Software & Apps News - Page 150

The latest and most important Software & Apps news - Page 150.

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Stanford, Open University reach 50 million downloads on Apple's iTunes U

Anthony Garreffa | Apr 4, 2012 5:29 AM CDT

Two of Apple's university partners both reached some huge milestones this week using Apple's free education service, iTunes U. Stanford and Open University reached 50 million downloads of their respective content. Brent Izutsu, the senior program manager for Stanford on iTunes U said:

It shows there is a huge appetite for high-quality educational content. And that will only grow as more people look online to supplement their education.

Stanford includes over 100 collections of course lectures in a variety of subjects ranging from entrepreneurship to clinical anatomy. iTunes U launched back in January, with subscriptions to Stanford's channel hitting 300,000. Open University did even better than this. Open University is the first school in Europe to reach one million active subscriptions through iTunes U. They also see more than 40,000 new downloads each day.

Continue reading: Stanford, Open University reach 50 million downloads on Apple's iTunes U (full post)

Samsung GALAXY Note gets leaked Ice Cream Sandwich ROM

Anthony Garreffa | Apr 4, 2012 4:19 AM CDT

Samsung's GALAXY Note may have kicked arse in ad campaigns, beating out Doritos and M&Ms, and its reward may just be Ice Cream Sandwich. No really, thanks to Samsung and RootzWiki, you can now enjoy ICS on your 5.3-inch GALAXY Note smartphone.

RootzWiki have intensely tested the ROM before releasing it, so that the user ends up with a great experience rather than a slightly beautiful paperweight. RootzWiki's internal build tester provided them with the following rundown of working features:

If you're used to the Samsung tools in the Gingerbread-based GALAXY Note, there are a few changes that RootzWiki's tester noticed:

Continue reading: Samsung GALAXY Note gets leaked Ice Cream Sandwich ROM (full post)

Sony confirm Android 4.0 ICS updates for 11 handsets

Anthony Garreffa | Apr 3, 2012 12:24 AM CDT

Over the weekend Sony detailed their Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich update plans for their Xperia lineup of smartphones, where we should see the ICS updates rolling out to no less than 11 Xperia handsets by mid-June. The update will be pushed out to some phones in mid-April, with these phones being the Xperia Arc S, Xperia Neo V, and Xperia Ray.

The late-May, early-June should see ICS-based updates for Xperia Arc, Play, Neo, Mini, Mini Pro, Pro, Active, and the Sony Ericsson Live with Walkman as well. There is a problem with these updates though, is that none of them will be over-the-air (OTA), and will require that owners of these handsets who want to upgrade have to tether their handsets.

This is because Sony wants users to make a "conscious and informed decision to upgrade". All this means is that while Sony are pushing out ICS updates for 11 handsets, those who don't know about ICS will have to wait until Sony push them OTA, if they even bother doing so. I would expect a notification from Sony saying "your phone is compatible for an update, if you would like to do so, visit this site", and that site explains what ICS is, and how you upgrade.

Continue reading: Sony confirm Android 4.0 ICS updates for 11 handsets (full post)

Highlight Hunter locates your best clips and cuts down editing time by 80%

Trace Hagan | Apr 2, 2012 6:37 PM CDT

Video cameras are everywhere! From the smallest cell phone all the way up to the professional camera, more and more people are taking video. But wading through hours upon hours of video is both a boring and time consuming task. Enter Highlight Hunter. This free piece of software was created by Noah Spitzer-Williams and team cuts down editing time by up to 80 percent.

Noah spent 5 years at Microsoft at different posts and finally decided to start his company. The way the software works is like this. As one records an adventure, game, or the like, a user simply covers the lens for one second after a highlight to bookmark it. One then downloads the data onto a Mac or PC and uses the free app. It takes a couple of minutes and pulls together all of the highlights that were bookmarked.

The software is compatible with most video cameras and data files. You can choose how much time to record before the highlight bookmark in the settings. The app can take hours of video and cut it down to the highlights in an average of 3 to 4 minutes according to Spitzer-Williams. The team has plans to integrate with video editing software, but they aren't there yet.

Continue reading: Highlight Hunter locates your best clips and cuts down editing time by 80% (full post)

Google Maps for Android hits version 6.5, sports new ICS-based touches

Anthony Garreffa | Mar 30, 2012 3:27 AM CDT

Google have just pushed out Google Maps for Android 6.5, and with it, brings a few new features for Ice Cream Sandwich-powered devices, as well as some stats which should raise eyebrows on some people.

Google Maps for Android has guided people through more than 50 billion kilometers of turn-by-turn directions, which is the equivalent to 130,000 trips to the moon, 334 trips to the sun, 10 trips to Neptune, or 0.005 light years. Absolutely mind-blowing when its put that way, really.

