Wayne Williams

Art, Copy & Code has partnered with artist Zach Lieberman, Google, and interactive collective YesYesNo to create what it calls a smart talking sneaker with personality.

The Talking Shoe, which Google has been showing at the South by Southwest (SXSW) tech conference in Austin, Texas, includes an accelerometer, gyroscope, Bluetooth and other everyday technologies, that combine to “translate the wearer’s movements into funny, motivating and timely commentary”. In the video that shows off the sneakers, example phrases include “This is super boring” (when you’re just sitting around), “I love the feeling of wind in my laces”, “Are you a statue? Let’s do this already” and “Call 911 because you’re on fire”.

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Although there are many free system cleaners available for Windows and Mac OS X, CCleaner is one of the most popular, and for good reason. It’s thorough, trustworthy and very easy to use. It’s among the first programs I always install on a new system.

The good news for Android owners is developer Piriform is working on a new version of its cleanup tool specifically for the mobile platform that will offer one-click cleaning to “help keep your Android devices running like new”.

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There are surveys covering all manner of topics, many of which have been commissioned purely by companies hoping to grab some headlines for their products and services. Take this new survey from MobileInsurance, some UK mobile phone insurer I’ve never heard of (since I've never insured a phone in my life -- that's partly what my home contents insurance is for).

The firm apparently asked 2,314 mobile phone users aged 18 or over from around the UK just how long they spend on their phones every day. That’s phoning people, sending texts, using apps and playing games. And they received an answer of 90 minutes a day, which works out to 32,850 minutes a year, or 22.8 days, or -- if you want the ultimate figure -- 3.9 years of your entire average adult lifespan. That’s a lot of time spent playing with your phone. And all complete rubbish of course.

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When I wrote Why I Love Kindle back in February I said I was intending to upgrade to a Kindle Paperwhite soon. Three weeks later, timed so I can buy a Kindle copy of my own book (my publisher only supplies free paperbacks), and that’s exactly what I’ve done.

The Kindle is one of those very rare devices that you don’t really need to upgrade. New features, an improved screen, touch support – it’s all well and good, but when you’re reading something you’re pretty oblivious to anything other than the words on the page. Or rather the screen. That said, moving to the Paperwhite from a second generation Kindle is a huge leap forward.

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When Google released Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) back in 2011, it introduced a new data scrambling system designed to protect sensitive user information from snoopers who successfully managed to bypass the lock screen.

It’s strong security, but a team of German researchers have managed to crack the encryption by freezing a Galaxy Nexus and using a toolset called FROST (Forensic Recovery Of Scrambled Telephones) to retrieve contact lists, browser histories, and photos (basically everything you’d want to keep private).

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When Google first introduced the world to Gmail back in 2004, its 1GB of free storage space for messages seemed unbelievably generous. How times change. Since then of course, it’s upped the figure to 10GB, but for a lot of people that’s nowhere near enough. Businesses get a much more substantial 25GB through Google Apps, but even that can be restrictive -- especially if you have to send, receive and store a lot of large attachments.

Cloud-to-cloud backup and recovery firm Backupify can’t do anything about the lack of space for consumers, but it is offering a new free solution for firms. FreeSpace actively monitors the amount of space available in Google Apps Gmail accounts and makes it easy to free up as much space as you need, whenever you need it.

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Wow. You don’t mess with the EU antitrust regulators. This is something Microsoft has discovered to its cost after being landed with a 561 million euros ($731 million) fine for failing to promote a range of other browsers to Windows users in the European Union (EU).

As part of a settlement that followed an EU antitrust investigation back in 2009, Microsoft agreed to offer a Browser Choice Screen pop-up to European customers which would allow them to choose which browser they wanted to use -- rather than simply just forcing Internet Explorer on them. This followed an investigation triggered when Norwegian browser maker Opera complained that by bundling IE with Windows Microsoft was effectively killing the competition.

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Apple has offered its iTunes gift cards through various UK high street retailers and supermarkets  for years now. It’s taken a long while, but Google is finally following suit.

