ITV updated the iOS version of the ITV Player app which added live TV streaming and today the Android version has been updated. The Android version doesn’t have live streaming the main changes to this version are CITV content, parental controls and 30 days worth of streaming.

While the update is nice it’s a shame live streaming isn’t included like the iOS version, I also find the layout not as nice as the iOS version. You can find the app in the Google Play store.

What’s in this version:

- You can now watch content for up to 30 days after broadcast
- Inclusion of CITV content
- Exit button – we listened to your feedback and you can now fully close the app
- Parental Controls – you can now set a 4 digit PIN to prevent access to content that carries a Guidance warning
- Improved usability and carousel responsiveness
- Fixes various performance and stability issues

Microsoft continue to work on improving SkyDrive, there were updated to the PC and Mac versions recently and yesterday the iOS version was updated. This update adds Retinia support and makes it easier to share and manage your photos and files.

One change is the support for opening SkyDrive files in other iOS apps, so you can  do things like open a PDF in apps like iBooks and Kindle.

The app is free from iTunes

What’s New in Version 2.1

• Bug fixes.
• Updated to support iPad, including the new iPad with Retina display.
• Choose multiple photos or videos to upload from your iPhone or iPad.
• Share your files and photos—send a link in email or get a link you can copy and paste.
• Manage your files—move, delete, rename, or create new folders.
• Open your SkyDrive files in other iOS apps.

When Windows Vista was launched one of the first hitches to hit the OS was poor driver support but it looks like that is not going to be the case this time with Windows 8. NVIDIA have announced that it’s R302 drivers have been certified by Microsoft’s Windows Hardware Quality Lab. Next week the certified drivers will be released with support the new Windows Display Model v1.2, correct drivers are a vital part of the Windows ecosystem so its good to see NVIDIA and Microsoft working together.

In conjunction with today’s launch of Microsoft Windows 8 Release Preview and the opening of the Microsoft Windows Hardware Quality Labs (WHQL) for Windows 8, NVIDIA has received Windows 8 certification for its new R302 graphics drivers.

The WHQL certification of R302 drivers highlights the fact that NVIDIA is in lock-step with Microsoft and is fully prepared for Windows 8.

The new Windows 8 WHQL-certified GeForce R302 drivers will be available for download early next week from GeForce.com (Note: R302 drivers will be Windows 8 only. Other Windows operating systems will continue to use R300 drivers).

NVIDIA’s Windows 8 drivers support all the features in the new Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM) v1.2. The drivers also support award-winning NVIDIA 3D Vision and 3DTV Play products, allowing you to play more than 600 games, watch Blu-ray movies and view photos – all in 3D.

For more information on the Microsoft Windows 8 Release Preview, please visit: http://preview.windows.com

With the Release Preview of Windows 8 Microsoft included a Flash enabled version of IE 10 in the box, on the Building Windows 8 Blog there is a detailed post talking about IE in Windows 8. When Microsoft announced the Metro version of Windows 8 wouldn’t support plugins I thought this was a good idea, I don’t like flash and was happy to see it go but after watching my kids play with Windows 8 on my tablet and seeing them play lots of Flash games I can see why it makes sense for Microsoft to include basic Flash support.

The Windows 8 Release Preview includes a new power-optimized, touch-friendly Adobe Flash Player for IE10 that is updated through Windows Update. Adobe Flash content on compatible websites will now play in the new Metro style web browser. This optimized Flash Player is integrated with IE 10 in Windows 8 to ensure that our customers have a great experience browsing the web on Windows 8. We believe that having more sites “just work” in the Metro style browser improves the experience for consumers and businesses alike.

Whether it’s worth the battery life trade off remains to be seen.

Read the full post on the Building Windows 8 Blog 

We built a new browsing experience in lockstep with Windows 8 to give you all the advantages that Metro style apps offer. We built that experience by extending IE’s underlying architecture to provide a fast, fully hardware-accelerated browsing engine with strong security and support for HTML5 and other web standards.

Internet Explorer 10 is designed to make website interaction fast and fluid for touch as well as for heavy mouse and keyboard use. With IE10, websites participate in the Metro style experience in Windows 8, including the Start screen, charms, snap, and more. IE10 also provides the best protection from malicious software on the web while providing convenient control over your online privacy.

The Metro style browsing experience is a better way to browse on a desktop computer with a big screen, mouse and keyboard, or on a touch-enabled mobile device. As people browse more “chromelessly” on their phones, they’ve become accustomed to a more immersive and less manual browsing experience compared with the desktop. Metro style browsing offers you a full-screen, immersive site experience with every pixel of the screen for your favorite sites. With IE and Windows 8 you can always use the charms to accomplish what you want to do next with a website (e.g. share, print, search…). We’ve heard from many people – even those with the most enthusiastic and intense browsing patterns – prefer Metro style browsing because it’s fast, fluid and more focused on what you browse than on how you browse.

