Software & Apps - Page 75

"Miss On the Go lets you tone your pelvic muscles at all times. Fantasies come alive with our app!" is what the Kickstarter headline reads, instantly jumping out at you.

So what exactly does this product intend to do? The answer is "combine utility & pleasure with technology to rev up your day!" The 'Ladies, Miss On the Go' claims to tone your pelvic muscles while delivering a vibrant experience -all controlled by a mobile application. If you're still not sure exactly what's going on, you can dig deeper.

Setting Canadian's back $95 CAD and the rest of the world $105 CAD for the first batch, it will be priced at $169 CAD once it's available for retail.

Microsoft has had its Windows 10 Technical Preview out for the PC now for a while, but it looks like it's time for the smartphone world to see the release of the Windows 10 Technical Preview.

Select Lumia-branded handsets can have the Windows 10 Technical Preview installed, with the Lumia 630, 635, 636, 638, 730 and 830 smartphones be the only ones capable of having it installed. The flagship Windows Phone-based handsets in the Lumia 1520 and Lumia 930 are not capable of having the Technical Preview installed, which is a shame. This latter two smartphones reportedly can't handle Windows 10 because of the very tight OS partitions.

So if you've got one of the aforementioned Lumia handsets, you can download the Windows 10 Technical Preview from the Windows Insider Program page after signing up for an account.

Google Android smartphone shipments dropped quarter-on-quarter for the first time during Q4 2014, as Apple iOS shipments increased a whopping 90 percent. iPhone shipments rose from 39.3 million up to 74.5 million, while Android sales slid from 217 million down to 206 million, according to ABI Research.

"Google's Android is being attacked by Apple's iOS at the high-end and forked Android and AOSP at the low-end in high growth emerging markets," said Nick Spencer, Senior Practice Director of Mobile Devices at ABI Research. "The Android One initiative has slowed forked Android and ASOP growth outside China, but Apple's success has taken the high-end of the market away from certified Android's premium tier vendors."

Android-powered devices still topped 1 billion throughout 2014 - but a strong sales quarter from Apple shows that it still has plenty of fight left while promoting new iPhones.

WhatsApp is now providing a select number of its 700 million strong users with a new voice calling function inside of its Android app. It was first spotted on Reddit, with a user based in India posting a screenshot of the new voice calling function icon.

Others began noticing the same thing, where basic functions like speakerphone, mute and other call options were found within WhatsApp for Android. This will be a small test for now, before it is rolled out into a bigger update for WhatsApp in the near future. It is being suggested that it wasn't intended for the new voice calling function to reach WhatsApp, as it is still very buggy and not ready for the public.

If you've received the voice calling function for WhatsApp, let us know!

theScore just released a new app that centers around the world of eSports, dubbed "theScore eSports" that will provide users with everything happening in the world of eSports, in the palm of their hand.

There will be more games added to theScore eSports app, but for now it includes League of Legends, DOTA 2, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Call of Duty, StarCraft II and Hearthstone. Major tournaments can be followed with real-time scores, standings, ladders and curated links to the live streams of the events as they're happening.

theScore says that they are "the first major sports media company to launch a dedicated mobile app for eSports" which is huge, as eSports just isn't slowing down. If you want to grab theScore eSports for Android, check it out on the Google Play Store.

Kim Kardashian is enjoying her millions of dollars earned from her game, Kim Kardashian: Hollywood, but it looks like it will soon be Katy Perry's turn to make money from a game.

Glu Mobile, the company that worked on Kim Kardashian: Hollywood, has announced it's working on an untitled game for Katy Perry. Glu Mobile said: "Katy is arguably the most recognized musician in America following her Super Bowl XLIX Halftime performance this past Sunday. She is a cultural icon and we expect to translate key elements of her success into an innovative, highly entertaining mobile experience. We anticipate that Katy's significant global audience, including more than 170 million fans on social media, will make her a strong gaming partner for Glu".

The game will launch later this year on both iOS and Android, featuring Perry's voice, likeness, and much more.

