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  • Ubuntu 13.04 ‘Raring Ringtail’ gives some, takes some

    It’s no secret that Ubuntu is heading for desktop/ mobile convergence, with a runs-everywhere build expected within a year. But while 13.04 (“Raring Ringtail”) shows some signs of movement in that direction, the new release isn’t exactly packed with new features: in fact, it’s taken one or two away.

    Of course there’s no harm in consolidating your code base occasionally, and Canonical appear to have done that to good effect. They claim that it’s the fastest Ubuntu experience to date, with an updated kernel delivering “dramatic graphical performance enhancements”, reduced RAM requirements and more. And while this might be aimed at helping the system run on mobile devices, it’s also very welcome for regular desktop users.

    And it’s a similar story with other smaller, more subtle tweaks. Like the new “fuzzy search”, for instance: if you make a typo when entering an application then that may not be an issue, as Raring Ringtail will try to figure out what you mean. This may be targeted at users with tiny on-screen keyboards, but everyone will benefit from it occasionally.

    More generally, improved social networking support means you can choose which applications integrate with Facebook, Twitter and more, directly from the Online Accounts pane. You can then search photos across all your enabled accounts via a new Unity Dash Photo lens (if you turn on the “Show online results” feature, anyway).

    And new task management options make it easier to switch between multiple windows; just hover over an icon in the dock and use your scroll wheel to select the folder you need.

    What you won’t get this time is Gwibber, which has been removed as the developer is working on its successor. Similarly, Wubi — the Window dual-boot tool — has been left out of the release due to “various bugs”, while there’s no longer any option to install the Gnome classic shell.

    And some much-anticipated features are also absent. In particular, Smart Scopes, which promised to extend Unity Dash with some very powerful web search capabilities, was reportedly too unstable to make the final cut.

    Raring Ringtail is something of a transitional release, then; there are worthwhile improvements here, but nothing revolutionary, and the missing tools and options will annoy some. Still, it’s a step in the right direction, if only a small one, and most Ubuntu users will benefit from the new release.

  • Leap Motion Controller Ship Date Delayed Until July 22, Due To A Need For A Larger, Longer Beta Test

    leap motion

    Leap Motion has just announced that its 3D gesture controller hardware ship date will be delayed, from May 13 for pre-orders and May 19 for general retail availability to July 27. The delay was caused by a need for more testing from the Leap Motion beta testing community, and an expansion of that group with additional members, according to Leap Motion CEO Michael Buckwald, who held a press conference today to discuss the missed dates.

    This is not good new for a company that has spent a lot of time promoting its product and securing high-level partnerships (with Asus, HP and Best Buy) up until now. The hype that Leap Motion has been able to build only means that users will be more disappointed by any delays in its launch window, and the effect on public perception is certainly one the hardware startup would like to have avoided. Still, some 12,000 developers have received units and already used them to do impressive things, so Leap Motion is hardly in danger of being branded ‘vaporware’ as of yet.

    Leap Motion says it wants to make sure that the product they deliver is the best they can offer, and says that there is “nothing catastrophically wrong” with the hardware as of yet. The company believes that it could have shipped by the original date if it had really pushed things, but wanted to make sure that things were ready for prime time. The new July 22 ship date is firmly set, according to Buckwald, and this is “the first and only delay there will be.”

    When asked if there was a specific cause, Buckwald said it’s more about beta testing everything in general, but that there will definitely be a focus on getting more input on how customers interact with the product. In general, it sounds like there’s some concern about making sure that user experience is pleasant among not only Leap Motion’s more technical users, but also the general public, too. Buckwald says it has addressed most of the technical issues around gesture tracking, and now the emphasis is squarely on usability testing, and those who are already seeded with early hardware will essentially act more as consumer testers.

    “If you’d asked me a year ago what was the biggest challenge, I’d have said it would be the hardware side,” Buckwald said, but went on to explain that the software aspect is now what’s holding things up, and the part that needs more refinement. 600,000 units are in inventory in warehouses ready to ship, he said, but those won’t be going out until the software issues are ironed out. When asked about how that affects their funding situation, he explained that the $45 million it has raised so far was designed to help it field unexpected hiccups in the process, and it continues to help with that.

