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BetaNews.Com (15 non lus)

Searches in Windows 8.1 just got smarter

Publié: avril 30, 2014, 7:08pm CEST par Wayne Williams

One of the things I like best about Windows 8.1 is the Smart Search feature. Powered by Bing, it lets you look for anything -- a program or app installed on your computer, a file stored on your hard drive or in the cloud, or a website. You open up the Start or Apps screen, and just start typing (or you can use the new Search button which was introduced with Windows 8.1 Update) and then choose the relevant result.

I have no complaints about it (although I still use Google for most of my web searches), but today Microsoft is making the Smart Search feature a whole lot more powerful with natural language understanding so you can search for something, even if you’re not sure exactly what it is you’re looking for.

Windows 8.1 Update is a hell of a lot easier to use than Windows 8 was, but working out how to do something, like install a printer, or find and install new apps, may not be immediately obvious to new users. Now though, you don’t have to blunder about trying to work out where you need to go to perform that task -– you just tell Windows what it is you want to do. Type "Install a printer" for example and it will tell you that you need to go to Device Settings. Click the result below and you're all set.

You can search for all sorts of things, and phrase your query in different ways. For example, Windows will understand things like "get apps for Windows", "my screen is too bright", "how do I delete an app".

In addition, Microsoft has updated search to recognize more common spelling mistakes and it will now showcase more relevant apps related to your queries.

"One of the most exciting things about this feature is that it demonstrates how the Bing platform makes our Windows product more useful and helpful without having to update the Windows client software," the Bing Relevance Team states in a new blog post. "Just like our speech work in Xbox or our constantly improving Cortana functionality, the power of Bing as a platform means products you use every day simply get more personal, helpful and intelligent every day".

Smart Search will likely still draw a blank if you ask it where the Start menu is though...
Google to stop spying on your children

Publié: avril 30, 2014, 7:05pm CEST par Brian Fagioli

One of the major knocks on Google, is that the company collects its users' data. It is that data, coupled with advertising, that makes most of the search-giant's services free. Something being "free", however, is subjective. In other words, just because actual money is not being exchanged, does not mean that something valuable isn't. Your data is very valuable. So is Gmail truly free?

That is a decision that adult users must make. If they don't mind Google scanning their emails, that is OK. Quite frankly, there is nothing morally wrong with this approach on Google's behalf. However, children are an entirely different argument. Harvesting a child's data for profit comes off poorly to many, including myself. Sadly, Google had been doing just that -- scanning the contents of students' email accounts. By definition, this is spying, but luckily Google has decided to stop.

Google explains that it is doing the following:

We've permanently removed the "enable/disable" toggle for ads in the Apps for Education Administrator console. This means ads in Apps for Education services are turned off and administrators no longer have the option or ability to turn ads in these services on.

We've permanently removed all ads scanning in Gmail for Apps for Education, which means Google cannot collect or use student data in Apps for Education services for advertising purposes.

While this is great news, it is sad that it was not the policy from the start. Like I said, if Google wants to harvest data from consenting adults, so be it. However, children should be untouchable from these practices. Google services are really good for education and now that the email spying has stopped, at least for students, it is once again a viable solution.

Are you happy that Google has stopped spying on kids? Tell me in the comments.

Photo Credit: Luis Louro / Shutterstock
When are economic sanctions not sanctions at all?

Publié: avril 30, 2014, 5:24pm CEST par Robert X. Cringely

I came across this news story today in which a Russian space official suggests the US consider using trampolines to get astronauts and supplies to the International Space Station. It’s all about economic sanctions applied to Russia over its annexation of Crimea and other meddling in Ukraine. The Russian space agency, you see, has been hard hit by the cancellation of at least five launches. Except according to my friends in the space biz Russia hasn’t been hurt at all.

Space customers pay in advance, way in advance. All five canceled NASA launches were paid for long ago and the same for a number of now-delayed private launches. They may go ahead or not, it’s hard to say. But nobody in Russia is losing sleep over the problem because the space agency will actually make more money keeping the launchers on their pads than by firing them.

