Software & Apps - Page 70

While Sony had already warned users about waiting to upgrade to Windows 10 due to possible issues, it has now officially announced the upgrade limitations over its complete lineup.

With VAIO desktops and laptops being largely crossed off the upgrade list, Sony reportedly tested its products that were released in 2011 and beyond. While many of the tests have just been preliminary 'upgrade and click around' tests, Sony has begun further testing with many of its product range, while trying to pinpoint and fix exact issues with all of its latest products.

Issues with Windows 10 on Sony VAIO systems range from Blue Screen of Death errors due to switchable internal video cards, AMD video carded systems having limited camera support and the non-complete functionality of many Sony exclusive apps.

Microsoft has pulled downloads for version 1511 of Windows 10, the major release launched last week. As of yesterday, the downloads will only give you build 10240, and you can only upgrade through Windows Update, meaning you're (almost) out of luck if you want a clean install or to specifically upgrade with the ISO for some reason. You can use this semi-secret link, but it may well be pulled soon.

The company confirmed to ZDNet and us that this is very much intentional and they want the update available through Windows Update only, although they don't specify why. There are user reports that claim tech support has told them the ISO downloads have caused issues, and this official Microsoft documentation might indicate the cause, so that's a possibility. When asked for comment on this, a Microsoft spokesperson told us, "We look into any issues our customers report and appreciate their feedback. We don't have any further information to share today."

Did you know that Windows 3.1 is now 23 years old and still used as a major kingpin in some global infrastructures?

ZDNet reported that November the 7th was a particularly harsh day for Paris' Orly airport. A system running Windows 3.1 called 'DECOR', something that controls a link between air traffic control and the French weather bureau, crashed and suspended all operations.

There has been a promise to upgrade France's airport infrastructure by 2017 announced by the French transport minister, however, air traffic controller union executive Alexandre Fiacre thinks that it will take four or more years after this set date for things to be fully operational.

Screen dimming software f.lux is longer available for iOS, following a move by Apple. As the developer understood it, direct install courtesy of the Xcode 7 toolset was okay by Apple, but after they made it available as such, Apple indicated otherwise.

"f.lux cannot ship an iOS App using the Documented APIs, because the APIs we use are not there," the developer writes. "In the last 5 years, we have had numerous conversations with Apple about our product and what would be required to make it work with iOS. We respect Apple's products enormously, and we urge Apple to allow work like ours to continue through Documented APIs."

Some aren't buying it, however, and claim the real reasoning on Apple's end is f.lux is not a true open-source download, and exposes massive security vulnerabilities.

Twitch has just announced optional two-factor authentication on its user profiles, with the streaming giant offering it as "100 percent voluntary" to its user base.

The new security measure is meant to scale down the need for conventional, easily hackable passwords, all while improving the Twitch experience. The company is partnering with security firm Authy, with Authy running the new two-factor authentication system. While it's similar to Google's two-factor authentication, where Twitch is doing it different is that you'll receive push notifications through its app to confirm it's you that's logged into your Twitch account.

It was only a week ago that Twitch announced a new datacenter in Sydney, so we can't be more happy with the news of Twitch's increased presence and move to look after its users' privacy.

As a heavy Hangouts user, these types of upgrades are always welcome: Google has just introduced an improved, redesigned web calling experience that has a simpler interface, and more.

Not only is it better to look at, but the other person on the other side of the webcam is better looking thanks to improvements Google has made on the video side of things. It has been noted that the new Hangouts "renders video more sharply, and streamlines the interface so you can focus less on where to click and more on what to say".

The post comes directly from Google Software Engineer Eduardo Fernández on his Google+ page. He also notced that calls will start faster, and stay more clearer with higher quality video than ever before.

Snapchat is huge. Back in May of this year, Snapchat was racking up 2 billion video views per day, but now the messaging app giant is reporting that it's pulling in a huge 6 billion video views per day.

The news is coming from The Financial Times, but Snapchat has confirmed the 6 billion figure. It's not known where the views are coming from, and whether they're mostly user-generated views, from viewers watching Snapchat's live events, or through its Discover section. Wherever they're coming from, 6 billion is a lot.

With Facebook seeing 8 billion video views per day, Snapchat is quickly catching up, and at this rate should overtake them before the end of the year. But where will it begin to taper off is the real question.

In a just year's time, Windows 10 will completely phase out its beloved predecessor Windows 7 on all new PC's. Now we know exactly how Microsoft will get its wish of one billion Windows 10 users--simply not giving new PC buyers a choice.

