8 hours ago by Toby Leftly
The Pirate Bay is down this morning after reports of raids across Europe.
According to thinq.co.uk, police in up to 14 countries raided locations suspected of housing file sharing servers or equipment.
The seemingly invulnerable site has survived a number of attacks from copyright holders through the courts, and has become a beacon for file sharers and those who disagree with the position of content creators about the internet.
Predictably, most of the raids occurred in Sweden, although raids are said to have taken place in the Netherlands, Belgium, Norway, Germany, Britain, the Czech Republic and Hungary. more »
9 hours ago by 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 wants to discuss updates to its Google Goggles visual search technology.
It’s widely believed that Google will be announcing a music storage and download service around Christmas time, but until then Google might actually plan to focus on search for just a little while longer.
10 hours ago by Toby Leftly
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.
11 hours ago by Toby Leftly
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 at HP for two years. more »
Yesterday by Ty Dunitz
Microsoft is bold. In this new ad for Windows Phone 7, a simple promise is made: ‘The revolution is coming’.
I don’t want to knock Microsoft. I love Microsoft (…most of the time). Sure, they’re kinda boring and suit-y, but they more often than not make great products, and Windows Phone 7 is shaping up to be one of them, from what I’ve seen. That UI absolutely kills me in the best way. Gorgeously unique.
Of course, that alone will not an iPhone-killing OS make (despite certainly helping – pay attention, RIM), so we’ll have to just sit tight and see where this goes. You’d better watch out, Microsoft. Might wanna leave those stupid comments bold claims in your pocket until we decide how Windows Phone 7 is gonna do.
Yesterday by Ty Dunitz
Courtesy of 9 to 5 Mac comes this screenshot which, according to them, is of an iPad testing next-gen firmware. You’re looking at a ‘Video Call Debug’ screen.
Of course, this news comes as a total nap until you remember the simple fact that the iPad doesn’t have a camera, making this (presumably legit) screenshot the first piece of hard – or at least ‘firm’ – evidence supporting the rumoured dual cameras to be included in the next iteration of the iPad.
Surely, though, we knew it was destined to happen anyway. Even the iPod Touch (not to mention Apple’s tablet competitors) have cameras now. This screen is merely a titillating – and satisfying – confirmation of the inevitable.
Yesterday by Ty Dunitz
It would appear that the rift between Apple and Adobe has become so great, that Apple’s ad artists are losing Touch with Photoshop itself.
Head on over to Apple’s iPod Touch page, and tell me if you notice anything outstanding. Anything at all. Notice something? Yeah? How about this?
Or this?
iPod Touch can send messages – and better still, make phone calls? Gracious!
Well, don’t throw your iPhone in the trash just yet – this is clearly a Photoshop flub on Apple’s part, and quite frankly, I expect the images to have been retooled by the end of the day. more »
Sep 5 by Toby Leftly
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 being clever, by simply making their products available for customers to purchase?
Either way, the software is available now (apparently) and may or may not be announced at some point.
Sep 4 by Ty Dunitz
Assuming you’re a gamer, you will be tickled not only pink, but an entire double rainbow of colours to know that Duke Nukem Forever will finally, finally, finally see release. Christmas will come twice in 2011.
If you’re less in the know, Duke Nukem Forever began development in 1997 by 3D Realms, the studio behind the legendary Duke Nukem 3D. But as the ambition of the project continued to grow, the release date continued to be pushed back, eventually to “when it’s done”. The game eventually became synonymous with vapourware, and even the most hardcore Duke fans (myself included) eventually lost hope. Hey, thirteen years is a long time.
“We were trying to build a game that was too great,” said 3D Realms CEO Scott Miller. more »
Sep 4 by Ty Dunitz
Facebook is, as we speak, rolling out a remote logout feature that will aid those who have absent-mindedly forgotten to sign out after a high-octane creeping session.
The feature allows you to see a list of devices from which you’re currently signed in – your phone, your computer, the school’s computer, the library’s computer, the local display iPad, etc, and axe the session from any to all of those devices. It also logs the length of the session, and software used. Pretty zazzy.
Honestly, in terms of privacy – which historically, of course, is not Facebook’s forte – this is a totally great new addition. Personally, I have this one friend, who never logs out. His status invariably winds up as ‘eating babies’ or something. more »
