For most people, surfing the internet has become synonymous with clicking on the ‘e’ icon on their computers to launch Internet Explorer (IE). And while it is by far the most popular browser in the world, of late, IE had seen increasing threat from others such as Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome and Opera that claim to be faster, have more features, and more secure. Microsoft’s answer to all these criticisms has been to unveil a new version of the browser: Internet Explorer 9 (IE9). Read the rest of this entry »
Technically Motivated
Our Motivation is Highlighting Tech Innovation
Sep. 19, 2010
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Sep. 18, 2010
Security vendor Avast takes a cue from its own name and a slightly aged Internet meme to bring you a pirate-themed approach to home computer protection.
Since last night, Avast has been preparing to celebrate the international “Talk Like a Pirate Day” that comes every year on September 19. Users using Avast! will at some point receive a prompt from the program telling them about Talk Like a Pirate Day and give them the option to install a special “Pirate English” language pack. This tongue-in-cheek new feature rebrands four of the main screens in Avast!’s user interface to use Pirate Speak for people who opt in to the feature through September 22.
The changes are actually quite minimal, but somewhat humorous. A skull-and-crossbones is added to the avast! logo, and the “Secured” text to confirm that the program is working correctly changes to say “Ship-Shape”, also stating, “Yer ship be secure.” Menu options are also renamed to a more pirate-y theme, with the Scan options being renamed “Scour the Ship”, the Virus Chest becomes the “Dead-man’s chest”, and so on. If you like a little bit of pirate humour, then you’ll like this new feature.
Tabbles Home
Posted by Techie Jinji on September 16th, 2010 in Freebies
Sep. 16, 2010
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It is not often that I post freebies that other blogs are doing, because it both seems like a conflict of interest, and also said freebies usually have some sort of term or condition that makes it not as great an offer as they seem. However, I was recently made aware of this Freebie Giveaway that is exclusive to one specific tech blog, and I thought I just HAD to make an exception.
For the next 48-hours, popular tech blog dotTech has teamed up with Yellow blue soft to bring dotTechies Tabbles Home (normal price USD$29.99) for free! For those that don't know, Tabbles is a program that aims to eliminate your file management pains by easily and efficiently tagging files. There are many handy features of Tabbles, such as the ability to multi-tag files, the ability to auto-tag, and powerful tags/files filtering capabilities. The idea is that by categorizing the same file under multiple tags, and filter down to them, you should be able to find any file you need easily even if you can't remember the file's name or location – and the file is still kept in its original location and isn't modified or copied in any way. If you would like to learn more about Tabbles in detail, you can drop by Read the rest of this entry »
Google retires “Older version” interface in GMail
Posted by Techie Jinji on September 15th, 2010 in Tech News
Sep. 15, 2010
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Google today have officially retired the original web-based interface for GMail, their own-brand email service, previously served to browsers unable to support the current interface or those who clicked the “Older Version” link at the bottom of the page.
Browsers incompatible with all the features of the modern interface are now forced to use the Basic HTML view, and the “Older Version” link no longer exists. Attempts to load the Older Version manually, by typing in the URL to it yourself, also fail.
Since the HTML version is incredibly limited in functionality, this change effectively means that Google has forced all GMail users into an “all-or-peanuts” situation – either having to use the default interfacer, with ALL of Google’s various features and tweaks if they want to use any feature not standard to email (such as Chat, Labs Features…); or going back to the dark ages. In this reporter’s opinion, expect to see a number of complaints in the upcoming weeks.
A Twitter user going by the user name of ‘nocchisan’, who apparently is or was an employee at Japanese Videogaming company Key Factory, tweeted that Key Factory is gearing up to launch 3DS peripherals to coincide with the Japanese launch of the hand-held on 20 November 2010.
However, shortly after the tweet was posted, the Twitter account disappeared completely from the service, taking the tweet along with it.
