Netflix still isn’t offering a firm date for its launch in the UK, but it looks like some of the final pieces are starting to fall into place. The company’s PlayStation 3 app is now hitting consoles across the pond, displaying the message you see above when it’s launched. Unfortunately, that’s about all we have to go on at the moment, but PS3 users can now at least rest assured that they won’t have any waiting to do when Netflix does finally flip the switch.
There are plenty of tools and apps out there that automate the essential computing tasks that face us every day. Some are time consuming others are simply monotonous — but they must be done. Dropbox Automator combines time-saving task mastery with perhaps our favourite cloud storage solution. The service watches a designated folder for uploads, when a new file is added an action is triggered — everything from converting documents, to resizing an image or tweeting a link. And that’s just scratching the surface. There are already plenty of automation scripts in the fledgling service’s repertoire and devs can add their own by creating a SOAP web service.
Look, we recognize that touchscreens have come a long way in the last few years, but there’s always room for improvement. Thankfully, Synaptics agrees and is rolling out an update to its ClearPad capacitive panels. At the heart of the improved system is a technology called SignalClarity, which boosts signal-to-noise ratio for better accuracy and finger separation. The new tech will not only lead to a better touchscreen experience, but it could also help drive down costs since manufacturers would be free to use lower cost components that might normally interfere with a capacitive panel. It’ll be a little bit before the next-gen ClearPad makes is debut in a consumer product and chances are you won’t see Synaptic brand emblazoned across the packaging of your next smartphone. That’s ok though, we know it’s in there working hard to keep our fingers happy.
According to StatCounter, IE had a huge drop in usage and fell 1.98 points from 40.63 percent to 38.65 percent share. At first sight that is dramatic, but at a closer look, the drop fits nicely into the average, slightly slowing drop of IE share over the past year. In November, IE’s share was somewhat inflated, likely due to a massive advertising campaign. That campaign ran out in December and IE continued to drop. Microsoft sees it differently and ignores IE share overall, but focuses on Windows 7, where IE9 is the most popular browser globally and in the U.S. Across all operating systems, however, we know that Chrome leads the charge.
Chrome, making a huge jump in December, was up 1.58 points or 6.15 percent to 27.27 percent, which gives it a 2 point lead over Firefox. December was the strongest month of growth for Chrome ever and concluded a year in which Google gained a staggering 42.5 percent of market share (11.59 points). Firefox halted its declined and gained 0.04 points to 25.27 percent. there were only two months in 2011 in which Firefox gained market share. Overall, Firefox dropped by 5.41 points and gave up 21.4 percent of its usage share.
The 6-month trend of browser market share indicates that IE losses are accelerating (IE lost 3.82 points in H2 versus 3.53 points in H2), while Mozilla’s losses are somewhat stable (2.68 points in H2 versus 2.73 points in H1). The introduction of silent updates for IE in H1 of 2012 and the launch Windows 8 will be critical events for Microsoft and largely determine how low IE’s share can sink. Google will more and more rely on advertising campaigns to support Chrome growth and could gain substantially more share if Chrome OS shows signs of success. Mozilla’s future is unclear, but we know that it will receive about $1 billion from Google in royalties funding that it can use to invest in its browsers and fix problem areas such as its current rapid release cycle implementation as well as feature delays.
Firefox 11 has surfaced as an Aurora developer build on Mozilla’s website and provides a first glimpse at the new features coming soon. There is already plenty of criticism that this new version is not including enough of the new features for the average users, but instead mainly developer tools. Among those new features is one particularly interesting feature – Tilt.
Some readers may remember Tilt as an add-on that enabled the user to display the structure of a web page as three-dimensional graphic with its building blocks. There is not much use of this feature for the general user, but it useful analyzing a web page with all of its elements nested in the DOM. In Aurora 11, Tilt is fully integrated in the Page Inspector via a new 3D button. The feature is implemented via WebGL and is hardware accelerated. Viewing options include zooming (+/-), rotating (a/d and w/s), as well as panning (arrow keys).
Phylo is the next scientific video game that uses the collective brainpower of video gamers. Its goal is to demystify DNA secrets in the hope to find cures for diseases like epilepsy and support science to better understand Alzheimer’s and diabetes.
Recently released as a mobile app aimed specifically at tablet users, the game targets casual gamers with the task to arrange colored blocks that represent sequences of human DNA. Similarities in those sequences could potentially provide new insight into certain diseases. Since the launch of the game in November 2010, it has attracted more than 17,000 registered users, who delivered more than 350,000 solutions to “sequence alignment problems.”
“Phylo has contributed to improving our understanding of the regulation of 521 genes involved in a variety of diseases,” said Jérôme Waldispuhl of the McGill School of Computer Science. “It also confirms that difficult computational problems can be embedded in a casual game that can easily be played by people without any scientific training.” According to the scientist, the game highlights “a synergy of humans and machines that helps to solve one of the most fundamental biological problems.”
