nitro

Adobe competitors pounce after subscription backlash

Adobe Systems' competitors smell blood in the water.

Having seen the torrent of criticism that greeted the company's move last month exclusively to subscription sales for most of its software, many are launching promotions and otherwise scrambling to win over the disaffected.

"We've put in place our outreach program to users, saying, 'Hey, come and try us,'" said Nick Davies, general manager of Corel's digital media and productivity software group. Corel launched a promotion that lets Adobe CS4, CS5, and CS6 users buy Corel software for the upgrade price rather than the full price.

"… Read more

Convert files to PDFs with PrimoPDF

Nitro PDF's PrimoPDF is a free tool that converts all kinds of files into PDFs that you can open, edit, and manage with your usual PDF application (Nitro has a free reader, too, if you don't already have one). Some free PDF converters are more like print drivers and only create documents from the Print command. But PrimoPDF also has a handy desktop icon you can drag and drop files into for rapid automatic conversion. Whichever method you prefer, PrimoPDF gives you the choice.

Clicking PrimoPDF's Drop Files icon opens the main interface, which is where you … Read more

Crave giveaway: LG Nitro HD signed by star comics editor Bob Schreck

Congrats to Junryo W. of Clarement, Calif., for winning last week's giveaway, a bag of Comic-Con swag straight from the show floor.

For the second and final part of our Comic-Con giveaway, we have a legendary prize. No, literally. We're giving away an AT&T LG Nitro HD smartphone signed by Bob Schreck, editor in chief of Legendary Comics, the book-publishing arm of Legendary Entertainment (Christopher Nolan's "Batman" movies, "Wrath of the Titans," "Sucker Punch," "The Town"). Please note that you'll be responsible for securing your own voice and data plan. … Read more

Great sling shot games that aren't named Angry Birds

With the incredible success of the original Angry Birds, few iOS gamers were probably surprised that Angry Birds Space would rocket to the top of the iTunes Store's list of paid apps. I've been playing the game quite a lot over the past 24 hours, and though I've noticed some bugs (kill all pigs with one bird to get one star, anyone?), the new gravity fields, interesting levels, and new bird types definitely add something new to the game.

Angry birds isn't the only game in this genre, however. When Angry Birds took off at the iTunes App Store, several developers came out with their own version of the sling-shot game mechanic and many brought new elements to add to the fun.

This week's collection of iOS apps are all Angry Birds-like destruction games, but each have an interesting twist on the original game mechanic. The first offers a heavy metal theme as you smash monster trucks into structures. The second lets you blast ragdolls through intricate levels towards a target. The third mixes game genres to add liquid physics into the equation making for unique challenges.… Read more

AT&T announces slew of other devices getting ICS update

Looks like the HTC Vivid isn't the only AT&T phone getting the Ice Cream Sandwich treatment.

The carrier announced today a number of other devices that will be eligible for the Android 4.0 update in the next few months.

These handsets include: the LG Nitro, Motorola Atrix 2, Motorola Atrix 4G, Pantech Burst, Pantech Element, Samsung Captivate Glide, Samsung Galaxy Note, Samsung Galaxy S II, Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket, and Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9.

Again, it will be a couple of months until the update rolls out, but we're excited. As hot as … Read more

Use less toilet paper to be green? Nope, say Americans

What will Americans do in order to preserve their own green fields and oil refineries? What will Americans give up in order to keep their trees growing and their consciences clear of moral soot?

Not toilet paper, it seems.

For a stunning research study has landed upon my laptop with a conservative thump. This deep dive into American paper use was commissioned by Nitro, a company that, as far as one can tell, "develops intuitive solutions that enable people to work smarter with digital documents."

It seems that a mere 6 percent of Americans are prepared to reduce … Read more

LG Optimus LTE smartphone hits 1 million in sales

LG's Optimus LTE phone is proving to be a hot seller around the world, racking up more than 1 million unit sales.

Debuting in South Korea last October, the phone grabbed sales of 600,000 units in its native country during the first three months.

From there, the Optimus LTE traveled to Japan to capture sales of 8,500 units in its first day, then to Canada, and finally to the U.S. where it was rebranded the LG Nitro HD, altogether pulling in more than 400,000 in additional sales to take in a cool million.

The phone … Read more

LG X3 may be Android 4.0 flagship model

LG, not wasting any time, is off and running with plenty of Android for the new year.

Just days after announcing its first 4G LTE Android tablet, the Optimus Pad LTE, details have emerged for a high-end smartphone.

Based on the rumored specifications, LG may be ready to unveil a flagship Android 4.0 handset next month at Mobile World Congress.

According to information obtained by Pocketnow, the LG X3 should boast a Tegra 3 quad-core processor, a massive 1,280x720-pixel 4.7-inch display, and an 8-megapixel camera. Additionally it should have a front-facing 1.3-megapixel camera, 16GB storage, Bluetooth … Read more

Up close with AT&T's 4G LTE speeds in San Francisco

The AT&T 4G LTE speeds guessing game is unofficially over. Late last week we began hearing reports of the LTE icon popping up in the notification bars of AT&T's three compatible smartphones--the Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket, HTC Vivid, and LG Nitro HD.

So, I fired up Ookla's Speedtest.net app to test diagnostics (for ping, download, and upload speeds) on two compatible phones we have in-house, the Nitro HD and the Vivid.

What speed sampling would be complete without caveats? Since the LTE network is a soft-launch and nothing official or necessarily widespread, since the app scores are not the final word in real-world performance, and since this is not intended to be a scrutinized comparison between AT&T and any other network, consider the Speedtest.net results a diagnostic suggestion, with more in-depth testing to come after AT&T cuts the red ribbon on LTE.

With that said, the speeds look promising at their fastest, mostly sticking to the 14 or 15Mbps range for downloads, with spikes into the 30Mbps range and a rock-bottom outlier of just 0.75Mbps.… Read more

Details surfacing for successor to LG Revolution

If you thought Verizon Wireless was going to slow down on the high-end Android smartphones, you'd be wrong.

Based on recently leaked information, soon we should see an LG phone with 4G LTE connectivity and an HD display. Expected to be called the LG Spectrum, the smartphone should be the heir apparent to the Revolution which launched in mid-2011.

Rumored hardware details for the LG Spectrum match up quite nicely with the recently announced Optimus LTE and Nitro HD (AT&T). Specifications include a 1,280x720-pixel HD display, dual-core 1.5GHz processor, 8-megapixel camera and support for 4G … Read more