Not quite the next Angry Birds, but Indie developers Hipster Whale have burst into the app scene with a big bang - seeing over 30 million global downloads and topping $1 million in profit since launching their game Crossy Road late last year.

Seeing them officially form only four months ago, Hipster Whale are certainly an indie success story - with ten million of their total downloads occurring in the last fortnight alone, seeing this free game draw in massive profits through in-app purchases and advertising. It's reported that users will pay between $1.29 AU and $3.99 AU to purchase new characters for use alone, alongside the various advertising avenues taking place.

Co-founder Matt Hall said to reporters that "we wanted a game that was influenced by popular culture and crazy. We put a lot of effort into a game that people want to share," further mentioning that they didn't heavily promote or advertise Crossy Road - simply relying on social media networks, user reviews and recommendations to push their product to the masses.

With over 50,000 current downloads, this free medical app for the Android platform is called Sleeping pills. Stated by their staff to send you to sleep in 10 minutes without the aide of tablets or special training, it's based on yoga breathing methods.

Released in January, this app is free and has just seen an iOS release - both versions are available in 25 different languages.

It's not some kind of wizardry, their press release claims that the app works by sending a beam of light to your ceiling. This light becomes brighter and darker, pulsating slowly. You must then match your breathing with the light pulsations, allowing for the production of cortisol to cease and for you to fall asleep.

When Microsoft launched the first Windows 10 Technical Preview last year, it included a built-in keylogger that would collect information about "you, your devices, applications and networks, and your use of those devices, applications and networks. Examples of data we collect include your name, email address, preferences and interests; browsing, search and file history; phone call and SMS data; device configuration and sensor data; and application usage".

Well, it looks like the latest version of Windows 10 that the public can get its hands-on in the form of the Technical Preview still includes this built-in keylogger. Microsoft adds "[When you] enter text, we may collect typed characters and use them for purposes such as improving autocomplete and spellcheck features".

Since this is stated in the EULA for the Windows 10 Technical Preview, Microsoft isn't exactly hiding it. A post on Reddit bought this to my attention, warning people to not use this as their "daily driver" operating system. Since it's collecting copious amounts of not just personal data, but being a keylogger, it can secure everything on you. What if someone has found a way to hack into this built-in keylogger, and has been taking users' logged keys of Internet banking sessions, and various log-ins like Facebook and the such?

Featuring a real-time traffic network that is community-curated, the Waze app by Google is making some US Sheriffs uneasy - they're claiming that it will aide cop stalking and allowing would-be cop killers to complete their tasks with ease.

Sergio Kopelev, a reserve deputy sheriff from California, and Sheriff Mike Brown from Virginia are two officers that have asked Google to abandon the police-tracker feature located within.

This feature has been located within Waze for some time now, however it's been brought to light though an Instagram conversation between 'dontrunup' and another user. 'dontrunup' is the Instagram username for the a well-known person responsible for the death of two police officers in NYPD last December, Ismaaiyl Brinsley - explained as a revenge act due to Eric Garner's death.

DirectX 12 is shaping up quite nicely so far, offering up to 50% more performance on CPU bound games, and hopefully some delicious new graphics in unannounced games. But, now Xbox boss Phil Spencer has come out and said: "we knew what DX12 was doing before we built Xbox One". On the PC, DirectX 12 will be exclusive to Windows 10.

This is somewhat interesting, as it shows that Microsoft wasn't just throwing DX12 out there to keep up with the market. It built the Xbox One after it had an idea of where it wanted to go with DirectX 12, something I'm sure even had Windows 10 connected to it, too. As for the Xbox One and DX12, Microsoft's updated API won't offer much additional performance for its Xbox One console.

Spencer was asked if DX12 would have a big impact on the Xbox One, where he said: "On the DX12 question, I was asked early on by people if DX12 is gonna dramatically change the graphics capabilities of Xbox One and I said it wouldn't. I'm not trying to rain on anybody's parade, but the CPU, GPU and memory that are on Xbox One don't change when you go to DX12. DX12 makes it easier to do some of the things that Xbox One's good at, which will be nice and you'll see improvement in games that use DX12, but people ask me if it's gonna be dramatic and I think I answered no at the time and I'll say the same thing".

