PrimoPDF makeover small but useful

There's little that's sexy or even slightly interesting about PDF creation, which is why PrimoPDF has become one of the better PDF-creation programs. In the past, it's done the job of casual PDF creation right the first time you use it, and with a minimum of fuss. It hasn't been without its drawbacks, but the latest version--PrimoPDF 5--addresses most of those.

PrimoPDF 5 looks a lot like PrimoPDF 4, but that's not a bad thing.

(Credit: Screenshot by Seth Rosenblatt/CNET

If you're unfamiliar with the program, it installs itself as a "PDF printer" so that you can use any program's print function to convert the document into a PDF. Version 5 comes with desktop icon that you can drag and drop files onto for quick conversion, as well as performance improvements and minor changes throughout the program. It also addresses another problem that Primo has had: visibility. In the past, you could only access Primo from your Start menu or by creating a PDF, but the icon allows you to easily jump in and adjust Primo's settings.

Users can now set a default folder to save PDFs to, or opt to choose a new folder for each new PDF. You can also Append or Overwrite an already-existing PDF, and more easily create and edit document properties and PDF security from the main PrimoPDF interface. According to Primo's publisher, NitroPDF, the program starts faster and converts faster, and we did notice that it launched quicker than before--note that this was an empirical judgment, though.

Primo's size has been reduced slightly from 7.49MB to 7.38MB. The four conversion quality settings are still exposed up-front, too, so you can easily toggle quality settings from Screen to eBook to Print to Prepress. There's a Custom setting, as well.

Other features include a password protection feature that can be used for restricting reading, editing, or printing the PDF. However, trying to create a PDF while the interface was already open resulted in neither a new PDF nor a warning that there had been a failure. The interface also sports an ad for other PDF-related software made by Nitro that takes up half the interface.

Those hitches aside, PrimoPDF is an effective tool for quick and casual PDF creation, and that doesn't change with the latest version.

Correction: PrimoPDF's file size has not been reduced to 1.1MB. It has been reduced to 7.38MB.

BlackBerry Messenger 5.0: Get friends with bar codes

BlackBerry Messenger 5.0, now with mug shots.

(Credit: BlackBerry (RIM)

The mobile carriers have in-network calling, and BlackBerry users have BlackBerry Messenger, a BlackBerry-to-BlackBerry instant messenger that works more like e-mail than SMS to send real-time messages through RIM's servers. On Wednesday, RIM released BlackBerry Messenger 5.0, a version that pads the messenger with "avatars" (but they're more like your standard social networking mug shots), group chat, and photo sharing.

In addition to sending photos to contacts, BlackBerry Messenger 5.0 now opens the gates for transferring large files--up to 6MB in size. That's the equivalent of several photos, or one or two songs--maybe a very short video.

RIM also adds a new way to find friends. Users have been able to connect with a PIN, e-mail address, or name. Now they can lock onto each other with bar codes and cameras. One BlackBerry produces a bar code and the other snaps a photo that Messenger 5.0 can read and translate. It may not be as flashy as the Bump app for iPhone, but we'll take it.

Study: Windows 7 doesn't boot faster

Although Windows 7 has been praised for loading and shutting down faster than prior versions of Windows, one software company says that, in many cases, the new operating system can take longer to get started than Windows Vista.

Iolo Technlogies, which sells PC tune-up software, said its lab unit found that a brand-new machine running Windows 7 takes a minute and 34 seconds to become usable, as compared to a minute and 6 seconds for Windows Vista. Iolo notes that it measured not the time it takes for the desktop to appear--which can be as little as 40 seconds on a fresh installation of Windows 7--but rather the time it takes to become fully usable "with CPU cycles no longer significantly high and a true idle state achieved."

The results are also fairly similar to what CNET found in its testing of the operating system. A Microsoft representative was not immediately able to comment on Iolo's findings.

