Microsoft Releases Updated Windows Live Apps

Microsoft today is releasing the final version of its new set of Windows Live apps, including updates to its photo- and video-editing programs, as well as synching and blogging tools.

The Windows Live Essentials 2011 apps have been in testing since June and are available for download from Microsoft's site. The collection includes Windows Live Photo Gallery, Movie Maker, Messenger, and Mail, along with Windows Live Mesh, Family Safety, and Writer.

Microsoft also plans to announce that Dell will be the first global PC maker to start including the programs preloaded on its PCs.

Of note, the updated programs will work on Windows Vista or Windows 7, but not on Windows XP. Microsoft says the programs will be available in 48 languages over the next few hours.

Without a new release of Windows, Microsoft is counting on the updated versions of Windows Live to help boost holiday PC sales. Microsoft announced on Monday that it was getting rid of its Windows Live Spaces blogging site and will instead transfer users to WordPress.com. WordPress will also be the default blog option within the Windows Live Writer blogging program that is part of the new app suite.

Stephen Sinofsky, president of the Windows unit, said in an interview earlier this month that Microsoft plans to tout the hardware acceleration of its Windows Live Essentials as an example of how Windows adds power on top of a generic Web experience.

"There [are] some really exciting and innovative things in it, and they also tap into the power of hardware," he said. "Movie Maker and Photo Gallery are all hardware-accelerated and do a really great job using accelerated video and accelerated graphics in general."

The photo program adds a number of features including face recognition and the ability to combine multiple group photos, choosing the best shot of each person to create a new, better family photo. Microsoft is also adding more options in Photo Gallery and Movie Maker for uploading to other services as part of a concerted effort to focus not just on its own Web services, but also more widely used services, such as Facebook.

Messenger, which got an updated beta last month, now allows users to chat with their Facebook friends--the first major IM program to do so, while Movie Maker can now upload to Flickr.

Windows Live Mesh, the synching program, combines elements of the prior Live Mesh preview and Windows Live Sync. Earlier this week, Microsoft posted a beta version of Windows Live Sync for the Mac (Guess they didn't get the memo on going back to the Mesh name.)


Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-20018173-56.html?tag=mncol#ixzz112xDFILx

Apple Makes Progress With Ping

Apple has made a small but important change to Ping that improves it considerably. It's not enough to make the much-maligned social network a real winner, but it's a good a start: An update to iTunes now allows you to interact with Ping directly from your music player, instead of having to make a visit to Ping itself.

So now you can recommend songs to your friends, and see the music they recommend, at the same you're actually listening to songs.

It's a such an obvious feature that it's hard to believe that Apple didn't include it in Ping's launch. But that just shows you how rough that launch has been.

Ping also doesn't track what you play, even though Apple's own "Genius" recommendation service does that (as do competitors like Last.fm). That could be quite a useful feature, given proper opt-in privacy options.

But most important is that Ping lives in a gated suburb that most of your friends never visit. If Apple is really serious about social, then it has to find a way to integrate Ping with Facebook, Twitter, and the rest of the networks your pals are already using. My hunch is that we'll see that eventually.

Story Copyright (c) 2010 AllThingsD. All rights reserved.


Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-20017643-93.html?tag=mncol;title#ixzz10lebYiOs

Hands-On with PS3's 3D Blu-ray update

We got a chance to test the 3D portion of the Sony PlayStation 3's latest firmware update, version 3.5, and the short story is that it works fine, aside from one minor issue that may be a deal breaker for audiophiles, and some compatibility gaffes with older PS3s.

For our test we hooked up our PS3 Slim to a number of 3D TVs in our TV test lab: the LG 47LX9500, Panasonic TC-P50VT25, the Samsung UN55C8000, and the Sony KDL-46NX810--representing all of the current flat-panel 3D TV makers. In each case the PS3 delivered what was, as far as we can tell by eye and the TVs' status indicators and menus, Full HD 3D, aka 1080p to each eye via the frame-packing format used by Blu-ray. Images appeared as sharp as we expected, without the softer look characteristic of half-resolution broadcast 3D, from DirecTV for example.

For compatibility testing we tried six of the currently available 3D Blu-ray discs: "Monsters vs. Aliens," "Coraline," "IMAX: Under the Sea," "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs," "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs," and "Monster House." All played without a hitch in 3D mode, as they have on standalone 3D players like the Samsung BD-C6900 and the Panasonic DMP-BDT100. It's also worth noting that, as with all of our previous 3D testing, we used standard HDMI cables we had onhand already; no new cables were required to pass 3D over HDMI.

Further compatibility testing performed on an older, 60GB PlayStation 3 "fat" (first generation, February 2007 manufacture date) reveals that the player cannot recognize or play back either "Monsters vs. Aliens" or "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs." The other four 3D Blu-rays mentioned above were recognized and played back normally.

