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BetaNews.Com (10 non lus)

Nvidia unveils the Tegra 4i, with integrated 4G LTE processor

Publié: février 19, 2013, 9:37pm CET par Mihaita Bamburic

On Tuesday, Santa Clara, Calif.-based technology company Nvidia took the wraps off a new mobile processor part of its Tegra lineup, named Tegra 4i. The latest product comes with "fully integrated 4G LTE" connectivity, a first for Nvidia, and it is designed to fend off attack from similar solutions, like Qualcomm's newest Snapdragon lineup.

The new Tegra 4i sports 60 custom GPU cores and a 2.3GHz quad-core CPU that is based on the "newest and most efficient" ARM R4 Cortex-A9 architecture. The traditional Tegra battery-saver core is also present. The Tegra 4i, however, comes in slightly under the Tegra 4 processor unveiled at CES 2013 in Las Vegas, the latter of which features 12 more GPU cores and is based on the faster ARM Cortex-A15 architecture.

The 2.3GHz is a joint effort between Nvidia and ARM, with the former touting it as the "most efficient, highest performance CPU core on the market". Tom Cronk, executive vice president and general manager, processor division, ARM says: "ARM and Nvidia worked closely to further optimize the Cortex-A9 processor to drive performance and efficiency in areas such as streaming and responsiveness. This is an example of the collaboration and innovation that enables ARM technology-based solutions to be market drivers through multiple generations of SoC solutions".

The Tegra 4i delivers five times the number of GPU cores compared to the older Tegra 3 and the i500 "software-defined" radio modem which sports 4G LTE functionality. In the camera department the processor features Nvidia's Chimera Computational Photography Architecture which was introduced alongside the Tegra 4.

On Tegra 4i's integrated LTE chip, Stuart Robinson, director, Handset Component Technologies Program at Strategy Analytics says: "[...] appears to outperform the leading integrated LTE chip significantly, and also benefits from an integrated 'soft-modem' that can be re-programmed over-the-air to support new frequencies and air interfaces -- something other modem vendors can only dream of".

Basically what we're looking at is a slightly underpowered variant of the Tegra 4 that features a more battery-friendly CPU and a less powerful GPU. Nvidia will showcase the Tegra 4i at MWC (Mobile World Congress) in Barcelona.
Get ready to move from Hotmail to Outlook

Publié: février 19, 2013, 9:06pm CET par Alan Buckingham

If you use Hotmail then you may already know that you are moving to Outlook.com. You may not want to, but you are -- unless you plan to scrap the whole thing and head over to Gmail, Yahoo mail or another service. Microsoft officially launched Outlook overnight, but the service beta debuted six months ago; we reviewed here already.

So, to help users along in this moving process, the company posted a question and answer page appropriately titled "My Hotmail account was upgraded to Outlook.com".

The page is pretty simple -- only nine questions and a video. However, there is quite a bit of information included and numerous links to additional details, like settings, POP3, Contacts, existing mail and more.

Microsoft attempts to address some of the fear and questions that customers will almost certainly have. Things like "Do I have to get a new email address?" and "Why can't I switch back to Hotmail?" All valid questions that longtime Hotmail users will face in the coming months.

Give the company some credit for attempting to help its customers here, but killing off services, while a natural process in this industry, is never easy. It almost always results in some unhappy people and, frequently they are the more vocal ones. For instance my recent posts about the death of my beloved Live Mesh -- yes I am still bitter. But, I have learned to move on, which is what Hotmail customers will need to do as well.

Photo Credit: 3Dstock/Shutterstock
Ubuntu tablet challenges Android, BlackBerry, iOS and Windows

Publié: février 19, 2013, 8:06pm CET par Joe Wilcox

Developers looking for Ubuntu on smartphones will get a second treat on February 21. Today, Canonical revealed a build for tablets. Supported testing devices for both platforms: Galaxy Nexus, Nexus 4, Nexus 7 and Nexus 10. Ubuntu replaces Android, not runs alongside or dual-boots with it.

"Ubuntu tablet" supports multi-touch slates running dual-core ARM A9 processor with 1GB of RAM and 8GB storage. However, Canonical's ambitions are greater for commercially-shipping products: dual-core A15 processor and 2GB RAM for 7-to-10 inch tablets and quad-core A15 or x86 processor and 4GB of RAM for 10-to-12 inch slates. The specs reveal plans to compete with touch ultrabooks or tablet hybrids like Microsoft Surface Pro. The operating system supports up to 20-inch tablets. However, lower-end tablets will be a priority.

