The 8220 build of Windows 8 is labelled as Consumer Preview, meaning thaqt the software is nearing completion. That implies that Microsoft is seriously considering making the change to the Start button permanent. That said, the company often integrates feedback from its public betas into the final product – if testers have an immediate and universal disdain for the change, it’s likely to be reversed. The Start button has been a crucial part of the Windows user interface ever since Windows 95, and its exclusion is sure to cause some distress among those who opt for the more conservative desktop.

Microsoft has seen its fair share of controversy surrounding Windows 8, mostly due to the touch-friendly Metro interface changes. The Desktop tile is meant to be a window into Windows past for power users, and as such, the removal of something so integral as the Start button seems odd indeed. Other small but crucial changes, like the Ribbon menu interface finding its way into more applications, have also drawn ire from more experienced Windows users. If you’d like to try out Windows 8 for yourself, you can download the Developer Preview at the Windows Dev Center. THe build shown above isn’t public yet, but an open beta program is expected in the next few months.

[via ZDNet]

You can grab the application from the Android Market right this moment for free and will be able to sign in with your regular Steam account. From here you’re going to be exploring the same world of friendly or not so friendly gamers you know and love and will be able to check out gaming information galore on the go. The reason Steam has this application set up is to keep their friendly customers at home in the same community wherever they go, even if they’re not able to play the games as they drive to the bakery.

This application can also be downloaded from the iTunes App Store for your iOS devices, it ready to go for all manner of iDevices from iPhone to iPad and back again just so long as you’re running iOS 4.0 or newer. This application is, again, free for download and you will need your own Steam name and login to enter the community. For support on this and other Steam applications, head to the Steam Support page and find your way around!

Customers testing this early build of what’s currently code-named Office 15 will be providing feedback to Microsoft’s Office team and changes they suggest will be taken into account for the final build and release. Hough notes that Office 15 will be “the most ambitious undertaking yet” for the Office division. When the release comes down to the public, there will be one simultaneous update to all of the following: PC and mobile clients for Office, Office 365, SharePoint, Visio, Project, Exchange, and cloud services and servers.

There will be a public beta offered up later in the year, in the Summer to be a bit more precise, and more information on the builds being released then will be released closer to that time. The Technical Preview group is working with a sort of Alpha build if you will, while the Beta will be much closer to the final product. We can therefor take a wild guess and say that Office 15 will be out by the start of 2013.

[via Office]

The app has a strong focus on Steam’s social features, including chatting with friends and checking out your groups and clans. Users can also browse the collection of games and make purchases directly from the phone. Of course, if you want to play the actual game you’ll still need to go to your computer, but the point here is to expand the Steam experience beyond that one screen.

Steam is so ubiquitous because it has managed to grab most of the big-name PC game publishers. However, it lost some of its steam (pun intended) when EA decided to launch its own proprietary platform instead. In addition, Apple recently set up a Mac App Store for its computer users, leaving Steam a bit less powerful. So now it’s trying to tap into the every important mobile market. That should help keep its brand recognition solid and tight.

[via Android Community]

In iOS nomenclature, “/cores/core.0″ would indicate a single-core device. So far, iOS has referenced “/cores/core.1″ for a dual-core device, such as the iPhone 4S and the iPad 2, each of which use Apple’s A5 processor. There’s apparently no mention of triple-core CPUs in the latest beta, unsurprisingly.

Apple is believed to be using the iOS 5.1 beta to test the iPad 3, tipped to arrive later in Q1, as well as an unreleased “iPhone 5,1″, though it’s not certain that either device will have a quadcore chip. The rumors earlier today hinted that the iPad 3 would introduce a higher resolution screen – running at 2048 x 1536 – and a larger battery, but that more significant changes would have to wait until Q4 2012 when Apple would launch a fourth-gen model to better challenge the new breed of Windows 8 and ICS slates.

That timescale might fit in with Apple’s rumored release plans for the next-gen Apple A6 chipset, exact specifications for which are currently unknown. Still, a jump to quadcore architecture – progressing from the dualcore A5 and monocore A4 – would keep with Apple’s silicon pattern so far as well as those of chipset rivals.

