Latest Technology News

The first stable release of Google Chrome 21 has hit the download servers, and the open-source, cross-platform browser has a number of new features and improvements to share. The headline new feature is that, with your permission, web apps can now directly access your webcam and microphone without requiring a plugin.

Version 21 also includes deeper Google Cloud Print integration and expanded support for gamepads. Those lucky enough to own the MacBook Pro with Retina Display will be pleased to learn the new release fully supports the higher resolution, providing smoother fonts and graphics when web browsing.

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Windows 7 has some great games (by Microsoft’s standards, anyway), with a lot of interesting options. But the standard programs display only a fraction of what’s available, and enabling a hidden “Debug” menu can give you access to a variety of new cheats, interface tweaks and other settings.

If you’re a chess novice, for instance, you can set Chess Titans to play itself while you watch and try to anticipate each move. Interface options allow you to rotate the board, display different views, and more. Hearts also has a built-in “autoplay” option, and the new settings mean you can play the game yourself but use the “Show Hands” option to cheat by peeking at your opponents cards.

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Microsoft updated its email service yesterday to Outlook, changing the interface and adding new features to its Live/Hotmail e-mail service. Among the new features there’s currently the possibility to change your @hotmail.com, @msn.com or @live.com e-mail address to the new @outlook.com. You should hurry to get one now, as the one you want may be gone later.

Upgrading your e-mail address takes three simple steps and afterwards you’ll be able to receive and send new mail from your @outlook.com address.

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Amazon on Tuesday announced major updates to its Cloud Player music service that will equal and in some ways surpass Apple's iTunes Match service. Like iTunes Match, the new Amazon Cloud player service offers entire personal library cloud hosting and scan and match your entire collection of music, upgrading tunes to at least 256kbps MP3 format. All songs already in the Amazon Cloud Player will also be upgraded to 256kbps version as well.

Unlike Apple iTunes Match, Amazon Cloud Player surpasses being available on more devices. Supported platforms include Kindle fire, and Android phones or tablets with the Amazon Cloud Player. iPhone and iPad will also be supported with the help of a native Amazon Cloud player app too. There will also be support for the Roku Stream player and the popular Sonos wireless home music systems, as well as the option for playback from any modern web browser. All songs from your iTunes library are supported for backup and matching, including song purchased via iTunes.

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Night before last, I rented "Batman Begins" in glorious high-definition, to refresh my memory and complete recent watching "The Dark Night Rises". I didn't use Apple TV, Google TV, Roku or any other set-top box but the ultra-cool, pulsing blue-LED lit Nexus Q, using my Android phone as remote. Once again, the entertainment device hugely satisfied, and I hat tipped to invisible Nexus Q owners sharing similar experience.

Except they won't. Perhaps not anytime soon. For the second time in just two weeks, Google yanked a new product from the Play store. First the 16GB Nexus 7, which is available for sale again, and now the great black sphere -- the Nexus Q. If you preordered, Google won't disappoint. A free one, like the Q I got at Google I/O last month, is headed your way. For everyone else, the device is delayed, its status changed to "coming soon" at Google Play.

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U.S. Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney has made the historic decision to announce his running mate for the 2012 election via a mobile app called "Mitt's VP." The application is available for iOS and Android, and requires users to have a "MyMitt" account on the candidate's personal website.

When Romney's vice president is chosen, users of the app will be pushed a notification "before the press and just about everyone else (except maybe Ann)."

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Sometimes, even the worst storm cloud has a silver lining.

Today, Verizon Wireless entered into a settlement with the US Federal Communications Commission that lifts the carrier's prohibition on free tethering apps. Verizon had blocked customers from using such apps -- there are plenty on Google Play for Androids -- without paying an extra $20 a month more for the privilege. As such, smartphone users now have a new reason to choose Verizon over AT&T, Sprint or T-Mobile, which aren't subject to the same rules. If you're a Verizon customer or soon to be one, the consent decree is a kind of Christmas in July present. You can tether for free.

