These days, many people are looking for various ways of managing, launching, and organizing their applications.  As such, one of the most popular types of software available are application launchers.  An application launcher is basically a program that allows you to easily launch applications on your computer with the use of hotkeys, keystroke combination, or mouse clicks.  The main idea behind application launchers is to make life easier, streamlining the way you search for and open your programs.  One of the most popular application launcher programs is called Circle Dock.  Circle Dock has a number of distinct advantages over the many other application launchers that you can find out there.  In this article, you will find an overview of some of Circle Dock's features, as well as a short background on the application.

How Circle Dock started

Circle Dock first made its debut around two years ago when the program was entered into a contest.  The contest was run by a website called Donation Coder, which is dedicated to those who love making, developing, and sharing software.  The site holds software programming contests every-so-often and Circle Dock was just one of the many programs that has been entered into a Donation Coder contest.  Circle Dock was created by a man named Eric Wong around two years ago.  Today, it has become a popular application launcher for Windows-based systems.

Features of Circle Dock

*  Circular-shaped application launcher -  As its name implies, Circle Dock is an application launcher that takes on a circular shape.  When invoked via a hotkey, the launcher shows and you can use your mouse to click on the folder, application, or file that you want to open.  You can also use the scroll wheel on your mouse to rotate the circle to the particular shortcut that you want to run.

*  Fully-customizable functionality and appearance -  Perhaps the best thing about Circle Dock is how customizable it is.  You can change the functions by customizing hotkeys, mouse combos, rotation speed, and, of course, the shortcuts on that are docked.  You can also get the perfect look by customizing the size, shape, transparency, and icons on the dock.

*  User-friendly -  When Circle Dock was released, one of the main complaints about the program was the fact that it lacked a user guide or help section that users could refer to to get the most out of the product.  This has changed, however, and you can now find forum discussions, help pages, FAQ pages, and wiki articles on Circle Dock and its many uses.

If you are looking for an application launcher that can help make your day-to-day computer use easier, more efficient, and even more stylish, then you may want to give Circle Dock a try.

Recently, Novell has announced its release of a package deviced for Independent Software Vendors (ISV) and may also be utilized by various IT enterprises. The toolkit is designed to handle software appliances, combining the application, application server, OS, and database into one single component. According to Matt Richards, the director of Novell’s Emerging Technology Marketing, software appliances is the latest way to package softwares. “Users buy one thing, called a software appliance. It makes the buying process easier, it makes the installation process easier.” He said.

The Novell SUSE Appliance Toolkit will allow independent software vendors to increase their productivity. With the help of the toolkit, users will be able to reduce software development time, installation, and costs of maintenance.

“The SUSE Appliance Toolkit  from Novell can can potentially help our business partners deliver IBM Software to their customers, quickly, efficiently, and cost effectively” said Dr. Bob Sutor, the vice president of the Open Source and Linux, IBM Group.

The toolkit is basically an element of the SUSE Appliance Program. The program in itself is geared into building, updating, configuring, and marketing the complete and fully functional softwares. Because of its obvious benefits, there have been thousands of registration for the program ever since its announcement in July of last year. Some of the SUSE Appliance program members include Black Diamond Software, IBM, Adobe, GroundWork Open Source, and others.

According to Markus Rex, Open Platform Solutions vice president and general manager, the SUSE Appliance Toolkit makes it “easier for enterprises and ISV’s to quickly create, deliver and configure tailored, ready to use installations of their applications for physical, virtual and cloud computing environments.”

Features of the SUSE Appliance Toolkit include:

SUSE Studio Onsite – This is a local version of the SUSE Studio Online. Basically, this contains most of the features of the popular SUSE Studio Online but will be provided within a server that is hosted by the data center.

SUSE Lifecycle Management Server – This is used for authentication and access control to make software distribution that much easier.

Support for KIWI – This is a tool for creating appliances.

WebYaST – This is used to enable remote, Web based configuration of the SUSE Linux Enterprise.

Development of applications today are time and resource consuming. Hence, the development of Software Appliances are expected to cause a huge impact in the industry, making it more possible for the industry to improve production.

The toolkit costs around $100,000 for enterprises and free for ISVs who are building a model around Suse Enterprise Linux. The market for the software appliance is expected to grow around 1.1 billion dollars in two years time. Already available in the market, more information about the product can be found in www.novell.com/toolkit or www.novell.com/appliances.

