Technology news

• Review: PlayStation Vue

  01-05-2015 22:41
  
  PlayStation Vue reviewSony's had a mixed year of PlayStation software launches. From the outlandishly-priced PlayStation Now to the much-improved PlayStation Music that replaced Music Unlimited in March, it seems like new releases are either falling flat on their face or hitting it out of the park, with only a product or two landing in between.PlayStation Vue, the new live TV streaming service that intends to compete with Sling TV and the (assumed) upcoming Apple TV service, had all the makings
  
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• In Depth: Mad Max shows off the future of video game graphics today

  01-05-2015 21:45
  
  Want to get the best gaming experience with the highest fidelity graphics? The obvious solution has almost always been to go with a PC, unless you're talking about a console exclusive title. But while PC gaming has led the charge with better textures, dynamic lighting, particle effects and more – the big question is where will the industry go next.Recently, TechRadar sat down with Avalanche Studios, the developers behind the hotly anticipated Just Cause 3 and Mad Max games to delve into this v
  
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• Microsoft creates the most useful Surface Pro 3 dock you can't buy

  01-05-2015 19:57
  
  Microsoft employees had created a custom dock for the Surface Pro 3 that's even more practical than the $199 (£131, AU$254) dock that Microsoft sells. The VESA-mounted dock brings the tablet to eye-level so users can power a multi-display setup from their Surface Pro 3, and the dock adds a USB port in the front for quick connection to peripherals like USB flash drives.The dock was shown off in a session at Build 2015, and there's an optional lock so users can secure their tablets in an office.M
  
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• Microsoft pens deal to acquire N-trig

  01-05-2015 19:30
  
  Microsoft has finally confirmed that it has acquired N-trig, the firm behind its popular Surface Pen for the Surface Pro 3 and Surface 3. The deal, which was reported on the Surface blog, sees the advanced digital pen technology become a part of Microsoft and follows years of work between the two on the technology currently inside Microsoft products.Rumours of the deal first began flying earlier this year when it was reported that Microsoft spent some $200 million (about £132 million, or AU$255
  
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• Steve Jobs' old business cards will go to the highest bidder

  01-05-2015 19:24
  If you're jonesing to do a little good in the world while also nabbing a new item for the memorabilia case, today may be your lucky day. The Marin School in San Rafael, California has put three of Steve Jobs's old business cards up for auction, first caught by Business Insider. The three cards span from 1984 to 1990, when Jobs went from Chairman of Apple, to CEO of NeXT and Chairman of Pixar. These little cards have undoubtedly caught the attention of Apple and tech lovers everywhere. According
  
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• Confirmed: Apple Watch and wrist tattoos don't mix

  01-05-2015 18:45
  
  Will there ever be an Apple product release that's not mired in controversy?After a week of user complaints that Apple Watch does not work well with tattoos on their wrists, Apple has confirmed it's a problem with the wearable's sensors.In a newly updated page on the smartwatch's heart sensor Apple notes "permanent or temporary changes to your skin, such as some tattoos, can also impact heart rate sensor performance." According to the Cupertino company, the ink, pattern, and saturation
  
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• What3words: the story behind the global addressing system

  01-05-2015 18:36
  
  By: WIREDContinue reading...
  
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• ​What can businesses do to make innovation happen?

  01-05-2015 18:25 via zdnet.com.feedsportal.com
  
  You won't hear a bad word about innovation from business leaders, but that doesn't mean they know how to ensure more of it happens in their firms.
  
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• Five surefire ways to make innovation part of your corporate ethos

  01-05-2015 18:24 via zdnet.com.feedsportal.com
  
  Innovation may seem like a luxury your company cannot afford. In fact, you could miss out on cost savings, efficiencies, product ideas, and more if innovation isn't a top priority.
  
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• Ten innovative tools and strategies to achieve uncommon business results

  01-05-2015 18:23 via zdnet.com.feedsportal.com
  
  Risk can be a major deterrent to innovation. Fortunately, these innovative tools and strategies have proven successful track records.
  
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• Ten ways businesses can kill innovation

  01-05-2015 18:22 via zdnet.com.feedsportal.com
  
  Firms can easily fall into traps that stifle innovation and lead to stagnation. Here are the behaviours businesses should guard against.
  
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• Executive's guide to leading innovation (free ebook)

  01-05-2015 18:21 via zdnet.com.feedsportal.com
  
  IT and business leaders are under increasing pressure to find ways to drive innovation and leverage new technologies. This latest guide looks at how they're meeting the challenge.
  
