Microsoft’s SkyDrive gets a fresh coat of paint
SkyDrive, Microsoft’s cloud storage service, has gotten a ‘more modern’ make-over. Microsoft officials took the wraps off the contemporary update to SkyDrive on August 14, the day before Microsoft is ready to begin rolling out the official home windows 8 RTM bits to builders, IT execs and extent licensees.The changes to SkyDrive.com were detailed in […]
Microsoft replaces Live Mesh with SkyDrive in Windows bundle
Live Mesh users, read the Windows Essentials 2012 fine print. Microsoft is doing what some had feared in latest services bundle — replacing it with SkyDrive, which still doesn’t offer the same set of features. Microsoft yesterday released a new bundle of free services meant to complement Windows 7 and Windows 8. Now known as […]
Lenovo’s ThinkPad team ‘bullish’ on Windows 8, looks to expand beyond notebooks
Lenovo’s ThinkPad team plans to release more ultrabook models, and remains “bullish” about the upcoming release of Microsoft’s Windows 8, according to company executives, who also said on Monday that the famed PC unit needs to expand further outside its traditional notebook business. “We are going to keep breaking that barrier, to bring the ThinkPad […]
NASA’s futuristic X-48C hybrid wing-body plane takes flight
The design, which is thought to be highly fuel efficient and offer longer range, could someday become the universal standard. But first comes several more years of tests. NASA said today that its experimental X-48C hybrid wing-body airplane took flight for the first time. A remotely powered prototype that’s housed at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research […]
New data center design boasts ‘world’s most efficient cooling system’
A new kind of data center claiming to employ “the world’s most efficient cooling system” turns the traditionally unbearable “hot aisle” between server racks into a rather pleasant air-conditioned hallway, all the while using significantly less energy. Integrated energy technology company Inertech and construction partner Skanska held a tour of their new data center design […]
Laws on Wi-Fi sniffing still up in the air, say specialists
Legal and tech specialists debate whether open Wi-Fi networks should be fair game for sniffing, but they agree that the law is currently unclear on the issue. Got a Wi-Fi network? If someone, say Google or the government, sniffs your open network, you may think you’re legally protected. Don’t be so sure. It remains unclear […]
Apple Q3 earnings: $35B in revenue, 26M iPhones, 17M iPads
iPhones and iPads once again led the way in a record quarter for Apple, but the results were less than what Wall Street expected. During its third fiscal quarter, which ran through June 30, Apple reported revenue of $35 billion and earnings of $8.8 billion, or $9.32 per share. That was up from the $28.57 […]
Google science fair entrants focus on health, environment
Google held the final round of its second annual international science fair on Monday morning, hosting 15 contestants from around the world between the ages of 13 and 18. The science fair this year has grown considerably as not only did Google receive thousands of entries from more than 100 countries, but the program now […]
Microsoft confirms Windows 8’s October launch date
Microsoft has revealed that Windows 8 will be released on 26 October. The declaration was made at the firm’s annual sales meeting and was published on its blog shortly after. The firm has described the update as the most important redesign of its interface in more than a decade. The announcement was made a day […]
Microsoft gives Office a 2013 touch-up
Microsoft has unveiled a touch-ready version of Office, the latest version of the company’s market-leading productivity software suite. In San Francisco, Steve Ballmer described Office 2013 as the firm’s “most ambitious release” to date. The software is primed for mobile devices, cloud computing, and social networking. Office is the globe’s most popular productivity application, with […]
Android rules U.S. and Europe smartphone sales
For the first time ever, Android has dominated smartphone sales in several major markets, including the U.S., Germany, Great Britain, France, Italy, Spain, and Australia, according to data released today by market analysis firm Kantar Worldpanel ComTech. In all of these countries, Google’s mobile OS has taken at least half of smartphone sales, with the […]
San Francisco plans to ban officials from buying Apple Macs
City officials in San Francisco plan to block local government agencies from buying new Apple Macintosh computers. The move follows the firm’s decision to pull out of a green certification scheme designed to identify which electronic devices pose the least risk to the environment. CIO Journal reported the ban was designed to encourage Apple to […]
FBI net shut off has ‘limited’ impact on victims
More than 300,000 people, including many in the US and UK, may have lost net access as the FBI shuts down servers used by cyber thieves. The FBI seized the servers in November 2011 during raids to break up a hi-tech gang who used the DNS Changer virus to infect more than four million victims. […]
Ex-Nokia employees to launch Meego smartphone
A group of former Nokia employees has formed a company with the goal of bringing to market a smartphone powered by software discarded by their former employer. The Finnish startup Jolla plans to base its handsets on the defunct Meego operating system, which was developed in partnership with Intel but was essentially left for dead […]
Retailers report tepid sales for June
Shoppers, worried about jobs and the overall economy, pulled back on spending in June, resulting in tepid sales for many retailers. The results raise concerns about Americans’ ability to spend during the back-to-school season, which is the second-biggest shopping period of the year and starts later this month. As merchants reported their sales early Thursday, […]
Understanding the Higgs boson
The Higgs boson is an integral part of our understanding of nature. It is a particle that is an excitation of what is called the Higgs field. The Higgs field permeates all of space and when some of the fundamental particles travel through it they acquire mass. The amount of mass they acquire depends on […]
Apple patent case: Samsung Galaxy Nexus banned in US
A judge in California has blocked US sales of Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus smartphones while the court decides on the firm’s patent dispute with Apple. US District Judge Lucy Koh said Apple “has shown a likelihood of establishing both infringement and validity”. Earlier this week, she barred sales of Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet in the […]
Will you sign the Declaration of Internet Freedom?
In advance of Independence Day, a host of groups and individuals have launched the Declaration of Internet Freedom, fighting for a free and open Internet. Do you believe the Internet needs protection against censorship and other threats? If so, then you may want to join in on the new Declaration of Internet Freedom. Launched by […]
With $60B in cash, Microsoft is set to blow up its business
With the recent announcement of Microsoft’s new Surface tablet, the decades-old network of partners that Microsoft and Intel built just got a formidable new asset-rich competitor: Microsoft. Like all successful partner networks, Wintel thrived because all of the players — the two principals, OEMs, the channel and other stakeholders — benefited individually from the association […]
National Weather Service alerts headed to smartphones
Live in an area prone to tornadoes, flash floods, hurricanes, extreme wind, ice storms, and the like? Your smartphone can’t change the extreme weather, but it can alert you to it. Live in an area prone to flash floods, hurricanes, blizzards? Smartphone users will soon get a severe-weather alert from the National Weather Service, a […]