Latest Technology News

When I first learned about the HooToo it sounded, frankly, a bit nuts. Pitched as an "all-in-one device charger, AC adapter, personal cloud, travel router, Wi-Fi hotspot, and wireless bridge" I was instantly intrigued, but fearful that this was going to be a device that promised the world and delivered little. Was I setting my expectations too low? Before we look at things any further, it's probably worth spending a moment or two decoding what it actually is. One of its more basic functions is a rechargeable USB battery pack complete with two outputs. But there's more to the TripMate Elite. Much, much more.

The 3.2 x 3.2 x 1.0 inch (82 x 82 x 28mm) black box is home to a 6000mAH battery that's perfect for powering up a dead mobile or tablet on the move, but the 7oz (200g) package has plenty more tricks up its sleeve. As it's a portable battery pack, it's hardly surprising to find a couple of USB outputs, one kicking out 1A, the other 1/2.1A. Equally unsurprising -- but no less useful -- is the battery level checker on the adjacent side; tap the button and four blue LEDs let you know the charge level. But what's that next to the charge lights? Internet and LAN indicators? Curiouser and curiouser, said Alice.

Continue reading →

Chat has become popular on many platforms, from computers to mobile. But BitTorrent has a client that seems to be changing how this all works, by removing the cloud storage from the equation, making this a bit more secure.

Today its chat client, known as Bleep, becomes available to all users. It's still in alpha form for the time being, but these things are moving forward.

Continue reading →

Well, the first iPhone 6 reviews are in, and they are unsurprisingly glowing. Apple's handpicked group of preferred, early reviewers don't disappoint in their enthusiasm. Not that anyone should be surprised by that. But reading them all -- and I did just that last night while waiting at the hospital with my 92 year-old father-in-law -- common observations tell a story about Apple's newest handset. This is one Once Upon a Time that anyone buying gadgets or manufacturing them should listen to. It's a morality tale about putting benefits before features and the fine art of achieving balance.

Among the many missives from Apple's love children: "iPhone 6 Review: It's a Winner" by Walt Mossberg; "Reviewed: iPhone 6 Is a Thin, Sexy Phone with a Killer Camera" by David Pogue; and "iPhone 6 Review: Apple's Cure for Android Envy" by Geoffrey Fowler, among many others. These reviewers really like the device, which by most definitions is exceptional -- and that will surprise fanboys waving around spec sheets and yelling "copycat!".

Continue reading →

Keyboards are an awfully personal thing, just like picking an underwear type. Some men wear boxers, some wear briefs and I am pretty sure a few BetaNews writers do not wear any at all. Believe it or not, much like underwear, there are many types of keyboards too.

Lately, mechanical keyboards have been all the rage with gamers and typists alike. It is not hard to understand, as these types of keyboards offer great performance and feedback. Today, Logitech announces a new model called the G910 Orion Spark RGB Mechanical Keyboard. The company calls it "the most advanced mechanical gaming keyboard in the world", but is such a claim true?

Continue reading →

It is no secret that mobile data is still very expensive. Going overboard with audio and video streaming, browsing or app downloads will unavoidably lead to throttling, a pretty steep bill from the mobile operator or a brisk run through the remaining credit. But there is one way of giving mobile device users more breathing room, and that is through data compression. It offers obvious advantages, and comes with no major downsides. What's not to like about that?

That is the selling point that Norwegian browser maker Opera Software and Taiwanese processor maker MediaTek hope will impress new customers, as they announce their new partnership, which will see the former's Opera Max data-savings app being built-into the latter's 4G LTE-enabled offerings. The first fruits of this partnership are two 64-bit chips. The touted data savings are rather impressive.

Continue reading →

Beginning my journey in the FinTech industry over twelve years ago, and now as CEO and co-founder of Pollen VC, a company that allows developers quicker access to their app store revenues, there have certainly been many twists and turns of start-up life along the way. My entire career has been characterized by moving into areas of business that interested me, but which I seemly knew nothing about. It was that curiosity and inherent desire to challenge existing thinking that gave rise to my co-founding of Pollen.

