Technology news

• Logitech drops the 'tech' with new Logi products

  08-07-2015 23:14
  
  To appeal to a younger generation, the world's largest maker of computer peripherals is undergoing a major rebranding. Logitech announced that it will be dropping the "tech" from its name as it moves into the home automation space. Under the direction of Alastair Curtis, Logitech's Chief Design Officer who came from Nokia, the company's teaser video utilizes a lot of bold primary colors, similar to what Nokia, now Microsoft Mobile, uses on its Lumia line of Windows Phone."Logitech
  
  Read more

• Official Star Wars app lets you take selfies in a galaxy far, far away

  08-07-2015 23:03
  
  The Star Wars 7 movie release is still months away, but you can feast on the official Star Wars app starting today.Some Star Wars app highlights include weather forecasts for spots like Tatooine, classic sound effects and quotes (think light saber clashing and "It's a trap!") and alerts for major movie news and new trailers. There's plenty of fun stuff to do, like sharing animated GIFs, picking up trivia from This Day In Star Wars History or following along with the Star Wars: The Forc
  
  Read more

• Apple thinks iPhone 6S can still break records with an 'S' phone

  08-07-2015 22:39
  
  Apple is expected to keep the dimensions of the rumored iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus the same as last year's phones, but increase the size of its sales dramatically.The company is asking for between 85 million to 90 million new iPhone models to be made by its suppliers in 2015, according to the Wall Street Journal.That record number would top the current high of 70 million to 80 million iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus phones, which Apple is said to have ordered by the end of 2014.This is further evid
  
  Read more

• Your heartbeat picks your next Tinder date in this Apple Watch app

  08-07-2015 22:20
  
  Tinder on Apple Watch is a near-perfect match, but "Hands-Free Tinder" makes things even more personal by letting you speak with your heart instead of your finger. Developers from an Austin, Texas-based creative agency have retooled the original app with a little help from the new Apple Watch SDK that gives third-party developers access to the heart rate monitor, Taptic Engine and Digital Crown, among other improvements. It takes the standard Tinder experience on your wrist and puts yo
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• NY Stock Exchange trading restarts

  08-07-2015 21:59 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Trading on the New York Stock Exchange restarts after being suspended for almost four hours due to a technical fault.
  
  Read more

• Review: Dell Latitude 12 7000 Series (E7250)

  08-07-2015 21:20
  
  Introduction and designThe Dell Latitude 12 7000 Series E7250 ($1,079, £702, AU$1,452) is a compact business Ultrabook. If you can get over the understated appearance Dell has packed a bevy of ports, an array of wired and wireless connectivity options and enterprise-class security features into the compact frame of this 12.5-inch laptop. Its closest rivals in the business market include the HP EliteBook Folio 1020 G1 ($1,249, £820, AU$1,640) and Lenovo ThinkPad X250 ($836, £544, AU$1,124), bo
  
  Read more

• Upworthy reels in clickbait and moves into story creation

  08-07-2015 21:07 via feeds.theguardian.com
  
  The viral content site announces a major editorial overhaul that has been inspired by Netflix, according to co-founder Peter KoechleyUpworthy is rolling back its clickbait headlines and ramping up its story creation in a shakeup that will pit it against viral media storytellers, such as BuzzFeed and Vice.
  The move marks a significant departure from the company’s editorial strategy over its first three years, which entailed a team of curators scouring the web for content with a social purpose.
  
  Read more

• Microsoft to cut 7,800 more jobs

  08-07-2015 20:33 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Microsoft cuts 7,800 jobs and takes a $7.6bn writedown as it reorganises its mobile phone unit following last year's purchase of Nokia's business.
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Computer glitch grounds aeroplanes

  08-07-2015 20:00 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A computing fault forces United Airlines to ground its flights for two hours, its second major IT glitch in two months.
  
  Read more

• Robocall victim gets $230,000 payout

  08-07-2015 19:32 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Time Warner Cable is ordered to pay a woman almost $230,000 after a judge rules it harassed her with automated calls.
  
