Hasta La Gadget!

In-app subscriptions found their way to Google Play this May, and now the folks in Mountain View are letting Android developers offer them with free trials. In order to make use of the freebie spans, you’ll have to fork over your payment information to Page and Co. as if it were a run-of-the-mill purchase, but you won’t get hit with the monthly fee until the dev-determined trial stretch is over. Developers looking to serve up samples of their episodic content can set a trial period that’s at least seven days or longer right within the Developer Console, which means they can add the gratis option or alter its length without having to modify their apps. If the duration of the gratis subscription is changed, the tweak will only apply to new subscribers.

Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Mobile, Google

Google Play in-app subscriptions get free trial option originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Oct 2012 20:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve known that it was coming for some time now, and today we have a report of an actual launch date for Microsoft’s Xbox Music service. According to The Verge’s sources, the rollout will coincide with the launch of Windows 8 on October 26th. What’s more, the site is also reporting that the service will include a free, ad-supported option in addition to paid subscriptions — rates for the latter leaked out last month. As expected, the service will be available on Windows Phone, Windows 8 and the Xbox 360 at launch, with iOS and Android apps said to be coming at a later date.

Filed under: Internet, Mobile, Microsoft

Microsoft reportedly set to launch Xbox Music on October 26th, ad-supported option on tap originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 03 Oct 2012 10:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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When it comes to Linux distributions, Slackware could well be called the archetype. It’s not just one of the longest-serving releases at nearly 20 years old — it’s designed to be “pure” and cut back on customized apps, many graphical interface assistants and the requirement to download anything during the installation process. Pat Volkerding and team have nonetheless given us a bit of a break with the launch of Slackware 14.0. While many open-source fans will be downloading a copy for the more recent Linux 3.2.29 kernel and other updated packages, ease of use is the guiding principle for the new build: there’s now a graphical NetworkManager interface to manage wired and wireless connections, for a start. In tandem with the newer kernel, updated versions of the KDE and Xfce desktop environments also result in much broader hardware support than many veteran users will remember. Slackware is now much more savvy about removable storage, accelerated 3D video, SATA and other features that have sometimes demanded command line trickery. Anyone can download the revamped distribution for free, including for ARM-based devices like the Raspberry Pi, although we’d consider springing for the $33 subscription to CD-based copies of Slackware to fund Volkerding’s long-term efforts.

Filed under: Software

Slackware 14.0 now available, freshens and simplifies a Linux vanguard originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 30 Sep 2012 19:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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While we still don’t know exactly when Microsoft will unleash Office 2013 and Office 365 upon the world, we do know how much they’ll cost. While standalone versions, licensed for use on a single computer, will still be available, the new strategy makes it more affordable for many homes and business to opt for a subscription package instead. Office Home and Student 2013 (with Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote) will cost $139, while Home and Business adds Outlook for $219, and the top of the line Professional package includes all of those along with Access and Publisher for $399. Compare those to the two Office 365 packages, which promise customizations that follow their users around, expanded cloud storage, access to all of the apps and automatically receive any future updates that come out for them.

Office 365 Home Premium will cost $99 per year, with 20GB of SkyDrive storage and 60 minutes of Skype calling per month and access on five computers, along with the ability to change out the devices at any time, and use “full featured apps” temporarily on any PC. It’s a single subscription for up to 5 users, and will have a 30 day free trial available. Alternatively, small businesses with 1-10 employees could opt for Office 365 Small Business Premium that also comes with all the apps, but lets each user install it on up to 5 different PCs or Macs, along with 25GB Outlook storage, an organization-wide 10GB cloud drive plus 500MB for each user, online meetings and even website hosting. That also has a free trial, but costs $149 per user, per year. If you can’t wait, buying Office 2010 or Office 2011 for Mac as of October 19th entitles users to a free upgrade to Office 2013 or one year of Office 365 free.

Clearly, Microsoft would prefer it if users took advantage of the new pay-per-year offerings, but what do you think? Check out all the details from Microsoft’s blog and check list linked below (or our preview) as well as a few of their examples after the break, and let us know if you’ll be upgrading or switching over to an alternative like Open Office.

Continue reading Microsoft announces Office 2013 and 365 pricing, nudges users towards annual subscriptions

Filed under: Software

Microsoft announces Office 2013 and 365 pricing, nudges users towards annual subscriptions originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 17 Sep 2012 22:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Plex fans among us just got treated to a smorgasbord — albeit one that isn’t completely free. The media front-end developer hopes to boost its bottom line through PlexPass, a subscription service that amounts to a paid beta program. Shell out $4 per month and you’ll get early access to in-development features, including a slate of premium-only extras during their incubation phase. One of the more ordinary (if important) features is going live today: a revamped Web Client not only rivals the native OS X app for speed but offers full media playback on top of the usual queue management. Whether you subscribe or not, you’ll want to get an updated Media Server app that supports both PlexPass and the new client along with improving the server’s behavior in several areas, such as lowering its memory use and supporting RTMP transcoding. We hope Plex keeps enough components on the free side of the fence as time goes on. For now, at least, we’ll see the paid model as a way for loyalists to reward a company that has been powering their home theater PCs for years.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Internet, Software, HD

Plex launches new Web Client and PlexPass subscription, updates Media Server originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Aug 2012 22:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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