It seems that the people of Nokia are really working hard. Summer of last year, they afforded us glimpses of the upcoming mobile operating system Symbian^4. Although they haven't released the actual product yet, another teaser comes up that gives consumers a more refined idea of what to expect form the communications company.

The company has already submitted a proposal, authored by the Head of User Experience Design for Nokia Symbian Devices, Elizabeth Dykstra-Erickson, and is now asking for reactions from its users and developers. Gaining people's attention, the "User Interface Concept Proposal" contains more technical aspects of the much awaited Symbian^4.

What are the new additions to noted in the released proposal?

A few of the small additions that you might find notable are the top and bottom menu bars that can disappear completely off screen. Hence, the menu will be cut back down and streamlined into four basics, namely music, photos, applications, and contacts. As mentioned, the ultimate objective of the S^4 user interface is to "simplify the S60 experience".

In the proposal, Nokia has been honest about the similarities and dissimilarities of their S^4 to competitors. For example, the moveable homescreen is much like Androids.  However, instead of having one multi-panel screen, Symbian will adapt independent pages for the functions. The flattened application library adapted by iPhone also comes into play; however, Symbian will not be going for manual organization. Instead, Nokia have opted for an alphabetically arranged layout. Also mentioned is Palm's WebOS exit commands with Symbian saving the condition when exiting rather than keeping the application running in the background. It seems that users can also expect more consistency throughout the Symbian^4.

Symbian^4 is on its way

Of course, keep in mind that these are only proposals and currently has no guarantees for outcome. However, the proposal comes from Symbian's largest costumer, so the odds of it being approved are on their favor. Hopefully, Nokia will be addressing the problems found in its current Symbian. What makes this interesting is the fact that Nokia still doesn't have an OS that is specially made for touch screen phones. For N97, they are using a version of the Symbian S60 which doesn't really mean much since it only add touch-phone elements, but leaves the remaining factors as it is. Hence, we should be able to expect something more from Nokia's upcoming mobile operating system.

The bad news is that we won't be able to see the results until sometime around 2011. But judging from the proposal, we'll be seeing better results in the future. In the meantime, people might want to read the proposal and start figuring out for themselves if the Symbian^4 is worth all the hype.

Just recently, Google hosted a big event launching its latest Nexus One, the first model created on the Android 2.1 operating system (OS). The event mostly centered on the Android 2.1 OS and what the user's can expect from Google's latest. And now, the developers and users can get their hands on the Android 2.1 SDK and start availing of its features. So what exactly would make users love this Android 2.1? Here are some of the features you might love about the new OS:

Multiple emails

The new OS is capable of opening more than one Gmail account via the same inbox. This is especially useful for people who have multiple Gmail accounts, which when you think about it is practically everyone. Hence, you don't have to make switches anymore, subtracting the hassle of setting up two separate accounts.

Photo gallery

The photo gallery will be grouped according to dates, time, and location. This translates to a much more coordinated album. What's more, you'll be able to do your browsing via a 3D wall, which Google has adapted from COOLIRIS.

Living wallpapers

Although for some, this feature could just be one way of wasting your battery, others may find an interactive wallpaper a novelty. Especially for those who want their phones to look pretty, the interactive wallpaper feature can be one of the most attractive attribute of the Android 2.1.

Voice controls

Some people count this as an amazing feature. Imagine being able to send emails and tweets via voice directions. Now, isn't that cool? You can tell the phone what you want and it will take you there via specific voice directions. With this feature, people could find greatly increased efficiency in their daily lives, not to mention that it sounds like something out of a futuristic movie.

Weather application

It provides per minute updates via GPS and gives information ranging from temperature and humidity in your location.

Google Earth

Granted, this is not entirely new since iPhone already has Google Earth. However, some users may find that Android 2.1's Google Earth has a few tweaks that put it a few notches cooler than iPhone's.

Automatic phonebook

This device is relatively easy to use. The only thing you have to do is sign up on your Google account via phone, and just like that, everything's updated. User friendly at its best, once connected, it can automatically pull up relevant information without too much problems.

The application becomes more efficient too. No longer do you have to drag--all you have to do is tap and the application zooms in. Now, isn't that great? There are actually various features that you might love about Google's Android 2.1, but so far these are the ones you might want to watch out for.

January 27 is the day. At least, that's what it says in Apple's cryptic -- as usual -- invitation sent out to the press. They phrased the invite as "Come see our latest creation" followed by the time and date. The event will be held at San Francisco's Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater, Wednesday at 10 a.m.

