Google Street View lets would-be companions step inside Doctor Who's TARDIS
Like many British people, I grew up with Doctor Who. Looking back, some of the episodes of my youth that had me hiding behind the settee in fear were laughable rather than scary, but back then we didn’t know any better. Doctor Who these days though is a much more polished affair, with better effects, more convincing aliens and improved storytelling.
If you’re a fan of the Doctor and have always dreamed of going on adventures in his TARDIS but have never been lucky enough to have the iconic blue police box materialise in front of you, now is your chance thanks to Google and a hidden Street View Easter egg.
Elon Musk unveils Hyperloop
Tony Stark is at it again. Oh wait, I mean Elon Musk, the man behind both Space X and electric sports car maker Tesla...oh, and co-founder of PayPal as well. The man needs a hobby. Fortunately he seems to have found one -- if you consider developing supersonic transit a hobby.
Today Musk unveils his initial plans for Hyperloop -- a brand new mode of transport which the entrepreneur describes as a "fifth mode after planes, trains, cars and boats". The project is a long way from being built, or even completely planned out, but it is fully underway in the initial stages.
I am moving to Windows Phone 8... mostly
I have twice now written of my foray into Windows Phone 8, via the Nokia Lumia 928. During my last article I promised a deep-dive into the platform, but have since reconsidered this, as there is really nothing to say that has not already been written. You know of the apps and the lack of them -- you know the specs and, if you have used a handset, then you know where everything is and how to use it. In short, I would be wasting my breath...ahh...words.
I have resided in the Android world for sometime, first with a Droid X and most recently with the Galaxy Nexus. I remain there in the tablet world, currently owning an Asus MeMO, Kindle Fire HD and the new Nexus 7 -- the latter of which my son relieved me of. I love them all, but my phone of choice has changed.
Buy it now -- ZTE Open Firefox phone comes to eBay
Chinese electronics company ZTE has announced that it's to start selling its Firefox phone on eBay in the US and the UK. Available only in a fetching shade of orange and unlocked for use on any network the phone will cost $79.99 in the US and £59.99 in the UK.
The ZTE Open offers an affordable smartphone based entirely on open web standards using the Firefox OS. It has all of the functions you'd expect of a smartphone including calls, messaging, email and a camera, plus additional functions like built-in social network integration with Facebook and Twitter, location based services and access to the Firefox Marketplace to download apps.
More gloom for PC makers as European sales slump by 20 percent
As my colleague Wayne Williams reported earlier today the PC market is continuing to shrink at the hands of tablets. Further confirmation of this, just in case you needed any, comes from a Gartner survey showing that the PC market in western Europe slumped by 20 percent in the second quarter of 2013.
All PC segments in Western Europe declined over the quarter. Mobile and desktop shipments dropped 23.9 percent and 12.2 percent respectively. PC shipments in the professional market declined by 13.5 percent, while the consumer PC market decreased 25.8 percent in the same period. This equates to a 19.8 percent drop overall
Xbox One gets an early unboxing
Microsoft's next-generation console...ahh...living room entertainment hub will not ship until this November, but still promises to light up the holiday shopping season. The company already showed it off and announced games, plus my colleague Derrick Wlodarz recently laid out very good reasons why he expects this war to be won by Xbox, as opposed to Sony and its PS4, which is expected around the same time.
Now potential customers can get one more sneak peak at what to expect. In a new video from Xbox Live chief Larry Hryb, better known as MajorNelson, the new console is unboxed -- something many a person likely hopes to be doing themselves this holiday season.
Migration from XP made more complex by demand for BYOD
Microsoft will pull the support plug on Windows XP on April 8 2014. But with only 10 months to go to the deadline as many as 39 percent of enterprises have yet to migrate to another version of Windows, warns services and solutions company ITC Infotech.
Current trends towards BYOD are also making the migration process more complex but businesses need to address the issues in order to future proof their operations.
Microsoft announces change to Outlook.com messaging history
Social integration is one of the most interesting features of Outlook.com, as it allows users to manage emails and, at the same time, chat with friends on Facebook, Google Talk and Skype. Microsoft started to integrate the latter service in late-April, with the roll-out continuing into the summer and, now, the company announces a new change as the process reaches its final stages.
Microsoft just revealed that, "as part of adding Skype to Outlook.com", users will no longer be able to access the social messaging history through the adjacent folder, as it will be removed "sometime this fall". The feature will still be available, but only through the Messaging panel.
