Toronto-based Whirlscape attracted plenty of attention when it first debuted its innovative Minuum software keyboard, and sought funding for the project on Indiegogo. Now, the project is moving forward with the launch of the Minuum keyboard beta app for Android, which will give Indiegogo supporters their first chance to actually play with the tech and see what it is they’ve helped pay for. → Read More
Adobe’s Lightroom is probably the best software available when it comes to a photographer’s digital darkroom needs. The company has been putting lots of time and effort into building it into something that appeals to both pros and enthusiasts, and now it’s releasing Lightroom 5 beta, representing the fastest turnaround for a major point release in the app’s history. → Read More
Atlassian’s HipChat is in the process of rolling out revised or new native apps across all platforms for it group chat tool, and now it’s introducing HipChat version 2.0 for Android devices. The improved app is the product of a beta testing period that spanned the last few months. HipChat beta tested it through by borrowing a page out of Google Chrome’s book and offering both a developer and a… → Read More
Mozilla today launched the second beta of its Persona authentication system, which now allows anybody with a Yahoo.com email address to sign up and log in to any Persona-enabled site without the need to create a new account for Persona or a new login or password for the site that uses it. Mozilla plans to add support for additional webmail providers in the coming month. With Persona, Mozilla wants… → Read More
The latest Chrome beta just hit Google’s release channels and Chrome 27 for desktop, and mobile promises to speed up your web-browsing experience by making content appear on your screen 5 percent faster than before. Also new in this release are a new user interface for HTML5 date and time input forms, support for live audio input using the Web Audio API, some minor updates to the Chrome… → Read More
Atlassian’s HipChat is stepping up to its commitment to roll out native clients for its real-time group chat and private messaging tool, with a beta release of the Linux client. The Linux client couldn’t come fast enough: Adobe AIR no longer supports the open-source operating system, which means the new native app adds to the web-based client as another option for Linux-based users. → Read More
Google just announced that it has released a new feature for the Chrome Beta for Android that could speed up web browsing and save bandwidth for mobile Chrome users. With this proxy feature turned on, all your web requests will be routed through Google’s servers, where the company then uses its PageSpeed libraries to compress and optimize the content. The actual connection to the browser… → Read More
Today is beta-release day at Mozilla, and the organization is launching new beta versions of Firefox for the desktop and Android. This time around, the desktop version is set to get the most interesting updates, including the new IonMonkey just-in-time JavaScript compiler, as well as support for Macs with Retina displays and W3C Touch Event support for machines with touchscreens. On Android… → Read More
If you haven’t powered up the ol’ Xbox 360 yet this evening, and you signed up for the Xbox 360 System Software Beta, you might want to go do that now. It’s live, and apparently has some very tasty updates to the UI, Avatars, the ESPN app, Netflix search capabilities, and something to do with that music player that no one bought. [via Joystiq] → Read More
Microsoft just announced the results from their latest preview version of Internet Explorer 9, and the results are good. Typically results are measured using the Acid3 accuracy test, designed to verify that the browser is displaying the website code accurately. In the past, Safari and Chrome has scored perfectly on the test, with FireFox coming in at a 94. The results the Microsoft reported using… → Read More
Today, Bungie announced the info all Halo fans have been waiting to hear. The multiplayer Beta for the highly anticipated Halo: Reach will be available beginning May 3rd, 2010. For a beta invite, simply have a copy of Halo: ODST. → Read More
So Nokia has finally launched that Point & Find service into beta. Point & Find,you’ll recall, was first introduced at Mobile World Conference a few weeks ago, and it lets users—wait for it—point at things to get information. Right now, the service works with movies. → Read More
It looks like the IT department at Georgetown isn’t too keen on Windows 7 being installed on campus computers. They claim that, “installing any beta version of software is extremely risky,” and that beta software can disable antivirus software, and cause peripherals to malfunction. → Read More
Here’s the Windows 7 beta download link. Go crazy, but not too crazy you don’t want to put an eye out or anything. → Read More
AMD announced recently that they are releasing the next version of their Catalyst driver, 8.12. It’s currently available for download from their site. The new version of the driver includes speed increases for some of the most popular games, along with improved video transcoding and filters. On the other side of things, Nvidia’s new 180.84 beta drivers have been released in response to… → Read More
http://www.viddler.com/simple_on_site/17671819 It’s been nearly two years, but the time is coming, friends. The folks at the Playstation blog announced that starting tomorrow Sony would be rolling out Home to everyone in an open Beta. Director of Playstation Home Jack Buser encourages those who haven’t been privy to Home to snuggle up to the veterans to get tips on how to navigate… → Read More
Sign up here ASAP. → Read More
If you’re willing to tough your way through Beta browser territory, Opera’s got some goods for you to check out. This morning, they released Opera Mobile 9.5 Beta 2. Sure, it’s faster, and it’s more stable – but it’s also got some tricks up its sleeve. This is the first mobile release to support Opera’s Widget platform, which allows users to install… → Read More
After months of private beta, Skyfire, a free mobile browser lauded for offering support for Flash, AJAX, and other goodies generally reserved for PC browsers, has opened its doors to the public. Just in time for the resulting stampede of new users, they’ve also introduced a fresh release of the browser for Windows Mobile complete with a handful of new features. (Update: Though they’ve… → Read More
A beta version of Nokia’s mobile media management software, Nokia Photos 1.5, has been released, complete with a visual overhaul and a handful of new features. The New Features: Picture/Video management support for any S60 device, digital camera, memory stick, or local hard drive Automatically converts and compresses media for playback on your handset for the sake of optimal storage space usage. → Read More
If you entered our drawing for a spot in the Newber beta, check your inbox! All winners have been informed by the e-mail addresses that they provided when filling out the comment form. Didn’t win? Don’t sweat it. We’ll have more opportunities for our readers to get into closed betas in the future, so you’ll have another shot at it before too long. → Read More
Even with Skyfire opening the floodgates for about a week back in August and sites around the tubes having given away bags and bags of beta keys, I’m still getting e-mails asking if there are any quick and easy ways to sneak into the beta for this remarkably cool browser. Though we’re not sure how long it’ll work, we’ve got a way. At a mid-CTIA press event, Skyfire was… → Read More
Seems a handful of Beta testers for Vudu have been asked to download content aptly named HDX that’s mean to rival Blu-ray. Apparently the downloads take up to three hours before it starts and I highly doubt anyone will want to stick around for that unless they start them ahead of time and go off to do something else, which is a bit more plausible. We’ll see if this actually makes it out of… → Read More
Joining the PlayStation Home beta couldn’t be easier, provided you’re in North America or Europe. Those of you in North America, all you have to do is install the just released PlayStation Home theme. Consider that your application to join the beta. Europe has it even easier. Sony Computer Entertainment Europe will send out beta invites to the most active users of the PlayStation… → Read More
Sorry, PS3 fanboys, but Sony is bending you over, again. This morning Sony announced that they will be extending the closed beta testing for Playstation Home through the summer with open beta testing to commence in the fall. If you recall, Sony was supposed to launch Home this spring. “We understand that we are asking PS3 and prospective PS3 users to wait a bit longer, but we have come to the… → Read More
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