September 26 and 27 brought Mobilize 2011 presented by GigaOM, to San Francisco where big names in the evolving mobile market came together to talk about the near future of mobile.

Every developer, publisher, and company arrived with ideas of where the mobile market would be heading in 2012 and years beyond.  Thoughts about the migration of users to smartphones and the rise of HTML 5 were big topics of discussion.

During many of the sessions I attended, speakers discussed their opinions of the landscape of the mobile environment and how they were experimenting with the influx of new users across Android and iOS.

Here’s a little bit of what I learned during the two day event.

A couple years ago, the mobile market only really had two types of apps and games: free or paid. Now users are presented with free, free with ads, free with in-app purchases, paid, paid with free updates, and paid with paid updates among others.

That difference has created a new industry. BulkyPix's, COO and VP of Sales and Marketing, Vincent Dondaine answered some questions about development, games, and commerce.

Microsoft has unveiled a few interesting details about the future File Explorer in Windows 8. The most outstanding new feature is, undoubtedly, the addition of the ribbon interface.

Explorer in Windows 3.1

Explorer in Windows 8

The decision to apply a ribbon to the Windows default file manager hasn’t been taken lightly. As explained on its blog, Microsoft has done a lot of research about the most commonly used commands in Explorer, and the way users access them. After studying the results of this analysis, ribbon was clearly the best choice for the new interface in Explorer, for several reasons: it lets you display the most important commands in prominent locations while also exposing loads of other minor tools, organizes commands conveniently in handy groups and it follows the design line opened by Office and Microsoft Paint, making it easier for people to get used to the new interface.

Is this the beginning of the end for Flash? Adobe has launched a preview version of Edge - their new web motion and interaction design tool for animated content creation using HTML5, JavaScript, and CSS3.

However, Adobe has stated that it is not a direct replacement for Flash although it offers most of the design features available in Adobe Flash Professional. Edge is based on the WebKit rendering engine and takes full advantage of the latest web development standards as Adobe seek to find a solution to Flash related issues across platforms and manufacturers such as the banning of Flash by Apple on iPhones.

Adobe Edge allows you to add animations to HTML documents and add CSS styles to SVG, PNG, JPG and GIF files. The preview version is free to download and use on both Mac and Windows and is continually being updated with new tools and features. You can follow the latest developments and news on Facebook and Twitter.

Download Adobe Edge here for Mac and Windows.

Google is on fire: in just a few days they've launched their own social network Google+, announced the rebranding of Picasa and Blogger to Google Photos and Google Blogs respectively, and slightly redesigned a few of of their online services (such as search and calendar). The new design will presumably be slowly rolled out to all Google services in the near future, but you can have a sneak peek - at least in Gmail:

To preview Gmail's new look you have to click the gear icon on the top right corner and select the Mail settings option.

Then click the Themes tab and browse down to the bottom of the page. You'll see two Preview themes: standard and dense.  The first one uses the same space between text lines that Gmail has been using up to now, while the second one leaves more space between lines and makes it all cleaner.

Whatever theme you pick, Gmail will immediately apply the new design. This is how my inbox looked with the standard Preview theme:

This week saw Microsoft release its Internet Explorer 10 Platform Preview 2. The preview allows you to check out IE 10, which will come with Windows 8, expected next year.

It's important to note that a platform preview is not the same as a Beta release. Internet Explorer 10 Platform Preview 2 allows you to test out some of the new technical implementations in the browser, but it is a long way from a fully functional, user friendly browser (insert sarcastic comment about Internet Explorer here).

What you can do with Internet Explorer 10 Platform Preview 2 is check out a range of tests designed to show off upcoming capabilities. There are speed demos, HTML5 demos, graphics demos and browser demos. The app opens on Microsoft's Test Drive page, which allows you to easily play around with all the demos, and also features a user guide. You will notice there's no address bar - you can actually browser wherever you want on the web, but to navigate you have to click CTRL+O which opens a window so you can enter a URL.

