technology
New Screenshots of Kim Dotcom's Mega
Mega us tge rebirth of the old MegaUpload that was taken down by US authorities for copyright infringement. Here are some screenshots of the service if you are curious: You can see the full size image by clicking on any of these thumbnails. Main screen after you login Account Details option Transfer Settings Account Balance Session History Some people may not like the fact that every time they log in, the MEGA system will log browser, IP address, country of origin and browser.
Megaupload is back offering interesting new features
Kim DotCom, the famous founder of MegaUpload.com had been promising a rebirth of his file sharing service and the day has finally come. His new creation is called MEGA. In its current form, it has a simple drag and drop file sharing interface (easy to use) and provides 50GB of FREE online cloud storage. Mr DotCom has promised many more features such as Google Docs style online file editing, instant messaging, smartphone clients and much more. He is offering paid storage upgrades: Right now, I haven't seen a killer feature that would drive the masses to use Mega but I am sure Kim has some interesting plans to encourage us to try his new creation
iPhone 5s production begins March 2013
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) created a lively debate within the Apple community when it published an article claiming that Apple was reducing its component orders because of weaker than expected sales. The Apple proponents came out swinging while opponents cheered hoping it was the truth. Now Peter Misek, a Jeffries analyst is making a claim that seems to be much more believable. He is reporting that Apple will begin production of the iPhone 5s in March for a June 2013 launch.
VISA approved Blackberry (RIM) for mobile payment
Research In Motion (RIM) is working to build credibility ahead of the Blackberry 10 launch later this month and 3rd party certifications are critical. RIM is able to add another to its hat because VISA just approved RIM Near Field Communication (NFC) and Secure Element Manager (SEM) for use with VISA's mobile payment solutions. In Canada, mobile payments are just starting and the largest consortium (EnStream created by Rogers, Bell and Telus) will allow Blackberry users to pay for purchases using their smartphones.
Backberry 10 specs and features revealed
I have received emails from readers mentioning that carriers (US and Canada) have started training employees in preparation for the Blackberry 10 launch later this month. A training presentation has surfaced showing the browser, powerful multi tasking, etc. One slide claims there will be 70,000 apps at launch, which blows my mind. Spec wise, expect a 336ppi screen, a Qualcomm S4 processor, an 1800 mAh battery and BBM video. Stuff from Chris Parsons
China adds 51 million internet users in 2012
Everything China grows in leaps and bounds, internet usage included. The mega economy closed the year with 564 million internet users, a jump of 10% in 2012. The data shows that the biggest driver has been the mobile internet and the number of users accessible the web through a smartphone or tablet increased by 18.1%. The total number of Chinese internet users accessing the internet from a mobile device has now reached 420 million or almost 75% of total internet users.
Is Samsung cooler than Apple?
There is no one characteristic that is responsible for Apple’s phenomenal rise over the last 5 year. It is a combination of good design, great marketing and an excellent ability to predict market trends. Buzz Marketing Group told Forbes that their research shows that Apple has lost it’s coolness badge with teens. It may be a case of Apple being too cool to be cool. Because Apple products are so popular with the general population at large, they are no seen as mainstream and therefore less desirable by today’s youth.
One Pound Fish - The newest internet music sensation
We all know Gangdman Style but have you heard about the newest sensation, the One Pound Fish song? The singer is a 31 year old Pakistani fishmonger from London's Upton Park area. Before this became a famous music video and itunes downloadable song, it was a catch song Nazir use to sing to attract customers for his fish. The 1 pound refers to British money not the weight. Nazir left Pakistan about a year ago (for the UK) and became an unusual music sensation.
Windows RT is not selling that well
In October, I wrote an article entitled "Don’t Buy Microsoft’s Surface RT Yet!"and I still think that is good advice. Now Samsung has told CNET that it will not bring the ATIV TAb (Windows RT tablet) to the US based on the feedback it received from its retail partners. Samsung is also worried that most customers still don't understand the difference between a "real" Windows 8 device and a Windows RT tablet. Samsung doesn't want to fork over the money to educate the market about the differences.
Merge, Split or Encrypt your PDFs online for free using Sejda
There may be times when you need to perform merges, splits, or encryption on a PDF file but don't have access to software on your PC that can perform those tasks. This is where the free Sejda web service comes in. the process is simple: Select the task you want to perform Upload the file Define the tasks parameters Voila The web interface is clean and the service is super easy to use. I tested it out with PDFs up to the service maximum and the service worked quickly and flawlessly.
