Category: Software

If you’re a Mac user, you may not know about Steam. By Valve (makers of Half-Life and L4D) it’s the greatest game distribution service in existence—like an iTunes for PC games. Now, it could be coming to Macs.

In Steam’s latest beta release, a search through its files revealed a number of OSX-specific assets, like a Steam dock icon (among loads of others). Since there’s no reason for OSX resources—that I should add, are specifically labeled “OSX”—to make their way into a PC product, it seems pretty certain that, yes, Steam is coming to Mac. Hooray!

Now, with Steam imminent, all the Mac platform needs is the actual games! [Steam Forums via Kotaku, who crafted the excellent lead shot]

In what I hope is not a sign of things to come from other software makers, InformationWeek is reporting that Skype has pulled the Windows Mobile version of its software. Skype will still run on Microsoft’s handsets for customers that have it installed, but you won’t be able to download and install the software going forward. Considering that Microsoft recently announced the new Windows Phone 7 Series with a fresh, new UI and environment, it’s easy to assume that Skype is writing off  the “legacy” Windows Mobile platform. That doesn’t appear to be the case, though. Here’s what you’ll find on the Skype FAQ page on Skype for Windows Mobile:

“We’ve chosen to withdraw Skype Lite and Skype for Windows Mobile because we want to offer our new customers an improved mobile experience – much like the version that has proved so popular on the iPhone, and which is now available on Symbian phones. Our focus is on providing a rich user experience that allows you to enjoy free Skype-to-Skype and low cost calls as easily on the move as you do at your desktop.
We felt that Skype Lite and Skype for Windows Mobile were not offering the best possible Skype experience.”

It’s that last sentence that captures what I think is the essence of this move — “…not offering the best possible Skype experience.” A perfect example of that is the audio output issue that for years has plagued Skype for Windows Mobile users. I can remember as far back as 2006 trying to use Skype on a WinMo phone only to have the audio conversation broadcast through the speaker for all the world to hear. The Skype development team simply couldn’t guarantee a consistent experience in a case like this because their software could only access the correct speaker if a handset manufacturer included a specific API. Without a phone-specific hack or additional software, Skype simply couldn’t offer the best possible experience. It was beyond their control.

Since the problem has been around for years, I’m surprised that Skype didn’t hang up this software sooner. On the other hand, it’s been a problem for this long, so why kill it now? The only reasons I can think of are that the company is simply tired of getting bashed over an issue that’s beyond its control and because it will now focus support and development on a Windows Phone 7 Series client. Given that Microsoft is standardizing the chassis designs and hardware requirements, Skype may have a better chance to offer the solid experience it’s striving for.

Note that Skype Lite for mobiles — and I assume Android, since I haven’t seen it in the Android Market for some time — is also on the disabled list. That actually does surprise me. This client geared for Java-based phones only debuted about a year ago. Perhaps Skype is changing focus and evolving its business model — instead of targeting device platforms and end users, maybe we’ll see more deals with carriers like the recent one with Verizon.

Related research on GigaOM Pro (sub req’d):

Could Skype in Your Pocket Beat the iPod Touch?

I’m evaluating the combination of Notational Velocity and Simplenote (iPhone) to manage my “notes” [1], including those related to home and work. I’ll have more on that in my tech blog when I’ve got some personal experience, but it’s interesting now to look at how software pricing is changing.

Our readers are no doubt a group of hardcore tech addicts who always strive to get the most out of the mobile gear they use. This applies especially to netbooks and UMPCs, as those devices often have less powerful engines under the hood and it can be a chore to get the best performance out of them. We first covered Vispa three years ago, but the program since has evolved into a full-featured way to tweak Windows systems for maximum impact.

Vispa was written to tweak Microsoft Windows Vista, but recently got the ability to handle Windows 7. It provides a simple list interface where just about every aspect of the operating system can be tweaked. For this reason alone you need to be very careful how you change the environment, which means backing up before using Vispa.

You don’t want to turn things off if you don’t know what they do. Only change the things you are certain you can do so safely. If you want to change other things then search the web for a given function to make sure you can live with the change.

