Content is king, and so far Google TV is sorely lacking content. However, with the launch of the famed Xbox Media Center on Android, Google might have a chance in the battle for living rooms. The group behind the classic media player software announced the project and released the source code over the weekend. This could be big.

XBMC was a pioneer in media streaming software. Originally developed for the first Xbox (hence the name) back in 2003, the open source project is still the de facto standard of media streamers. I bought an Xbox just to run XBMC. The wildly popular project spawned many derivative projects and companies like Boxee, Plex and several others. Several key elements are still missing from the just-released Android port, but it reportedly runs on most devices — except Google TV.

Google TV still needs a lot of work. More than two years after its launch, the box is nothing more than a fancy Netflix device. Most of the GTV apps are garbage and a hassle to use. Worse yet, even if there are worthwhile GTV apps, Google has yet found a way to highlight them. Google TV already has several, albeit far inferior, media streamer apps. Essentially, Google hasn’t shown consumers and developers exactly why they need a Google TV in their respective lives. And now, with the odd Nexus Q competing in the same space, consumers are likely even more confused. Google TV needs a killer app like XBMC.

XBMC is nearly 10 years old and it’s by far the most mature media streaming solution. XBMC circa 2005 was better than many of today’s options. But XMBC was never available on its own Boxee Box-like device.

It’s entirely possible that I’m a bit too bullish on XBMC for Android. There is a still a lot of work to be done on the project. The XBMC Android port currently lacks the hardware decoding ability, and instead leans on software to playback video. This makes it difficult to playback 1080p videos wrapped in MKV containers. But if the original Xbox had enough computing horsepower, then modern devices shouldn’t have any trouble once the software is properly compiled.

As it sits right now, XBMC doesn’t run on Google TV. I tried running it on both the Logitech Revue and first generation Sony Internet TV. The app installs but fails when launching. I’m not alone. I have yet to find someone running the current build on a Google TV. That said, it runs on the Nexus Q, foreshadowing what could be for the legions of Google TV boxes and their bored owners.

XBMC doesn’t need an Android set-top box to be successful. The software won that title years ago. Google needs killer software like XMBC or even Boxee to advance its assault in living rooms.

Source http://techcrunch.com

Microsoft announced its plans to buy the popular peer-to-peer VoIP service Skype in early 2011 and the acquisition closed last October. Since then, though, Microsoft mostly left Skype alone and continued to run it as a stand-alone product. With the release of the next version of Office, Microsoft is now integrating Skype closely into its office productivity suite. Skype will, for example, now power the “presence” feature in Outlook and – just like Yammer, Microsoft’s most recent acquisition – will become a default part of every version of Office.

It’s not clear if Microsoft is building other parts of Skype (including video chat) directly into its Lync communications platform for Office. According to Microsoft, though, Skype users will be able to “integrate Skype contacts in Lync.” Chances are that today’s announcement is just the beginning of Skype’s integration into more Office products.

Office 365 Subscribers Get 60 Minutes Of Free Skype Calls To Phones Every Month

Office 365, the new subscription-based version of Office, will now also offer its users 60 minutes of Skype credit per month. Microsoft hasn’t released many details about this service, but with the exceptions of mobile numbers in some countries and “special, premium and nongeographic numbers,” this should allow Office 365 Home Premium users to call phones virtually anywhere in the world. Microsoft hasn’t released any information about pricing for any of its Office 365 editions.

 

 

Source  http://techcrunch.com

Lamentablemente las baterías de las laptops no son baratas, por eso debemos cuidarlas y tratar de sacarles el máximo provecho posible.

Igualmente si alguna vez les sucede que su batería está completamente muerta y no aguanta la carga, todavía no está todo perdido, ya les comenté hace un tiempo que podían llegar a hacer algo para evitar comprar una nueva, algo que algunas veces funciona.

Pero para evitar la batería muera antes de tiempo, a continuación tienen 9 recomendaciones para maximizar la vida de una batería de laptop,

1) No dejen la laptop conectada cargando la batería todo el tiempo.  Una vez que se carga la batería, desconecten el cable de la laptop del toma corriente y recién vuelvan a conectarlo cuando la carga de la batería este baja.

2) Mantengan la laptop en un lugar fresco, a baja temperatura.  No expongan la laptop directamente a los rayos solares o dentro de un automóvil por largos períodos de tiempo.

3) Siempre tengan actualizada su laptop.  Software desactualizado quizás consuma más energía.

4) Ajustar el brillo de la pantalla a lo más bajo que su vista pueda tolerar.

5) Cuando no usan WiFi o Bluetooth deben desconectarlo.

6) Terminar aplicaciones que no utilicen, traten de tener 1 o 2 aplicaciones activas.

7) Cuando es posible, usar modo de Hibernación en lugar del modo Sleep (Dormir).

8) Salvo en caso de emergencia, no usar otro adaptador que no sea el original de la laptop.

9) Si no van a usar su laptop por un largo período, guardarla en un lugar oscuro y fresco, con temperatura baja.  Estén seguros que la batería tenga al menos 40% de su carga.

A continuación tienen la infografía creada por Yumi Sakugawa de Wonder How To, con las recomendaciones.

To say that 2012 is make or break for Microsoft would be an understatement. The typically quiet and somewhat boring juggernaut has been on a roll as of late with the announcement of the Surface, Windows Phone 8 and the end of the year roll out of of its flagship Windows product, Windows 8. Today’s press conference in San Francisco is no different with the introduction of the next generation of Office.

Armed with a Samsung Series 7 tablet running Windows 8, I’ve been testing out a build of the new Office for close to a week. While it might not be as sexy as most every other product in the lineup, Office makes up a huge portion of Microsoft’s revenue and it’s something that clearly needs to be protected. But let’s clear up the different versions of Office and why it’s not just being called Office 2013 or even Office 15. Here’s the breakdown straight from the horse’s mouth.

