Latest Technology News

Fresh from investor approval of a buyout by its founder, Dell has announced a new family of tablets and an updated range of XPS laptops. The Venue tablet range comprises four ultra thin models designed to deliver class-leading performance and quality with compact designs to help people stay in touch whilst on the move.

The Dell Venue tablets are available in Windows and Android versions. The lightweight Dell Venue 8 Pro runs Windows 8.1, has a bright HD IPS display, advanced connectivity options and provides long battery life. Office 2013 Home & Student is included with the device and there's the option of Dell Active Stylus.

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The Apple iPhone 5s is in high demand these days and, as a result, there is a very good chance that the smartphone is not available in most shops around your area. Sure, you can peruse the company's online store, looking to see whether the model you want is available close by, but there is an easier way to track it.

There is now a new website which collects data on iPhone 5s model availability from Apple's US online store, and aggregates it in an easy to follow format. All you have to do is type in your ZIP code, select the model (Gold, Silver or Space Gray), cellular version (AT&T, Sprint, Verizon or unlocked) and press the "Submit" button.

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Yahoo is vastly increasing the bounty bug-hunters can hope to grab if they report a security issue to the company. The internet giant came in for criticism last month after a group of researchers discovered a scripting vulnerability and were rewarded with a Yahoo voucher for $12.50 -- which could only be used to purchase Yahoo merchandise. The company now sees the error of its ways and is increasing the rewards it offers, potentially up to $15,000.

Bugs and security issues are to be expected with all software -- it's an unfortunate reality that problems can and do arise. It is difficult for any developer to test every possible usage scenario, so it is often the users who discover problems with apps and online services. It is not uncommon for big-name companies to offer some form of compensation for helping out. Yahoo has already demonstrated its enthusiasm for improving security with its two-factor authentication features second sign-in and App Password.

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Market intelligence specialist IDC has released a game and entertainment console forecast which concludes that the number of consoles shipped this year will be higher than in 2012. The total for 2013 is predicted to be around 33 million bundles, this ends a four year slide which began in 2009.

The forecast also suggests that Sony PlayStation 4 bundle sales will edge out Microsoft Xbox One sales during this year's holiday season. This is due to a variety of factors, most notably the PS4's lower price point.

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Jelly Bean has long surpassed Ice Cream Sandwich and Gingerbread in the Android distribution charts, and is steadily approaching the 50 percent mark in green droid popularity based on the number of devices accessing Google Play during the seven days ending October 2.

In this month's distribution charts, Jelly Bean accounts for 48.6 percent share (45.1 percent a month ago). Unlike previous months when Android 4.3 was not taken into account due to its low market share, in early October we see the latest iteration listed with a modest 1.5 percent distribution level. Android 4.1 still takes the lion's share with 36.5 percent (previously 36.6 percent) share while Android 4.2 reached 10.6 (previously 8.5 percent) percent of all registered devices.

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Flutter, the app that lets you control music and movie playback using gestures picked up by a webcam, is to continue life as a Google product. The innovative app is the latest acquisition by the search giant, and comes just three years after the company was founded in San Francisco, California. Flutter is extremely upbeat about the purchase, seemingly keen to reap the benefits of the Google marketing machine.

Flutter CEO Navneet Dalal announces the acquisition on the Flutter website:

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While we don’t have any accurate sales figures regarding the original Surface Pro, we do know that the slate’s cut down sibling, Surface RT, tanked badly on launch, forcing Microsoft to slash the price in an effort to shift at least some of the huge amounts of stock it was left sitting on.

But rather than give up on Surface, last Monday Microsoft announced new versions of its RT and Windows 8 Pro devices and, according to the tech giant, these new models are doing much better, with pre-order stock of the Surface 2 (64GB) and Surface Pro 2 (256 GB and 512GB) "close to selling out".