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• Research: 92 percent recognize importance of innovation

  01-05-2015 18:21 via zdnet.com.feedsportal.com
  
  Innovation is vital to business success. Tech Pro Research surveyed 353 respondents to find out more about the value of innovation to their organization.
  
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• Innovation through the looking glass

  01-05-2015 18:20 via zdnet.com.feedsportal.com
  
  Most companies have to innovate continuously just to maintain their competitiveness. Disruptive innovation in search of new product categories requires extra effort and carries more risk, but can deliver greater rewards if managed properly.
  
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• Innovation defined: New, useful, real and critical to long-term success

  01-05-2015 18:19 via zdnet.com.feedsportal.com
  
  Find out how industry experts define innovation and why they believe it's critical to every company's long-term success.
  
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• Review: Huawei P8

  01-05-2015 16:40 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  Introduction, design and displayThe Huawei P8 is the Chinese firm's latest foray into the flagship market, and it's arguably its best handset to date after the comparably sedate Ascend P6 and Ascend P7 of the past couple of years.The "Ascend" name has been dropped in favour of the cleaner Huawei P8 moniker, which tidies up its previously messy naming regime.In terms of price you're looking at €499 (around £395, $580, AU$760) for the 16GB model, or €599 (around £465, $680, AU$900) f
  
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• ​Why open-source OpenStack costs can edge above proprietary cloud

  01-05-2015 16:28 via zdnet.com.feedsportal.com
  
  Shortages of skilled OpenStack engineers can help price the open-source technology higher than proprietary equivalents, new research suggests.
  
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• Review: Surface 3 review

  01-05-2015 16:00 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  IntroductionIt's hard to believe that it's almost been a year since Microsoft launched the Surface Pro 3. A tough act to follow, it remains one of the best 2-in-1 devices around and sets the bar high for the Surface 3, the newest member of Microsoft's Surface family, to follow.If the mood leading up to the launch of the Surface Pro 3 was quietly cautious following several Windows RT-shaped mis-steps, there is an almost palpable sense of excitement for the tech coming out of Redmond today. From W
  
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• Four of the top five YouTube channels are for kids (and the fifth is Taylor Swift)

  01-05-2015 15:43
  
  Google’s video service has become a global children’s TV staple thanks to channels like Funtoys Collector and Little Baby BumFour of the five most popular YouTube channels in March are aimed at children, and they racked up nearly 1.5bn video views between them that month.The latest chart from online video analytics firm OpenSlate and industry site Tubefilter shows that US-based toy unboxing channel Funtoys Collector was the biggest YouTube channel by some distance in March, with 477.5m views
  
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• Ankara mayor in 'stupid blonde' attack on US official over Baltimore unrest

  01-05-2015 15:38
  
  Melih Gökçek called US spokeswoman Marie Harf a ‘stupid blonde’ on TwitterMayor of Turkey’s capital known for filing lawsuits against social media critics Continue reading...
  
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• Hands-on review: Updated: Sony Xperia Z4 Tablet

  01-05-2015 15:18 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  If Android tablets are to have a shot at taking on the iPad, Sony's new challenger is the kind of thing they need.The tablet market suddenly seems like a very different place since Sony last launched a 10-inch tablet. Where then the Xperia Z2 Tablet was a credible threat to the iPad in a new and exciting market, the Xperia Z4 Tablet has landed in a very different world.Which is a shame, as it's a very capable device indeed, with excellent design and some thoughtful accessories to push it beyond
  
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• State Of Decay: Year One Survival Edition review

  01-05-2015 14:44
  
  Microsoft; £26.95; Xbox One Continue reading...
  
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• Technology 'threatens map skills'

  01-05-2015 14:32 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A reliance on sat-navs and smart phone map apps is undermining map-reading skills, the Royal Institute of Navigation says.
  
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• Review: Apple Watch

  01-05-2015 14:21 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  IntroductionThe Apple Watch is a bold device, the product of a brand trying to shake up a stuttering smartwatch market and prove that, once again, it can make a niche device cool and mainstream.The iPhone 5-and-up-compatible smartwatch comes in 38 flavors, with different case materials, colors, sizes and interchangeable Apple Watch bands. None are inexpensive.Starting at $349 (£299, AU$499) and peaking at an exorbitant $17,000 (£13,500, AU$24,000), this lightweight wristwatch is meant for pat
  
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• Tesla's new low-cost battery: 'the missing piece' in sustainable energy?

  01-05-2015 14:12
  
  Elon Musk says ‘this is within the power of humanity to do so’ as he unveils new batteries in effort to change the way the world consumes energy Continue reading...
  