It was only last week that Microsoft was showing off the latest build of Windows 10, but the company has just made this version of its upcoming OS available to all. During the event, we found out about the awesome look AR headset HoloLens, and that DirectX 12 will be an exclusive to Windows 10.

The January Technical Preview build - 9926 - is now out, and includes total Cortana integration. Microsoft's virtual assistant will hang out on the taskbar, helping users search for apps, settings, files and more across the Internet. The revised Settings menu has also had some work done to it, bringing it into line with the look of the Control Panel.

Microsoft has also baked in the new Photos, Maps and Xbox applications, as well as a look at the Windows Store Beta. Minor changes have sneaked into the new build according to insiders, with a bug in the keyboard lights not working for Caps/Num/Scroll lock, now being fixed in the latest build. One of the bigger parts of the new build of Windows 10 that is missing is Internet Explorer's replacement, Spartan. Another is the new Music Locker feature, which is based on the company's OneDrive service.

Google Android and Apple iOS users are likely familiar with having just about any app available to them, but Microsoft Phone and BlackBerry users have a significantly smaller number of apps to choose from. However, that's something BlackBerry CEO John Chen wants to hopefully change in the future, as the effort to boost BlackBerry sales continues.

Chen believes these "app neutrality" laws could help even the playing field, despite Android and iOS clearly leading the mobile market.

"Unlike BlackBerry, which allows iPhone users to download and use our BBM service, Apple does not allow BlackBerry or Android users to download Apple's iMessage messaging service," Chen recently stated in an open letter. "Netflix, which has forcefully advocated for carrier neutrality, has discriminated against BlackBerry customers by refusing to make its streaming movie service available to them."

We only just reported that DirectX 12 will be providing CPU-bound games with up to 50% more performance, but the new version of Microsoft's API will be completely exclusive to Windows 10.

This is going to hurt some gamers, but with the offer of providing Windows 10 for free for Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 users, the sting won't be felt for too long. We shouldn't be too surprised, as previous versions of Windows have had exclusive rights to the latest version of DirectX. Windows Vista had DirectX 10 for example, but let's not even begin to talk about Vista.

The reason behind DirectX 12 being exclusive to Windows 10 is that Microsoft is making the desktop OS free to everyone who owns the last three versions of its OS. So anyone who wants to get in on more performance, or better quality graphics (DX12 games) then there is nothing bad here at all.

As previously rumored, Microsoft plans to make Windows 10 a free upgrade to current Windows 7, Windows 8/8.1, and Windows Phone users. The promotion is available only during the first year of release for 10, and is designed to help spur adoption to the new operating system.

Windows 10 is scheduled for release before the year, and hardware OEMs and users are cautiously optimistic about the new OS. It appears Microsoft is serious about taking an updated approach to Windows 10, providing a frequently updated, subscription-based strategy.

"Overall we know that about only 10% of computers are running Windows 8 and the adoption rate among companies is similar or lower," said Frank Gillett, analyst with the Forrester Research group, in a statement to BBC. "Developers are not paying much attention to Windows for mass market consumer apps, and you could even argue that for enterprise software most of the energy is going into mobile apps for iPad and Android tablets."

Mobile devices have given us access to countless conveniences, including the ability to manage our finances from anywhere. Fifty-one percent of smartphone owners use their devices for some form of mobile banking, according to a 2013 Federal Reserve study. As we continue to embrace the use of mobile apps to help us track our money and monitor our finances, check out our list of the top five financial apps that help us stay organized.

Formerly known as Easy Envelope Budget Aid, this app hasn't abandoned its core concept; Goodbudget lets you quickly categorize your income into self-categorized "envelopes," with labels such as rent, groceries, gas, healthcare and utilities. Users then categorize their spending along these lines and their budget is adjusted, just like in the tried-and-true envelope method of budgeting. The free version of the Goodbudget app enables users to create 10 unique envelopes for personal budgeting, while paid subscribers can create unlimited budget envelopes as well as sync their app across five devices.

