Review: Start Menu Reviver gives Windows 8 a modern UI-style Start Menu

How you'll like Start Menu Reviver largely depends on what you want out of a Windows 8 Start Menu. If you want something that mimics the Windows 7 Start Menu exactly, you're better off with Stardock's Start8 or Iobit's Start Menu 8. If you want something that's more of a melding of Windows 8 and a start menu, Start Menu Reviver might be what you seek.

By default, Start Menu Reviver looks like an Ease of Access application for the sight-challenged, but you can reduce it to a normal size.
When you first install Start Menu Reviver, it defaults to its large size. It's handy for touchscreens, but on a monitor or laptop screen, it looks like an Ease of Access feature for the eyesight-challenged. You can select a size that is more in keeping with the aspect ratios employed throughout the desktop. Start Menu Reviver sits on the task bar approximately where you'd expect to find it, but a little to the right. As with other Start Menus for Windows 8, you can change the icon to suit your taste.

In a column on the left of Start Menu Reviver resides a list of common Windows programs (desktop and modern UI) such as Task Manager (modern UI version), Network (desktop), Run (desktop), and the user name (which actually takes you to User Account Control rather than the user folder the way that most Start menus do). To the right are My Computer, Internet Explorer (desktop), a link for the modern UI, and a bunch of other tiles representing both legacy and modern UI apps. You can freely arrange—and even resize—the tiles, just as with the Modern UI.

Start Menu Reviver's tiled UI fits well in the Win8 modern UI.
Start Menu Reviver has the usual search box at the bottom. However, this is where I first noticed that there's no tabbing between fields or sections as there is in a normal Start Menu. It can be considerably faster navigating when you can use both the mouse and the keyboard. Not everyone is touch-oriented yet.

Start Menu Reviver lacks the fine control over switching between the desktop and modern UI that the competition offers. You can have the Windows Key invoke Reviver rather than the modern UI, but that's about it. Start8 and Start Menu 8 both allow you to take the modern UI out of the mix entirely.

Start Menu Reviver is free, and it's nice that Windows 8 users have another choice when it comes to putting back the Start Menu that Microsoft so thoughtfully decided you no longer need. It's not my top choice, but not everyone works the same. Give it a spin along with the others and share your opinion.

Ultimate Kids Summer Weekend: Modern Family Adventures

Coming on the heels of a busy workweek (even in the summer), Friday night is a difficult one to plan for with kids: Free your mind -- and theirs -- at Art Rebel (14382 Ventura Blvd.). On the first and third Friday nights of each summer month, you and your brood (ages 5 and up, $25 per person) can do glow-in-the-dark painting in a wacky, black-lit room, followed by a pizza dinner (provided), all under the watchful eye of Ponti, whose art is owned by the likes of Sean Penn.

SATURDAY

Start your day at the Annenberg Community Beach House (415 Pacific Coast Highway) with the 9 a.m. stand-up paddleboarding class (reserve the Friday before). Then splash the late morning away in the tide pools at Leo Carrillo State Park in Malibu, where you can call ahead to have a park ranger (Rick comes highly recommended) give you a guided tour (310-457-8185). Before you leave the area, grab corn on the cob at Cafe Habana Malibu (3939 Cross Creek Road), a favorite of Soleil Moon Frye (co-founder of children's clothing line The Little Seed) and her kids.

PHOTOS: Best of Hollywood: 28 Ways to Create a Perfect Summer Weekend

If you're loath to battle beach crowds, head north into the woods: Sarah Chalke, Amy Brenneman, Noah Wyle, Julian Sands and the late Huell Howser are among those who have chased down pixies at Griffith Park during A Faery Hunt, an interactive theater experience at 10:30 Saturday mornings. (Tickets are $15 to $25 a person and locations vary, so check the schedule; afaeryhunt.com.) Head west for lunch at Westwood's 800 Degrees Pizza (10889 Lindbrook Drive), an assembly-line create-your-own joint, then take your littlest beauty queen for a mommy-and-me manicure at Plush Beauty Bar (7879 Santa Monica Blvd.). Not only is the salon formaldehyde-free, but kids too young and restless to enjoy the pleasures of grooming can hang out in a toy area while you and a big kid get your digits polished (open Saturday 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.).

If beauty's not your kids' bag, trot over to Will Rogers Polo Club in Will Rogers State Park (the club is free to the public from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays, following $12 parking -- bring cash; 1501 Will Rogers State Park Road), where kids can watch polo matches and play in the large picnic area. For a sweet afternoon snack, make your way to Ice Cream Lab (9461 S. Santa Monica Blvd.), Beverly Hills' science experiment/creamery. Beyond the calories, the spectacle is worth the trip. The ice cream is made in a liquid nitrogen display, and kids go crazy for it. Visitors include Jay Leno and Jessica Alba with her kids.