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• ​Google updates Password Alert to block attack that mutes phishing warnings

  01-05-2015 13:59 via zdnet.com.feedsportal.com
  
  Google has fixed a bug in its new phishing alert extension that allowed an attacker to mute alerts about potential phishing attacks.
  
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• ​The NoSQL database glut: What's the real price of the current boom?

  01-05-2015 13:47 via zdnet.com.feedsportal.com
  
  Today's abundance of NoSQL databases gives firms choice with one hand but doles out management complexity with the other, according to Basho CTO Dave McCrory.
  
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• Emojis blamed as words lose out to pictures

  01-05-2015 13:46 via bbc.co.uk
  
  In the future fewer words and letters will be used in messaging as pictures and icons take over text speak language.
  
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• Running with the Apple Watch: Yes, you can leave your iPhone behind

  01-05-2015 13:30 via zdnet.com.feedsportal.com
  
  Matthew has now spent a week with his Apple Watch and is very impressed with Apple's work on some fitness aspects of this new wearable.
  
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• Facebook bug blocked image posts

  01-05-2015 13:18 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Facebook faced a backlash from users who found some posts disappeared while others couldn't link to content outside the social network.
  
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• Grooveshark shuts down, apologising to labels for lack of music licences

  01-05-2015 13:15
  
  Streaming music service closes its doors after lengthy legal battle with rights holders, and says: ‘Despite best of intentions, we made very serious mistakes’Streaming music service Grooveshark has shut down as part of the settlement following its loss of a copyright-infringement lawsuit brought by major labels.The US-based service had been going for nearly 10 years, but its decision to build a catalogue of music from users’ uploads rather than licensing deals with rights holders led to it
  
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• VIDEO: How would a Tesla home battery work?

  01-05-2015 13:05 via bbc.co.uk
  
  US electric carmaker Tesla Motors unveils batteries that can power homes and businesses. the BBC's technology correspondent Richard Taylor explains how they would work.
  
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• John McAfee: 'Bad people are still after me'

  01-05-2015 13:00
  
  The software entrepreneur says hit men are on his tail after a hasty exit from Belize but his focus is on warding off tech companies’ all-seeing eyeDeep in the heart of the Bible Belt, John McAfee, the tech millionaire, eccentric and one-time fugitive, appears to have finally settled down – in his way.A few months shy of his 70th birthday, McAfee, as famous for his plentiful eccentricities as the anti-virus software he created, is living somewhat in the open again, this time in Lexington, Te
  
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• ​iOS 8 now on 81 percent of all Apple devices

  01-05-2015 12:53 via zdnet.com.feedsportal.com
  
  iOS 8 has breached the 80 percent mark as Apple continues to push out record numbers of new handsets running its latest OS.
  
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• Review: Samsung UE65JS9000

  01-05-2015 12:50 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  Introduction and featuresWhile other brands are still struggling to get their "normal" 2015 TVs out, Samsung has already launched not one but two groundbreaking models capable of playing High Dynamic Range (HDR) content. What's more, both of these TVs – the previously tested UE65JS9500 and the UE65JS9000 under consideration here, really are extraordinarily good.HDR, for those of you not familiar with it, delivers images containing expanded luminance and colour ranges, resulting in much
  
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• Grooveshark music service shuts down

  01-05-2015 12:48 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Music-streaming service Grooveshark has announced that it is shutting down.
  
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• Review: Samsung BD-J7500

  01-05-2015 12:40 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  Introduction, performance and pictureThe age of the disc-spinner is over. If you want any evidence of that, just look at the BD-J7500's selection of streaming video apps like Netflix, Amazon Instant, BBC iPlayer and YouTube. So why buy a Blu-ray player at all? Besides being a way to upgrade your home entertainment hub without having to buy a pricey smart TV, Samsung is hoping you've got one eye on the 4K future, too. Because as well as apps, multimedia support, home networking and, yes, even Blu
  
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• US aviation authority: Boeing 787 bug could cause 'loss of control'

  01-05-2015 12:35
  
  More trouble for Dreamliner as Federal Aviation Administration warns glitch in control unit causes generators to shut down if left powered on for 248 days The US air safety authority has issued a warning and maintenance order over a software bug that causes a complete electric shutdown of Boeing’s 787 and potentially “loss of control” of the aircraft.In the latest of a long line of problems plaguing Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner, which saw the company’s fleet grounded over battery issues and
  
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• Review: Samsung UE55JU6400

  01-05-2015 12:30 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  Introduction, design and key featuresDoes anyone want a 4k TV? Despite the TV industry and the streaming services taking it seriously, the 4k Blu-ray format is still many months away. It's impossible to get the very best from a 4k TV, so what's the point in buying one? Besides, most people I talk to know a lot more about the reflection-hungry curved TVs than 4k. However, at £1,500 (US$1,300), the UN55JU6400 (the model name in the UK), or UN55JU6400 (the US name), is eventually destined to be on
  
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• Click! Whoosh! What annoys you most about technology in our lives?

