Apple bows out of green tech certification programme
Apple will no longer participate in a programme that grants environmentally-friendly certifications for technology.
The US government-backed EPEAT rewards manufacturers for creating easily recyclable and energy-efficient electronics.
However, Apple has asked the agency to pull the certification from all 39 of its applicable products, including its MacBook laptop range, citing a different design direction.
"They said their design direction was no longer consistent with the EPEAT requirements," Robert Frisbee EPEAT CEO said.
"They were important supporters and we are disappointed that they don't want their products measured by this standard anymore."
Retina Display MacBook to blame?
Apple had been one of the key tech manufacturers to help establish the EPEAT standards, along with the US government and environmental groups.It is suspected that the new Retina Display MacBook Pro may be behind the decision to move away from EPEAT certification.
The agency specifies that electronics must be easy for recyclers to disassemble and that particular product has proved more or less impossible to take apart.
What would Steve do?
Regardless, it's still a surprising move from Apple.At keynote addresses of yesteryear, late CEO Steve Jobs seemed to take joy in regaling audiences with how environmentally-friendly Apple products were, right down to the minimalist packaging.
What would Steve say?
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Facebook and Yahoo shake hands on legal issues
We've gotta say we're a little fed up of tech companies constantly suing each other, so its nice to see two of the biggest resolve their differences amicably.
Yahoo and Facebook have decided to put their long running disputes to bed and have agreed to work more closely together in the future.
The ailing search company had alleged that Facebook was infringing on its advertising patents, while Facebook soon issued a countersuit alleging Yahoo preferred "litigation over innovation."
Friends again
Now the companies have agreed to cross-license the relevant patents portfolios and expand their existing promotional agreements during major events. Facebook users will still be able to share Yahoo content.Facebook now says its looking forward to working with Yahoo in the future and the interim CEO Ross Levinson, who recently took over disgraced former boss Scott Thompson.
"I'm pleased that we were able to resolve this in a positive manner and look forward to partnering closely with Ross and the leadership at Yahoo," Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook's Chief Operating Officer.
Lets hope some of the other tech companies boring us with their endless court battles can take a note from these two
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Tutorial: How to tame Mac OS X Lion annoyances
OS X Lion tweaks
Some changes introduced in OS X Lion haven't been to everyone's tastes. Luckily, many of those changes can be tweaked, while other annoyances can be tamed with third-party software, helping you avoid a trip into Terminal.If you've been plagued by a particular setting, read on to discover how to resolve the situation.
If you want your Finder windows to resemble Snow Leopard, the following tweaks will bring things back.
First, restore the status bar at the bottom of each Finder window by selecting View > Status Bar. Next, open the Finder menu and select Preferences, then choose your home folder from the 'New Finder windows shows:' drop-down menu. Now switch to the Sidebar tab and place ticks next to missing shortcuts.
Lion increases the size of the Finder sidebar icons, so less fit on the screen at once - revert to Snow Leopard settings by opening the General System Preferences pane and setting the 'Sidebar icon size' dropdown menu to Small.
Wondering how you remove items from the Favourites sidebar? Hold down Command as you drag them away and watch them disappear.
Disable Resume
Don't like apps restoring their saved state after being reopened? Hold down the Option key as you open a program's menu to access the Quit option, you'll see the option changes to 'Quit and Discard Windows', allowing you to close a program without saving its state.
It can be fiddly remembering this, so if you never use Resume, disable it from the General System Preferences pane: untick 'Restore windows when quitting and re-opening apps'. Not all apps use Lion's Resume function to save their state, so if one continues to reopen previous windows when launching, check its Preferences for an option to disable it.
You can also choose which apps use Resume (without using Terminal or locking folders) by downloading and installing TinkerTool. Switch to the Resume tab and use the dropdown menu next to an app to selectively disable or enable Resume for that app. Once complete, log off and back on for changes to take effect.
