Hasta La Gadget!

Valve announced Steam Machines today, a living room game console that launches at some point in 2014. The company also announced a hardware beta for its own version of the console; the beta starts this year. Today’s news is the second of three planned announcements this week meant to expand the company’s digital game distribution service, Steam. The company’s issuing just 300 hardware prototypes in 2013 — “free of charge, for testing” — and you can enter to become one of those lucky 300 through your existing Steam account (an “eligibility quest” was added to Steam’s quest page that will guide you through the process).

Valve says that a variety of “Steam Machines” — the new name for the company’s “Steambox,” a living room gaming console for playing PC games — will become available next year “made by different manufacturers,” including Valve itself. The hardware beta, which we first told you about many moons ago, only includes Valve’s version of the Steam Machine. All the machines will run SteamOS, the operating system that’ll power Valve’s big living room push (it was announced earlier this week). There aren’t any specs given for the various devices. Valve says that, since there will be a few different options, there’ll be “an array of specifications, price, and performance” when we learn more “soon.” It sounds like the 300 beta testers can share their experience with the rest of us, though, as Valve’s asking for loud, public feedback.

Apparently the beta will include “the nearly 3,000 games” that are available on Steam including the “hundreds already running natively on SteamOS.” Everything else is streamable, says Valve. In terms of using a mouse-and-keyboard setup in your living room, Valve says that’s an option, but “we have some more to say very soon on the topic of input.”

Filed under: Gaming, Software, HD

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Codelathe’s considerable expertise with Tonido’s personal cloud storage gets a new venue today: Windows 8. After downloading a pair of apps — one for your Linux rig, Mac or PC, and one for your mobile gizmo — you’re all set to stream most files from your home machine to your Redmond-running device. What’s more, you can download whatever you’re streaming so you can still use it if you go offline — but keep an eye on your data cap if you’re planning to pull down that Blu-ray rip of Looper.

Filed under: Storage, Software, Mobile

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Source: Tonido

ZTE is one of the few companies making a sly side-bet on Firefox OS, and next year it’s planning to double-down on that initial wager with the launch of a second handset running Mozilla’s smartphone platform. Speaking with IDG’s Michael Kan at Expo Comm China 2013, ZTE’s Executive VP He Shiyou expects the device to land first half 2014, with a larger display than its predecessor, a dual-core processor, a “revamped user experience” and, of course, a low price. The exec also said that, with approximately 100,000 units sold, demand for the ZTE Open “has exceeded supply,” and he anticipates double that figure in total sales. ZTE deliberately manufactured the Open on a small scale, but is optimistic about future adoption of Firefox OS. Shiyou believes HTML5-based apps will become more relevant as speedy network technology like LTE reduces reliance on native software, stating: “In the future, the app store business model will be no more.”

Filed under: Cellphones, Software, Mobile

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Via: Pocketnow

Source: TechHive

New hardware without a software refresh? Don’t make Jeff Bezos laugh. Today’s arrival of three new slates also marks the unveiling of the company’s latest tablet operating system. And this time, it even has a name. See, Amazon’s been using “Fire OS” internally to describe the software powering its tablet line, and now we get to use it as well, with the arrival of version 3.0. As ever, Bezos and Co. have based the OS on Android (Jelly Bean, this time out), with this year’s codename being “Mojito” — a move from candy names to sugary cocktails. The operating system will ship on the new HDX and HD devices. We weren’t able to confirm that it will roll out to older devices, but an Amazon rep we spoke with implied that there’s a good chance of that, given earlier precedents.

First thing’s first: there’s still no Google Play access. No surprise there, of course. After all, the company’s in the habit of subsidizing the cost of its hardware based on future content sales. Still, as ever, the company was quick to point out the speed with which its proprietary app store has grown in recent years. UI-wise, things look familiar. Content is still king, with the home screen built around a river of apps, games, movies, music, et cetera. The company did respond to customer concerns, however, by adding a more familiar grid-style layout that you can access with a swipe up, which should appease all you Android users out there. Swipe from the right, and you’ll see Quick Switch, which lets you switch between different recently used pieces of content.

Filed under: Tablets, Software, HD, Amazon

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This week the gaming-centric company known as Valve has announced plans to release SteamOS, a living room-aimed operating system that will be free to download and free to license. This operating system is based on Linux architecture – similar to how Android is a Linux-based OS – and the company intends on expanding well beyond […]