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Plex Media Server update brings web client for all, new PlexPass-only feature teased (update: PlexSync)
When Plex rolled out its PlexPass subscription that offered paying customers access to some new features as they were being developed, a new web client was first in line. Now an update to its Media Server is available that brings it to all users, along with a slew of other fixes and tweaks including improved photo access, transcoder management and increased subtitle support over DLNA. If you are on PlexPass however, now that the Plex/Web feature has escaped over the paywall the blog post teases a "mystery feature" set to debut tomorrow. Hit the source link for the full changelog and instructions on how to access everything. Update: The new PlexPass-exclusive feature is "PlexSync", that lets users flag content in their library to be automatically reformatted and loaded on their iOS (or Android, soon) device. There's several filters included to manage what content gets sideloaded plus APIs for developers, check the new blog post for more details.
TweetBot for Mac reaches the Mac App Store, keeps the 3rd-party Twitter client flame alive
When Twitter put out its strict new API guidelines, there was some doubt as to whether or not third-party clients like Tapbots' Tweetbot for Mac would even make the cut -- the user caps and other curbs on unofficial apps potentially made it tough to develop competition around a different (and possibly better) experience. That makes today's official appearance of Tweetbot in the Mac App Store as much symbolic as it is practical. While there won't be many significant shocks for those who've been participating in Tweetbot's alpha and beta stages, the finished version gives everyone running OS X Mountain Lion a major and sometimes more advanced alternative to official choices, such as TweetDeck, as well as existing third-party options like Twitterrific. A $20 price doesn't make Tweetbot the cheapest way to buck convention by any means, but it might be worth the investment if you're already committed to Tapbots' iOS apps or want to make a statement on the value of third parties in an ecosystem.
Tweetdeck updated with themes and new fonts
Twitter clients are like political candidates these days -- everyone's got one they like, and no one really wants to hear about the ones they don't. For me, TweetDeck is still my client of choice. Even though I've heard good things about TweetBot for Mac and a few other options out there, nothing newer has caught my eye. That's why I'm glad to hear that TweetDeck just got updated, and my client of choice has a few new tricks to it. The biggest change is that the client now supports themes, so if you don't like that dark default look, you can easily switch it over to a much lighter theme with dark text on a white background. You can also now customize the font that displays your tweets, and there are a few other new options and features to play around with. Yes, you might have moved on to a different Twitter client, for whatever reasons you've chosen to do so. But for those of us using TweetDeck, an update like this is very welcome indeed. [via Engadget]
TweetDeck for the web slips in expanded tweets and header photos
TweetDeck is Twitter's professional desktop client, though you might not always know it given that the app is sometimes out of step with its more pedestrian siblings. Today, Twitter is presenting a unified front in a more timely fashion. The web versions of TweetDeck now show the expanded tweets and header photos that reached the iPad and mobile apps a week ago. No major surprises are waiting in the wings save for the absence of a matching update to the native Mac and Windows apps -- hopefully, that's a gap that closes soon.