Iolo plans to release more details on its findings and methodology next week. Although it remains to be seen just how it reached its conclusion, the report is clearly not good news for an operating system whose primary selling point is doing the basics better than past versions of Windows.

I will say that for my part, I have been using Windows 7 for months now and find myself rarely doing a full reboot and instead going in and out of sleep for days at a time--a process that moves particularly quickly.

As is often the case with Windows, Iolo found that things only get worse over time. It found that a three-month-old machine can take up to a minute longer to boot, or 2 minutes and 34 seconds. Windows 7 did outperform Vista at the three-month and six-month marks, Iolo said, but it generally "trailed the older version significantly" in its boot-up tests.

I plan to follow up on this on Monday, when more details about Iolo's conclusions--and how they were reached--become available.

Updated at 7:20 p.m. PDT: On the plus side, Wall Street Journal reviewer Walt Mossberg is out with his review of Windows 7 and gives it high marks, saying Microsoft now gives Apple a run for its money.

Originally posted at Beyond Binary

With My Phone mobile sync, Microsoft reinvents the wheel

My Phone's Web dashboard resembles an in-box.

(Credit: Screenshot by Jessica Dolcourt/CNET

In step with the release of Windows Mobile 6.5 phones, Microsoft also graduated its My Phone syncing service for Windows phones (6.0-6.5) from beta to a full release. As we reported earlier this morning, most of the new features are premium additions to help you find your phone if it gets lost or stolen. We'll get to these later on. For the most part, the My Phone service acts as we expect it to--as a small app you download onto your phone, with the bulk of the management taking place on your dashboard online.

Sure enough, after downloading My Phone and signing in with your Windows Live ID (or signing up for a new one), you'll pick from a list of data types you want to sync. These include contacts, calendar items, notes, tasks, memos, photos, and videos, songs and text messages, and documents.

Syncing took over a half hour the first time around, but we were on a terribly weak EDGE connection. Let that be a lesson to all. In the style of our times, the online dashboard resembles an e-mail in-box. From it, you can view the contents of your phone, and to some extent manage certain aspects. for instance, you can add a new calendar item and comfortably edit contact info from the desktop keyboard, but we haven't found a way to add a contact or create a new text message. You can upload songs from any desktop to remotely load onto your phone, but My Phone missed the smattering of songs we already had on the phone. The photo sharing feature is more fleshed out, with options to publish images to Windows Live, Facebook, Flickr, and MySpace.

We're bummed that Microsoft hasn't broadened the syncing and sharing capabilities since My Phone's beta days. With so many other start-ups creating fuller featured in-boxes and management dashboards than My Phone, it seems to us that Microsoft has unnecessarily reinvented the wheel.

My Phone gives you some management option from the Windows phone.

(Credit: Screenshot by Jessica Dolcourt/CNET

Wheels are good things, but we would have much preferred to see Microsoft strike a deal with a partner like Dashwire, which made a similar, much more customizable dashboard you could use to originate texts and share a variety of media over e-mail. Dashwire is in the process of offering a similar product branded for Best Buy Mobile's mIQ syncing service. The legacy Dashwire dashboard had a stylish look that could have helped increase Windows phones' cool factor (My Phone is typically aesthetically bland), and best yet, Dashwire headquarters are practically around the corner from Redmond's mother ship.

Despite failing to wow us with syncing and sharing features, My Phone's premium add-ons are what differentiate its package. If you lose your phone, you can force it ring loudly for 60 seconds (they mean it), even if set to silent or vibrate, just so long as it's on. You can choose to map its current whereabouts, based on GPS or cell tower triangulation. A free variant on this maps the last known location your phone was in, which may not be the same as where it was when it disappeared. In addition, you can lock your phone remotely, also sending a message to the screen, maybe offering a reward for the finder, or sending a contact number. You'll need a pin to unlock it when the phone is recovered. Lastly, there's remote erasure, the most extreme measure.

