Technology news

• In Depth: Tidy up your iPhoto library before switching to Photos for OS X

  06-02-2015 23:59
  
  You might have had a bit of a shock on attempting to launch iPhoto on an iPhone or iPad after upgrading to iOS 8. The app was abruptly dead and inaccessible, superseded by Photos, which gained filters and more editing capabilities. In 2015, Apple will bring similar thinking to the Mac, replacing iPhoto with an OS X version of Photos.Generally, when a desktop app is retired, it doesn't suddenly stop working and force you to migrate to an alternative product. Chances are, you'll still be able to c
  
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• Review: Aorus X7 Pro

  06-02-2015 23:52
  
  Introduction and designThin gaming laptops, like the Origin EVO15-S and Digital Storm Triton, have made us rethink our expectations of high-performance machines. Thanks to more efficient parts, including Intel's Haswell (and soon Broadwell-U) processors as well as Nvidia's Maxwell GPUs, manufacturers don't need to put rip-roaring components into a bulky notebook chassis.No device proves this point more than Gigabyte's Aorus X7 Pro. It's a 17.3-inch gaming laptop equipped with two Nvidia GeForce
  
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• Analysis: Nintendo had its best year in a long time, but can it keep it up?

  06-02-2015 23:44
  
  Nintendo, home of Mario, released its 2014 financial report last week, alongside sales figures and updated financial forecasts for the fiscal year. The good news - and, certainly, what Nintendo would like us to focus on - is that 2014 was the company's first profitable year since 2012. The bad news is roughly everything else: Sales are still lagging in just about every category, and even with some end-of-year rallying for the Wii U, it still is failing miserably to live up to its predecessor in
  
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• Review: Microsoft Band

  06-02-2015 23:26
  
  Introduction and displayMicrosoft quickly and quietly launched its Microsoft Band when no one was really expecting a wearable. The company promptly released the sensor-intensive Microsoft Band after its announcement (without much fanfare, with a price tag of $199 (about £125, AU$230). Despite the high cost, the ninja release and the Microsoft brand seemed enough to keep people curious and ravenous for the Redmond ware, as its been sold out online and in stores for months now. Sneaking into a gr
  
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• Blip: Hey! Listen! Netflix developing live-action Zelda series?

  06-02-2015 22:59
  
  Netflix is reportedly developing a live-action show based on Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda video games.The series doesn't have a writer yet, but Netflix is aiming for "Game of Thrones for a family audience," a source told The Wall Street Journal.If true, this is pretty insane. Video game adaptations have traditionally been absolute crap, and it's rare for anyone to want to touch them. Zelda has yet to be adapted into a live-action production, but the cartoon in the '80s was pretty muc
  
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• Anthem warns U.S. customers of email scam after data breach

  06-02-2015 22:45
  
  Health insurer Anthem Inc on Friday warned U.S. customers about an email scam targeting former and current members whose personal information was suspected to have been breached in a massive cyber attack. The No. 2 U.S. health insurer said on Wednesday that hackers breached its computer system containing data on up to 80 million people. Anthem said there was no indication the email scam was connected to those who perpetrated the security breach. It wants customers to know it is not calling membe
  
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• Blip: Google shows its love with free Play Store credit for Chromecast users

  06-02-2015 22:41
  
  What's almost as good as free money? Store credit! And that's what Google is giving Chromecast owners this Valentine's Day.Some Chromecast owners - it's not yet clear how many - can redeem $6 (or £5 in the UK, according to some commenters) in Google Play Store credit between now and Valentine's Day.To check if you've received the gift, head to this website on a device that's on the same network as your Chromecast. We've asked Google whether the promotion applies outside the US, and we'll update
  
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• Review: mini review: Bowers and Wilkins P5 Series 2

  06-02-2015 22:33
  
  The Bowers and Wilkins P5 Series 2 try their darndest to make the case that less is more. And while it's not the most feature-packed option on the market, the culmination of premium materials and striking design make the P5 Series 2 an undeniably lavish offering for audio lovers and minimalists alike. But at $299 (£249, about AU$382) do the P5 Series 2 bring what other cans cannot, and do they justify their price?DesignThe aluminum-reinforced headband is coated with padding and wrapped with she
  
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• Review: HP ZBook 17 G2

  06-02-2015 22:32
  
  Introduction and designThe best mobile workstations on the market combine incredible graphics rendering with top-notch processing speed and superior displays. Unfortunately, they also cost and weigh twice as much as most traditional consumer laptops. In other words: you're paying top dollar for what's under the hood and not for your ability to easily transport the device from location to location. The mobile workstation market is led by machines like the Lenovo ThinkPad W540 ($2,573, £1,606, AU
  
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• Farewell RadioShack: how technology made and unmade an American icon

  06-02-2015 21:37 via feeds.theguardian.com
  
  Catalogues of yesteryear bolster RadioShack’s claim to be ‘America’s No 1 electronics store’ but after 93 years it had been left behind by the pace of change Continue reading...
  
