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For the next 24 hours, you can download the latest version of KMPlayer 3.6 exclusively from Softonic.
Like the hugely popular VLC media player, KMPlayer is a lightweight audio and video player for Windows that supports a wide range of different file formats, including AVI, ASF, WMV, AVS, FLV, MKV, and many more. Version 3.6 is recommended because it fixes various bugs and adds a few features such as https streaming and Instant View.
Responding to the rumors that it was negotiating a billion dollar sale to Google, WhatsApp business head Neeraj Arora says they are not in sales talks.
The rumor, from Digital Trends last week, came from a single ‘inside source’, something that’s always hard to confirm. There are many reasons why Google might want to buy a successful messaging service, but the main one is obviously that they lack a messaging service like that offered by Facebook. Currently Google chat is integrated with Gmail and Google Plus, while Facebook has a standalone messaging app similar to WhatsApp.
Why WhatsApp would want to sell is harder to understand. It’s one of the most popular messaging apps in the world, even though it’s not free (as some Android users are only just discovering). They have a fantastic established base, and it’s not clear how becoming part of Google would help the company develop.
In fact, as Reader fans have found out, being bought by Google is no guarantee of survival, if the search giant loses interest in your technology.
[via AllThingsD]
It’s hard to believe that anyone is still using Windows XP, an eleven year old operating system. But for those who are, Microsoft has issued a reminder on its blog that you have exactly 365 days until Windows XP and Office 2003 will be unsupported. This means there will no longer be security patches or bug fixes for both products. After April 8th, 2014, Windows XP and Office 2003 will be “use at your own risk.”
While most consumers have moved off of the aging operating system, there are many business machines that still run Windows XP. IT for companies will now have to make sure to upgrade to Windows 7 or Windows 8 if they want corporate users to have a secure and supported operating system. This will be a difficult task for IT as Windows XP has no direct upgrade path to Windows 7, meaning only clean installations of Windows 7 will work.
Of course Microsoft would love it if everyone would upgrade to its latest operating system, Windows 8, which has been deemed a “failure” by a number of tech journalists. With a worldwide adoption of just 3%, it’s hard to argue that Windows 8 is doing well.
To help users upgrade to a more modern operating system and office suite, Microsoft has set up a page outlining the possible upgrade paths and special offers to ease the pain of upgrading. You can check it out yourself in the source link below.
Source: Microsoft
Mozilla is attempting to make mobile and web payments easier and more open with a new JavaScript API (based on the Google Wallet API), which will debut on the company’s upcoming Firefox OS. The API is called navigator.mozPay() and will allow users to pay using credit cards or by adding purchases to their monthly cellphone bill. While some carriers already support carrier billing for apps, Mozilla’s approach will enable any web purchase to be added to a user’s carrier bill.
The impetus behind creating a new web payments system comes from the fact that current web payment systems are fundamentally insecure. Firefox OS engineer, Kumar McMillan, had this to say about credit card payments on the web:
This is like giving someone the keys to your expensive car, letting them drive it around the block in a potentially dangerous neighborhood (the web) and saying please don’t get carjacked!…Mozilla wants to introduce a common web API to make payments easy and secure on web devices yet still as flexible as the checkout button for merchants.
The new payment system will be beneficial on Mozilla’s Firefox OS if the company can make paying for apps seamless and simple. One interesting thing that will be possible with navigator.mozPay() is paying directly for content on a website. McMillan states in his blog post that “the web should support businesses of all kinds and payments should be a first class feature of the web.” This model will allow for sites to go ad-free if they get enough money from users directly.
In order for Mozilla’s web payment system to be successful, it will have to work closely with other web payments companies to create a standard across the web. Mozilla will be watching PaySwarm, a web payment protocol that decentralizes assets, and other models for inspiration on how to evolve their web payments API.
Source: Mozilla
Earlier today, YouTube employee Eileen River posted a screenshot of the new Google Play 4.0 for Android. The screenshot showing a completely redesigned front page with featured apps, has since been removed. The entire interface has been brightened up with white and gray instead of the current black theme. The folks over at Droid Life got their hands on Google Play 4.0 and have made an overview video, which you can find below.
While there’s nothing groundbreaking about the redesign, it does make finding content easier. There are bigger thumbnails and images on app and artist pages. The entire interface is still flat, but has been reworked to follow the Google Android “Holo” theme a bit more.
Google’s “Babel” chat service has also been seemingly outed in a screenshot. Patric Dhawaan shared a screenshot on Google+ that showed an error message which mentions the Babel chat service. Dhawaan noticed this error when he tried deleting some recent conversations from his Gmail inbox. There’s still not much known about the Babel chat service, but it is rumored to unify all of Google’s chat services. There was also a rumor earlier today about Google possibly buying WhatsApp for close to $1 billion.
