XBMC 11.0 Eden Beta is Now Available
Last Updated on Monday, 26 December 2011 07:00 Written by Alan Monday, 26 December 2011 07:00
XBMC, the media program named after Xbox and Media Center, has become popular over the past several years as a great free alternative to it’s namesake, the Windows version of Media Center. Aside from it’s free price tag, XBMC is also popular because of it’s great functionality and ability to run on multiple platforms like Windows Mac, Linux, and Apple TV.
On December 24th XBMC announced a holiday gift for all of their users. XBMC version 11.0, known as “Eden”, has been released in Beta form for everyone to begin using. It ran a bit behind schedule, but XBMC promises that “The sheer number of new features, platforms, and improvements to nearly every facet of the XBMC experience found within Eden are nearly too numerous to count”.
New features in version 11 include Addon Rollbacks, improvements to the XBMC default skin (confluence), speed increases, a better library, better networking support, better handling of unencrypted BluRay content and structures, adjustable display refresh rate in OSX (to match the already available feature in Windows and Linux), AirPlay support, an upgraded weather app, plus a bunch more. In addition to those improvements, XBMC also announced that Eden will be available for two new platforms – the Apple TV 2 and the iPad.
If you are already an XBMC user, or if you are looking for an alternative to Media Center, then you can head over to the download page to get Eden and see what you think. You can check out a screenshot of the new Eden home screen below.
Microsoft is Looking for Security Essentials Beta Testers
Last Updated on Friday, 18 November 2011 06:34 Written by Alan Friday, 18 November 2011 06:34
Microsoft is about to release a beta version of their Security Essentials tool. The Security Essentials software was released on September 29th, 2009 is now the most popular security software in North America, and one of the most popular worldwide. Part of it’s popularity is it’s price – it’s free. Part is that it just works really well and doesn’t bog down your computer like other (Norton and McAfee) security suites that are simply in the game of who can have the most features.
Microsoft has announced they are about to begin beta testing the next version of Security Essentials. The beta program, which was announced today on the Microsoft Technet blog, is only open to a limited number of people, although Microsoft didn’t release the number of beta versions they will distribute. During the first beta test in 2009 Microsoft limited distribution to 75,000 users.
Features in the Microsoft Security Essentials Beta will include:
- Enhanced protection through automatic malware remediation – The Beta will clean high-impact malware infections automatically, with no required user interaction.
- Enhanced performance – The Beta includes many performance improvements to make sure your PC performance isn’t negatively impacted.
- Simplified UI – Simplified UI makes Microsoft Security Essentials Beta easier to use.
- New and improved protection engine – The updated engine offers enhanced detection and cleanup capabilities.
With Microsoft stating that the beta will be limited, users may want to sign up now by visiting the Microsoft Connect site. The Security Essentials beta is not yet out. Microsoft will be emailing testers when the beta is ready for download.
Microsoft Announces Single Registration for System Center 2012
Last Updated on Sunday, 23 October 2011 08:18 Written by Alan Monday, 24 October 2011 01:00
Many of you may not be familiar with Microsoft System Center 2012, but for those who are, a bit of good news showed up today in the personal blog of Microsoft employee Jeff Alexander. System Center 2012 is mostly for IT professionals and is designed to help manage computers and mobile devices across data centers. Microsoft describes it as “integrated and automated management solutions, you can be a more productive service provider for your business.”
The good news is that System Center 2012 is now available via a single registration, while previously you would have to register separately for each of the five products included. That was a real hassle since most subscribers were using more than one, if not all, of the System Center beta products. According to Alexander, “Now during the registration process you can choose which products you want to evaluate.:
System Center 2012 consists of five separate programs, all of which are currently in beta and can be evaluated free of charge. Now, only a single free registration is required. A list of the apps is posted below. To check them out, visit the Microsoft TechNet website.
- System Center Virtual Machine Manager RC
- System Center Configuration Manager Beta
- System Center Operations Manager Beta
- System Center Orchestrator Beta
- System Center Data Protection Manager Beta
Source: Jeff Alexander’s TechNet Blog
