Samsung Focus and LG Quantum About to Get Windows Phone Updates
Last Updated on Saturday, 16 April 2011 09:31 Written by Alan Saturday, 16 April 2011 09:31
Overnight Microsoft’s Eric Hautala put out the word that updates are scheduling for a pair of AT&T Windows Phone 7 devices – the Samsung Focus and LG Quantum. The pair will be receiving both the February and March updates – yes, it only took until mid April. According to Hautala “We’ve refreshed Where’s my phone update? to reflect the status changes to these models. We’re now working hard to expedite the delivery of these updates to you.”
Along with this good news comes some of the bad variety. That bad news comes at the expense of HTC Surround users who will not be receiving these updates. However, Hautala points out that the Surround will eventually receive the updates, they just aren’t ready yet. “The updates we deliver contain a complex stew of software code. The content often includes not only our fixes and improvements but also software supplied by companies that make the phone itself and the chips inside it. One of these third-party software “packages” earmarked for the HTC Surround needs additional testing by both Microsoft and AT&T.”
This is good news, at least for Focus and Quantum users, and it’s not the end of the world for Surround users. But, it’s hard to put a positive spin on updates that are now 2 months old. Perhaps, now that this initial embarrassing fiasco is almost behind them, Microsoft has learned and we won’t see these sorts of delays with the next go-around of updates.
XBMC Releases Skins Update
Last Updated on Monday, 28 March 2011 04:30 Written by Alan Monday, 28 March 2011 04:30
XBMC, the Xbox Media Center, recently release version 10.1 “in order to address a bug that would cause a crash for Windows users when receiving an automatic update for the current skin. Today they have announced that, since the the fix has been in use for a few weeks, they are now comfortable with releasing new skins.
If you are using XBMC, and are a Windows user, then make sure you are running version 10.1. If you are then you can now access the latest skins including “Simplicity” and “Neon”. They are also planning the release of a couple of more skins in the next few days. You can also choose from any of the other skins that have previously been available.
XBMC has a highly “skinnable” interface meaning that it can look radically different based on which “skin” is used. Confluence is used by default, so this is what will greet you upon install. You may wish to change the look to something more flashy, more artwork-based, etc. It’s up to you. See the list below for a list of active working skins.
If you haven’t tried XBMC then head over t their site and browse the gallery of screenshots. It’s a clean, simple, customizable alternative to Windows Media Center that can run on a Windows PC, as well as OSX, Linux, and Apple TV.
Micrsoft Releasing Update For Live Essentials 2011
Last Updated on Monday, 21 March 2011 08:19 Written by Alan Monday, 21 March 2011 06:53
Microsoft this week will be pushing a new update for Live Essentials 2011 via Windows Update. Well, pushing isn’t really the word since the update will be optional, but it will available through the Update software in the Windows Control Panel. The update is called QFE1 (quick fix engineering). According to Microsoft the fix will cover the following:
- In Messenger, we fixed a couple of issues where in some cases you could not re-establish video calls or file sharing activities after losing your network connection. Also, sometimes your status messages and display picture were not synchronizing correctly between PCs, so you’d see a notification that changes made would not be seen on other computers. We also made various performance and stability improvements.
- In Photo Gallery, we made a design change so that geotagging no longer overwrites GPS coordinates in image files.
- We corrected various problems with language translation.
The update has actually been available for manual download since December 2, 2010, but is now being moved to Windows Update to make it more accessible to users. The update is only a patch – not a full upgrade of Live Essentials. It will, likely, require a reboot of your PC. If you have installed the software since December 2nd then the patch was included with your version.
To see which version you can click the About button in Messenger or Photo Gallery. If you have version 15.4.3502.0922 then you do not have the update. If you have version 15.4.3508.1109. If you don’t yet have the Essentials pack then you can get it from the Windows Live Essentials 2011 site.
