Software & Apps - Page 101

With Windows 8 Zune is out and Xbox is in. Zune will be no more, that Microsoft has made abundantly clear. We finally have an answer as to what is replacing it: Xbox. Increasing from its humble roots as a gaming platform, the large brand will become an entire entertainment center for Windows 8 on phones, PCs, tablets, and TVs.

From Microsoft:

A Microsoft-sponsored IDC report claims that the annual support costs for a Windows XP systems are five times higher than a Windows 7-based system, as part of Microsoft's latest efforts in pushing more people toward Windows 7.

Microsoft have also issued a statement that has told organizations if they have not started "the migration to a modern PC, you are late". Windows XP gets orphaned by the software company with no further support or patches in April 2014, close to 13 years since it launched.

The report states that 42-percent of Windows' non-home installed base remains on the ageing Windows XP OS. If this continues, 11-percent of all Windows users will continue to be powered by Windows XP when the security patches end in 2014. As for support costs: IT workers' time and worker productivity costs jump by 25- and 23-percent respectively in year four.

Amazon has had a feature like this for sometime and it looks as though Apple is finally following suit. It's no surprise that iOS users like to save money just as much as Android users who get this feature from the Amazon app store. The only announcement regarding this is a tweet by Apple, so this could be a one time thing, but I doubt it is.

The tweet by Apple says "Cut the Rope: Experiments is our #FreeAppoftheWeek. Go to the App Store for your free download. tw.appstore.com/uUj" so I'm going to guess it will be a continuous thing going forward. To go along with this, the description of the app says "***FREE FOR A LIMITED TIME***".

The app itself is actually a pretty fun game. I've played it before on a Windows 7 tablet that was running Windows 8. The object of the game is to cut various strings and manipulate objects to get the piece of candy over to the monster. While I'm not sure I would pay for the app, I'd definitely take it if it was free as it is now.

Facebook Camera is a new app which is designed to let users see just pictures from all of your Facebook friends. Designed and released by Facebook, I can't help but feel the Instagram acquisition is partly to blame for this. With the new app comes the ability to share multiple photos at once, instead of having to upload them one at a time.

The new app makes viewing photos easier as you can swipe through the pictures in an album. In Facebook's words: "When you launch the app, you'll see a feed of just great photos from the people you care about. You can swipe to see more of any album or tap to enlarge an individual photo." Cool. But isn't that what you already do on the regular Facebook app?

The reason to believe it is due in part to the Instagram acquisition? This feature right here: "It's also easy to edit photos with new tools like the ability to crop, rotate and add filters to any picture in your camera roll." Specifically, the add filters function. The new app will be available on iPhones later today and Facebook is offering the option to have a link texted to your iPhone.

Windows 8 is nearing release, and with it, we're prompted with more and more news about it, but that's good, right? The latest out of the gate is that the upcoming OS from Redmond is booting... too fast? Yes, too fast. Everyone wants quicker boot times, and Windows 8 definitely delivers in that way.

But, there are problems with an OS that boots too quickly, that if you need to enter the setup menu by pressing F2/F8 during the boot, there's next to no time to tap those keys. What did Microsoft do? Well, they can't just hold the OS boot time back, that would be crazy, so they've had to add some new features to the OS to make it easier to get to these menus.

If you have a machine with a solid-state drive installed, you can boot into a machine in around 7 seconds, and this will only decrease as hardware gets faster over time. In a test machine at Microsoft sporting an SSD and UEFI system, the time window to tap F8 is 200 milliseconds, yes, 200 milliseconds. In the case where you can't boot into Windows, Windows 8 will automatically enter automatic failover behavior which is determined by an algorithm that establishes a baseline over several boots.

NVIDIA have just released some new drivers to the public, and what makes these stand out from the other R300 series of drivers is that these are the first WHQL-certified drivers from the R300 family of drivers. NVIDIA have baked plenty of improvements, and features into the R300 series of drivers.

The GeForce 301.42 WHQL does contain some nuggets of gold, such as improving support for the GTX 600 Series of cards. We're looking at the inclusion of GEFORCE GTX 670 4-way SLI support, and a bunch of HDTV displays getting a dded support, as well as the usual single- and multi-GPU bugs being squished. New and/or improved SLI and 3D Vision profiles have arrived, for new games such as Max Payne 3, Dirt: Showdown, Sniper Elite V2, and Street Fighter X Tekken.

For more information on the GeForce 301.42 WHQL drivers, check out NVIDIA's page.

Since this is an enthusiast site, I imagine a majority of the readers are running multiple monitor setups. If you are, I'm sure you're aware of some of the difficulties associated with such a setup on previous versions of Windows. Well, Windows 8 isn't just receiving a touch screen UI upgrade; it's also receiving tweaks for multiple monitor setups.