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Gateway has long been synonymous with affordable, quality hardware. When Acer bought the company in 2007, the Gateway name lived on as a "budget" line of computers. However, even though the computers are inexpensive, they do not skimp on quality and value. Today, the cow-print computer manufacturer announces an affordable Windows 8 All-In-One PC, named the Gateway One ZX4270.

According to Frank Chang, director of product management for Gateway, "we're very pleased to offer this compelling platform that provides a great balance of affordability and performance for those who need a PC for email, online shopping, social media and productivity applications ... the AIO form factor is easy to set up, attractive and saves space, so it fits nicely in space-constrained areas such as the kitchen or office nooks".

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If you can cast your mind back far enough to the dim and distant days when Windows 95 was taking the world by storm, you may well remember Hover. Taking more than a little inspiration from Doom, this fun driving/maze game was buried on the installation CD of Windows 95. It was responsible for the loss of many hours that could have been spent doing something far more worthwhile -- but probably less entertaining -- and it's back! Hover is back!

The game has been revived to show off the capabilities of Internet Explorer 11, and you can try your hand at it -- for the first time or to relive your youth -- by heading over to Hover.ie. But more than this, the game feature touchscreen control so it's also a great way for Microsoft to highlight the causal gaming capabilities of the recently announced Surface 2.

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Two factor authentication is all the rage. Google has done it, as has Facebook and LinkedIn. Yahoo is getting in on the action with a couple of security features -- second sign-in verification and App Password.

Second sign-in verification works much as you would expect any similar service to work. Whenever a login is attempted from an unrecognized device, you'll be prompted to enter a code that will be sent to your mobile.

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Most video editors make it easy enough to delete the unwanted sections of a movie. Choose your start and end points, click "Cut" (or something similar), and repeat as required -- easy.

The problem comes about when you save the trimmed footage, because if your editor reencodes the file then it’s going to lose quality. What you really need is a tool like Free Video Dub, which cuts movies down to size without reencoding, producing videos which are just as crisp and clear as the originals.

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Team MediaPortal has released MediaPortal 1.5.0 FINAL, a major update to its open-source media center for Windows PCs. Version 1.5.0 sees the functionality of the PowerScheduler++ plugin incorporated directly into MediaPortal, and comes with the promise of improved support for TV broadcasts delivered over the internet.

The update also adds support for US CableCard tuners and Windows 8.1, but drops official support for XP.

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The British Film Institute (BFI) today announces plans to launch its own online movie-streaming service, offering a mix of free and paid-for viewing, all presented in HD quality.

BFI Chair Greg Dyke unveiled the BFI Player at a London press event earlier today, saying: "The launch of the BFI Player is a defining moment in the BFI’s 80 year history -- it will unlock the past, present and future of British film and, most importantly, offers a new deal for UK audiences to get great films out to as many people as possible across the UK. I’m really excited about the BFI Player’s potential. The BFI is pivotal to identifying great films and nurturing and giving a voice to great filmmakers in the UK and now offers a platform to take these stories out to whole new audiences".

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Network connectivity and management specialist Emulex has launched a new NetFlow generator appliance designed to cope with the latest high-speed LANs.

For those unfamiliar with the nuts and bolts of networking, NetFlow is the metadata that describes network traffic. It's used to diagnose problems and find security issues. In the past NetFlow has been generated by the switch, but 10GB Ethernet means some switches can't keep up leading to NetFlow that's intermittent or incomplete.

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Google unveiled the Chromecast HDMI dongle during its big new Nexus 7 launch event in July and the tiny device garnered quite a bit of attention. For $35, customers could suddenly get functionality once reserved for specialized set-top boxes like Roku and Google TV. Plug it into your display and start "casting" media to it.

Now Chromescast gets one more option, and it's something that even Google TV does not have -- Hulu Plus. Google's Shanna Prevé calls it "the same intuitive, remote-free experience you’ve come to enjoy with the other Chromecast-supported apps, and is as simple as pressing the Cast button which will now appear in the app".

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