Alan Buckingham

I have never had a single thing against Windows Phone, nor iOS for that matter, but I embraced the Android ecosystem early on, with much invested in apps. Alright, "much" may be a stretch -- I can not imagine it is more than $50 total, but paid software still means money spent, and I am not known as Mr. Big-Spender.

For the past month I have been taking the Windows Phone challenge -- my Nexus is put aside, SIM card removed and currently residing within the confines of a Nokia Lumia 928.

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BitTorrent has been making waves recently with the release of its Sync client. To its credit, the organization seemed to see the coming privacy apocalypse that we have fallen into over the past few weeks, and built features into the service that it hopes will protect customers.

What began as private testing and entered alpha in April, is finally growing up. Christian Averill, a company representative, told BetaNews "BitTorrent Sync was designed to solve what we see as real, fundamental challenges to data synchronization: limitations on privacy, file security and dependency on cloud infrastructure. Also, limitations on speed, size, and space".

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PlayOn, the TV service that aims to make cord-cutting even more possible, with affordable prices, and even going free to Google TV customers, is now aiming at Blackberry users in both the United States and Canada. It brings with it all sorts of video goodies for this ride.

Today the company announces that "for the first time, BlackBerry 10 customers in the US and Canada can watch content from Hulu, Netflix and HBO GO on their smartphone. By downloading the new PlayOn app to a BlackBerry Z10 or BlackBerry Q10 smartphone, and PlayOn software to a Windows PC, customers can stream online content from Netflix, Hulu (with no Hulu Plus subscription needed), HBO GO, CBS and 60 additional online channels to their smartphone".

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Work on the Eiffel Tower began in 1887 and was completed two years later. It was originally intended to stand for just 20 years, but the iron lattice construction has remained as a symbol of the country ever since. The monument stands 324.00 meters in height overlooking the European city.

Now Google, as it is wont to do, has decided that the massive structure needs a digital home. "The Google Cultural Institute and the Eiffel Tower Operating Company have teamed up to create three immersive online exhibitions which blend fascinating historical material with a sprinkling of technological magic. In order to capture the imagery, the Street View team followed", says Mark Yoshitake, Head of Product and User Experience for Google Cultural Institute.

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Elon Musk, co-founder of PayPal, has gone on to start such geek-cool companies as Tesla and Space-X -- the latter of which is the first independent contractor to successfully push a space vehicle to the International Space Station (ISS). Despite seeming to have his hands full with major investments in electric cars and rockets, the billionaire is now turning his attention towards the transit system.

Hyperloop is still a theory -- an alternative to traditional transportation methods that Musk hopes will travel three to four times faster than traditional methods. "You would go from downtown LA to downtown San Francisco in under 30 minutes", Musk once proclaimed in an interview. That is quite a claim, and Musk plans to unveil how it will reach this goal on August 12 according to a tweet he posted today -- "Will publish Hyperloop alpha design by Aug 12. Critical feedback for improvements would be much appreciated".

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Office has not yet found its way to the Windows 8 Start screen, but Microsoft did at least give a bit of a preview when a Modern UI version of OneNote was released. While no promises can yet be made about what is to follow, the software maker now rolls out a significant update to the lone app.

The OneNote team proclaims "today we're releasing another update to OneNote for the Windows Store that adds two things. First, you can now sign in with your Office 365 account so that you can easily open your work notes. Second, we've made it easier to dismiss the keyboard on your touch device".

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It is 2013, not 1968, and we are talking Microsoft instead of Dionne Warwick, but Office 365 has still found its way to the California town. In the arms race against Google Docs/Apps, Microsoft takes another step towards the front with its latest announcement of a city government adopting its software.

"The City of San José has selected Microsoft Office 365, Windows Azure and StorSimple to expand productivity of its more than 5,000 city employees, reduce operational costs, and deliver improved services to over 984,000 residents in the Capital of Silicon Valley" the software maker announces.

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While the jury remains in deliberation over Windows 8, and its upcoming successor, Office is still a workhorse in the Microsoft stable of software. Even the attempt to turn it into a subscription model did little to phase customers. Businesses on the other hand are even more acceptable to these options and now Microsoft has announced expanded markets for its latest Office 365.

Microsoft's Andy O'Donald announces "Office 365 is expanding commercial availability in 38 new markets, 3 new languages, and 5 new currencies". This brings the total to 127 markets worldwide.

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Get out your wallet and prepare your foreign investment portfolio because, just as Jimmy Buffet tells us it is always five o'clock somewhere, the market is also always open somewhere. Google Finance today grows a bit fatter, adding even more of those exchanges to its reporting.

Greg Pennington, Product Manager for Google Finance announces "we want you to have the world’s financial data at your fingertips. We’ve launched five new exchanges on Google Finance".

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Mozilla is now set to reach a wider audience with its up-and-coming Firefox mobile operating system. We had previously heard the first handsets would be coming to Deutsche Telekom soon, but a press conference has yielded more details about what potential customers can expect.

During an announcement in Warsaw, Poland the carrier says that "sales of the Alcatel One Touch Fire powered by Firefox OS will start soon in Europe. T-Mobile Poland will offer the Firefox OS-powered smartphone via its online sales channels from tomorrow on and from July 15 nationwide in 850 shops".

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In the real world, when you have a birthday people give you gifts. But when these celebrations happen for software and services, the roles are frequently reversed. That is the case today as Apple celebrates the fifth birthday of its iTunes App Store by giving gifts to its customers.

Apple launched its iOS store on July 10, 2008 and the number of apps has grown exponentially since then -- from 500 apps at launch to 900,000-plus available today.

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Haswell is the latest catch-phrase in Intel processor architecture, designed as a successor to Ivy Bridge. A low power processor that is made with today's Ultrabooks in mind, the chip debuted early last month and is finding its way into today's hardware. Now Acer announces it will be powering the latest Aspire notebook.

The Aspire M5 (technically the Aspire M5-583P-6428) will be a Best Buy exclusive and packs a Core i5 processor, Intel Wireless Display technology (WiDi), four speakers, 15.6-inch display and multi-touch.

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Summer is vacation time in the northern hemisphere and grabbing consumer attention can be difficult at times, but comparing your tech product to misconceptions is certainly one of the more unusual ways to get noticed. Microsoft decided to go there today with a new music video as a part of the continuing "Browser You Loved To Hate" campaign.

The latest installment sees Microsoft team up with musician Laura Gibson to produce a new music video, titled "Things Aren't Always What They Seem".

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Three weeks and two thousand miles on a bicycle is something few of us could even fathom, especially over the steep peaks of the famed Pyrenees and Alps. The race may be a week into its trip around the roads of the French nation, but it is not too late to pull on your gear, take a deep breath and see what it is like to wrest this year's title away from potential winner Chris Froome before the famed race reaches its conclusion on hallowed Champs-Elysées.

Now Google unveils your opportunity to ride along over the mountain passes and down the narrow streets where sprint finishes are frequently decided and carnage is never far off.

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As the Microsoft mobile ecosystem grows, more popular apps are finding their way into the Windows Phone store. The platform now boasts top-notch games like Angry Birds and Temple Run, as well as video services like Hulu. While customers can get their music fix from apps such as Nokia Music (if you have a Nokia phone), competition and options are good.

Now Spotify makes its official debut in the Windows Phone world. Joe Belfiore, corporate vice president and manager for Windows Phone Program Management, tweeted "Hey music lovers... today #Spotify for #WP8 is out of beta! A big update: more languages, offline playlist improvements, track scrubbing".

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