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BetaNews.Com (6 non lus)

Teardowns show iPhone 6s is more waterproof -- and get iFixit app pulled from the App Store

Publié: octobre 3, 2015, 6:49pm CEST par Mark Wilson

For the curious-minded, iFixit is an essential resource. The hardware teardowns on the site have become legendary, revealing the innards of the latest and greatest phones and tablets better than anyone else. Two recent iFixit teardowns have had interesting results.

Following the release of the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, analysis of the internals suggested that the handsets would be more waterproof than previous models -- not something Apple has shouted about. But the outcome of the Apple TV and Siri Remote teardowns were rather less pleasing for the site: they resulted in the iFixit app being pulled from the App Store. By Apple.

It goes without saying that ripping apart a phone or tablet will invalidate its warranty -- but if you want to do it, that's entirely up to you. When it comes to dismantling developer preview hardware, however, it's a slightly different story. In taking apart preview developer models of the Siri Remote and Apple TV, iFixit rather irritated Apple. So much so that the company decided to get revenge by delisting the iFixit app from the App Store. The famous deconstructors say:

We weighed the risks, blithely tossed those risks over our shoulder, and tore down the Apple TV anyway.

A few days later, we got an email from Apple informing us that we violated their terms and conditions -- and the offending developer account had been banned. Unfortunately, iFixit's app was tied to that same account, so Apple pulled the app as well. Their justification was that we had taken "actions that may hinder the performance or intended use of the App Store, B2B Program, or the Program."

Oops!

Of course this did nothing to deter iFixit from ripping apart more hardware. In the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus teardowns, a 'mystery adhesive' was found holding the screen in place, in addition to screws. But the suspicion was that this was less about sticking the screen to the front of the phone, and more about keeping water out. Further investigation revealed that every single connector on the logic board was covered with a silicone seal (as iFixit notes Apple filed a patent for waterproof silicon seals earlier in the year).

Some brave souls have tried giving their trusty phones the dunk test. Some suffered water damage, but the general consensus is that there is an improvement in waterproofing. You might not want to take your iPhone 6s swimming just yet, but perhaps you could be less worried about water splashes; the chances are it will be fine.

Check out iFixit's video to see what the inside of the new iPhone looks like, and to hear more about the claims of extra waterproofing:
ShareX 10.3.0 now available on Steam

Publié: octobre 3, 2015, 5:34pm CEST par Mike Williams

Powerful open-source screenshot tool ShareX has been updated to 10.3 with new scrolling support, enabling the capture of full web pages or anything else larger than your screen.

The technique works much like many similar tools: select the "Scrolling capture" type, choose the window and wait as ShareX grabs it for you.

But a pile of bonus tweaks and options include the ability to scroll a custom region within a window, and define a scrolling method and the total number of "scrolls", if the default settings don’t work.

(And this kind of capture is difficult to get right with every application, so you’ll need that kind of flexibility occasionally).

ShareX 10.3 gains an "Image Combiner" on the Tools menu, which accepts a number of images, lines them up horizontally or vertically with your chosen spacing, then makes them available as a single image for saving or sharing.

The ShareX changelog is now linked from its update notification and About dialog, making it easier to see exactly why you should upgrade.

The rest of the program is as good as ever, with support for a vast number of capture types (including screen recording), annotation tools, file sharing services and automation options.

The "Tools" menu is a software library all on its own, with options like "Image Editor", "Color Picker", "IRC Client", "DNS Changer", "QR Code", "Video thumbnailer" and "FTP Client".

This release sees some welcome big-name recognition, too, with the program appearing on Steam.

ShareX 10.3 is available now for Windows XP and later.
Microsoft buys game physics company Havok from Intel

Publié: octobre 3, 2015, 3:08pm CEST par Mark Wilson

Microsoft seems to be placing increased importance on gaming. The latest in its list of acquisitions is game physics company Havoc which has been bought from Intel for an undisclosed fee. Used in titles such as Assassins Creed, Call of Duty, and Halo, Havoc's physics and AI solutions will be an important weapon in Microsoft's gaming arsenal alongside DirectX 12.

Announcing the acquisition, Microsoft says it will "work with developers to create great gaming experiences, and continue to license Havok's development tools to partners".

Neither Microsoft nor Havok has released details of the financial arrangement, and we don’t yet know what the acquisition means for current Havok employees. As well as gaming, it is easy to foresee Havok's technology being implemented in Hololens. Looking to the future, Microsoft says:

Microsoft's acquisition of Havok continues our tradition of empowering developers by providing them with the tools to unleash their creativity to the world. We will continue to innovate for the benefit of development partners. Part of this innovation will include building the most complete cloud service, which we've just started to show through games like Crackdown 3.

Havok shares Microsoft's vision for empowering people to create worlds and experiences that have never been seen before, and we look forward to sharing more of this vision in the near future.
Future laptops could optimize battery life by learning your usage patterns

Publié: octobre 3, 2015, 2:36pm CEST par Mark Wilson

There's one thing that everybody looks for in a mobile device -- long battery life. There are constant promises of technological breakthroughs that are just around the corner, but rather than waiting for these to come to fruition, Microsoft researchers have decided to come up with a different solution.

