Software & Apps - Page 89

CyanogenMod 10.1 has reached a step closer to being a proper 'stable' release, reaching Release Candidate (RC) 1. The final release is now close, according to the team.

CyanogenMod 10.1 RC1 is now available to download for compatible devices, and if you aren't aware of what it is, it's an OS based from Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean, but has a huge cache of additional features. This is the perfect way to upgrade your device if your manufacturer hasn't bothered to do so. The compatibility list, is below:

CyanogenMod 10.1 RC1 supported devices:

There has been a lot of talk about Microsoft's upcoming update known as Windows Blue. Julie Larson-Green confirmed on stage at the Wired Business Conference that the Windows Blue update is coming later this year, though a specific release time was not provided.

Larson-Green announced that a public preview of the update will be made available during the BUILD conference taking place at the end of June. This will allow the public to get their hands on the update and provide feedback.

Tami Reller:

Futuremark have updated their benchmarking software, 3DMark, to version 1.1.0 which includes a bunch of fixes. The biggest fix is to multi-GPU setups, which had issues with three- and four-way GPU's.

Previously, 3DMark wasn't returning the right scores to those multi-GPU setups, but Futuremark has said that while they thought it was a minor issue, it "turned out to be far more complicated and we are truly sorry that it has taken so long to fix". The updated benchmark also includes Ice Storm Extreme, which is a more intense version of Ice Storm which is designed for mobile devices.

This test now allows you to compare Ice Storm and Ice Storm Extreme scores between Android and Windows devices.

BitTorrent Sync is proving both popular and speedy. BitTorrent, the company behind the new syncing software that relies on the BitTorrent protocol, has announced that Sync has surpassed one petabyte of data synchronized between machines. This is an impressive feat considering that the software was only released publicly on April 23.

BitTorrent says that each day Sync sees over 70 terabytes of data. To put some of these numbers on context, BitTorrent says that the Internet Archive houses around 10 petabytes of data. This means Sync should surpass the Internet Archive in less than a year, provided the sync rate stays the same. However, it's likely the rate will increase as more people adopt the software..

In most ways, Sync is just like Dropbox except for the lack of central storage. However, one could easily set up Sync with a central repository on a remote server and basically have a Dropbox clone. Sync is turning into a great tool and I can't wait to see where it goes when it becomes a stable release.

Most have been expecting Google to unveil Android 5.0 "Key Lime Pie" at Google I/O in a couple of weeks, but ahead of that HTC have teased an event scheduled for May 16 in San Francisco, where HTC developers will talk about new features on Android 4.3.

These new features will include Bluetooth Low Energy and Open GL ES 3.0. The members of the group will be receiving "an overview of the BLE specification and take us through the new APIs with some hands-on demos with various devices, heart rate monitors, key finders, and multi-sensor kits (temperature, pressure, humidity, accelerometer)".

We should see a new Neuxs phone unveiled at Google I/O with Android 4.3 inside, as well as LTE capabilities and hopefully, expandable storage. I'm guessing we'll also see a screen bump from 4-inch to 4.7-inch or so.

Instagram has been updated, reaching version 3.5 and now includes the new feature of photo tagging. You've been able to use hashtags up until now, but tagging your friends in your photos is a great new addition.

You can take your picture, drop it, apply whichever filter you like best, then tap the tag button to select one or more friends in your photo. You can add any of your friends, as well as other accounts you follow such as a restaurant or business. The person who took the photo is the only one who can tag others, which will help with spam, thankfully.

If you're tagged in one of your friends' photos, it will turn up in your profile as "Photos of You", where you, or anyone else, can see them in one single spot.

We have recently reviewed Shadow Defender, a light-virtualization program with a difference. SD (as it is known among fans) sandboxes whole disks/partitions and protects them against unwanted changes. All changes (including most malware infections and their effects) actually happen within the SD buffer, a virtual environment which resides in an area isolated from the real system. Upon reboot, the virtualization buffer is emptied by default and all volume changes are immediately discarded. The real volume remains untouched and Windows boots back to its normal clean state.

