June 16, 2011
Last night, people all over the world watched the longest lunar eclipse in 100 years. The view was quite different depending on where you were. Some had a perfect view, some areas had the view obscured by clouds or daylight, while in Asia viewers saw an extra red ash glow from the volcanoes in Chile. For those who didn't get the best view last night, there's plenty of great footage and photos online today.
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June 14, 2011
Microsoft’s recent demo of Windows 8 unveiled a big change – an entirely new interface. Clearly inspired by the Metro UI currently used by Windows Phone 7, the demo of Windows 8 featured colored tiles that display information such as emails, stock activity and the user’s calendar. As with WP7, these tiles can be customized by the user to show whatever content he or she demands.
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June 10, 2011
Yet another report, this time from the security firm ViaForensics, which has revealed security flaws in apps running on iPhone and Android devices. The study takes a look at a variety of popular apps including Foursquare, Netflix, Skype and more. Both Android and iPhone’s pre-packaged email apps scored poorly, as well. These apps failed the study because of poor data storage.
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June 9, 2011
Google has released the latest version of its browser, Chrome 12, which will soon be distributed to users via automatic updates. Many of the changes in the new version focus on security. The Safe Browsing technology in Chrome has been updated to provide some protection against malware and phishing and will be able to detect some malware in files.
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June 8, 2011
Apple today announced iCloud, a replacement to the MobileMe service that expands the features available to users while also eliminating the yearly fee. This new service will be available on all iOS devices and Macs. At its heart, iCloud is about making content available on all Apple devices simultaneously without any effort on the part of the user.
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June 7, 2011
Apple recently announced the July release of the new Mac OSX Lion, which comes as the successor to Mac OS Snow Leopard. Mac Snow Leopard users will be able to download Lion using the Mac Store in July. There's no need to purchase a disc in order to do the installation - you just purchase and go. Lion boasts more than 250 new features, covering all facets of the Mac operating system.
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June 7, 2011
In a spate of big announcements at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) on Monday, senior vice president Scott Forstall introduced the next generation of Apple's mobile operating system (iOS 5) to an excited crowd and global online audience.
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June 4, 2011
Creative Commons, the intellectual property license that lets creators retain the rights to their work but also make it available for others to reuse and sample, has come to YouTube. The YouTube Video Editor now includes a small button which provides access to the YouTube Creative Commons library. Videos that carry this license can be remixed or sampled by others.
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June 3, 2011
On Thursday evening, hacker group "LulzSec" announced via Twitter that they had gained access to SonyPictures.com and stolen over 1 million accounts, passwords and sensitive user information. Shortly after the news broke, copies of the compromised data were surfacing on filesharing websites (such as MediaFire, where it was removed) and BitTorrent trackers including The Pirate Bay.
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June 2, 2011
Google’s baked-in social sharing feature, Google +1, has now been released for use by webmasters. If you’re not already aware, +1 is the company’s attempt to challenge Facebook’s popular sharing feature. Giving a +1 to a site is, according to the press material, "shorthand for 'this is pretty cool.'"
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June 2, 2011
Is the rubberized bottom of your white unibody MacBook beginning to peel? Apparently you’re not alone, as Apple is now offering free replacements, though only for users experiencing this very specific issue. The MacBook Bottom Case Replacement Program has been set up to take care of customers who have fallen victim to this problem.
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May 31, 2011
Just in time for the summer holidays, Google has begun to offer flight schedules in search results. This makes it a whole lot easier to quickly see regular flight scheduling, analyse how often your desired route is offered and which airlines offer the route you're looking for. The results do not show pricing, but merely allow you to understand how often the flights run and how long they will take.
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May 29, 2011
On Thursday Google announced a two-week roll-out of a new Gmail feature – the people widget. The addition places a small column alongside every email which displays relevant, contextual information relating to friends and contacts in that conversation.
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May 27, 2011
Eager as always to compete in the realm of digital content, Amazon today opened a Mac Download Store that will compete with the Mac App Store. Like Apple’s solution, this new storefront streamlines the process of downloading and installing software so that users must take minimal action once they’ve purchased software.
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May 27, 2011
Innovative start-up Square has created a real-world payment system that operates from the comfort of your smartphone. The technology is currently limited to 50 vendors across the US, though the quick payment method is expected to spread like wildfire once more businesses adopt the system. Users must download a virtual wallet app called a "Card Case" to use the service which adds a virtual credit card for each vendor.
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