The following are some impressions of the new Office based on a build run on a tablet and not the final consumer version. Also, this is coming from someone outside of an enterprise environment. We don’t use Outlook at TechCrunch, so I’m completely removed from Office products. There may be some instances of things that I find new or unique that might actually exist in current versions of the product. Forgiveness, please. (Side note: Dear AOL/TC powers, please migrate us over to Outlook.)

A plethora of input methods are at your disposable with the new Office, including your phalanges, a stylus and even the traditional keyboard and mouse combo. There’s also a touch keyboard for those using a tablet. All of this can admittedly turn into a bit of a cluster, so I opted to stick with one input method for various trial runs with the software. Input methods aside, the largest hurdle for me was learning all of Microsoft’s Windows 8 gestures. Though it’s a bit weird but makes total sense, you can switch between input method modes for touch or a more traditional desktop mode.

The dreaded Ribbon is still around but it’s mostly hidden unless you really need it.

Outlook

Lync is still the default means of communication between users but Microsoft says Skype will soon be integrated for contacts and chat. Yammer is still TBD as the deal hasn’t yet closed. You’ll be able to “peek” at your schedule without having to switch between your email and calendar. People cards collect your contact’s info in one place reducing redundancy and multiple email accounts can be accessed from Outlook.

Another clever feature is MailTips, which notifies you of missing attachments or whether someone is out of the office. And for the security hounds, it lets users know when they’re sending info to users outside of their network. There’s an even a weather bug!

Word

The most notable new feature in Word is the ability to import and edit PDF files. Yay! You can store docs over SkyDrive or SharePoint but what’s really neat are that settings and edits (duh) roam with you wherever you are and you can pick up where you left off on a doc even if you switch between devices. Another new feature called simple markup slims down the track changes in a more digestible view. Web apps now support track changes, too. You can also switch between modes for both reading and editing views.

Excel

I’ll have to get back to you on this one but there are live previews for charts that pop up when hovering over a data set, for instance.

PowerPoint

Not the biggest user of PowerPoint, so I’ll have to get back to you on this one as well. One notable feature is the presenter view, which gives you, the presenter, the ability to navigate forwards and backwards within your deck without the audience knowing. You can also zoom into dense slides to highlight specific areas that you want your audience to see.

OneNote

“Inking” is a feature within OneNote that lets users make handwritten notes on the fly with a stylus, finger or mouse.

Social

Social appears to be a focus of the new Office. Users can link their Facebook and LinkedIn accounts much like you can on Windows Phone 8 with feeds being streamed in. Microsoft says they’ll open up the API for developers to pipe in other social network content.

Apps

Microsoft’s approach to apps for Windows 8 is still a bit murky. But there are signs of some clever ways that apps are talking to each other within Windows 8. While checking Outlook I noticed that the program recognized an address embedded within the text of an email that then prompted me to launch Bing Maps. Pretty clever indeed but it’s unclear if that’s how it will actually work in the wild. Unfortunately, Microsoft wouldn’t comment on how users might find new apps without going into the app store. Personally, I’d be okay with Outlook crawling my emails for specific keywords or combinations if it unobtrusively offered up apps that I might find useful. Even just an option for that type of functionality to be turned on or off would be great.

There’s a lot left on the table before Microsoft releases Windows 8, Office, Surface, Windows Phone 8, etc. and it’s unclear how all of the above will play together. For instance, what type of Office 2013 functionality will be natively built into Windows Phone 8?

Again, this is a preview of an unfinished version of Office. If you have any specific questions, please feel free to ask in comments and I’ll do my best to test and respond.

 

Source http://techcrunch.com

I love Dropbox. Ever since I found it a few years ago, the way I share files with friends, family and colleagues has changed completely. Dropbox, and similar services, make sharing big files and multiple files as easy as saving them on your own computer. What could be better?

The first signs of trouble start if the person or people you want to share with don’t use Dropbox. True, it only takes a few minutes to set up, if they’re computer savvy, but what if they aren’t? Did you ever find yourself struggling to explain how to install Dropbox, wishing you could simply share a link to the file and be done with it? I know I have! And surprisingly, there are simpler ways to share files than Dropbox.

Below you will find a list of extra simple file-sharing services. With these services, there are no accounts, no clients and no interfaces to learn. Simply upload your file, get a link, and share it. Sounds simple enough? It is!

Dropcanvas

Dropcanvas is a beautiful file-sharing platform, which makes use of “canvases”. You can upload files to a canvas and share it with anyone – no account needed. Start by dragging a file or several files onto the canvas to upload them. Once all the files are uploaded, a unique link will be generated for the canvas you’ve just created. You can give this link to anyone or share it via email, Facebook, Twitter or Reddit. The person receiving the link has access to the canvas, can preview the files if they’re images, download them, rename them, remove them and upload more files to this canvas.

Ads by Google

Vulnerability Management Enterprise class scanning and Configuration Auditing. Learn more:
www.ncircle.com/Vulnerability
Súper Ofertas Online Dell Aproveche Por Pocos Días Portátiles Vostro c/ Envío Gratis ¡Compre Hoy!
Dell.com/MX/Ofertas
Official Canon Drivers (No scan),Canon's official Linux & Unix Printer Drivers.Free License
canon.codehost.com
Studio Automation? Track Teacher Schedules, Invoices, Payments Online. Free Trial Now!
www.StudioHelper.com

A canvas is limited to 5GB, but you can create as many as you wish, so there is no actual limit to the amount of files you can store and share this way. You can create a Dropcanvas account for better management options of your canvases.

Pastelink

Pastelink lets you share files in seconds, and is completely free of charge. All you have to do is drag your file into the above square, or click it to browse your files directly. The files are immediately uploaded, and once that’s done, you get a short but unique link you can share with anyone. The person receiving the link can use it to download the file. There’s no preview before downloading.

