Latest Technology News

I'm no big fan of Gmail, which interface is overly-cluttered and uses arcane methods for managing messages. But I can tolerate the service on Android devices, where there are no annoying ads and more sensibly-presented core functions. Today, Google made Gmail for Android a little better, by way of the Notifications menu.

Small things often have big impact. Users can now reply or archive messages right from the Notifications bar -- fast and furiously. For people like me who happen to procrastinate email, perhaps there is a future with an empty inbox and all communications current. There's more.

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I will spare you all of the crying and griping about the whole Google Reader thing -- you have heard it all by now. Suffice it to say that I no longer plan to trust Google with much of what I do. Other companies axe products, as I learned when Microsoft killed my beloved Live Mesh last year, but Google is more regular and ruthless executioner, but I digress -- I promised no rant here.

My colleagues and I are discussing where we will all go after being chucked from Google lands into the jungle. There are a number of options, and Feedly is among the popular destinations. But I was not impressed in my, admittedly very short, look at the service. I also fired up Opera and imported my OPML file into its built-in RSS reader, but it's not cloud-based, and I was left with more than 10,000 "unread" stories. Granted it can be fixed, but do I want to?

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Paragon Software has revealed the latest edition of its excellent imaging tool, Backup & Recovery 2013 Free.

The most important addition this time around is the program’s new “Windows 8 Compatible” stamp. If you’re upgrading soon, or have done so already, then Paragon Backup & Recovery 2013 Free should work just as it always has.

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You have no doubt heard the term "Monday Morning Quarterback", which refers to the person who always has the plan that would have won the game the day before. Now you can be an armchair mountaineer thanks to Google's latest update to its Maps program, that brings some of the biggest and baddest climbs to your computer screen.

The Maps teams has gone to a number of extremes and this time they are scaling the heights of some of the most feared peaks on the planet. The team visited Nepal, commonly thought of as the gateway to the Himalaya's, and captured images that must be seen to truly be appreciated.

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Dozens of alternative services have popped up to claim that future vacant lot to be cleared on July 1, the day Google Reader closes for good. Unsurprisingly, more than one hundred thousand stubborn users are unwilling to let go, unpersuaded by third-party promises, and still want their beloved RSS feeder to stay.

A basic "Google Reader" search on change.org now lists eight petitions related to the service that ask or demand the search giant keep the popular RSS feed aggregator alive. Most have less than 7,000 supporters, with one exception. The petition started by New Yorker Dan Lewis, "Google: Keep Google Reader Running", has more than 126,000 people behind it.

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For those people who haven't moved on to Windows 8, don't worry -- you will still get something new. Microsoft has announced that Service Pack 1 for Windows 7 will automatically push through the Windows Update tomorrow.

This is not entirely new, though. In fact, Service Pack 1 released way back on Feb. 9, 2011, but has remained optional. Users could previously install SP1 from Windows Update, but the task required manually adding it to the installation list. The difference now is that Microsoft will no longer give users a choice in this matter. That is not a bad thing, because SP1 rolls together a number of security updates for your computer.

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On Monday, Japanese smartphone manufacturer Sony announced two new handsets, the Xperia L and Xperia SP, aimed at the low-end and mid-range smartphone markets, respectively.

The Xperia L smartphone is Sony's new low-end offering. The device comes with a 4.3-inch display with an effective resolution of 854 x 480 and is powered by a dual-core 1 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Plus (MSM8230) processor, 1GB of RAM and a 1,700 mAh battery. Other specs include: 8-megapixel back-facing camera with 720p video recording; 0.3MP front-facing camera; 8GB of internal storage; microSD card slot; HSPA+ connectivity: NFC (Near Field Communication); as well as the usual array of sensors.

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Tell me if you can't make the connection here. China is the world's largest market for PCs and during 2012 passed the United States to claim the top spot in smartphones, too. About two thirds of all handsets going into China are smartphones, and there is a long-documented trend in emerging markets where people skip the PC and go right to mobiles as their first connected devices. Handset sales are way up and now IDC says PC shipments are way down going into the People's Republic and will contribute to larger-than-expected decline in global personal computer shipments. You follow where this is going?