    A small number of additional users will be invited to the beta test pool beginning in June, Buckwald explained, but Leap Motion will be reaching out to users specifically to choose those, based on their desire for a more varied beta pool. In other words, you probably can’t petition for early access. The full letter Leap Motion is sending out to pre-order customers follows:

    Release Date Update

    I wanted to reach out to update you on the status of our ship date. After a lot of consideration, we’ve decided to push back the date and will now be shipping units to pre-order customers on July 22nd.

    This is not a decision we take lightly. There are hundreds of thousands of people in over 150 countries who have pre-ordered Leap devices, some as long as a year ago. These people are part of our community and there is nothing more important to us than getting them devices as quickly as possible.

    We’ve made a lot of progress. When we first started taking orders back in May we were twelve (very tired) people in a basement. Now we are eighty (although still tired and possibly still in a basement). We’ve manufactured over six hundred thousand devices and delivered twelve thousand Leaps to amazing developers who are building applications that let people do things that just wouldn’t have been possible before. These developers have given us great feedback that we’ve used to make huge improvements to the stability and polish of the product. We’re really proud of Leap as both a company and a product.

    The reality is we very likely could have hit the original ship date. But it wouldn’t have left time for comprehensive testing. This will come in the form of a beta test that will start in June. We will give the 12k developers who currently have Leap devices access to the feature complete product including OS interaction (today developers only have access to the SDK). We will also invite some people who are not developers to join the beta test.

    Ultimately, the only way we felt 100% confident we could deliver a truly magical product that would do justice to this new form of interaction, was to push the date so we would have more time for a larger, more diverse beta test.

    I really appreciate your patience. I know it’s been a long wait. Everyone that works at Leap is working tirelessly to make sure that wait is worth it. Thanks so much for your help and support.

    David and I will be participating in an open video Q&A using Google Hangout tomorrow. We’ll send along more specific information on that shortly. If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact our support team at[email protected] or my personal email ([email protected]). As always, we will not charge pre-order customer’s credit cards until the devices have actually shipped.

    Thanks again. Michael Buckwald

  • Rayman Legends Brings Some Challenge To The Nintendo Download

    Ubisoft revealed this morning that the highly anticipated Rayman Legends will launch across the Wii U, Xbox 360 and PS3 on September 3 in North America. Until then, Wii U owners can get their hands on a new “demo.”

    Nintendo announced that the Rayman Legends Challenges App is now available on the Wii U eShop. The “demo” challenges players to compete in online challenges across randomly generated levels. It’s a free download, and will remain on the Wii U eShop until the game’s full release in September.

    The other major release this week is Mega Man 4 on the 3DS eShop virtual console. The fourth entry in the classic Mega Man series is generally considered the point where the series started to go downhill, but it’s still a solid game.

    Here are the other releases coming to various Nintendo platforms this week:

  • CRAZY CONSTRUCTION (Nintendo eShop on Nintendo 3DS)
  • Color Commando (Nintendo eShop on Nintendo 3DS / Nintendo DSiWare)
  • SENGOKU (Virtual Console on Wii)

    • The Nintendo Download is a little sparse this week, and probably will continue to be leading up to E3. Nintendo may not be hosting a large press conference, but we’ll hopefully hear news on what the company has planned for the eShop in the coming months.

  • Latest Google Enhanced Campaigns Webinar Focuses On Mobile Strategy

    Since introducing Enhanced Campaigns earlier this year, Google has regularly been conducting webinars to help advertisers get acquainted with the changes, and to help them optimize their campaigns.

    Google has uploaded a new webinar specifically on optimizing mobile strategy:

    This week, Google launched the Enhanced Campaigns upgrade center, which provides a tool to help you transition to the new campaigns ahead of the date (July 22) when all campaigns will be upgraded automatically.

    Google also added social annotations and availability for mobile app advertisers.