There is no limit to the number of files you can share with Pastelink, but you can’t share several files at the same time. You can share files up to 250MB, and if you create a free account, the limit is upped to 2GB, which is great for sending large videos, presentations, etc.

Snaggy

Snaggy is an awesome image-sharing tool, which even lets you edit your picture before sharing it. To upload an image to Snaggy, all you have to do is copy and paste. This means you don’t even need to have the file on your computer, you can copy an image from any website and paste it into Snaggy. Snaggy accepts whatever’s in your clipboard that can lead to an image; this means you can paste an image, a URL of an image, etc.

Once you paste, the image will be uploaded and you will receive a unique link you can share. You can also share the image via Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, Digg and StumbleUpon. Snaggy only works with one image at a time.

The cherry on top is the simple image-editing tool; after uploading and before sharing, you can also crop, rotate, write or draw on your image. Did someone say awesome already?

Droplr

Droplr is a great way to share files that is as simple or as complex as you want it to be. For super-simple file sharing, simply drag a file into the square, and receive a link you can share. If you want, Droplr also offers a Mac or Windows client, and an iPhone app. The iPhone app can be used for quick syncing of files between your computer and iPhone, which is always useful.

On the downside, files are limited in size to only 25MB, which is pretty small compared to similar free services. Files you upload are deleted within 7 days, unless you register for an account.

Ge.tt

Ge.tt is yet another simple file-sharing service which you can use to share any kind of file instantly. Simply drag and drop a file or several files into the square to get a link. You can also use Ge.tt to share your files on Facebook, Twitter or Google+. The person who receives the link can preview the files (if they’re images), download them, rename the “folder” and remove the files.

You can use Ge.tt without creating an account, and your files will be delete after 30 days. If you create an account, you can keep the files and also get download and view stats about them. Ge.tt is an excellent way to share photo albums quickly and easily.

Clipica

Clipica is similar to Snaggy in that it only works with images, and in its copy-paste upload method. Simply paste any image on the page to have it appear there instantly. Clipica then lets you crop your image and choose its size before you actually upload it. When you’re all set, your image is uploaded and you’re presented with a very short and easy-to-remember URL, which you can also share on Facebook or Twitter.

Clipica is also the only service in this list that provides a QR code. Clicking the link leads to the uploaded image and nothing else. You can log in to Clipica using Facebook to save a history of your uploads, or simply use it anonymously, as much as you’d like.

Bottom Line

While there are many file-sharing services out there, these 6 are the simplest ones I could find, and absolutely anyone can use them. Think there are simpler or better ones? Tell me about them in the comments!

Source http://www.makeuseof.com

Here’s a common problem: you notice an awesome article, video, or song in the Facebook news feed but there’s no easy way to save it for later. So while Facebook only bought the talent and not the tech behind Spool, a content caching service, I bet within a few months they’ll help Facebook launch a news feed button for saving external content to the web and your mobile device.

It could even be the basis for a standalone Facebook news feed app. Here’s how FaceSpool could work.

Spool Ruled

Before it was shut down the day Spool’s whole team got acq-hired, I used Spool every day, and I loved it. Similar to Pocket (formerly Read It Later) but unlike Instapaper which only handles text, I didn’t have to worry what form of content I’d discover, Spool could handle it.

While busy working on my laptop I’d come across an article or video with an intriguing title or a friend’s recommendation, and rather than banish it to my bookmarks I’d click my Spool bookmarklet so it’d be downloaded to my mobile device for on or offline perusal. I’d then plow through my saved Spool content before going to sleep, on the bus, while offline waiting for a plane to take off, or yes, even in the bathroom.

Other times I’d discover something great on my phone when I only had a few moments free, wanted to keep feed reading didn’t feel like waiting for a video to load, or didn’t have headphones handy to be able to listen up, so I’d want to save it for later. I could copy the link and open Spool which would automatically ask me to save that link.

These use cases come up for all 900 million people who use the Facebook news feed. In fact, that’s where I found most of what I’d Spool. Thankfully, Spool created a Chrome extension that would stick Spool buttons next to any Facebook news feed story containing a link. It’d also do the same for Twitter, Google+, Quora, and even Techmeme. Then suddenly Facebook bought out the Spool and those buttons stopped working.

Get Ready To FaceSpool

As GigaOm’s Om Maliks notes, Spool had built an impressive “media-distribution network using servers and caching media content in various data centers”, and its infrastructure expertise could benefit Facebook. Beyond a user facing Spool-style product, there’s a number of ways the team could be put to work.

Spool could determine what was behind a link, and sort the garbage from the actual content. That tech could help Facebook ensure the blurbs it automatically shows beside links pasted into the news feed always show content that will entice people to click. Facebook’s ability to generate those clicks is key to its argument that publishers should build and advertise on the social network.

Knowing what’s behind links could also help Facebook understand how relevant a link is. Did the video get a lot of views? Is this a long article someone would be more likely to read in the evening than at work? Facebook could even create its own version of Twitter’s expanded tweets, where news feed link stories could be expanded on the web or mobile to show a deeper preview of their external content than is displayed today.

But most pressing for Facebook is integrating Spool’s consumer product for saving content.

Facebook has no “read it later” option. There’s the Like button that’s predominantly for showing approval to friends, and subtly for improving the feed’s quality. However, news feed post Likes usually don’t even show up on your profile timeline, and if you dig into your Activity Feed privacy control center to find one, on mobile it’s just listed as “Josh likes a link” with no title, blurb, or thumbnail.

But “read it later” is a gaping hole in the Facebook product as a content discovery service, and one I have little doubt it will fill with Spool.

It acq-hired the full five-person team, and with Facebook’s engineering resources they can undoubtedly rebuild the consumer product that got left out of the deal. Facebook may have already been building a solution to the content saving problem, and figured there was no need to buy Spool’s version when its own was in the works.