Beta version 3.26 also includes better contextual awareness, allowing the keyboard’s text prediction engine to more accurately predict your next word based on the language of the current system. So if you’ve typed “meet me at the…” and Swype’s internal parameters are choosing between “restaurant” and “restitution”, it will know which one is more likely to be what you want. Current users can download the app now, and prospective beta users an request access. Head on over to beta.swpe.com and sign up for the beta.

Finger puppet ninjas incoming:

Unfortunately, the new beta does not work with the Galaxy Nexus, thanks to the increased 720p resolution and Ice Cream Sandwich’s virtual navigation buttons. But this is Android – if Swype doesn’t do it, somebody will. That somebody is Google+ user Anthony Casagrande and XDA Developers member plisk3n. They’ve released  a modified version of the beta APK file that plays nice with the new Google developer phone. Unfortunately it still can’t make the shift into landscape mode, so Casagrande recommends using Keyboard Manager from the Android Market to set the default keyboard to landscape and Swype to landscape.

For those of you working in Apple’s Mac OS X Lion environment, you’ll now have improved theme integration in-browser. You’ll also have the ability to two-finger swipe inside windows if you’re using Lion, a feature that until now was only available in a stable form inside Safari. You’ve now got improved support for text-overflow and a brand new support for font-stretch.

Stability issues have been taken care of in several hush-hush ways, and you’ll be able to download this new version for Windows, Mac, or Linux, provided your version of any of these is the most recent or nearly the most recent version. You can do so through the Future of Firefox page for downloads and grab all the notes and details on this release on the Firefox 9.0 Release Notes page at Mozilla. On the other hand if completely stable versions of software are more your level of experience, you can still go back to the Firefox latest releases downloads page and hit your icon!

There are two factions, Global Defense Initiative and Brotherhood of Nod. The two are engaged in a war over a potent yet volatile resource, Tiberium. Players must not forget they will also be battling the Forgotten, humans who have been mentally and physically mutated by exposure to this resource. As the title states, Alliances will be important for allying with players and fight the Forgotten or other players. Be careful who you trust.

With the popularity of social media continually increasing, it is not surprising we are seeing it more in-game. Command & Conquer: Tiberium Alliances will feature in-game social and news feeds updated in real time. Similar to some Battlefield titles, the game will run in Web browsers and on mobile devices, with support for cross-platform play. Testing for the closed beta begins December 15th , be sure to sign up!

[via Gamespot]

Office 15 will have a brand new look and more touch-friendly interface. Since Windows 8 will work on both desktop PCs and touchscreen tablets, its important that Office 15 can work well by touch, pen, or mouse. The Metro UI and tile-based elements of Windows 8 for tablets interface will be integrated for easier navigation, including the introduction of a new “Moorea” application that acts like a landing screen with tiles of content for easier navigation and access to your documents.

It’s not clear how fully revamped for the Metro UI the new Office suite will be, since the company initially suggested that it would retain the traditional UI for the best of both worlds. However, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer did reveal back in September that they were definitely considering “to do Office Metro style.”

[via WinRumors]

The latest beta update for iTunes 10.5.1 brings with it updates for stability and performance improvements according to the change log. Match was updated alongside the new beta for iTunes and to continue to use the iTunes Match service, the updated version of iTunes is required. One the updated to the beta version of iTunes for devs iTunes Match storage can be enabled on all Apple devices.

iTunes Match is the service that allows the uploading of your entire iTunes Music catalog to iCloud. Once on iCloud the music can be accessed from any device including the Apple TV, iPad, and iPhone. For now, there is no new information when iTunes match will go public. It was previously slated for October and that month has come and went already.

[via Cultofmac"]

Developers testing out the iTunes Match beta will have to keep backing up regularly and are advised not to delete songs from their computers after they’ve added to the iCloud because Apple may periodically delete all iCloud libraries. This will require developers to scan, match, upload songs all over again.

The release notes also point out that some of the features and optimizations of iTunes Match may not be available in this beta. Some songs that are matched in the iTunes library may not be recognized and will have to uploaded still. And music can only be added from one computer at a time.

