Alan Buckingham

The wireless mouse isn't new -- the technology is growing fairly old now, actually.But in this case that doesn't make it obsolete, as many of us still use them on a daily basis, and we aren't going back to wired. There's also no shortage of them on the market, but finding a good one can be a painstaking task, as everyone's needs are slightly different.

There's the gaming mouse, the travel mouse and plain old utilitarian daily-use mouse. We've reviewed many of the tiny peripherals here, but they never get old. Tolday we're looking at the Logitech M320, a simple wireless mouse. It isn't gaming and it's not considered travel size, but it's quite decent for daily use, which I'm doing as I type this from  my laptop -- I hate toucpads.

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Though channels and shows can vary greatly, television is international, with each country having its own broadcasts and favorite things to watch. New kid on the block, Sling TV, recognizes this and is making efforts to go after a more international audience. Hence its latest offering -- "content that speaks your language".

In total there are 18 new languages being added, including Arabic, Bangla, Bengali, Brazilian, Cantonese, Filipino, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Mandarin, Marathi, Punjabi, Taiwanese, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu and Vietnamese.

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Just this morning I opined about my experience with Sling TV. On the whole I like it, though I have a few gripes. I have also written of my plans to purchase an Apple TV for two reasons -- price drop and HBO NOW. The HBO was the real key in my decision making, but perhaps it's a blessing I haven't yet pulled the trigger.

That's because Sling is announcing the service in its menu of viewing options. In fact, it promises to be up and running in time for the big season debut of Game of Thrones which takes place on April 12th. Pricing is in line with what you'd expect -- $15 per month.

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Almost a year ago DirecTV and I parted ways. I grew tired of the $60 per month charge when I only watch a handful of shows. The excessive amount of channels included in my bundle was also a bit of a joke -- I probably used ten of them. I'd have gladly paid less for those -- the à la carte TV that people talk about, though it never materializes.

I already had an Amazon Prime subscription that entitled me to movies and some TV shows, and it costs as much per year as one and half months' worth of satellite. I threw in Hulu Plus for an additional $7.99 and get most of my shows, though I have to wait until the next day to watch them. But live TV escaped me, with the exception of the occasional event broadcast online. Those live broadcasts online are fine, but neither Roku nor Amazon Fire TV has a web browser. Then several weeks ago Sling TV appeared on the scene. Live TV from multiple sources and, for once, no cable or satellite subscription to verify. Suddenly there was access to ESPN, History Channel, HGTV and many more. I've been using it for the past week and I have some observations.

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When you think of the world's majestic rivers many names come to mind -- the Mississippi,  Amazon, Nile, Seine, Thames, and several others. The Danube also springs to mind, as the beauty of the famous river sprawls out, spanning multiple nations and attracting those who wish to go on one of its famous cruises.

The allure was too much to resist for Google and the company dispatched a Street View team to take that popular boat ride. The result is a stunning journey down the famous body of water, going from one end to the other.

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Last year I wrote about my big move to Google's computer operating system, Chrome OS. At the time my plan was simple -- use a Chromebook for the summer since I work from my porch and wanted something light and small to move around with me. The 15.7 inch Windows laptop wasn't going to cut it and, for obvious reasons, I wasn't moving a desktop outside, especially with a porch that seems to face the rain in every summer storm.

Though the time of my move hadn't occurred to me, the subject came up today in our newsroom. Joe Wilcox urged me to write about my experience, while my colleague Brian Fagioli tried mightily hard to get me to change to a new Chromebook. He called my HP 11 underpowered and implored I get the new Toshiba. Throwing money at a problem I don't have is not in my DNA. What I have works fine and I see no current reason for unnecessary expenses.

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March 30th is Torrent Day, or at least one site has proclaimed it so. The file sharing technology is used for all sorts of purposes, both benign and nefarious. However many sites will not be deterred from bringing to the masses what a number of people want, and Kickass Torrent is at the top the heap in that regard.

