Software & Apps - Page 108

An announcement from Adobe today lets us know that significant new versions of its Flash Player and AIR platform are on the verge of release, Flash Player 11 and AIR 3; these both scheduled to become available to the masses early next month.

The new browser plug-in of Adobe Flash promises massive performance improvements over the 10 release using full hardware acceleration. Adobe also rolls in full, native 64-bit web browser support which should make the switch over to 64-bit web browsing less of a problem with there already being HTML5 and Java 64-bit plugins available.

Here's a detailed rundown on all the new goodies coming with the new versions :-

Microsoft's BUILD conference in Seattle is well underway and every tech site in the world has been throwing news up like there's no tomorrow, so instead of rewording the news, I'll provide some links and some thoughts on Windows 8. Windows 8 has not only myself excited, but most of the tech-related community. It seems like an utter overhaul of the Windows UI as we know it, with a smash-up of the Windows Phone tile-based UI and something new.

"Something new" is what seems like a million new ideas and features built-in to Windows 8. The major changes are [of course] the UI, but Windows 8 brings performance increases, a new lock screen, an entirely new home screen, a new task manager, cloud-syncing and so many others things it's hard to tell you a handful. Instead of this, check out a bunch of screenshots, videos and links to preview thoughts below.

If you want to try it out, download the developer preview here.

Microsoft is preparing to show off their upcoming flagship operating system, Windows 8, at their Build developer conference in Anaheim, California next week. Microsoft have said they want an operating system that feels at home whether home means an 8-inch tablet or a powerful desktop computer connected to large-screen monitors.

Window President, Steven Sinofsky says "It's 'no compromise' and that's really important to us". Commitment like this is great to see, especially in a changed battlefield against companies like Google and Apple.

Microsoft have signalled at much faster boot times as well as introducing Office's "ribbon" interface into the Windows desktop. Microsoft are also aiming at not just having an Intel show this time, but letting a wide range of companies come in for attention from the press and developers. With Microsoft saying at CES in January that Windows 8 will run on ARM-based processors from Texas Instruments, Qualcomm and NVIDIA as well as traditional x86-based chips from Intel and AMD.

While many have anticipated its presence in Windows 8 through several reports for a while now, Microsoft has just confirmed that the virtualization technology popular on Windows Server, "Hyper-V" will in fact be a part of its next-gen consumer level OS. This is not a feature the majority of folks using Windows 8 will be singing sweet melodies about, but for some it will no doubt be a true god send. If you're not even sure what it means or does, but are quick to sit forward in your seat and learn more, you can head over to this link for a detailed rundown.

Another interesting addition to Windows 8 talked about via the source is that of MinWin, which is essentially just the core kernel and operating system components of Windows, making it the most stripped down version of Windows possible. While it has showed up in Windows 7 and started when Vista came out, apparently for Windows 8 its role will be much more significant and purposeful, especially when combined with the powerful virtualization features of Hyper-V.

Today brings reason to celebrate for Google, marking Chrome's third anniversary since the open source web browser was first launched. This is a browser that needs no introduction with it being a widely favoured choice across the globe, in businesses, at home and on the go.

Things have certainly come a long way even in the three years since Chrome graced the web, making significant strides in speed, simplicity and security.

At this special time, to give insight to the evolution of major web technologies and browsers, Google has also put together a fantastic interactive infographic built using HTML5 that looks at all things web/browser wise as far back as the early 1990s when Netscape was king.

Microsoft are finally adding native ISO mounting support to their upcoming OS, Windows 8. Microsoft have said that in Windows 8, double-clicking an ISO file will automatically mount it as a virtual optical drive. This works in the same way Daemon Tools and Power ISO work, which I have used for the better part of my life. Microsoft will also built in support for Virtual Hard Disk files that are used with virtual machines.

It is in the same fashion with a double-click, it will mount the image automatically. Instead of coming up as an optical drive, it will detect as a separate hard drive, with an eject button. I'm not only surprised, but I'm also so very happy that Microsoft are finally supporting ISOs in Windows. I have a NAS at home and for years now (5+) I have not used an optical disc. When I do, I'll get it to my HDD and make it an ISO. It's much easier to manage, much, much easier and Microsoft have impressed me by adding this support.

How will game companies react? Only time will tell... piracy still does, rule. Even though game revenue is higher than ever, I'm sure people like Cevat Yerli from Crytek will... cry about this news.

Apple has seeded iTunes Beta 6.1 to developers in the US, it includes a new feature you should be on the look out for, iTunes Match. iTunes match allows users to upload music to Apple's beta service of iCloud. This will allow users to store their entire collection online in the iCloud for $25 per year. It also has something quite nifty, say you own an album and it's on your computer - but this album is also on the iTunes servers, it will shift it from the servers to your iCloud account. This saves valuable time and most importantly, bandwidth.