SD is essentially a final safety net for Windows systems. It also features a handy RAM cache, which means that you can now have a superfast virtual Windows environment running directly from RAM. When using such a RAM cache setup, your disks take no write hits, something that is very beneficial for devices like SSDs and flash sticks.

SD is a great piece of code, but threats keep evolving constantly. It is essential for SD to also keep evolving in order for it to continue to be relevant. Since October last year, I had the pleasure of exchanging ideas with Tony, the Shadow Defender developer. Some of my ideas have now already been implemented in current SD versions, e.g. the user-configurable RAM buffer for the virtual system, plus cache encryption.

Today Amazon announced that it had updated its Kindle for iOS app to incorporate more accessibility features for users who are visually impaired.

The biggest of the updates is the integration with Apple's VoiceOver technology, which is now capable of reading aloud more than 1.8 million Kindle Store offerings.

Also included in the update are improvements to UI navigation, Search Tools, and other features like X-Ray, End Actions, sharing, highlighting and bookmarking. Amazon said, "Accessibility features make it easier for blind and visually impaired customers to navigate their Kindle libraries, read & interact with books, and more. Enable VoiceOver in your device settings to begin."

Social traffic and mapping app Waze is looking for beta testers ahead of its launch on the Windows Phone platform. For those who don't know what Waze is, let me explain. Waze is a social traffic app that allows users all over the country and world to report accidents, police, and hazards so others can avoid them.

Waze is one of the major apps that is available on Android and iOS and by working on a version for Windows Phone, it signals some belief in the Windows Phone platform. In order to apply for the program, you'll need to head over to waze.centercode.com. Note that applying does not guarantee a spot in the beta.

In order for Windows Phone to be successful, it needs to have some of these killer apps that are available on the competing platform. Waze is certainly one of them, but there are plenty more that Microsoft needs to bring over.

Up until now, NVIDIA's PhysX technology hasn't been used in games all that well. Even today, it's still just a technology demo, and a technology acquisition by NVIDIA, but they continue to keep their heads down and work on the physics technology.

There's a new simulation using PhysX, which you can check out in the above video. The demo is the result of research by Miles Macklin and Matthias Muller. They have a paper published about it, which you can read here, with some details below:

Coinciding with the launch of the Radeon HD 7990, AMD has released updated Catalyst drivers, bringing the count up to 13.4. These are the first WHQL-certified drivers released by the CPU and GPU manufacturer in three months. Our resident GPU Editor and author of the driver analyses pieces will hopefully have a piece up on them soon.

The drivers bring official support for the newly released HD 7790 and HD 7990. They fix or bring support for the following:

To download the newest drivers, you can head over to AMD's driver support site.

It's an interesting time for Windows-based systems, as there are mountains of Android- and iOS-based devices being sold every minute of every day, with no sign of slowing down.

DigiTimes' latest report is that major PC vendors are joining Intel in their push for Android-based convertible touch-based devices. Yes, Android-based devices are wanted from Intel, with it looking like they're slowly shifting away from Windows. Lenovo are the ones reportedly leading the pack, where they'll release an Android-based version of their Yoga, an 11-inch convertible tablet.

Acer, ASUS, HP and Toshiba are all preparing Android-based devices, which we should see more of heading into Computex and even more in Q3 2013. DigiTimes' sources have said that the "sweet spot" for Android notebook pricing is at around $500, which means we should see some pretty powerful devices similar to what we see from Apple and their iPad, and Samsung and others with their current Android-based slates.

Amazon has updated the Kindle app store with a bunch of new apps, including a much-anticipated Xbox SmartGlass app. The SmartGlass app is a companion app for the Xbox 360 that allows users to control their Xbox and get second-screen information, including access to Xbox Music, messaging, and other features.

The app has been available since fall for iOS and Android, but has just been made available Amazon's redesigned Kindle Fire and Kindle Fire HD. The app will scale natively to the resolutions provided by these Android tablets. If you have a Kindle Fire or Fire HD and an Xbox 360, you can download the SmartGlass app for free from the Amazon App Store.

