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Atari Online News, Etc. Volume 16 Issue 35
Volume 16, Issue 35 Atari Online News, Etc. August 29, 2014
Published and Copyright (c) 1999 - 2014
All Rights Reserved
Atari Online News, Etc.
A-ONE Online Magazine
Dana P. Jacobson, Publisher/Managing Editor
Joseph Mirando, Managing Editor
Rob Mahlert, Associate Editor
Atari Online News, Etc. Staff
Dana P. Jacobson -- Editor
Joe Mirando -- "People Are Talking"
Michael Burkley -- "Unabashed Atariophile"
Albert Dayes -- "CC: Classic Chips"
Rob Mahlert -- Web site
Thomas J. Andrews -- "Keeper of the Flame"
With Contributions by:
Fred Horvat
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=~=~=~=
A-ONE #1635 08/29/14
~ Facebook Click Bait Rule ~ People Are Talking! ~ Area-51 Makeover!
~ Kinect Being Abandoned? ~ OS X Yosemite Preview! ~ USIS Data in Breach!
~ Delete All Your Tweets! ~ New Nintendo 3DS Models ~ TWC Suffering Outage!
~ MSN Messenger Is Ending! ~ ~ "Amiibo" Launching!
-* How Atari Arcade Changed Game *-
-* Atari 'Destroyed' by Sale to Warner *-
-* Sony Is Hit by Cyber Attack, Bomb Threat! *-
=~=~=~=
->From the Editor's Keyboard "Saying it like it is!"
""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Well, this weekend marks the unofficial demise of another summer
season, ending with the Labor Day holiday on Monday. It's hard to
believe that we're almost into the month of September already!
So, it's time to start getting prepared for a weekend of barbecues,
and a few cold ones! Hopefully, your plans are similar! Just try
to remember to drive safely and stay sover behind the wheel!
Until next time...
=~=~=~=
Atari "Destroyed" by Sale to Warner, Says Founder
Atari's decision to sell to Warner Communications in 1976 was a mistake
that cost the iconic Pong company almost everything, according to founder
Nolan Bushnell. During a recent Reddit AMA, Bushnell said the biggest
lesson he learned at Atari was to never sell to "big Hollywood studios."
This sale almost immediately marked the end of Atari, he said.
"Atari had an extraordinary corporate culture that was destroyed within
two years of the sale," Bushnell said. "I think that Atari would still be
important today if that sale hadn't occurred."
Atari lives on today, but only as a shell of its former self, having
undergone numerous splits and acquisitions. The current version of Atari
is still involved in games, having recently announced Roller Coaster
Tycoon World and reboots of Alone in the Dark and Haunted House for PC.
Bushnell's Reddit AMA also reveals some other interesting highlights
about his personal life and career. First, he says that it is indeed
true that he had a beer tap in his office at Atari, Chuck E. Cheese's,
and every other company he has ever run. Bushnell also points out that
the rights to his image and likeness were optioned by Leonardo DiCaprio,
and reiterates that a movie about his life is currently in development.
Though Bushnell says he thinks DiCaprio would do a fine job bringing
him to life on screen, he would also be happy if Liam Neeson got the
job.
It has also been reported that Apple co-founder founder Steve Jobs in
1976 approached Bushnell and asked if he would invest $50,000 in the
company in exchange for a one-third stake. He declined the offer at the
time. As you might, he now wishes he hadn't. "I regret it. :(" he said.
Finally, Bushnell offered a prediction for where the future of technology
might go. "I think that robots and entertainment will be very important
in the future," he said. "I'm also very interested in businesses that
will be enabled by autonomous or auto-drive cars. There will also be an
interesting intersection between computers and biology. Harder tech, but
important, is nanotech, i.e. micromachines."
Most recently, Atari CEO Frederic Chesnais said in May that the company
wants to get back into hardware, but not with a console.
How Atari Arcade Changed The Game
When Matthew Labunka heard that Microsoft wanted to collaborate with
Atari on a project to bring classic games to the Web, his first thought
was, Uh oh, what do we do now?
