Net neutrality is dead, but it probably doesn’t matter
Last week the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia shot holes in the US Federal Communications Commission’s version of net neutrality saying the Commission was wrong not in trying to regulate Internet Service Providers but in trying to regulate them as Common Carriers, that is as telephone utilities.
The FCC can’t have it both ways, said the Court, and so the Feds get to try all over again. Or will they? I think events are moving so quickly that by the time this particular argument is worked out all the players will have changed and the whole argument may be moot.
LogMeIn Free is no more -- look elsewhere for your free remote access needs
Need a free remote access tool? Any day now your number of choices drops by one as the free version of LogMeIn will soon be no more. In a statement posted to the management section of its website, LogMeIn announces that LogMeIn Free is "going away".
Like a gentle parent euphemistically softening the blow about a departed pet or loved one having "gone to sleep", LogMeIn is using this terminology to usher in the news that if you want to keep using its products, you're going to have to pay.
The Wearable Technology Show announces its conference speaker lineup
The primary focus of this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) was very much on wearable technology. 2014 may not be the year when wearables hit the mainstream, but it’s clear this is where the future is headed with new smartwatches, smart glasses, fitness bands and the like being developed to keep us constantly connected.
The Wearable Technology Show, being held in London on the 18 and 19 March 2014, is the UK’s first dedicated wearable technology event and its organizers have just announced the speaker lineup for the conference program.
PC and Mac games revenue to top $24 billion by 2017
We've been focusing a lot on the decline of the PC hardware market of late, but the software spend still looks strong. The latest survey from market intelligence specialist IDC predicts that PC and Mac gamer spending will grow to over $24 billion by 2017.
It also finds that while global PC/Mac games revenue is set to grow at around four percent a year the US market will start to slip.
Dr Dre launches Beats Music to deliver the right tune at the right time
What's that? Another music streaming service? Another one?! You could be forgiven for having this reaction to the news that Dr Dre's Beats Music is now available for iOS and Android; this is a market that is already rather saturated, and music lovers are not exactly short of options when it comes to picking a service to satiate their audio needs. So any new service vying for attention has to have something rather unique to offer if it is going to stand out from the competition.
Beats Music does have a unique selling point. It is a service that is about more than just streaming music, it aims to deliver the right music according to the time of day, what you are doing and where you are. Is this sort of stream tailoring enough to win over music fans? Only time will tell, but Beats Music certainly has a fight on its hands if it is to wrestle users away from the existing services that have been established for some time.
1234, throw that password out it's poor
California-based password management software specialist SplashData has released the results of its annual list of the internet’s worst passwords.
For the first time "password" has been knocked off the number one slot. This doesn’t mean people are getting more security minded, however, as it's been replaced by the equally obvious "123456".
The spying game: Obama announces watered-down NSA surveillance reforms -- but will we see any difference?
Unless you have been living under a rock for many months, you couldn't help but be aware of the activities of the NSA. They certainly knew what you were up to, even when you were hiding under that rock. Campaigners have been calling for reform ever since Edward Snowden blew the lid off previously secret surveillance of telephone calls and web activity of millions of users in America and around the world. In an address at the Justice Department, President Obama gave details of some reforms to surveillance, but at the same time remained defensive of the National Security Agency.
Referring to surveillance (or spying, if you will) carried out in the 1960s, Obama said: "In the long twilight struggle against communism, we had been reminded that the very liberties that we sought to preserve could not be sacrificed at the altar of national security". The speech continued, making the obligatory nods to terrorism, "weapons of mass destruction" and September 11th; all very emotive stuff. This heartstring tugging was cited as the reason the intelligence community in general -- including the NSA -- needed to up its game. They "suddenly needed to do far more than the traditional mission of monitoring hostile powers and gathering information for policymakers."
Rise of the cyber tot -- 4 million British under threes use smartphones or tablets
Almost 3.5 million British children under the age of eight have tablets and nearly 4 million learned to use a smartphone or tablet before they were three.