The Redmond-based tech giant today revealed the revised lifecycle for existing Windows operating systems, confirming that as of October 31, 2016 all new retail PC's will only ship with Windows 10. Microsoft has mandated that OEM's like Dell and HP will no longer be able to ship laptops, all-in-ones, desktops or hybrid systems with Windows 7, Windows 8 or Windows 8.1 preinstalled after the cut-off date.

This timeline is notably more aggressive and accelerated than Microsoft's usual lifecycle amendments. Microsoft typically announces these changes a full two years after a new OS rolls out, but given the company's assertive evangelical stance on Windows 10 it's no surprise things are speeding up.

Following recent reports Windows 10 was attempting to self-install on some systems, Microsoft assured the public this was a mistake and would be rectified in short order. That's true (the upgrade will be flagged as an "Optional Update" now or soon), but come early 2016, Windows 10 will officially adopt this behavior when it becomes a recommended update.

To be clear, Windows 10 will not automatically install itself, it will simply begin the process, at which point you can stop it or continue. As well, you can change this behavior and whether or not you see the notification upgrades via settings. Lastly, you'll have the option to roll back to your previous version of Windows within 31 days of installing Windows 10.

According to reports published by the Wall Street Journal, leading tech giant Google will unify Chrome OS and Android to build a new synergized operating system that will roll out sometime in 2017.

WSJ notes that Google has been planning to fuse Chrome OS and Android for "roughly two years", and have recently made significant progress in the merger. Google plans to showcase an early build of the unified OS next year.

As Android will consume Chrome OS, this means we'll likely see Android-powered PC's. Fusing the beleaguered and under-used Chrome OS with the widely-adopted Android makes a lot of sense, as the two operating systems each have their own strengths. Android has a huge app ecosystem but is pretty bad with a keyboard and mouse, and Chrome OS is optimized for a PC experience, but its "browser-only" approach is more closed off and lacking in software.

Build 10581 of the Windows 10 Mobile Insider Preview rolls out today. While it doesn't contain big new features, it does fix that dreadful upgrade bug plaguing the last couple releases, so if you skipped those, you do get to finally enjoy the features they introduced (text from PC, Skype integration, Uber/Cortana integration, Cortana background power usage optimization, and improved texting, among others). Microsoft says it's "very happy" to have the bug behind them.

New changes include photo sharing through third party apps, better battery life, and improved video recording, to name the bigger ticket items.

Be aware you may see a black screen upon installing this update for approximately five minutes. This is normal, so don't be alarmed.

Can you believe it has been nearly a year since AMD released its Catalyst Omega drivers, which unleashed a bunch of new features and squashed just as many, if not more bugs. Well, according to the latest rumors, AMD is working on another 'Special Edition' set of Catalyst Omega drivers for Radeon owners.

AMD is expected to launch the new Catalyst drivers next month, but we shouldn't expect them to keep the 'Catalyst Omega' name. What we can expect, are hopefully the same vast features and changes that AMD pushed out with the Catalyst Omega drivers last year. I would expect some big improvements to the Fiji-powered cards in the R9 Nano, R9 Fury and R9 Fury X as well as the entire Radeon 300 series.

I'm sure we'll see some big improvements in the DX12 side of things, where AMD has seen NVIDIA catch up on the DirectX 12 front in Ashes of the Singularity. As soon as AMD drop the new drivers, you can be sure we'll be reporting on them, and running over our usual benchmark suite.

Version 5.11.5408 of popular system cleaning app CCleaner is out today, complete with some important changes.

Apart from the usual minor fixes, you get better Chrome Download History and Firefox 41 cleaning, improved detection of Start-up items (should you wish to configure which start and which don't), and tweaks to keyboard navigation and shortcuts. Then there are a couple of bigger additions: the option to uninstall Windows Store apps (not normally easy for the built-in ones), and support for Office 2016 cleaning.

You can see the full list of changes below; hit the source to download.

Microsoft's Edge browser has a lot going for it, but it is missing a component many consider key to the modern browser: add-ons (or extensions, plugins -- whatever you want to call them). It's been stated support for them would come in 2015, but that's now officially been delayed to next year.

Today Microsoft released this statement on the matter: "We're committed to providing customers with a personalized web experience, which is why bringing extensions to Microsoft Edge continues to be a high priority. We're actively working to develop a secure extension model to make the safest and most reliable browser for our customers, and look forward to sharing more in a future Windows 10 update in 2016."

Edge, like every other browser, hasn't seen much use compared to the ever-dominant Chrome. This delay, necessary though it may be, further hurts Edge's chance of becoming a significant force in the crowded browser market. On the bright side, Insiders will get to try out add-ons before they go public, though when exactly is not yet known.

