Apple confirms App Store passes 100,000 apps
Growing together with the iPhone and iPod touch user base, the App Store now has a catalog that includes over 100,000 applications for Apple's two touchscreen devices. Available in 77 countries, the App Store provides both free and commercial apps in 20 categories, including games, business, news, sports, health, reference and travel.
"The App Store, now with over 100,000 applications available, is clearly a major differentiator for millions of iPhone and iPod touch customers around the world," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. "The iPhone SDK created the first great platform for mobile applications and our customers are loving all of the amazing apps our developers are creating."
The App Store was launched in July 2008 and has seen well over 2 billion apps being downloaded by those who have accessed it. And yes, it's still going up from here.
Read More ...
Twitter learns Spanish with help from users
Less than a month ago the Twitter team announced its plans to add support for four more languages and launched a tool enabling users of the micro-blogging wonder to contribute to the translation. With the community's help work on translations kicked into a higher gear and now Twitter can safely say it is available in one additional language - Spanish.
Twitter can be accessed in English, Japanese and Spanish, with French, Italian, German translation closing in fast as users pitch in. Asking members to contribute on translations certainly worked for Facebook and it seems that it has a good effect on Twitter too. With more supported languages Twitter should be able to keep growing very nicely while its administrators think of ways to monetize the service.
Read More ...
Microsoft announce new cloud research facility in Taiwan
Microsoft and Taiwan's economics ministry have announced plans for an all new research center next year, which will pave the way for the first steps that the Redmond company will be taking - on Asian soil - in the rapidly expanding cloud computing sector.
No details on the size of investment or the number of people involved, nor the number of people that the Taipei center may employ in the near future for this venture - but it is clear that one of the ideas behind the center is to benefit existing contracted manufacturers, including Hon Hai and Quanta.
In a visit to Taipei this week, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said that the new 'Software and Services Excellence Center' will be geared toward the co-ordination of developments in cloud computing technology.
"We need to keep our ability to really work with our ODM (original design manufacturing) and OEM (original equipment manufacturing) partners on what the devices will look like." said Ballmer.
Read More ...
MSN Music Downloads finally makes its dأƒآ©but
Microsoft has finally launched their MSN Music Downloads service, which was originally set for a beta rollout back in July this year, before issues were raised and set back development.
Major music labels EMI, Warner Music Group, Universal Music Group and Sony BMG are in on the service, totaling some one million tracks available for download on launch. Pricing comes in at an average of 79p (GBP) per track, but the purchasing system is... different to say the least. Customers in fact purchase credits at 10 credits for أ‚آ£7.99, at the moment prices set as 1 credit for 1 track, 10 for an album.
Tracks are encoded to 192 kbps and are available in MP3 and WMA formats without DRM protection. Microsoft say that they also have plans to offer tracks streamed via a service similar to Spotify, allowing for easier access via mobile devices connected to the internet.
"As part of the service, free music streaming will be tested on a limited basis. MSN will be running a series of promotions on the MSN website enabling a limited number of users to gain access to this aspect of the beta." said a Microsoft spokesperson.
Read More ...
Zilla JPG To PDF Converter version 2.0 released
Zilla JPG To PDF Converter is a FREE windows application for quickly converting multiple image files into a single pdf document. With Zilla JPG To PDF Converter users can create pdf files from JPG/JPEG, GIF, BMP, TIF, PNG and PSD formats.
Features in this version include:
- 100% Freeware, No spyware, adware.
- 90% faster than Other PDF Vitural Printing Converters
- Compressed PDF file size
- Support Most of Popular Image Formats like JPG, BMP, GIF, PNG, TIF, PSD, ICO, PCX etc
Website: PDF Zilla
Download: JPG to PDF 2.0
Read More ...
Litl's Atom-powered Webbook now available
Boston-based Litl has today debuted the Webbook, an Atom netbook that runs a web-connected and cloud-using operating system. In terms of hardware, the Webbook features a 12-inch screen with a hinge that allows it to stand upright, a 1.6 GHz Atom CPU, 1GB of RAM and a 2GB of flash storage, which isn't much, but the software is supposed to make the difference for this product.
