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12 May 2011, 10:48

Boxee Box 1.1 firmware update brings browser enhancements

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Boxee Logo The Boxee development team has announced the release of a major firmware update, version 1.1, for the Boxee Box. Discussing the firmware update, Boxee VP of Marketing Andrew Kippen said that: "it might only be a few decimal points difference from the current 1.0.4 release, but this version of the Boxee Box by D-Link has quite a few new things under the hood".

The fifth update to the Boxee Box features major enhancements to the built-in browser, including improved HTML5 support, a new "History" section, support for drop-down lists and a new confirmation pop-up when exiting HTML applications such as YouTube or Netflix. The browser now launches and loads pages even faster than before, and users can "Favorite" web sites for quick access.


Zoom The Boxee Box's on screen display has been revamped and includes a new seek bar.
Source: Boxee.tv
Other changes include a Trailer Library of movie trailers in the Boxee movie library, support for HFS formatted drives, sharing improvements and support for 16 more languages. Enhancements have also been made to the Boxee user interface look and feel, with updates to the On Screen Display (OSD) that reduce its size and the addition of a Seek Slider that allows users to precisely fast forward and rewind media.

Boxee is a fork of the XBMC Media Center which includes several customised additions, including Web 2.0 services integration with Twitter, Tumblr and Digg, as well as major audio, video and photo portal integration (YouTube, Hulu, Netflix, CBS, Comedy Central, Last.fm, Shoutcast, Flickr and Picasa). Boxee also includes a built-in BitTorrent client so users can easily download media over the web from within the application. Users can add extra functionality through App Box, an add-on App Store that lets users select and install a variety of new applications and plug-ins.


Zoom The Boxee Box by D-Link.
First announced in late December 2009, the Boxee Box is a tiny computer that is specially built to run Boxee software. With an edge length of just 12 centimetres, the sawn-off cube is more compact than other nettops. The hardware is based on Intel's CE4110 system-on-a-chip platform and it includes an HDMI port with digital (optical) and analogue sound output capabilities, as well as two USB 2.0 ports, an SD card reader, Ethernet and 802.11n Wi-Fi.

Full details of the firmware update can be found in a post on the Boxee Team Blog and in the release notes. Users who do not wish to wait for their Boxee Box to automatically prompt them when the new firmware update is available can manually update their devices.

Users who don't own a Boxee Box can make their own Boxee device using a computer downloading and installing the free Boxee software. Parts of Boxee are released under the GNU General Public Licence (GPLv2) and other parts, including the libboxee networking layer library, are closed source. Source code (log-in required) is available to download from the project's web site.

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(crve)

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