Monday, 6 May 2013

App Store Nearing 50 billionth Downloads!


The person who downloads 50 billionth app will receive an Apple voucher for 10,000 dollars. Despite competition from increasingly aggressive, the Apple App Store does not slow down the pace of its sales. Having passed the 25 billion apps downloaded in March 2012, the platform is now preparing to exceed $ 50 billion. In a little over a year, the number of downloads have doubled, driven by the success of the iPhone and iPad on the planet. The user or the mobile user who downloads the 50 billionth app (which will happen in the next few days) will receive a voucher worth 10,000 dollars to spend on the platform. The unlucky 50 arriving after still receive a consolation prize with a voucher for $ 500 each. The question is whether Apple will be more generous in the App Store will surpass the incredible milestone of 100 billion applications downloaded. This should not take much time.

US Defense Approved BlackBerry 10 and Samsung Knox!



The U.S. Department of Defense has approved the use of the new BlackBerry 10 and also Samsung Android devices compatible with Smartphones. BlackBerry and Samsung are in turning confirmed the adoption of them by the U.S. Department of Defense mobile solutions. For the Canadian firm, this blank check for the Z10 Smartphones, Q10 and the PlayBook tablet that work with BlackBerry Enterprise Service cloud platform 10. Samsung for its part announced that all its smartphones and tablets compatible with its security solution Knox Android have passed the tests of the Agency for Defence Information (DISA) systems. A first for Android devices emphasizes the Korean giant. For the moment, only the Galaxy S4 works with Knox. Samsung intends to capitalize on this success to break into other markets in the areas of finance and health. Last week, the Wall Street Journal also referred to the approval of Apple iPhone and iPad but this information has not yet been formalized.

Sunday, 5 May 2013

Closure of Google Reader going to benefit Feed Wrangler !



Since the announcement of the closure of Google Reader which will be effective July 1, services that intend to succeed Google is growing. Feed Wrangler was in the ground work for several months, but the announcement precipitated its output and this new service is now available for all users. Feed Wrangler does not intend to replace the Google service by functions and exactly similar presentation. This newcomer wants quick, simple and powerful at the time, but especially profitable in the long term. This is why it offers its service for a nominal fee to use; yes you have to pay $ 18.99 per year. This is obviously much more than Reader, but it is similar like Feedbin and other another similar services in many ways, is open for several months. This principle of paid subscription will not allow the designer to get as many users as if the service was free, of course, but also some guarantee of continuity for subscribers.

 Feed Wrangler could not be sold at the first opportunity, at least if the meeting successful enough to actually be profitable. Feed Wrangler Launched before the originally scheduled date, Feed Wrangler is not quite complete, but it is already has the necessary minimum. By subscribing, we obtain access to its feed from a web interface or a proposed free iOS app. Software for OS X is currently in preparation, and a dedicated customer iOS specifically podcasts, a welcome originality. During the next month, a comprehensive API will also enable all developers to integrate the service into their applications. It is assumed that the popular Reeder integrate the service into a future update. In the meantime, it will do with the web interface on a Mac and the least we can say is that the interface is minimalist.

David Smith highlights the simplicity of the service and said he wanted to focus on flows and articles, but it prevents Feed Wrangler is a little sad in its current version. Feed Wrangler is simple and even a little sad, but it is also fast. Consideration of its simplicity, the web site that remains to this day the only way to access the stream from a computer is very fast to load and display items. If the interface is stripped, you can directly read the articles in full flow, without having to open the original site. For truncated flow, an icon displays the original article, without surprise. By default, Feed Wrangler offers users three views fairly standard: all flows, unread items and those you have selected (favorites). These three views are traditional, but the service was the most amazing choice not to propose any folder. Still sort flow prerequisite if you want to manage more than one can handle, but the method is quite different from what we usually see.

Feed Wrangler indeed proposes to create "Smart Streams" intelligent flow literally translate this function. It is actually smart folders as often found in the OS X software, but can also be used to display all the items from some streams, such as Google Reader folders. When you create a smart stream, you can first apply a filter on all articles to read: in this case, we will show only items that contain the word "iPad". Alternatively, create a file stream. In this case, disable the filter search, leaving the "Apply search filter vacuum", then uncheck "Stream should include all feeds?" and finally select, or, flows to integrate the file in the list that appears below. With this function, Feed Wrangler offers much more flexibility than many RSS readers or competing services, but it is also less immediate and more complex to set up a single file. Contrary to Google Reader for example, you cannot display a list of flows and drag / drop a folder. Feed Wrangler offers a good view with all your cash, but it does not involve a rapid stream smart. If we can understand this choice - after all, it does not really record is - it complicates the daily management of its cash.

