Category: Apps and Software

Games, Apps, Softwares, Operating Systems and Software Hacks

Saavn Set To Introduce English Music To It’s Streaming Service

Saavn, the popular Indian music streaming service, which boasts of about 10 million users globally, is all set to introduce an international music catalogue. The Music streaming service is planning to introduce English music early this summer, which will add to its existing collection of Bollywood, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Gujarati, Bhojpuri, Kannada, and Bengali songs.

This decision comes in the wake of the global reach of the app, and numerous feedback from the users. The Company also mentioned that out of its total global usage, 50 percent comes from iOS devices, while in India, over 60 percent comes from Android devices.

Saavn is working on a new feature called Celebrity Playlists, and Saavn V.I.P. which will put celebrities front and center.

Recently, Saavn has partnered with Shazam, a prominent music identification service, and as a part of the deal, Saavn’s music library was incorporated into Shazam’s database, allowing users to discover and tag latest Indian music and then listen to the song live on Saavn (mobile app). The partnership also allowed the users to share the music on various social networking websites like Facebook, Twitter, etc.

Saavn has incorporated many new features in the app, allowing users to create and save their own playlists and radio stations with their favorite songs. The service also allows the users to listen to the top 15 songs of the week. Using their existing Saavn account, users can access their starred songs, saved playlists, and radio stations.

Saavn is currently an aggregator and tracks live time the usage patterns of listeners and users, understanding their needs and their music listening behavior. This in the future could help to company give live time suggestions and playlist recommendations to listeners. For. eg. Considering you are driving back from work and listen to you driving playlist, the app could recognize this behavior and recommend you this playlist bast on you location movement or time of day. The company currently has no plans to integrate data into a useful feature like the above , but said that they will constantly evolve to provide better service to users.

The music streaming app is available on iOS, Android and Java platforms, where it can be downloaded for free.

May 12, 2013
No plans To Release Instagram for Blackberry 10, Says Facebook

In what could turn out to be a considerable blow to RIM’s upcoming operating system, Venturebeat has learned that Facebook has no intention of bringing its popular Instagram app to BlackBerry 10. While RIM has promised native apps from social network leaders such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Foursquare and, of course, Facebook, a company insider has shared that at least for the time being there are no plans to do the same for Instagram.

As much as non-users tend to dismiss Instagram as a silly little photo app, the fact is that there are over 100 million users posting thousands of photos per hour, all from just two platforms. While the iPhone provided the amniotic fluid in which Instagram gestated, its expansion to Android has been the true catalyst for growth, adding nearly 70 million users since April.

But for RIM, getting application makers to build for the platform is arguably the single most important factor to determining whether consumers go back to (or discover) BlackBerry, especially if task management flow is all the platform has to set it apart from iOS and Android. RIM has been providing thousands of developers with beta devices, dubbed Dev Alpha, on which they’ve been tasked to build the very apps that users will have access to at launch. They’re already accepting apps, despite the fact that the first devices will launch in Q1 2013.

However, Kevin Michaluk from CrackBerry on Monday disputed the report. Michaeluk has a well established track record reporting on RIM, and said that his sources have confirmed that RIM’s relationship with Facebook is still solid. He added that we “will see Instagram come to Blackberry 10.” He said he’s so confident that, if he’s wrong, he’s willing to buy somebody a car!

More on this to come!

October 16, 2012
Google+ App Update For iOS, Android Brings iPhone 5 Support, New Widget

Google+ for iOS and Android now seem to be iterating at the same pace, after months of what seemed like preferential treatment by Mountain View for the latter version.

The most recent update adds Pages administration abilities, so you can add, view and comment on posts if you own a company or a brand. This is one of the most helpful new additions, as it doesn’t you to your computer when performing social media-related work duties. Facebook already has a separate app for its Pages administration.

Google+ for Android also received a new widget design (above), while iPhone 5 users can now stretch out in front of your 4-inch display. iOS users can now edit posts, while both versions have gained the ability to search for people and posts.