Disable Resume on reboot
If you're always waiting while a load of applications you previously had open restore themselves, you might want to switch off the 'Reopen windows when logging back in' feature permanently.The solution involves downloading a script to copy and paste into a Terminal window. Once pasted, hit Return, read the warning and enter your user password to make the change. Once done, reboot ignoring the 'Reopen windows…' prompt as it's now disabled, and only Finder will launch when you log in.
Should you wish to restore the original feature, open Terminal, and type: sudo defaults delete com.apple.loginwindow LoginHook
Trackpad and mouse settings
If you can't bear the reverse mouse scrolling feature, switch it off via the Mouse System Preferences pane (untick 'Scroll direction: natural').
You may also find yourself confused by changes to various swipes (navigating pages in Safari is now done with two fingers instead of three, for example), in which case, switch to the More Gestures tab to swap them round again.
Lion also disables tap dragging by default - switch it back on, and disable inertial scrolling at the same time from the Universal Access System Preference pane (select Mouse or Mouse & Trackpad).
Cut Dashboard from Mission Control
Dashboard has been reduced to a Space in Mission Control in Lion. If you want to revert it to an overlay - as it does in Snow Leopard - open the Mission Control's System Preferences pane and untick 'Show Dashboard as a space'.Dump the username
Lion places your username in the menu bar as a shortcut for logging off or switching user, but if you don't need it, hold Command+Option as you click and drag it off the bar.Change the login screen
Lion makes it more difficult to change the login screen, but with a copy of the free Loginox, it's simple to change background texture and logo. The program will resize and convert images, all you need to do is supply the original images (we suggest a logo with a transparent background).
Revert to classic Mail
The new user interface for Mail in Lion will surprise many, but, Apple makes it simple to revert to the older, classic user interface. Open Mail, then select Mail > Preferences, choose Viewing and tick User classic layout. Once done, click the Show button under the mail icon to reveal the Mailboxes sidebar.Replace Front Row
Lion removes the Front Row media software completely, and recent updates to iTunes mean it's not practical to restore it using Front Row Enabler. If you want a suitable replacement on your Mac, we recommend trying XBMC, a complete media centre solution. If you need help with tagging your movies and TV shows, try iDentify 2.
When Lion was first released, tweaking many settings to more closely resemble what you were used to involved opening Terminal or editing system files. Now, nine months on, you can make changes with just a few clicks thanks to various third-party tweaking tools.
One of the best is Lion Tweaks - this regularly updated freebie currently allows you to 'fix' 23 settings with little or no fuss.
The step-by-step guide covers restoring coloured icons to the Finder sidebar, but other improvements include making your personal Library folder visible again, re-enabling the 2D Dock, removing various animations and restoring the old aluminium look to both iCal and Address Book.
It also provides a number of tweaks to how Stacks behave, allows AirDrop to function on older Macs and switches on TRIM support for non-Apple SSDs in Lion. Put simply, it's an essential tool if you're unhappy with certain aspects of Lion.
How to restore the colourful Finder sidebar icons
1. Install Lion
Get Lion Tweaks. Once done, drag the Lion Tweaks app from Downloads into your Applications folder. Double-click to launch the program, clicking Open when prompted. Start by clicking Yes next to Enable colour in the Finder-sidebar.
2. Install extras
Safari will download and extract its contents – just browse to Downloads\SIMBL-0.9.9 to install the pkg file. Return to Lion Tweaks and click OK > No, Create it for me. If colour icons don't appear, click Already got it… twice.
3. Auto-restore
To prevent icons disappearing after reboot, go to themacmob.com/downloads and click Relaunch_Finder.zip to download a script. Open System Preferences > Users & Groups > Login Items, then drag the script into this list. Tick its entry, then restart.
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In Depth: 39 new apps and sites that will change your life
Best for work
You don't need us to tell you how great the internet is, or how a couple of apps or services can completely revolutionise your life both on and offline. But how can you be sure you're kitted out with the right ones?It's difficult to search for something you don't even know exists, and the sheer number of new toys to play with is growing at an exponential rate. Are you wasting time that could be better spent kicking back, watching movies, or even - if you're desperate - being out in the sun? Almost certainly!
