News

Opera Browser for Android Out of Beta, Officially Launches

Paul Lilly — Tue, 21 May 2013 18:54:36 +0000

A meeting of the mobile minds.

Opera isn't uber popular on the desktop, though it's been able to spread its wings on mobile. The same can be said for Google's Android platform (which makes sense, considering Android is a mobile platform). If you want to mash these two together, feel free to do so starting today. Opera for Android is now officially launched for free from Google Play, Opera Software announced on Tuesday.

"Most people just see a fraction of what the web has to offer," says Rikard Gillemyr, EVP of Consumer Products at Opera Software. "We check out the same sites every day, and you can get through with the latest news after just a short bus ride. We wanted to give people a relaxed way of discovering interesting articles and checking them out without any extra effort."

One of the things Opera for Android introduces to mobile users is an "Off-Road" feature. Using data compression, the Off-Road algorithm reduces the amount of data traffic while browsing your Android phone so that you can surf a little more comfortably on crummy connections.

Opera for Android also sports a redesigned interface with a lighter color scheme that the Norwegian browser maker claims is "super intuitive to use."

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Microsoft Announces Xbox One Console

Paul Lilly — Tue, 21 May 2013 18:26:44 +0000

An all-in-one home entertainment device.

Gamers have been eagerly anticipating the launch of Microsoft's next generation Xbox console, and today they finally got what they've been waiting for. Microsoft's next console, previously referred to as Durango and Xbox 720, was introduced to the world as Xbox One, a name that underscores Microsoft's intent to rule the living room with an all-in-one entertainment system that's equally adept at playing games as it is for watching live TV, chatting on Skype, browsing photos and videos, and more. The device itself looks rather large and almost VCR-like.

Microsoft's Don Mattrick took to the stage and talked about how the living room has become "too complex, too fragmented, and too slow." The Xbox One is Microsoft's answer to these problems, and much of the magic of the new console has to do with intelligent voice recognition and gesture control.

Navigation

Yusuf Mehdi, senior vice president of Microsoft's Interactive Entertainment Business, demoed several of Xbox One's navigation features. One of big differences between the Xbox One and 360 is that the console recognizes who you are right off the bat. Say "Xbox On" and it will turn on your device and launch straight into your custom profile with your personalized home screen. It will also remember what you were last doing, in case you wanted to jump back into a game or movie that you had to duck out of prematurely.

One of the most impressive demos was Mehdi showing how quickly and smoothly the Xbox One can switch between tasks, going from Internet Explorer ("Xbox Internet Explorer!") to watching movies ("Xbox movie!") and live TV. It will be interesting to see what kind of relationship Microsoft and the Xbox One has with cable providers. It can also, of course, play games. The Xbox One recognizes gestures, too. Reach out your arms, grab, and close to bring up the Home screen, or expand to go back to where you just came from.

A new Snap Mode allows you to multi-task, to an extent. While you're watching a movie, for example, you can have Skype running in a sidebar on the right or look up content on the web via IE.

Live TV figures to be a prominent feature of the Xbox One. Say "Show the guide" to bring up a listing of TV shows and then navigate through voice control, by browsing favorites, or by seeing what's "Trending," which is a new tab added to the Dashboard. If you're bored with your program, you can say "What's on HBO?" and Xbox One will respond with a listing of shows and movies on HBO.

What About the Hardware?

As for the hardware, well, the Xbox One will rock an 8-core CPU with 5 billion transistors, 8GB of system memory, 500GB hard drive, Blu-ray drive (yes, the Xbox is finally getting Blu-ray!), 802.11n Wi-Fi, HDMI in/output, and USB 3.0 support. Beyond that, it's not clear if that RAM will be unified like it is on the PlayStation 4 or which exact processor and GPU Microsoft is tapping into, or whether it will be x86 based like Sony's console. We suspect those details will come to light in the coming months, and potentially at E3, where Microsoft will make several Xbox 360 announcements.