The iTunes Match feature is optional and costs $24.99 per year. The music matching service should be launching with iOS 5 and the iCloud and will allow users to sync music across all their devices, even the songs they didn’t purchase from iTunes. We’re expecting a big reveal next Tuesday, October 4, when Apple will be unveiling its next-gen iPhone. Stay tuned as we’ll be live blogging the event here: http://live.slashgear.com

[via Cult of Mac]

It’s not clear what problems, if any, this new version addresses but it’s known as 11C52 and is about 740.2MB in its delta form. The focus areas remain the same as the previous beta version and includes the AddressBook, GraphicsDrivers, iCal, iChat, iCloud, Mail, MobileMe, the Mac App Store, Safari, Spotlight, and Time Machine.

The recent betas seeded to developers have all included iCloud integration whereas previous versions had required developers to download a separate installer. It’s believed that Mac OS X 10.7.2 will be released alongside the iCloud and iOS 5, which are both expected to launch with the next-gen iPhone (be it the iPhone 5 or the iPhone 4S) on October 4.

[via AppleInsider]

The iTunes 10.5 beta 8 will be needed to continue using the iTunes Match feature and developers are encouraged to sign up for the $24.99 per year service. For testing the service, however, developers do get extra months of service in return. The iWork beta 3 for iOS also brings some bug fixes and will ultimately include document syncing with the iCloud.

However, missing from this latest batch of updates is a new beta for the iOS 5 itself. This suggests that Apple is winding down on development for iOS 5 and is mainly working out the integration of other Apple software with the platform and fine tuning its cloud-based features.

[via Cult of Mac]

To give you an idea of what Google Offers has to offer, the first deal in Austin will be a $5 voucher for $10 worth of food and drink at a popular local Mexican restaurant, Juan in a Million. In Boston it’s gourmet ice cream from Toscanini’s Ice Cream, again a $5 for $10 deal. Washington D.C. deal seekers get a $3 for $6 offer on Falafels from Amsterdam Falafelshop. And in Denver, users can get $20 worth of merchandise for $5 at three retail locations of the Tattered Cover Book Store, while Seattle users can pay only $9.50 for a $19 one-day admission to the Seattle Aquarium.

The Offers service is Google’s answer to Groupon after the search giant’s plans to acquire the daily deal site for $6 billion fell through. For those of you not located in any of the supported markets, you can still sign up to get notifications should the service roll out in your area.

[via Google]

The UDID works like a unique serial number that identifies a device to a mobile network. Regardless of the user or the app that’s currently running on a particular device, the UDID remains unchanged. Developers have used UDIDs to specify certain devices for testing beta apps by registering the UDID with Apple. UDIDs can also be used to record what device is using a particular app and ad networks usually use the UDID to track the use of mobile devices.

With this change, developers and other third-parties will now have to create a unique identifier specific to their apps, which would work much like browser cookies. This could prevent analytics firms from more effectively tracking usage of an app or to cross-reference user data from multiple apps. This will also make it difficult for developers to track if a device has installed or deleted their apps as users could clear any app-specific tracking numbers similar to how browser cookies can be deleted.

[via Apple Insider]

In addition to iOS 5 beta 6, Apple has released iTunes 10.5 beta 6. This iTunes beta is required for syncing devices with this latest iOS 5 beta to the iCloud. Apple has also seeded Xcode 4.2 developer preview 6 today, which is necessary for compatibility with developer devices running this latest iOS 5 beta. The update is available to all versions of the iPad, all version of the iPhone 4, the iPhone 3GS, and the 3rd and 4th generations of the iPod touch.

iOS 5 was first announced back at WWDC 2011 and is expected to deliver over 200 new features. Some of these features include a fully revamped notifications system, deep Twitter integration, OTA software updates, and of course support for the iCloud. For a more in-depth summary of the top ten new features, make sure to take a look at our WWDC wrap-up.

For the full change log you can visit 9to5 Mac, which has posted list on its site.