  • Microsoft is desperately trying to steal users away from Android

    Switch to Windows Phone app
    Microsoft has reportedly developed an Android application with the sole purpose of stealing users away from Google. According to a report from CITE World, the company will be releasing the “Switch to Windows Phone” application on Android to help users change platforms. The application is able to “find identical or replacement applications” for Windows Phone 8 to replace a user’s old Android apps, thus making the transition far more bearable.

    Continue reading…

  • Facebook Does More to Coax Pages to Promote Posts

    If you operate a Facebook Page, you may have noticed a couple of subtle changes Facebook has made to the look of the pages for admins. These changes are a clear attempt to coax page owners into promoting their content, or at least help remind them that it’s an option.

    First up, you may have seen the new post analytics box at the top of your admin panel. It shows all of your promotable posts (links, photos, etc.), their total reach, and their paid reach. There’s also a button to quickly promote each individual post:

    The other is simply a terminology shift. Instead of offering admins the ability to “promote” post, Facebook is now saying they can “boost” posts. I guess “boost” sounds better that “promote.” Clicking on “boost post” brings up the same Promoted Post menu that you’re used to.

    Earlier this year, Facebook came under fire over their Promoted Posts feature. Some page owners accused Facebook of pulling the old “bait-and-switch” by burying pages’ content in order to force them to pay for promotion. Facebook vehemently denied this.

    Back in December, Facebook announced that about 300,000 pages had paid to promote at least one post. Doing the math, that meant that just of 2% of local businesses pages had utilized the feature. Facebook also said that 2.5 million individual posts had been promoted, meaning that the average page owner who utilizes Promoted Posts promotes a little over 8 posts. These figures are now a few months old, but it gives us a little insight into how much attention page owners were giving the Promoted Post option about 7 months in. Now, we’re coming up on one year of Facebook opening up Promoted Posts to page owners.

  • PetChatz – Minnesota-built webconferencing for pets

    I  love to hear about innovation online. I love when it comes out of Minnesota. Not being a pet owner, I think PetChatz is very funny – but again I love when innovation and economic development happen in Minnesota because of broadband. We should all be thinking of our next innovation!

    Here’s a bit about PetChatz from the St Paul Pioneer Press…

    Now a Minnesota company has come up with the ultimate petcam — one that dispenses treats and exudes soothing aromas while letting pets and their masters see and hear each other.

    Called PetChatz, it can be controlled from afar using a phone app or desktop browser. With the tap of a touchscreen or a keyboard, the owner can release a treat from within the device for Fido to enjoy.

    The product is not yet available, but maker Anser Innovation of Minneapolis is aiming to ramp up production soon with the goal of offering the petcam in Minnesota in the fall and around the country in early 2014.

    Anser CEO Lisa Lavin calls the product “a greet-and-treat videophone.”

  • Need a research assistant? Baxter the Robot is available

    Remember Baxter the Robot? The $22,000 machine  initially built for manufacturing applications can now be repurposed for research tasks, according to Rethink Robotics.

    Baxter’s advantages lie in its ability to “learn” tasks from a person who walks it through a series of motions. The trainer need not be a computer programmer. And, because Baxter is sedentary — it doesn’t roll or walk around — there is no need for protective cages to separate it from human co-workers.  For tasks that can be performed at a countertop or an assembly line, Baxter could be an ideal worker.

    Rethink has said all along that Baxter will move on to other types of jobs, including, potentially, home healthcare. Last fall, Rethink CEO Rodney Brooks promised a Software Development Kit (SDK) that would enable Baxter to be refashioned for new jobs over time. “Our story is manufacturing, but there will be new software every two to three months with new capabilities,” Brooks, pictured above, told EMtech 2012 attendees in October. “Researchers will find places to use it that we wouldn’t have guessed.”

    Here’s the scoop from Rethink’s web site:

    “Baxter Research Robot is a $22,000 humanoid robot platform with two 7-axis arms, integrated cameras, sonar, torque sensors, and direct programming access via a standard ROS interface. It is entirely safe to operate around humans without safety cages, making it the perfect companion for late nights in the lab… with no extra pizza required.”

    research robot

    Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
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  • Carnival Ship Evacuated After Explosion

    A Carnival cruise ship had to be evacuated after two fuel barges in Mobile, Alabama exploded late Wednesday night.

