Latest Technology News

It should come as no surprise that this week's big news was Microsoft's Surface Pro 3 unveiling. Brian had been looking forward to the NYC event and was at the event to get hands on with the new device. There's certainly a lot to love about Microsoft's third generation tablet, but there is that price to consider. If you like the look of what you see, the device is available for pre-order right now -- and if you're undecided between the Surface and a MacBook Air, Mihaita compared the two. Maybe you're one of those who thinks it’s a niche product.

The Surface Mini failed to make an appearance, but there are still lots of other tablets to choose from -- although they are yet to make much of an impression in higher education, unlike Chromebooks which have found their way into Welsh schools. Will Microsoft's tablet manage to attain the longevity of Apple's iPad? You'd be forgiven for thinking that hell itself had frozen over at the news that work is underway that will make it possible to run Android and iOS apps side by side on the same device.

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Not all nerds are fat, but a good amount of us are. It's no surprise that sitting on our butts staring at a computer screen while drinking Mountain Dew and eating Doritos can pack on the pounds.

While technology has taken many a computer nerd down the path of poor health, it doesn't have to be that way. In fact, technology can actually be good for you. Case in point, fitness wearables like the ones from Fitbit can help you gain control of your life by tracking your activity. Today, HTC, AT&T and Fitbit are launching a promotion that will save you $50 when buying an HTC One M8 and a Fitbit fitness tracker.

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A PC is a major expense -- even a cheaper one is a few hundred dollars, and if you want, it's possible to spend thousands on a machine. The good news is that these days, PCs are lasting longer than ever. Whereas in the past, your machine might have been feeling outdated within a few years, these days a good PC can last for ages before the hardware inside starts to be underpowered. That said, the longevity of your machine does of course depend on how well you look after it. A poorly cared for machine can easily end up coming to a premature end. So with that in mind, we're going to look at how to care for your PC and ensure that it lasts for all those years of computing it should do.

To begin with, we're going to discuss issues you should consider from a longevity perspective before you buy a PC -- in case you're mulling a purchase in the near future, there are some important points to bear in mind.

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I learned about the change yesterday, unhappily. File this story under "read the fineprint department". Since Apple introduced its extended warranty plan, I have praised the benefits and plucked down the extra $99 for every new iOS device. AppleCare+ extends standard repair coverage to two years and offers fairly affordable replacement -- up to two times. Somehow I missed that Apple raised replacement price to $79 from $49 for iPhone.

The saga started around the midday meal. My daughter expressed amazement how last week her iPhone 5s popped out of her jeans and fell from a third-story balcony. No damage. Twenty-minutes later, while we sorted clothes for the thrift store in the garage, she fumbled the device, which fell face flat onto the cement -- shattering the screen. No words can describe either of our reactions. The irony was so thick my eyeglasses fogged.

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Windows 8.1 with Bing first came to our attention three months ago. It’s essentially a regular version of Windows 8.1, but for OEMs and with Bing set as the default search engine. Making Bing the default option helps to lower the cost of the OS for system builders.

A range of new Windows devices are set to be unveiled over the next couple of weeks in the run up to Computex in Taipei, with many of the lower cost ones expected to be running this variant of the tiled operating system.

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Data organization wars have claimed a victim. Springpad, the notebook service designed to help users "get inspired, get organized, get more done" is to close. After six years of helping people store notes, recipes, project ideas and more, Springpad will close in just over a month. The world of note taking tools, managers and general information organizers has become crowded. The likes of Evernote, OneNote and even Google Keep have all been vying for attention in recent years, and there are only so many users to go around.

The closure rumors started last night with the Verge citing the oft-mentioned "person familiar with the company's plans", but now it has been confirmed. In a blog post the Springpad team confirms what hundreds of thousands of users hoped and prayed would turn out to be untrue -- as of June 25, the service will cease to function. At this stage no reasons are being given for the closure, but it will leave users scrabbling to find a new home for their data.