There’s a few ways I imagine a FaceSpool product coming together:

Spooling Likes

The simplest form would just be a better way to access previously Liked links. Essentially it’d be a Spool reader-esque interface within the web and mobile apps that was populated with your Likes. This means Facebook wouldn’t have to add a confusing extra button and bloat the decision making process of “Should I Like? Like and Share? Spool and Like?”

Spool Button

If Facebook wanted Liking to retain its current identity, it could add an additional Spool button to all news feed posts. Of course Facebook prefers generic terminology, so it’d be more likely to launch as a “save” button.

A dedicated save button would give Facebook an extra-strong signal that you were fascinated by a piece of content. It could also auto-share news of your saving activity, and sell publishers Sponsored Stories ads based on the activity the same way it could with Like-based saving.

A Standalone FaceSpool News Feed App

Now this is a little crazier but stick with me. Facebook already has dedicated standalone mobile apps for Messenger and Camera (photos). The next most popular Facebook feature is surely the news feed.

The Spool concept could underpin a standalone “News Feed” app that works in tandem with a Like or dedicated button-based saving. It could let you read updates from friends, use an advanced publisher for sharing new content, and access your saved links.

When you finished consuming content shared by friends, Facebook could let you snap back to the original news feed story to leave Likes and comments. You might also be able to easily see what content friends have saved and what they’re consuming right now so you could jump into a semi-synchronous experience and then chat about the media afterwords.

Of course, the news feed is already the home page of the primary Facebook app, but it could be augmented with more content discovery features that would be great on mobile where search is clumsier than browsing. Imagine trending links or personalized feeds of recommended content such as news, humor, videos, or music, all which could be saved for later consumption.

To Cache Or Not To Cache

Unfortunately, one big difference between Spool the startup and Facebook the public mega-company is that Facebook doesn’t have the freedom to make as many enemies.

Spool would strip content clean of ads and deliver it within its app or web interface, diverting traffic and dollars from web publishers who made the content. Facebook relies on the huge traffic and ad impressions it delivers to third-party websites to keep them branding their properties with Facebook plugins, building Facebook-integrated apps, and buying Facebook ads. Publishers might get pissy if it started caching their content.

Without caching, content wouldn’t be available offline, which would make for a worse FaceSpool experience than Pocket. However, times we lose connectivity are fewer and farther between, as subway tunnels get 3G, planes get wi-fi, and rural areas get better coverage. Accessing saved content through a Facebook banner-overlaid mobile browser wouldn’t be so bad.

If it didn’t cache, Facebook could pre-load links occasionally or as soon as you open the FaceSpool mobile interface. Hell, it could even show Sponsored Stories or other ads while you wait for articles to load.

Either Way, We Need Feed It Later

Apple and Google are trying to take control of this space: Apple more directly through Reading List, and Google less directly through Chrome browser with bookmarks synced across devices. But both of those thrive on links shared through Facebook, and the social network shouldn’t let them steal its engagement and data.

Facebook is the new town square, newspaper, Yahoo, and Digg — the way we discover and discuss what’s happening in the world. That discovery is so addictive that we skim Facebook even when we don’t have time to consume what we find. Plus, the tone isn’t consistent the way Path is and we’re constantly frame switching between the interest content we’re inclined to save and the personal / social updates about our friends’ lives.

The future of Facebook’s business is in becoming the omni-news feed that sucks in content from everywhere, filters it for relevance, and serves it up in one place alongside ads. The company’s adding more and more ways for apps to send it content. By weaving Spool into the news feed, Facebook will make sure all us content junkies are just a click or tap away from from our next hit of discovery.

Source Techcrunch.com

PayPal just announced that it has acquired card.io, a company that allows developers to capture credit card information by using a smartphone’s built-in camera. The financial details of the acquisition were not disclosed. As we reported earlier this year, PayPal’s PayPal Here feature is already being powered by card.io’s service, so the two companies already had a close relationship before this acquisition. According to card.io, the company’s iOS and Android SDKs will continue to remain available for developers.

According to Hill Ferguson, PayPal’s VP of global product, he and his team were “simply blown away by the creativity and drive of [card.io's] employees.” The Card.io team will join PayPal’s global product team in San Jose to help the company “create new experiences to make it even easier for consumers and merchants to use the PayPal digital wallet.” Besides PayPal, Card.io’s client include Uber, LevelUp, TaskRabbit, Lemon and 1-800-Contacts. Developers pay $0.15 for every card they scan.

The company was founded by former AdMob employees Mike Mattler and Josh Bleecher Snyder. According to its website, the company currently has six employees (including the founders).

Card.io raised a $1 million funding round in 2011 but hasn’t taken any funding since. Some of the company’s competitors, including Jumio, for example, have taken far larger funding rounds over the last year or so.

Source http://techcrunch.com

YouTube today launched a new feature that allows its users to easily blur the faces of everybody in a video with just one click. This, says YouTube policy associate Amanda Conway in a blog post today, can have a number of uses. It can, for example, help users ensure they can share a video of activists during a protest without putting them at risk for later repercussions. As YouTube becomes an increasingly important part of how news spreads, having the ability to ensure the safety of those captured on these videos becomes imperative. At the same time, of course, this new feature can also help users share video of their children without broadcasting their faces to the world. This new visual anonymity, says Conway, will allow “people to share personal footage more widely and to speak out when they otherwise may not.”

Google freely acknowledges that this new tool, which can be found in YouTube’s Video Enhancements tool, doesn’t always work perfectly. “This is emerging technology, which means it sometimes has difficulty detecting faces depending on the angle, lighting, obstructions and video quality,” says Conway. Some faces, for example, may not be blurred in some frames. In these cases, YouTube recommends that users keep their videos private. The tool probably uses the same algorithms that Google’s StreetView does, by the way, but we’ve asked Google for clarification.

Currently, it seems, this new tool only allows users to blur all faces in a video. You can’t just selectively blur some faces but leave others untouched. Still, this will likely become a very useful feature for those who want to share video without putting those filmed at risk.

