Articles about Digital Lifestyle

Most of today's gadgets seem to use USB for charging their batteries so you inevitably end up with a whole stack of cables and the mains power adapters to go with them.

If you're looking to simplify things the Smart Charger 8000 from Swiss company ARCTIC may be the solution. It's a little box with five USB ports that allows you to charge a number of devices at the same time. It intelligently detects the devices connected to it in order to provide the best charging speed for each one.

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Apple’s recently announced streaming music service is being viewed by many as a potential Spotify killer. Spotify might have more than 20 million paying subscribers and over 75 million active users, but Apple is a force that cannot be ignored, and being late to the party means nothing.

So should Spotify be concerned about the forthcoming battle with Apple? Unquestionably. Although, if new research is to be believed, it’s Apple that should be worrying the most.

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Remember LYCOS? Before Google came along it was one of the leaders in the search engine market. It's since tried to reinvent itself as a digital portal in the style of Yahoo or MSN but, be honest, when was the last time you visited its site?

The company is now making a renewed bid for attention with its entry into the wearables market. On June 8 the company is launching a range of devices that will, it says, "serve as a single point of entry into users' digital lives".

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Most current user interfaces rely on some form of two-step interaction, point and click, or tap and lift, or press and hold for example.

The latest development from Quantum Interface promises to deliver a more seamless experience by using predictive navigation to infer user choices before they're made.

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Consumers love getting personal, timely and relevant offers from retailers but they don't like having to share the data that makes them possible.

This is one of the main findings of new research by predictive marketing and consumer intelligence specialist Boxever. Of 507 consumers surveyed more than 60 percent indicated they prefer offers that are targeted to where they are and what they are doing, but 62 percent said that they don't want retailers tracking their location.

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After Tim Cook demoed the Apple Watch at the Spring Forward event two months ago I declared I should want an Apple Watch -- but I don't. Despite being an iPhone owner and a watch wearer, I felt the new device was an "unfocused mess" and features like talking to your wrist and sending drawings to fellow Watch-owning friends just didn’t appeal. They were something only a ten year old would be interested in.

The way Watch was being retailed -- online only, with crazy delays -- didn’t impress me either. In fact, I called Apple’s launch a brand-damaging botch job. I still stand by that statement, but here’s the thing. Despite all that Apple Watch negativity, after I went into an Apple Store to look at the device I ended up buying one. I know, talk about easily swayed.

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According to new figures released by the UK's Office for National Statistics (ONS), in the first quarter of this year 86 percent of adults had used the Internet in the last three months, up one percent from the same period in 2014.

That means that 11 percent (5.9 million people) have never used the Internet. But this percentage is much higher for the disabled, a group where 27 percent of adults (3.3 million) had never been online. There were also 0.5 million disabled adults who had last used the internet more than three months ago, making up 48 percent of the total 1.1 million lapsed internet users.

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SMS messages have been a part of our personal lives pretty much since mobile phones first became available. But what impact does texting have on our working lives?

Cloud communications provider RingCentral has released the results of a survey looking at how SMS is being used in the workplace.

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It wasn’t very long ago that computers used to be bulky and fill rooms and halls and sell for millions of dollars. But things have dramatically changed since. Over the years, computers have become cheaper and smaller. Today, we have plenty of computers available in a miniature form-factor sporting dirt-cheap price tag. And this new category is maturing and going mainstream.

Zotac International introduces Zbox RI323 and Zbox RI531 in its new "R" line of mini PCs. Both the models come bundled with desktop-class processors and GPUs, two DDR3-1600 slots for up to 16GB of RAM, and dual gigabit ethernet ports. But more interestingly, both models also support two 2.5-inch hard drives or SSDs in a RAID 0 or RAID 1 configuration. The Zbox RI531 model additionally equips an mSATA SSD slot. Both also support non-RAID setups, letting users choose the best storage solutions for them.

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I love my Nexus 6. This morning, while waking to the rush of caffeine from steaming coffee, I read headlines on the device. "I’m Phed Up With Phablets: They're too big to prevail" caught my attention. The short commentary, by Brian Rubin for ReadWrite, rails against the bigger-is-better-smartphone trend. Screen on my cellular is massive: 6 inches, and I forever promised myself to never use a phone so large -- until I did and converted. Much as I enjoy using the N6, for which I can still manage many operations one-handed, smaller would be my preference. Perhaps yours, too.

Here at BetaNews, we first raised doubts about ever-expanding screens four years ago. I still remember the discussion about the story, and more importantly the headline, before Ed Oswald wrote "Is that the Samsung Galaxy S II in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?" In 2015, what seemed large then -- a 4.3-inch screen -- is puny. Even iPhones are bigger. Rubin rightly raises alarm about choice: "The real problem isn’t so much that there are too many phablets, but that there aren’t enough non-phablets these days -- at least none that are truly interesting".

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Businesses are using analytic tools to gather information online, through digital and social channels, as well as call center data, to get to know and build a closer relationship with their customers. However, a survey by customer experience specialist TimeTrade reveals that mobile channels in particular are mostly used for research rather than buying.

The survey looks at consumer buying habits and how retailers need to adapt and provide a better customer experience in order to succeed. It shows that retailers are realizing that a highly personalized in-store experience leads to a lasting impression and creates brand loyalty.

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Given all of the hype surrounding the Internet of Things and intelligent devices you might think that consumers would be keen to make use of all the latest options.

However, a new study by UK online retailer Appliances Direct suggests that for many people even mastering their washing machine is too much.

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Following the Conservative Party’s election win last week, David Cameron, somewhat unexpectedly, is now able to form the first all-Tory cabinet since 1997.

The officials appointed by the returning Prime Minister will have a huge impact upon government policy over the next five years and may well shape the future of the country’s education, health care and economy for many more years beyond that.

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Internet use in the UK has doubled in the past decade, thanks mostly to teenagers and young adults who access the internet on tablets and smartphones, new research has shown.

The research, called 'Media use and attitude' was carried out by communications watchdog Ofcom and found that people in the UK have spent in average of 20 hours and 30 minutes online each week in 2014.

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There are lots of Bluetooth speakers on the market, so which one you choose really comes down to the features you value most. Is sound quality your top priority or is portability and long battery life a bigger attraction?

The EasyAcc DP100 certainly qualifies on the portability front. It's a compact design, about the size of a Coke can, feels nicely weighty and has a rubber base so it won't slip around. The design is quite stylish in matt black with a shiny highlight around the top. There's an on/off switch and sockets for charging and aux-in at the back. Playback controls are operated by a grey, rubbery button on the top, this works well enough but doesn’t have a particularly nice feel.

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