Roku giving away daily prizes in holiday sweepstakes
Roku is one of the leaders in an ever-more competitive set-top box market that includes heavy-hitters like Apple and Google, Despite that, the company has carved out a niche for itself through a combination of functionality and pricing. Now, to celebrate both the holidays and its good fortune, Roku is holding a sweepstakes.
Here's how it works -- Roku is giving away a number of items everyday between now and December 22nd. The list of products remains the same each day, but you'll have to enter daily for a chance to win. Head to the Stuff Your Stocking Sweepstakes website and pick the item you desire. Each day the company will give each item away to a lucky winner.
White Nexus 7 appears in Play store, only one model to choose from
Without much fanfare, Google has added a new member to its Nexus family, but it's not what you think. For weeks now we have waited, not entirely patiently, for an updated version of the Nexus 10 tablet, enduring endless rumored release dates that have come and gone.
The new addition, however, is a white version of the Nexus 7 that was unveiled back in June at a breakfast event with Android chief Sundar Pichai. The tablet sports a white back and edges, while the face still has the familiar black bezel.
LG G Pad 8.3 becomes the first-ever Google Play Edition tablet
Android fans are very particular about their devices. For many, a Nexus device is the only way to go. After all, Nexus devices are usually the only way to run pure Android and get fast updates. However, what are you to do if you want the pure experience, but don't like the current offering of Nexus devices?
Google remedied that dilemma earlier this year by releasing Google Play Editions of the Samsung Galaxy S4 and HTC One. These phones run pure Android rather than the skinned versions by the handset manufacturers. Today, LG announces that its LG G Pad 8.3 is the first-ever tablet to be designated a Google Play Edition device. Will it be a Nexus 7 killer?
Android Christmas tree ornaments go on sale -- quickly out of stock
I swear, I'm not an Android "fan-boy"; I am not committed to any platform. However, I am a fan-boy of something -- technology. When the first generation of Android collectibles were released, I snatched them up because they were technology collectibles. They are cute and make great conversation pieces. Quite frankly, it is probably as close to art as I will get. I have since collected about thirty of the little figurines.
Every once in a while, the official retailer, Dead Zebra, will sell limited editions of the Androids that sell out pretty fast. A few days ago, I caught wind that limited-edition Android Christmas ornaments would be released on December 10th at 11am. I created a calendar reminder in Outlook to be sure I wouldn't miss out. However, ordering them proved rather difficult.
Backup4all gains cloud backup support
Romanian developer Softland has announced the release of Backup4all 5.0, a major update of its flagship backup package.
As previously, the program is available in Lite ($19.99), Standard ($39.99) and Professional (currently $49.99) editions. And perhaps unsurprisingly, it’s the high-end Backup4all Professional edition which gains the most, with support for backing up to Microsoft Azure and Amazon S3 destinations.
Chromecast gets 10 new apps -- Plex, VEVO and more
Google's Chromecast has been wildly popular, mostly due to price. At $35, it is extremely affordable -- something to appreciate in a bad economy. If you aren't familiar, it is a small HDMI dongle that enables audio and video streaming from Android, iOS, Windows, OS X and Chrome OS.
However, one of the knocks on the streaming media dongle has been a lack of apps for mobile devices. Sadly, at launch, it only supported Google Play, YouTube, Netflix, and Chrome. Today, Google announces that the inexpensive device is getting ten new apps. In other words, if you still need to buy Christmas presents, the $35 Chromecast just got a lot better and should be on your shopping radar.
Microsoft brings improved 3D to Photosynth, takes you to Everest
Photosynth is a free panoramic photo app that can take your pictures and stitch them together into some of the most beautiful images you will find on the web. The app was publicly released in 2008 and is now moving to its third generation, designed to mesh with last week's update of Bing Maps.
Microsoft claims the new update to its 3D technology delivers "a dramatic step forward in smoothness and simplicity, and is what we now recommend for anyone with a D-SLR or a point-and-shoot camera". This is only a technical preview at this point, and the previous two generations of Photosynth are still available.
Take control of the Windows firewall with Tweaking.com’s 'Allow, Block or Remove'
If you’re currently using the Windows firewall then you’ll know the system can work well: it’s lightweight, configurable, and generally does a good job of blocking incoming attacks. But it’s not always easy to use, and deciding which programs can (or can’t) go online is a particularly tricky process.
Fortunately Tweaking.com’s latest tool, "Allow, Block or Remove", is on hand to help. There are no complex dialogs here, no lengthy lists of rules, protocols, ports or anything else. Instead, just find the executable you’d like to configure in Explorer, and you can block or allow it through the firewall in a couple of clicks.
Huddle brings fast, easy document handling to the cloud
The demands of mobile use in the workplace create extra challenges when it comes to ensuring information is shared effectively. This is a particular issue when it involves working on documents. Help is at hand though as content collaboration specialist Huddle has unveiled a new cloud tool enabling users to quickly and easily create document content in the cloud, share it with teams and collaborate on it with colleagues.
