Fastforward Software has announced the public beta of Galder, a new puzzle board game for Mac OS X. In Galder, the player must remove gem stones as quickly as possible from an interactive circular game board by matching identical stones.
Fastforward's Managing Director Joshua Coventry said: "Until now, Fastforward has focused solely on software titles including FinanceToGo and QuickSnap. Today marks our entrance into the gaming market. Mac users need a wider choice of quality games, and Galder is the first of many to come."
Fastforward develops, publishes and distributes software and games for Mac OS X. Fastforward finances and supports independent shareware developers around the world. Fastforward is located in Sheffield, England and was founded in 2006.
A public beta of Galder is available free of charge from the Fastforward Software website. The beta expires within 30 days. Fastforward expects to ship the initial version of Galder as a digital download in late Q3 2007 at a retail price of $19.99 USD. It requires Mac OS X 10.3.9 or later.
Monday, August 20, 2007
Galder Puzzle Game Enters Public Beta
Thursday, August 9, 2007
Steam Community beta upgrade goes live
In a constant effort to better the digital platform, Valve has now made the Community beta open to the public. It is still very much in the beta stage, but the results thus far look promising and gamers are now able to create individual pages which show others their favourite games and gaming statistics.
It's also possible to create groups who can use chat-rooms in both IM and voice modes, schedule gaming events and tournaments, come together to discuss all things gamey and just generally commune with each other.
The community upgrade is the single largest update to Valve's Steam platform since the original release in March 2004. Since then the system has grown to comprise over 13 million users, making games from a number of publishers and developers available anywhere there's a stable internet connection.
In fact, just yesterday Valve and id Software joined forces to make the id Software back-catalogue available over Steam.
More importantly though, the community upgrade has quickly spawned an official bit-tech.net gaming group, which is open for all to join - so feel free to build something alongside myself in Garry's Mod, or wipe the floor with Tim, Rich or Brett in Counterstrike: Source.
To join up to the group, you'll first need to enable the community beta. To do this, start up steam and hit File > Settings > Beta Participation and then restart your Steam client. After that, you'll have access to the beta and will be able to join the official Bit-tech.net group. Sure, it's small right now but it's early days.
If you're having trouble joining the Bit-tech gaming group, or if you just want to weigh up whether it's worth joining a beta or not, then you can always head to the forums and discuss the matter in-depth.
Digital Currency Beta Testers Needed At Loomster.net
Loom software makes it possible to transfer digital title of an asset via the Internet. The actual asset may never change hands or move locations but ownership or digital ‘title’ to that asset can change dozens of times or more each hour. Its also possible that the asset may not even be a physical object.
Sign up for beta testing by today by sending a quick email to DGC@aprava.com and say you want on the list. Following your email, you will receive the invitation.
Any user can create and issue their own type of asset. Beta testers can create their own type of Loomster assets. Asset types can be physical objects such as a gram of gold or anything two or more people agree has value.
There is a group now creating “volunteer hours”. A VH is digital title to ownership of work hours donated by members of their organization. There is no physical item stored or ‘backing’ these digital units. Each unit is equivalent to one hour of donated volunteer time within that organization. Their membership groups trade and issue “VH” units to accomplish local tasks such as the recent cleaning and restoration of a old park and vacant lot.
The popular exchange provider GoldNow has issued their own GoldNow Gold Grams. Each digital unit is equal to one gram of gold. Loomster has issued Open2Exchange Bucks or O2E-$ which is equal to one USD for exchange with O2E cash account balances.
Anyone can create or issue their own asset and exchange them on the Loom Software. GoldNow Grams are exchanged on the Loom Gold web site. O2E-$ is exchanged on Loomster. These two domains operate independently of each other but both are the same Open Source Loom Software.
With Loom Software, there is no ‘back office’ system of administration overseeing all transactions. If you lose your folder location, you also lose everything in that folder. You cannot request your old access….its gone and that is final. Lost assets do not secretly become property of the administrator, they are ‘missing at sea’ and unless you know what location to find them…..your assets will never be recovered. There is no backup database that can be mined for your lost or stolen items. No administrator can peek into the system and re-arrange folders, reclaim assets or reverse transactions. It is simply not possible.
Any Loom user can create his or her own assets and transfer title as they desire. No administrator has any ability to block that commerce, reverse it, change it or reclaim it.
