Is the Queen a closet techie?

nlikely as it may seem, across the pond the Government of Ontario seems to have discovered an until-now unknown side of the British monarch. She has just been presented with a personalised BlackBerry Bold 9700 because she is “rumoured to be a fan of the Canadian smartphone”.
We’d long wondered what she used to keep [...]

Why Gates won’t do a Steve Jobs to save Microsoft

Who do you think runs Microsoft? Unless you’ve been paying really careful attention to corporate technology news over the last couple of years you’ll probably reply: “Bill Gates.” And you’ll be wrong. But Microsoft would dearly love to have him back.
Most of the world still thinks Gates is the boss of Microsoft and the company [...]

Guitar Hero passes the baton to orchestra app

by Kevin Gilmartin
Most of us at some point have fancied ourselves as  something of a musician. Perhaps you took some piano lessons as a child, or maybe you can tease Smoke on the Water out of that guitar you bought years ago and promised yourself you’d learn to play? If, however, you’re like me and [...]

Scottish games industry levels up with award nominations

Three of Scotland’s leading computer games companies, have been shortlisted in this year’s Develop Industry Excellence Awards 2010.
The international awards recognise the most talented UK and European games developers for their creativity, teamwork, and innovation.
Realtime Worlds has been nominated for All Points Bulletin, its latest online title, as well as Best Independent Studio. Tag Games [...]

Apple unveils the iPhone 4 – the world’s thinnest smartphone

For once Apple failed to keep the lid on a new product launch. The rumours were pretty accurate and the iPhone that was lost by an Apple employee in an a Silicon Valley bar, found and paid for by gadget blog Gizmondo seems to have been a genuine prototype.
As expected, the iPhone 4 launched at [...]

Australian Sex Party protests over customs porn question

The Australian Sex Party is up in arms over a new question that has appeared on incoming passenger cards at the customs point of entry into Australia: “Are you carrying any pornography?”
The question first appeared on entry cards in September, but only seems to have caught the Sex Party’s eye now. Fiona Patten, the Sex [...]

Apple’s bid for world domination starts in Tesco

Tesco has cut the price of its iPhone subscriptions. Beyond a few British consumers this might not seem particularly exciting news, but it’s just the tip of the iceberg revealing enormous changes in technology which in the last few days can be seen stretching from British supermarket shelves to remote Indian villages.
As with all mobile [...]

Microsoft smartphone aims squarely at Apple

Not since William Tell put away his crossbow has anybody taken such careful aim at an Apple. In Las Vegas Microsoft revealed a smartphone strategy to developers which will see its “Windows Phone 7 Series” compete head on with the iPhone.
The change needed to happen. Unlike Apple which developed the iPhone almost from scratch, Microsoft’s [...]

Google takes a big swipe at Microsoft Office

Google has launched what is widely seen as a full frontal attack on the dominant and highly-profitable Microsoft Office software suite. The Google Apps Marketplace brings together a variety of programs and services from different companies to work together in a single ecosystem.
At the moment business software for, say, accounting, project and customer relationship management [...]

Microsoft rains on Apple’s iPad parade

Of course it’s just coincidence, but details of a new device Microsoft is apparently working on have leaked out just as Apple announced when the iPad would be available. But despite being billed as an “iPad killer” Microsoft’s Courier would be a very different beast.
If the pictures on technology blog Engadget are to be believed, [...]

Medicine, laptops and the web get their Avatar moment

Avatar might have had a bad night at the Oscars, but it’s done nothing to slow the flow of 3D technology. Early adopters can even now pick up an Acer Aspire 5738DZG laptop complete with the requisite glasses from Amazon for £546.43 including delivery.
As with so many technologies there’s more than one way of achieving [...]

The Cold War 2.0: Apple vs Google

Apple seems to have been taking lessons from the Cold War strategists. Just as the Soviet Union and the USA avoided direct confrontation choosing instead to use smaller nations in a battle by proxy, Apple has launched a wide-ranging legal attack on the little-known Taiwanese manufacturer HTC.
But it is clear who Apple’s real target is [...]

Hints for the would-be smartphone buyer

ith falling prices and an increasing number of services taking advantage of smartphone technology, plenty of us are going to be splashing out over the coming months. And not a few people will make expensive mistakes.
If you are tempted by a new smartphone it really is worth doing some homework before you take on a [...]

Ditched by Warner, what’s the future for Spotify?

It was when writing about Journey t’other day, that the thought of making a compilation of that sort of on shaggy-haired soft-rock, largely from the ‘80s, occurred.
Years ago, this would have involved a tortuous process figuring out how not to crash the song at the end of side one. Or a few years ago, [...]

Despite the hype Google Buzz won’t be killing anything much

Google is like Apple. Whenever it announces anything the world goes mad. Or at least the world’s media goes mad. It must be so galling for other technology companies.
Every launch attracts similar headlines. A few weeks ago the Nexus One smartphone was the potential “iPhone killer”. Google Talk was the “Skype killer”. Google Docs was [...]

Omens not good for the why-Pad

So Apple has finally unveiled its supersized iPhone or, more accurately as it doesn’t do phone calls, the giant iPod Touch. To be fair, it is gorgeous, desirable and I want one. But I can’t see myself buying one. That I’m sure is going to be a very common reaction. Despite its incredibly impressive technology [...]