  Read more

• Grounded United passengers air their complaints online – then start drinking

  08-07-2015 18:52 via feeds.theguardian.com
  
  Airline says service has resumed after technical issues forced grounding of all planes in the US, but delays are expected throughout the dayThousands of United Airlines flights across the US were grounded for two hours on Wednesday, after what the airline said was a “network connectivity issue”. The airline has said it is working to restore flight operations but residual delays were expected throughout the day for all 4,395 daily departures.Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• FBI chief wants 'backdoor access' to encrypted communications to fight Isis

  08-07-2015 18:37 via feeds.theguardian.com
  
  Experts warn that ‘magical thinking’ of a security flaw only the US government could exploit could easily be utilized by hackers, foreign spies and terroristsThe director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation has warned US senators that the threat from the Islamic State merits a “debate” about limiting commercial encryption – the linchpin of digital security – despite a growing chorus of technical experts who say that undermining encryption would prove an enormous boon for hackers,
  
  Read more

• Why Facebook changed its friends icon

  08-07-2015 18:22 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The Facebook designer who changed the friends icon explains her fight to put a woman at the forefront.
  
  Read more

• Tinder gives celebrities blue tick

  08-07-2015 17:51 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The dating app says it will mean if a celeb comes up "you'll know it's for real."
  
  Read more

• What does Microsoft's $7.6bn, 7,800-person layoff mean for Windows Phone?

  08-07-2015 17:45 via feeds.theguardian.com
  
  Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella is writing off the company’s Nokia devices purchase and pulling back from being a smartphone manufacturerMicrosoft’s mobile business just keeps calling wrong numbers. On Wednesday chief executive Satya Nadella announced he had “restructured” the company’s smartphone business laying off 7,800 staff and writing off $7.6bn. Ex-Microsoft boss Steve Ballmer’s dreams of making it big in mobile with his 2014 purchase of Nokia Devices have essentially
  
  Read more

• Review: HP 260 G1

  08-07-2015 17:40 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  Introduction and performanceSometimes, a PC vendor comes up with something totally unexpected that, well, gets heads turning. That's a fairly easy thing to achieve in a market that has relied for years on flogging the same boxes or base units to avid audiences. Now users are shifting elsewhere (to tablets, laptops, all-in-ones), leaving the aforementioned vendors with no way forward other than innovating.Which brings me nicely to the HP 260 G1 (manufacturer ID K8L27EA#ABU). As its suffix alludes
  
  Read more

• Adobe tackles new Flash threat

  08-07-2015 17:22 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Adobe issues an update to fix a security hole in Flash that was discovered after data was stolen from an online surveillance company.
  
  Read more

• Microsoft to cut 7,800 jobs as it takes $7.6bn loss on mobile phone business

  08-07-2015 17:09 via feeds.theguardian.com
  
  Cuts will add to more than 12,000 jobs eliminated in past year as CEO Satya Nadella says the company is reassessing its money-losing smartphone businessMicrosoft announced on Wednesday that it is cutting 7,800 jobs and taking a loss of $7.6bn on its money-losing mobile phone business.The cuts add to the roughly 12,500 jobs eliminated in the past year from the Nokia phone business that Microsoft bought for $7.3bn in 2012. Some 2,300 of the jobs will be made in Finland, where Nokia is headquartere
  
  Read more

• Reddit rival buckles under demand

  08-07-2015 16:14 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A news site start-up is struggling to make the most of a backlash against the leadership of its larger rival Reddit.
  
  Read more

• Vodafone Smart Prime 6 review

  08-07-2015 16:11
  
    The companion piece to Vodafone's Tab Prime 6, the Vodafone Smart Prime 6 is an ultra-cheap budget smartphone with 4G and Lollipop, and if there's not a lot else to recommend it, that's still pretty good going for the price.By: Dave Oliver, Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Teen convicted of over 50,000 hacks

  08-07-2015 14:16 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A 17-year old hacker is punished for hijacking thousands of email accounts, disrupting websites, and stealing credit card details, but avoids a jail sentence.
  