Twitter's API v1.1 rules put user caps on third party clients, exert more control overall
Last spring an announcement from the platform team at Twitter not-at-all-subtly suggested developers of third party clients should find something else to do, and today a list of changes to its API turns that whisper into a firm nudge. The limit that most directly affects any of the unofficial clients you may be interested in using is that existing apps currently servicing more than 100,000 individual user tokens will be allowed to double their current count, but cannot add any users past that without Twitter's permission. Going forward, any app that needs more than 100,000 tokens to do things like access the timeline, show DMs or anything else a client app might do will also need Twitter's permission to operate. Other changes include that any pre-installed client app on something like a phone, computer, or TV will need Twitter's permission before it ships (sensing a trend here?), or potentially face revocation of its application key. Moving on, the Display Guidelines about the information any app that displays tweets must provide are shifting to Display Requirements, with violators potentially losing that application key. Those Twitter Cards that started rolling out over the last few months are also getting a big push, with plans to include other ways for developers to bring their rich content to Twitter, and embed real-time Twitter content on existing websites. In a section of the blog post that specifically calls out popular third party clients like Tweetbot and Echofon, it puts them in a zone of Twitter apps that it believes developers "should not build" since they mimic or reproduce the mainstream Twitter client experience. Other services focused on aggregation like Storify and Favstar.fm are also called out as not having much of a future in Twitter's view of its universe A-OK, see the update below. It's pretty clear where we're headed, as Twitter seeks to monetize a growing and talkative user base, it wants to make sure users are all seeing things in the format it wants them to. With a six month migration period ahead, developers and users may have hard choices to make. Tweetbot developer Paul Haddad has already tweeted that "the sky is not falling...the cap is pretty huge and we aren't going anywhere", and we'll undoubtedly hear from others soon. The rest of the details reside beyond the source link, but let us know first -- are you learning to love the official Twitter clients, or are you thinking paying $50 a year for an entirely unproven alternative with no users doesn't sound so ridiculous after all? Update: Twitter platform director Ryan Sarver tweets that Favstar.fm and Storify are actually "good examples" of services it would like to see. Also, TweetLanes developer Chris Lacy is apparently encouraged by the change, thanking Twitter for "giving client devs a chance"
Editorial: The future comes slowly, but revolutions are worth waiting for
During a trip to Switzerland, my family started off on a day hike to reach the nearby foothills of a mountain. It looked doable, but as time passed the range seemed to recede before our approach. After many hours we turned around, having apparently failed to close any distance. Crossing from now to the future in technology can likewise seem illusory. When we scrutinize and celebrate each tiny incremental invention as if it were a milestone, we lose track of time as if we were counting grains of sand dropping through an hourglass. Game-changing inventions are rare, separated by epochs in which progress adds up to a lot of sameness. Futurism is an unforgiving business. But sometimes, as in the cases of cloud computing and media convergence, redemption comes with patience.
Tweetbot for Mac's latest alpha adds experimental 'snap-together' column layout
Tweetbot's been offering a rough-around-the-edges alpha version on its upcoming refresh for a few weeks now, but it's the latest update that's caught our attention -- again. There's several substantial changes that could tempt you away from other desktop Twitter clients. These include a new multiple account view, with separate columns that can either be docked to your main feed or left in their own window. You can spin out mentions and search results into their own space, and even adjust each column's height and width -- if you're looking to squeeze even more Twitter content into a single screen. A new menu bar icon offers access to your multiple accounts, new tweets, direct messages and mentions, while the latest build also improves support for media upload and Mountain Lion's notification bar. Tweetbot's alpha is still free to try for now, but once the kinks are eventually worked out, expect to pay for the finished article.
Gmail for iOS adds option to save photos, becomes a smoother operator
Google's Gmail app for iOS has been docked by some potential adopters for feeling like a poor cousin to other native apps. It may be worth revisiting: the 1.3 update has just arrived with a much-requested ability to save common image attachments to an iOS device's photo collection. Should that not be enough, Google has smoothed out animations and scrolling for iPhone and iPod touch owners. The new version has pushed live for everyone, leaving just a quick download between us and saving our parents' vacation photos for posterity.
