Latest Technology News

It has been mere days since Brendan Eich stepped down as CEO of Mozilla. It was one of the shortest-lived tenures in history, but it didn’t have to be that way. I’ll spare you the details -- they have spewed across the internet, ad-nauseum. Suffice to say that his views did not meet with that of the technorati at large.

BetaNews was one of the first sites to run the story about a pair of developers boycotting the browser over a perceived difference in ideals. A firestorm ensued, but also a healthy debate. Until now, I have kept quiet throughout this situation. However with the problems now seemingly resolved, and (perhaps or perhaps not) justice done, then it is time to speak my piece.

It's difficult to deny Microsoft at least some of the limelight this week as the Build developer conference generated some interesting news. Bringing Windows version numbers in line with each other, Windows Phone 8.1 was finally revealed, complete with a notification center and Siri-like Cortana. The highly anticipated Windows 8.1 Update (which you may have heard something about) was official unveiled and given a launch date of April 8. Wayne, for one, liked what he saw.

Microsoft came over all open source, making the Roslyn compiler as well as WinJS freely available. Brian was pleased with the tech giant's latest moves, proclaiming Microsoft is now back. Build also gave us a sneaky glimpse of an upcoming, but as yet unnamed, version of Windows that features the return of the Start menu -- all of this chopping and changing is getting confusing. Maybe next on the list of things to do with Windows will be getting rid of those apps and features that should have been killed some time ago.

Bluetooth audio is all the rage nowadays. It can be found in headphones, speakers, automobiles and more. However, this does not mean that non-Bluetooth audio gear is obsolete -- quite the contrary. In fact, there is a very good chance that your older equipment offers better sound and features. It is a shame to discard that tech for a lack of a wireless connection.

Luckily, you don't have to. You see, many manufacturers offer solutions to this dilemma, such as an analog to Bluetooth converter box. The problem is, many of them are unattractive and too large to truly blend in. After all, you do not need to see the thing; ideally you want it out of sight, yet easy to access. Don't worry, Logitech has you covered with the all-new Logitech Bluetooth Audio Adapter.

Magic is pretty awesome. When Harry Potter uses his magic wand to cast spells or fight evil, he is pretty much the coolest guy ever. However, Mr. Potter is just make believe. Still, it is fun to imagine having magical powers too. Imagine waving your wand, saying "hocus-pocus" and a gallon of milk or a bag of grapes appears on your counter. Well, that is no longer make-believe, it is reality.

Yes, Amazon has created a magic wand of sorts called the Dash, which enables you to order groceries to your home, through the Amazon Fresh program. Hopefully it is not available in Colorado, because if it is, the company may be overwhelmed by people ordering Doritos and Oreo cookies!

Drag-and-drop file mamagement tool DropIt 7.0 has been released. The open-source tool, also available in portable form, includes a raft of improvements, new features and a handful of bug fixes.

DropIt, which sits as a floating icon on the desktop when installed, allows users to process folders and files quickly via drag-and-drop, with up to 15 different actions (including move, copy, send by mail and upload) supported.

The office suite battle is really starting to heat up. Last week, Microsoft released Word, Excel and PowerPoint for the iPad, signaling a sea change in the company's focus. However, Google is still pushing forward with its attempt to sway users with its web apps. While both are good, no one can deny that Microsoft's offers more features.

With that said, more features does not always equate to better. In other words, if Google's offering meets a user's or business' needs, then it may be more cost effective. Quite frankly, too many features can be seen as noise when unused. One such company, the Glyndebourne opera house, switched from Microsoft to Google with great results.

Competition in the set-top box market just caught Fire -- hopefully no customers have the Nest Protect smoke alarm. With the challenge thrown down by Amazon, Roku is answering by adding another channel to its lineup, this time allowing customers to rock out in their living room.

Qello will bring concerts and music documentaries right into your home, on-demand. "Whether you’re in the mood to discover something new or want to enjoy a serenade from your all-time favorite band, Qello Concerts and Roku have you covered to stream all genres -- from Beyoncé, B.B. King and Queen to Nirvana, Mumford & Sons and Barbra Streisand", says Roku’s Ziba Kaboli-Gerbrands.

LightShot is a simple free tool which makes it very easy to take, edit and share your screengrabs online.

The program doesn’t force you to learn new hotkeys, for instance. To launch it you’ll just press PrtSc, as usual.

Seventy-five in a series. Microsoft announced the Windows 8.1 Update officially at the BUILD 2014 developer conference two days ago. It will roll out on April 8, 2014 as part of patch Tuesday to all users of the Windows 8 operating system.

The update introduces improvements for keyboard and mouse users, including options to right-click on the Start Screen to manage tiles, a title bar for apps, and app icons on the Windows Taskbar.

Moving a few files around your system is simple, and you’ll probably just do it yourself: drag/ drop, copy/ paste, whatever it might be.

When you regularly need to process a lot of files, though, it might be quicker to automate the task with LimagitoX FileMover Lite.

Thirteenth in a series. Apple has confirmed that its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), will be kicking off on Monday June 2, at San Francisco’s Moscone West. The five day event will give developers (and the press of course) the chance to "learn about the future of iOS and OS X". At last year’s conference Apple unveiled iOS 7, Mac OS X 10.9 Mavericks, a new MacBook Air lineup, iTunes Radio, iCloud Keychain, and much more.

In other news, Microsoft says its newly released Office apps have been downloaded 12 million times since launch.

jAlbum AB has released jAlbum 12, a major update of its popular web album builder.

A major interface revamp sees the program now include an embedded web browser (Chromium), enabling you to preview changes as soon as you adjust your project settings.

Just like the ATIV S which came before it, the Samsung ATIV SE is a rehash of the South Korean maker's previous Android flagship, the Galaxy S4 in this case, running Windows Phone 8. Even though Windows Phone 8.1 was just announced, the company is sticking to the release dating back to 2012.

The ATIV SE, which is only available at Verizon at this stage, is likely to be Samsung's Windows Phone flagship for quite some time, if the ATIV S is of any indication (it was released nearly 18 months ago). Luckily, the hardware does not disappoint.

Homedale is a straightforward portable tool which detects local wireless networks and tells you more about them: name, channel, MAC address, encryption type and so on. It’s great for troubleshooting various wireless conflicts, or just finding out more about what’s going on around you.

The Homedale interface is, well, basic -- just a single tabbed dialog box. Click "Access Points" first and you’ll see a table with details on all your network neighbors, including their name, MAC address, vendor, signal strength, encryption, country ID, mode, frequency, band, first and last seen times, supported bitrates, model and adapter.

Yesterday, Amazon unveiled its Fire TV set-top box, and while the announcement came as little of a shock, given the information being rumored around the web, what was left were details. Now those are in place and the box is shipping to customers. Since the announcement, other support information has emerged, including Plex, and now Hulu.

The streaming video service was already included on the new Amazon box -- we knew that when it appeared during the announcement -- but what it would offer was not discussed.