Okay, Microsoft we're on good terms now. Yesterday it was made public that developers would be under an NDA after signing the terms and conditions in order to download the update. The agreement specifically asked developers, "to not publish any content, screenshots or comments in any media in advance of the official launch of Windows Phone ‘Mango’."
As you may know, this annoyed us quite a bit because we were planning to offer coverage of Mango now but were worried this NDA would completely halt those plans. Well, there's good news developers and fellow bloggers! According to Windows Phone's Product Manager Cliff Simpkins, the original statement in the conditions was misinterpreted. Making an appearance today on the live broadcast of Windows Phone Dev Podcast, Cliff stated that developers are free to post any kind of media including screenshots and more information without expecting any sort of punishment. However they cannot share the actual Mango code with one another, meaning anyone who uploads the system dump of Mango could be in hot water if discovered by Microsoft.
So if you have Mango and you're media-savvy, enjoy the weekend project of unraveling all of Mango's deepest secrets (just not its code).
"It's only Angry Birds." We've heard hundreds of people say that when it was revealed Rovio's absurdly popular game was announced for Windows Phone earlier this year. When it was revealed to be the most expensive version of Angry Birds in any app store, people were even more skeptical about how well it would perform. Then there were countlessclones invading the Marketplace that were quite popular thanks to offering similar gameplay.
Well for those of you who doubted the original's potency as the final title in Microsoft's Must Have Games lineup, you'd be wrong. Dead wrong. Since its debut yesterday, Angry Birds has become the #1 top paid app for Windows Phone and #3 overall behind YouTube and Adobe Reader (according to WP7Applist). Our feathers are still a little ruffled that the Windows Phone port costs so much more than its platform counterparts, but clearly the majority of those interested are willing to stomach the price.
If you haven't picked it up yet, Angry Birds is available in the Marketplace for $2.99 along with the standard trial. Click on the tile below to start smashing those pigs.
We really feel for all of the people who got stuck with those "Walshed" phones and even moreso for ChevronWP7, who has been working constantly to help those affected users out. Now it appears Walshed phones that were eventually set on the right path to official NoDo righteousness are suffering from new complications with the Mango developer update. Rafael Rivera took to the App Hub Forums to brief everyone on the issue:
For those who were on the ChevronWP7 track, we're noticing problematic updates linked to the incorrect use of the Walshed Phone Support Tool. More specifically, lots of folks misread (or didn't read at all) the instructions and did not select all the languages present on the phone. (Most simply selected English.)
In case you don't remember, you were supposed to select all of the languages already installed on your phone before using the Walshed Phone Support Tool. Since most apparently didn't, that is the main cause of this new Mango update issue. Well now Rivera has updated the post with links to an updated version of the Support Tool as well as new instructions for those affected.
So first of all, download the revised Support Tool (32-bit here, 64-bit here). Now go ahead and read the instructions below:
Instructions:
Download the appropriate tool for your machine.
Check your phone's OS version (Settings -> About -> More Info).
If your phone is 7390 or less, simply execute WPST.exe
If your phone is at 7392, execute WPST.exe with the command line parameter -ididntreadtheinstructions.
If your phone is at anything higher than 7392, you should stop and restore to one of the aforementioned versions.
Select all the installed languages on your phone. (See the tool for instructions.)
Click continue and wait for completion.
Try updating to Mango again.
Good luck and we hope you can finally get your Mango on if you were stuck before. Oh and make sure you thank ChevronWP7 if you do!
So, you really don't think Microsoft is going to introduce front-facing cameras for Windows Phones? Even that rumor before the May Mango event wasn't enough to convince you? Well at this point we'd probably just give up on convincing you and let you live your sad, cynical life. Luckily we're not going to stop annoying you to turn you into a believer, and that photo above is all the proof you need. That mysterious switch/flip button in the Camera interface is from the new Mango SDK Beta 2's emulator so this is as official of a tease as you're going to get. Enjoy and you're quite welcome for the identity crisis your cynicism is about to endure.
Last night Eric Hautala took to the Windows Phone Blog and dropped a quick post offering some up-to-date info about the status of Samsung updates in progress. First off, Hautala mentions that they are finally close to completing the update for those poor Samsung Focus v1.4 owners. He also tells us that, when it's eventually rolled out, the update will be packing a triple punch containing pre-NoDo, NoDo, and the 7392 security update.
Moving on to the Samsung Windows Phone across the pond, the Omnia 7 on Orange has resumed the delivery process to devices. The update contains both NoDo and 7392, ensuring you're all caught up with the majority of users. Finally, Hautala reminds us that AT&T is already delivering the 7392 updates for the HTC Surround and LG Quantum.
German site HTCInside has managed upon two very important sets of photos of a new, unannounced Windows Phone called the HTC Eternity. The first is the one above featuring a shot of the device itself, which is pretty much an exact replica of the Desire HD except for the always-there Windows Phone hardware buttons. But the more interesting part is the second photo (past the break), which includes a spec sheet containing all of the goodies you can't see in the first. Let's take a look shall we?
1.5 GHz Qualcomm MSM 8255 SoC (system-on-a-chip)
Windows Phone Mango
HSDPA 14.4 Mbps
4.7" WVGA (800x480) Super LCD
8-megapixel auto-focus camera with dual-LED flash
1.3-megapixel front-facing camera
Records up to 720p HD video
16 GB storage, 512 MB RAM
1650 mAh battery
DLNA support
Sounds pretty cool right? There's just one thing: we don't buy it. First of all, it's 2011 and HTC knows that it cannot come out with a replica of the Desire HD for Windows Phone and call it "new", even if it does have that gargantuan 4.7" screen. Second of all, the software on the phone does not look like Mango from what we can see. We know that most of Microsoft's press photos showing the Mango software usually displays a Linked Inbox tile in place of the typical Outlook one, and would also likely include the new People tile. Third of all, the specs are just a little too outlandish for us to really believe. A 4.7-inch screen? Probably won't happen. A 1.5 GHz MSM 8255 chip? Would be nice, but the 8255 can only go up to 1.4 GHz.
