Software : Microsoft Surface tablet starts shipping, gets mixed reviews

Microsoft Surface tablet starts shipping, gets mixed reviews
Sony PSN hacking lawsuit thrown out by judge
Apple updates Final Cut Pro X
Rumor: Sony to launch MyXperia cloud service
Google launches dedicated Windows 8 Search app
Apple updates iBooks and iBooks Author at iPad mini launch

Microsoft Surface tablet starts shipping, gets mixed reviews

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Microsoft's Surface tablet doesn't launch until Friday, but the device is already shipping.

Head to the UK Microsoft site and you'll be met with a message saying both versions of the 32GB model (one with the black touch cover, one without) have sold out. You can choose to be notified when they become available again.

You can order the £559 64GB version now for delivery in one to two weeks.

Scratching the Surface

Surface marks Microsoft's entry into the tablet market. Microsoft surprised everyone when it announced the device. It means any manufacturer making Windows 8 tablets will have to compete with Steve Ballmer and the Redmond-based company.

The hardware has had positive reviews, but the software seems to be where Surface falls down.

Reviewers have praised the Surface's choice of ports (USB, for starters) that will have iPad owners green with envy. But battery life isn't as long as the iPad.

The Surface's cameras also aren't up to those on other tablets. Typing seems quite natural on the Touch Cover, though it'll be slower than on a dedicated keyboard.

But it's the Windows RT operating system that's had the most criticism. It won't support the vast majority of the 4 million Windows programs. Reviewers also criticised the lack of games and apps.

Surface runs on a chip made by Nvidia, which should help make the device cheaper than rivals, and extend the battery life. The Intel-based version of Surface that runs the full Windows 8 will launch in January.

Via BBC

Sony PSN hacking lawsuit thrown out by judge

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Sony has been cleared of charges of negligence, restitution, and unjust enrichment during the security breach of PlayStation Network last year.

A California district judge threw out the charges, saying "there is no such thing as perfect security."

The breach happened in April 2011, and saw personal data of more than 75 million customers compromised. Some were understandably annoyed, and filed court cases against Sony.

More than 75 million customers using Sony's PlayStation Network and Qriocity services had their data stolen when 10 of the company's servers in San Diego were hacked. Then another 25 million customer accounts of Sony Online Entertainment were compromised along with them.

Data breach

Data stolen included customer names, email addresses, billing addresses, passwords and phone numbers. But Sony claims customers' credit card information stayed safe.

PlayStation Network and Qriocity were offline for almost a month while Sony struggled to get things back up and running.

The lawsuit alleged Sony "failed to follow basic industry-standard protocols to safeguard its customers' personal and financial information, thereby creating foreseeable harm and injury to the Plaintiff class."

But Battaglia ruled that the data was stolen by a "criminal intrusion of Sony's Network. Plaintiffs do not allege that Sony was in any way involved with the data breach."

Battaglia added: "There is no such thing as perfect security. We cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information transmitted to us."

Plaintiffs have until November 9 to file an amended complaint, if they wish.

With more and more data being stored online, fears for security have grown. Even Apple isn't immune to being hacked, after all.

Via CNET

Apple updates Final Cut Pro X

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The emphasis of Apple's San Jose event may have been the iPad mini, but that didn't stop the company from rolling out some big improvements to its video editing software.

Cupertino today delivered some significant updates to its Final Cut Pro X video editing software. Version 10.0.6 introduces plenty of new features for movie makers, including things like RED camera support and new controls for combining audio from multiple angles.

Available from the Mac App Store as a free update to existing Final Cut Pro X users, the update is sure to be a welcome download for videographers using the occasionally criticised software.

Updates aplenty

In addition to the new features mentioned above, Apple has a a long list of functionality to the software.

More precise audio editing, better sharing options, more convenient workflow tools and richer integration with third party apps sees Final Cut Pro X become a much better piece of software.

For those who haven't yet purchased the software and are considering it for a new iMac or 13-inch Retina Display Macbook Pro, it still costs $US299/£200/AUD$319 from the Mac App Store.

