Gregarius » BetaNews.Com » août 6, 2013

BetaNews.Com (13 non lus)

Intel announces Education Tablets -- powered by Android and Atom

Publié: août 6, 2013, 6:54pm CEST par Brian Fagioli

Tablets allow students to leverage technology to improve learning. An iPad for instance, can offer a more immersible experience when compared to a paper textbook. While there are many educational based applications for Android and iOS, there hasn't been a serious education-focused tablet from a major manufacturer -- until now. Intel has announced a new line of Android-based tablets designed for learning.

According to Intel, the tablets "...available in 7-inch and 10-inch sizes, are designed specifically for education and built to meet students' needs. The multi-touch display and e-Reader software enable students to access rich online content. Ultra-portability allows them to take the device to the field to capture data with the built-in camera and analyze it with Intel Education Software. They can collaborate with their classmates, while comparing their findings to others on the web".

In other words, Intel is including software to distinguish its Education Tablets from the other devices on the market. According to Intel, the software has the following benefits:

Helps students develop 21st century skills -- such as communication, collaboration, creativity, problem solving, critical thinking, and digital literacy -- through rich, interactive applications.
Empowers educators with tools to manage the classroom and keep students on task.
Enables IT to keep students and technology safe and secure from malware and loss with Intel Education Software IT.

However, it is not only software that makes these tablets unique -- it is also hardware. According to the product briefs, both tablets will offer an optional plug-in temperature probe. The inclusion of a thermal-probe is revolutionary and allows students to conduct experiments that no other consumer tablet can. As an example, a student can stick the probe into a beaker of liquid and study its temperature as heat is increased.

Also available is a snap-on magnification lens. This will operate as a low-powered microscope and allow students to examine things like leaves and bugs up-close. This will likely be most beneficial to elementary-aged students that are just beginning their scientific explorations.

The major differences between the two variants can be seen below:

Attributes	Intel® Education Tablet - 10” Intel® Atom™ Z2460	Intel® Education Tablet - 7” Intel® Atom™ Z2420
Dimensions	10’’ Tablet	7’’ Tablet
Platform	Android 4.0	Android 4.1
Resolution	1280x 800TFT LCD (16:10)	1024x 600TFT LCD (16:9)
Stylus option	Capacitive stylus	Capacitive stylus (optional)
Battery life	6.5+ hours battery	8 hours battery
Camera	Front (0.3MP) Rear (2MP)	Front (0.3MP) Rear (2MP)
CPU/Chipset	Intel® Atom™ processor Z2460 - 1.6GHz	Intel Atom processor Z2420 - 1.2GHz
Multi-media options	Integrated speakers and microphone	Integrated speakers and microphone
Software	Intel® Education Sofware included	Intel Education Sofware included
RAM	1GB LPDDR2	1GB LPDDR2

Intel has not yet announced availability or pricing of these innovative tablets. However, pricing will be the key to adoption by schools and students.

Bing teams with 500px in new photo offering

Publié: août 6, 2013, 6:27pm CEST par Alan Buckingham

500px is a famous app for photographers -- but there are other reasons for its renown, most notably its temporary ban by Apple from the App Store on that grounds that it provided easy access to pornographic material. Regardless of that seemingly bad publicity, the service has signed a new a photography deal with Microsoft.

Bing has an iconic home screen that features a new image every day, showing off spectacular photography from around the globe. The company brags that "by following a simple, consistent theme of one beautiful image per day to show a unique perspective on the world our homepage has become synonymous with great photography".

The new deal will see 500px images gracing Bing. Microsoft explains, "in the coming months, we will highlight select images from over 2.5 million members of the 500px community thru selected parts of the Bing.com experience. As a passionate photographer myself, I am particularly excited about the platform and exposure this will provide to photographers around the world".

This will certainly enhance the Bing page, bringing even more great images to the masses and giving much-needed exposure to photographers who use 500px to show off their work.
Skype for Windows Phone adds People List Filter, improves Home Screen

Publié: août 6, 2013, 6:13pm CEST par Nick Peers

Microsoft has released Skype for Windows Phone 2.9, an update to its popular video and audio messaging tool for Windows Phone users. Version 2.9 ships with two notable changes, an improved Home Screen and new People List Filter.

