Microsoft has updated Skype for Android, iOS, Mac, the web, and Windows devices and given the communications tool access to more chat bots. Microsoft says it worked with select partners this time around to bring dedicated services to Skype. A bot from Skyscanner lets Skype users search for flights, while a StubHub bot makes it […]
3DMark isn’t just a benchmark anymore. The Futuremark software received an update that adds stress-testing modules to Advanced and Professional editions of 3DMark that enable users to check the stability of their system. The update has four tiers of stress tests based on the Sky Diver and Fire Strike (all three versions) benchmarks, offering different […]
Google wields a lot of influence on the web as the developer of the most popular desktop browser in the world – Chrome. As detailed in a draft proposal (via Venture Beat), the company wants to effectively kill Flash by blocking the plugin and prioritizing HTML5 by the end of the year. The plan has yet to be finalized, but […]
Mozilla asked a court to order the FBI to disclose a vulnerability the agency has been using to hack the Tor browser, which is based on Mozilla’s Firefox code. Mozilla believes the same vulnerability could be used by bad actors to attack potentially hundreds of millions of users. Mozilla seems to take issue especially with […]
Google has updated its Hangouts app for Google Apps (business) customers and increased the number of people allowed on a single video call from 15 to 25. Users don’t have to do anything to take advantage of this change, though only the 10-most active participants’ video windows will be visible at one time.
The world is a mere month away from consumer availability of virtual reality headsets, and we’re starting to see more and more announcements about content for the new medium. With a massive influx of new VR users on the way, an increasing number companies are preparing their products and ideas for VR content. Experiencing […]
The Khronos group is now launching Vulkan 1.0, new generation, open-standard and cross-platform API descended from AMD Mantle to answer the demand for a low-overhead open-source graphics API. Eighteen months ago, the Khronos Group got to work on its new graphics API, Vulkan, and after some legal delays, the group is launching Vulkan 1.0. […]
In part because of the pressure exerted by browser developers, Java curator Oracle has announced that it is going to deprecate the Java browser plug-in. The initiative will start with the forthcoming JDK 9, with removal from the Oracle JDK and Java Runtime Environment (JRE) in future releases. The company notes in the announcement heralding […]
Google is about to make its Chrome browser much faster. The company is ready to use a new compression algorithm called Brotli, according to Google engineer Ilya Grigorik. Brotli can compress web sites in a way that makes them up to 26% smaller than Chrome’s current algorithm, called Zopfli. Smaller web sites take less time […]
Futuremark gives Steam owners of 3DMark early access to an entertainment-only version of VRMark in the Holiday Beta. Today, 3DMark made a rather cool announcement – it opened up the beta for the 2016 3DMark update. It may be called the “Holiday Beta,” but it will be open until the update comes out. The best […]
