Latest Technology News

Cisco announced on Thursday that it intends to acquire Massachusetts-based video services company BNI Video, a company in which the United States' two largest cable providers, Comcast and Time Warner Cable, have already invested.

BNI's video back office and CDN analytics capabilities will be incorporated into Cisco's service provider-facing Videoscape TV platform, which was announced at the beginning of 2011.

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CloudStorageExplorer.com has released a major update of its paid-for Windows Live SkyDrive Explorer extension, SD Explorer Advanced.  The tool allows users to access their SkyDrive accounts via a drive in Windows Explorer.

SD Explorer Advanced 3.5 introduces a new Background Uploader Module, which simplifies the task of uploading large batches of files to SkyDrive accounts. It also includes a new Tune Up Tool for advanced users wishing to tweak hidden program settings, and an improved MUI (Multilingual User Interface).

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Whether you’re looking to optimize your PC, troubleshoot problems or check up on its security, taking a closer look at your system’s services and drivers can often help.

The standard Windows Services applet is a little on the basic side, though, so for the best results you should install the compact, free and far more powerful Service Manager.

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For many people, their cell phone is one of the most expensive items they own, it is certainly the most valuable possession most people have on them at any given time. Losing a phone does not just mean taking a financial hit, though, it also means that the data you had stored on the device -- phone numbers, personal files and more could well fall into the wrong hands. There are various tools available that can be used to track down a misplaced device, and the latest contender to enter the arena is Lookout Mobile Security.

This is a free app that has been available for Android devices for a little while, but it has just been released for iPhone and iPad. At its heart, this is an app that has been designed to reunite you with a lost iPhone or iPad -- and this could mean a device that you have left lying around the house, lost while out and about, or even had stolen. With Location Services enabled and an account created with Lookout, you can log into your online account and check the location of your iOS device on a map.

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Microsoft on Wednesday released the community technology preview of Project Roslyn, a new type of compiler (considered a "Compiler-as-a-Service") that was first debuted at BUILD earlier this year.

Based on the Mono Project, Roslyn is designed to be a more open compiler (and not just "a black box," as Microsoft says) that lets developers access and utilize the data that it is generating on the Visual Basic and C# code it is compiling.

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For the last two years, the FCC has warned that our consumption of wireless broadband bandwidth is far outstripping its growth, and that if more of the wireless spectrum isn't allocated to broadband services, we're all in for a massive slowdown.

But that message hasn't really stuck.

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Aiming to better compete with services like Pandora, AOL relaunched its radio app on Wednesday. The new service is powered by Slacker, and cuts the amount of commercials in half.

Pandora inserts about 45 seconds worth of commercials per hour, according to recent statements by the company. AOL Radio will now broadcast three minutes of commercials every hour versus six, aiming to respond to the most common complaint about its service: the number of commercials.

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Defragmenting data is a lot like eating bran. We know that we should do it to keep our systems regular, but it always seems like a lot of hassle for the limited potential benefits. It’s not easy to know how much a defrag will really help. Even when you’ve done one you could be excused for wondering if it’s made any difference at all.

With this in mind, take a look at a brand new tool from German-based O&O Software. O&O SpeedCheck 2.0 is a free stand-alone program that enables you to test your system to find out how it performs with highly fragmented data compared to defragmented files. It simulates reading from disk without affecting any of your existing files.

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Do I even need to ask?

Let the debate begin. Google and Samsung delayed their planned Android 4.0 operating system and Galaxy Nexus smartphone launches until today in Hong Kong instead of October 11 in San Diego. They claimed the delay showed respect for Apple cofounder Steve Jobs who died two weeks ago. Some members of the Apple Fanclub of bloggers and journalists insist that reason is a smokescreen for software or hardware problems. Unlikely considering nothing ships until November. Looking at what Google and Samsung unveiled today, the companies had plenty of good reasons to announce before iPhone 4S sales started October 14. It would have been the competitive equivalent of launching a nuclear strike.

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NJ Transit is the first public transit system to accept Google Wallet thanks to a new deal announced Wednesday between New Jersey and the Mountain View, Calif. company. The deal will allow transit riders to "tap to pay" for fares at select locations.

Google Wallet uses near-field communication (NFC) to operate, a feature that has all but become standard on most newer smartphones, but not Apple's iPhone. The service launched in select retailers last month after being in testing for much of the summer.

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Just over a month ago, U.S. regional wireless carrier Cellular South changed its name to C Spire wireless in a move to become a more data-centric carrier.

Today, scrappy C Spire Wireless announced it will be getting the iPhone 4S "in the coming weeks" before its larger competitors T-Mobile, MetroPCS, and U.S. Cellular do.

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Today in Hong Kong, Google formally launched Android 4.0 in an event cosponsored by Samsung. The new operating system replaces Android 2.x "Gingerbread" for smartphones and 3.x "Honeycomb" for tablets. During the event Andy Rubin, Android chief, laid out "three defining terms" -- goals -- for new version "Ice Cream Sandwich: "simplicity", "beautiful", "we want to go beyond smart". Android 4.0 looks smart and acts smart, too. Many people will look and remark how suddenly outdated is Apple's iOS 5, which only launched last week.

Ice Cream Sandwich will be available in November on the new Google phone, the Samsung-manufactured Galaxy Nexus. Presumably, Android 4 will soon be (or soon after be) available for stock "with Google" devices, such as Nexus S and Motorola XOOM. Meantime, we thought you'd like a peak at what's coming your way.

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To celebrate the introduction of the newest version of Android, called Ice Cream Sandwich, Google and Samsung introduced the flagship Ice Cream Sandwich phone Tuesday evening, the Galaxy Nexus.

Continuing Google's naming culture where "Nexus" represents the most cutting-edge Android phones, the Galaxy Nexus offers impressive hardware to back up the impressive Android software update.

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In Hong Kong today, Google and Samsung unveiled Google's new flagship Android device, the Nexus Prime, a 4.65" Super AMOLED-toting, 1.2GHz LTE and HSPA+ smartphone. However nice the hardware of the new device is, it is second to the fact that it is the first device to run Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS), the newest build of Android that unifies tablets and smartphones under a single OS for the first time.

"People like Android, they need Android…but they didn't LOVE Android," said Google's Matias Duarte in today's presentation. To remedy this, Google has not only introduced new and practical functions to ICS, but gave it a slicker look, faster responsiveness, and some extremely impressive bells and whistles.

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Google is expanding its use of the SSL encryption protocol, saying Tuesday it will begin redirecting all searchers to its secure search when signed in with their Google Accounts over the next few weeks.

"We’ve worked hard over the past few years to increase our services’ use of an encryption protocol called SSL, as well as encouraging the industry to adopt stronger security standards," product manager Evelyn Kao says. "As search becomes an increasingly customized experience, we recognize the growing importance of protecting the personalized search results we deliver."

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