Software & Apps - Page 66

Microsoft wants the entire world running on Windows 10 (for obvious reasons), so it's not so far-fetched to think that Redmond would start sneakily upgrading Windows 7 and 8.1 users to the new OS. That's exactly what a significant amount of users claim happened, but Microsoft (once again) denies that this is even possible.

According to Redmond, users remain "fully in control" over their Windows PCs, and Windows 10 will not upgrade or install without your permission. "We have updated the upgrade experience to make it easier for customers to schedule a time for their upgrade to take place. Customers continue to be fully in control of their devices, and can choose to not install the Windows 10 upgrade or remove the upgrade from Windows Update (WU) by changing the WU settings."

Despite these assurances, thousands of Windows users are reporting that Windows 10 has been forcefully installed on their systems.. These are the users who have opted not to upgrade to Windows 10 just yet and still run Windows 7 and 8.1 as their platform of choice, willingly choosing not to upgrade, so its fair to think they didn't give any permissions to upgrade to Windows 10.

DICE and the Frostbite Engine team are putting their weight behind AMD's GPUOpen initiative, as you can see from the tweet and video below.

In the video, DICE rendering engineer Arne Schober touts the level of hardware access GPUOpen offers programmers like himself, while also praising the friendly, powerful ecosystem it encourages.

"It is really nice to have physical access to the source code and be able to handcraft the tools to our own needs," he says, later adding, "By opening up the source, we can help each other across the entire industry, solving problems together instead of individually. This would improve our effectiveness and lower development costs at the same time by sharing our knowledge."

Opera 36 is out and marks a major release for the alternative browser, bringing with it a new look and some key new features.

First up is the overhauled start page, which is now better optimized for widescreen monitors, and includes a customize button that allows you to alter themes and your news section, among other things. More will come in version 37.

There's lots of love for Windows 10 users, too: colours will change depending on your OS theme and such, touch input is supported (and accommodated with UI elements that auto adjust in size, and a fullscreen icon), and native notifications are included.

Apple has partnered with digital distributor Dubset Media Holdings to bring many thousands of previously unlicensed DJ remixes and mixes -- or in old people terms: that DJ music the kids are listening to -- to its Apple Music service. For now, these aren't available anywhere else, but Dubstep claims every distributor will be supported in time.

The deal is made possible by Dubset's agreements with over 14,000 record labels and publishers, as well as its MixBank technology (used in combination with other proprietary and related software), which can analyze songs to determine original artists and make sure their labels and publishers as well as DJs are paid accordingly, all at flat rates. It's an impressive feat given one of these mixes can have more than 600 different rights holders, and one that's already making both DJs and labels happy.

"Remixes are a huge part of our culture - they allow DJs and fans to put our own creative spin on music," says DJ Steve Aoki. "Apple working with Dubset now is a really simple solution to something traditionally complex, and allows everyone to make money on this content for the first time."

A handy new extension is now available for Chrome users known to browse Steam from time to time. It's called Fair Steam and it saves you the trouble of looking up gameplay videos from YouTubers by integrating their videos directly into the Steam website. The videos available on a given game page are determined by an algorithm that prizes gameplay-heavy, personality-light videos, so you just get the meat. As of now, there are 13491 videos in the database, with more added daily.

A few notes: more features are planned for Fair Steam, though they are not known yet. For now, the focus is on gameplay videos; if you're in the minority and don't use Chrome, Firefox and Opera versions are coming soon; for those that use Enhanced Steam extension, Fair Steam is compatible with it.

To download it, head this way.

Traffic app Waze has arguably been the best of its kind for some time now, except for two major flaws: a wretched interface and high battery consumption. Both are fixed today with the new 4.0 update, which brings numerous quality of life improvements:

If you haven't tried it yet and are wondering why you should over Google Maps, those who prefer it say they enjoy the more aggressive rerouting and reports on police activity, hazards (including potholes), and so on.

Out of nowhere, Google has released Android N in preview form, limited to Nexus smartphones and tablets. Android N is a very early beta of Google's next mobile OS, something it should release in fuller, more finished form as we get closer to Google I/O in mid-May.

