Latest Technology News

Chinese firm Huawei today announces its IoT OS at an event in Beijing. The company predicts that within a decade there will be 100 billion connected devices and it is keen for its ultra-lightweight operating system to be at the heart of the infrastructure.

Based on Linux, LiteOS weighs in at a mere 10KB -- smaller than a Word document -- but manages to pack in support for zero configuration, auto-discovery, and auto-networking. The operating system will be open for developers to tinker with, and is destined for use in smart homes, wearables, and connected vehicles.

Facebook said it might allow businesses to contact users through their chat app WhatsApp, Bloomberg said in a report on Tuesday.

This might be the first hint on how the social media giant plans on making money off the app that it bought for $22 billion (£14 billion).

Earlier this year we reported on the launch of the Bizzabo platform designed to make life easier for people who manage events.

Now Bizzabo is extending its offering to include a website builder aimed specifically at event planners, giving them the ability to build a custom event website within minutes, with no prior coding or design experience required.

Cloud storage service Dropbox has turned its Windows and Windows Phone apps into a single universal app, giving users a consistent experience across smartphones, PCs and tablets that are running Microsoft's tiled operating systems.

The latest version of Dropbox bridges the gap between the Windows and Windows Phone versions of the app, sharing most of the code, also gaining a number of new features in the transition to universal app status. The most important changes are aimed at the Windows Phone-toting crowd. Some are long-overdue, being mentioned in my initial coverage of the Windows Phone client in mid-January.

Microsoft has launched a preview of Office for Android smartphones. Pre-release versions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint are available for phones running Android 4.4 or later.

Functionality looks much the same as the previous tablet-oriented releases, with support for creating and opening the same documents you’re using now, and the ability to save files to OneDrive (+ For Business), Dropbox and SharePoint. While you won’t need an Office 365 subscription this time, getting hold of the apps still takes a little work. You must first sign up to the official Microsoft Office for Android community, then wait for up to four hours for your tester’s permissions to be replicated before you can download.

After a brief hiatus, Microsoft has released new firmware upgrades for its Surface Pro 3 and Surface Pro 2 Windows 8.1 tablets. The May 2015 releases feature updated drivers and UEFI, which, as expected, are meant to refine the user experience.

There are no new firmware upgrades available for the original Surface Pro, however, nor for Surface RT, Surface 2 and Surface 3, the last of which Microsoft unveiled in late-March. Now, let us take a close look at what the latest Surface Pro 3 and Surface Pro 2 firmware updates bring to the table.

Several huge technology firms have come together to urge US President Barack Obama not to pass legislation demanding backdoor access to encrypted devices.

More than 140 companies and prominent figures in the tech industry, including the likes of Apple and Google, have sent an open letter to the White House proclaiming that "strong encryption is the cornerstone of the modern information economy’s security".

Adblock Plus, the maker of the popular ad-blocking tool for desktop web browsers is taking a major step today in offering similar services on mobile devices. The company releases Adblock Browser for Android, which blocks ads while also offering features like the ability to block adware, boost browsing speed and save data and battery life.

Adblock Browser for Android is powered by the same popular ad-blocking tool that has been downloaded over 400 million times. The company claims that by blocking the annoying elements -- which includes ads among other annoyances -- it is able to speed up browsing as well as save data usage.

Today’s small business requires PCs that drive productivity and collaboration without the premium price tag. Whether it’s the clarity from visualizing data, the smoothness of streaming media or the responsiveness of modern apps, every detail matters to effectively run a small-to-medium-size organization.

When searching for a PC that best suits a small business, whether it’s a desktop or a laptop, be sure to consider the following features and capabilities.

This is Sadie the Dog wearing her new Apple Watch. The watch actually belongs to my young and lovely wife, Mary Alyce, but she was unwilling to be photographed this morning while Sadie will pose anytime, anywhere. This is the Sport model of the Apple Watch in space gray with a black band. What makes this picture interesting is the watch was delivered last Friday two weeks early.

I ordered the watch on the first day Apple was taking orders but didn’t do so in the middle of the night so I missed the first batch of watches that were delivered in April. It was promised for delivery June first. Since then there have been stories about faulty sensors and other suggestions that watch deliveries might be later than expected -- stories that I’d say are belied by this early delivery.

Mark Zuckerberg probably thought the world would bow down to him when Facebook announced the Internet.org project. The idea of bringing internet access to those in developing parts of the world seems, on the face of it, to be something of an exercise in altruism. Of course, it's not quite that simple.

Many companies complain that the project goes against the idea of net neutrality -- a claim that Zuckerberg vehemently denies. But now the vocal opposition to Internet.org is getting louder. Privacy group Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has several concerns with the project, and a collective of 67 digital rights groups has signed a letter to the Facebook founder expressing concerns about the approach Internet.org is taking.

I love my Nexus 6. This morning, while waking to the rush of caffeine from steaming coffee, I read headlines on the device. "I’m Phed Up With Phablets: They're too big to prevail" caught my attention. The short commentary, by Brian Rubin for ReadWrite, rails against the bigger-is-better-smartphone trend. Screen on my cellular is massive: 6 inches, and I forever promised myself to never use a phone so large -- until I did and converted. Much as I enjoy using the N6, for which I can still manage many operations one-handed, smaller would be my preference. Perhaps yours, too.

Here at BetaNews, we first raised doubts about ever-expanding screens four years ago. I still remember the discussion about the story, and more importantly the headline, before Ed Oswald wrote "Is that the Samsung Galaxy S II in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?" In 2015, what seemed large then -- a 4.3-inch screen -- is puny. Even iPhones are bigger. Rubin rightly raises alarm about choice: "The real problem isn’t so much that there are too many phablets, but that there aren’t enough non-phablets these days -- at least none that are truly interesting".

Popular music streaming service MixRadio, which was earlier exclusively available on Microsoft’s Windows Phone, today arrives on Google’s Play Store and Apple’s App Store. BetaNews had exclusively reported about the company's plan to release the app to other platforms in March earlier this year.

MixRadio offers free music streaming curated in a radio-like way. Available in 31 countries including US, China, and India, the on-demand music streaming is estimated to have millions of users -- though the exact numbers have never been disclosed. The service offers more than 12,500 playlists and a catalog of over 35 million songs.

Panda Security has announced the first public beta of Panda Global Protection 2016, a revamp of its comprehensive all-round security suite.

The new release provides enhanced Wi-Fi protection, detecting and alerting you to potential vulnerabilities. An extended PC Tuneup module frees up hard drive space, cleans the Registry and gives control over your Windows startup programs.

When I bought my first iPod, a click-wheel model, I excitedly bought some accessories too; a silicone case and the official dock. Docking the iPod was such an elegant thing, I was excited to do it. I connected the dock to my Windows PC, put the case on my iPod and...FAIL.

Yes, with the case on, my iPod would not fit in the dock. I had to decide between elegant docking and protecting my investment. Fast forward to today, and Apple introduces a dock for the lightning-connector iPhones and iPods. While it may work with some thin cases, once again, users will have to decide between the dock and protection, which is surely foolish.