Rumor: Sony to launch MyXperia cloud service

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A "MyXperia" trademark filed by Sony possibly points to the company putting together a new cloud service for its Xperia mobile devices.

The European Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market-registered trademark is intended to enable the "upload, storage, retrieval, download, transmission and delivery of digital content and media."

Trademark 011197332 says that these functions apply to "mobile phones, smart phones, digital or electronic tablets, PDAs and/or portable and handheld digital electronic devices."

The forecast for Sony's cloud-based service is backed up by the existence of MyXperia.com. Going there forwards users to the subdomain MyXperia.Sony.com, which asks for credentials.

Cloudy with a chance of 'Me Too'

Sony is just the latest mobile device manufacturer with a desire to capitalize on cloud storage.

Apple iCloud and Google Drive are already helping users sync files between their devices and computers. Both offer 5GB of free storage with the ability to expand for a fee.

Microsoft is trying to up the storage ante by offering 7GB for free. Its SkyDrive service is also the only one that is compatible with iOS, Android and Windows Phone.

And, Dropbox doesn't have a horse in the mobile device game - it only offers 2GB initially. But the popular storage-only service allows users to expand (up to 16GB) with referrals.

But Sony has XPERience

Sony is late to the cloud storage race when it comes to mobile devices, but its experience in video games is once again a help to its technology division.

One of the features of PlayStation Plus, the paid service for PlayStation Network users, is the ability to sync 1,000 save files (up to 1GB) with Sony's servers.

Sony's gaming cloud has been running on PlayStation 3 for one year and is slated to come to the handheld PlayStation Vita next month with an extra 1GB of storage.

There's no word on a release date for the company's MyXperia service. But given the fact that MyXperia.Sony.com is already up and running, it may not be long.

Google launches dedicated Windows 8 Search app

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Google has released a dedicated Search application for Windows 8 prior to the global launch of the operating system Oct. 26.

The free touch-friendly app, available to download from the Windows Store, will give Windows 8 users an alternative to the default Bing search engine packaged with the new software.

The app will offer easy acces to Google Search without the need to open a web browser, but also opens the door to popular apps like Gmail, Google+, Drive, Calendar and Google Voice.

These portals will open within the app's tabbed browser interface, so it's very much like Google's all-encompassing iOS app in that respect.

Familiar features

Familiar features like one-touch Voice Search, Instant Results and Instant Previews are also on board, so there's little missing from the complete Google experience.

The search giant has been extremely punctual with the launch of its apps and services on rival platforms in recent months.

Almost immediately following the launch of the iPhone 5, the company was among the first to revamp its apps to match the new widescreen aspect ratio.

The company is also preparing to launch its market-leading Chrome web browser for Windows 8.

Apple updates iBooks and iBooks Author at iPad mini launch

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Apple has released a new version of the iBooks application and store, and has enhanced the iBooks Author tool for the creation of digital textbooks.

The updates were revealed by CEO Tim Cook during the iPad mini launch Tuesday and are already available to download from the App Store.

The revamped iBooks 3 app features a new "continuous rolling" reading option, which means if users flick the screen with their fingers, words will progress as they do when scrolling up and down a web page.

iBooks is now better integrated with iCloud, Cook explained, meaning every title customers have purchased now resides on their bookshelf.

Users can download titles by tapping the cover as they already can with previously purchased apps, music and movies.

Easier sharing and more languages

New sharing options were also introduced, allowing users to post passages from books to Facebook and Twitter, while the app now supports over 40 languages, including vertical text in Chinese.

"The pages move from left to right just as you'd expect... if you're Japanese," quipped Cook during the unveiling.

The company said it now has 1.5 million books available to download from the store, while 400 million titles have now been downloaded by users in just over two years since the launch.

Textbook updates also easier

The iBooks Author refresh makes it easier for publishers to create multi-touch digital textbooks, bringing new templates, custom fonts and rendered mathematical expressions and formulas.

Better still, publishers can now push textbook updates directly to the user without the need to re-download the title, which is great for continually changing school curriculums.

The iBooks Author update is also available now and remains free to download.

Yahuui Blog

Wednesday, October 24, 2012