Latest Technology News

Web gallery creation tool JAlbum 11.0 has been released for Windows, Mac and Linux. Version 11.0 allows users to combine video with photos for the first time using the program. Features include support for over 160 video formats, tools for rotating and trimming clips, and preview image generation.

Version 11.0 also improves existing photo-editing tools, updates existing skins and includes a number of developer-friendly improvements, bug fixes and general tweaks.

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Expressing his disappointment towards Google killing Reader from July 1, my colleague Alan Buckingham said in our newsroom, "I swear I am switching to Firefox, Bing and Outlook.com in protest!". Other users, however, have resorted to less extreme measures and instead chosen to show their non-acceptance through petitions.

Less than 24 hours since Google gave us the sad news, there are at least three petitions on change.org with more than 37,000 signatures combined demanding the search giant "Keep Google Reader Running" and "Do not remove Google Reader on July 1, 2013". One petitioner tried to appeal to Google's good side with "Please do not shut down Google Reader". The number of signatures may not appear to be high enough at the moment to reach the goal, but that will undoubtedly change in a matter of days, if not hours.

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Uptime monitoring firm Pingdom analyzed the latest report from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) to discover how much the world is paying for its broadband, and its findings show some incredible variations in global broadband costs.

While broadband in most of the world’s countries is generally available for between $5 and $60 per month, in Cuba it’s an eye watering $1,753 (the country additionally has no mobile-broadband services available). In Swaziland, the next most expensive country in the list, it’s a lot cheaper, but still comes in at a very hefty $875 per month.

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While YouTube’s vast choice of clips means there’s always something good to watch, tracking down the best videos can take a while. Especially if you’re clicking each clip in turn, checking the ratings, then returning to your search results to try something else.

Install YouTube Ratings Preview, though, and you don’t have to worry about that any more. This smart Firefox extension (also available for Chrome) highlights the best-rated videos immediately so you can spot them at a glance.

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The lack of official apps for Windows 8 led to me describing the Windows Store as being like a Bangkok night market -- full of cheap knock offs. Well today Microsoft’s new OS got at least one big official app, with Twitter arriving for Windows 8 and RT.

It’s similar in design to Twitter’s web interface, and easy to use with Home, Connect, Discover, and Me tabs down the left hand side. Photos appear nice and large, and you can swipe to view multiple pictures. As you’d expect the app has a live tile, so you can see who’s replied to you, as well as view notifications for replies and direct messages.

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I can live with iGoogle going away -- I never use the service anymore. But this one really hurts, though perhaps more to those of us who write about technology than those who read about it. However, statistics show that many of you also use the RSS feed to easily track your favorite sites. That is why today's execution notice from Google hits below the belt.

Reader, along with several others, have been rounded up, tried and found guilty of not being productive enough to warrant continued life. Reader will die July 1. Other Google services have varying dates -- some sooner, while others get a stay.

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In December, I warned: "You can't trust IDC's 2016 tablet forecast, or any other". That's because the analysts revise predictions every couple months. Well, lookyloo. The firm dropped a new forecast late yesterday, and like every other Android gives iOS another beating. I say, "Perhaps".

The great soothsayers now see Android tablet shipment share rising above iOS for all 2013, a feat already claimed individually for third and fourth quarters. IDC sees the green robot at 48.8 percent share to 46 percent for the fruit-logo. Don't believe it. The market is too volatile and IDC, along with all its competitors, has yet to make accurate predictions. Anything can happen, including an unexpected surge of Windows tablets.

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Open-source Windows media-center tool MediaPortal 1.3.0 has been released after an extended period in Release Candidate mode. Version 1.3.0 debuts a fresh new skin, optimized for widescreen full HD displays, and also adds support for unencrypted Blu-ray disc playback.

The new build also adds official support for Windows 8, improved settings dialog within MediaPortal itself and an option to install LAV filters, ensuring playback of most media formats.

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This afternoon, in a rather shocking and unexpected move, father of Android Andy Rubin stepped down -- or was forced to -- in a leadership change sure to shift the direction of Google platform development. Sundar Pichai, senior vice president for Chrome and Apps, assumes responsibilities for Android.

Larry Page broke the news, offering praise alongside Google cofounder Sergey Brin for Rubin's enormous contribution. The follow memo follows.

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"Holy crap!" That was my response to colleague Alan Buckingham, when he informed me that Andy Rubin would no longer lead Android development. He's the father of Android! But green robot parent no more. The news is simply shocking and hints of some back-room drama and possible disagreement about future Google platform development. I say that because Sundar Pichai, the man behind Chrome OS, adds Android to his responsibilities.

For some time, Android and Chrome OS users -- me among them -- have posed quandary: "Why support two operating systems?" Google should bring together Android and Chrome OS. I wouldn't be surprised if that is the go-forward edict from Google on High, perhaps something Rubin wouldn't support. Yes, I speculate, but the man is passionate about his child, which Google acquired in 2005.

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Netflix, the popular DVD-by-mail and internet streaming service, today announced that it is bringing social sharing to your video experience with new Facebook integration -- a feature previously available elsewhere, but prevented here by U.S. law. Now you can no longer pretend to your friends that you really didn't watch that sappy love story last night.

Netflix's Cameron Johnson, director of product innovation, states that "Netflix members in the U.S. can share their favorite shows and movies on Netflix with friends by connecting to Facebook and agreeing to share".

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For tablets, 2013 is the year of small form factors -- and, presumably, lower prices. Amazon isn't waiting to see, and that's a good strategy considering Kindle HD might not be the device Goldilocks is searching for. Unlike the fairy tale where one is too big or two small, Amazon's tablet may not be just right. Proactive price reduction could change that.

Here's the problem: Several analyst firms now predict that slates with 7-7.9-inch screens will command the market, which puts 8.9-inch Kindle Fire HD a wee bit on the plump side. "One in every two tablets shipped this quarter was below 8 inches in screen size", Jitesh Ubrani, IDC research analyst, says. "In terms of shipments, we expect smaller tablets to continue growing in 2013 and beyond".

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Monitoring the latest BBC news from your Windows desktop used to be very easy: just install the official News Desktop Alert and Ticker and it would keep you up-to-date. The move to smartphones and tablets meant the service was closed a couple of years ago, though, which left your desktop options a little limited.

Unless, that is, you install the (strictly unofficial) Desktop BBC News.

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As the parent of two teenagers I am always interested in studies about their digital lifestyle. Pew Research Center has a new report that claims that "smartphone adoption among American teens has increased substantially and mobile access to the internet is pervasive". You don't say? I believe I could have told you that simply by visiting my local mall. So much for the "tell us something we don't know" moment.

Still, the research firm did its homework and published some interesting numbers. Pew studied a group of 802 teens between the ages of 12 and 17 to reach its results. For instance, 78 percent of all teens have cell phones and almost half of those, 47 percent, are smartphones. For the record, in our household it is an even 50 percent -- the 16 year old has a smartphone, the 13 year old does not yet have his first phone, though it is a subject that seems to come up daily.

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Just how big is too big? In late-August, last year, I made the case for 15-inch tablets being suited for resource-intensive tasks, as well as lying on the couch to catch up on the newest episode of my favorite show, but somehow I sense that manufacturers have taken things too far.

The latest entry in the mammoth touchscreen genre comes from American company Dell which, on Wednesday, unveiled the XPS 18 AIO (All-In-One). As you might imagine judging by its name, the XPS 18 features an 18-inch touchscreen display, with a resolution of 1920 by 1080, or as Dell likes to call it "twice the screen size of Apple's iPad" (like the two are in some sort of competition -- which they are not).

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