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BetaNews.Com (7 non lus)

Should Barack Obama stick with BlackBerry?

Publié: janvier 21, 2013, 5:58pm CET par Joe Wilcox

Barack Obama is now officially in his second term as President of the United States, following the January 20 inaugural swearing in. We have another four years of Obama, but does he have another four years of BlackBerry? He is by far the most profile Crackberry, in 2009 fighting to keep his smartphone in the face of opposition. (You think Apple losing that iPhone 4 in a bar was bad? Imagine the president leaving his handset behind.) But Obama is President and Commander-in-Chief and got to keep his Canadian gem.

But it's a new administration, and Obama appoints new cabinet members. Which of them is more important, gets more attention than his smartphone? So the question: Should he stick with BlackBerry or switch platforms?

Hey, with BlackBerry 10 so soon coming, moving up surely is an option (assuming White House security wonks have enough time to vet the OS before the first devices ship). Then there is Android, iOS and Windows Phone. Let's not ignore Firefox OS and Ubuntu, which are newcomers here.

Seriously, fanboys, you should be all over the social networks campaigning for your platform.

Staying BlackBerry is obviously easiest, but iPhone is supposed to be enterprise ready, and the President uses an iPad. Surely Windows Phone is, too. Hey, Microsoft has a special relationship with government.

Then there is Android, which with Jellybean is just about where the security and management features need to be for government service. But with Google kicking Microsoft's ActiveSync to the curb, Android has problems if the Feds use Outlook.

I know that Election 2008 was brutal campaigning. But it's time for another, and you have to campaign for your platform. Think about it. Imagine if you're an Android fanboy who has to live with iPhone idolaters rubbing your nose in the president's choice for four years -- or visa versa, if he joined the Android Army (Mmmm, he is Commander-in-Chief).

So rally for your candidate!

Please answer the poll and comment -- eh, campaign -- for your platform.

I think the President should stick with BlackBerry, as it's more non-partisan.

Which smartphone platform should US President Barack Obama use during his second term in office?

Photo Credit: Pete Souza/The White House
Waterfox 18.0.1 brings the power of Firefox 18 to 64-bit Windows

Publié: janvier 21, 2013, 5:45pm CET par Nick Peers

After a gap of nearly three months, Waterfox 18.0.1 has been released, bringing the Firefox variant for 64-bit versions of Windows bang up to date. Its return is welcome news considering Mozilla recently dropped its own 64-bit Windows build from the Nightly codebase, and allows

The delay in releasing Waterfox -- also available as a portable build -- has been attributed to major bugs in the Intel C++ compiler, which is used by developer Alex K to produce Waterfox from the Firefox source code.

As expected, Waterfox 18.0.1 includes all the new features, performance improvements and bug fixes introduced in versions 17 and 18 of Firefox. These include the first revision of the new Social API and support for Facebook Messenger, click-to-play blocklisting, tweaked Address bar with larger icons and various developer improvements, including a new markup panel in the Page Inspector.

Waterfox 18.0.1 also has its own platform-specific fix for JumpLists, which mean Windows 7 and 8 users now can now right-click the program’s pinned application in the taskbar to access shortcuts to recently opened websites, Private Browsing mode and new tabs and windows. The fix was implemented with the help of MoonChild, developer of Firefox variant Pale Moon 15.4.

By default, Waterfox is only distributed with the US English language available, but users will eventually be able to download and implement alternative language files once they’ve been updated.

The update is a welcome one for Waterfox users -- the previous release, v16.0.1, was quickly superseded by Firefox 16.0.2, which included a major security patch. With the release of Waterfox 18.0.1, that security patch has now been implemented along with all subsequent security fixes.

Waterfox 18.0.1 and Waterfox Portable 18.0.1 are both available as freeware downloads for 64-bit versions of Windows XP or later.
Ten days left to get Windows 8 Media Center for free

Publié: janvier 21, 2013, 5:08pm CET par Alan Buckingham

Windows 8 special pricing expires on January 31, but it is not the only Microsoft special offer that goes away on that day. The company kicked Media Center somewhat to the curb with the new operating system. It no longer comes as a part of Windows, but requires the Pro version and a special add-on pack that will be sold for $9.99. To boot, there are no new features included. Media Center remains unchanged from Windows 7.

Still, there is a small but very dedicated group of followers who love Media Center, and for good reason. If you own an HTPC (home theater PC) then Microsoft's solution remains one of the best options available and, if you act before the end of this month, you can grab that $9.99 media pack for free.

You have to jump through a couple of hoops, but not anything too major. First, visit this Microsoft site, enter your email address and click the "send my product key" button. Microsoft claims it can take up to 72 hours and some users have reported wait times of even longer. However, when I did it last week I received my email within minutes.

Once you receive the key then the aforementioned site provides instructions on what to do, but it is a pretty simple process that is carried out through the "add features" section of Windows 8 settings. Of course, your system will restart during the process and it will take a few minutes for the updates to be applied.

Many enthusiasts claim that they will not upgrade their HTPC because of the way Media Center has been treated in Windows 8 -- add-on pack, no longer an option to start upon system boot, and a few other reasons. However, if you want to make that move or just want the software on your desktop or notebook then now is the time to act.
CyanogenMod 10.1 M1 -- first monthly release -- is available

Publié: janvier 21, 2013, 3:18pm CET par Mihaita Bamburic

Keeping up with recent CyanogenMod tradition, the team behind the popular green droid custom distribution unveiled the first monthly release based on Android 4.2 Jelly Bean. The build is designed to offer users a stable experience, more suitable for daily use compared to the usual nightly builds.