The report first came from Karthikk.net, which claimed that many developers have received a letter from Apple saying that their accounts are being shut down for selling the iOS 5 beta slots and that the associated UDIDs with their account will be disabled. This means that anyone who is using iOS 5 beta on their device attached to a flagged UDID could see their devices disabled.

It’s said that once Apple locks the iOS 5 beta on a device, that the handset will enter initial setup mode and ask to connect to WiFi, but nothing more happens after that.

However, many other sites, including TUAW and 9to5 Mac, believe that this report is false. They first question the validity of Karthikk.net, but also point out that the situation could be mistaken for the expiration of the first two builds of iOS 5 beta. It seems that users of iOS 5b1 and 5b2 have reported experiences of their devices shutting down, but users of the most current iOS 5 beta build are generally still up and running.

iOS 5 Beta 4 is available to the iPhone 3GS, both versions of the iPhone 4, all versions of the iPad, and the 3rd and 4th generations of the iPod touch. To properly sync, it will require the iTunes 10.5 Beta 4, which is available in Apple’s dev channel along with a new Xcode 4.2 Developer Preview 4. The Wi-Fi syncing with iTunes also now supports Windows PCs.

The OTA update only works for upgrading from beta 3 and will require re-syncing photos with iTunes. And although there have been reports of the OTA update not working, it seems to have worked for many developers after several tries of going into Settings, then General, and then Software Update. Visit the source below for the full change log.

[via Cult of Mac]

The HP Play is essentially the iTunes for the TouchPad and is powered by the open-source media manager, Songbird. The beta version works for syncing from both Windows and OS X computers to import iTunes libraries, build playlists, edit ID3 tags, as well as play and rate your songs.

However, the HP Play can only sync music for now, with video and photo support likely to come later on. You will also need to connect your HP TouchPad with a USB cable, which seems to go against the wireless experience that’s being touted for WebOS. The HP Play beta can be downloaded here. Also, make sure to check out our full review of the HP TouchPad.

[via PreCentral]

iOS 5 beta 3 is compatible with all versions of the iPad, both versions of the iPhone 4, the iPhone 3GS, both the 3rd and 4th generation iPod touch, and the Apple TV. Installation of iTunes 10.5 beta 3 will be required in order for developers to load the new iOS beta.

For the entire change log, you can visit 9to5Mac. Hopefully no other developers experience their cables catching on fire from the new iOS 5 beta.

The second beta for iOS 5 is available only to registered iOS developers and has been released along with the a second beta for iTunes 10.5. The update iTunes is important for testing the new wireless syncing via the iCloud. There are a total of nine distributions of iOS beta build number 9A5248D, which includes three for the iPad 2 (WiFi-only, GSM, CDMA), one for the original iPad, two for the iPhone 4 (GSM and CDMA), one for the iPhone 3GS, and two for the iPod Touch third and fourth generations.

To fully test the new iCloud wireless syncing, developers will need to have the iTunes 10.5 update along with the pre-release version of Lion or the most recently available Mac OS X 10.6.8 update. However, it’s noted that once the iOS 5 beta 2 is installed, developers cannot downgrade back to earlier versions. They can only upgrade to later betas or the final version, which may all be delivered over-the-air.

[via iPodNN]

The new screenshots published today from MDL via BetaArchive shows a new background and boot screen along with the return of the Microsoft betta fish. The betta fish was used back in Windows 7 beta as a wallpaper and soon turned into a mascot for Microsoft’s beta stages of Windows 7. Its return to build 7989 of Windows 8 suggests the beta may be ready.

The Windows 8 release date has been hinted at most recently by Microsoft VP Dan’l Lewin, who said that it’s safe to assume that the new platform would hit the market 12 months after the beta. It’s believed that the beta will be revealed in September at the BUILD developer conference.

[via WinRumors]

Modeled after Groupon, Google Offers was begun shortly after the search giant failed to purchase Groupon for $6 billion. Kicking off its first deal ever is $10 worth of products from local coffee shop Floyds, for only $3. Future offers are expected from Powell’s Books, Ground Kontrol Classic Arcade, and Le Bistro Montage.