  01-05-2015 12:15
  
  As technology grows and spreads further into everyday life, we have new irritants to deal with. Like listening to someone’s keyboard clicks on the train …The other day, my boss tweeted about one of those fundamental facts of life that speaks to us all. It was this: the excruciating annoyance of being subjected to the keyboard click sound of a person’s mobile phone.As Ionesco, the Romanian playwright, said, anguish brings us together. Is there anybody who isn’t instantly riled at this? Wh
  
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• Review: Philips Fidelio M2L

  01-05-2015 12:14 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  Ditching the regular 3.5mm jack for a Lightning port renders these headphones inoperable with anything but late iPhones and iPads. And don't think you can just buy a Lightning-to-minijack adapter because there's no such thing. Philips hasn't lost its corporate marbles though. Making an all-digital connection between source and speakers means you can listen to 48kHz high-resolution audio files from an iPhone for the first time. And even if you don't have any memory-sapping lossless FLAC files, th
  
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• Uber office in Guangzhou 'raided'

  01-05-2015 12:00 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Private online car-hire service Uber has its offices in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou raided by authorities, according to reports.
  
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• Shit People Say to Women Directors blog is hit with fans

  01-05-2015 11:56
  
  Blog recording abuse levelled at female film-makers causes stir in America as founders say they launched site as ‘crisis intervention’ Continue reading...
  
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• ​Microsoft reveals more on HoloLens hardware, gets 3D print boost from AutoDesk

  01-05-2015 11:49 via zdnet.com.feedsportal.com
  
  Microsoft has offered a closer look at its HoloLens virtual reality headset and locked in a deal with Autodesk to bring 3D printing and modelling to Windows 10.
  
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• Liz Kendall: 'Technology can stave off the crisis in the NHS'

  01-05-2015 11:47
  
  Remote monitoring and use of patient data in disease prevention could give sufferers back their lives and save NHS vast sums, says Labour’s Liz Kendall “Would you like an easy peeler?” Liz Kendall asks me, pulling out a massive bag of satsumas. The job, says the shadow minister for care and older people, and the Labour candidate for Leicester West, is extremely unhealthy, though that’s not the biggest problem with working in politics.First elected as an MP in 2010, Kendall has already be
  
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• Microsoft Lumia 435 review: Why the cheapest Lumia yet still packs a punch

  01-05-2015 11:35 via zdnet.com.feedsportal.com
  
  It might be a budget smartphone but it will run Windows 10 when it arrives - so how does the handset stack up against more expensive competition?
  
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• Encryption won't work if it has a back door only the 'good guys' have keys to

  01-05-2015 11:12
  
  David Cameron’s desire to eliminate communications ‘we cannot read’ is impractical, and threatens to let the state have the run of your life Continue reading...
  
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• Spike Lee: watching movies digitally is 'heartbreaking'

  01-05-2015 10:48
  
  The acclaimed director has criticised watching films on mobile phones during a conference in New York Continue reading...
  
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• Netflix announces good new show with bad new poem

  01-05-2015 10:40
  
  I do not like the Netflix rhyme, I do not like it any timeThe good news: Netflix is producing a 13-part animated series based on Dr Seuss’s classic kids book Green Eggs and Ham. It’ll be produced by Ellen DeGeneres, and air in 2018. The company had the charming idea of announcing this fact to reporters with a Dr Seuss-style poem.The bad news: The poem is terrible. Our best guess is that it was written by one person with a sense of scansion, and then edited by four other people who don’t kn
  
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• How can I delete my Facebook account?

  01-05-2015 10:24
  
  Ursula wants to delete her Facebook profile as she finds the posts boring and doesn’t have time to use her accountCould you please explain how one erases one’s profile from Facebook? I find the posts trivial and boring and don’t have much time to go into it. Ursula
  Facebook has a help page: How do I permanently delete my account? This advises you to download a copy of your Facebook data, because you will lose it if you do delete your account. You can also do this by logging into Facebook,
  
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