Firecore have just released aTV Flash for the black Apple TV. Version 1.6 adds new features like one-click subtitle downloads, Wake On LAN support and most useful for Window Media Center users it adds support for WTV files so you should be able to stream TV shows from a Media Center system to the Apple TV. If you have aTV Flash you get the update from Maintenance –> Manage Extras menu if you want to purchase there are details on Firecore’s site

Details from Firecore:

Hot on the heels of the new Seas0nPass release we’re happy to present to you a brand new version of aTV Flash (black). Version 1.6 adds a bunch of great new features including integrated subtitle downloads, expanded codec support, refined video playback, improved networking, additional translations and a truckload of other improvements and bug fixes.

Integrated Subtitle Downloads

By popular request we’ve added one-click subtitle downloads, courtesy of OpenSubtitles.org. Now instead of spending hours searching for the right subtitles they can be easily downloaded right from your Apple TV in a matter of seconds. Check out the screenshots below to see this feature in action.

Need additional subtitles? Just click ‘Get More…’.

Choose from thousands of available subtitles.

Full Changelog

• Added integrated subtitle downloads from OpenSubtitles.org
• Added support for purchased iTunes content (matching iTunes login required)
• Added video deinterlacing option
• Added Wake-on-Lan (WOL)
• Added Portuguese (Portugal) translation
• Added support for displaying subtitles in lower ‘black bar’
• Added support for .WTV files
• Added support for multiple simultaneous AFP connections
• Improved bulk fetching & added automatic artwork caching
• Improved automatic downscaling for large thumbnails
• Improved metadata reloading for images
• Improved buffering over AFP
• Resolved various audio synchronization issues
• Resolved possible overflow in 5.1 AC3 audio
• Resolved issues with zoom for 4:3 movies
• Resolved missing audio for .dvr-ms files (ASF containers)
• Resolved rare SRT file crash
• Resolved issues with slideshow animation
• Resolved file specific metadata fetching issues
• Resolved rare ISO file crashes
• Resolved issue with displaying identical thumbnails for images with the same name
• Resolved metadata loading issues for files containing non-latin characters
• Resolved rare 5ch audio file crash
• Resolved issues with incorrect metadata for files with ‘<TVShow Name>/S01E0.avi’ pattern
• Resolved auto-start issues in Couch Surfer
• Reduced memory footprint for large software-decoded videos and slideshows
• Other minor UI improvements & bug fixes

Great! Where can I get it?

If you’re already running a version of aTV Flash (black) the new 1.6 version can be installed through the Maintenance –> Manage Extras menu. Links for the new version can also be found in your account under the Downloads tab.

If you’re new to aTV Flash (black) you can learn about all the great benefits here.

Just in case anybody was thinking there are some new super secret features in the Windows 8 version of Windows Media Center there isn’t. Having looked at Media Center today I can safely say that MC is the same as in the Consumer Preview version which it’s self is the same as current Windows 7 edition. The only changes is that due to the way it’s built with the .net framework 4.0 some 3rd party apps breaks. I think most people where not expecting changes but I know a hopeful few where looking out for new features but they are going to be disappointed.

It would be nice if Microsoft could give developers a heads up on what they need to do so make sure their apps work well with Windows 8 but nothing has been forthcoming yet.

DVBLogic have released beta 2 of version 4.5 of the DVBLink suite of products. This updates the beta launched last week which is a significant change to DVBLink including it not be reliant on Windows Media Center.

Details from the DVBLogic forums:

DVBLink products beta 2 is available! Now with the whole product line!

What is new and fixed from the previous beta / previous version:
General
- Fixed: Disappearing channels from channel selection
- Fixed: Channel preview does not work until previous preview stops
- Additional fix for growing mcepg database size
- Added: Manual trial activation
- Fixed: xmltv source not parsing xmltv files correctly

DVBLink for Dreambox
- Fixed: Channel streaming consumes hard disk space

DVBLink for Kartina.TV
- Added: support for video library and archive (Архив и Видеотека)

Notes:
- This version is not binary compatible with version 2.x, 3.x and 4.0/4.1. You will have to uninstall them completely before installing this version. Do not forget to make a backup!
- 1geek1tool products are not supported (yet) in this version
- v4.5 products use new licensing engine. This means that at the moment only trial activation is possible (e.g. your licenses for already purchased DVBLink products cannot be used with this version while it is in beta phase).
- The 4.5 update will be free of charge update for all v4 users. For v3 users the current paid upgrade rules apply.