In time the sanctions may have some effect, but not for at least another year. At present the only people being hurt by these particular sanctions are Americans.

This is not to say the sanctions aren’t worth doing. Maybe they will be key to achieving US policy objectives. But they aren’t as they seem.
Anvi OneStart is a Windows 8.x Start Menu replacement with a (small) difference

Publié: avril 30, 2014, 4:09pm CEST par Mike Williams

Anvisoft has released Anvi OneStart, a Start menu replacement for Windows 8.x.

If you’re thinking "not another one", then we know what you mean, but this one is a little different: it can also be set up to show the Start Screen, but on the desktop -- not maximized.

That is, you’re at the desktop, with a new Start button. Click it, and the Start Screen appears in the bottom left corner of your screen.

You can scroll it with the keyboard or mouse wheel, and view live tiles, all while the rest of your desktop remains visible in the background. Until you launch an app, anyway (they’ll still run full-screen).

If you’re not interested in that, then StartOne can display a Windows 7-style Start button and menu instead. There’s a Search box, pinned programs, links to system folders, and a Shutdown menu with Restart, Sleep, Hibernate and more.

The program is reasonably configurable. There are 15 bundled Start button designs (including Apple, Linux and Android icons), or you can make your own by creating a transparent PNG.

You’re also able to choose exactly which elements you’d like on the menu, and set the default Power button action, menu background color, transparency and more.

There are significant problems here. The most critical seems to be with the Search box, which doesn’t seem to look everywhere it should, and failed to find some programs on our test PC.

We had difficulties pinning files and applications to the menu, too, particularly by dragging and dropping.

If you’re just looking for a Windows 8 Start menu, then, we would forget Anvi OneStart (at least until version 1.1). Classic Shell currently outperforms it on every measure that matters, and there are plenty of other choices available too.

But if you’d like a configurable way to show the Start Screen on the desktop, then Anvi OneStart works fairly well.
Most organizations are accidental software pirates

Publié: avril 30, 2014, 3:53pm CEST par Ian Barker

A majority of enterprises are using software that they've unintentionally failed to pay for according to a new report by Flexera Software prepared in conjunction with IDC.

The report reveals, among other things, that 85 percent of organizations are out of compliance with their software license agreements. In addition 63 percent were audited by their software vendors in the last 18-24 months (58 percent by Microsoft, the most aggressive auditor), and 56 percent were handed bills to regularize their licenses.

"Software license audits are a legitimate way for vendors to ensure they're getting paid for their software that’s actually being used. However, CFOs can be unaware of software contract provisions permitting these audits, which can result in an unexpected budget shock when IT staff present them with a true-up bill," says Amy Konary, research vice president -- software licensing and provisioning at IDC. "The cost of these true-ups can be significant, so CFOs should take the necessary steps to reduce their risk by implementing software license management processes and technologies to help ensure continual compliance".

All of the big software vendors use audits as a means of capturing extra revenue from non-compliant customers, but the report suggests that some are more aggressive than others. Microsoft is the most active with 58 percent having been audited by the company in the last year. Over the same period 29 percent report having been audited by Adobe, 23 percent by IBM, 21 percent by Oracle, 12 percent by SAP and 8 percent by Symantec.

Of the accidental pirates, 42 percent say that more than 10 percent of their software spend is associated with applications that are out of compliance.

"Software vendor audits are a fact of life today, as are the large checks CFOs are writing to their vendors to pay unbudgeted true-up fees," says Jim Ryan, Flexera Software’s Chief Operation Officer. "Best practice processes and technology are being implemented by prudent organizations to help ensure continual software license compliance. With these reasonable measures now so readily available, IT managers should no longer have to present their CFOs with six-, seven- or eight-figure true-up bills".

The report is available to download from the Flexera website and you can see an overview of the findings in the infographic below.