    Officials say three people were seriously injured in the blast and are in critical condition. Investigators are still trying to determine the cause of the fire, but say it’s likely that a cleaning crew caused a spark which ignited.

    The cruise ship is the very one which broke down in the Gulf of Mexico in February and had to be towed into Mobile; it has been docked there fore repairs since that time. No one aboard the ship was injured, but witnesses say the explosions were like nothing they’d ever seen before.

    “It literally sounded like bombs going off around. The sky just lit up in orange and red,” said Alan Waugh, who lives across the river from where the barges went up in flames, “We could smell something in the air, we didn’t know if it was gas or smoke.”

    As of right now, the fire is out, but officials say a full investigation will take place.

  • Bing Rebrands Bing Business Portal As Bing Places For Business

    Bing announced the launch of Bing Places For Business today. Essentially this is just a rebranding of Bing Business Portal at a new destination: bing.com/places.

    Bing senior product manager Ginny Sandhu says, “We know time is in short supply when you are busy running your business. That’s why at Bing we are always looking for ways to simplify your experience of getting your business online and managing your business reputation on the web. The launch of Bing Places for business is the first of many steps in our effort to provide you with all the tools you need to easily and quickly find local customers online.”

    “Also as part of our drive to simplify the experience we are retiring a few business promotion and management services that were being previously offered,” says Sandhu. “Starting today we will no longer provide the option of creating deals, coupons, QR codes and mobile sites as well as removing the ability to create and print collateral for your business.”

    Speaking of deals, as Bing Deals no longer exists, Bing also announced the launch of Bing Offers (another deals aggregator).

    For Bing Places For Business, users can continue to use the same login information they used for Bing Business Portal. Data will be migrated to the new experience over the next three or four days.

  • Ontario Teachers Completes SeaCube Acquisition

    Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan has completed its previously announced acquisition of SeaCube Container Leasing Ltd., a Park Ridge, New Jersey-based company that acquires, owns, manages and leases containers used in global containerized cargo trade. SeaCube shareholders received US$23.00 per share in cash, for a final total equity value of US$469.5 million and an enterprise value of US$1.8 billion.

    PRESS RELEASE:

    Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (Teachers’) today announced it has completed the acquisition of SeaCube Container Leasing Ltd. (SeaCube) following approval of the transaction by shareholders of SeaCube at a special general meeting held on April 23, 2013.

    Shareholders will receive US$23.00 per share in cash, for a total equity value of US$469.5 million and an enterprise value (including assumed debt) of US$1.8 billion.

    SeaCube is based in Park Ridge, New Jersey, and has seven offices worldwide. It acquires, owns, manages and leases containers that are essential intermodal equipment used in global containerized cargo trade. Equipment is primarily leased under long-term contracts to the world’s largest shipping lines.

    This transaction was led by Teachers’ Long-Term Equities group, which focuses on direct investments with steady cash flow, growth potential over a long-term horizon and a low to moderate level of risk. Teachers’ plans to operate SeaCube as a standalone business operation with the current management team remaining in place.

    About Teachers’

    With $129.5 billion in net assets as of December 31, 2012, the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan is the largest single-profession pension plan in Canada. An independent organization, it invests the pension fund’s assets and administers the pensions of 303,000 active and retired teachers in Ontario. For more information, visit www.otpp.com. Follow us on Twitter: @OtppInfo

    About SeaCube

    SeaCube is one of the world’s largest container leasing companies based on total assets. The principal activities of SeaCube’s business include the acquisition, leasing, re-leasing and subsequent sale of refrigerated and dry containers and generator sets. SeaCube leases containers primarily under long-term contracts to a diverse group of the world’s leading shipping lines. For more information regarding SeaCube please visit www.seacubecontainers.com.