October 11, 2012
Android 4.1.2 rolling out to Nexus 7 with landscape mode

Google announced today that it is rolling out a minor update to Jelly Bean in the form of Android 4.1.2. This minor bump brings performance and stability improvements to the Android Open Source Project, on which many custom ROMs are based, as well as specific improvements to devices like the Nexus 7.

The software update also adds a key feature to devices running the Jelly Bean software: home screen rotation support. Prior to this update, all Android 4.1 devices use portrait mode for the home screens, even when the smartphone or tablet is in landscape mode, making for a disjointed experience.

In fact, upon the announcement it was discovered that the update is already being pushed to Nexus 7 devices all over the world, with the added bonus of bringing landscape support to the stock launcher.

According to Google’s resident AOSP guru, Jean-Baptiste Queru, the update is especially important for the Nexus 7 as it corresponds with a slight hardware change.

[quote]

We’re releasing Android 4.1.2 to AOSP today, which is a minor update on top of 4.1.1.
As a note to maintainers of community builds running on Nexus 7: please update to 4.1.2 at the first opportunity. Future variants of the grouper hardware will have a minor change in one of the components (the power management chip) that will not be compatible with 4.1.1.

The build number is JZO54K, and the tag is android-4.1.2_r1.

–
Jean-Baptiste M. “JBQ” Queru
Technical Lead, Android Open Source Project, Google

[/quote]

It’s expected that Android 4.1.2 will roll out to other Nexus devices, including Galaxy Nexus, Nexus S and Motorola Xoom, over the next few weeks.

October 10, 2012
Microsoft Releases Internet Explorer Security Bugfix

Microsoft has released a temporary software fix for a bug in its Internet Explorer web browser. Cybercriminals used the flaw to install the Poison Ivy trojan on users’ computers. This piece of malware can steal data or take remote control of a PC.

[quote]”Earlier this week, an issue impacting Internet Explorer affected a small number of customers. The potential exists, however, that more customers could be affected… On September 21, we will release a cumulative update for Internet Explorer through Windows Update and our other standard distribution channels,” Trustworthy Computing Director Yunsun Wee said on the Microsoft Security Response Centre website. [/quote]

The solution will be automatically installed on PCs running on Microsoft’s Windows operating system if the machine is set up to receive important updates, Wee added.

Microsoft had began offering a temporary patch for the problem on September 19.

“We have released a Fix it (on September 19) that is available to address that issue. This is an easy, one-click solution that will help protect your computer right away. It will not affect your ability to browse the web, and it does not require a reboot of your computer,” Wee said.

September 21, 2012
Motorola Atrix HD Receives Major OTA Update For Battery, Wi-Fi Improvements, But Not Jelly Bean
Motorola has announced a new software update for the Atrix HD, and while there’s no Jelly Bean to be found quite yet, there are a number of improvements that users ought to appreciate. Included in the update are things like enhancements to Wi-Fi connectivity, optimized battery performance and improved low light performance in the camera. The full changelog from Moto is available at the bottom of this post.

There are also a bunch of apps updated to their latest versions, including Google Chrome, Google+, GMaps, Gmail, and Street View, while the number of pre-loaded software will be increased with Quickoffice, Smart Wi-Fi, and YPmobile.

The OTA update should have already started rolling out to Atrix HD owners, but if you haven’t got yet a prompt message to download the new software package, go ahead to “Settings” – “About Phone” – “System Updates”, and perform a manual check.

[toggle_box title=Change Log” width=”Width of toggle box”]