Huddle Note offers an alternative to legacy applications in order to speed up the document handling process. Once a note is created it can be shared with a single click and other users can review and offer feedback. All comments are time-stamped so it's easy to see the full history of a document. There’s full version control too so that you can track all previous versions and revert to an earlier one if required. Because it uses the existing Huddle platform your notes are protected by enterprise-grade security.
ShareX is an ultra-configurable screengrab tool
It’s easy to capture screens in Windows: just press PrtSc, Alt+PrtSc or Win+PrtSc (which saves a grab to disc in Windows 8). Unfortunately, the capture is just the beginning, and you’ll then have to spend quite some time editing, annotating, uploading, sharing and otherwise handling your image.
If you’re looking for an easier life, then, we would forget about the standard Windows tools, and install the open source ShareX, instead. Not only does it have many more features, but most of them can be entirely automated, so you can get your captures finished with no hassles at all.
Birst brings a visual element to business intelligence
Business intelligence solutions, although they provide a wealth of information, traditionally rely on analytical techniques that take a good deal of time and effort to produce meaningful output. Birst has been a leader in cloud-based BI for a while and is now launching a visual discovery facility to streamline access.
Birst Visualizer sits on top of the existing Birst product's logical layer to provide accurate, business-aware enterprise data. It aims to combine a Google-like search with Amazon-style recommendations, allowing decision makers self-service access to data that might previously have needed specialist reporting skills.
Sorry Samsung, I'm going back to the iPhone
I owned an iPhone 3GS for a couple of years, and loved it. But when the time came to replace it, instead of upgrading to an iPhone 4S, I decided to go for Samsung’s new Galaxy S II instead. The S II’s reviews were glowing -- many calling it an iPhone 5 killer (suggesting it was already way better than whatever Apple did next) -- and having played around with it in store, I was sold. Apple was the past, Samsung was the future, and this was the phone for me.
When the S III came out, I duly upgraded to that -- well, why wouldn’t? I’ll be honest, the beefed up size was a little off-putting at first, but the phone was great; a truly worthy successor. Recently though the device has started to misbehave, turning itself off without warning, and requiring constant charging, clear signs it was time to upgrade again. Going for the Galaxy S4 would have been the obvious choice, or maybe -- like many of my colleagues here at BetaNews -- I could have switched to a Windows Phone. The Lumia 925 is certainly appealing. The truth though is there was only one phone I really, really wanted and yesterday it arrived. A shiny new iPhone 5s in Space Gray.
Firefox 26 arrives, makes plugins more secure
Mozilla has begun the rollout of Firefox 26 FINAL, the latest stable build of its open-source, cross-platform web browser. There are no surprises with this final release, the raft of new and changed features mirroring that previewed when version 26 entered beta at the end of October.
The most visible change sees all browser plug-ins -- with the notable exception of recent Flash plug-ins -- being set to "click to play".
Qualcomm enters the 64-bit mobile processor arena with Snapdragon 410
The main reason why 64-bit processors are needed is to utilize hardware configurations with more than 4 GB of RAM. To make this possible, the operating system also has to support the architecture, and apps have to be properly designed as well. This is the case with PCs which top the mentioned memory capacity and have the right software for it, but when it comes to mobile devices the advantages are mostly limited to bragging rights at the moment, with a few exceptions (like Microsoft's Surface Pro 2 -- it runs the 64-bit Windows 8.1 Pro and can be had with 8 GB of RAM).
Apple's iPhone 5s is the best example of why having a 64-bit processor offers no real benefits (other than allowing developers to adjust to the change): iOS 7 and the apps may support the architecture, but the smartphone ships with just 1 GB of RAM. This means that at no point is 64-bit needed, because the memory capacity does not warrant it. Former Qualcomm chief marketing officer Anand Chandrasekher was among the first to point this out, but here we are today with the US company also revealing its own 64-bit processor, dubbed Snapdragon 410.
Google invites you to create your own Street View maps
Google Street View is a great way to explore the world around you without having to move from the comfort of your armchair. Not that we're lazy here at BetaNews, you understand! In fact, sometimes we like to get out and about. Like us, there are probably places you go to time and time again -- a favorite park, a trek up a hill, a stroll on the beach -- that are so breath-taking that you'd like everyone to experience them. Well, today Google makes that dream possible by letting anyone put together their very own Street Views.
In a post on the Google Maps blog, Product Manager for Google Maps and Photo Sphere, Evan Rapoport, explains that it is now possible to create a series of Photos Spheres, link them together and then share them on Google Maps. Unlike Google, there's no need to drive around in a special car kitted out with high tech camera equipment -- all you need is a DSLR or an Android phone.
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