It’s time to review Windows 10! Microsoft’s newest OS had a very public run in its Preview BETA form, but now the official release is here! Let’s kick the tires and take it for a spin!
The Windows 10 Review – Should You Upgrade Your PC?
Waze Unveils Ride Sharing Service “RideWith” in Limited BETA
Services like Lyft and Uber have been disrupting the market for traditional taxi and town car service in a number of cities, thanks to lower prices and timely notifications through apps.
Today Waze took the wraps off of their solution for ride sharing named “RideWith”. Focused on reducing business commuter traffic, RideWith seeks to pair up drivers and riders who are already traveling in the same direction at the same times. It’s a 21st century version of the bulletin board a company might use for coordinating an employee carpool.
This is not a spur of the moment service, as Waze recommends passengers book a trip at least a day in advance, and the app will help calculate and pay drivers for fuel costs per ride. As Google now owns Waze, it’s no surprise that the service is launching first on Android, with iOS “coming soon”.
If you were hoping to try this out, you might have a bit of a wait. RideWith is currently in very limited BETA, only servicing Israel at the time this article was posted. You can pull up more info and an FAQ by heading to the RideWith website.
Is this the solution for alleviating traffic congestion during rush hour? Leave a comment below.
Youtube Rolling Out 60 FPS Playback on Android & iOS Apps
Smoother streaming video is coming to phones and tablets near you!
We’ve had 60 frame per second video on the desktop version of Youtube for some time now, and this improvement is finally making its way to mobile devices through the Youtube app. High frame rate video looks almost unnaturally smooth and fluid, and we’ve been producing most of our reviews on this channel in 60FPS for the last year. It’s a great way to show off gadgets.
We can expect that this move is also coming in advance of Youtube Gaming, where having a 60fps stream is very beneficial for showing off in game footage.
Now while watching on a mobile device, hit your menu, go to your quality settings, and you should see options for 720p60 and 1080p60. Hit one of those and feed your eyeballs some prettier video. If you’re not sure which video to check out first, might we recommend our new review of the Galaxy S6 Active?
Skype For Web BETA Available For All
It’s been one of my most long lived frustrations with Skype. Sure I have apps that run on phones, tablets, and PC’s, but sometimes I just want to check a message from a browser. It never made much sense to me that when I would get an email alerting me to a voicemail, I couldn’t just check that voicemail from the browser I just got the email in.
Better late than never, Skype is now delivering their Skype for Web BETA plugin for everyone. Installing a little piece of software in Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, or Safari will now give you a pretty complete Skype experience.
In early use it’s been a nice way to balance notifications and alerts without having to keep the Skype client running constantly in the background on my PC. We still don’t quite have the dream of just being able to log into Skype on the web from any browser to check our messages like Google Voice, but this is a nice step in the right direction.
You can catch the full Skype press release below.
Waze Delivers Arnold Schwarzenegger Celebrity Turn by Turn Voice
“Make a U-turn then GET TO ZE CHOPPA!!! Yeaaarrggghh!!!“
Teasing their new celebrity voice, the Waze team tweeted this pic out today.
Tomorrow, our BIGGEST celeb voice EVER is coming to Waze! Any guesses on who? (Hint: Look at those hands!) pic.twitter.com/At6Kxusnwd
— waze (@waze) June 14, 2015
I honestly haven’t been this excited for a turn by turn voice since I first got the John Cleese upgrade for Tomtom back in the day. We’re really curious to see how “funny” the directions might be, we’ll find out tomorrow, but until then, the jokes just write themselves…
“Who is your daddy, and what does he drive?”
Microsoft Security Software Will Now Remove ASK Toolbar and Search Hijacking
It’s kinda sad how far ASK has fallen. From the cute Ask Jeeves to now being considered malware by Microsoft.
And with good reason. The Ask toolbar is an insidious little piece of software which hijacks your search options and adds an ugly bar to your browser. I once reinstalled an OS just to completely rid a system of browser add ons, of which Ask was one.
It’s exceedingly rare to find knowledgeable computer users who intentionally use it. That was likely Ask’s problem. Not enough people using their search engine, so they partnered with other companies to try and sneak their software onto your computer. The frustration of clicking through a program installation, and having to pay close attention to make sure no crapware is included.
Thankfully Microsoft Security Software will now scan for and remove search hijacks like these. It’s a long overdue move, but a welcome one. Microsoft’s free security software is actually quite good, and this makes it a little better at helping users with a very common security concern.
Apple Charging Developers $100 a Year to Make Free Plugins for Safari Browser
Want to develop Safari browser apps or plugins? It’s going to cost you.
As Apple rolls Safari development into their overall dev program, folks working on the Apple browser will have to pay the same fees app developers pay, namely $100 a year.
Reddit user HonestBleeps, who produces the free Reddit Enhancement Suite is detailing his experiences regarding the transition:
So it used to be free to be a part of the Safari developer program. That’s being folded into Apple’s dev program now, and I’m required to pay $100 to join if I want to continue publishing Reddit Enhancement Suite – which is free.
$100 would be several months worth of donations, on many/most months, and only to support less than 1% of RES users.
We’ll have to wait for these Apple developer programs to officially merge to see if this will throw cold water on Safari development, force formally free services to start charging, or if Apple will continue to allow developers to publish Safari plugins for free.
Youtube App Update Brings 360 Degree Video to Google Cardboard
Google continues to move forward with cardboard, bringing some really fun features to the low budget VR platform which uses your phone and an inexpensive cradle (often made out of cardboard) to surround you with immersive content.
The newest update to the Android Youtube app builds in native support for Google Cardboard. Now when you fire up a 360 degree video, a small cardboard icon will appear on the overlay. Tapping on that icon will split the screen automatically for stereo view through the VR headset of your choice.
Hitting the switch built into Cardboard viewers will pause the video, and moving your head along a timeline will let you fast forward or rewind the video. Very handy controls as you wont be able to touch the screen.
It’s a super fun feature to bring to the Android ecosystem, tying together the new Youtube 360 rollout and the improved developer tools for Cardboard. You can try it out with a video below, which we shot using the Kodak SP360, driving around Hollywood.
The Youtube app update should be rolling out to devices soon, or if you’re impatient you can grab it from APK Mirror and install it manually.