Improved Features
- Wi-Fi: Improvements in WI-FI to allow for stronger connections in more places.
- Battery: Optimized Battery performance and metering for longer battery life
- Camera:
  - The camera changes include improvements for low light performance, reduced blurriness, and better color accuracy.
  - Bar code scanning applications like AT&T code scanner will have a higher rate of accuracy on 1st scan.
- Games/Apps:
  - Optimized EA/Gameloft games performance.
  - With Spotify Market Application, when skipping to the next song, the player will no longer pause.
- Streaming: Optimized playback of Widevine streaming content which does not impact most of the streaming content available today.
- Live Wallpaper:
  - Removed Not Supported Live Wallpaper 1) Color Bands, 2) Forest 3)Triangulations.
  - Software update will revert to Factory default Wallpaper if one of the above three is user selected prior to the update.
- Location: Corrected functionality for Fixed pictures being Geo Tagged when settings has it disabled.
- New and Updated Apps: Added latest versions of AT&T apps (Smart Wi-Fi, YPmobile), Pre Loaded apps (Quickoffice), and Google apps (Chrome, Google+, Maps, Gmail, Play Store, Street View).
- Security: Implemented Latest Google Security Patches.
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September 13, 2012
Windows Phone 8 SDK preview opens September 12th

Microsoft announced that developers will be able to sign-up for inclusion in the Windows Phone 8 SDK (Software Development Kit) programme from September 12th. Microsoft also revealed that the program will be initially limited to a select few at first until the full Windows Phone 8 SDK is publicly available later this year, after Windows Phone 8 has been released.

Microsoft won’t be giving access to just anyone, it will give priority to any developers that have already published apps to Windows Phone. In essence, they’ll be favoring the developers that chose to develop for Windows Phone before there was any major buzz for it. How exactly this will help the company garner better app development remains to be seen.

[quote]”The full Windows Phone 8 SDK will be made publically available later this year when we unveil Windows Phone 8. Until then, we believe this program offers more published developers a way to explore the SDK and get started on the next wave of amazing Windows Phone apps,” said Microsoft in a statement.[/quote]

One should keep in mind, WP 8 apps are on a whole new development platform. While WP 8 devices will continue to support WP 7.5 apps, these apps will not take advantage of the new hardware capabilities of WP 8 devices. Microsoft officials said they wouldn’t be disclosing the full set of Windows Phone 8 OS features until a later, unspecified date.

September 9, 2012
Windows Store Reaches 1000 Apps Milestone

We have seen a large rise in the number of Windows 8 apps that users of the RTM version can see from the Windows Store. Today, a third party site that has been tracking the numbers of those apps stated that it has now passed the 1,000 milestone.

McAtkins Online says that in its latest app count shows there are now 1,004 apps that are visable for Windows Store users. This number includes both desktop apps (which cannot be directly downloaded from the Windows Store) and the “Modern” Windows 8 apps. Just a few days ago, the same website said there were 839 apps available on the Windows Store.

Apparently, the rate at which new applications are being pushed to the Store has increased, and chances are that Microsoft will go near the 3,000 apps mark or beyond it by the time the platform reaches general availability.

It seems that more and more developers are flocking to Windows 8, which suggests that more new software will appear in the Store soon, thus making the platform even more appealing than before.

It’s also possible that Microsoft could be holding back until just a few days before October 26th before it decides to open the flood gates for new Windows 8 apps to be released.

September 9, 2012
Google says voice is the future of web search, introduces Siri-like app for iOS

Google Inc showed off enhancements to its voice-based search technology for Apple Inc’s iPhone and said it was testing a new service that will combine its Web-based email with its search engine.

The new version of Google’s search app for the iPhone and iPad, expected to be available within a few days, will let users find information about everything from the weather to nearby movie showings by speaking into the devices, matching some of the capabilities offered by Apple’s own Siri technology.

Google’s new app recites answers to search results in a human sounding voice, similar to Apple’s Siri, which some analysts and technology observers believe could make iPhone users less reliant on Google’s search service.

The news comes as the relationship between the two companies grows increasingly competitive. On Monday Apple said it would no longer offer Google’s YouTube app as a pre-loaded app in future versions of its iPhone.

Google, which unveiled a version of the voice-based search app for its Android software earlier this year, showcased the version for Apple devices at a press event at its San Francisco offices on Wednesday.

The company also announced a test version of a new service that will integrate users’ personal emails into searches on the Google website. The service, which Google said will initially be available to 1 million users, aims to make it easier for consumers to access information such as flight schedules or shipping orders.

