beta

Redbox Instant -- Verizon's stab at a video-streaming service to compete with Netflix -- was rolled out into private beta today. For the first time, users can sign up for the service and see what it has to offer.

The service will give new users, who sign up to try it in beta, unlimited streaming and four DVD credits for free for one month, according to the Web site. Once the month-long trial ends, the service will cost $8 per month.

Redbox Instant is a joint venture announced in February between Verizon and Coinstar -- the company that owns … Read more

For those anticipating another iOS update before the end of 2012, there's a good sign -- Apple's given developers the fourth beta of the iOS 6.1 this morning.

The software, which Apple says simply "contains bug fixes and improvements," went out to registered developers today for testing on their applications and to work out any kinks.

All four beta versions have been light on new features. Apple typically saves such additions for major releases, but has historically added some new features along the way. So far, the list for iOS 6.1 includes new boarding … Read more

Apple's first big iOS 6 update is one step closer to a public release.

Today the company quietly released the third beta version of iOS 6.1 to developers, another step on the way to sending it out as an update to the general public.

Today's update, which includes "bug fixes and other improvements," comes 21 days after the last beta.

All three beta versions, made available to developers for testing ahead of a public release, have been light on major new additions to the software. Apple typically saves such additions for major releases, but has … Read more

A JavaScript engine called IonMonkey, Mac Retina compatibility, and better touch support move into the new Firefox Beta, released today.

Firefox 18 Beta (download for Windows, Mac, and Linux) arrives with a new "just-in-time" JavaScript compiler called "IonMonkey" for faster site load times. While it doesn't appear to have been independently tested yet, Mozilla's own IonMonkey benchmarks from September indicate that it will make the stable version of Firefox 18 about 25 percent faster than the current Firefox 17. The features are expected to reach the Firefox stable channel around the first week of January. … Read more

Your smartphone media usage could take a hit, but that would be the only complaint about RealPlayer beta, the Android version of the popular multimedia player that handles images, videos, and music.

The sleek, intuitive interface of RealPlayer is divided into three media types, music, photos, and videos, with a few subcategories for the first, such as Artists, Songs, and Playlists. If you choose Songs, Videos, or Photos, a list of available files is shown and you just have to select one to run or view it. As promised, you can easily create playlists, so you don't have to … Read more

Registered Apple developers can now grab the second beta of iOS 6.1.

Released yesterday, Beta 2 comes about two weeks after the first and offers the usual bug fixes along with some improvements.

The new build lets app developers take advantage of Apple's maps service, so that users can search for specific places based on a simple term. As one example, cited by AppleInsider, people could search for the word "coffee" to find names, locations, and other details of local coffee bars.

iOS 6.1 will include a better explanation of Passbook for users who don'… Read more

Alongside its public release of iOS 6.0.1 earlier today, Apple doled out a beta version of iOS 6.1 to developers as well.

Before you get too excited, the software so far appears to be light on new, user-facing features. Instead, one of the key improvements is new back-end technology that will let developers better use the company's homegrown maps inside their own applications.

To provide a frame of reference, it took Apple about four months to release iOS 5.1 after it released iOS 5.0.1. That update brought a reworked camera application on the … Read more

Mozilla's Social API has activated in Firefox Beta today with its first partner, Facebook Messenger. The innovation has the potential to forever alter how browsers interact with social-networking sites, but the project is still in its infancy.

The Social API (turn it on here: Firefox Beta or Firefox Aurora) looks at the problem of how to integrate modern social networking into the browser, Johnathan Nightingale, Mozilla's director of Firefox Engineering, said during a phone conversation with CNET. "People don't use social like they use other parts of the Web. It's not task based; it's … Read more

After more than a month in beta state, Synology's final latest version, version 4.1, of the DiskStation Manager operating system for its NAS server, was released today.

Synology is one of a few NAS vendors that regularly releases new versions of the operating system, which improves and adds features to its existing NAS servers. DSM has been by far the most advanced operating system for network-attached storage servers, which offers not just a vast amount of features and ease of use, but also the most robust user interface that resembles a native operating system. Like all NAS operating systems, DSM is accessed via a Web interface using a connected computer.

DSM is one of the main reasons Synology NAS servers, such as the DS1511+, or the DS412+, have been the best on the market, for both home and small business environments.… Read more