Google Maps 6.5 for Android sports a redesigned Navigation home screen for Android 4.0+, which makes it easier to enter a new destination or select from recent and favorite locations by swiping left or right (as seen in the picture above). If your smartphone sports a high pixel density screen, such as the GALAXY Nexus, GALAXY S II, Droid Razr, and others, you'll now be greeted with higher resolution map tiles that take better advantage of the pixels-per-inch on your screen.

Continue reading: Google Maps for Android hits version 6.5, sports new ICS-based touches (full post)

Evernote for Android gets updated, now includes speech-to-text and custom widgets

Anthony Garreffa | Mar 29, 2012 9:23 PM CDT

Note-taking super-app Evernote, has been updated for Android and now includes a few new features that might either entice you to try it, or excite you to update it. First up we have the integrated speech-to-text transcription to sit side-by-side Evernote's already-in-place audio notes feature.

The original audio is attached to each note, and the new tool can be disabled for sound-only reminders. This feature is OS specific though, where it's limited to Android 4.0 technology and "certain other devices", so be careful with that one.

The standard widgets have also received a new splash of paint, where an update to the Evernote Widget is now in play. The updated widget allows you to customize color, buttons and exactly which notes appear in the large widget. We also have a single function widget which sits on the home screen like the regular app does. And lastly, we have Quick Snapshot, which lets you take fast captures that are added to your account and automatically titled.

Continue reading: Evernote for Android gets updated, now includes speech-to-text and custom widgets (full post)

Adobe launch Flash 11.2 as well as AIR 3.2, won't charge for premium features until you hit $50k in revenue

Anthony Garreffa | Mar 29, 2012 2:31 AM CDT

Adobe are wanting to hit the gaming scene with some punches, where they've announced Flash Player 11.2 as well as AIR 3.2. Adobe's goal: to enable "console quality" games like Shadowgun to run within your browser.

Flash Player 11.2 sports the ability to support mouse-lock, relative mouse coordinates, right/middle click events, multi-threaded video decoding, and the capability for hardware accelerated 2D and 3D graphics for gameplay at up to 60 frames per second. Not bad for your browser, isn't it.

AIR 3.2 (which is Adobe's platform for building cross-platform web apps) now comes with Stage3D for mobile, which is a technology Adobe released back in October for desktops, that is now used in graphically intensive titles such as Spaced Away and ApexVJ. Adobe also used the announcement to let us all know that they are collaborating with Unity to allow Unity customers to publish 3D games to Flash Player.

Continue reading: Adobe launch Flash 11.2 as well as AIR 3.2, won't charge for premium features until you hit $50k in revenue (full post)

AMD Catalyst 12.3 drivers are now available

Trace Hagan | Mar 28, 2012 1:10 PM CDT

AMD has released the new AMD Catalyst 12.3 driver today for download. It's mainly a support upgrade where is features full support for Windows 7 64-bit/32-bit and Windows Vista 64-bit/32-bit for the 7000 series. Windows XP support for the AMD Radeon HD 7900, AMD Radeon HD 7800, and AMD Radeon HD 7700 Series will be made available in AMD Catalyst 12.4

Additionally, the drivers have fixed the following issues:

• AMD Catalyst Control Center startup issues/delays have been resolved

Continue reading: AMD Catalyst 12.3 drivers are now available (full post)

Photoshop CS6 won't support 32-bit Macs

Trace Hagan | Mar 27, 2012 2:33 PM CDT

Now, it's none of my business how many bits you process at a time. That's between you and your software vendor. But, if you want to continue using Adobe Photoshop on your Mac, you better jump on the upgrade train and grab a new multi-core Mac that has a 64-bit os, Snow Leopard or later. Windows retains 32-bit support, but only for Windows XP.

Part of this change in support structure is Adobe dropping support for Windows Vista. The logic behind retaining support for Windows XP is simple: many Photoshop users are still on Windows XP based system. With this update, any existing 32-bit Photoshop plugins will need to be updated for 64-bit. The requirements for the current beta are:

Mac OS

Continue reading: Photoshop CS6 won't support 32-bit Macs (full post)

Black SMS, lets you send undercover SMS message with your iPhone

Anthony Garreffa | Mar 27, 2012 12:47 AM CDT

The latest iPhone app to hit is 'Black SMS'. What does it do? Well, it can keep your text messages covered in a black shroud, until you're ready to read them. Everyone has secrets. Think of it, I know you do. I do. I'm secretly a lady. What? You can't see what I typed there, it has a black shroud over it.

Black SMS is not expensive, either, at just $0.99. The app sends blacked-out messages through Apple's iMessage service, so when you receive a black SMS, you then copy the message from your Messages folder, and paste it into the Black SMS app to reveal what it says. Kind of like a next-gen scratchy.

Even if your iPhone is stolen, Black SMS requires a password to decode the black shroud-laden message. HAHA, pranksters. The app makes a person questionable, though, as if the situation arose that you had secret SMS messages, one would ask what is so secret? But, what if you just didn't want people knowing what you're talking about?

Continue reading: Black SMS, lets you send undercover SMS message with your iPhone (full post)