This also allows you to get access to the 256kbps AAC version from within the iCloud, even if your copy was in lower quality. Does this mean people can rip Apple off? How would you do that? Well, if you had an illegally obtained album of music, you could sync it with iTunes and iCloud and have it in your account. How would Apple tell between your illegal music and purchased music? Considering they're making $25 per year from potentially hundreds of millions of customers, are Apple supporting piracy?

If you want to get your mits on iTunes 10.5 beta 6.1, you'll need to be an Apple developer which is a $99 per annum fee.

Microsoft are pumping away at Windows 8 and it is not only bringing big UI changes to Windows 8 but another area they've put their magic on is the file management and this should make copying, moving, renaming and deleting files easier than ever before. One improvement in Windows 8 is the ability to view all copy tasks in a single window. This is a much more efficient design and will be welcome on all desktops.

From the single window a user will be able to pause or resume copy operations and will also get a detailed rundown of speeds achieved in each individual task and what the task is up to at a particular time (compete, paused, etc). Another feature exposed today is the redesigned Conflict Resolution dialog window, this window pops up on the event of file name collisions. The revamped window shows [in a much clearer fashion] where everything is located, the time/date and size of the file and gives check boxes and options of what to keep and what action to take.

On top of this, you can hover the mouse cursor over the thumbnail image to see the file path or double-click to open the file itself. Windows 8 is set to remove much of the confirmation dialogs such as "are you sure you want to move this file to the recycle bin?' or "are you sure you want to merge these folders?' which is set to streamline your experience even more.

Firefox 5 only came out a short while ago and Mozilla are not slowing down. Firefox 6 final is now available for download on Mac, Windows and Linux via Mozilla FTP servers. It's not available "officially", but will be available anytime next week. Firefox 6 does not introduce any UI changes, but the new version of Mozilla's ever-so-popular web browser does include some speed improvements while using the browser, almost 20% faster in some cases verses Firefox 5.

As always, because this isn't the "official" release, the final build may be updated before it gets released to the public next week. The welcome page does still say "Firefox 6 Beta" but don't let this stop you, Mozilla just hasn't updated the page yet. Go forth and grab Firefox 6! If you'd like to get your download on, I've linked to the 3 flavours of Firefox 6 below.

Firefox 6 for Windows

NVIDIA have just released the first major WHQL approved software suite for August, designed for all GeForce cards from the 6-series up as well as the ION platform.

The new 280.26 drivers include updated builds of the Physx system software (v9.10.0514) and HDMI audio drivers (v1.2.23.3) as well as implementing support for SLI on AMD's 990FX, 990X and 970 desktop chipsets (on certified boards).

One of the biggest changes however is in relation to the 3D Vision component, with its controller driver now included in all GPU driver installations. 3D Vision Monitor support has been extended to include some of the latest compatible monitors, including the ViewSonic V3D245 as well as 3D Vision compatible projectors including the Acer X111, BenQ W710ST and NEC NP-V300W.

Yes, you read that right. Apple have been sued over the startup process for Mac OS X. Florida-based company, Operating Systems Solutions recently sued Apple in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, claiming Apple's desktop operating system violates a patent they own for quickly booting an OS. The patent reads:

"a method for fast booting a computer system, comprising the steps of: A. performing a power on self test (POST) of basic input output system (BIOS) when the system is powered on or reset is requested; B. checking whether a boot configuration information including a system booting state which was created while executing a previous normal booting process exists or not; C. storing the boot configuration information from execution of the POST operation before loading a graphic interface (GUI) program, based on the checking result; and D. loading the graphic user interface (GUI) program."

Operating Systems Solutions does not cite a specific version of Apple's Mac OS X in the suit. But they do claim that "Apple sells or offers to sell within this district, computer systems, including but not limited to the MacBook Pro, that utilize the Mac OS X operating system that infringes" its patent.

At the end of July, Windows XP fell below 50% OS market share. Between June and July, Windows' market share in general dropped 0.63 percentage points (from 88.29-percent to 88.76-percent), whilst Mac OS games 0.22 percentage points and Linux gained 0.03 percentage points. Mobile operating systems have also, most obviously, gained market share. In the same period, Windows 7 gained 0.74 percentage points whilst Vista slipped 0.28.

By the end of 2010, Windows 7 nabbed 20% of the market and by the end of April 2011, it had 25%. Last month Microsoft reported they had sold over 400 million licenses in 21 months which means they're selling no less than 20 million per month. Back to school season is approaching which should see these numbers stay solid until at least 2012.