Like Apple, Google or Microsoft, Canonical talks a four-screen strategy. In October 2011, CEO Mark Shuttleworth promised Ubuntu would appear on smartphones, tablets and TVs, in addition to PCs. The company formally announced the smartphone OS in January.

The difference: Canonical claims a unified user experience across devices. None of the aforementioned competitors deliver that today, although Google is closest. "The tablet is the next step in our mission to create one unified experience for all personal computing", Shuttleworth boasts.

Related: Canonical touts a write-once, run-on-any-device benefit for developers. Again, Google is closest to offering something similar. Information about the Touch Developer Preview for phones and tablets already is available, as well as a preview SDK. To reiterate: Software releases Thursday.

"We have both rich native applications and web applications that run side-by-side as equal citizens on the tablet", Shuttleworth says.

While the first commercial smartphones and tablets are expected this year, Canonical doesn't plan to unify all form factors into a single platform until 14.04 LTS releases early next year. Ubuntu will be the same across devices, but not the user interface. For example, on smartphones the UI is primed for one-handed operations and two on tablets. Says Shuttleworth about phones: "All the goodness of Ubuntu perfectly shaped to your hand".

Like Android, Ubuntu tablet supports multiple users, and like Chrome OS a guest mode. Favorite apps launch from a left-pull toolbar, and a swipe opens the full apps page. "Swipe through the right edge and you reveal phone apps running on your tablet", or The Sidestage, Shuttleworth says. Split-screen presents phone and tablet apps running side-by-side.

The Sidestage and right-top pull-down menu also let users socially interact or access additional services while maintaining the larger content menu for, say, watching a movie.

Ubuntu tablet supports modular designs. A phone docked to a slate displays content in The Sidestage, while the tablet becomes a PC with mouse and keyboard.

Canonical expects OEMs to ship devices running Ubuntu tablet, although partners announcements, along with chipsets, are forthcoming. Support for Nexus devices is meant for developers, but judging from the reaction I see on social networks, gadget geeks will grab and mod, too.

"I want an Ubuntu tablet now!" Christopher Bowley posts to Google+. "Don't even need a desktop/laptop anymore. Assuming it's as powerful as the desktop os, which seems like the case. As long as it has external USB support. My external drive, phone, and Tascam pocket studio (which connects as an external drive) is all I need to connect. Seems doable".

Brett Daugherty: "Liking the +Ubuntu tablet. Gonna flash my phone to the mobile OS Thursday to give that a shot, wouldn't mind being able to flash my tablet to that too to get the full experience".

Will you, too?
StackMob launches new Enterprise Marketplace

Publié: février 19, 2013, 7:00pm CET par Wayne Williams

According to Gartner, by 2017 around 25 percent of enterprises will have their own app stores for managing home grown and corporate-sanctioned apps on PCs and mobile devices. Bring Your Own Application (BYOA) is becoming almost as important as Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) in some corporate workplaces.

StackMob, a cloud-based mobile platform provider, has today launched a new Enterprise Marketplace for third-party services, aimed at offering a simple and effective way for larger organizations to build and deploy their own full-featured mobile applications.

The new one-stop shop offers enterprise-class modules, APIs, and professional services from prominent charter collaborators in the enterprise space, including ADP, AT&T, Box, Braintree, GoodData, Mashery, New Relic and Rackspace and Salesforce. Firms in need of mobile app development services will now be able to easily integrate their choice of third-party apps into StackMob’s BaaS (Backend as a Service) mobile development platform.

"Enterprises are approaching StackMob looking for ways to unlock innovation inside their company," Ty Amell, CEO of StackMob said, announcing the new initiative. "StackMob provides consistency and structure that supports a scalable mobile strategy."

AT&T will be among the first to offer its APIs to developers within the StackMob Enterprise Marketplace. "We’ve opened up our APIs to the developer community," Carolyn Billings, Associate Vice President of Product Marketing Management at AT&T explains, "and now we’re looking forward to working with StackMob and their customers to enable richer mobile experiences for enterprise users".

Photo Credit: Maksim Kabakou/Shutterstock
Meet the HTC One

Publié: février 19, 2013, 6:04pm CET par Mihaita Bamburic

On Tuesday, after numerous leaks and rumors, Taiwanese mobile device manufacturer HTC unveiled a new flagship Android smartphone tastefully named One. With One the company has jumped off the ever increasing display size bandwagon and decided to stick to a more tried and true 4.7-inch panel, while packing a high-end quad-core processor.