Over the following pages, you'll find our carefully selected recommendations to help upgrade your entertainment, work and social life with the best the internet has to offer - a few new programs, because sometimes you can't beat a client for heavy lifting, a few apps to load onto your smartphone, and websites that will give you great new features you never knew you could live without for the low, low cost of ignoring a couple of adverts. From the top of the cloud down, they're what you need.
What should you look for in a new service? The feature you can't do without is the ability to export your data should the service either shut down or be swallowed up. The days of a company like Google or Yahoo swooping in to guarantee its future are long gone. Services purchased by the giants are now routinely closed down, with the point of their acquisition being the talent behind them, and this can happen very quickly.
If you can't extract your data, be it photos, music, backed up files or anything else, you're best off avoiding the service until it adds that feature. Never assume it'll be added later. It may be, but you shouldn't take that gamble.
This is why we recommend Dropbox as our file backup tool of choice. It works great right now, and may it continue to do so, but should it close overnight, you have a copy of everything on your hard drive. Next, the service should offer some value beyond social connection, and in most cases, the option to be as antisocial as you like.
Anything that offers Facebook integration means that you can be up and running in a single click, but you never know what it will broadcast to your friends. If you don't want them to know what you're watching, listening to or clicking, be very careful before you grant access - especially if it's a new service that has yet to prove itself.
Finally, of course, never give any information to a site you're not sure you can trust. Scammers are everywhere, and some of them make websites. It's worth putting any site's name into Google just to check for skeletons in the closet. In most cases you won't find anything, and that's great. If there's more to it than met the eye though, you'll be glad you took the time to check.
Tools for work are the most compelling and the most risky. On one hand, stumbling across something that makes life easier is to be savoured. On the other, none of us want to start relying on something that gets taken away - and the price of failure can be serious.
This is one of the main drawbacks of tools like Google Docs. Yes, they're great - as long as you have internet access. If it goes down, you're potentially in trouble. Better safe than sorry.
Cloud computing should still be a core part of your working environment though, even if you're not ready to give up your local applications. In fact, in most cases, you probably shouldn't do that at all. Web apps still pale in comparison to a good local client for most functions, from email to image editing to basic word processing. They can offer handy features like multi-user editing, but by technology or design, they usually feel written to be 'good enough' rather than 'great'.
More to the point, they lack power. No serious spreadsheet user is going to use Google Docs when they could be using Excel for instance, and it'll likely be years before that changes - if it ever does. No, at the moment, the best work use for the cloud is accessing your files and computers from a distance, with web apps acting as stand-ins. Google Docs doesn't care if it's your primary word-processor, or simply what you fire up on your old netbook. It'll still edit and export all of your most important files - and if they're available via the web, you'll always be able to feed them into it.
Best of all, doing it this way also gives you access to older versions of every document you work on. That's not something you get on many home/office PCs, and is impossible if you work on multiple systems.
That's not all though. The cloud offers immediate access to all your devices as well as data, keeping you up to date with everything. On iPhone, Apple's iCloud is frankly lousy for most document syncing, but you can't beat it for contacts and calendars.
Most other phones will also offer the ability to connect to either dedicated address book software or Google Contacts, ensuring you stay up to date.
No distractions
But what of the offline world? If you don't use Microsoft Office, you can find tools that can replicate its functions – OpenOffice.org being the best of the free alternatives. For actually writing your documents though, you can often do better.For example, there's been a slew of 'distraction-free' environments over the last couple of years, and at first glance, they may appear stupid. They blank out your screen, give you a cursor, and that's about it. No formatting, no fancy layout - just text. Try them however - Q10 is a good starting point - and you'll soon see the appeal.
If you have a long document to write, not having new mail icons popping up or the siren's call of an internet browser can be just what you need to focus on the task at hand. For best results, open rainymood.com for some free atmospheric noise to can break the silence without breaking your flow.