On the platform side, Microsoft described a three-in-one OS architecture:

Xbox software that gives developers deep access to the sysem and hardware
A Windows kernel
Special software to connect the two above OSes

Following the press conference, Nvidia revealed to us that the company will offer the console PhysX support. Whether that is on the GPU side or CPU side is still up in the air. Maximum PC has tried reaching out to Nvidia for more clarification on the matter to only recieve a "no comment" reply. Regardless, with PhysX support coming to the Xbox One, this will be especially interesting as earlier rumors pegged the Xbox One as using AMD components for both the CPU and GPU. This could theoretically mean the green and red team may be collaborating on the console in some capacity.

UPDATE: AMD has confirmed it is indeed designing an APU for the Xbox One. “AMD is very excited to be working with Microsoft on their next-generation Xbox One. The Microsoft Xbox One leverages a single-chip, semi-custom AMD APU, with custom components co-developed with Microsoft designed to enable unique attributes of the system Microsoft is bringing to market,” said Saeid Moshkelani, corporate vice president and general manager of AMD's Semi-Custom Business Unit.

Updated Kinect Sensor and Controller

A new Kinect sensor will be paired with every Xbox One console. It expands to 1080p, can read more joints than before, understands subtle movements like a flick of the wrist, and can even detect your heartbeat when exercising. Microsoft also updated the familiar controller so that it's more ergonomic, though retains the same semi-butterfly shape as previous versions.

Xbox Live

Sorry folks, Microsoft isn't giving up its subscription-based Xbox Live service in favor of free online play for everyone. The same memberships as today will exist, though the backend infrastructure is significantly overhauled. While today's Xbox Live service taps into 15,000 servers, there will be 300,000 servers powering Xbox One's Live service.

Microsoft will put that horsepower to use in part for better matchmaking. It will search for opponents in one game while you're playing another, and overall, Microsoft envisions a deeper, richer Live experience.

Call of Duty: Ghosts

Finally, Call of Duty: Ghosts made an appearance towards the end of the event. Microsoft announced that will continue its exclusive downloadable content (DLC) deal with Activision, ensuring Xbox One gamers get DLC before gamers on other devices.

There's a new game engine being introduced in Ghosts. It will run at a steady 60 frames per second while you control new characters in a new game world. The script is being hammered out by Stephen Gaghan, writer of Traffic and Syriana.

Dogs will be part of your squad and are able protect your team and sniff for explosives. Other animals, like fish, will move out of your way as you get close, which is part of a new artificial intelligence (A.I.) system. There will be dynamic events like earthquakes, and player-driven events too. You'll be able to customize your characters in multiplayer, choosing heads, bodies, helmets, and other gear.

"It will be the best Call of Duty game we've ever ever made," Activision's Erik Hirschberg declared.

That wraps up the highlights. Microsoft didn't announce a price or release date, instead confirming what we already know, which is that Xbox One will be available "later this year."

What did you think of the announcement? Are you as bummed as we are that more hardware details weren't revealed? Let us know in the comments!

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Yahoo Overhauls Flickr, Ups Free Storage Ante to 1TB

Paul Lilly — Tue, 21 May 2013 16:53:46 +0000

Let the free storage wars begin.

Yahoo wasn't just content to spend $1.1 billion acquiring Tumblr, it also went out and revamped its Flickr photo sharing service in a significant way. The first thing you'll notice is a tiled interface with larger size images. Users are able to upload full resolution photos, and to make sure you have plenty of online space to store your photography, Yahoo is offering 1TB of online storage for free in an attempt to make the service "awesome again."

That trumps Google's 15GB of free storage, which the sultan of search allows you to distribute however you wish across Gmail, Google Drive, and Google+. Yahoo limits photo uploads to 200MB each on its free tier and 1080p video uploads to 1GB each, up to 3 minutes long. You can upload and download in full original quality.

"Flickr’s stunning new desktop design puts photos at the heart of the experience. Built around a new photostream that gives you a vivid and endlessly scrolling gallery, it’s easy to see what your friends are posting and what they’re saying about your photos," Yahoo stated in a blog post. "And because Flickr has always been about exploring photographs from users around the world, we’ve also created a new slideshow that displays the most spectacular Flickr photos in gorgeous full-screen."

