Latest Technology News

Just yesterday Beats Music sprung into life, with a plan to compete with the established giants already in the market, such as Google, Apple, Spotify and others. The launch was greeted with much fanfare, and all sorts of artists are involved in the project.

But 24 hours into the life of the new service, not everything is milk and honey. Apparently issues have arisen with service for those who already signed up, and now the Dr. Dre-sponsored music app is pulling back to address problems.

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When it comes to TV, it feels like there is nothing ever on. An easy remedy for this is to buy a media box like a Roku or Apple TV. This allows you to add streaming services to your traditional "dumb" television.

Sadly, choosing such a box can be quite the ordeal -- there are too many options and prices. Ideally, you want to get the most functionality for the lowest price. A good option is to choose one that utilizes Android, as this empowers the user with access to a great deal of software such as XBMC. Today, Satechi announces an elegant Android-based solution, called the Smart TV Box.

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You would think that the rollout of an Android update would cause mass delight. There are usually ripples of excitement as a new device receives the latest version of Google's mobile operating system, and this has certainly been the case with KitKat. But some owners of the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 are finding that the update has a rather unfortunate side-effect -- third-party accessories no longer function.

There are various threads popping up on XDA with users complaining that cases, such as those from Spigen, are no longer working correctly. Specifically, the S-View feature appears to have stopped working for many people -- this is the feature that makes it possible to view a portion of the handset's screen through an aperture in the protective case so it is possible to keep an eye on notifications without having to open up the cover.

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Yesterday, Verizon reported that it activated 8.8 million smartphones in Q4 2013, a 10 percent decline from the 9.8 million it activated in Q4 2012. While it declined to break out iPhone activations, we do have some data that could help us gauge the iPhone's sales performance in the US market.

The reason for the decline in Verizon's smartphone activations should be clear enough to regular readers. As smartphones have "good enough", replacement cycles have become longer. At the same time, the basis of competition in the market has shifted towards affordability and flexibility, which explains the popularity of T-Mobile's unsubsidized plans. Now, let's make an attempt to gauge how this decline affected iPhone sales at Verizon.

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The Chromebook platform is steadily growing and one of the latest arrivals in this market comes from Toshiba. The hardware maker unveiled its offering during the recent CES 2014 show in Las Vegas, but the notebook wasn’t available at the time of the reveal.

Now the Toshiba Chromebook is up for pre-order on Amazon for $279.99. The device boasts an Intel Celeron 2955U 1.4 GHz processor, 2 GB of RAM, a 16 GB SSD for storage and 13.3-inch screen. The company promises nine hours of battery life.

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Brilliant is the only way to describe the Uncarrier's sudden and unexpected move into personal financial services, with today's launch of Mobile Money. T-Mobile effectively acts as your bank, providing consumers with prepaid visa cards, issued in cooperation with Bancorp, and no-fee access to about 42,000 ATMs nationwide.

But T-Mobile isn't strictly a bank but more of a cash dispensary and payments provider, an approach taken by mobile money services across Africa and Asia. Your money goes in -- whether by check, direct deposit or transfer by way of another Mobile Money account -- and is available to spend. T-Mobile promises no hidden activation, maintenance, or other fees.

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Adobe has released Adobe Digital Editions 3.0 on Windows and Mac, a major new version of its eBook manager. The tool, which helps users browse, organize and read both free and purchased eBooks in EPUB, PDF, and PDF/A formats, offers more secure DRM, improved PDF search tools and enhanced display of certain book types.

The headline new feature is the new DRM Scheme, which Adobe says has been "hardened and made more secure" to prevent unauthorized viewing of files protected by Digital Rights Management.

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Internet Explorer is no longer just the browser you use to download other browsers (even though, for many people, that will always remain the case). These days it’s a decent, fast and standards compliant offering that you don’t have to be embarrassed to admit to using.

Microsoft’s clever, self-deprecating Browser You Loved to Hate campaign did a great job of challenging people’s views and getting them to take a second look at Internet Explorer, and today the software giant launches a new initiative and website, called Rethink, which aims to showcase how Internet Explorer is helping to "create a web that is fast, beautiful and perfect for touch" while also, Microsoft hopes, getting people to rethink their views on the much maligned browser.

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In June 2013, Edward Snowden was revealed as the whistleblower behind the NSA surveillance revelations, shortly turning the man into one of the most controversial public figures of 2013. The documents he stole while working as an NSA contractor and later leaked to the press have exposed a significant number of questionable practices employed by the US agency and its UK counterpart, GCHQ, to collect information and spy on people worldwide with debatable results.

Undoubtedly, many people have questions that they would like to ask Snowden about the outcome of his actions, his personal life or trips to certain countries. If you are part of that group, you can join the Q&A hosted by freesnowden.is, "the support site [...] run by The Courage Foundation and [...] the only endorsed Snowden Defence Fund". Edward Snowen will answer your questions on Thursday, starting at 3 pm EST (8 pm GMT).

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Intel has used the Bett 2014 educational technology show in London to announce reference designs for the next generation of devices aimed at the education sector.

The Intel Education Tablet and Classmate PC feature student-friendly features along with Intel’s Education Software suite of learning tools.

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New Zealand-based MEGA has launched MEGAsync 1.0 FINAL for Windows, the first stable release in a planned trio of desktop tools (Mac and Linux versions are promised soon) giving MEGA account holders access to their cloud-based files via their computers. It follows the launch of the mobile MEGA app for Android and iOS.

MEGA -- which includes Kim Dotcom among its founders -- offers robust, secure cloud storage using 2048-bit RSA encryption. It also offers a generous free 50GB of storage space, with paid-for plans offering up to 4TB secure storage with extended bandwidth (up to 8TB/month).

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If you’re working on the PC and would like a little background noise then you could launch your media player, stream something from the web, maybe just turn on the TV. These options could be a little distracting, though, making it more difficult to concentrate on your main tasks.

Atmosphere Lite takes a more effective approach. Much like Sound Valley, which we reviewed last November, it works by generating custom nature-based ambient soundscapes, like a forest stream, a woodland campfire, the ocean’s edge and more. You get the background noise you need, but it doesn’t demand your attention: it’s relaxing, more than distracting.

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In March 2013, popular note-taking service Evernote announced a partnership with German mobile operator Deutsche Telekom which would enable the latter's subscribers to receive free access, for one year, to the Evernote Premium plan. First available only in Germany, the offer is now extending to 12 more European countries.

There is a caveat, however. While German subscribers have been able to benefit from 12 months of free Evernote Premium, the Deutsche Telekom customers in the additional eligible countries -- Albania, Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Montenegro, Macedonia, The Netherlands, Poland, Romania and Slovakia -- only get half as much (six months).

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New research by Gartner predicts that over the next few years mobile apps will become the most popular computing tools across the globe.

It says that by 2017 mobile apps will be downloaded more than 268 billion times, generating a revenue of over $77 billion. As a result it predicts that mobile users will provide personalized data streams to more than 100 apps and services every day.

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What do you get after taking out the cellular prowess from a very, very large smartphone? The answer would be a tablet, albeit one that falls on the smaller side. It is exactly what Japanese maker Sony has done with its Xperia Z Ultra, which will be available in a Wi-Fi only version this week.

For those unfamiliar with the Xperia Z Ultra, the device was announced in the first half of 2013 with a 6.44-inch display, Android 4.2 Jelly Bean and 4G LTE/HSPA+ cellular connectivity, as the main selling points.

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