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Clientshow

Clientshow is the latest collaborative tool pitched at creative professionals. Like ProofHQ and Conceptshare it’s designed to let designers get together with clients and share works in progress, as well as get sign-offs on projects.

Clientshow's dashboard lets you track different projects with multiple clients.

Trollim

Metricly is a free tool that lets users create their own analytics dashboard from a number of sources. It hooks into Google Analytics, QuickBooks, and Salesforce and can grab similar numbers from each and slap them onto one graph. It also plugs into Twitter and Facebook and can show you graphs of how many tweets or followers you’ve accumulated, as well as fans on Facebook. Services that aren’t on its list of presets, but that have API keys, can be plugged in too.

The service is free to use and works in 1,900 cities, although the only mobile app for it yet is for the iPhone. For more on it, see our full story.

(Credit:
Josh Lowensohn/CNET)

The technology will initially be used for ad targeting and audience metrics, but is also being developed for use in automobiles as a way to alert drivers when the system believes they’re becoming drowsy. Here’s a demo of what it did on Digg founder Kevin Rose’s face:

Citysourced

Crowdflower

Metricly

This record of wins and losses are tracked in a social network that’s similar to a game ranking site. Users can continue to attack more challenges to up their ranks, and fight their way into a pit of top users–something Trollim’s creators plan to offer up to employers as a way to find good programmers.

Its big difference from some of the existing services is that it’s an Adobe AIR application, and that it offers a ready-to-print version of a project’s entire history so that attendees or project coordinators can print it out and get a quick heads up on what’s changed.

SAN FRANCISCO–A handful of products at the TechCrunch50 conference are working on better ways to help people get business done. Many are new plays on old ideas, while a few offer a new approach for existing systems.

(Credit:
Josh Lowensohn/CNET)

(Credit:
Josh Lowensohn/CNET)

The service is split up into different modules. One lets you upload all your work, while the other lets users go through and leave notes on it, including comments and sign-offs. The third module is a presentation mode that lets you do a live demo of the files to clients.

Citysourced combines data points from public complaints onto maps.

Crowdflower is a new service from Dolores Labs that aims to make outsourced Web labor a more verified and manageable experience. It tracks how long a worker on something like Amazon’s Mechanical Turk takes to do a particular job, as well as how well they did on it. That information is then stored on the service, giving the people hiring for the job a way to see how well that person should perform when doing it, as well as selecting higher-quality candidates to work on a particular task.

Affective Interfaces had one of the more interesting demos of the day–using facial expressions to track emotional reactions or moods. It records a user’s face while they’re watching something online, then matches up those reactions to what was happening on the screen. Its analysis engine can then make an educated guess at what kind of emotion it was, all of which are highlighted on the video’s timeline.

Correction, 2:15 p.m. PDT: This story initially misstated what type of phone the Citysourced mobile app runs on. It is the iPhone. Palm has made an investment in the company to build an app for the Pre.

Citysourced is the latest tool to help people make note of problems with their city. Users take a photo of a problem, then upload it to Citysourced where it’s stuck onto a map and a list of other problems. This list keeps track of whether the city is working on that problem.

Worth mentioning is an enterprise edition that’s in the works that does away with the game aspect and can be used to simply test programmers, or to pit them against each other.

Metricly got hounded on by the judges for not having enough depth to fulfill the needs of hardcore users as well as it not launching with a price tag. The initial offering is free of charge, but its creators are planning to launch a paid premium version that adds extra API connections and data tracking features that will run somewhere between $10 to $100 a month when it’s launched.

Metricly can take data points from multiple sources and let you stack it up against each other.

(Credit:
Josh Lowensohn/CNET)

Trollim is a new site that aims to test and rank the skills of programmers. Pitched as a way to choose between two employees with similar skills, it has users solve code challenges. These are usually just code segments that have a quick and simple fix, letting Trollim’s system figure whether they solved the problem correctly. Future versions will take real problematic code samples to be solved, that have been offered up by third parties.

Trollim's skill claiming.

