Alan Buckingham

Microsoft is slowly attempting to wean customers away from software and over to the services side of things. Office 2013 was a small first step, debuting in both Office 2013 and Office 365 Home Premium formats -- purchase and subscription options. Office 365 was previously a web service, and still exists in that form, with enhancements coming at a steady pace. Today this is illustrated with the latest release to the Access web app.

Jeff Conrad announces "it used to be a 3-year wait for new features in Office. However, because we are increasing the speed of our ship cycles, we are proud to announce that as of now, Cascading Controls are available to all of our Access 2013 Office 365 customers". The new update adds cascading controls -- essentially a drop-down list for all of your controls, including project name, company, contact information, data and more.

Continue reading →

It is the same old story in households consisting of more than one member. The Netflix account is a family thing, but not all members have the same tastes and can sometimes post vastly different reviews of the same flick. This is what Netflix describes as "Honey, you ruined my Netflix". Now the company aims to right this problem.

Eddy Wu, of Netflix tells us "many of you have had similar experiences, where you sat down to find something great to watch on Netflix, but it looks like your spouse has been binging on those teenage supernatural dramas you can’t stand, or your kids have filled your viewing history with animated sheep".

Continue reading →

Amazon Prime has been slowly growing, from shipping to video and even a lending library, but the company has also been busy adding original content these days and that continues today. Previously the retail giant even crowd-sourced new shows, asking those who viewed the pilots to choose which would make it to production.

Now the company wishes to launch five new kids shows -- in pilot form, once again. "Following the positive response to its first set of TV pilots, Amazon Studios today announced it will produce five more original pilots for kids, including the first pilots for ages six to eleven. The new pilots come from Emmy Award-winning creators as well as a Hollywood newcomer discovered though Amazon Studios’ open-door submission process. The pilots will stream on Amazon Instant Video and LOVEFiLM in the U.K. for customers to watch, provide feedback, and help determine which shows should be produced as a series", the company announces today.

Continue reading →

Microsoft introduced its SkyDrive cloud storage service to the world back in 2007, almost six years ago to the day, in fact. The service may have started slow, but with Windows 8 and Office 2013 the momentum has increased, with better integration. Now the software maker rolls out even more options to the storage site.

The company wishes to support the new HD and Retina displays contained within today's devices, and has added such support directly into its latest iteration of the cloud service. Microsoft's Omar Shahine announces that SkyDrive supports these high DPI displays by "measuring the DPI scale of your device. When your screen supports it, we show higher resolution photos and thumbnails. So you see more of your real photo instead of a thumbnail that gets up-scaled (note: not all browsers support high DPI yet)". This illustrates the service's ability to process such photos as those captured in RAW format.

Continue reading →

Roku is on a bit of a roll lately, with the release of the brand new version 3 hardware, and the continuous addition of new channels and content. While much of this development has taken place stateside, it is not the only front the set-top box maker is tackling. Now it brings Demand 5 to British customers, adding to the plethora of content already available on the little system.

"We’re pleased to announce the addition of Demand 5 to our growing entertainment library in the U.K. Demand 5 on Roku lets customers instantly access Channel 5’s full range of catch-up content as well as an extensive library of popular programs including Big Brother, Archer, Dallas, CSI, and Neighbors. Roku users can also enjoy original programming including The Gadget Show, The Hotel Inspector and Eddie Stobart’s Trucks and Trailers". This brings the total to more than 450 channels -- and that is just within Great Britain.

Continue reading →

"The new Nexus 7 makes my Asus MeMO look pathetic". That is what I told my colleague Joe Wilcox over the weekend. Android, the open source Linux-based mobile operating system from Google can be found in many places -- cheap no-name tablets run the OS, but should be given a wide berth. Big name hardware makers also produce these gadgets -- Samsung and Sony to name just two. However, the most prominent on the market in recent times has been the Nexus 7, the pure Android experience from Google (but built by Asus), and the Kindle Fire HD, Amazon's highly customized tablet.

In the past, regardless of my liking for pure Android, I would have chosen the Amazon device in a heartbeat. It's thinner and has a better screen, plus Prime customers, like myself, have easy access to the retail giant's streaming video library. However, my view changed this past week, as Google rolled out its latest version of the Nexus 7.

Continue reading →

Lost in the news from the "Breakfast with Sundar Pichai" event this week was a smaller announcement that was overshadowed by the new Nexus 7, Chromecast and Android 4.3. Google Play Games was rolled out along with the new mobile operating system. Despite rolling out with the latest iteration, the app is open to any device running Android version 2.2 and newer.