Finally, don't forget what your tablet and smartphone can contribute to your day. The benefi ts of their apps and web browsers go without saying, but don't think you have to spend a fortune to get the data you need to take advantage of them.
Visit giffgaff.com and you can get 500MB of 3G data for £5 a month on tablets, or unlimited data on phones for £10. Both these deals are available as PAYG rather than contracts, and run on the O2 network. Note though that if you have an iPad or iPhone, you'll need to order a special micro-SIM instead of the standard model, or cut it down to size yourself.
Websites for work
1. Remote PC access
TeamViewerwww.teamviewer.com
Don't be put off by the price (£419 for a lifetime business licence) - it's free for non-commercial use. TeamViewer givers you complete access to your home PC (as long as it's switched on, obviously) from anywhere. You'll never be without that essential file or application again. Just don't tell the boss you're using it, especially if you're planning to pull the old "Oh, but I definitely emailed it in!" dodge next Monday morning.
2. Distraction busters
AntiSocial/Freedomwww.macfreedom.com
Freedom switches off your internet access for a set number of minutes, while AntiSocial lets you stay online, but blocks time-wasting sites like Facebook. You can restore access if you must, but it involves rebooting your PC. It's just annoying enough that you won't do it on a whim, while still giving you a get-out clause if you absolutely need one.
3. Cloud storage
Dropboxwww.dropbox.com
Not just the best cloud storage option out there, Dropbox is also the most convenient. It's the de facto standard for mobile apps, you get 2GB of space for free, and if you send out a few referral links, you can easily boost that to 7/8GB. Add support for file versioning and easy web access, and it's the one cloud tool you definitely need.
4. Writing tool
Scrivenerwww.scrivenerforwindows.com
Do you ever write long documents? Reports, essays, novels, anything? You need Scrivener – the best writing tool in the world. Endlessly configurable, as happy to help you plan as to help you write, and capable of reformatting your document to a perfect exported copy whenever you like. You'll never go back to Microsoft Word again.
5. Aggregator
Instapaperwww.instapaper.com
Many articles on the web deserve to be read, but you don't always have the time to go through them right then and there. Instapaper lives as a bookmark in your browser, stripping out all the adverts and graphical cruft in favour of storing a simple, well-formatted text version that's perfect for reading on your smartphone or tablet. When you finally have a moment to spare, it's all there and waiting for you.
6. Voicemail
HulloMailwww.hullomail.com
Visual voicemail refined. With HulloMail, you can get a handy iPhone-style answering machine on an Android handset - or if you don't pay for an O2 contract, with the bonus of having any messages emailed to you so that you can pick them up anywhere. It's not compatible with all services unfortunately, especially phones on pay-as-you-go payment plans, although does work fine with a Giffgaff SIM.
Apps for work
7. Soundnote - £2.99
Download from iTunesThis little app is the ultimate dictaphone. Hit 'Record' and you get everything that happens around you, with the option to scribble on the screen. Tap the scribbles and you go straight to that point in the recording - perfect for transcribing interviews.
8. TapToDo - Free
Download from iTunesA to-do list that syncs with your Google Tasks list, keeping you up to date with the rest of the day's assignments whether you're at your PC or out on the road. It provides an extra level of security by adding its own password, too.
9. Reeder - £1.99
Download from iTunesHands down the best RSS reader for iOS. Reeder is the perfect way to track any number of websites and news feeders via Google Reader. Google Apps users beware though - you'll need to switch two-step authentication on.
10. Evernote - Free
Download from iTunesDownload from Google Play
Your personal notebook. Clip websites, copy images, and record notes wherever you are. The free version does a lot, the premium edition (£4 a month or £35 a year) gives you extra space, collaborative note-making tools and offiine access to your collection.