Windows 10 Mobile Preview Build 10572 is now live, and as with the last release, it includes many exciting changes and feature additions. Perhaps most exciting of all is the ability to text from your PC -- no need to leave your phone by the desk or go get it to text someone anymore.

The new feature is handled through Cortana which can also show you missed calls. When you see a missed call, you simply click "text reply" and proceed to, well, text reply. If you want to text someone at any time, type or speak "text" and who you want to text (as you would on your phone), and Cortana will handle the rest.

To set it up, sign into Cortana with the same Microsoft account on your phone and PC. Notifications can be disabled on any device at any time through Cortana.

Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 10565 released yesterday with numerous functional improvements, but also a key change in the activation scheme: Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 product keys can be used to activate Windows 10. Previously, you could install these operating systems as normal and then upgrade to Windows 10 for free; Microsoft is mercifully making that step unnecessary by allowing you to simply enter in the product key of the previous OS to validate your new Windows 10 install.

There is a stipulation: if you're going through the upgrade process instead or clean installing, the key you use with the PC you've installed Windows 10 on must have been used to activate the previous installed version of Windows. So for example, if you installed Windows 7 on your PC and then want to upgrade to Windows 10, you can do so, but you can't install Windows 7 on your laptop and then use that key to upgrade to Windows 10 on your desktop and then activate it (you'd have to have installed it on your desktop first at some point).

To start the process, go to Settings > Update & security > Activation, and then select Change Product Key if upgrading, and if clean installing, simply use the key during setup.

Web data service Quantcast has been tracking browser usage on Windows 10 and found that despite the inclusion of Microsoft's browser Edge, Google's Chrome browser is now dominant on the new operating system, and it's not even close.

Chrome pulls in an already very impressive 63% of users on Windows 7 and 8, but on Windows 10, that jumps to 70%. Edge did see a brief uptick when Windows 10 launched, but that number quickly receded back to the previous figure of about 12%.

From that we can surmise some users tried it and decided to go back. This is understandable, because why Edge boasts very impressive design and performance, it lacks a browsing component that today is key, particularly to tech savvy types likely to upgrade to Windows 10: add-ons.

If you're a fan of multiple monitor setups and enjoy the productivity that it gives, you may sometimes run into taskbar related issues, seeiong as you're only able to utilise the taskbar on your primary monitor.

Released by Actual Tools for Microsoft Windows OS only, 'Actual Multiple Monitors' software allows you to put a fully functional taskbar on any other monitor, including a fully functional recycling bin, start button and system tray.

As a celebration for its 13th anniversary, Actual Tools is offering this window manager for 40% off - priced at $29.95 for a limited time. Although possibly quite useful, is it worth that amount of money? The answer to this question is up to you to decide.

Currently set at 50% off ($4.99) for a limited time, Tweetbot 4 has now seen iOS 9 support. This application is useful for things such as syncing your timeline across all apple devices, muting users, hashtags, sources or keywords and more. The issue with this update is the forced purchase - no matter if you have Tweetbot 3 or not, you're still going to have to pony up the dollars.

Version 4 has added iPad support, landscape support on iPhone and iPad, split view multitasking, notification quick reply and more. Officially released on October 1, this version is iOS 9.0+ only, users looking for an older iOS supported version will need to look into Tweetbot 3.

Just a few days after release this app already has a 4.5-star rating across 733 reviews in total and if you're worried about space constraints this app checks in at a small 6.8MB. With the discount being upheld for a limited time only, you should pounce before the price goes up if this app interests you.

SOMA was released on September 22 for the PlayStation 4 and PC, with Frictional Games announcing that it has sold 92,000 copies in the 10 days since its release.

92,000 might not sound like a lot, but Frictional Games isn't a gigantic studio, with the developer saying: "Our goal for SOMA's sales is 100,000 after a month" and it will meet that very easily. Frictional Games added: "The money that we've got from this will pretty much pay our company expenses for another two years. Sales are still going pretty strongly too, with a total of around 2,000 copies sold per day. This number is bound to drop over time, and it'll be interesting to see just how fast and where it stabilizes".

If we compare the sales of SOMA against Frictional's famous Amnesia: The Dark Descent, SOMA is doing extremely well. In its first week, Amnesia sold 20,000 copies while its sequel, Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs sold 120,000 copies. Frictional added: "Our goal for SOMA's sales is 100,000 after a month, and at the current pace it should be able to reach pretty much exactly that with a few units to spare. However, this doesn't mean that we've come close to recouping all our costs. We need to sell almost three times that amount to do that. But given that it took us five years to make the project, there's no immediate stress to do so".