 

Source http://techcrunch.com

¿Quien no esta contento con Dropbox?  Desde que descubrimos Dropbox nos hemos olvidado casi por completo de las memorias USB, o bien de llevar a todos lados nuestra lap-top para poder ver el archivo que tenemos ahí, claro siempre tenemos en cuenta que la capacidad extra en Dropbox nos costara un poco mas, pero es un poco mas barato que una memoria USB y mucho mas eficiente.

Pero bien ya es suficiente de hablar sobre Dropbox y puede que algunos por ahí no les agrade del todo Dropbox, así que aquí tenemos 6 alternativas de Dropbox, como antes ya habíamos mencionado algunas propuestas distintas a dropbox como: SurDoc o CX entre otras, las cuales pueden ser tal vez una mejor opción ya que no tienes que ser usuario de Dropbox o registrarte nada de eso únicamente subes compartes y listo aquí te dejo estas propuestas:

Dropcanvas:

Dropcanvas es una opción realmente fácil de usar la cual si no quieres registrarte, entras directamente a la pagina cargas tu archivo y listo ahí tienes el enlace de tu archivo, y bien también puedes registrarte y hacer lo mismo es una interfaz muy usable la cual te va a sorprender, también puedes cargar varios archivos y cuando termines de cargar los que quieras generas tu enlace puedes cargas hasta 5 gb.

Pastelink

Pastelink es muy similar a Dropcanvas, aquí también únicamente elijes tu archivo lo cargas y listo te genera tu enlace y tampoco sin necesidad de registrarte, al usuario que se lo compartas le aparecerá el enlace de descarga no tiene una vista previa, si eres un usuario registrado puedes compartir archivos de hasta 2 gb, también los puedes compartir por redes sociales y enviar por correo electrónico.

Snaggy

Snaggy por otro lado es un poco diferente porque bien puedes compartir imágenes, pero esas imágenes no necesariamente puedes tenerlas en tu computadora, puedes copiar y pegar la imagen, o si la tienes en tu computadora puedes arrastrarla y listo ahora una de las mejores partes, esa imagen la puedes editar antes de generar el enlace y puedes compartirlo por las redes sociales, una muy buena manera de compartir imágenes no hay duda.

Droprl

Droprl es otra herramienta que también es muy fácil de usar pero aquí las cosas cambian a comparación con las otras les explico, aquí puedes hacer lo mismo seleccionar tu archivo y generas tu código y listo, que es lo malo que únicamente tu archivo puede ser no máximo a 25 mb y tus archivos desaparecen después de 7 días, pero si te registras tus archivos siempre estarán ahí.

Ge.TT

Es otra excelente opción para compartir multimples archivos de igual manera arrastras, cargas o pegas lo que desees, puedes cargar los archivos sin que tengas ninguna cuenta y los archivos estarán ahí hasta por 30 dias, si creas una cuenta estarán siempre.

Clipica

Si bien nos gusto como es Snaggy antes mencionado aquí mismo, pues Clipica es similar a el y funciona de la misma manera, copias y pegas pero, ¿Que es lo que lo diferencia de Snaggy? Esto es que Clipica te proporciona un código QR el cual te servirá de mucho, también puedes compartir de manera anónima tu archivo.

Así que bien si estamos casados con Dropbox que pasara después de esto será igual o cambiaremos, pues vale la pena probar estos servicios y elegir el que mas se adapte a nuestras necesidades o bien usar un poco de todos para tener mas alojamiento gratuito.

Fuente http://techtastico.com

Smack-dab in the middle of earnings season, Microsoft has officially announced that the long-awaited Windows 8 operating system will be available to upgraders and new PC buyers alike come October 26, 2012. For those of you keeping count, that’s about 14 weeks from now.

Just a few weeks ago, Microsoft announced that Windows 8 would be available in “late October” which was soon enough to be excited and vague enough to be an understandably unreliable timeline. But Microsoft has set a date, and that date is October 26.

Expect to hear a few friends freak out about a missing Start button around Halloween.

This is a huge turning point for Microsoft. The company is just starting to be cool again, and not even in a retro-vintage kind of way. They are actually getting aggressive with smart acquisitions, Windows Phone is on the road to success, and Windows 8, the mack-daddy of all that effort, is Microsoft’s apology for ever offering up Vista.

A while back Microsoft released a concept video detailing the company’s aspirations for the future. It’s an incredibly cool portrayal, and now that I’ve played around with Windows 8, it’s clear that Microsoft is going for it in a tangible way.

 

Source http://techcrunch.com

Así lo anunció Steven Sinofsky en la reunión anual de ventas en Microsoft, tanto la actualización como la versión para nuevas PC’s.

Cosa que no es sorpresa para nadie ya que Tami Reller ya había comentado en la Conferencia Microsoft Worldwide Partner que iba a ser lanzado en Octubre, aunque ahora ya sabemos la fecha exacta.

Así que hay que aprovechar, ya que la actualización costará 39 dólares hasta el 31 de Enero del 2013 si la descargan y 69 dólares si quieren el DVD.  Además con la actualización pueden obtener Windows Media Center gratis.

Recuerden antes de actualizar de consultar que es lo que sucede con sus programas y ficheros ya que depende de la versión de Windows que tengan instalada al momento de la actualización a Windows 8.

[Fuente Blog de Windows Team]

Mozilla today launched Firefox 14, the latest version of its popular browser. As usual, this new version doesn’t introduce any major new interface redesigns or other radical changes, but it does come with a number of welcome new features that should make the browsing experience a bit more pleasant and safer. The most interesting change from a user perspective is probably that Firefox now automatically uses a secure HTTPS connection for all your Google searches using the location bar, search box and right-click menu. This should make searching with Firefox safer on public and shared WiFi networks. According to Mozilla, “Google is currently the only search engine that allows Firefox to make your searches private, but we look forward to supporting additional search engines with this feature in the future.”

