DigitalOutbox Episode 213

DigitalOutbox Episode 213
DigitalOutbox Episode 213 – Google I/O

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Shownotes

1:23 – Android One
3:24 – Android L Developer Preview
15:12 – Android Wear
18:38 – Android Auto
23:03 – Android TV
25:13 – Chromecast
26:49 – Chromebooks
29:01 – Docs
29:53 – Google Play
31:33 – Google Fit Platform
33:20 – Freebies
38:12 – Google Opens Gmail, Making It More of a Platform for Developers
39:12 – Googles Nest Buys Dropcam for $555 Million
41:30 – Nest launches its answer to Apples HomeKit with a developer program
45:17 – Apple iPhone ‘kill switch’ cuts thefts and Microsoft and Google are to follow
46:27 – Google Glass on sale in the UK now for £1,000
47:58 – Withings sticks a digital fitness tracker in an analog watch
49:18 – Microsoft kicks off Google ‘productivity war’ by doubling free OneDrive storage
51:05 – Official singles chart to include streaming services

DigitalOutbox Episode 212

DigitalOutbox Episode 212
DigitalOutbox Episode 212 – Amazons first Phone and Adobe gets Creative

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Shownotes

2:03 – The UK government can legally spy on your offshore data
7:18 – Google will be forced to make a company disappear
10:21 – YouTube to block indie labels who don’t sign up to new music service
14:54 – Facebooks Slingshot Challenges Snapchat With Reply To Unlock
16:34 – Adobe Upgrades Creative Cloud, Adds New Mobile Apps And Creative Hardware
21:26 – The Amazon smartphone is here: meet the Fire Phone
29:08 – Microsoft finally launches IE Developer Channel
29:55 – Unlikely hit app Yo is ‘hacked’ by students

DigitalOutbox Episode 211

DigitalOutbox Episode 211
DigitalOutbox Episode 211 – E3

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Shownotes

1:15 – Apology for crashed Get Safe Online anti-hack site
4:11 – How the Get Safe Online password checker fails users badly
5:20 – All Our Patent Are Belong To You
8:19 – Vodafone reveals existence of secret wires that allow state surveillance
12:18 – Nominet’s new rules on .uk domains could mean the end to users’ privacy
14:16 – Google buys satellite firm Skybox Imaging for $500m
16:18 – London’s anti-Uber taxi protest brings traffic to standstill
20:46 – Twitter will soon dominate TV on Xbox One
21:37 – Microsoft Briefing
32:25 – Sony Briefing
38:46 – Nintendo Briefing
41:17 – EA Briefing
44:09 -Ubisoft Briefing
46:11 – Alien Isolation

DigitalOutbox Episode 210

DigitalOutbox Episode 210
DigitalOutbox Episode 210 – WWDC, Apple buys Beats and Googles self driving cars

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Shownotes

1:32 – Microsoft Demos Real-Time Speech-To-Speech Translation On Skype
4:48 – Google is to start building its own self-driving cars
9:28 – Google launches ‘right to be forgotten’ webform for removal requests
12:56 – Samsung’s Health Event Was All Hype, No Substance
13:54 – Samsung launches first Tizen phone
16:36 – ‘Two weeks’ to block cyber-attack as criminal network seized
19:06 – Twitter experiments with ‘News Feed’ style algorithms, threatens to ruin everything
23:43 – Apple Will Buy Beats for $3 Billion
28:36 – Apple WWDC Keynote

DigitalOutbox Episode 209

DigitalOutbox Episode 209
DigitalOutbox Episode 209 – eBay hacked and Surface Pro 3

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Shownotes

1:24 – Apple, Google Settle Motorola Patent Dispute But Broader Issues Remain
4:11 – Ebay tells 112 MILLION customers to reset passwords after massive data theft
8:47 – Microsoft announces Surface Pro 3
16:35 – Facebook brings autoplay adverts to UK
18:16 – Facebook wants to ‘listen’ to your music and TV
22:07 – BT ordered to repair most faults ‘within two days’
23:32 – Halo 5: Guardians not hitting Xbox One until fall 2015
27:44 – Xbox One’s June update adds your friends’ real names and external drive support

DigitalOutbox Episode 208

DigitalOutbox Episode 208
DigitalOutbox Episode 208 – Xbox Changes and EU says you can be forgotten