My Phone costs about $5 for seven days of access to the entire package. You purchase it as needed from the My Phone site, from within the "Connected Phones" navigation. Microsoft is letting users try the premium find-my-phone features for free until November 30, 2009. Note that you'll see a message that you can try it out for 7-day increments.

While we haven't been overly impressed with My Phone's limited syncing and sharing features, the affordable phone-finding and securing tools do offer peace of mind--and maybe even a recovered phone.

Originally posted at CTIA Fall show

Adobe Flash apps come to iPhone--sort of

In a surprise announcement, Adobe Systems said Monday that Flash programmers now can bring their applications to Apple's iPhone, a domain of high interest that's been off limits for the programming technology.

Because of Apple restrictions, though, Flash isn't coming in the form in which most people experience it, a Web browser plug-in. Instead, programmers will be able to change Flash applications into native iPhone applications using Adobe's Flash Professional CS5 developer tool, currently in beta testing, then offer their programs as an Apple App Store download.

"This is a great first step in the right direction," said Heidi Voltmer, Adobe's product marketing manager for Flash.

The approach spotlights the tension between Apple, which controls the iPhone tightly in an effort to ensure a good user experience, and others, which want a place on the premier mobile device on the marketplace today.

Chroma Circuit is a Flash game now available as a native iPhone app.

(Credit: Screenshot by Stephen Shankland/CNET)

Adobe's back-door approach still is a significant move for the company, though, which wants to ensure that Flash is a major foundation for Internet-based applications. Programmers familiar with Flash could find the Adobe method an easier way to bring their applications to the iPhone world if they're not experts in coding for the phone and its close cousin, the iPod Touch.

Apple didn't immediately comment for this story.

Some Flash Professional CS5 beta testers are taking advantage of the technique, including BlueskyNorth, Breakdesign, FlashGameLicense.com, Muchosmedia, PushButton Labs, and Bowler Hat Games.

"With the ability to create applications for iPhone in the Flash Professional CS5 beta, I don't need to learn a new programming language or the plethora of development tools that inevitably come with it," said Josh Tynjala, founder of Bowler Hat Games, in a statement. "Instead, I'm able to spend more time exploring ways to make my games like Chroma Circuit more fun on mobile devices like the iPhone and increase my business revenue."

Adobe's ultimate goal remains the same: to get Flash on the iPhone integrated with its Safari browser. "My view is there is only one Web," said Chief Technology Officer Kevin Lynch in an interview. Adobe demonstrated the Flash applications at its Max developer conference in Los Angeles Monday, where Lynch gave the keynote address.

Flash Player 10.1, due in beta form later this year and final form in the first half of 2010, is spreading to just about all the other smartphones out there: Google Android, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, Palm WebOS, and Nokia Symbian.

Why not the iPhone, too? "The Apple iPhone SDK (software developer kit) license terms do not allow runtime interpreted code, so Adobe is not able to deliver Flash Player in Safari on the iPhone without support from Apple," Adobe said in a statement.

Voltmer didn't comment on the state of present discussions with Apple to build Flash Player directly into the iPhone. But she did say people visit Adobe's Web site looking for it.

It's not immediately clear how easily Flash applications translate to the iPhone, and most folks won't get a chance to try it until the beta is released publicly later this year. There are some limitations, Voltmer said.

For one thing, the Flash software must be written in ActionScript 3, not the earlier ActionScript 2. For another, they can't use video because of Apple restrictions, she said.

There also could be practical limits on memory, processing power, and graphics. Last year's PC running Flash Player has a lot more computing capability than a modern iPhone 3GS.

The iPhone and iPod Touch have some features that are well-suited to mobile gaming, though, and programmers will be able to use them. That includes the multitouch interface and accelerometer that detects device orientation, said Adrian Ludwig, a Flash team member at Adobe.

Updated at 1:48 p.m. PDT with further comment from Adobe and no comment from Apple.

Adobe developer tools let Flash programmers turn their applications into native iPhone software. This is a Flash game called Chroma Circuit.