Thats because, as senior producer at Atari, Labunka was in charge of
figuring out what the big idea for the partnership should be. However,
what started as an uh-oh moment quickly evolved into a groundbreaking
project in the world of online gaming.
One of the original ideas was to put Ataris 150 games online in an
arcade. That idea became more ambitious as users added their own games,
making the project open source. Eventually, that project was developed in
HTML5.
We were doing so many innovative things with this that pretty much every
day we were faced with questions like, Well, how do we do that?
Labunka said.
Atari Arcade was a huge hit and won the Webby Peoples Voice Award this
year for Best Game Website. While accepting the Webby in May, Labunka
used an extra word to deliver this five-word speech: Heres to dreaming,
innovating and playing.
While accepting a Webby for Atari Arcade in May, Matthew Labunka added an
extra word to his five-word speech: Heres to dreaming, innovating and
playing.
Labunka said that the success of Atari Arcade is thanks to his whole team
and his counterpart at Microsoft, Justin Garrett: It was a huge
collaborative project. I was just one little piece in the big cog of it.
He hopes to see more advances in technologies in the next 25 years on the
Web that help people across the globe work face to face. With more
companies using remote workers, the most pressing technological need
seems to be clear: advanced videoconferencing tools.
What is the next videoconference? Labunka mused. Is that virtual
reality? I dont know. Well see.
Hailed as the Internets highest honor by The New York Times, The Webby
Awards is the leading international award honoring excellence on the
Internet, including Websites, Interactive Advertising & Media, Online
Film & Video, Mobile & Apps, and Social.
Established in 1996, The Webby Awards received 12,000 entries from all 50
states and more than 60 countries worldwide this year. The Webby Awards
is presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences
(IADAS). Sponsors and partners of The Webby Awards include Dell,
Microsoft, Vitamin T, Leica, MailChimp, Engine Yard, Funny or Die,
Advertising Age, Percolate, BuzzFeed, Mashable, HLN, Business Insider,
Internet Week New York and Guardian News and Media.
=~=~=~=
->In This Week's Gaming Section - Sony Hit by Cyber Attack, Bomb Threat!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Is Microsoft Abandoning Kinect?
Nintendo Launching 'Amiibo'!
And much more!
=~=~=~=
->A-ONE's Game Console Industry News - The Latest Gaming News!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Japan's Sony Hit by Cyber Attack, Bomb Threat
Japanese entertainment giant Sony said Monday its online music and
gaming sites came under a cyber attack by a hacker group that also
claimed there were explosives on a plane carrying a senior company
executive.
The company said a US commercial aircraft carrying the president of Sony
Online Entertainment had to be diverted after a warning online about the
explosives.
"The PlayStation Network and Sony Entertainment Network have been
impacted by an attempt to overwhelm our network with artificially high
traffic," the company said on its PlayStation.Blog, adding that "no
personal information has been accessed".
A spokeswoman for Sony in Tokyo said a person or group using the Twitter
name @LizardSquad had claimed responsibility for the attack.
"Today we planted the ISIS flag on @Sony's servers," @LizardSquad
tweeted said with a photo of a man carrying the Islamic State flag.
The feed also contained reference to a bomb on a plane.
Separately, John Smedley, president of Sony Online Entertainment, said
on his micro-blog: "Yes. My plane was diverted. Not going to discuss
more than that. Justice will find these guys."
The American Airlines plane, bound for San Diego from Dallas, was
redirected to Phoenix, according to the company.
More than 150 million accounts were registered with Sony Entertainment
Network as of September last year, the company said.
Is Microsoft Abandoning Kinect?
Wave goodbye to motion controls.
Microsofts motion-tracking Kinect 2.0 sensor was supposed to be what
differentiated the Xbox One from the competition. It was more than just
a way to talk directly to your console: It was a tool designed to
transform the game machine into a social and media hub, the tip of the
spear in Microsofts fight to take over your living room. More than
anything, it was supposed to be way, way better than the first Kinect.
