Pebble Steel smartwatch now available
The Pebble Steel was introduced earlier this month at CES 2014 as a classier alternative to the original, plastic-made Pebble. With its steel shell, it is meant to appeal to people who want to wear a smartwatch as a daily driver, but with the sort of looks that would be suited for social events or boardroom meetings. The Pebble Steel is (also) for watch lovers who would not ever be caught with anything made of plastic on their wrist.
After making the pre-ordering rounds, the Pebble Steel is now officially available to purchase. It costs $249, which is $99 more than you would pay for the older model (the latter still goes for $150). Let us take a look at what you get for the money.
Come on! Technology makes us more impatient
A new research study in the UK commissioned by customer service specialists KANA Software shows that consumers are getting more impatient.
Our expectations of getting a response to our communication with businesses have shortened from days to minutes in the space of just one generation.
Garbage, rats and cell service -- Verizon LTE now available in NYC subway
If you ever visit New York City, you must ride the subway. Even if you do not need it for transportation, it is an essential part of the overall experience. It is a magical experience too -- a mix of garbage, roaming rats and homeless people sleeping. While this sounds terrible, and maybe it is, it is strangely comforting for native New Yorkers. You see, it is expected and it is delivered without failure.
However, there is something about the subway that is undisputedly frustrating and unpleasant to natives and tourists alike -- lack of cellular service, including mobile data. Once you head into the deepest depths of the city, 3G and 4G LTE can disappear faster than one of the previously mentioned rats when a train approaches. Luckily for the Big Apple, Verizon has delivered LTE to the subway.
How infected are you? TIME tool shows how much time you have wasted on Facebook
Regardless of whether you feel Facebook exhibits disease-like characteristics or not, one thing is for sure -- it can certainly turn into a time-sucker. There's a reason Mark Zuckerberg's social network is blocked in many workplaces you know! Just like many people "underestimate" how much alcohol they drink, particularly when speaking to a doctor ("Oh, not much... just a beer twice a year, doc!") many Facebook users are likely to be surprised -- or perhaps scared -- by just how much time they spend using the site.
If you've ever been curious, but haven’t bothered to sit with a stopwatch every time you log on, a new tool from TIME magazine could be what you've been looking for. The how-much-bloody-time-have-I-really-wasted-reading-other-people's-pointless-crap calculator has been created ahead of Facebook's tenth anniversary. It's on 4 February if you were thinking about getting a card and present, by the way.
Microsoft uses Bing search data for Super Bowl purposes
When it comes to American Football, I am a big fan of the Jets. This is a great tragedy in my life, as this team has been consistently bad for many years. There is only one time a year that I will support a different team -- Superbowl Sunday.
Yes, I like to pick one of the two teams to root for during the big game. Typically, I pick it arbitrarily -- whoever has the prettier cheerleaders, cooler quarterback, etc. This year, I am rooting for the Denver Broncos, because I like Peyton Manning. As a Jets fan, I don't get many opportunities to root for a quality quarterback. However, according to Bing, I am in the minority, as the majority of my state, New York is rooting for the Seattle Seahawks.
PayPal's second global Hackathon invites you to become the 'ultimate hacker for good'
Hackers get a bad rap, but that's usually down to a simple misunderstanding of the term. PayPal is doing what it can to set the record straight with its second annual Hackathon competition, Battle Hacks, where participants are invited to "become the ultimate hacker for good". This is not the type of hacking you see on TV and in movies -- there are no passwords to be broken, no encrypted files to crack. Instead, developers are invited to create something magical and useful based on the PayPal API, or the Braintree and Venmo SDKs, in just 24 hours.
The Hackathon takes place in eleven cities around the world, starting in Tel Aviv on 6 February, and ending in London on 11 October. The world finals take place in San Jose, CA over three days starting 14 November, and the winner will walk away $100,000 richer. Oh, and they get the chance to wield the axe trophy -- "good luck clearing customs," quips PayPal.
Stop and restart apps properly in Windows 8.1
To close an app in Windows 8 all you need to do is drag it to the bottom of the screen. In Windows 8.1, Microsoft made a small change. While you can still close the app in this way, removing it from view, this method doesn’t stop all of the processes associated with the app (Windows will, however, close the app properly, eventually, if you don’t use it after a while).
