Month: November 2013

BitTorrent Sync passes 1 million monthly users, releases API

BitTorrent Sync, the app that lets you create your own personal cloud, has reached more than one million monthly active users. Currently still in beta, BitTorrent Sync has been updated to version 1.2 with a ton of bug fixes as well as an API for developers.

With over one million monthly active users, BitTorrent Sync has transferred over 30 petabytes (30,720 terabytes)  worth of data to date.

“Since launching BitTorrent Sync in Beta this past July we’ve grown fast and are seeing rapid increases everyday,” says BitTorrent.

BitTorrent is also releasing an API for BitTorrent Sync, hoping to enfranchise both developers and end users. Sync is still very much about security and privacy, since it acts as a replacement for popular file lockers like Dropbox and Google Drive. Sync works by turning your network of computers into your own encrypted personal cloud. The API will be available for Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, and Android.

The API includes features for selecting individual files to sync, integrate Sync’s technology without a user interface, and Encryption Secret support which generates random passwords to help keep your data secure.

iPad users will happy as there’s now a native iPad app. The iOS app has been redesigned to fit Apple’s design guidelines for iOS 7. All versions of BitTorrent Sync will get a speed boost for transferring files over a local area network (LAN). BitTorrent has seen maximum transfer speeds of around 90MB per second over LAN.

Download BitTorrent Sync: Windows | Mac | Linux | iOS | Android

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Asphalt 8: Airborne now free to play

Great news for racing fans! Gameloft has announced the release of a significant update to their incredibly popular racing game, Asphalt 8: Airborne.

The update (currently available for iPad/iPhone and coming soon to Android) changes Asphalt 8: Airborne’s licensing formula and makes the game free to play. Another popular change is the appearance of the Renault Clio RS 200 EDC, the French company’s ultimate sporting vehicle.

Here’s Asphalt 8: Airborne 1.1’s full change log:

***ASPHALT 8 GOES FREE TO PLAY!***

Thought that was all we had? We’re just getting revved up! Check out all this new content:

NEW CARS:
• Clio R.S. — Take a spin in this stylish new car!
• New cars will appear at any moment! So have fun and check often!

NEW LIMITED-TIME CUPS
• Rack up trophies to earn bigger prizes
• Win credits, upgrades & exclusive cars!

MULTIPLAYER WORLD SERIES
• 7 new reverse tracks, including Nevada, Iceland, Tokyo, and more!
• See how your opponents’ ratings change after each race
• Faster matchmaking

NEW BOOSTERS
• Get ahead of the pack with the Tuning Kit, Nitro, or Double Credits boost

CONTROL CUSTOMIZATION
• Rearrange your touch controls however you want

Default player


brightcove.createExperiences();

Download Asphalt 8: Airborne now (iOS/Android).

Call of Duty: Ghosts launches today

Call of Duty: Ghosts launches today, November 5, on PS3, Wii U, Xbox 360 and PC. It’s the 10th installment in the main branch of the series from Infinity Ward, the same developer that’s brought us the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare trilogy.

The latest version has 3 main game modes:

Campaign: you play as a Ghost, an elite soldier whose mission is to save the United States in the fateful near future.

Multiplayer: the new online mode adds new features, like destructable maps, the Squads sub-mode and a complex personalization system.

Extinction: this is an evolution of the “zombie mode” we’ve seen before in Black Ops 1 and 2. This time, you and 3 friends will fight an alien presence.

Call of Duty: Ghosts is also expected for PS4 and Xbox One. The game will be released for each at the same time as the consoles themselves Xbox One (November 22) and PS4 (November 29).

Will Call of Duty: Ghosts live up to expectations? Recently, Battlefield 4 has awoken more interest among the general public. Our own Chris saw a demo at E3, and was underwhelmed. General opinion seems to believe that CoD is a tired franchise that’s way past its expiry date. We’ll have to wait to see if the public really is done with Call of Duty.

Rumor: Microsoft Office “Metro” apps coming late spring/summer 2014

Microsoft has every intention of making its office suite touch friendly but what’s taking so long? The company demonstrated a Metro-styled version of PowerPoint at this year’s BUILD 2013 conference but we haven’t heard any news about its development since. Microsoft has also promised to bring Office to the iPad but there’s little known about that project as well.

Mary Jo Foley of ZDNet has tried repeatedly to get Microsoft executives to speak about the current status of the iPad and Metro Office apps but was unsuccessful. She even speculates that Microsoft may be delaying Office for iPad to give Microsoft’s Surface line of tablets a chance to sell first. Still, creating Office for touch-based devices is no easy task as the entire UI has to be created from scratch. No existing version of Office has been made touch friendly, although there are some mobile versions that don’t share their core with Office. Foley expects to see the first “Metro-style” Office apps some time in late spring/summer of 2014.

Office is still available on Windows 8.1 tablets but as desktop apps. Microsoft still hasn’t gotten rid of the jarring desktop experience on its Windows RT tablets like the Surface 2. This means users will have to jump into a limited version of the Windows desktop to do any work instead of using a native, touch friendly and tablet focused app.

Microsoft will have to step up and quickly release Office for the iPad and a Metro equivalent if it wants to stay competitive. Apple recently made its iWork software suite completely free for new Mac and iOS devices. This is an aggressive move by Apple to lock more users into its app ecosystem.

