He may have written some classic hits, but Prince has no ‘Kiss’ to give in his latest ‘Purple Rain’ of vitriol against ‘teh internets’, which the diminutive pop star says ‘is finished’. Is this a ‘Sign of the Times’, or simply an attempt by the artist to propel sales of his latest album, 20TEN, which isn’t going to be made available in shops, instead it is to be given away in the UK with copies of the Daily Mirror. Speaking to the Mirror, Prince slammed, like, this whole Internet thing, saying it is over, finished, dead, last year’s number. At the risk of being a rock ‘n’ roll…

Apple has admitted to a widely-reported problem in which millions of iPhone 4 units are likely to lose signal when gripped by the lower left corner, saying there’s nothing unusual about the flaw, illustrated in this video. In an official statement issued late last night after hundreds of customers reported the flaw, which particularly impacts left-handed users, the company issued the following widely-published statement. “Gripping any phone will result in some attenuation of its antenna performance, with certain places being worse than others depending on the placement of the antennas….

How have you been making use of your time? PixelOptics have spent the last decade developing emPower, which is – get this – electronic spectacles that can change focus via an electrical current run through a layer of liquid crystal in the lenses, effectively rendering the bifocal obsolete. You tell me what’s not bad ass about that. Just tell me. I dare you. The specs have three modes: when off, they act as a regular progressive lens – not the greatest, but suitable for everyday activity. When in manual mode, the electronic layer is locked in the on position, and the glasses function more or less like…

Like it or not, Twitter has become an unavoidable part of our online lives. Created by Jack Dorsey and Biz Stone in 2006, the social networking platform’s reach has grown remarkably over the past four years. According to a recent study conducted by Edison Research, 87 percent of the U.S. population is now aware of its existence. Surprising? Not really. Forget about Twitter’s overwhelming online presence, the site is constantly being thrown in our face throughout every media outlet imaginable. From CNN to ESPN, we’re constantly exposed to the endless stream of thoughts that Twitter encompasses….

Some people would kill to have the latest technology, and some are being killed by it. A mobile phone number has been discontinued after three separate owners died after having been allocated the number. The cell phone number 0888 888 888 seems like an awesome cell phone number, right? Easy to remember, looks cool on your business card, etc. But the three people who have owned that number have all died under suspicious circumstances. The first owner, Vladimir Grashnov, was the owner of Bulgaria’s Mobitel. He died of cancer in 2001, but there are rumors that he was poisoned by a business rival. The…

Google’s Android and Apple’s iPhone are rapidly snatching smartphone share as the race to ascendancy sees the competition sent to casualty. The latest Gartner figures today tell us Android and iPhones are gobbling up the space. Between them they now account for 25 percent of the smartphone market (in Q1), up from 12 percent last year. The iPhone took 15.4 percent of the whole thing (up 5 points). Android is up 8 points to 9.6 per cent. What’s critical here is that all other smartphones lost relative share, though unit sales climbed. Android is now the fourth largest operating system, displacing…

A survey of 4,000 UK shoppers has declared Apple’s iPhone to be a more important invention than flushing toilets or space travel. The smartphone has also been voted more important than the combustion engine and washing machine. The study, conducted for Tesco Mobile, puts the iPhone in eighth place on a 100 item list (below). The wheel was voted the most important invention in history, ahead of the plane, lightbulb, the world wide web and computers. Lance Batchelor, Chief Executive Officer of Tesco Mobile, said: “It’s amazing to see how much the iPhone is valued, sitting alongside inventions…

Attention US iPhone users — it looks like AT&T and Apple are at last making good on their long-held promise to offer tethering support through the iPhone, but not until the release of iPhone OS 4.0 later this summer. This illustration comes from inside the iPhone OS 4.0 beta that’s circulating at present, though the number given takes you to a recorded message saying “AT&T doesn’t offer tethering at this time”. Tethering — the process of using your iPhone as a 3G modem with your Mac — is really useful when traveling, or as a home back-up Internet connection for when your broadband goes…

Ever wonder what it’s like living in the coldest places on Earth? Pretty awesome from the looks of it. Several countries ranging from the US to South Africa have established research facilities in the Antarctic over the years but building these bases is no walk in the park. They face obstacles that are unlike anything the rest of the world sees, such as being covered in 30 feet of snow or having the facility’s whole foundation drift into the sea. Engineers have gotten creative in facing these challenges. The US-occupied Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station is perched on 36 stilts to lift it 10 feet off…

Companies, both big and small, are now connecting with consumers like never before. By utilizing advancements in technology they have been able to develop more personal relationships which ultimately translate into cold hard cash. Just ask Dell, whose “DellOutlet” Twitter account has generated them an estimated 3+ million dollars. Many of these companies focus most of their technology budgets on the internet but many are starting to allocate funds to support research into using mobile platforms for their benefit. It’s hard to imagine that anything that benefits a large corporation…