Latest Technology News

Apple v. Samsung is a game of thrones. Their latest episode is far from any quarrels the two have had in the past, which now look like child's play compared to what happened in San Jose, California. If the outcome of the trial is of any indication what we're looking at is a major game changer in the smartphone and tablet industry, and not for the better.

iOS won, and Android lost. That's one simple way to look at it, and that's only the tip of the iceberg. Sadly what we're looking at is a much deeper influence that will be felt in the near future. Here are five reasons why the ruling is BAD for the industry. (Editor: See Wayne Williams' response "5 reasons the Apple-Samsung ruling is GOOD for everyone".)

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Last week, I asserted that "Microsoft's new logo is branding fail". Seventy comments later, there is fierce debate among readers. But a branding expert's response catches my interest most of all.

"This is clearly a company who is afraid to take a big step forward -- be bold and innovative", Jason Cieslak, Siegel+Gale managing director, tells BetaNews. "The mark is fresher and more contemporary, yet at the same time, conservative and a bit dull".

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Several big tech influencers are joining not-for-profit OASIS to standardize REST-based Open Data Protocol. OData is an open web protocol for both updating and querying data over HTTP. It can return back formatted results that can easily be displayed in both web pages and native apps using ATOM, JSON, and plain XML with included pagination, ordering, and filtering of data.

Supporters include CA Technologies, Citrix, IBM, Microsoft, Progress Software and Red Hat. Fifty-seven officers are OASIS OData Technical Committee members. They currently represent SAP AG, IBM, Perficient Inc, Northeastern University and Microsoft. In a recent meeting the current committee welcomed the new supporters to the initiative.

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IBM and Kenexa Corporation on Monday jointly announced they had entered into an agreement where IBM would acquire Pennsylvania-based Kenexa for approximately $1.3 billion. The transaction was unanimously approved by Kenexa's board of directors, and it will next be subjected to a shareholder vote and regulatory approval. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter.

Kenexa's solutions are squarely in the "big data" analysis category. They focus on recruitment, human resources, compensation, as well as knowledge, relationship, and performance management. This acquisition closely follows IBM's recent acquisitions of Varicent Software Inc. and Tealeaf.

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Linux is no longer the geeky OS it used to be. Well, that might not be entirely true, but the operating system certainly has become more accessible in recent years. User friendly distributions such as Ubuntu have increased the popularity of Linux, but making the switch from Windows is still rather a daunting task for most people. If you don’t fancy the idea of wiping out Windows completely, or even going down the dual-boot route, LinuxLive USB Creator lets you make a portable version that can be run from a USB drive.

The very latest version of the program has added support for Peppermint OS Three, ArchLinux and Slitaz, but there are countless other distributions that can be used. Turning your USB drive into a portable Linux drive could hardly be simpler. If you have already download a Linux image, or you already have a distro burned to disc, you can select either of these as a source. However, you are also able to download many different varieties of Linux from within the app.

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If you like your security suites to be hassle-free then Kaspersky Internet Security 2013 should impress you immediately. Installation was quick and easy, no complicated options to consider and the program was up and running in under a minute on our test PC.

The simplicity continues, at least for those familiar with the 2012 interface, because apart from a few minor tweaks the suite looks and feels very much the same: a clean and clear display keeps you to-to-date with current threats, update status, licence details and more, while a scrolling toolbar provides easy access to the program’s various modules.

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Third in a series. Every few years something comes along to fundamentally change how we use the World Wide Web, whether it is online video, social networking, dynamic pages or even search, itself. Last week a new technology called WeJIT was announced that looks like something small but is really something big because it extends collaboration from specialized sites like wikis to everywhere HTML is used.  WeJITS is collaboration in a persistent link.

WeJITS come from Democrasoft, a company here Santa Rosa, Calif. that is best known for Collaborize Classroom, a cloud-based service used by more than 30,000 teachers to interact with students, deliver lessons from a global peer reviewed library and even give tests. WeJITS take the best of Collaborize Classroom and place it in a single link.