With this release, Firefox users can now also configure their browser to only load plugins on click. This opt-in activation of plugins does take a change to Firefox’s about:config page, however, so it’s not something the Firefox team thinks is quite ready for primetime just yet. Mozilla promises that one of the next versions of the browser will offer a more complete integration of this feature.

Mac users will be happy to hear that Firefox 14 now supports native full screen browsing for OS X Lion. While Firefox always featured a full-screen mode, this wasn’t integrated into Lion’s native ability to run apps full screen, though. The advantage of Firefox’s old approach, however, was that you could still use a second screen while in full-screen mode. This isn’t possible using Lion’s native full-screen mode.

For developers, this new version includes a new API that can prevent displays from going into sleep or screensaver mode, as well as a pointer lock API that gives developer the ability to hide the cursor and lock it to just the browser screen, for example. This may sound like a minor feature, but is actually quite useful for games and 3D apps.

The full release notes are available here.

http://techcrunch.com

Android is now most-used smartphone platform worldwide, and that swing is being reflected in other areas like mobile advertising. Today some numbers out from Adfonic indicate that in Q2, Android accounted for the majority of mobile ad impressions on its network worldwide, with 46 percent compared to iOS’s 34 percent of impressions. This is the first time Adfonic says it has recorded Android being more popular than iOS. In that, it joins other big ad networks like Millennial Media and InMobi, which both noted Google’s OS overtaking Apple’s earlier this year.

Adfonic’s Global AdMetrics Report is based on 4,000 rich-media campaigns run monthly for brands like Samsung, Warner Bros, eBay, McDonald’s, Groupon and Google, reaching 200 million mobile unique users monthly over 80 billion ad requests. The company notes that today’s Android popularity is a near-mirror switch from the quarter before, when iOS took 45 percent of traffic to Android’s 38 percent. The only region where Android has yet to dominate over iOS, Adfonic says, is South America, and overall iOS lost marketshare in every region. The U.S., on the other hand, has seen the most drastic flip:

In Q1 in the U.S., Android and iOS were nearly level, with just four percentage points separating Android’s 46 percent to iOS’s 42 percent. This last quarter, iOS dropped down to 30 percent while Android shot up to 63 percent. Given that the U.S. is leading the charge with smartphones, this could potentially be read as a bad sign for Apple in the months to come — although the launch of a new iPhone will likely change the balance once again.

And that’s because this is not just a story of platforms but of devices — and for Apple, it’s still winning massively where that is concerned. Adfonic notes that taken as individual devices, Apple’s are still proving to be the most popular — by quite a long shot.

The iPhone accounts for 26.5 percent of all impressions among all the smartphones on Adfonics’ network. Although that is a decline of eight percent on the quarter before, the runner-up device, also an iOS handset (the iPod Touch), is only at 5.2 percent (also a decline). Samsung and Blackberry round out the top five, and both actually grew their market shares, albeit from a small base.

The same story appears in tablets, where the iPad accounted for almost 54.8 percent of all traffic. Again it’s a decline, this time of 12 percent, but still comfortably ahead of number-two — in this case the Kindle Fire from Amazon with 6.6 percent of impressions and growing.

That could also be a testament to how well the Kindle Fire might perform in the long run: the device is still only available in the U.S., and yet it’s still ranking as the second-most-popular worldwide for ad impressions (and, hence, content usage) on Adfonic’s network.

Taken together, Android and iOS accounted for 80 percent of Adfonic’s global ad inventory — a pretty stark statement, once again, of how dominant these two are together at the expense of Windows Phone, BlackBerry, Symbian and the rest. This is as much about attracting advertisers to buy ads on attractive devices as it is about consumer popularity. Paul Childs, CMO at Adfonic noted: “iOS and Android smartphones and tablets have the most compelling user interfaces, comprising touchscreens, geolocation features and attractive displays. They are fulfilling their tremendous advertising potential to show engaging ad formats, such as rich media.”

Adfonic’s extensive report (which you can read in full here) also covers a lot of detail on successful verticals, the difference in ad performance by gender and other metrics. One notable graphic that caught my eye was this one on impressions based on different verticals, which shows that music is currently having the biggest pull for advertisers, taking 39 percent of all ad spend on its network; technology ads were the second-highest at 28 percent. In terms of publisher channels, sites and apps in the entertainment and lifestyle categories are seeing increases in their ad requests, while games, social networking, and news/sport/information all saw declines.

Source http://techcrunch.com

Mucho se ha hablado de la siguiente versión de la suite ofimática de Microsoft: que se llamará Office 15, que guardará todos los documentos en la nube, que estará pensado para dispositivos táctiles, que Word 2013 permitirá editar PDF...

Pues bien, algunas de estas incógnitas han sido despejadas con el lanzamiento de la beta de Microsoft Office 2013, llamada oficialmente Hogar Premium Preview.

En la beta se puede apreciar un gran cambio a nivel de diseño, una apuesta total por el almacenamiento en la nube y muchas novedades más.

¿Quieres saber más y descargar la beta? Sigue leyendo...

Descarga ya la beta de Microsoft Office 2013

Requisitos mínimos:

• PC y procesador: procesador x86/x64 de 1 GHz
• Memoria: 1 GB de RAM (32 bits) /2 GB de RAM (64 bits)
• Disco duro: 3,5 GB de espacio disponible en disco
• Sistema operativo: Windows 7 (32 bits o 64 bits) o Windows 8 Release Preview (32 bits o 64 bits)

¿Qué te parece la nueva versión de Office?

Fuente Bitelia.com

"Creemos que le encantará". Es el eslogan con el que la versión Preview de Office 2013 empieza el proceso de instalación. En una esquina de cada ventana hay un par de smileys, uno sonriente y uno triste, que esperan nuestro clic.

Si Office fuera una persona, la nueva versión parecería un adolescente inseguro. A medio camino entre un paquete ofimático clásico y una solución basada en la Nube, Office 2013 busca ansiosamente la aprobación de los usuarios.