The People List Filter has been implemented as a direct result of user feedback, with Microsoft responding to user wishes to have the option of splitting Windows Phone contacts from Skype contacts in the Skype People List.

With version 2.9 users can now filter this view to show all contacts, Skype contacts only or just available contacts. It also comes with an improved home screen that allows users to pivot through app functions. In addition, the Favorite Contact tiles have been made smaller to allow three to be seen on-screen at once.

The update is rounded off with the usual unspecified performance tweaks and general bug fixes, and follows a week after both Mac and Windows desktop versions were updated to version 6.7.

Skype for Mac 6.7 came with an overhauled search tool that makes finding conversations, contacts and phone numbers simpler than ever. The new build also resolved a number of issues include one that saw messages sent to a Facebook contact showing up more than once.

The Windows build, Skype for Desktop 6.7, was a more minor refresh, promising a sharper user interface with support for high-contrast mode to go with a number of -- again -- unspecified improvements and fixes.

Skype for Windows Phone 2.9, Skype for Mac 6.7 and Skype for Desktop 6.7 are all available as free downloads for the relevant platforms, along with Skype for iPhone 4.9, Skype for iPad 4.9 and Skype for Android 4.0.
Amazon gets fancy, brings art galleries to your computer

Publié: août 6, 2013, 4:05pm CEST par Alan Buckingham

Amazon sells many things -- customers can shop for everything from electronics to grocery store items. With a Prime membership you can even receive free two-day shipping. But I doubt customers think of the retail giant in the same breath as an art gallery -- the Louvre certainly does not come to mind.

To be fair, the famous Paris museum is not selling off its collection on Amazon, or anywhere else, but art galleries now have a home on Amazon. Today the retailer announces Amazon Art, "a marketplace that gives customers direct access to more than 40,000 works of fine art from over 150 galleries and dealers".

Customers will now be able to explore fine art from galleries of varying sizes, including Paddle8 in New York, Holden Luntz in Miami, McLoughlin Gallery in San Francisco, Modernbook in San Francisco and Catherine Person Gallery in Seattle, as well as others from the US and those located in the UK, the Netherlands and Canada.

"We are excited to bring one of the largest selections of fine art direct from galleries to our customers. Amazon Art gives galleries a way to bring their passion and expertise about the artists they represent to our millions of customers", said Peter Faricy, vice president for the Amazon Marketplace

The new site allows customers to enjoy a gallery experience, browse by categories, view high quality images and detailed information, all from one place.

Make no mistake, this is still a store and the works are yours for purchase, though your wallet will certainly take a hit if you plan to pursue this.
Firefox 23 enables mixed content blocking, consolidates search settings

Publié: août 6, 2013, 1:43pm CEST par Nick Peers

Mozilla has released Firefox 23.0 FINAL, the latest version of its open-source, cross-platform browser for Windows, Mac and Linux. The new build’s main highlight is the implementation of mixed-content blocking for improved security, but it also comes with a host of minor changes, including one that has already provoked a negative response from power users.

The controversial change is the consolidation of search default preferences so both Address bar and Search bar use the same default search engine. Previously Address bar searches defaulted to Google regardless of the default provider set in the Search bar.

The major consequence of this move is that the keyword.url configuration option has been removed, which previously allowed users to set their own choice of default search engine for the Address bar. Note that existing keyword searches are not affected.

Frustrated users willing to risk breaking some other search features can restore the keyword.url functionality with the experimental keyword.URL Hack! add-on.

The new Mixed Content Blocker feature is now switched on by default – this now blocks certain insecure content -- such as scripts -- on secure websites by default to prevent eavesdropping and "man-in-the-middle" attacks.

On visiting such a site, all active insecure content is disabled and a small shield icon in the address bar will alert the user to the presence of insecure content. To view this content, click the shield icon followed by the Keep Blocking drop-down menu and choose Disable Protection on This Page. All content will subsequently load and the usual yellow warning sign indicating mixed content will be displayed in its place.