    For more information:

    Teachers’:

    Deborah Allan
    Director, Communications and Media Relations
    Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan
    +1 416-730-5347
    [email protected]

    SeaCube:

    David Doorley
    Treasurer & Vice President of Investor Relations
    SeaCube Container Leasing Ltd.
    +1 201-391-0800
    [email protected]

     Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.

     

    The post Ontario Teachers Completes SeaCube Acquisition appeared first on peHUB.

  • Washington Attorney General slams T-Mobile over deceptive ‘no-contract’ advertising

    T-Mobile No-contract Advertising
    Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson on Thursday ordered UNcarrier T-Mobile to correct “deceptive advertising that promised consumers no annual contracts while carrying hidden charges for early termination of phone plans.” T-Mobile, which recently did away with standard cell phone service contracts and typical smartphone subsidies, is accused of misleading consumers by advertising no-contract wireless plans despite requiring that customers sign an agreement that makes them responsible for the full cost of their handsets should they cancel service prematurely.

    Continue reading…

  • Sorority Girl Email Author Resigns

    Last week Gawker published an email from an executive board member of the Delta Gamma sorority at the University of Maryland. The ‘deranged sorority letter,’ as it became known, was meant to whip chapter members into shape when it came to hanging out with the Sigma Nu Fraternity members.

    The colorful email caught fire on social media, spawning dramatic recitations of the letter. Perhaps the most famous of these readings is one done by Academy Award nominee Michael Shannon.

    With the bad press that Delta Gamma sorority was getting, it was only a matter of time until the young woman responsible for the email was dealt with by the organisation. Now, the person responsible for the email has resigned from the sorority.

    The Delta Gamma Facebook page this week posted a notice to its page, stating that the girl has resigned and that the email was not an “official” sorority correspondence. The chapter also emphasized that the tone and content of the email was “highly inappropriate” and “unacceptable.”

    Delta Gamma Fraternity20 hours ago

    Delta Gamma has accepted the resignation of one of its members whose email relating to a social event has been widely distributed and publicized through social media and traditional media channels.

    The tone and content of the email was highly inappropriate and unacceptable by any standard.

    No matter who released it to the public or how it reached such a mass audience, the email content should not reflect on any sorority woman in general or any fraternal organization at large.

    This is a regrettable action by a college junior – a personal email that is now on view for a global audience. And as all reasonable people can agree, this is an email that should never have been sent by its author. Period.

    This email should not be depicted in any way as standard or routine or tied to any official sorority voice. It is not an official voice or message and should not be construed as such.

    For the young woman who wrote it, we can only express our regret and concerns for landing notoriety in this manner.

    We now consider this matter closed. Powered by socialditto  1,000+ likes ·  178 comments

    Though Delta Gamma may consider the matter closed, the email is likely to make the sorority infamous for years to come.

    Below is this author’s current favorite dramatic reading of the email. Former Attack of the Show correspondent Alison Haislip perfectly captures the venom in the email and emphasizes its rather creative language.

  • Google welcomes Office to Chrome

    Irony can strike in the strangest of places. Just this morning I was discussing Office with my colleague Joe Wilcox, who pointed out an article he had written back in 2010 titled “Microsoft Office is obsolete, or soon will be“. I argue the opposite, telling him that students and businesses are nowhere close to abandoning the Microsoft suite.

    While I doubt Google is caving to my point of view, the company perhaps helps support it today. Jelte Liebrand, a Google Software Engineer, announces that “if you’re running Chrome Beta on Windows or Mac and install the Chrome Office Viewer (Beta) extension, you’ll be able to click a link to an Office file and open it directly in Chrome”.

    In fact, in the continued battle between the two tech goliaths, Google used this minor concession as an opportunity to also take a shot at Microsoft and the proliferation of Office viruses that continuously float around the Internet.

    “In addition to saving you time, the Chrome Office Viewer also protects you from malware delivered via Office files. Just like with web pages and PDFs, we’ve added a specialized sandbox to impede attackers who use compromised Office files to try to steal private information or monitor your activities”, Liebrand writes. Leave it to Google to dig at Microsoft while simultaneously supporting the software.

