Samsung announces a faster flagship -- Galaxy S4 LTE-A
The Galaxy S4 LTE-A is the flagship Samsung should have launched instead of the Galaxy S4. The handset, which was unveiled earlier today, is the least compromising and most powerful entry in the maker's high-end Android lineup.
Samsung touts the Galaxy S4 LTE-A as "the world’s first commercially available LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) smartphone". That's a rather bold claim, considering the pretty vague release date -- "this summer". The South Korean maker does not provide exact numbers, but says that the cellular technology offers "double today's LTE speeds" (which, on the Galaxy S4, are 100 Mbps for download and 50 Mbps for upload).
Nextgen Reader for Windows Phone 8 gets Feedly-fied
There's more to the rapidly-approaching Google Reader shutdown than the demise of a popular RSS feed aggregator. The service is used by numerous mobile apps on all major platforms, which will soon be unable to deliver the latest news to insatiable users unless developers embrace an alternative (that, hopefully, will not burst into flames due to a growing following).
For Nextgen Reader -- one of the most popular RSS feed delivery apps on Windows Phone 8, Windows 8 and Windows RT -- the alternative is Feedly. Its maker, Next Matters, announced the move in early-June, and, yesterday, launched an update that adds support for the service in the Windows Phone 8 app.
Do Not Track standards do not coalesce
The advertising industry is in a huff over Mozilla’s plans to support "The Cookie Clearinghouse" at the Center for Internet and Society (CIS) at Stanford Law School. The Cookie Clearinghouse starts with some browser behavior changes and adds what Mozilla’s Brendan Eich describes as both block and allow-lists of sites and a mechanism for managing exceptions to them. What would be blocked? Third-party tracking cookies.
The advertising industry is displeased, as it has been in the past when its abilities to track users are impeded.
Wi-Fi issues plague new Apple MacBook Airs
History repeats itself, as another Apple product has connectivity issues -- three years ago it was the iPhone 4 and now the new MacBook Air is affected. Disgruntled users have taken to the company's support forum to report the Wi-Fi connectivity woes, which appear to persist even on replacement units.
According to a number of reports, both MacBook Air models -- the 11.6-inch and the 13.3-inch versions -- are affected, including those which feature factory upgrades. Users say that the Wi-Fi connection randomly drops after a period of activity, with the problem mostly being reported when relying on non-Apple-branded routers. Judging by the posted replies, none of the solutions presented thus far appear to fix this.
Will the Xbox 180 ensure continuing high game prices?
I’ve been watching Microsoft's handling of the whole DRM, region lock, and used game PR fiasco with interest over the past two weeks, and while I personally did not have any problem with any of those restrictions, many of you did. On June 19, Microsoft did something that seems to have shocked the world: it listened to customer feedback. Despite reportedly strong preorder sales, Microsoft decided to reverse its decision on the always-on internet connection as well as the game rental, resale, and gifting restrictions.
I personally have mixed feelings about it all. While I applaud Microsoft for listening to its customers, something tells me that in the long run easing up on the game resale industry may not be the best thing for consumers. I’ll explain.
Critics may have won the DRM battle, but Microsoft will win the Xbox One war
Yesterday, when I first heard the rumors that Microsoft was going to be dumping the Xbox One’s DRM restrictions -- dropping the regular internet checks and making it easier to share and trade games -- I was skeptical. But then news sites began reporting the story, citing reliable sources, and Microsoft removed the Xbox One Q&A page from its website -- clear confirmation big changes were afoot.
Faced with a tide of anger from gamers, and overwhelming negativity towards certain aspects of its forthcoming entertainment console, Microsoft did something no one expected -- it reversed its stance on DRM and went back to the old ways. It was a surprising decision.
Microsoft will pay you to successfully hack Windows
Typically, a company frowns upon having its products hacked. However, Microsoft is inviting people to do just that. The tech company announces that it will be offering direct cash payments "in exchange for reporting certain types of vulnerabilities and exploitation techniques". No, Microsoft has not gone crazy (at least I hope). Companies usually offer such bounty programs for sane reasons -- security and publicity.
