windows software

Fez lands on Windows

In the 2D/3D platformer, Fez, your protagonist Gomez embarks on an epic journey to uncover a universe-shattering mystery. The game's own journey from conception to the Windows platform has been nearly as monumental. First announced in July 2007, Fez's development was delayed for years. Creator Phil Fish's company, Polytron struggled with internal issues before finally demoing the game in 2011 and releasing a final version on Xbox Live in April 2012. Another year later, and the game finally lands on Windows, available from online distributors Steam and GOG.

Despite the long haul to release, Fez has … Read more

Microsoft's Azure gets competitive with $1B in revenue

While Amazon is still king in the cloud computing world, it appears that Microsoft's Azure software is on the up and up. Not only have Azure subscriptions risen 48 percent over the past six months, but Azure and related Microsoft cloud service software earned $1 billion in revenue over the past year for the first time ever, according to Bloomberg.

Making the "billion-dollar club" is pretty significant -- considering the slumping PC market. Microsoft revealed these new performance details to Bloomberg in an interview on Monday.

Twenty percent of companies use Azure, while 71 percent go to … Read more

Turn your RSS feed into a "Star Wars" crawl

If Google's recent decision to pull the plug on the (incredibly useful and beloved) RSS tool Google Reader has convinced you that the search giant is now the Evil Empire, then join the Rebel Alliance with the RSS reader StarRSS, from user fotcorn at github. Simply enter in an RSS feed into the box on the landing page and a scrolling list of items will appear as familiar horns trumpet the start of that classic movie music.

Clicking on the items in your feed as they scroll up and become smaller and smaller isn't the easiest task in … Read more

The 404 1,250: Where we bet our bottom dollar (podcast)

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- Former 404 guest and Internet Archivist releases Web's largest collection of historical software.

- Judge holds himself in contempt for cell phone going off in court.

- NY Philharmonic phone disruption: A cell-phone etiquette reminder.

- Here's a 90-year-old granny freaking out over Oculus Rift.… Read more

File electronically with TaxACT 2012 Free Federal Edition

TaxACT 2012 Free Federal Edition offers basic tax preparation for and electronic filing of your 2012 federal income tax return. It offers step-by-step guidance not only for filing your taxes but also for maximizing your deductions and refund, if applicable, plus free help from the TaxACT Answer Center and other resources. It's compatible with most versions of Windows, from XP to 8, and complies with the latest updates to the U.S. tax code.

TaxACT 2012 Free Edition starts with a user-friendly interface offering quick links to Basic Info, Dependents, Filing Status, and a range of related topics such … Read more

YTD Video Downloader 4.0

Formerly known as plain old YouTube Downloader, the recently renamed YTD Video Downloader updates to version 4.0 with a promise of 2x faster downloads and 2x faster video conversions, and perhaps more usefully, the ability to resume downloads after the temporary loss of an Internet connection. As usual, the installer includes a Spigot-based YTD Video Toolbar and offers to change your default search engine to Yahoo and add 5-6 shopping extensions to Google Chrome. Clicking the "Decline" button during the lone advertising screen in the installer lets users easily opt-out of all offers.

Downloading worked very well … Read more

New Microsoft study says your software is counterfeit

In a new IDC white paper commissioned by Microsoft, cleverly titled "The Dangerous World of Counterfeit and Pirated Software: How Pirated Software Can Compromise the Cybersecurity of Consumers, Enterprises, and Nations...and the Resultant Costs in Time and Money" ( full PDF), there's a boatful of interesting statistics around "the prevalence of malicious code and unwanted software -- such as viruses, Trojan horses, keystroke-capturing software, authentication backdoors, and spyware -- in pirated software and on the Web sites and peer-to-peer (P2P) networks where such software is found."

"[U]sing information from a 10-country survey of … Read more

Samsung calls demand for Windows 'lackluster'

Samsung mobile chief J.K. Shin offered some less-than-stellar observations about Microsoft in an interview published last night.

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Shin said his company sees "lackluster demand for Windows-based products in Europe." And elsewhere around the world, he said, Microsoft's software efforts in smartphones and tablets are not going so well either.

"Smartphones and tablets based on Microsoft's Windows operating system aren't selling very well," Shin told the Journal, ostensibly referring to both Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8. "There is a preference in the market … Read more

Dropbox 2.0 adds system-tray alerts and sharing features

We Dropbox users have gotten very accustomed to our boring yet reliable Dropbox desktop clients (download for Windows, Mac, Linux 32-bit, and Linux 64-bit) chugging along tirelessly, syncing files and folders between computers and devices with no muss or fuss, that it was with some trepidation yesterday that I updated to version 2.0, the brand-new release from the online-hosting service. The new update gives the system-tray-based app a slight cosmetic makeover--the utilitarian menu as been supplanted with a more modern UI that includes links to your Dropbox folder, the Dropbox Web site, three "recently changed" files, and … Read more

Rip, convert, tag, and now burn CDs with FreeRip 4.0

FreeRIP extracts and converts your audio tracks, as well as detecting CD and song info and making all of that info editable right from the interface. It's easy to start right up with FreeRIP, which supports the most common audio formats--MP3, FLAC, Ogg Vorbis, WMA, and WAV. It can also convert files between any of those formats, play your audio files, and edit tags. With the release of version 4.0, the app now adds burning audio CDs to the mix of features that free users can access.

FreeRIP's bare-bones interface is set up for easy access and … Read more