So you should join us as we take a spoonful of salt with this rumor. Yet despite our skepticism, we still hope we won't be waiting an eternity to see this one come out.
It is not new news that there is almost ungraspable amounts of data pinging around the world, and data is growing at an amazing rate. Those rather knowledgeable bods at Cisco have come up with a lovely infographic, from which this is just a part so you can get your head around the relativity of scale of data metrics. Kinda makes the fact that my work inbox has just been downgraded to a max 1gb even more of a joke....
This is pure genius: For those of us that spend hours a day stuck behind a keyboard, often out of sight of nature, then you need to bookmark this RIGHT NOW:
So you received your invite to download the Mango beta and you're planning to write up a 1500 word epic feature-palooza all about it? Better think twice about that kid, because Microsoft could sue you if you do that. See if you paid attention to that legal agreement that you were forced to sign in order to update, you'd have known that there's a confidentiality clause that you have agreed to. You didn't read it? Well here's the part we're talking about:
8. Confidentiality: By participating in this program, the developer agrees to not publish any content, screenshots or comments in any media in advance of the official launch of Windows Phone ‘Mango’.
Now if you're not good with legal-speak, this means that you can't talk about Mango at all in any form of media. This isn't just limited to news sites like ours: it includes talking, Twitter, Facebook, email, text messages, and whatever other kind of sharing medium you can probably think of.
For us, this really really really sucks. You cannot even begin to imagine just how much this has ruined our plans to have Mango coverage. Sadly our site was not big enough to participate in the Mango previews that Microsoft handed out to multiple members of the press, and our one saving grace would have been this beta update because we have a student developer account. Now this has really fudged things up on our side, and there's no real reason that we have seen to justify this from Microsoft's perspective. Journalists obviously didn't have a non-disclosure agreement to sign because they ripped Mango wide open once the embargo was lifted, so why are developers getting the short end of the stick?
Anyway besides our own issues we recommend you to proceed with a lot of caution when talking about Mango. For the most part, avoid taking photos and screenshots of your Mango phone and if you're releasing an update of your app for Mango devices to test, don't specifically mention what features you've included.
When will Microsoft ever learn? Courtesy of our friend Cris Rowlands, it appears the Windows Phone Marketplace is still being assaulted left and right by spam apps. What you see above is 14 of the 36 apps that have been published to the Marketplace in the last four days by developer Mark Agholor. Like many of the spam apps we have reported on, Mark Agholor's university and sports team news apps are nothing more than glorified RSS readers that could easily have been consolidated into a single app. To make matters worse, this is what all of them look like:
So the taking initiative Microsoft promised to do in order to fix their "bulk publishing" woes doesn't appear to have worked, even if they had bothered trying. But let's not be too harsh on them, because we've discovered that Microsoft probably is trying to solve this issue. We spotted a new open position at the Microsoft Careers site titled "Product Manager, Windows Phone Marketplace Policy" and the description sounds like the Seattle campus is actively looking for somebody to lead the charge on their certification process (we've picked out the relevant bits):
Key responsibilities include: - Run the Marketplace application and content policy certification process to ensure all published apps are compliant with the program policies [...] - Own, evolve and refine application and content policies over time - Periodically revise application and content policies, in order to adapt to new business requirements and reduce developer friction [...] - Manage the Marketplace application take-down process to promptly remove apps from the catalog that violate program policies, infringe on other people’s IP or threaten the security of Windows Phone devices or users - Partner with engineering teams to evolve and optimize the application certification workflow as we expand to more markets, languages, operators and device manufacturers
We're very intrigued to see that Microsoft may be taking two different approaches to the Marketplace certification control. It appears that they are both tightening up the initial certification process as well as the "application take-down process" in order to pull apps that shouldn't have made it into the store in the first place.
So what say you, Windows Phone faithful: should Microsoft take this approach if that really is what the job post is implying? How do you feel about "bulk publishing" of apps in general?
We can only imagine how incredible compliment as a developer it is when your third-party app becomes an officially endorsed solution by a company and a mark that you are a truly talented programmer. That's exactly what happened to Jeff Wilcox's 4th & Mayor earlier this May, when we broke news on Foursquare pulling their official app and instead offering up its users the unofficial client instead while they were working on their new version. Well today Foursquare users on Windows Phone are going to be pretty darn happy as 4th & Mayor has just leaped up to v2.0 and it brings along enough for us to call it the mayor of app updates. Here's the changelog:
Version 2: • Accurate location reporting more often • More responsive • Replaces the Places pivot page with a dedicated Check In button and experience • Lets you add photos to check-ins • Expore profiles, including leaderboard progress, favorite categories and top places of friends • Quick check-in respects your sharing preferences • International users now get the complete maps experience, too • Fixes a crash when checking in to a place too quickly • Retires the dedicated Shout button • Revamped user experience and interface • Many, many other improvements and bug fixes - thanks for the bug reports! • Explore is updated, adds the Outdoors item, moves Trending Now and Specials into new items
Ever since the official fiasco, we decided to take 4th & Mayor for a spin ourselves and since then we've really enjoyed it. The app has single-handedly made us Foursquare users as well as mobile check-in addicts, so kudos to them for achieving all of that with just an app. For those already addicted you should have received your update notice by now. If you've been thinking of joining Foursquare and have been looking for just the right app to suck you in, click out the tile below to see it in the Marketplace.
The rumors are really true, but that's besides the point now: the Mango update for developers is available now! Brandon Watson has taken to the Windows Phone Developer Blog and laid out all the details devs need to know to get their "goodie basket" update.