There are several different tweaks that Microsoft is making in the upcoming Windows 8. One of the more minor tweaks is that you will now be able to put different backgrounds onto different monitors as seen in the picture above. Additionally, it will be possible to span a single panoramic picture across multiple monitors.

Microsoft has also improved the slideshow function to take advantage of multiple monitors. This is an especially important feature for users who have monitors in different orientations. Some pictures are more suited for a portrait or landscape monitor, so Microsoft has added a piece of logic code to show images on monitors to which they are better suited.

We reported a while ago about how when the weekend came Chrome became the most popular browser in the world for a day. Chrome has once again taken the top browser spot, but this time it held onto it for more than a week. At the time of writing, Chrome is still on top albeit a bit less ahead than it was last week.

Last week, Chrome led with 32.76% market share according to StatCounter. During this same week of May 14 to May 20, Internet Explorer managed to grab only 31.94% of the market. This week isn't looking quite as promising as Chrome has dropped to just 31.88% while Internet Explorer has dropped to 31.47% market share.

Back in March, when Chrome overtook IE on the weekend, StatCounter CEO Aodhan Cullen said, "whether Chrome can take the lead in the browser wars in the long term remains to be seen, however the trend towards Chrome usage at weekends is undeniable. At weekends, when people are free to choose what browser to use, many of them are selecting Chrome in preference to Internet Explorer."

When Aero Glass first arrived with Windows Vista, people were finally impressed with the sleek look of a Microsoft operating system. Windows 7 polished it up a bit, and pushed it even more, but it seems like Microsoft are ready to throw Aero out when Windows 8 arrives.

Microsoft has "moved beyond" the design, and are looking forward to embrace an approach that feels "clean and crisp". Microsoft's development blog has some great thoughts and information on the move, where they say that by "flattening surfaces, removing reflections and scaling back distracting gradients", Windows 8 will provide a simplified experience over its flashier predecessors:

The Steam remote library management was only in beta for a little while, and has broken out of the beta and into full availability. Now you can lay in your bed, or on the bus or train and manage your library directly from your iOS- or Android-based device.

If you've got the Steam app for iOS or Android, you can start a download remotely, complete online purchases, and more. Here's what Valve have to say about it:

Microsoft is getting their hands dirty with Windows 8, and one of the things they're tweaking at the moment is the way the next-gen operating system manages multi-monitor setups, starting with the next major release of their OS.

Mark Yalovsky, a lead program manager on the User Experience team, had gone into detail explaining some of the features that have already been baked into the Consumer Preview, such as taskbar options for multiple displays, and some that will change like the ability to launch Metro apps on any display - but this post has been taken down.

Microsoft have collected data through the Windows Feedback Program, which points to 14-percent of desktop PCs and approximately 5-percent of laptop PCs sporting multiple monitors. Microsoft have taken this information, and made multi-monitor support better in Windows 8. They have set themselves a few goals: make the desktop a more personal experience, improve the efficiency of accessing apps across monitors, improve the efficiency of accessing system UI, and allow side-by-side Metro style and desktop apps.

Chinese search company Baidu has whispered into the ears of TechCrunch that they have some big plans for the Baidu Cloud Smart Terminal system that runs their newly-announced phone. Baidu wants to push Baidu Cloud into all major mobile operating systems, including Windows Phone, iOS and Android.

According to a Baidu spokesperson, the company wants to eventually produce a Windows Phone with Baidu Cloud, as well as an iOS-based device. A Windows Phone I could see happening, but an iOS device? It would really require Apple's complete permission, and I just can't see this happening.

Baidu Cloud is a suite of apps tied into Baidu's storage, music and search offerings. The phone announced today, is a low-cost phone, dubbed Changhong H5018 and sports a 3.5-inch 480x320 touchscreen, 3G connectivity, and a 3-megapixel camera. It will be available for $158, which earns it the right to be dubbed a low-cost smartphone. Baidu Cloud runs on top of Android 2.3, and because Google gives Android partners much more freedom in adapting their OS, it gives Baidu the chance to start off on Android.

I'm really hoping that struggling RIM (Research in Motion) and their next-generation OS, BlackBerry 10 (BB10) bodes well against the likes of Apple and Google. Just hours ago, there was a media briefing for RIM's next OS in London.

BB10's home screen has been hidden, until now. The media event showed off the swish looking home screen, which is now populated with widgets, but the change is that all of the on-screen widgets are actually active applications that will dynamically change based on your activities.

