculpt Mobile works just fine in that scenario. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here More...

A freelance Java developer claims it took him only 30 days to build and launch a basic open source office suite that runs on multiple OSes. Called Joeffice, it works on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux as well as in browsers, according to the developer, Anthony Goubard. It includes a very basic word processor, spreadsheet program, presentation program and database software, Goubard said. The office suite was built with NetBeans and uses many popular open source Java libraries, Goubard said. That allowed him to built the program in 30 days, he said, a process that he documented daily on YouTube. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here More...

Ericsson may have a contender for oddest networking product if it commercializes the wireless bus windows it demonstrated at this week's CTIA Wireless trade show. The windows would have built-in, translucent antennas connected to an internal Wi-Fi system for passenger use while on the road. In the example Ericsson showed at CTIA, the dual-band Wi-Fi antenna was just a square of barely visible red metal embedded between layers of glass. The mobile infrastructure giant demonstrated the concept on the upper level of its booth at CTIA, above a showcase of other technologies designed for so-called heterogeneous networks with both Wi-Fi and cellular radios. On Tuesday, the company announced enhancements to its network management software that will allow carriers to do a better job shifting subscribers between the two systems for the best possible coverage. Stephen Lawson Ericsson's solution had its origin in a problem for wireless users on buses, cars and trains. For insulation and sun protection, some windows are now being built with thin, translucent layers of aluminum sandwiched between glass. Combined with the metal that covers the rest of a vehicle, those windows essentially create a so-called Faraday cage, a box that blocks all outside radio waves, said Bryan Coley, a marketing program manager at Ericsson. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here More...