Latest Technology News

What the retailer gives, it also takes away. In what I can only call the mother of all customer-unfriendly emails, Amazon tells me, and presumably others, that music uploaded to Cloud Drive is gone. I got my email yesterday, without prior notice of major subscription change. I only knew because my job is covering tech news.

But the email still shocked: "If your Cloud Player library contained more than 250 imported songs when your subscription expired, you will be unable to access your previously-imported music". Oh yeah? What happened to that generous 20GB of storage Amazon gave a year ago? What about benefits attached to Prime membership?

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First in a series. One thing about mature markets is they spawn opportunity through pure complexity. What does the press do but sit around discussing the size and depth and pimples on the bum of mature markets? But we spend so much time discussing the implications of what has already happened that we don’t give much space to what’s coming in the form of new ideas. So for the next week or so I’ll be doing a series of columns about new ideas, especially new technologies, that ought to interest us all.

Leading by example I’ll start with a project my kids and I have been working on this summer -- an electric airplane.

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The PC world has more than its share of image viewers, which makes it difficult for any one product to stand out from the crowd. FreeVimager is a rare exception, though, winning you over by its sheer weight of features and functionality.

You get the core viewer basics, of course. The program can associate itself with individual file types (AVI and some audio formats as well as basic images), or open entire folders to display them as a slideshow. And there’s a decent set of image editing options: resize, rotate or crop tools; sharpen and soften filters; brightness, contrast and colour adjustments, a red-eye remover and more.

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Windows 8 will make its public debut on October 26 and has been controversial ever since Microsoft first released information about the operating system to the public. What most  can agree on is that Windows 8 is a shift away from the traditional desktop-orientated operating system towards a system that can be deployed on a wider variety of devices.

The 10 features listed here are but some of the benefits coming with Windows 8.

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Utilizing a network of proxy servers in more than 75 countries across the globe, Rhode Island-based company GeoEdge lets SEO and SEM managers, publishers and advertisers check how their sites and advertisements appear and perform in countries other than their own. The company gives its customers the ability to analyze Web pages from multiple locations simultaneously and track the efficacy of different advertisements, giving them the data they need to create business intelligence about their advertisements.

GeoEdge Analytics captures any ad displayed on any website, everywhere in the world. With it, publishers can enforce compliance rules in other countries, and ad networks and buyers can analyze and identify international media opportunities.

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The CyanogenMod team has announced via Google+ the official release of CyanogenMod 10 nightly builds for a limited number of devices. The list includes popular Android smartphones as well as tablets that will now be able to run the latest CyanogenMod, which is based on Android 4.1.1 Jelly Bean.

The nightly builds are compatible with a select number of Android smartphones and tablets.

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A new tech startup that produces facial recognition camera systems tied to Facebook tagged photos, plans to offer the technology to more traditional physical stores so they could offer you appropriate deals as you enter their business. That’s great for stores that want to have more targeted information about you, based on a bit of your history and likes. But what about privacy, what are the implications?

For now, you are not included in this scheme unless you opt in via Facebook to a third party service. The service would then present tailored deals to your mobile device when you enter an establishment using the technology (currently being tested in Tennessee). Facedeals, the provider, says this simply bolsters and leverages check-ins so that local businesses have more personal information, and by knowing and targeting the products they offer you based on your likes and preferences they can seem more relevant, like discounted or free drinks for using the service at a bar & grill.

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Microsoft needs to harness and capitalize on some of the pent up anticipation that is surrounding roughly the next 5 months of its product lineup. Let's face it: the holiday season is going to be a blissful one, with Windows 8 coming out in late October for consumers and the Surface rumored to be out on the same day.

Optimism for Windows 8 grows, dulling early worries about its future. A recent poll run by BetaNews found that 45-percent of respondents are set to get Windows 8 as soon as it's released. And a forward-thinking interview with the CEO of Laplink, Thomas Koll, firmly solidifies his belief that Windows 8 is far from the next-of-kin to Windows Vista.