This is all the more painful that the service can import your feeds from Google's service, but it does not preserve your files in the process. It will recreate them manually after import, which is quite long and unpleasant, but David Smith told us that he would manage the files correctly when importing in a future version. About filters, Feed Wrangler also knows some automatically mark items as read. If an item contains a word defined in the settings, it will be marked as read and will not appear in your records if you are chosen to show only unread items, or view "Unread". This is a radical method to eliminate the overflow of information and a great idea. Since it is to discuss the benefits of service integration with Instapaper or Pocket is a great idea. On each item, the service displays a button that automatically sends the link to a reading services delayed depending on your settings.

 Pending the API will allow any developer to integrate the service; you can access its cash with an iPhone or iPad using the app Feed Wrangler. This application focuses mainly proposed by the service functions, including the addition of flow and the creation and modification of Smart Streams. Its interface is also stripped in the browser, even if the author has added a touch of color. It is still quite simple and offering many functions that RSS reader like Reeder. This app is universal and it is also simple on an iPhone than on an iPad. In both cases, we appreciate how "Wrangle" that can manage the list of items very quickly tap the left adds a section to read service deferred a tap to the right and mark as read button mark all as read. A good idea for a touch interface, but may also be found on the website.

It is simple and fast, like the rest, but Feed Wrangler deserves to be enriched with some very useful features and less rustic interface. Fortunately, the output of the API should correct this. In passing, we appreciate however the 1Password button that activates the manager password when connecting to their account and allow you to use a password automatically generated and too complex to remember. To conclude, Feed Wrangler is an interesting service to more than one. Paying it ensures its sustainability. Generally, it lacks a bit too many features to recommend this service and no API is inconvenient for the moment. The website is fast, yes, but it is a little too simple and suffers from weaknesses on certain points: impossible, for example, know the number of elements to read in each folder. Feed Wrangler is however to monitor closely and looking for an alternative to Google Reader is a good option, provided you agree to pay a little of course.

Saturday, 4 May 2013

Epic Citadel in Firefox now!



HTML5 demo of Unreal Engine 3 graphics engine for web browsers is now available online. Firefox is the one who benefits first. Mozilla had shown at the end of March, with the desire to demonstrate that sophisticated games in their report had now a highway in front of them on the web. To operate in the best conditions, it is advisable to download Firefox Nightly (the future version 23). From there, no need to install any plug-in, simply go to this address www.unrealengine.com/html5 to start demo Epic Citadel. Once a 50MB file recovered in the background, the demo is functional and the image can go full screen. This should also work with Firefox 20, but more slowly. We find the same medieval world in which you can walk, used in October 2010. Epic Games had caused a sensation by showing the Unreal Engine 3 running on a small iPhone. This same engine used later for Infinity Blade. Epic Games has over time focused on Android and Flash. This optimized for the web demo Epic Citadel is the result of a recompilation of C / C + + code in JavaScript. It uses WebGL for 3D part and web technologies in general. This means that potentially any modern browser can run such games. For the moment it is mainly the current beta of Firefox and who can benefit, with the exception of Firefox on Android where things still progressing versions. Chrome should follow, Internet Explorer does not yet support WebGL in version 10 so far, but it seems that Microsoft prepares for 11 and compatibility with Safari is also planned.

More thinner ultrabooks are possible with Western Digital!




Thin devices like ultra books may soon sometimes be even thinner thanks to a new hard disk and SSHD (solid state hybrid drive) from Western Digital. The new 2.5-inch drives from WD are only 5 mm thick, while standard drives 9.5mm thick. In addition, the WD Blue and WD Black are also up to 36 percent lighter, they make less noise and are more resilient (400G and 1000G respectively). WD, which had already introduced 7mm thin hard drives, the new drives could make 2 mm thinner thanks to a new connector for both power and data connection. The WD Blue 5mm for $ 89 will be available in capacities of 500GB, but for now only for computer manufacturers and industrial suppliers. The WD Black 5mm SSHD versions will be supplied. With different capacities Their prices are not yet known.