This is Google’s first step into the competitive space of daily deals currently dominated by big players like Groupon and LivingSocial, but littered with dozens of smaller daily deal sites. But what will really set Google Offers apart is its integration with Google Wallet. You can check out the deal page here.

Although, folks from any of the select three cities can start signing up today, they may not receive any coupons via email just yet. The public beta-testing is limited to Portland for now. The sign-up page doesn’t offer up much more information on the service except that you will get discounts of “50% or more off of the places you’ll love.” This is very much along the same vein as Groupon’s discount model and sense of discovery.

However, the service is likely to incorporate the NFC-based Google Places program. It’s rather interesting that Portland is also the first city that Google issued its NFC chips for businesses participating in Google Places. Google Offers could be tied in such that users can swipe their cellphones at the cash register and receive their daily deal coupon.

The video below is a teaser that again answers no questions about Google Offers but sure brightens your day with cheery music.

[via Mashable]

WebOS 3.0 is scheduled to appear first on the HP TouchPad tablet later this year. Some of the developments in the new platform version should eventually appear on WebOS smartphones as well. The WebOS 3.0 SDK will include plenty of information on structuring apps, and will allow developers to use the new Enyo framework to integrate Synergy, Just Type, and Exhibition into their apps.

However, the WebOS 3.0 Beta SDK is available only to developers registered with HP’s Early Access program. HP will be providing more information soon for the program on a new developer portal located at http://developer.hpwebos.com

[via PreCentral]

Facebook Questions shows up at the top of your news feed and profile pages and is like an option you can share like pictures, videos, status updates, and links. You can create your question and let others freely answer, or you can create a limited number of answers people can choose. After typing your question you click “Add Poll Options” to make the possible choices people choose. You can even set up a picture with your question if you want to decorate it. So if you want to poll people with the question “What should I eat tonight?”, you can add a picture of a hamburger and make it one of the choices, or just let people freely type in their answer.

The new feature is very much like Yahoo! Answers and allows people to poll the entire Facebook community. If you see another question that interests you, you can “Follow” it and you will receive notifications when a new answer is submitted. There is no privacy settings for Facebook Questions so be careful because it’s not limited to only your friends, anyone can respond. Facebook suggests that if you want to poll only your friends, just make a status update and put your question there.

[via L.A. Times Blog]

The improved interface includes easier scrolling through your News Feed without accidentally clicking ‘Like’ or ‘More’. You can also now post photos, add an update, or check in to a Facebook Place directly from your News Feed. A drop-down navigation area has replaced the original static navigation bar to allow for more features. A new notifications bar has also been introduced that’s modeled after the BlackBerry 6 OS ‘Today View.’ Lastly, the Profile interface has been completely revamped into a tabbed layout that allows for viewing of more profile details.

An outline of the improvements as listed from the BlackBerry blog:

· “Always On” Facebook Chat Notifications
· Redesigned Navigation Grid
· New Notifications Bar
· Improved News Feed Scrolling
· Enhanced Profiles
· Added Publisher Functionality
· Updated User Interface

This initial beta release is available only for BlackBerry 6 users. Support for users of BlackBerry 4.6 and higher will be added later. If you are a BlackBerry 6 user, definitely check out the new beta, it seems to be a huge improvement from version 1.0, which was released over three years ago.

YouEye is a web-based solution that utilizes regular webcams therefore replacing the need for complex eye-tracking cameras and making it easier to recruit testers since they will not require any specialized equipment. The web-based service also makes it easy to setup eye-tracking tests, collect data, and share your results. And not only do they track eye-movements, but mouse activity and audio can also be recorded and analyzed.

The service uses a subscription model based on the number of tests and testers. Currently they are offering beta invites. You can also sign up to become a paid tester.

[via Read Write Web]

The folks over at WinRumors picked up information on Microsoft seeding its escrow build last Friday, an important development stage, suggesting a final Milestone 2 version was ready. They believe that this means a third milestone would start in March and finish by June with a beta soon after.

ZDNet on the other hand, got hold of a roadmap snippet showing the Windows 8 Milestone 2 schedule indicating February 23 for completion with February 28 for start of Milestone 3. A five month time frame is likely per milestone, with a beta version ready by September for Microsoft’s Professional Developers Conference.

