software

New review: 'Hordes of Orcs' for Mac

It's extremely rare for me to talk about games two weeks in a row for the Mac Daily Download, but a recent release from our friends at Freeverse Software is too good to pass up. When I heard the makers of great Mac games like Kill Monty, WingNuts 2, and Burning Monkey Solitaire were making a new twist on the online hit Desktop Tower Defense, I was immediately interested. As with most everything that comes from the folks at Freeverse, I wasn't disappointed.

Hordes of Orcs puts a new spin on Desktop Tower Defense games with smooth 3D … Read more

RealPlayer 11: A new way to handle online video

Back in May, Señor Bell wrote about the new RealPlayer, which promised users the ability to download video in a variety of formats (Flash, WMV, Quicktime) from a variety of sites (YouTube, Comedy Central, and so on) using a variety of Web browsers. Somewhat unsurprisingly, I've gotten a variety of results. RealPlayer is fresh out of beta (download Version 11 for Windows from Download.com)--the perfect time to put it to the test, in my book. Personally, I don't find the latest version particularly useful for my video tastes, but you may find it compelling, … Read more

Radiohead, open source, and the problem with free

What a short, strange trip it was, but it's now over. With little fanfare, Radiohead has stopped its free promotion of In Rainbows via its "pay whatever the heck you want, we're rich already!" model. The band's manager hardly gave a ringing endorsement to the effort:

This was a solution to a series of issues. I doubt it would work the same way ever again.

Faint praise, indeed.It's too bad, but perhaps it's not surprising. I paid $20 for my copy (and yes, I have the receipt to prove it) but the music is worth far more to me. It is one of the best albums I've ever heard--I listen to it almost daily. But human nature is to try to get something for nothing, and most Radiohead so-called fans did just that.

Interestingly, this same phenomenon is as true of software/IT as it is of music. Give an IT buyer the option of getting something for nothing, and she will, nine times out of 10. Not because she's evil, but because when it comes time to fork over the cash, it's always easier to retain that which we're not compelled to give up.… Read more

Get DivX Pro for free

DivX is pretty much a staple for anyone who downloads videos from the Interwebs, as virtually all videos distributed that way are compressed and encoded using the DivX format. The DivX player has always been free of charge, but DivX Pro, which you need if you want to create your own DivX files, costs $19.99. Or not, if you hurry up and take advantage of a DivX holiday promotion offering DivX Pro absolutely free. It's available for Windows and Mac users, though I don't know for how long: the site doesn't say when the promotion ends. (… Read more

Microsoft ramps up antipiracy efforts with 52 lawsuits

Microsoft has filed 52 lawsuits against alleged software pirates.

The software giant, which has led an active campaign against counterfeit copies of its software over the years, announced Tuesday that it filed cases against resellers in countries that ranged from China to the Netherlands to the United Kingdom and United States.

Microsoft noted that in 15 of the 52 cases, the software involved could allegedly be traced to a massive commercial counterfeit syndicate that Chinese authorities and the FBI broke up this summer. Most of the alleged illicit sales were conducted through e-commerce sites.

Counterfeit copies of their digital goods … Read more

Add voice dialing to your Treo or Centro

As much as I love my new Palm Centro smartphone, it's not terribly smart when it comes to voice dialing.

OK, it can't do it at all. Same goes for its Treo brethren. (All together now: Weak!)

At least there's third-party software to fill in the gap. VoiceIt Technologies' VoiceDialIt provides fairly seamless voice dialing for the Centro and Treo. And from now until December 31, you can snag it for $15.95 (normally $24.95).

The software employs a simple, attractive interface for adding voice-dial contacts, either manually or from your address book. I installed it … Read more

Online video tutorials for popular songs

So you bought a guitar (or bass, or drum kit). Now what? Back in my day, there were several popular ways to learn how to play. You could take lessons, which was probably the quickest way to get to basic competence, but seemed short on creativity and punk-rock DIY spirit. You could play along to CDs by your favorite bands, which was slow, error-prone, and frustrating, but balanced by occasional moments of "a ha" enlightenment. (This is how I did it, playing along to Led Zeppelin, which were the only CDs I had in my possession after a … Read more

Ellison's NetSuite launches IPO auction

Get those bidder paddles ready. NetSuite launched on Monday its long-anticipated IPO auction, with hopes of raising in excess of $99 million.

The auction, the first of NetSuite's four-step IPO process, is expected to close as early as December 19 at the market's close.

NetSuite, the on-demand applications company backed by Larry Ellison of Oracle fame, will then use the bid information to set a final IPO price, which will help it determine who should receive an allocation of shares.

For example, if a bidder wants 100 shares at $8 a share, another 100 shares at $10 a … Read more

A Nobel Laureate begs for books in a world of superfluities

Doris Lessing was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. Her acceptance speech clamors for depth in our discussions. The very fact that TechCrunch - king of the tech soundbite - dissed it is testament enough of the veracity of her words.We live in a very shallow culture. I feel this in just a small way with my posts. If I want maximum pageviews I say something shallow but controversial about Apple, Microsoft, or Google. A post about the iPod - any post - will garner more attention than a post probing Oracle's licensing model and what it may mean for enterprises. (Dan Farber notes this same phenomenon in discussing coverage of enterprise versus consumer software.)

Today on the Tube in London I noticed that no one was reading the Independent, Guardian, or Times. Just Metro because it's free and easy.Against this backdrop, Ms. Lessing's counsel seems appropriate and biting:

We are in a fragmenting culture, where our certainties of even a few decades ago are questioned and where it is common for young men and women, who have had years of education, to know nothing of the world, to have read nothing, knowing only some speciality or other, for instance, computers.… Read more