Pornography to be 'opt in' in UK -- do you agree with the move?
Yesterday my colleague Mark Wilson wrote an excellent article discussing online pornography and the problems of policing it. This came in the wake of UK Prime Minister David Cameron calling for internet companies to do more to block porn on the web.
Today, Cameron announces that every British household will have pornography automatically blocked by their internet provider, although customers can choose to switch off the "family friendly" filters if they so choose.
Spanning Backup for Google Apps gains key new features
As if moving to shiny new headquarters in Austin, Texas, wasn’t enough to keep the firm busy, Spanning Cloud Apps has just added a raft of features to Spanning Backup for Google Apps, its enterprise-class data protection solution.
The Spanning Backup Summer ’13 Release adds functions designed to help large organizations protect, manage and repair their Google Apps data, handle large user bases, and comply with complex regulatory and policy requirements.
British women enjoy fondling 7 inchers (and larger)
According to YouGov's latest Tablet Tracker report there are more women owning tablets than men in the UK. The study says that in May, 52 percent of the country's touchscreen computers were in female hands, an increase of nine percent compared with the same time last year.
Over the same period, the share of tablets owned by men fell from 57 percent to 48 percent. There’s no equivalent report for female tablet ownership in the US, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see it following a similar trend. Tablets are ideal for women.
Microsoft takes ownership of XboxOne.com
The first time we heard the name of Microsoft’s forthcoming next gen console was when the company announced it at the reveal back in May. Part of the reason for keeping it so successfully under wraps was that Microsoft didn’t register any domain names in advance.
Unfortunately for Microsoft, XboxOne.com and XboxOne.net were already taken. Unfortunately for the owner of those domains -- an individual living in the UK who had owned both since 2011 -- Microsoft wanted them.
Microsoft seeks to tie TVs, tablets and smartphones together to create the 'Companion Web'
Microsoft is today launching a new initiative called the "Companion Web" which is designed to bridge the gap between the various different internet enabled devices we already use in conjunction with one another.
As Bryan Saftler, Senior Product Manager, Internet Explorer explains, "more than 80 percent of smartphone-owning Americans use [their handsets] while watching TV. Of those smartphone users, 4 out of 5 use their phone to look up content relevant to what they’re watching". Microsoft feels this manual seeking of information could be replaced with a more cohesive, tailored and engaging experience.
The new Google Maps arrives on iPhone and iPad
Google showed off a new version of Google Maps for the web at its I/O conference back in May, but made the updated preview invite only. Yesterday, the search giant finally opened up the new Maps to all -- no sign up required. Just go to Google's Explore Maps page, click the Try Now button, and you’re ready to start using it.
In addition to that, a week after Google rolled out a "new mapping experience" for Android smartphones and tablets, the firm has updated its app for iOS devices, introducing the same enhanced search and navigation features, as well as an optimized iPad design.
Acer introduces the Aspire Z3-605 Series desktop, with Harman Kardon speakers
Listening to music or watching movies on your PC can be a slight disappointment if the audio equipment isn’t as good as it could be. So with that in mind, Acer has developed a new all-in-one desktop system with two 3W front-facing Harman Kardon speakers built-in.
According to Acer, the speakers "leverage thorough and precise scientific methods to accurately produce crystal-clear audio that’s as close to the original recording as possible". The sound quality is further improved with the addition of Dolby Home Theater v4 optimized digital output technologies.
Watch Microsoft try to kill Surface
The Microsoft Reliability Lab is where the tech giant tests its hardware to the limits, dropping devices, soaking, smashing and bending them, in a quest to find out where the weaknesses lie.
In the latest episode of Microsoft’s regular "On the Whiteboard" series, presenter Pamela Woon takes a look inside the Reliability Lab as Microsoft does its best to try and destroy a whole bunch of Surface PCs.
The great Yahoo email address gold rush begins -- stake the claim for your name today
A month ago Yahoo announced plans to offer up old email addresses that have been inactive for a year or longer. My colleague Brian Fagioli pointed out the worrying privacy flaws of such an undertaking, but Yahoo says it’s confident its plans won’t compromise user security. Hopefully that’s true.
If you want to try and claim a recycled Yahoo username/email address -- your own name without a ridiculous string of numbers after it, for example, or something else entirely -- you can now register your interest with Yahoo.
Stick a fork in it, Windows RT is done
Microsoft has slashed the price of Surface RT, making the device pretty affordable. Anyone hoping that Surface Pro would see a similar reduction will be disappointed. Microsoft shows no signs of cutting the price of its premium tablet, suggesting the company is happy enough with sales and margins at the moment.
The problem with RT is it looks like Windows 8, and behaves like Windows 8, but isn't Windows 8. If you buy Surface RT, or any other tablet running the OS, you might reasonably expect to be able to run traditional software on it. But you can't.
Microsoft slashes the price of Surface RT -- will it be enough to tempt buyers?
Rumors that Microsoft was planning to cut the price of Surface RT have been swirling for a couple of days, and yesterday they came true. Staples in the US is currently advertising the 32 GB base model of the device for $349.99, a drop of $150. Although the price reduction hasn’t been seen elsewhere yet, it should start appearing at other retailers next week. No word on whether the reduction will be offered in other territories.
The price cut is interesting as it’s yet another example of Microsoft offering aggressive discounts on Surface RT. The 32 GB version was made available to schools and universities for $199, and attendees at the Worldwide Partner Conference and TechEd gatherings were offered Surface RT 64 GB with touch cover for $99 (although admittedly they had to pay a fortune for a ticket in the first place).
Who needs gamers? Microsoft targets small businesses with the Xbox One
When Microsoft revealed the Xbox One two months ago it pushed the next generation console’s entertainment features, playing down the device’s gaming prowess. The message was clear. The Xbox One is an entertainment hub that can do games, not a games console in the traditional sense.
Microsoft is pursuing an audience outside its (once) loyal gaming community, and having targeted non gamers with talk of TV shows and music, the obvious next step is to pitch the Xbox One as a full blown business system, right? Wait, what?
Qualcomm imagines a world without mobile phones
Most people can think back to a time when we didn’t have mobile phones, so imaging a world without them isn’t too much of a stretch.
But Qualcomm has created an amusing video seemingly set in an alternate reality where all the products and services we use today -- ranging from email, Facebook and Twitter, to video and games -- still exist, but smartphones and tablets don’t.
Opera lets you create a Smart TV app from your web videos
Norwegian browser developer Opera has teamed up with video sharing site Dailymotion to create a new service that can transform any Dailymotion video channel into a Smart TV application in less than a minute.
Opera TV Snap lets you convert an existing online video channel into a ready-to-run HTML5 app for inclusion in the Opera TV Store, a Smart TV app storefront supported by major television and set-top-box manufacturers.
Google introduces a 'new mapping experience' for smartphones and tablets
Google has started rolling out a new version of Google Maps for Android devices, with plans to update the iOS edition "soon".
According to Daniel Graf, Director, Google Maps, the updated app builds on the version Google released for the iPhone last December, but improves on it by adding additional search and navigation features, as well as a dedicated design for iPads and Android tablets.
Wayne's Bio
Wayne Williams is BetaNews' managing editor. He has been writing about computers, technology, and the web for over 20 years now. He’s written for most of the UK’s PC magazines, and launched, edited and published a fair few of them in his time also. If you like what you read, you can Buy Me a Coffee!
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