First of all, not every single developer may get the update today; Watson cited, "final kinks in the distribution and support infrastructure for delivering Mango to all of our registered developers around the world," that are limiting them but invites to update are on their way to developers starting now. So if you've been a pretty active dev for Windows Phone 7, it may be worth refreshing your inbox several thousand times today. Plus you don't need a developer phone because this Mango update should be compliant with all available retail products and yes student developers will also have access to the Mango update!
If you have an invite in your hand and you're ready to download that Mango goodness, STOP. Watson left very important words of caution before you proceed to do anything: first go get the new Mango SDK Beta 2 which is ready for your downloading pleasure, and second read the instructions. Since this is considered an unofficial update, there are always risks to updating your device and if you're using your personal phone with the update it's best to be cautious and read every single step before going through with it.
Finally, here is the list of officially supported countries for the roll out:
Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United States
Want to know more about Beta 2 of the Mango SDK? Read up on all of the new changes here, but the biggest change is undoubtedly the ability to actually publish Mango-compliant updates in the Marketplace which means we'll start to see more apps really make use of those tucked away Mango APIs!
So what are you waiting for, an invitation? Oh, right...you probably are. Well you can still keep yourself busy by downloading that new Beta 2 but if you've already done that we recommend checking out what the journalists said about Mango in order to whet your appetite.
Update: According to Microsoft's Cliff Simpkins, we were wrong and every single registered developer should receive an invite to download the update TODAY. Awesome!
We hate ringtones. There, we said it. We don't need to hear electro burping/farting/chicken cooing remixes, MIDI tones from the late 90s, or an auto-tuned Will.I.Am every freaking time we're in public. It's called sound pollution people and it's unnatural. What ever happened to the classic ring? The same exact ring from the original telephone, when Alexander Graham Bell couldn't have begun to imagine what he had created. But no, everyone and their dog wants "I Gotta Feeling" as their ringtone.
Now Microsoft has begun approving of this sick ear torture and is even planning to provide tools in Mango and new Zune functionality in order to encourage it. Not only has Microsoft added the necessary APIs for developers to add a new 'Save as Ringtone' feature to their sound-hungry apps, they've also made it available for basically any app. Plus now with this addition, users themselves will also be able to create new despicable custom ringtones for their Windows Phones. Mercifully they have decided to pose a few restrictions in order to reduce the amount of Justin Bieber ringtones available to the world, and so users have to make sure their next work of paralyzing annoyance follows these guidelines:
39 seconds or shorter
smaller than 1 megabyte (MB)
saved in MP3 or WMA format
not copy-protected (i.e. DRM free)
Finally, Microsoft has also made the horrid tunes of our eardrum's death syncable through the Zune desktop software. As long as files are labeled with 'Ringtone' in the Genre section, they will sync to a new 'Custom' area of ringtones and will not get jumbled in with that new Beyonce album you just picked up. Plus Mango will be shipping with a few new preinstalled ringtones from the get-go, just in case you wanted pointers on how to make your own.
All of this makes us sick. Enjoy your victory you tone deaf bastards.
(Oh and in case you were wondering exactly what the heck that headline is referencing, we suggest you watch the video embedded just past the break...and don't suggest to make it your new ringtone this Fall.)
We reported earlier about Nokia's upcoming N series smartphone codenamed N5 that has emerged along with the next in line, the N6 and N7.
It appears that more information about the Finnish giant's plan has been unveiled as the guys over at Flashfly managed to take a few shots of four unannounced phones that we think will be launched by the end of the year.
Although the pictures do not show the actual phone, we do have parts of the phones' specs sheets, which show that they are not ordinary Symbian smartphones.
Just like the N5 that leaked yesterday, the four smartphones are powered by Symbian Anna platform, also known as Symbian Belle.
Nokia Helen, codename Nokia 701, will have a 3.5-inch LCD ClearBlack display, an 8-megapixel camera and a fast 1GHz processor. Apparently, the 701 will be Nokia X7's successor and its strong points will be the large screen and a better browser experience.
Nokia Zeta, or Nokia 700, will feature a slightly smaller 3.2-inch AMOLED display, NFC technology, as well as 1GHz processor.
The main attraction of the phone will be its design, as Nokia will tout the 700 as “the thinnest smartphone ever.”
Next in line is Nokia Cindy, also known as Nokia 600, which is supposed to carry a 3.2-inch AMOLED display, a 5-megapixel camera, NFC technology, a fast 1GHz processor and built-in FM radio antenna.
According to Nokia, the Cindy will be delivered with several pre-installed apps, including Skype, Shazam, Youtube, F-Secure, Vlingo and PDF.
The phone is aimed at youth and will appeal customers through an attractive price.
The last on the list is called Nokia Fate (Nokia 500) and seems to be the cheapest of the four, but will keep almost the same level of hardware.
Nokia Fate will be powered by the same 1GHz processor, but it will lack NFC technology. In addition, it will sport a 5-megapixel camera.
There is no additional information about the phones' release dates or prices, but we can easily assume that these will be launched by the end of the year as part of Nokia's plan to flood the global market with Symbian smartphones until the first Windows Phone 7 devices arrive.
Xbox Live Deal of the Week gets you gaming on the cheap. Every Wednesday an Xbox Live game goes on sale and the discount stays in effect until the new Deal is released.
This week's new Deal is James Patterson's Women's Murder Club from I-Play. Here's the official description of the game:
After captivating over 15 million players, the hit PC game based on JAMES PATTERSON's popular book series finally comes to mobile! Discover a unique blend of hidden object, light adventure and puzzle games combined with an exciting mystery tale and exclusive features tailored for your mobile device!
-- A THRILLING "PAGE TURNER" OF A GAME! Take on the role of a homicide detective in this spine-tingling mystery by bestselling author JAMES PATTERSON. Study murder scenes, perform forensic analysis and find evidence as you try to solve a series of ghastly murders in San Francisco.