Reports are out that the new version of Apple's most popular media player on Windows and Mac, iTunes 11, will feature a UI overhaul as well as deeper iCloud integration. The new UI will be cleaner than the current one and the iTunes Store will not just be a contained web browser anymore. It will instead be properly integrated into iTunes.

The source of this story, iDownloadBlog says:

Based on user feedback from its June beta release, Skype has now rolled out the final 5.5 build of its software which is available for download immediately.

Skype 5.5 adds deeper Facebook integration in that you can view which of your FB friends are online from it directly as well as being able to instant message them from the new 'Facebook Contacts' tab. The ability to view and update your Facebook status is also possible as well as being able to view and 'like' posts from your wall directly from Skype Home.

Focusing more on Skype specific functions, there has been a number of updates made to improve general Skype calling with better controls for video and group video calling in Windows as well as more solid video calling reliability and some design changes to help make things a little easier in all.

A new beta driver for NVIDIA cards has been made available over at GeForce.com today in the R280.19s. It promises a ton of fixes along with new and updated 3D Vision profiles as well as a couple new features.

Furthermore, while it isn't mentioned in the release notes, these drivers are recommended for testing the BattleField 3 Alpha release as they are said to address a number of in-game glitches seen in previous driver releases while helping in the performance dept.

If you happen to be running an SLI rig in conjunction with a 3D Vision kit, these drivers are also recommended to enable 3DVisionLive.com and YouTube 3D video support. On that note, the 280.19s will also give you the ability to enable Window mode in the most recent version of the 3D Vision player.

Just before the end of the month and in keeping with AMD's new Catalyst driver every month thing, we get word of Catalyst 11.7 as well as a bonus driver Catalyst 11.8 preview.

As you would expect, there are a long list of resolved issues.

• All issues experienced with mouse cursor lag have been resolved

Apple's OS X Lion was downloaded 1 million times yesterday. Apple made the announcement just as Microsoft announced their earnings results for the fiscal fourth quarter, another swipe of the claw from Apple. If every one of those million downloads were paid, that means Apple grossed $30 million yesterday just from Lion, within 24 hours. Phil Schiller, Apple's SVP of Worldwide Product Marketing said in a statement:

Apple's full press release is below:

Mozilla has been blowing air into the hot air balloon that is 64-bit browsers. Finally, there are people working on Firefox for Windows x64 and this means that from Firefox 8, there'll be two builds; 32-bit and 64-bit. The 64-bit version will obviously take advantage of operating in native 64-bit and use its memory space. The x64 build of Firefox 8 is roughly 10-percent faster than the 32-bit version, but its not just speed.

Encryption and filtering functions are superior on Firefox 8 x64, the handling of DOM Operations benchmark shows a 25-percent increase, this results in every dynamic website loading faster and feeling more responsive. The 64-bit build of Firefox 8 does however use more memory. In a benchmark by ExtremeTech, the 64-bit build had a memory footprint of 320MB with the 32-bit build using just 230MB.

The plug-in container was also double the size in the 64-bit build at 100MB versus 50MB when playing a YouTube video. But, in the days of memory being so cheap, this isn't really such a big problem. I'm sure people will make their minds up when the time comes and I'm definitely looking forward to taking the x64 build of Firefox 8 for a spin.

Steam is about to update (and probably has for some) and includes some very nice tweaks which results in downloads being sped up considerably. The new tricks involve caching at the ISP level, more firewall-friendly protocols (downloads will be coming through HTTP) and probably the best feature; a system that gives incremental patch downloads instead of having to re-download big parts of the game if they become corrupt, etc.

Let's say an individual file on your hard drive was to be modified by a game update, your client would require to download the entire file. The new system supports delivering only the differences between the old and new files, meaning game updates are considerably smaller and much, much quicker. The new content system will also allow Valve to build several new features that users have asked to be included.

These features will be things like download scheduling, bandwidth throttling and prioritizing which games get downloaded first. You'll also be able to download an update to a game, while you're playing that game. Steam will apply any updates downloaded once you exit the game.

Adobe has released a beta version of Flash 11 for Windows, Mac and Linux. Adobe have also announced the availability of the Adobe AIR 3 beta which is available for Windows and Mac, but has been killed on Linux in favour for Adobe to focus on mobile instead. Adobe says this is this first beta is a desktop release with mobile on it's way soon. 64-bit support is now included which is a pretty big step since the preview of it back in September of 2010.

Adobe have also listed a bunch of features and performance enhancements included in both the Flash Player 11 and AIR 3:

Captive Runtime for AIR - this popular feature from AIR for iOS will now be available on AIR for desktop. Simplify the app installation process, reduce testing and certification cost by encapsulating the AIR runtime in your Windows, Mac, andAndroid apps.