Affective Interfaces

The My Security Zone tab is where most of the application control features live. From here, a clean chart organizes your installed programs according to trustworthiness, the Digital Identity Protection feature allows you to uncover which files your personal information resides in according to program, and the Safe Run sandbox can be controlled. Safe Run nearly doubles the amount of RAM the program uses, but provides a secure environment for launching a program. Safe Run also comes with a sandboxed folder into which you can save files without worry. The feature currently will not run on Windows 7 computers, but Kaspersky has told me that it expects to have the feature fixed before the October release of the new operating system.

UPDATED: Benchmarks provided by CNET Labs were added on Monday, August 24.

If you’re testing the trial version, a yellow bar announcing that your computer security is at risk can be toggled under the Report link at the top right of the main window, then go to the Status tab.

The program also comes with an auto-run disable feature and a virtual keyboard so that you can enter in passwords without worrying about a keylogger. I think most users will find this superfluous. The new gamer mode, however, isn’t. This basically keeps Kaspersky functioning while you play games but kills interrupting pop-ups and strips memory usage down to its minimum.

Programs can be launched into Safe Run in one of two ways. You can add the program manually through the Kaspersky Security Zone panel, or you can launch it on the fly using the context menu. Hopefully, there will be casual launcher added to jump lists in Windows 7, but that feature doesn’t exist now.

Setting a scheduled scan in Kaspersky Internet Security 2010 is no simple task.

If you’re interested only in Kaspersky Anti-Virus, it contains the most of the same engines and features as Kaspersky Internet Security. It lacks the personal two-way firewall, parental and privacy control, whitelisting and application control, safe run virtual sandbox, antispam protection, and banner ad blocking.

(Credit:
Screenshot by Seth Rosenblatt/CNET)

Full benchmarks from the CNET Labs were not available when this blog originally ran, but we have them now. CNET Labs’ benchmarks reveal a slightly different side to KIS. KIS slowed down our test computer’s cold boot time by 2.21 seconds, and shutdown time by nearly 5 seconds. Scan times were actually faster on Kaspersky Internet Security 2010 than Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2010 by 9 seconds. They have identical engines, but KAV has fewer ancillary features. During our MS Office and iTunes decoding tests, both KIS and KAV performed identically, although during the media multitasking test KIS was slower by 64 seconds. In our Cinebench test, KIS fared the worst compared to a standard machine and KAV. KIS hit 3,908, while KAV notched 4,190 and baseline computer marked 4,217.

The tools offered under the My Protection tab are nothing short of robust. There’s antivirus protection for files, e-mail, HTTP traffic, and instant messaging. Application control, the aforementioned UDS, includes options for customization, should you need to force access for a specific program that Kaspersky is identifying as a threat. There are protections against spam, phishing, and banner ads, firewall control, and a network monitor to track network activities for users who like to drill down deep into their system’s behavior. There’s also a Parental Control filter, with options to outright block children from particular sites or merely log events. By default, the Parental Control filter is off, and when activated it assigns all other users on the computer Child status until directed otherwise. There’s a Teenager status, as well, for more granular control of restrictions.

The Update Center tab offers a smooth update scheduler integrated into the main interface. Click on Run Mode to change the schedule. This isn’t remarkable except to point out that only the definition file update offers an update like this. To schedule any other regular scan, you must click on the Settings option at the top right of the main Kaspersky window, choose the feature you want to schedule from the list on the left if it wasn’t open in the main window when you hit settings, select Settings from within the window that opens, and then finally click the Run Mode tab on yet one final pop-up window. It’s a tedious process and could be streamlined to great effect, but makes one of the basic features of this security program unnecessarily hard to get to.

(Credit:
Screenshot by Seth Rosenblatt/CNET)

Safe Run is Kaspersky's new sandboxing feature for further securing programs that access the Internet.

According to virus and malware detection results at AV-Test.org and AV-Comparatives.org, last year’s Kaspersky 2009 has scored average or better in all areas of detection. AV-Test.org noted that it detected more than 98.4 percent of malware on demand and 98.3 percent of spyware on demand, with an average rate of false positives. AV-Comparitives.org awarded Kaspersky 2009 Advanced+ in both February 2009’s on-demand comparative and in May 2009’s retrospective/pro-active test, noting few false positives and a 50 percent detection rate, behind Microsoft, Eset, Avira, and G Data. The short version of these independent test results is that last year’s Kaspersky scored above average in general, and was excellent at malware detection.