While passive content isn’t blocked, the site will not display a lock icon because it’s not fully encrypted.

Other improvements in Firefox 23 include a revamped program icon, plus the addition of a "click-to-start" option for disabled plugins. Instead of disabling or enabling plugins under about:addons, users can set plugins to "Always Activate" or "Never Activate". By selecting the latter option, plugins won’t run unless a website specifically requests them, in which case the user can click to confirm the use of the plugin on that website only.

The new SocialAPI gains a number of updates in this release: support for a new Share Panel, full-screen video chats, a SocialMark recommend button and initial support for Web Install, which is designed to facilitate the finding and installation of new social providers.

Developers gain a new global browser console, plus a new Network Monitor toolbox, which provides a timeline view of network activity on a website -- the data has been available since Firefox 4.0, but is now presented in a more accessible form. Similarly, the about:memory configuration screen provides a more functional user interface.

Three options have also been removed from the Preferences dialog: Load images automatically, Enable JavaScript and Always show the tab bar. The about:memory user interface is now more functional, and there are also a number of developer updates including partial support for Web Audio, enabled for testing purposes. Mac users should also see Firefox adopt the new scrollbar style implemented in Lion (OS X 10.7) and later.

Firefox 23.0 FINAL is available now as a free, open-source download for Windows, Mac and Linux.

Surface sales are pathetic

Publié: août 6, 2013, 1:06pm CEST par Wayne Williams

It feels like repeatedly kicking someone when they’re down, but there’s really no other way to describe Windows tablet sales -- both RT and Windows 8 Pro -- other than pathetic and embarrassing for Microsoft. Which is a shame. Surface is a great tablet, Windows 8 on Surface is a good operating system, but people just aren’t buying the device in any great numbers. Well, pre-fire sale at least.

According to a new report from IDC, just 200,000 Windows RT tablets shipped in Q2 2013 (even the ailing BlackBerry PlayBook managed 100,000), and there’s no good news for other Windows tablets either as IDC reports just 1.8 million devices shipped with that OS onboard. Apple, by comparison, shipped 14.6 million iPads in the same quarter.

Worldwide tablet shipment growth slowed noticeably -- surprising precisely no one -- as there were no exciting new devices to drool over. According to preliminary data from IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Tablet Tracker total tablet shipping volumes fell -9.7 percent from 1Q13 to 45.1 million units. But that number was up 59.6 percent from the same quarter in 2012, when tablet vendors shipped 28.3 million devices. IDC defines a tablet as any LCD-based slate with a screen size of between 7 and 16 inches.

The iPad’s 14.6 million shipments were lower than predicted and down from 19.5 million in 1Q13. Second-place Samsung shipped 8.1 million units, down from 8.6 million in the first quarter, but a marked improvement over the 2.1 million units shipped in 2Q12. ASUS, taking the third place slot, shipped a total of 2 million units in 2Q13, down from 2.6 million in 1Q13. Lenovo shipped 1.5 million devices, up a whopping 313.9 percent from a year ago, and Acer shipped 1.4 million tablets for 247.9 percent year-over-year growth.

"The tablet market is still evolving and vendors can rise and fall quickly as a result," Ryan Reith, Program Manager for IDC's Mobility Tracker programs observes. "Apple aside, the remaining vendors are still very much figuring out which platform strategy will be successful over the long run. To date, Android has been far more successful than the Windows 8 platform. However, Microsoft-fueled products are starting to make notable progress into the market".

Top Five Tablet Vendors, Shipments, and Market Share, Second Quarter 2013 (Shipments in millions)

Vendor	2Q13 Unit Shipments	2Q13 Market Share	2Q12 Unit Shipments	2Q12 Market Share	Year-over-Year Growth
1. Apple	14.6	32.4%	17.0	60.3%	-14.1%
2. Samsung	8.1	18.0%	2.1	7.6%	277.0%
3. ASUS	2.0	4.5%	0.9	3.3%	120.3%
4. Lenovo	1.5	3.3%	0.4	1.3%	313.9%
5. Acer	1.4	3.1%	0.4	1.4%	247.9%
Others	17.5	38.8%	7.4	26.2%	136.6%
Total	45.1	100.0%	28.3	100.0%	59.6%

Source: IDC Worldwide Tablet Tracker, August 5, 2013.