Windows runs a lot of services in the background, and while many of them perform vital functions the OS needs to do its job, not all of them are needed by everyone all the time. Turning off unneeded services can go a long way to improving system performance. Vispa handles that easily, allowing you to turn off (or back on) a lot of these services.

You can download Vispa for no charge, and I strongly recommend you create a system restore point, just in case. You have been warned. Vispa will tweak Windows on any system, not just netbooks. Thanks to Download Squad for reminding me about Vispa.

Related research on GigaOM Pro (sub req’d):

Report: The Future of Netbooks!

The TouchFlo2D world has been neglected in all this Sense 2.1/2.5 chaos, but no longer.

This new theme/skin has been available for some time now, but has just been updated to include some really nice graphics and even the flip clock weather indicator. The thread contains some very nice skins for TF2D and even the links to where you can acquire this specially modified version. If you are running TF2D I recommend you check out this XDA thread for a taste of the new Sense UI.

XDA-developers

Gregory T. Huang wrote:

Seattle-based Cray, the supercomputing company, announced today it has won three high-performance computing awards from the U.S. Department of Defense, totaling more than $45 million. Cray will provide three next-generation supercomputing systems to the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory in Ohio, the Arctic Region Supercomputing Center in Alaska, and the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center in Mississippi. Cray (NASDAQ: CRAY) says its technology will be used to support research and development for new materials, fuels, and armor and weapons systems, as well as to assist in long-term weather predictions. The supercomputers are expected to be delivered to the U.S. defense centers in the second half of 2010.

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Apple quickly put out a patch for Aperture 3 to improve stability and resolve issues for a great many things including:
• Upgrading libraries from earlier versions of Aperture
• Importing libraries from iPhoto
• Importing photos directly from a camera
• Memory usage when processing heavily-retouched photos
• Face recognition processing

I myself had repeated troubles on an iPhoto import, so fingers crossed on my current attempt, with newly patched software.

It’s clear that everyone with Aperture 3 should absolutely download this update. However, support documents still warn that the thing could eat up your drive (albeit temporarily):

Aperture temporarily uses extra space on your hard drive during the upgrade process. This is for the purpose of backing up critical library info and insuring the integrity of your data during upgrade. If you don’t have adequate space on your hard drive to accommodate the upgrade, Aperture will display a warning dialog. You may need to move your library to a different hard drive with more space in order to upgrade it, and then move it back to the original drive when the upgrade is complete. Any space used by Aperture during the upgrade is released and made available to you again once the upgrade has finished.

So there’s that. Anyway, kudos to Apple for speedy reaction to a known issue. We definitely love to see that! [Patch download; release notes]

TCPMP has always been one of the best multi-codec video players, but has been left behind in recent years due to its terrible stylus-centric user interface.

Now a finger-friendly skin has finally arrived for the media player which revitalizes the old application and brings it right back to the fore-front again.

Apparently the skin was originally developed for the Samsung Omnia, but has been ported to WVGA and supports the HTC HD2 very well.

Download the full application, which includes the skin and has already been tweaked for the HTC HD2, from this XDA-Developers thread here.

Via XDA-Developers.com

Feedburner is one of the most popular services for publishing RSS feeds and email updates. If you login to your Feedburner account you would be able to view statistics such as clicks, subscribers and so on.

Now, what if you can view all this information from the comfort of your desktop? RSS Feed counter is a desktop application which will display the statistics for any Feedburner feed on your desktop, allowing you to analyze the data without having to visit the Feedburner website.

RSS Feed counter will allow you to fetch the data for any feed, including one’s not owned by you (please see note below). The application works by pulling data from the Awareness API and displaying it to you in a neat format. You can also poll data for a date range, which will then allow you to compare data between different days.

Note: To use this tool, the feed in question will have to have the "Awareness API" enabled. If you want to enable it for your feed, visit Publicize -> Awareness API in your feed dashboard and activate the service.

Techie Buzz Verdict

This tool could be used to quickly analyze data on the desktop and know your feed count, reach and hits. Also the app is a bit rough around the edges, you might need to use the "Clear All" button quite often when you are trying to check on different feeds.

