Category: Software
Windows to enter the Cloud next month, claims Ballmer
One of the current tech buzzwords is “Cloud Computing”, which basically means using web applications rather than software stored on the computer (it’s more complicated than that, before someone gets pedantic with me, but that’ll do for now).
It’s something that Google has been working towards for some time, with the introduction of its applications and the Chrome web browser, and Microsoft is keen not to be left behind.
Speaking at a conference in London, Microsoft’s CEO Steve Ballmer said that a “new operating system designed for the cloud” would be introduced within the next four weeks…
UPDATE: Stroppy Apple threatens to close iTunes in MASSIVE SULK over royalty payments
There are two very important financial rulings being voted on today. One is something to do with banks and mortgages and the world not ending, which we couldn’t care less about and certainly don’t intend trying to understand.
The other is to do with Apple and the amount of royalties it pays to record labels in return for selling their music on iTunes. Three Copyright Royalty Board judges are meeting in Washington today, to decide if Apple should be forced to boost its royalty payments from 9 cents a song to 15 cents a song for each track sold via iTunes – a 66% increase.
Apple has, incredibly, threatened to CLOSE iTunes…
Battle of the Burners – Roxio vs Nero
Nero and Roxio have both just launched new versions of their burning software. In the red corner, we’ve got Nero 9, which features Gracenote integration and improved playback and editing features, and in the… er… orange corner we’ve got Roxio Creator 2009, which has high-definition support and new backup software…
BT launching new Phorm trials – users can join in (or opt out in HORROR) tomorrow
BT has announced some official-this-time new trials of Phorm’s controversial Webwise monitoring software – starting from tomorrow.
A select few BT users will be invited to join the latest and above-board trial of the ad-serving, browsing-monitoring software, with the pleasing result of seeing better targeted ads for Viagra as they mess about online…
ATTENTION TWEAKERS: Rockbox version 3.0 is out, adding OGG support to iPods and more
If your ideal evening is installing something, realising it doesn’t work very well, trying to reinstall it again then taking it all off and putting the original version back on before eventually getting to bed with very sore eyes at 3.47am, you’re well within the target demographic of Rockbox and its custom MP3 player firmware.
Upgrading older iPods (up to fifth-gen, but not the Touch) and numerous models by Creative, Sandisk and the likes of Archos and iRiver, Rockbox 3.0’s main boast is adding OGG and FLAC playback support to these common players, also opening up locked devices for easy use as an external HD…
CONFIRMED: T-Mobile launching the Android-powered T-Mobile G1 in the UK this November
Google, HTC and T-Mobile have all just pulled the covers off the T-Mobile G1 – the official name of the long-awaited “Google Phone.”
The handset features the “Android Market” – its equivalent to Apple’s App Store – and it does indeed use the Amazon MP3 shopping service as rumoured this very morning. As for release dates – the US gets it on October 22, the UK gets it in “early November,” while the rest of Europe must wait until early 2009…
This week, YouTube has been banned in… Kuwait
Oh dear. The poor people of Kuwait will no longer be able to watch poorly-lit webcam footage of women dancing to Latin American hip hop in their underwear, thanks to a fresh batch of religious outrage.
As ever, it’s the old portraying-Mohammed issue that’s lead to Kuwaiti officials demanding a ban on the video streaming site, thanks to it featuring videos that could offend Muslims. Here’s how the Kuwaiti top brass demanded the ban in a memo to the country’s ISPs…
Google Maps for Mobile gets Street View and walking directions
Google has updated its Maps for Mobile service, bringing 3D Street View to Java-enabled phones, as well as offering walking directions to any destination.
It has also included more information on destinations, including the ability to read reviews of a business.
This addition makes Maps a much more useful service where, arguably, you need it the most — on the move. Walking directions are great in the inner city where driving just isn’t practical, and when London has been fully “Street View-ised” we should be able to enjoy the same 3D views as those in lager US cities do…
Asus and Skype team up to create world's ugliest gadget – the AiGuru SV1 portable videophone
That deformed beast which looks like the remains of three microwaved mobile phones is an AiGuru SV1, the product of an alliance between globally beloved tech-maker Asus and quite loved chat-enabler Skype.
The SV1 is a self-contained video phone, using Skype software and its own little webcam to let users broadcast video calls from wherever there’s a wi-fi signal. In your bathroom, for example. There’s also an Ethernet socket, microphone…
Government says Phorm is phine – the spying ad software can be rolled out in the UK
The UK government has said the incredibly controversial Phorm software can be rolled out in the UK – but users must be told first and allowed to opt-out if they wish.
The Phorm system, which anonymously tracks your internet usage so it can offer you targeted advertising, was secretly tested on a small group of BT users without their knowledge, creating uproar among the sort of people who like to create uproars about privacy issues. The EU then got involved, asking for clarification about the hows and whys of Phorm, thinking that it might be a BAD THING.
So, the UK government investigated and has decided it’s OK and that Phorm is fine. Here’s what it told the EU investigators about its Phorm phindings and how users will be put in charge of turning it on and off…