Este comportamiento no es de extrañar: desde el fracaso de Windows Vista, Microsoft se ha esforzado en escuchar a los usuarios, proporcionando betas y previews en lugar de mantener el secretismo. Ahora, nuestra opinión importa.

¿Le ha beneficiado a Office 2013 esta estrategia de escucha? ¿Es realmente el paquete ofimático del futuro?

La nueva interfaz parece gritar "Lo importante es el documento"

El cambio más notable que Microsoft ha introducido en Office 2013 es, obviamente, la nueva interfaz gráfica,  de tipo Metro y compatible con pantallas táctiles, como la que tiene la tableta Surface. Windows 8 será un sistema operativo tanto para escritorio como para tabletas, y Office debe poder desenvolverse en ambos entornos. Era lógico.

Tradicionalmente, cada novedad introducida en el apartado gráfico ha sido recibida con antipatía por los usuarios. El ribbon barroco de Office 2007 se llevó la peor parte, ya que fue el primer cambio radical en muchos años. En la versión 2013, el ribbon se mantiene, pero acentúa el aplanamiento que ya notamos con Office 2010.

El ribbon sigue vivo y goza de una salud espléndida. Gracias por preguntar

El resultado final es una serie de recuadros pálidos, iconos coloreados con tintas planas y encabezados en mayúsculas. Lo primero que he pensado al ver Word 2013 ha sido: "Dios mío, EDIT.COM ha vuelto de entre los muertos". La falta de volumen en barras y botones, por muy zen que sea, impresiona.

El triunfo de la planicie. Al menos el fondo del documento vuelve a ser neutro.

La idea que sugiere la interfaz Metro es que lo importante es el documento, no el medio en que se edita. La interfaz pasa discretamente a un segundo plano y deja protagonismo al texto. Agradable para los ojos no es, pero la vista descansa mucho más que con las exóticas pieles con texturas de Office 2007.

Office en la Nube: mejor tarde que nunca, Microsoft

Trabajar en la Nube, algo que inicialmente solo comprendían unos pocos iniciados de los departamentos de IT, se ha vuelto mainstream. Ahora todos guardamos notas en Evernote, subimos documentos a Dropbox y editamos hojas de cálculo en Google Drive. Cuando Microsoft diseñó Office 2010, todo eso aún no acababa de despegar.

Puesto que Microsoft no podía ignorar por más tiempo esta revolución, ha llenado Office 2013 de funciones "en la Nube" que, si bien no suponen nada revolucionario, son más que bienvenidas. La más destacada es la integración total con SkyDrive, rival de Google Drive, que se convierte de facto en el disco duro online de Office.

SkyDrive es la opción de guardado por defecto en Office 2013. Si esto no es apostar por la Nube...

La aplicación que más se beneficia de este paso adelante es OneNote, que ha pasado de ser un portapapeles lujoso pero inútil a convertirse en un serio rival para Evernote. Con aplicaciones para Android y iPhone, OneNote tiene ahora más relevancia que nunca. Sus funciones nada tienen que envidiar a otros blocs de notas en la Nube.

Color aparte (parece un yogur dietético), OneNote es un digno rival de Evernote

Un paquete ofimático que sigue sin tener competencia directa

Microsoft es una empresa lista: sabe que el reino de Office es el Escritorio y que de ahí nadie lo puede mover. Fuera de las murallas campan a sus anchas aplicaciones jóvenes y prometedoras, como Prezi y Google Drive. Arrasan la campiña de las aplicaciones web, pero son incapaces de asaltar el castillo del Escritorio.

Prezi es la mejor alternativa a Powerpoint para presentaciones... pero es una aplicación web

El proyecto OpenOffice se ha resentido muchísimo del cambio de dueños (antes Sun, luego Oracle, finalmente Apache) y ahora es una suite ofimática que hubiera podido tener éxito hace diez años, pero que hoy se limita a tenerse en pie en un mundo que se ha movido enteramente al Web.

¿Open XML u OpenDocument? La pregunta es un bonito gesto de juego limpio

En resumen: "No me cambies el martillo, que ya funciona bien"

Introducir novedades en un programa usado por 750 millones de personas y contentarlas a todas no es fácil: quien usa Word, Excel y Powerpoint espera que sus nuevas versiones se comporten exactamente como Word, Excel y Powerpoint. Son herramientas que todos sabemos usar, y cuya esencia se ha mantenido inalterada desde las primerísimas versiones.

Es por ello que casi todos los cambios introducidos en Office 2013 son menores. Es como si cada equipo de desarrollo hubiese añadido interesantes flecos a programas que no podían alterarse demasiado. Tonterías como la barra de meteorología en Outlook 2013 son buena prueba de ello.

Office, en resumen, es como un martillo: se puede convertir en una herramienta más fácil de agarrar y más robusta, pero no en un taladro innovador. Si queréis un taladro, tendréis que buscarlo en otra caja de herramientas...

Fuente Bitelia.com

ese a que la radio sea un invento realmente antiguo, y su utilización de la manera tradicional en que la conocemos hoy en día también date del siglo XIX, se puede decir que la radio está más en forma que nunca gracias a Internet.

La nube nos permite disfrutar de las emisoras tradicionales que recibimos (o emitimos) por las ondas de radio pero a una mejor calidad, y envitando los problemas de la versión tradicional. Miles de millones de programas de música pero también de otros temas de interés como web, videojuegos, deportes o cualquier otra cosa que se nos ocurra, son una fantástica idea a la hora de entretenernos.

Como hoy en día además de consumir contenidos de Internet desde nuestros ordenadores de escritorio también lo hacemos a través de smartphones y tablets, y la música ha vuelto a ser protagonista cambiado del mítico walkman al MP4 y ahora también a los dispositivos mencionados, se me ha ocurrido hacer una recopilación con 5 maneras distintas de disfrutar de la radio desde Android, todas ellas disponibles en Google Play.