Today, though, it seems little more than an afterthought.
The decision to decouple Kinect from the Xbox One in May was surprising
only in that it took the company a good year to do so. We certainly saw
this coming: The company spent most of 2013 backtracking on its initial
stance that the Xbox One couldnt exist without Kinect. That simply
wasnt the case.
Unbundling Kinect also made sense on paper, allowing Microsoft to lower
the price of the system to better compete with the PlayStation 4. But
since that move, the company has had very little to say about its
once-heralded accessory. And while Kinect is still very much available,
the ongoing silence has many people wondering if Microsoft is
essentially walking away from the device.
At its recent press conference before the gamescom show in Germany, for
instance, Kinect wasnt mentioned at all. At E3 2014 in June, it was
mentioned in a quick announcement about a new Dance Central game but
otherwise flew under the radar.
Microsoft, not surprisingly, has downplayed talk that its de-emphasizing
Kinect.
That wasnt, in any way, to make any editorial statement about the
future of Kinect, Phil Harrison, corporate VP at Microsoft, told IGN
after the gamescom press event. Its just that these were the games we
wanted to highlight in our briefing. The games that we focused on in our
briefing were the blockbusters and exclusives for this holiday, 2014.
Harrisons follow-up comment, though, was more telling.
We let the developers choose whether they want to use Kinect, he said.
Its one of the tools that they have in their tool belt for taking
advantage of the Xbox One, and we hope they continue to do so.
Punting the decision to use Kinect over to publishers is a graceful way
for Microsoft to take a hands-off approach to its fate. Thats because
developers have no real incentive to use the controller, given that
creating a Kinect-less game gives game makers 10 percent more graphical
processing power to tap into. The development system update that
followed the Kinect decoupling, in fact, let game maker Bungie increase
the resolution of the Xbox One version of Destiny.
Even Microsofts most notable in-house Kinect developer, legendary game
company Rare, is stepping away.
Four years ago, then-Rare studio head Scott Henson announced the
companys allegiance to the peripheral, saying, Kinect will be the main
focus for Rare going forwards as its a very rich canvas. This is just
the beginning of an experience that will touch millions of people.
At gamescom, though, Xbox studio head Phil Spencer, in discussing whats
next for Rare, downplayed the relationship.
I dont want the Rare brand to mean Kinect Sports, he said.
Kinect hasnt been completely buried. In a prominent television
campaign, actor Aaron Paul showcases its features (inadvertently
turning on existing Xbox Ones around the country).
However, when that ad comes to the all-important price screen, the $399
non-Kinect version of the Xbox One is shown, presumably the version
people will seek out at retail.
And Kinect games? There are only a handful in the pipeline right now:
Disney Fantasia and Dance Central Spotlight from Harmonix, Shape Up and
Just Dance 2015 from Ubisoft, Fruit Ninja Kinect 2 from Halfbrick
Studios, and the clever puzzle-platformer FRU from indie outfit Thought
Games.
Thats a pretty meager crop, and at least one major publisher isnt
exactly gearing up for more.
It depends which hat I put on, said Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot, when
asked for his thoughts about Microsoft downplaying Kinect at E3 this
year. When I put on the casual hat, its not good, for sure. We have
less families with a camera. So its more difficult for [Ubisoft] to do
content for families. [However,] when I put my gamer hat on, it makes
sense.
Without a significant slate of upcoming games to help promote it, Kinect
in its current form seems destined for the bargain bin. It might not be
dead yet, but it isnt moving much.
New Nintendo 3DS Models Sport NFC and Extra Buttons
During a Japanese Nintendo Direct video briefing Friday, Nintendo
announced updates to its 3DS and 3DS XL devices. The new models, which
have been announced only for Japan, feature an additional directional
button and built-in NFC support. They launch in Japan on October 11.
The new models feature an analogue "nub" over the existing A,B, X, and Y
buttons. In addition, there are new shoulder buttons - ZR and ZL -
featured on top of the system, right next to the current L and R buttons.
