Month: February 2013

Application Business

Adobe preemptively cuts prices to avoid wrath of Australian lawmakers

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As reported on Engadget. By Sharif Sakr Adobe has suddenly knocked 20 percent off its prices in Australia just one day after it was summoned to publicly defend those prices in front of a parliamentary committee. The monthly fee for a subscription to Adobe’s full Creative Cloud has dropped from AU$63 to AU$50, so it’s now only $1 more than the US price when you factor in currency. The no-contract monthly cost has also fallen to match how much Americans pay —…

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Application

Sonos app gets universal favorites, Android widget and iPhone 5 tweaks HD

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As reported on Engadget. By Jon Fingas Ask a Sonos listener about flaws in the Controller app and you’ll often hear about three sticking points: favorites buried in separate sections, the absence of an official Android widget and an iOS version that still isn’t optimized for the iPhone 5. As of Tuesday, the company is cleaning house by curing all three hiccups at once. A new software update puts a source-independent Sonos Favorites section at the top of the…

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Application

Foursquare adds tips and photos to shared mobile links for non-members Mobile

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As reported on Engadget. By Nicole Lee In a continuing effort to be more of a discovery and recommendation engine,Foursquare has updated the mobile version of its place pages with more information for non-members. In the past, whenever users of the location-based app shared info about a place via Twitter, Facebook, email or text, friends without the app would be led to a relatively barebones link with details like the address, phone number and not much else. Now that mobile-friendly page…

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Business Cloud

Using Antonyms To Understand The Difference Between The Cloud And Everything Else

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As reported on TechCrunch. by ALEX WILLIAMS The difference between new and not-so-new technology has a way of revealing what is elastic and dynamic compared to what is rigid and static. It’s not a measure of which technology is considered good or bad. It simply represents the progression from client/server technology to the Internet-scale, data-driven services that are gaining such momentum. Using antonyms helps better correlate what is considered a cloud service and what is not,…

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Business

Apple, Microsoft, Adobe Called By Lawmakers To Defend Higher Prices In Australia

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As reported on TechCrunch. by CATHERINE SHU Three American companies-Apple, Microsoft and Adobe-have been summoned by the Australian Parliament to explain why they charge higher prices Down Under than in other countries. The three companies were called by the House Committee On Infrastructure And Communications to appear as part ofan ongoing probe regarding the disparity in tech pricing. The inquiry started in May 2012 to examine “whether a difference in prices exists between IT hardware and software products, including computer…

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Education

Online Education Is Replacing Physical Colleges At A Crazy Fast Pace

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As reported on TechCrunch. by GREGORY FERENSTEIN Educators knew the online revolution would eventually envelop the physical classroom, but a torrent of near-revolutionary developments in the past month are proving that change is coming quicker than anyone imagined. In just 30 days, the largest school system in the U.S. began offering credit for online courses, a major university began awarding degreeswithout any class time required, and scores of public universities are moving their courses online. The point at…

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Space Story

Curiosity rover drills into Martian rock, looks for more evidence of water.

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As reported on Engadget. By Sean Buckley NASA scientists won’t have to wait until InSight’s 2016 drilling mission to see what lies beneath the surface of Mars — Curiosity is already on the case. After developing a taste for Martian soil late last year, the intrepid rover has started exploring the red planet’s bedrock, drilling a 0.63 inch (1.6 cm) wide hole 2.5 inches (6.4 cm) deep into Mars’ surface. Curiosity will spend the next several days analyzing the…

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Entertainment

Grammy Awards 2013 ads see Google and Microsoft go head-to… foot.

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As reported on Engadget. By Daniel Cooper This year’s Grammy Awards weren’t as packed with gadget advertising — gadvertising* — as the Super Bowl, but Microsoft and Google still coughed up to hawk their wares. The former wanted to demonstrate the productivity chops of the Surface Pro with a commercial that implies the device will cause your employees to breakdance involuntarily. Google, on the other hand, wanted to show off the powers of the Nexus 4 and Google Now to help you distinguish…

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Story

Samsung-branded Qi wireless charging pad stops by the FCC for a dismantling

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As reported on Engadget. By Daniel Cooper Samsung may be trying to usurp Qi’s wireless-charging dominance, but for the moment it still has to play along with the de-facto industry standard. That’s why the company has pushed this Qi-compatible wireless charging plate onto the green baize of the FCC’s poker table, likely in preparation for a commercial release. Peel away the plastic and you’ll find a beefy arc reactor electromagnet nestled at the heart of the device — and since the…

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Story

Woman fined for bedazzling her court-ordered ankle monitor

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As reported on The Verge. By Amar Toor Diamonds may be a girl’s best friend, but for Rebecca Gallanagh, they’ve caused nothing but trouble. Gallanagh, a 22-year-old convict, was fined by a UK court this week for decorating her electronic ankle bracelet in fake diamonds — an act that local magistrates described as a “serious offense.” Gallanagh had been forced to wear the bracelet after being convicted of a public order offense in November, for her involvement in…

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