Everyone can now sign up for Messenger without a Facebook account
Facebook wants to make Messenger appeal to as many people as possible, so, last month, it announced that it will no longer require new users to have a Facebook account in order to use its increasingly popular messaging service. The feature was initially said to be offered in just a handful of markets, US, Canada, Peru and Venezuela.
Now, the feature is made globally available according to Facebook's David Marcus. Just like in the first markets, all that new users need to sign up for Messenger is their phone number.
Audacity gains scrubbing, seeking, effect presets
Classic open source audio editor Audacity has been updated to version 2.1.1 with some welcome additions and improvements.
A new Ctrl+click "scrub play mode" enables playback -- both forwards and backwards -- just by moving your mouse cursor across the waveform.
Google Glass' future is in the enterprise
Rumors are growing that Google Glass is about to make a return. Back in January, the search giant announced that the commercially available Explorer Edition was being discontinued. Although the company would surely have liked more consumers to take the plunge, its £1,000 price tag deterred many. However, Google Glass has not been killed off but is merely lying dormant, with Google claiming that it has learnt much from its Explorer program, using it as a kind of "open-beta".
Sources now indicate that Google Glass Enterprise Edition will soon be launched, targeting the business environment. Although there has been no official word on the release, Google has confirmed that the next iteration of Glass is in development and targeting the enterprise landscape actually makes a lot of sense.
Linux Mint 17.2 'Rafaela' KDE and Xfce release candidates are here
Whether you are a beginner or expert, Linux Mint is a great distribution. Not only is it very easy to use, but beautiful too. It is quite apparent that the developers care for the operating system.
The two default desktop environments for Linux Mint -- MATE and Cinnamon -- are both wonderful, but I prefer the latter. A short period after the launch of a new version of the OS -- this time 17.2 Rafaela -- the Mint Team also releases KDE and Xfce editions as alternatives. Today, the release candidates for those environments become available, with Xfce updated to 4.12, and KDE brought to 4.14.2.
Reddit kills 'unfettered free speech' with half-hearted censorship
It's been a tumultuous time at Reddit recently. The self-styled (albeit slightly sarcastically) Front Page of the Internet raised the ire of some users several months ago when it started to impose stronger restrictions on the type of content that could be posted. It started with restrictions on certain types of explicit content, followed by the killing off of harassment, hate, and abuse subreddits.
After the site fired AMA (Ask Me Anything) coordinator Victoria Taylor, there was an uprising. Moderators were unhappy, users were unhappy, and CEO Ellen Pao ended up resigning. As users left in their droves, finding solace in alternatives such as Voat, the site scrabbled to defend itself both to users, employees, admins, and volunteers. Today in an Ask Me Anything session, Reddit co-founder Steve 'spez' Huffman introduced a swathe of new restrictions on what users are allowed to say. In public, at least.
Microsoft launches universal app store for Windows 10 [Update: Actually, it's not the unified store...]
The launch of Windows 10 is as much about creating a unified Windows experience and a new ecosystem as anything else. Windows 10 for desktops/laptops and for Windows Phone are closely linked and Microsoft wanted to make life easier for developers and users alike when it comes to apps.
To this end the company has launched a web version of its app store, merging the previous Windows Store and Windows Phone Store into one repository. Pay a visit to the online store and it is now possible to browse through the selection of Windows apps and Windows Phone apps in one place. Update: Microsoft contacted BetaNews with more information; see more at the end of the article.
Windows 10 USB flash drives now available to pre-order on Amazon
Microsoft is set to launch Windows 10 on July 29, and if you’re running Windows 7, or later, you can already reserve your free upgrade through the Get Windows 10 app in the system tray. If you don’t have a valid Windows 7 or 8.x license (you’re running XP, for example), or you want to install Windows 10 on a new system, you’ll need to buy a copy of the OS.
The good news is Windows 10 Home and Pro are now available to pre-order on USB flash drives direct from Amazon.
Google will let you shop straight from search results
Google is preparing to make shopping online even easier, by cutting out the middle-man and allowing customers to shop directly on the search engine.
Called Purchase on Google, a small list of retailers will allow Google to show their products on the search engine, with a Buy button for quick sales. Once the user clicks the buy button, it will take them to a mini-site with the look and feel of the real site, and advance straight to payment.
Microsoft's Bing will stop you from moving to a crappy neighborhood
It is a cliche, but the three most important things to look for when buying a house are location, location and location. In other words, no matter how beautiful the house, if the location sucks, so too will the living experience. For example, if the house is in a city with a high-crime rate, next to the railroad tracks, or near an airport, you just wasted your money (unless, of course, you can't afford anywhere better). If you have children, you ideally need to find a neighborhood with a good school district too.
With all of that said, if you are looking for a new home, you have your work cut out for you. Quite frankly, what should be a fun experience ends up being a stressful chore. Don't worry, however, as Microsoft has your back. Bing is now updated to make this easier for you.
Road to a cleaner web: Google seeks to aggressively target unwanted software
Google has had enough of websites that present viewers with annoying adverts that try to trick users into downloading downright ridiculous tools on their computers. The Mountain View-based giant announces today that it will now more aggressively block unwanted software (UwS) over the coming weeks in Chrome.
Over the years, these unwanted tools have aggressively grown on the web, especially on shady websites. The fraudsters behind these tools use misleading adverts to trick users into downloading and installing their bogus applications.
Is virgo the smallest virtual desktop manager ever?
When you’re regularly trying out new software, it’s important to look for anything odd or unusual, any sign that a program might not be what it seems.
The Windows "virtual desktop manager" virgo seemed like a great example. A 3.7KB download? Which unpacked to a single 8KB executable? There had to be something wrong here. Surely?
A short history of text messaging
The text message has become such a key part of our modern lives that it's hard to believe that the concept behind it dates back 31 years. Email to SMS gateway service Neon SMS has produced an infographic tracking how SMS has evolved.
The first text message was sent in 1992, although it had to be from a PC because it was the following year before Nokia introduced the first SMS-enabled phone. In 1997 the Finnish company produced the 9000i Communicator, the first mobile phone to feature a full keyboard.
HTC One (M8) will get Android M
HTC is sticking with its promise to offer quick updates, with the vice president of product management Mo Versi confirming that the HTC One M8 will receive Android M.
Versi didn’t give any dates for the update, and it doesn’t look like HTC are sticking to the 90 day policy it promoted in 2014. The company had various issues fulfilling this promise, including carrier blocks in the United States and some parts of Europe.
New process removes the risk from accepting bitcoin payments
One of the things that inhibits merchants from accepting bitcoin payments is that there’s a time lag in receiving cleared funds. A bitcoin payment can take around 10 minutes to be verified and confirmed on the blockchain.
Even then most payment processors will wait for 2-6 confirmations (taking 20-60 mins) before guaranteeing to the merchant that the transaction is complete and the merchant will receive the funds. For merchants used to accepting card payments which are verified in seconds this is a problem.
Banning encrypted messaging apps is a stupid idea
In light of the recent news that the UK government is pushing harder for a legislation which would allow it to monitor all digital communications, and ban those apps that use encryption, a huge debate has sparked on whether the government should be allowed to do this or not.
Professor of Law at the London School of Economics, Andrew Murray, has had his say on the matter in a Huffington Post article, arguing that banning communications apps to curb the work of terrorist groups would be similar to banning cars in order to stop terrorists from using them.
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