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• Intuit's Turbo Tax hits snafu amid fradulent state-level tax returns

  06-02-2015 21:22 via zdnet.com
  
  Intuit has already launched an investigation, working both state agencies and third-party security expert Palantir.
  
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• Senators call for investigation into Verizon 'supercookies'

  06-02-2015 19:56
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic senators on Friday called on federal regulators to investigate Verizon Wireless, the country's biggest mobile provider, for secretly inserting unique tracking codes into the Web traffic of its some 100 million customers.
  
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• Anthem warns customers of email scam after data breach

  06-02-2015 19:50
  
  (Reuters) - Health insurer Anthem Inc warned customers about an email scam targeting former and current members whose personal information was suspected to have been breached. The No. 2 U.S. health insurer said on Wednesday that hackers breached its IT system containing data on up to 80 million people. Anthem said on Friday it was not calling members regarding the cyber attack and not asking for credit card information or social security numbers over the phone. The company said it will contact i
  
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• UK government issues first definition of computer hacking by spies

  06-02-2015 19:45 via feeds.theguardian.com
  
  Code of practice sets out rules and safeguards surrounding use of computer hacking outside UK by security services Continue reading...
  
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• Security services capable of bypassing encryption, draft code reveals

  06-02-2015 19:42 via feeds.theguardian.com
  
  Home Office code of practice spells out rules and safeguards surrounding use of computer hacking outside UK Continue reading...
  
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• Canadian streaming TV should be available for all, consumer groups say

  06-02-2015 19:36
  
  Consumer advocacy groups want recently launched streaming services from some of Canada's biggest telecom and cable companies made available to all, telling the industry's regulator on Friday that making the purchase of one service dependent on purchase of another likely breaks the rules. The services - a joint venture called Shomi from Rogers Communications and Shaw Communications, and BCE's CraveTV - aim to limit the threat posed by online rivals such as Netflix. "The tied s
  
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• Anthem warns consumers of email scam

  06-02-2015 19:25
  
  (Reuters) - Health insurer Anthem Inc warned consumers about an email scam targeting former and current members whose personal information was suspected to have breached. Hackers breached Anthem's IT system containing data on up to 80 million members, the company said late on Wednesday. The company said it was not calling members regarding the cyber attack and not asking for credit card information or social security numbers over the phone. (Reporting by Anjali Rao Koppala in Bengaluru; Edi
  
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• Chipmaker Intel promotes senior executives, duties unchanged

  06-02-2015 19:22
  
  SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Chipmaker Intel Corp said on Friday it promoted five top executives to senior vice president and that their duties would remain largely the same. Robert Crooke, Douglas Davis, Doug Fisher, Steven Rodgers and Joshua Walden were all promoted from corporate vice president to senior vice president. The promotions do not include significant changes in their responsibilities, Intel spokeswoman Cara Walker said. Shares of Intel, higher over the past year on recovering demand f
  
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• AP Exclusive: Facebook, LinkedIn join to help women in tech

  06-02-2015 19:08
  
  MENLO PARK, Calif. (AP) — Facebook and LinkedIn want to boost dwindling numbers of women studying engineering and computer science with a collaborative initiative announced Friday that they hope will eventually fill thousands of lucrative Silicon Valley jobs long dominated by men.
  
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• Singapore: Flying helicopter drone waiters deployed to deliver food and drink to customers

  06-02-2015 18:08
  
  A restaurant chain in Singapore has demonstrated flying helicopter drones being used to deliver food and drinks from the kitchen, right to customers' tables. Timbre, a live music bar and restaurant chain that was the first restaurant in Singapore to roll out iPads at every table to speed up ordering, will now deploy unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in order to free up its staff to be able to interact with customers and improve overall service. "We are experiencing a major manpower const
  
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• Europe's war with big US tech firms

  06-02-2015 18:04 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Europe and the US go head-to-head over tech firms
  
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• Review: Netgear ProSafe Smart Switch S3300-28X-PoE+

  06-02-2015 18:00 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  Introduction and PerformanceUnlike the unmanaged Netgear ProSafe XS708E we reviewed at the end of last year, the ProSafe S3300 is a family of much smarter switches with a clutch of additional management features and optional Power over Ethernet (PoE) capabilities. S3300 switches also come with a lot more ports, including four 10GbE uplinks, plus they can be stacked together and managed via a single IP address. So not your average consumer switch, but the kind of hardware suited to small to mediu
  