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A shocking rumor hit tech and video gaming news sites Friday afternoon, claiming that streaming video game service OnLive could be shutting down or undergoing massive layoffs.

While he couldn't speak about any layoffs or condition of the company, OnLive's Director of Corporate Communications Brian Jacquet wanted to be clear that the actual OnLive service was not shutting down.

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Second in a series. "My name is MB and I'm an addict" is what I would say at the first Early Adopters Anonymous meeting.

I'm driven by an addiction to try a product as soon as possible, at the earliest point in its life cycle and I can (silently) admit to it being a compulsive behavior. It's not that I don't enjoy it, but I feel that's what I should do with every new product that I can get my geeky hands on. Yes, that's the second confession, and I'm fairly certain it will not be the last either.

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First in a series. I feel dirty. As I crawl my way up to my desk this morning, I get the sense that I'm somehow less than fresh. After all, I've just spent several days living on the very edge of Android's outer darkness, a place where evil lurks and "good" users know not to tread.

I'm speaking, of course, of the seedy underworld of Android device rooting, a subculture so far removed from the mainstream of computing that its denizens are hardly recognizable. It's a world that has always fascinated me. But as an outsider subject to the rules of "civilized" society, I could never fully understand the allure -- dare I say, the addiction -- that binds so many to this dark place.

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Uninstalling an application doesn’t seem like it should be such a difficult task: make a note of what you add to a PC during installation, then remove it all when you’re asked, right?

In reality, though, many installers leave assorted files, folders and Registry keys behind to clutter your hard drive and slow your system down. But grab a copy of Mirekusoft Install Monitor and you’ll be able to quickly identify these leftovers, and clean up them all with a click.

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C Spire Wireless, the still relatively new data-centric brand for regional wireless carrier Cellular South on Friday unveiled the latest version of its exclusive "Scout" content recommendation application for C Spire subscribers. This version of Scout expands beyond simple app recommendations, and includes movie, book and music recommendations through various stores like iTunes and Amazon.

The user provides information about himself, and Scout 3.0 then recommends content which the user can then give a thumbs up or thumbs down rating to. It's not unlike the method of content recommendation used by music service Pandora. There is an additional level of social recommendation (a la Yelp) in the "Star Users" class in the app. Here, profiles of users can be viewed, as well as all the apps they have installed and their reviews of different content.

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The Apple Store staffing scandal surprises me -- if it can be called that. Rumored layoffs, hours cutbacks and hiring freezes led to an immediate response from Apple, that seemingly puts new retail chief John Browett in a tight spot. As a former Apple customer and someone who still frequents the stores for reporting purposes, I can see why Browett would want to make changes. The ratio of employees to customers is embarrassing. There's kill and way overkill. What's that saying about having too much of a good thing?

The company had reportedly started laying off employees in the United Kingdom, which didn't strike me as odd with the Olympics ending and the reasonable scenario of releasing temporary employees added for the event. Stories showed up in my RSS feeds earlier in the week. I ignored them, as I do most Apple rumors. But on Wednesday, I saw Gary Allen's analysis of Apple Store profit goals behind the rumored staffing changes, which made much more sense of them. Allen has an excellent track record reporting about Apple Store. Perhaps Apple thought so, too. Official response came yesterday.

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Social gaming just used to be about having fun, but now there’s a real-money element creeping in. First Gamesys launched a Facebook app that allowed UK residents aged 18 and over to play for real cash prizes while interacting with friends, and now Big Fish Games is getting in on the act with Big Fish Casino for iOS devices. The game is a relaunched and rebranded version of Card Ace: Casino, from recently acquired Self Aware Studios, that offers new games and additional social features, and will soon also allow UK users to play slots for real money.

If the thought of wagering your earnings on spinning reels doesn’t do it for you, you might be more interested to hear that the real-money feature, powered by UK-licensed online gaming company Betable, will also be available in blackjack, roulette and video poker in the coming months.

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