Google Play gift cards, in £10, £25 and £50 denominations will be available from today in Tesco and Morrisons stores. The roll out is happening slowly so they might take a few weeks to reach every location.

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The BBC’s excellent on-demand and catchup TV service iPlayer is available for both iOS and Android devices, although owners of phones and tablets running Google’s mobile OS remain slightly short-changed when it comes to features compared to their Apple OS counterparts.

Windows Phone users must feel perpetually short-changed at the moment I’m sure, but they too will soon be able to get iPlayer. There’s just one catch. Instead of releasing a dedicated app for Microsoft’s mobile OS, the BBC will be rolling out a shortcut application that will give users with a Windows Phone 7.5 or Windows Phone 8 handset access to the BBC iPlayer website via a live tile. According to Cyrus Saihan, Head of Business Development, BBC Future Media, "This shortcut will wrap the BBC iPlayer mobile website together with our media player.

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This year is certainly going to be a big one for games consoles, with a new PlayStation and a new Xbox (rumored) to be arriving before Christmas. But it’s Android-based gaming systems that’s the big trend at the moment, with the likes of OUYA and GameStick grabbing their fair share of the headlines.

Green Throttle is another Android games system, but it’s one that doesn’t require you to make space for a dedicated console under the TV. Instead you just need to buy one or more Green Throttle Atlas controllers, download the free Green Throttle Arena app from the Amazon Appstore, and hook up your Android tablet to a TV using a micro HDMI cable.

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Samsung is set to launch its flagship Galaxy S IV smartphone in New York as part of the Samsung Unpacked event on March 14. In order to start building some hype (not that the successor to the world's best smartphone needs it), the South Korean corporation has unveiled the first in a series of teaser trailers.

The advert introduces us to Jeremy Maxwell, a young child given the task of looking after a cardboard box with Un Packed on the side. In the teaser he is briefly shown the contents of the container, of which we see nothing, aside from the fact that whatever is inside glows very brightly (as someone says on YouTube, "it seems that inside the box there's a photocopier"), and then takes it home with him.

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In tough economic times, raising the money and getting a movie made without any major stars in it can be more than a little challenging for independent film makers. Getting it distributed is even harder.

So instead of trying to get their movie into cinemas, releasing it straight to DVD, or even putting it out on YouTube, the makers of Pulp are distributing their low-budget British comedy via an alternative method -- Xbox Live.

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I’m a huge fan of Zombies, Run! The original immersive app, which basically turns a real-world run into a journey through the zombie apocalypse, and helped me get fit and lose weight when it first came out last year.

I’ve been really looking forward to Zombies, Run! 2 since it was announced, and the great news is it’s nearly here. The updated version, which comes as a free upgrade for current players of the game, will arrive on both iOS and Android on 16 April.

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HTC had a reason to celebrate yesterday as the HTC One picked up the Best New Mobile Handset, Device or Tablet at Mobile World Congress 2013, the final award of the 18th Annual Global Mobile Awards.

The main ceremony, hosted by actor, comedian and swimmer David Walliams, was held on Tuesday and saw the Galaxy S III named the best smartphone of 2012, beating out the likes of the Apple iPhone 5, Nokia’s Lumia 920, and HTC’s Droid DNA.

That wasn’t the only upset for Apple as the iPad missed out too, with Google’s Asus-built Nexus 7 scooping the award for Best Tablet of 2012.

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HTC’s new flagship smartphone, the HTC One, comes with an "Ultrapixel" back facing camera (it’s technically a 4-megapixel camera, but HTC refers to it as an Ultrapixel sensor because the pixel sizes are larger and can capture more light and, apparently, produce better quality images). It also comes with an impressive new live capture mode called Zoe Camera.

Zoe Camera automatically captures content through the camera’s lens when the app is active. Pressing the button will take a picture, but the app will automatically record the action before and after that moment. Zoe Camera can then mash together videos, images, effects, themes and a soundtrack, to produce what HTC calls a "Zoe". And if you want to see what these look like, the online hub for sharing them has just gone live.

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