For $50 per year, you can sign up for an "Ad Free" account with all the same benefits of the free tier, but without ads (makes sense). Alternately, you can cough up $500 per year to double the storage allotment to 2TB (makes poor fiscal sense).

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HGST Expands Notebook Drive Capacity to 1.5TB

Paul Lilly — Tue, 21 May 2013 15:52:58 +0000

Big storage, little drive.

HGST, a wholly owned subsidiary of Western Digital, announced on Tuesday what it claims is the highest storage density of any hard drive and highest capacity HDD for the mainstream mobile market, the Travelstar 5K1500. The new Travelstar 5K1500 is purportedly the industry's first 9.5mm to offer 1.5TB of storage capacity, though that's not all it brings to the table. High shock protection and low power performance are also traits of HGST's newest HDD.

That's all fine and dandy, but isn't the market shifting towards solid state drives?

"Contrary to popular belief, the mobile hard drive market is not being replaced by SSDs. We continue to invest in and serve both the traditional 9.5mm and 7mm thin and light HDD mobile markets as they offer the best cost-per-GB, performance and proven product reliability for high-capacity, mainstream, Ultrabook and A/V content creation notebook markets," said Brendan Collins, vice president of product marketing at HGST. "HGST continues to have a strong share in the 2.5-inch market and the new Travelstar 5K1500 hard drive is the latest addition to our broad line of 5,400 and 7,200 RPM 2.5-inch drives, giving OEMs, ODMs and integrators an opportunity to grow and differentiate their product lines."

The Travelstar 5K1500 serves up its storage capacity on three platters. It has 32MB of cache, a 5400 RPM spindle speed, and a SATA 6Gbps interface. According to HGST, it benches better in PCMark Vantage and PCMark 7 than its currently shipping two-platter 5400 RPM models.

HGST sees a broad market for its new drive, including notebooks, external HDD applications, gaming consoles, and all-in-one (AIO) desktop PCs. Initial drives will be available in June, followed by an optional self-encrypting version in the third quarter of this year. Pricing has not yet been announced.

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15 Technology Failures

Mark Pilkington — Mon, 20 May 2013 22:40:03 +0000

Duke Nukem Forever, Windows ME, Google Wave, and more!

Predicting the next big thing is never easy, especially when it comes to technology. It's easy to lose count of the number of times Microsoft or Google have promised to create products that will revolutionize our lives. Granted, occasionally the corporate gurus are right – smartphones and wireless networks being two great examples. But for all the successful launches, there are as many products that don’t quite get it right. It could be a fantastic idea on paper, but when it comes to fulfilling the dream, they become nothing more than technology failures.

Following on from our earlier article way back in 2010 covering the 13 Biggest Tech Blunders of the Decade we bring you 15 more embarrassing tech failures that some companies would rather you forget.

Did you own or ever use any of these tech blunders? If so, let us know in the comments below!

Sony Teases PlayStation 4 Console Reveal Ahead of Microsoft's Xbox Announcement

Paul Lilly — Mon, 20 May 2013 19:26:39 +0000

It's 'Game-on' between Sony and Microsoft.

Sony today provided a first glimpse of what its next generation PlayStation 4 (PS4) console will look like, though a quick peek is all you get. The reveal comes in the form of a 39-second YouTube clip that flashes between various different close-ups and a blurry shot of the square-shape console as the camera moves increasingly closer, though never coming into focus. Sony is planning to fully unveil the PS4 at E3 on June 10.

The timing of Sony's teaser video represents a bit of gamesmanship, as Microsoft is set to announce its next Xbox console (codenamed Durango) tomorrow morning. Thus will begin the next-generation console wars, though it will be a war of words and speculation since both companies are planning to make their respective platforms available to purchase this holiday shopping season.