Scans and definition file updates performed empirically as expected, with the Quick Scan taking less than three minutes. The Vulnerability Scan took less than four minutes, as well. The Full Scan, which was expected to be slow, took less than an hour, but as it approached 80 percent completion it oscillated between telling me that it would finish in one minute and two minutes. In fact, it would take another 11 minutes to finish.

Even if a program has deep penetration and it starts behaving badly, Kaspersky will block it. If it’s an unknown, Kaspersky will treat it skeptically, monitoring and restricting the program until it has been proven safe. The Vulnerability Scan option, available under the Scan tab, utilizes tech from Secunia to determine which programs are potential security risks because they lack recent updates or patches. For programs that may not warn you that they have a pending security update, such as Adobe Flash, having this tool baked-in could be exceptionally useful.

The full-feature suite Kaspersky Internet Security offers a complete and competitive range of security options. The new features in the 2010 edition include a behavioral-based detection system called the Urgent Detection System. The UDS utilizes the anonymous data of 10 million Kaspersky customers who choose to participate in submitting their system scans to Kaspersky’s central servers for analysis. In fact, the UDS must be opted-out of–there’s a check box and data collection statement to read when you install the program.

The main window of Kaspersky Internet Security 2010.

Although this might sound insidious, it’s actually a smart way to leverage a huge consumer base for security purposes as long as the data remains anonymous. Symantec’s Norton 2010 will contain a behavioral check, too, and what both do is look at programs installed on your computer and judge their safety based on how many people have them installed and how they behave. Among UDS’s better sub-features are the ability to customize how long it takes to pass judgment on a new program and per-user configuration of the rules governing program behavior.

Using this year’s interface and detection numbers for the previous version, I think it’s safe to say that Kaspersky is a strong security suite, but that the extra features available in Internet Security make it worthwhile to pay for, whereas the standard Kaspersky Anti-Virus doesn’t offer enough on its own to compare favorably against high-performing, free antivirus programs.

A new season of security suites is upon us, and Kaspersky has made improvements to its Kaspersky Internet Security and Kaspersky Anti-Virus programs that include changes indicative of where security software as an industry is leaning. Three new features along with expected upgrades to its antivirus engine keep Kaspersky competitive.

(Credit:
Screenshot by Seth Rosenblatt/CNET)

The Soyuz TMA-16 spacecraft carrying cosmonaut Maxim Suraev, NASA flight engineer Jeffrey Williams, and Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberté maneuvered to a smooth docking with the International Space Station early Friday to close out a two-day orbital chase.

Laliberté, once again putting on his clown nose, told his family he was enjoying the trip and feeling “pretty good, actually. I’m adapting pretty good.” Then he joked, “But I am staying six months, though.”

Suraev’s father then congratulated his son on his first spaceflight, saying “all of us here are very happy that so far the mission is very successful…All the best to you, son, please do a good job there.”

“We’ve had a fabulous time up here, the station is in great shape and really well supplied,” Barratt said. “We’re just really impressed that everything has worked so far with a couple of shuttles, the (Japanese) HTV (cargo ship), and everything worked on that thing. It was a beautiful spaceship and we’re really lucky to have such visitations up here and a lot of firsts. So we’re ready to come home, but it’s been a great time.”

“You guys enjoy all your time together this week,” Gerstenmaier said. “Take good care of (the) space station.”

“Hello Charlie, yeah, we had a great trip up here and we’re happy to be on board, with good company,” Williams replied.

A Canadian worth an estimated $2.5 billion, Laliberté is believed to have paid the Russians around $35 million to visit the space station as a tourist.

With Suraev and Williams closely monitoring the final stages of the automated rendezvous, the small capsule’s docking mechanism engaged its counterpart at the aft port of the Zvezda command module at 4:35 a.m. EDT as the two spacecraft sailed high above northeast Kazakhstan. Hooks and latches then engaged to pull the Soyuz firmly into place.

“It’s good to see you all, looking very good,” NASA Administrator Charles Bolden called from mission control near Moscow.

