bloatware

Like pre-installed programs on a Windows PC, the Samsung Galaxy S4 is full of "bloatware," unnecessary apps and services from Samsung or your carrier that offer no value and often attempt to duplicate what Google (or third-party) apps have already mastered. (AT&T Navigator, anyone?)

The greatest insult is that you actually can't uninstall these apps without rooting -- they'll stay in your app drawer and task manager even if you don't use them. The best solution is to disable them, which will effectively remove them from your app drawer and prevent these apps … Read more

According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, Apple has not given in to pressure from Japan's largest cellular network, NTT DoCoMo, to include carrier-specific apps on the iPhone. Apple's stance has caused negotiations to get the iPhone on NTT DoCoMo to stall.

NTT DoCoMo CEO Ryuji Yamada says that his company's apps, specifically an e-wallet app and an e-mail service app, are important for his Japanese customers. While that may be true, Apple isn't budging. Providing the user with a clean, nonbloated experience out of the box is what Apple is all about.

Most … Read more

There's more to Ice Cream Sandwich than just better camera controls, near-field communication support, and the redesigned interface. Google has also been working on making the latest version of Android the safest yet, and several of the features are mighty sharp for a melty brick of ice cream.

The biggest of them all is that you'll be able to fully encrypt your ICS device. This means that all your data will be on lockdown, inaccessible even to you until you enter in the passcode or personal identification number.

The benefit of this obvious: if lose your phone, you … Read more

Downloading new apps is a great and fun way to experience new content from the Android Market. However, there might be times when one of the apps you've downloaded is less than desirable. If no Internet connection is present or you don't want to wait for the Android Market to load, here are a few quick steps for uninstalling these apps: 

 1. Open the Settings menu and choose Applications from the list.

2. Choose Manage applications from the next menu.

3. Look for and select the app you'd like to uninstall in the list. If … Read more

When Chrome got its start, the browser was svelte and fast-loading if limited.

Now, it's got plenty of features, but two years later, it's nearly three times bigger. And Google, deciding that's not a good thing, has set up a task force to curtail Chrome bloat.

The task force is "aggressively looking at options to bring down the size of Chrome distribution binaries," said Anthony Laforge, Chrome technical program manager, in a mailing list message this month. Binary files are the ones computers understand; they're created from human-comprehensible source code.

With broadband connections, large … Read more

Linus Torvalds, founder of the Linux kernel, made a startling comment at LinuxCon in Portland, Ore., on Monday: "Linux is bloated." While the open-source community has long pointed the finger at Microsoft's Windows as bloated, it appears that with success has come added heft, heft that makes Linux "huge and scary now," according to Torvalds.

No. Of course not. It has simply grown as its adoption has expanded. This is the problem with success: you get pulled into an ever-widening array of tasks.

So, while Torvalds declared "We are definitely not … Read more

You know how sometimes you get a huge mound of dishes piled up in the kitchen sink, and then something starts to stink, and it takes a long time to realize where the stink is coming from, but eventually you wash every dish and scrub the whole thing out and it takes maybe a day or two, but you're finally fresh and happy again? OK, well, iTunes is a kitchen sink full of crud, and it stinks. Apple? You need to clean that bad boy out. Trust me. We'll all feel better.

Listeners of Buzz Out Loud will … Read more

Sony will give even more of its customers the option to just say no to trial software.

Currently available during the configuration process of the Vaio TZ2200, the Fresh Start option will be available on more of the company's TZ series of notebooks, Sony spokesman Jon Piazza told CNET News.com Wednesday.

Fresh Start will not, however, be available on all Vaios, which is what Gizmodo and others are reporting.

Though, you know, that's not a bad idea.

Update: Piazza clarified and said that the option is now available on Vaio TZ2000 and TZ2500.

I think we're going to have to call WiMax dead. After all, the CEO of a WiMax network said it's a "disaster." Ouch. In other news, Sony decided it's not cool to charge $50 to get rid of something you never wanted to begin with, Comcast maybe does and maybe doesn't want to put a camera in your set-top box, and Tom's gonna win himself an X Prize. Listen now: Download today's podcast

Breaking: Sony won't charge $50 to remove Bloatware http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/03/sony-pay-an-ext.html … Read more