Image Credit: Feng Yu / Shutterstock
The state of cable TV -- more people are cutting the cord

Publié: avril 30, 2014, 3:01pm CEST par Alan Buckingham

BetaNews recently looked at a survey showing that younger people are watching more video through the internet than ever before. In fact, those aged 14-24 are using the web for the majority of their entertainment consumption.

Now an infographic takes a look at the big picture, pulling from reports from various sources. What was found was that 2013 was the worst year yet for the cable TV business, marking a steady decline that began back in 2011. In fact, between 2010 and 2013 five million customers got rid of pay TV service, while Charter reports that one in four of its customers are internet-only.

TV customers now only barely outnumber the active users of Facebook and Google, and that's after the television got a 50 year head start. Perhaps this is because cable costs have risen some 77 percent since 1996, now averaging $60 per month, while services like Netflix and Hulu can be had for a mere $7.99 per month each.

You can view the graphic below, which attempts to put all this news into some perspective, along with taking a look at the alternatives to cable and satellite.

Photo Credit: holbox/Shutterstock

Source: Special-Education-Degree.net
How social media makes people in a relationship jealous

Publié: avril 30, 2014, 2:50pm CEST par George A. Moufarrej

While social media allows people to connect with each other, it can also create jealousy. If a man discovers his new girlfriend has 250 male friends, it is potentially going to create lot of stress for that guy. He is going to feel that he has a lot of competition that he would not have known about if social media did not exist.

It is also going to make him feel insecure in the relationship, and make him feel jealous over his new partner. A person likes that feeling of exclusivity, that he is the one who matters to his partner first and foremost. Social media interferes with that feeling because it makes the person feel that his new flame has many social contacts who could compete with him. Furthermore, when the partner spends a significant amount of time on social media sites engaged in contact with members of the opposite sex, the person is likely to feel jealous and that will lead to trust issues. He may become suspicious of his girlfriend and her activities on those sites.

Also, if a partner gets a friend request from an ex, the person is going to feel jealous and insecure in the relationship, worrying that his new love might go back to her old one. It makes it harder for the person to trust his current partner. In addition, if a person connects with his ex on a social media site, he may feel jealous seeing her with a new lover and make it harder for him to get over his ex. Moreover, a harmless comment by a member of the opposite sex to the ex-partner on a social media site, may cause the person to become jealous and insecure because he might imagine that more is going on between his ex and the other guy than just an innocent joke, or compliment.

Social media sites also increase the possibility that a person will find incriminating information on his partner’s wall, or photos, which will lead to problems in the relationship. Before social media sites it was easier to keep secrets from a significant other. Now there is less privacy and it is much harder to keep secrets. Verbal and physical flirtations that a partner would not find out about in the past, can be discovered sometimes from a Facebook wall, or shared photos. As a matter of fact, Facebook flirtations are a significant cause of relationship breakups and divorce.

If a person has friends of the same gender as him on a social media site and they excel career wise and financially, the person may feel insecure. He is going to feel insecure about his partner, and maybe worry that he will lose her to his more successful friend. This will cause him to feel jealous of his friend. He might become jealous over his love too because he might feel that she can do better than him. This jealousy might lead to problems with his partner because he may become too controlling and hostile.

In conclusion, social media sites can create new threats to a relationship, and cause existing problems to become bigger. The way to handle this is for the person to communicate with his flame about any problems in the relationship. If a person sees a post from or to his partner that makes him uncomfortable he should confront his other half about it. Both people communicating their feelings about what is going on with them on social media sites, and catering to each other's preferences in regards to this matter, will help the couple prevent problems -- that are a direct result of social media sites -- from happening.

Photo Credit: PathDoc/Shutterstock

George A. Moufarrej is a writer about sexual issues, relationships, dating, and self-help. He has a bachelor’s degree from University of Southern California (USC) and also a master’s degree from California State University (Cal State LA). He currently resides in Southern California and is the author of the book “Sexual Euphoria: A Complete Guide For Men & Women”.
Ditch the Firefox Australis look with Classic Theme Restorer

Publié: avril 30, 2014, 2:08pm CEST par Nick Peers

Hi, my name’s Nick and I like the new Firefox Australis user interface. There, I’ve said it. However, it seems an awful lot of you hate the new look unveiled in Firefox 29, which is why you’ll want to install the Classic Theme Restorer 1.1.8 add-on immediately.