The new 3DS models also feature a stronger CPU than existing models,
which should allow for zippier downloads and browsing from the eShop,
among other things. There is also built-in NFC support for Nintendo's
upcoming Amiibo toy line. Nintendo will also sell an NFC adapter for
existing models.
Finally, the new 3DS units are built to support custom covers, which will
allow you to customize your system however you see fit.
The new 3DS will sell for 16,000 yen ($154) and the new 3DS XL will go for
18,800 yen ($180). There is no word yet on any launch outside Japan.
Nintendo Launching 'Amiibo' With 12 Characters
Pikachu and Link will be among the first characters coming to "amiibo."
Nintendo announced Friday that 12 characters will initially be part of
its upcoming toy-game franchise set for release later this year. In
addition to the "Pokemon" and "Legend of Zelda" leading men, the starting
line-up will include Mario, Princess Peach, Yoshi, Donkey Kong, Samus
Aran, Kirby, Fox McCloud, Marth, the "Wii Fit" Trainer and the Villager
from "Animal Crossing."
The figures in the "amiibo" toy-game line will each cost $12.99 and work
in tandem with several of the Japanese gaming giant's upcoming titles,
beginning with "Super Smash Bros."
"We wanted to make sure that the breadth of characters we had for the
initial 'amiibo' line-up supported the fan favorites, as well as showcase
the variety of people Nintendo speaks to from kids to adults," Nintendo
of America President Reggie Fils-Aime said in an interview. "For example,
you've got a character like Marth from the 'Fire Emblem' series. We
thought exposing Marth to a wider collection of consumers through
'amiibo' made a ton of sense, but, of course, we had to have Mario,
Princess Peach and Donkey Kong in that initial line-up, as well."
Similar to Activision's "Skylanders" and "Disney Infinity," the
characters' virtual histories will be stored on the plastic figures and
transmitted through the Wii U GamePad, the controller for the Wii U
console that features a touchscreen and near field communication (NFC)
capabilities. Unlike the Activision Blizzard Inc. and Walt Disney Co.
franchises, the "amiibo" figures will work with several games from
different genres and won't be required to play the games.
"Our vision is to have these 'amiibo' figures be your playable friends
that allow you to enhance the overall experience," said Fils-Aime. "It's
a different approach from Activision and Disney, which is more to unlock
something in the game. You're going to want to have your 'amiibo' figure
because it's going to allow you to enhance your skills, upgrade your
character and take the experience over to a friend's house."
Nintendo first unveiled "amiibo" at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in
June. The company plans to release more figures over the next year and
include "amiibo" functionality in future games, as well as compatibility
with its handheld Nintendo 3DS system.
The Kyoto, Japan-based company is hoping the figurines will help boost
its bottom line and sales of its beleaguered Wii U console, which has
been on the rise since the May release of "Mario Kart 8." Despite the
success of the latest installment in the cartoony Nintendo racing
series, Wii U sales still trail behind the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One
consoles from rivals Sony Corp. and Microsoft Corp.
"Call of Duty" and "Assassin's Creed" publishers Activision and Ubisoft
Entertainment recently said they wouldn't bring the new installments of
those popular series to the Wii U later this year.
"In the end, I want the very best of every single publisher's content on
our platform," said Fils-Aime. "We believe we'll get there as we grow
the install base of the system. Make no mistake: The consumer knows they
can get high-quality games on the Wii U console. That's why our business
is up almost double over last year."
Nintendo will be showing off upcoming games like "Super Smash Bros.,"
"Hyrule Warriors" and "Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker" at PAX Prime, a
four-day celebration of gaming that kicks off Friday in Seattle.
Alienware Area-51 Gaming PC Gets Unusual Makeover
It's been quite some time since we've seen an Area-51 system from
Alienware. The desktop PC's aesthetic was fairly unique for its timea
little alien head on the front, top vents that gave the appearance of
scales, and slightly curved design. Well, you ain't seen nothing yet.