[via Electronista]

The first release on January 12th featured the new Personal Hotspot feature which allows an iPhone to share its 3G Internet connection with up to 5 devices over WiFi, and allowed third party applications to use AirPlay for streaming video. It also included a software option to change the iPad hardware switch between mute and orientation lock.

The second beta issued on Jan. 19 was a preview of the new iPad multi-touch gestures, which included four-finger gestures to switch between multitasking operations or return to the home screen. This feature will not be enabled in the final release, but is planned for the future.

Details regarding the first beta for iOS 4.3 are still lacking, but we imagine that as more developers get their hands on the build, we’ll find out more. If you’re not signed up for the development program, you can still sign up and get your hands on the latest build of iOS through this link. If you’re a developer and you’re testing out iOS 4.3 right now, let us know what changes you’re seeing in the comments below.

Here is the list of supported devices:

Supported Devices

[via MacStories]

Stage Video is an infrastructure for playback of videos that should further reduce the impact playing a video with Flash Player has – on your computer, not impact on how visually spectacular it is. Previous versions of Flash Player 10 (the one you’re upgrading here) leveraged GPU acceleration for decoding video while 10.2 (this update) offloads basically all video pipeline tasks to the GPU to help with the CPU load. Less heavy lifting!

In addition to that, 10.2 improves text rendering, full-screen playback for two-monitor setups (allowing playing on one screen while the other stays open for you to continue working.) Check out the full press release below and [download the plugin here] and check out [Stage Video demo clips here.]

We’re happy to announce a beta release of Flash Player 10.2 for Windows, Mac, and Linux is now available for download on Adobe Labs. Flash Player 10.2 beta introduces a number of enhancements we’re excited to share, including Stage Video, a new API that delivers best-in-class, high performance video playback across platforms. The new beta also includes Internet Explorer 9 hardware acceleration support previewed earlier (in Flash Player “Square”), enhanced text rendering, and two popular requests from the community: a native custom mouse cursors API and support for full screen playback with multiple monitors.

Setting the Stage for Beautiful Video

A lot of folks want to deliver the best possible video experience to the widest number of people. Stage Video in Flash Player 10.2 beta advances that goal. This new capability will help web sites deliver smooth, beautiful video across devices and browsers by enabling access to hardware acceleration of the entire video pipeline. As we showed in a sneak peak just last month at Adobe MAX, Flash Player 10.2 beta with Stage Video can deliver brilliant HD video with dramatically little processing power. Working together with hardware vendors has helped us take advantage of the GPU to offload not only H.264 hardware decoding (introduced in Flash Player 10.1) but the rest of the video rendering pipeline, including color conversion, scaling, and blitting. How efficient is hardware acceleration in Flash Player 10.2 beta? Using Stage Video, we’ve seen laptops play smooth 1080p HD video with just over 0% CPU usage.

Quality and performance are important, and so are richness and reach. Accordingly, Stage Video supports fully interactive, rich content combined with video. 1 billion people have Flash Player today. Because Stage Video works across browsers, when the final shipping version of Flash Player 10.2 is released, users will benefit from Stage Video accelerated content with a simple Flash Player update. We’re also introducing Stage Video across devices. In fact, today Google TV already takes advantage of Stage Video in Flash Player to deliver gorgeous 1080p HD video playback on TVs.
For content providers, Stage Video will work with all of the existing video viewed in Flash Player once they utilize the new API in their video player SWFs. This means their websites will continue to benefit from Flash Player’s advanced streaming for smooth, higher quality playback, DVR-like playback control, content protection, and consistency, with no changes to their encoded videos or infrastructure. Developers can learn more about how to enable their sites to take advantage of Stage Video today, and sites like YouTube have already started adding early support for Stage Video.
Other Enhancements

In addition to enhanced video playback, Flash Player 10.2 beta includes Internet Explorer 9 GPU support. In some of our tests this has yielded up to 35% improvement in rendering performance with Microsoft’s latest browser. Some other features are less about big numbers but little details that make experiences better. Flash Player has long allowed viewers to enjoy true full screen playback with one click. With Flash Player 10.2 beta, users with multiple monitors will be able to watch videos in true full screen on one display while multi-tasking on another (we heard you!). And we’re including another popular request from designers and developers: support for native custom mouse cursors. The new API allows developers to create their own cursors, static or animated, and ask the native OS to render them rather than use resources to manually draw custom cursors. This opens up new creative possibilities and can improve responsiveness in games, applications, and other content. Finally, the Flash Player 10.2 beta release also includes new sub-pixel text rendering enhancements that leverage Adobe typography research to further enhance readability of text in Flash Player, especially for complex character-based languages.