Finally, all users must remember, transfer of a digital title is not a guarantee of good delivery for that asset. When using Loom Software users must personally rate the issuer of those assets. If someone you know issues digital title to one of his assets and proves to you that they will deliver if requested, you might reasonably assume since you know them that they will deliver.
Just beware, if someone you do not know, issues assets and they ask you to exchange them for value—-> It is buyer beware.
Loomster has no complaint department if you end up with bogus or worthless assets. Due diligence is 100% your responsibility.
If Boy Scout Troop 384 issued VH units(Volunteer Hours) and I needed my house painted, I’d be happy to buy 5 VH units and have them complete the job. I trust the Scouts and I know Troop 384 members. I know they will deliver on their VH digital IOU. I trust the issuer and I’ll accept those assets.
If Vladamir from Moscow, issues DIA units backed by flawless diamonds for the low low price of just $50 per carat, I would NOT want to own that asset. I don’t trust the issuer to deliver on that asset and would not do business with anyone making that claim.
Users must also be careful to notice that if Peter from Los Angeles, issues his own assets call VH-BS (Volunteer Hours Boy Scouts) and tries to exchange them with you from his local ‘troop 385′, you had better be careful to check if his assets are the real deal (actual VH units from Troop 384) or a clone of the original. Just like checking that you are shopping at the real Amazon.com web site by verfying the SSL certificate, you will want to check that you are doing business with the actual verfied VH unit and not a clone. This is very easy enough to check once you are aware it could be a possible problem.
August is beta testing month for Loomster.net which is currently operating the Loom Software version 51. Input on the Loomster operation is needed, so please sign up today and get your first Loomster folder with test assets. Loomster is not yet in operation for any actual commerce, it is still in testing mode and learning from beta user’s input. Find out how you can create your own asset and how to value other assets in the Loom system. Learn what secondary exchange market might be available and the benefits of using the Loom Software in everyday commerce.
Sign up for beta testing today by sending a quick email to DGC@aprava.com and say you want on the list. Following your email, you will receive you invitation.
Loom Software is Open Source, for more information see this post Patrick Chkoreff’s Loom Gold Q & A Plus The New Tutorial Video
The openSUSE Project Turns Two with Improved Build Service and 10.3 Beta
SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- LinuxWorld Conference & Expo -- On the second anniversary of the creation of the openSUSE(TM) project, the community program this week marked two new milestones -- the availability of the first beta of openSUSE 10.3 and the continued growth of the openSUSE Build Service.
"We appreciate all the contributions the community has made to the openSUSE project during the past two years," said Michael Loeffler, openSUSE product manager at Novell. "The goal of the openSUSE project is to promote the use of Linux everywhere, and our strong community of developers, testers, writers, translators, artists and users have been instrumental in creating one of the world's best Linux distributions. And as we seek to streamline and improve collaboration between all Linux developers, the openSUSE Build Service has changed the way packages have been built. The build service is quickly becoming a center for building any Linux distribution."
OpenSUSE Build Service Momentum
Now with more than 700 projects and 20,000 software packages, the openSUSE Build Service is an innovative framework that provides an infrastructure for software developers to easily create and compile packages for multiple Linux* distributions. The development team today released the first version of the end-user interface for the build service, with which users of any openSUSE, SUSE(R) Linux Enterprise, Fedora, Debian, Ubuntu or Mandriva distribution can easily search and browse new software for their distribution. Users of the upcoming openSUSE 10.3 can install their software with one click directly from the Web interface. In the past four months, more than 13 million packages have been downloaded from the openSUSE Build Service as developers build packages for various distributions using the tool.
AMD has helped sponsor the progress of the openSUSE Build Service with leading-edge hardware and development expertise. "AMD is helping to ensure that the openSUSE Build Service continues to be an important collaboration and development platform for developers of all distributions," said Terri Hall, AMD vice president of Commercial Systems Marketing. "AMD recognizes the value of the open source development model, and by providing hardware for the openSUSE Build Service, we are able to actively participate in the continued innovation for which the open source community is known."
Developers who want to provide their software to a broader audience of Linux users are often hampered when packages built for one distribution will not work on other distributions. The openSUSE Build Service is the only open source build system that helps developers provide packages with the same high quality for multiple distributions from the same source code. With the system imaging tool KIWI, open source developers can more quickly build a Linux distribution that meets their needs, rigorously test it to ensure product quality, and easily package it for quick installation.
