HTML 5 is the newest form of HTML, and although it offers a lot and attempts to solve a lot of problems, it has yet to actually become official, and there are still differences in how browsers process them so it’s uptake by the web development community, although improving, is still in limbo. Google is encouraging some next-generation data organization methods that help identify what kind of information is actually being displayed on a web page. Google is calling this “rich snippets” although it’s based on the HTML/XML extensions at schema.org which include Microdata, Microformats and RDFa formats.
Microsoft has touted their new Metro Apps as a key feature of Windows 8. Metro Apps have a bit of a mixed reputation. On one hand, they provide some much overdue features to the Windows line. On the other hand, they don’t really live up to the hype, and in many instances they are useful only because of other software shortcomings.
But Microsoft has given one claim to Windows 8 Metro Apps that, until today, I found to be true. (more…)
Windows 8 apps can be very useful, but their reputation and usefulness is mixed.
After a few months of using Windows 8, I find that one of the main reasons Windows 8 Apps are useful is because of shortcomings in other software.
For example, we want to use Windows 8 apps to play streaming music like Pandora, or to look at Facebook. But those are pretty lame reasons to develop and use a whole new App platform. I mean, those are already available in a format called “the web” and accessible using something called a “web browser.” So why do we prefer the apps over the web versions? In these cases, the Apps trump the web-based version simply because of computer resources. Having a browser open just for Pandora can drain battery and hurt performance, and the same applies for many other programs and web services. (more…)
The official word on Windows 8 battery life is that it is improved over Windows 7 battery life.
The first reason for this is that the Windows 8 core uses less RAM than Windows 7.
The second reason is that Windows 8 Metro Apps do not run in the background. Rather than consuming resources when they aren’t in the foreground, they are essentially paused in the background.
While both of those claims appear to be true, the overall claim that Windows 8 battery life is improved may not be completely true, and if in fact battery life is worse on Windows 8, it may also not be Microsoft’s fault. (more…)
Windows 8 battery might be worse than Windows 7 for some users (read more) but regardless of the reason, you’re probably reading this article because you want to improve battery life on your Windows 8 laptop or tablet.
There are a variety of angles you can attack this problem from, but you need to start by considering what is taking up your battery life to begin with:
Most likely culprits: Your LCD Display, old battery
Other likely culprits: Wifi, Bluetooh, Hard drive(s), memory
Most likely culprits: Software that came with your PC, start-up garbage
Other likely culprits: Open programs, system clogged with temporary files
So let’s start at the top, and work through the problems (more…)
I love Windows 8, but at the same time I have some frustrations, and it really makes me wonder if Windows 8 makes sense for desktop computers.
Windows 8 totally makes sense for tablets and smartphones, but the new features – primarily the Start Screen/Start Menu and Metro Apps & Tiles, make me wonder if the people over at Microsoft were thinking straight when they build the Desktop version. I already have a few gripes about Windows 8, but after using it for a couple of weeks, the shortcomings have become more clear, and the big picture view of Windows 8 is a bit pessimistic. But there is a lot of opportunity for improvement, so we know things will get much, much better. (more…)
Spybot Search & Destroy is a great little tool for Windows, if used properly. It isn’t a replacement for a virus scanner or security suite, but can provide a tiny bit of peace-of-mind.
The two areas Spybot S&D specifically helps with are:
1) Immunization – Preventing the problem before it starts
2) Temporary File removal (more…)
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