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• Rocket Internet eyes jackpot in online takeaway delivery

  06-02-2015 17:30
  
  By Eric Auchard FRANKFURT (Reuters) - German e-commerce group Rocket Internet has splashed out hundreds of millions of euros to increase its stakes in two grocery and food delivery companies, in what it said was a move towards creating the biggest delivery network outside China. Rocket said on Friday it was raising its stake in HelloFresh to 52 percent for 130 million euros (96 million pounds) and was buying a new 30 percent stake in Delivery Hero for which it agreed to pay 496 million euros. It
  
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• Hands-on review: Canon EOS 5DS

  06-02-2015 17:30 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  The EOS 5DS is actually based on the existing EOS 5D Mark III. In fact, if it weren't for the logos on the new camera, you might find it pretty hard to tell them apart.But that's OK, because the 5D Mark III has proved itself an extremely capable, versatile and robust camera for professional stills and video photography, but at a price that won't break the bank. Well, not quite.It's interesting that Canon chose this product line for its new 50-megapixel sensor rather than the top-of-the-range EOS
  
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• Kia plans to 'attack' Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz with premium UK car push

  06-02-2015 17:24
  
  South Korean car giant Kia plans to "attack" the premium market in the UK and to take on the likes of Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz. Paul Philpott, president and chief executive of Kia UK, told IBTimes UK that the company has moved from the low-price, budget end of the market to the mainstream. Now Philpott said the manufacturer, which started selling cars in the UK in 1991, competes "with all of the mainstream brands". "But we also believe that's an opportunity now
  
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• GCHQ censured over data deal with US

  06-02-2015 17:13 via bbc.co.uk
  
  UK agency GCHQ was not open enough on how it shared intelligence gathered by US mass internet surveillance, a tribunal rules.
  
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• Don't know the difference between emoji and emoticons? Let me explain

  06-02-2015 16:33 via feeds.theguardian.com
  
  Alex Hern sets the record straight for once and for allEmoji and emoticons are not the same thing and the continued confusion of the two will not stand.In the New York Times, under the headline “At Silk Road Trial, Lawyers Fight to Include Evidence They Call Vital: Emoji”, the two were treated as interchangeable. Continue reading...
  
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• The mobile phone emoticons that could wipe the smile off your face :-(

  06-02-2015 16:11 via feeds.theguardian.com
  
  Hairdresser landed £1,200 bill after older smartphone converted SMS emojis into much dearer MMS picture messages Continue reading...
  
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• Where’s Wally? There's an algorithm for that

  06-02-2015 16:03 via feeds.theguardian.com
  
  A researcher has used machine learning to examine the 68 Where’s Wally books - and developed a algorithm to find him more efficientlyWhat’s the fastest way to find Wally, or Waldo as he’s inexplicably called in the US and Canada? Why, with machine learning, of course.
  The new method derived by a doctoral student at Michigan State University’s High-Performance Computing Centre, entirely defeats the simple pleasure of aimlessly staring at a page covered in animated characters that look l
  
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• Review: HP 255 G3

  06-02-2015 15:35 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  Introduction and performanceWe've noticed a trend over the last 12 months or so – the cheapest laptop models for all the main vendors come from their business ranges. We saw it already with the Lenovo B50 series, the Toshiba Satellite Pro C50 and the Dell Inspiron 15 3531. HP is the fourth vendor to offer a business laptop as its cheapest SKU (stock keeping unit); the HP 255 G3 is an update to its 255 G2, the model that we tested last year.Its business credentials are further backed by the spa
  
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• First Ubuntu smartphone, Aquaris E4.5, launches into cluttered mobile market

  06-02-2015 15:34 via zdnet.com
  
  The first Ubuntu phone will go on sale online in Europe on Monday, albeit to a limited number of users, as part of an attempt to build momentum behind Ubuntu as mobile OS.
  
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• Ubuntu phone has alternative to apps

  06-02-2015 15:30 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The first Ubuntu-powered smartphones go on sale shortly, featuring a user interface with a card-based system rather than grids of apps.
  
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• VIDEO: DIY solution to share diabetes data

  06-02-2015 15:22 via bbc.co.uk
  
  One mother finds a way to track her daughter's diabetes data
  
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• Destiny game gets 16 million players

  06-02-2015 15:20 via bbc.co.uk
  
  More than 16 million people registered to play sci-fi shooter Destiny, creator Activision Blizzard has revealed.
  
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• Japan readies first robot to probe melted Fukushima reactor

  06-02-2015 14:49
  
  A snake-like robot designed to examine the inside of one of three melted reactors at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant is ready to begin its expedition. Assessing the damage inside the reactors is a ...
  
