Getting any new geek toy takes me through the usual unboxing and tinkering routines, particularly if it's the shiny black iPhone 4 (full CNET review) I just got in on preorder that's so coveted people are willing to sell spots in line for Thursday's retail launch.

Plugging the boxier, edgier iPhone 4 into iTunes was my first task. Staring at my roster of apps certainly forced me to consider which ones I use frequently enough to sync to this new, practically pristine device with its mere 18 preinstalled programs--only 14, really, if you don't count the phone, e-mail, Safari, and iPod buttons on the home screen.

The nature of my job as a mobile-apps reviewer keeps me in a steady stream of newly downloaded apps to test, but even with the previous iPhone always in tote, there are only a handful of programs I use--really use--enough to warrant moving over from the iPhone 3G to the iPhone 4.

OK, so by "handful" I actually mean that more than two dozen apps are making the jump, including essential social-networking apps for Facebook, Twitter (like TweetDeck), and IM (Palringo and Meebo). There are media apps I'd like to have on hand (Slacker Radio, SoundHound, Photoshop.com, Photogene), and utilities (Documents To Go, ToDo, Wikiamo). Some lifestyle apps also make my personal cut (Movies, Top Shelf Drinks, Epicurious, Yelp, Zagat.) The rest I'll live without for now until new iOS 4 features make them must-haves, or the need arises.

While on one hand it's nice to have iTunes transfer my purchases in a bundle to keep me from having to manually pick through the entire App Store, syncing isn't a lickety-split process. The wait is especially aggravating if you can't wait to put your shiny, new hardware to the test out in the real world and far, far away from your computer.

So a reminder if you've already got an iPhone but are upgrading to the new iPhone 4 in the next couple days. Pick the bare essentials judiciously for instant transferring, or move over your apps after you're finished oohing and ahhing for the night. That goes double if you're moving over music as well.

If you've got or are getting an iPhone 4, which apps make your list of iTunes transfers?

Originally posted at iPhone Atlas

A new Windows Live Essentials public beta will have deep hooks to multiple social networking, media-sharing, and Web mail services, as well as the new Office Web Apps, Microsoft announced Wednesday. The public beta will be available starting Thursday at the Windows Live site, although Microsoft has yet to say at what time.

The Live Essentials update focuses on making Windows more Web-friendly, without leaving users on the hook for uninstalling programs they don't want their computer to come with. The new betas of Windows Live Messenger, Writer, Mail, Movie Maker, and Photo Gallery will all connect to multiple cloud-based services. For social networking, they will hook into Facebook, LinkedIn, and MySpace; for media-sharing, they will connect to Flickr, YouTube, Facebook, SmugMug, and SkyDrive; there will be Web mail sharing via Gmail, Hotmail, and Yahoo Mail. There will also be connections between the Live Essentials tools and the new Office Web Apps, and blogging hooks for Blogger, WordPress, and Spaces.

The new betas will debut more than just cloud-based enhancements. Windows Live Sync will now come with a remote desktop feature, placing it in direct competition with popular tools like GoToMyPC, TeamViewer, and LogMeIn. Windows Live Photo Gallery is going to come with retouching features, as well as a stitching tool for creating panoramas and an option called "PhotoFuse" for merging multiple photos. Windows Live Mail will see a "Photo Mail" option that allows users to share up to 10 gigabytes of photos via an e-mailed link. Meanwhile, Windows Live Movie Maker's "AutoMovie" tool, which automatically adds titles and music to your already-shot movie, receives a boost to 20 preset themes.

Windows Live Essentials will no longer run on Windows XP, as Microsoft continues to throw its weight behind pushing users to Vista and Windows 7. E-mail support for Windows Live will be discontinued, too. Instead, Microsoft will redirect users to its knowledge base and support forums.

Until Thursday, Windows Live fans will have to sate their curiosity with this preview from Microsoft of the new features.

SAN FRANCISCO--Microsoft released the third platform preview for Internet Explorer 9 Wednesday, officially confirming support for two important pieces of the HTML5 standards puzzle.

Internet Explorer 9 will support the Canvas graphics technology and the video and audio tags specified as part of the still-developing HTML5 standard, said Ryan Gavin, senior director for Internet Explorer, at a media event in San Francisco. The company demonstrated the performance of the third platform preview as compared to other browsers, taking specific jabs at Firefox and Chrome as it made its demonstration.

As part of its bid to overhaul Internet Explorer--which is still the world's leading Web browser but has been losing share and cachet--Microsoft has chosen a new strategy for rolling out code to developers and browser enthusiasts. It released the first "platform preview" of IE9 at the Mix conference in March, and has now released new versions every eight weeks, Gavin said.

Rivals in the browser community--Google, Mozilla, Apple, and Opera--have long derided Microsoft for ignoring the HTML standards process, but Microsoft has changed its tune over the last several months, and embraced key parts of the standard with the third platform preview release.