From a security standpoint, it makes sense for Microsoft to invite people to hack its products. When a bug or exploit is found, it can be patched. The tech company's products can only get more secure as a result. Heck, maybe Microsoft can even hire the successful hackers!
NSA phone tracking to be scaled back, says official
The NSA expects to scale back its phone tracking program in the near future, the agency’s director says. The comments came as part of a broader hearing in front of the House Intelligence Committee over the recent disclosures of NSA activities.
Director Gen. Keith Alexander told California Rep. Adam Schiff during questioning that his agency and the FBI are reviewing how the phone tracking program might be changed. Currently, the NSA asks only for the metadata -- general information about the call like phone numbers, duration, and location -- whether the person is suspected of terrorism or not, and en masse.
Canonical assembles a team of experts to help Ubuntu crack the mobile market
Although Ubuntu for phones looks great, it’s going to be very tricky for Canonical to get any real foothold in a mobile market utterly dominated by iOS and Android devices. Even coming close to competing with BlackBerry and Windows Phone seems like a pipe dream at this point.
To help realize its ambitions, Canonical has put together a Carrier Advisory Group (CAG) to guide and shape the Ubuntu operating system for mobile devices.
It's tough at the top for anti-virus products
Results of independent tests by AV-Comparatives looking at the real world protection offered by leading packages show that competition is as fierce as ever.
The tests use 569 real-world malicious URLs. 138 of these are blocked by a Windows 7 system with all its patches up to date, leaving 431 to be intercepted by security software. The tests use MS Security Essentials as a baseline providing a 95.4 percent level of protection. You can see the full results on an interactive chart but it’ll come as no surprise that it's all pretty close.
Will you be installing Windows 8.1? [Poll]
On June 26 Microsoft will release a preview of Windows 8.1. The OS refresh is designed to make the operating system easier to use, address some of the concerns that users have, and persuade doubters to finally make the switch.
Windows 8.1 fixes issues and introduces some welcome new features, including the return of the Start button, boot to desktop, the option to have multiple apps on screen at once, Internet Explorer 11, the ability to turn the lockscreen into a photoframe, as well as various Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) and security enhancements.
Tech companies reveal details of NSA data requests
In the light of last week’s PRISM revelations the major tech companies have all been quick to deny that they allow the NSA direct access to their servers. But they have also said that they respond to lawful requests for data and have been revealing the numbers involved.
Apple says it received between 4,000 and 5,000 requests from US federal, state and local law enforcement agencies for customer data between December 1, 2012 and May 31, 2013. In its press release Apple says, "Regardless of the circumstances, our Legal team conducts an evaluation of each request and, only if appropriate, we retrieve and deliver the narrowest possible set of information to the authorities. In fact, from time to time when we see inconsistencies or inaccuracies in a request, we will refuse to fulfill it". Apple also says that certain types of data such as iMessage and FaceTime conversations along with Map searches and Siri requests are not retained in an identifiable form.
Office finally arrives on iOS, but with limitations
The much talked about iOS version of Microsoft Office finally arrives in the App Store today. While that sounds like great news for anyone hoping to at last be able to (officially) use Word, Excel or PowerPoint on the iPad, you may wish to curb your enthusiasm, as there are some serious limitations with this release.
It's only available in the US for starters (coming to other territories "soon"), and you need to be an Office 365 subscriber to use it. Also it's only optimized for the small screen.
BlackBerry 10.2 to introduce improved Android app support
Just a month after unveiling BB 10.1, Canadian maker BlackBerry is now focusing its attention on the next iteration of the smartphone operating system. Even though BB 10.2 is unlikely to be introduced in the upcoming weeks, the company already revealed an important detail related to the future version.
Late-yesterday, BlackBerry released the Android 4.2.2 runtime for BlackBerry 10.2, which allows developers to test apps originally designed for the second Jelly Bean iteration on the company's smartphone operating system.
Hey Microsoft, here’s another ball! Try not to drop this... oh
If I worked for Microsoft, and my sole job was to come up with products that divided opinion and alienated many previously loyal users, I reckon I would be due a promotion about now.
While some divisions within Microsoft are doing a great job (Bing and Outlook.com spring to mind), you have to wonder what the bloody hell is going on when the tech giant is able to so badly foul up not only Windows but Xbox too.
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