March, 2013 - Softonic English

Watch the Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag trailer

The Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag launch trailer was leaked over the weekend, revealing more details about Ubisoft’s pirate-themed action game.

The main character is Captiain Edward Kenway, who’s described by a pirate (Blackbeard) as a ‘fearsome dog’, a ‘devil dressed as a man.’ Kenway certainly seems a meaner character than Conner from Assassin’s Creed 3.

The game is set in the West Indies, around 1700: the golden age of piracy. Although Blackbeard is a real historical figure, it’s hard to imaging Black Flag being as much of a history lesson as AC 3, but it should be an interesting world to explore nonetheless. Movement from land to see will now be seemless, and the game promises an open world with three main city hubs, Havana, Kingston and Nassau. Check out these two early trailers:

Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag will be released on October 29 on PC and consoles.

How to hide Spotify social features

Spotify is a useful means of streaming music and sharing tunes with your friends over Facebook. However, there are times when you will want to remain private and not broadcast what you’re listening to. Similarly, you might not always want to be informed on what friends and contacts are doing. Spotify has plenty of means to disconnect from the social community. With a few simple selections in various menus you can enter private sessions, disable updates to Facebook, and hide notifications from your Facebook friends.

We’ll show you how to enjoy Spotify music while maintaining your privacy.
Continue reading “How to hide Spotify social features”

Yet another Java exploit is live

There is yet another Java exploit for you to worry about. Hackers have found a way to infect machines with the McRat trojan, even if you have the latest Java update.

This latest exploit affects any user running version 1.6 update 41 and 1.7 update 15, which is the latest version of Java. For some reason, older versions of Java, like Java 7 Update 10, aren’t affected by this exploit. It seems that this exploit is targeted at specific companies or individuals to try and steal information. In the last few weeks, big names like Apple, Google, and Microsoft have reported that some of their computers have been hacked using a Java exploit.

Security researchers at FireEye have said that this latest zero-day exploit isn’t very reliable as it has to write a large amount of data to memory, which may or may not execute the trojan. For a machine to be infected, all a user has to do is activate the Java plugin on a site with malicious code. Users should be wary about what sites they give permission to run Java.

If you don’t want any chance of being infected, the best thing to do is uninstall Java altogether.

Is Java really necessary any more? Let us know if you still use Java on your computer.

Source: Ars Technica

Facebook to hold event about ‘a new look for News Feed’ on March 7th

The social networking giant, Facebook, will be holding a press event on March 7th in Menlo Park, California to announce a new look for its News Feed. The event will start at 10AM, Pacific Time.

There is little else known about what will be announced but it’s surprising for Facebook to update the News Feed, which hasn’t seen any dramatic changes in a while. In the last Facebook event, the company revealed its Graph Search product, which has slowly rolled out to users. It would be safe to assume that the News Feed will probably integrate with Graph Search, showing more relevant information, influenced by your searches.

We’ll be there at the event to give you live coverage so stay tuned!

The best apps of Mobile World Congress 2013

As the Mobile World Congress 2013 draws to a close, we’ve been discussing what were the best mobile apps we saw featured at the show. Here are the ones that really caught our eye (in no particular order):

Nokia Cinemagraph on Lumia 520

Cinemagraph is a lens application that we saw being demoed on the new Nokia Lumia 520 device.

The Cinemagraph app allows you to add movement to still images. You capture a short video with the phone then scrub out all the parts of the video you want to remain still. The parts that aren’t selected will animate, and you can export the finished creation as a GIF file and share it with your friends and contacts. Check out the video demo we saw to see exactly what you can do. Continue reading “The best apps of Mobile World Congress 2013”

Ford shows how to control Spotify via your car

At the MWC 2013, Ford demonstrated how its Applink technology can be used to control music streaming app Spotify on your mobile device. Applink allows Ford cars to communicate with a number of different apps simply by connecting the car and the mobile with a USB device.

Controlling Spotify is one thing but Ford envisage a future where your Facebook wall updates and Twitter mentions are read out to you while you drive. Imagine that while the kids fight in the back, your partner shrieks at you for taking another wrong turning and yet another driver in front cuts you up – the possibilities are both endless and frightening.

‘Leaked Doom 4 video’ is fake

Doom 4 was first announced in 2008, so you can forgive people for getting impatient. A YouTube video has appeared on the game trends site N4G, called ‘Is this leaked video from Doom 4 trailer?’. The answer to that question is ‘no, it’s not.’

If you don’t look too closely, the bleak alien landscape might look Doom-ish. Take a look.

An eagle eyed user called Akilwari recognized the footage from a Sci-Fi short called ‘Archetype‘, by Aaron Sims.

Doom developers ID Software last shipped Rage, which didn’t capture people’s attention like Doom did in 1993. It’s reported that Doom 4’s development would follow Rage, but nothing has been seen or heard from it since.

Many fans are hoping for a move away from the claustrophobic corridors of Doom 3, and a return to the wider spaces of the first two games. This may explain why people would jump on this fake video’s big landscape.

We’re certainly excited about a new Doom game, and we’ll keep our eyes open for any genuine information about it!

YouTube for iOS lets you send content to your TV, Xbox 360, or PS3

Android users have had this feature for a while but iOS users finally have the ability to send YouTube videos from their devices to a smart TV, Xbox 360, or PS3.

The updated YouTube works similarly to Apple’s AirPlay but requires more setup. While AirPlay works automatically if your Apple TV and iOS device are on the same network, this YouTube sharing feature requires a one time pairing process. To pair your iOS device to your TV or console, you have to go into the settings, tap on pair, and you’ll be given a code to enter. To get the code, you need to go into your console or TV and select the pairing feature.

Once you’ve paired your devices, you’ll notice a blue screen icon at the top right. This indicates that you’re connected to the TV and anything video you tap on your device will be played on the TV or console instead. You can queue up videos so you have a continuous playlist. You can also jump into other apps while the video continues playing on the TV.

In addition to adding TV and console controls, the updated YouTube for iOS connects with the YouTube Capture app and offers better playback when on poor network connections.

You can download the latest version of YouTube for iOS here.

avast! 8 for Windows 8 arrives

Today the antivirus giant, avast!, released its brand new antivirus suites for Windows 8. The new suite is redesigned to fit the Windows 8 aesthetic as well as adding a bunch of features for both its paid and free users.

While avast! does boast a redesign, it’s rather minor. The security suite isn’t designed for the Modern UI, but does feature a home tab with big, touch friendly buttons. The home tab also features a quick status report so you know if the app is functioning correctly or needs you to perform an action. You can access common features like virus scan and statistics quite easily.

New to avast! 8 is the Software Updater, which alerts you to what apps are out of date. In the free version, avast! Free Antivirus, users can only be taken to the software developer’s site to download the latest version while paid subscribers to avast! can download and update the program from within the app itself. This is especially useful for updating plugins like Java and Flash Player as there seems to be a new exploit just about every week. Continue reading “avast! 8 for Windows 8 arrives”