Alienware has announced that the Area-51 is coming back to Earth. Only,
this time, it looks absolutely nothing like its predecessor.
First up, Alienware has designed the system not as a traditional
rectangle, but as a triple-bay hexagon of sorts. The "triad chassis," as
the company calls it, focuses on cooling efficiently and ergonomics
above all.
"It features an angled, easily accessible front I/O panel and
hassle-free grips that make it simple to pivot your system forward to
reach rear ports. Vast and open entryways on each side are designed to
provide an easy way for you to perform upgrades, brainstorm new mods,
or show off your rig," reads Alienware's description.
As for the system's specs, they'll be configurable to a gamer's
needsand, yes, we're assuming that those interested in a little digital
shoot-shoot or stab-stab will be the ones opting for this system. The
Area-51 will run Intel Haswell-E processors (including six- or
eight-core variants), up to 32GB of 2133 DDR4 memory, and will support
up to three graphics cards from either Nvidia or AMD.
As for storage, the Area-51 will come with bays for up to three
conventional hard drives and two solid state drives. Wireless-ac is
built into the system by default, and you can even install an optional
1.5-kilowatt power supply to fuel all your components.
Each Area-51 system will also be overclocked and liquid cooled, which
gives speedy performance and a lovely aesthetic for those purchasing
system.
Alienware's "Command Center 4.0" will allow purchasers to tinker with
the system's LED lighting (across "nine independent programmable
lighting zones") or allow games to do it for you via Alienware's
"AlienFX API."
This is also where gamers can muck with Alienware's overclocking and
view performance graphs for their system's CPU, memory, networking,
and graphics cards.
The Area-51 will start shipping in the U.S. in October, with a global
launch to follow. Alienware did not release pricing details.
=~=~=~=
A-ONE's Headline News
The Latest in Computer Technology News
Compiled by: Dana P. Jacobson
U.S. Undercover Investigators Among Those Exposed in Data Breach
A cyber attack at a firm that performs background checks for U.S.
government employees compromised data of at least 25,000 workers,
including some undercover investigators, and that number could rise,
agency officials said on Friday.
The breach at Falls Church, Virginia-based US Investigations Services
(USIS) exposed highly personal information of workers at the Department
of Homeland Security's headquarters as well as its U.S. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection units, two
officials familiar with the investigation into the breach told Reuters.
Some employees have already received letters warning them about the
breach that say compromised information includes Social Security
numbers, education and criminal history, birth dates along with
information about spouses, other relatives and friends including their
names and addresses.
"Records including this data were exposed to unauthorized users during
the cybersecurity intrusion," according to a notification letter
obtained by Reuters. "We do not yet know whether the data was actually
taken."
One DHS official told Reuters the agency has identified some 25,000
employees whose information it believes were exposed in the breach.
"More could be notified in coming weeks as we learn more about the
breach," said the official, who asked not to be identified by name.
The company disclosed the attack earlier this month, but did not say how
many records had been compromised or which agencies were affected. It
did say the intrusion has "all the markings of a state-sponsored
attack."
While the number of employees affected is relatively small compared to
breaches at retailers such as Target Corp, which have affected tens of
millions of customers, security experts say the attack on USIS is
nonetheless quite serious.
Files on background checks contain highly sensitive data that foreign
intelligence agencies could attempt to exploit to intimidate government
workers with access to classified information.
"They would be collecting this data to identify individuals who might be
vulnerable to extortion and recruitment," said Dmitri Alperovitch, chief
technology officer with cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, which sells
intelligence on state-sponsored cyber attacks.
The Department of Homeland Security has suspended all work with USIS
since the breach was disclosed and the FBI launched an investigation.
USIS says it is the biggest commercial provider of background
investigations to the federal government, with over 5,700 employees, and
provides services in all U.S. states and territories, as well as abroad.
Officials with USIS, which is a division of Altegrity Inc, could not
immediately be reached for comment.