Best for your social Life
Many social networks have come and gone over the years, but at the moment only two really stand out: Facebook and Twitter. Facebook in particular isn't simply where people post what they had for dinner, but where parties are arranged, activities are monitored, photos are uploaded, discussions are had and reasons not to add your boss to your Friends list are made painfully, painfully clear.There are good reasons not to join, including privacy and the fact that the service changes its look every five minutes or so, but it's still where everybody is at the moment, and where you need to be if you want to join in.
Beyond Facebook, smaller networks still have their place. They need to have a specific purpose that's going to help you out in a practical way, like www.myfitnesspal.com for weight loss and dieting, or at least a critical mass of existing users, like www.pinterest.com, so you can find like-minded people to chat with.
Facebook alternatives
What if you don't like Facebook at all? There's nothing wrong with making an account and not entering any personal details if you only want to watch (though you'll need to tell your friends what name you did so under, and find a less creepy way to explain it than that).It's worth being on in some form though. It may go the way of Friendster and MySpace in time, but that time isn't now. If nothing else, more and more sites and services are using it for sign-in and authorisation.
One advantage of Facebook that isn't obvious from the outside is that many of these other networks can connect to it in the form of apps and API calls. This lets it act as a social hub for both its own and other services, and saves you the effort of persuading your existing friends list to join you elsewhere.
Foursquare, for instance, is the most popular location tool, having turned 'checking in' into a game. If friends are intrigued and join the service directly, you all get the advantages - along with the special bonus that they can't blame you for wasting their time by hyping them up.
Sharing isn't necessarily a good thing though, and more and more software defaults to broadcasting everything you do without asking you. Spotify and Netflix both make your entertainment choices public by default, for example, and this isn't for your benefit - it's because every post they make acts as a personalised advert to your friends.
Even so, some tool integration works very well. Photos for instance can be edited and uploaded from almost any consumer editor, and that's always worth doing.
Signal to noise
The downside of one site holding all this stuff is that its interface doesn't scale very well, and if you add hundreds of friends, you'll soon be drowned in a torrent of irrelevance.The first step to cleaning this up is to try to keep your contacts list to a reasonable size. It doesn't have to be as brutal as only adding people you know in real life, but you absolutely shouldn't add every stranger who asks. By default they get to see your posts, your holiday photos, your location... all kinds of sensitive data.
At the bare minimum, visit the Privacy Settings option and make sure your updates and info are limited to Friends, not Friends of Friends. Then, every few months, prune anyone you never speak to or whose posts don't interest you. It's not rude, whatever they might think. It's just common sense.
Step two? That's the biggie - moving away from the default web interfaces and tools and using a few third-party tweaks and clients that give you much more control over your online life. Flick your eyes to the right for our recommendations.
Websites for your social life
11. Twitter client
Tweetdeckwww.tweetdeck.com
Your complete social networking command centre, bringing Twitter and Facebook into one not-so-simple view. By making columns for news, responses, direct messages and more, you can see everything that flows into your life in real-time. Just don't expect it to relieve the information overload. Quite the reverse. Bring some aspirin.
12. Social media aggregator
Alternionwww.alternion.com
If you don't want to use Facebook to bring your various social networking accounts together in one place, try this alternative. It connects to over 200 of them, including emails, and makes it easy to keep track of what's going on, cross-post to multiple services, and filter your stream based on what you want to see. It also looks daringly similar to Facebook. Nobody tell Zuckerberg's lawyers about that…
13. Twitter search
Snapbirdwww.snapbird.org
Twitter's built-in search engine is one of the most pathetic attempts at drilling through mountains of data you'll ever see. Thankfully, Snapbird exists. This tool will take you straight to the tweet you want, especially if it's related to your own timeline, as well as searching far further back into the archives than the official version ever bothers to. One day, hopefully it won't be needed. For now though, use it and be glad.
14. Facebook Browser Plugin
Social Fixerwww.socialfixer.com
What's good for Facebook isn't necessarily good for you. SocialFixer is a browser plugin (available for all major platforms except Internet Explorer) that comprehensively overhauls the experience. It'll hide posts you've read. It'll highlight what's new. It'll even give you information Facebook likes to keep quiet about, like who's un-friended you - if not why. It may occasionally break, but updates won't be far away.