As a bond trader with UBS and leader of short credit trading for the company, I received my first taste of how technology could disrupt traditional financial services in 1998, when I helped UBS put its commercial paper business online. Naturally, there were many obstacles in implementing such major change at an organization of this size, but this was an early lesson to stay steadfast, and find ways around the inherent red tape of a large bank’s IT department.

Continue reading →

Remember when floppy disks really were floppy? Or the joys of loading programs on a home computer from a C15 cassette? In just over 40 years storage technology has gone from these crude devices to cloud servers that put terrabytes of space in reach of anyone.

But where does the future lie? Hardware supplier Ebuyer has produced an infographic looking at the direction storage may take in the future.

Continue reading →

A security flaw in Amazon's Kindle software could allow hackers to access your Amazon account details.

Benjamin Daniel Musser, a security researcher, discovered the issue, which arises when downloading e-books from websites other than Amazon itself.

Continue reading →

There's one more smartphone platform on the market, although it's far behind the big, established names. Mozilla has released Firefox OS, which is aimed at emerging markets. Now the organization is taking it to one more, adding an Asian nation to its resume.

Telenor Group is bringing the platform to Bangladesh after hitting India just a few weeks ago. "At a press conference in Dhaka, Grameenphone, the local operator for the Telenor Group, announced that sales of the GoFox F15 (produced by Symphony) will start this week", says Mozilla.

Continue reading →

Wearable tech is back in the forefront with the release of the Apple Watch. Apple’s entrant is sure to help the sector overall, with expectations of tens if not hundreds of millions of devices to ship annually from Apple and others by the end of the decade.

This success does not come without its share of questions, however. Unlike our cell phones, tablets, and video game consoles, this new class of devices are different. For a lack of a better way to say it, they are a part of you. Its use carries significant societal and moral implications.

Continue reading →

The latest version of Apple’s mobile operating system is set to be released officially today.

Before you install it, it’s worth taking a few steps to make sure your device is ready for the update (and of course if it’s jailbroken, and you want to keep it that way, you’ll want to avoid updating until a jailbreak is made available for the new OS). Here’s what you should do in advance.

Continue reading →

More than three million comments, from consumers, businesses and other organizations, have been submitted in response to the controversial US debate over net neutrality.

The controversy has arisen over whether Internet service providers, such as Comcast and Verizon, should be allowed to introduce fast lanes, delivering paid-for traffic to users more quickly.

Continue reading →

Stock mobile keyboards tend to suck. There's always a deal-breaker somewhere that offsets all their strengths. There is friction when typing in multiple languages, the language support is limited, abbreviations and the like are a no-go, the layout can be unintuitive, there is a limited amount of customization options, or the touch vibrations are too harsh. Take your pick. I have ran into all of them. But, fret not, there are some solid keyboards out there.

The one keyboard which I am a huge fan of is SwiftKey. It shames every stock keyboard and it's generally better than any other third-party offering. With Google being the only mobile operating system maker to allow third-party keyboards, it has only been available on Android. But, now that Apple has followed suit, you can get your hands on SwiftKey on an iPad or iPhone too. And you should, first of all because it's free!

Continue reading →

We all say that we want privacy and security online, yet we indulge in potentially risky behaviors that put this in jeopardy according to a recent study commissioned by Trend Micro and released to coincide with the launch of its Internet Security 2015 product.

Activity like browsing suspect websites and allowing apps to access public information from their social media profiles puts people’s privacy at risk. Also 67 percent of people let their browser save passwords for websites. Trend Micro says saving passwords leaves them susceptible to being hacked, especially in light of recent retail security breaches.

Continue reading →

For the majority of Android users, the idea of moving from a handset running Google’s mobile operating system to the iPhone holds zero appeal. But I did it last year, and I couldn’t be happier. For me, iOS is by far the superior operating system (and I use iOS and Android daily), and the iPhone is a great handset.

If you’re thinking of making the move from Android to one of Apple’s new sized-up iPhones (and you won’t regret it), the process is pretty painless and Apple has created a new support page explaining how to move your photos, music, documents, and more.

Continue reading →