June, 2012 - Softonic English

Picplz to shut down permanently on July 3

Picplz, my personal favorite photo sharing, web and mobile app, will close permanently on July 3. In just a few short weeks, all the pictures and data you have stored on the Picplz website will be deleted.

No public reason was given for Picplz’s sudden shutdown announcement on the site itself. Given the flux of photo sharing services flooding both the Android and iOS markets, plus Instagram’s recent launch of an immensely popular Android app, it’s not difficult to come to your own conclusions however. In addition, Picplz co-founder, Dalton Caldwell, has also said that the team operating the photo-sharing service has moved its focus to other projects.

July 2 is the deadline for users to backup their photos from the Picplz website, and there are several ways to do this. Continue reading “Picplz to shut down permanently on July 3”

OS X Mountain Lion wish list

Apple is set to announce a slew of new hardware and software changes during the World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC) in San Francisco on Monday. One of the biggest highlights is going to be OS X Mountain Lion.

Developers have had access to a preview build of Mountain Lion for months, but Apple can still pull out some surprises at the last minute.

Here’s a list of the features I want to see in Mountain Lion. Continue reading “OS X Mountain Lion wish list”

Facebook launches App Center

Facebook had previously announced that it was going to launch its own App Center for web, Android, and iOS platforms. United States Facebook users can already view the App Center online, although it doesn’t appear that it’s live for browsing quite yet on iOS and Android devices. It is expected that Facebook will be rolling out the App Center to all users in the coming weeks.

The App Center features 600 apps. Many of these have some form of Facebook integration, which isn’t surprising. The small number of apps also presents an appearance of exclusivity, because the Facebook App Center relies heavily on your friends for app suggestions.

Based on the popularity of apps that your friends use, you will be sent personalized app recommendations. Facebook’s reliance on social sharing is apparent in the way it connects apps to the specific friends of yours who use them.

Continue reading “Facebook launches App Center”

E3: Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 Preview

Five minutes after the doors open at the Los Angeles Convention Center, there’s already a huge line of people eager to try out Call of Duty: Black Ops 2. Everyone at E3 seems to want to check it out, so we were lucky to have an appointment and sail past the impatient crowds!

There’s a new Call of Duty every year, and while Modern Warfare 3 was impressive, it was clear the franchise was getting stale. Can developer Treyarch freshen up the series with Call of Duty: Black Ops 2?

Read on to find out how this is the most innovative Call of Duty game for years!

Continue reading “E3: Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 Preview”

Top 6 features of Windows 8 Release Preview

The official release of Windows 8 is getting closer and closer, but should consumers be excited for the new operating system? Sure Windows 8 may be the boldest move that Microsoft has ever made with their desktop operating system, but does that make it good? Let’s check out some of the top features of Windows 8 and you can decide for yourself.

1) Metro interface

The biggest and most noticeable change by far has to be the introduction of the Metro interface design that consumers first saw with Windows Phone 7. In fact, the Metro design is a bold move by Microsoft to incorporate the design across all of their user interfaces from phones, Xbox, and PCs. Continue reading “Top 6 features of Windows 8 Release Preview”

E3: Dishonored hands-on preview and Watch Dogs

At E3, Rutger has been lucky enough to play Dishonored, the upcoming first-person game from Bethesda that was first shown last summer at Gamescom. It’s one of the most exciting new games around, and a breath of fresh air in an E3 that is full of sequels. Read on for our hands-on impressions of this innovative game and find out why we’re looking forward to it so much.

We’ve also got a video of Ubisoft’s just-announced Watch Dogs, another new title that looks great.

Continue reading “E3: Dishonored hands-on preview and Watch Dogs”

Google announces updates for Maps

Google Maps is one of the primary apps for smartphone users. The integration of Maps, Navigation, Street View, and Earth are among the best to view directions and places of interest. Google has announced updates to its location tools, which will expand the usability and upgrade these services with new features.

With rumors that iOS will remove Google Maps for a proprietary service, these updates may be directed towards Android users rather than Maps users overall.

Find out what’s new with Google’s location services.

Continue reading “Google announces updates for Maps”

How to Create panoramic photos in Adobe Photoshop

Sometimes taking a normal 4:3 aspect ratio photograph just doesn’t it cut it when trying to convey the beauty of a particularly breathtaking landscape. That’s where panoramic photos come into play. There are plenty of phones and digital cameras that include modes for panoramic shots, but the quality of the shots leave much to be desired. They usually come out grainy or very low resolution as it takes some serious CPU power to stitch photos together.

I’ll show you how to get professional, high resolution, and high quality panoramic pictures using a digital camera and Adobe Photoshop. While there are plenty of applications that help create panoramic shots, Adobe Photoshop actually produces better results and will save you money if you didn’t know it already did this! Continue reading “How to Create panoramic photos in Adobe Photoshop”

My wish list of new features for Talking Tom Cat 3

Rightly or wrongly, Talking Tom Cat and its sequel, Talking Tom Cat 2 are two of the most popular mobile apps of recent times. There are millions of people desperate for the release of Talking Tom Cat 3, and while we’re unable to confirm when it will be released, I can tell you what I think should be included in the new version of the talking feline game.

Music making facilities

I love using Songify to make catchy tracks on my Android phone, such as this classic. It would be great if a similar feature could be integrated into the Talking Tom Cat, allowing you to get Tom to sing back the words you speak with a catchy beat behind.
Continue reading “My wish list of new features for Talking Tom Cat 3”

E3: Lara’s back in an all-new Tomb Raider

We got to see the upcoming new Tomb Raider demoed at E3 this week. A reboot to the franchise, it sees a 21 year-old Lara Croft on her journey to becoming the tough action character we know today.

Lara will suffer a lot in this game, more than Nathan Drake, and I mention him because the parallels between this game and Uncharted are obvious. It’s a cinematic action adventure game, from the same perspective, although Tomb Raider does seem grittier. The amount of punches, injuries and falls Lara suffers borders on the ridiculous, and you’ll have to get used to her cries and screams. It will be interesting to see how her character develops as the game progresses.

Continue reading “E3: Lara’s back in an all-new Tomb Raider”