Internet Explorer 10 Platform Preview 2 is free to download, and requires Windows 7.

If the images in your photo album are dull and boring, maybe it’s time to spice them up! You don’t need to be a Photoshop guru or known all GIMP menus by heart; there are dozens of easy photo editing tools – available for free or in trial versions – that help you apply eye-catching effects to your images without requiring any experience in photo editing.

Want to add a Polaroid effect to your photo, or turn it into a pencil sketch? What about a pop-art effect like a painting by Andy Warhol? With this collection of apps to edit and retouch images, the only limit is your imagination!

eezPix - photo editing for everyone

eezPix is an easy-to-use, yet complete photo editor that includes all the tools you need to work with your images: adjusting brightness and contrast, converting from one format to another, adding a frame  or inserting a watermark are some of its possibilities.

All the effects included in eezPix are highly customizable. In addition to that, the program supports working in batches – adding the same effect to multiple images at the same time.

Tint Photo Editor - make color stand out

Tint Photo Editor is a photo retouching tool that specializes in one single effect, but does it really well. It highlights one color in your image while keeping the rest in black and white, thus achieving an impressive result.

Again, it’s very easy to use. Tint Photo Editor analyzes your image in search for all the colors used in it. All you need to do is choose which one you want to emphasize.

I've always felt a special fascination for color effects applied to black and white images. So, when I saw this quick Photoshop tutorial on the OnSoftware BR blog, I couldn't help trying it out! It's a very simple effect often used to draw attention to certain areas in the image, and it's really easy to apply. Just follow these steps and turn any image into a little piece of black and white art.

The lack of any major innovations in QuarkXPress' recent update to version 9 has left many dedicated Quark users disappointed at the evolution of the once unassailable desktop publishing application. As more companies and designers switch to Adobe products, especially InDesign, the question is: can Quark ever make it back from the brink?

While the latest QuarkXPress offers some great new features (such as the ability to create interactive books for iPads and support for eBook publishing), it can't fight against the rising tide of users switching to Adobe. Most designers use multiple applications in their creative work, so it makes sense to use integrated products such as InDesign and Illustrator. Since Adobe products follow a similar kind of format and layout, once you've learned to use one, you quickly learn how to use the others in the suite.

Quark's problems are not helped by the fact that it is incredibly expensive for what you get. The full package totals almost $2,000 and for about the same money, you could have the entire Adobe CS5 suite. Quark will not only have to start pricing its product far more competitively if its to keep up with Adobe, but will also have to make some serious innovations to give designers a compelling reason to choose it as their desktop publishing software of choice.

You've probably had a few PowerPoint photo slideshows in your email already. They seem to be a popular topic for messages coming from friends and relatives with too much spare time on their hands. But have you ever tried creating one? It's easier than you think, and it might actually be a good way to share pictures - just don't abuse the slideshows with cute kitty images!

1. Open up PowerPoint, click the Insert tab and then the Photo Album button. Select New Photo Album to open the Photo Album settings menu.

2. In this new window, click the File/Disk button to select the photos you want to use in your slideshow. Remember you can select multiple files simultaneously by holding the Ctrl key while selecting them with your mouse.

Here at Softonic we use logos a lot, for many different purposes: program listings, images for blog posts, or even the central image in our homepage. The logo is usually the best way to represent a program in all those cases – which means I get to work with them almost on a daily basis.

Obtaining a program logo can be quite easy. Sometimes the developers offer high-resolution PNG versions on their website, which work great everywhere. For popular programs, it’s easy to find logos in Google Images. But most of the time you have to use the program’s icon, and this is where an icon extractor comes in handy.

The app I use to extract icons from programs is Icon Explorer. It’s quick, easy to use and doesn’t require installation. All you need is browse the built-in file manager to find the executable file or system library you want to extract the icon from, and click on the icon displayed on the interface’s central area. Icon Explorer will show all the available sizes and resolutions on the panel to the right.