For more Notes please refer to the beta 1 topic:
viewtopic.php?f=61&t=18879&start=90#p59337

Installation instructions
<<If you have not installed the beta 1>>
- Make a backup of your current DVBLink installation. Do not forget about the contents of your Plugin folder(s), additional playlists and other extra
- Uninstall all your DVBLink products, reboot and delete dvblink folder of the previous installation
- (Optional, but recommended) Delete MediaCenter database
- Download DVBLink v4.5 products from using the links below
- Install DVBLink Server first (dvblink_server.msi), followed by DVBLink source product(s) and (optionally) DVBLink Connect! Server and DVBLink EPG Loader for Digiguide (dvblink_epg_loader_for_digiguide.msi)
- Open http://localhost:39876 and activate trial for each product (click on the red line and then press Activate button). Activation may take some time if there are a lot of users willing to activate the software, so please be patient
- Once products are activated, you may continue with restoration of your backup or doing a new configuration

<<If you have installed the beta 1 already>>
- Use enclosed bat file for update. Start dvblink_server_update.bat to update server first, then update bat file for your source product followed by Connect! server and Digiguide loader.

For more information about v4.5 please refer to the beta 1 topics:
viewtopic.php?f=61&t=18879&start=90#p59337
viewtopic.php?f=61&t=18895

The beta 2 of DVBLink products can be downloaded from the following links:

DVBLink TVSource
http://www.dvblogic.com/download/Trunk/ … _45_b2.zip

DVBLink Connect! Server
http://www.dvblogic.com/download/Trunk/ … _45_b2.zip

DVBLink AnalogTV:
http://www.dvblogic.com/download/Trunk/ … _45_b2.zip

DVBLink for IPTV:
http://www.dvblogic.com/download/Trunk/ … _45_b2.zip

DVBLink for Dreambox:
http://www.dvblogic.com/download/Trunk/ … _45_b2.zip

DVBLink for Kartina.TV:
http://www.dvblogic.com/download/Trunk/ … _45_b2.zip

DVBLink EPG Loader for Digiguide:
http://www.dvblogic.com/download/Trunk/ … _45_b2.zip

Have fun and as usual let us know what you think!

DVBLogic team

Earlier on this year I looked at a new app for Windows Phone called HD EPG which enables browsing and controlling of Windows Media Center from a Windows Phone.  As well as the EPG features you can stream videos,TV, music and pictures to your Windows Phone anywhere in the world.  The developer has got in touch with details on the next version which is due in the next week or so.

Version 1.11 now works with 4 languages English, German, Spanish and Danish with more in the works but the main addition to this version is Wake On LAN integration so you can use the Windows Phone to wake the PC.

The developer has some interesting plans for the next version including social networking links and Youtube integration. I really like the design of the application as it makes the most of Windows Phone’s metro UI.

Features of the new version:

New in Version 1.11:
User Interface Translations
English, German, Spanish and Danish

Wake On LAN integrated
Wake up your PC from Standby, Hibernation or when its turned off.
Wake up your PC when you start the APP on your Phone or with an extra button.

Server related Settings
Settings are now related to the different connections.
Live TV functions, Use Channel Logos, …

User Interface improvements
speed improvements
bugfixes

Video demo of 1.11

As well as the Windows 8 Release Preview Microsoft also pushed out Windows Server 2012 Release Candidate.  While most of the world focuses in on Windows 8 Microsoft say this release is “ quite possibly the most significant release of Windows Server ever” . I have been running the beta on a couple of my servers so will be interested to see what the new version is like.

Windows Server® powers many of the worlds’ largest datacenters, enables small businesses around the world, and delivers value to organizations of all sizes in between. Building on this legacy, Windows Server 2012 redefines the category, delivering hundreds of new features and enhancements spanning virtualization, networking, storage, user experience, cloud computing, automation, and more. Simply put, Windows Server 2012 helps you transform your IT operations to reduce costs and deliver a whole new level of business value.

This is quite possibly the most significant release of Windows Server ever.

Learn for yourself by downloading the release candidate today to check out all of the things that Windows Server 2012 can do for you.

If you have installed Windows 8 Release Preview are looking for Windows Media Center you find that its not there. That is because it’s this version is the standard version of Windows 8 and Windows Media Center is only avaialble as a paid component of Windows 8 Pro.

So to get Windows Media Center you will need to follow the tip in the Windows 8 FAQ which will upgrade your system to a pro pack with Windows Media Center. Don’t expect any major changes to Media Center in this build.

Where is Windows Media Center?

Windows Media Center is not preinstalled in Windows 8 Release Preview. If you want to use Windows Media Center, you need to add it by following these steps:

1. Swipe in from the right edge of the screen, and then tap Search.
(If you’re using a mouse, point to the upper-right corner of the screen, and then click Search.)

2. Enter add features in the search box, and then tap or click Add features to Windows 8.

3. Tap or click I already have a product key.

4. Enter this product key: MBFBV-W3DP2-2MVKN-PJCQD-KKTF7 and then click Next.

5. Select the checkbox to accept the license terms and then click Add features.

Your PC will restart and Windows Media Center will now be on your PC and the tile will be pinned to the Start screen.