Continue reading »]]> Thanks to everyone who participated in our Photoshop Contest. From a dog / parrot hybrid to a chocolate Angelia Jolie, we’ve sifted through some pretty interesting images over the past few weeks. From foxy-hummingbirds to monster-strawberries, these images have served as a reminder of just how truly amazing Photoshop software is!

So, without further ado, here are your top three results as voted by the employees of SoftwareMedia.com:

3rd Place: This image submitted by Arturs has likings to a the type of dark horror films that give yours truly nightmares. But it certainly is a thought-provoking photo. Arturs’ comment about the photo, “taking soul”, leaves us with just a hint of the creator’s intent, but at the same time is obscure enough that this story is left to be told by your own imagination.

2nd Place: This captivating image sent to us by Samantha takes a beautiful ocean photo to the next level. We like how the creator makes you feel as if you’re in this gray world and then you have this giant colorful photo sort of spilling out into it. Very compelling.

1st Place: Brian sent us this image, which we call “Dandilion”, for obvious reasons. What a cool depiction, and we can’t help but wonder whether this is what the person who coined the name “dandelion” was thinking of. Can you imagine seeing this guy the next time you picked one of these perennial weeds?

The three lucky winners will receive a free copy of Photoshop Elements just for submitting their favorite Photoshopped image. Keep an eye on our software contest category for future contests where you, too, can win great prizes!

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Continue reading »]]> SoftwareMedia.com is itching to give away a few copies of Adobe Photoshop Elements. And SoftwareNewsDaily.com is making it easy to win! Show and tell your favorite photoshopped image. Submit an entry by simply commenting on this post and submitting your favorite photo.

Just hit the “browse” (on FireFox or IE) or “choose file”  (Chrome) button towards the bottom to add an image to your comment. Click on the image to your right for a bit more direction.

Okay, a bit more in depth…

• Be sure to tell us why that photo is your favorite in the comment text. A simple sentence or two will suffice; we aren’t looking for novels or short stories here.
• Submit a valid email because if you win, that’s how we will be contacting you.
• All images must be in JPEG format, as you won’t be able to upload other formats…
• Deadline for submissions is March 31, 2010.
• Enter as often as you’d like! Just make sure you are following the above guidelines for each submission.

That’s it! SoftwareMedia.com staff will be vote for the winners by April Fool’s… we thought it’d be a fun tie-in for April 1st — tricky images for a tricky day. We’ll have three copies of Photoshop Elements ($99.99 MSRP value!) to give away. Start showing us those entries!

Oh, if you know the details, crediting the original artist(s) is encouraged.

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Continue reading »]]> Microsoft Office 2010 has been in beta for some time. It’s also been free to try out for some time. In a press release from Microsoft, senior vice president of the Microsoft Business Division, Chris Capossela said, “Office 2010 is the premiere productivity solution across PCs, mobile phones and browsers.” Office 2010 definitely gives more heed to mobile computing, social media and collaboration.

In fact, an article from Inc. announces that Office 2010 will be rolling out with free versions of Word and Excel to compete with Google Docs and Spreadsheets. These “stripped-down online programs,” says Inc., “will be accessible on computer browsers and Web-enabled mobile phones.” Continue reading at Inc.com.

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Continue reading »]]> Remember BlackBerry’s big announcement for a free Enterprise Server application? Well, it’s March and it’s available now!

Big changes have been happening over at BlackBerry and they have decided to make one of its most popular products completely free. BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express provides advanced BlackBerry smartphone features with no additional software or user license fees. It also works with any Internet-enable Blackberry data plan. Download it now at the BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express site.

If you’re looking for more oomph from your BlackBerry software, try the BlackBerry Enterprise Server and package it with a bit of technical support.  As always, we have that great satisfaction guarantee and a software licensing price guarantee.

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Continue reading »]]> Are you in the market for quality Sony HD video and audio production software? SoftwareMedia.com has an exclusive rebate offer for the month of March! Starting today, receive ACID Music Studio (a $69.95 MSRP value) free with your purchase of Sony Movie Studio Pro Pack. Sony Movie Studio Pro Pack allows you to:

• edit standard and high definition video
• produce customized DVD menus and graphics
• use Cartoonr effects plug-in and 106 3D transitions from NewBlue, a leading manufacturer of audio and video plug-ins
• record almost anything with the provided Sound Forge Audio Studio
• pull from a collection of 1,001 high-quality professional sound clips

The Sony Vegas Movie Studio products are often blamed for only meeting the needs of high-end users, but that’s because it’s based on the same technology Sony sells to industry professionals. TechRadar.com says Sony Vegas Movie Studio Pro Pack 9 is “a real move towards meeting the needs of the more entry-level user.”

For instance, what we really like about this software is the way it eases the first-time user into the package, as this is something earlier editions didn’t allow for. It does this by using a 13-step walkthrough of the main editing features, and offers tips and tricks as you work through them.

Continue reading the full review at TechRadar.com.

To take advantage of this limited-time offer, click on over to SoftwareMedia.com. Act fast! This offer expires March 31, 2010.

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Continue reading »]]> Research in Motion (RIM) announced its free server software today, BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express. Basically, the software syncs your BlackBerry smartphone with Microsoft Exchange or Microsoft Windows Small Business Server. Mike Lazaridis, President and co-CEO of RIM, explains, ” In a marketplace where smartphones are becoming ubiquitous, BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express significantly raises the bar by providing a cost-effective solution that allows companies of all sizes to support enterprise-grade mobile connectivity for all employees without compromising security or manageability.” Although not as fancy as the pay version, BESX users will be able to:

• Wirelessly sync email, calendar, contacts, notes and tasks
• Manage email folders and search email remotely
• Book meetings and appointments
• Set up out-of-office replies
• Edit Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint files with Documents to Go
• Access files stored on the company network
• User mobile apps to access business systems behind the firewall

BESX releases in March. Visit the site to learn more about BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express features in the meantime though… While BESX has “the same robust security architecture found in BlackBerry Enterprise Server,” BESX only features 35 “IT controls and policies” whereas, the full BlackBerry Enterprise Server version has over 450 tools. But those 400+ features come at a price… If you are unsure whether or not BESX will suit your needs, check out RIM’s spiffy BlackBerry Comparison Chart.