As its title suggests, Classic Theme Restorer pretty much dumps everything Australis introduces, except the new menu accessible via the hamburger-like button on the main Firefox toolbar. In its place is the Firefox you know and love, complete with Firefox button in Windows.

If that’s all you want from Classic Theme Restorer, your job is done. But the add-on does a lot more than that -- access its settings via Firefox’s Options menu, and you can fine-tune the changes it makes, plus customize Firefox in other ways too.

You can customize the appearance of your tabs, for example, restoring the Australis look or choosing an alternative square or curved look. You can also tweak the size and placement of tabs, plus pick a different color scheme from the Custom colors tab.

You can also remove or restore the Firefox button in Windows from here, plus customize it with your own choice of color. There are other tweaks for customizing the general UI here too. Switch to the two Special tabs and you’ll find other customization options, letting you not just banish (or fine-tune) Australis, but remove or amend other aspects of the user interface you may find annoying too.

Where multiple choices are to be made, you’ll see Classic Theme Restorer handily marks the default settings, making it easy to put things back the way they were.

So while Classic Theme Restorer is a good way to remove the Australis user interface entirely, you can also use it to gradually ease yourself into the new way of doing things: switch on curved tabs, but keep the Firefox button for now, for example, or change the way text is displayed on tabs.

Classic Theme Restorer 1.1.8 is available now as a free add-on for Firefox 29 or later. It works with Windows, Mac and Linux.
Surprise, surprise -- almost every piracy website features cyber scams

Publié: avril 30, 2014, 12:55pm CEST par Mark Wilson

Many people think nothing of grabbing the latest episode of Game of Thrones, Blacklist -- or whatever the current show du jour may be -- via one of a seemingly endless number of sites that provide access to pirated material. If you've ever visited such a site, you'll be aware that there is always something of a payload. You'll find advertisements -- usually of a pornographic nature -- fake chat windows, misleading links and all manner of other nasties. For the web-savvy, this is nothing new, but for every tech-minded torrent aficionado who is able to traverse through the online ghettos with an element of safety, there are countless others who are less well informed. And the world of pirate material is a dangerous one for the novice.

While this may not be news in itself, the figures involved are really quite surprising. A report published by The Industry Trust reveals that virtually every one of the most popular sites used to download or stream pirated films and TV shows are riddled with malware or credit card scams -- a staggering 97 percent. The report goes on to suggest that 75 percent of people who have made use of such a site have then experienced problems with their computers. The study was limited to 30 of the most frequently used pirate sites, and monitored them over a two week period. Just one site was found to be free from malware or credit card scams.

The methods used to trick unwitting users are often quite crude -- fake 'play' buttons that link to malicious download rather than the desired video -- but the results can be deeply worrying. 17 percent of visitors to pirated sites lost personal data, while 14 percent were exposed to unwanted violent or explicit material. Nearly a third of visitors ended up with a virus infection, and 39 percent were inundated with popups.

You would be forgiven for thinking that in this day and age there was sufficient wariness coupled with common sense to mean that fake links and malware were problems that were easily avoided or solved. But it's easy to forget that huge swathes of internet users are still reasonably unaware of the digital dangers that exist. The increased security afforded users by anti-malware tools and browsers themselves helps to protect many people, but keeping up to date is important -- something that the less technically minded are not necessarily inclined to take care of.

Just as a spammer mass-mailing hundreds of thousands of random people with promises of riches in return for a small processing fee need just a tiny fraction of recipients to turn a profit, so just a very small number of torrent users or downloaders of pirate material need to be tricked into clicking the wrong link or need to be running an insecure browser. Each user with lowered security or a lack of knowledge about web security is a microscopic cog in a catastrophic plan.

