Technology news

• Expedia's Wotif Group sells Arnold Travel Technology to Serko

  30-04-2015 23:13 via zdnet.com.feedsportal.com
  
  Australia-based online travel specialist Wotif has sold its booking software unit to Serko in a cash deal.
  
  Read more

• Airbnb hosts return to find home trashed after 'drug-induced orgy'

  30-04-2015 23:08
  
  Star King and her husband Mark found revelers had left puddles of alcohol and urine, broken glass, toilets plugged with condoms and ‘chicken meat in my shoes’ Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Markets braced for Tesla's expected move into electric storage business

  30-04-2015 22:08
  
  CEO Elon Musk to announce ‘major new product line’ on ThursdayElectric car company expected to unveil battery for homes and businesses Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Radio 1 head of music on Apple threat

  30-04-2015 21:12 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The head of music at BBC Radio 1 says Apple's streaming service plans could change the music and radio industries.
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Apple Watch has lowest hardware cost to price - IHS

  30-04-2015 20:56
  
  (Reuters) - Apple Inc's Watch has the lowest ratio of hardware costs to retail price across any Apple product, according to a preliminary estimate by research firm IHS after a teardown study. The hardware cost of an Apple Watch Sport model was about 24 percent of the suggested retail price compared with 29-38 percent for the iPhone maker's other products, IHS said on Thursday.
  
  Read more

• U.S. firms lead EU lobbying league

  30-04-2015 20:30
  
  By Alastair Macdonald BRUSSELS (Reuters) - U.S. companies, including tech rivals Microsoft and Google, were among leading spenders on corporate lobbying in Brussels last year, a Reuters review of new data showed (table below). Companies had until Thursday to update public entries in the European Union's newly revamped Transparency Register following a tightening of rules in January that obliges firms to register if they want to meet EU commissioners and senior staff. Oil majors Exxon Mobil
  
  Read more

• Apple Watch does not like tattoos

  30-04-2015 19:37 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Apple acknowledges some of the functions on its new smartwatch may not work properly when it is worn over tattoos.
  
  Read more

• Mapping Nepal, farewell spacebar: Podcast 216

  30-04-2015 18:53
  
  
  Listen this week for an entertaining 45-minute look at the most interesting technology and science stories from the last seven days, with WIRED.co.uk's Michael Rundle, Liat Clark and Katie Collins.By: Katie Collins, Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Japanese premier to tout bullet train in California visit

  30-04-2015 18:34
  
  Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is starting a three-day visit to California with plans to check out some of the region's tech innovations, lend support to expanded commercial ties and even promote a Japanese-made ...
  
  Read more

• Obama pushes reading through e-book, library initiatives

  30-04-2015 18:18
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama announced Thursday that major book publishers will provide more than $250 million in free e-books to low-income students and that he is seeking commitments from local governments and schools nationwide to provide library cards to all students.
  
  Read more

• Gramofon music streaming device goes beyond Spotify with AllPlay feature

  30-04-2015 18:10
  
  Kickstarter-backed gadget will now stream songs from Napster, TuneIn and other services, with Tidal, SoundCloud and iHeartRadio to come Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• YangYang: Humanoid robot that scarily resembles Sarah Palin is unveiled in China

  30-04-2015 18:07
  
  A life-like humanoid robot that bears a scary resemblance to former governor of Alaska Sarah Palin has been unveiled at the Global Mobile Internet Conference 2015 in Beijing, China. YangYang is a robot that resembles a middle-aged Caucasian woman and is able to talk, move its head, shake hands and even hug a human. The android robot was designed by the Shanghai Shenqing Industry (SSI) working in collaboration with Japanese robotics expert Hiroshi Ishiguro, a professor at Osaka University's
  
  Read more

• Spot the difference: Internet Explorer is dead, long live Microsoft Edge

  30-04-2015 17:07
  
  Microsoft Edge - formerly known as ‘Project Spartan’ - will be the default browser for Windows 10 and promises to be faster and leaner than the hated IEIt’s official, Microsoft has killed off Internet Explorer, its new browser will be Microsoft Edge … although you’ll be forgiven for thinking nothing has changed if you’re looking at the logo.The browser, formally known as Project Spartan after the protagonist of Microsoft’s Halo game series, is completely new according to the compan
  
  Read more

• Angry Birds to help save their counterparts in South Pacific

  30-04-2015 17:05
  
  HELSINKI (AP) — Angry Birds are getting angrier, because some of their real-life colorful counterparts in the South Pacific are facing extinction.
  