Can Microsoft compete with Apple’s free office suite?

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[Source: ZDNet]

Over half of Android devices have Jelly Bean

Google’s war on fragmentation seems to be working as now over half of all Android devices have Jelly Bean installed. Jelly Bean is the nickname for Android 4.1, 4.2, and 4.3, which features the same underlying operating system with various tweaks and new features.

Google had a history of having devices running outdated versions of the Android operating system, since many mobile carriers skin older versions of Android on their phones and don’t update the operating system in a timely manner. The search giant knew this was a problem since Android’s best features weren’t available to a majority of Android users so they decided to separate the company’s apps from the operating system.

Additionally, Google Play Services was also introduced, which allowed Google to silently update Android phones without having to pressure carriers to update the phones for them. For more information about Google Play Services, read our article about how it works.

Although Jelly Bean is now on over half of Android devices, Gingerbread (Android 2.3) still makes up 26% of the Android market share. That means over a quarter of Android devices are running an operating system that’s three years old. Hopefully Google will continue chipping away at older versions of Android until all users are using the same operating system.

What version of Android are you running? Let us know in the comments.

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[Source: Android Developers]

New versions of Chrome will lock saved passwords

Google has been criticized by security firms for allowing uninhibited access to a person’s saved passwords in Chrome but the latest Chrome builds appear to fix this issue. Google+ user, François Beaufort dove into the source code for the latest Chrome build for Mac and discovered a flag called:

“chrome://flags/#enable-password-manager-reauthentication”

The flag requires users to enter in their system password in order to gain access to saved passwords in Chrome. Once authenticated, Chrome will not ask you to authenticate again for 60 seconds. Previously, Chrome users could simply navigate to “chrome://settings/passwords” to gain access to all saved passwords.

As of now, the latest Chromium build for Mac is the only version of Chrome that supports this new flag. The feature is likely to come to other platforms but will need to be reworked for each operating system’s authentication measures.

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[Source: François Beaufort (Google+) | Chromium Code Reviews]

PES 2014 PC demo now available

Konami has finally released the PC demo for PES 2014, a little less than 2 months after its release on consoles. Konami made the announcement through Twitter, with the official Pro Evolution Soccer Twitter feed reading “The PC Demo is finally available for download through our official Community sites. Download it today!” including a download link to the demo, which you can try out here.

The almost 2 month waiting period between console and PC versions had PES fans on the edge of their seats. Although Konami has yet to explain why there was such a delay, some speculate that it feared another hacking attack. Before the full release of PES 2013 for PC last year, hackers got access to the demo code and were subsequently able to unlock the entire game before its release. Konami may have been waiting to release the demo to make sure it was secure and to avoid any adverse affect on sales of the game.

The newest version of PES lets your play teams from England, Spain, France, Portugal, Germany, Italy, and South America.

[Source: PESFan.com]

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YouTube Music Awards garner 200,000 live viewers

Last night, the first ever YouTube Music Awards were held in New York City. The awards were chosen by fans, counting user votes made from various social networks including Facebook and Twitter. The show, albeit a bit chaotic, featured live performances from big name artists like Eminem, Lady Gaga, and M.I.A., among others.

Although the live streaming awards ceremony garnered less viewers than YouTube and Google HQ expected, there were still 200,000 active viewers at peak times, during Lady Gaga’s performance. With the popularity of video streaming sites slowly increasing, accompanying mobile apps provide even more opportunities for streaming that don’t limit you to the sofa. YouTube, for example, has apps for iPhone, iPad, Android phones and tablets, as well as unofficial apps for many other mobile operating systems, meaning that the number of potential viewers across devices could have been huge. Thinking about it this way, maybe 200,000 viewers does fall a little short.

Still, The YouTube Music Awards may just usher in a new generation of award ceremonies that could potentially threaten, or at least legitimately compete with, traditional music awards, if only because of ease of access, both for voting and viewing.

The biggest winners of the night included:

[Source: Billboard]

Mega for iOS coming very soon

Mega for iPad and iPhone is ready. It’s been sent to Apple for approval and a place in the App Store – the news was confirmed by Kim Dotcom himself, via his Twitter account, last week.

Also via Twitter, we got a peek at some screenshots from the app. They look to be very similar to Mega for Android, with the modifications needed to mesh well with iOS 7’s flat design.

We’ll keep a close eye on the situation with Apple and will let you know as soon as Mega for iPhone is ready for download.

Android 4.4 KitKat phone dialer could display ads

Android users could be seeing ads in their phone dialer very soon. After yesterday’s KitKat release, the Android community has been pouring over every line of code of the operating system. Ron Amadeo, Reviews Editor at Ars Technica, uncovered a few lines of code that show the ability to enable and disable advertisements in the KitKat dialer. Here’s the code:

<string name=”enable_disable_advertisements”>Advertisements</string>
<string name=”advertisements_enable”>Advertisements enabled</string>
<string name=”advertisements_disable”>Advertisements disabled</string>

The new dialer supports searches for local businesses so it would make sense to have promoted results like in Google Maps. Still, it’s unknown how Google will implement ads within the dialer, whether it will be text ads or something more substantial.

The good news is that the ads can apparently be enabled or disabled, which means users may be able to opt-in or out of receiving advertisements in the dialer.

Find out what’s new in Android 4.4 KitKat

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[Source: Ars Technica]