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The controversy over the suspension of a Twitter account belonging to a journalist critical of NBC's Olympics coverage deepened Tuesday. UK daily The Telegraph reports that NBC officials say Twitter alerted the network first about The Independent correspondent's tweets, which Twitter later confirmed.

Twitter's move will likely upset those already complaining that Twitter's actions were an affront to free speech even more: the social network actually informed NBC's social media department how to use its complaint system, which resulted in the suspension.

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The Apple TV hobby just got one more service to add to its collection. Starting today Hulu, the ad-supported on-demand streaming video service, announced that its for-fee subscription offering is now available via a quick software update on the Apple TV.  Hulu Plus joins Netflix as strictly streaming service available on the set-top box.

Hulu and its owners, Disney, Comcast and News Corp., had little choice but to get Hulu Plus onto Apple TV as soon as possible. With Apple’s new Mountain Lion update, anyone with an Apple TV could already  use the the new Airplay feature to “mirror” the free version of Hulu's website video onto their TVs. The basic website version of Hulu though does not offer features like a deeper content library and HD streaming.

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Today, Microsoft unveiled the latest incarnation of its popular Hotmail service, and as well as a new look it’s been given a new name, although it’s one that everyone in the business world will be intimately familiar with -- Outlook.

This rebranding is a huge step for Microsoft and signals the death of Windows Live, which never really caught on in the way the company would have liked.

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Office 2013 has a new member, the Microsoft-hosted Project Portfolio Management service for people who need to participate online from virtually anywhere on almost any device in the practice of project management.

Project Online provides its user base with PPM capabilities that include portfolio selection, resource capacity planning, dashboards, and workflows among others.

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Twitter day. That’s how the past 24 hours can be characterized, and analysis of Twitter accounts and tweets by Semiocast only underscores it.

Semiocast's study reveals that the social network has 500 million accounts with 140 million of them in the U.S. alone in the first half of 2012.

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International IT service management software company LiveTime released Android Service Desk, its first Android-based client in Google Play on Tuesday. The application provides mobile access to LiveTime's SaaS and on-premise enterprise service management, service desk, and helpdesk solutions, including LiveTime Service Manager and Novell Service Desk 7.0 and up. The iOS version of this software was released early in 2011.

The Android client supports all five Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) request types, Request fulfillment, Incident, Problem, Change and Release Management. Each request includes the GPS coordinates of both the customer and the technician, and service requests can launch Google Maps for instant driving directions for the mobile tech. Responses to requests are shown in real time.

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It's a BlackBerry Playbook fan's penance. After months spent swiping away the nightmares from my early Android tablet experiences (think Honeycomb 3.xx on Galaxy Tab 10.1), I find myself once again staring into the dark abyss that is Google's nascent mobile OS.

The occassion? An impromptu evaluation of the Acer Iconia Tab A200 as a potential low-cost computing solution for secondary education. My wife and I looked at possible post-PC alternatives for use in a new private high school we're funding on our home island of Mauritius. The hope was that such a tablet, coupled with a wired or wireless (the A200 has a full-sized USB port) keyboard/mouse combo, could serve double duty as both a library reference device and a thin client for hosting RDP sessions into a Windows terminal services environment (still gotta teach those kids Microsoft Office).

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I like to make jokes. In fact so deep is my love of comedy I’ve co-authored a couple of non-fiction humor books. I can see the funny side in most things, but I’m also able to self-censor. That is, if I think up a joke that someone may find genuinely offensive or upsetting, I will choose very carefully whether or not to say it or post it. I’ve learned over the years to think before speaking, although that doesn’t mean I’ll always do it.

Twitter is full of would-be comedians posting jokes and irreverent observations. Sometimes they’ll score a hit, other times a miss. When a joke occurs, they’ll rush to post it in an effort to impress their peers, and score retweets. The speed that Twitter operates at means people often don’t think before they post. When someone tweets something in bad taste, followers will pick up on it, and the sheer weight of disapproval will frequently lead to the removal of the offending missive and a swift apology.

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