When night falls, get reserved seating at Eat See Hear, a weekly festival of outdoor movies, live music and food trucks. The lineup mostly is family-friendly -- crowd-pleasers like Big and Elf (yes, in July) -- but there's an occasional Boogie Nights thrown in, so check the schedule unless you're ready to field some uncomfortable questions from the backseat. (Locations vary; doors open at 5:30 p.m., live music at 7, movie at 8:30; $10 per reserved ticket, $8 for kids 12 and under -- free for kids under 5; eatseehear.com.)

PHOTOS: 26 of Summer's Most Anticipated Movies: 'Man of Steel,' 'Wolverine,' 'The Lone Ranger'

SUNDAY

Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner have taken their clan to Duff's Cakemix (8302 Melrose Ave.), a bakery and DIY cake-decorating studio where cake artists re-create the venom and victory of an Ace of Cakes episode. Frye's family loves the Larchmont Village Farmers Market (10 a.m.-2 p.m., 209 N. Larchmont Blvd.) because of the great food and "homey vibe." While you're there, drop by BlueBird LA Kids (652 N. Larchmont Blvd.), an upscale used-clothing store that's a favorite of Alicia Silverstone.

If you're up for an afternoon drive -- car nap! -- take your kids to Santa Clarita's The Gentle Barn (Sundays only, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., $10 suggested donation; 15825 Sierra Highway), where they can interact with animals that have been rescued from abuse. Portia de Rossi visited recently. And once you make it to Sunday night, you deserve some carbs -- and a break. Cecconi's West Hollywood (8764 Melrose Ave.) provides a family-style Italian dinner plus a magician and babysitter to entertain your kids once they sit still and eat for two minutes.

See more perfect summer weekends below:

Shopping With Jewelry Designer Jennifer Meyer

Music With Breakout Star Skylar Grey

Art With Director Phil Lord

Food: From Seafood Craze to Farmer's Market Bounty

Outdoors: Fun in the SoCal Sun

Pampering: Spa, Aaah

Romance: Date Nights (and Days)

Classic L.A.: Historic Hot Spots

The 1 Percent: Live in Luxury

Follow me on Twitter @sajilpl

Modern Entrepreneurs Cut Costs with Mobile Offices

In order to thrive, entrepreneurs need to stay determined, agile, and under budget.  When you’re building a business from the ground-up, brick-and-mortar office space can be more of a barrier than a benefit.  There are a lot of overhead costs to maintaining an office, and many entrepreneurs have found that they can do just fine without it.  Some get by with little more than an Intel inspired Ultrabook™ and a solid work ethic, while others require a bit more of a presence.

 

Mobile offices provide a range of cost-effective alternatives to leasing office space while retaining a lot of the benefits.  The most common ways to step into the mobile office environment are either by using shared office space or a virtual office service.

 

Shared office spaces have been popping up all over the place in recent years, especially in big cities.  You can get anything from a reserved desk to a private office, depending on your needs and budget.  These spaces foster professional atmospheres and usually provide standard amenities like coffee stations and water coolers.  Some shared spaces allow freelancers or individuals of any profession to grab a desk, while others cater to certain industries or companies of a certain level.  With the rising popularity of these spaces, it shouldn’t be difficult to find one that suits you.

 

Virtual office providers offer a number of services to support entrepreneurs.  One great benefit is a global network of meeting rooms that can be reserved on a per-meeting basis.  They also provide prestigious downtown mailing addresses with mail forwarding service, local phone numbers that are forwarded to your mobile, and sometimes even a receptionist to take your calls.  This is ideal for the mobile professional who needs a home base without a huge bill.

 

Whether you’re in a coffee shop, a shared office, or on the road, it’s important to recognize certain precautions and best practices for conducting business in a mobile environment.  Here are a couple of tips to keep in mind:

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon

Entrepreneurs often don’t have the safeguards, legal teams, and resources that employees at enterprise companies take for granted.  It’s a good idea to get an Ultrabook with fingerprint or facial recognition technology, like the Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Carbon, to help keep your information safe.  That way, if your Ultrabook is misplaced or stolen, a data breach will be much less likely.  It’s also good practice to encrypt your more sensitive data.  While that may seem like a hassle, there are programs that make encryption a much easier and faster process than it used to be.

 

You’ll likely have one main Ultrabook for all of your important tasks.  Don’t bog down the hard drive by storing all of your files and programs there.  Use cloud storage for your data and cloud-based software programs for your software.  That way your computer stays clean, and as an added bonus, you’ve got another layer of security if your Ultrabook falls into the wrong hands.

 

 

'Devil Wears Prada' Writer to Adapt Modern 'Jane Eyre' Graphic Novel

Aline Brosh McKenna and Simon Kinberg

In a deal worth low seven figures, Fox 2000 has picked up the rights to Rochester, an upcoming graphic novel from Archaia Publishing, with Aline Brosh McKenna attached to write the adaptation.

McKenna also will produce with Simon Kinberg, the Fox-based producer who is working on X-Men: Days of Future Past.

Rochester is a modern retelling of Jane Eyre, the classic 1847 novel by Charlotte Bronte. The book told the story of Eyre, an orphaned girl who becomes an independently minded governess at the estate of Edward Rochester, a man with a secret or two who falls for her.