The international One comes in silver and black and, depending on the market, other colors such as red might be available as well. The front of the handset is dominated by rounded corners and symmetrical speakers while the back features the now traditional tapered edges that HTC previously introduced with smartphones such as the Windows Phone 8X or DROID DNA. It's simply striking to look at.

The One's 4.7-inch display offers a resolution of 1920 by 1080 and a whopping 468ppi (pixels per inch) density. HTC does not specify which type of panel is used, however judging by past releases it's fair to assume that we're looking at an LCD3 IPS display.

Power comes from a 1.7GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 processor, similar to the LG Optimus G Pro, 2GB of DDR2 RAM and a 2,300mAh non-removable battery. The One comes with two storage options, in 32GB and 64GB trim and features the typical connectivity options including Wi-Fi 802.11 a/ac/b/g/n; NFC (Near Field Communication); Bluetooth 4.0; DLNA; microUSB 2.0 and the usual array of sensors (gyro; accelerometer; proximity and ambient light sensors).

The handset is among the first to feature support for the Wi-Fi 802.11 ac standard. Depending on the market the One also comes with HSPA+ or 4G LTE cellular connectivity.

Interestingly enough HTC steers clear from revealing the megapixel count on the back-facing camera, which bears the UltraPixel moniker, only revealing that it features a BSI sensor with F2.0 aperture and 28mm lens, optical imagine stabilization, five levels of flash as well as the in-house ImageChip 2 technology. The front-facing camera is a 2.1MP unit with support for HDR mode in both pictures and videos. Both shooters are capable of 1080p video recording.

HTC also bundles a number of branded features such as Zoe, which can shoot up to 20 photos and a 3-second video when pressing the shutter button, BoomSound, which is designed to improve the music and video experience and BlinkFeed, which provides social networking and media updates, among others. The operating system of choice is "the latest Android Jelly Bean" (meaning Android 4.2), backed by the Sense user interface.

The One comes in at 137.4 x 68.2 x 9.3 mm and 143 grams. The dimensions are on par with currently available smartphones, although both the thickness and weight are a bit on the larger side.

The One will be globally available at more than 185 carriers in more than 80 regions and countries starting in March. HTC says that in the US AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Cincinnati Bell and Best Buy will offer the handset, while north of the border in Canada, Bell, Rogers Communications, Telus and Virgin Mobile Canada will carry the One.

In Europe, Middle East and Africa, One will be available at various carriers and retailers including Orange, Vodafone, T-Mobile, EE (Everything Everywhere), Carphone Warehouse UK, Cosmote, O2 and others.

The handset will also hit the Chinese market through China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom, Latin America as well as the Asia-Pacific area.
The Windows Store is like a Bangkok night market -- full of cheap knockoffs

Publié: février 19, 2013, 5:08pm CET par Wayne Williams

When Windows 8 launched on October 26 2012, the Windows Store had an estimated 9,000 apps available to purchase or download. Today, according to the excellent MetroStore Scanner, that figure has risen to 43,083 worldwide, of which 28,904 are available in the US store, and 26,385 in the UK one.

The biggest problem with the Windows Store is not the overall number of apps -- in four months it’s seen reasonable growth although the number of new weekly additions has slowed -- the issue is more with quality. While there’s no shortage of third-party apps, many of which are very good, you can’t help but notice how many big names are absent.

There’s no sign of official apps for Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Gmail, Google Maps, Pandora, Spotify, Instagram, Firefox, Groupon, BBC News, or iPlayer… the list goes on and on. The absences aren’t immediately apparent because the third-party developers are doing a good job of making their products look official by using the relevant logos and designs, but dig deeper and you’ll see the Windows Store is packed with cheap fakes.

There are several excuses why genuine versions of important apps aren’t available in the store. For starters not all of them need to be. You can access the services on the web, and -- for Windows RT/Windows 8 Pro tablets and Windows Phone devices -- in mobile-friendly format. Although that argument could be used for iPad and Android platforms, and they both have apps for all the major services.

Email and social accounts can be accessed through the built-in Windows 8 People app of course, but it’s far from ideal and lacks the features you’d get in an app dedicated to a particular service.

