Gregarius » BetaNews.Com » janvier 31, 2013

BetaNews.Com (7 non lus)

Team Win Recovery Project releases TWRP 2.4

Publié: janvier 31, 2013, 6:31pm CET par Mihaita Bamburic

Little more than four months ago, Team Win Recovery Project introduced the last major iteration of the popular Android custom recovery TWRP. Now there is a new version available that packs features as well as bug fixes.

After switching from libtar instead of busybox's implementation, TWRP 2.4 can now create TAR files larger than 2GB. The popular custom recovery also introduces support for memory cards formatted as exFAT as well as support for decrypting internal and external storage on Samsung devices sporting a TouchWiz encryption.

Before enabling ADB Sideload to install apps, custom distributions or mods from another device, TWRP 2.4 now allows the user to choose whether to wipe cache and dalvik cache. There are also improvements to OpenRecoveryScript, which can now display the correct GUI (Graphical User Interface) while the script runs, and for building TWRP in CyanogenMod 10.1.

Other noteworthy changes include replacing a number of system calls with counterparts written in the C programming language, bug fixes in the file manager feature which will now display lists correctly, fixed AOSP recovery commands as to run properly on decrypted devices.

TWRP 2.4 is available to download from the Team Win Recovery Project site.
Surface sales suck

Publié: janvier 31, 2013, 6:14pm CET par Joe Wilcox

Or do they? If you listen to some analysts, Surface, and other slates running Windows 8 or RT, started slow out of the gate. Considering how much tablets sapped PC shipments in Q4, slow forebodes trouble ahead. Or does it?

"There is no question that Microsoft is in this tablet race to compete for the long haul", Ryan Reith, IDC program manager, says. "However, devices based upon its new Windows 8 and Windows RT operating systems failed to gain much ground during their launch quarter, and reaction to the company’s Surface with Windows RT tablet was muted at best". He estimates that Microsoft shipped just 900,000 Surfaces during fourth quarter, which means to stores and not actual sales to customers.

That number sure looks low compared to any manufacturer in the top 5. Even lowly ASUS shipped 3.1 million units. But sell-through matters more. Except for about 10 days of the quarter, at retail, Surface sold exclusively through 66 retail shops in Canada and the United States. Apple offered iPad through an average 390 shops -- 150 outside the United States. Accounting for online sales and doing some best guesstimates, I get 14,680 iPads sold per Apple Store and (assuming 600,000 units) 9,090 Surfaces per Microsoft shop.

However, when adjusting for actual sales days (Microsoft's slate was available for only about two-thirds of the quarter), Surface-sell through averages out a little higher than iPad on a per-store basis. Meaning: Given limited distribution, Microsoft's tablet sells better than IDC shipments suggest.

Size Matters

Microsoft's problem is something else: Size. "We believe that Microsoft and its partners need to quickly adjust to the market realities of smaller screens and lower prices", Reith emphasizes. That's a polite way of saying Surface RT costs too much at $499 and Pro, for sale starting February 9, is already overpriced. But are they? Really?

According to NPD DisplaySearch, market demand shifts towards smaller, and lower-cost models. The firm forecasts that slates with 7-7.9-inch displays will account for 45 percent of shipments this year. By contrast, 9.7-inchers will fall to 17 percent -- that's the size of iPad, the category leader. But Apple offers the 7.9-inch iPad mini, whereas Microsoft and its partners offer nothing in this rapidly exploding size segment.

Apple tablets are pricey, too. Starting February 5, one iPad 4 will sell for $929. But fruit-logo pricing starts lower, at $329 for 16GB iPad with WiFi. Microsoft is locked lowest at $499 with a 10.6-inch slate. What the company needs more is a broader range of sizes and prices, the strategy competitors like Apple, ASUS and Samsung pursue. That would preserve current Surface pricing.

Such an approach doesn't easily fit Microsoft's current tablet strategy, which is all about making a traditional desktop operating system available on more form factors. But that's not what the market wants today, when tablets displace some computer sales rather than replace PCs altogether.

Reith warns: "In the long run, consumers may grow to believe that high-end computing tablets with desktop operating systems are worth a higher premium than other tablets, but until then ASPs on Windows 8 and Windows RT devices need to come down to drive higher volumes".

Give a Little

Simply stated: Working with partners, Microsoft must make gaining market share the top priority. Tablet shipments grew about 75 percent year over year and quarter on quarter to 52.5 million in Q4. Laptops lead the PC category, but NPD DislaySearch predicts that tablet shipments will exceed notebooks this year. Again, that's not so much slates replacing PCs as displacing new sales, as capabilities overlap. Microsoft doesn't want to be left behind Android and iOS slates. This is a platform war that nobody wants to lose.