Surface sales are pathetic
It feels like repeatedly kicking someone when they’re down, but there’s really no other way to describe Windows tablet sales -- both RT and Windows 8 Pro -- other than pathetic and embarrassing for Microsoft. Which is a shame. Surface is a great tablet, Windows 8 on Surface is a good operating system, but people just aren’t buying the device in any great numbers. Well, pre-fire sale at least.
According to a new report from IDC, just 200,000 Windows RT tablets shipped in Q2 2013 (even the ailing BlackBerry PlayBook managed 100,000), and there’s no good news for other Windows tablets either as IDC reports just 1.8 million devices shipped with that OS onboard. Apple, by comparison, shipped 14.6 million iPads in the same quarter.
Bing gets a sexy makeover for Windows Phone 8
While Android users are tightly integrated with Google Search, Windows Phone 8 users are even more tightly integrated with Bing. Heck, there is even a button that is dedicated to launching Bing Search. Today, the Bing Team announces that the search engine-related functionality is getting a brand new makeover to improve the experience on Windows Phone 8.
According to the Bing Team, the company will "...roll out a set of global updates for Windows Phone 8 similar to recent upgrades we've made to Bing.com on Android and iOS. With this release, we're excited to provide people with more info they need on their mobile device, including additional instant answers and Snapshot entity information". While this update is appreciated, it is disappointing that Microsoft gave similar updates to Android and iOS first.
Four big reasons Xbox One, not PS4, will win over the masses
With Microsoft's recently-announced reversal of its anti-consumer DRM policies for the Xbox One, the next gen console war has suddenly been brought back to a level playing field. It's no longer a battle of who had the upper hand at E3 this year, who does/doesn't require impractical internet connectivity 24/7, or whose specs are better on paper. The most hated DRM underpinnings on the Xbox One have been unequivocally rescinded, meaning that we can finally have an honest discussion of what the two next gen consoles will offer apples-to-apples.
While Sony has been squarely riding its momentum on cruise control since E3 this year, trying to keep the debate on its terms after usurping Microsoft in the opinion war, reality is coming back into the middle ground finally. And seeing that we are just months away from these hotly anticipated console launches, Microsoft is slowly unraveling its winning plans for the Xbox One.
Stop embarrassing yourself -- Microsoft releases NoReplyAll for Outlook
I once worked with a manager who, as a joke, sent a nasty reply to an email from the training department -- the trainer was her friend and would get the joke. The problem was, she accidentally clicked "reply all", sending the message to 5,000 people company-wide. Its an error we make from time to time, and it can be something that makes us wish to crawl beneath the desk and hide.
Microsoft aims to help prevent this embarrassment, but takes a slightly different approach with its new NoReplyAll add-on for Outlook. The twist? The sender has to enable it.
Motorola announces the Moto X -- Android users get wood
When Google bought Motorola, the Android community was abuzz with excitement. Motorola is a world renowned class-leader in quality. With that in mind, the world waited for a mythical and epic smartphone to be released as a result of the marriage. Unfortunately, while Motorola did release great phones such as the Droid Razr HD, these were not the Droids we were looking for. Today, Google and Motorola announce the Moto X, hoping to deliver on the high expectations.
The tagline for this new smartphone is "All Yours" -- this is because you can customize the phone to your liking. According to Motorola, the smartphone "...is truly yours, because you design it. Through our online studio, Moto Maker, you choose the colors, and decide on the details: front, back, accents, memory, wallpapers, even add a name or a short message. When you are done, we assemble your Moto X right here in the USA and ship it to you for free in four days or less. Choose from more than 2,000 possible combinations, with more to come. We’ll be constantly exploring new offerings, such as real wood backs, starting later in the year".
Do not let your spouse ruin Netflix -- individual profiles now available
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".
Newspapers in a digital age: moving with the times and charging for it
For most of us the digital revolution started some time ago. Working in journalism for nearly 15 years means that I have seen things change enormously, but even back in the late 1990s it was clear that the web was where it was at -- or where it was going to be. Newspapers and magazines have had to adapt to fight for ever-decreasing audiences in a changing market. But not everyone has been moving at the same pace, or has quite the same idea about how things should work.
The ease of self-publishing and the low overheads associated with running a website, in conjunction with the always-on, instant updateability of the internet has seen the sales of newspapers and magazines dropping off. Most titles have gone with the flow and have developed an online presence, but the need for publishers to make money is at odds with the widely held belief that everything online should be free.
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