"It’s still early days for the new OS" is another reasonable argument for the lack of official apps, and it’s true, although after four months, that excuse is beginning to wear paper thin. After all this is Microsoft Windows we’re talking about here. It’s hardly a small, unknown platform and we’ve all known about the Windows Store since September 2011. The biggest problem is a lot of companies, like the BBC, Google and Facebook aren’t dragging their heels when it comes to developing apps for Windows 8 and RT (or Windows Phone 8 for that matter) they simply have "no plans" to do so. Instead they are focusing on iOS and Android. Proven ecosystems.

It’s often the case that developers will produce an app for iOS first and then follow it up with one for Android (Google’s mobile platform is harder to develop for because of OS fragmentation and the sheer variety of screen shapes and sizes to cater for). Occasionally bigger developers will release apps for both platforms simultaneously, and sometimes for Android first. Windows is a third platform, and one which a lot of developers simply see no pressing need to even acknowledge at the moment. Or indeed ever.

While a Firefox app is in development, the majority of the absent apps I listed previously just aren’t likely to appear, unless Surface and the other Windows RT and Windows 8 Pro powered tablets really take off.

And let’s not forget to mention that some of the official apps which have appeared on Windows 8 -- Dropbox in particular -- are so poor you kind of wish they hadn’t been developed in the first place anyway.

So what’s the solution to the apps problem? It’s simple. Windows 8 needs to perform. Microsoft needs to sell a lot of copies (not just licences), shift a lot of tablets, and prove that the people using its products are also using apps, not just bypassing the Start screen on their way to the desktop. The company has to show the demand is there, it has to convince developers that they need to develop for the OS. It has make Windows 8 a viable app platform.

At the moment I can’t see that happening. Surface Pro is reportedly selling well, but it needs to maintain and grow that momentum, because it’s tablet and phone sales -- and only tablet and phone sales -- which will drive app downloads and ultimately the demand.

If you’re a Windows 8 user what do you think about the lack of official apps? Does it concern you, or have you found enough decent third-party replacements? Leave your comments below.

Photo Credit: Gwoeii/Shutterstock
HTC DROID DNA, One S and XL receive S-Off treatment

Publié: février 19, 2013, 2:53pm CET par Mihaita Bamburic

Great news for Android enthusiasts rocking an HTC One S, One XL or DROID DNA! A team of developers has revealed an S-Off hack that fully unleashes the modding potential of the three smartphones by allowing users to flash a custom recovery or distribution straight from hboot.

In order to achieve S-Off nirvana, One S, One XL and DROID DNA users must enable root and have superCID, the latter of which allows for the installation of custom distributions independent of the country identifier (CID). Afterwards, the process is fairly simple to carry out with users only needing to download a patcher file and input a number of commands inside a terminal.

Users have to extract the patcher in the working directory, find the model ID in adb mode, download the zip file that matches the One S, One XL or DROID DNA model ID, reboot the bootloader in adb mode, reboot the RUU in fastboot mode, flash the corresponding zip file in fastboot mode, boot in fastboot mode, insert three commands via adb mode and finally reboot the bootloader, again in adb mode.

Afterwards "Facepalm" S-Off is enabled on the One S, One XL and DROID DNA. The method has been confirmed to work by a number of users, on all three HTC-made devices.
The Weather Channel will now tell your Android when rain will start and stop

Publié: février 19, 2013, 2:46pm CET par Alan Buckingham

There are no shortage of weather apps for Android devices, but many of us are already familiar with the Weather Channel, making it a fairly easy choice -- I switched to that app a couple of years ago after leaving Weather Bug. Now the TV network has issued a major overhaul of its mobile app for Android.

The first thing you will notice in the update, which began rolling out late yesterday, is a completely revamped user interface. The Now screen, which opens by default, still shows the temperature and current conditions, but comes with an ad background -- which is a bit annoying. Still the additional information is useful. For instance, my Now screen is currently telling me: "Rain likely Tuesday at 11:15 am EST".

The menu has moved from the bottom of the screen to the top and now has fewer options. Social, for instance, has gone, replaced by four simple choices -- Map, Now, Videos, and Forecast. Above these are icons for Search, Share and Settings.

Share is a new and much welcome addition because it has been an inclusion in the aforementioned Weather Bug for some time and allows users to share their local conditions, forecast or maps via a number of options, including Facebook, Twitter, cloud services, and a lot more.

In addition, the forecasts now offer more detail, the app has been optimized for tablets, there is a refresh button, and users can set up favorite locations to take full advantage of weather widgets and notifications.

