BGR: The Three Biggest Letters In Tech

Windows 8 Release Preview now available

2012-05-31T21:35:03Z

Microsoft on Thursday announced the availability of its Windows 8 Release Preview. The near-final build is offered in 14 different languages and is the final pre-release before the operating system is sent to manufacturing partners. The Preview includes Internet Explorer 10, support for Adobe Flash and new Windows 8 apps for connecting to Hotmail, SkyDrive and Messenger, among others. “Since our first preview release last September, millions of people now use the pre-release product on a daily basis and millions more have been taking it through its paces, totaling hundreds of millions of hours of testing,” the company wrote on its blog. “We genuinely appreciate the effort that so many have put into pre-release testing, and of course, we appreciate the feedback too. Direct feedback and feedback through usage contributed to hundreds of visible changes in the product and tens of thousands of under-the-hood changes.” Microsoft’s latest operating system is rumored to launch in October in three different versions, Windows 8, Windows 8 Pro and the ARM-friendly Windows RT.

Read [Microsoft] Read [Download]

Facebook no longer recommends Google Chrome, replaces it with Opera

2012-05-31T19:15:38Z

Last week rumors began to circulate that Facebook was interested in acquiring Opera Software, the makers of the Opera Web browser. The social networking giant recently removed Google’s Chrome Web browser, which is the most popular in the world, from its recommendation list and replaced it with Opera, further fueling the speculation of a potential buyout. While both Chrome and Apple’s Safari Web browsers are supported by Facebook, the Menlo Park-based company is recommending users to use Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, Mozilla’s Firefox and Opera for a better experience.

[Via FavBrowser]

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Microsoft’s Office Mobile suite to launch November 10th for iPad, iPhone, and Android

2012-05-31T16:50:43Z

Microsoft is currently planning to release an Office suite for Apple’s iPad, and quite possibly the iPhone and iPod touch. BGR last week exclusively reported details regarding Microsoft’s intentions to bring Office to iOS and even Google’s Android OS in November. According to a new report from The Daily, the development team for Office Mobile finished work on the project last month and the efforts of the design team will soon be completed too. Once approved by the usability team, the app will be handed to Apple for approval in its App Store. The launch date for Office Mobile is reportedly scheduled for November 10th.

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Technicolor looks for patent payoff from Apple and Samsung

2012-05-31T12:50:20Z

Technicolor, the iconic French company that invented the process that enables color movies, is looking for large patent payoffs from major mobile vendors, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday. The company holds more than 40,000 video, audio and optics patents, and reportedly employs a team of 220 people who dissect every new smartphone and tablet from vendors such as Apple, Samsung and HTC. The team is responsible for locating patent infringements within each device. “We usually send manufacturers a big file, with photos of the guts of their products, pointing to where they’ve been using our technology without paying for it,” said Beatrix de Russe, a lawyer and executive vice president of intellectual property at Technicolor. “Once those images have sunk in, we can start negotiating.” Technicolor has agreements with “all major manufacturers” and is also in talks with multiple vendors over new devices, although de Russe declined to elaborate with further details. The company’s patent licensing division is its most profitable business and accounts for nearly 13% of Technicolor’s total revenue.

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New service lets you track tweets politicians tried to delete

2012-05-31T12:49:31Z

A number of politicians have found themselves in hot water over the years following inappropriate or even vulgar messages posted to Twitter. Now, thanks to a new service called Poliwoops, politicians in the U.S. will find it even more difficult to hide from their tweets. Created by the Sunlight Foundation, Politweets follows a number of government officials and exposes any tweet they post and then delete, whether it is deleted immediately or even days after being posted.

“Sure, we all tweet things we don’t mean to share, but now politicians have no way to hide them,” Poliwoops’s website proclaims. “Discover tweets that your politicians shared and then promptly deleted.” Poliwoops users can reply to deleted tweets through the service’s website, or even retweet them despite their deleted status.

Unfortunately for the creators of Poliwoops and fans of the service, it likely won’t remain operational for very long. From Twitter’s API terms and conditions (emphasis ours): “For example, your Service should execute the unfavorite and delete actions by removing all relevant messaging and Twitter Content, not by publicly displaying to other end users that the Tweet was unfavorited or deleted.”

Building a service with the sole purpose of drawing attention to the fact that a tweet has been deleted and then displaying its content is a direct violation of Twitter’s terms.

