Software & Apps News - Page 73

The latest and most important Software & Apps news - Page 73.

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Windows 7 update breaks PCs with ASUS motherboards

Sean Ridgeley | May 6, 2016 11:25 AM CDT

Microsoft's recent KB3133977 update for Windows 7 means those with ASUS motherboards will no longer be able to boot into their operating system. Instead, they'll be greeted with a red screen of death that cites a "secure boot violation."

The source of the issue is KB3133977, which enables Secure Boot in UEFI and is evidently an issue in this specific configuration. While it's been confirmed for awhile now, the update was always optional, until Microsoft recently made it mandatory for an unknown reason.

Fortunately, ASUS has a relatively simple workaround that involves changing boot settings. Not everyone will be aware of it though (even more likely if they're still on Windows 7), so a significant number of people will be left in the lurch, or at least confused for an unnecessary amount of time.

Continue reading: Windows 7 update breaks PCs with ASUS motherboards (full post)

Apple Music rumored to receive interface overhaul this summer

Sean Ridgeley | May 4, 2016 3:24 PM CDT

Following mediocre reviews of Apple Music's first iteration and departures of executives intended to revitalize the company's music strategy (among other bad news), those familiar with the service have told Bloomberg a revamp is on the way.

It's said the interface will be made more intuitive to use, Apple's streaming and download businesses will be better integrated, and its online radio service will be expanded. The reveal will take place at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference in June, at which point the marketing machine will go full throttle to get more customers on board.

Nine Inch Nails founder and tech geek Trent Reznor as well as content head Robert Kondrk are said to oversee the new design, with many other notable staff contributing.

Continue reading: Apple Music rumored to receive interface overhaul this summer (full post)

The Rock's alarm clock app inspires you to get up in the morning

Sean Ridgeley | May 3, 2016 10:34 AM CDT

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson has a new iOS and Android app designed to motivate you to get out of bed in the morning and make the day your...well, you know. Appropriately named "The Rock Clock", it lets you set a personal goal, choose when you want to get up, and then wake up to a message from The Rock himself.

Other features include video messages from The Rock, 25 custom alarm tones, and "Rock Time", which syncs your alarm with The Rock so "you get up when he does" (probably not smart if you don't live in the Pacific Northwest). Amusingly, there's an intentional lack of snooze alarm because "The Rock is not a fan of that button."

Reviews are, perhaps surprisingly, quite strong with most sitting at four or five stars. Although some users note room for improvement, it appears to be a great foundation to start with.

Continue reading: The Rock's alarm clock app inspires you to get up in the morning (full post)

WhatsApp may be coming to Windows, OS X

Sean Ridgeley | May 2, 2016 9:14 AM CDT

It appears a WhatsApp client is coming to Mac OS X and Windows, according to information uncovered by software sleuths WABetaInfo. The information seems to come from a survey on WhatsApp's translation page and pretty clearly indicates a beta is on the way. Although the text is rough in parts, bits like "Download for Mac OS X", and "Download for Windows" make it difficult to imagine another scenario.

WhatsApp may be coming to Windows, OS X

The chat software is used by a staggering 1 billion people and is already available on Windows mobile, BlackBerry, Nokia, and Symbian, so it would not be surprising in the least to see native Windows and Mac clients appear. Should it happen, expect sync functionality across different devices and operating systems.

Continue reading: WhatsApp may be coming to Windows, OS X (full post)

Apple Music update brings videos, family plan to Android

Sean Ridgeley | Apr 29, 2016 2:21 PM CDT

The features Apple Music has had for months are now finally on Android thanks to a new update.

First is video playback, allowing you to watch most music videos and soon, a Vice documentary called "The Score", a new Dr. Dre series named Vital Signs, and an Apple series about app developers.

Then there's family plans: if you're willing to drop $14.99 per month over the standard $9.99, you can share with up to five other people.

Continue reading: Apple Music update brings videos, family plan to Android (full post)

New Apple Music API means endless integration possibilities

Sean Ridgeley | Apr 29, 2016 12:16 PM CDT

Apple has a new API for its Music service which offers a variety of exciting features for developers, allowing them to do all kinds of things they couldn't before.

Among them:

In turn, this added functionality opens up possibilities like Facebook creating playlists for you based on songs your friends have posted; fitness apps could create playlists based on tempo, and social music apps could pop up left and right. In short, every developer can now integrate Apple Music into their own apps and software in a ton of different ways without having to worry about things like licensing, since that's handled by Apple.