All of the updates, with the exception of the ad background on the Now screen, are very welcome in my opinion. New users get walked through a series of tutorial-type screens when the app first launches and you will also need to reset your home location, but after completing these minor tasks I think most will find the updates very rewarding.

Photo credit: Ralf Juergen Kraft/Shutterstock
Use AllOff to automatically shut down an idle PC

Publié: février 19, 2013, 2:30pm CET par Mike Williams

In theory Windows should be able to shut down a PC when it’s been idle for a while, and even if that doesn’t work for you, there are plenty of tools around which promise to do something similar. In practice, though, the difficulty of detecting idle time accurately means that these tools aren’t always reliable, which is why many people take the safer approach of leaving their system running all the time.

AllOff is a little different, though. This free (for personal use) tool doesn’t just shut down your PC after some fixed period of time, or when your keyboard or mouse haven’t been used for a while. It also monitors CPU usage, even download speeds, and provides a host of configuration options to ensure everything works just as you require.

After a slightly more complex installation than usual (you have to register the program with your email address), AllOff presents its default console. It’s not exactly going to win any interface design awards, but this does provide all the key details you need. So you’ll see that by default your system will close if there’s no activity for 10 minutes; an "idle" counter will show you how close you are to that figure; and a couple of figures for your CPU usage and download rate highlight any current background activity.

Click Config, though, and you’ll find the program’s settings, which is where life gets much more interesting.

By default AllOff will calculate your average CPU usage over 5 seconds, for instance, which makes it less likely that the idle count will be reset by a brief spike in activity. But you can adjust that averaging time to anything from 1 to 30 seconds, as well as setting a minimum CPU usage figure which you’d consider as idle, to make the program even more accurate.

You can set the minimum download rate, which again aims to prevent the idle count being reset unnecessarily (when some update checker briefly connects to its website, for instance).

AllOff will also leap into action if your mouse and keyboard have been inactive for your preferred period of time.

And there’s plenty more. You could enable only some of these idle detection methods, say, perhaps ignoring the CPU check and using only download rate, keyboard and mouse monitoring. You’re able to have the program control a remote PC. There are multiple logging and console display options (minimize to the system tray, set the AllOff window to be "always on top"). And of course you can choose your preferred action when the program does finally activate (Hibernate, Log off, Power off, Reboot, Shutdown, Standby).

Even at this final point, though, AllOff still gives you choices. So you can have your system power down in a couple of seconds. But if you’d prefer to be cautious then you can have the program display a warning alert for up to 10 minutes, giving you time to cancel the shutdown, while clearing the "Force" checkbox means open applications won’t be forced to close.

You don’t have to get into any of this complexity at first, of course -- in our experience the default settings worked very well. But, if you do have any problems, AllOff’s extensive configuration options should help you fine tune its performance, and it certainly earns a thumbs up from us.

Photo Credit: Sashkin/Shutterstock
Sony Xperia Z receives root and joins the modding ranks

Publié: février 19, 2013, 1:42pm CET par Mihaita Bamburic

With Sony's efforts to support the Android modding and developer community, it really should come as no surprise that the recently-unveiled Xperia Z smartphone is now bestowed with root. The noteworthy achievement is facilitated by the CF-Auto-Root solution available for the LG-made Google Nexus 4, a device which shares most of the underpinnings of the Xperia Z.

The two devices share the same 1.5GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro chipset and because of it the developer has only slightly modified the Nexus 4 ramdisk from CF-Auto-Root to unleash elevated privileges on the Xperia Z. The app chosen to manage rooting requests is the traditional SuperSU.

The Xperia Z must sport an unlocked bootloder in order to enable root, as well as firmware version 10.1.A.1.350. The fastboot tool is also needed as to upload files onto the device. Users have to reboot into bootloader mode, flash a modded kernel, reboot, disconnect the USB cable and perform a hard shut down, before reconnecting the Xperia Z in fastboot mode, flashing the stock kernel and rebooting the device.

In order to fully take advantage of apps that require root it is also recommended to install a BusyBox from Google Play. BusyBox by Stephen (Stericson) comes highly recommended by members of the modding community. The app installs a number of files (the recommended path to install them is /system/xbin/) which can be used by apps that require elevated privileges to run certain commands.

The root method has been tested on an Xperia Z model C6603, but according to the developer it should work on the C6602 variant as well.