IDC says February PC shipments fell below forecasts. The analyst firm had expected a 7.7 percent year-over-year decline for first quarter but now predicts double-digit drop instead. China, which accounted for 21 percent of global PC shipments last year, is a major, but not the only, reason. The analyst firm identifies Chinese New Year, budgets cuts and anti-corruption campaigns as factors, while ignoring the most obvious: Shifting buying patterns.

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There’s only so much tweaking you can do from within Firefox’s own Options dialog. All the really juicy stuff is hidden away, accessible only by typing about:config into the Address bar, heeding the warning and then attempting to navigate the bewildering list of preferences from accessibility.accesskeycausesactivation to zoom.minPercent. This is fine for occasional tweaks, but if you’ve a hankering for some real deep-seated changes, you’ll want to consider a more user-friendly alternative.

If you’re a Windows user running Firefox or its performance-enhanced variant, Pale Moon, then the answer lies in installing the free Pale Moon Commander 0.6add-in. Also available for Windows, Mac and Linux, is Configuration Mania 1.6, aimed squarely at Firefox itself.

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A week ago, I had a dream. I was sitting on a beach with a glass of wine and a laptop and I was searching the internet using Bing. My wife came up, saw what I was doing, and said "Why aren’t you using Google?" To which I replied, "I’m boycotting it. The company shutdown Reader." Yes, that’s right, I dreamt Reader was being shuttered before Google even announced it, and now I’m using Bing. Spooky or what?

But let’s make one thing very clear here. Although I plan to switch to using Microsoft’s services for a while, it’s not a boycott. I realized, after the dream, that I’ve been so tied into Google that I’ve never really given Microsoft’s alternatives -- Bing, Outlook.com, Bing Maps, and even Internet Explorer -- a fair chance to see how they compare. I've used them, in passing at least, but I've never used them full time. And today that’s about to change.

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US mobile operator Verizon has announced a new software update for the Motorola Droid Razr HD and Droid Razr Maxx HD. Bearing the "9.16.6.XT926.Verizon.en.US" moniker, it introduces a number of bug fixes and enhancements for the two Verizon-branded handsets.

According to the big red, the "9.16.6.XT926.Verizon.en.US" update comes in at 96MB and sports Google Security Patches for increased security, a data roaming fix, improved Wi-Fi connectivity as well as the detection for connection/disconnection with USB. When users select home screen icons, wallpaper options are also displayed.

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Piriform’s CCleaner is on its way to Android smartphones, but there are powerful all-in-one cleaning apps already available on Google Play, such as Clean Master.

The app, which has just received an update, can clean the cache, removing unused files, residual files, and clear search history. The app can also kill running tasks to free up more RAM, and let you uninstall any apps you rarely (if ever) use.

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The price difference on AT&T, between the HTC Windows Phone 8X and the Nokia Lumia 920 has always been somewhat contradictory. The US mobile operator has offered the former in 16GB and 8GB trim for $199.99 and $99.99, respectively, while for the latter AT&T requires users to pay $99.99 in 32GB storage trim.

Considering that both smartphones share the same operating system, Microsoft's Windows Phone 8, but the Lumia 920 adds more to the equation through an extensive list of exclusive apps and hardware features, like wireless charging, it begs the question: Why is the Windows Phone 8X more expensive? As it turns out, it is not. Well not anymore.

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At first glance, JPEGview doesn’t appear as though it’s going to be a particularly interesting image viewer. A 798KB download suggests there can’t be too much power here. And on launch the program asks you to choose an image, and then just displays it, with no menus, toolbars or other obvious signs of any interface.

First impressions aren’t always reliable, though -- and you’ll quickly realize that as you begin to explore.

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After screwing early adopters from upgrading their devices to Windows Phone 8 and offering the lesser-featured Windows Phone 7.8 instead, Microsoft has revealed that it will provide updates over an 18-month period for WP7.8 users, with support to officially end on September 9, 2014.

As Windows Phone 7.8 started to rolled-out earlier this year, with Nokia announcing the upgrade spree in late-January, its lifecycle will be cut out later than Windows Phone 8's mainstream support. Support for that OS started on December 14, 2012 and ends on July 8, 2014, two months after its lesser sibling.

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