  Read more

• Emotion-Detecting Specs Patented By Microsoft

  30-04-2015 16:54
  
  Microsoft has patented internet-connected glasses which can detect and interpret the emotions of people in the wearer's field of vision.
  
  Read more

• Jeff Bezos' rocket company test-flies suborbital spaceship

  30-04-2015 16:45
  
  By Irene Klotz CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - Blue Origin, a startup space company owned by Amazon.com chief Jeff Bezos, launched an experimental suborbital spaceship from Texas, the first in a series of test flights to develop commercial unmanned and passenger spaceflight services, the company said on Thursday. The New Shepard vehicle blasted off on Wednesday from Blue Origin’s test facility near Van Horn, Texas, and rose to an altitude of 58 miles (93 km) before the capsule separated and p
  
  Read more

• NSA is so overwhelmed with data, it's no longer effective, says whistleblower

  30-04-2015 16:29 via zdnet.com.feedsportal.com
  
  One of the agency's first whistleblowers says the NSA is taking in too much data for it to handle, which can have disastrous -- if not deadly -- consequences.
  
  Read more

• Zoopla snaps up price-comparison website uSwitch

  30-04-2015 16:19
  
  Property website says £190m deal creates single portal for consumers to find and manage their home Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• How Puppet pulls the strings when it comes to technology automation

  30-04-2015 15:44 via zdnet.com.feedsportal.com
  
  Developers and SysOps take heart, Puppet Labs and CEO Luke Kanies wants to take the tedium out of your lives so you have more time for the good stuff.
  
  Read more

• Apple, IBM announce partnership with Japan Post to improve elderly care

  30-04-2015 15:30
  
  Apple Inc and International Business Machine Corp have teamed up with Japan Post Holdings Co to improve caregiver and monitoring services for the elderly in Japan, the companies announced on Thursday. IBM will work with Japan Post to develop iPad software that will enable Japan's national Post Office Watch service to better monitor elderly clients. Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook, IBM CEO Ginni Rometty and Japan Post Holdings President Taizo Nishimuro announced the initiative at a joint news
  
  Read more

• Hands-on review: Leica M Monochrom (Typ 246)

  30-04-2015 15:05 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  Unlike the sensors inside the vast majority of digital cameras, the sensor inside Leica's Monochrom doesn't have a 'traditional' RGGB Bayer pattern filter. This means that it can't produce colour images, only black and white – hence the camera's name. It also means that each photosite on the sensor is used to create a pixel in the image without any interpolation. The end result is black and white images that have much more detail and dynamic range than images shot on a standard camera whether
  
  Read more

• SCADA Security: How Britain can reinforce its nuclear and weapons control systems against cyber threats

  30-04-2015 15:03
  The word SCADA may mean little to you at first glance, but this apparently innocuous acronym denotes one of the UK's most crucial analytics tools, one which keeps the country moving by ensuring our nuclear power plants, our airports and our weapons caches continue to run smoothly. SCADA systems, or, to give them their full name, Supervisory Control and Data Aquisition systems, use a series of codes to relay messages from sensors to central terminals when a fault occurs, and ensure the fault
  
  Read more

• China worried US cyber strategy 'ups the ante on the internet arms race'

  30-04-2015 14:28
  
  New Pentagon cybersecurity policy singles out China, among others, as threatCountry also dismisses concerns over parade to mark end of second world war Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• How #tattoogate has highlighted a wider problem with wearables

  30-04-2015 13:52
  
  Reports that tattoos prevent the Apple Watch’s heart rate monitor from working are far from being unique to Apple, but as wearables go mainstream so will their failings The launch of the Apple Watch has brought a whole new level of attention to wearable tech and in the process is exposing an issue with one of the technologies at the, er, heart, of many wearable devices.Tracking your heart rate - be it out of curiosity as you sit at your desk, or as a useful tool in exercises regimes - is one o
  
  Read more

• Secret app 'worth $100m' shut down

  30-04-2015 13:51 via bbc.co.uk
  
  One of the founders of high-profile tech start-up Secret is shutting down the anonymous messaging service.
  