Tweetbot for Mac arrives as free alpha, we give a quick hands-on
Seemingly anyone who's used an iPhone (and often the iPad) knows Tweetbot -- it's often the go-to Twitter app for those who prefer not to go the official route. It's to those users' delight, then, that Tapbots just posted a free alpha version of Tweetbot for Mac. As you'd anticipate, it's an attempt to bring much of the app's power user mojo to the desktop world: you can check just retweets of your content, mute overly chatty people or hashtags, and otherwise get more control than just watching your stream drift by. It's even (mostly) Retina-ready for that new MacBook Pro. Alpha does mean that there will be a fair amount of things missing; it won't tap into iCloud or Mountain Lion's Notification Center until it's official, for example. But if you're willing to deal with that and a few potential bugs, it may be time to brush other apps aside -- just note that you'll need Mountain Lion or newer when the app is ready to face the Mac App Store, even though it works with Lion today. We've had a quick spin with the app, and it largely does what it says on the tin: it's Tweetbot, on the Mac. The primary differences are changes that make sense when a mouse pointer and a larger screen area are available. You can reply, retweet, or view whole conversations from buttons that appear as you hover, rather than using the myriad taps and swipes of the iOS apps. It's a wonderfully minimalist app, if that's your thing, and you can open multiple windows (currently through a keyboard shortcut) to get some of that TweetDeck-style power user layout. Our main gripe? Tweetbot on the Mac always updates in a live stream, and there's no option for intervals; if you follow a lot of people, there's a chance you might miss something. Still, for an alpha, it's a decidedly polished and useful effort that doesn't leave us wanting like a few clients, including Twitter's own.
BitTorrent Torque alpha puts file seeds on the web, makes desktop apps look stale
Almost without fail, BitTorrent downloads have had to spread through a dedicated client, whether it's on the desktop or a router. Thankfully, BitTorrent Torque has just come in alpha form to liberate the peer download service from its software chains. All that's needed now is a web browser that can parse a JavaScript app. Going the new route gives some freedom to enable sharing that hasn't always been practical: among the tricks in the company's Torque Labs are drag-and-drop sharing, conversion of torrents into traditional downloads and easing the burden on a server for video streaming. The alpha stage leaves Torque with awhile to go before it's ready for the limelight, but experimenters can hit the source link to start tinkering with distributed file sharing today.
Mozilla giving Thunderbird the (effective) axe, leaving its fate to the community
Mozilla's Thunderbird mail client just hasn't enjoyed the same level of stardom as its Firefox cousin. Their developer must be feeling this discrepancy more than most, as the company has confirmed plans to take the organization out of active Thunderbird development. The shift is officially being spun as an adaptation that lets the Foundation center its energy on Firefox OS and the usual browser plans, but when Mozilla proper will only be handling bug fixes and security updates for a client that's "not a priority," we'd say it's putting Thunderbird on ice. Accordingly, leaked details from TechCrunch show Mozilla moving some of the team out of the project at some point; any new features will have to come from the community, which suggests the future upgrade schedule will be more than a bit unpredictable. The writing is on the wall soon enough that existing owners could have food for thought well before a final strategy is due in early September.
Guild Wars 2 beta brings new zones, PvP tournaments, and more
With the second Guild Wars 2 beta weekend event fast approaching, the ArenaNet blog has been updated with some new details about updates to beta client. As we've been told before, players' characters from the previous BWE and stress test will roll over into this event, allowing people who put the effort into leveling their toons to reap the sweet, sweet rewards of higher-level content. That higher-level content comes in the form of the Ascalonian Catacombs dungeon's story mode (for level 30 characters), explorable mode (for level 35 characters), and a new map human-territory map, Gendarran Fields (for level 25-35 characters). Additionally, players can travel to Lion's Arch and give their unwanted weapons and items to the Mystic Forge to see what it spits out in return. Apparently, the forge runs on pure djinn power (253% more green than any fuel we've got, we're guessing): The djinn Zommoros is held within the Mystic Forge and is evidently content to take players' stuff in exchange for mysterious goods of unknown value. On the PvP side of things, WvW maps have received quite an update! Along with the normal face-stopping and zerging associated with WvW, players will now be able to participate in a newly added mini-dungeon, skill challenges, jumping puzzles, and even dynamic events. Players participating in structured PvP will form five-player groups, take part in eight-team tournaments for chests full of goodies, and find that structured PvP matches reward them with Rank as well as Glory. Updates have been made to general gameplay and design, as well. Overflow server technology is now being made functional by the ability to see when party members are on overflow worlds, travel to those party members' worlds, and stick together between zones. Chat has been improved with chat bubbles, map chat, and an update to local chat. Those of you who've been waiting on key-binding functionality will find that it's got a new interface (which includes the binding of modifier keys, thank the five gods). Skills have been split into three tiers, so players now have to unlock a certain number of skills on one tier to be able to unlock any skills on the next level, in order to encourage a sense of progression and to make adding new skills more feasible in the future. Full details of the update can be read on the ArenaNet blog.
