Latest Technology News

When I opened Apple Maps in iOS 6 for the first time, I was struck by how basic the actual maps are. Zooming in shows the roads, and road names, but it’s all very simple. By contrast, when you zoom into Google Maps you often get to see the buildings on either side of the roads, which can help to get orientated and locate important landmarks.

Google today boosted this subtle but incredibly handy navigation feature by adding a further 25 million new algorithmically-created building footprints to the desktop and mobile versions of Maps.

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What happens if you're interested in getting one of the latest Sony smartphones, but you want Android 4.1 Jelly Bean instead of the slightly older Ice Cream Sandwich build? According to Sony, you'll have to wait until the first quarter of 2013 (that's right) to run the operating system that Google announced back in June on devices such as the Sony Xperia T.

The Sony Xperia T and TX are shipping today in a number of "global markets," with the little brother, the Xperia V, on its way as well. For its newly released smartphones, the Japanese consumer electronics maker will release the Android 4.1 Jelly Bean upgrade in the middle of the first quarter of 2013. Sony confirmed that the global version of the Xperia Go, Xperia Ion, Xperia J, Xperia P, Xperia S and Xperia Acro S will also receive the upgrade, but did not yet announce when, only "in due course," which might be less than reassuring to owners.

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Eight days before Windows 8's big launch, Microsoft served up expected, dismal news about its successor, in the wake of disastrous third-quarter PC shipments. They sapped Windows division revenue and profit, keeping to a recent trend. There was never a question of negative impact, merely how bad -- as Wall Street analysts expected overall company revenues to decline. The question everyone should ask: Can Q4 be any better than this?

For fiscal first quarter 2013, ended September 30, Microsoft revenue fell 8 percent to $16.1 billion, year over year. Operating income: $5.31 billion, down 26 percent. Net income: $4.47 billion. Earning per share fell 22 percent to 53 cents. The results are impacted by a $1.36 billion, or 13 cents-a-share, deferral related to Windows 8 and Office 2013 launches.

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Today Google started to deploy an updated version of its Google Play Store app for Android smartphones and tablets, bringing along an interesting new feature -- the ability to remove apps from "My Apps".

Before Google Play Store build version 3.9.16, Android users did not have the options to remove unused apps from their account, which was especially bothersome when dealing with hundreds of them that keep piling up (and resyncing to devices). Also newly introduced is the ability to add apps to "My Wishlist", a feature aimed at users that want to keep track of new apps, but wish to postpone installing or purchasing them.

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Two hours before its scheduled quarterly meeting with investors, search giant Google preemptively released its third-quarter 2012 earnings results on Thursday, showing a 20 percent decline in profit for the quarter and falling short of Wall Street expectations.

The company's shares dropped approximately 10 percent following the accidental release of the statement, but trading was halted shortly thereafter.

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You may often come across on-screen text that you’d like to grab, quote, or otherwise reuse in a document, and it’s annoying if that isn’t possible (the text is contained within an image, for instance).

This doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll have to retype the text manually, though. Just point the free optical character recognition tool Capture2Text at the image, and it’ll quickly grab the text for you and copy it to the clipboard.

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Google and Samsung are giving Chromeboook a mighty big makeover -- smaller screen, lower price and something unexpected: ARM processor. Say goodbye to x86, baby, and hello to $249 selling price, which is $200 less than Samsung's Series 5 550 model. The architectural change comes as Microsoft and its OEM partners prep ARM-based Windows RT computers for release in just eight days. Like Windows 8 systems, future Chromebooks will have either ARM or x86 processors.

ARM means there's more Samsung in the new model than ever before, which includes the microprocessor. That makes the new Chromebook a lot closer to an end-to-end product that Apple might make. Judging from Google-Samsung success with Galaxy Nexus, which feels integrated all the way -- hardware, services and software -- the new Chrome OS device promises much. Kilogram for kilogram, the device is ready to stand against MacBook Air, which offers same screen size and similar dimensions but starting price is $750 more. Then there are ultrabooks, some of which sell for even more than Apple's laptop.

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Who said that pirates don't embrace the future? In a blog post, Swedish BitTorrent tracker The Pirate Bay announced that it's moving the entire operation to the cloud. How's that for a change?