Feel free to mosey on over and take advantage of SoftwareMedia.com’s software licensing price guarantee! We have BlackBerry Enterprise Server products at competitive prices and you can’t beat that satisfaction guarantee!

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Continue reading »]]> Do  you know about Panda Security‘s free Panda USB Vaccine utility? Panda Security is a world leader in cloud-based security solutions and they have a great tool to protect your external hard drives, USB drives and other NTFS drives. Did I already mention how it’s free? The Panda USB Vaccine tool is particularly helpful when you want to prevent an infected computer from contaminating your thumb drives or other external devices. The tool “vaccinates” those external drives (by disabling the autorun feature) to keep them from spreading the infection to other devices. Keep in mind, a Lifehacker article notes that Windows 7 no longer has the ability to auto-execute files from a USB flash drive. More information about the USB Vaccine and other free Panda Security products may be found on Panda’s site. But if you’re ready to jump the gun, grab it directly from Download.com.

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Continue reading »]]> Take the Endpoint Protection Small Business Edition “20-Minute” Challenge: fully deploy the software in just 20 minutes. At the CRN Test Labs, Endpoint Protection SBE was installed in 16 minutes. How long does it take you?

More information about the product may be found at the Symantec website. There’s also a quick blog breaking down the challenge.

If you just want to start the timer, the product is available for download here. The product is limited 30-day trialware, but once you’re convinced and ready to commit SoftwareMedia.com is ready for you. Feel free to hit up our licensing specialists and take advantage of our software licensing price guarantee!

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Continue reading »]]>

Google has finally brought extensions out of beta and stabilized them for the newly released update of Chrome. Bookmark syncing is packaged in there as well — automatically synchronize your Chrome bookmarks on different computers. Keep in mind that this update only applies to the Windows version of the web browser. No word yet on when Mac and Linux versions will release these same (stable channel) updates…

After news of the official release filtered through my Google Reader feeds, I pulled up the Chrome extensions gallery and started browsing through. There are currently just over 1,800 extensions available for Chrome; I probably surfed through half of them, if that… Since I’m not the true techie geek that I should be, I can’t say that I was super excited about too many. Here are the few that appealed to my simple and practical tastes.  I’d say most of them contribute to an easier blogging experience or everyday web surfing…

CoolIris
I use this app on Firefox and love it. It’s a great, flashy way of looking for images. It’s fast, efficient -much better than browsing page after page on Google Images or Facebook!

Wikipedia Chromium Edition
Fantastic for those that Wiki often. Just search Wikipedia right within the webpage you are viewing.

Google Voice
Make a phone call from within your browser using Google Voice. Also gives you a quick display of your Google Voice inbox and what not.

Google Dictionary
Look up definitions with a simple double-click.

AniWeather
Animated weather, because I like cartoons. And I need to know upcoming weather to plan for my motorcyclin’.

Lazarus Form Recovery
Recovers what you’ve filled out on a form after one of those “oh $*#@” moment happens. Be forewarned, this extension is still in beta…

Add to Amazon Wish List
Perfect for the online shopaholic who can never keep track of what to buy next (yep, that’s me…)!

Which extensions have you tried out? Which do you recommend? Share your experiences by hitting that comment link!

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Continue reading »]]> A report analyzing the strength of passwords was released yesterday by security firm, Imperva. The study is 32 million passwords strong, thanks to last year’s Rockyou.com breach. And “never before has there been such a high volume of real-world passwords to examine,” notes the study.Take heed to these key findings in Imperva’s study:

• About 30% of users chose passwords that are six characters or less in length
• Almost 60% of users chose their passwords from a limited set of alpha-numeric characters
• Nearly 50% of users use common slang or dictionary words, names and consecutive letters or digits — the most common password found was “123456″

Note that a study not too long ago also revealed “123456″ as the most common password amongst 10,000 Hotmail, MSN and Live.com users. Is that you? Okay, what about the most popular passwords following “123456″?

Are any of those you? If you have a password fitting the bullet points noted above, change it now! Let’s say a hacker worked off this list… It would only take “one attempt (per account) to guess 0.9% of the users passwords or a rate of one success per 111 attempts.” Now, let’s say this hacker is using his DSL connection (55kpbs connection rate) and each hack is 0.5kb in size… that hacker will gain access to one new account every second. Or, in the bigger scope of things, he just hacked 1000 accounts in less than 17 minutes.

Are you, like me, annoyed at every time you need to create a new password? Are you tired of remembering multiple passwords for multiple accounts on every site or network you frequent? Try these tips when creating a password to remember:

• Renowned security techie and author, Bruce Schneier, recommends creating passwords from a sentence. His example, “This little piggy went to market” transforms into the password, “tlpWENT2m.” Schneier urges you use something personal, and “of course, don’t use this one, because I’ve written about it.”
• Use a password manager, such as Password Safe, to create your passwords. Then, just think of one master password to remember.
• Replace letters with numbers to “leet” it up. This chart may help.
• Purposely misspell words or use homophones. Think “fone” instead of “phone” or take it a step further and use something like “simbowl” instead of “symbol.”

For more tips, check out wikiHOW and Bargaineering.

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