Latest Technology News

A few weeks ago I wrote about Apple allowing a member-measuring app into the App Store (which BetaNews readers seemed to love) and now news reaches us that veteran singer Chubby Checker has got his knickers in a "twist" and is suing Hewlett-Packard over a penis size estimator that bears his name.

The "Chubby Checker" app for HP’s Palm OS platform was pulled from all Palm and HP listings in September last year and the developer, Magic Apps, is no more, but that hasn’t stopped the singer’s lawyers going to war over the (frankly genius) use of the name and demanding a stiff half a billion dollars for "irreparable damage and harm" to Checker.

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After two months of public beta testing, the Linux version of Valve’s popular multiplayer gaming ecosystem has been officially released and is available to download for free from the Ubuntu Software Center.

To celebrate the release, Valve is cutting the price of 50 Linux titles by between 50-80 percent in a week long sale that will end on Thursday, 21 February at 10 AM PST. Games currently on sale include Bastion, Trine 2, Counter Strike Source, Serious Sam 3, and Darwinia.

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First in a series. I have loved many computers and gadgets over the years. They typically share two things in common: Initial "Wow" reaction and improved experience the longer used. Microsoft Surface Pro gets the first, but more time is needed on the second. February 14 marks my fourteenth day using the tablet.

Too often tech vendors put too much emphasis on features while missing something more fundamental: Joy. How do you feel using the product. Does it make your life better? Are you happier for using the thing? Design -- how a product looks and the interaction with it -- is paramount. Apple products, for example, are pretty for a reason. On this Valentine's Day, after two weeks with Surface Pro, love is appropriate topic. Because the tablet makes me feel good.

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Microsoft has killed off a bunch of products lately, moving forward to new and "improved" platforms, even making changes to company logos. The concept isn't foreign in the tech industry -- everything changes, almost daily. Yesterday Live Mesh died, soon Messenger will follow it to the grave. Today Microsoft reminds us that Windows 7 RTM's days are numbered.

It is not that we didn't know this day was coming -- the company gives plenty of notice about these things. The irony here is that many businesses are just now moving to the platform from XP. Hopefully most had the foresight to move all the way to Windows 7 Service Pack 1, or later. That version of the operating system will enjoy much more life before being shut off. Microsoft's Stephen Rose points out "mainstream support continuing until January 13, 2015, and extended support continuing until January 14, 2020".

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Cloud backup provider SugarSync, Inc has announced the release of SugarSync 2.0.1 FINAL for Windows and Mac users. The desktop tool, which provides backup, sync and sharing services through SugarSync’s cloud servers, has been radically revamped for this new release, which first debuted in beta back in November.

The latest release includes a number of major new features and improvements, including SugarSync Drive, more flexible sharing of files and cloud search tools. The new build is joined by SugarSync 4.0.0 for Android, with an iOS update promised soon.

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Second in a series. I had a nice surprise Valentine’s Day gift delivered to my door this morning -- a box of ten copies of my new novel (I Know What You Did Last Supper) courtesy of my publisher and fresh off the press. It seemed weird holding the book. Not just because it’s my first novel (co-authored with a friend), but because I haven’t held an actual book for maybe two years now.

When the Kindle first came out, I resisted it. I’ve loved books since I was child, and couldn’t ever imagine switching to an ebook reader. But then I was given the device as a Christmas present in 2009 and despite all my reservations fell in love with it almost immediately.

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Let me preface this by telling you that I have never had an actual problem with Verizon service -- sort of, but I will elaborate in a bit. The network is fast, works everywhere I go and the customer service is stellar. However, and you knew there had to be a but, Google would be wise to, under no circumstances, let Big Red get its hands on another Nexus device. The wireless company can simply not handle the responsibility.

I know this because I have a Galaxy Nexus from Verizon and it is an endless source of frustration and regret. Trouble started from day one and continues to day....well, today.

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Valentine's Day is all about romance, but whom -- or what -- do you really love? The stereotypical geek fawns over his or her gadgets and spends hours on PC (smartphone or tablet) instead of being with family or friends. Surely that describes you, and me, for that matter.

On this day of Cupid's arrows, I confess where they struck gadgets and other goodies and bound us in everlasting love. Take my wife, please, but leave my tech toys. She'll understand -- ah, right?

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If you regularly edit images it's likely you'll occasionally find yourself with multiple copies of the same picture, and wonder how (or even if) they might be different. And that can be a surprisingly difficult question to answer.

Checking the file size might be a good place to start, of course (if they’re the same format, anyway). And visually comparing the pictures could help. But if you need to know for sure then you may want to try DiffImg, a simple tool which can highlight the pixel differences between any two images of the same size.

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The vast majority of us use multiple cloud services for email, social media, and file storage, which means having to regularly switch between different websites or apps to access our data. KiteDesk aims to solve that problem by aggregating information from all of the popular cloud services into a single application.

Aimed at busy consumers and professionals, the service presents email messages, social media posts, contacts, calendar events, and files from the likes of Google, Yahoo, Twitter, Facebook and Dropbox, in a single stream and lets you search for, share, and comment on content.

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Nitro PDF Pty Ltd has launched two major updates for its flagship PDF reader and authoring products. Nitro Reader 3.5 is its powerful freeware PDF reader app, also boasting PDF creation and limited editing and form-filling tools. Nitro Pro 8.5 is Nitro’s flagship PDF authoring product.

The headline new feature in this update is Nitro Pro 8.5’s ability to convert PDF files to Microsoft PowerPoint 2007 (PPTX) format as well as Word and Excel. Also added to both Nitro Pro 8.5 and Nitro Reader 3.5 are support for XML Forms Architecture (XFA) documents and the promise of vastly improved printing of images and text in PDF documents.

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When you’re having problems understanding an idea, or conveying it to someone else, then building a mind map can often help. Just the process of defining the core concepts and showing how they’re related will often make things very much clearer.

If you’re familiar with the basics then creating a map doesn’t require very much, of course -- a pen and paper will probably do. But if you’re a beginner to this kind of outlining approach then a little software-based assistance should help to make things clearer, and while it has some problems, InfoRapid KnowledgeBase Builder is an interesting place to get started.

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British broadcaster ITV has agreed to a deal with Shazam -- the popular music identification service -- allowing viewers of this year’s The Brits music awards to access exclusive content during the live broadcast -- a UK first.

By using Shazam to tag the show between 8pm and 10:15pm on February 20, viewers will get access to exclusive behind-the-scenes content from performers and guest presenters.

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"We're No. 3!" will be BlackBerry's and Microsoft's rallying cry this year. Android and iOS so dominate the smartphone market, the best -- and quite honestly dismal -- hope is third; distant at that. Combined, based on actual phone sales, Android and iOS had 90.1 percent share during fourth quarter, up from 74.9 percent a year earlier, according to Gartner. BlackBerry and Windows Phone are neck-and-neck, with lowly 3.5 percent and 3 percent standings, respectively.

Upstarts want third place, too. Anshul Gupta, Gartner principal research analyst, explains: "2013 will be the year of the rise of the third ecosystem as the battle between the new BlackBerry10 and Widows Phone intensifies. As carriers and vendors feel the pressure of the strong Android’s growth, alternative operating systems such as Tizen, Firefox, Ubuntu and Jolla will try and carve out an opportunity by positioning themselves as profitable alternatives".

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Skype has announced the release of Skype 6.2 for Mac and Windows.

It’s essentially a maintenance release, although Windows users will notice a new-look top toolbar. Four icons immediately above the Contacts list and Recent Conversations tab provide quick access to Home, Calling Phones, Creating Groups and Adding Contacts.

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