A spokeswoman for Altegrity, which is majority owned by Providence Equity
Partners, declined to comment.
Time Warner Cable Is Suffering A Massive Nationwide Service Outage
Apparently tired of seeing Comcast hog all the bad publicity this past
month, would-be merger partner Time Warner Cable has leapt back into the
spotlight by delivering a nationwide Internet service outage. As
Business Insider reports, TWC customers are complaining that their
Internet service is down from coast to coast and an outage map posted
on Twitter seems to show that this outage affects just about every
customer in TWCs footprint.
To make matters worse, TWCs website is completely down as well and
phone calls to the company are yielding nothing but busy signals.
Theres been no word yet on whats causing the outage or when you can
expect it to get fixed but well be sure to post details from the
company when we get them.
And if youre a frustrated TWC customer, dont worry all of these kinds
of problems will be fixed once TWC merges with Comcast, which has an
absolutely stellar track record when it comes to customer service.
Facebooks New Click Bait Rule Will Totally Blow You Away
Uh-oh, its a bad Monday for Upworthy and other so-called viral sites.
Facebook today announced that its doubling down on articles with
headlines that scream for your clicks.
As of today, the worlds biggest online social network is introducing two
updates aimed at helping clean up News Feeds: cracking down on click-bait
headlines and encouraging the sharing of articles as links instead of as
photo captions.
Lets break this down.
On the click bait front, Facebook defines those as when a publisher
posts a link with a headline that encourages people to click to see more
without telling them much information about what they will see.
Facebook says that based on its survey, while links with these
headlines get a lot of clicks, 80 percent of its users say they prefer
more informative headlines. These posts also tend to crowd peoples
News Feeds and drown out other content.
Where it gets really interesting, and possibly a little creepy, is how
Facebook determines what links fall into this category. It will look at
the ratio of people clicking on the content compared to people
discussing and sharing it with their friends, operating under the idea
that low engagement (likes, comments, shares) relative to the click
signals click bait.
But Facebook will also look at the amount of time spent away from
Facebook while youre presumably reading an article. The idea here is
that if you click on an article and are taken to that webpage (i.e.
navigating out of Facebook), and spend very little time there before
coming back, you didnt find anything of substance there this is
likely click bait. Essentially, Facebook will now look at your bounce
rate from these stories.
Now, this could mean that Facebook is tracking you while youre outside
its site. In June, Facebook announced that it was rolling out in the
U.S. tracking of your websites and apps to better target the ads you
see, although you can opt out of this. So its likely that if you click
on a link and disappear for 23 seconds, it will probably know that you
browsed around during that time and really didnt spend much time on
the original link you clicked on. However, you could also find an
interesting post and send it to your Pocket or Instapaper account and
return to Facebook within seconds, effectively countering the bounce
rate approach.
But still, thats pretty ingenious on Facebooks part to look at bounce
rates as one way to figure out the quality of links, even if its
somewhat imperfect.
The other adjustment Facebook is making is to give better ranking to
links that are posted in the link format (when you copy-and-paste a
link into the text box) as compared to links that are in photo
captions. The rationale for this is that when you share in the link
format, Facebook grabs not only the articles image, headline, and link
but also some additional information about the article, such as its
first line, making it more informational for the reader.
Whats also interesting is that Facebook says that its studies have
shown that link format posts receive twice as many clicks as links
embedded in photo captions, yet other studies have found that images get
the highest engagement. The discrepancy here could be that Facebook is
measuring interactions with the link while other studies are looking at
the interactions with the post overall, but this is still important for
marketers and social media managers responsible for brand pages to note.
These updates are pretty timely. Wireds Mat Honan ran an experiment two
weeks ago during which he liked everything in his feed for two days,
which resulted in his feed being entirely covered in brand and publisher
content. Weve also previously written about Facebooks News Feed losing
its original purpose of keeping people updated on their friends lives
and drowning them in brand and paid content.
