The Download Blog

Kensington brings USB docking stations to OS X

Kensington has just announced driver software for OS X that allows Mac owners with USB 3.0-capable systems to make use of its latest docking stations.

USB 3.0 is the latest iteration of the USB protocol, which at 5Gbps throughput offers a substantial speed boost over USB 2.0, and gives it more options to host high-bandwidth devices, including video adapters for external displays. While video, networking, and audio over USB is nothing new, the greater bandwidth of USB 3.0 allows for more of these options to be lumped together into rather versatile docks such as Kensington's SD3500V docking station.… Read more

Intel releases Web-based app programming kit

Intel has released its first version of Web-based programming tools to help developers make mobile apps for Android and iOS.

The free software, called Intel XDK, isn't brand new. It's a rebadged version of the AppMobi software that Intel acquired in February. XDK lets people create software that uses the so-called HTML5 foundation, a collection of standards designed to advance the Web beyond static documents toward dynamic applications, then convert those apps so they can be used on mobile devices.

Intel announced the XDK release at its Intel Developer Forum show in Beijing this week. The software is … Read more

Firefox readies tougher stance on cookies

Up until now, only Apple's Safari browser had blocked third-party cookies by default. Last week's release of Firefox 22 to its developer's channel also came with the feature, indicating that the option will soon make it to all Firefox users.

Firefox 22 Aurora (download for Windows, for Mac, and for Linux) blocks third-party cookies by default, putting the ad industry on notice that browsers are about to start looking askance at them. While Safari has had the feature for a long time, no other major browser has supported it until now.

Mozilla first announced in February that … Read more

EA announces SimCity for Mac coming in June

Today game developer Electronic Arts has announced that the much-anticipated SimCity for Mac will be available for purchase on June 11.

The latest version, which is stripped of any version number and is being simply called SimCity, was announced on March 5 for both OS X and Windows, and was initially released for Windows early last month, but in an EA blog post today Lucy Bradshaw, senior vice president and general manager of EA's Maxis label, is quoted as saying the Mac version of the software will be out in two months' time:

SimCity is coming to Mac on … Read more

Upcoming Macs to support 802.11ac, suggests OS X code

Macs of the near future may be able to tap directly into high-speed 802.11ac networks.

Code for the latest OS X 10.8.4 beta includes a string with the term "802.11ac channel," according to Apple-focused blog 9to5Mac. This appears to be the first reference to 802.11ac in OS X since the term does not show up in the code for OS X 10.8.3, the current version of Apple's OS.

Past rumors have suggested that Apple would be one of the early adopters of 802.11ac, equipping its laptops and tablets with … Read more

Mozilla brands Persona as password killer

Mozilla's Web site log-in alternative known as Persona unveiled a Beta 2 version today. Now you can sign in to any Web site supporting Persona using a Yahoo Mail account.

Persona, which is still in development, is an open authentication system that works on desktops and mobile devices. In addition to being able to log in using either your Persona ID or your Yahoo credentials, today's release introduces support for Firefox OS, which means you can expect to use Persona to log in to any Firefox OS devices that launch later this year. It also includes back-end changes … Read more

OS X not accepting your screensaver password? Try this

In the OS X Security system preferences you can set the system to require a password when the system wakes from sleep or after the screensaver has been active for a period of time. However, you may run into a few cases in which entering your account password then does not work.

One cause can be if you have recently changed the name of your user account. For authentication, OS X will use either the short or long username, along with any aliases that you have associated with your account. However, if you have changed the long username for your … Read more

Sorenson embraces Web video with Squeeze 9

Higher-end video producers anxious to adapt to the new realities of online video will be pleased to know that Sorenson Squeeze 9 (Windows trial; Mac trial), released today, is trying to ease development of streaming-media Web sites.

Web video is a flagship feature of the newer HTML5 incarnation of Hypertext Markup Language. Adding the support is intended to make video as easy to use on Web pages as JPEG is for images. But it's not always so simple to use in the real world, so Squeeze 9 now generates video files and accompanying code quickly so Web developers can … Read more

Firefox prepares additional 'Do Not Track' options

Firefox has readied a more nuanced approach to how it implements the controversial "Do Not Track" setting and the Android version of the browser has a new font face in the browser's latest betas.

Firefox 21 Beta (download for Windows, Mac, and Linux) introduces more user choice for the Do Not Track header. The header, first introduced two years ago in Firefox 4, sends a signal to Web sites to not track where people who have activated it go as they bop around the Web.

Up until now, implementations of it have been limited to "On" or "Off.&… Read more