    As previously stated, you will need the latest beta version of the web browser to use this feature. I reiterate my argument — Office is not going anywhere. Like Windows, it will be around for years to come.

    Photo Credit: Thomas Christoph/Shutterstock

  • CISPA Is Kind Of Dead, But Not Really

    Last week, a cry rang out from privacy advocates everywhere as the House overwhelmingly passed CISPA. Those same advocates soon gathered up their forces for a fight in the Senate, but it looks like the Senate got to killing CISPA before they could.

    US News reports that the Senate has decided not to take up CISPA. In short, CISPA is dead. The bill that would have given companies full legal immunity when sharing your personal information with the government will have its remains scattered on the winds of history yet again.

    It seems that CISPA’s death can be largely attributed to two factors. For one, Sen. Jay Rockefeller, chairman of the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, came out against CISPA saying it lacked privacy protections. Rockefeller holds considerable sway in the Senate, and his committee would have had a lot of say over CISPA. Secondly, President Obama’s veto threat most likely played a major role in the Senate’s rejection of CISPA.

    We can relax now that CISPA is dead, right? Unfortunately, the answer is a little unclear at this point. An unnamed representative on Rockefeller’s committee says that “issues and key provisions” of CISPA will be divvied up and made into separate bills. In other words, CISPA will be broken up into smaller, separate bills in the Senate. The problem with this approach is that some of the less vile, but still damaging, provisions of CISPA can make it through as they won’t be attached to the really bad stuff.

    Of course, there’s always the possibility that the Senate will craft a handful of bills that narrowly target the areas not covered by President Obama’s cybersecurity executive order without sacrificing civil liberties. It would certainly be nice, but the Senate’s past attempts at writing cybersecurity legislation certainly don’t inspire confidence.

    Either way, we won’t be seeing any cybersecurity legislation out of the Senate for a while. The unnamed representative says the Senate currently has its hands full with a number of other bills that take priority over cybersecurity, including the controversial Marketplace Fairness Act.

  • Venture-Backed ViXS Prepares to Go Public

    Toronto-based ViXS Systems Inc., a developer of high-performance semiconductors for media solutions, has entered into a going-public transaction whereby a subsidiary of ViXS will amalgamate with capital pool company W7 Acquisition Corp. Upon completion of the transaction, W7 shareholders will ultimately receive common shares of the publicly traded ViXS. ViXS was founded in 2001 with the backing of Celtic House Venture Partners. Other investors include Export Development Canada, New Enterprise Associates and Novacap.

    PRESS RELEASE

    ViXs Systems Inc. announces proposed going public transaction

    TORONTO, April 19, 2013 /CNW/ – ViXS Systems Inc. (“ViXS”) is pleased to announce that it has entered into a letter of intent with Windsor Capital Advisors and W7 Acquisition Corp. (“W7″ TSX Venture Exchange: WSV.P) to complete a going public transaction for ViXS (the “Proposed Transaction”). The Proposed Transaction will proceed by way of an amalgamation of W7 with a wholly-owned subsidiary of ViXS (“ViXS Subco”) under the Canada Business Corporations Act (the “Amalgamation”) and will constitute W7′s “Qualifying Transaction” under the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange.

    In conjunction with, and prior to the closing of the Proposed Transaction, ViXS intends to complete a brokered private placement of subscription receipts of ViXS Subco (the “Private Placement”), to be co-led by GMP Securities L.P. and Stifel Nicolaus Canada Inc., together with a syndicate of agents including BMO Capital Markets, Cormark Securities Inc. and Byron Capital Markets Ltd. Purchasers of subscription receipts pursuant to the Private Placement will ultimately receive freely tradeable common shares of ViXS once the company becomes public.

    Sally J. Daub, President and Chief Executive Officer of ViXS, said, “ViXS was founded in 2001 and since then it has matured into a leading semiconductor company with a comprehensive portfolio of products to meet the diverse needs of the global media industry. We are extremely excited about the Company’s prospects and believe the time has come to take ViXS public.”

    It is anticipated that the board of directors of ViXS post-Amalgamation will consist of the five current directors of ViXS.

