Stories by Katherine Noyes

GNU Free Call: An open source Skype alternative

There's no denying that Skype is by far the most ubiquitous VoIP service today, but a new project launched this week aims to create an open source alternative.

Written by Katherine Noyes19 March 11 04:55

10 things to drool over in Firefox 4

Mozilla's Firefox 4 is now officially expected to debut on Tuesday March 22, following hard on the heels of Google's Chrome 10 and Microsoft's Internet Explorer 9.

Written by Katherine Noyes18 March 11 09:11

Why I won't be using Internet Explorer 9

As is true just about any time Microsoft launches a new product, there's been no shortage of hype about Internet Explorer 9. And indeed, my PCWorld colleague Tony Bradley has no shortage of good things to say about the new browser.

Written by Katherine Noyes17 March 11 06:24

Speedy 'wonder patch' debuts in new Linux kernel

Back in November I wrote about the 233-line patch that was expected to bring a huge speed boost to version 2.6.38 of the Linux kernel, and that's just what made its widely anticipated debut on Monday night.

Written by Katherine Noyes16 March 11 05:15

Five tools to protect you from e-mail slip-ups

It's a rare e-mail user indeed who hasn't experienced the awful moment that can come right after hitting "send." It's the moment when you realize that you just said something you shouldn't have in the e-mail, and there's no way to get it back.

Written by Katherine Noyes12 March 11 05:43

Six ways businesses are using tablets

Tablets like Apple's iPad 2 and Motorola's Xoom may be causing paroxysms of excitement among the world's consumers, but many businesses are still trying to figure out where such devices will fit into their computing platforms.

Written by Katherine Noyes10 March 11 07:45

Work begins on Ubuntu 11.10 'Oneiric Ocelot'

The final release of "Natty Narwhal," or version 11.04 of Canonical's Ubuntu Linux distribution, may still be more than a month away, but project founder Mark Shuttleworth on Monday officially inaugurated work on its successor with the announcement that version 11.10 will be called "Oneiric Ocelot."

Written by Katherine Noyes08 March 11 07:44

Three good reasons to buy an open-PC

For many small business users, all the rational arguments for using open source software like Linux make a great deal of sense: It's free, customizable, compatible, and it's free of vendor lock-in, to name just a few.

Written by Katherine Noyes05 March 11 11:34

Embedded Linux gets a boost in newly unified project

Whatever your opinion of Linux's desktop potential, few would dispute the value of the open source operating system in embedded devices such as mobile phones and personal media players. After all, it's fast, it's free, it's open source, it's customizable and it's extremely stable, among many other advantages.

Written by Katherine Noyes03 March 11 04:48

LibreOffice software is here to stay

If there was any doubt as to long-term ability of LibreOffice to sprint ahead of Oracle-backed OpenOffice.org, those concerns pretty much just flew out the window. In a wildly successful fundraising effort, the Document Foundation has succeeded in collecting $68,800 (50,000 euros) in just eight days, effectively ensuring a future for the open-source productivity software suite.

Written by Katherine Noyes26 Feb. 11 07:14

Six dirty SEO tricks you must avoid

The past several months have afforded several high-profile examples of how search engine optimization, or SEO, should not be done. Last fall it was DecorMyEyes and the case of the abusive business proprietor, and just recently it was JCPenney and the case of the short-lived black hat success.

Written by Katherine Noyes25 Feb. 11 00:48

Splashtop Linux: A free Chrome OS alternative

Web surfers tired of waiting for the official release of hardware featuring Google's Chrome OS now have a browser-based alternative right at their fingertips: Splashtop Linux 1.0, a downloadable instant-on operating system tailored to life in the cloud.

Written by Katherine Noyes25 Feb. 11 06:05

Fedora and openSUSE Linux drop Unity efforts

Canonical made quite a splash last fall when it announced that the Unity interface used in its Ubuntu Netbook Edition would become the default interface in the Linux distribution's desktop version as well beginning with version 11.04, or Natty Narwhal.

Written by Katherine Noyes19 Feb. 11 05:17
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