Microsoft Surface Tablet Gets Software Updates

Microsoft recently launched their first tablet, the Microsoft Surface, which comes with Windows RT, and now Microsoft has released a software update for the device which comes with a number of bug fixes and performance improvements.

According to the guys over at the Verge, there are a total of seven minor updates available for the Microsoft Surface Windows RT tablet, and some of the improvements include faster launching applications.

As well as releasing various software updates, Microsoft has also patched a number of security issues with their Windows RT OS, you can find out more details over at Microsoft.

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Google Releases Android 4.2 Jelly Bean SDK

Google’s latest Android devices, which come with Android 4.2 Jelly Bean were released yesterday, the list includes the new Google Nexus 4 smartphone, the Google Nexus 10 tablet and the updated Google Nexus 7 tablet.

Now Google has announced the release of the Android 4.2 SDK, which is now available to download for developers, with API level17, you can see some of the highlights below.

Performance
We’ve worked with our partners to run Renderscript computation directly in the GPU on the Nexus 10, a first for any mobile computation platform.

New ways to engage users
Users can now place interactive lock screen widgets directly on their device lock screens, for instant access to favorite apps and content. With just a small update, you can adapt any app widget to run on the lock screen. Daydream is an interactive screensaver mode that users can encounter when their devices are charging or docked in a desk dock. You can create interactive daydreams that users display in this mode, and they can include any type of content.

New interaction and entertainment experiences
Android 4.2 introduces platform support for external displays that goes beyond mirroring. Your apps can now target unique content to any number of displays attached to an Android device.

Enhancements for international users
To help you create better apps for users in languages such as Arabic, Hebrew, and Persian, Android 4.2 includes native RTL support, including layout mirroring. With native RTL support, you can deliver the same great app experience to all of your users with minimal extra work. Android 4.2 also includes a variety of font and character optimizations for Korean, Japanese, Indic, Thai, Arabic and Hebrew writing systems.

You can find out full details about the Android 4.2 SDK over at the Android Developers Blog.

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Elliptic Labs Windows 8 Touchless Gesture Control Unveiled (video)

Elliptic Labs has developed a new touchless gesture control system for Microsoft’s latest Windows 8 operating system, which has been designed to enable users to take advantage of natural gesturing to navigate Windows 8.

The new system unveiled by Elliptic Labs uses ultrasonic touchless technology, and uses up to 95% less power than existing camera image-based gestural systems which are currently on the market, says Elliptic Labs. Watch the video after the jump to see the new touchless gesture control system in action.

Elliptic Labs has also developed an “Elliptic Ultrasound Starter Kit for Laptops”, to provide developers with an out-of-the-box solution for them to start integrating the new touchless gesture-based system within their hardware.

“Microsoft’s new metro interface changes how consumers interact with the operating system and the design is a perfect fit for touchless gestures. Elliptic’s Windows 8 Gesture Suite gives the users a touchless version of the gestures they already know from a touchscreen and allows the user to interact in an even more natural and intuitive way without having to touch the screen.”

For more information jump over to the Elliptic Labs website for full details on the new touchless gesture-based control system.

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Google Confirms Adobe Flash Is “Fully Sandboxed” In Its Chrome Browser

Adobe Flash Player has received extra attention from Google within its Chrome browser, and has now been “fully sandboxed” within Google’s browser across Windows, Mac, Linux and Chrome OS platforms.

The purpose of sandboxing help restrict malware from being able to install itself on to your computer, adding additional layers of security against malicious website that might have other plans for your computer whilst viewing a video on their site.  Watch the video after the jump to learn more about the Chrome Flash Sandboxing update.

Google has been working with Adobe since 2012 to help make their Chrome browser even more secure for possible threats and the addition of the newly added sandboxing for Adobe Flash Player offers great protection for users against malicious websites.

“With this release, Flash Player is now fully sandboxed in Chrome on all of our desktop platforms, including Windows, Mac, Linux and Chrome OS. Ultimately, this means a safer experience for you as you browse the web. We take the security of Chrome extremely seriously, so we’re excited to be delivering these enhanced protections, and we’ve enjoyed collaborating with Adobe on this effort.”

For more information jump over to the official Google announcement.

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PlayStation Vita PS Plus Service Launching November 19th (video)

If you have been waiting patiently for Sony’s PS Plus service to arrive on your new Sony PlayStation Vita portable gaming console. You will be pleased to learn that Sony has rolled out a new update to its PlayStation Vita console taking its system software to version 2.00.

The new PS Plus service will be available to Sony Playstation Vita owners from next week on November 19th 2012, with access to four games per month, together with other perks such as free play, exclusive discounts and online storage.

Using Sony’s new PS service gamers will be able to enjoy cross platform benefits, allowing them to set their game saves and trophies to automatically synchronise, with up to 2 GB of storage available to store game saves.(1GB on PS3 and 1GB on PS Vita). Sony explains:

‘The Instant Game Collection across both platforms means players will have a constant library of 14 games and at least five new games a month, which means over 65 games a year for PS3 and PS Vita. Gamers will also receive automatic updates with the service to ensure they are on top of the latest PS3 and PS Vita game and software updates.”

Sony Vita PS Plus subscription plan starts from 90 days for £11.99 / €14.99 and 365 days for £39.99 / €49.99. For more information jump over to the official Sony PlayStation blog.

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Nexus S and Motorola Xoom to remain on Android 4.1.2

While announcing the availability of Android 4.2 on AOSP, lead Android developer at Google Jean-Baptiste Quéru confirmed that the Nexus S and the Motorola Xoom will not be updated to Android 4.2 and will remain on Android 4.1.2.

We honestly can't say we didn't see this coming. Both devices, the Nexus S in particular, had started struggling while running the newer versions of Android, with their antiquated hardware unable to properly run the new software that is clearly designed for more powerful devices.

Still, both had a good run. The Nexus S was launched with Android 2.3 and since then has seen two major updates. Same goes for the Xoom, which was released with Honeycomb and received ICS and Jelly Bean afterwards.

It's worth noting that both devices are currently running a newer version of Android than many Android devices launched in the last six months, even though both have been around for close to two years now. While it does tell us that Google has been quite committed to updating its own devices, it also tells us how messed up the Android update situation is on non-Nexus devices.

Of course, just because the official support has stopped doesn't mean the unofficial support will cease as well. Custom ROM makers such as CyanogenMod will continue support for both devices for a while and you should see an Android 4.2 ROM for both pretty soon.

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