We encourage developers to install Flash Player 10.2 beta to check out these upcoming features. Developers with the beta can check out the Stage Video demos on Adobe Labs, including a demonstration of Stage Video from our friends at YouTube. If you’re an end-user, you probably don’t need to download the beta – you’ll benefit from Stage Video with the final release of Flash Player 10.2 next year as websites take advantage of it. We’ve found the beta to be pretty stable and ready for broad testing, but keep in mind this is a pre-release version of Flash Player, so not everything will be fully baked. If you encounter any issues, please file a bug in our public database so we can investigate. We appreciate your help and feedback.

We’re excited about what’s coming, and we hope you like it!
Tom Nguyen
Product Manager, Flash Platform Runtimes

Notebook Sharing

With this new version of Evernote, you no longer have to leave the application in order to share your notebooks with your friends and affiliates. You can access this by looking to your left, where you’ll see that your panels have been split into two, one for Account, where you’ll see your own notes, and one for Shared, where you’ll be able to access all of your Evernote sharing functions. At the top of this tab, there’ll be a Manage Sharing button which will display a list of your notebooks. Click the Start Sharing button near any notebook to begin sharing it. You may share with either a select group of people or to the public. NOTE: you may allow others to edit the contents of your shared notebooks if you have a Premium account. Cool beans!

Another Premium feature is the ability to see different versions of notes, histories of edited notes which will become useful if you’ve got your Premium editing function turned on and several people are accessing your notes. Linking notebooks is another feature, accessible at the top of the page and titled “Link to my Account” – this feature appears when you receive a sharing invitation from someone via email or visit a public shared notebook.

Once you click it, hit Sync and it will show up in your Shared Notebook panel. The first time you do this and view a notebook, you’ll be asked to configure how often you want Evernote to check for updates – this can also be adjusted manually.

Notebooks Stacks

Hooray organization! Evernote now has a simpler way for you to keep your stuff nice and tidy. This is Notebooks Stacks, a visual grouping for notebooks which act basically like folders on a desktop. To create a new stack, simply drag and drop one notebook onto another to create a new stack, or command-click a notebook and choose Add to Stack. This feature is currently synced to your account, so any changes you make now will automatically stay when this Beta release turns into a full release.

Left Panel Redesign

Finally, the left panel has a bit of a redesign. This update is, like the other features, meant to improve the way the system works as far as organization goes, helping users keep track of notebooks, tags, and saved searches. You can resize and minimize sections inside the left panel by dragging the headers up and down, and scroll within each section. The gear icon at the bottom of the left panel adds or removes elements as you wish.

Mini Review

Evernote is one of those applications you use and get heavily addicted to supposing you have a need for it – if your friends and family members use it, you’ll feel obligated and find yourself in love with the many features. On the other hand if you’re in the blogging business and want a way to share your life, times, and links with the world in a way that will make your blog reach the top 100, you might want to check out something like WordPress instead, especially if you plan on using only the non-Premium version of the software. On the other hand again, if you do take a peek at Evernote and find yourself in love with the look, feel, and functionality like so many have, you’re going to find these updates to be welcome and so effective you were surprised you ever lived without them.

You’ll find the system a bit buggy, as can happen with any Beta release, like for example the Notebooks menu under your Account tab can sometimes get stuck in closed mode, which can be a bummer when you’re trying to get a decent screenshot of the new stacks feature. New notebooks on your shared list also don’t always show up right away (and sometimes not at all) on your list – as shown below in this preview shot from Evernote:

So there’s some work to be done. But the updates are exciting! Take a look at the Beta yourself and try it out, and feel free to share your notebooks with us, or just me, here: chris@androidcommunity.com – do it! Also, everyone who isn’t on a Mac – you’ll have to wait for this update. They’re coming, coming soon. They’re working on it.