When Microsoft killed the start button with Windows 8, many long time users were appalled, and cried foul. This morning the Verge is reporting that we will see a reappearance of the start button in the Windows 8.1, but don't get too excited yet.

If you were hoping for a start menu along with the revived start button, you will be sadly disappointed, the new start button is essentially a reskinned copy of the charm that appears when you mouse over to the right hand side of the desktop. Clicking the new start button will open the live tile interface.

News of this addition comes shortly after the announcement that Windows 8.1 will include a "boot to desktop" mode that will let users log directly into the desktop interface and forgo ever having to look at live tiles again.

If you were after some totally free VoiP calls between your friends on Facebook, then you may want to pay attention to Facebook Messenger. The latest app update include the ability of free VoiP-based calls between your Facebook friends.

In the beginning of last month, Canadian users were greeted with the VoiP call goodness, but now it has extended outside of Canadaland, and into the US and other countries. If you want to see if you have this feature, all you have to do is tap into a current chat, tap the 'i' button in the top right corner and if you're in one of the countries the new feature has rolled out into, you'll see a "Free Call" button at the bottom.

I've just tested it on my Nexus 4 here in Australia, and can confirm it's working for Australians.

OpenSignal, the central repository for crowdsourced cellular reception maps, has finally released an app for iPhones. Up until now, OpenSignal has been relying on only Android users to collect data about signal strength, cellular towers, and speed data.

OpenSignal has used this collected Android data to extrapolate how signal would perform on iPhones. Now they will be able to rely on data collected via iPhones. To download the new app or learn more about it, head over to OpenSignal's webpage for the new iPhone app.

The app features some useful functions. If you're having reception issues, the app can point you in a direction that should help boost your signal. It can also locate free Wi-Fi if you need to borrow a faster connection. The app will also collect anonymous signal data to help build the map available at OpenSignal's website.

The Name Your Own Price Mac Bundle 2.0 is much like the Humble Bundle. People can choose what ever price they would like for the pack of apps, 10 percent of which goes to charity. Every buyer, no matter the price, gets three apps, while you have to beat the average price to get all ten.

For the cheap--err, thrifty--among us, you'll get:

If you beat the average--note, it's better to do it now as the average will continually rise as more people beat it to get all ten apps--you'll get these additional apps:

Apple needs a come back in the mobile OS department, and it looks like iOS 7 could just be that. The Cupertino-based giant is set to tease the world with iOS 7 at their Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in June.

Then we have news from Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Haberty, who predicts Apple's iOS 7 will include a new Internet service, such as a mobile payment system that will continue on from Passbook, or a new music streaming service - something we've heard about before - where she expects this new service to be iOS 7's 'killer app'.

We've already heard of the huge UI overhaul on iOS 7, so it looks like Apple is now playing catch up to Android - because if the world's most advanced mobile operating system was indeed titled correctly, we should only expect evolution, not revolution.

Google has announced that there are now seven new countries that Google Play Music has extended into: Austria, Australia, Belgium, Ireland, Luxembourg, New Zealand and Portugal. This now allows users to buy music through the Google Play Store on both the web or their Android device, as well as the cloud associated with their Google account which will hold 20,000 songs for a user.

The streaming service is made available to 10 devices at a time, with the settings allowing a user to tune the authorization and deauthorization of devices. You can check it out by downloading Google Play Music from the Google Play Store.

Facebook Home, the new launcher for Android by the social networking giant, releases this Friday, and will officially be available for the HTC One, HTC One X/X+, Samsung Galaxy SIII, Samsung Galaxy S4, Samsung Galaxy Note II and the new HTC First.

This morning MoDoCo.com has published a set of three APK files that appear to be the components that make up a pre-release beta of Facebook Home. The only requirements for installing the beta is that the device has a maximum resolution of 1280x768, as well as the ability to completely remove or uninstall the existing Facebook app.

I was able to install all three apps to my aging Motorola Photon 4G, but all I got upon launch was a black screen. Home does not appear to actually reconfigure the home screen, but it remaps the home button to the Facebook Home wall. Pressing the back button allowed me to return to my normal Android home screen, and I was then able to delete the APKs through the normal app removal method.