The openSUSE Build Service is completely open source, giving developers and users free and full access to build their choice of Linux packages, whether based on openSUSE, SUSE Linux Enterprise, Fedora, Debian, Ubuntu or other projects. An essential part of the openSUSE project, the openSUSE Build Service is available at http://www.opensuse.org/Build_Service. The new end- user interface can be found at http://software.opensuse.org.
First Beta of openSUSE 10.3
OpenSUSE 10.3 offers a state-of-the-art operating system based on Linux kernel 2.6.22 with a large variety of the latest open source applications for desktops, servers and application development. The first beta of openSUSE 10.3 is now available at http://www.opensuse.org/download.
About Novell
Novell, Inc. delivers infrastructure software for the Open Enterprise. Novell is a leader in enterprise-wide operating systems based on Linux and open source and provides the enterprise management services required to operate mixed IT environments. Novell helps customers minimize cost, complexity and risk, allowing them to focus on innovation and growth. For more information, visit http://www.novell.com.
Novell and SUSE are registered trademarks and openSUSE is a trademark of Novell, Inc. in the United States and other countries. *Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. All other third-party trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
ReplayTV beta testing HD software
Earlier this year ReplayTV PC Edition went from being the most expensive commercial PVR software on the market to being among the cheapest.
ReplayTV may still have some name recognition (the company was one of the pioneers of PVR technology along with TiVo). But ReplayTV PC Edition lacks some of the features of Windows Media Center, BeyondTV and SageTV -- notably HDTV support.
ReplayTV is working to catch up to its siblings in the PC-based PVR market. The company is seeking beta testers for a new HDTV capable client.
It looks like the beta will run through September. Testers will be asked to participate in online forums, answer weekly surveys, and of course submit bug reports. In other words, you'll be expected to work for your free software trial. Or you could just wait until ReplayTV releases a final edition. The current version of ReplayTV PC Edition includes a 30-day free trial, and I'm guessing the same will be true of the HD version.
Saturday, July 28, 2007
What If Joost Were a Web App?
An independent developer has built a Flash version of Joost that runs in any browser. Sure, he doesn’t have access to any of the Joost content, but what he’s built is basically a proof-of-concept using Joost graphics and improving on the UI, using publicly available video from sites like YouTube and Veoh.
Longtime Flash developer Paul Yanez told us Friday he started playing around with building a Joost app for about a month now, but just started emailing people about it last night (click on the thumbnail at left to see a screenshot). A Joost beta tester, he was frustrated with having to download a new version of the application every time it was updated. “It seemed to me like it should have been built in Flash in the first place,” he said.
Yanez’s web app looks just like Joost — when in full-screen mode, it’s hard to tell a difference. It also includes a number of improvements: first of all, accessibility on different platforms — but also better resizing of windows, webcam chat, and right-click functionality. It lacks P2P-aided high-quality video and all the content Joost has spent months licensing.
Of course, Yanez lacks permission from Joost to use its graphics, its licensed content, or its name. But what Joost should really do is hire him to develop a web version. Yanez, an independent developer based in San Diego, says he’s just playing — next week he’ll release Wii, Apple TV, and other skins for watching web video. Joost is “making a real business; a Chime.tv [see our review from earlier this week] or what I’m doing is just utilizing web 2.0 and RSS feeds. They’re signing deals and they’re making it more like TV. Keeping a closed platform could benefit them.”
We’ve noticed a trend of outside developers filling in gaps that Joost has left in its product. For instance, New York-based programmer Hal Schechner noticed that Joost did a poor job of telling users when it added new content. So he started OnTheToob, where he publishes links and RSS feeds of fresh content, using software he wrote to routinely scour Joost. He told us earlier this week that since starting the site he’s been contacted by people at Joost, who are helping him improve what he’s doing.
BBC to launch online TV service
London, July 28: The BBC is to launch an online TV service, which will offer viewers a chance to download their favourite programmes from the last seven days.
Describing the proposed launch of the iPlayer as being as big a milestone as the arrival of colour TV, Director-General Mark Thompson, said a fixed number of people will be able to sign up, and predicted that the number of viewers would increase throughout the year.
The iPlayer allows viewers to download a selection of programmes from the last seven days and watch them for up to 30 days afterwards.
