Category Archives: In the News

Tech news and opinions

Orange to revamp home broadband packages

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Orange has decided that it will revamp it’s broadband packages in just over a week. This is probably an attempt to try and regain some of it’s lost customers following the company’s shameful performance over the last few months.

Customers have become fed up of the poor customer service and vague fair use policy. As a result, Orange has been loosing customers to other ISPs with better deals and clearer agreeements.

The new plans will replace the current plans and hopefully make the deals a little simpler.

However, ISPReview says that the “unlimited” packages will remain. So, unless Orange do something about their bizarre fair use policy, they won’t get anywhere. In addition, new packages won’t resolve any problems with customer service.

We’ll have to wait and see what the new plans bring. I don’t think they’ll be much to be excited about – long contracts, stupid policies, cheap routers and awful speeds. Surprise me, Orange.

(Source: ISPReview)

[Updated] iPhone OS 4.1 coming September 8th – in the UK at least

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Update: 4.1 is now live.

Update: This date has now been removed from the Apple site. The launch date of September 8th 2010 still remains on Wikipedia.

The Apple UK site now confirms that the OS 4.1 update for iPhone will be coming on September 8th. The iPod Touch page still says “Coming Soon”, as does the US site.

However, Apple usually launch all of their firmware updates on the same day so it gives me reason to believe that it will be launched to everyone on that date.

Unless you have one of the newer iPhones (iPhone 3Gs or 4) there isn’t really that much to get excited about. The iPod touch seems to be gaining Ping functionality within the iTunes app together with a new “Game Center” (I know that should be “centre” but Apple don’t seem to know British spelling). If you have an iPhone, you’ll also gain HD uploads to YouTube on the go and HDR photography.

So nothing to get too excited. Personally, I think Apple should be concentrating more on getting iPad users onto 4.0. Apple don’t seem to have much time for iPad users at the moment.

Google Chrome 6 brings cleaner interface and minor new features

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Google Chrome was recently updated to it’s latest version – version 6.0. The new version includes a few minor updates.

The interface has been cleaned up a little since 5.0, with the main navigation controls looking slightly more seamless. In addition, the address bar no longer shows the “http://” part of the URL. At first I thought this would be annoying, but there are exceptions to this rule which make it more practical.

  • If you copy and paste a link from the address bar, Chrome automatically replaces the “http://” in the URL. This avoids any problems with using URLs in social networks or placing them in IM conversations.
  • If you go to a secure site, Chrome replaces the “https://” in the URL. This avoids any user confusion when purchasing products online.

With exception to those minor new features, there isn’t much to know. There is a new form feature which allows you to save personal details into the browser, so that you can sign up and pay for products with ease.

In addition, Google claims that there are javascript improvements with the new version together with extension sync (similar to bookmark sync but for extensions).

It is also worth noting that Chrome is now 2 years old. Happy Birthday Chrome. It was actually launched on September 2nd, 2008. I can remember trying the first Chrome beta and immediately switching from Firefox.  I haven’t gone back since!

You can grab the version by going to google.com/chrome or heading to “About Google Chrome” from within the browser.

iTunes 10 (Windows) review – worth the upgrade

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It was announced yesterday that Apple would be releasing their newest version of iTunes in the early hours of this morning. And as if by magic, the Apple Software Updater today alerted me that a new version of the software was available. So I’ve downloaded it, given it a spin and here’s what I have to say.

If you’re just a casual user of iTunes, you probably won’t notice any huge difference except from the new design and interface. They’ve replaced the CD logo with a new logo of a music note. The general UI of the program has been changed quite considerably. I quite like it, but I think this new approach to listing my music library looks very untidy.

Thankfully, I use the album cover view to see my music, so that won’t affect me hugely.

The biggest new feature to the program is the new “Ping”. Essentially, it’s just a copy of last.fm with the ability to like, review and follow artists/songs that are of interest to you. You can then share this with other users that you happen to be following. The software will give you up to date information from the artists you are following.

Personally, I quite like the feature. I’ll find it very useful for “discovering” new music as Apple like to put it. However, I think it’s sad that Apple are so desperate for ideas that they have to go and copy a concept that already exists. I much prefer last.fm’s approach and I think Apple will have a job getting people to convert to their idea.

I happen to think performance has improved considerably with the new version. Even with a dual core 2.8ghz processor and Windows 7, iTunes 9 still seemed to be pretty sluggish. The new version appears to load up pretty quickly and navigating through the software seems to be much more speedy. Gone are the days when you have to wait several seconds for iTunes to respond to you clicking a menu option.

Other than that though, there isn’t really much the casual iTunes user will notice. The store hasn’t really changed much, except for “Ping” integration. The iPod management is almost identical to the old version, with exception to a tiny bit of new design.

Overall, I’d go grab it. It’ll probably be essential to upgrade soon anyway. You can get it from apple.com/itunes or from the Apple Software Updater.

Spotify finally supports multitasking with iOS4

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Yes, the news that every Spotify customer has wanted to hear. Spotify finally supports multitasking on the iOS4 with the latest update.

You will of course need an iPhone 3GS/4 or an 3rd gen iPod Touch (unless you have jailbroken) to get the multitasking ability.

The new app also supports control from the lock screen and double-click control buttons, which does make the app much more usable. It also features a new “What’s new” section like in the PC application, so you can see the top tracks of the moment and any new releases.

A well deserved update I think.