Hasta La Gadget!

Home theater PC owners only just recovering from their turkey or tofu comas will have some updating to do — MediaPortal has been busy. The experimenters among us will most likely want to jump straight into the promised MediaPortal 2.0 Alpha Autumn, which carries new visual layouts and video backgrounds, a news plug-in and a party-friendly music player. New versions of remote tools like aMPdroid, MPExtended, WebMediaPortal and WifiRemote bring their own slew of upgrades, such as HTTP Live Streaming in MPExtended or a “what’s new” interface in aMPdroid. We’ll readily admit that our eye is most drawn to the yet-to-be-launched MediaPortal 1.3 beta’s addition of the Titan skin you see up above: going beyond what we saw in October, the extra-polished look goes a long way towards accommodating newcomers and the style-conscious. We’re still waiting on publicly accessible 1.3 beta code, but everything else is waiting for open-source media hubs at the included links.

Filed under: Cellphones, Home Entertainment, Software, HD

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Via: Missing Remote

Source: MediaPortal (1), (2), (3)

Development of the XBMC project has continued to roll along since Eden launched officially earlier this year, and now the first beta for v12 Frodo is live. Those who dive in will experience a slew of new features that have been trickling out in monthly builds recently, including support for HD audio formats like DTS-MA and Dolby TrueHD, live TV and PVR access plus versions for Android and Raspberry Pi. There’s a long list of features to check out — and known issues, this is a beta after all — check out the official blog for all the details and to try it out yourself.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD

XBMC 12 ‘Frodo’ Beta 1 appears, includes support for Android, Raspberry Pi, HD audio and more originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 15 Nov 2012 08:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The market for paid movie rentals from predominantly free video services isn’t a very big one. For most of us, it amounts to YouTube… and YouTube. Vimeo is planning to shake up that small category with its own pay-to-view service. A just-started private beta stands out mostly through rental windows that won’t leave us scrambling for spare viewing time. While there’s a 48-hour rental, there are also 72-hour, 1-week and 2-month periods that let even the perpetually busy get through a full showing. Vimeo’s current selection is limited to six documentaries at between $5 to $9, although that thin selection is acceptable given the test phase. The real demand for content will come with the official pay-to-view launch for Vimeo Pro subscribers in early 2013 — whether or not Vimeo needs a YouTube-sized catalog, there’s only so many skiing documentaries we can take.

Continue reading Vimeo pay-to-view service launches in private beta with procrastination-ready long rentals

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Internet, HD

Vimeo pay-to-view service launches in private beta with procrastination-ready long rentals originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 13 Nov 2012 16:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Remember that Steam for Linux beta we told you about a while back? It launched today, giving a selection of users a first glimpse at Steam running on Linux. The beta is limited-access, so users needed to sign up to get an invite. Even if you signed up, there’s still a pretty good chance you weren’t selected as a participant with this first round of invites – if that’s the case, then sit tight, because Valve will be sending out more invites to the beta soon.

Valve has been working on this beta for quite some time, testing it internally over and over again before finally letting some of its users in on the action. Team Fortress 2 comes included with the client download (it is free-to-play after all), but if you want to play some other games, you’ll be pleased to know that there are a total of 26 Linux games now available on Steam. Most of these titles are indie games, but there is one full-fledged retail game – Serious Sam 3: BFE – that sticks out from the bunch.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, most of the indie games that are available for Linux on Steam have been featured in the Humble Indie Bundle before – one of the big draws of the Humble Indie Bundle is that it supports Windows, Mac, and Linux. You’ve got titles like World of Goo, Space Pirates and Zombies, Dungeons of Dredmor, and Amnesia: The Dark Descent to pick from, so it sounds like it’s time to get to playing.

At the moment, the Steam for Linux beta is only compatible with Ubuntu 12.04 and above. Steam for Linux team member Frank Crockett says that Valve will eventually release Steam for more Linux distros, but since an “overwhelming majority” of applicants said they’re running Ubuntu, that’s the distro that got it first. The Steam for Linux beta also includes big picture mode, and Valve assures that at some point in the future, the beta will be open for all Steam members to try. Stay tuned.

[via Valve]

Steam for Linux beta launches with 26 games is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

A few days ago, Evernote announced the upcoming beta release for Evernote 5 for Mac. This feature brings with it over 100 new features, as well as an updated user interface. Now the application is available for download, with Evernote cautioning users to remember that it is still in beta and might be buggy at times.

Says the announcement, “BETA software is not final, which means that using it comes with some risks. These can range from corruption of your notes to data loss. If you’re not comfortable using beta software, we recommend waiting a bit for the general update to go live.” If you’re willing to take the plunge, however, you’ll find a variety of new features.

New features include an improved Notes List, which offers a single list containing both personal and joined notebooks. There’s a Snippets view for seeing a note’s notebook, as well as its shared status. Also added is a Cards view for browsing notes in the form of nifty little cards. Tossed in, among the myriad of other features, are a handful of shortcuts and changes to increase efficiency.

To get the new Evernote 5 for Mac beta, launch the application, then select “Software Update” from Preferences. In the window that opens, check “Update to beta versions when available.” Follow this up by clicking “Check for Updates Now” in the Evernote menu, then sit back and let the magic happen. Evernote lists a few troubleshooting tips as well, so if you experience problems, hit the link below to check them out.

[via Evernote]

Evernote 5 for Mac beta is now available, offers 100+ new features is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.