Top Tablet Operating Systems, Shipments, and Market Share, Second Quarter 2013 (Shipments in Millions)

Vendor	2Q13 Unit Shipments	2Q13 Market Share	2Q12 Unit Shipments	2Q12 Market Share	Year-over-Year Growth
1. Android	28.2	62.6%	10.7	38.0%	162.9%
2. iOS	14.6	32.5%	17.0	60.3%	-14.1%
3. Windows	1.8	4.0%	0.3	1.0%	527.0%
4. Windows RT	0.2	0.5%	N/A	N/A	N/A
5. BlackBerry OS	0.1	0.3%	0.2	0.7%	-32.8%
Others	0.1	0.2%	N/A	N/A	N/A
Total	45.1	100.0%	28.3	100.0%	59.6%

In drastically cutting the price of Surface RT and, most recently, Surface Pro, Microsoft is hoping to drive sales and finally kickstart its tablet line. Windows tablets account for just 4.5 percent market share, lagging miles behind iOS (32.5 percent) and Android (62.6 percent) so there's a lot of serious catching up to do.

Photo Credit: stefanolunardi/Shutterstock

Apple announces takeback program for dodgy iOS power adapters

Publié: août 6, 2013, 12:44pm CEST par Mark Wilson

Ahead of its August 16 launch, Apple reveals details of a takeback program that aims to replace third-party power adapters with authentic units. Concern over the safety of third-party and counterfeit adapters for iPhones, iPads and iPods prompted the scheme, and Apple says any adapters handed in will be "disposed of in an environmentally friendly way".

So what's the incentive for just giving your current adapter to Apple? Well aside from that warm, fluffy feeling that comes from knowing that you're helping to do your little bit for the environment rather than just adding to landfill, Apple has another carrot to dangle.

Don't get your hopes up -- Apple is not going to be offering free replacements. But the program will enable anyone who is interested in getting hold of a genuine power adapter to do so for the reduced price of $10 (or the worldwide equivalent).

No safety testing is offered, so if you have a third-party adapter you have concerns about, the program will not enable you to find out if it is dangerous. Rather you get to hand over your old adaptor and buy a shiny, new genuine one for a discounted price.

Users are limited to one adapter per iOS device, and the program runs until October 18, 2013. You'll need to take your power adapter and iPhone, iPad, or iPod to an Apple Retail Store or participating Apple Authorized Service Provider.

Full details and links to find your closest stores, can be found at the announcement page.

Photo Credit: Wayne Williams
New IBM Flex Systems squeeze a bigger cloud into a smaller data center

Publié: août 6, 2013, 11:45am CEST par Ian Barker

Announcing a raft of additions to its Flex System range, IBM aims to help companies consolidate their IT infrastructures and reduce operating costs. The new systems combine the latest server technology with updated virtualization, network and management tools. They will allow the fast deployment of increasingly large clouds without needing to boost the size of the data center.

IBM quotes Morgan Stanley's Cloud Perspective survey which has found that by 2014 businesses will have migrated at least 62 percent of their database workloads to the cloud.

The new Flex Systems are available with a choice of x86 and Big Blue's own POWER7 architecture. The Flex System x222 uses a dual-density x86 architecture that allows it to support up to 2,800 Windows 7 user images on a single chassis. There's also an upgrade to the Flex System Manager so that systems can be monitored remotely using Android, Blackberry and iOS devices. A new utilization fuel gauge feature allows system managers to see at a glance the status and availability of their servers.

Flex servers can be built to order for clients who have specific processing, storage and networking configurations. You can find more information and access a configuration tool at the www.ibm.com/flex site.
Nokia Lumia 1020 Windows Phone is available to pre-order in UK

Publié: août 6, 2013, 11:10am CEST par Mihaita Bamburic

When Nokia unveiled the Lumia 1020, during its "Zoom.Reinvented" press event held in mid-July, the Finnish maker announced that its camera-oriented Windows Phone will initially only be available in the US. Prospective international buyers would have to wait a little longer to get their hands on the new smartphone, with the provided estimate being Q3 -- pretty vague for a launch date -- for China and important European markets.

