While wireless charging is extremely convenient, as it allows you to charge your devices just by resting them on top of a charger, it is also very slow by modern standards, because of the low amount of power that can be transmitted. However, for the Qi standard, this issue is expected to go away soon.

Wireless Power Consortium, the group behind the standard, boasts that Qi will work more like Quick Charge, a Qualcomm technology, in the sense that it will transmit much more power to supporting devices to greatly decrease charging times.

Continue reading →

Google has removed an extension from its open source browser Chromium after people complained that it had been downloaded without permission and then listened to users through their microphones. The Chrome Hotword extension was used by Chromium to offer "OK, Google" voice activation to the browser.

Privacy advocates were concerned about the potential for eavesdropping, particularly in light of the fact that users were not warned of the presence of the extension. There was also concern that the extension is not open source, so it was not possible to see exactly what it was doing. In response to complaints, Chrome Hotword has now been made an optional component.

Continue reading →

Thanks in no small part to Facebook, Messenger is rapidly growing in popularity. On Google Play, the app reached one billion downloads earlier this month, while on Apple's App Store it leads the free apps chart for iPhones. But while it certainly benefits from being tightly linked to Facebook, the company wants to make it possible to sign up for its messaging service without a Facebook account.

When it announced this change, Facebook did not detail why it is introducing this sign up option. However, it looks like the company wants its messaging service to become more attractive for those who are not willing to join the social network but want to connect with their Facebook friends.

Continue reading →

It has been hard to avoid talk of Apple Music over the past couple of weeks. After the initial excitement of the launch, there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth at the revelation that there were no plans to pay artists during the initial three month free trial period.

Never fear, Taylor Swift is here! After complaining on behalf of musicians around the world in an open letter to Apple, Ms Swift managed to convince Apple to change its mind and dip its hand into its pocket. But did this mean that a great deal was offered? Clearly being paid 'something' is better than not being paid at all, but the New York Times reveals that Apple will be paying out just 0.2 cents every time a track is streamed.

Continue reading →

I owe Sony a lot of credit. It wasn't the original Xbox and the young Xbox Live service that gave me my first taste in console online gaming. It was my beloved PS2 that connected me to the early adopters skating around Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3, and wannabe commandos practicing flanks together in the original SOCOM.

With an add-on Ethernet adapter and LAN cable strung halfway around my house, the PS2 allowed me to engage in an activity that gamers on most modern consoles take for granted. Getting online with PS2 games was part test of patience and part geekdom experiment. PlayStation Network wouldn't launch for another four years or so, and one console later -- on the PS2, you were truly on your own when it came to navigating online gaming.

Continue reading →

The demand for new enterprise mobile applications is about to rapidly increase, a new research shows.

Sponsored by Kony, the new 451 Research global survey of IT management, IT development and line of business professionals found that more than half of the 480 respondents, from North America, Europe and Australia, plan to deploy 10 or more enterprise mobile apps during the next two years.

Continue reading →

IBM and Box have announced a global partnership that aims to transform work in the cloud by integrating existing products and services to develop new solutions for a range of industries and professions.

Box will combine its collaboration platform with IBM’s extensive portfolio of solutions in security, analytics, content management and social capabilities to partner in three key areas:

Continue reading →

If you've ever rock climbed then chances are you know El Capitan. It is the quintessential big wall -- the icon of the sport. Every climber aspires to one day visit Yosemite and tackle the multi-pitch ascent. There are lots of 5.14 climbs around, but there is something about the allure of a big wall.

Can't make it to California? You aren't alone, there are too many locations for any climber to get to in a lifetime. However, Yosemite is the icon, the Smith Rocks of big walls. You can speed climb it or use a hanging bivouac (don't roll over in the night).

Continue reading →

Finding your way around big cities is generally a challenge, even if you live there. You might know the best bus routes, or have mastered the metro, but you can still be in trouble if a service is unexpectedly cancelled and you're left looking for an alternative.

Transit App is a free Android and iOS app which helps out with a host of tools for planning journeys around and across your local city.

Continue reading →

Today Google revealed an updated version of its Google Play Developer Program Policies. There aren't actually all that many changes or additions, but those that are present are quite interesting. Google is clamping down on the problem of impersonation, making it clearer that it is not permissible to mislead users by imitating other apps, making false claims, or suggesting endorsements that do not exist.

One of the more intriguing changes to the document sees Google calling on developers to show sensitivity to evens such as natural disasters, war, and death. Any apps or other content that attempt to benefit by exploiting such events are explicitly banned.

Continue reading →

This is my promised third column in a series about the effect of H-1B visa abuse on US technology workers and ultimately on the US economy. This time I want to take a very high-level view of the problem that may not even mention words like "H-1B" or even "immigration", replacing them with stronger Anglo-Saxon terms like "greed" and "indifference".

The truth is that much (but not all) of the American technology industry is being led by what my late mother would have called "assholes". And those assholes are needlessly destroying the very industry that made them rich. It started in the 1970s when a couple of obscure academics created a creaky logical structure for turning corporate executives from managers to rock stars, all in the name of "maximizing shareholder value".

Continue reading →

Each year the technology industry is met with a number of challenges and the companies who rise to the top are those able to meet these challenges head-on and eradicate problems before they arise. So what companies have been able to do that most recently? This year, there seems to be six top tech companies that have proven themselves as industry leaders and overcome their roadblocks in unique ways.

It’s not easy rising to the top of the technology industry, particularly because so many other companies are vying for the spot. It seems industry leaders don’t necessarily make their efforts known, but rather go about their business as usual, finding new ways to transform processes. These companies create platforms that meet business and consumer needs, applications and tools that facilitate better business networking and promote sales, solutions that not only resolve problems but also prevent further issues, and so much more. When it comes down to it, these companies not only make technology better, they make the world better.

Continue reading →

Whether you’re the CIO of a large corporation or run your own enterprise, it’s imperative that you understand the benefits, as well as the inevitability, of data center migrations. Migrations advance business practices by creating greater tactical efficiencies, agility and by reducing costs. Because they provide such great opportunities, migration plans are often high on the list of strategic projects for CIOs, IT managers and other managers involved in corporate plans.

However, despite the hype, companies need to understand that data center migrations are among the riskiest and most complex undertakings an enterprise can pursue.

Continue reading →

After a few weeks in preview, Microsoft Office is now available for Android smartphones. Despite Microsoft's mobile-first, cloud-first philosophy, it has actually taken some time to bring the world's most popular office suite to Android phones -- it joins the tablet version of the suite that was released last year.

Just like the tablet editions, the phone versions of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint won't cost you a penny, allowing for the viewing and editing of a range of files when on the move. There is a cloud focus with support for not only OneDrive, but also Google Drive, Dropbox, and Box, and Microsoft says it has made changes based on the feedback received during the preview period.

Continue reading →

Although the Internet of Things is often regarded as a technology that is yet to really burst into life, a recent study reveals that it can already be hugely profitable.

An industry survey conducted by Progress and Harbor Research has found that 65 percent of IoT apps are generating revenue, with this figure expected to hit 80 percent by 2018.

Continue reading →