Rumors and speculations about the iTablet release

Of course, in typical human fashion, we can't help but speculate about the event. Most people are of the belief that January 27 is the day Apple releases its much talked about "tablet." Some people are dubbing it as the iTablet while other prefer the moniker iSlate. No matter what Apple calls it, the sure thing is that it will be big.

The invitation in itself caused speculation. It shows the Apple logo with splotches of paint as background. Some people are leaning towards the theory that whatever Apple unveils, it will focus more on art in technology. Perhaps more about music, videos, and movies.

A recent story on Fox News reveals that the iSlate will be the main focus of the January 27 event. It seems that the source is an Apple insider, giving a sense of credibility to the story. Additionally, the source also mentions the introduction of the iPhone OS 4.0 and iLife 2010. Hopefully, these gadgets would be configured for touch screen controls.

Speculations about the specs of Apple's latest gadget

Rumors reveal that the tablet will be around 10.7 inches and will have a higher resolution compared to the iPod Touch screen. They also say that one version will come with 3G networking. However, Boy Genius Report speculates upon a smaller iSlate size -- 7 inches. But, the rumors are also pointing towards two versions of the iSlate. One with the 3G networking and one without. Another rumor has also been shot down by others, specifically pertaining to the use of an OLED screen.

An iPhone and iPod blog, ILounge, cites a source that says that the "iSlate" will serve as a replacement for books and magazine.

But how much will it cost? Rumors state prices below $1000, possibly between 600 to 900 dollars. This is probably why the OLED screen theory has become unlikely, as mentioned previously. From what we know, OLED screens are still on the expensive side and if the price rumors are true, then alternative screens will definitely be used.

With so many speculations, it will be difficult to separate the likely from the out-of-this-world. But then again, recent years have shown us that technology knows no bounds. If the iSlate is everything rumors say it is, then it will serve much much more purposes than being a portable e-book reader. People might be surprised to find that Apple will present an all-around and extremely portable computer.

It's sure that gadget addicts out there can't wait for January 27. Whatever it is, it's sure to be worth the wait.

Adobe goes environmentally friendly as it installs wind turbines, generating friendly electricity for its offices. During the recent December holidays, Adobe System had the turbines installed at its offices at Park Avenue and Almaden Boulevard. According to Adobe's officials, the installation of the turbines is part of a bigger plan to obtain renewable power supply for all their facilities globally, running electricals such as computers and lights.

Adobe's wind turbines

However, the hype is not really about the move for renewable energy. A few big companies -- like Microsoft and Google -- have already adapted this move, installing solar panels to supply their energy needs. However, the decision for harnessing wind power is somewhat out of the setting. After all, you will generally see these turbines in suburban or rural areas and not in high-rise offices.

Taking a different approach, Adobe installed 20 small wind turbines. Each turbine measures 30 feet in height and 4 feet in width and is installed vertically. The turbines are created to rotate slowly. This is to avoid possible bird-crashes especially since some peregrine falcons have been spotted nearby . Although Adobe won't say how much the overall construction costs, it is said that the amount is slightly lower than creating a solar system. Adobe senior director Randy Knox also admits that the reduction in electricity costs is large enough that they could cover the cost of the installation in around eight years. Knox refers to it as an "investment that needs to be developed."

The reason behind the move

But why wind turbines? After all, we often see them in big, empty spaces. The thing is that the Adobe area is not big enough to install sufficient amount of solar panels. However, it seems that they are not lacking in the wind department. Randy Knox, the head of Adobe's wind power project, mentions that "In an urban environment, there's a lot of wind tunnels, even at ground level."

Perhaps that's the reason why the new installation works. Together, the wind turbines are expected to produce 50,000 kilowatt hours of electricity per year. Although it's enough to provide power to more than one home, the expected output will only cover around 2 percent of Adobe's electrical consumption.

So far, Adobe has already garnered the "green building" certification because of its efforts to lower electricity consumption. Still, Knox reveals that the company is also looking at solar panels as well as fuel cells as possible sources of renewable energy.

Adobe obtained the turbines from Mariah Power, which calls them Windspires. Each one can produce around 1.2 kilowatts of electricity. From where it stands, the wind turbines of Adobe can be easily seen by people who pass. This is excellent since it can make people more aware of alternative energy sources.