One of the big things gamers will be paying attention to during tomorrow's announcement is whether or not the new Xbox will require an always-on Internet connection. Ex-Microsoft Studios employee Adam Orth ended up resigning after defending always-on devices on his Twitter account by talking down to other users.

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Retina Smetina, Samsung Showcases 13.3-inch Notebook with 3200x1800 Resolution

Paul Lilly — Mon, 20 May 2013 19:03:46 +0000

More pixels than you can shake a MacBook Pro at.

Samsung is taking high resolution displays seriously these days. How serious? Enough to launch a 13.3-inch WQXGA+ laptop at the Society for Information Display's (SID) Display Week 2013 convention in Vancouver. That works out to a 3200x1800 display resolution, packing more pixels per inch (276 PPI) than Google's Chromebook Pixel (239 PPI) or Apple's MacBook Pro 13 (227 PPI).

According to Samsung, the high-resolution notebook can deliver 30 percent greater power savings than that of existing LCD tablet displays, a feat it accomplishes by decreasing the number of driver circuits, thereby increasing the efficiency of the LED BLU.

Beyond that tidbit, Samsung refrained from revealing any other details about its upcoming laptop model. The company did say, however, that it also plans to show off a 10.1-inch WQXGA (2560x1600) LCD for tablets, a Full HD 1080p (1920x1080) mobile AMOLED display with the world's broadest color gamut, and an 85-inch Ultra HD (2840x2160) LCD TV panel with "extremely vivid color and low power consumption."

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Changing PC Landscape Puts the Pinch on BIOS Designers

Paul Lilly — Mon, 20 May 2013 16:10:35 +0000

Singing the BIOS blues.

It's the little guy that often gets overlooked in various circumstances, and when it comes to computers in general, BIOS makers fit that description, even though their chips and code play a big role in the operation of your PC. Like every other PC player, BIOS designers are feeling the hurt from weakening PC sales, leaving them to find alternative means to flip a profit amid a changing market place.

Insyde Software, Phoenix Technologies, and American Megatrends (AMI) have all started taking measures to deal with the impact of a slowed market, sources within the upstream supply chain tell Digitimes.

Each is going about it in a different way. Insyde Software, for example, is focusing on Android and server-related products to try and offset losses from the PC segment. Phoenix, meanwhile, reportedly "streamlined" its workforce to cut costs, while AMI is still looking for a solution.

BIOS makers are in a bit of a pickle. Some believe tablets are a passing fad that will no longer be around in five years, while Gartner predicts that tablet sales will top traditional PCs by 2017.

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Strange Saga Continues: John McAfee's Island Home Burns to the Ground

Paul Lilly — Mon, 20 May 2013 15:52:46 +0000

Antivirus founder's wild ride isn't over.

John McAfee, the British-American programmer who used to work for NASA before founding McAfee Associates (now owned by Intel), a computer antivirus company, no longer has a home in Belize. Apparently his island abode burned down last Thursday amid circumstances he deemed "suspicious," according to a FoxNews.com report.

"I believe that there are a select few with great power in Belize that will go to great lengths to harm me," McAfee told FoxNews.com. "This fire was not just a strange coincidence."

The keyword there is "strange," which appropriately describes McAfee's descent from a wealthy antivirus entrepreneur to a man who faked a heart attack after fleeing Belize, where he was wanted for questioning in a murder case involving his neighbor, and making his way to Guatemala. It was there that he played the "crazy card" to avoid being deported to Belize and was ultimately put on a plane headed for the U.S.

Two main structures belonging to McAfee burned to the ground, each one valued at around $250,000. It's being classified as a bush fire, though McAfee suspects foul play on the part of Belizean authorities, who he maintains are out to do him harm.

According to McAfee's official blog, an investment group was about to close a deal in the next few days to purchase his property.

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YouTube Turns 8 Years Old Today

Paul Lilly — Mon, 20 May 2013 15:14:51 +0000

Google-owned site is still growing.

