Month: November 2013

LINE messaging app reaches 300 million users

LINE messenger’s exponential growth continues as the app reaches 300 million users. In July, the company reached its 200 million user milestone and now, just four months later, the company has added another 100 million users.

LINE first launched in Japan in June of 2011 in response to the Tōhoku earthquake in March 2011 and has remained the top messaging service in Japan. LINE’s popularity is exploding in Asia, but faces stiff competition from WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Google Hangouts in the United States.

The app has skyrocketed into popularity due to its many features and not least of all, its funny animated stickers. LINE supports free calls and messages to other LINE users, a desktop version, private timelines, video calling, and voice messages. The company regularly releases new stickers which are sold via in-app purchases.

To celebrate, LINE created an animated video which you can watch below.

Download LINE messenger:  Android | Blackberry |iOS | Windows Phone | Windows 7 | Windows 8 | Mac

Source: LINE (Japanese)

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‘Assassin’s Creed: Pirates’ lands on iOS and Android in December

Pirates, an Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag spin-off, will be available for iOS and Android on December 5. The latest addition to the Assassin’s Creed series will be based on the naval battles in Black Flag, putting you in control of Captain Alonzo Bastilla. Gameplay will include recruiting sailors, personalizing your ship, and battling enemies in the Caribbean Seas. The app will be sold for $4.99 in both the App Store and Google Play.

The goal of Assassin’s Creed: Pirates is to find the treasure of the pirate myth La Buse. Along the way, you’ll encounter Assassin’s, Templars and other famous pirates that appear in Assassin’s Creed IV, including Blackbeard, Bellamy and Hornigold.

Assassin’s Creed: Pirates was announced last September by Ubisoft Paris. It’s been developed with a new 3D graphics engine, which Ubisoft claims has helped create “breathtaking moving waters, lush islands, and gorgeous graphics.”

Download Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag

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FIFA Manager 14 is the last in the series

EA’s FIFA Manager 14 is will be the last in the long running football management simulator series, which has seen annual versions since Total Club Manager 2003.

In a blog post, Gerald Köhler of FIFA Manager developers Bright Lights explains the decision to stop developing the series.

“The football manager genre at this level of sophistication is highly specialized and primarily played in two countries (England and Germany), in which – on top of everything – one game has practically dominated the market in recent years.”

It’s not, of course, FIFA Manager which has dominated the market, but the even longer running Football Manager series developed by Sports Interactive. Last week Sports Interactive shared some interesting data about piracy levels, but have not threatened to stop making soccer management games.

In addition to competition, Köhler notes that were they to make more games in the series, it would be time to invest in a new game engine and online features, which would add to the cost of development.

Are you sad to see the end of FIFA Manager?

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[Source: EA]

Letmein! Adobe password crosswords reveal the worst and most popular passwords

Details of 153 million Adobe accounts were stolen by hackers recently, and now the top 1000 passwords and their related clues have been made into crossword puzzles. They offer a fascinating insight into how we make passwords, and can also teach you the pitfalls of password choice.

Each clue on the crossword gives you a selection of the hints people use to remind themselves of the password. ‘Chocolate‘, a worryingly popular password gets hints like ‘candy‘, ‘favorite food‘, ‘hershey‘ and so on. Another surprisingly popular password for Adobe accounts is ‘adobeadobe‘, with hints like ‘adobex2‘.

This highlights how important good password choice is. You shouldn’t be surprised if someone guesses your favorite food is chocolate, or that your password is ‘asdfgh‘. That many of the worst passwords are also some of the most popular highlights how most people don’t take security seriously.

Play the Adobe Crosswords

If you have an Adobe account you can make sure you’re safe by resetting your password here.

If you use any of the passwords found in the crossword, you should change them to something much harder to guess!

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Remove comments and more from YouTube with AdBlock Plus

Adblock Plus is now offering users the chance to customize their YouTube experience, with a new page that lets you choose to remove YouTube features you don’t like.

The announcement last week seems to be a response to Google’s integration of Google+ into the YouTube comment system. Adblock says Google+ makes it impossible to remain anonymous on the site, so is offering the option to hide comments completely.

YouTube’s new comment system has caused a lot of controversy, with one online petition to remove Google+ comments gaining over 200,000 signatures. Google is unlikely to change course with YouTube comments, as Adblock Plus rightly points out. Google+ is a central part of Google’s current strategy, and is being ever more tightly integrated into Google services.

Of course, Adblock Plus is mainly developed for blocking ads on websites, and it does so with YouTube, removing the 30 second ads that appear at the start of videos sometimes. Adbock Plus’ YouTube Customizer page also lets you cut suggested videos, annotations and much more.

Here’s the full list:

  • Comments
  • Suggested Videos
  • Featured Videos in the Endscreen
  • Recommended Videos in the Endscreen
  • Sharing tab in the description
  • In-Video Annotations
  • Related Channels on Channel Pages
  • Featured Channels on Channel Pages
  • Popular Channels on Channel Pages
  • Recommended Channels on the Homepage.

Try the AdBlock YouTube Customizer.

Adblock Plus offers a similar service for Facebook users, allowing you to remove a lot of the clutter from the Social network if you choose.

Download Adblock Plus for Firefox, Internet Explorer, Google Chrome and Opera.

[Source: Adblock Plus]

How to get free stickers for Facebook

Facebook chat not only lets you send emoticons, but stickers as well. Here, we’ll show you how to access these stickers, as well as the complete gallery of all the free stickers available for Facebook Chat.

Where can I find a sticker on Facebook?