Arrest half the world: More than 50% of computer users pirate software, study finds

2012-05-31T12:14:53Z

More than half of computer users admit that they pirate software according to the findings of a recent study. The Business Software Alliance, a software industry lobbyist group dedicated to combating digital piracy, released its ninth annual Global Software Piracy Study earlier this month. For the first time, the new edition of the trade group’s report includes the results of a survey involving 15,000 computer users from 33 countries around the world where respondents were directly asked, “How often do you acquire pirated software or software that is not fully licensed?”

According to the results of the survey, 57% of global PC users pirate software, up from 42% in 2011. The BSA says that this rampant digital piracy now costs the software industry $63.4 billion annually. Piracy rates are highest in emerging markets according to the study, and young make computer users pirate the most software.

“This year’s survey finds that frequent pirates — people who admit they acquire unlicensed software all of the time, most of the time, or occasionally — also are the most voracious software users,” the BSA wrote in its report. “They report installing 55 percent more programs of all types on their computers than do non-pirates. This gives them an outsized impact on the global piracy rate.”

The report continued, “Even more striking is the difference in behavior between users in emerging economies and users in the developed world. Frequent pirates in emerging economies install nearly four times as many programs of all sorts per new PC as do frequent pirates in mature markets. Among infrequent pirates — those who say they rarely acquire unlicensed software — there is a greater than two-to-one gap in the total number of programs they install.”

Despite acknowledging that instances of digital piracy increase dramatically in emerging markets, the BSA does not explore the correlation between the cost of software and digital piracy rates.

The Business Software Alliance, a group with members that include Apple, Microsoft and Adobe, is calling for new legislation that would double the fines levied on digital pirates. It also supports new laws that would make it easier to impose jail time on people found guilty of software theft, as well as those found to have pirated copyrighted material.

Apple’s iPhone goes prepaid

2012-05-31T12:14:35Z

Beginning on June 22nd, consumers in the United States will be able to purchase a new iPhone to be used alongside prepaid wireless service. Regional carrier Cricket, owned by Leap Wireless, will offer Apple’s iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 off contract alongside its $55 unlimited talk, text and data plan. Though labeled as unlimited, the plan includes 2.3GB of full-speed data, and speeds will be throttled once that threshold is reached. While the news marks the start of a new chapter for Apple’s current iPhone models, the high hardware cost compared to other prepaid smartphones may be a substantial barrier for many subscribers. Cricket plans to charge $399.99 for the 8GB iPhone 4 and $499.99 for the 16GB version of the iPhone 4S. Apple’s iPhone 3GS is seen as a much more compelling handset for prepaid carriers, which may soon begin offering the 3-year-old device for between $200 and $250 off contract. Cricket’s full press release follows below.

Cricket Wireless to Offer iPhone on June 22

~ Unlimited Talk, Text and Data for Just $55 a Month

SAN DIEGO, May 31, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — Cricket Communications, Inc., a leading provider of innovative and value-driven wireless services, and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Leap Wireless International, Inc. (NASDAQ: LEAP), announced today that it will be the first pre-paid carrier in the US to offer iPhone to its customers. Beginning on Friday, June 22, Cricket will offer iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 with its $55 per-month, all-inclusive unlimited talk, text and data plan.

iPhone 4S is the most amazing iPhone yet, packed with incredible features including Apple’s dual-core A5 chip for blazing fast performance and stunning graphics; an all-new camera with advanced optics; full 1080p HD resolution video recording; and Siri, an intelligent assistant that helps you get things done just by asking. iPhone 4S comes with iOS 5.1, the world’s most advanced mobile operating system; and iCloud, a breakthrough set of free cloud services that work with your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac or PC to automatically and wirelessly store your content in iCloud and push it to all your devices.

“Our customers want the best products available and we are excited to bring iPhone to our pre-paid consumers with an industry leading $55 per-month service plan,” said Doug Hutcheson, president and chief executive officer, Leap Wireless International, Inc. “Launching iPhone is a major milestone for us and we are proud to offer iPhone customers attractive nationwide coverage, a robust 3G data network and a value-packed, no-contract plan.”

iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 will be available in Cricket company-owned stores and select dealers in nearly 60 markets, online at www.mycricket.com/iphone and over the phone at 800-853-7682. Starting today, customers can receive more information on the launch by registering at www.mycricket.com/iphone. iPhone 4S will be available for $499.99 for the 16GB model and iPhone 4 will be available for $399.99.

