Google Makes Chromecast Available in 11 New Countries

Google is finally letting Chromecast out of the United States, some eight months after being launched. The device will now be available in 11 more countries. 

A few weeks ago, rumor had it that Chromecast was going to be introduced in the United Kingdom, but it looks like the company was preparing a much lengthier list. Starting now, people in Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom will be able to purchase the device straight from Google’s store. 

Over the elapsed period since the dongle was launched in the United States, it has grown rapidly, with more and more apps being compatible with it, including YouTube, Google Play Movies, Play Musc, Netflix, HBO Go and more. 

Since the developer kit has been released, more apps will surely be launched by individual creators in the coming months. Over 3,000 developers have signed up already to bring their apps and websites to Chromecast, which means that more TV shows, movies, videos, sports, music and games are on their way. 

On top of this, Google says it has been working with local content providers to bring even more movies and TV shows to Chromecast. That being said, along with the current rollout in multiple nations, the device will come with compatibility for BBC iPLayer in the UK, TV Pluzz and SFR TV in France, while CANALPLAY is coming soon. In Germany, Watchever is already available, while Maxdome will be added soon. 

Those who are interested in purchasing Chromecast will be able to look for the device in a number of locations, including Amazon, Google Play, Currys PC World, Media Markt and other retailers. 

Of course, it should be mentioned that Chromecast had already been available in numerous European nations via various sellers who got the device from overseas. However, the fact that Chromecast can be bought straight from Google Play will most likely lower the prices in several of these countries. 

Chromecast was launched in July last year and was selling for $35. It soon disappeared from shelves everywhere as people bought them in bulk and started selling the dongles on eBay for a profit. In the beginning, Chromecast came with 3 months of free Netflix access, but that promotion ended quickly. 

Basically, it can be used to cast content from a series of devices, including smartphones, tablets and desktop computers straight to the big-screen TV over Wi-Fi. So far, the content that users could cast was limited to services and various websites, but soon, it’s going to be possible to do the same for personal files as well, thanks to the incoming new apps.

Researchers Break Into Firefox, Internet Explorer At Pwn2Own

Internet Explorer, along with Firefox and Safari become one of the handful of applications that were hacked on the first day of the 2014 edition of the hacking competition, Pwn2Own.

Security researchers from the French research firm VUPEN managed to bypass the sandbox and break into Microsoft’s web browser after they found a use-after-free issue that causes object confusion in the broker. This was exploited it to execute arbitrary code.

In the process they managed to net a cool $300,000.

Impressively, most of the contestants managed to demonstrate their skills within 5 minutes — despite the fact that they had a full 30 minute time frame to do it. Once the exploits were demonstrated, they retired to the disclosure room to present the details to the software vendors.

This, obviously, is one of the main conditions of this competition.

The first day of Pwn2Own 2014 got even more epic, after a few of the researchers even donated their wins to charity organizations across the globe, including the Canadian Red Cross.

Along with Internet Explorer 11 on Windows 8.1, Firefox and Safari, security vulnerabilities were also found in Adobe Flash and Reader. What remains to be seen is whether anyone can break into Chrome in what will be the second (and last) day of the competition, tomorrow.

Plus, we can now expect all these security holes fixed in future patches for these software.

Windows 8.1 App Watch VLC For Windows 8

Oh it feels good typing this! At the very least we will not have to deal with horror stories of how the release got delayed once again, for one reason or another. And at the most, Microsoft’s modern OS has now got another important application.

VLC for Windows 8 has just been released on the Windows Store.

Not for Windows RT users, though — even if they needed an app like this more than the x86 and x64 versions of the operating system. But this feature rich app, in its initial form (beta) brings a lot of goodness for touch based users of Windows. And it is quite intelligently designed too.

More on that below, but first things first, the official description:

“VLC for Windows 8 is an experimental port of VLC media player for the WinRT platform. VLC media player is an open source application that plays all multimedia file formats, from files, streams and discs on all platform. This application will play most video file formats, including Ogg, FLAC and MKV.”

So there you go, file format support is locked in. The app supports most major formats.

And more than this, it is fully compatible with the desktop version of the software (VLC media player), and plays nicely with it if you have set it as the default video player. And unlike the desktop program, it auto-pauses videos when you switch away from the app.

But all these little usability enhancements are nothing if the quality is not there, and VLC for Windows 8 delivers on this front too. Video quality is as good as the desktop version, though it still lacks many of the advanced features. For a free app, though, can’t complain.

Some 20% Of Windows XP Users Do Not Care About End Of Support

Surveys. They are just facts and figures, usually from a small sample size, but boy they do provide valuable insights on how things are. And things could not be more interesting on the Windows XP front.

Users, at least some users, seem to be rather comfortable with the old operating system, and plan to stick with it beyond the end of support cutoff — security threats be damned. With April 8 almost here, a lot of computers could be exposed to attacks, pretty much at the turn of the hour.

But a new research shows that some users just do not care about the approaching end of support.

No less than 1,740 replies were tallied from users in the US, UK, Australia, Germany, France, the Netherlands and Denmark, and statistically, some 64.94 percent plan on staying with the aging OS.

In fact, 19.93 percent of Windows XP users revealed that they do not really care about end of support, while the remaining admitted to having varying degrees of worry.

And when it comes to destinations, 18.46 percent of the users surveyed are yet to decide. But 6.86 percent of them are willing to make the move to Windows 7, while only 2.71 percent see Windows 8 or Windows 8.1 as viable options.

The last thing we need are large scale exploitations of some Windows XP security vulnerabilities, but it will be interesting to see how these numbers change, say 3 months after end of support.

Oh it will be really interesting, indeed.

Intel Aims To Leap Ahead In 2014 With Cherry Trail Chips

Tired of hearing about all the Bay Trail news? Intel’s current generation Atom platform has been a certified hit with tablet makers that produced Windows powered devices. But a refresh is due this year.

The chip giant is, as of this writing, busy working on the next Atom chip, named Cherry Trail.

And since this processing platform is expected to power a number of devices that will hit the market by the end of 2014, we should have more detailed information about what it brings in the second part of the year — somewhere around the annual Computex trade show.

But some early pointers reveal that the Cherry Trail chips are going to be produced using a 14nm manufacturing process, which should provide a nice performance boost compared to the 22nm node employed for the Bay Trail line of processors.

We should also see some notable improvements in battery life — so if you are pleasantly delighted by the long usage hours the Bay Trail tablets allow, then wait till you check out the Cherry Trail numbers.

There are also voices that Intel may end up put up Bay Trail in really affordable devices, and reserve Cherry Trail for the standard ones, but a move like this only happen by the time this year’s holiday shopping season comes around.

One important point worth a mention here is that Intel has embraced a much faster release cycle for upgrades to its mobile chips. The company wants to gain traction in the mobile industry, and seems to have made its mobile processors a priority.

Qualcomm and other ARM partners are really piling on the pressure, even if they are on a 28nm node.