CyanogenMod 10.1 M1 is currently available only for a limited number of devices, including the Google Nexus lineup (Nexus S, Galaxy Nexus, Nexus 7 including the 3G variant, Nexus 4 and Nexus 10), the US variants of the Samsung Galaxy S III, the Samsung Galaxy S (codename "galaxysmtd" and "galaxysbmtd"), the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 (versions P3100 and P3110), the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 (versions P5100 and P5110) as well as the Hardkernel ODROID U2 open development platform.

The most noteworthy software additions over the stock Android 4.2 Jelly Bean include the Chronus widget which can display weather information as well as calendar entries on top of time and date, the Trebuchet launcher that allows users to personalize the home screens, application drawer and other functionality, and a customizable quick settings menu.

In the quick settings department, users can add and remove tiles, which upon pressing do perform actions unlike the stock Android base version, and assign a pulldown status bar area (left or right) for easier access using a single finger swipe, among other features.

The CyanogenMod 10.1 M1 build also sports a number of improvements in the lockscreen department. Users can add more ring targets (four more on top of the default unlock target), a battery percentage indicator, as well as set widgets to maximize upon unlocking the device. Also new is a torch lockscreen widget which can light up the LED flash at a single touch.

The traditional features, such as Quiet Hours, unlinked ringtone and notification volumes, expandable volume panel, volume button music controls and the Performance settings menu are included, among others.

The CyanogenMod 10.1 M1 builds can be downloaded from the CyanogenMod downloads page.
Sony Xperia Tablet Z says 'Hello' from Japan

Publié: janvier 21, 2013, 1:30pm CET par Mihaita Bamburic

Following the new smartphone flagships introduced at CES 2013, the Xperia Z and Xperia ZL, Japanese Android device manufacturer Sony has unveiled the successor to its Xperia Tablet S slate. Dubbed the Xperia Tablet Z, it sports a dust-proof and water-proof shell, and a lightweight and thin form factor.

The Xperia Tablet Z comes with a 10.1-inch display with a 1920 by 1200 resolution (known as WUXGA), backed by Sony's Mobile BRAVIA Engine 2 technology. The panel features a 16:10 aspect ratio, an interesting choice seeing as how Sony's own recent smartphones feature the narrower 16:9 aspect ratio for each of their respective screens.

The tablet is powered by a 1.5 GHz quad-core processor, likely a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro unit, and ships with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean out of the box. One of the most noteworthy details is 4G LTE connectivity. The Xperia Tablet Z also features an 8.1 MP back-facing camera and NFC (Near Field Communication), the latter of which is touted to work with Xperia smartphones.

Weight and thickness come in at a rather impressive 496 grams and 6.9 mm, respectively. The Xperia Tablet Z will ship in black and white and will be available in the Japanese market this Spring.
Sky introduces a TV and movie download service for mobile phones and tablets

Publié: janvier 21, 2013, 10:59am CET par Wayne Williams

Users of the satellite TV provider’s free Sky Go service -- which enables subscribers to watch live Sky channels and on-demand programming on mobiles and tablets -- will soon be able to download TV shows and movies on their portable devices.

According to Sky, this will make it the first mobile TV subscription service to offer downloadable Hollywood movies in the UK and Ireland.

The Sky Go Extra app will be available for Android and iOS later this week, and give Sky subscribers the chance to download as much content as they like for £5 a month (on top of their existing subscription fee). The service will support up to four users per subscription.

To encourage people to try the service, the broadcaster is offering a two-month free trial. Downloads will last a month before expiring.

Sky's Brand Director for TV products Luke Bradley-Jones said: "The way customers are thinking about the whole TV experience is changing again and it's ultimately all about the content -- however people want to watch it".

Sky has an extensive library of on-demand movies, including the entire James Bond collection.
Create disk, partition and system backups with AOMEI Data Backuper

Publié: janvier 21, 2013, 10:39am CET par Mike Williams

Bitter experience has taught us to be highly skeptical of free backup tools, particularly when they come from commercial companies: they’ll usually include one or more annoying restrictions in an effort to get you to upgrade to something else.

Would our concerns really apply to AOMEI Data Backuper, though? We installed the program to take a closer look.

Data Backuper has a clear and simple interface which will feel immediately familiar to anyone who’s ever used an image backup tool before. Its functions are sensibly organized across a number of tabs ("Backup", "Restore", "Clone", "Utilities"), and the program works very much as you expect.

Click "Disk Backup", for instance, and you can choose a source and destination drive. A "Backup Options" link allows you to apply various common tweaks (set compression level, encryption, decide whether you want to use VSS, and so on), and then clicking "Start Backup" initiates the backup for you.

There are also the extra tools you’d expect. The program includes an option to mount an image as a virtual drive, for instance, so you browse it from Explorer. You can then restore an image directly from the program, or create a bootable rescue disc which will allow you to restore your system drive.

And you even get one or two useful extras, with the Clone tab hiding options to clone individual partitions or copy the contents of one drive to another.

The program does have one or two notable weaknesses. You can’t create and save backup jobs to carry out particular tasks, in particular. And, significantly, you can’t attach a schedule to a particular backup to run it unattended: you must initiate every run manually.

Perhaps more worryingly, we found it failed to back up a USB key, during testing, issuing a cryptic "4140" error and complaining that "the backup driver works improperly". We’ve no idea why.

Still, the program managed to create and restore images of our test hard drives without any trouble at all, and in general it proved a likeable and effective tool. If you can live without a scheduler then AOMEI Data Backuper could be very helpful.