"We are all in with HTML5 and modern Web standards," Gavin said in referring to the IE9 development process.

The lack of Canvas support in the second preview release raised a few eyebrows, but Microsoft was happy to confirm Wednesday that it will support the technology in IE9. It also invited several hardware partners--Nvidia, AMD, Asus, and Dell--to talk about how IE9 will take advantage of hardware acceleration in PCs to improve the performance of Web applications.

Microsoft also spent time tweaking its browser rivals after years of being on the receiving end of the joke, demonstrating how the new IE9 platform preview beats Firefox and Chrome in several speed tests, including one "Mr. Potato Gun" Web game apparently designed to be a spoof of Google's Chrome speed video featuring guns and potatoes.

Gavin refused to provide greater clarity as to when a beta version of IE9 would be released, or whether Microsoft would release a fourth developer preview version before taking the step to beta. Interested Webheads can check out the preview at Microsoft's IE Test Drive site.

Originally posted at Relevant Results

The Office 2011 for Mac preview was on display at an entertainment-related event put on by Microsoft this week.

Microsoft says the goal of this latest installment of Office for Mac is to bring the software more in line with the Windows user experience of the suite. What we see as the most notable addition to the Mac version is Outlook, the e-mail and productivity software Mac users have clamored for for years. We also noticed that like Office 2010 for Windows, the Mac version looks like it will share the same unified Ribbon interface features of its Windows counterpart across all the apps in the suite. Mac users who work in a corporate environment will surely appreciate these additions--if Microsoft can make them work well on the Mac.

Editor Scott Stein had a chance to check out the preview of Microsoft 2011 for Mac on the show floor, and it certainly seems Microsoft is on the right track.

Check back for more news of Microsoft Office 2011 for Mac including First Takes, slideshows, videos, and reviews, as we draw closer to the Office suite's release in the fourth quarter of this year.

A software program under development in Israel can supposedly detect depression in online communication, and not just through obvious indicators like "I'm sitting here alone in the dark mulling how much my sorry life sucks."

Instead, it purportedly can identify depressive meaning hidden in language that doesn't necessarily include glaring terms like "depression" or "suicide." Yair Neuman, an associate professor in the department of education at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and leader of the interdisciplinary team that developed the software, suggests the program could be used to conduct initial screenings of text penned by people who may not even realize they have a problem, thereby raising self-awareness and hopefully leading to medical help.

The program spots words, phrases, and even metaphors, to detect possible signs of depression (anxiety, sadness, preoccupation with self and with death). For example, words like "black," combined with terms such as "sleep deprivation" or "loneliness," will be recognized by the software as "depressive" texts.

To understand similarities in the way people describe the blues, the researchers conducted searches using Microsoft's Bing and extensively analyzed the word pattern "depression is like..."

They then tested the program, called Pedesis, by scanning more than 350,000 English-language texts from 17,031 bloggers (with the permission of the writers), as well as 1,600 online queries addressed to mental health experts at sites like MentalHealth.net. Once the program identified texts as depressive, a panel of four clinical psychologists reviewed 200 examples from that category. The verdict of the computer program and the analysis of the human panel correlated 78 percent of the time, according to the researchers.

"A psychologist knows how to spot various emotional states through intuition. Here, we have a program that does this methodically through the innovative use of 'Web intelligence,'" said Neuman, who specializes in semiotics and psychology and will present his team's work at the 2010 IEEE/WIC/ACM International Conference on Web Intelligence and Intelligent Agency Technology in Toronto later this summer.

Despite the preliminary nature of the system, the idea is that it could eventually serve as an additional avenue for identifying individuals in need of treatment. It could, for example, be installed by Web sites focused on consumer mental health, with a pop-up tool indicating if user comments post indicate a depressive pattern.

"No one can actually replace excellent human judgment," Neuman noted. "The problem is that most people are not aware of their situation and they will never get to an expert psychologist."

The tool can also analyze online text for word patterns indicating love and vengeance, according to Neuman. But for now the focus remains on depression.

Of course, it seems like the software could present a sizable potential for false positives. What if a blogger were to pen a sentence like, "My friends hate me because I can't stop talking about how much I'd die for the band The Black Sleep Deprivation of Loneliness"?

Remember that sarcasm-detecting algorithm we told you about not too long ago? That might come in handy here.

Originally posted at Crave

Whether you are creating your own gaming Web site or simply checking out the latest Buzz Out Loud, trying to choose one of the dozens of Web browsers out there can be a massive waste of time. Among the big five of Firefox, Internet Explorer, Chrome, Safari, and Opera, there are still more than a dozen second-tier Web browsers that are trying to make a splash in cyberspace. These obscure browsers got a break in 2009 when the European Union settled the Internet Explorer antitrust case with Microsoft. As part of the settlement, Windows PCs sold in Europe now offer a choice screen of 12 browsers.

