Windows 8 delivers the goods on benchmarks

CNET Labs has released its system benchmarks comparing Windows old and new, and they've discovered that Microsoft's controversial new operating system doesn't steamroll over Windows 7 as much as it gently shoves it out of the way.

Operating system Boot time Shutdown time MS Office performance iTunes decoding Media multitasking Cinebench Windows 7 SP1 45.2 7.7 408 127 343 16985 Windows 7 SP1 47.5 7.8 412 124 344 17,116 Windows 8 RTM 31.4 8.8 372 123 340 15,300 Windows 8 RTM update 26.4 11.7 367 123 340 … Read more

A handful of new devices surface on day 1 of MobileCon

SAN DIEGO -- Though a significantly smaller show than January's Consumer Electronic Show and February's Mobile World Conference, MobileCon 2012 still kicked off its first day with a handful of new phones. However, hardware companies didn't hog all the fun; there was plenty of carrier news as well.

T-Mobile T-Mobile introduced its first Windows Phone 8 handset, the Nokia Lumia 810. Available withiin weeks, the Lumia 810 has a 4.3 inch touchscreen, an 8 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss technology, and interchangeable back plates that enables the device to charge wirelessly.

Another T-Mobile device, the LG Optimus L9, … Read more

Microsoft rolls out massive Windows 8 update

Microsoft's notorious Patch Tuesday has been replaced by Update Tuesday, at least for today, as the company makes sweeping alterations to Windows 8 and its core apps.

The update to Windows 8 Release to Manufacturing (read the review) aims to improve what was already solid performance in Windows 8. In the blog post announcing the update, Windows president Steve Sinofsky explained that the update would be seamlessly available for all Windows 8 machines when they boot up on October 26 and thereafter. "By developing better test automation and test coverage tools we are happy to say that Windows … Read more

Apple tackles latest OS X issues with supplemental updates

Apple has released a supplemental update to OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion that fixes some outstanding issues that were introduced in or were not addressed by the most recent 10.8.2 update. The fixes include problems with Lion systems taking forever to back up to Time Machine, and a problem in which Mountain Lion would not allow users to access secure Web sites with parental controls, among others.

The specific fixes addressed in the updates are the following:

OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.2 Supplemental Update (26.65MB)

Resolves an issue that may cause certain Japanese characters … Read more

4 smaller useful tweaks in iOS 6

iOS 6 became available for download today, and if you want to get up to speed on what exactly is included with the update, check out my review here. Some of the major highlights are the completely redesigned Maps app, upgrades to Siri, and several other new features. But with iOS 6 there are more than 200 new features, and clearly I couldn't cover them all in my review.

Part of what makes this update a must-have for Apple's mobile devices are the numerous smaller tweaks that make using your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch easier. I'm … Read more

Apple releases OS X 10.7.5 and Snow Leopard security updates

In addition to firmware updates for MacBook systems and updates for iPhoto, Aperture, iOS, and Mountain Lion, Apple has issued security updates for both OS X Snow Leopard and Lion.

The updates should be available via Software Update for systems running their respective operating systems, but they can also be downloaded from the Apple Support downloads pages for the respective updates:

OS X Lion Update 10.7.5 Server Combo (1.99GB) OS X Lion Update 10.7.5 Server (1.22GB) OS X Lion Update 10.7.5 Client Combo (1.91GB) OS X Lion Update 10.7.5 Client (… Read more

Ad tracking 'blocker' comes to iOS 6

Apple has built into iOS 6 a new toggle that will let you prevent advertisers from hitting you with targeted ads, but slow implementation of its new Advertising Identifier number means you could still see targeted ads on your iPhone for the foreseeable future.

First reported by 9to5Mac, the Limit Ad Tracking option is designed to prevent advertisers from tracking your behavior on the phone. It's a lot like a phone-based version of Do Not Track, except one that advertisers will be forced to obey since iOS is a proprietary system.

The toggle is available in iOS 6 general … Read more

By adding new maps and more FaceTime, iOS 6 hits major marks (updated)

CNET's review for the iPhone 5 is here! Make sure to check back and see our review of iOS 6 as soon as it becomes publicly available.

Editors' note:This First Take was originally posted on June 11, 2012, at the time of the WWDC Keynote. We are updating this post with changes to the iOS announced today at the Apple event.

During the Apple event today, the company announced the latest version of the operating system that powers its popular mobile devices. Scott Forstall, Apple's SVP of iOS, promises that iOS 6 will bring 200 new features, including tighter Facebook integration, an empowered Siri voice assistant, and the capability to conduct FaceTime calls over a cellular network.

Yet, it's Apple's new Maps app that was easily the star of the show. Created by the company, the app finally adds turn-by-turn directions along with info cards for businesses, a "flyover mode" when searching for an address, and a full 3D satellite view that displays buildings, terrain, and landmarks. There will be much more, of course, but even at this early point it's clear that Apple has filled a few gaping holes on our iOS wish list.… Read more

Parallels Desktop 8 available

Parallels Desktop 8 has been made available for public purchase, offering faster graphics and improved startup and resume times over previous versions. If you need to run Windows or any other operating system on your Mac, then while dual booting is arguably the fastest and most stable option for executing code, another approach that perhaps has more utility is virtualization, where you can open a window to the hardware on your system and allow a second operating system to run simultaneously.

In the past week, the developers for the top two commercial virtualization programs for OS X (VMWare Fusion and … Read more