TuneIn Radio

La primera, la más importante. TuneIn radio es un servicio consagrado que nos permite disfrutar de más de 60.000 emisoras de Internet entre las que por supuesto estarán las emisoras tradicionales más populares.

Su interfaz, actualizada para disfrutar de las últimas características visuales de Ice Cream Sandwich / Jelly Bean, nos permite buscar emisoras directamente por nombre o por territorio, y de hecho nos permite hacer una búsqueda de las emisoras cercanas para que escuchemos contenidos locales.

Añadir emisoras a favoritos es una delicia, y además una muy buena idea de cara a no perdernos los programas que solemos escuchar. Además de seleccionar siempre por defecto los streams de más calidad, TuneIn nos permite seleccionar todo tipo de calidades, siempre que estén disponibles, con el fin de que ahorremos en datos móviles, y así no tengamos que preocuparnos por la reducción de velocidad o pagos adicionales.

Aplicación imprescindible y totalmente gratuita, aunque si os convence tal vez queráis comprar TuneIn Radio Pro, que además permite buscar en tiempo real canciones que se estén emitiendo. Ideal para melómanos.

Pandora

Exáctamente, se trata de la aplicación del conocido y cambiado servicio que fue popular hace algunos años y que aún lucha por un hueco entre los servicios de música favoritos de millones de personas.

Disponible según territorio y dispositivo, Pandora es una buena idea para escuchar de emisoras de radio personalizadas en función de un artista o tema determinados. Su aplicación móvil permite crear hasta 100 estaciones distintas, desde jazz hasta metal o monólogos hablados, todo dependiendo de lo que nos apetezca escuchar, y siempre centrándose en los impresionantes contenidos de su librería musical.

Si ya somos usuarios de Pandora bastará con que ingresemos nuestros datos, y si no lo somos el proceso de inicio es realmente sencillo.

rad.io

Se trata de una aplicación gratuita que nos permitirá explorar casi 10.000 canales diferentes, todos dedicados a la mejor música y mejores temas dependiendo de nuestros gustos. Al igual que TuneIn, se nos da la opción de acceder a las emisoras locales que encontremos gracias a los datos WiFi que recibe la aplicación.

Uno de los puntos fuertes de rad.io es la organización de los canales, ordenados por géneros o por popularidad, y por tanto una idea excelente para descubrir música, uno de los puntos fuertes de la radio.

¿Puntos negativos? La interfaz no es tan bonita como en otras aplicaciones, pero aún así parece bastante funcional y invita a que realicemos nuevas búsquedas o añadamos un sinfín de canales a nuestros favoritos. Probad su widget y no tendréis que volver a buscar la aplicación en el drawer, ya que seguramente se convierta en una de vuestras más utilizadas.

Deezer

Otra aplicación móvil correspondiente a un conocido servicio de música en streaming bajo demanda. Deezer esta disponible en más de 200 países diferentes y cuenta con la friolera de 25 millones de usuarios, con cási 2 millones de ellos utilizando funciones Premium.

Su oferta es sencilla: Escuchar la música que queramos y además crear nuestras propias listas de reproducción. En funciones de radio no queda atrás, con más de 30 emisoras diferentes y una radio denominada SmartRadio con un funcionamiento similar al de Pandora, que se adapta a nuestros gustos.

FM Radio

Aplicación para disfrutar de la radio tradicional desde nuestros dispositivos, o lo que es lo mismo, un servicio que no tira de streamings o conexión a Internet para hacernos disfrutar de la mejor música.

Para hacer funcionar este programa necesitamos un dispositivo que tenga chip de radio FM, o de una ROM que haga uso del chip Bluetooth si éste tiene capacidad para radio FM a nivel de hardware.

Al abrirla nos encontramos ante un dial en el que podemos guardar las presets que nos interesen al más puro estilo tradicional, buscando entre las frecuencias de la banda FM. Lo he estado probando un rato con un antiguo HTC Desire y puedo decir que me ha convencido.

Fuente Bitelia.com

Photoshop es un excelente programa de edición de imágenes, pero su precio y el hecho de que en la mayoría de los casos no aprovechemos realmente todas sus funcionalidades hacen que muchos busquemos otra opción más económica, ligera y fácil de usar. Para hacer pequeños retoques a nuestras fotos no hace falta tener instalada una suite fotográfica como la de Adobe, y por lo tanto siempre viene bien saber qué opciones más ligeras tenemos. Hoy presentamos 3 programas excelentes que en pocos megas reunen practicidad, la posibilidad de un uso intuitivo y buen funcionamiento.

Fotografix

Fotografix es un excelente editor de imágenes que cabe en menos de un mega. Es por lo tanto una aplicación muy rápida de instalar y provee muchas de las funcionalidades que para las que muchos necesitaríamos Photoshop. Además es gratuita, pero sólo está disponible para Windows. Están por sacar la versión 2, con una mejor interfaz y optimizada para procesadores de varios núcleos.

Seashore

Uno para Windows y ahora toca uno para Mac OS X. Seashore se basa en GIMP y usa el mismo formato nativo de archivos. Ofrece suavizado de texto y trazos de pinceles (anti-aliasing) y se puede trabajar con múltiples capas. Seashore está bajo desarrollo y su última versión ocupa sólo 7 MB.

Pixelmator

Pixelmator es un editor de imágenes muy integrado en el diseño en Mac y se encuentra disponible sólo para este sistema operativo. De los 3 que presentamos, este probablemente sea el mejor diseñado y más completo. También permite trabajar con capas, creándolas de otras fotos, otras imágenes, de selecciones e incluso de iSight. Tiene muchas opciones y es muy fluido. Normalmente cuesta unos 30 euros pero si lo quieres comprar estás de suerte porque está en oferta a 11,99 euros en la App Store en estos días. Pesa sólo 21,6 MB.

Fuente Bitelia.com