Good news! UK retailers Clove and Expansys have started taking pre-orders for the Lumia 1020, allowing interested buyers to get the new Windows Phone as soon as it is available -- according to the former, the first batch is expected to arrive in the first week of September. And, both UK retailers offer international shipping, which should come in handy for some.

So, how much does it cost to pre-order it? Well, you may want to sit down for this. For a new Lumia 1020, in black, yellow or white, Clove now asks £588, while at Expansys the Windows Phone can be pre-ordered for a slightly higher £599.99. That is a bit on the north side of $900 ($903 and $921, respectively).

The Lumia 1020 will be available at considerably lower prices with mobile operator contracts, however those who wish to steer clear of such agreements will have to pay the smartphone in full. And, judging by the pre-order cost, what Clove and Expansys ask now appears to be pretty accurate in terms of off-contract pricing.

The highlights of the Lumia 1020 include: 4.5-inch AMOLED display with a resolution of 768 by 1280 and a 334 ppi (pixels per inch) density; 1.5 GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor; 2 GB of RAM; 2,000 mAh non-removable battery; 41 MP back-facing camera; 1.2 MP shooter on the front; 32 GB of internal storage; 4G LTE and HSPA+ cellular connectivity. The Lumia 1020 comes in at 130.4 x 71.4 x 10.4 mm and 158 grams.
Keep IT flying under the radar

Publié: août 6, 2013, 10:32am CEST par Tijl Vuyk
The Information Technology (IT) department is the oxygen of the business world. It’s crucial, but, many times, invisible. In fact, many of the complex processes that IT supports are most successful when nobody notices them at all. They just happen, and all is well. When something goes wrong, IT goes into fire-fighting mode and people start scrutinizing, asking questions and second-guessing.

The problem takes center stage and pushes all other IT priorities aside. It costs time, money and focus. Problems can cost reputations and customers, too.

That’s why the IT department spends a lot of effort to keep everything humming along as smoothly as possible. When IT delivers against expected availability and SLAs, the team can dedicate their valuable time and energy to future-proof systems, improve services and pre-emptively adapt to constantly changing requirements and threats.

When the Air Gets Thin

But when the oxygen runs out or, more likely, when a company executive comes up against an IT problem -- like inaccurate financial processes, slow delivery of business intelligence (BI), billing errors or uncoordinated supply chain activities -- the tech team comes under fire. It can happen anywhere.

Technology is the fundamental support for most businesses activities -- whether the customer in question is external, or a part of the internal executive team. As a result of technological and process advances, all of these customers are now more demanding than ever, too.

Just like the internal stakeholders, external customers mean business. Recent US and UK research conducted by Redwood Software, Inc., clearly shows that IT problems which result in poor service, redundant questions or disconnected customer service can be damaging -- even financially devastating -- to any business.*

The research found that high-quality, consistent IT and business processes are fundamental to building long term loyalty from consumers -- and supporting a healthy cash flow. For example, when purchasing online, two thirds of consumers simply lose interest and abandon their carts if the process takes too long (66 percent) or is too complicated (60.8 pecent). In the UK, these bored web shoppers represent a £28 billion loss in sales for 2013**. For the US the picture is even more serious. These erstwhile shoppers make up a loss of approximately US$16.5 billion in sales in the first quarter of 2013*** alone.

That should send a shiver down the spine of CEOs and CFOs everywhere. Add to this the finding that almost three quarters of consumers will leave an online marketplace if they can’t easily find what they were looking for -- heading straight into the arms of the competition -- and it starts to look like every dime not invested in delivering improved business and IT processes is a wasted one.

Stealth Technology

For IT to remain below the radar and provide the most consistent service, it’s time that everyone involved rethinks the way they operate. Business and IT leaders should work together to examine every repeatable processes they execute. How much time and effort could they save if they accomplished these processes with less manual effort? How could they get faster, more accurate results every time?