Evernote is an entire workspace in a single app, helping you to quickly search and collect everything from Web articles to handwritten notes. While not a traditional financial app, Evernote works well for groups looking to get on the same page across their organization. Evernote enables organizations to manage their expenses by organizing receipts, invoices and bills and share in a collaborative workspace. Searchable and shareable, Evernote is a fantastic resources for those who must collaborate in the search to find a financial balance with multiple contributors.

Well, that didn't take long: Valve has made its Steam Broadcasting feature official, dragging it out of its quick stint as a beta part of Steam.

You can now update Steam, if it hasn't already been updated for you, and change your settings if you want Broadcasting to be enabled. This will allow your gameplay to be broadcasted to friends when you start gaming, which is an alternative to the super popular Twitch service, that was recently purchased by Amazon for $970 million.

Steam Broadcasting will only broadcast video by default, but you can also stream other applications from your computer if you allow it in the settings. Broadcasting will also take in your computers audio, too.

Facebook has released some of their software to the Torch Open Source group. Torch focuses on providing deep learning software. Deep learning software mimics brain function and is a key component to artificial intelligence programs. These programs are used to analyze large amounts of information in search of patterns, which it can then use to make predictions.

Torch speeds pattern recognition by up to 23.5 times. Facebook, and other web titans such as Google, Microsoft, and Twitter, use Torch to predict image contents and to place ads. Torch also has other uses, such as recognizing physical objects and for question answering programs. For instance, "The Lord of the Rings" novels were loaded into Torch, and Torch allows the computer to understand and answer questions about the book.

Speech recognition software also benefits from deep learning analysis, and new functions are under development that will predict the users intentions when they enter an internet search. The tools Facebook is donating will be used to speed training of multiple computer processors simultaneously.

Microsoft is really pushing the gaming side of its upcoming next-generation desktop OS, Windows 10, with a big event planned for January 21, just days away. During this event, Xbox boss Phil Spencer will be talking about Windows 10 and how it will be a platform for gamers.

Spencer said: "I'm excited to be talking on January 21st. We have speakers coming up talking about Windows 10 and the great work that we're doing there. For the Xbox team, this is the beginning of our discussion with fans about the work that we're doing to bring gaming to the Windows 10 operating system". We previously heard that Windows 10 would be more focused toward gamers, but we've heard that before, too.

Spencer continued, saying "It's really nice to finally be able to get to talk about this. We'll continue the conversation throughout the year. We remain committed to gaming on console, but we know that we have fans and gamers that also play on PC and phone, and it's important that we build out the features that we have, learning from what we've done on console, and helping make Windows 10 the best operating system we've ever created for gamers on PCs".

This brings me back to my high school days, playing Stick Cricket throughout my computing class while pretending to complete assignments. Well if you haven't kept up-to-date or have no idea what Stick Cricket is, you're in for an awakening. With over 28,000 followers on Twitter and over 15 million app downloads - this game which started out as a cool browser time-waster has become a rather large project.

It's basically a very simplistic and addictive way to play Cricket on your phone or PC, allowing simple controls for users to slog it out and take a break from their Candy Crush Saga addition. If you haven't heard, there was a tragedy recently in the Cricket world, seeing Aussie player Phillip Hughes cop a nasty hit to the back of a head while batting, courtesy of a 'bouncer' (a ball which was bowled and ended up around head height) and eventually saw his life support being switched off.

Stick Cricket decided to change their simple app to reflect respect towards this occurrence. Previously if a bouncer was missed, your character would be struck on the head, eventually falling onto the stump and classifying you as out. However due to this tragedy taking place, Stick Sports' Creative Director, Colin Rowe, has stated in an interview to News.com.au that "we felt that the landscape had changed," further adding "it was there for comedic value, and when we first made Stick Cricket, no one had ever died from a head blow in professional cricket, so we felt justified to add the comedy. It's sobering now and no longer funny, so we had a team meeting the day Phillip Hughes died and put plans to change the game with the very next update."