The site proclaimed the holiday for this date and has released a couple of special mementos for its user base. Both a music playlist and magazine are available for the big occasion. Naturally, you'll need to download both.

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Sony recently announced it would be launching a music program that would come to both current versions of its PlayStation console and to Experia mobile devices. The move puts the box more in line with the competition, adding entertainment features to compete. Now the company is making good on its promise, announcing Spotify to power the service.

The Japanese conglomerate is stating that Spotify will come to Sony Music in 41 different markets around the world and the roll out is beginning for both the PS3 and PS4. The partnership is touted as an "exclusive".

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This week Amazon rolled out its latest update for Fire TV. The package contains all sort of enhancements for the platform, including expandable storage via USB, better Wi-Fi connectivity for those in a hotel or dorm room, music playlists through Prime, and a whole lot more.

So, how do you know what version you're set-top box is currently running and how do you check to see if the update is yet available to you? The process is pretty simple and the steps are listed below, so let's walk through it.

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Last week Dropbox announced that it would be adding a commenting system to Dropbox for Business, allowing for better communication between contributors. The cloud storage service promised it would roll this feature out in the near future. How soon is now for you? The company is announcing that comments are now live, at least somewhat.

If you want to test it out then you'll need early access. According to Dropbox "commenting will allow anyone to add feedback and discussions to files you’ve shared with them. We’re happy to announce that Dropbox for Business teams can start using commenting today, on the web and on iOS. Admins can turn on this feature by visiting our early access page".

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The business of cloud storage is a popular one these days, with big players like Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Dropbox and countless others in the game. In order to compete it takes a combination of features and pricing, both options that big players can more easily provide. Now Amazon is taking its offering up a notch with "unlimited" storage and reasonable prices.

Unlimited storage isn't free, but it's fairly reasonable. Expect to pay $11.99 per year for photos (free if you're a Prime subscriber) and $59.99 for everything -- photos, music, files and more.

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Just recently we saw Amazon update its Prime Now service, adding the metropolitan areas of Baltimore and Miami. The retailer isn't resting though, it wants to bring this service to as many people as it possibly can. If you aren't familiar, Prime Now offers "one hour delivery", though "same day" alone is good enough for most people.

The latest city is Dallas, Texas where Amazon recently opened two new fulfillment centers, making this option fairly simple. You'll need to live within a certain range for this to work, for pretty obvious reasons -- we don't want delivery people to be a danger on the roads. To accomplish this, customers will need to reside within certain zip codes.

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It seems that every day there are new ways to make us more lazy...ahh...automate our homes. Controlling devices by a smartphone or tablet has become old school. Now options exist that allow for voice commands. Harmony, which is a top choice in universal remotes, is getting in on the act with new partnerships.

Logitech, which controls the Harmony brand, is announcing deals with both Ivee and Ubi. Both allow you to speak the commands and they, hopefully, happen. As Harmony points out it's simply "OK Ubi, watch Netflix".

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The Sony PS4 is seemingly doing well in its head-to-head battle with Microsoft's Xbox One. But that doesn't mean the company can just rest -- snooze and you could fall behind to a competitor that is updating often and at a quick pace. Sony isn't sleeping though, today announcing an update that will be coming to your box very soon.

The update is codenamed "Yukimura" (yes, I had to look it up as well and it's still vague -- we'll go with the Samurai by that name since it sounds cool). Name aside, what's important is features, and Sony promises a number of them.

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The youth is obviously always the future and today's tech companies have good reason to invest in that, given a seeming shortage of necessary people to fill positions. Microsoft is just one company looking to help fill that void by providing resources to get kids started on the right path, regardless if it's with them or somewhere else.

The software giant has a global program it calls YouthSpark which aims to provide education and employment for the future of the young folks around the world. The latest move is a three million dollar investment, spread over three years, to help out in Vietnam.

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