“Well Jeff, Max and Guy, just want to let you all know we enjoyed a superb launch” on Wednesday, Bolden said. “Your families behaved well, they laughed all the way back from Baikonur to Moscow. You all should rest well and know they’re being taken care of.”

Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberté chats with family members back in Moscow after he boarded the International Space Station.

(Credit:
NASA TV)

After leak checks, hatches between the two spacecraft were opened at 6:57 a.m., allowing Suraev, Williams and Laliberté, wearing a red clown nose, to float into the space station.

Suraev and Williams are replacing Padalka and Barratt, who plan to return to Earth with Laliberté on October 11. De Winne will take over as European Space Agency first commander in Padalka’s place.

They were welcomed aboard by outgoing commander Gennady Padalka, NASA flight engineer Michael Barratt, cosmonaut Roman Romanenko, European Space Agency astronaut Frank De Winne, Canadian astronaut Robert Thirsk, and NASA astronaut Nicole Stott.

The effort is working, Microsoft said this week, noting that more than 7 million people have used the automated fixes and in 95 percent of cases, the “Fix it” button completely solved the issue.

Since about January, Microsoft has been adding the automated fixes for an array of PC problems for which there is a single known solution. In the past six months, it has added more than 300 “Fix its” to automate the steps needed to solve problems, change settings, and even protect against viruses.

Microsoft says that rather than struggle to fix their own PC problems, computer owners have proved themselves more than willing to just click a “Fix it” button and let the computer take care of itself.

“If we know what those 15 steps are, why shouldn’t we just script it,” Lori Brownell, Microsoft’s general manager of product quality and online support, said in a February interview.

Recently, Microsoft used the approach to help people defend against a serious unpatched flaw.

Microsoft said the fixes are now available in 23 languages and have shown up in the company’s advertising. There’s even a “Fix it” page on Facebook and a feed on Twitter.

The “Discard 50 then Choose the Next Best” method apparently gives you a 25 percent chance of choosing the best candidate.

However, then along came John Gilbert and Frederick Mosteller of Harvard University. I do not believe they were married. However, they came upon the idea that the magic number is, in fact, 37. Yes, you should stop after 37 candidates and choose the next best one. This number was apparently derived by taking the number 100 and dividing by e, the base of the natural logarithms (around 2.72). And it apparently increases your chances of the best choice to 37 percent.

So for a long time, mathematicians believed that, given 100 choices (each of which has to be chosen or discarded after the interview) you should discard the first 50 and then choose the next best one. (The assumption also is that if you don’t choose the first 99, you have to choose number 100, which, again, seems rather realistic to me. I know so many people who have chosen the last resort out of perceived necessity rather than, say, happiness.)

Naturally, scientific laws have certain suppositions. And at first glance, I considered the idea of having a mere 100 choices a little unrealistic.

Oh, we have some supposed criteria in our heads about what makes a “yay”- body type, nose shape, or some such nonsense. But commitment is a very hairy creature, one that barks at us more often than it sings.

There is a small word of warning, however. Some psychologists, such as JoNell Strough at West Virginia University, believe that the more we invest (in a gambling and, one supposes, marriage context), the more likely our decision will be attached to disaster.

We need a little more stability in this world. We need more happiness. And we need just a little more good judgment. It seems that only math can save us.

While the article begins by discussing the mathematical ways in which you can improve your chances in Vegas (or, if your taste and eyes have deserted you, Atlantic City), it goes on to discuss the marriage problem. Apparently, mathematicians have tortured themselves over marriage for some years. I did not know this. I figured that perhaps mathematicians only ever had one girlfriend, whom they married very soon after sex.

May I go down on one knee and admit how wrong I was?

(Credit: CC Simon Shaw/Flickr)

Here’s the real beauty of this calculation, though. You don’t have to limit yourself to 100. This optimization works for any population. So if you have a world of 26 potential life partners, simply divide by 2.72 and choose the next best one.

However, the more I thought about it, the more it seemed a little more natural than it might have appeared. We march our way merrily through life, meeting people and declaring them a “yay” or a “nay.”

Were they each the other's 38th choice?