A truly universal search will “have all the information that humanity has put on the Web and information that’s your information,” Amit Singhal, senior vice president of Google Search.

The initial “field trial” will work with Google’s Gmail, but Singhal said the company was open to working with other email providers.

Source : Reuters

August 9, 2012
Taiwan University Sues Apple Over Siri

Taiwan’s National Cheng Kung University said Monday it has filed a patent infringement complaint against Apple Inc. in a U.S. court over the Siri voice command system used in the latest iPhone and iPad models, marking the latest patent spat against the Cupertino, Calif.-company.

In a filing to the district court of eastern Texas, the university alleged that Apple’s Siri voice-activated assistant, which allows users to make phone calls and perform other tasks with voice commands, violated two of its patents: a speech recognition system and another system that controls how the device interact with a user’s voice command.

The university is asking for an undisclosed sum of damages from Apple, according to the filing dated Friday.

Apple has been facing ongoing legal battles against other smartphone makers including Samsung Electronics Co. and HTC Corp. over patents on mobile device technology and features. Apart from seeking monetary damages, a ruling against Apple could effectively block shipments of its devices to some countries and significantly change the competitive landscape.

Apple introduced Siri last fall through the 4S iPhone and has been advertising it as a big differentiator for the hit device. The technology can perform a variety of tasks from searching for information to sending an email to scheduling meetings by voice. Unlike other types of voice-activated services, Siri can perceive normal human speech patterns.

July 31, 2012
Oracle to Buy Cloud Infrastructure Technology Provider Xsigo

Oracle Corp. on Monday agreed to acquire network-technology provider Xsigo Systems Inc. for an undisclosed sum, broadening the software giant’s already growing footprint in the data center.

Based in San Jose, Calif., Xsigo provides appliances that more efficiently manage the tangle of connections needed to access stored data. The technology cuts electricity costs and boosts performance for companies that manage large data centers.

Privately held Xsigo has more than 300 enterprise customers, according to its website, including Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) and BT Group PLC (BT).

Oracle’s latest acquisition, expected to close this fall, comes as more companies opt to run their computer systems in the cloud–a catch-all term for software and data accessed online rather than through an onsite machine.

Managing the software and servers that support such systems has become a multibillion-dollar business, prompting Oracle Chief Executive Larry Ellison, who once dismissed the “cloud” term as “complete gibberish,” to actively pursue the model along with his Silicon Valley peers.

Cloud computing relies on virtualization, a process that allows users to run the operations of several computers on a single machine. The process puts an enormous burden on networks.

Now, cloud-computing companies are taking a growing interest in controlling the routers and switches of networks by using a similar virtualization model in order to manage data-center hardware and cut down on bottlenecks and inefficiencies.

VMware Inc. (VMW), which pioneered the virtualization model with software, last week agreed to pay up to $1.26 billion for networking-software provider Nicira Inc.

Xsigo’s technology differs from Nicira’s, which uses software to virtually manage an entire network. Xsigo’s hardware addresses a narrower part of the cloud.

“Most people think of software-defined networking as something that creates a new network…on top of the existing physical network,” ISI Group analyst Brian Marshall said.

Oracle also has remained active in the software sector. Just this month, the technology giant agreed to buy the social-marketing company Involver and said it would acquire privately held Skire, a provider of capital program management and facilities management applications.

Oracle has also bought the cloud-based customer service company RightNow Technologies Inc. for $1.43 billion and the human-resources software maker Taleo Corp. for $1.9 billion.

“They are already racing ahead on the software side,” said Global Equities Research analyst Trip Chowdhry. “Now they are strengthening their cloud infrastructure.”

Xsigo, founded in 2004, was funded by Kleiner Perkins, Khosla Ventures, Greylock Partners and North Bridge Venture Partners.

July 30, 2012
Nuance’s Swype launches ‘Hinglish’ version

Nuance Communications said that its next-generation of its Swype touch keyboard will support ‘Hinglish,’ a cross between Hindi and English, in an effort to cater to India’s mobile market.

