April 2009

  • Playboy Gets A Stiffy For The Palm Pre

    Playboy Gets A Stiffy For The Palm PreWe’ve chewing our fingernails off waiting for the Palm Pre to finally land in the UK, but in the US a few celebs have been allowed to put their pampered paws on the phone – and it seems they’re liking what they see.

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  • Google Adds Innovative ‘Similar Images’ Search

    Google Adds Innovative 'Similar Images' SearchThe white coated spods at Google Labs have been tinkering away in the laboratory again, and their new experimental Similar Images feature adds a funky new way to look for related images.

    Offering to “refine your image search with visual similarity,” the technology allows you to seek out images using pictures rather than words.

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  • BBC iPlayer Goes High Definition

    BBC iPlayer Goes High DefinitionWe’re already big fans if the BBC’s iPlayer service, so our bottoms almost squeaked with excitement when we heard that the Beeb is to start offering high definition streams and downloads of selected programmes.

    The iPlayer has grown to be a true smash-ban-wallop hit, registering more than 387 million streams or download requests since launching on Christmas Day 2007.

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  • Ask Jeeves Returns As Search Engine Battles Against Google

    Ask Jeeves Returns As Search Engine Battles Against GoogleWe thought he’d been retired and sent off to an old people’s home to be looked after by kindly searchbots, but Ask has brought back Jeeves in an attempt to claw back some market share from the all dominating Google.

    Named after PG Wodehouse’s fact-stuffed, smartarse butler, Jeeves formed the face of Ask’s search engine until 2006 when he was unceremoniously booted off after an interface overhaul.

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  • Android-Powered HTC Magic Gets Vodafone UK Release Date

    Android-Powered HTC Magic Gets Vodafone UK Release DateThe long awaited follow up to the T-Mobile G1 ‘Googlephone,’ the HTC Magic has now gone up for pre-order on Vodafone UK’s site.

    The second Android-based phone in the known universe, the Magic dispenses with the slide out QWERTY keyboard of its predecessor, serving up a slimmer, sleeker package which Vodafone will sets shoppers pockets a-tingling.

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  • LG GC900 Viewty Handset Rams In The Features

    LG GC900 Viewty Handset Rams In The FeaturesIt’s had a bit of a spluttery launch, but the bigwigs at LG are now ready to lob their LG GC900 Viewty handset at the general public and hope they feel the love all over again.

    The original Viewty proved to be one of LG’s biggest hitters, shifting over 6.5m units and the second version sees the high end handset get a comprehensive leg-up in the spec department.

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  • Google Video: Turn Out The Lights: New Feature

    Google Video: Turn Out The LightsLooking at videos on YouTube recently we noticed a light bulb sitting on the top right of the video playing back.

    As it was the first time we’d used it, we felt duty bound to give it a try.

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  • Google Street View Gets OK; EU To Sue UK Over Privacy

    Google Street View Gets OK; EU To Sue UK Over PrivacyThe UK’s Information Commissioner has ruled that Google’s Street View is not a threat to privacy after mulling over an official appeal by privacy campaigners, Privacy International.

    Launched in the UK last month, the nifty add-on to Google Maps and Google Earth lets users view an unfurling panorama of pannable, zoomable street-level photographs of major streets and cities.

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  • Detect Language Option In Google Translate: Brilliant

    Detect Language Option In Google TranslateGoogle Translate has long taken over from the BabelFish translator that Alta Vista had way-back in the dim, distant past.

    We use it whenever we can’t make sense of block of foreign text – nothing new in that.

    Presented with a language we weren’t sure of recently, we selected Swedish as a guess, but the translation didn’t make sense to us.

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  • Virgin Signs Up To Google Email Deal

    Virgin Signs Up To Google Email DealVast clouds of backslapping dust were seen rising over Virgin Media’s offices after the company announced a partnership with Google to power its email service.

    The new service aims to offer better inbox management and more storage space and is being launched as a pilot for the first 20,000 to sign up today

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