To download any of those icons, simply right click on the appropriate size and select the target format: ICO or BMP. In the case of BMP you can also select the background color. Of course, saving a program’s icon in BMP means you can work on it later on using any other graphic editor.

Icon Explorer is simple, easy to use and does what it says on the tin. If you ever need to extract icons from executable files or DLL libraries, this is the tool you need.

The Portal 2 Authoring Tools have been released as a free download to PC users through Steam. This suite of tools will allow you to create your own Portal 2 levels!

There is a catch, however. These tools are based on the ones Valve used to create the game itself, and as soon as you launch the app it's obvious: Portal 2 Authoring Tools are not for casual users. It includes the Hammer World Editor, which allows you to create levels or edit current ones. There is also a Model Viewer and Face Poser. It's pretty complicated stuff, but if you've got the time and dedication, there is a good 'Getting Started' guide, and some example content.

Portal 2 Authoring Tools are PC only, and require a copy of the Portal 2 to download and use. It will be interesting to see what people create!

How often have you seen an image that you'd like to use as a wallpaper on your iPhone 4? In my case it happens all the time, but I'm never sure if the image will fit my iPhone - with the clock, the unlock bar and everything in the way. Luckily, I've found a simple trick to turn your favorite photos into gorgeous iPhone 4 wallpapers. All you need is this iPhone 4 template from DeviantArt, then follow these steps:

1. Open the iPhone wallpaper template in Photoshop and unlock the background layer by double clicking on it.

I recently bought a graphics tablet for my PC, and I must say I'm very happy with it. I've always liked drawing and computers, and a gadget like this was the perfect link between two of my favorite pastimes. After installation and initial set-up, I spent some time searching for the appropriate software to make the most out of my new toy. Besides Adobe Photoshop (which works great with pressure-sensitive input devices like my tablet) there are also other drawing editors you may not know about. Here are five free art apps:

Drawing by Agrianti, an ArtRage user

Artweaver - Includes a dozen customizable brushes that recreate different drawing tools:  oils, pencils, charcoal, chalk, acrylics, felt pens and more. It also has support for layers and transparency and a history window that lets you undo any previous action.

TwistedBrush - This free app doesn't has as many features as its full version, but makes up for it with a bunch of great features: lots of brushes to choose from, support for layers, photo cloning and tracing, pattern, textures and more. And it does feel like actual painting on canvas!

ArtRage - Delivers an impressively realistic canvas feel when drawing on your tablet. The latest release includes tools like watercolor, glitter sprinkling and sticker spray. You can also trace a real image and turn it into  a beautiful drawing - even if you're not very artistically-gifted.

Flowpaint - Though it's not the best drawing apps around here, Flowpaint still lets you grasp the feeling of actual drawing tools when using digital brushes on the computer. It doesn't require installation and runs under Java.

Greenfish Painter - Not as fully-featured as other drawing apps, but still a reasonably good piece of software to use as virtual canvas. You can freely paint on its interface, mix different colors on your palette like in real life and tweak brushes to meet your needs.

How do you keep your Windows desktop under control? Fences is an easy way to organize and up clean your desktop. It groups your desktop icons intelligently, containing them in attractive and customizable 'fences'.

As you'll see, using Fences is a cinch, and will transform even the messiest desktop into a sea of tranquility and order:

First, download and run Fences. It will ask you whether you want to start using fences now, or create fences yourself. Do the former, as you can always configure your fences later.

Now click Start Using Fences, and you'll immediately be given two options. For a quick fix, choose Sort out my icons, and Fences will group your icons and organize them for you. You can the choose a layout that suits you, although the automatic setting already looks very neat:

Fences automatically backs up your old desktop configurations, so you can easily undo anything it changes. One neat Fences trick is the desktop double click - do it and all your icons will be hidden. Another double click brings them back, making it an excellent digital version of sweeping things under the carpet!

Have you tried Fences? What apps do you use to keep your desktop clutter-free?

[via OnSoftware ES]