Going forward Swype will recognize Hinglish words like chai, paani, desi, garam and masti.

The new version of Swype contains unique adaptive capabilities that enable it to understand user’s preferences and typing patterns over time. This allows the application to become smarter and more personalised every time it is being used. It learns from the users every time they type or swipe their fingers to create words and offers them the next time they use the keypad by offering not just word suggestion but whole sentence suggestions as well.

July 27, 2012
Apple OS X Mountain Lion Quick Overview

OS X Mountain Lion is here, and there are quite a few new features to learn all about, so we sum it up listing the best out of all of them .

Notification Center

Just like on iOS , Notification centre gives you all your alerts and messages under one bar, instead of all over the place. You can access your notification history by clicking the list icon all the way in the top right corner of the OS X menubar. If you want to edit your notification center settings, you can do so in the Notifications section of System Preferences. You’ll be able to decide what kind of notifications individual apps provide, or turn them off entirely.

Notes and Reminders

The Notes app lets you save and organize text and images. Reminders allows you to create reminders so you don’t forget to do things. Again they are just like on iOS and sync well with your iDevices.

Voice Dictation

Just like on the iPad and iPhone you get voice dictation on Macs, in Mountain Lion (sadly no Siri). To start dictating, just press the function (fn) key twice. When you’re done dictating, you can click the “done” button or press the function (fn) key twice again. OS X will take a moment and then provide you with the transcribed text. In addition to just offering words, you can say things like “period” or “comma” for punctuation and “new line” to make a new line.

This feature works in any App or window that accepts text input via keyboard, also in online websites, like in GMAIL, as long as they are accessed in the new Safari.

AirPlay Mirroring

If you have an Apple TV, You can now mirror your display on an Apple TV (2nd or 3rd generation) with AirPlay if you enable it in Displays section of System Preferences. Down at the bottom there’s a checkbox beside “Show mirroring options in the menu bar when available.” Check it and you’ll be able to send your display to any detected Apple TV via the menu item in your menubar.

Messages

Messages is the iMessage of OS X. It’s been around in beta since Lion and hasn’t changed much in Mountain Lion. You can add your iCloud account to sync messages with an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. You can set up various instant messaging accounts, however, so Messages on the Mac is a little bit more functional than it is on iOS. That’s because it replaces iChat. Messages also now pulls out of Beta, so those of you who were experiencing slow takes may enjoy the new experience.

iCloud (Documents in the Cloud)

iCloud has been upgraded significantly in Mountain Lion, you can access it in the same panel in System Preferences. If you turn on “Documents & Data” your documents (including versions of them) will be synced with iCloud, making them available on other iCloud-enabled devices.

Share

There is a new button in Mountain Lion, its the Share Button. Not every app has it yet, but many apps will be adding it to allow you to share content easily. In the meantime, Safari is one app that makes sharing sites easy to Messages, Twitter, and Email. If you click an image and then the sharing icon in a window’s toolbar, you’ll be able to share it on Twitter or Flickr. You’ll find other options for other file types as well. If you want to set up sharing accounts, visit the Mail, Contacts, & Calendars section of System Preferences.

Security and Privacy

In this new panel available in the System Preferences panel , a new checkbox “Allow applications downloaded from” , which once checked will give option “Mac App Store and identified developers” . This will prevent apps that aren’t signed through Apple’s developer center or downloaded through the Mac App Store from running

Under Privacy, you get new privacy settings. This is where you can approve or deny an app’s permission to access certain things like your contacts, location, Twitter account, and more.

July 26, 2012
Apple unveils Safari 6, Mac Only Version Out Now

Apple’s new Operating System, has a key browsing element, the new Safari, version 6, has been launched today alongside the major release Mountain Lion. The new Safari brings about some nice new features including iCloud tabs and a new tab view — both Mountain Lion only.

There’s also a Do Not Track option to cover your internet tracks, just like the “incognito mode” on Chrome. It also appears that this time around Apple has not released a Windows Version for the software, and all earlier versions of Safari are now removed from Apple’s Servers.