For now, the beta is available on g.co/androidbeta and judging by the screenshots - Android N has three big new features. The first is split screen, for an improved multitasking experience - something that the likes of Samsung have been doing with TouchWiz on their Galaxy smartphones for a while now.

The second one is a new notifications panel, and a new and improved Doze power saving feature. There's heaps more in Android N, with a full list of what the Preview has to offer.

While the Windows 10 Facebook app is pretty great for serving your Facebook needs, you may prefer to use the Messenger portion only, as many do on mobile. That's where the upcoming Facebook Messenger Windows 10 app comes in, which we get a first look at today courtesy of screenshots leaked by Windowsblogitalia.

There aren't any big surprises aesthetically: it's pretty much what you get now. However, it includes more features such as GIF support, voice, a like button, and so on.

Not pictured: notifications, live tile support, contact groups, and message forwarding.

If you rely on the Netflix Mobile App to get your fix of drama, action or comedy on a regular basis, it's likely that your phone plan data is suffering as a result.

As seen on Gizmodo Netflix has been, and will be, working on a better experience for users, implementing what Gizmodo's Campbell Simpson explained as "a number of small but significant changes." Recent changes to this service include the evolution of the home screen, with plenty more improvements currently in testing and on the horizon for this media giant.

A large planned change is a 'data saving' feature set for availability to mobile users on iOS and Android platforms. Explained as an algorithm based service, rather than a clear-cut bitrate or resolution limiter, it means that the quality control and limitations will be fluid and change user to user.

The new Google Material design for Facebook Messenger on Android has been revealed. As you can see, it's much cleaner than what's in use currently, and features a 'new conversation' button.

"If you're using Messenger on Android, you've been wanting a brand new material design for a bit," says Vice President of Messaging Products at Facebook David Marcus. "Any major redesign of an essential app used by hundreds of millions of people around the world is painstakingly hard, and that's why we took every precaution to ensure you'd truly enjoy this evolution."

According to an article published by Silicon Valley analyst Andrew Chen, most people are the same as me - they install an app, and most of the time they don't use it after a few days.

Chen reports that an average app loses 77% of its users within 72 hours, and after a month, 90% of them stop using the app altogether. After the 3-month mark, just 5% continue to use the app. These figures would strike directly into the hearts of app creators as their biggest hurdle is getting users to continue using their apps - not just past the 3-month/90-day mark, but.. well... forever.

The data used was from over 125 million smartphones, with the apps in his report available from the Google Play Store, with each app having over 10,000 downloads. Chen didn't use any Google apps for the study, either.

Windows 10 Build 14279 has been released today to Windows Insiders on the Fast ring.

If you're a big Cortana user, this one should make you very happy: Spanish (Mexico), Portuguese (Brazil) or French (Canada) languages are now supported, as are quick reminders. To set a quick reminder, say something like "remind me to read [insert book name]", or "remind me to wash the car". After doing so, you can set details like location, time, and people if you like. It's not built-in yet, but soon you'll be able to retrieve these reminders as a real PA would.

The other significant update is a unified Lock and login screen. Going forward, the Lock screen background will be used for both, as on mobile, making for a smoother experience.

According to Microsoft, Epic Games co-founder Tim Sweeney has it all wrong: Redmond's push into Windows 10 PC gaming isn't the beginning of an oppressive regime, but a "fully open ecosystem" that taps the freedom of the platform.

In a recent op-ed piece for The Guardian, Epic's Tim Sweeney called Redmond out for its new invasive push to utterly dominate PC gaming. The developer, who has had a long-running relationship with Microsoft with its Gears of War franchise, says that Microsoft is "curtailing users' freedom to install full-featured PC software, and subverting the rights of developers and publishers to maintain a direct relationship with their customers." Sweeney is calling for gamers, developers, and publishers to fight this move.

Microsoft has delivered an official response to Sweeney's statements, saying that the Universal Windows Platform--which powers Windows 10 PC gaming--is quite open. "The Universal Windows Platform is a fully open ecosystem, available to every developer, that can be supported by any store," said Kevin Gallo, corporate vice president of Windows. "We continue to make improvements for developers; for example, in the Windows 10 November Update, we enabled people to easily side-load apps by default, with no UX required."