Thanks to YouTube, we have funny memories like Leeroy Jenkins leading his team to slaughter and declaring after the bloodbath, "at least I have chicken"; the art of Rickrolling; Old Gregg introducing a new audience to how a transsexual merman rolls; and so many more. Heck, if it weren't for YouTube, shows like Tosh.0 probably wouldn't exist. Pretty remarkable for a site that turns 8 years old today.

What started off as a modest video sharing site has grown into so much more in the past 8 years. According to YouTube, would-be directors upload more than 100 hours of video to YouTube every mintue. On a monthly basis, it's seeing 1 billion visitors come to the site. And earlier this month, YouTube announced it was seeing 6 billion hours of video uploads each month.

"And so, this Monday, on our eighth birthday, we’d like to thank you for making YouTube the special place that it is," YouTube stated in a blog post on Sunday. "For showing us how video can create connections, transcend borders and make a difference. For clicking these links even if you aren’t sure what they’ll be, but you trust us. In short, thanks for making us better in big ways and small ones, too. We can’t wait to see what you come up with next."

The most viewed video on YouTube is Gangnam Style with more than 1.6 billion hits, followed by Justin Bieber's Baby video featuring Ludacris (859.2 million hits).

What's your favorite YouTube video?

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Bill Gates Nudges Past Carlos Slim to Reclaim World’s Richest Crown

Pulkit Chandna — Sat, 18 May 2013 01:32:47 +0000

Xbox 720 believed to be behind surge in Gates’ wealth

Despite having given away billions in charity in recent years, Microsoft founder and non-executive chairman Bill Gates is said to have dislodged Mexican telecom mogul Carlos Slim, also a noted philanthropist, from the top spot on the list of the world’s wealthiest people.

The Harvard dropout is the wealthiest man on the planet as per the Bloomberg Billionaires index, which is updated on a daily basis at 5:30 p.m. in New York. At the time of the last update, Bill Gates’ net worth was valued at $72.7 billion, a shade (relatively speaking) above his nearest rival Carlos Slim’s net worth of $72.1 billion.

So what exactly fueled Gates’ return to the top of the Bloomberg Billionaires list after a five-year hiatus? Forbes’ contributor Nigam Arora, a nuclear physicist who serves as the chief investment officer at The Arora Report, ascribes this recent rise in Bill Gates’ wealth to the prevailing market excitement over the upcoming launch of Microsoft’s next-gen console; ever since Microsoft announced the upcoming Xbox 720 launch event, scheduled for May 22, the company’s stock price and, in turn, Gates’ net worth have witnessed a steady rise.

In other words, where the markets are concerned, all this Xbox 720-related excitement has been able to offset the negative impact of disappointing first-quarter PC shipment numbers. But the question is: for how long? According to Arora, this “rally in Microsoft is overdone.”

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Google I/O 2013: Everything You Need to Know

Paul Lilly — Fri, 17 May 2013 18:57:46 +0000

Google music streaming service, Gmail improvements, and Galaxy S4 to come with stock Android Jelly Bean 4.2

If you weren't one of the 6 million people who tuned in to YouTube to watch the Google I/O 2013 keynote on Wednesday, don't sweat it, you've come to the right place for an extensive recap of all the big announcements. Some of it you may have already read about here on Maximum PC, such as Google partnering with Samsung to offer a totally clean version of the Galaxy S4 complete with an unlocked bootloader or the introduction of an All Access music service, but we also have some new stuff to share.

Technically the event is still going on -- it's a three-day event -- and while the news keeps pouring in, a lot of what's now being revealed are product statistics and minor software updates, like Heat Maps and Symbols being added to the Google Maps API -- not exactly 'knock-your-socks-off' news. There's plenty of interesting tidbits to share, however, so let's get started!

Android's Ascension

From humble beginnings as an operating system that was originally developed for digital cameras, Android over the past decade has grown into the most popular mobile OS in the world. Just how popular is the open source platform? Google revealed rather early in its opening keynote that Android is now installed on 900 million devices.