Continue reading: New Apple Music API means endless integration possibilities (full post)

Windows 10 now blocks Google searches from Cortana

Sean Ridgeley | Apr 29, 2016 11:05 AM CDT

Some of you have been circumventing the default behaviour for Cortana searches in Windows 10, telling her to search the web with a browser other than Edge and/or an engine other than Bing. Microsoft is putting a stop to both as of today, in what it says is an effort to ensure the best possible experience.

"The result is a compromised experience that is less reliable and predictable," it explains in a blog post. "The continuity of these types of task completion scenarios is disrupted if Cortana can't depend on Bing as the search provider and Microsoft Edge as the browser. The only way we can confidently deliver this personalized, end-to-end search experience is through the integration of Cortana, Microsoft Edge and Bing - all designed to do more for you."

"Starting today, to ensure we can deliver the integrated search experience designed for Windows 10, Microsoft Edge will be the only browser that will launch when you search from the Cortana box."

Continue reading: Windows 10 now blocks Google searches from Cortana (full post)

Facebook, Messenger, Instagram apps debut on Windows 10

Sean Ridgeley | Apr 28, 2016 3:10 PM CDT

At long last, Facebook is today releasing its new Facebook app for Windows 10 desktop as well as a Messenger app. On mobile, its Instagram app debuts.

Facebook, Messenger, Instagram apps debut on Windows 10

The Facebook app is available now and features a smaller style layout than with the previous app, which was very in your face. This one is much more efficient for taking in a lot of information and navigating between different sections. As well, performance is much improved with snappy loading of images as well as between clicks. Feature-wise, it supports Live Tiles for at a glance updates, Reactions, stickers in comments, and you can share photos to it through File Explorer (click the Share tab at the top of the window), among other things.

The Messenger app is available now and of course features chat functionality, which is now separate from the Facebook app. Native desktop notifications are listed as a feature; in my brief experience, they're much more reliable than with the previous Facebook app. Live Tiles are also supported. Design-wise, it's now in line with the mobile app (complete with smaller font size), which happens to work well on desktop. As with the new Facebook app, performance is much improved.

Continue reading: Facebook, Messenger, Instagram apps debut on Windows 10 (full post)

Lightweight Facebook wrapper app Swipe gets design overhaul, more

Sean Ridgeley | Apr 27, 2016 10:04 AM CDT

Arguably the best Android Facebook wrapper app Swipe for Facebook gets even better today thanks to some major design changes as well as new features.

Changes in the new 3.0 release include major stability and performance improvements (the developer is awfully excited when describing just how fast this version really is), automatic day/night theming (so the theme will change from light to dark the longer the day goes on if you want it to), Material design (pro users only), new menus, copyable text, fingerprint authentication, and more.

The appeal of Swipe is it lets you use Facebook on your phone without the crushing demand the official app places on your hardware, thereby slowing the OS down and draining the battery quickly. The developer achieves this by 'wrapping' the lightweight Facebook website into a convenient app. If you'd like to give it a try, hit the source link.

Continue reading: Lightweight Facebook wrapper app Swipe gets design overhaul, more (full post)

Windows 10 hand-off feature shown in leaked screenshot of Redstone

Jeff Williams | Apr 27, 2016 8:51 AM CDT

Hand-off of tasks from mobile to desktop has become a bit of a blessing. It's easy to begin work, or even browsing Facebook, on your phone and simply start up where you left off on your larger and more powerful devices. For those that use various Apple devices, it's a natural element of those operating systems. And one that's sorely missed from Windows. Windows 10 might be getting similar functionality in the Redstone update coming this summer.

A user on Reddit seems to have stumble across what appears to be just that in the latest preview build of Redstone. A toggle was found nestled in the settings pane that would allow you to continue work on whatever device is running Windows 10, with Bluetooth, aside from using a cloud based solution like some applications and OS X do.

Though it's obviously limited to other Windows 10 devices, and could theoretically include the Xbox One, it's still a step in the right direction. You never really know or understand just how useful a future that is until you've migrated to an OS that doesn't fully support it. Just being able to select the mobile tabs in Chrome that I was perusing is quite nice, but this new take, with Bluetooth mind you, will be a much needed advancement for Microsoft.

Continue reading: Windows 10 hand-off feature shown in leaked screenshot of Redstone (full post)