Just recently, the Chinese Writers Association had posted Google’s apology statement for scanning their books in an online search system. It was a move to appease copyright concerns. The Chinese Author Society had demanded a resolution plan from Google to properly compensate the affected authors. They also asked for a complete list of books that were scanned and said they can no longer scan more books. Asia-Pacific’s Google Book representative Erik Hartmann made a public apology aired by China’s state broadcaster.

Google's legal issues

China is only one of the countries that Google has experienced legal problems with. The United States and France are included in this mix. The Chinese group had demanded compensation for the authors whose works were placed in the database without their permission. At least 17,000 Chinese books were scanned by Google Book’s program.  Google has been guilty of scanning so many works without seeking the writer’s permission beforehand. This enables internet users to view content on the Google Books services without the author or publisher’s knowledge.

Google has learned from its past mistakes and said in the statement to the Chinese that it would stop its questionable practices. They are targeting March as the end of their copyright troubles. Hopefully by then they’ll reach a general agreement and sign the final one during the second quarter.

The problem stems from the differing copyright system of US and China. Even author Mian Mian sued a copyright infringement lawsuit to Google for scanning her novel “Acid Lover” and showing this online. Google is more than willing to apologize and take responsibility for its actions. Communication with the Chinese has been tricky. But the online giant has made efforts to discuss the matter with a local copyright protection group.

Google's response to the copyright conflicts

Despite complaints, a spokeswoman from Google says that it still complies with copyright law since it only shows parts of the books. Since they do not show the whole book, they do not need the prior permission of the works’ authors. Just a week before, the Chinese settled a dispute with Microsoft, with the court ruling that Chinese fonts were used without permission. The fonts were sold along with its operating systems. The Beijing Number One Intermediate People’s Court demanded Microsoft to stop selling Windows systems with the Chinese fonts. The enthusiastic action to settle copyrights in China is strong, despite piracy being a common practice around the country. Ironically, pirated software of Windows 7 and other computer programs are sold in the country’s bargain bazaars and street stalls. Windows 7’s pirated versions were readily available to budget customers in China weeks before Windows itself released the software.

A Consumer Electronics Show (CES) held in Las Vegas, Nevada was able to stun attendees with a display combining 3-D, entertainment, Internet, and software. Before this bounce, CES was still recovering by the economic recession as sales were put on hold in 2009. Customers did not have enough money to spend on the consumer electronics’ 3-D television sets and electronic readers.

The best of CES

Rob Enderle, analyst of the Silicon Valley Enderle Group, says that CES is definitely back based on this show. Lead technology analyst of Digitaltrends.com Scott Steinberg says that it’s “one of the most exciting CES events we’ve had in years.” The event promises new beginnings in technology and guarantees more steady profit. Techies can anticipate a long wait but the wait will involve some very important small steps towards innovation.

The event had over 2,500 exhibitors. Exhibits were dominated by tablet, slate, and e-reader devices. This products show that companies are keeping up with the “iSlate” of the iPhone and Apple’s other tablet-related products. Tablet devices will have outsmart one another as they try to stand out in the new competitive market.

Several device manufacturers revealed a new set of netbooks, tablets, and smartphones based on the Android software of Google. The Nexus One smartphone was revealed in private meetings and in a Las Vegas hotel event. Unfortunately, it was not revealed in the CES show itself. Instead, the Google Androids were spread about the show’s displayed devices.

As for television technology, there is an obvious shift from hardware-based technology to software-based devices. Many companies are keeping up with this shift. It won’t be an easy transition, considering both technologies are sort of in opposite ends. Enderle even predicts that TVs will be connected to the web in the future. The online innovation of TV began in last year’s CES, when Yahoo! included software “widgets” in some televisions. This year, the technology has improved, impressing guests with a diverse set of television software and online services.

3-D technology at CES

As for 3-D technology, it is still not ready for commercial use, sales, and consumption. The price and unnecessary technological need of 3-D won’t have customers flocking to shops to get 3-D glasses. Technology still needs to be developed to refine its programming. However, CES controllers and chips can improve the video game experience with 3-D graphics. Video game geeks will have a ball as soon as they get hold of and experience this piece of information.

These various displays obviously indicate it was a successful event. Attendance count is over 120,000 guests, 20 percent more than those present in the previous years. Garnter, a tech industry research firm, hopes the people’s enthusiastic response will improve the economy and eventually consumer electronics sales.

