Increasingly testy rhetoric and increasingly legitimate concerns have prompted the United States and China to announce that they will hold regular high-level talks on standards of cyberbehavior. The announcement precedes a meeting between President Obama and Chinese president Xi Jinping scheduled for Friday. The Obama administration has publicly called out China for hacking U.S. government and corporate computers. Accusations from the U.S. government -- as well as from private security firms -- have prompted denials, with China claiming that it has been the victim of cyberattacks carried out by the U.S.[More...]
Windows has been through four major changes. Huge numbers of folks really didn't like them -- each one was painful. Windows almost had five major changes, but Microsoft Bob was so badly received Microsoft killed it. Windows 8 may seem like the most painful, but since I've lived through all of these I can say from experience that it isn't even close.[More...]
Razer this week unveiled the Blade and Blade Pro, two thin and light notebook computers designed to handle the rigors of video gaming. The 14-inch Blade is actually a slimmed down version of the refreshed 17.3-inch Blade Pro, and it's perhaps the more interesting of the two, due to its diminutive size. It's a mere 0.66-inches thick and packs more power-per-cubic-inch than any laptop available today, says its maker.[More...]
Google company Motorola has announced a new smartphone that will be designed, engineered and assembled in the United States -- the Moto X. It will be manufactured in a factory in Fort Worth, Texas. "There are more than 130 million smartphones in use in the U.S., but not one of them is made here. That changes with Moto X," said Motorola spokesperson Danielle McNally.[More...]
One of the advantages of carrying a smartphone is that it's an all-arounder, and one of its killer features is that it can function as a personal media player. It's functionality that an iPod or MP3 player would have provided a few years ago -- and Sony Walkman before that. The principal difference between a smartphone and a classic MP3 player is that the smartphone now includes connectivity.[More...]
Seven months and countless complaints after Microsoft launched Windows 8, it has announced that Windows 8.1, aka "Blue," will restore the much-missed Start button.
Microsoft also will deliver a host of new features and functionality in Blue, and make it easier for people to navigate the operating system using a mouse and a keyboard.[More...]
Google has unveiled a new Gmail design to give users more organizational control over a cluttered in-box.The revamped in-box is an option; users who like the approach can separate their email into four tabs: primary, promotions, social and updates. Primary is for the mail from friends, families or colleagues that a user would want to read and perhaps save.[More...]
SoftBank has reached a national security agreement with U.S. authorities, perhaps clearing the way for the Japanese company to purchase Sprint Nextel. U.S. officials have expressed concerns about potential ties between SoftBank and Chinese telecommunications firms like Huawei. Chinese telecoms drew the ire of Congress in late 2012, and security rhetoric has recently ratcheted up.[More...]
Facebook is enmeshed in yet another brouhaha over its advertising policies, but this time it's not the users making a fuss -- it's the advertisers. Major clients such as Nissan and Nationwide recently pulled the plug on their Facebook campaigns after their ads showed up next to objectionable, sometimes downright hateful, content.[More...]
Chrome Experiments has debuted two very innovative games this week, suggesting that Google might be in play to break into the casual game market, even taking on the likes of Nintendo and other portable game developers. At first glance that might be a valid assumption, but the shortcomings of these offerings suggest Google might have something different in mind.[More...]
Chinese hackers were accused of stealing the designs for more than two dozen U.S. military weapons systems in a press account appearing Monday. The system designs reportedly pinched by the hackers were for systems critical to the country's missile defenses and its combat aircraft and war ships. The revelations were based on confidential sections of a government report.[More...]
President Obama will definitely have something to talk about. Beijing announced that China will conduct its first "digital war games," a proclamation that will likely do nothing to allay United States concerns about China's propensity for hacking and cyberespionage. The timing of the announcement is noteworthy: Chinese President Xi Jinping will meet with Obama next month to discuss cybersecurity.[More...]
The days of reliance on real estate agents to tell us which homes are available are long gone. The same raw data that the agents used to have an exclusive on is now fed to anyone who wants it. Now all you have to do is choose your source. Here's a look at the top five real estate apps in the Chrome environment. This app also lets you compare mortgages -- including rates, rate trends and lenders.[More...]
Samsung piqued media interest this week with an invitation to a June 20 event in London, where it is expected to unveil its latest Galaxy smartphones and tablets, along with new entrants in its ATIV lineup of Windows devices. What exactly the company has up its sleeve is speculation at this point. However, there's some consensus as to the likeliest prospects for a big reveal.[More...]