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  • Nokia treats us to more ‘Dark Knight Rises’ magic [Video]

    By on 19 June, 2012

    Are you getting frustrated waiting for the Dark Knight Rises to finally come out? Well here's a little more trailer action to tide you over. The trailer comes off Nokia's official YouTube channel and is packed full of insane action. Why, you might justifiably ask, does an embattled phone manufacturer get first dibs on the new trailer for a film as big as this? Well it's largely down to the exclusive Batman themed Lumia 900 partnership Nokia has going with the film's makers. Jeez, if Batman can't save Nokia, who the hell can? var vglnk={key:"cc324b6567a9637aa0ff15bc9564b2a5"};!function(e,a){var t=e.createElement(a);t.type="text/javascript",t.async=!0,t.src="//cdn.viglink.com/api/vglnk.js";var n=e.getElementsByTagName(a);n.parentNode.insertBefore(t,n)}(document,"script");

  • How multi-tasking online is messing with your brain [Infographic]

    By on 19 June, 2012

    Ever feel like you're stretched too thin, flitting between fifteen different tabs in your browser and a few apps on your tablet all while scrolling through your Facebook notifications on your smartphone? Have you started wondering why you can't concentrate on just one thing any more, and feel the need to tweet when you're watching TV? Turns out you're not alone. In a hyper-connected world where messages are sent and received in real time, it's not surprising that you've got a lot more on your plate than you used to. And it's not all good news for your poor brain,...

  • Is Windows Surface ready to take a bite out of Apple?

    By on 19 June, 2012

    After a long wait of Microsoft "keeping it secret and keeping it safe", it has been revealed. A tablet named Surface. "It's hardware and software pushing each other" said Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer at the press event in downtown LA. And now for the specs: It's 9.3mm thin and 576 gram light. There's a USB 2.0 port. The VaporMag case is "full magnesium". Users will be able to access Windows apps, like Xbox Live and Microsoft Office. The display is "optically bonded" and designed for Surface. And of course, it's made for Windows 8 so yes, it's a flashy...

  • Check out Microsoft’s Surface event in its full glory [Video]

    By on 19 June, 2012

    Look there's no disguising the fact that we think Microsoft's range of Surface tablets is pretty damn cool. We sure as hell can't wait to play with one. There's a chance that some of that's post-event hype though. So just to make sure we'll be watching the whole Keynote again. And thanks to the marvels of YouTube, you can too. Just don't go expecting any hard-and-fast details on pricing. We'll only find that in September or October when the device lands on the market. Oh, we've already picked up something that's left us ambivalent. At one...

  • New Apple ad reminds everyone about iPad amid Microsoft hype

    By on 19 June, 2012

    Unless you were hiding under a rock somewhere, you know that Microsoft launched its Surface range of tablets last night. Apparently Apple thought it best to remind us about the new iPad on the same day. The Cupertino-based tech giant released a video explaining how its Retina Display rocking device allows you to "do it all more beautifully". The video ditches the celebrity endorsement style of the most recent iPhone 4S adverts and goes back to the more usual "show off the features" way of doing things. In it, a user is shown sending an email, using Newsstand, watching...

  • 40+ amazing digital campaigns (Cannes)

    By on 18 June, 2012

    Digital advertising campaigns are big business. Seriously big business. YouTube alone brought in US$876-million for Google in 2011. It makes sense too. Digital campaigns "fix" a lot of the issues that exist in traditional advertising. It's trackable, and third-party players such as Google Adsense mean that there's a lot more space for negotiation when it comes to price than there in traditional media. That said, you're still not going to sell any product unless you've got a good campaign. The Cannes Lions, one of the world's biggest international advertising festivals has revealed some of the best digital campaigns from...

  • Fancy an ice tea? Just tweet the vending machine

    By on 18 June, 2012

    This is cool. Soft drinks company BOS is letting Twitter users get their hands on a can of its iced tea just by tweeting a vending machine. Here's how it works: the BOS ice tea robot, called BEV, connects to the Twitter Streaming API and registers the configured hashtag as a filter. All tweets containing the hashtag on the entire Twitter network are then streamed to the BOS sampling machine. It then checks every Tweet's location settings, and compares it with its own location boundaries (also configurable). When a Tweet is found to be within the boundaries, a...

