IBM introduces new PureData System
Targeting enterprise clients, after PureFlex and PureApplication Systems, IBM has introduced the third member in its PureSystems family. Named IBM PureData System, it is purposefully designed for big data cloud appliances by providing data services to various applications.
The new PureData System family is comprised of two major platforms. PureData System for Transactions, which is aimed at improving data management costs, and PureData System for Analytics, which is designed to analyze large volumes of data.
GoPro's iOS app to control cameras launches with big features missing
Months after releasing the Wi-Fi controller pack for its Hero2 action sports cameras, GoPro on Tuesday finally released the first version of the mobile app to go along with it.
The GoPro App gives users full control of all camera settings, a live video preview window, and access to GoPro's "social-ish" Photo and Video of the Day site. The app is free and compatible with iPhone 3GS, 4, 4S (iOS 4.3 & 5), iPod Touch 4 (iOS 4.3 & 5), and iPad 1, 2 & 3 (iOS 4.3 & 5). It is available in the iTunes app store right now.
Malware targets bargain hunters
They say the best things in life are free. There's another saying about when stealing, you get what you deserve. When it comes to software, that's more than what you bargained for. Or so claims Microsoft, which warns malware writers increasingly exploit people's desire to get for free something they should pay for.
Yesterday, the Redmond, Wash.-based company released its first-half 2012 "Security Intelligence Report" -- 134 pages for your reading pleasure. Today, Microsoft's Joe Blackbird highlights one of this volume's findings: bargain-hunting exploits for movies, music and software.
Moga Android game controller launches Oct. 21 across US
Video game accessory company PowerA on Tuesday announced the retail availability of Moga, the company's dual analog game controller for Android 2.3+ handsets. The device will be available for $49.99 through major retailers and national wireless carrier T-Mobile beginning on October 21.
Last year, I said the time was right for an Android-based video game console, but not much has been done to bring my assertion into reality. Moga doesn't bring us any closer to a traditional video game console powered by Android.
Get 21GB of space on MegaCloud for free [BetaNews Exclusive Offer]
MegaCloud is a new, free-to-use cloud storage and backup service (compatible with Windows, Mac, Linux, and Mobile) that lets you store, sync and share all your documents, photos, music, videos and more across all of your devices. Unlike some similar services, having a free account doesn’t mean being restricted in any way -- all free users get 16GB of space, divided into 8GB for storage and 8GB for backups.
Well, that’s how much ordinary, everyday free users get. But obviously, as a BetaNews reader you deserve a little extra, so MegaCloud has kindly upped the free storage on offer to 21GB (13GB for storage, plus 8GB for backups) exclusively for us, and all you need to do is click on the link below and sign up for a free account. And if that’s still not enough free space for you, you can get yet more gratis storage simply by installing a mobile app or referring friends to the service.
Beware of fake Bad Piggies apps on Chrome Web Store
"Bad Piggies", a mobile game that was quietly launched by software company Rovio Mobile, is one of the most popular games to be launched in the late period. Unfortunately, it's also a security risk if installed via third-party, free, extensions from the Chrome Web Store that claim to be the original app.
Security experts from Barracuda Networks have analyzed the number of free apps that turn up after searching for the popular game title in the Chrome Web Store. The company has found that these extensions, while obviously being a far cry from the actual Bad Piggies game, require elevated permissions. To profit from misleading the user, they also install a plug-in that delivers advertisements on popular websites. The severity of this security risk might be overlooked by users seeking to play the popular title.
Home Shopping Network previews new Windows 8 apps
This weekend I got a curious text message from my mother: "I’m watching a presentation of Windows 8 on HSN".
I quickly tuned into the Home Shopping Network channel and to my surprise they were actually doing a pretty decent job of explaining Windows 8 (and offering PCs for preorder). They demoed various benefits of the new OS from the apps to the fact that if users are confused by the new interface, the old legacy desktop is a button press away (the windows key).
Use CastCor to correct photo colors
If the colors of your latest digital photos are less than accurate, then most photo editors will allow you to try and resolve this manually. Tweak RGB here, maybe HSV there, and with a little work there’s a good chance you can improve the situation. If that sounds too much like hard work, though, you might prefer a tool like CastCor, which aims to correct color problems almost entirely automatically.
There’s nothing too special about this, of course -- most photo editors include at least some automated correction tools -- but CastCor delivers more than most: “White Point Auto”, “Grey Point Auto”, “Contrast Auto”, “Auto Color Enhance”, “Highlight-Shadow Enhance”, “Adaptive Equalisation”, “Luminance Correction”, and more.