15. Facebook Photo Archiver
Pick&Zipwww.picknzip.com
Uploading photos to Facebook is easy. Getting them back can be trickier. Pick&Zip saves you the hassle of manually saving them by downloading and archiving the lot. Remember though, if they were resized by Facebook, you'll get the smaller versions. Keep the originals somewhere else - a dedicated photo site like Flickr, for example.
16. Social Media Tracking
SocialMentionwww.socialmention.com
If your social networking is more professional than personal, SocialMention is a great tool for tracking mentions of yourself, your company, news stories, or anything else that's breaking. You'll also find the kind of stats that marketing types kill for, including sentiment, hashtags, and the most popular users using the term.
Apps for your social life
17. Tweetbot - £1.99
Download from iTunesThe best Twitter client for iOS, especially if you're checking your feed on an iPad. Twitter's own app is good enough for casual tweeters, but this is more efficient for heavy use. On Android devices though, it's a decent option.
18. Foursquare - Free
Download from iTunesDownload from Google Play
Check in at locations around the world, either to tell your friends where you are, or to compete with others for virtual mayorship of them. The Foursquare app connects to Facebook, and works better than its equivalent Places tool.
19. Camera+ - 69p
Download from iTunesUpgrade the largely useless iPhone camera app with this one and you'll get essential features like burst shooting, image stabilisation and proper in-app editing with a wide range of filters - all for less than the price of a cup of coffee.
20. Beejive IM - Free/£6.99
Download from iTunesDownload from Google Play
Available for iOS, BlackBerry and Android, Beejive is the best of the admittedly small IM map market. Connect to MSN, GTalk, AIM and more and stay connected wherever you go. It costs £6.99 for all platforms, with a basic free version available for Android.
Best for entertainment
Let's start with some of the main content sources. Unfortunately, about 80 per cent of commercial video remains region-locked. Companies like Hulu don't have the rights to stream their libraries outside of the US (and sometimes Canada), and even services like Netflix that offer international access typically only have licenses for a tiny selection of content.Luckily for them, it's impossible to pretend that your PC is elsewhere through some kind of VPN. So definitely don't try that.
Small screen films
Of the UK providers, Lovefilm has by far the best recent movie content, with Netflix edging it with its TV programmes. Both work superbly on devices like the iPad and PlayStation 3, though Netflix easily takes the prize if you plan to watch content on your PC directly. Both cost around £5 to access, though Lovefilm throws online streaming in for free with its DVD/Blu-ray rental service.Other sites have smaller selections, but often good ones. iPlayer and 4OD offer catch-up services, with 4OD also boasting a healthy back-catalogue of ad-supported programmes. Other free sources include Blinkbox and YouTube - not in the main video collection, but accessible at the top of the front page behind links to 'TV Shows' and 'Movies'.
In most cases, the free TV will be fine, if not exactly cutting edge, while free movies are a hunt for gems among piles of slurry with names like Android Apocalypse and Nude on the Moon.
Getting videos from one format to another remains problematic. At the moment, that leaves an actual disc the best way to play movies on PC and TV legally, distantly followed by an Apple TV and iPad using AirPlay. Should you hypothetically have lots of unencumbered video files though, you can't beat a NAS for storing them and beaming them around the house.
The best ones, like Synology's can transcode on the fly, making their original format irrelevant. Assuming you're going to rely on fresh content though, the obvious problem is working out what to watch.
For movies, you can't beat IMDB. TV shows are trickier, but of the social options, Trakt can still be useful, and YourNextFilm at least tries to offer a wider perspective.
You'll also increasingly find collections like Popular on Facebook on services like Netflix, which might at least point you to high-profile arrivals and cult favourites you might otherwise have missed out on.