Facebook stickers are accessible through Facebook Chat. Open a private message, then click on the smiley face emoticon in the bottom right hand corner to access the stickers. Stickers are available using the traditional website, as well as Facebook for iPhone, iPad, and Android.

Here’s where to find stickers in Facebook Chat online:

And here’s Facebook Chat on an Android phone:

How do I download additional stickers?

Click on the shopping cart icon.

On the computer, it looks like this:

On the Facebook app for Android, it will be in the bottom left-hand corner:

The screen will look like this:

Click on the green Free button and a collection of stickers will be added to your chat.

You can access stickers from almost any Facebook application:

Below is a complete gallery of all the free stickers on Facebook!

Heromals

Baach

Mostropi

Mostropi Facebook Stickers

Cut the Rope

Cut the Rope Facebook Stickers

Mikey

Mikey Facebook Stickers

Pandadog & Friends

Pandadog & Friends Facebook Stickers

Fat Rabbit Farm

Fat Rabbit Farm naklejki na facebooka

Mobile Girl MiM

Mobile Girl MiM naklejki na facebooka

Plum

Plum naklejki na facebooka

Hacker Boy

Hacker Boy naklejki na facebooka

Koko

Bigs and Yeti

Bigs and Yeti

Anooki

Snoopy’s Moods

Pandi

Despicable Me 2

Despicable Me 2

Beast

Beast

First Mate

First Mate

Happy-Go-Lucky

Prickly Pear

Prickly Pear

Banana

Banana

Wide Eyes

Skullington

Finch

Pusheen

Pusheen

Napoli

Napoli

Hatch

Bun

Meep

Tigerbell

Mango

There’s a wide variety of stickers, so you can choose whichever ones interest you. For now, sticker packs are completely free, but because they’re in a store, future stickers might not be free.

Which Facebook sticker pack is your favorite?

Original article by Radek Grabarek published on Softonic PL.

Facebook for Android test build reveals flat redesign

Facebook for Android could be getting a flat makeover very soon. The folks over at Android Police got their hands on Facebook for Android 4.0, which features a complete redesign. This isn’t very surprising as Facebook Messenger for Android and iOS recently received a flat redesign as well.

The test build of Facebook for Android also shows new navigation menus. A new navigation bar is located at the top of the app for quick access to your news feed, friend requests, messages, notifications, and more. Search is no longer hidden in the slide-out navigation menu and has been relocated to the top right.

Facebook for Android flat design

Android Police reports that the redesign is switched on server-side, meaning those who install the Facebook for Android 4.0 APK may not see the updated interface. It seems Facebook is selecting a few individuals to receive the update to test user reaction.

Source: Android Police

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Rumor: Instagram working on private messaging to compete with Snapchat

After a failed bid to buy Snapchat, Facebook is reportedly working on its own private messaging feature for Instagram. GigaOM is reporting that Facebook is also working on a group messaging feature. These two new features are rumored to debut before the end of this year.

Although details about Instagram’s private and group messaging are scarce, it makes sense for Facebook to integrate them into its app. Snapchat has a much younger audience than Facebook; an audience which Facebook is losing and wants to gain back.

The main question is whether or not Instagram will use self-destructing images as part of its private messaging feature. Snapchat rose to popularity because of its self-destructing photos, which help to lower the pressure of sharing something that will stay on the Internet (or someone’s phone) forever.

Snapchat already has an established user base and it’s questionable whether Facebook can woo users with copies of Snapchat’s features.

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Source: GigaOM

Minecraft Pocket Edition for Android launches beta program

Minecraft developer, Mojang, is launching a beta program for the Android version of its game. Anyone who purchased Minecraft Pocket Edition for Android is eligible to partake in the beta program. All you have to do is join the their beta testing group on Google+. Once you’ve joined, you will receive instructions on how to install the latest beta build of Minecraft Pocket Edition.

Those who want a stable gaming experience shouldn’t install the Pocket Edition beta as any maps you create with it may be corrupted when trying to downgrade to a stable version. The beta versions will be updated to stable ones once they’re ready and your maps will migrate to the newer version just fine.

Mojang is hoping to get version 0.8.0 out before Christmas. They also note that they may have to limit the amount of beta testers if demand is too high.

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Source: Mojang

The Softonic Minute: Firefox, Instagram, Assassin’s Creed IV and Winamp

Firefox Australis arrives in Alpha version, Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag lands on PC, Instagram comes to Windows Phone, and Winamp plans its final goodbye. Check out this week’s hottest software news in the Softonic Minute.

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Firefox Australis now available for testing

The Alpha version of the new Mozilla browser has an almost completely new design, with a new clean and more modern interface. The Alpha version can be tested via the nightly builds; the full version of Firefox Australis will be available early next year.

Assassin’s Creed 4 comes to PC

The pirate adventure game landed on PCs this week. Ubisoft had planned to release the PC version in late October, but ultimately decided to delay the game until November 21st. Finally, the wait is over: the time for adventure in the Golden Age of Piracy is now! Download Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag.

Instagram arrives on Windows Phone in beta

As predicted, Instagram has arrived on Windows Phone, although at the moment it’s still in beta. Instagram lets you upload photos and get photo feeds, but has yet to include the video function. So far, some users have reported that they prefer the unofficial 6TAG app. Will Instagram be able to reclaim its throne? Download Instagram for Windows Phone.

Winamp shutting down December 20th

The legendary mp3 player is set to shut down on December 20th. In reality, the popularity of the software plummeted in recent years, but it’s always sad to see an Internet veteran disappear. Thankfully, you can find some great alternatives for Winamp on Softonic.

Check out all of our past Softonic Minutes here!