Microsoft has a few tricks up its sleeve when it comes to Windows 10, with one of them being DirectX 12. We loved the explicit multi-GPU support found in Ashes of the Singularity, powered by DX12.

Well, the company has just released a new teaser video that shows off the benefits of DX12, with the vide featuring footage from DX12-powered titles like Quantum Break, Forza Motorsport 6: Apex, Gears of War: Ultimate Edition, Ashes of the Singularity, and Just Cause 3.

Microsoft says that DX12 offers up to 20% more performance from your GPU when compared to DX11, and up to 50% from your CPU.

Android Auto -- the app that essentially ports your smartphone to your vehicle -- is now available as an update for select 2016 Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, and Cadillac vehicles from General Motors (click the links to find out if your model is included).

The update expands GM's Android Auto support to more than 30 US vehicles and 40 global vehicles, making it the biggest supporter of the app. To acquire it, you must visit your local dealer and request it, at which point a 30 minute install will take place.

Wells Fargo has been added to the list of banks supported Samsung Pay alongside US Bank, Chase, City, Bank of America, ACU, PNC, and a load of others, so now you don't have to switch banks just to use the service.

The entire list of Wells Fargo cards isn't supported as with some other banks, but the list is still quite long. See it here.

If you don't know about Samsung Pay, it works like Android Pay and Apple Pay in that it lets you pay for items securely with your phone, except it's compatible with nearly every card reader found in stores as opposed to just the newer ones.

It's strangely named but that concern will likely subside after some brief use: SoundHound's Hound app has left beta and is now available to all. If you're looking for a solid voice assistant app (allowing you to search and perform various other tasks with your voice alone), this should be your ticket.

Hound features a slick, fast, and intuitive interface, and appears to be more intelligent than most if not all apps of its kind with language understanding capabilities that combine with speech recognition as well as context and detail comprehension. The result: you can simply say things naturally and get the result you want instead of worrying about accommodating the app.

Now for the bad news: it's only available in the US. We've heard one report that users from Canada can download it, but it simply forwards your voice requests to Google. In any case, those not in the US may want to try an APK mirror here.

Announced in a recent email, Uber has launched its puppies initiative, stating that it has"teamed up with Purina's Pets at Work mission and local animal shelters to bring UberPUPPIES to offices in 8 cities across Australia."

Pets at Work is a campaign conducted by pet food company Purina and is explained as a way to help keep your staff happy, offering workplaces the ability to create a pet-friendly office in order to boost morale and keep furry companions around throughout the working week.

If you're not in the right working conditions or ready to take on a pet full time, Uber will now let you borrow one for a short while. Simply select the puppies option on your Uber app and they will deliver to you a puppy for 15 minutes of delightful play time. Setting you back $40 in total, Uber has stated that it will be supporting the Animal Welfare League of Queensland, Australia as part of this promotion.

Through the magic of a well designed JavaScript engine you can play with a Windows 98 virtual machine right in your browser, playing some classic minesweeper just as it was originally intended.

The emulator is capable of only basic x86 emulation at the moment, but the small program is a great example of just how capable JavaScript, in the hands of adept programmers, can actually be. You won't be able to do anything more than simple tasks, and can't play retro games, but it's certainly a very interesting project.

What's more, the individual whose made the project has also been able to emulate Windows 1.01 and certain versions of Linux that all work just swimmingly. So if you're of the generation that never knew the glory of Windows 98, now's your chance to play around without having to install it in your own virtual machine. And you can easily dabble in Linux without the need for a Live-CD and even dabble in FreeDOS.

Windows Spotlight is a great feature that can actually be useful at times. Showing you some nice artistic photographs on your lockscreen and even suggesting some surprisingly useful apps on your start menu. A recent update seems to have added some annoying ads that go beyond simple suggestions. But thankfully there's a way to turn it off.

In fact, it's very simple. But it also means you won't get a rotating gallery of beautiful photos when you start-up. You might find ads magically appearing about games or even other products that aren't even related to Microsoft. Just follow the below steps and you'll be just fine, sans ads.