New research from price comparison and switching service uSwitch reveals a growing nation of cyber tots with 29 percent learning to use a touch screen device before the age of three and 11 percent before they were two.
Facebook copies Twitter and introduces trending topics
It's starting to feel as though the myriad of social networks that exist are homogenizing. As one site introduces a feature, it is not long before the rest follow suit. Now it is Facebook's turn. Occasional leader, but often a follower, Facebook now boasts a trending topics feature. Simply known as Trending, the new feature borrows the idea used by Twitter and countless news websites to provide a constantly updating list of topics that people around the world are talking about.
In fact, Trending acts as a sort of blend between Twitter's Trends feature coupled with content suggestions. This is not a straight list of the subjects that are proving most popular around the world, but, theoretically, the list should be personalized with content that you have an interest in. That’s the theory at least.
Planes, trains and gigabytes -- modern travelers increasingly reliant on mobile devices
These days few of us even leave the house without our smartphones. It’s no secret we’re addicted to our mobile devices, checking them constantly, and using them for all sorts of things -- from talking, texting, emailing and taking photos and videos, to browsing websites, checking the weather, accessing maps and playing games.
A new infographic from Mophie titled "A Day in the Life of a Data Traveler" shows exactly how much we rely on our mobile devices when traveling and provides interesting stats on how we use our smartphones while away and the amount of data being consumed per action.
E-reading on the rise but print books still dominate
New research by the Pew Internet and American Life Project shows that the percentage of American adults who read an e-book in the past year has risen to 28 percent, up from 23 percent in 2012.
Yet the tree book isn't dead yet, at least in the popularity sense, as the results show most e-book readers read print books as well and only four percent are e-only readers.
Smartphones improve the shopping experience
If you shop using your smartphone you are highly informed, social and seeking a superior shopping experience -- and retailers want to have your babies.
These (apart from the last bit) are the findings of the latest research by IDC which found that surveyed respondents believe the smartphone is transforming their shopping experience.
Google helps you stay legal, makes it easier to track down images you can use for free
There is a common misconception that anything that is made available online is fair game for use by other people. Found an image you like on a website? Why not just grab a copy and use it on your own? In some cases this is not a problem and the owner of the image will not mind others re-using imagery in whatever way they want, but this is certainly not always the case.
Google Image Search has long made it possible to filter results by the type of license they have, but now things have just got a whole lot easier.
So, what's wrong with Google making money from your information?
I'm going to let you in on a secret, something Google would love to know -- I'm a really hot guy. While my sexiness is debatable, what I mean by hot is, I tend to be sweaty. Because of this, I utilize central air conditioning to cool myself down. Apparently, this is extremely sensitive data, as the internet is in an uproar over Google's purchase of a company called Nest. The acquired company specializes in internet connected home devices, such as thermostats, and some people are scared that the search giant has crossed a line.
Yes, Google knowing how users use their thermostats is apparently the straw that broke the camel's back. While the company already has access to your emails, Google Maps data, and more, for some odd reason, this has become a rallying point. OK, so maybe the uproar is more than just thermostat data. I understand the fear of Google infiltrating your home. Guess what? You don't have to invite it in. In other words, no one is forcing you to buy an internet-connected thermostat. You can continue to work your thermostat manually, like a cave man. However, for people who want the convenience, perhaps their data is a fair trade. Nothing in life is free.
Tumblr takes a leaf out of Twitter's book, introduces @ mentions
Today Tumblr introduces a new feature that makes it easier to interact with other users of the blogging/photo-sharing/Twitter-on-steroids/sort-of-social-network service. It's something that has been done in plenty of other places, most notably Twitter and, more recently, Facebook, but Tumblr now includes the option to @mention other users. This is not a feature that is going to cause outbreaks of mass hysteria around the globe, but it is certainly useful, and brings the service in line with many of its competitors.
The idea is very simple. When writing a new post, type an @ symbol and as you continue to type, a list of suggested users will be displayed ready to select from. Any user who is mentioned in a post will receive a notification that someone is writing about them, and this opens up a new realm of interactivity for Tumblr.
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