The lesser-known browsers on the second page of the choice screen include Maxthon 2, SlimBrowser, and Flock. Aside from these, CNET Download.com editors gave high ratings to other notable alternative browsers such as the security-centric Comodo Dragon and Double Vision.

Flock, which has recently released its Chromium beta version to the public, is an example of a browser with the potential to graduate from the minor league ranks. Social-networking-centered with great drag-and-drop capabilities, Flock combines people and places together into one space by integrating Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Flickr into its streamlined interface. With the ability to share Web pages easily among your friends--who can be organized into personalized groups--more people may soon be flocking to this browser for their Internet needs.

Mixing work with entertainment is easy thanks to DoubleVision, which allows people to watch videos while they go about their other computer tasks. "Double vision" takes place with a click of a button at the top-left-hand corner of the screen. Instantly the toolbar disappears and videos as well as other Web pages hide behind the other programs being used. The transparency of the hiding video screen is adjustable, and these preferences can be saved for later use.

Maxthon 2, based on the same Trident engine that Internet Explorer uses, is highly customizable and its features include drag-and-drop capabilities, split view between two Web pages, and bookmarking a group of tabs that open concurrently. Because they share the same rendering engine, Maxthon's interface heavily resembles Internet Explorer, making it a great alternative for those who love the feel of IE but shy away from Microsoft's grip. Via Net MarketShare, Maxthon reported that it holds 22 percent of the browser market share in China as of September 2009. The company is currently testing a beta version, Maxthon 3.

Flashpeak's SlimBrowser is also a customizable Web browser that has many unique functions, including multiple translating options, page-viewing options, and shortcut tools. SlimBrowser saves time with auto form-filling and the ability to open a group of Web pages simultaneously along the tab bar.

For people who are extra cautious about their Internet security, Comodo Dragon is a Chrome remix that does not send browsing information to a remote server. Dragon is strict on sites with unstable security certificates such as Facebook, pulling up a warning message when trying to access them. While being aesthetically identical to Google Chrome, Comodo Dragon offers a data-mining-free experience; users do not have to worry about Google collecting their browsing information, even anonymously.

Choosing the browser that is right for you does not have to be a tedious experience. Before jumping to one of the big name brands, check out what these second-tier browsers can offer you.

Here's one way to settle a design debate: call a vote.

At least that's WorldMate's plan when it comes to their app's splash screen. WorldMate, is a longtime maker of a mobile travel app--for multiple platforms--that includes tools like a trip planner, flight status alerts, currency converter, and world clocks.

Starting Wednesday, WorldMate is hoping to drum up excitement for its future Android app, and possibly decide an internal difference of opinion, by asking folks to vote for one of four designs you'd see as the app loads. Just be forewarned that voting is the hook to get your beta sign-up. The upshot of being WorldMate's guinea pig: more ways for the opinionated to pass on feedback.

Originally posted at Android Atlas

I love a good price war! Earlier this week, Barnes & Noble took on Amazon, slashing its Nook e-book reader to $199 and prompting Amazon to cut the Kindle to $189.

Tuesday, Electronic Arts launched a 48-hour app sale (ending Wednesday night) that dropped 14 of its most popular iPhone/iPod games to 99 cents each.

Not to be outdone, developer Gameloft just fired back with a 99-cent sale on seven of its top titles--all of which usually sell for $4.99. Here's the list:

• Assassin's Creed - Altair's Chronicles
• Brothers in Arms 2: Global Front
  
• Gangstar: West Coast Hustle
• GT Racing: Motor Academy
  
• N.O.V.A. - Near Orbit Vanguard Alliance
• Shrek Kart
• Uno
  

N.O.V.A. for 99 cents? Too good to pass up. And my kids dig Shrek Kart.

Gameloft says these prices are available for "a limited time," which could mean they'll be gone as soon as midnight Wednesday. If you're still in a buying mood after Tuesday, grab these deals while you can.

In the meantime, note to EA, Gameloft, and other developers planning to join the price war: how about some low-price love for the iPad versions as well?

Originally posted at iPhone Atlas

If you're Skype, there's no such thing as being too ubiquitous.

On Wednesday, the VoIP calling company will start making its new SkypeKit software developer kit (SDK) available for download. SkypeKit will give programmers tools (APIs, specifically) for placing Skype modules like voice and video calling, and instant messaging, into any desktop app or compatible Internet-connected electronic device running Linux. 

SkypeKit will start off as an invitation-only beta, but developers can nonetheless request an invite. The SDK comes to device-makers on Wednesday and to Windows and Mac developers "in the next few weeks."

Download:
Skype for Windows
Skype for Mac
Skype for iPhone