First, they have to use technological prowess to their best advantage. That means business and IT have to use the most powerful element in the history of any industry -- automation -- wherever possible. Of course, automation can’t solve every problem for IT and the business, but it can deliver consistency, reliability, efficiency and quality. Not a bad place to start!

Machines perform tireless, uniform tasks around the clock in fractions of a second. Repeatable activities that demand absolute accuracy, consistency and reliability, like inventory maintenance, credit card processing, order-taking -- and many, many others -- beg to be automated. Tricky business intelligence (BI) procedures and Big Data analytics can all be brought down to human size through automated processes.

Automating and connecting processes at a high level delivers IT and process excellence every time they’re used. For example:
- A large financial services company uses enterprise-wide automation to compile more than 24 terabytes of sales transaction data at the end of each day and produce reports by 7 AM the following morning.
- An international pharmaceutical company used automation to connect their manufacturing and finance departments while reducing their IT infrastructure costs by 70 percent.
- A global fashion retailer automated its sales and inventory replenishment process so that they now respond quickly to market demands and product requirements with accurate, automatic business intelligence every day.
And these are just a few examples. The future belongs to those who can use automation to their real business advantage. Are you ready?

Photo Credit: twobee/Shutterstock

* In March 2013, 2,000 US and 2,000 UK consumers were surveyed by OnePoll about their real-life and virtual interactions with retailers, service providers, and financial organizations. An infographic breaking down the OnePoll findings for the US is available at: http://www.redwood.com/infographics/little-big-problems-us for the UK, the infographic is available here: http://www.redwood.com/infographics/little-big-problems-uk.

**IMRG Capgemini eRetail Sales Index predicted a 2013 UK online spend of £87 billion

*** ComScore 2013 U.S. retail e-commerce spend in Q1 2013 surpassed $50 billion

Tijl Vuyk founded Redwood Software in 1993 and, as the Chief Executive Officer, is responsible for setting the company's vision and worldwide business strategy. Under his stewardship, Redwood has continually innovated to deliver a strong trajectory of growth and profitability -- to become one of the world's leading enterprise business and IT process automation and report distribution solution providers.
Moborobo lets you manage iPhone or Android devices from your PC

Publié: août 6, 2013, 3:29am CEST par Mike Williams

If you’d like to manage your smartphone from a PC then just connecting the two devices should help you get started. Your device should show up in the Computer folder, and you’ll be able to drag and drop files to it, just like any other drive.

Need more? Then you might want to consider the free Moborobo. File transfers, backups, imports and exports are just the start of its abilities, and -- conveniently -- the program works both with Android devices and the iPhone.

To get started, you’ll need to connect the phone to your PC. Wifi will be fine, or you can use USB for greater speed (you’ll need to enable USB debugging on Android phones at Settings > Developer Options, but a Moborobo prompt explains all).

Once you’re hooked up then Moborobo’s home page displays your device status: model name, firmware version, battery life, used and free storage space, and a basic summary of your contacts, messages, apps, music, videos and more.

There are plenty of file transfer tools, of course. Click the Music button, say, and you can view all the tracks on your phone, play anything you like, add more, delete any you don’t want, and export particular songs to the current system.

It’s just as easy to manage your images, or videos. And you’re able to edit your contacts, add new ones, view your text messages, even reply to them from the comfort of your PC.

Moborobo can help you find new content, too: apps, wallpaper, ringtones and videos can all be located from the program’s built-in resource centres.

There are various useful bonus tools here, including options to capture your device screen, delete cached files to save space, back up and restore your data.

And the ability to work with both Android and iOS devices delivers even more conveniences, including the ability to transfer contacts across the platforms.

If you’re just after Android management then there are plenty of alternatives around, of course. AirDroid delivers a great deal via your web browser, no need to install any PC software at all.