Bye Bye, Birdie: How To Delete All Your Tweets in an Instant
Have you ever, in a moment of self-reflection, realized that you regret
every tweet youve ever sent?
Its OK. As long as your poorly tasted posts didnt immediately damage
your employability, you can fix things quickly with no harm done. The
solution comes in one of several Twitter services that will purge your
entire timeline or just old parts of it in one fell swoop, meaning
that you can erase the painful past without actually having to manually
thumb through your 140-character drivel yourself.
Tweet Delete handles this task quickly, and even gives the option to
schedule regular tweet cleans, auto-erasing anything older than a year,
a week, or some other time frame of your choosing in between the two.
All you have to do is navigate to the free services webpage, sign in
with your Twitter credentials, and then select how much purging you want
to do (Twitter limits the zapping of tweets to 3,200 at once).
Feel that? Thats the spring-fresh sensation of a new beginning.
Other sites that provide similar Twitter-cleaning services include Tweet
Deleter, TwitWipe, and Delete All My Tweets. On the app side of things,
Tweeticide (iPhone) and DLTTR (Android) will help you scrub your account
clean from on-the-go status, assuming that your account contains fewer
than 3,200 tweets, of course.
Now, the freshest of starts on Twitter would include deleting your
account altogether and starting from scratch with a new handle (though
you have to make sure you really want to give up @DudeBroMan420 for
good). Chucking your old account forces you to begin anew with both
followers and the accounts you follow, however.
And if its the case that youre constantly shaming yourself, deleting
tweets, and shaming yourself again, then maybe Twitter is not for you.
Otherwise, just try one of the cleansing services above. And maybe
think before you tweet next time, @DudeBroMan420.
OS X Yosemite Preview: 5 Features To Get Excited About
Apple iMacs and MacBooks are set to get a big upgrade in the coming
months in the form of a new operating system. OS X Yosemite, the
follow-up to OS X Mavericks, is a massive update to Apples operating
system that not only gives the software a new, more attractive design,
but also adds a boatload of features.
The update, which will be available for free when it launches later this
fall, also blurs some of the lines between Apples desktop OS and its
iOS mobile operating system though not nearly as much as Microsofts
Windows 8, which can switch from a desktop-based to a tablet-friendly
interface on the same computer.
Youll even be able to make phone calls from your Mac with your
connected iPhone.
There are a lot of great additions to Yosemite, but a handful of the
operating systems features stand out. These are the top five features
of OS X Yosemite (so far):
1. Improved design. Apples mobile operating system, iOS 7, was a major
departure from previous versions in terms of design. Apple is adopting
some of these design cues into this new desktop operating system.
Icons in the dock at the bottom of the home screen have a leaner, less
three-dimensional design, similar to those found in iOS 7. Even the Share
button in Safari looks the same as iOS 7s Share button. The operating
system also has a new, crisper typeface thats easier to read.
A big part of Yosemites new design is its translucent window effect. The
feature gives everything, from the Dock to Finder windows to Safaris
command bar, a kind of frosted-glass look thats somewhat reminiscent of
the Aero design found in Windows Vista and Windows 7.
2. Notification Center. The Notification Center in the current version of
the OS, Mavericks, doesnt offer much in the way of functionality beyond
providing you with recent message and iTunes updates. But thats all
changing with OS X Yosemite and its new Today view.
Accessible through the Notification Center, Today provides you with
customizable widgets including a summary of todays and tomorrows
events, current weather conditions, your calendar, stocks, and the
ability to post to social networks.
A few of Todays features were previously available in OS X Mavericks
dashboard, but Apple brought them over to Today to make them more easily
accessible. And if Today looks familiar, its because its a dead ringer
for iOSs Notification Center.
Once Yosemite is available for download, Apple says, more Today view
widgets will be available, too, further improving the usefulness of the
Notification Center.
3. Spotlight search.?OS Xs Spotlight search also gets a considerable
upgrade with Yosemite. In previous versions of OS X, Spotlight was
capable of performing only local searches of your computer. With
Yosemite, however, Spotlight can search not only your Mac, but the Web
as well.