-- SEEK & FIND & MORE! Much more than a hidden object game! Each investigation features fun and challenging puzzles that require you to use both your eyes and your brain to gather evidence in 15 murder scenes and complete all 29 investigations.
-- A BONE-CHILLING EXPERIENCE With strikingly immersive environments and chilling sound effects, award-winning game designer JANE JENSEN recreates the intense, dark and gritty atmosphere that already captivated millions of book readers and players around the world!
-- TOUCH AND SEARCH Enjoy flawless touchscreen controls! Pinch the screen to zoom in and explore amazingly detailed scenes, then tap to use tools and collect objects.
Women's Murder Club has dropped from $2.99 to $1.99 for the rest of the week. The standard free trial is also available.
Click on the tile below to get the game (opens Zune).
James Patterson's Women's Murder Club I-Play $1.99 + Trial Version 1.1
It's Wednesday and do you know what that means? New Xbox Live games for Windows Phone!
It's finally here people! This week’s new Xbox Live game is Angry Birds by Rovio, which is the finale to Microsoft's Must Have Games program--talk about ending with a bang! Here is the official description of the game:
The survival of the Angry Birds is at stake. Dish out revenge on the green pigs who stole the Birds’ eggs. Use the unique destructive powers of the Angry Birds to lay waste to the pigs’ fortified constructions. Angry Birds features hours challenging, physics-based demolition gameplay, and lots of replay value. Each of the 165 levels requires logic, skill, and brute force to crush the enemy. Protect wildlife and play Angry Birds!
Angry Birds is available in the Marketplace for $ along with the standard free trial.
Click on the tile below to get the game (opens Zune).
When Windows Phone 7 first launched, people were hopeful about Microsoft's promises to keep the platform unified with fast simple updates. Turns out that Microsoft has had a tougher time with updates than everyone thought and have faced rough criticism after some major missteps (although some of them were actually out of their power). Now that the dust has settled and the passion behind those promises has withered, we've finally begun to make sense of exactly what strategy Microsoft is sticking to long-term. In this year alone we will have had two major updates: NoDo beginning this past March and Mango later this Fall. In the time between each we've also seen smaller updates sprinkled in, like pre-NoDo and the May '7392' security update.
Thanks to a slip of the tongue from a reliable Compal source in a new Digitimes article, we now know that Microsoft is going to be calling their next major update Tango:
Compal has signed with Microsoft for licensed use of the Mango platform and Tango, a platform to succeed Mango, the sources noted.
Now since this source says that Tango will in fact be an update to supersede Mango, it's easy to assume that it will be on the same level as NoDo meaning we will see general feedback-based changes as well as bugfixes and minor features. Then of course there's Apollo, which many are speculating will eventually be known as Windows Phone 8 in order to launch alongside Windows 8 (in case you missed Apollo news, read here). So now that Microsoft is beginning to show its pattern a little bit, what are your thoughts? Is this system working or should Microsoft be hitting us with more frequent, fast and furious updates?
What's better than a fun, motion-controlled action arcade game? One that's stylish and as a bonus won't break the bank either. Version 2.0 of Palladium Power's ORB made a splash in the Marketplace a couple of weeks ago when it went on a one-day sale for the low price of free and since then has been pretty popular. Now whenever a game is offered for free in the Marketplace, we always tend to be a little suspicious and hopeful we don't get stuck with a lemon but ORB has pleasantly surprised us (plus we waited to actually pay for the game). Follow the break for our full thoughts on and score of Palladium Power's ORB.
The Basics The objective of the game is simple enough: you control an orb and avoid the orb falling off the tiles its rolling upon. Maneuvering the orb is done through tilting the phone side-to-side while controlling the speed is done through a tilt up/down action. The 5x8 grid of tiles is slightly tilted in the area of the screen given in order to give you a better idea of control and more time to predict any obstacles. Speaking of which, there are quite a few varieties of special tiles that can throw you off (figuratively and literally):
A Yellow tile that shows an arrow on top of it and when your orb rolls on top, it is 'bumped' in the same direction as the arrow.
A Red tile which, when rolled over, explodes all of the ground within a 2-3 tile radius.
A Blue tile which will launch your phone in the air in order to make it across large jumps.
A Green tile to rapidly accelerate the orb in your current direction.
The in-game graphics are superb and undoubtedly some of the best we've seen in a game without the Xbox Live brand on its tile.
The Good We found plenty to enjoy in our time with ORB. For one, the presentation quality is absolutely through the roof. They are best described as 'slick', lending an ultra-futuristic vibe to the entire game. It really works too: the in-game graphics are superb and undoubtedly some of the best we've seen in a game without the Xbox Live brand on its tile. But it's so much more than that, as Palladium Power has translated the look and feel of the game to directly match the rest of ORB's interface. The result is a title that is a cohesive package; everything from the menus to the pause screen carries the distinctive look of ORB's gameplay. Honestly, you could tell a friend ORB is an XBL game and they may just believe it. Plus we really enjoyed the tiles-based obstacles which added some nice differentiation while playing. Throw in the online and local leaderboards too and the game has a whole new competitive angle to it. We also give points out to any game that handles resuming well after you leave the game only to return later, and luckily ORB is among those select few.