However, the bad thing is that you need to activate the Awareness API, which would then make the data available to your feed to everyone. If you decide to not turn on the Awareness API, this app will do no good to you.

Coming to think of it, it would be great if Feedburner could fine tune the Awareness API, by adding an API key for accessing the data. It would then make more sense, rather than having to make the data public to everyone. Are you reading Feedburner?

Download RSS Feed Counter [via Shout Me Loud]

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We just had a tip from wmphone.de, letting us know of a shocking mystery.

It appears Skype for Windows Mobile has disappeared from their website, and is no longer available for download. Their website merely claims “Skype Lite and Skype for Windows Mobile are no longer available.”

Their support FAQ claims:

Why can’t I download Skype Lite or Skype for Windows Mobile?

Unfortunately, Skype Lite – a version of Skype for your mobile phone – and Skype for Windows Mobile are no longer available for download from our site.

We’ve chosen to withdraw Skype Lite and Skype for Windows Mobile because we want to offer our new customers an improved mobile experience – much like the version that has proved so popular on the iPhone, and which is now available on Symbian phones. Our focus is on providing a rich user experience that allows you to enjoy free Skype-to-Skype and low cost calls as easily on the move as you do at your desktop.

We felt that Skype Lite and Skype for Windows Mobile were not offering the best possible Skype experience.

Can I still use Skype Lite if I already have it?
Yes. People who have already installed Skype Lite can continue to use it throughout 2010.

Can I still use Skype for Windows Mobile if I already have it?
Yes. People who have already installed Skype for Windows Mobile can of course continue to use it.

The above explanation is rather bizarre, and of course does not explain much at all.

At the moment Skype for Windows Mobile can still be downloaded here, but who knows how long this page, which is not liked to anywhere anymore, will remain up.

Do any of our readers have more information on this mystery? Let us know below.

Charlie Kindel, Partner Group Program Manager for the Windows Phone Application Platform & Developer Experience, wrote an article explaining the design approach for Windows Phone 7 series.

He notes the their purpose was:

.. to harness the energy, talent, and attention of developers and designers with a platform and ecosystem that delivers on the developer experience end to end; that, combined with the phone’s end-user experience, results in a winning virtuous cycle.

To implement this long-term vision some of their development principles were:

• Every decision we make must be made mindful of the effect on end-users.
• We will do a few things and do them very, very well; we are better off not having a capability than doing it poorly. There are always future versions.
• No API will be created or documented without a clear use case; “build it and they will come” APIs almost always do nothing but create bad legacy.
• We will build on the shoulders of giants; where possible integrate instead of create.
• We will strive to not show our organizational boundaries to developers.

We can see clear evidence of the principles in action in terms of the integration Windows Phone 7 brings between Xbox, Zune and Microsoft’s Live services. However we also see the downside of reduced functionality in initial releases. “We are better off not having a capability” may result in Windows Phone 7 having many less features than Windows Mobile 6.x had, no matter how poorly implemented.

To get more into the head of the development team read more at Charlie Kindel’s blog here.

Via LiveSide.net

Even though Lady Gaga may be nipping at Madonna’s heels, she is still and will always be the reigning Queen of Pop. So what Queen doesn’t have an iPhone App? The

(via Perezhilton via MadonnaTribe)

In Google’s ongoing battle with China, the supposedly open source Android OS has once again been caught in the middle.

Google has pulled out of a scheduled Android developers’ conference in Beijing. While shows in Hong Kong and Taiwan will still go ahead, the Beijing one has been cancelled as part of Google’s continuing efforts to shift itself out of China.

In January Google postponed the Chinese launch of two Android handsets – one Samsung and one Motorola – saying that it would be "irresponsible" to launch them when the search giant’s own future in China was so uncertain.

While Google imagines itself placing pressure on the Chinese government, the truth is that it is snubbing Android developers as much as the government itself, which could lead to rising sentiment against the company and its products.  Google only holds a minority position in the Chinese search engine market, unlike its dominance everywhere else.