ASUS tablet shipments grew 402.3 percent year over year and Samsung's by 263 percent, according to IDC. These are phenomenal gains, and both companies offer models running Windows 8 or RT alongside Android. Something else: They also sell what Microsoft doesn't -- smaller slates with screens 7-7.9 inches. Short term, Microsoft's options are limited with Surface. But working with partners, Microsoft could bring Windows RT to smaller screens. Such a strategy would preserve Surface pricing and Microsoft's strategy around bringing desktop Windows to new devices.

But there's a wrinkle. Android costs ASUS and Samsung nothing, and Apple realizes the cost of iOS through research and development. Whereas, Microsoft partners pay to license Windows RT. I wouldn't recommend that Microsoft give tablet OEMs Windows for free, but co-marketing contributions and other incentives could temporarily make the fees essentially zero -- on smaller slates.

Already Apple feels the pinch. In Q4, iPad shipment share fell to 43.6 percent from 51.7 percent a year earlier, even as volumes increased (22.9 million from 15.1 million), according to IDC. However, for the second quarter in a row, iPad share declined.

Apple's falling tablet fortunes show just how dynamic is the segment, and that competitors can and will gain share. But for which platform? Android or Windows RT? Microsoft can answer the question, even in part, by adjusting its tablet strategy.

Photo Credit: Joe Wilcox
Backup apps and data on non-rooted Android devices with Carbon

Publié: janvier 31, 2013, 3:28pm CET par Mihaita Bamburic

Little more than two weeks after the beta version debuted, the new Carbon backup app has made its way onto the Play Store. The biggest change comes for Android users with non-rooted devices as they can now also perform app and data backups, a feat previously exclusive to those running the little green droid with elevated permissions.

Carbon is the work of ClockworkMod and ROM Manager developer Koushik Dutta who, with the help of 12,000 beta testers, has managed to squash out most of the bugs from previous versions of the app. Dutta, however, warns that due to the way Motorola handles the adb backup functionality (also known as the built-in backup feature in Android) the Google subsidiary's smartphones are prevented from installing Carbon.

Users who have elevated privileges enabled on their Android devices only have to install Carbon from the Play Store. For those sporting non-rooted devices the process requires a few extra steps in order to backup (and restore) apps and data, although it's a fairly straightforward process.

They will need to install Carbon Desktop (available for Windows, MacOS and Linux), the Windows drivers for the device if required, connect the smartphone or tablet to the computer and select "PTP" mode for the USB connection. The final step is enabling "USB debugging" from "Developer options".

So what about Carbon's options? Upon opening the backup tool, users can select the apps by going through the list and ticking individual items. They can also add them into groups for easier handling and choose whether to include the app within backups (by default only the data is backed up). Carbon can also be used to transfer apps with data between devices and restore items from the USB storage.

Carbon currently provides five options for managing backups and restoring files -- USB Storage, Schedule Backup, Google Drive, Dropbox and Box. However, only the first one can be used for both actions with the free version of the app. The remaining four can only be used to backup files, with the restore option exclusive to Carbon Premium.

There is also a "PC Download" feature included for handling apps. Users have to power it up, at which point a server will be enabled on the device. The listed IP address has to be used within a browser in order to connect to the mobile and backup and restore files to and from the PC.

Carbon is available to download from Google Play. The premium version runs for $4.99.
Microsoft attempts to woo developers with modern.ie

Publié: janvier 31, 2013, 3:06pm CET par Alan Buckingham

Microsoft has started paying much closer attention to Internet Explorer recently. The company pushed out both IE9 and IE10 in fast succession and has been trying to entice back past users with its retro ad and The Browser You Loved To Hate campaign.

Now it wants to try and lure developers to the platform and has rolled out modern.ie, a new service to help make sure websites display as they should. The .ie extension, in case you are wondering, is Ireland's top-level domain.

The service, according to Microsoft's Ryan Gavin, is designed to "make it easier for developers to ensure their sites work beautifully across Internet Explorer as well as other modern browsers". Gavin goes on to state that "we want to help. We want the web to move forward. And we genuinely want web developers to spend more time innovating and less time testing. That is where modern.ie comes in".

If you are a web designer you can head over there and enter the URL of your site to have the service scan it and produce a full report using its "code detection wizard". This will identify problems that can result from supporting older IE versions and provide help with making your site work across today's diverse range of platforms, such as mobile, desktop, tablets, and even large-screen TVs. In addition, the new service provides some tips on building for Windows 8 and the Modern UI, as well as virtual testing using Browser Stack.

The site additionally provides information about coding and best practices. Microsoft says that "while this list of tech tips doesn’t include every insight shared by developers, it represents some of the most common patterns and practices to make coding for the web easier".

Of course, Microsoft also provides a tour of Internet Explorer 10 and a link to download it -- you know, just in case you want to move on from a different browser.
Google invites you to explore the Grand Canyon

Publié: janvier 31, 2013, 2:07pm CET par Wayne Williams

Google Maps and Street View provide detailed coverage of much of the world, and today the search giant is adding the Grand Canyon to its list of fully explorable locations.