Moborobo remains a likeable package, though, capable and easy to use, and if you’d prefer a Windows client then it’s definitely worth a try.
Bing gets a sexy makeover for Windows Phone 8

Publié: août 6, 2013, 3:12am CEST par Brian Fagioli

While Android users are tightly integrated with Google Search, Windows Phone 8 users are even more tightly integrated with Bing. Heck, there is even a button that is dedicated to launching Bing Search. Today, the Bing Team announces that the search engine-related functionality is getting a brand new makeover to improve the experience on Windows Phone 8.

According to the Bing Team, the company will "...roll out a set of global updates for Windows Phone 8 similar to recent upgrades we've made to Bing.com on Android and iOS. With this release, we're excited to provide people with more info they need on their mobile device, including additional instant answers and Snapshot entity information". While this update is appreciated, it is disappointing that Microsoft gave similar updates to Android and iOS first.

The Bing team explains that not all of the existing search views were being used. In fact, users likely didn't know the views were there. "Consolidating and streamlining the views should reduce confusion and help people find what they’re looking for more easily" says Bing product manager Alisher Saydalikhodjayev.

As a Windows Phone 8 user myself, I can attest to this problem. Often, having to scroll through the views was overwhelming. Sure, the data is beneficial but the interface was not engaging or intuitive.

Bing will also improve the results for popular searches. According to the Bing Team, "...say you search for 'Delta Airlines'. Bing shows delta.com as the top result, but also provides links to Flight Status, SkyMiles, Track Flight, Flight Schedules, and other popular destinations within the site, saving some tap". This is a really cool feature that should improve the productivity of Windows Phone 8 users.

One of the best features of Bing on Windows Phone 8 is "Instant Answers". This allows you to ask real questions to your phone. The Bing Team says that this update "...brings 10 new Instant Answers available on the PC to the phone, including traffic, flight status, exchange rates, word definitions and translations, and more". As someone who travels with his Windows Phone 8 device, exchange rates in particular will come in very handy.

Bing will also bring its Snapshot feature from the web-version of Bing to Windows Phone 8. According to Bing, this feature "...provides information at-a-glance about people, places, or things, so you can quickly find what you’re searching for".

The search engine further explains Snapshot with examples: "...type in the name of a coworker and you might see details like where they went to school, where they worked, and other people connected to searches for that person. For a place like Mt. Everest, you might see things like a short description, elevation, date of first ascent, and the names of some of the famous people who summited it".

While these new features are great, it is an the under-the-hood improvement that may be the most important. According to Alisher Saydalikhodjayev, "...post update, your phone downloads results only for the default Web view. Images and Videos are populated on demand if you swipe over to them. That's a big change from how things work on your phone today. Today Bing fills all four existing categories with results every time you search, whether you use them or not".

In other words, this update will stop Bing from downloading results that users are not even looking at. Instead, it will download the results for each category as the user swipes to it. This will not only make the search faster, but it will also conserve precious data -- increasingly important in the new tiered-data world in which we live.

Unfortunately, most Windows Phone 8 users do not yet have access to the new and improved Bing. According to the number-two search engine, the update "...will show up automatically on U.S. phones in the coming weeks, with additional markets coming thereafter".

I happily and eagerly await the update for my Nokia Lumia 928.

Image Credit: AlikeYou / Shutterstock
Roku welcomes Redbox Instant

Publié: août 6, 2013, 2:30am CEST par Alan Buckingham

Roku customers have no shortage of viewing material, and the list continuously grows, most recently adding Demand 5 for customers in the UK. That only adds to features such as the numerous channels and premium services like Amazon Prime, Hulu and Netflix. But now, the little set-top box grows by one more option.

Today the company announces the launch of Redbox Instant, giving users one more choice for movie watching, popcorn munching fun. Again, this adds a minor fee to the monthly bill for customers, though it is still likely still less demanding, even with all features, than your cable or satellite tab.

The device maker tells us it will be "available to all customers in the U.S. with a Roku 3, Roku 2, Roku HD (model 2500) or Roku LT (models 2400 & 2450) player or the Roku Streaming Stick".

Redbox Instant by Verizon promises more than 5,500 streaming videos, movie trailers, bookmarking and parental controls. Of course, this adds $8 to your monthly bill but, like I said, combine all of these services and you will still save money over your current TV provider.