HP t410 AIO Smart Zero Client does single-wire Power over Ethernet, no power cord required
Now, we don't normally cover this sort of networking equipment, but we were quite impressed by HP's new t410 All-in-One Smart Zero Client after we spoke to its proud product manager Walt Jurek. First of all, this isn't an AIO desktop PC, nor is it an LCD monitor -- well, if you're unfamiliar with thin clients, just think of this as an 18.5-inch, 1,366 x 768 LED-backlit monitor (featuring a 3M technology for the 200 nit brightness -- our money's on the Uniformity Tape) that uses just one Ethernet cable to get both its 13W power from a PoE (Power over Ethernet) switch, as well as data connection over Citrix, Microsoft or VMWare protocol. The t410 can automatically detect the virtualization environment and then reprogram its digital signal processor when needed, meaning less manual work for the admin (in theory, anyway). More after the break.
RIFT adds streaming client
The barrier between interest and hands-on play was knocked down today as Trion Worlds introduced a streaming client for RIFT. The new client will allow players to jump into the game without fully downloading it first. Players with a faster connection are invited to start the streaming client and then log into the game soon thereafter. The new client will continue to download the remainder of the game even while the player is logged in. However, Trion said that slower connection speed computers should wait for the full client to finish downloading first. RIFT's launcher will automatically convert to the new system. Players experiencing background downloading while in-game will see a symbol on the screen to indicate the fact.
Steam's latest beta client enables remote installation of games, with emphasis on 'beta'
Considering it's supposed to be a democratic free-for-all, Steam has been running a tight ship lately. We've already seen a video of a forthcoming native client for Linux, and now there's a new beta client for Windows and Mac that also brings something different: remote game management. This can save you time by letting you trigger the download and installation of a title to your home computer while you're still in the office or on the move, via any web browser. That said, this type of thing was already possible using remote desktop apps, and so far the community response to the buggy beta has been decidedly mixed -- so make sure you read up on Valve's forum (at the source link) before you expect to find your slippers, Pinot Grigio and Sniper Elite V2 all lined-up and waiting when you get home. [Productive workplace photo via Shutterstock]
The Game Archaeologist: Are graphical updates worth the hassle?
"I'd play this game again if the graphics were updated." "If they re-released this game with modern graphics, it would be way more popular." "The Game Archaeologist is my hero, and I will name my progeny in his honor." How many times have we heard the above statements? From my perspective as someone who tries to keep tabs on classic MMOs, I see these claims quite a lot. Such sentiments pop up in nearly every other post Massively does about older games: "This title is rock-solid except for its aging visuals. Update those, and it would recapture its former glory and then some." This has gotten me thinking whether such logic would pan out or not. With Anarchy Online's much-hyped graphics overhaul on the way, this discussion seems to crop up more often. Is the power of a graphics conversion or overhaul strong enough to pull back in previous players and fresh blood? Or is it merely slathering on new paint over a rusting hulk?
Snapstream industrial-strength DVR gets Mac browser client
Snapstream is an enterprise-level TV monitoring service. It's used mostly by news organizations and companies to keep an eye on what's happening on television every night, looking for a certain piece of video or bit of text or speech (the Daily Show famously uses it to keep track of all of that news footage John Stewart makes fun of every night). And despite its popularity, it's only been available on Windows -- until now. Unfortunately, there's still not a dedicated Mac client, but there is a new web interface that Macs can access and use through the browser. The browser client will do everything the full client can, which means even users on Macs can search through TV broadcasts and find what they need. Users can grab that video and transcode it on the server off to a more web-friendly format. If your company uses Snapstream (or has been thinking about using it), but was waiting for a Mac client, now's your chance.