AMD's newly introduced Z-60 APU goes after Intel's Clover Trail
On a number of levels, AMD and Intel are in similar predicaments. Both are major players on the desktop chip market, but have an abysmal presence on the mobile tablet market. To correct the latter Intel recently announced its new tablet processor codenamed Clover Trail and AMD promptly followed by announcing the company's Z-60 accelerated processing unit (APU). The two will yet again battle, but for a different market on which neither has a commanding presence nor the recognition as a fearful competitor.
Just like Intel's Atom Z2760 system on a chip, AMD has a recipe that involves tackling the Windows 8 Pro tablet market instead of feature-stripped Windows RT tablets. Yet again, the two companies take the familiar approach by using x86 processors to make a splash on the diverse tablet market. The dual-core AMD Z-60 touts features such as AMD "Start Now" which is designed to deliver fast boot and resume from sleep times, six hours of HD video playback and up to eight hours of browsing battery life, all in a tablet as thin as 10mm.
Firefox 16 is available -- get it NOW!
Ahead of its official unveiling, Mozilla has made Firefox 16 FINAL available for download. The latest version provides little in the way of major new features, and in some ways is more noteworthy for the features missing from this release, including the long-awaited inline PDF viewer (click here to find out how to switch it on manually) as well as a number of OS X Lion/Mountain Lion enhancements.
What is present in version 16 is initial desktop support for web apps, VoiceOver accessibility features for OS X, extra developer tools and enhanced garbage collection performance to prevent freezes and performance lags.
BBC releases iPlayer Radio
If you're a fan of British Broadcasting Corporation radio programs then you're going to love this. Today, BBC announced the new iPlayer Radio for "PC, mobile and tablet" devices.
BBC iPlayer Radio promises to act as a dedicated radio platform that focuses on making it easier to listen to live, catch-up and archived content across all three types of devices on which it runs on. According to the BBC, the feature set will expand in the coming months, but at the moment includes downloads, clips, live radio alongside videos and social media feeds as well as other features. The spotlight is the new iPlayer Radio app for smartphones, which momentarily is only available for iOS with Android support to follow soon according to the announcement.
Microsoft Store is EVERYWHERE
There is no appropriate way to express how aggressive will be Microsoft's retail blitz to support the launches of Surface, Windows 8 and Windows RT (on October 26) and Windows Phone 8 (on October 29). In 18 days, the software giant will have retail shops open in 27 states and three Canadian provinces. Many of the locations will be what Microsoft calls "holiday stores", which are more kiosks than shops but retail presence nevertheless. The company announced the pop-up shops about a month ago, but as important product launches approach the sudden retail blitz takes on looming significance.
The stores' importance cannot be understated, and their value is much bigger than selling new products. The shops will create big brand presence during the holidays and give many shoppers reasons to buy something with a Microsoft logo rather than the bitten fruit. (Say, if there's a bite out of the Apple, shouldn't that make it forbidden fruit in the classical biblical/literature sense or used goods from a purely commerce perspective. I certainly wouldn't pick a bitten apple from the grocery store. Funny that Apple's partially eaten logo doesn't put off more people.)
Home Shopping Network starts selling Windows 8 PCs (early)
Windows 8 launches on October 26. Why wait that long? If the idea of purchasing a new laptop or even an all-in-one desktop PC with Windows 8 pre-installed has a nice ring to it then you're in luck -- the Home Shopping Network has just the thing for you.
Three Windows 8 laptops and two all-in-one desktop PCs are available for pre-order from the HSN website. They range from a relatively inexpensive $699.95 to a more daring $1,199.95.
For better Android tablet apps, Google makes best practices checklist
Monday, Google's Android Developer Relations team published the Tablet App Quality Checklist so that developers can "make sure that [their] app meets the basic expectations of tablet users."
This checklist serves as a best practices guide, and includes ten key items for developers to acknowledge in their development process: Core app quality, tablet-optimized layout, full screen utilization, full asset utilization, font and touch target accuracy, homescreen widget correctness, one single version for all devices, no required hardware features, declaring tablet screen support, and following Google Play publishing best practices.
Use QR Codes to share documents
QR Codes are pretty much everywhere these days, but few companies really make the most of the possibilities they offer. TagMyDoc is a great example of what can be done with them, and lets you add a QR Code to your own physical documents, directly from within Word, Excel or PowerPoint. When someone scans that code, they’ll get a full copy of the document on their device.
It saves on printing costs, and means you don’t have to worry about how many copies of a document or presentation to output for a meeting, for example, because anyone with a QR reader can get a copy of their own. It’s a great service, but TagMyDoc has just been made even more useful, as it now lets you connect to popular cloud storage services Box and Dropbox, and tag and securely share documents you store there.
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