Cricket’s service plans feature all-inclusive pricing and easy-to-understand pricing packages with no service fees or overage charges. For customers, that means a bill that doesn’t fluctuate based upon monthly usage. Cricket’s all-inclusive pre-paid smartphone service plan includes:

Monthly Fee $55

Voice (minutes) Unlimited

SMS Unlimited

Data Unlimited*

iPhone 4S 16GB $499.99

iPhone 4 8GB $399.99

* Fair usage policy of 2.3GB per month.

For more information about Cricket’s dynamic service and to check for availability, visit www.mycricket.com. To follow Cricket’s latest news and updates online, visit Facebook at www.facebook.com/cricketwireless and Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/cricketnation.

For more information on iPhone 4S, please visit: www.apple.com/iphone

CryEngine 3 demo reel shows off enhanced physics [video]

2012-05-31T11:13:48Z

Crytek has consistently raised the bar in high-quality graphics with its popular Crysis franchise and CryENGINE gaming engine. CryENGINE 3, the company’s latest offering, allows game developers to create gorgeous environments and stunning character models. The gaming engine also features revolutionary soft-body physics for unbelievably realistic physical simulations, as demonstrated by the creators of “Rigs of Rods,” an open-source driving simulator. The team uses CryENGINE 3 and the Beam physics system to create perhaps the most realistic damage model ever, and a video demonstration follows below.

Samsung Galaxy S III announced for Canada with 2GB of RAM, 1.5GHz dual-core processor

2012-05-30T22:32:51Z

The Canadian variant of the Samsung Galaxy S III will scrap the quad-core Exynos processor found in the European version and instead feature a 1.5GHz Snapdragon S4 processor. The Canadian handset, like the Japanese model, will also receive a RAM boost from 1GB to 2GB. It has already been confirmed that the Galaxy S III would be equipped with a dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor on U.S. carriers with 4G LTE networks. It is unclear, however, if U.S. devices will also receive the RAM increase, although it does seem more likely now. The Samsung Galaxy S III will be available in Canada beginning June 20th. Samsung’s press release follows below.

The Samsung GALAXY S III provides Canadians with a more human smartphone experience

Designed for humans and inspired by nature, the Samsung GALAXY S III brings the best combination of power and performance to the Canadian marketplace

MISSISSAUGA, ON, May 30, 2012 /CNW/ – Samsung Electronics Canada, today announces the models details and availability date of the much-anticipated GALAXY S III. Beginning June 20th, the Samsung GALAXY S III will be available through leading Canadian wireless carriers and authorized national retailers.

“We are very excited to bring the highly anticipated GALAXY S III to Canadians so they can experience firsthand, the power, performance and passion that Samsung is known for,” said Paul Brannen, Vice President, Enterprise Business Group, Samsung Canada. “This next generation of the GALAXY S series is sleek and stylish, and offers users features that promote sharing, and are intuitive and powerful, allowing Canadians to enjoy a more human experience with their smartphone.”

Natural Interaction

Smart enough to detect face, voice and motions, the GALAXY S III adapts to the user, providing users an interface that is convenient and natural.

With the innovative ‘Smart stay’ feature, the GALAXY S III recognizes how the user is using their device such as, reading an e-book or browsing the web. By having the front camera identify eye motion the phone maintains a bright display for continued viewing pleasure.

The GALAXY S III features ‘S Voice,’ an advanced natural language user interface, to listen and respond to user commands. S Voice presents powerful functions in regards to device control and commands, such as allowing the user to play a favorite song, turn the volume up or down, send text messages and emails, organize schedules, or automatically launch the camera and capture a photo.

With ‘Smart alert’ the GALAXY S III will alert the user by catching any missed messages or calls with a vibration to notify missed statuses when picked up after being idle. If the user is messaging someone but decide to call them instead, they can simply lift phone to their ear and ‘Direct call’ will dial their number.

Easy and Instant Sharing

The Samsung GALAXY S III is more than a personal device that can be enjoyed by one user – it wants to share and experience smartphone benefits with family and friends, regardless of location with the following features:

With the new ‘S Beam,’ the GALAXY S III expands upon Android™ Beam™, allowing a 1GB movie file to be shared within three minutes and a 10MB music file within two seconds by simply touching another GALAXY S III phone, even without a Wi-Fi or cellular signal.

