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Dell makes pitch for $649 Windows 8 tablets at business

After Dell reported lackluster earnings today, executives made a case for the company's Windows 8 tablets at businesses.

Dell's earnings fell sharply today, with net income in the quarter ended November 2 sinking 47 percent to $475 million compared with the $893 million reported in the same period last year. Revenue was off 11 percent.

So, what is Dell doing about it? Well, it's trying to transform itself into a supplier of IT services.

But before it can do that, it's still trying to sell lots of PCs -- and now Windows 8 tablets.

Those tablets … Read more

DivX Plus improves player design and adds DLNA streaming over Wi-Fi

DivX Plus packs in a video player, codecs, and tools that cover the basic needs of streaming and converting your videos. It was considered one of the more popular video standards when high-definition content was first trickling to the Web. Version 9.0 brings with it updated features and some sleek changes to its look. So how does it hold up?

The core player has been skinned with an unobtrusive look and a dark, sleek interface. It doesn't compete for your attention with a bunch of bells and whistles or knobs. Nothing is meant to really distract you from … Read more

Kick it 1985-style with cassette-to-iPhone converter

I love old analog media. I'm holding in my hot little paws a stereo 8-track of a 1973 recording by Hiroshi Itsuki, a Japanese enka singer. It's several times larger than my iPod Touch but contains only 12 songs.

Sadly, this fabu converter from Ion doesn't take anything that ancient, but it will magically change your dusty old cassettes into MP3 files for your iPod or iPhone.

The Tape Dock is similar to Ion's Tape 2 Go but can house an iPod or iPhone on one side and a cassette on the other. … Read more

Convert audio files to formats the Mac can handle

Switch Audio Converter for Mac is a sound-file format converter that takes files in a number of formats and recodes them in formats the Mac can handle. As it's not available through the App Store at the time of review, we obtained our copy from the publisher's Web site.

To use Switch Audio Converter for Mac you can add files to the interface through browsing or by drag and drop. The Switch Audio Converter for Mac interface is straightforward. The dialog box shows a list of files to convert, their existing format and size, and any metadata associated … Read more

Perian lays most file formats under QuickTime 9 or earlier

Perian is a software app that makes viewing your media files easier. Basically, Perian enables QuickTime application support for a wide variety of media files. Perian is available from several sources, but not the App Store when we looked. It installs easily as long as you have no software already installed that can conflict with Perian.

Perian supports a variety of file types for both video and audio files. All the standard file formats are supported, but there's a ton of less-commonly found file formats supported by Perian, too. Perian works without you realizing it is there. When QuickTime … Read more

Download YouTube videos with automatic format conversion

MovieSherlock is a YouTube downloader for the Mac platform. When you see a YouTube video you want to save locally, you invoke MovieSherlock and it handles the download for you. MovieSherlock can convert formats, as well as provide search integration. The Lite version of MovieSherlock sells for $14.99, while two more-powerful editions sell for $24.99 and $39.99. There is no free evaluation version.

The MovieSherlock interface lets you type in the name of a video you would like to watch, and it will search YouTube for the content, download it, and launch it in a player. Converting … Read more

Convert files -- five of them, anyway -- with DeskPDF Pro

There are any number of utilities out there that can quickly and easily convert a variety of file formats into PDFs, so there's no reason to settle for one that doesn't quite meet your needs. DeskPDF Pro combines an efficient drag-and-drop interface with some useful features, but the limitations of the trial version are significant, and there are free programs with many of the same features.

Once installed, DeskPDF Pro appears as an icon in the Windows system tray; clicking it brings up a small interface onto which users can drag files for conversion. This launches a window … Read more

Asus shows off Windows 8 and RT lines

Most of these Asus laptops, tablets, and desktops have been seen or mentioned before, but the company brought several upcoming new systems to New York for a press event this week (unfortunately timed for the same day as Apple's iPad Mini unveiling).

Some, such as the dual-screen Taichi or the Windows RT VivoTab, have already generated significant buzz. Others are not quite as high-profile, or else revamps of existing products. A quick rundown is below, along with price and release dates where available.

Asus Taichi Clearly the most interesting new Asus system, this dual-screen laptop has a panel on … Read more

Convert your videos with ease using CUDA Video Converter

CUDA Video Converter is a software program for converting your videos into different formats, both video and audio. With clear user guidance and a simplified approach, this is one of the easier tools for reformatting and performing minor edits on your videos.

The interface is easy to understand. The key functions are all set out on a single page and it's easy enough to figure out how to get started with the instructions they offer on the program itself as soon as you startup. The features included the expected Conversion as well as, Clip, Merge and Edit. In our … Read more

Video conversion made simple

Total Video Converter is a program for converting and ripping videos to formats that are supported by a number of common electronic devices like the iPhone.

The overall design and features of this program are simple and easy to navigate. The main features are all accessible from the main window, and Total Video Converter also gives you quick and easy instructions on startup. The conversion time will be different for each task that you do, depending on the file size as well as format, but it handles most of the popular formats, including mp4, 3gp, xvid, divx mpeg4 avi, amr … Read more