  Read more

• YouTube gamer PewDiePie 'earns $7m'

  08-07-2015 13:52 via bbc.co.uk
  
  YouTube's most popular star PewDiePie earns $7m, according to Swedish newspaper Expressen.
  
  Read more

• Final Fantasy VII Remake – what is the E3 trailer really trying to tell us?

  08-07-2015 13:49 via feeds.theguardian.com
  
  What is really going on in the much-hyped preview shown during this year’s expo? We carry out a forensic analysisThe Sony press conference at this year’s E3 expo in Los Angeles was one huge gift to veteran gamers. There was the long-awaited confirmation that The Last Guardian is still in development; there was news of the Shenmue 3 kickstarter; and, to the raucous delight of the audience, there was the announcement of Final Fantasy VII Remake, a modernised version of the classic PlayStation
  
  Read more

• Encryption backdoors for cops are unworkable, will put internet security at risk, warn experts

  08-07-2015 13:33 via zdnet.com.feedsportal.com
  
  Demands for access to encrypted communications raise huge technical and ethical questions, according to security researchers.
  
  Read more

• ​Why Apache Kafka firm Confluent thinks IoT and streaming will gain from $24m injection

  08-07-2015 13:30 via zdnet.com.feedsportal.com
  
  New stream-management features for Apache Kafka are among product development efforts to be funded by a fresh investment round for startup Confluent.
  
  Read more

• Facebook gets a feminist twist with new friends icons

  08-07-2015 13:24 via feeds.theguardian.com
  
  Company designer Caitlin Winner puts women front and centre in new icons for friends and groupsAs software updates go, the one coming soon to Facebook appears relatively minor. It’s a slight visual update to the icons used to represent friends and groups on the platform, and probably won’t even be noticed by the vast majority of users. But symbolically, the change says a lot.Why? Because it puts women first – literally. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• YouTube star PewDiePie responds to 'haters' over $7.4m annual earnings

  08-07-2015 12:48 via feeds.theguardian.com
  
  ‘It seems like the whole world cares more about how much money I make than I do myself,’ says online gaming star in video posted for fansYouTube star Felix ‘PewDiePie’ Kjellberg has responded to online criticism after it was revealed that he earned $7.4m in 2014 from his gaming videos.The earnings were published in a financial filing in Sweden by his company PewDie Productions and reported on news site Expressen. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• The impossible war on encryption

  08-07-2015 12:30 via zdnet.com.feedsportal.com
  
  The government wants to be able to read every message passing over the internet. It's a wish that, if it came true, could do more harm than good.
  
  Read more

• Women less likely to be shown ads for high-paid jobs on Google, study shows

  08-07-2015 12:29 via feeds.theguardian.com
  
  Automated testing and analysis of company’s advertising system reveals male job seekers are shown far more adverts for high-paying executive jobs Female job seekers are much less likely to be shown adverts on Google for highly paid jobs than men, researchers have found.
  The team of researchers from Carnegie Mellon built an automated testing rig called AdFisher that pretended to be a series of male and female job seekers. Their 17,370 fake profiles only visited jobseeker sites and were shown 60
  
  Read more

• Star-crossed lovers? Tinder introduces verified accounts for celebrities

  08-07-2015 12:04 via feeds.theguardian.com
  
  Fancy dating a Hollywood actor – or a pop princess, such as Katy Perry? Well, thanks to this app, now you can Fancy dating Cara Delevingne or Kit Harington? Who doesn’t fancy dating Cara Delevingne or Kit Harington? Well, now you can – as long as they’re on Tinder.The dating app has rolled out verified profiles, which means now you’ll know if “celebrity” profiles on the app are for real – instead of having to rely on whether or not the profile picture is a heavily pixellated crop
  
  Read more

• Adapt 999 for smartphones - report

  08-07-2015 11:23 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Radical changes should be made to 999 call services in the UK to allow people to utilise smartphone technology in an emergency, a report says.
  