Captured as part of Google’s Trekker project, the 9,500 interactive -- and at times frankly breathtaking -- panoramic images cover more than 75 miles of trails and surrounding roads. If you’ve always fancied hiking along the canyon but have never had the time, money or stamina, you can now do it from the comfort of your own home.

This latest project, which required the Google Maps team to lug 40lb 15-lens camera backpacks along the length of the canyon, will let you "hike down the famous Bright Angel Trail, gaze out at the mighty Colorado River, and explore scenic overlooks in full 360-degrees". Other locations Google recommends you view include the South Kaibab Trail and the spectacular Meteor Crater.

It’s all very impressive, and just another example of how far Google is prepared to go to make sure it stays far ahead of its would-be mapping rivals.
Capture videos from any website with Any Video Recorder

Publié: janvier 31, 2013, 2:07pm CET par Mike Williams

When you need to download a local copy of an online video then there are plenty of tools around which will try to help. Freemake Video Downloader, for instance, makes it easy to grab movies from YouTube, Facebook, Google, Vimeo and many other big-name sites.

Other sites make it more difficult to capture their content, of course, but if the regular downloaders can’t help then you can always turn to Any Video Recorder. This is a screen recorder which just captures video as it’s played back, so if you can watch it on your system, then Any Video Recorder should be able to record a copy for you.

Installation was easier than we expected, as the program thankfully doesn’t try to equip your PC with pointless toolbars, or any other kind of unwanted adware. It needs to install a couple of drivers to capture the video, but this caused no problems or issues.

And on first launch Any Video Recorder presented a much simpler interface then we were expecting. A basic console allows you to choose your output folder, video file name, target video frame and bit rate, but that’s about it. The default settings are reasonable, too, so we left everything as it was and moved on to our first recording.

The idea is that you’ll browse to and find the video you’d like to play, then switch back to Any Video Recorder and click "Record". It’ll ask you to start the video, so you’ll Alt+Tab back to your browser and click Play. And Any Video Recorder then attempts to automatically detect the video player area, drawing a red rectangle around it after a few seconds.

In our tests the automatic detection was generally poor, never getting it completely right. But fortunately the red rectangle can be quickly resized and repositioned with your mouse to match the actual area you’d like to record.

And with that done you’ll need to pause your video, return it to the beginning, click "Rec" on the Any Video Recorder console, before clicking "Play" on the video player. This is a little fiddly, but it’s not difficult, and only takes a few seconds. And when playback has finished, all you have to do is click the Any Video Recorder "Stop" button, at which point the program will save the captured clip to an MP4 file (there are no other format options), before opening an Explorer window at the output folder so you can check the results.

Does this work? On a powerful PC, we found the finished videos were generally very good. Video quality was acceptable, and audio seemed a little quieter than the original, but not enough to be a problem. And we had one or two audio sync issues, but never figured out why -- it could have been a problem related to the source material.

You do need to be realistic, though. If you’ve a very basic PC which barely has the power to play HD video, for instance, you’re not going to be able to capture it as well without running into some major playback and image quality issues.

And it’s important to keep in mind that screen recording is far less convenient than other video download methods. A tool like Freemake Video Downloader might grab a 10 minute clip in seconds, while you do other things. But Any Video Recorder will require that you actually wait the full 10 minutes for that clip to be played. And you can’t minimize your player window, or move another window in front of the player, or you’ll disrupt the recording: essentially you should just leave your system alone until the recording has finished.

Any Video Recorder is definitely a tool of last resort, then -- you wouldn’t want to use this if a more conventional video downloader is available. But if you have exhausted all other options then the program works well, being adware-free, easy to use, and usually producing a good quality capture of your source material.

Photo credit: d13/Shutterstock
EE's 4G now available to around 45 percent of the UK population

Publié: janvier 31, 2013, 1:06pm CET par Wayne Williams

EE (formerly Everything Everywhere) was created by the merger of the T-Mobile and Orange businesses in 2010, becoming the UK’s largest mobile network operator in the process. It’s also currently the only provider offering 4G LTE connectivity in the UK, and has just expanded its 4G data service to cover an additional nine towns and cities.

This expansion means 4G EE is now available in a total 27 UK locations, making it -- according to EE at least -- accessible to nearly half of the UK’s population.

"As the first operator to bring 4G to the UK, it is important that we make it accessible to as much of the population as possible, as quickly as possible," Olaf Swantee, CEO of EE said, regarding the expansion. "To be ahead of schedule and covering approximately 45 percent of the population within just 90 days of the launch is a great achievement for our network team."

The new locations to gain access to 4G are Amersham, Bolton, Chelmsford, Hemel Hempstead, Southend-on-Sea, Stockport, Sunderland, Sutton Coldfield and Wolverhampton.