Software & Apps News - Page 159

Dropbox fans rejoice, Dropbox 2.0 for Android is now here. If you want some cloud storage for your Android-based device, you're in luck. Version 2.0 of the app includes new features and a totally revamped layout. A little arrow can be found to the right of each file in the app, which then leads you to a pop-out menu.

From the pop-up menu, you can share, delete, and favorite, which is a brand new feature to Dropbox. When in the main menu, you'll have three taps up top including Dropbox, Uploads and the new addition, Favorites. From Dropbox, you can put files into your cloud-based storage, which then puts them across all of your devices, and once a file is favorited, you can access it even without an Internet connection because it'll be stored locally on the device itself.

Dropbox also includes the ability to rename files directly from the app, as well as uploading files in bulk. If you like to upload from and export to local storage, you're in luck: you can now do this from the Uploads tab. Ice Cream Sandwich support has been baked in, as well as various bug fixes.

Earlier this week, Mozilla renewed their agreement with Google to be their default search engine in Firefox for another three years. Google Chrome engineer, Peter Kasting, has said: "Google is funding a partner," not a competitor. And its a great way of putting it, more revenue streams and people coming to your search engine, are better than none.

Kasting adds:

People never seem to understand why Google builds Chrome no matter how many times I try to pound it into their heads. It's very simple: the primary goal of Chrome is to make the web advance as much and as quickly as possible. It's completely irrelevant to this goal whether Chrome actually gains tons of users or whether instead the web advances because the other browser vendors step up their game and produce far better browsers. Either way the web gets better. Job done.

Password management and security is something that confuses a lot of people, and Microsoft are hoping to change that. A new feature that will be included in their next OS will allow users to put an unlimited number of individual passwords behind one master password, and then sync them across all other Windows 8-based machines they use.

The Live ID password is all you'll need, so for the multiple websites you use, you can set very complicated passwords for them, in the case you get hacked and your credentials are stolen, your entire digital life isn't ripped away from you. Windows 8 will automatically enter your login information when visiting a saved website.

There are similar services and apps available that do this, examples are 1Password and LastPass, but being built into the OS is a much better option. What if your Windows Live ID is stolen or lost somehow? That's fine. Microsoft are including a bunch of safety features into Windows 8 that are designed to detect compromise and limit account usage until you can recover it.

RightWare, who are behind BrowserMark and the very popular Basemark ES 2.0, have announced the latest in their smartphone testing software: Basemark Halti, an OpenGL ES 3.0 benchmark.

Basemark Halti contains two primary benchmarking scenes, in the same fashion that Basemark ES 2.0 had two scenes. This time they're named Rush and Car Race. The two tests will have triangle counts of roughly 100,000 triangles per frame, and be rendered front to back where possible.

First up, Rush is an action scene based on a city rooftop and its aim is to bring PC-quality game rendering. Character animation with skinning and bones, dynamic shadows and reflections, per-pixel lighting with 3 point lights, depth of field, light bloom, and SSAO are all featured in Rush.

"Siri, what is your competition?" "Nothing, I'm the best thing out," says Siri. Well, not for long. Google's response to Apple's voice assistant looked to be codenamed Majel, which stems from Majel Barrett-Roddenberry, who is better known as the voice of the Federation Computer from Star Trek.

Google already have Voice Actions, and Majel would be an evolution of this with the addition of natural language processing. Voice Actions require voice prompts such as "sent text to..." or "navigate to..." Majel will allow you to perform actions in your natural language, similar to how Siri functions.

At the initial launch, Majel will only be able to do Google search enquiries, which could see the light of day in 2011. Google X engineers are reportedly working around the clock on finishing the first release, as the NYTime has reported previously that at least one product would make it out of the Google X labs before the end of the year.

AMD have released two new drivers, the AMD Catalyst 11.12 and the AMD Catalyst 12.1 Preview drivers. Highlights of the Catalyst 11.12 driver are: AMD OpenGL 4.2 production support, where it includes official support for the OpenGL 4.2 specification. Enhancements for Eyefinity are included, with support for AMD HD3D technology when using 3x1 Landscape Eyefinity display group, on supported DisplayPort 3D monitors.

Also included is AMD Vision Engine Control Center enhancements for Dual Graphics, where AMD have implemented to better facilitate the enabling and control of the Dual Graphics within the Vision Engine Control Center. Next up, we have the gem that is the AMD Catalyst 12.1 Preview, which includes multiple improvements and new features such as:

AMD HD3D technology support enhancement

Microsoft have unveiled SkyDrive for both Windows Phone and iPhone today, with Microsoft releasing it as people are increasingly needing access to their files on-the-go. Microsoft's Mike Torres has said:

As devices proliferate, having a great experience on the Web is only one piece of a pretty complex puzzle. People are choosing where to put their files based on how portable and accessible they are across the various devices they use; therefore, it's critical that we continue to extend the SkyDrive experience to the devices you use every day.

Windows Phone's latest update, Mango, has deep integration with SkyDrive through its hubs Pictures and Office, which allows sharing of text, e-mail or IM. Users, as always, wanted more. Torres adds:

AMD have had quite the trouble lately with drivers, a botched RAGE driver, no CrossFire support in Battlefield 3 without micro-stuttering for most users, and Skyrim took nearly a month to get going for HD 5000-Series owners with CrossFire.

But, 2012 is a new year, and AMD have their Graphics Core Next (GCN) debuting, which is their first architectural change since the R600 (2900XT). With it, AMD have added some herbs and spices to their drivers, to not propel the new series of GPUs, but to revamp their old ones, too.

AnandTech really cover the Preview drivers well, but a rundown is that they're heavily modified, and have tonnes of new features baked in that should impress pretty much everyone. One thing most people are going to love: custom application profiles. Hooray! This new feature allows users to create new application profiles and to modify the application profiles that are distributed through drivers and CAP updates.

AllThingsD have some live coverage from a just-held Microsoft event, where they talked about their upcoming Windows Store that features in their next OS, Windows 8. Windows President Steven Sinofsky was on hand, as well as Windows Web Services VP Antoine Leblond.

Both took the stage and talked up the Windows Store, where a fair amount of information was unleashed onto the public. First off, Microsoft are promising the best economics of any app store by saying "we're going to give you a bigger bite of the apple". I don't know if that could be put in better words, but I love it.

Leblond recapped that Microsoft is proud to have Windows 8 working on ARM and x86 chips, small and big computers, with "it's the biggest and most significant developer opportunity ever", he promised. Windows Store is set to offer some differences to what the Apple App Store and Google Android Market offer, by giving free trial versions of apps, Leblond says "the best advertisement for your app will be the app itself," and I totally agree.

The Next Web claims that sources close to Microsoft have said that we should expect the pubic Windows 8 beta sometime in late February 2012. Windows 8 is expected in 2H 2012, but an exact date for release is currently unknown.

But, knowing the release date of the public beta paints a better picture of when to expect the RTM copy of Windows 8. If we use Windows 7's release milestones, we should expect Windows 8 hit the released to manufacturers (RTM) release in June. If this happens, Microsoft could enjoy a very, very good 2H of 2012, by selling its new OS, pushing tablets powered with the OS and pre-built systems with Windows 8 baked in.

What is unknown about the Windows 8 beta is what exactly will be included in the beta itself. No feature set is known, but we should find some information closer to release. I'm incredibly excited myself.