The Bad So as you can tell, we really enjoy ORB's strong features and we commend the presentation work Palladium Power has put into the game. But every game has its downsides and ORB is no different. The biggest deduction against the game is its limited replay value. This is mostly due to the game restarting from the basic beginning each time you lose, and when you're looking for more of a challenge there's no difficulty options or skill-based levels to choose from. As much as we enjoy playing the game, it's also frustrating when you make it far into the harder areas of a marathon session and you have to restart--from the very 'holding-your-hands' beginning--in order to get your fix. This made us leave the game more often that we really wanted to, so the addition of a few difficulty levels would go a long way to making this right. Besides that, there's a few more nitpicks we have for the game. When we first fired up ORB and pressed the Play button from the main menu, the game abruptly started. While that may seem like a good thing, the problem is that we had no familiarity with the game and there wasn't even any sort of 'countdown' in order to be ready. Of course now that we're used to it the issue is no longer a big deal, but we still think it's worth correcting. Another thing is the lack of an accelerometer calibration option, which is something we consider a necessity with any tilt-based games. Finally, we sort of thought the music was repetitive while playing the game which only offers two very generic electronic beats.
Overall We think Palladium Power has definitely crafted a stand out game with ORB. We ourselves have yet to see a non-Xbox Live game as wonderfully designed or as graphically beautiful as this title. You're not only getting a looker, the game has plenty of brains too thanks to its engaging gameplay and support for local and online leaderboards. The big thing really holding back this slick action game is the weak replay value, but luckily it should be an area that can be improved upon with future updates. Plus for the low price of $1.29, we really can't find much to complain about. So do yourself a favor and swipe those tiles over to the Marketplace and check out the game.
ORB Palladium Power FREE (Sale) $1.29 + Trial (Regular) Version 2.0
A tipster has revealed that Apple plans to release its own accessory for data transfers and display connections between Thunderbolt Macs and other devices set to support the standard.
Originally codenamed Light Peak, Thunderbolt is an interface for connecting peripheral devices to a computer via an expansion bus.
Intel is the company behind this technology that saw its first commercial introduction in Apple’s current-generation of MacBook Pros.
Since then, the iMac line of desktop computers also received the enhancement, alongside Sandy Bridge processors, also from Intel.
On Macs, Thunderbolt uses the same port and connector as Mini DisplayPort, Apple’s own standard for connectivity between computers and external displays, or TVs.
In essence, Thunderbolt combines PCI Express and DisplayPort into a new serial data interface that can be carried over longer and less costly cables.
Apple reportedly plans to introduce its own branded cord for data transfers and display connections between Thunderbolt-enabled systems.
According to a Mr. X, who generally leaks accurate information to the blokes at 9to5mac, the cable’s both ends feature connectors for the Thunderbolt I/O port.
These cables are said to be the perfect accessory for data migration between Thunderbolt Macs, but also for display connections.
9to5 appropriately points out that the cable may well stand as a hint that Apple plans to introduce new Cinema Displays with Thunderbolt ports on them. They also seem to have obtained a rendering of the cable in question (displayed above).
Finally, the tipster claimed this new cable will arrive ahead of refreshed MacBook Airs, Mac minis, and Mac Pros with Thunderbolt I/O and Sandy Bridge CPUs. These are also expected to launch relatively soon.
Perhaps not coincidentally, Apple recently released its first Thunderbolt Firmware Update.
Aimed at systems running the latest version of Snow Leopard (Mac OS X 10.6.8), “This update provides Thunderbolt performance and stability fixes,” according to the Cupertino tech giant.
Call of Duty: Black Ops has just received the third downloadable content pack, in the form of the Annihilation map pack, which is now available for download on the Xbox Live online service for the Xbox 360 console.
Call of Duty: Black Ops is one of the best-selling games of last year, and continues to command a loyal following on all platforms, from the PC, to the PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360.
Now, in order to attract even more players, a brand new downloadable content pack has been released for Black Ops, in the form of the Annihilation map pack.
Just like the previous DLCs, the First Strike and Escalation packs, Annihilation brings four new maps for the competitive multiplayer mode, and one new scenario for the Zombies cooperative one. Check out the official details on the new levels below.
"Take the fight to "Hangar 18," located in the iconic military base Area 51, complete with experimental weapons labs, the SR-71 test hangar, and a disturbingly mysterious autopsy room. Pull up and get cozy with "Drive-In," a close quarters slugfest through a 60's American drive-in theater, classic arcade, and old school snack shack.
"Battle through the construction of a massive secret Soviet missile site in the multilevel "Silo," and then take off to a coastal golf course fit for a dictator in "Hazard," set on the cliffs of Cuba where stocked clubhouses and manicured fairways meet sand traps perfect for setting up ambushes.
"Zombies return with vengeance in the mysterious land of "Shangri-La," a legendary shrine lost in an exotic jungle. Never before seen undead creatures lurk within a treacherous labyrinth of underground caverns. Step carefully through deadly traps and solve the dark secrets buried within the shifting walls of a long last land."
The Annihilation DLC for Call of Duty: Black Ops is now being rolled out on the Xbox 360 console, and is available for purchase and download on both Xbox Live as well as the internal DLC store from the game, for the traditional 1200 MS Points ($15).
It will be released at the end of next month or beginning of August for other platforms like the PC or PlayStation 3, while a Double XP weekend will start later this week to celebrate the release of the DLC.
The KDE team has announced on June 25th Release Candidate version for the upcoming KDE Software Compilation 4.7. This morning, the Free Software Foundation released GCC 4.6.1 with lots of interesting changes.
We are announcing that on June 25th, the KDE developers announced KDE Software Compilation 4.7 RC (Release Canidate), a version that is focusing on fixing last-minute bugs and finishing the required documentation and translations.
KDE Software Compilation 4.7 will be released this summer and it will bring various exciting features, such as support for OpenGL-ES 2.0 on KWin window manager, major improvements on Dolphin file manager, support for GRUB2 bootloader on KDM (KDE's login manager), and support for offline address search on Marble.
This is how KDE Software Compilation 4.7 will look like when it will be released, on July 27, 2011. For a complete list of changes brought by KDE SC 4.7 RCplease take a look at the official changelog.
Today, June 27th, we are announcing that the Free Software Foundation unleashed version 4.6.1 of the famous GCC open-source compiler, a release that brings regression fixes, bug fixes, and documentation updates.