We wouldn't be surprised if a firmware update appeared to fix this issue, but in the meantime it might be annoying for Samsung and Panasonic 3D TV owners; both "Monsters" and "Ice Age" are exclusives, respectively, to each company for now. We would be surprised, on the other hand, if the forthcoming exclusive version of "Avatar" showed the same issue.

We've contacted Sony for an explanation and when we receive one, we'll update this post. Until then we don't know for sure which versions of the PS3 can play which 3D discs, and why.

A couple of other oddities are worth noting. The PS3 makes extensive use of menu overlays for settings and status, and engaging them by pressing Triangle or Select during playback causes the image to revert to 2D, which can be a bit jarring. Removing the menu re-engages 3D mode. For what it's worth, other players we've tested can deliver overlays and maintain 3D mode.

Audiophiles may fume in rage that, according to Google's translation of Sony's Japanese press release (hat tip: AVS Forum), the PS3 is incapable of outputting high-resolution audio formats, namely Dolby Digital TrueHD and DTS-Master, when playing back 3D Blu-rays. We confirmed this issue using "Ice Age" and a Pioneer VSX-1020-K; while the Panasonic DMP-BDT100 lit up the Pioneer's "DTS-Master" indicator, the PS3 could only summon the standard "DTS" message in 3D. We don't consider this a big deal, however.

Aside from these minor issues, the upgrade making the Sony PS3 a 3D-compatible Blu-ray player (did we mention it's free?) provides a rare smooth sail in the otherwise rough seas of this year's 3D TV revival.

Editors' note: This article was updated with additional testing of a first-generation PS3.

CBS News App For iPad Lifts Off

Just as the laptop and portability changed the face of computing over the last two decades, the iPad, and competitors who are quickly following in Apple's footsteps, marks the beginning of a new era in computing and deeper embedding of technology in our daily lives.

Paul Saffo, a forecaster who has explored the long-term impact of technology innovations, said that the iPad is as "important as the introduction of the Macintosh in 1984," which launched the graphical user interface and mouse to the masses.

What makes the iPad a potential game changer? Certainly, the size and light weight of the tablet-sized iPad, as well as the touch interface evolved from the iPhone, offer a more "personal" and convenient computing experience. But more important, the iPad and its underlying software have the beginnings of a platform for rich, interactive applications that changes how users interact with content.

Adapting the iPad application model is at the core of the launch of our first CBS News iPad application, which is available for free in the Apple App Store. Instead of clicking on Web pages with a mouse or touchpad, you use your fingers to navigate and interact with the content with swiping, dragging, scissoring and other gestures.

The CBS News iPad app brings you the latest news from CBSNews.com, with text, video, and photos, as well as content from "The CBS Evening News with Katie Couric," "The Early Show," "48 Hours Mystery," "Sunday Morning," "Face the Nation," and "Up to the Minute." A separate "60 Minutes" iPad app is in the works. (CNET News is published by CBS Interactive, a unit of CBS.)

The CBS News app for iPad includes related content--text, videos and photo galleries--for each story, and one-touch social-networking features, which allow users to share stories with friends and colleagues via e-mail, Facebook, and Twitter.

The front page of the CBS News app has two viewing experiences. In portrait mode, users can browse headlines with images and related thumbnail photos, or use the app in landscape mode, which provide a quick, mostly text view of top news, videos, popular news galleries, and Twitter messages.

Other features include the option to save articles for offline viewing, searching news by content type, weather targeted by location, stock look-up and an easy-to-browse section for CBS News and CBSNews.com programs online.

Stay tuned for updates as we evolve our iPad application and develop apps for emerging tablet devices. CBS News is also available on the iPhone, Android, BlackBerry and Symbian platforms.


Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-20016251-93.html?tag=mncol;title#ixzz0zdUwpnHf

iOS 4.1 For iPhone, iPod Touch Released

The latest software for the iPhone and iPod Touch is available starting Wednesday for download from Apple.

The company foreshadowed the arrival of iOS 4.1 at its annual fall press event last week and included an overview of the latest features. The download is free via iTunes for iPhone and iPod Touch owners.

Besides upgrades to new features for games, photos, and high-definition videos, Apple is using this software update to zap several bugs at once.

Among the issues Apple CEO Steve Jobs promised would be fixed with the installation of 4.1 are: proximity sensor problems that were causing some accidental dropped calls; the painfully slow performance of the iPhone 3G with iOS 4.0; Bluetooth connectivity problems with certain car stereos and headsets (that CNET noted as soon as the iPhone 4 was released); and problems related to the Nike+iPod software.

Other upgrades in iOS 4.1 include: the ability to upload HD videos over Wi-Fi, TV show rentals on iTunes from an iPhone or iPod Touch, new HDR (high dynamic range) photo function, and the delayed GameCenter.

GameCenter was announced in April at the iOS 4.0 press event, but was not included in the initial release of the software. GameCenter is a social-networking feature that allows iPhone and iPod Touch users to play games on their devices against friends in real time.

CNET's Kent German will have a hands-on review of the latest software for iPhone and iPod Touch as well as screenshots later today, so be sure to check back.