The current emphasis on Smart TV is significant, and although not every consumer is in ownership of one, vendors seem to be doing everything they can to turn your slightly mature HDTV into an all-singing, all-dancing, Web-ready portal. In a week that has seen Google launch the Chromecast dongle, Sky in the UK has just launched its own Web TV box for the tidy price of just £9.99. You can find more details right after the jump.
After a lengthy eight day stretch of downtime, the Apple Dev Center is now finally back online, and so registered developers should be able to carry on about their business as usual. Late last week, it became apparent that systems were completely down, and after Apple stepped out and confirmed that it had been indeed subjected to a security breach, and that while all passwords and sensitive data were secure and out of reach of any hacker activity, it would be working on overhauling the system completely to prevent any such mishap from occurring in future. That initial memo was then followed by a server status update tool earlier this week, and now, just over a week after the Dev Center first went down, the main sections of the system are now back online.
While there's still no sign of an official Instagram app for those poor souls stuck on the slick yet decidedly bereft Windows Phone 8 platform, a new app by the name of Hipstamatic Oggl is surely the next best thing. The app, which made its name on Apple's iPhone, allows users to take and edit snaps with ease, but the key component in the case of Windows Phone is its ability to post directly to Instagram.
With any next-generation product, particularly within the image-conscious technology industry, we expect a thinner, lighter, and slicker form factor all round. While the jury's still out on whether the PlayStation 4 console looks as cool as its predecessor did when it launched all those years ago, there's no doubting that Sony has scaled down the packaging while scaling up the hardware beef within the PS4. Sony’s PS Access channel has a short video pitting new and old side-by-side, which not only lets you make up your mind as to which looks better, but also gives you some idea as to how much more compact the PlayStation 4 is.
The market for 4K Ultra HD displays has yet to really take off thanks to the lack of supporting content, high prices, and general newness of the technology. Yet with both the forthcoming Xbox One from Microsoft and PlayStation 4 from Sony both offering varying degrees of 4K support, it would appear other platforms are now following suit. The source code of the just-released Android 4.3 Jelly Bean seems to indicate support for Ultra HD, and although this doesn't necessarily signal a flurry of 4K Android devices, it is clear that Google is thinking ahead to the future.
Almost everyone has seen Minority Report, and why not - that blockbuster flick was decades ahead of its time in terms of the technological and computing innovation that it presented. One particular theme from the Tom Cruise flick that stuck with viewers and tech enthusiasts for a long time was being able to control and manipulate computer interfaces through gestures and body movement. A lot of developers and companies have attempted to incorporate that one way or the other, with the most successful example being Microsoft’s Kinect accessory for its Xbox consoles.
This is just in. Looks like Apple has randomly started signing iOS 6.0.x for a number of devices including the latest iPhone 5, iPhone 4S, iPad mini, iPad 4, 3 and iPod touch 5. If you accidently updated to the latest firmware, or if your device came with iOS 6.1.4 / 6.1.3 pre-installed, now is the time to downgrade back to 6.0.x and jailbreak using Evasi0n.
If you're into your tech news, you'll be more than aware by now that Google made one or two important announcements yesterday. The event, headed in New York City by the company's head of Android and Chrome Sundar Pichai, saw a brand new iteration of Android - Android 4.3 Jelly Bean -announced alongside a new streaming peripheral by the name of Chromecast. On top of that, the search giant also added the small matter of a significantly-updated Nexus 7 2013 tablet, which features an improved display, rear camera and faster processor among other niceties. If you happened to have missed any of yesterday's proceedings or simply would like to relive the event, a video of the entire showpiece is now available to watch online via Google's very own YouTube.
The way Apple's iOS updates its third-party apps is seen as a marvel to some, and an annoyance to others. While the whole process is, as with most of the software's features, nicely streamlined, that oh-so frequent feeling of constrained functionality does tend to creep in from time to time. For example, if you're updating an app, and decide, midway through, that you wish to retain the current version for the time being, there's no native way of doing so. Luckily, as is so often the case, there's a tweak for that, and it's called, quite naturally, CancelUpdate.
Guide on how to remotely download uTorrent files on PC / Mac using iPhone, iPad or iPod touch - no jailbreak required.