So in other words, if an app is misbehaving, dragging it down to the bottom of the screen and then relaunching it probably won’t fix the problems you’re experiencing. You could reboot, or use Task Manager to close it that way, but there’s an easier method.
tinySpell checks spelling in any Windows application
Some applications can check your spelling as you type -- Firefox, Chrome, Outlook -- but the majority don’t. And that can be a problem, because even spelling champions make typos, just occasionally.
Run tinySpell, though, and this doesn’t have to be a problem. This free portable program runs in the background, monitoring everything you type, and brings simple spell checking to just about any Windows application.
Apple serves a feast but Wall Street complains there's no ketchup
You would think that after Apple delivered fiscal first quarter record results -- we're talking $57.6 billion revenue and $13.1 billion net profit -- that investors would be happy. But, no-o-o! Apple shares sank more than 8.5 percent in after-hours trading last night. They are down about 8 percent in midday trading. That's what happens when perceptions about the future, rather than present performance, define a company.
But the problem is bigger than just Wall Street analyst or investor fear frenzy. There's an echo chamber bellowing this fine Tuesday, as bloggers and journalists stumble over one another to sound the loudest alarm. After seeing the headlines on Yahoo Finance -- like "New Apple looks like the old Microsoft", "Cure to what ails Apple can be found in the margins", or "How does Apple get its mojo back?" -- I realize someone needs to do a reality check. Geez Louise, Apple had a fantastic quarter. The apocalyptic reaction is nothing less than insanity.
Google Chrome + LEGO = Awesome!
I was a massive fan of LEGO as a child, and now that I’m a parent I get to play with the interlocking plastic bricks all over again, even though they’re a lot more advanced than they were back in my day. LEGO Group has done a fantastic job of keeping its product modern, with video games like LEGO Star Wars and LEGO Hobbit, and there’s even a fantastic looking LEGO Movie to look forward to later in the year.
If you fancy playing with some LEGO, but don’t want to buy a set, the great news is Google has announced a new Chrome experiment that lets you build fantastic virtual LEGO creations on a Google Map. Just find a spare plot of land (or build in the sea if you prefer) and start your construction.
Opera 19 adds Bookmarks bar, Hardcore mode
Opera Software has released Opera 19.0 FINAL, the fifth major update of its web browser since it was rebooted last July as a Chromium-based browser and entered a rapid release development cycle.
Version 19 introduces four notable new features, including the long-awaited return of the Bookmarks bar as well as support for custom wallpapers, improvements to its extensions handling and a new Hardcore mode for advanced users.
BlackBerry 10.2.1 update rolling out now
BlackBerry's new smartphone lineup may not be as popular as the Canadian maker would have wanted it to be, with sales of the latest models unable to top those of legacy devices. Despite the poor performance, BlackBerry is not giving up (not yet anyway) as it is frequently launching updates for the BB 10 operating system, with a new version announced today.
BlackBerry 10 OS version 10.2.1 starts to roll out across the globe, with users from US, Europe, Canada, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia Pacific region and Latin America set to receive the latest update, starting today, on their devices. There is no word on which BlackBerry 10 OS smartphone will get the new software version first, nor whether the first stage includes mobile operator-branded models. Now let us take a look at the (major) changes.
Is a 'quantified self' the best way forward?
Through smartphone apps and wearable technology we can monitor virtually every aspect of our lives, gathering information about our habits and tracking behavior to discover patterns and trends.
This so-called "quantified self" movement is seen as a clever and efficient way to enhance our lives -- getting one’s body, mind and behavior in their best possible shape.
Elasticsearch goes commercial with Marvel real-time monitoring
The popular open source analytics platform Elasticsearch aims to help businesses unlock the power of big data.
The company is launching two new products, Elasticsearch ELK which brings together three open source products to create an end-to-end analytics solution, and its first commercial product Marvel, a real-time management and monitoring solution.
Dutch court rules it’s not legal for ISPs to block The Pirate Bay
The Pirate Bay seems to be a never-ending controversy, as we have discussed here many times. The site has been hounded by the law all around the world, although it always seems to manage to survive. Now the service has achieved a major victory, at least in the Netherlands.
A three-judge panel in The Hague has ruled that the blocking of The Pirate Bay by ISPs is not legal. The case had been filed by two providers -- Ziggo and XS4ALL.
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