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Australian developer Auslogics has released Auslogics Disk Defrag Touch, a very major touch-oriented revamp of its Auslogics Disk Defrag package.

The most immediately obvious change is the very Windows 8-like interface, and we don’t just mean "it uses a few colorful tiles". The program runs full-screen, has the same bold design, a very similar layout for its controls and options: it actually feels like you’re running a Windows 8 app (although it also runs on Windows 7).

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The Pixelmator Team has released Pixelmator 3.2 for Mac OS X. Codenamed Sandstone, it’s a significant update with the promise of a brand new -- and much improved -- Repair tool.

The new release also extends 16-bits per channel support to all Macs and throws in two new features (Lock Layers and Convert Selection into Shape) alongside a selection of improvement, UI tweaks and general bug fixes.

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Emanuele Colombo has announced an official Android release of his file transfer tool Dukto, which is also available for Windows, OS X, Linux, Symbian and more (there’s even a commercial iOS version).

Colombo suggests that there may be some compatibility issues, warning: "I tried my best to make it work flawlessly with any device, but I couldn’t do too much due to my very low free time and some limitations in current Qt support for Android".

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Eighty-second in a series. Welcome to this week's selection of the best new applications that have been released to Windows Store.

Microsoft revealed the Surface Pro 3 this week, a 12-inch version with improved screen and trackpad, pen, larger keyboard and other improved features. You can read Brian's hands-on impression or Mihaita's Macbook Air comparison if you have not done so already for all the information about the new device.

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The most recent evolutions on the Web -- including IoT, mobile, big data and cloud -- have caused not just an explosion of connections between devices and web services, but also an explosion in traffic. The industry has responded with high-performing distributed application architectures. However, these interdependencies create performance risks for enterprise applications, most of which are mission-critical and have a key role in generating revenue. Performance and downtime are now the top threat to the bottom line.

The modern enterprise is asking for flexible technologies that can tie together both legacy and new applications in a way that ensures the highest-level of application availability and performance.

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Twentieth in a series. Missed out on Weed Firm? Don't worry, Apple may have pulled that particular game from the App Store, but there are plenty of smoking new apps available to devote your time to.

New releases this week include an app that offers a fun way to find your missing iOS device, an HD remake of a Nintendo DS classic, a picture sharing app with a twist (you add songs to your shots), a construction game for kids, an app to help you catalog your favorite wines, a swarm-based game, and a GPS app for golfers.

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Windows XP support officially ended on last month, yet it is estimated around 30 percent of businesses are still yet to migrate to a new operating system.

Sumir Karayi, CEO of IT efficiency company 1E, explains why 'Zero-Touch Migration' offers the best approach for those businesses that need a rapid route to moving away from Windows XP to minimize the impact on security, desktop performance and the user experience.

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When buying a display nowadays, you have many options. Besides the physical size of the screen, you must decide on resolution. While 1080p was once considered a remarkable spec, it is now looked at as old-tech. Now, 4K monitors are all the rage, and for good reason -- they are gorgeous and with every passing day, more affordable.

The problem is, which manufacturer's monitor do you pick? It's a hard question to answer, as they are all rather similar. However, an unlikely manufacturer has created a unique model that makes it stand out from the rest. Acer announces the XB280HK, which is the first-ever 4K monitor to take advantage of NVIDIA's G-SYNC technology.

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Microsoft has talked a big game on becoming a devices and services company, but it was not until Office for iPad launched two months ago that the software giant's change of tune yielded something concrete for consumers, and its own customers, on rival platforms. It is the most important productivity suite to arrive on iPads in 2014 and, perhaps, the most important one since Apple's slate launched in 2010.

Microsoft has been praised for designing Office for iPad with touchscreen use in mind, making Excel, PowerPoint and Word powerful and easy to use on the small iPad displays, even without a keyboard as most Office users are accustomed to. It is clear this is not a quick porting job, and that the development process involved much more work. The Office team has a new blog post which reveals how Office for iPad was created.

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