Amazon Instant Video kicks the butt of both Apple and Hulu
For many people, streaming video is a top means of entertainment. It is easy to see why -- services like Netflix allow people to consume mass quantities of movies and television shows for a paltry amount of money. There is even a whole market now to sell dongles and boxes for connecting the services to your TV, such as Roku, Chromecast and Amazon's new Fire TV.
Speaking of Amazon, besides its new streaming media box, the company has been on fire lately (pun intended) when it comes to its Instant Video service. Today, the company announces that it has swiftly surpassed both Apple and Hulu.
Windows 8.1 Update: Microsoft invites you to meet the new Windows
Windows 8.1 Update is out today, as if you didn’t know, and is a mandatory update for all users of the latest iteration of the tiled OS.
We’ve covered it in depth here, and Microsoft released a power guide for it yesterday, but if you still want to know more about what’s new, and why you might want to consider upgrading to "New Windows" Microsoft has rolled out a selection of introductory videos.
Mega data breaches indicate shift in cybercrime landscape
Cybercriminals are increasingly plotting for longer to pull off big heists rather than carrying out quick hits for smaller rewards.
Symantec's latest Internet Security Threat Report shows a significant shift in criminal behaviour as some of the most damaging attacks in history were carried out in the last year.
Fire TV tops Chromecast as best-selling electronics product on Amazon
Google’s Chromecast has been getting a lot of media attention in tech circles, mostly due to the ever-evolving number of services and websites throwing support behind the little HDMI dongle. Price also plays a part of it -- retail is a mere $35, and Amazon offers it for a hair under $30.
All of this attention has kept the product at the top of the best-seller list in the electronics category for sometime now. But last week Amazon disrupted the market by announcing Fire TV -- a small set-top box designed to compete with Chromecast, Roku, Apple TV and the like.
XP was the Windows 8 of its day -- but things turned out all right in the end
Although millions of people will continue to use Windows XP after today, the 'end of life' milestone is still hugely significant. It’s the official end of a very long era for XP.
I remember the operating system’s launch clearly. It took place on Thursday, 25 October, 2001, with events coordinated globally across 63 cities. Microsoft chairman Bill Gates hosted the New York launch, while CEO Steve Ballmer presided over the London event. I attended the latter which was held at the Royal Festival Hall on London's South Bank. Security was very tight -- attendees were searched going in, and our bags were X-rayed -- this was a high profile event, and with the horrors of 9/11 still very raw in everyone’s minds, the organizers were taking no chances.
There's life in the mainframe yet as IBM launches new offerings
IBM's S/360 mainframe celebrated its 50th birthday on Monday. It was the machine that turned IBM into a corporate colossus, but because it was smaller and faster than other offerings of the early 60s it also put big-league computing power in the hands of businesses, not just governments and universities.
Since the personal computer revolution of the 1980s people have been predicting the death of the mainframe at the hands of distributed low-cost servers, but the big beasts continue to stalk the land of serious business computing.
Grace Digital Encore -- a powerful standalone internet radio [Review]
Internet radio has become quite popular, with an ever growing number of services, including favorites like Pandora and Spotify, as well newcomers such as Beats Music. For the most part customers use these services on smartphones and computers -- thanks to Google Music All Access and a Bluetooth speaker on my desk, my Nexus phone gets me through the day.
But there are also stand-alone products designed just for this purpose. Grace Digital is one of the leaders in the field and the Encore is one of the top-of-the-line offerings from the company.
Good-bye, Windows XP!
As I try to start this article with a bang, I realize how difficult it is to describe exactly how I feel about Windows XP as it is being put out to pasture today. On one hand the operating system is nearly 13 years old and long outdated, but on the other hand my early PC days are linked to it.
Around 2001, back when Microsoft introduced us to Windows XP, I was jumping back and forth between Windows 98 SE and Windows ME. I liked both, for different reasons. The former was fast and I had every driver that I needed for it. The latter felt more modern. (Well, anything felt more modern than Windows 98 to me, to be honest.) But after I had a taste of Windows XP, I never looked back. It looked like the future of PCs, and I simply could not resist the sight of that new UI.
Add the new PC Settings tile to the Windows 8.1 Update Start screen
One of the (many) new features that the Windows 8.1 Update -- out today -- adds to the OS is a PC Settings tile.
This tile opens the PC Settings screen, saving you having to go through the Charms, and provides access to settings for PC and Devices, Accounts, OneDrive, Search and Apps, Privacy, Network, Time and Language, Ease of Access, Update and Recovery and, most importantly, Control Panel. It also lets you personalize the Lock screen, your account picture, access the Picture Password and view recently used settings. The tile is available in the Apps screen, but isn’t displayed on the Start screen by default.
CopyQ: a seriously powerful clipboard manager
The Windows clipboard is useful, but limited, not least because it can hold only one item at a time. Copy in something else and the first has gone forever.
Clipboard managers can help, though, and at first CopyQ seems like a very typical example. It lives in the system tray; in a click or two you can be viewing a list of recent clipboard items (text or images); and any of these can then be selected or pasted into the current document.
For HTPC folks, XBMC recommends an upgrade from Windows XP to Linux
It's doubtful there are many people out there at this point that don't already know that support for Windows XP will come to an end tomorrow, April 8th. Despite that, a number of individuals and businesses will continue to run the operating system.
This doesn't likely apply to those maintaining an HTPC, as this tends to be a more geek-savvy set, but no doubt a few are out there. For those users, XBMC has passed its judgment, and the verdict is Linux.
Microsoft releases a new power user guide for Windows 8.1 Update
Windows 8.1 Update goes officially live tomorrow, and will be pushed out to all Windows 8.1 users via Windows Update. I think it’s an improvement, although it is the third big set of changes for users to master since the OS was first released not quite 18 months ago.
To help potentially confused users discover what’s new, and how to get more from the OS, Microsoft has rolled out an updated Advanced Power User Guide filled with tips and tricks.
Microsoft and Google bring improved YouTube experience to Xbox One
Microsoft and Google are unlikely partners nowadays. After all, they are direct competitors on many fronts. There is Bing vs. Google Search, Windows vs. Chrome OS and Office vs Google Docs. Let us not forget that Google has been blocking Microsoft's YouTube app on Windows Phone. Heck, Google has essentially ruined Windows Phone for many, by not bringing its services to the platform.
Surprisingly, despite all the bad blood, Google has embraced Microsoft's Xbox One game console. Today, both companies announce that you can now upload Xbox One gameplay footage directly to YouTube or watch a YouTube video while simultaneously playing a game.
Qualcomm announces Snapdragon 810, 808 with 64-bit support in tow
While Apple is the only major mobile device manufacturer to have a 64-bit processor inside its high-end smartphones and tablets (the A7 powering the latest iPhone and iPads), its rivals will be able to join the party thanks to Qualcomm's new top-of-the-line 64-bit processors.
The US chip maker has announced the Snapdragon 810 and Snapdragon 808, its first high-end mobile processors with 64-bit support. Both come with impressive specifications and features, joining the previously-announced Snapdragon 410, Snapdragon 610 and Snapdragon 615 in Qualcomm's 64-bit processor lineup.
Run more accurate benchmarks with NonCompressibleFiles
Benchmarking data storage or transfer speeds can seem straightforward, at least in theory. Assemble a group of test files on your PC; store, copy, upload or download them, and measure how long this all takes. Easy, right?
Well, not necessarily. Compression could be an issue. You might measure how long it takes to save a bunch of files to an SSD, for instance, but if the drive uses compression -- as many do -- then the speed you see will vary according to your test data.
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