Technology posts

For every great gizmo that is created, there are dozens of flops that surround it. However, we rarely hear about the failures. Instead, we hear about all the great gadgets of the year, the decade, the millennium, and so on. But what about the flops? What about those truly remarkable failures that will stand the test of time in technological history? That’s why Techi is here to the rescue. So let’s take a stroll down memory lane and recall some of the best of the worst, in no particular order: Furby Furby is, by far, the most annoyingly cute gadget that has ever been created. From the fact that you had to…

In an attempt to get everyone interested in the Vulcan life, Paramount Pictures announced that they will be teaming up with Seagate Technology to sell hard drives with a copy of the newest version of “Star Trek” already installed onto the device. Paramount and Seagate are offering the 500 gigabyte hard drive special for one month only and units will sell for $100, whereas an empty drive would normally have a price tag of almost $150. The hard drives include 20 additional well-known titles such as “GI Joe” and “Nacho Libre,” and each require a code to unlock them, at $10 to $15 each. The extra films take…

Much to the surprise of .. well, not many apparently, Steve Jobs has announced that Apple will no longer be supporting or supplying updates for 1st generation iPhones. Suspicions began when iPhone OS 4 was announced and the iPhone 3G and 3Gs were mentioned. This development doesn’t come as much of a shock because people realize that technology is moving forward rapidly and nothing stays the same for very long anymore. The news that the 1st generation iPhone would be losing support was leaked when Jobs answered an e-mail from a customer that inquired about future support for the 2G. Jobs replied…

Hot on the heels of Microsoft’s introduction of its very own handheld social networking and messaging device, giant Finnish firm Nokia this morning introduced three new messaging and social networking devices of its own. The new range include the Nokia C3, C6 and E5. Each one carries a QWERTY keyboard and offers built-in social features alongside support for up to 10 email accounts from most major email vendors, including Microsoft Exchange, Lotus Notes Traveller and support for Instant Messaging services. The camera-equipped WiFi-enabled handsets also offer Facebook updates on your…

Following yesterday’s reports suggesting Palm has put itself up for sale comes more news on the company’s attempt to find a new friend. Chinea’s Huawei Technologies has been approached by an investment bank on behalf of Palm for preliminary acquisition talks, but discussions have not yet moved forward. Huawei Technologies isn’t a household name, but it has become the world’s second-biggest telecoms equipment company after Ericsson. And that lack of a household name could be the benefit it gains from buying a well-known brand such as Palm. One of the pioneers in PDA and smartphone tech,…

Apparently, Apple boss Steve Jobs now claims his company owns the trademark on the word ‘Pad’. This news follows Apple’s move last week to demand app developer Chris Ostmo remove the word ‘Pad’ from the name of his two products, journalPad and journalPad Bible Edition. Ostmo received a terse email from the App Store team telling him to make these changes. The upset developer then wrote a personal plea to Jobs asking for clarification as to the policy, particularly as so many developers had originally shoved a ‘Pad’ suffix into their App names in advance of the iPad launch…he didn’t…

Apple today updated its MacBook Pro range, offering up faster processors, better graphics and longer battery life – however MacBook and MacBook Air upgrades didn’t emerge. The popular 13-inch MacBook Pro now boasts an NVIDIA GeForce 320M graphics processor that makes for up to 80 percent faster graphics. It also has a 10-hour built-in battery. The new 15-inch and 17-inch MacBook Pro models feature Intel Core i5 and i7 processors and Apple’s new automatic graphics switching technology that toggles seamlessly between powerful NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M and energy efficient Intel HD Graphics…

Since the tragic attacks on the World Trade Centre in 2001, the whole world has been cautious about who they can trust, where they’ll stay safe and what events/places to avoid as a precaution. Sports stadiums and arenas can hold thousands in a concentrated area and last year, the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI warned that terrorists could take an interest in attacking these venues, while at full capacity. Officials are aware of the threat of a possible attack and have been planning what to do, should something ever happen and all of the crowds need to be evacuated quickly. One can only…

Apple’s online store has been taken offline generating a clamour of excitement among company watchers who are already expecting the company to introduce an all-new range of laptops today. UPDATE: The company has updated its MacBook Pro range, read about it here. New model MacBooks, MacBook Pros and MacBook Air laptops have all been speculated upon in recent days. Taiwanese newspaper Apple Daily most recently claimed new MacBook, MacBook Pro, and MacBook Air models to be due for launch sometime this month. Note: Apple’s MacBook Pro and MacBook Air models were last upgraded in June 2009, while…

In a big surprise for iPhone users in search of choice, Apple has approved the third-party Opera Mini app for the iPhone. This version of Opera Mini has been developed specifically for the iPhone and is impressively fast. This is because it compresses data by up to 90 percent before fetching that data to the device, which has the effect of greatly accelerating page load speed (that’s particularly good if you’re on a slower EDGE network). It took Apple – known to reject apps which emulate those it provides – just three weeks to approve Opera Mini for the iPhone. The free Safari replacement is now available…