"There are over 7 billion people on this planet, so we have a long way to go and we think the journey is just getting started," Google's Sundar Pichai quipped on stage.

What's interesting about Android's dominance in mobile is that it's only scratched the surface of available users. While Pichai may have been semi-joking about getting Android devices into the hands of 7 billion people, Android's penetration in most territories around the world is less than 10 percent, albeit "growing very, very fast."

Underscoring Android's popularity is the number of app downloads to date, which Google pegs at 48 billion. To put that number into perspective, consider that it's just 2 billion shy of Apple, which recently announced 50 billion iOS app downloads.

In just the last month alone, Android users have installed 2.5 billion apps. Beyond bragging rights, all these numbers translate into revenue for developers, who have been paid more money in the last four months than in all of last year. The revenue per user is up 2.5x what it was a year ago. Not too shabby.

Google announced a bunch of new APIs for Android developers as part of a robust update to its Google Play services, including three new Android location-based tools. They are:

A low-power location mode that uses less than 1 percent of battery life per hour.
Geofenching: Lets you define virtual fences around geographic areas, which are triggered when a user enters or exits any of them. Developers can have 100 simultaneous geofences active per app.
Activity Recognition: Uses accelerometer data to determine whether a user is walking, cycling, or riding without tapping into the battery-sucking GPS.

Another new API is one that allows for cross-platform single sign-ons with Google+. The benefit for users is that they don't have to sign into apps separately on different devices, so if you open an app using your Google+ account, you're logged in whether you fire it up on the web, on your smartphone, or with your Android tablet.

Leveling Up Google Play

You'll notice some changes to Google Play over the course of the next few weeks. Google's putting a much bigger focus on movie, music, and book recommendations based on the content you consume and what items prompt your friends to mash the +1 button.

Google Play will also do a better job adapting to whichever device you're using. The same content will be available whether you're viewing Google Play on your notebook's browser or your tablet, but it will be presented differently on each to take advantage of the different form factors.

Google Gets Into Streaming Music

Okay, enough with the APIs, backend infrastructure, and UI enhancements, let's get to the fun stuff. One of the big announcements Google made was its new All Access streaming music service. This is the next logical step in the evolution of Google's foray into music, which began with it offering an online locker for users to upload 20,000 songs of their own that could then be streamed to multiple devices. After that, Google launched a music store, and now this.

For a monthly fee (normally $9.99, though if you sign up by June 30, it's $7.99), you can tap into Google's catalog of millions of songs, but it's more than just that. There are curated playlists by Google's expert music editors and 22 top level genres to sift through, with more to drill into. Best of all, you can immediately start playing anything you see in All Access, as nothing is grayed out.

There's quite a bit of fine grain control, too. Anything you listen to can be turned into a radio station. If you're curious about what the unseen DJ has picked out, you can take a look at the playlist and swipe away any songs you don't want to hear, You can also rearrange the order of songs in your queue.

All Access offers the same features across multiple devices. It's available now with a 30-day free trial.

Samsung Galaxy S4 as You've Always Wanted It (Unlocked)

The other big reveal is the one we talked about at the beginning. Coming soon to Google Play is a special version of Samsung's Galaxy S4 device. Unlike the one that's currently available, this one will ship with an unlocked bootloader. it will also feature a squeaky clean version of Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, delivering the same software experience that Google ships on its Nexus devices.

Like the Nexus line, this version of the Galaxy S4 will receive Android upgrades "promptly" with every system platform update, which means no more waiting around for weeks and months for your device maker and wireless carrier to get on the ball with the latest version of Android. Speaking of which, it will work on both AT&T and T-Mobile.

That's the good news. And the bad? Well, it's going to cost a whopping $649 when it becomes available starting June 26.

Chrome Dominates the Web

As far as Google is concerned, the various versions of Chrome collectively add up to the most used browser on the planet. It's added 300 million active users in the past 12 months, giving it a userbase that's now over 750 million strong, and climbing. Many of those new users are accessing Chrome on mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets.