Litl's machine is said to make it easy to connect and stay in touch with friends and family and provides Flickr, Shutterfly and Facebook channels for photo sharing/viewing, a Weather Channel app that displays local weather conditions and 5-day forecasts, and is maintenance free as all updates are delivered automatically, without bothering the user.
"As everything from music and photos to email and social networking moves online, it's clear that the web is transforming personal computing. And yet, most homes are still using computers and software based on thinking from more than 30 years ago," said Litl's founder and CEO John Chuang. "We knew that to really meet the needs of home users - from kids to parents and grandparents - we needed to design an entirely new system that would make the web engaging, entertaining and fun."
The Litl Webbook can be purchased for $699.
Read More ...
HTC HD2 launched today in the UK, Europe and Asia
HTC have officially confirmed that their shiny new HD2 smartphone comes out today in the United Kingdom, Europe and Asia.
The latest Windows-driven device running Windows Mobile 6.5, features HTC's most up to date user experience software, HTC Sense. Based on TouchFLO 3D found on older models, Sense enhances the features of Windows Mobile providing extra functionality and a far improved user interface for using the device on the go.
Steve Ballmer had the following to say about the HD2:
"Working with HTC, we've delivered great phones that help customers connect to the people and information they care about, wherever they are. The HTC HD2 shows what's possible through our close partnership with HTC and it breaks new ground for Windows phones by delivering a beautiful multi-touch screen that people will love."
With a capacitive touchscreen, digital compass, FM radio and a decent 5MP camera, all placed around the mighty 1GHz Snapdragon processor and 448MB or RAM - this high powered phone is a decent competitor to any other on the market - but unfortunately, also comes in at a similar price - أ‚آ£499 from Expansys in the UK.
Read More ...
I-O Data reveals USB 3.0 external HDD, expansion cards
I-O Data has jumped onto the USB 3.0 Express with a lot of enthusiasm and has already announced three products that support the new standard, an external hard drive, a PCI-Express expansion card and an ExpressCard. Dubbed HDJ-UT, the USB 3.0 HDD comes in 1 and 1.5TB capacities, is also compatible with USB 2.0 systems, it weights 1.6kg, and will deliver speeds of up to 139 MB/s - when on USB 3.0 of course.
The two expansion cards are pretty straightforward as they both feature two USB 3.0 ports, with the USB3-PEX set to be used within desktops due to its PCIe x1 interface, while the USB3-EXC targets notebooks that have an ExpressCard slot.
The 1 and 1.5TB HDJ-UT drives have price tags of around $231 and $279, respectively, while the USB3-PEX and USB3-EXC cost $69 and $93.
Read More ...
VIA serves up the AMOS-5000 chassis for Em-ITX embedded systems
In a continuous effort to impose its low-power platforms, VIA Technologies has today introduced the AMOS-5000 chassis kit for Em-ITX board-based embedded systems. The steel-made chassis is said to withstand a temperature range of -20 to 55 degrees Celsius and be capable of sustaining a force of up to 50G, and features a design that's easy to assemble and maintain.
The fanless AMOS-5000 makes use of a discrete aluminum heatsink which has direct contact with the processor and chipset on the reverse side of the board, and provides multiple I/O options that can be extended via expansion modules.
"With the VIA AMOS-5000 we are offering developers the means to create a wealth of unique fanless designs using less time and fewer resources," said Daniel Wu, Vice President, VIA Embedded Platform Division, VIA Technologies. "This is in keeping with our broader strategy to offer a complete and comprehensive product ecosystem that empowers our customers with a clear market advantage."
VIA is offering the AMOS-5000 for use in embedded segments including medical, healthcare, industrial and building automation, digital signage, kiosk, POI/POS, gaming and surveillance applications.
Read More ...
Silicon Power readies 64GB LuxMini 920 flash drive
Taiwanese manufacturer Silicon Power is preparing to introduce a new LuxMini series flash drive to its offer, namely a 64GB LuxMini 920. Looking the same as its 8, 16 and 32GB brothers, the upcoming drive measures 72.4 x 17.4 x 10 mm and weight 11 grams, has a cratch- and fingerprint proof enclosure, USB 1.1/2.0 connectivity an read/write speeds of up to 30/20 MB/s.
The 64GB LuxMini 920 will also be backed by a lifetime warranty. No word on pricing though.
Read More ...
No comments:
Post a Comment