In the UK, Channel 4 offers a similar service, called 4OD, for programmes across its portfolio of channels.
Viewers interested in the iPlayer can register for the service on Friday and will then be invited to join. The number of users will increase over the summer, before a full launch in the autumn.
The iPlayer began life in 2003 as the iMP (Integrated Media Player), and some believe it should have been launched in that format.
A BBC spokeswoman said the iPlayer, like any other new BBC service, went through a Public Value Test (PVT). The nine-month test was overseen by the corporation's regulators.
Arash Amel, an analyst with the research firm Screen Digest, was quoted as saying that "technical glitches" were inevitable when the iPlayer is launched, partly because rival applications experienced them and partly through his own experience of the BBC's offering.
The iPlayer has already courted controversy from open source advocates, angry that, at launch, it will only be compatible on PCs with the Windows XP operating system.
Other services such as ITV's broadband media player and Channel 4's on-demand offering also rely on Microsoft software but, critics argue, the BBC's remit is to serve licence-payers, which includes Mac users and those who favour cheaper alternatives to Microsoft, such as Linux.
The BBC Trust has told the corporation it must widen the access to iPlayer as soon as possible and has ordered a review every six months.
The trust met with Mark Taylor, the head of the Open Source Consortium and one of the more vocal critics of the Microsoft-only launch, earlier this week.
"They reiterated their commitment to platform neutrality, specifically mentioning Linux, and welcomed our offer of help to establish a cross-platform approach," Taylor said.
The OSC is due to meet BBC management to discuss the issue further.
The BBC has said it is working with Virgin Media to launch on cable later this year.
Friday, July 20, 2007
spigit Announces the Beta Launch of spigit.com as a New Professional Network to Review Emerging Technologies
spigit, a fast growing start-up company, today announced the beta launch of spigit.com, an interactive professional network where participants can showcase and contribute to innovative ideas as well as build key relationships. spigit.com is launching more than 25 featured companies selected from hundreds of submissions. The launch companies will be among the first to compete for the inaugural spigit Splash! Award, a quarterly honor awarded to the top rated new innovative idea or company.
spigit.com is the first "socionomic" platform to capture, analyze, and aggregate targeted social participation and contributions to help develop new ideas and professional relationships. Founders can develop and test their best ideas, get feedback and visibility, and potentially find the right resources and funding to take their idea to the next level. The real value of spigit.com unfolds when participants start contributing thoughts and opinions to different ideas and threads. Based on feedback and ratings broken down into hundreds of dynamic events, spigit's simulation engine computes an array of metrics, including "reputation index" for each user and a virtual "spock price" for new ideas. These metrics can be used to assess and improve the likelihood of success of new ideas, as well as help participants identify meaningful professional connections.
The spigit.com community is the company's first offering that showcases its proprietary simulation engine for quantifying wisdom of crowds and social interaction for meaningful professional and economic gains. The underlying technology and simulation engine can be leveraged for use in any social networking platform. The company is currently working on several pilots in the enterprise to deploy solutions for managing innovation and social interaction between employees, partners and customers.
About spigit:
The company's mission is to help people gain insight and develop meaningful relationships around their professional experience through analysis of online interactions and contributions. spigit's simulation engine tracks hundreds of dynamic events and, through a series of algorithms, computes results producing valuable predictions and identifying social connections to maximize economic and professional gain.
spigit is co-founded by Paul Pluschkell, CEO, and Padmanabh Dabke, CTO. The company is based in Pleasanton, California.
Friday, July 13, 2007
Get a Free $10 Obopay Prepaid MasterCard® for Sign Up!
As seen in WSJ, USA Today. Obopay has a free $10 prepaid Mastercard for those who sign up for their cell phone payment service. Free $5 for New Money recipients. Verizon is even working with them.
Obopay is the first truly comprehensive mobile payment service in the United States. That means we're the only service that lets you instantly get, send and spend money anywhere, anytime with anyone all from your phone. Plus, it comes with the added convenience of an Obopay Prepaid MasterCard®. Think about that for a minute. There are over 200 million cell phone users in the U.S. and more than 24 million MasterCard® acceptance locations worldwide including merchants and ATMs. Now, that's a lot of people and places that are going to love Obopay.