  Read more

• ​Microsoft 'poised to axe more jobs from hardware, smartphones'

  08-07-2015 11:22 via zdnet.com.feedsportal.com
  
  Microsoft employees in the company's hardware and smartphone businesses could be facing redundancies, according to a report.
  
  Read more

• Warning over Adobe Flash vulnerability revealed by Hacking Team leak

  08-07-2015 11:15 via feeds.theguardian.com
  
  Tech company promises patch within a day for major new flaw uncovered by leak of 400GB of documents from hacking firm
  An unpatched security flaw in Adobe Flash, discovered then kept secret by Italian cyber-surveillance firm Hacking Team, is now being used by malware developers to hack victims’ computers following the leak of over 400GB of data from the company’s servers.Adobe, which says it expects to publish a patch for the vulnerability at some point on Wednesday, warns that “successful
  
  Read more

• Five key apps to help you get around London during the tube strike

  08-07-2015 10:48 via feeds.theguardian.com
  
  What are your alternatives to travelling by underground across the capital? Now you can use your smartphone to find out instantly
  Get set for a summer of discontent on London’s underground system, with a 24-hour tube strike set to kick off, and more possible in the weeks ahead if negotiations between London Underground and unions RMT, Unite and TSSA don’t progress.Commuters wondering how to get across the capital on Wednesday evening and Thursday can turn to a range of smartphone apps that c
  
  Read more

• Vodafone's core upgrade to aid network expansion

  08-07-2015 08:56 via zdnet.com.feedsportal.com
  
  Vodafone Australia's core network upgrade will help the company with its plans to grow the 4G mobile network over the next 18 months, according to CTO Benoit Hanssen.
  
  Read more

• Uber to become technology company to avoid legal hurdles in Indonesia: Report

  08-07-2015 08:46 via zdnet.com.feedsportal.com
  
  Uber is looking to formally establish itself as an e-commerce company that provides smartphone applications in Indonesia to avoid legal hurdles that may come out of a current police investigation into the company's operations.
  
  Read more

• Australian online video subscriptions jump sixfold in six months: Telsyte

  08-07-2015 07:56 via zdnet.com.feedsportal.com
  
  The arrival of Netflix, Stan, and Presto has seen the number of Australians subscribing to video-streaming services jump from 315,000 at the end of 2014 to 2 million by the end of June, according to Telsyte.
  
  Read more

• Mozilla looking to ditch XUL for Firefox

  08-07-2015 06:53 via zdnet.com.feedsportal.com
  
  Discussions have begun inside Mozilla for the next language to build user interfaces with, after the organisation looks to call time on XUL.
  
  Read more

• FBI appeals in web 'sextortion' case

  08-07-2015 06:03 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The FBI makes a public appeal to help identify more than 240 victims of a man who used the internet to extort pornographic images from teenage girls.
  
  Read more

• Department of Defence extends Optus satellite contract

  08-07-2015 03:33 via zdnet.com.feedsportal.com
  
  The Australian Department of Defence will use Optus' C1 satellite to the end of its life in 2020, after signing a contract extension until then.
  
  Read more

• Switzerland begins postal delivery by drone

  08-07-2015 03:23 via feeds.theguardian.com
  
  Swiss postal service says tests will run until the end of July although the widespread use of drones is not likely to kick in for another five yearsSwitzerland’s postal service said on Tuesday it had begun testing parcel deliveries by unmanned drones, although widespread use of the flying postmen is not likely to kick in for another five years.
  Postal service executives showed off the drones for the first time on Tuesday and said initial tests of the machines’ post-delivery abilities would r
  
  Read more

• How far will we go to charge our phones?

  08-07-2015 01:34 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The never-ending quest to charge our phones
  
  Read more

• VIDEO: USA vs Japan: Giant robot duel

  08-07-2015 01:06 via bbc.co.uk
  
  American MegaBot challenges Japan's Kuratas Mecha to a giant robot battle to the bitter end
  
  Read more

Follow @TechnologyUKnws on Twitter!