(Credit: Screenshot by Stephen Shankland/CNET)

Originally posted at Deep Tech

Google lets 100 artists paint on Chrome canvas

Mariah Carey gets her own Google Chrome theme.

(Credit: Stephen Shankland/CNET)

I'm a little confused. Is Chrome supposed to be a minimally intrusive window to the Web or a splashy showcase for your favorite graphical style?

If you're in the latter camp, the type of person who picks desktop wallpaper carefully and reskins every software that can be reskinned, you'll be pleased with Google's unveiling Monday of artist themes for its Chrome browser. If you're the more utilitarian sort, avoid clicking on the Themes Gallery page.

These two possible attitudes aren't mutually exclusive, but they do live awkwardly together in Chrome. For an artistic canvas, Google's browser has only a minimal menu bar across the top, and it's often obscured by tabs. The best opportunity to show off some graphical pizzazz is the new-tab page, which perhaps someday will become some all-purpose Google portal page but for now is just a means to getting to some other Web page as fast as possible.

But Marissa Mayer, Google's vice president of search and user experience, enjoys any opportunity to promote her fondness for fashion and art. Who else could have been behind the Oscar de la Renta, Chloe, Kate Spade, and Dolce & Gabbana themes?

A total of 100 new themes are now an option alongside the less eye-catching themes that Google already offered on its own. Mayer's status as patron of the arts only goes so far, though: several artists declined the opportunity to give their work to Google for free, according to The New York Times.

Themes are just eye candy, though perhaps HTML5's built-in audio support will add another dimension some day. Nevertheless, plenty of people care passionately about themes as a way to lighten up their computing experience or display loyalty to some cause. (Any Porsche fans out there?) One feature in Firefox 3.6, code-named Namoroka and about to enter beta testing, is the advancement of the Personas visual customization tool from plug-in to built-in.

I ran into a few snags. The menu-bar text of Mariah Carey's Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel theme was only visible on a very wide monitor, with Chrome not maximized and few tabs showing. With the Takora Kimiyoshi Futori theme, I couldn't read status bar pop-up text such as a Web address I hovered over with my mouse. And switching from one theme to another changed the menu bar but not an already visible new-tab page, producing an even more jarring opportunity for visual cacophony.

I generally don't use themes, but I have to say I'm glad they exist. They enable a certain whimsy and help add a bit of spice to a computing experience that can be very impersonal.

Sixteen of the hundred themes now available for Chrome.

(Credit: Screenshot by Stephen Shankland/CNET)

Originally posted at Deep Tech

IE overall usage slips, but IE 8 gains

From August (top) to September (below), Internet Explorer lost a bit of usage share compared with rival browsers.

(Credit: Net Applications)

All four of Internet Explorer's main rivals gained a larger share of users worldwide from August to September, new statistics show.

According to Net Applications, which tracks browser usage globally through a network of 40,000 Web sites and some statistical processing, IE slipped from 67 percent to 65.7 percent of users.

Firefox has steadily won over more users since version 1.0 arrived nearly five years ago, and it continued the trend with an increase from 23 percent to 23.8 percent. Apple's Safari rose from 4.1 percent to 4.2 percent, Google Chrome from 2.8 percent to 3.2 percent, and Opera from 2 to 2.2 percent. Although a few tenths of a percent may sound small, multiplied by the millions of browser users over the Internet, it can mean a large absolute number of people.

Firefox passed an important milestone over the month-long period, with the newer Firefox 3.5 replacing version 3.0 as the leading version. The newer version furthers Mozilla's ambitions to upgrade Web technologies with new features such as faster JavaScript and built-in video.

Microsoft has restarted what had been a somewhat dormant browser developer program, releasing IE 8 earlier this year. But IE 6 still is the leading version of Microsoft's browser, followed by IE 7 in second place.

In a bright spot for Microsoft, though, IE 8 usage increased from 15.1 percent to 16.8 percent, as IE 6 and IE 7 dropped.

Originally posted at Deep Tech