Category: Software
Mozilla releases first alpha of Firefox for mobiles aka Fennec
Firefox Mobile, otherwise known as Fennec, has reached alpha…
Apple's App Store triggers ANGER and RETRIBUTION – iPint and iBeer developers come to legal blows
The Carling iPint app is apparently little more than a shameless rip-off of Hottrix’s iBeer, according to the man who created iBeer – and is now suing the iPint makers for £7m.
Steve Sheraton, who came up with the original accelerometer-powered beer-drinking illusion app that we have been assured is VERY HILARIOUS after drinking three real beers, claims that representatives of brewing group Coors asked him if they could license his creation for use as an advertising tool. Steve declined, but the major corporation went ahead and created its iPint clone anyway…
Microsoft Equipt launching in UK next Monday: rent Office software
Microsoft has announced that it will be launching its Equipt software subscription service in the UK next week. We announced the service in July, when it became available to US customers for $70 per year.
The service offers Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007, Windows Live OneCare, and Windows Live tools for an annual subscription of £59.99 (the exchange rate rip-off is at work again). It will initially be sold through PC World.
OpenOffice 3.0 released
What’s your favourite open-source Microsoft Office alternative? Yay! I love OpenOffice too! Let’s be friends, and throw a party, because version 3.0 has just been released. In the new version: native Mac OS X compatibility, support for version 1.2 of the OpenDocument format, and compatibility with Microsoft’s OOXML format.
The latter feature is particularly useful, given that Office 2007 saves .docx files by default – something that’s confused many a hapless user as they tried to send stuff to people using older versions of the office suite…
Mozilla: Firefox Mobile Alpha arriving "in a couple of weeks"
Everyone’s favourite moddable browser, Firefox, will be available in a mobile version – “Fennec” – within a couple of weeks, says Mozilla CEO John Tilly. Unfortunately, however, “available” actually means “available if you own a Nokia N810 Internet Tablet”. Do you? Neither do I…
Spotify – stream all the music you could ever want
Gosh. I can get a bit jaded with all the rubbish new music services I get bombarded with every day, which is why it’s such a breath of fresh air when something comes along that ticks every single box. For me, Spotify is that thing. Spotify is a streaming service. It just streams, but by golly does it do it well. It has three things that set it apart from other, similar offerings – catalogue, speed and social functions…
Windows Strata: Has Microsoft got rock and cloud mixed up in its new OS name?
It seems Microsoft may have another name for its imminent Cloud-based Windows operating system which Steve Ballmer called “Windows Cloud” last week.
According to a screen grab of a web page at Microsoft’s Professional Developers Conference, hastily edited after being spotted by eagle-eyed bloggers, the new operating system is Windows Strata.
This makes me wonder whether Microsoft has got its geology and meteorology mixed up. I don’t claim to be an expert, so I’d better watch myself, but I always thought “strata” related to rock layers, while “stratus” referred to clouds…
Legitimate version of fring comes to iPhone and iPod Touch
fring, the VoIP and instant messaging aggregator software, has now received approval from Apple and is available to download from the App Store for the iPhone and iPod Touch.
A previous beta version, which required a jailbroken iPhone to work, proved extremely popular. Now anyone can get hold of the app that allows them to instant message their contacts on Skype, MSN, Google Talk, ICQ, Twitter, Yahoo! and AIM, as well as make cheap calls via a Wi-Fi connection.
Finally, it’s possible to keep in contact with everyone when away from the desktop environment, and all from the single application…
Microsoft keeps XP on life support for another six months
In a not-entirely-unanticipated development, Microsoft have once again announced that you’ll be able to continue buying Windows XP for another six months. Expect a similar announcement in another six months’ time. Microsoft was originally going to stop selling XP in January, but this announcement extends the deadline to next July.
Skype 4.0 beta 2 is out – five reasons why you should try it
Everyone’s favourite voice-over-IP application, Skype, released a beta version of its new application on Wednesday. It’s a near complete redesign from the ground up. It’s quite different, but I’ve been using it a few days, and I think it’s a very strong improvement on the previous version. Here’s why you should give it a shot…