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The popular Google Nexus 7 tablet is now available in three new European locations: France, Germany and Spain, for a total of seven. The ASUS-made tablet is available for purchase directly from Google's own Play Store.

Only the currency has changed from the US pricing, with the 8GB Google Nexus 7 selling for EUR199, while the 16GB model will set you back EUR249.

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There is lots to like in SharePoint 2013 preview. The new interface stylings, whilst inconsistent in their current form, show some nice touches. The new social features are a big improvement on what went before. SkyDrive integration is potentially very useful, and adds to what was already a very solid document management offering. But my overall feeling: SharePoint 2013 is a missed opportunity.

The new social features don’t go far enough. Microsoft all but admitted this before the beta was released, by purchasing Yammer. They are now no doubt working hard trying to integrate it with the SharePoint code base. So presumably what we have now is "SharePoint Social 1.0", a stop gap at best?

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Moonchild Productions has released Pale Moon 15, the latest edition of its custom Firefox build, an important upgrade that sees the program take a new direction.

While previously the browser has focused very much on low-level JavaScript benchmarking as a measure of success, that’s now changed, the developer told us: "I’m going by (subjective) overall speed and smoothness as that is what really matters to end users".

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Now that development of Thunderbird has ground to a halt, the market for alternative email clients to replace OS X mail is wide open again. One app that has proved incredibly, and increasingly, popular over the years is Postbox, which benefits from a refined interface and a fabulous turn of speed that makes it easier than ever to manage your inbox. Version 3.0.5 brings about some important updates for Mac users.

Although Postbox is available for both Mac and Windows, this time around it is Mac users who can reap the benefits of the update. The release of Mountain Lion and new ranges of Macs with Retina Displays means that there is now a flurry of activity as more and more apps are updated to take advantage of the latest display technology.

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If you want to keep your online accounts safe on the Internet from all those hacking threats, phishing and malicious software, one of the best options to do so comes in the form of 2-step verification. This system adds a second layer of authentication to the sign-in or connection process to effectively protect accounts against many forms of attacks. An attacker would not only need to have access to the account username and password, but also to the security code that is generated after username and password have been entered on the sign in page.

Companies use a variety of 2-step authentication methods. PayPal for instance uses a hardware device that displays a code when you activate. Other companies like Google or Facebook may send verification codes to a registered email address, or provide you with an authentication app that you run on your mobile phone.

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After a brief vacation, it’s time for another software roundup to catch up on the biggest and best releases from the last week. We’ll start by taking a look at some of the apps that have been release for mobile device.

Facebook for iOS 5.0 is a release largely concerned with improving the performance of the app with news load times being improved and a new tappable banner making it possible to load new posts without the need to refresh. Android users have Facebook for Android 1.9.8, which now includes the ability to create events and allows for faster sharing of photos.

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Just yesterday I reported that a South Korean court had found Apple and Samsung both guilty of infringing each other’s patents, and claimed that in a good patent war no one wins. Turns out I was wrong. Big time. A few hours after that story posted, news reached us that the jury in the American leg of the global Apple vs. Samsung battle returned a verdict, and a damning one for Samsung.

After taking less than three days to deliberate the case, the jury found that Samsung copied from Apple, rejected all of Samsung’s own counter claims, and awarded the American company $1.05 billion in damages.

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Music creation is now easier than ever, and while teenagers still gather together to practice in the basement, computer-based music from the bedroom continues to grow in strength. The idea behind MAGIX Music Maker 2013 is nothing new -- there are endless programs that let you use loops, samples in addition to your own recordings to create your own musical masterpieces -- but the latest version of the application gives you more tools and a better workflow than ever before.

Anyone who has used a previous version of the program will notice the redesigned interface, which can now be better customized to suit your workflow, and performance has also been improved so you can get things finished faster than ever. These changes are welcome, but the tools and options available are what really matter. The 2013 version of the program lets you work with up to 99 tracks and the sample selection has been expanded to the extent that a new search tool has been added.

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