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Shownotes

0:58 – Deal to combat piracy in UK with ‘alerts’ is imminent
5:21 – Tech world stunned as court rules Oracle can own APIs, Google loses copyright appeal
8:43 – EU court backs ‘right to be forgotten’ in Google case
18:07 – Twitter introduces mute feature on Android, iPhone, and the Web
20:23 – Google Maps just became a one-stop shop for UK public transport data
21:27 – Dixons and Carphone Warehouse shares drop on merger
24:28 – Microsoft to unbundle Xbox One and Kinect
28:33 – Microsoft brings free Games with Gold to Xbox One, drops Gold paywall for apps in June
31:21 – The new Unreal Tournament will be free, moddable and developed with players

DigitalOutbox Episode 207

DigitalOutbox Episode 207
DigitalOutbox Episode 207 – Samsung fined, Google kills URL, Nintendo losses

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Shownotes

1:17 – Jury finds that Samsung infringed 2 of Apple’s patents, awards $119.6M in damages
5:36 – Google moves to kill off the URL entirely in new version of Chrome
11:01 – Google Maps turbo-charges turn-by-turn directions on iOS and Android and gets Uber transit option
16:39 – All the wrong Moves: Facebook dances around a privacy issue as it counts every step you take
18:25 – App.net is profitable and self-sustaining, but will no longer have any full-time employees
23:52 – Amazon Extends Its Shopping Basket To Twitter
25:12 – Nintendo Misses Its Own Lowered Hardware Expectations

Picks Roundup

We are already a third of the way through 2014 and so far we’ve had some great picks on the podcast…but no posts to show for it. So here’s a roundup of the picks that have featured on the 2014 shows – enjoy!

Wordiest for Android
http://concreterose.github.io/
– Android
– Free
– A great word game that unlike so many games is for Android only. You are given 14 letter tiles and the aim is to form two words that score the highest amount of points possible. The twist is that your score is then compared with another 100 players who are given the same starting tiles. Addictive and easy to understand but hard to consistently score high points. Integrates nicely with Google+ to show you competitors and leaderboards. Still one of my favourite word games on any platform.

The Stanley Parable
http://www.stanleyparable.com/
– Mac, PC
– £9.99
– The Stanley Parable is a first person exploration game. You will play as Stanley, and you will not play as Stanley. You will follow a story, you will not follow a story. You will have a choice, you will have no choice. The game will end, the game will never end. I don’t really want to say anymore than that. Chris recommended this game and it really will spoil it if you read about it online without actually playing it first. Just buy it – it’s a bargain at £9.99.

Stockfish for Mac
http://stockfishchess.org/mac/
– Mac
– Free
– I took a bit of stick from Chris with this one. It’s a chess game. It supports two players – not my best sell. But it’s a free good looking chess app with a powerful analysis engine behind it so for chess lovers it’s a great client to have installed on your Mac.

Threes!
Threes!

Threes!
http://asherv.com/threes/
– Android, iOS
– £1.49
– A game of pattern matching, 1+2 makes 3, 3+3 makes 6, 6+6 makes 12 and so on. A simple grid and tiles dropping in under your control soon makes for a maddeningly addictive game that is anything but simple. At first random progress soon leads to strategic thoughts about how to build a good high score. I was pleased with just over 3000 in the first 24 hours but was soon blown away with tweets of “just got 21000 in Threes!”. Swines – a must buy for any puzzlers out there.

Yahoo News Digest
Yahoo News Digest
– iOS
– Free
– Yahoo bought Summly in 2013 and a few months later launched Yahoo News Digest for iOS which twice a day sends you the top news stories (08:00 and 18:00) for you to browse through on your iPhone. Each news item has images, a good summary of the detail you need to understand the story and links to related content if a story grabs your attention. Later updates now preload the content in the background so the full stories are available as soon as you open the app. A really handy news app that I’m using pretty much daily.

Todoist Karma
Todoist Karma
Todoist
https://todoist.com/
– Desktop (Mac, Windows, Chrome, Firefox, Outlook), Mobile (iOS, Android) and the web
– Free, Premium is £18
– I switched to Todoist after trying a number of different todo management tools. Omnifocus is full featured but overly slow on iOS and expensive to buy across all platforms. Reminders on iOS works to a fashion but is missing some key features and I found it’s sync via iCloud failing more than once. I stumbled on Todoist and it’s a perfect todo manager for me. First of all I can access my todo’s anywhere. On the web, on iOS or Android or any number of desktop clients across all the platforms. Secondly, the sync works extremely well and quickly too. In three months of usage I’ve had zero issues with sync which gives me confidence to recommend to others. Thirdly, the free version gives enough options to most users so that this is all they will need. You can create todo’s, projects and sub todo’s and projects with colour coding against each to help you spot what you need to do and where. You also get the ability to add priorities and labels to give you basic GTD support. Premium adds the ability to add todo notes and reminders which I find invaluable. You also get productivity tracking via Karma points which I dismissed at first but it does give you motivation to get on and complete tasks and also see how productive you’ve been over time. I can’t recommend Todoist enough – my most used new app of the year.

