Computer Hard of Hearing? Try This Software

Why buy what you can get for free?

(NEWSER) - The latest edition of the Fantastic Four of productivity—Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook—is worthy but not actually worth buying, writes Farhad Manjoo for Slate . Out next year but now available in a beta edition, Microsoft Office 2010 offers some definite improvements: It lets you preview how text or images you're copying will look before you paste them, for one. But Manjoo can't help but wonder why he even needs a new version—the 2007 and even 2003 editions are fine—and if the product has much of a future. More»

Windows 7, open-source competition hold Chrome OS back

(NEWSER) - Microsoft needn’t stress about Google’s planned operating system, writes Joseph Tartakoff for paidContent. Five reasons why:

• Windows 7 will put Microsoft on firmer ground, having won great reviews so far—and it will have been out 9 months by the time Chrome OS appears.
• Google’s not the only behemoth that knows users are running apps inside their browsers more often: Microsoft is developing a new "browser-based OS" with that in mind.

Software can analyze the feelings in words

(NEWSER) - All you naughty Newser commenters, take note: Software developers are readying an algorithm to glean the human emotions in text and possibly censor inappropriate online discussions, New Scientist reports. So far, the biggest users of such pricey “sentiment analysis” tools are companies looking to gauge consumer reaction to brand-name products. More»

Citrix, Intel system may make it easier to leave office behind

(NEWSER) - The line between work and home keeps getting blurrier. Citrix and Intel are teaming to create a system that will make it easier for people to access work files from their personal laptops or home computers, the Miami Herald reports. The files wouldn't be on the personal computer's hard drive, but users could get to them via the company's "virtual desktop." More»

'Common knowledge isn't the same as universal knowledge,' Pogue writes

(NEWSER) - What people don’t know about basic computer tricks is pretty shocking, David Pogue found while gathering info for his New York Times column. After a call for tips from readers, all involved “soon discovered that what’s common knowledge isn’t the same as universal knowledge.” Here follow some of the choicest secrets, which Pogue urges us to “pass along to ... well, you know who they are.” More»