Play Games is free from the Google Play store and, once downloaded, you will find a game controller icon on your device. Like any app, it is only a matter of tapping it to get started.

Continue reading →

Last month, June 4 to be precise, Microsoft announced its "Chip in" program, designed to help students finance a new Windows 8 computer. The program lets students with a valid .edu email address crowd-source funds to help them purchase a qualified PC of their choosing from Microsoft Store.

Now the software maker elects to take it one step further, by sweetening this deal. Students must successfully fund their PC, but Microsoft chips in 10 percent of the price and the first 10,000 to be successful in this venture get a free copy of Office 365 University added into the bargain.

Continue reading →

Google is dreaming big, but those fantasies are no larger than ones held by cord-cutters everywhere. We wish for TV without the cable or satellite and services like Hulu, Netflix, Amazon Prime and others aim to deliver the experience. Now Google tosses its own hat into the ring.

"Today, with the launch of Chromecast and the new Nexus 7 tablet, it’s even more effortless to enjoy content you care about—whether it’s video, music, movies, games—wherever you are, across your devices".

Continue reading →

In what may have been one of the poorer kept secrets in tech, Google today took the wraps off the brand new Nexus 7. Unfortunately for the search giant, Best Buy won the race, by placing the new tablet up for pre-order early this morning. The device became official shortly thereafter, as Google held its breakfast event with Android chief Sundar Pichai.

"Together with ASUS, we took what you loved about the original Nexus 7 and made it even better," the company states in its official announcement. "The first thing you’ll notice is the sharpness of the screen: the 323 pixels packed into every inch of the screen makes it the world's highest-resolution 7-inch tablet. It’s lighter than ever, with more than nine hours of HD video playback and 10 hours of web browsing or reading. Nexus 7 now features stereo speakers and virtual surround sound from Fraunhofer (the inventors of the MP3 format), giving you rich and immersive audio".

Continue reading →

Roku, a set-top box in a vastly competitive market that includes products from Apple and Google, has made a fair amount of noise, locking in many deals to bring content to its growing base of customers. The tiny living room computer can offer much to the home entertainment experience, and now that offering grows by one.

Today the entertainment company announces Sky News is making its way to more shores via the Roku box. The British news service not only will be on UK-based boxes, but also launch for customers in the United States, Canada and Ireland.

Continue reading →

When I left IT little more than a year ago, my company still rocked Office 2007. Of course, computers were still running Windows XP and web browsers had only recently migrated from Internet Explorer 6 to IE 7. Now, with the addition of SP2 to Office 2010 business may be ready to make the move onto this platform.

"Today, we released Service Pack 2 (SP2) for the Office 2010 and SharePoint 2010 set of products.  SP2 provides key updates and fixes across our servers, services and applications including security, stability, and performance enhancements and provides better compatibility with Windows 8, Internet Explorer 10, Office 2013, and SharePoint 2013", says Microsoft's Chris Schneider.

Continue reading →

Google has previously sent its Maps team beneath the waves around the Great Barrier Reef, up the tallest mountain in the world, and into the mile deep depths of the Grand Canyon. Most recently the team scaled the heights of iconic Japanese landmark Mount Fuji, with the familiar Street View cameras firmly strapped to their backs.

Today the search giant rolls out images of Japan's volcano for those who either cannot get there or do not wish to climb the 3,776 meters to reach the summit. "The currently dormant volcano has inspired countless haiku and woodblock prints over many centuries, and around the world, its perfect conical shape has become one of Japan’s most iconic symbols", says Setsuo Murai, Head of Geo Partnerships for Google Japan.

Continue reading →

AT&T GoPhone allows customers to pickup no-contract phones, including smartphones, on a pre-paid plan. Now the mobile carrier is adding the Nokia Lumia 520 to the program beginning July 26.

The handset, which was announced back in February, has a four-inch screen, 8 GB of storage and is running on a 1GHz dual-core Snapdragon processor.

Continue reading →

I purchased a Google TV back in February and hoped for the best. My bet paid off as the tiny box became the hub of my living room, though not without complications -- it does require the occasional reboot. Still, for $99 I can not complain, and will sing its praises, as I filter all of our TV watching enjoyment through it.

Now the Plex server-app has rolled out new updates that bring even more functionality to the little service. Today the company announces a slew of updates that bring better compatibility with large screens, as well as new layout settings.

Continue reading →