Now, I know it is sometimes hard to know exactly how many potential partners are in your firmament. But it is surely not beyond some calculation.

Perhaps the subject most fascinating to me at the moment is the gamble that is involved in choosing a life partner.

Perhaps I have been unnecessarily haunted since research revealed that Facebook destroys romantic relationships. Still, it was quite odd that a man whom I have chosen to follow on Twitter for his remarkable erudition in social psychology (oh, alright, his name is Dominic Johnson) passed along a quite extraordinary article from New Scientist, one that has made me ponder more deeply than I usually care to.

However, I would be interested whether any of you number-conscious geniuses out there have also used mathematical principles to choose your betrothed. Perhaps you have done it more than once, but we would still love to hear your number-based criteria.

Mathematicians have racked their brains and abacuses, for the good of society, in order to help us all choose wisely the person who shares our king-size. According to New Scientist, the law of diminishing returns has long been thought to be a marvelous indicator of when to stick, rather than turn another card.

Mundie

His demo included hologram-like video conferencing, a virtual digital assistant, and multiple surface computers along with voice, touch, and gesture recognition. The desk was a multitouch surface computer, and the office’s walls were also a display that could easily switch from being a virtual window and collection of digital photos to being a corkboard of sticky notes to various workspaces.

“The real question is what killer apps (will mark the) new era and what will be the user interface that people use to get at them,” Mundie said, speaking at Microsoft’s financial analyst meeting here.

REDMOND, Wash.–While gesture recognition, such as that seen in Project Natal can help gaming, Microsoft’s Craig Mundie showed how it will also transform the office.

In an interview earlier this month, Bill Gates told CNET News that Microsoft plans to use Natal far beyond the Xbox, including with Windows.

Microsoft Chief Research & Strategy Officer, Craig Mundie, demonstrates natural user interface technologies during Thursday's Financial Analyst Meeting in Redmond.

In a demo, Microsoft’s top research and strategy officer showed how the desktop computer of the future will use an entire office as both display and input device, with voice and gestures augmenting a number of touch screens.

“I’m not playing the Riccochet game, but I am using these technologies,” Mundie said. “This is our dream, but it is really not that far away. We see a pretty direct path to make this happen. We have all of the technologies to make this happen in our research labs.”

The demo was similar in some respects, but more advanced in others, than the one shown by Office chief Stephen Elop earlier this year.

(Credit:
Robert Sorbo/Microsoft)

In one case, Mundie also used Natal-like depth cameras to put himself in the middle of an architectural demo, essentially putting himself inside a building that was not yet built. His talk followed entertainment chief Robbie Bach demoing the gaming potential of Natal, playing a breakout-like game called Riccochet, where one uses their body to push, block, and kick balls at various bricks. Microsoft showed Natal at the E3 trade show earlier this year but hasn’t said when the Xbox 360 add-on will be commercially available.

Apple released an update to its operating system Wednesday, version 10.5.8.

Also included in the update: an upgrade to Safari 4.0.2, with improved accuracy of search history; a fix for importing large photo and movie files from cameras; better iCal, iDisk, MobileMe, AFP, Managed Client, Sync Service reliability; more support for RAW images from third-party cameras; and improved compatibility for external USB drives.

(Credit:
Screenshot by Rafe Needleman/CNET)

The update is said to fix issues related to compatibility and reliability when trying to connect a Mac to an AirPort network, as well as restore Display System Preferences, and Bluetooth reliability. The latter will likely bring a sigh of relief to users who have complained of their Bluetooth keyboard or mouse periodically disconnecting from their Macs.

As always, let us know if you have any problems with this update.

My colleague Elinor Mills has a separate post on the security updates contained in 10.5.8.

(Credit: Major Nelson/Microsoft)

Check out Don’s Facebook profile, Twitter stream, and FriendFeed.

The bundle features a limited-edition Xbox 360 Modern Warfare 2 console, a copy of the game, two black wireless controllers, a 250GB hard drive, and an Xbox 360 headset.

The Modern Warfare 2 console is black and features a prominent “2″ on the face of the device. Elsewhere on the product are different markings from the game. An Infinity Ward spokesman said in a promotional video on Microsoft’s site that his company’s vision with the console design was to “make it look like a piece of military equipment.” According to the company, every marking “has meaning to the game.”