The tweet Read the rest of this entry »
T-Mobile coming back for a second round in the Smartphone game – announces development of T-Mobile G2 Smartphone
Posted by Techie Jinji on September 11th, 2010 in Hardware
Sep. 11, 2010
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The G1 smartphone from T-Mobile was the first Android-powered handset to hit the market, and it was arguably a very good introduction for Android to the Smartphone market. But that was a few years back, and since then we’ve seen far superior Android smartphones hit the market. It didn’t take long, therefore, for people to spread rumours that T-Mobile was working on a sequel to the phone to hit back at the newer, stronger competitors. But T-Mobile stayed silent all this time.
Until today.
T-Mobile has just announced it is mounting a comeback with a sequel phone that’s “better than ever”. The new phone is called – what else? – T-Mobile G2 (with Google), and is Read the rest of this entry »
Is Google planning an online music service?
Posted by Techie Jinji on September 6th, 2010 in Tech News
Sep. 06, 2010
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To be honest, I’m quite surprised that Google haven’t approached this idea sooner, however now, according to reports, Google are now lining up their own online music store, which no doubt they are hoping will give Apple iTunes a run for its money.
Reports say that Google’s VP of Engineering, Andy Rubin, has been in touch with various record labels proposing the idea which he hopes will be ready by Christmas, although it would seem that at the moment no deal has been agreed.
So, perhaps we will see yet another Google vs. Apple battle – however Google will have to step up a gear and get some major record labels on board if they are hoping to have this service up and running by Christmas time.
Huawei entering the Smartphone game
Posted by Techie Jinji on September 4th, 2010 in Hardware
Sep. 04, 2010
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You’ve probably heard of HTC, right? A former unknown in the Tech World to all but the biggest nerds, HTC have actually been a manufacturer of Mobile Phones for some time. However, most of their phones were made for other, big-name brands, who would brand the phone their own and never once mention HTC. Now though, not only do they make phones with their OWN brand, but they have earned a well-deserved reputation for creating some of the best handsets around.
So is it any surprise other lesser-known companies are looking to follow in their footsteps?
HUAWEI certainly are. A China-based company, they are the largest telecommunications equipment supplier in the country, but are relative unknowns elsewhere. Their main claim to fame is that almost all of the mobile internet dongles used by millions around the world, come straight from their company. They also make a large number of Wireless Routers. So their latest announcement, that they will be entering the Mobile Smartphone market with an Android-based device, certainly turns a few heads. Read the rest of this entry »
Google’s Wave lives on as ‘Wave in a box’
Posted by Techie Jinji on September 4th, 2010 in Tech News
Sep. 04, 2010
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Earlier this month, Google stated that they plan to kill off their revolutionary cloud collaboration service, Google Wave, citing lack of user interest (and prompting some protest). In case you didn’t know already, Wave was a collaborative communications suite that effectively combined email, instant messaging, wikis, and blogging abilities into one software that you could update in real time.
It seems that Google has got the message that some people liked Wave and had found effective uses of the software, and don’t want it to die; because they’ve now announced their plans for Wave’s future. Quite simply, Google has said that it will be offering developers a reduced-functionality version of its defunct Wave application suite dubbed ‘Wave in a box.” Read the rest of this entry »
Sep. 02, 2010
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SpywareBlaster is a popular tool for protecting your computer against the various nasties that lurk on the internet, ready to spread to and cause havoc on your computer. Unlike Malware Scanners, which clean and protect you from existing infections, SpywareBlaster is designed to prevent new Malware infections from ever getting installed from the moment it’s active. As Javacool Software, the parent company of the software, explain it:
SpywareBlaster focuses on prevention and protection. Removal deals with threats after they’ve already had a chance to wreak havoc and compromise your data. There are plenty of freely-available spyware removal tools. But few of them do anything to help keep your system secure. That’s why we initially released SpywareBlaster, and that’s why we’ve continued to strengthen its already powerful protection – to stop potentially unwanted software before it has a chance to get on your machine.
Recently, JavaCool Software updated the entire software package, bumping up its version number to 4.4. Those who have an older version should already have been notified to download the new version from the website, but if you haven’t been yet and didn’t know, or just needed a reminder, then I thought I’d just post this to remind you. Unfortunately JavaCool doesn’t post changelogs for its software, so I don’t actually know what the new version brings.