Microsoft has already indicated that it will not participate in the posturing Google has adopted, and recent moves to make its Windows Mobile 6.x OS free in emerging markets should her endear it to OEM’s in China, while Google demonstrates exactly the opposite attitude.

Read more at the Register here.

It seems Microsoft is not leaving the gaming credentials of their smartphone to chance.  In a job posting they are looking for a marketing manager to recruit developers to make games for Windows, Xbox Live and also Windows Mobile.

Interested in signing game development deals for a new strategic initiative? Then, come join the Microsoft Game Studios (MGS) Business Development Team. Our mission is to source independent game developers capable of creating the next blockbuster 1st party franchises for our Windows, Mobile and Xbox LIVE platforms. Your goal will be to find developers and game concepts that fit into our portfolio strategy. You will join a team of diverse, dedicated and fun business development experts to significantly contribute to the future of MGS portfolio and success.

The post for a position at Microsoft Games Studios, which is behind games such as Halo, Gears of War and Forza Motorsports. Hopefully we will see games of that quality soon enough on the Windows phone platform also.

See the full job posting here.

For over 30 years, Telecommunications Relay Services have brought voice telephony communication to deaf consumers. This isn’t exactly a technology I’ve kept up with during that whole time, but as I look into it now, I see that the web has greatly expanded the service range from its original capabilities. The latest development is an application that supports Apple’s iPhone and iPod touch. This software from Purple is aptly named IP-Relay and you can see it in action in this YouTube video created by the company.

IP-Relay essentially places a regular phone call, with one exception — between the two callers is an operator that assists with the entire communications stream. The deaf caller types out their conversation, which the operator reads to the other party. In turn, the spoken responses are transcribed and typed for the deaf person to read on their iPhone, much like an instant messaging chat session. The app is free in the iTunes store and there’s no direct cost for the end user in the U.S. as these services are paid for from state or federal funds.

The software looks configurable for usability;  font size, colors, and the special GA and SK usage can be modified. GA and SK are useful action abbreviations in this particular case — Go Ahead and Stop Keying. IP-Relay integrates your existing iPhone contacts and also maintains a recent calls log for fast redial. After reading up on the software and these services in general, I’m no longer going to assume that every iPhone owner I see can hear me. Shame on me for thinking otherwise up to now!

Images courtesy of Purple Communications

Related research on GigaOM Pro (sub req’d):

Will Killer Apps Affect Which Handsets Consumers Buy?

A post today on the European carrier Orange’s business blog begged Microsoft for some clarify on their enterprise intentions.

Steven Costello notes:

While Windows Phone 7-based devices are not likely to reach the market before Christmas 2010, one thing is very clear: the operating system is very-much consumer focused, with Microsoft’s other consumer brands including Xbox and Zune being referenced in the press release,but with the word "enterprise" conspicuous by its absence. With Microsoft previously having had a strong position in the enterprise smartphone market, this means that the future upgrade path for enterprise Windows Mobile/Windows Phone devices is anything but clear, which is certainly likely to impact businesses that are either existing Windows Mobile users or which are planning their smartphone strategies.

He expressed concern about the lack of backwards compatibility with legacy business software, and did not find the continuing existence of “windows phone classic” a satisfactory alternative, saying it was unclear how much longer this platform will be supported, making companies wary of investing further resources in an “evolutionary dead-end”.

It is certainly clear that Microsoft has done very little to reassure business, where they have a major presence, that it was still worthwhile buying Windows Mobile handsets and starting new Windows Mobile-based projects, which could dramatically affect sales in the coming months.

Do you use Windows Mobile devices in your business and have concerns about the future? Let us know below.

Todays thermostats are miles ahead of those of even 10 years ago. It seems the average thermostat can program multiple “Setbacks” in a day and have separate programs for the week days and weekends … or even a unique program for each day. But they are not always easy to set up and get the most value from them. Future thermostats may be controlled by PC (via the net) so you can make changes remotely and more easily.

Check out this interesting video about the Future of the Thermostat

Via: ZDNet LINK