What's the difference between a 32- and 64-bit client?
One of the most frequently asked questions around here these days is what exactly the difference is between a 32- and 64-bit client of World of Warcraft. Blizzard, which has been hinting at a 64-bit WoW client for some time now, has finally announced that such a client exists and can be downloaded for testing on the PTR. This is great news for people with computers that have large amounts of RAM and hefty processors, as well as great news for general improvements to WoW's structure itself. In order to use a 64-bit client of WoW, you need to have a 64-bit operating system on your computer. The main difference between 32- and 64-bit operating systems (usually Windows) is that one deals with information in a more efficient way. Information in a 32-bit operating system is dealt with in pieces of information that are 32 bits wide, while 64-bit operating systems deal with information that is 64 bits wide -- double the alternative. With this larger bit structure comes better efficiency and the ability to use or "see" more RAM in your computer. 32-bit systems can only use 4 gigabytes of RAM and your 32-bit WoW client can only use 2 gigabytes, whereas the amount a 64-bit system can use is almost unlimited. While we don't fully know exactly what improvements to the game will come with the 64-bit client, we can assume that more efficient processing power and the ability to stack more RAM for WoW to use might give some players a big frame rate boost and better performance. Lifehacker has an old article about how to tell if you have a 32- or 64-bit operation system.
BioWare agrees Mac version of Star Wars: The Old Republic is important
Star Wars: The Old Republic is the new hotness in massively multiplayer games, and I'm really enjoying playing a smuggler on my PC. But unlike Blizzard, which makes World of Warcraft and has had a long policy of releasing both PC and Mac versions on the same disc, BioWare (who makes SW:TOR, as the kids call it) hasn't released a Mac version of its new video game. But there is hope. The two doctors who run BioWare tell our friends over at Massively/Joystiq that having a Mac version of the game at some point is indeed important. "We know there's a big Mac audience of BioWare fans ... we know that's an important and large audience. And we want to serve that audience," says Dr. Ray Muzyka. Unfortunately, he's not ready to serve that audience quite yet. You can play the game on a Windows-equipped partition, of course, but even though BioWare admits that's not the best way to do it, there are no official plans yet for a Mac port. That's too bad. Not only is SW:TOR a great game, but we've heard in the past that Mac audiences aren't just important for sales, they're also good for promotion. Mac users tend to be more influential (not to mention vocal) online, so if you can get Mac users playing and liking your game, you often can see a boost in overall player interest as well. Hopefully BioWare will get this game out for the Mac very soon, and (like World of Warcraft) in a form that makes some good evangelists out of Mac users.
Lock and (re)load: BioWare preps us for The Old Republic's launch
With 15 days to go before Star Wars: The Old Republic's launch, it doesn't seem like there's much time to get everything stocked and ready before the year's biggest release happens. Fortunately, BioWare's helping us to run down the preparation list with a series of informative forum posts. First on the list is to make sure that SWTOR players have the latest version of the client installed on their computers. BioWare says that if you played the game prior to November 25th, you'll probably need to install a completely new client; if you played since, you should be good. There are instructions on the forums as to how you can check which version you have. Pre-orders are wondering about early access, which BioWare says is the same between the three editions of the game -- it only matters when you added your pre-order code, not which edition you purchased. More information about the early access program is coming later this week. Finally, BioWare is preparing to make major changes to SWTOR's forums following a December 10th outage, during which all posts and PMs will be erased (as will infractions!). New forums, including those covering crew skills, story, lore and PvP, will be added, and guild forums will be expanded significantly. Those just starting to learn about the game will appreciate the new player help forum and community blog that's coming with the update.