The ‘Buddy photo share’ function also allows photos to be easily and simultaneously shared with all friends pictured in an image directly from the camera or the photo gallery.
‘AllShare Play’ can be used to instantly share any forms of files between GALAXY S III and tablet, PC, and televisions that are DLNA enabled, regardless of the distance between the devices.

The ‘Group Cast’ feature that allows users to share their screen among multiple friends on the same Wi-Fi network; users can comment and draw changes at the same time as co-workers- witnessing real-time sharing on individual devices.

The preloaded ‘Dropbox’ application provides an even more convenient sharing experience, supplying 50GB of free storage for two years for not just image and music files, but now also for video content. With the GALAXY S III files can also be instantly uploaded through data networks without requiring WiFi access.

Uncompromised Performance

With a 4.8″ HD Super AMOLED display, the GALAXY S III offers a large and vivid viewing experience. Samsung Mobile’s heritage Super AMOLED display even enhances to HD and 16:9 wider viewing angles. To ensure faster content sharing and connectivity, the GALAXY S III offers Wi-Fi Channel Bonding which doubles the Wi-Fi bandwidth.

The GALAXY S III not only presents features with enhanced usability, but also provides an ergonomic and comfortable experience through its human-centric design. Its comfortable grip, gentle curves, and organic form deliver a rich human-centric feel and design. Available in Pebble Blue and Marble White at launch, Samsung will introduce a variety of additional color options.

The GALAXY S III also sports a range of additional features that boost performance and the overall user experience in entirely new ways, with features such as:
‘Pop up play,’ users can play a video anywhere on their screen while simultaneously running other tasks, eliminating the need to close and restart videos when checking new emails or surfing the Web.

An 8MP camera features a zero-lag shutter speed that lets users capture moving objects easily without delay, with the ‘Burst shot’ function that instantly captures twenty continuous shots, and the ‘Best photo’ feature that selects the best of eight photographs, the GALAXY S III ensures users a more enhanced and memorable camera experience.

HD video can be recorded even with the 1.9MP front-facing camera, which users can use to capture a video of themselves. An improved backside illumination sensor further helps to eliminate blur in photos that result from shaking, even under low light conditions.

With Samsung Hubs, users can continually refresh phone content through the ‘Game Hub,’ which provides access to numerous social games, while Video Hub, a new service offering to the Canadian marketplace, brings users high quality TV and movies for rent . Furthermore, Samsung Music Hub will offer a personal music streaming service.

The GALAXY S III will be available for purchase in Canada starting on June 20, 2012. Samsung is pleased to be working with all of the leading wireless providers in Canada, to give our customers a choice of service provider. The SGH-i747 variation of the GALAXY S III will be available from Bell Mobility, Virgin Mobile, SaskTel, TELUS and Rogers Wireless. The SGH-iT999 model will be available from Videotron, Wind and Mobilicity.

Additional Features Include:

Processor:

Snapdragon S4 Dual Core 1.5 GHz
Qualcomm MSM8960 Chipset

OS (Shipping): ICS 4.0.4

Data: LTE (SGH-i747 variation) and HSPA+ 42 (SGH-iT999 variation)

Memory: 2 GB RAM

Dimensions: 136.6 x 70.6 x 8.6 mm

Weight: 133g

Memory: 16/32GB internal memory (SGH-i747)/ 16GB internal memory (SGH-iT999)

Expandable microSD up to 32GB

Display: 4.8 HD Super AMOLED 1280×720 (306ppi)

Connectivity: NFC, Bluetooth 4.0, DLNA, WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n, MHL Video Out

Camera: 8MP Rear-facing, 1.9MP Front-facing

Battery: 2100 mAh

Other:

TouchWiz with Motion UX

S Beam

AllShare Play enhance functionality

MP3/ACC+/WAV audio player

DivX/Xvid/MP4/WMV/H.263/ H.264 Video Player

BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.1 beta coming today or tomorrow

2012-05-30T22:32:04Z

Research in Motion’s BlackBerry PlayBook product manager, Michael Clewley, has confirmed through his Twitter page that the company is planning to release a beta version of its 2.1 Playbook OS by the “end of May.” After signing up as a BlackBerry developer, the update will be pushed to eligible devices once it is released. The company’s previous update brought native contacts, calendar and email to the tablet. Details surrounding the PlayBook OS 2.1 beta are not yet available.