Instead of using a new battery type, Microsoft Research workers have devised a system that using currently available battery technology in conjunction with smarter software. Known as Software Defined Batteries, the system uses multiple batteries, and management software is used to pick the most suitable power source depending on the task that is being performed.

The researchers working on the project will give a presentation at the ACM Symposium on Operating Systems Principles this coming week, but have already published a paper explaining that the system "exposes APIs to the operating system which control the amount of charge flowing in and out of each battery, enabling it to dynamically trade one battery property for another depending on application and/or user needs".

What this means in practice is that a system will include several batteries, each optimized for a particular task. The usage, discharge, and charging of each battery will be controlled by software and determined by what the computer is being used for. For example, one battery might be used when graphic-heavy tasks such as gaming or video editing are under way, while another is responsible for powering the computer when browsing the web. But a key feature of Software Defined Batteries is learning how a computer is used:

For example, the system may recognize that the user plugs in the tablet every day around 2:45 p.m., and then gives a long PowerPoint presentation every day at 3 p.m. That means the computer needs to be ready to do quick charge at that time, so the person can make it through that afternoon meeting.

Another user may use the computer primarily for e-mail and Word documents during the day, then switch to surfing the web and watching videos on a train or bus commute home. Based on those habits, the computer can optimize the charge to make sure the user can do both without having to search desperately for an outlet.

Prototypes have already been produced, and it is hoped that it won’t be long before the software-controlled, multiple-battery idea is adopted by laptop and tablet manufacturers. But the potential goes further. The researchers believe that the technology could be used in wearable devices to share power duties between a traditional Li-ion battery and flexible battery built into, say, the strap of a smartwatch. This would allow for a smaller battery to be used in the main body of the watch, meaning that thickness and bulk can be reduced.

Photo credit: Adisorn Saovadee / Shutterstock
Roku goes to Mexico, brings streaming players for everyone

Publié: octobre 3, 2015, 8:05am CEST par Alan Buckingham

Looking for a set-top box? There's no shortage of choices with Fire TV, Apple and Roku. The latter is probably the most popular solution, though new offerings from competitors aim to change that. But the device has been a bit isolated, not being offered everywhere.

That is slowly changing as Roku is now available to our friends south of the border. Yes, the tiny device is arriving in Mexico now.

"At launch the Mexico Roku Channel Store will contain 1500 plus channels including popular services like Netflix, Google Play, YouTube, and soon Crackle and Cinépolis Klic -- the first local channel in the Mexico Roku Channel Store", the company announces.

Customers will have many options for purchase, including Amazon, Best Buy, Radio Shack, Walmart and Linio. Pricing has not been announced, though it should be in line with other locations. Availability will come over the next few weeks.
KaOS 2015.10 KDE-focused Linux distro available now

Publié: octobre 3, 2015, 3:35am CEST par Brian Fagioli
While I am a GNOME fan, I recognize how wonderful KDE is too. If you prefer a traditional desktop user interface, KDE is a smart choice. Not only is it it easy to use for beginners, but it offers a ton of customization options for advanced users too.

There are quite a few KDE-based Linux distros, such as Kubuntu, Linux Mint KDE, and Netrunner, but the lesser known KaOS offers a more pure experience. This distro has a goal of remaining lean, while being fairly bleeding edge regarding KDE packages -- it is a great showcase for the desktop environment. Today, version 2015.10 sees release, and you can download it now.

"This ISO is the first time that the default XFS filesystem is CRC and finobt enabled. CRCs enable enhanced error detection due to hardware issues, whilst the format changes also improves crash recovery algorithms and the ability of various tools to validate and repair metadata corruptions when they are found. The free inode btree does not index used inodes, allowing faster, more consistent inode allocation performance as filesystems age", says The KaOS Team.

The team further explains, "changes to SDDM, kwin and kinit make it now possible to start a Plasma Wayland session right from the login manager. An X11 session is of course still default, but the drop-down menu has now a wayland entry too. The default web-browser Qupzilla is one of the first applications that heavily relied on X11 in its code that now is fully ported to run a Wayland session too".

KaOS lists the following notable package updates.
- Frameworks 5.14.0
- Plasma 5.4.1
- KDE Applications 15.08.1 & not yet released ports of KDE Applications
- Linux 4.1.9
- Systemd 226
- Kmod 21
- Networkmanager 1.0.6
- Calligra 3.0Alpha
- Clementine
- Plasma-nm 5.4.1
- Xorg-server 1.17.2
- Mesa 11.0.2
- Glibc 2.21
- GCC 4.9.4
- non-free Nvidia 352.41
- Python3 3.4.3
If you want to download the ISO, you can get it here. It is not compatible with unetbootin, so if you want to "burn" the ISO to a flash drive, follow the instructions here. As per usual, the KaOS Team does not recommend burning a DVD above 4X speed, but going higher should be OK.

Will you try it? Tell me in the comments.