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HBO GO lands on Amazon Fire TV set-top box
HBO is one of the most popular premium networks on TV, with shows like Game of Thrones and others. The channel has also launched an online and mobile app called HBO GO. This brings the content to your computer, phone or tablet.
Now the network has arrived on Amazon Fire TV, the tiny set-top box that launched earlier this year. It's a strong competitor to Roku and Apple TV. While arguably less capable than the former, it is also stronger than the latter in its offerings.
Netflix for Android phones gains Social Recommendation and Android Wear support
Netflix streaming selection leaves a lot to be desired. With that said, the monthly streaming plan is still one of the best deals in entertainment. Hell, the paltry $8.99 is almost nothing in 2014 dollars -- I spend more at Starbucks in one day on soy chai lattes. What really makes the service attractive, however, is its ubiquity; it can be found on most streaming boxes, game consoles and mobile devices.
Sadly, Netflix sort of dissed Android users earlier this year. How, you ask? Well, it delivered new social features for iOS and game consoles, but left users of Google's mobile OS in the cold. Today, Netflix issues a minor mea culpa, and delivers those features to Android too. But wait, that's not all -- Netflix takes things a step further and introduces Android Wear support! In other words, users of Google's smartwatch platform are getting yet another cool feature to justify their purchase.
Edward Snowden condemns Amazon's 'morally irresponsible' encryption policy -- users don't care
In a near-perfect example of how there is always more than one way to look at things, Edward Snowden has very different views on Amazon than Amazon users do. On Friday, Snowden appeared -- as ever -- via video link at the surveillance symposium at the Cato Institute. He condemned Amazon's lack of encryption of customers' searches, referring to the practice as "morally irresponsible".
But Snowden's condemnation of Amazon comes at the same time as a study by Bizrate Insights which finds that more than 45 percent of online shoppers trust the site with their payment and personal information. So why the disparity?
BT in talks to acquire EE for £12.5 billion
There’s been plenty of speculation over the past few weeks as to which mobile provider British Telecom was sweetest on -- EE or O2 (its ex) -- but today we learn the object of BT’s affection is definitely the Deutsche Telekom and Orange S.A joint-venture, as the telecoms giant confirms that it has entered into "exclusive negotiations" to buy EE for £12.5 billion.
There’s a long, long way to go before the companies tie the knot, but if things go ahead, part of the purchase price will be paid in BT shares. Upon successful completion of the proposed transaction Deutsche Telekom stands to own a 12 percent stake in the company, and Orange would gain 4 percent.
Lack of IT skills is hindering cloud and BYOD deployment
Utilizing the power of cloud technology and mobilizing the workforce are two key interests for most organizations, but several issues are currently affecting progress in the field.
In a survey conducted by NaviSite and Time Warner Cable on migration to the cloud and BYOD (bring your own device) support, several key points were brought up on the reasoning behind the slow progress.
Google collaborates with Akamai to improve Public DNS offering
Whenever I set up a new router, I always change the DNS settings to point to Google Public DNS. Why? I find the search-giant's solution to resolve addresses faster than my ISP. Heck, when I am connecting to someone else's network, I enable Google DNS in my device settings too.
According to Google its DNS solution handles a mind-boggling 400 billion responses per day. Today, the search giant announces that a recent collaboration with Akamai will improve the speed of accessing location-based Akamai hosted content.
Predictions: Top ten mobile trends for 2015
It takes a brave man to make technology predictions in this day and age. Well, never one to shirk a challenge, I’ve been looking into my crystal ball, and with 2015 looming large, I’m putting my head above the parapet to make my top ten mobile predictions for the next 12 months.
Every year, competition in the smartphone space becomes more intense than ever. But we have reached a tipping point. Even the big guns, such as Samsung, are under massive pressure. All vendors will be looking for a killer new differentiator and this means things can (and probably will) get crazy. So, expect to see some wacky concepts making it to the front line of vendor’s product offerings.
New performance testing tool brings added speed and flexibility
With increasing pressure to produce new apps to meet customer demand, testing is vital as problems can lead to the loss of customers and revenue.
Yet the test process can often prove a bottleneck as the tools involved are cumbersome and can struggle to cope with modern complex apps and sites.
Content caching: Why the CTO is the CMO's new best friend
Digital media content plays an important role in today's mobile, social, and web environments for global enterprises. The enterprise that delivers quality content the fastest wins the lion’s share of business. The enterprise that delivers digital content the slowest gets left in the dust.
Because content quality is now determined by substance and delivery speed, a strong connection must exist between two leaders in the company -- the CMO and CTO.
Skype Translator preview breaks down the language barrier
Microsoft has shown more interest in Skype in recent years, including making it far more web-friendly, and introducing a business-centric version in place of Lync. The latest move is designed to break down more barriers, making it easier for people in different countries to communicate with each other, regardless of the language they speak.
Skype Translator preview is the first step towards making language irrelevant. Rather than relying on interpreters, users can communicate through Skype and translations will be automatically performed. English and Spanish are supported as spoken languages, but there is support for more than 40 written languages as well.
Enhanced Aerospike speeds up big data deployment
Businesses are keen to harness the benefits of big data, but traditional database solutions are often confined by their design, making them hard to scale.
Aerospike which claims to be the world's fastest database has unveiled new features and enhancements to its product to improve performance, streamline deployment and breed a new generation of real-time, context-driven applications.
What to expect in the next Windows 10 build
Microsoft plans to launch the next build of Windows 10 in January, and we’ll start to see some focus on the consumer side of things. The company is holding an event at its Redmond campus on January 21 to talk about the "next chapter" of the OS.
But while the tech giant isn’t releasing any new builds for a few weeks at least, there have been several leaks on the internet that reveal what we can expect to see when it does. Here’s what coming to a PC near you soon.
Nokia's HERE responsible for Baidu's maps outside of China
Detailing a partnership that was made public today, Finnish company Nokia revealed that its HERE division will provide maps to Chinese Internet services provider Baidu to use outside of its home market.
Normally, such an announcement would hardly garner any attention. However, it makes Baidu the first Chinese company that will offer location-based services to Chinese residents who are traveling abroad. That's a big deal. And Nokia is at the center of it.
Working remotely? Always ensure your data gets onto the network
Can you keep data safe while on the go? You know your company network is a safe storage option. So why isn’t your data in there? When was the last time you went a week without reading about a new data breach? It has become an almost daily occurrence in the media and has brought compliance and regulation to the forefront of many modern businesses.
A good way to guarantee critical business data remains secure and accessible is to ensure it is stored on the company network -- but changes in the way we work mean that very little business data is now being kept on the network. As more employees at SMEs start to work remotely -- either at home or on the go -- so too is the business’s data being stored in a wide range of places such as inboxes, phones, tablets, PCs and laptops. When data is kept in these places as opposed to the company network, some major problems are set to arise…
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