Latest Technology News

In 1994, Nintendo released the Super Game Boy; a special SNES cartridge that allowed Game Boy games to be played on the SNES (and in turn, a TV). Basically, the device turned mobile games into home console games. At the time, it was revolutionary; not everyone could afford both a Game Boy and a SNES. Not only did it expand the game library for SNES owners, it also gave Nintendo a new channel to monetize Game Boy Games -- a win for both the company and its users.

Today, Sony announces a device that follows in the footsteps of the Super Game Boy, called PlayStation Vita TV. The company describes it as "a new entertainment system within the PlayStation family that will allow users to easily access video services, games and various content on their TV at home".

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Facebook is making it easier for news outlets such as BskyB, CNN and NBC to integrate conversations from the social network into their broadcasts. Using the Public Feed API, broadcasters are now able to display a real-time feed of posts that contain a specific word. Considering that, according to Facebook's own figures, last week's kick-off of the new NFL season resulted in over 20 million likes, comments and shares, that's a lot of data to be dealing with.

There is also the new Keyword Insights API which can be used to determine how many posts mentioned a particular term in a specified timeframe. But the API goes further than this, also making it possible to filter results -- allegedly anonymously -- based on gender, age and location. At the moment both of these APIs are only being made available to a limited number of partners, but the list is certain to grow over time.

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Chief information officers are increasingly looking at enterprise architecture in order to drive their digital strategy according the latest research by analysts Gartner. The company's 2013 CEO and Senior Executive Survey reveals that 52 percent of respondents said their organizations have a digital strategy.

"Senior business executives are challenging CIOs and their IT organizations to be at the front of digital strategy, identifying innovative new business models and technologies, and getting more business value out of each technology investment," says Marcus Blosch, research vice president. "Enterprise architects can provide unique capabilities to help CIOs develop a new agenda for 'hunting and harvesting' in a digital world".

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CyberLink has unveiled the latest version of its flagship video creation tool, PowerDirector 12, and image editor, PhotoDirector 5. And these are major updates, too, with some particularly interesting high-end additions.

Multicam editing isn’t something you’d expect to find in a consumer video editor, for instance. But PowerDirector 12′s new MultiCam designer might just change all that with its ability to easily combine, organize and edit footage of the same event from up to four cameras.

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Nearly a year after it debuted Xbox Music, Microsoft has introduced iOS and Android apps for its impressive music service, and sent out a clear warning to the likes of Spotify with the introduction of free web streaming.

iOS and Android users with an Xbox Music Pass can now enjoy unlimited access to 30 million songs for $9.99 per month or $99.99 per year. When you add a song to your music library on Xbox, it will be instantly available on the mobile device.

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Looking at the biggest stories on BetaNews from September, 1 - 7, 2013. This was a week packed with news from IFA in Berlin -- lots of big announcements to whet our appetites for the coming months. LG's G Pad was revealed as a potential competitor to the Nexus 7 and iPad mini, while Acer was found to be proudly showing off its new R7 notebook complete with innovative Ezel hinge that allows for a range of working positions.

IFA was also where Samsung unveiled the Galaxy Note 3 as well as the Galaxy Gear smartwatch which will allow us all to live out our Star Trek dreams. It wasn't long before Note 3 pre-orders were being taken. If you've noticed that phones are getting bigger and bigger, the same is certainly true of tablets -- the Panasonic Toughpad 4K is a staggering 20 inches from corner to corner.

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America has been a leader in space since Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon and I was still wearing diapers. A teacher rolled a TV into our classroom letting us all view the landing of the first Space Shuttle mission and, later, Challenger's journey tragically ended on my birthday as I sat stunned in front of my TV.

Not since an Apollo mission have I witnessed a launch, and I have rather vague memories of that -- I was four at the time. However, tonight I can, and so can you if you reside on the east coast.

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Microsoft is locked in a battle for your note-taking needs on mobile devices. Evernote is the perceived king of the field, but OneNote is certainly a strong competitor and today the software giant announces improvements to the iOS version of the Office app.

