Say, Nexus nerds, what about Project Fi?
As September 29th approaches, and Google's annual autumn launch event, rumors increase in frequency, and a few in absurdity, about what will be revealed. The gadget-obsessed shouldn't forget what else might arrive with one, or even two, rumored new Nexus smartphones: Expanded support for Project Fi. I am surprised how little buzz there is among the fan base. Where are the rumor-wagging tongues?
The search and information giant introduced the invite-only cellular service in April 2015, piggybacking Sprint and T-Mobile networks for a cool $20 a month, plus 10 bucks more for each gigabyte of data (refunding for portion unused). The gotcha: Project Fi only supports one device: Nexus 6. You buy one or you bring your own. Otherwise it's fee-Fi-fo-dumb for you.
Pebble's new watch goes back in Time
Remember parachute pants, Members Only jackets, leg warmers, Swatch and other accouterments of the 80's? Well, you aren't the only one if you answered "yes", because apparently Pebble not only remembers, but wants to revive that bygone era.
The company's latest offering is a round version of the new Pebble Time and it comes in multiple colors. The company claims it's lighter and thinner than any other smartwatch. Like its cousin it still sports an E-Paper display that is always on. The display allows for excellent battery life, at least in my experience.
Microsoft's Skype outage apology just isn't good enough for the mobile first, cloud first world
Earlier in the week there was a serious Skype outage. Users around the world found they were unable to connect, unable to communicate, throwing many people into confusion. Yesterday, Microsoft issued an apology -- but it’s simply not good enough.
The new Microsoft, under the direction of Satya Nadella, has been banging the "mobile first, cloud first world" drum, and this means being connected. The company might well be "extremely sorry for any inconvenience caused to our users", but it shouldn’t have happened in the first place.
booq 'The Shadow' messenger bag -- carry your MacBook or Windows 10 laptop in style
Laptops are designed to be portable, but you are crazy to carry it under your arm or in a chintzy bag. You paid good money for the thing, so you should protect it. While backpacks are the most logical choice for comfort and weight distribution, they are not exactly stylish (you will look like a high-school student). Carrying a messenger bag is surely the more trendy option, if that sort of thing matters to you.
Today, booq announces an all-new notebook messenger bag called 'The Shadow'. Not only is it stylish (for both men and women), but it will accommodate 15 inch laptops and smaller, plus additional accessories too.
We're one step closer to VR movies
A company creating cameras and software capable of filming 360-degree videos has just gotten a significant money boost, which signals that the era of virtual reality movies is almost upon us.
The company, called Jaunt, has received $65 million (£42m) in series C round of funding. In investment was led by The Walt Disney Company, together with Evolution Media Partners -- a partnership of CAA-backed Evolution Media Capital, TPG Growth and Participant Media; and China-based China Media Capital (CMC).
Twitter revamps Tweet and Follow buttons with a modern new design
Visit just about any website and you’re pretty much guaranteed to see a Twitter button of some sort. Just as here at BetaNews, you’ll be offered the chance to follow the author of the article you’re reading (or the site’s Twitter feed), as well as being given the opportunity to tweet about the page you’re looking at.
Now this familiar page furniture is about to get a new look. From next month, a new set of buttons is rolling out with a fresh, flat, modern look. It’s a redesign that will please minimalists, but there are important API changes coming that will annoy some developers.
Consumers want ISPs to offer simpler online protection
As the digital world expands with more and more connected 'things' from computers, tablets and smartphones to gaming systems, thermostats, cameras and smart TVs, many people feel less secure.
As a result consumers are looking for uncomplicated security solutions from their Internet Service Provider (ISP).
Is iOS 9 adoption REALLY 50 percent?
As has become the norm after a new iOS launch, Apple has been keen to crow about the high adoption rate for iOS 9. The company recently claimed that in just three days, more than half of iPhones, iPads and iPod touches had iOS 9 installed. Seems a little high? You're not alone in feeling that way. Has Apple massaged the figures about iOS adoption rates?
While there are many reasons to make the upgrade to iOS 9, the 50 percent figure is not in line with measurements from other sources. It's fair to say that only Apple has access to the real raw data, but Crittercism suggests that on the measurement date of 19 September used by Apple, adoption of iOS 9 was possibly less than half of what's been claimed.
DDoS attacks target online gambling sites
The online gambling industry is big business, estimated to be worth over $40 billion this year. But its success makes it a target for extortion and for DDoS attacks.
DDoS can prove particularly harmful for this type of site as around 60 percent of transactions are carried out in real time and are therefore sensitive to latency.
Belgium believes Facebook is as bad as the NSA for spying
Belgian Privacy Commission (BPC) said during a court hearing earlier this week that Facebook is spying on its users in Europe. The American social media company is allegedly violating privacy laws, monitors information of non-users and logged-out users, all for the purpose of placing ads, IB Times just wrote in a report.
This is a developing story which started in April this year, when the Centre of Interdisciplinary Law and ICT at the University of Leuven in Belgium claimed the social network’s privacy policy violates European Union laws.
New archiving solution helps businesses stay compliant
Companies are increasingly required to retain, quickly search and produce, as well as supervise electronic communications to meet regulatory compliance and e-discovery obligations.
To help businesses deliver on these requirements, hosted archiving specialist Smarsh -- not a villainous organization from a Bond film, honest -- is launching an enhanced version of its cloud-based Web Archiving solution.
Vodafone's #BeStrong campaign uses emoji to raise awareness of cyberbullying
October is National Bullying Prevention month in the UK, but the problem of cyberbullying is one that pays no regard to national boundaries. To help raise awareness of the issue, Vodafone has launched a set of anti-cyberbullying emoji, as voted for by thousands of teenagers.
Celebrities such as Alan Cumming, Monika Lewinsky, Caprice, and Dancing Man are getting involved, tweeting using the #BeStrong hashtag. For every retweet, Vodafone is making a donation to anti-bullying charities, and the telecoms company has also drawn inspiration from Jimmy Kimmel's 'mean tweets' as part of the campaign.
Here are the specs of 2015 Google Nexus 5
When Google unveiled its latest Nexus smartphone last year, many were disappointed that the search giant didn't announce a new version of the beloved Nexus 5. Yes, Nexus 6 was there to take its place, topping its predecessor in just about every regard, but the phablet was just too big for plenty of folks. So sales of the aging Nexus 5 continued until mid-March 2015, if only to just keep fans happy.
This year, however, Google will announce the real successor of the Nexus 5 we know and love. And, courtesy of Amazon India, who listed the smartphone ahead of time, we now know its main hardware specifications.
Evernote invites Windows and Mac users to try the new beta
Taking notes and making lists is something almost everyone does, and lists can become almost compulsive. For the task you need a good tool. Preferably one that works everywhere -- yes, paper covers that, but this is the technology era.
Evernote is one of the most popular alternatives to paper, as it runs on just about any platform, be it a computer or mobile device. While it all works well together -- create a shopping list on your PC, have it appear on your phone while you're in the store -- the company wanted to clean things up and modernize a bit. It has been working on an update and it's now ready for beta testing by Windows and Mac users.
BlueData simplifies big data infrastructure deployments
The complexity of the systems needed to handle it is often a major barrier to companies setting up big data projects.
A new release from big data platform BlueData aims to simplify things by offering a turnkey, purpose-built big data infrastructure solution for enterprises to accelerate their deployment times.
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