system

Turner Sports reels in Bleacher Report

Bleacher Report, one of the largest sports news sites on the Web, was acquired today by Turner Broadcasting System.

The San Francisco-based startup focuses on delivering targeted sports news to about 10 million unique users a month. But unlike many sites whose content is written by a limited in-house staff, Bleacher Report relies on a wide network of mainly volunteer contributing writers around the country and the world who are passionate about the teams they love and who pen opinion and reaction pieces at a heavy pace in exchange for a prestigious slot on the site.

Terms of the deal … Read more

Zorin OS 6: The ultimate Linux distro for Windows users?

Every once in a while I try some new version of Linux, some overhauled or updated "distribution" of the operating system that supposedly improves the user experience. And inevitably I get frustrated with it because, well, it's just not Windows.

Not that I have mad love for Windows, mind you, it's just what I'm used to.

Zorin OS 6 is an Ubuntu-based OS that comes closer to re-creating the Windows experience than any other Linux distro I've tried.

For you Linux neophytes out there, Ubuntu is one of most popular and heavily developed versions … Read more

HP, Acer, Lenovo eye Windows 8 tablets

Hewlett-Packard, Acer, and Lenovo, among others, are expected to bring out Windows 8 tablets using Intel's latest system-on-a-chip.

HP and Acer are working on designs, a source familiar with the vendors' plans told CNET. In addition, details leaked today about a Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet 2, which will also use Intel's Clover Trail system-on-a-chip (SoC).

These Intel-based Windows 8 designs are distinctly different from Windows RT tablets that will use ARM chips. Windows RT devices use a version of Windows 8 that does not offer backward-compatibility with the millions of existing Windows software programs. Intel-based systems offer that compatibility. … Read more

Windows 7 poised to topple XP as leading OS

Windows 7 and Windows XP are virtually neck and neck in their contest to be the dominant OS, according to Web analytics firm Net Applications.

For the month of July, Windows 7 grabbed 42.21 percent of all network traffic recorded by Net Applications. Windows XP eked out a slightly higher share, capturing 42.86 percent. As Windows 7 has been catching up to its 11-year-old counterpart, it will certainly reach the top spot sometime this month.

The latest results show a huge difference over July 2011 when Windows 7 held just 29.6 percent of Net Applications' mobile traffic, … Read more

Get a Windows 7 Home Premium 3-user upgrade for $79.99

As you learned earlier this month, Microsoft plans to offer a Windows 8 Pro upgrade for $39.99 -- a surprisingly decent price.

That said, not everybody is looking forward to the radically redesigned new OS. In fact, plenty of users are still plugging along with Windows XP or Vista -- perhaps just biding their time until a decent Windows 7 upgrade offer comes along.

That offer has arrived, though not from Microsoft: Nothing But Software has the Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade Family Pack (3-PC) for $79.99, plus $3.99 for shipping. That works out to about $27 … Read more

The best-sounding club in NYC?

I recently dropped by Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola at Jazz at Lincoln Center to talk with the sound engineer, and by chance met Sam Berkow, the club's sound designer. Berkow had one key advantage going into the project that most designers don't: the club was planned before construction started on the Time Warner Center in New York. Berkow was quick to point out he had one major hurdle to jump over, in that there would be a huge glass window behind the stage to give patrons a spectacular view of Central Park. The window would be a massive … Read more

OS X Mountain Lion officially available for $19.99

Apple's latest desktop operating system flavor, OS X Mountain Lion, is now available in the company's Mac App Store. Apple announced yesterday that Mountain Lion would be available today.

The software will set users back $19.99 via the App Store. Those who bought the operating system at any point on or after June 11 will be eligible for a free upgrade to the operating system. Apple will also be bundling it in current Mac purchases from this point forward.

The software comes with over 200 improvements, including wide-ranging integration of iOS features, like Twitter, Apple's Game … Read more

The Boundary B404, a high-end outdoor speaker

Outdoor speakers are a little out of my area of expertise, and most of the ones I've seen at shows look like plastic rocks. Leon Speakers' Boundary B404 is definitely a big step up from those sorts of things.

The B404 sports a gorgeous solid mahogany cabinet inspired by Chris Craft's classic Thunderbird boats. Right now there's just one model in the Boundary line, the B404.… Read more

Another AMD engineer goes to Apple

The latest AMD chip engineer to pop up at Apple is a graphics and system-on-a-chip expert.

John Bruno is now a system architect at Apple, as of July.

Over the last decade or so at AMD, he has held positions such as senior ASIC design manager and, most recently, system architect.

He started as an ASIC (application specific integrated circuit) designer at ATI in 1996. That company was later acquired by AMD.

His AMD job description on LinkedIn states that he "completed hardware specification for the APU (CPU + GPU SoC) including cost, target die size, power budget and low-power … Read more

XP and Vista users, no Office 2013 for you

Still running XP or Vista and eyeing Office 2013? Sorry, you're out of luck.

Unveiled Monday, the upcoming new Office suite won't support Windows XP or Vista, meaning users who need or want Office 2013 will have to upgrade to Windows 7 or Windows 8.

Microsoft confirmed the tighter requirements on its Office 2013 Preview Technet page. Only Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Server 2008 R2, and Windows Server 2012 will be able to run the new suite.

Users will also need a PC with at least a 1GHz processor, 1GB of RAM for the 32-bit version (2GB … Read more