PHOTOS: 11 Biggest Book-to-Big Screen Adaptations of the Last 25 Years

Archaia’s editor-in-chief Stephen Christy will exec produce with the company’s Jack Cummins. The deal may be the company’s last act as an independent publisher; BOOM! Studio is acquiring the company, known for its many Eisner-nominated graphic novels.

Rochester marks a reunion for McKenna, Kinberg and Christy as the trio previously teamed up to adapt Archaia’s acclaimed sci-fi graphic novel series Rust. That project is set up at 20th Century Fox.

Rochester also returns McKenna into the fold of Fox 2000 for the first time since her breakthrough film, the adaptation of The Devil Wears Prada. McKenna wrote the screenplay for Cinderella, Disney's live-action take on the fairy tale starring Cate Blanchett and Lily James. Kinberg is producing Cinderella, which is in pre-production.

 

For Modern Jurors, Being On A Case Means Being Offline

More courts are asking jurors to avoid social media services and tools that have become an integral part of modern life, like Twitter, Facebook, email, texting, instant messaging and Internet research.
More courts are asking jurors to avoid social media services and tools that have become an integral part of modern life, like Twitter, Facebook, email, texting, instant messaging and Internet research.

In the Mercer County Courthouse in Trenton, N.J., John Saunders, a jury manager, spends his weekdays shepherding potential jurors. Much of what he tells them regards the paraphernalia of 21st century life: cellphones, tablets and laptops. These are OK to use in the waiting room, he tells them. "We realize life does not stop."

But in the courtroom, it's all phones off. Laptops and iPads stay with Saunders, and jurors are given a tag to reclaim their items. "Unlike the airport, when you return, your item will be there, and no baggage charge guaranteed," he says.

While jurors were once warned not to discuss with others the cases they were hearing, warnings to jurors in today's social media age have become much more explicit. Increasingly, jurors are hearing about what they should not
do with the devices that connect them to the world.
In New Jersey, judges like Travis Francis, the assignment judge in Middlesex County, have adopted model instructions to jurors that sound like something out of a Best Buy catalog.

"Do not use any electronic device," he tells them, "such as the telephone, cell or smartphone, BlackBerry, iPhone, PDA computer, the Internet, email, any text or instant message service, any Internet chat room, blog or website such as Facebook, MySpace, YouTube or Twitter to communicate to anyone any information about the case."

Doing any research or investigating of the case on your own is also forbidden here, as is "visiting the scene" virtually. "Jurors are specifically instructed not to use Google Earth or any other similar utility to visit the scene of an accident or crime," Francis says.

Putting Modern Communication On Hold

These lengthy lists of digital don'ts grow out of a conflict in modern life: Jury duty requires a juror to limit his or her communications with others. To many 21st century Americans, those limits might feel like solitary confinement.

Paula Hannaford-Agor, who directs of the Center for Jury Studies in Williamsburg, Va., says that in an age when everyone's used to instant digital information — finding a restaurant, paying a bill, checking a bank balance — "it's very difficult and really counterintuitive for many jurors" to be told they must refrain from using the Internet to research a case.

But how often does a juror actually visit a crime scene on Google Earth, tweet about the case she's on or look up the filings? Hannaford-Agor says a 2010 Reuters study found that only 90 verdicts were challenged on the basis of juror digital disobedience between 1999 and 2010. But, she notes, those are the only reported cases or instances that were admitted to. Now, Hannaford-Agor says she typically hears about one case a week in which jurors looked up legal terms on the Web or shared their jury duty experience on social media.

Those kinds of communications have sparked various new rules and procedures across the country. In New Jersey, one case involving jury deliberations in a 2011 Bergen County drug trial made a big impact on judges all over the state, including Superior Court Judge Robert Billmeier, who hears criminal cases in Trenton.

"It was actually the foreperson of the jury who got on the Internet despite the judge's instructions not to," Billmeier says. He found information about a minimum prison term that he thought would pertain to the defendant if he was found guilty. "As it turned out, his research was inaccurate," Billmeier says, but that information led to a deadlocked jury and a mistrial. The juror was fined $500.

Where's The Line?

Billmeier has since adopted a juror pledge. Jurors must agree to not engage in any online research or communication pertaining to their trial — and jurors must sign under penalty of perjury. That, he says, "brings home to them how important this instruction is not to get on the Internet, not to use social media, to follow the court's instructions — or there could be adverse consequences."

But what about a tweet that reveals nothing more than what one might tell a spouse, like, "I'm on a jury in a drug case," for example?

The problem, Billmeier says, is that a tweet is an invitation to a conversation. And while such a tweet may not necessarily get someone dismissed or get a verdict overturned, the lines between unacceptable and acceptable tweets are likely to get less clear, says Hannaford-Agor.

"We're starting to hear, begrudgingly, a lot more discussion about under what circumstances is a juror's conduct of going online or posting something actually harmful error," she says.

Meaning that, with social media so integral to our lives, there are some circumstances of jurors going digital that society may simply have to accept as harmless.