The government of China and seven computer companies were sued by a software maker in the United States after allegations of piracy have been brought to court, particularly on account of the company’s Internet filtering software.

Charges of piracy and stealing

The complainant is Cybersitter LLC, maker of software created specifically for parents, providing them with a means to sort out which types of content may be seen by their children or otherwise. According to Cybersitter LLC, the Chinese were able to copy and use its codes, integrating them into software used by the Chinese government in order to stop citizens from getting access to sites which are not politically favorable. The software company also filed a suit against computer manufacturers, including Lenovo, Toshiba, and Sony, for allegedly incorporating the program into computers sold within the borders of China.

Lawyer Gregory Fayer represents Cybersitter, which is currently based in Santa Barbara, and in his statement he maintains that what the Chinese have committed is blatant stealing. According to him, the theft was brought into attention after a researcher at a university published an online report on web-based filtering programs. As it appears, after the software makers from China were able to download the program through the server, the codes were then integrated into the program, also known as Green Dam Youth Escort.

The other side of the coin

Questions were posed to the foreign ministry of China. However these were passed on to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, which weren’t able to give out comments immediately upon request. Also, a representative from the Lenovo Group announced through e-mail that the company has no further comments on the case, except that the Lenovo has stopped shipping computer units with Green Dam for a few months.

As for Sony Corporation and Benq Corporation from Taiwan, both refused to comment stating that they lack sufficient details on the pending litigation. Other computer companies involved in the case, such as Toshiba Corp, Acer Inc., and Asustek Computer Inc. of Taiwan, and Lenovo Group and Haier Group of China, all refused to give out comments or answer questions.

Cybersitter also filed charges on two software makers in China, Zhengzhou Jinhui Computer System Engineering and Beijing Dazheng Human Language Technology Academy. Both were not able to comment on the said pending case filed against them.

Cybersitter seeking royalty damages

Cybersitter is actually a family-owned business. Accordingly, the company is set to fight for royalty damages due on the software, which retails at $39.95 per copy. According to the company lawyer, Gregory Fayer, Cybersitter is offering the world a unique product, and such original ideas should be subject to intellectual property rights. Protection for these products should be made available at all times.

Although Apple has no present plans of supporting Adobe Systems’ Flash multimedia software to any of their line of smartphones, other telecommunications companies and handset manufacturers see the need for Flash 10.1 support and are currently planning to make available software updates in the very near future.

The need for broader web content range and access

Among the handset manufacturers who trust that consumers want broader access to web content through their mobile devices are Palm and Motorola. Both Palm and Motorola have plans of adding Flash 10.1 support to their range of smart phones, as stated by chief executives of both companies, at the Las Vegas-held International Consumer Electronics Show or CES.

It was only last year that Flash 10.1 was publicized by Adobe. It was also announced during that time that about 19 handset vendors have plans of shipping their models along with the software, beginning the mid of 2010. Motorola was one of the staunchest supporters of Adobe Flash 10.1, assuring Adobe that it will support the software on their Android models starting the first quarter of 2010.

The unveiling of the Backflip

It was on Wednesday that the Backflip Android handset model was first announced and made public, by the Chief Executive Office of the handset division of Motorola, Sanjay Jha. It was also during the same event that Jha mentioned about how Motorola has been preparing for a software update that will work with Flash 10.1. Nonetheless, no specific date has been given as to when this update may be utilized by users, although the plan has been going on already for not less than a year.

Adobe announced at the start of the week how they have been partnering with Google in an effort to add Flash 10.1 to the recently unveiled Android Nexus One phone, manufactured also by HTC.
 
Palm to support Flash

Other than Motorola, Palm is also prepared to add Flash 10.1 support to their range of smartphones. Paul Cousineau, director for the product marketing division of Palm, has announced in a press conference that the WebOS operating system of Palm is prepared to accommodate Flash 10.1 support. Furthermore, this support will be made available to users through a downloadable and easy-to-install plugin for their mobile handsets.

In an attempt to show how users can be benefited by a Flash content access on the Internet, Paul Cousineau played a Flash movie trailer for the film, Avatar, using a Pre handset.

Again, no specific date has been announced yet as to when the Flash support will be enjoyed by Palm users. However, representatives for the company have given the assurance that the plugin will be available soon. Blackberry and Windows mobile handsets are also set to receive Flash 10.1 support, along with Android handsets and models running on WebOS.