If, for example, you search for a movie like Guardians of the Galaxy, a
Spotlight search will provide you with showtimes for the movie at nearby
theaters, a plot summary, trailers, the cast and crew, and even its
score on Rotten Tomatoes.
Search for a contacts name, and Spotlight will automatically populate
with the persons information, including her phone number and email
address.
Want a bite to eat? Type in your favorite food, and Spotlight will pull
up the names and locations of nearby restaurants. You can also look for
things like famous public figures: Spotlight will pull up a Wikipedia
entry with information on them.
Microsofts Windows 8.1 offers a similar feature called Smart Search. It
looks like Yosemites version will be easier to use.
4. iCloud Drive.?Apples cloud storage service, iCloud has long taken a
backseat to the likes of Dropbox and Google Drive. They are easy to use
and make sharing a snap, too. With Yosemite, though, iCloud may become
your cloud drive of choice. Thats because Apple is finally treating
iCloud like a normal storage drive.
You can now access your iCloud Drive through OS Xs Finder, just like you
work with your local drive. You can even organize the drive any way you
want and create new subfolders that are accessible through other iCloud
Drive-compatible devices. So you can save your photos, videos, and any
other files on your MacBook and open them on your iMac at the office.
5. Mail.?OS Xs Mail has gotten some serious enhancements with Yosemite,
too. The apps new Markup tool lets you annotate and edit images and text
within Mail without forcing you to open a new program. You can, for
example, add highlights and shapes to photos and even sign documents using
your MacBooks touchpad.
Thats not all, though. Mail also makes it easier to send large files with
its new Mail Drop feature. Mail Drop works by making your sent files
accessible to your recipients via their iCloud accounts. If they dont use
iCloud, then Mail Drop will send them a link where they can download the
sent files.
Its a simple addition but one that will likely prove useful to people
sending groups of images or videos.
Bonus feature were really waiting for: iOS 8 continuity?One of the
biggest draws of OS X Yosemite will be its interoperability with Apples
upcoming mobile operating system, iOS 8. Rather than existing in two
separate worlds, the two operating systems will be able to talk to each
other, letting you do things like make and receive phone calls, and send
texts, from your Mac through your iPhone.
Working on a Pages document on your Mac? If your iPad or iPhone is nearby,
you can pick up where you left off on your mobile device. You can do the
same thing with Mail, Safari, Messages, Maps, and other OS X apps.
Using your iPhone as a WiFi hotspot will also be easier with Yosemite.
If your wireless data plan lets you use your iPhone as a hotspot, then
your Mac will automatically detect that your handset is nearby and treat
it like any other hotspot.
OS X Yosemite will be out later this fall as a free upgrade. It will run
on Most Macs and MacBooks dating as far back as 2009 and some iMacs from
2007. Check Apples website for further compatibility details.
TTYL: Microsofts MSN Messenger To Shut Down After 15 Years
Microsofts MSN Messenger, or Windows Live Messenger as its now
known, will be fully retired on Oct. 31. The software maker originally
announced its plans to shift users over to Skype last year, but
Microsoft kept the service running in China. After Oct. 31, Chinese
Messenger users will need to use Skype, bringing an end to 15 years of
the service.
MSN Messenger started off life in 1999 as a rival to AOLs AIM service.
Both companies battled over chat dominance, and Microsoft engineers
reverse-engineered AOLs chat protocol to allow MSN Messenger to sign
into AIM, a process that AOL wasnt happy with when Microsoft first
released its instant messaging client. Over the years Microsoft added
various features, including custom emoticons, the ability to play
Minesweeper with friends, a nudge feature that would shake a friends
chat window, and the super annoying winks option to send friends
giant animated emoticons.
Microsoft has typically celebrated its MSN Messenger milestones with
big green mascot outfits, but the 15-year mark and the end of the
Messenger era is departing quietly. Farewell, MSN Messenger.
=~=~=~=
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