Software News

As expected, the Russian authorities are not letting their American counterparts get away with threats when it comes to Edward Snowden’s extradition.

Alexei Pushkov, chairman of State Duma’s foreign policy committee urged the members of the United States Congress to stop threatening Russia with sanctions.

“I don’t think it’s worthwhile speaking to Russia in a language of sanctions,” Pushkov told Itar-Tass.

His reaction, of course, comes after senators pertaining to the Appropriations Committee have asked the Department of State to sanction all countries that are trying to aid Edward Snowden. The sanctions the politicians talk about regard both trading and general economic ties.

The short-list of countries could include China, Russia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Bolivia and Nicaragua.

“Even if an amendment of this kind is passed, the U.S. will scarcely make Russia change its policy. Decisions on granting political asylums in Russia to whomever are taken in the Kremlin and not in the White House and everyone should proceed from this reality,” Pushkov said.

Via: Russian Official: Situation Around Snowden Unaffected by US Threats

Sony has apparently confirmed the first details about its upcoming Gamescom 2013 press conference, as the event will be held one day before the convention kicks off, on August 20, at 7pm CET.

Gamescom 2013 is rapidly approaching and both Sony and Microsoft are gearing up for another round of the next-gen console war, as both companies are expected to show off new details about their PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

Now, Sony has confirmed, via MCV, that it's going to hold its Gamescom press conference on August 20, at the special Saatenhaus am Rheinpark venue in Cologne, Germany, right near the Kolnmesse expo center, where Gamescom will be held between August 20 and August 25.

The press conference will start at 7pm CET and should focus on the PlayStation 4, not to mention current platforms like the PS3 or PS Vita.

Via: Sony Gamescom 2013 Press Conference Gets New Details

The development team at ZeniMax Online working on The Elder Scrolls Online is giving fans of the game a chance to take a look at another creature that they will face in the MMO, the scamp.

In an official blog post they state, "Scamps are small, and they aren’t particularly intelligent, but they’re agile combatants who delight in cruelty just as much as any of the larger Daedra."

ZeniMax also says that it has tried to inject some humor into the scamp design, both in the way he moves and into his voice.

But the creature still has very powerful abilities like launching fireballs from his hands or calling rain down from the sky.

The Elder Scrolls Online is set to launch on the PC, the Xbox One from Microsoft and the PlayStation 4 from Sony in spring of next year.

Via: Elder Scrolls Online Reveals New Fireball Wileding Scamp Enemy

In its first full year under Tim Cook’s lead, Apple pulled a hat trick with the much-coveted Brand of The Year distinction, scoring the highest marks across three major product categories.

According to findings from the 2013 Harris Poll EquiTrend (EQ) study, Apple took home Brand of the Year distinctions in three categories - Computer, Tablet and Mobile Phone.

The study measures the perceptions of 38,500+ American consumers on more than 1,500 brands in lifestyle, product and service across over 155 categories.

“While many have questioned the post-Steve Jobs fate of Apple, the company continues to hold its spot as a top technology brand,” says Harris Interactive.

The group’s SVP, Manny Flores, said “…what really stands out is that in all three of the categories Apple brands are measured - Computer, Tablet and Mobile Phone - its Brand Momentum scores are in the top 30 of all 1,500 brands evaluated in the study, showing that consumers see this as a brand of the future.”

Via: Apple Wins "Brand of the Year" Distinction in Computers, Tablets, Mobile

Google spent $1.31 billion (€985 million) on 16 acquisitions in the first six months of the year, most of it on Waze.

In its financial filing, Google reveals it paid $966 million (€727 million) for the Israeli mapping startup Waze. This places the acquisition under the $1.1 billion (€827 million) price that was rumored at the time.

Other disclosed buyouts for the first half of the year include Makani Power and Wavii. This means that Google bought Waze and spent the rest of $344 million (€259 million) on another 15 companies.

The search giant didn’t highlight how much it shelled out for each company but, with an average of nearly $23 million (€17.3 million), they couldn't have cost too much.

Google has also listed the selling of Motorola Home for $2.238 billion (€1.683 billion) in cash, plus $150 million (€113 million) in closing adjustments and $175 million (€132 million) in stock.

This means the company has made a lot more money than it spent on acquisitions.

Via: Google Spent Most of Its Acquisition Budget on Waze

CCleaner has received another important update today and in addition to many other improvements, the new version also brings support for Microsoft’s first Windows 8 OS update.

CCleaner 4.0.4 can now work with both Windows 8.1 Preview and Internet Explorer 11, so you can clean the operating system and boost the overall performance of your machine even if you’re running Microsoft’s latest Windows release.

Even though it could be a little premature to add support for Windows 8.1 Preview given the fact that Microsoft is believed to be preparing the launch of the full version in August, the application definitely comes in handy, as it still works with all the other Windows versions on the market.

As far as Internet Explorer 11 is concerned, CCleaner packs the same options to remove temporary Internet files, history, cookies, recently typed URLS, index.dat files, last download location, autocomplete form history, and saved passwords.

Download CCleaner 4.0.4 with Windows 8.1 Preview / IE11 support.

Via: CCleaner Adds Windows 8.1 Preview, Internet Explorer 11 Support

Video game developer Rare and publisher Microsoft are confirming that their titles Kinect Sports Rivals will be delayed to the spring of 2014 on the Xbox One home console in order to give the studio more time to increase the quality level of the title.

Polygon has confirmation of the delay from the hardware maker and it seems that Rare has hit some problems with the core gameplay.

Initially the game was set to be a launch title for the new Microsoft home console.

Kinect Sports Rivals includes six activities: : climbing, wake racing, soccer, target shooting, bowling and tennis.

All of them can only be performed by using the improved Kinect motion capture system that is included in the Xbox One package.

Microsoft has denied rumors that it plans to introduce a version of its new console without Kinect.


Via: Xbox One's Kinect Sports Rivals Delayed to Spring 2014