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Swaptree Beta
Ages ago I signed up to be a beta tester for a service called Swaptree. I finally received my invite last month, and at long last signed on last night. (The beta is public as of July 4th, so you can try it out yourself.) The premise of Swaptree is simple. You list books, movies, games and music that you’re willing to trade and then browse for items you’d like to get in exchange.
I set up my Swaptree account by typing in the ISBN numbers of 9 books I have and got a list of 176 items that I could potentially receive in a trade. These included 143 books, 18 CDs, 8 video games and 7 DVDs. Not bad. I initiated one trade and now I’m sitting back to see what happens.
The service is drop-dead simple and I can see how it might get addictive. However, it does have a few quirks.
Despite the fact that Swaptree is willing to set up three-way trades to help you get what you want, there’s still an issue of critical mass. Only 3 of the 9 books I put in my “have it” list came up with possible trades. Many people would like my copy of Life of Pi, but there are no takers for Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse.
Trades are free, but you do have to factor in shipping costs. Paying a couple of bucks in shipping to receive the first season of Lost is a great deal. But if you’re getting a paperback book, you might as well hit the local library.
Got a bunch of VHS tapes you’d like to get rid of? Sorry, no can do. They’re bulky to ship and the number of VCR-owning households is rapidly declining. Swaptree says, sell’em on eBay!
Get the full Swaptree FAQ here. I’ll post again when my first trade goes through.
BBC iPlayer to launch in beta July 27
The BBC has confirmed that iPlayer, its unified online TV and audio player, will launch in beta on July 27.
"BBC iPlayer is a free catch-up service for UK licence fee payers," said Ashley Highfield, director of future media and technology at the BBC. "Your favourite programmes from all the BBC's network TV channels will be available to download over the internet, and watch on your PC without advertising for up to a week after transmission."
On January 31, the iPlayer passed a public value test carried out by the BBC Trust. Plans to offer live TV simulcasts and a 7 day catch-up TV service with a 30 day storage window - watered down from the BBC's hoped 13 week window - were approved, as were certain iPlayer-integrated podcasts.
The beta player launched next month will offer these features but will only be available for Windows PCs. A full marketing launch will take place in the Autumn, at which time features including streaming on demand (the ability to watch a programme without having to download a file first), series stacking and the BBC Radio Player will be added. Over the next few months the BBC will be working on making the iPlayer - which currently uses Microsoft digital rights management (DRM) technologies to ensure that downloaded programmes are rendered unviewable after 30 days and may not be copied to DVDs - available to non-Windows computers, as the BBC Trust said it must do.
"We are committed to making it as easy as possible to use BBC iPlayer," said Highfield. "Developing a version for Apple Macs and Microsoft Vista is absolutely on our critical path."
The Autumn launch will also more closely ally the iPlayer brand with the BBC's existing 7 day catch-up TV service offered on Virgin Media's digital cable service.
"Our vision is for BBC iPlayer to become a universal service available not just over the internet, but also on cable and other TV platforms, and eventually on mobiles and smart handheld devices," explained Highfield. "It underpins our Creative Future strategy, to maintain the BBC's relevance among all audiences in the digital age."
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
IIS7 Go Live license now available for Windows Server Codename "Longhorn" Beta 3
After months of development, Microsoft's Internet Information Services (IIS) team believes that it has reached a point of extreme stability with IIS7. The team has so much faith in its code base that, starting now, it is offering a special Windows Server "Longhorn" Beta 3 (aka Windows Server 2008) Go Live license specifically for IIS7. Why would the company do this? One of the most important aspects of IIS is the ability to handle load, and what better way to load test the server than allow it to be used in real-world environments?
Here's the word straight from Microsoft:
To facilitate rigorous testing under real conditions, Microsoft is now offering Windows Server Codename "Longhorn" Beta 3 under a special Go Live license, prepared exclusively for IIS7. The IIS7 Go Live License permits customers to deploy beta releases of IIS7 into live production environments well before the official release of Windows Server Codename "Longhorn".
If you insist on having your applications and servers use the absolute latest technology, this is a great deal. For those unfamiliar with what a Go Live license does, it gives you legal permission to run beta software in a production environment. Still, it is important to note that while some Go Live software receives formal support, this specific offer does not. Microsoft also does not plan to offer hot fix support for the Windows Server "Longhorn" Beta 3 Go Live software.
Those interested can commit to the Go Live license at Microsoft Connect. It's short, simple, and warns you several times that the product is a pre-release and may not be stable.