The new GCC 4.6.1 compiler brings general optimizer improvements, compile time and memory usage improvements, new languages and language specific improvements, new targets and target specific improvements, documentation improvements and some installation changes.
Good news for Android apps developers, as GCC 4.6.1 now provides support for the Bionic C library, offering an easy way of building native Android applications and libraries.
For a complete list of changes that are present in GCC 4.6.1, please take a look at the official changelog.
While the developers are working hard to bring you all the good stuff in GCC 4.7, the next maintenance update, GCC 4.6.2, will be available worldwide somewhere in late September or early October 2011.
The free, open source virtualization solution from Oracle, VirtualBox has added support for Apple’s upcoming major revision of the Mac OS, Lion.
VirtualBox is a good alternative to pricey virtualization solutions like VMware Fusion and Parallels.
It can hold various guest operating systems ranging from Windows, and Linux to Solaris and Open BSD.
VirtualBox 4.0.10 is now here with the usual bag of fixes and enhancements, starting with a GUI tweak, which fixes disappearing settings widgets on KDE hosts, then moving onto Storage.
In this particular area, Oracle mentions the following changes:
- fixed hang under rare circumstances with flat VMDK images - a saved VM could not be restored under certain circumstances after the host kernel was updated - refuse to create a medium with an invalid variant
For Snapshots, the developers say that “none of the hard disk attachments must be attached to another VM in normal mode when creating a snapshot.”
A couple of USB fixes are mentioned, one of which allows for proper device detection on RHEL/OEL/CentOS 5 guests. This, however, is labeled as a partial fix.
Two Mac-specific changes are mentioned.
For those using a Mac as the host of VirtualBox, Oracle is proud to confirm that the new version further strengthens compatibility with OS X 10.7 Lion simply by fixing a bunch of known bugs.
The other fix available for Mac OS X hosts is related to GNOME 3, according to those maintaining the software. The remainder of the changelog continues below:
· ACPI: force the ACPI timer to return monotonic values for improve behavior with SMP Linux guests · RDP: fixed screen corruption under rare circumstances · rdesktop-vrdp: updated to version 1.7.0 · OVF: under rare circumstances some data at the end of a VMDK file was not written during export
VirtualBox calls for an Intel-based Mac, over 2GB of RAM (if you want a decent experience), around 100MB of storage for the program itself, and additional storage (by the gigabyte) for the operating systems you plan to install.
A few minutes ago, June 28th, Opera Software proudly unleashed the new, improved and highly anticipated Opera 11.50 web browser for Linux, Macintosh and Windows platforms.
Dubbed Swordfish, the new Opera 11.50 web browser brings lots of new exciting features, overall improvements, code cleanup, and thousands of bugfixes, which makes it the fastest and most stable Opera browser ever!
“Opera 11.50 introduces a new and novel type of browser extension: Speed Dial extensions. Instead of handy thumbnails and links to your top sites, you can embed your Speed Dial with extensions that keep you updated—instantly—on what is happening around the Web. Take weather updates, for example.” “Why click through to a website when you can get the current conditions live at a glance? Or, why not be the first to know the hot news of the day just by opening a new tab? We think Speed Dial extensions are a smarter way of getting to the content you want and need.” – was stated in the press release.
Highlights of Opera 11.50: · Live Speed Dial extension; · Passwords synchronization; · Bookmarks synchronization; · Safer passwords; · A brand-new sleek and lightweight design; · Adobe Flash Player auto-detection and installation; · Oracle Java auto-detection and installation; · HTML5 support; · Faster browser engine; · Faster software graphics engine (with support for CSS and SVG rendering); · Session History and Navigation; · W3C File API; · classList and
“We’re excited about the work that has gone into Opera 11.50,” said Jan Standal, VP of Desktop Products, Opera Software. “Before we challenge Lady Gaga though, we’ve got to surpass the Tom Selleck moustache fan page on Facebook and the number of forum posts Opera fan Tamil has written. We think Speed Dial extensions are amazing enough to do the trick, but we didn’t stop there.”
Download Opera 11.50 Final for Linux. It is available for many operating systems, such as Ubuntu 11.04, Debian 6, Fedora 15, Red Hat Enterprise Linux or Slackware.
Have a play with the rather fun "What do you love" variant of the search engine. Nice touch using the heart for the "search" button.
Doesn't say much about either the algorithms they've applied to this exercise though if the results that come up for sailing products are nil though...., either that or possibly the search engine optimisation of the products pages of the sailing technical gear experts like Musto and Henri Lloyd need some serious work!
After many months of waiting, or testing as the case may be, uTorrent 3.0 is finally here. The popular BitTorrent client comes with plenty of new features for power and casual users alike. Among the most touted new features are media streaming before finishing the download, a simple web interface for remote control and drag and drop sharing.
"µTorrent 3.0 is officially live," BitTorrent, the company behind uTorrent, announced. "First, many thanks to the 4+ million µTorrent users who pitched in and tested the beta. Your feedback was a significant contribution to the final product. We all really appreciate it," it said.
Many of the new features have been in the works for quite some time but have only now reached maturity, being stable enough for the many tens of millions of people that use uTorrent.
Instant video and music streaming
Streaming is perhaps the best example, it's been around since December 2009, but has only now become a standard feature of the stable release.
"Watch videos within seconds with our progressive downloads – no need to wait for the entire file to download. This feature is especially great for previewing a file before committing to the full download," BitTorrent explained.
"To use this feature, simply click the streaming button when it appears in the Playback column within the Torrents tab," it added.
uTorrent remote control
Another great feature making its debut is a new web service from BitTorrent enabling users to control their uTorrent app from any computer or device, by visiting remote.utorrent.com, without the need of setting up a local server or anything of the sort.