Image Credit: SOMMAI / Shutterstock
Older generations take to tablets but TV remains their first love

Publié: avril 30, 2014, 12:44pm CEST par Ian Barker

UK media regulator Ofcom has published the results of its latest Adults' Media Use and Attitudes report studying the media habits of people aged 16 and over.

Among the findings are that younger people spend more time online and that the number of over 65s accessing the web has increased by 27 percent between 2012 and 2013.

Internet access among under 35s is now almost universal with 98 percent going online. Among 45 to 54-year-olds 91 percent now go online (up from 84 percent in 2012) but the biggest increase is among over 65s. Ofcom suggests that this is due to the increased use of tablets by older people up from 5 percent in 2012 to 17 percent in 2013.

Computers are still the most popular way to access the internet, used by 78 percent, but two-thirds of adults also use other devices, such as tablets or smartphones, to surf the web.

Use of tablet computers to access the internet among all adults has almost doubled from 16 percent in 2012 to 30 percent in 2013. Nearly two-thirds (59 percent) of people now access the internet through a mobile phone, up by six percentage points since 2012.

What's also interesting is that more adults across all age groups are playing games, 42 percent compared to 35 percent in 2012. This is likely to be driven by increased internet access as well as the availability of smartphones and tablets.

Ofcom also finds that among smartphone users more than half of downloaded apps are redundant. On average users have downloaded 23 apps but only use 10 of them. When it comes to selecting apps more than three-quarters rely on recommendations from friends and family with under 20 percent relying on any form of advertising.

When asked about the technology they'd miss, TV comes out on top with 42 percent of all adults saying they'd notice the lack of the haunted fish tank most if it was taken away. There is big variation by age though, 47 percent of 16-24-year-olds say they'd miss their smartphone with only 13 percent naming TV, however, among over 65s the telly remains king with 68 percent saying they'd miss it.

Despite an enduring love for TV, the consumption of DVDs and Blu-Rays has fallen, only 55 percent watching them in 2013 compared to 63 percent in 2012. Just over half of internet users say they watch TV programs online.

More information on the findings of the report is available on the Ofcom website.

Do these findings reflect your experience? Which piece of technology would you miss the most? Let us know via the comments.

Image Credit: Ljupco Smokovski / Shutterstock
Surface losing money? No worries, Nokia's mobile division is too

Publié: avril 30, 2014, 12:40pm CEST par Mihaita Bamburic

Microsoft has a knack for losing money with its Surface tablet lineup, and it is now poised to do the same with the new phone-making business it just acquired from Finnish maker Nokia. Devices & Services generated a negative operating profit of €326 million in Q1 CY2014 (that equates to a $450 million loss) on sales of a mere €1.929 billion. What is the definition of wanting to lose even more money, on purpose?

The not-so-insignificant-loss has been caused by lower sales of phones and smartphones, the latter of which includes (mostly) Lumia Windows Phones. Nokia has not provided any numbers on the volume of devices it may have sold or shipped during the first quarter of the year, but suffice to say the bar was not high to begin with. In Q1 2013, the Finnish maker sold only 5.6 million Windows Phones, and this business lost a lower €120 million (while also posting €836 million more in sales).

Back to Surface

In an SEC filing, Microsoft has revealed Surface was not profitable in Q1 CY2014. "Surface revenue was $494 million for the three months ended March 31, 2014. [...] Surface cost of revenue was $539 million for the three months ended March 31, 2014, which increased due mainly to a higher number of units sold". The loss is not that big, coming in at $45 million. But, Microsoft suggests the difference could have been even higher had Surface sold better in Q2 2014.

In the second half of 2013, the software giant posted a $0.9 billion charge due to lower-than-expected Surface sales. And, in early 2014, it revealed further losses of $39 million. These are things we have also learned from SEC filings, where Microsoft reveals this kind of information (as opposed to its quarterly earnings reports).