Find GMAIL messages by size
There are lots of reasons why you may want to search GMAIL by file size. I do this very often to find emails containing large attachments, so I can delete them and free up storage space. Open the GMAIL web interface and type size: followed by the size of the attachment. In this case I am searching for emails 5MB or larger. or you can use This will show all emails containing an attachment larger than 10MB. Both of the above queries can be used interchangeably.
Microsoft Messenger is dead... long live Skype
We have know for some time now that Microsoft (Skype's owner) had the intention of killing off its own Messenger product and use Skype as its younger more hip replacement. The Next Web is now reporting that MS notified it's users that March 15 2013 is the day. You are already able to log into Skype with your MS account and your messenger contacts can be migrated to Skype. Update on 2013-01-11 13:08 by Edward N Kiledjian I received my Microsoft notification email yesterday evening.
How many of your Twitter followers are fake?
With all the talk about fake Facebook/Twitter/Youtube followers, you may be wondering how many of your Twitter followers are real people and how many are bots. Enter Twitter Audit. The company describes itself as Each audit takes a random sample of 5000 Twitter followers for a user and calculates a score for each follower. This score is based on number of tweets, date of the last tweet, and ratio of followers to friends. We use these scores to determine whether any given user is real or fake.
Otterbox iON is a protective case and large battery in one
Otterbox makes some of the best iphone protecting cases anywhere and they have just annonced a new iON case which marries their protection expertise with a decent battery and cool looking overview app. The case is intelligent enough and turns the external battery on and off without any user intervention. The case will hot stores around summer and we don't know the price yet.
IOS 6 is a disappointment and Android Jelly Bean shines
I have been an IOS user since 2007 and have loved every new device and every new IOS release. Each new version (hardware or software) brought incredible innovation and was a pleasure to explore. Then we saw IOS 6 and it was boring. IOS 6 was very boring and was the first time I felt Apple was falling behind its main competitor, Google’s Android. Integration with Google Services Although I knew Android was gaining ground, I hadn’t realized how much it had advanced until I bought my Google Nexus 7.
Amazon Prime finally coming to Canada
Canadians have been waiting a long time but Amazon will finally give us Amazon Prime membership for $79 a year. In exchange for our Canadian money, Amazon will give members free 2 day shipping on most Amazon item. If you were hoping to get Amazon Instant Video, you’ll be disappointed. The US Amazon Prime membership includes a Netflix like streaming video service (included in the price). Unfortunately there is no indication this service will ever be offered north of the border.
SoundGecko let's you listen to your favorite website
SoundGecko is a service that takes in web content you are interested in and makes it available as a downloadable audio track. In simple terms, it converts the content you want into spoken word so you can listen to it while driving, running errands or anytime you can't read. There are clients for IOS, Windows Phone and Android. How it works You sign up for a free account and then go to the SoundGecko page. you enter your registered email address and add the URL of the content you want read.
The best Android keyboard for super fast text entry
As I started exploring Android for the first time (switching from IOS), I wanted to find a fast way to enter text. The IOS method of a screen based keyboard is ok but very slow (and therefore not efficient). I realized that there are dozens of great Android keyboard alternatives. Some of these keyboards are weird and won't actually improve your text entry speed (Slice is a great example of this). Slice for Android If anything, Slice for Android may actually slow you down ;-)
WhatsApp processed 18 billion messages on December 31 2012
The King of Instant Mobile Messaging. Whatsapp had its busiest day yet with 18 billion messages being send over its network on December 31 2012. On Dec 31st we had a new record day: 7B msgs inbound, 11B msgs outbound = 18 billion total messages processed in one day! Happy 2013!!! — WhatsApp Inc. (@WhatsApp) January 2, 2013 WhatApp charges IOS users 99 cents per year. Android, Windows Phone and Blackberry users get the first year free and then are charged 99 cents per year thereafter.
First peek at the Samsung Galaxy S IV
SamMobile, a Samsung only blog, has posted an image it claims is the world’s first look at the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S IV smartphone. They say the image was provided courtesy of a Samsung insider and that because of its look (similar to the SIII) it may be real. There have been some rumors about the Samsung Galaxy S IV and some have even said it will merge their smartphone and phablet lines creating a new flagship phone. Other rumors have said it will keep its 5” screen but bump pixel density to 441ppi.