  Read more

• Google 'should be allowed in exams'

  30-04-2015 13:37 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Internet search engines such as Google should be allowed in public examinations, an exam board chief says.
  
  Read more

• Secret fails fast - but did Silicon Valley fail too?

  30-04-2015 13:33 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Secret fails fast - but did Silicon Valley fail too?
  
  Read more

• ​Apple says ResearchKit medical research apps must get ethics board approval

  30-04-2015 13:21 via zdnet.com.feedsportal.com
  
  After the first ResearchKit apps have been released, Apple will now require the apps have been approved by an independent ethics review board.
  
  Read more

• ​Apple says ResearchKit medical apps must get ethics board approval

  30-04-2015 13:21 via zdnet.com.feedsportal.com
  
  Now that the first ResearchKit apps have been released, Apple will require future applications to be approved by an independent ethics review board.
  
  Read more

• Microsoft Patents Glasses That Read Emotions

  30-04-2015 13:11
  
  Microsoft has patented internet-connected glasses which can detect and interpret the emotions of people in the wearer's field of vision.
  
  Read more

• Windows 'open' for Apple and Android

  30-04-2015 13:07 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Microsoft is releasing software tools that make it easier to run popular Apple and Android apps on Windows mobile devices.
  
  Read more

• ​Windows 10 gets 'Arduino-certified' with two new open source libraries

  30-04-2015 12:37 via zdnet.com.feedsportal.com
  
  Arduino developers can now take advantage of cheap sensors and processing capabilities in Windows 10 devices to add new features to projects.
  
  Read more

• Eyewitness: Beijing, China

  30-04-2015 12:21
  
  Photographs from the Eyewitness series Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• HERE's the good news: Maps a bright spot for Nokia as networks profit slides

  30-04-2015 12:13 via zdnet.com.feedsportal.com
  
  While sales are up across the board at Nokia, profit has taken a tumble in Networks.
  
  Read more

• Countdown to Zero Day, book review: Dispatches from the first cyberwar

  30-04-2015 11:53 via zdnet.com.feedsportal.com
  
  In this gripping and technically accomplished book, Kim Zetter reveals the genesis of Stuxnet and its successors, and their role in the new field of cyberwarfare.
  
  Read more

• Embedding classic MS-DOS games into tweets is now a thing

  30-04-2015 11:38
  
  Procrastination nation has hit peak performance as users discover 2,600 MS-DOS games can be embedded and played directly into TwitterFollowing the Internet Archives release of 2,600 MS-DOS games for streaming in the browser, users have discovered that classics such as Castle Wolfenstein, Lemmings, Zool and Commander Keen can be embedded directly into tweets.
  The games will now show up as clickable, playable games right in people’s Twitter stream, the same way pictures, gifs and videos do with
  
  Read more

• This is the reason your Apple Watch is delayed

  30-04-2015 11:05
  
  Apple Watch pre-orders opened earlier this month with fans hoping to get one on their wrist from day one, but it didn't work out like that for many after delays were announced.A lot of orders have been delayed until June and a new report in The Wall Street Journal suggests why the wearable has been delayed - it's all down to some faulty Taptic Engines.The Chinese component manufacturer AAC Technologies Holdings Inc supplied the Taptic Engines for the new watch, but many broke down during testing
  
  Read more

• ​OnePlus and Cyanogen officially call it quits

  30-04-2015 10:56 via zdnet.com.feedsportal.com
  
  Cyanogen is seeking new Chinese partners that can scale up faster than OnePlus.
  
  Read more

• Kobalt boss defends Spotify: 'This attitude that we should kill streaming is a huge mistake'

  30-04-2015 10:43
  
  Willard Ahdritz thinks the music industry may be about to err by placing more faith in Apple’s upcoming subscription serviceStreaming music service Spotify is under pressure from some major labels to restrict the free version of its service, as Apple prepares to launch a subscription-only competitor. Now the boss of music publisher Kobalt is warning those labels to rethink their strategy.“This attitude that we should kill streaming is a huge mistake. In Scandinavia in 2009 we had an 80% ille
  
  Read more

• Bullet train on Japanese PM's agenda in California visit

  30-04-2015 10:42
  
  Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is starting a three-day visit to California with plans to check out some of the region's tech innovations, lend support to expanded commercial ties, and even promote a Japanese-made bullet train during a meeting with the state's governor.
  