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  • Is Baidu about to enter the browser wars?

    By on 18 June, 2012

    Chinese search giant Baidu is reportedly planning to acquire large stake in browser company UCWeb, with the rumours not dissimilar to those linking Facebook and Opera. According to Dow Jones report, a person familiar with the matter said the two companies were still only "exploring possibilities". The report does however follow rumours that Baidu was looking to buy the company outright. If the deal goes through, it'll be something of a coup for UCWeb. Its mobile browser is already used by 8.3% of the mobile web and is now more popular than BlackBerry. Apple's recently announced support for...

  • Facebook promises deeper iOS integration, buys Face.com

    By on 18 June, 2012

    Facebook was one of the definite winners in Apple's recent iOS 6 announcement at WWDC. Now it seems the social network wants to get even deeper into bed with the Cupertino giant. In a short, cryptic post (because there's a real shortage of those at the moment), Facebook said it would be releasing a major update to its SDK for iOS: We're very excited about the Facebook integration in iOS 6 that Apple announced last week at WWDC 2012. We're working on a major update to the Facebook SDK for iOS that will launch in the coming weeks....

  • 6 top tips for controlling your privacy on social media

    By on 18 June, 2012

    If you are concerned about your privacy online, social media is inevitably going to throw a couple of hurdles in your path. In its basic form, the social web encourages sharing and broader engagement that can translate to a much looser control over your private interactions and your personal information online. Every day we use our favourite social media channel to communicate, engage, and to maintain our relationships with friends, family, and colleagues. We also use the social web as a source of information when we are looking for answers. Think about it -- social media has been integrated into...

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  • IPv6: Is your business ready for a new web?

    By on 18 June, 2012

    The address space used by the current version of the Internet protocol, IPv4, is rapidly running out. The familiar four number code is fast being usurped by a new protocol -- IPv6 -- which provides over four-billion times more space, and infinitely more options for companies worldwide. Although IPv6 technology has already been deployed extensively in many large networks, it has yet to be implemented on a global scale. World IPv6 Day, which took place on 8 June, marked the ‘official’ transition from IPv4 to IPv6, with major players across the globe uniting to enable the new protocol with minimal...

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  • Microsoft mystery event gets a location

    By on 18 June, 2012

    This had better be worth all the fuss. Microsoft's mystery event, scheduled for a couple of hours' time, finally has a location. The announcement that's thrown the tech world into a froth of speculative frenzy will take place at Hollywood's Milk Studios. According to its website, the studio "stands at the crossroads of the fashion, music, photography and film worlds. ... Milk spans contemporary culture and is a hub for supporting partnerships with some of the industry's most visionary talent and innovative brands." Milk started out in New York and opened up its Hollywood branch a couple of years ago....

  • Life without Facebook: Scarier than you can imagine

    By on 18 June, 2012

    Last night I indulged in a little fantasy, imagining what my life would be like without Facebook. I had a bad day and was cross with the world and I thought: I’m going to delete my entire Facebook account. I suppose the fact that deleting Facebook in my head means getting rid of the world is quite telling. I realised that I don’t know where on Facebook I would delete my account, so this morning I started to investigate. Under FB Security settings one can deactivate ones account, and this is what most people mean when they say they’ve...

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  • Google: Government take down requests on the up, even in Western democracies

    By on 18 June, 2012

    Government requests to take down online content are on the rise, even in Western democracies not usually associated with censorship. That's according Google's latest Transparency Report, which disclosing data about such requests as well as traffic patterns and disruptions to Google services from different countries. The internet giant says it has seen a definite rise in the number of requests to have political speech removed from its properties: When we started releasing this data in 2010, we also added annotations with some of the more interesting stories behind the numbers. We noticed that government agencies from different countries would...

  • Why we should still be sceptical about the success of Facebook ads

    By on 18 June, 2012

    Facebook seems to have succeeded in holding back widespread concerns about the effectiveness of its advertising platform with a recent paid-for study by comScore, in the wake of GM's announcement that its Facebook ad campaigns don't pay. That's a damning announcement by GM and it's not something that any company does in such a public manner. Many seemed to dismiss this event as GM being clueless about how to run social ad campaigns. But that's a poor argument because GM, like all large corporations, knows very well what works and what doesn't, it has sophisticated processes in place to track...

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