If those numbers are even remotely accurate, it's easy to see why Google is sticking with its Chromebook platform, which runs the company's Chrome OS. Providing further incentive to push Chromebooks onto the masses is data from Amazon that shows the $249 Samsung Chromebook as being the No. 1 selling laptop for 199 consecutive days.

"It's an ecosystem play and we have many more partners joining our journey," Google Senior Vice President Sundar Pinchai added.

Click the next page to see why you might want to start using Google+

Redesigning Google+

Get ready for a different Google+ experience than the one you're currently used to, assuming you're using the service. To take advantage of widescreen displays and to address the flatness of feeds, Google+ will be switching to a multi-column card design. This will make your feed more visually appealing, and on the backend, Google+ will optionally have the ability to automatically add hashtags. What for? If you spy the Eiffel Tower above, you'll notice there's no mention of what it is. However, Google knows, and if you click the card, it will present related information. Here's a short demo:

Related to Google+, Google introduced Google+ Hangouts for mobile devices during its event. It's a standalone app with a heavy focus on conversations, and it's available on Android, Chrome, Gmail, and iOS. It will keep a history of long-running conversations, though you can turn off the history and/or delete entries you're rather keep private.

Like everything else, there's an emphasis on making Hangouts visually appealing. There might be pictures and videos scattered throughout your long-running conversation, and according to Google, it just "feels alive." Subtle animations show when people join and where they're reading, so that it feels like you're all in the same room together. And of course it's all synced, so if you swipe something away on iOS, it's also gone on your other devices.

Finally, Google is making an effort to make photos less labor and time-intensive by making its data center your darkroom. In other words, the cloud will handle some of the time sucking tasks that are related to cleaning up photos.

It starts with backups, something Google already offers, only now it's giving you 15GB of free unified cloud storage, which you can allocate however you want between Gmail, Drive, and Google+ Photos.

Much more interesting, however, is Google's Highlight feature. If you think about the number of photos you're likely to take on vacation, it quickly becomes a daunting task when you get back home and discover there are hundreds, if not thousands of snapshots to sift through and edit. What ends up happening is you tuck them into a folder telling yourself you'll come back and power through them when you have more time, but that time never comes.

Google proposes it can pick out the best pictures of the bunch for you. Sounds too good to be true, right? Time will tell, but it sounds promising. It's not just a crapshoot wherein Google hopes to get lucky, there's some intelligent sifting going on. For example, Google won't highlight blurry photos, and if it detects duplicate images, it will pick no more than one of them. It also looks for poorly exposed photos and narrows down photos based on other factors, such as whether or not there are people in the picture and if they're smiling. It will even attempt to detect family members, giving those photos a social boost.

A little less interesting is Google's auto-enhance feature, as we've found similar tools to be of limited value. However, Google promises dramatic results using tonal distribution, skin softening, noise reduction, white balancing, red eye removal, and a whole bunch more.

Better Looking Google Maps

Google Maps rocks, that's something most of us can agree on. If you liked it before, you're going to love the new version, which Google rebuilt from "the ground up." Upon logging into Google Maps, restaurants and other places you frequently visit will be highlighted. You can also see more of the map by shoving aside and hiding the sidebar menus. There are Info Cards that provide details about different businesses and locales, some of which even show photos of the establishment you're looking up.

Send Money Through Gmail

Lastly, Google announced that it's folding Google Wallet into Gmail. Now you can send money to family and friends through Gmail, even if the recipients don't have a Gmail address. It's free to send money if you link your bank account to Google Wallet, or if you're using your Google Wallet balance.

In Gmail, just click the dollar sign icon to attach money to your message, and then send away. Some of you will see this feature now, others will see it over the coming months.

If you wanted to check out the entire Google I/O 2013 Keynote, check out the video below.

That wraps up the more interesting highlights of Google I/O 2013. Were you impressed or disappointed by Google's event? Let us know in the comments below!

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Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog Races Over to Android

Paul Lilly — Fri, 17 May 2013 16:55:19 +0000

Speedy blue hedgehog teams with a little green robot.