Necessary Evil

Microsoft prides itself on being a devices and services company. To stay on this path, it needs to have its own branded hardware. That does not stop at keyboards, mice, Xbox and Surface. The mobile market nowadays means smartphones and tablets, the former of which see higher volumes and can, therefore, give Microsoft more exposure among consumers.

With the Devices & Services business in its control, Microsoft is now the largest Windows Phone vendor. Previously, Nokia's Lumias made up roughly 90 percent of the Windows Phone market, which is a share the software giant can expect to reach as well.

Turning a profit from tablets and smartphones does not come easy, but, luckily, Microsoft has the money to burn to keep and market its Surface tablets and (future) Windows Phones, while also working to launch new ones. A net income of $5.66 billion in Q1 CY2014 can go a long way towards building a profitable mobile hardware division. The only question is: When we can expect that to actually happen?

Photo Credit: Andrej Vodolazhskyi/Shutterstock
Windows Repair improves Windows 8.x support, tweaks permission handling

Publié: avril 30, 2014, 12:28pm CEST par Nick Peers

The Tweaking.com website has released Windows Repair 2.7.0, a major update to its collection of Windows fix-it tools. Also available in portable form, version 2.7.0 adds a new start-up check for reliability purposes.

The new release also includes a new repair tool -- Repair Service Permissions -- to take the total number of fix-it tools to 30, and has been rewritten in parts to work better with Windows 8 and 8.1 machines.

The new start-up check tool makes sure all files required for running repairs in the program folder are present -- if these are missing, not only does the fix fail, but more problems will occur. To prevent this, Windows Repair will halt at this check and prompt the user to reinstall the app if necessary, refusing to continue otherwise.

Version 2.7.0 also adds a brand new repair: Reset Service Permissions. This repairs all permissions on system services by giving Administrators, System and TrustedInstaller users Full access, the default setting.

The new build also completely rewrites both Registry Registry Permissions and Reset File Permissions tools. It now uses the SetAcl.exe system tool, which supports both 32-bit and 64-bit file locations. This does slow down repairs, and so Windows Repair no longer shows the command-prompt progress window to help lessen the effect of this performance drop.

Another side-effect of using the SetAcl.exe program is that setting exclusions for the Reset File Permissions component has changed -- users are instructed to check the text files inside the Files folder for how exclusions are now handled.

One final change to both Registry repair tools sees them apply Full access rights to the TrustedInstaller account on Windows Vista and later.

Windows Repair 2.7.0 also updates multiple repair tools to better handle Windows 8/8.1, Tweaking.com wryly commenting that they now provide "all the fussy stuff it wants".

Other unspecified repair tools have also been updated, while the program’s handling when run using the /silent switch and after closing itself when repairs have been applied has also been improved.

Windows Repair 2.7.0 and Windows Repair Portable 2.7.0 are both available as a freeware downloads for PCs running Windows XP or later. Users are strongly advised to perform all suggested backup and scan tasks made by the program prior to attempting any fix.
New BaaS platform aims to eliminate writing server-side code

Publié: avril 30, 2014, 11:04am CEST par Ian Barker

Coding applications in the traditional way is starting to look very 20th century, as in recent months we've seen more and more platforms launched with the aim of streamlining the development process.

Texas-based Backendless is the latest to enter the fray with a backend-as-a-service offering for desktop and mobile developers that's now leaving its beta phase.

By removing the need for writing code on the server-side, Backendless lets users develop applications around 50 to 100 percent faster than normal, giving developers the chance to focus more on the process logic and the client-side of the applications.

It takes care of server-side functions with easy-to-use APIs allowing developers to spend more time on business logic and user experience. Built-in services take care of user logins and session management as well as handling data and file management. Backendless can also handle push notifications, media streaming and geo-location services.

"We're passionate about Backendless because it is a paradigm shifting technology. It could have a profound impact on the whole generation of software developers and completely change the way applications are built," says Founder and CEO, Mark Piller.