Chromecast
http://www.google.co.uk/intl/en_uk/chrome/devices/chromecast/index.html
– Hardware
– £30
– Chromecast is the second attempt from Google to deliver a streaming TV device after their previous offerings crashed and burned. The size of a slightly large USB key, the Chromecast plugs into an empty HDMI slot on your TV and once setup (takes a few minutes) allows you to cast video and music from your Android or iOS device or from Chrome browser. Unlike Airplay, it’s not playing content from the mobile device, instead the streaming details are sent for the film or audio you are viewing and it resumes streaming from the internet. I’ve found it to be simple and reliable since picking one up when it finally hit the UK. Also, you can use Plex to play local media so it’s not just about streaming. At £30, it’s hard to go wrong and turn any TV into a smart TV.

Monument Valley
Monument Valley

Monument Valley
http://www.monumentvalleygame.com/
– iOS now, Android soon
– £2.49
– An elegant and beautiful game for iOS and soon to be Android. This is a 10 level puzzle game that is more akin to a living M.C. Escher image than a game. The premise is simple – guide Ida to the end of the level by sliding and rotating elements of the level to allow her to complete the path. It looks and sounds stunning and is such a satisfying fun game. In many ways the length is perfect as repetition is removed unlike so many games that are longer just because they can be, not for any good reason. More levels are coming but if you only buy one iOS game this year, make it Monument Valley.

Hitman Go
http://hitman.com/launching-hitman-go/
– iOS now, Android soon
– £2.99
– I had zero expectations for Hitman Go, expecting an arcade game or first person shooter but what Square Enix has released is a great looking turn based strategy. You control your agent, dictating which path he takes through a level solving various puzzles as you go. The game is a looker and can be viewed from any angle and it’s great to see some of the big game developers developing unique mobile games rather than rushing out a crappy port. One note of caution is that there is an element of in app purchasing for hints and unlocks but they aren’t needed to play the game and it doesn’t get in the way when I’m playing. An impressive game which will take some time to complete.

So hopefully out of those 9 picks there is something that you will like. It’s been a good year so far for app’s and games – here’s to more great picks through the rest of 2014.

DigitalOutbox Episode 206

DigitalOutbox Episode 206
DigitalOutbox Episode 206 – Facebook f8, Paym and ComiXology

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Shownotes

1:26 – Facebook f8
11:19 – You can now use Paym to transfer money with just a mobile number in the UK
14:07 – US judge rules cloud firms including Microsoft and Google must hand over data stored overseas
17:30 – Ditch Internet Explorer on XP, security experts warn
20:13 – Group Video Calling Goes Free On Skype For Mac, Windows And Xbox One
23:33 – Amazon-owned ComiXology ditches in-app purchases on iOS and removes Google Play payments on Android
29:04 – One Month After Microsoft Office Hits iPad, Google Debuts Dedicated Productivity Apps For iOS
30:30 – Foursquare Splits Into Two Apps, But Will Either Be Strong Enough To Survive?
33:46 – Bonnaroo, Halo and soccer: Microsoft aims high with Xbox Originals
38:58 – Film crew finds Atari ET games in New Mexico archaeological dig
40:13 – Minecraft: All of Denmark virtually recreated

DigitalOutbox Episode 205

DigitalOutbox Episode 205
DigitalOutbox Episode 205 – Apple and Facebook Earnings, Vic leaves Google+

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Shownotes

1:52 – Apple profits surprise investors as company launches charm offensive
8:18 – Nike fires majority of FuelBand team, will stop making wearable hardware
10:56 – Apple opens OS X Mavericks beta program to the public
13:33 – Apple releases Heartbleed fix for AirPort Base Stations
14:12 – Tech companies and the Linux Foundation try to prevent the next Heartbleed
16:14 – Facebook profits triple as revenues surge on mobile platform success
18:40 – Facebook Acquires Fitness And Activity Tracking App Moves
20:20 – Google+ Head Vic Gundotra Leaving Company
24:14 – Google’s Street View now lets you step back in time
25:53 – Amazon Makes a Big Move, Snags Older HBO Shows For Web Streaming
31:38 – Legendary British newsreel collection is now free to watch

Picks
Ian
Hitman Go
– iOS
– £2.99
– a great looking turn based strategy.
– You control your agent, dictating which path he takes through a level solving various puzzles as you go.
– One note of caution is that there is an element of in app purchasing for hints and unlocks but they aren’t needed to play the game and it doesn’t get in the way when I’m playing.
– An impressive game which will take some time to complete.