    Completion of the Proposed Transaction is subject to a number of conditions including, but not limited to, completion of satisfactory due diligence, completion of the Private Placement, execution of a definitive agreement in respect of the Amalgamation, regulatory approvals, Exchange acceptance, receipt of approval for listing on the TSX, shareholders of W7 approving, among other things, the Proposed Transaction and approvals of shareholders of ViXS necessary to facilitate the Proposed Transaction.

    About W7 Acquisition Corp.

    W7 is a capital pool company governed by the policies of the Exchange. W7′s principal business is the identification and evaluation of assets or businesses with a view to completing a “Qualifying Transaction” under Policy 2.4 – Capital Pool Companies of the TSX Venture Exchange.

    About ViXS Systems Inc.

    ViXS is the semiconductor pioneer in designing and developing high-performance media solutions for the consumer electronics and video service provider industries. With over 390 patents issued and pending worldwide, ViXS has been recognized with a number of industry awards for innovation. ViXS is the world leader in transcoder deployments with over 40 million shipments to date, and still growing.

    ViXS has a comprehensive portfolio of products to meet the diverse needs of the global media industry. Portfolio highlights include the most advanced dense transcoder available for cloud-based solutions, as well as SoC’s for home devices capable of doing the most simultaneous number of HD streams in the industry. Moreover, ViXS is the only company to have integrated transcoding and Multimedia over Coax Alliance (MoCA) technologies to create the lowest-cost media gateway capable of delivering premium content to consumer IP devices, such as the iPad, inside and outside of the home.

    ViXS has three primary product lines: XCode, XCodePro and XConnex. The XCode family of media processors range from stand-alone transcoding chips to full SoC solutions, each capable of handling from one to four simultaneous HD-to-HD transcodes. XCodePro products address the professional enterprise market and are being deployed today for cloud-based media streaming services. The XConnex product line is for communications devices, including MoCA 1.1 and 2.0 solutions. Additionally, ViXS customers are provided with a robust software development kit known as Xtensiv.

    ViXS is headquartered in Toronto, Canada with global operations and offices in Europe, Asia and North America. For more information on ViXS, visit our website: www.vixs.com.

    VIXS™, the ViXS® logo, XCode®, XCodePro™, XConnex™ and Xtensiv™ are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of ViXS. Other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

    SOURCE: ViXS Systems Inc.

    For further information:
    Donna Wong, Tel: (416) 646-2000, E-mail: [email protected]

    Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.

    The post Venture-Backed ViXS Prepares to Go Public appeared first on peHUB.

  • Twitter for Mac Finally Gets an Update (Seriously!)

    If you thought Twitter had forgotten about the ol’ Twitter for Mac app, think again! Sure, it hadn’t had an update for over a year – but that’s all in the past. Today, Twitter launches a significant update to the app and it’s likely just the beginning.

    First off, Twitter for Mac now has Retina display support.

    “Now Twitter is even more vibrant and detailed on the highest resolution Mac notebooks. With this update, Tweets will be clearer and sharper, creating a more vivid experience,” says Twitter.

    There’s also a new share photo button in the compose box of tweets. Plus, Twitter for Mac is now available in 14 new languages: Dutch, French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Malay, Portuguese, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, Traditional Chinese, Turkish.

    Twitter for Mac Tech Lead Ben Sandofsky wrote today’s Twitter blog post on the update, and in it he says that we should “keep an eye out for more improvements to come.” Apparently, he’s serious about devoting more time to Twitter for Mac:

    You can grab the update in the Mac App Store today.

  • Edward Norton Fight With Pap Could Go To Court

    Edward Norton should know that the first rule of Fight Club is, you don’t smack a photographer. They don’t like that.

    The 43-year old actor reportedly smacked the hand of a paparazzi on Tuesday as the man was trying to catch Norton on video via cell phone, and now the photog is complaining that Norton hurt him.

    “He went to the hospital claiming hand pain…It was classified as harassment,” said a police spokesperson.

