New Adaptive Streaming Technology from Apple Hinted At

Apple could be working on a new file format that will use what is now called “adaptive streaming”. The new technology is believed to coming to the iTunes Match and iCloud services and will see iTunes files currently stored in AAC format changed to HD versions. With adaptive streaming, it allows those with high bandwidth access and enough storage space to have HD versions streamed. When bandwidth degrades a little, the file is switched to a lower quality version.

[Read more…]

Microsoft SkyDrive Metro App for Windows 8 Detailed

Microsoft will be launching a SkyDrive App for Windows 8 later this year. The new app will have the ability to work on the desktop and keep in sync with a SkyDrive.com account online. When files are edited locally, they are then updated to the cloud version of the file (and vice-versa).

[Read more…]

New Windows 8 Logo Unveiled by Microsoft

Microsoft has unveiled a new logo for Windows 8. The design of the logo drops to just a single colour and has been designed to represent the new Metro interface that we have seen on Windows Phone 7 for a while now.

[Read more…]

Apple Closing in on 25 Billion App Downloads – Win $10,000

Apple has almost hit another milestone. Over the last few days a new counter has been put online that shows the current number of apps that have been downloaded. As can be seen by visiting this page, the counter has just over half a billion app downloads to go to reach the target.

[Read more…]

OS X Lion Messages Beta Appears to Be for Mountain Lion Only After Launch

Apple launched a beta version of Messages for Mac. The app works in the same way as Messages for iOS devices in that it allows you to easily send an iMessage from the desktop to other iMessage users.

The beta works on OS X Lion at the moment although we are hearing now that in the future, when the beta ends, it might only be made available for those upgrading to OS X Mountain Lion.

[Read more…]

New Unlock screen for Android Found in a Patent

Google [GOOG] has filed a patent for a new unlock screen. Apple has recently been chasing after companies who use a “Slide to Unlock” feature on smartphones and was successful in a case just recently.

This new unlock method by Google looks to aim to avoid any disputes but also add a few more functions to the unlock to make it in to a mechanism to access certain parts of the system.

[Read more…]

Apple Releases OS X Mountain Lion Developer Preview

Apple [AAPL] has released a developer preview of the next version of OS X. The latest version will be called OS X Mountain Lion. The aim of Mountain Lion is to bring closer together iOS and OS X. It is numbered version 10.8 although no pricing or release date has been revealed yet.

[Read more…]

Verified Accounts and Pseudonyms Launched by Facebook

Facebook has launched a new service that allows prominent people to verify their accounts. The service is similar to what Twitter uses where famous users can sign up and be verified so that other fake accounts can easily be spotted. However, on the Facebook side of this they have decided against using a badge to denote if the account is Verified.

[Read more…]

Apple TV Refresh Could Be Announced Alongside New iPad

Apple could be about to refresh the Apple TV. By saying Refresh, I mean that it could be another set-top box that is launching rather than a full Apple TV that has been rumoured for the last few months. That particular model is still about a year away if rumours are to be believed.

[Read more…]

Internet TV Service from Sky Launching in 2012

Sky is planning to launch a new internet TV service in the first half of 2012. Anyone with a broadband connection will be able to sign up to use it. The services is described as being stand-alone and OTT with standalone meaning that you don’t need to be a regular Sky TV subscriber to use this service and the OTT referring to being “over the top”.

[Read more…]

Google Wants to Speed up the Web by Making TCP Faster

Google is on a quest to speed up the web and has been for a while. The idea is that web pages load quicker which in turn, makes a better experience for the user.

The next phase in the quest is related to TCP. Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) is currently used to deliver web content across the internet. It allows computers to connect up to networks and networks to connect to other networks. Google has created some suggestions that will change how TCP works a little.

[Read more…]

iBooks 2 Reveals Some High-Res Images

We mentioned earlier that iBooks 2 launched yesterday. Along with bringing Textbooks and a whole revamp of where media is going, we are not getting in to some of the technical details behind it. By looking around the package a user has found a few high-res images that are used by the iPad version.

[Read more…]