The SDKs developed by the company are available for iOS/Mac OS X, Android/Java, Windows Phone/.NET, JavaScript, and ActionScript developers. There is also a REST (REpresentational State Transfer) interface suitable for any application. Backendless is language agnostic and can create standalone applications without any cloud dependencies.

In addition, the company is planning a release to integrate its services with Google Glass. By using code generation techniques and model-driven development, Backendless simplifies the process for developers building apps for Glass. Users will be able to easily customize and enhance their apps with custom voice commands to tap into Backendless services.

You can find out more about how it works and sign up for a free trial on the Backendless website.
A potential game changer: Xbox One set to launch in China

Publié: avril 30, 2014, 9:22am CEST par Wayne Williams

Since launch, Sony’s PlayStation 4 has easily outsold Microsoft’s rival console, and even beat Sony’s own sales projections. That the Japanese console is available in more territories than its American rival is one important part of the reason for this success.

Now Microsoft is hoping to fight back by bringing the Xbox One to China in September. The all-in-one games and entertainment system will be the first of its kind to launch in the country, and the first foreign games console since China lifted a 14-year old ban on such devices in January.

The launch is the result of a partnership between Microsoft BesTV New Media Co., a subsidiary of Shanghai Media Group.

"Launching Xbox One in China is a significant milestone for us and for the industry, and it’s a step forward in our vision to deliver the best games and entertainment experiences to more fans around the world", says Yusuf Mehdi, corporate vice president, marketing and strategy, Devices and Studios, Microsoft. "BesTV has a rich history of delivering innovative entertainment content. It is the ideal partner with which to bring the Xbox business to China".

"The launch of Xbox One here will bring distinction as the first-ever game console with OTT functionality in China", said Dazhong Zhang, senior vice president, Shanghai Media Group, and chairman, E-Home Entertainment Development Company Ltd. "The launch of Xbox is a milestone for our company in the family entertainment market and will create profit growth opportunities. Furthermore, we will continue our investment and support into research and development for gaming content together with Microsoft. Via our cooperation with the world’s leading team, we will continue to develop video games fused with Chinese culture and provide further distribution support for locally produced Chinese video game content to the world".

China is a potentially huge market for the Xbox One with an estimated half a billion people playing games. As Microsoft points out that’s "roughly more than a third of the country’s population and more than the entire population of North America".

How many of those gamers will want to buy an Xbox One remains to be seen however, as most games there are currently played on PCs, smartphones and tablets, and the idea of a dedicated gaming console is a rather alien one for Chinese consumers.

Also, despite the long ban, games consoles have been available in China on the black market, so many gamers who want to own such a device (and don’t mind breaking the law) may already have one.

Still, it’s an important opportunity for the Xbox One, and Microsoft will want to capitalize on its head start. It likely won’t be long before the PS4 follows suit.

Image Credit: Wayne Williams
Spotify partners with Sprint for new customer deal

Publié: avril 30, 2014, 12:21am CEST par Alan Buckingham

As the streaming music business continues to heat up, Spotify is taking another step to stay ahead of the competition. The service is one of the more popular, but staying at the top is not as easy as it seems.

Now Spotify is teaming with mobile provider Sprint to bring a new deal to potential customers -- of course, you'll have to be on the mobile network in order to take advantage of this new offering. "Starting from May 2nd, all existing and new postpaid Sprint customers can get a 3 and 6 month free trial for Spotify Premium. This offer will launch in all channels on all compatible Sprint postpaid devices", says Spotify's Candice Katz.

The deal offers Sprint family plan customers (which includes one to five people) six months free -- $7.99 thereafter, or six to ten people at $4.99 after the six month free trial expires. For all other customers, there is a free three month trial, which is followed by a $9.99 per month plan. Those prices are per user.

While the deal opens online on May 2nd, customers can also take advantage of the offer in-store, but you'll have to wait until May 9th for that to kickoff.

Photo Credit: CREATISTA/Shutterstock