    There were no witnesses to the incident and the matter has been referred to civil court, but it’s not yet known whether the man will file suit against the actor. Of course, this falls under the category of “exactly what is acceptable for paparazzi to do in order to get a shot of a celebrity?”, but since Norton was out in a public place at the time it may be hard to argue that the photographer was in the wrong.

    Kate Middleton and Prince William saw two people involved in their topless-sunbathing scandal charged today after facing similar issues with photographers; the couple have been on a crusade of sorts to spotlight the intrusiveness of the paparazzi, as Middleton was snapped at a private residence while on vacation.

  • Pushing for better tablet apps, Google adds new developer optimization tool

    For the second time in two weeks, Google is showing increasingly serious commitment to Android tablet applications. Last week, the company announced support for tablet app screenshots in the Google Play store. On Thursday, Google introduced a new tablet optimization tips tool in its developer dashboard.

    The new tool allows developers to see how their app “is doing against basic guidelines for tablet app distribution and quality.” That means upon uploading a new or updated version of an Android app, developers will get instant feedback on how well their software is optimized for Android tablets.

    Google tablet optimization tip

    If a developer didn’t target the right screen sizes or Android version for tablets, for example, they’ll get a reminder to do so. After addressing the un-optimized app components, devs can then upload a version better suited for larger-screen Android devices.

    So why the big push? I can think of two reasons: one that’s been around for a while and one that’s fairly recent.

    Android tablets essentially began life as super-sized smartphones, meaning apps weren’t optimally sized for bigger screens. This was a valid early criticism of Android tablets that I witnessed firsthand in 2010 when I bought a 7-inch Galaxy Tab. I often found very large buttons in apps or text that didn’t fit properly in a section of an app.

    Unlike Apple’s approach — which offers apps specific both phones and tablets (save for the universal apps) — Google doesn’t support have tablet-specific apps. Instead, the company created guidelines and coding tools for apps to work properly on both phones and tablets with a single .apk installation file. But developers have to take advantage of these and properly code for different screen sizes. Not all of them do; in fact, I’d say a fair amount actually don’t. Hence, Google is trying to subtly nudge developers to do so with the new optimization tips tool.

    ipad_androidAnother reason came about just this week: According to one analyst report, Android tablet sales may be finally starting to catch up with iPad sales. Strategy Analytics shared its data on Thursday and it shows that Android tablet market share around the world is 43.1 percent, compared to the iPad at 48.2 percent. Note that the Android figures are for shipments, so that figure is surely inflated due to Android tablet inventory sitting on shelves or in warehouses.

    With a rise of shipments, even, Android developers should be considering the mobile app experience on tablets and Google is all too willing to help in that department. It has been trying to do so for the better part of two years — Android 3.0 added many tablet optimized features — but every little bit moving forward helps.

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  • New Yorkers can now get cellular signals in 30 more subway stations

    Back in 2011, Transit Wireless and New York City’s Metropolitan Authority announced an ambitious plan to blanket the Big Apple’s 277 underground subway stations with mobile voice and data coverage. After launching in six stations in Chelsea, nothing much else happened, but on Thursday Transit and MTA finally announced the next phase of their project.

    It’s only 30 stations so the project is still well short of its goal, but AT&T and T-Mobile customers should start noticing their phones maintaining their connections as they descend into the depths of Midtown Manhattan. In addition, Boingo is also using the system to expand its hotspot networks underground. Transit said the stations are located in Times Square, Rockefeller Center, Lincoln Center and Columbus Circle. (You can see a list of the specific stops here.)

    Transit has installed a distributed antenna system, or DAS, which is neutral-hosted cellular technology. That means that, unlike with traditional tower radio infrastructure, multiple carriers can use the same equipment to reach their customers. They just install base station gear in a hidey-hole somewhere in the MTA’s underground maze, and Transit’s antennas spread their signals to nearby stations.

    T-Mobile and AT&T are the anchor tenants of the project, but Verizon Wireless and Sprint said they are negotiating agreements with Transit and the MTA to use the network as well. Transit is targeting 2016 to complete its DAS installation throughout NYC.

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