June 12th, 2009

Microsoft Corp, the world’s largest software manufacturer, said the company has prepared to introduce a free anti-virus service for personal computers, which will compete with products of Symantec Corp and McAfee Inc.

The company is conducting a test on an early version of the product which ivolves its own employees. Microsoft said it will  make a trial version, product beta, which is available via the company’s website.

Soon after the company’s announcement, investors in the stock market are watching closely the free service which is code-named Morro after Brazil’s Morro de Sao Paolo beach, as they worry that it will affect sales of products from Symantec and McAfee, which generate billions of dollars of revenue a year protecting Windows PCs from attacks by hackers.

Microsoft said Morro will offer basic features for fighting a wide range of viruses, which would likely make it comparable to low-end consumer products from Symantec and McAfee that cost about $40 per year.

Their top-selling products are security suites that come with features including encryption, firewalls, password protection, parental controls and data backup.

Three years ago, Microsoft stepped into that market with Live OneCare, which turned out to be a commercial flop. It announced plans in November to kill that product suite, saying it would launch the free Morro service by the end of 2009.

Analysts said they are looking forward to Morro’s beta to see exactly how its features compare to those in products from competitors.

Microsoft has said it will provide protection from several types of malicious software including viruses, spyware, rootkits and trojans.

Yet, officials at Symantec and McAfee have said they do not see Morro as a threat. An executive at Symantec said “Microsoft’s free product is basically a stripped down version of the OneCare product Microsoft pulled from the shelves.  He said a full Internet security suite is what consumers require today to stay fully protected.

Good news for Kindle lovers! After launched day, the new digital book reader has available now. The new Kindle which has a large screen called Kindle DX, in a bid to attract readers who are eager to read documents, newspapers, textbooks and other materials that will gain from a larger screen.

In introducing Kindle DX in , the company is working with textbook publishers and several universities that will offer this new product to students. Besides, It also includes a built-in PDF reader, using Adobe’s mobile reader. Anyone wanting to zoom in on a picture or a chart, the DX lets you do that.

As the size is larger, the keyboard is bigger. Its feedback is a little better than the one on the Kindle 2, the wider DX e-reader makes typing a little awkward. Of course, keyboard feel is one of those things where everybody has their own opinion. All I’m saying is this: a) I have small hands and b) I’ve gotten used to typing with my thumbs on a BlackBerry, so the DX experience was not ideal for me.

Besides, there is a new experimental tab on the main menu, which offers users a simple Web browser, the ability to play MP3 music files you’ve added to your Kindle from your computer and Amazon’s text-to-speech option.

The browser option is labelled “Basic Web” which is fitting. It comes with preloaded bookmarks for pared-down versions of Web sites like Google, CNN and Yelp. If we  try to to subscribe to the newspaper by going to nytimes.com, we will quickly discovere that the browser does not support the full version of the Web that we view on our computers and even now on some smartphones.

If one asks what iPhone apps will amuse and please a three-year-old child, the answer may be that the added benefits of the iPhone is that kids find it absolutely hypnotizing.

It is worth noting here that there are 1,360 apps tagged for children in the iTunes app store, with thousands of ratings and user comments. To sort through the maze of offerings, below are a just few of the most cited:

• Wheels on the Bus (US$.99) is an electronic popup book, where you drive the action by touching, swipe and tapping their way through the familiar preschool song. Ages 2-5.
• Scoops (US$.99) lets you tilt your screen left or right to sort falling scoops of ice cream. You can make patterns with same-colored scoops, while dodging the veggies. Ages 3-up.
• iWriteWords (US$.99) turns the letters of the alphabet into dot-to-dot puzzles. Ages 4-5. A more limited lite version is free.
• Scribble (US$.99), is one of many drawing apps that turn the screen into a tiny easel. You can also import pictures from your photo library to put a mustache on Grandma. A quick shake erases the photos. Ages 3-up. Older kids love Crayon Physics Deluxe ($4.99 from Hudson, for 9-up) which turns scribbles into moving puzzles.
• Tappy Tunes (US$1.99) plays back familiar songs to a beat determined by your child’s finger taps. The free lite version contains a limited selection of songs.
• Oregon Trail US($4.99) is a cartoonish but effective small screen re-make of the 1980’s classic educational simulation. The funny thing is that it was created in France. Ages 10-up.
• Bookworm (US$4.99) is a well designed, ad-free word game that can make spelling fun. There’s also Hasbro’s Scrabble, also $4.99.