Software & Apps News - Page 145

NVIDIA have pushed out another set of drivers, with the GeForce 306.02 WHQL-certified drivers now available. GeForce 306.02 supports operating systems from Windows XP right up to Windows 8, including the usual bug fixes, updated profiles and added support.

Depending on the combination of hardware and software in your system, you should expect a few improvements if you're making the jump from the 301.24 beta, but if you're rocking the R304 family drivers, the improvements shouldn't be as large. GeForce GTX 680 and GTX 580 users will get the following improvements from the 301.24 beta:

GeForce GTX 680:

Samsung unveiled three new Windows 8, all-in-one PCs earlier today, and included is a widget called S Launcher. Why is this news? Well, Samsung doesn't want to confuse people with Windows 8's lack of a Start Menu, so they've pushed out S Launcher, which looks virtually identical to the Start Menu of Windows 7.

S Launcher is a simple widget that looks, and acts, just like the Start Menu we've all come to love over the last decade-plus. It's as simple as clicking the widget, start typing a word, and whatever word you type, it will show you the settings, and apps that relate to the item you've just searched for. There's also a separate settings icon which provides quick access to the most commonly used controls.

Samsung's S Launcher also allows you to drag and drop files for easy access and throwing them away when you don't need them anymore. The settings icon does come in handy, as Microsoft have shifted around a lot of the computer settings to places you're usually used to in Windows 7. This means that Samsung's S Launcher can save you time when trying to find something such as power management, control panel, and more, now found all in one easy-to-use spot.

Microsoft had announced their plans to release an official SkyDrive app for Android a few weeks ago, and they have kept their word and released an app today so that users can have access to their files across all of the various devices you may own and use. The app is designed for Android 4.0, but only requires Android 2.3 or higher.

The main features of the new app:

In other words, it does basically everything you would expect the app to do; it allows file uploads and downloads and the ability to manage those files, go figure. Microsoft did their best to keep "the same intuitive design of all SkyDrive experiences" while integrating some of the conventional Android interactions.

The days of Firefox "talking" to you while updating are over. With the release of Firefox 15 today, Mozilla has done away with that form of updates, opting for the silent updates, or background updates, utilized by Chrome and other software. No longer will you have to wait while it updates to the latest version! What a relief.

All joking aside, this really is a nice feature to have in software. One of the most frustrating things I have encountered in computing is when I really need to look up something quickly and the browser is updating to the latest version. Since the updater is an integral part of the software, Mozilla took its time testing this before releasing it.

"This was one of the scariest projects that I've ever worked on, since messing something up in the updater component could have catastrophic consequences in case it prevents users from being able to update to newer Firefox revisions," said Ehsan Akhgari, a programmer who worked on the project.

It looks as though Microsoft will be getting an exclusive sneak peak into your computer if you install Windows 8, as the Redmond-based company will be contacted each time you install a new application, according to software hacker Nadim Kobeissi.

Kobeissi noticed the news when running a network packed analyzer under Windows 8. Don't fret: this can be disabled quite easily. Known as Windows 8's SmartScreen feature, it acts as a protector to users from malware, and other things that can be otherwise harmful to your PC. The technology was first featured and introduced with Internet Explorer 8, as an extension of IE7's phishing filter.

When Microsoft released IE9, SmartScreen gained Application Reputation, which is a set of algorithms used to analyze the trustworthiness of downloads through digital signatures, heuristics, and information collected by the company. The technology works by using Microsoft's database of software trustworthiness, but the company collects information about user-driven downloads in the process. This data is obviously kept on Microsoft's servers.

Facebook has finally updated its aging app to improve its performance. Unfortunately, this update only takes care of iOS users as there has been no announcement regarding Android. However, if you are an iOS user, this update should make you significantly more happy with the Facebook app as it is quite a bit faster.

According to the Facebook post, "Facebook 5.0 for iOS is twice as fast as the previous version when launching the app, scrolling through news feed and opening photos in feed." This speed increase is due to the app being completely rewritten from the ground up. A quick update and you'll be able to see for yourself just how much better it is.

The changes are as follows:

Apple are still seeding out OS X 10.8.1 to developers, where they'll hopefully address some of the bigger issues with the initial release of Apple's latest OS, Mountain Lion. But, it looks as though some users have received notifications telling them that Apple are preparing to seed builds of OS X 10.8.2 for testing.

Join us for 10.8.2!

You are invited to participate in the next Mountain Lion Software Update seed project, 10.8.2. Apple will provide you with the pre-release software. Once builds are available, we ask that you install and test each build to help us make sure that this is a high quality release!

Google, in their grasp for browser domination, have unveiled Octane, a JavaScript benchmark suite. Octane is a browser benchmark that measures performance when running the "complex and demanding web applications that users interact with daily".

Google have noted that the previous JavaScript-based benchmarks run artificial tests that were "created on an ad-hoc basis to stress a specific JavaScript feature". Where Google have steered Octane is different, as it extends the former V8 Benchmark Suite with 5 brand new benchmarks created from "full, unaltered, well-known web applications and libraries". Google have given a run down on the new tests:

If you want to try out Octane, you can right here.

According to a report from The Wall Street Journal, music streaming service, Spotify, looks to be launching in Canada shortly, with a hint of an expansion into "countries in Asia and South America", too. The news comes from Spotify's annual accounts that were published this week.

A Spotify spokesperson talked to The Wall Street Journal, bu refused to discuss the Canadian launch plans, saying that Spotify "plans to launch in new countries". Spotify's tentacles only recently reached Australia and New Zealand back in May, and the latest news from the company was the unlimited free radio on Android for users based in the US.

Spotify now sports over 15 million active users, with 4 million being paid subscribers, myself included. Once Spotify begins launching in other countries, these numbers should only increase.

Skype is a popular platform for communication among all walks of life. According to the post, "millions of people use Skype for iPhone or Skype for iPad each month." These users have requested features, and Microsoft has obliged with one of the most requested feature: Photo Sharing. They've also updated the apps for speed.

"In addition, we've made some improvements to the performance of the app, as we know many of you want to keep Skype running on your mobile devices all the time." The new feature allows users to send photos that were taken with a user's iPad or iPhone directly to friends and family via Skype. There is no file-size limit.

This means the feature can be used to avoid MMS fees or e-mail attachment size limits. Regarding the performance tweaks: