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Microsoft to retire Messenger service on March 15

Microsoft to retire Messenger service on March 15
  • Posted January 9, 2013, 12:30 PM by Jose Vilches | Filed in Software, Microsoft
  • Back in November Microsoft confirmed that moving forward Skype and Messenger were to become one. The shift already started with Skype 6.0 allowing users to log in using Microsoft account credentials, but on March 15 the longstanding instant messaging service…

New Swype keyboard crowdsources your favorite acronyms

New Swype keyboard crowdsources your favorite acronyms
  • Posted January 7, 2013, 4:30 PM by Shawn Knight | Filed in Software
  • The latest third-party keyboard offering from Nuance’s Swype uses a crowdsourced model to comb over new words and add them to a user-accessible dictionary. It’s called Living Language and is similar in theory to SwiftKey’s natural language prediction technology. …

Hack to run traditional desktop apps on Windows RT detailed

Hack to run traditional desktop apps on Windows RT detailed
  • Posted January 7, 2013, 2:30 PM by Jose Vilches | Filed in Software, Microsoft Breaking News
  • Microsoft's ARM-based version of Windows is only intended to run Metro-style apps downloaded directly from the Windows Store as well as a pre-loaded, touch-oriented version of Office and IE10. But an enterprising hacker claims to have come up with a…

Jelly Bean is now on 10 percent of Android devices

Jelly Bean is now on 10 percent of Android devices
  • Posted January 4, 2013, 6:00 PM by Jose Vilches | Filed in Mobile Computing, Software
  • Google has updated its Android Developer Dashboard site with data about the percentage of active devices running a given version of its mobile operating system. Unsurprisingly, the holiday season marked a few shifts in the version distribution of the platform,…

Judge rejects Apple's trademark complaint over Amazon's Appstore

Judge rejects Apple
  • Posted January 2, 2013, 6:30 PM by Matthew DeCarlo | Filed in Software, Mobile Computing With Video
  • A California federal judge has dismissed part of an Apple complaint that accused Amazon of violating a trademark on the name "App Store." The iPhone-maker filed suit in March 2011 following the launch of Amazon's "Appstore," alleging that the similar…

Install pirated iOS apps without jailbreaking your device

Install pirated iOS apps without jailbreaking your device
  • Posted January 2, 2013, 9:38 AM by Shawn Knight | Filed in Software
  • If you wanted to install pirated apps on your iPad, iPhone or iPod touch up to this point, you’d first need to jailbreak your device – a process that many users simply didn’t want to fool with for a number…

Bug in Snapchat and Facebook Poke lets recipients save video files

Bug in Snapchat and Facebook Poke lets recipients save video files
  • Posted December 28, 2012, 11:02 AM by Shawn Knight | Filed in Software
  • A new bug has been discovered that allows the recipient of a Snapchat or Facebook Poke video to revisit and keep it forever without the sender ever knowing it. All that’s needed to save videos is an iPhone or iPad,…

Google outlines their top 12 Android apps of 2012

Google outlines their top 12 Android apps of 2012
  • Posted December 28, 2012, 8:30 AM by Shawn Knight | Filed in Software
  • A new post in the Google Play store by merchandising manager Tavares Ford outlines the top 12 Android apps for 2012 in the eyes of the search giant. Those of you that picked up a new Android handset or tablet…

Firefox 64-bit will live on through nightlies after user backlash

Firefox 64-bit will live on through nightlies after user backlash
  • Posted December 26, 2012, 5:00 PM by Matthew DeCarlo | Filed in The Web, Software
  • Mozilla is backtracking on its decision to kill the 64-bit version of Firefox following heavy backlash from users. Last month, managing engineer Benjamin Smedberg called for coders to cease development of the 64-bit builds, calling them a "constant source of…

Outlook 2013 drops .XLS and .DOC from import, export features

Outlook 2013 drops .XLS and .DOC from import, export features
  • Posted December 21, 2012, 1:30 PM by Rick Burgess | Filed in Microsoft, Software
  • On its Office blog, Microsoft announced several aging features to be whacked by the deprecation hammer in Outlook 2013. Amongst these imminent changes is the elimination of importing (and exporting) legacy Microsoft Office formats, namely 97-2003 .XLS and .DOC files.

Consumer Reports recommends Windows 7 in most circumstances

Consumer Reports recommends Windows 7 in most circumstances
  • Posted December 19, 2012, 10:53 AM by Shawn Knight | Filed in Industry News, Software
  • Consumer Reports recently weighed the pros and cons of upgrading to Windows 8 and came to the conclusion that it’s probably best in most circumstances to stick with Windows 7 or even buy a new machine running Microsoft’s previous iteration…

Infographic: The state of Android and its rise to smartphone domination

Infographic: The state of Android and its rise to smartphone domination
  • Posted December 19, 2012, 9:00 AM by Julio Franco | Filed in Mobile Computing, Software
  • Android has quickly become a force to be reckoned with. It currently stands as the most popular smartphone OS worldwide and is on the right path to keep growing as users move away from feature phones in the years to…

Google Maps app for iOS downloaded 10M times in the first two days

Google Maps app for iOS downloaded 10M times in the first two days
  • Posted December 18, 2012, 11:08 AM by Shawn Knight | Filed in Software
  • Google Maps returned to iOS in the form of a third-party app less than a week ago and we’ve now learned that the search giant’s app was downloaded more than 10 million times in just 48 hours. If numbers alone…

Raspberry Pi launches Pi Store, free and paid apps available

Raspberry Pi launches Pi Store, free and paid apps available
  • Posted December 17, 2012, 12:30 PM by Jose Vilches | Filed in Software
  • The Raspberry Pi Foundation’s credit card-sized computer was born in an attempt to reignite programming in schools with a cheap computing platform that kids could buy themselves. But despite targeting students, the project captured the imaginations of tinkerers worldwide, and…

Samsung acquires SSD caching software developer Nvelo

Samsung acquires SSD caching software developer Nvelo
  • Posted December 17, 2012, 9:30 AM by Jose Vilches | Filed in Industry News, Software
  • Samsung has announced the acquisition of Santa Clara, California based Nvelo. The latter has been operating for two years and is a leading vendor of caching software, with solid-state drive manufacturers OCZ Technology, Corsair and Crucial all bundling its Dataplex…

New Windows chief explains why Microsoft redesigned Windows

New Windows chief explains why Microsoft redesigned Windows
  • Posted December 14, 2012, 4:00 PM by Rick Burgess | Filed in Microsoft, Software
  • Taking over after Sinofsky's departure, Julie Larson-Green now heads Microsoft's Windows product development team. In an interview with MIT Technology Review, Larson-Green discusses some of the changes made to Windows and why with the company's latest operating system. …

Apple announces the App Store's best of 2012

Apple announces the App Store
  • Posted December 14, 2012, 10:30 AM by Jose Vilches | Filed in Apple, Software
  • With the year quickly coming to a close we've seen companies like Twitter and Google take a look back to highlight 2012's key trends and moments. Today Apple is joining in on the fun with their annual 'Best of" feature…

Yahoo updates e-mail client, revises apps for Android, iOS, Windows 8

Yahoo updates e-mail client, revises apps for Android, iOS, Windows 8
  • Posted December 11, 2012, 12:30 PM by Shawn Knight | Filed in Software
  • Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer announced earlier today via blog post that the search company has updated their web-based e-mail client. The revised layout focuses on minimizing distractions and improving speed, Mayer noted. Yahoo Mail now also has new mobile apps…

Nokia engineer exposes Windows Store piracy problems

Nokia engineer exposes Windows Store piracy problems
  • Posted December 11, 2012, 12:00 PM by Jose Vilches | Filed in Software, Microsoft
  • A Nokia engineer working on Windows Phone 8 has posted details on how Microsoft's Windows Store approach to security can be bypassed to avoid paying for games and in-app purchases. The process involves things like injecting code into the purchase…

Police say Apple Maps left motorists stranded in national park

Police say Apple Maps left motorists stranded in national park
  • Posted December 10, 2012, 12:30 PM by Shawn Knight | Filed in Apple, Software
  • The Apple Maps fiasco has been a thorn in the side of Cupertino ever since Google Maps was given the boot earlier this year when iOS 6 launched. Its faults and shortcomings have been thoroughly documented and aside from some…

Sources say Facebook is interested in buying Microsoft's ad network

Sources say Facebook is interested in buying Microsoft
  • Posted December 7, 2012, 7:30 AM by Shawn Knight | Filed in Microsoft, Software
  • Facebook is reportedly interested in purchasing Microsoft’s Atlas ad platform. The social network has been investigating the service which would, in theory, allow them to generate ad revenue much like Google does with DoubleClick and AdSense, according to anonymous sources…

Editorial: Adobe's Flash Updater is Bloated and Shady

Editorial: Adobe
  • Posted December 7, 2012, 3:51 AM by Per Hansson | Filed in TechSpot, Software
  • Being one of the most prolific sources of security vulnerabilities in Windows and other platforms, Adobe Flash Player needs no introduction. In spite of that reputation, and the fact that the rest of the industry is moving away from Flash, Microsoft surprised many of us by bundling the software with its operating system for the first time with Windows 8. This is after previously announcing that they wouldn't allow Flash in the Metro version of Internet Explorer 10 -- a decision the company later reversed.

    I was glad when the Adobe Flash Player Updater was released in March. Finally the day had come when our machines would be silently updated with the latest Flash version... or so I thought. It'd just seem Adobe is making all possible efforts to make its software more bloated and less attractive to all consumers, here's why.

Nvidia's "GeForce Experience" automated PC game optimizer hits beta

Nvidia
  • Posted December 6, 2012, 4:30 PM by Matthew DeCarlo | Filed in Gaming, Software With Video
  • Announced earlier this year, Nvidia's "GeForce Experience" has finally hit beta -- albeit in limited scope. The service is open to the first 10,000 users who register, after which signups will be closed until Nvidia has a chance to analyze user feedback and squash major bugs...

Data shows Windows 8 hasn't stimulated PC gaming as anticipated

Data shows Windows 8 hasn
  • Posted December 6, 2012, 7:30 AM by Shawn Knight | Filed in Software, Gaming
  • Microsoft and a number of partners had high hopes for Windows 8. The recently-released operating system was expected to be the savior for desktop computer, among other things. It’s still too early to determine if those lofty expectations will be…

Study: 25 developers grab half of all app store revenue

Study: 25 developers grab half of all app store revenue
  • Posted December 5, 2012, 3:30 PM by Jose Vilches | Filed in Industry News, Software
  • The rise of smartphones has created a booming app industry worth billions of dollars. Apple alone claims it has created close to 300,000 jobs in the U.S. and paid out over $6 billion to developers. But with hundreds of thousands…

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