CES 2012: Software and Apps

LAS VEGAS--A phalanx of deals involving the commanding general of torrent protocols, BitTorrent, and next-generation hardware marched into CES 2012 today, the unofficial Day Zero of the show. BitTorrent also announced that more than 150 million people used sibling programs BitTorrent and uTorrent last month, making them by far the most popular torrent clients around.

Following up on the announcement from CES 2011 that it would partner with hardware manufacturers to ship their devices with torrent support built in, BitTorrent revealed four companies based in Europe, Russia, and Asia that have prepared new hardware that automatically works with the current BitTorrent program. BitTorrent-certified devices from these companies will carry the BitTorrent logo. … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Windows multimedia mainstay Corel today introduces AfterShot Pro, a powerful photography workflow program tailor-made for professionals and high-level enthusiasts.

Positioned as a competitor to the popular Adobe Photoshop Lightroom program and the less popular ACDSee Pro, AfterShot Pro offers a full raw workflow and nondestructive editing environment based on the core technology of Bibble Labs, Corel's latest acquisition.

One unique aspect of AfterShot is its flexible asset management. While many other programs ask you to import files in order to open them up, AfterShot Pro lets you view, edit, and process images without having to worry about cataloging. … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Opera Software may be known for making a solid desktop and mobile Web browser, but the company is also taking steps to blur the line between television and the Web as it debuts a TV-based app store.

The new Opera TV Store is an HTML5-powered Web app store for televisions that works with HD-ready screens, set-top boxes, Blu-ray players, and standard remote controls. It does pretty much what we've come to expect from app stores, which is provide you with Web-like experiences outside of the traditional browsing experience. Ready-to-use apps include Facebook and Vimeo, as well as games … Read more

While software may not be the glitziest of categories on display at CES, there's still plenty to be excited about as we prep for the 2012 event. From artificial intelligence to home integration, apps are definitely on the rise. Also, expect the cloud and health care to emerge as topics yet again.

Forecast: Cloudy Though this was on many prediction lists last year, we expect cloud computing to really hit its stride beginning with announcements at 2012's Consumer Electronics Show. Now that Apple's iCloud and other services have found creative (and successful) ways to store data in … Read more

Granola software does the equivalent of dimming the lights in your PC to save energy.

MiserWare, which developed Granola, will be one of the roughly 80 startup exhibitors at the Consumer Electronics Show in January. After operating quietly since its founding in 2007, the Virginia Tech spin-out is expected to show off its upcoming energy-saving products.

MiserWare's software works in the background on PCs and servers to ratchet down power without affecting the performance, according to CEO and co-founder Kirk Cameron. There's a free consumer version for Windows and Linux that cuts energy by about 35 percent, along … Read more