Most of BlackBerry 10's interface is gesture-driven, where you can quick swipe to the right to bring up the full launcher, where a swipe to the left will open the unified inbox. Definitely not revolutionary, or even resolutionary, but it's better than previous iterations of RIM's operating system. RIM have also updated the BB10 software keyboard, where RIM's Head of Software Portfolio, Vivek Bhardwaj has stated that the company spend a lot of time and effort trying to replicate the capabilities of the company's iconic plastic keyboards.

Microsoft kinda wants to turn the Xbox 360 into a PC, but kinda doesn't. Today's "kinda does" includes news that the OS and gaming giant will release Internet Explorer 9 to the Xbox 360, which would include Kinect voice and gesture support.

The Xbox 360 already sports voice search functions with Bing, but the results are limited to just media only. Having Internet Explorer would give the Xbox 360 a full-on web browsing experience, in an unrestricted environment. The Verge is reporting this, so it gives the news some big credit.

If the Xbox 360 owner has the Kinect motion-sensing device, they could use it for voice and gesture control within Internet Explorer. This would be a pretty nifty thing to have on the couch, and would really give credit toward Kinect being a huge feature for the next-generation Xbox. Because text can't be easily entered in with a console controller, voice control makes perfect sense. E3 isn't too far away, and I have a feeling we should see and hear about it then.

Flipboard CEO, Mick McCue has revealed that the apps number of downloads in China will "easily surpass" what they're seeing in the US in the near future. The company is also looking to create a Chinese base of operations, too.

The company launched a Chinese service last December, which even included a dedicated editorial team. March of this year saw an iPhone app, and just yesterday we saw the app hit the Samsung GALAXY S II. McCue has said that the number of downloads of Flipboard in China is already equal with those in the US.

Flipboard is looking at 5 million downloads in China by the end of 2012, and in order to help that growth, McCue has revealed that an official Android-based application will hit the country. This is a good move, as Android represents 68.4-percent of smartphone sales in China, according to Analysys research.

Microsoft is banning alternative browser on the upcoming ARM-based Windows 8 platform, or so Mozilla is claiming. It seems as though this could be an anti-competitive practice in which Microsoft may end up getting sued. But, let's examine the reasons that Microsoft isn't allowing alternative browsers. Trust me, you'll get quite the laugh.

"They're trying to make a new version of their operating system which denies their users choice, competition, and innovation," said Harvey Anderson, Mozilla's general counsel. "Making IE the only browser on that platform is a complete return to the digital dark ages when there was only one browser on the Windows platform."

Microsoft Deputy General Counsel David Heiner told Mozilla the reasons they wouldn't be able to write a browser for Windows 8 ARM, Anderson said:

Google has released version 6.7 of Google Maps for Android. Sorry iOS users, but you guys are left out of the features that come with this update. Google Maps for Android now features indoor walking directions and Google Offers integration with participating venues. The announcement states that these features are only available in the United States, but it appears that the walking directions extend to Japan at the least.

Google Offers hasn't exactly spread like wildfire and is currently on the decline. However, this new integration within Google Maps should give the service a boost as it will allow users to purchase or use nearby offers straight from Google Maps. A perfect example is if you are taking a roadtrip and are looking for a place to eat.

Google's blog post:

Microsoft are really wanting to make Windows 8 stand out, bigger than most operating systems they've released before. Today, the Redmond-based company have announced that Windows Media Center is not going to be included with Windows 8.

If you'd like to have access to Windows Media Center, you'll need to pay for it. You're thinking this is bad, ridiculous, how could they? Well, Microsoft are promising that Windows 8 will "deliver a world-class video and audio entertainment experience", and they've made it clear that DVDs are not part of this. Windows Media Player will continue to be included with Windows 8, but the ability to play DVDs, will not.

ZDNet's Ed Bott has noted:

As I reported yesterday, users of the iOS Rock Band app received a message that they would no longer be able to play the game and thanked them for 'rocking out with us.' Users, of course, flipped out and started posting bad reviews on the app and demanding their money back across a plethora of online communities.

The developers of Rock Band were caught off guard by the message, so they redirected all questions to EA Mobile. Apple additionally directed questions to EA, who remained quiet in the face of it all. EA has finally come out with a statement blaming the message on an error and that the game would still be playable.

Valve have released a Steam beta client which has a new feature tucked into it called Remote Downloads. Remote Downloads is a feature that lets users manage their game libraries remotely. This means that users can login to the official Steam site and have access to their game list.

From here, they can start downloads and monitor their progress. The only requirement is that Steam has to be left running on their PC, which is obvious. Because Remote Downloads is done through a standard web browser, this means that smart devices like smartphones and tablets should be able to get in on the fun.

At the moment, the Steam apps for iOs and Android allow game purchases, but don't play well with a home installation of Steam. This function should be baked into the app once Remote Downloads makes its way out of beta, and into Steam as a proper feature. Nice work, Valve!