Author: Toby Leftly

Google has announced a press event for tomorrow, September 8th, to discuss searching. It seems obvious, except recently Google has been about almost everything except search, so it’s worth stating out in the open. The invite alludes to a single large announcement relating to search, and mentions the “evolution of Google search”. Google is certainly rolling out the big guns, with Marissa Mayer, Johanna Wright, Ben Gomes and Othar Hansson leading the event. The event will take place at the Museum Of Modern Art in San Francisco. Some have speculated that the location is an indication that Google…

Nokia’s next generation of phones will be powered by an OS named MeeGo, the convergence of Nokia’s Maemo OS and Intel’s Moblin OS. The official MeeGo site provided a preview of the new interface, which contains few surprises. The icons are displayed grid-style, like Android and iOS. Much of the visual cues and UX look similar or identical to iOS. While Nokia clearly isn’t aiming for a revolutionary experience like Microsoft is with Windows Phone 7, it’ll be great to see a fresh coat of paint on a Nokia device….

Most companies looked at the Mark Hurd scandal with distaste, but one company watching saw something great. After the weekend’s rumors, Oracle has hired disgraced HP CEO Mark Hurd. Hurd, coincidentally a good friend of Oracle CEO Larry Ellison will fill the co-president position formerly occupied by Charles Phillips, who himself is now looking for an industry crony willing to hire him. HP shares have dropped 13% amid the scandal. Hurd allegedly filed inaccurate expense reports which may have indicated that Hurd was in a close personal relationship with Jodie Fisher, a marketing contractor…

Most people have occasionally stopped to wonder what life was like before computers, but if you use Photoshop, you understand the true power and simplicity that computers bring to every day life. Now we get to see for real what a world without Photoshop would be like, thanks to the cryptically named aworldwithoutphotoshop.com. A team of designers hurry to create a magazine cover in a mere eight hours, and are stumped at the notion of having to add lens flare and drop shadow. As someone who remembers the old days of pasting up hand-cropped artwork using spray mount, this brings back personal demons…

Here’s one for the books. You know how everyone’s always pre-announcing their stuff? Well one company is taking a different route, and actually launching a product in stores available to the public. This refreshing approach comes to you from Parallels, the Windows-on-a-Mac virtualization company. Amazon yesterday dropped the price of the previous version to $20, and today the new software is on shelves without so much as a press conference. Even the company’s website is still promoting version 5 of the software. Does this company not understand how the tech industry works? Do they think they’re…

Finally! Someone has taken the time to explain why infographics are so common on the web. Using an infographic. As an infographic junkie, I know the power and purpose of a good infographic, but apparently there’s a hidden motive for their virulent use on the web. Buzzfeed details how infographics are actually a tool of evil SEO spammers, helpfully summarizing the information in a neat infographic. It sure feels like I’m saying ‘infographic’ a lot….

Apple is a fairly tight lipped company, so it speaks volumes when they do decide to speak out ahead of an actual release or announcement. There’s now a dedicated page on apple.com, publicizing the upcoming iPad 4.2 iOS software update. There are a couple of reasons why they might pre-announce this. They received some criticism at the iPad’s release that some crucial functionality was missing, particularly printing capability. Perhaps eager to quiet the mob, Apple wants to reassure us that our demands have been answered. Another reason is that iOS now being a single product, some might find it…

It must be identity crisis week in the tech industry. No one wants to eat their own lunch anymore, the guy sitting next to you always has a jucier hamburger. This has been covered before, but Google wants to be Apple. Any everyone else. But primarily Apple. Allegedly, the search monster is in talks with music labels to release a service that competes with iTunes. The music industry is more than a little moist at the idea of a company large enough and tech savvy enough to take on Apple and do a better job than Sony, Coke and a number of other try-hards that couldn’t cut it. 70% of digital music is sold by Apple,…

With Adobe’s Creative Suite 5 barely a couple of months old, the Photoshop team is already hard at work on new features for CS6. Here’s a vidoe sneak peak at a new tool: Photobomb. The video speaks for itself, so check it out, but I’m pretty sure this is something I’ll use on a daily basis. It’s great to see that some of Adobe’s staff are still lighthearted and able to poke fun at themselves, even while their CEO is busy trying to bury the company by chaining it to a dying technology….

I’m not going to get dragged into the mudslinging over iTunes 10. I’m not. I flat out refuse. Two of my co-Techi’s have written, in some depth and with greater eloquence than I. Okay, seriously, WTF Apple? iTunes 10 UI changes-for-the-sake-of-changes aside, what is it you’ve actually got here? The ‘Facebook’ of music? The ‘Twitter’ of media? No. At best, you have a crappy, restrictive accounts system that users now have the option to make public. I know some people wanted this system, they see iTunes as Last.fm on steroids, but I really don’t see this as Apple’s advantage. Apple has typically done…