Sonic the Hedgehog is potentially gaining access to a whole new audience and generation of gamers who never got to experience the fast and fun ride on the Genesis. How so? Sega today pointed its iconic game character in the direction of Google Play and told him to keep running until he got there, which he did today. Available now on Google Play, the game costs $2.99 and gives fans a new look at Sonic's world on Android.

It's been optimized with widescreen support and exclusive features for mobile phones. The new update also allows gamers to unlock other familiar characters, including Tails and Knuckles, marking the first time they've been playable on mobile, Sega says.

Prefer iOS? Sega has you covered, as well. Although Sonic the Hedgehog was already available on iOS, the new content will be offered as a free update.

Sonic the Hedgehog on Google Play
Sonic the Hedgehog on iOS

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Dell's Profits Plunge 79 Percent as PC Maker Mulls Its Future

Paul Lilly — Fri, 17 May 2013 16:02:42 +0000

Dude, who's getting Dell?

Dell's future is as uncertain as it's ever been, and not just because the PC market is in a slump as consumers flock to mobile devices. The other major unknown is whether Dell will ultimately accept Michael Dell's proposed $24.4 billion buyout offer and go private, or if the board will be swayed by Carl Icahn's alternate deal that would keep the company public. As all this unfolds, Dell (the company) is seeing its profits get sucked into a vortex of uncertainty.

The PC maker reported revenue of $14.1 billion for its fiscal 2013 first quarter, down 2 percent from the previous year. What's even more alarming, however, is that its profits are down 79 percent to $130 million. In the same quarter a year ago, Dell's profits totaled $635 million.

As expected, Dell put on its positive face when announcing the results.

"We made progress in building our enterprise solutions capabilities in the first quarter and are confident in our strategy to be the leading provider of end-to-end scalable solutions," said Brian Gladden, Dell chief financial officer. "In addition, we have taken actions to improve our competitive position in key areas of the business, especially in end-user computing, and it has affected profitability. We’ll also continue to make important investments to support our strategy and drive long-term profitability."

The world's No. 3 PC maker saw its end-user computer sales slide 9 percent to $8.9 billion. Dell's Enterprise division picked up some of the slack with revenue climbing 10 percent to $3.1 billion. Dell Services also saw some growth, increasing 2 percent to $2.1 billion.

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LulzSec Hackers Receive Prison Sentences for Cyber Hijinks

Paul Lilly — Fri, 17 May 2013 14:31:40 +0000

They did the crimes, now they'll do the time.

It's not always true that crime doesn't pay, because if that's the way it was, there would be a lot less people breaking the law. The problem for criminals is that payback's a bitch if you get caught, as did several LulzSec (Lulz Security) members who fessed up to hacking various companies and organizations, such as Sony, 20th Century Fox, Nintendo, and even the CIA, to name just a few of their targets.

Following a trial overseas, three of the individuals received prison sentences on Thursday in London, ITPRO reports. Ryan "DDoS King" Clearly, 21, Ryan "kayla" Ackroyd, 26, and Jake "Topiary" Davis, 20, were sentenced to 32 months, 30 months, and 20 months behind bars, respectively. Mustafa "tflow" Al-Bassam, 18, was handed a 20-month suspended sentence.

LulzSec wreaked quite a bit of havoc during the high point of the organization's hacking spree.

"In essence they were the worst sort of vandal, acting without care of cost or harm to those they affected, whether this was to cause a company to fold and so costing people their jobs, or to put at threat the thousands of innocent internet users whose logins and passwords they made public," said Detective Superintendent Charlie McMurdie, head of the British Police Central e-Crime Unit. "Today's convictions should serve as a deterrent to others who use the Internet to commit cyber attacks."

All four individuals had previously pleaded guilty to conspiring to do an unauthorized act to impair the operation of a computer or computers. It could have been worse, however, as they ducked charges of conspiracy to perform distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks against Westboro Baptist Church, Sony, Bethesda, Eve Online, the CIA, and a few other organizations.

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