The latest update allows users to create notebooks on the iPad as well as create, delete and rename sections. Microsoft claims this was one of the most requested features from customers already using the previous version, but it is also not the only enhancement made to this build.

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While consumer storage is trending towards the cloud, many people still prefer to store their data locally. Services like Dropbox are undeniably convenient and wonderful, but an internet connection is not always guaranteed. And so, a high quality flash drive is still a smart investment for any tech geek. However, a trip to Amazon or Newegg can leave your head spinning -- there are far too many choices.

Today, Lexar announces a flash drive that aims to grab attention in the crowded market. "The JumpDrive M10 Secure is designed for on-the-go executives, power business users, or anyone holding sensitive information who may want more data security than the average person", says Aaron Lee, director of product marketing, Lexar.

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A taste of the future of computing is available from the Physics department of the University of Bristol. The limits of traditional computers are being reached and new technology is needed if things are going to develop at any sort of reasonable pace in the coming years. Quantum computing could just be the way ahead, and the UK university has produced Qcloud, an online quantum computer that you can play with for free.

Mere binary is too limiting, but a quantum computer is not restricted to working with 1s and 0s. Rather than the two states associated with a regular bit, a quantum bit (or qubit -- not to be confused with the Brighton Rock character, Cubitt) is capable of being in multiple states simultaneously. Forget "on" and "off", each qubit can be used to hold multiple pieces of data at the same time.

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Corel has added 64-bit support to the brand new release of Corel PaintShop Pro X6, which should deliver major performance improvements on large-memory PCs running 64-bit versions of Windows. The new build also comes with a number of new selection tools, while the Ultimate build gains two new plug-ins.

The new 64-bit build comes with the promise of superior performance, with Corel claiming a 78 per cent performance increase when cataloguing JPEG files over the previous version. PaintShop Pro X6 also gains improved memory manage across both 32-bit and 64-bit builds, with the promise of accelerated file operations and effects application.

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Forty-fifth in a series. The application growth stayed below the 1,000 apps mark for the fifth week in a row.  A total of 924 new apps were published in the Windows Store this week, with the majority of them in the Lifestyle and Books & Reference category.

Many of the apps published in those two categories are audiobooks that you can purchase or copies of the same app published over and over again in the store.

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Apple says it will appeal against a court ruling that bans the company from entering into deals with publishers that could allow ebook prices to be fixed or inflated. The case was raised by the Department of Justice and judge Denise Cote's decision is very much in line with what they were seeking. The Cupertino, Calif.-based company is banned from entering into agreements with five named publishers in ways that might restrict ebook prices.

Having been found to have conspired with publishers to prevent retailers (rather than publishers or Apple) from setting ebook prices, Apple fell foul of antitrust legislation. The company is required to wipe out a controversial 'most favoured nation' clause in its contracts that effectively ensure that Apple's ebook prices would always match the lowest price available online. Restrictions are in place for different lengths of time for various publishers, ranging from two years in the case of Hachette, to four years for Macmillan.

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Microsoft's partnership with the National Football League has entered the spotlight recently, thanks to the software giant releasing details explaining what the marriage of technology and gridiron means, as well as a confirmed release date for the Xbox One. Now with the season officially underway (apologies to Ravens fans) the software maker launches a commercial to promote both the console and the deal.

A new 30-second ad for Xbox One features the football experience of using the console -- no, not Madden 25, though you can get that, but the real games, as well as the fantasy ones.

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HP yesterday revealed two reclining touchscreen PCs and in the accompanying press release Mike Nash, vice president, Product Management, Consumer PCs and Consumer Solutions, HP said: "Customers have told us that they want touch on their PCs", but do they? Really? Because the list of bestselling PCs on Amazon tells a different story. That suggests customers don’t want touch on their PCs.

According to the latest figures from NetMarketShare, just under eight percent of PC users are on Windows 8. What percentage of those use touch? I don’t know, but I could hazard a guess of no more than around 30 percent.

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