10

Back at GSMA 2009, Adobe Systems announced that it would bring Flash Player 10 to a number of smartphones in 2010, and it looks like the company is making good on its promise.

In a Q2 audio press release, Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen confirmed that Adobe will release a beta version of Flash Player 10 in October for a number of smartphone browsers, including Windows Mobile, Google Android, Palm WebOS, and Symbian. In addition, Narayen said ARM, Nvidia, Broadcom, Intel, Texas Instruments, and Qualcomm are currently optimizing the player for their products.

Obviously, this is great news for smartphone owners, … Read more

TuneWiki's Windows Media Player plug-in is part licensed lyrics spooler for your own songs and for streaming YouTube videos, and part social project. TuneWiki's interface reskins Windows Media Player's "Now Playing" window. As the music from your library plays, TuneWiki checks its online wiki database for song lyrics--which members mostly contribute, Wikipedia-style--and plays them in time with the music. If you search for YouTube videos through TuneWiki's plug-in, it will similarly serve lyrics, if available. The lyrics tools include support for language translations, the ability to manually scroll through lyrics rather than stream them, … Read more

MB Brain Teasers provides users with three simple tests to gain a better picture of how the mind works. While these tests prove to be fun, their questionable accuracy is only matched by the iffy graphics.

This program's interface is incredibly simple, thanks in part to the basic display. Looking like something designed several decades ago, or even a cheap pop-up ad, this primitive display is nothing much to look at. Fortunately, navigating through the brain tests is incredibly simple and requires no trip to the online Help file, though one is available. The program's tests (one to … Read more

Opera's newest feature turns your browser into an app-extendable Web server. That's right: Opera Unite, the latest out of Norway for Windows, Mac, and Linux, runs counter to the cloud-based direction that most other programs are heading toward.

But is client-based serving a recipe for the future, or a return to the past? And is Unite truly client-based? See what the latest Opera 10 beta build can do in this First Look video.

You say you want value in your mobile computer? You say you want something super cheap? Not one year ago, we visited a very similar subject and found most Netbooks averaging $499. Now Netbooks are available for $299 or less, thanks to incredibly affordable new offerings from Acer--the just-reviewed Aspire One AOD250--and Dell's Mini 10v. A line has been drawn in the sand, and now we answer the question: what can $300 get me in a new Netbook?

The Dell Mini 10v was the first mainstream Netbook to come out of the starting gate at this sub-$300 price, followed by the new Acer Aspire One AOD250 and the HP Mini 1115NR. Below, check out our chart comparing the features each will give you in terms of CPU, hard drive, RAM, screen size, and other basic specs.

Dell Mini 10v

Acer Aspire One AOD250

HP Mini 1115NR

CPU

Intel Atom N270

(1.6GHz)

Intel Atom N270

(1.6GHz)

Intel Atom N270

(1.6GHz)

Hard drive

120GB (5600rpm)

160GB (5600rpm)

80GB (4200rpm)

RAM

1GB

1GB

1GB

OS

Windows XP

Windows XP

Windows XP

Screen

10.1 inch

10.1 inch

10.1 inch

Battery

3-cell (not tested)

110 (minutes)

150 (minutes)

Network

802.11 b/g, Bluetooth

802.11 b/g

802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth, Verizon 3G broadband modem

Price

$299

$298

$199 (with a 2-year Verizon mobile broadband contract)

First off, you might notice a lot of similarities between devices. Might we say nearly identical specs?… Read more

Documents To Go is such an excellent business tool for viewing and editing documents on other mobile platforms, we were excited to see it emerge in the iTunes App Store earlier this week. We talked about the more basic version of Documents To Go for iPhone (and iPod Touch; $4.99) here, which lets you create and edit Microsoft Word apps, and additionally displays Excel, PowerPoint, PDFs, and iWork files.

Quite a few users, however, had trouble with the more advanced version, Documents To Go with Exchange Attachments. This version essentially adds an in-app Exchange in-box that asks you to … Read more

Corel Home Office has much to recommend it, but this new productivity suite isn't for everyone. It was never meant to be. Smaller in size, lighter in features, and with certain optimizations built-in for small-screen resolutions, Corel Home Office is squarely aimed at Netbook owners, and among them, home users--both casual consumers and those operating home businesses.

The program's familiar layout emulates Microsoft Office 2007 with tabbed menus and a clean, visual display in all three applications--Write, Calculate, and Show. Its leaner feature set contains all the basic and intermediate features you'd expect in word processing, spreadsheet, … Read more

You wouldn't know it by eyeballing most of the latest browser news, but there is more to browsers than JavaScript speed. Mozilla introduced its add-on alternative called Jetpack, and on Tuesday Opera debuted Unite for Windows, Mac, and Linux, which turns your browser into a Web server and the Norwegian publisher hopes will "reinvent the Web."

That's fast become the browser equivalent of the cliched comic book tag, "In this issue: Everything Changes!" So United uses your browser as as Web server, but what does that mean?

"The initial applications offered by Opera … Read more