It would make sense for Google to reveal more about Babel with Google’s annual I/O conference right around the corner. There’s no word yet about when the redesigned Google Play will roll out to Android users. In the mean time, check out Droid Life’s video walk through of Google Play 4.0.
Source: Droid Life | Patric Dhawaan (Google+)
Digital Trends is reporting that Google and WhatsApp are in negotiations for the acquisition of the mobile chat service. According to an insider source who spoke with Digital Trends, the deal is reaching “close to” $1 billion.
Previously there were rumors that Google would be consolidating all of its chat services into one service called “Babble” but it’s not clear where the acquisition of WhatsApp will fit into this. Google is no doubt feeling the pressure from the rise of mobile messaging with competitors like Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, KakaoTalk, and LINE. The company already has several chat services like Google Talk, Messenger, Voice, and Hangouts, but each of the services don’t work well with one another.
While Google Talk is already available to millions of Gmail users, the chat service hasn’t taken off. This is because Google Talk is extremely basic and not it’s available on all platforms. WhatsApp, on the other hand, is available on every major mobile platform with millions of downloads. Chat has also evolved past just sending simple text messages. Services like WhatsApp allow users to attach photos, video, audio, location, and “stickers.” None of Google’s chat services on mobile can compete with these features.
Google will have to act quickly if it wants to have a competitive, unified chat service. Just this past week, Facebook announced the Facebook Home homescreen replacement app for Android, which aims to suck Facebook users into its ecosystem. Facebook Home has a very slick interface for chat messages called Chat Heads, which offers persistent chat notifications that can be acted upon within any app.
The negotiation between WhatsApp and Google is still only a rumor at this point but it’s interesting think about how Google can stay competitive in the mobile chat market.
Source: Digital Trends
UPDATE: Since discovering the leak, Facebook has stopped access to the Home servers, so the Cover Feed is now inactive (see the black screenshot below), as Chat Heads was from the start.
The Facebook Home application for Android, announced last week by Mark Zuckerberg, has been leaked. We installed the APK on a Galaxy Nexus, and while it doesn’t run very quickly, it does look pretty cool.
It’s expected for official release on April 12th.
This is only a test version, and not all of the features are active yet, like Chat. You can install the APK yourself, but it requires removing the normal Facebook Android app.
You need to download and install these three files to test Facebook Home, but we would recommend waiting for the official release:
They can be downloaded here.
Check out our screenshots below.
Today, April 8th 2013 is the day Microsoft will begin forcing Windows Live Messenger users to ‘upgrade to Skype‘, as the two services are merged. According to Skype’s official blog it will take a few weeks to complete, so you may still have some time before trying to sign into Messenger results in you having to install Skype.
Moving to Skype is easy, you just install the app, and then sign in with your normal login details. Contacts are migrated automatically, so you should be able to continue chatting as normal. Skype is not the same as Messenger though, and lacks some features like games and email notifications.
Many people are complaining about the end of Messenger, but if you want to keep using your MSN contacts, the only way is to move to Skype.
Everything you need to know about the move to Skype is here in our complete guide.
Last year Minecraft creator Marcus ‘Notch’ Persson announced he was working on a new game, cryptically titled 0x10c (pronounced ‘ten to the C”). It’s a space game, set in a parallel universe where our Space Race never ended.
In an interview with Polgon, Notch said the game is a long way off, as (there is) ‘just some kind of weird creative block that’s been going on for too long, and [0x10c] is going to be put on ice until we can fix that.‘
The concept is fascinating – a computer bug in some traveler’s deep sleep cells mean they are not awoken until the year 281 474 976 712 644 AD. By then, the universe is nearing the end of its life; dominated by black holes and lonelier than ever.
Apparently there is nothing to do in the game so far, and its not really fun yet, although Notch can see that it could be. It’s certainly a much geekier proposition – in the game you have a ship and the on-board computer is fully programmable. You will be able to modify the game from within the game itself, which is an interesting idea, but it’s hard to see the mass appeal of it.
In the interview Notch also revealed how he no longer plays Minecraft, as he’s simply played it too much already.
As well as Minecraft and 0x10c, Notch’s Mojang are also responsible for the card collecting battle game Scrolls, and is collaborating with Oxeye on platform game Cobalt.
TorrentFreak, the site that monitors developments in the world of peer to peer BitTorrent sharing has been looking at what is downloaded from Vatican City.
Despite being illegal, and probably contravening one of the ten commandments, it seems some people in the Vatican are downloading pirate copies of movies, TV shows and even pornography.
[image via TorrentFreak]
Torrentfreak point out that download numbers from the Vatican are very low, as it has a tiny population. Games and music are not popular download, apparently. The majority of the files downloaded via torrent in Vatican city were pirate copies of TV shows, old movies and pornography.
As well as exposing the amusing viewing habits of some people in the Vatican, this story highlights how much data you are exposing when downloading and file-sharing via BitTorrent.
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