To get started, you’ll need to do some editing to your profile. Just head into the settings, and edit the profile. You’ll find a small box you can select that will opt you in for a chance to become a Bungie Beta Tester. You have to make sure that your Bungie Profile is active, which it should be if you’re editing it. But, most importantly, you’ll need to make sure that your email is Valid/Active. If it isn’t, it won’t even be possible for you to get the email confirmation that you’ve been selected.

Obviously, there’s no word on what, exactly, you’ll be doing. But, Bungie does say that you’ll be on the ground floor, for new playlist tests, as well as Alpha and Beta tests of an upcoming, unannounced game. But, as you can imagine, the developer can’t choose everyone that signs up. So, go through the process, and then cross your fingers. You could be the next Bungie Beta Tester.

[via Bungie]

There’s no word on what changes are being brought with the latest Beta, but hopefully those brave enough to download it, whether you’re really a developer or you just paid to have early access to the iOS releases, will let us know in the comments what they find, versus what was released in the second Beta.

[via Apple]

The scale of those aspirations isn’t being spelled out in so many words – YouTube is just saying “our partners worldwide” – but the minimum specs required for taking part would certainly fall within the remit of most regular YouTube users.  Either a normal webcam or a USB/FireWire camera could be used, with the live stream integrating with a new live comments module for real-time discussion with viewers.

Video demo after the cut

Both AR and standard 3D maps are available, with worldwide coverage courtesy of NAVTEQ mapping data, and both modes support voice guidance prompts.  Both driving and walking directions are supported.

Wikitude will be making the Wikitude Drive beta available in the US Android Market from 10am PST today, but it’ll only be available for the first 2,000 people to download it.  No word on when the full version of the app – which we’re presuming Wikitude will be charging for – might emerge.

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/11870382[/vimeo]

[via Android Community]

If you’re interested, then head over to Apple’s developer portal and start the download. If you’re a developer planning to develop for iPhone OS 4.0, let us know in the comments, and be sure to tell us what you’re going to develop. A game, the next big application? We’re interested in hearing from you!

Live coverage

Here’s the text from the Partner Site:

As the next-generation operating system from Microsoft, Windows 7 opens new development, sales, and services opportunities for your business. With Windows 7, you can offer your customers a robust foundation for high-quality experiences across applications, services, PCs, and devices. We are pleased to announce that Windows 7 Release Candidate (RC) is available. Windows 7 RC is the prerelease version of Windows 7. Since this is not the final release, your PC will gather and send information to Microsoft engineers to help them check the fixes and changes made based on testing of Windows 7 Beta. Test-drive Windows 7 RC today to see for yourself—and to show your colleagues and customers—how Windows 7 delivers improved management, security, reliability, and performance. Download Windows 7 RC Partners: If you have a subscription to MSDN or TechNet, you can download Windows 7 RC now. Otherwise, you can download Windows 7 RC starting May 5, 2009.

It appears to be valid information, and this would put the RC release a bit earlier than expected. Windows 7 is Microsoft’s followup to Vista, and is already receiving praise as a stable operating system (more so than Vista anyway). From personal experience, Windows 7 will definitely be worth the upgrade. Experts pin the launch of Windows 7 either late 2009 or early 2010.

[Via Ars Technica]

Officially supported at launch are the Bold, Curve 8900, 8820, Curve 8320, Pearl Flip 8220 and the Pearl 8120. Versions for the US, Canada and the UK will be available, all as a free download during the beta period.  If you’re unsure about whether your BlackBerry is compatible, there’s an online checker tool here.

Of course, the requirements for non-WiFi use are a 3G connection, but we’ve heard on the unofficial grapevine that the app will work with EDGE-only BlackBerry handsets running OS 4.5.  The issue here is widely varying connection speeds, so don’t expect a 100-percent perfect user experience using the slower connection.