The new Modern Warfare 2 Xbox 360.

Microsoft and Infinity Ward announced a limited-edition Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 bundle in Los Angeles on Tuesday.

The limited-edition Modern Warfare 2 bundle is available for preorder now. It costs $399 and will be released on November 10–the same day Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 hits store shelves.

Although the limited edition console is exclusive to the Xbox 360, Modern Warfare 2 will also be made available on the PlayStation 3 and PC. So far, neither Infinity Ward nor Activision, the game’s publisher, has made any announcements regarding specialty products designed specifically for Sony’s console or the PC.

Check out Don’s Facebook profile,replica handbags, Twitter stream, and FriendFeed.

The limited-edition Modern Warfare 2 bundle is available for preorder now. It costs $399 and will be released on November 10–the same day Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 hits store shelves.

(Credit: Major Nelson/Microsoft)

The new Modern Warfare 2 Xbox 360.

Microsoft and Infinity Ward announced a limited-edition Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 bundle in Los Angeles on Tuesday.

The bundle features a limited-edition Xbox 360 Modern Warfare 2 console, a copy of the game,chanel bags, two black wireless controllers, a 250GB hard drive, and an Xbox 360 headset.

Although the limited edition console is exclusive to the Xbox 360, Modern Warfare 2 will also be made available on the PlayStation 3 and PC. So far, neither Infinity Ward nor Activision, the game’s publisher,louis vuitton handbags, has made any announcements regarding specialty products designed specifically for Sony’s console or the PC.

The Modern Warfare 2 console is black and features a prominent “2″ on the face of the device. Elsewhere on the product are different markings from the game. An Infinity Ward spokesman said in a promotional video on Microsoft’s site that his company’s vision with the console design was to “make it look like a piece of military equipment.” According to the company, every marking “has meaning to the game.”

Podcast: Larry speaks with Symantec’s director of security response, Gerry Egan (8:43)

The Web, said Egan “has become the primary delivery vehicle for malware.” One method for infection is “drive by downloads,” which can exploit a vulnerability in your browser or operating system by “leveraging little security holes” and injecting code into your machine simply by virtue of your visiting the site. Another route to infections is social engineering where someone tricks a user into installing a malicious application that can masquerade as a plug-in to play media or even a fake security program that claims to help you find and remove malware. Instead it installs malware on your machine.

(Credit: Symantec)

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Symantec is out with its “Dirtiest Web Sites of Summer 2009,replica handbags,” which it’s calling “the worst of the worst” when it comes to malware threats.

TrendMicro Internet Security has a feature that warns you if you are about to visit a site that “may put your security at risk” and McAfee offers a service called McAfee Site Advisor that includes a free plug-in for Firefox and Internet Explorer that warns you about potentially dangerous sites that show up in search results.

There are a number of dastardly payloads associated with the type of malware delivered through these sites including turning your machine into a “spambot” that sends junk e-mail to other people. Such programs can also hijack your computer to be part of a “botnet” to carry out attacks on other systems such as the recent denial-of-service attack that brought down Twitter earlier this month.

The security vendor says that “48 percent of the Dirtiest Web Sites are, well,prada bags, dirty–sites that feature adult content.” That means that more than half the sites cover a wide range of other categories including legal services,louis vuitton handbags, catering, figure skating, and electronics shopping, according to the report.

Symantec has identified these dirty sites as part of the ongoing analysis it does for its Norton Safe Web product. Safe Web includes a free Web site that anyone can use to see if a site is known to have malware. In addition, Symantec’s security products now come with a plug-ins that works with a browser to look over your shoulder while you’re surfing or searching to warn you before visiting a site known to contain malware.

On average, sites on the dirtiest list have 18,000 threats per site, but 40 of the sites have in excess of 20,000 threats. One site that appears to offer restaurant catering services has 23,414 computer threats

“The number of web attacks is off the charts because it’s the easiest path into a consumer’s machine” said Gerry Egan, Symantec’s director of security response.

Symantec's Safe Web rates sites for safety