If You Can't Control Your Emotions, Your Computer Will

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.

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»

NaturallySpeaking takes a great leap forward in voice control

(NEWSER) - The latest incarnation of Dragon NaturallySpeaking “takes voice control unmistakably closer to that holy grail of computing,” David Pogue writes in the New York Times—being able to talk directly to your computer. Version 10 is better than 99% effective at transcribing speech, and upgrades make correcting, italicizing, and even Web search much speedier. More»

'T-rays' provide speeds 20 times faster

(NEWSER) - Japanese scientists have set a whopping record for wireless data speeds—20 times faster than typical WiFi—by using an unconventional part of the electromagnetic spectrum known as the "T-ray" band. The researchers were able to transmit data at 3 gigabytes per second. "T-ray" technology could eventually lighten the load on lower WiFi frequencies that have become jam-packed by data-hungry consumers, reports BBC . More»