Latest Technology News

Bluetooth is everywhere these days -- in our smartphones, tablets and even in newer computers. We use it for the mouse, keyboard and other items. Increasingly, that extra item is a speaker, or perhaps two, in the case of the new Logitech Mini Boom. But that's far from the only show in town, as Divoom also produces a speaker that it hopes can rival competitors in the market.

That market has become increasingly competitive, which is not particularly surprising given the growth of handheld devices, some of which produce less-than-ideal sound quality. The Bluetune Bean attempts to help alleviate this problem, by providing an external source to pound out your tunes with a bit more fury than the tiny built-in speakers that come as part of your tablet or phone.

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Mr. Cook,

Apple has a big problem. The news media and technorati treat your company like Microsoft. Can you say "has-been?" For nearly 15 years, the company that Bill Gates built could do no right. Every seeming innovation met fierce criticism. Today, tongues wag about how Apple has lost its way under your leadership and how the days of innovation are over.

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I recently upgraded my already fast PC, adding a large Kingston SSD, Intel Core i7 Processor, and new motherboard, and additionally boosted the amount of DDR3 RAM to 16GB. Unfortunately, my new super-speedy system could be out of date as soon as next month -- well the memory and motherboard elements of it at least.

Memory specialist Crucial has DDR4 listed on its website, along with a nifty infographic (embedded below) to tell you more about the next generation memory. According the information on the site, the faster RAM is coming out late in 2013, which means -- as we're running out of months -- it should be available some time in December.

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The Windows tablet market is starting to get exciting. Besides the venerable Surface line, there are new devices by Asus, Lenovo and Dell to name a few. However, a dark horse has entered the ring too -- Nokia. Yes, the Finnish handset company (which is being purchased by Microsoft) is releasing a Windows RT 8.1 tablet. While that in itself is not news (BetaNews reported on its existence three weeks ago), the release date was not known -- until now.

"The Nokia Lumia 2520 tablet will be available starting on November 22nd. You will be able to purchase the Lumia 2520 (in black) from AT&T for $399.99 with a two-year agreement, or for $199.99 with a two-year agreement when bundled with a Lumia 925, Lumia 1020, or Lumia 1520 Windows Phone", says Brandon LeBlanc, Senior Marketing Communications Manager at Microsoft. Of course, you can buy the tablet without a contract for $499.

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Yesterday I wrote a story in which I said Surface vs iPad shows how little Microsoft and Apple have really changed. The catalyst was a blog post in which Microsoft went into technical details on the improvements it’s made to the newest iteration of Surface. Something I said Apple would never do.

Today, Microsoft again shows how it’s targeting more technical users with a new blog post titled Geek out with Surface and win! The opening paragraph sums up, for me, the sort of people who the new Surface is now being primarily aimed at.

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Fifty-fifth in a series. As of this week, more than 90,000 applications are available in the US Windows Store. The overall app count rose to 90,848 in the store, up 1,066 apps from last week.

69,612 of those apps are free to download and install, an increase of 989 apps in comparison to last week. The remaining 21,236 apps are commercial applications or desktop programs. They have increased by 77 apps this week.

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Amazon continues to enhance its Prime video service in an ongoing effort to take on Netflix and the up-and-coming Redbox Instant video streaming services. One area of focus has become original content, with Netflix taking home awards for its House of Cards series.

Now the first of these original shows has hit the retail giant's video arm -- Alpha House, which stars John Goodman, brings comedic light to the US Senate, as if it weren't already there. "The first three episodes of Alpha House debut today for all customers to enjoy. Remaining episodes will become available weekly, every Friday, exclusively on Prime Instant Video", states Amazon.

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Following the lead of US airlines, the European Commission gives the go-ahead for the use of 3G and 4G services during flights.  The Commission is permitting the use of UMTS and LTE data connections on aircraft above altitudes of 3,000 meters in the European Union (EU). Up until now, only 2G (GSM) usage has been allowed and the decision paves the way for passengers to make use of high speed data connections, although the decision about whether to permit this on individual flights lies with airlines.