The trackers, torrents and servers are "ditched" and the controversial BitTorrent tracker has moved its data, in "deeply" encrypted forms, in "thousands of clouds," according to the announcement made yesterday. There is also a fail-safe system used to reboot the nodes that "transform" the data into a deadlock. So what's the point of all this? Surely it is not to embrace modern data storage solutions. The Pirate Bay has had problems with the law in the not so distant past, and moving sensitive data to the cloud looks like a move designed to protect the men behind it from various allegations.

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Changing your email address can be a major pain. You’ve got to tell everyone about it, move your emails from the old account to the new one and so on. I know people who’ve been using Hotmail for the better part of a decade, despite loathing it, just because they don’t want the perceived hassle of switching to another service (or even upgrading to Outlook.com).

AOL’s new cloud-based email tool, Alto, is designed to avoid this problem by working alongside, or rather on top of, the main webmail services, rather than replacing them. You don’t need to sign up for a new email address, you just log in with your existing AOL, Gmail, Yahoo, or iCloud details. Once you’re in, Alto will help manage your inbox and cut back on clutter.

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Android users running Ice Cream Sandwich and Jelly Bean can now take advantage of a new standalone version of Google Calendar. The move brings the product/service more in line with Gmail, Google Play and others that have been separate apps for some time now, and the split sees the introduction of some interesting new options that could well be enough to persuade users away from other calendar apps.

The calendar app previously was limited to a number of devices, notably Nexus, but now it is available to anyone running the right version of Google mobile operating system. While the standalone app is nothing groundbreaking, there are a few noteworthy tweaks, starting with the fact that there is now a snooze function for those occasions when you are busy with something else but still want to be reminded of an upcoming appointment.

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Motorola announced the new Droid Razr family of smartphones more than a month ago, and today the 4G LTE-ready Droid Razr HD, Droid Razr Maxx HD, and Droid Razr M are available for purchase at Verizon Wireless.

The cheapest of the bunch is the entry-level 4.3-inch Droid Razr M that comes in two colors, white and black, and will set back customers of the big red $99 on a two-year contract. The 4.7-inch Droid Razr HD is also available in the same palette, and runs for $100 more at $199. The Motorola Droid Razr Maxx HD is also the most expensive of the three, but comes with the biggest battery, costing a whopping $299 on a two-year contract and is only available in black.

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If you think you read my title wrong, take a second look. You'd think from all the overblown attention that the Modern interface is garnering, that I was going to focus another drab op-ed around that sole feature. Yes, the Modern UI is a radical change and will turn a lot of people off. But let's not forget that with every new Windows release comes features that actually don't get the time of day. I think a few of these deserve a sliver of attention.

We've been down this road before. Let's not forget that the introduction of the Office ribbon menu system was considered shocking back in 2006, and years later a majority of users have accepted and embraced the changes. Apple received similar kickback on its radical iPhone design back in 2007. I truly believe the heat on Windows 8's Modern UI will come and go like the rest of modern tech's evolutionary moments.

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Apple today lost an appeal against the UK ruling that found rival Samsung's Galaxy Tab did not infringe its design rights. The original case, in which Judge Colin Birss declared Samsung’s tablets were not cool enough to be confused with the iPad, found in favor of the South Korean company and ordered Apple to publish a notice on its website and in various print titles (for a minimum of six months), informing visitors and readers that Samsung did not copy the design of Apple’s tablet.

The Court of Appeal’s review of the case upheld this ruling, meaning that Apple must comply with the original order. And just for a little additional salt/wound rubbing, one of the three appeals judges, Lord Justice Kitchin, stated that the typeface used in the notices must be no smaller than 14 point Ariel.

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Microsoft Surface is available for pre-order, and to attract future buyers that have yet to be mesmerized by the new Windows device class, the Redmond, Wash.-based corporation released a new video that does quite a good job at showing off some of its key features.

Unlike the previous promo that was more about giving Surface a "coolness" factor, the latest spot titled "Learn more about Surface" takes various people using Microsoft's tablet from the moment it is powered on to finally folding and carrying it, while highlighting some of its distinctive features such as the Touch Cover that is available in five distinct colors.

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Berlin developer O&O Software has released a brand new version of its drive-imaging and backup tool. O&O DiskImage 7 Professional 32-bit, also available as a 64-bit build, adds full support for Windows 8 and EFI/UEFI systems.

Version 7 also allows users to create an emergency boot CD from directly within the program itself, plus debuts a streamlined interface designed to appeal to less experienced users. It’s also now capable of adapting to third-party energy saving settings, ensuring disk images aren’t compromised.

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