[Apple}

July 26, 2012
Apple Mac App Store gets Mountain Lion for Download – US $ 19.99 – 4.05 GB – LION Extinct (PR)

The Mac App Store gets its own dose of Lion, and you can get it too for a mere US $ 19.99. The new Operating system adds over 200 new features including voice dictation, notification centre, new advanced sharing, ui fixes, customizations to Spotlight, AirPlay Mirroring etc.

While we download this 4.05 GB update, and sum it up for you. You can get your own version, at the link below.

[toggle_box title=”Press Release” width=”Width of toggle box”]

Mountain Lion Available Today From the Mac App Store

Apple® today announced that OS X® Mountain Lion, the ninth major release of the world’s most advanced desktop operating system, is available as a download from the Mac® App Store?. With more than 200 innovative new features, Mountain Lion includes iCloud® integration, the all new Messages app, Notification Center, system-wide Sharing, Facebook integration*, Dictation, AirPlay® Mirroring and Game Center. Mountain Lion is available as an upgrade from Lion or Snow Leopard for $19.99.

“With iCloud integration, Mountain Lion is even easier to set up, and your important information stays up to date across all your devices so you can keep editing documents, taking notes, creating reminders, and continue conversations whether you started on a Mac, iPhone or iPad.”

“People are going to love the new features in Mountain Lion and how easy it is to download and install from the Mac App Store,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “With iCloud integration, Mountain Lion is even easier to set up, and your important information stays up to date across all your devices so you can keep editing documents, taking notes, creating reminders, and continue conversations whether you started on a Mac, iPhone or iPad.”

With more than 200 innovative new features, Mountain Lion includes:

iCloud integration, for easy set up of your Mail, Contacts, Calendar, Messages, Reminders and Notes, and keeping everything, including iWork® documents, up to date across all your devices;
the all new Messages app, which replaces iChat® and brings iMessage™ to the Mac, so you can send messages to anyone with an iPhone®, iPad®, iPod touch® or another Mac;
Notification Center, which streamlines the presentation of notifications and provides easy access to alerts from Mail, Calendar, Messages, Reminders, system updates and third party apps;
system-wide Sharing, to make it easy to share links, photos, videos and other files quickly without having to switch to another app, and you just need to sign in once to use third-party services like Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and Vimeo;
Facebook integration, so you can post photos, links and comments with locations right from your apps, automatically add your Facebook friends to your Contacts, and even update your Facebook status from within Notification Center;
Dictation, which allows you to dictate text anywhere you can type, whether you’re using an app from Apple or a third party developer;
AirPlay Mirroring, an easy way to wirelessly send an up-to-1080p secure stream of what’s on your Mac to an HDTV using Apple TV®, or send audio to a receiver or speakers that use AirPlay; and
Game Center, which brings the popular social gaming network from iOS to the Mac so you can enjoy live, multiplayer games with friends whether they’re on a Mac, iPhone, iPad or iPod touch.

Additional features in Mountain Lion include the revolutionary new Gatekeeper, which makes downloading software from the Internet safer; Power Nap, which automatically updates your apps and system while your Mac is asleep; and a faster Safari® browser. New features for China include significantly improved text input, a new Chinese Dictionary, easy setup with popular email providers, Baidu search in Safari, and built-in sharing to Sina Weibo and popular video websites Youku and Tudou.

Pricing & Availability

OS X Mountain Lion is available from the Mac App Store for $19.99 (US). Mountain Lion requires Lion or Snow Leopard (OS X v10.6.8 or later), 2GB of memory and 8GB of available space. For a complete list of system requirements and compatible systems, please visit: apple.com/osx/specs. OS X Server requires Mountain Lion and is available from the Mac App Store for $19.99 (US). The OS X Mountain Lion Up-to-Date upgrade is available at no additional charge from the Mac App Store to all customers who purchased a qualifying new Mac system from Apple or an Apple Authorized Reseller on or after June 11, 2012.

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[iTunes]

July 26, 2012