The Commission's announcement makes it clear that the decision does not translate into an automatic right for passengers to use data connections, at least partly because aircraft need to be adapted.

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The head of the Federal Communication Commission (FCC), Tom Wheeler, is calling for phone providers to pass rules that will make it easier for handset owners to unlock their devices. In a letter to Steve Largent, president and CEO of CTIA The Wireless Association, Wheeler says that "enough time has passed, and it is now time for the industry to act voluntarily or for the FCC to regulate". He goes on to call for the unlocking policy to be put in place before the December holiday season.

Wheeler is concerned that despite eight months of collaboration between CTIA and the FCC to make changes to CTIA's Consumer Code, these changes are yet to be made. The FCC is asking for five specific rules to be put in place to make it easier for consumers to unlock their phones.

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It took Microsoft a while to persuade Facebook to produce an official app for Windows 8, but having finally got the social network onboard, the software giant is looking to tighten the ties further still.

The newly announced Facebook Login APIs on Windows 8/8.1 and Windows Phone 8 will allow developers to create apps that can access a user’s Facebook profile, and make it possible to share content, and post comments in-app, and also find friends to play games with. Make no mistake, with more than one billion people using Facebook to connect and share, this is a hugely important development for Microsoft.

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When you buy a Bluetooth speaker, you do not expect it to evolve. In other words, you buy it from the store, it plays your music and there your relationship with the manufacturer ends, right? Wrong. Well, at least with Ultimate Ears. You see, the company announces a new firmware update that will teach the UE BOOM speaker new tricks.

"When we conceived of the UE BOOM and its updateable platform, our goal was twofold: introduce the world's first social music player and make sure it stays relevant with the ever-evolving world of music consumption. Social music enthusiasts have told us how much they love the 360-degree sound of the UE BOOM, its life resistant design and how it completely integrates into their lifestyle, and now we’re taking it to the next level, thanks to regular updates", says Rory Dooley, General Manager of Ultimate Ears.

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When it comes to new and affordable Chromebooks, there are two standouts -- the Acer C720-2800 and the HP Chromebook 11. Even before the HP model was plagued with a defective charger and pulled from the market, I preferred the Acer for its better processor and increased RAM. Not to mention, the Acer is $249, which is $30 less than the under-powered HP.

Today, Acer announces that it is expanding its offering of inexpensive Chromebooks with the C720-2848. This laptop is nearly identical to the existing C720 model except for two things -- it has half the RAM (2GB instead of 4GB) and is $50 cheaper. The question becomes, is the cost saving worth the reduced performance?

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Nexus users love to fiddle with their smartphones and tablets by tearing off the stock software and experimenting with custom Android distributions, kernels, recoveries and whatever else is different from what is offered out-of-the-box. More often than not this all works fine, but it is not uncommon for something to break beyond easy repair. And, that is when Nexus modders turn to Google's factory images for help to return their devices to stock software.

After kicking off the roll-out of the KitKat upgrade, Google released the Android 4.4 factory images for the Nexus 4 and Nexus 7. The Nexus 5 received this treatment right after launch while the Nexus 10 is still waiting for the search giant's stamp of approval.

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It's quite common for large organizations to have multiple databases and that poses a problem when it comes to both operation and administration. Moving information between databases can be expensive and take a good deal of time, but the alternative is people needing to access multiple systems.

Disaster recovery and migration specialist Vision Solutions aims to make life easier with the latest release of its new Double-Take Share product.

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Canadian maker BlackBerry is expanding the reach of its BBM service through the latest update for the iOS app, that now includes support for non-cellular Apple-branded devices. As a result, Wi-Fi iPad and iPod users can also communicate with their BBM-using friends, as the app no longer limits access only to iPhones and 3G/4G iPads.

BlackBerry has yet to bestow non-cellular Android devices with the same ability, as BBM is still listed as being incompatible with tablets like the Wi-Fi 2013 Google Nexus 7 even in the latest version of the app that arrived yesterday. Now let's take a look at what (else) the Android and iOS updates for BBM add.

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