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• Tribunal says UK spies' Internet surveillance was unlawful

  06-02-2015 14:47
  
  LONDON (AP) — U.K. spies acted illegally when they scooped up data about Britons' electronic communications gathered by the U.S. National Security Agency, a court ruled Friday in a landmark judgment against Britain's security services.
  
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• GCHQ mass internet surveillance was unlawful, says tribunal

  06-02-2015 14:37 via zdnet.com
  
  Surveillance agency breached human rights legislation in the way it accessed NSA intelligence.
  
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• Google to 'start again' with Glass

  06-02-2015 14:31 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Google is starting from scratch with its controversial Glass smart-spectacles project, reports the New York Times.
  
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• Go digital by all means, but don't bring the venture capitalists in to do it

  06-02-2015 14:28 via feeds.theguardian.com
  
  For centuries we the taxpayers have paid to maintain the nation’s treasures and institutions. It would be madness to hand over our archives nowIt’s brutal out there for public service institutions. They are under relentless pressure to conform to a bizarre form of market logic that requires them to turn a profit, even if the only way to do so is at the expense of the public that has supported them for all these years. Whether that’s archives that are being told to make up their budget shor
  
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• Lawyers bite over 'Left Shark' model

  06-02-2015 14:18 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A website has been ordered to remove a design for a 3D-printed model of the "Left Shark" dancer from the Super Bowl half-time show.
  
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• Why the animals are the best part of Far Cry 4

  06-02-2015 14:04 via feeds.theguardian.com
  
  Ubisoft’s latest open-world shooter has a rich menagerie of creatures – and they all want to kill you or steal your stuffHere is something that actually happened to me in Far Cry 4 yesterday. The latest title in Ubisoft’s open-world shooter series is set in a fictitious region named Kyrat, tucked up in the Himalayan mountains. Although stunningly beautiful, the country is ruled over by a psychopathic tyrant, Pagan Min, who has enslaved the population; when the game starts, the player arriv
  
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• GoPro wearable cameras record bumper Christmas with 2.4m shipments

  06-02-2015 13:27 via feeds.theguardian.com
  
  Manufacturer reports impressive sales as it prepares to launch streaming video channels with partners like Roku and LG Continue reading...
  
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• Right to be forgotten shouldn't go beyond Europe, says Google's advisory council

  06-02-2015 13:18 via zdnet.com
  
  A group of experts convened by Google to look into the right to be forgotten has largely found in favour of the search engine's status quo.
  
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• iOS spyware steals texts, photos, contacts, switches on voice recorder

  06-02-2015 13:18 via zdnet.com
  
  Researchers say they have identified malware which aims to steal data from iOS devices as part of a targeted attack.
  
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• Blizzard aims to capitalise on Hearthstone's success with mobile apps for 2015

  06-02-2015 12:51 via feeds.theguardian.com
  
  Hearthstone is a very 2015 success story – a free-to-play, tablet-focused game with more than 25 million players worldwide Continue reading...
  
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• Swatch will launch a new smartwatch within three months

  06-02-2015 12:35 via feeds.theguardian.com
  
  Swatch to become the second traditional watch manufacturer to enter the smartwatch space and challenge Google, Samsung and Apple Continue reading...
  
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• Rocket Internet says value of investments up 31 percent since IPO

  06-02-2015 12:26
  
  By Eric Auchard FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Germany-based e-commerce company Rocket Internet said on Friday the value of its investment portfolio has risen 31 percent since its market flotation three months ago and set out plans to bring its existing and new online food takeaway delivery investments together. Rocket's shares were up 7 percent at just over 50 euros by 1055 GMT. In a quarterly business update, the company said the last portfolio value (LPV) of its investments stood at 3.4 billion e
  
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• Hands-on review: Samsung Galaxy A7

  06-02-2015 12:24 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  Samsung has made something of a shift in its design ethos with its Alpha and A range of smartphones. Instead of the plastic chassis of the Samsung Galaxy S5, an all-metal unibody design has been used. This design is a major hint at what to expect when the Samsung Galaxy S6 eventually arrives. The A range is sleeker and a whole lot more stylish than the S5 - and suits phablets too, as the Samsung Galaxy A7 proves.For some unknown reason, the Samsung Galaxy A7 wasn't shown off at CES 2015. But Tec
  
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• China rejects health hack accusation

  06-02-2015 12:19 via bbc.co.uk
  
  China has rejected accusations it was behind a hack that stole huge amounts of data from health insurer Anthem.
  
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• How have journalists responded to revelations of mass surveillance?

  06-02-2015 12:13 via feeds.theguardian.com
  
  Edward Snowden’s NSA whistleblowing has led more journalists to protect their data and sources, but they’re not giving up on stories Continue reading...
  
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