  Read more

• Sony plays to strengths in games, sensors as it vows revival

  30-04-2015 10:17
  
  TOKYO (AP) — Once at the leading edge of consumer electronics, Sony Corp. is now more lumbering giant than trend-setter after falling behind competitors such as Samsung Electronics Co. and Apple Inc.
  
  Read more

• Britney Spears to follow Kim Kardashian by launching her own mobile game

  30-04-2015 10:14
  
  Glu Mobile has made nearly $100m from its first celebrity game, with Spears and Katy Perry in its future plans to repeat the successOops, can they do it again? Games firm Glu Mobile has made nearly $100m from its Kim Kardashian: Hollywood mobile game, and now it is hoping to repeat the success with Britney Spears.The publisher has signed an eight-year licensing deal with the musician to make an official mobile game “featuring the voice, likeness, and creative influence of Ms. Spears” that wi
  
  Read more

• Apple Watch shortages due to faulty taptic engine from one of two suppliers

  30-04-2015 09:55
  
  According to a new report, one of the two suppliers for a major component of the Apple Watch failed to produce reliable partsThe Apple Watch is facing major supply constraints after a key component delivered by one of two suppliers was found to be inherently defective.The component in question is the “taptic engine”, a flagship feature for the watch which enables it to deliver silent notifications with a gentle tap on the wrist, as opposed to a typical vibration. Produced for Apple by two co
  
  Read more

• ​La Trobe to move completely into SAP cloud by end of 2015

  30-04-2015 09:13 via zdnet.com.feedsportal.com
  
  La Trobe University has deployed SAP S/4 HANA as part of a larger strategy to move all of its existing on-premises SAP applications into the HANA enterprise cloud.
  
  Read more

• Japan Tobacco to buy U.S. e-cigarette maker Logic Technology

  30-04-2015 08:40
  
  TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan Tobacco said on Thursday it had agreed to buy Florida-based e-cigarette maker Logic Technology Development LLC as it aims to become a global leader in the nascent, but fast-growing, market. Japan Tobacco will fund the acquisition with existing cash and loan facilities, and expects to complete the deal in the third quarter of this year following regulatory approval, it said. It did not say how much it was paying for Logic Technology, founded in 2010. Japan Tobacco last yea
  
  Read more

• Gizmos and toys for babies to help harassed parents

  30-04-2015 08:30
  
  Jude Rogers, with 11-month-old Evan in tow, tests the latest technologyMan has been tested through history. Abraham underwent trials, Hercules suffered labours. Women have been tested too, and I am among them, having been asked to assemble and review baby technology while in charge of 11-month-old Evan.Driven by a birth boom, this market is rotund. A staggering £900m a year is spent on baby products, with new gizmos issued at the rate of stinky nappies. Innovation is key. Why have a simple
  
  Read more

• VIDEO: What is 4D printing?

  30-04-2015 08:08 via bbc.co.uk
  You might have heard of 3D printing, but what about 4D? We've heard from the team who are printing in time...
  
  Read more

• Motion-capture performer Oliver Hollis on the life of a video-game actor

  30-04-2015 08:00
  
  The star of Goldeneye 007: Reloaded describes what makes digital performance in games different from film or stage Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Revamping the violin – courtesy of a 3D printer

  30-04-2015 08:00
  
  Monad design studio goes on tour with its range of ecosystem-inspired instruments Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Turning off technology is about mental wellbeing – not becoming a digital hermit

  30-04-2015 07:59
  
  Technological advances have put the world at our fingertips, but is being connected all of the time really good for us?At a conference in Cannes eight years ago, I sat next to a producer who was working on an ambitious TV project about anthropology. We were both listening to a speech by a TV executive and I was in full conference flow, frenetically typing (badly) and flicking between emails. I must have been exhausting to sit next to, because at the end he turned to me with a mixture of weary as
  
  Read more

Follow @TechnologyUKnws on Twitter!