Waldispuhl said that the human factor in genome analysis enables the research team to achieve “accuracy” in a mountain of messy data. While sequences have already been pre-aligned by computers, humans are required solve the problem of sequences that are still misaligned. “Our goal is to identify these parts and transform the task of aligning them into a puzzle people will want to sort out,” Waldispuhl explained.
Give it a try here: Phylo is available as a desktop and mobile version.
Last year, when RockMelt picked up where Flock left off, deeply tying social services into the browser interface, we were understandably a bit skeptical. But, just over 13 months later the tricked out Chrome variant is still kicking and tacking on new features. The latest beta, version five, turns the Omnibox into a full-fledged Facebook portal, allowing you to upload photos, initiate chats and load profiles without first having to launch the site. The update also sports a spruced up new tab page. We won’t spoil all the surprises though, hit up the source link to download it for yourself.
Right after Mozilla unleashed Firefox 9 for the desktop, the company launched the latest mobile version for Android-based smartphones and tablets, Firefox 9 for Android. What’s important about this build is that Mozilla redesigned the user interface to work and look optimally on tablets. The company has also done an excellent job in keeping the app’s overall size down, consuming a mere 128 KB once it’s moved to the SD card.
“Firefox for Android leverages large tablet screen sizes and optimizes popular features for tablets,” Mozilla said Tuesday in a blog. “The Awesome Screen integrates Firefox Sync and makes it easy to access your browsing history, open tabs, bookmarks and saved passwords across desktop and mobile devices so you can type less and browse more.”
Mozilla said that it attempted to be more visual, more magazine-like in the browser’s overall content presentation with this latest release. The left-hand thumbnail column, which is typically tucked away, has been updated to provide a tab-like feel, connecting the thumbnail to the actual page. Mozilla has also added an “Action Bar” menu next to the Awesome Bar that allows the user to access Firefox Preferences, Add-ons, downloads and more.
“The Action Bar adds the back, forward and bookmark buttons for easy access,” Mozilla explains. “One-touch bookmarks enable you to add an icon to your Android home screen for your favorite websites and Web apps, making Web apps as easy to use as native apps.”
Mozilla reports that it has also thrown in some tools especially for HTML5 developers including the HTML5 Input Tag for Camera Access that enables the tablet owner to take pictures and scan bar codes within the browser without having to load the external camera app. The browser also supports the HTML5 Form Validation API which automatically validates website form fields like numbers, emails and URLs without developers needing to write a custom code or use a third-party library.
Note to Kindle Fire owners: even though Mozilla reports that the new browser is compatible with the Amazon tablet, currently the tablet UI isn’t appearing, and doesn’t appear in later beta builds either. The interface reverts to the smartphone mode, shoving the open window thumbnails to the left and the bookmark star and settings icon on the right. The browser also doesn’t seem to render HTML5-based websites correctly either like the revamped Facebook or Google Music.
Unfortunately, comments on the Android Market show that users are complaining about the new release, calling it “sluggish, unresponsive, and essentially unusable” and “still not ready for prime time” and “flaky when going back and forth between landscape and portrait.
Certificates signed with MD (Message-Digest) version 2 (released in 1989) and 4 (released in1 995), both of which produce 128-bit hash values, are being rejected in the latest Chromium releases over delivering “fatal errors”.
MD5, also a 128-bit version, results in an “interstitial warning”, according to Chrome developer Peter Beverloo. Google decided to also reject RSA and DSA key with fewer than 1024 bits. The changes are in effect in Chromium 18 and Chrome 18 developer versions with a revision number of 114,432 (MD2, MD4, MD5) 114,709 (RSA, DSA) and higher.
Other recent changes in Chrome include pausing, resuming and canceling downloads via the new Download API, hardware-based video-encoding (only in Chrome OS), a 5 percent memory improvement on Chrome for Windows as well as 4 percent JavaScript speed improvement in Mozilla’s Kraken benchmark
Seemingly cooked up in the Law and Order squad room comes Spectral Layers, a Photoshop-inspired audio editing software from Divide Frame. The visual tool allows users to isolate, enhance and chop sounds using multiple layers and channels — giving them complete control over individual voices, instruments and background noises. The whole process takes place within a 3D real-time display with commands reminiscent of the tried and true photo correcting staple. The software will set you back $695 for a single Mac or PC download, or $2199 for multiple licenses — a small price to pay for musicians, sound junkies or Benson and Stabler wannabes. Read more…
Certificates signed with MD (Message-Digest) version 2 (released in 1989) and 4 (released in1 995), both of which produce 128-bit hash values, are being rejected in the latest Chromium releases over delivering “fatal errors”.
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