[Via The Verge]

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Microsoft sells over 67 million Xbox 360s, 19 million Kinects

2012-05-30T22:31:37Z

Yusuf Mehdi, the CMO of Microsoft’s Interactive Entertainment Division, announced on Tuesday that more than 67 million Xbox 360s have been sold since the console launched in 2005, and it has generated more than $56 billion in sales. The motion sensing input accessory, Kinect, has sold more than 19 million units and the company’s Xbox Live service now boast 40 million members. Xbox users are spending more time on the system and are averaging 84 hours of usage each month. Mehdi also revealed that Microsoft holds a 47% market share of the current-generation console market, however he did note that sales, while continuing to increase year-over-year, are slowing down.

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Sony considered download only for next-gen Playstation, will keep optical drive

2012-05-30T22:09:34Z

Sony considered removing the optical drive from its next-generation Playstation gaming console, The Wall Street Journal reported. The Japanese electronics maker decided against a download-only model, however, because “Internet connectivity is too inconsistent around the world.” Removing the optical drive would have also hurt the adoption of Blu-ray, which Sony heavily pushed with its Playstation 3. The next-generation PlayStation, codename Orbis, is rumored to launch during the holiday season of 2013. It has been reported that the system will feature an AMD x64 CPU and AMD Southern Islands GPU capable of running games at a resolution of 4,096 x 2,160 pixels.

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Sergey Brin talks Project Glass, hopes for 2013 release [video]

2012-05-30T20:32:59Z

Google co-founder Sergey Brin recently sat down with the Lieutenant Governor of California Gavin Newsom for an hour-long interview. Brin, as he has done in the past, wore the company’s Project Glass prototype, and even allowed Newsom to test them out. During the interview it is revealed that the device features a touch-sensitive trackpad that allows users to scroll through content. “Don’t touch the pad on the side,” he warned. When asked about a potential release, Brin states that he has “some hopes to maybe get it out sometime next year,” although he did caution “that’s still a little bit of a hope.” After talking about Project Glass, Brin and his wife, Anne Wojcicki, discussed gene mapping for preventative healthcare, and the co-founder’s role with Google X. The full interview will be available this Friday, June 1st, on Current TV. A video snippet follows below.

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Apple to acquire Italian music editing startup

2012-05-30T18:38:14Z

Apple has reportedly purchased Redmatica, an Italian startup that specializes in digital music editing apps, according to Fanpage. The Italian blog cites a weekly bulletin from Italy’s antitrust regulatory agency, AGCM, who has approved the purchase. Redmatica is the creator of four Mac-specific music editing applications, including Keymap Pro, AutoSampler, ProManager, and GBSampler Manager. The company’s revenue last year was less than €100,000, with an income of €26,000, meaning an Apple buyout would not be costly. The Cupertino-based company is likely interested in an “acqui-hire” and looking to integrate Redmatica’s employees into Apple’s own Logic Pro and Garageband teams.

[Via TechCrunch]

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Samsung’s dream comes true

2012-05-30T17:34:56Z

Samsung’s recent run of television commercials depicted iPhone owners as mindless hipster sheep who line up for days just to get their hands on a boring incremental update. While Samsung and its advertising firm had some fun poking at Apple and its legions of dedicated fans, the truth was made known during an interview earlier this year with Samsung marketing boss Younghee Lee: Samsung wants people to be obsessed with its products just like they are with Apple’s products.

The South Korea-based consumer electronics giant still has plenty of work left to do before it manages to build a formidable sSheep army, but the company’s dreams began to come true on Tuesday — Samsung took a page from Apple’s book as lines full of anxious consumers began to form ahead of the Galaxy S III launch.

One such line was captured on video, as noted by CNNMoney, and while it doesn’t quite measure up to lines we have seen outside Apple Stores in the past, launch-day lines certainly aren’t the norm in today’s crowded smartphone market. A successful global launch of Samsung’s latest flagship phone is paramount as the company looks to create more hype surrounding its devices and continue its record-setting run that has been fueled by strong smartphone sales.

The video of a line forming outside a Samsung store at the Westfield Stratford City mall in London recorded by YouTube user MrThaiBox123 follows below.

[Via CNNMoney]

Monthly Fee	$55
Voice (minutes)	Unlimited
SMS	Unlimited
Data	Unlimited*
iPhone 4S 16GB	$499.99
iPhone 4 8GB	$399.99