Ratings and comments
uTorrent 3.0 is also trying to make the whole process of peer-to-peer sharing more social, not only on a technical level, but enabling actual interactions and conversations between users.
The latest stable release enable users to rate torrents to let others know to stay clear or to grab a quality release. Comments do pretty much the same.
uChat, P2P chat app
Speaking of social interactions, uTorrent 3.0 also introduces an interesting new feature, still in beta, uChat, available as an optional app for the BitTorrent client. As the name implies, it enables users to chat with each other via a distributed P2P network.
There's plenty more to like about uTorrent 3.0, including a refreshed interface, and the possibility of creating new torrent files by simply dragging what you want to share over an area in the app. You can hit the download link below to find out for yourself.
Some would have probably assumed that Dell would wait on that promised firmware update until the Mango release comes around the bend. You know, they've been promising and promising to get this update out for the phone for months now and, while we've heard amazing things about it, Dell hasn't exactly shown that their ecstatic about their Windows Phones. But if you're a disgruntled Dell Venue Pro owner, your cynicism is about to get turned around. Well it won't be right away, but it appears the company has finally figured out a real time-frame for the release: next month!
But there's a tiny caveat: Lionel Menchaca of Dell has stated this update is for T-Mobile device owners only. So if you picked up one of those (admittedly tempting) AT&T Dell Venue Pro's a while back, it looks like you'll be sitting at your current version for a while longer. Hopefully we'll learn more about each soon, as Menchaca has promised to write up a blog post about the firmware update at the Direct2Dell blog so we'll keep an eye out for that.
Update: Lionel has delivered and here is that promised blog post. He reconfirms that the T-Mobile and global customers will receive their updates in mid-July, but if you have an unlocked device your update will arrive beginning this week. To actually see the update, your phone must have NoDo installed beforehand. He also addresses exactly what has been going on with the DVP's Wi-Fi issues:
The main fix in the updated firmware is that it addresses the Wi-Fi and lockup issues. Here’s what was going on: the Wi-Fi and the user memory storage area both use the same DMA channel. So, if you downloaded a lot of data via Wi-Fi (like a game or other Marketpace app, or even a YouTube video) while the phone was trying to write to the user memory storage location, you sometimes see lockups due to a DMA conflict. In other words, lockups could occur when Wi-Fi data downloading conflicted with writing to the user memory storage location.
Have you ever felt the need to press the Search button to go the Start page? Or what about slightly pressing-in the camera button to go to Bing search? Look we get it, sometimes buttons are just too limiting and even Nokia might agree with you. But for those of us with Windows Phones that still have those old-school buttons on them, what are we to do in order to mix things up in the relationship? Well if you have a HTC Windows Phone and some time to kill, then check out the new button mapping hack from XDA-Developers user YukiXDA. The hack itself isn't new per-say, as it has been done before with several HTC HD2s running Windows Phone, but it's new to the 'blessed' HTC Windows Phones. So in the thread they outline exactly where you need to go inside your phone's ROM in order to make the proper nips and tucks to get those buttons just right, and if you follow the instructions you can now finally make some sense out of those confusing controls. For more about the hack including diagrams to help, visit the thread here.
When we first saw the Nokia Sea Ray, we were totally stoked. Then we saw this mysterious photo of the Sea Ray using virtual buttons on the display and we were...confused. But now we're starting to hear from the venerable Eldar Murtazin that the upcoming wave of Mango phones won't be out of style next to Nokia's new digs. According to a recent tweet of his, the design guideline for manufacturers to follow while creating Mango-flavored handsets does not require hardware buttons. So therefore he assumes that other manufacturers like HTC, Samsung and LG may be joining Nokia in their boycott of buttons with at least a few phones when Mango releases this Fall.
While they may sound great on paper, we do fall in the same line of thought as others who think that buttons are there for a reason. They obviously work, they don't require you to look at your screen 100% of the time, and you control something digital through a tangible interface. Plus don't even get us started about what will happen to software if buttons are ditched for good. So far only the Nokia N9 and the Palm/HP WebOS devices have been able to woo us away from these cynical presumptions, but just because they could do it doesn't mean other manufacturers should follow their lead before actually thinking out the software. How would you feel about a buttonless Windows Phone?
Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich flavor of the Android mobile operating system Come on Samsung Nexus Prime. Before 2011 is over, Google might bring to the market a new Nexus device, one that would run under the upcoming flavor of the Android mobile operating system, and some more info the this device has just emerged.
Apparently, the same as the latest Nexus, the upcoming device will arrive on the market from Samsung, and should be a 'pure Google' mobile phone. BGR reports that the mobile phone will arrive on the market with a 720p -resolution display, and that Samsung will call it “Super AMOLED HD.”
Moreover, the upcoming mobile phone should include an OMAP4460 application processor, the same as rumored not too long ago.
At the moment, the new handset goes by the name of Nexus Prime, and there is a great chance that it would arrive on shelves under this name as well, it seems.
One interesting piece of info regarding the upcoming mobile phone is the fact that it should be launched with more wireless carriers.
Previously, Google chose to have the Nexus smartphones available on the market only on the airwaves of one carrier at launch, but Nexus Prime should mark the shift in this approach.
Google is also rumored to be working with more OEMs on the release of Android 4.0(Ice Cream Sandwich) mobile phones, which could launch at the same time.
This would be similar with Microsoft's approach towards the release of new hardware running under its Windows Phone platform, with new mobile phones being launched as soon as updated OS flavors are available.
What that means for Google, it remains to be seen, though it will certainly be interesting to see new, high-end Android phones being released from various handset vendors at the same time via more than just one wireless carrier out there.
For the time being, however, nothing was confirmed on the upcoming Ice Cream Sandwich-based mobile phone, though it might not be too long before it will all be made official, so keep an eye on this space for more.
One of Nokia's Symbian smartphones that have been arousing controversy for quite a while, Nokia X6-00 has just received a new maintenance software update.
Even though the Finnish giant has recently announced that it will hand over the Symbian support to a third-party company, namely Accenture, it appears that the software update calendar won't be hindered at all.
While the switchover is expected to take place in the early part of October, more Nokia smartphones are receiving more or less important software updates.
Officially launched on the market in December 2009, Nokia X6-00 is among the oldest Symbian smartphones to receive updates.
The update will bring Nokia X6-00 software from version 31 to 32.x.xxx, but an official change log has yet to be unveiled.
However, Nokia X6-00 owner who already updated their smartphones to the latest firmware report that the phone's performance has been greatly enhanced.
In addition, various applications have been updated, including Ovi Contacts, which hasn't been wiped from the device yet.
The stability of the phone has been improved as well by minimizing errors and lags.
Those who wish to update their Nokia X6-00 software can do so by using the handset maker's Nokia Software Updater application or Ovi Suite.
If none of the aforementioned software solutions is available, users can choose to update through the built-in software updater within the phone by simply going to Settings / Tools / Software Update.
On related news, it appears that Nokia does not intend to deliver the latest Symbian Anna operating system to older smartphones.
This means that owners of the X6-00 devices will be stuck on S60 5th Edition, or Symbian^1 as the platform was recently renamed by Nokia.
It is unclear whether the handset is to receive other major software updates in the future, as Nokia is trying to discontinue the Symbian mobile platform.
The Android 2.3 Gingerbread operating system is now available for yet another popular mobile phone out there, namely the LG Optimus One, which has just started receiving it in Romania, if some of the latest reports on the matter are to be believed.
The handset was launched on the market last year with Google's Android 2.2 Froyo operating system on board as an affordable smartphone, and was said at one point to have been left out of the Gingerbread train.
However, its maker reconsidered the move and several months ago promised a software update to the Android 2.3 Gingerbread operating system flavor, which, apparently has already started to roll-out on devices.
LG did not make an official announcement on the matter until now, but users started to post on the company's official Facebook page various details on the new update.
The Android 2.3 Gingerbread update for LG's Optimus One has been promised about half a year ago, and it was about time that the deployments kicked off.
The platform version arriving on Optimus One devices out there is the Android 2.3.3 Gingerbread iteration, it seems.
Various Romanian owners of this mobile phone are reporting that they have already received the new software, and reports on the availability of this OS flavor for Russian users also emerged.
The V20G version of Optimus One started receiving the new OS flavor yesterday, and handsets in more countries should start receiving it in the near future as well.
The new OS flavor should bring all of the improvements that the Android 2.3.3 Gingerbread platform was announced with, along with some updates specific to Optimus One.
Among the other enhancements that Gingerbread brings forth, we can count a better proximity sensor, though it seems that the screen remains off even after ending the call.
Hopefully, it won't be long before LG decides to make the new OS version available for users in more countries, so stay tuned to learn the news.
Lets download nowNokia Drop 1.1.1 with new fwatures for mobility client! Nokia Drop, the application that Nokia released not too long ago to offer users the possibility to easily push content on their devices, has just been upgraded to version 1.1.1 .
The development team behind the application notes that the new version is capable of offering users the possibility to do more than before, faster.
The new application release also increases the ease of usage, while adding Maps support, as well as better RSS support, and other features more.
New features for mobile client - respects your choice of browser used for opening urls - speaks your language (localization) - uses kinetic scrolling capabilities New support: - adds add-on support for Firefox 5.0 Bug fixes: - fixes problem with opening Place with latest Maps application.
With the new Nokia Drop 1.1.1 release, users will be able to push Places to the mobile phone straight from the Ovi Maps (maps.ovi.com).
As soon as that happens, the Map application will be automatically opened on the handset, so that users can see the exact place that was pushed.
With the new application version, users will be able to subscribe to RSS feeds which can then be viewed on the Nokia Reader or via the Nokia Browser web feed.
“No more writing wrong urls or remembering things. You will have it everywhere you are, on your phone,” the development team notes. And there are also the said language localization options that have been included in the new release, along with updated add-ons.
“Hi, Terve, Hola, 你好 in your language, respects your browser choice on your phone, and just got faster with kinnecting scrolling capability,” the team behind the app concludes.
For those out of the loop, we should note that the application was released for handsets running under S60 5th Edition and Symbian^3, and that it is compatible with Firefox 3.6, 4.0 and 5.0 and Chrome desktop browsers.
Androidimplementasecurity system calledfirmwareWhisperCore. WhisperCore has implemented a system which allows the installation of apps with overly broad permission requirements without compromising actual data.
A big problem on the Android platform is that many developers don't really care too much about user privacy or security when creating their applications.
This leads to situations where apps request permissions they don't need or aren't supposed to have. For example, there are very few reasons for apps to request device identifiers, yet many of them do.
Users who are not comfortable with this practice don't have any option except refusing to install these applications, even though they might otherwise be suitable for their needs.
The new WhisperCore 5.0 firmware tries to solve this problem by introducing a so-called "selective permissions" system that is more flexible and give users more power over what apps can access. So users can get more control over permissions.
"WhisperCore provides selective permissions in a way that doesn't take apps by surprise. Instead of denying access to resources, each permission revoked by a user creates a 'private resource' for that application," the firmware's developers explain.
"So if an application requests the phone's unique identifier, it will still get an identifier, but it will be a privacy-protected identifier generated specifically for that application," they add.
WhisperCore is a modified version of Android which contains a number of security enhancements like full disk encryption, firewall, encrypted backups and now, selective permissions. It is currently only available for Nexus S and Nexus One phones, but developers are working on adding support for other devices as well.
Whisper Systems, the company behind WhisperCore, also develops stand-alone applications for end-to-end encrypted voice communications and text messaging, as well as backup and network monitoring.