If all else fails though, you'll rarely go wrong by just browsing. You never know when you'll find your new favourite movie or show. Just make sure the site or service your using isn't going to auto-broadcast everything to Facebook or similar, in case you feel the urge to sit down with something trashy.
21. Film Rental
Lovefilmwww.lovefilm.com
The best way to fill your life with entertainment on the cheap. LoveFilm's digital service isn't very good on PC, but its console and iPad versions are a different story - a solid selection of movies, mixed with a few TV shows. Its DVD/Blu-Ray collection is immense, with incredibly fast turnaround. You might not get your fix in the exact order you requested it, but you can get almost anything that's on the shelves.
22. Region Unblocking
Unblock USwww.unblock-us.com
Absolutely not just a way to tap into American video services. Should you need to pretend that you're in the US for legitimate reasons, it's a handy way to do it - not least because it uses DNS trickery rather than a VPN to avoid data going via a third party. Free to try, with a modest monthly subscription. Just remember only to use it for good.
23. TV Guide
TV Guidewww.tvguide.co.uk
The best UK-focused guide, with an excellent timeline view and instant access to catch-up services when browsing older programs. These links don't go straight to the player, simply doing a search on the target site, but that still only leaves you a click or two away. If it's on in the UK, you'll find it listed here, along with a list of new series starting each week.
24. Media Server
PS3 Media Serverwww.ps3mediaserver.org
DLNA compliant media server that's ideal for sending movies and other media around your house. It works with other devices too, and is capable of transcoding almost any file you throw at it into whatever your destination device requires. Incredibly easy to set up - just pair it with a good network connection and you're ready to go.
25. Video Conversion
Handbrakewww.handbrake.fr
Your one-stop, open-source tool for converting video and ripping your non-commercial DVDs. The number of options might look intimidating to begin with, but you can safely ignore them in favour of picking a preset and sitting back to let Handbrake do its thing. There's a full user manual available online if you need it though, along with a wiki full of extra hints and tips for dealing with more complicated ripping.
25. Live TV Streaming
TV Catchupwww.tvcatchup.com
Not what it sounds like, unfortunately. TVCatchup is all about live streaming, with over 40 channels available. All major free-to-air channels are covered, including Freeview favourites like Dave, with the option to watch directly on your TV or tablet device. You do have to register to watch, but it's a completely free service. Just give the stream 30 seconds to get going - it plays an advert before starting properly.
Apps for entertainment
26. OPlayerHD - £1.99/£2.99
Download from iTunesReplace your iPhone or iPad's highly restricted video player app with one that can handle just about any format you throw at it. Not great at handling at high definition content on the original iPad, but works a treat on more recent ones.
27. Flipboard - Free
Download from iTunesDownload from Google Play
Your favourite RSS feeds, now in the form of the world's most stylish digital magazine. Create sections, flip through pages and generally avoid having to sift through every last story in your RSS feeds to find something interesting.
28. Zeebox - Free
Download from iTunesDownload from Google Play
A social take on watching television. Zeebox lets you chat with friends while you watch programmes together, and have instant access to relevant websites and tags from the comfort of your sofa. For iOS, Android and the web.
29. IMDB - Free
Download from iTunesDownload from Google Play
The ultimate solution to any movie question. IMDB is available on everything, giving you instant access to a wealth of trivia, reviews, recommendations and the answer to that classic question: "Wait, where do I know that guy from?"
Best for your home life
Information is power, and while the PC can do many things to help around the home, nothing beats the advantage it gives you against the world. Whether you're booking a holiday, ordering lunch or trying to find the best deal on electricity, a few minutes with Google and a selection of trusted sites can be the difference between finding a great deal and vast amounts of heartache.Let's take the holiday example, as that's the one most likely to lead to familicide. The obvious first stop is a package holiday site, where flights and hotels are all bound into one, apparently good value parcel. You can click the button, just like you would take the word of a travel agent back in the day, but that's a gamble.
Visit www.tripadvisor.com for instance, and while you have to take what you read with a pinch of salt, you can get a good flavour of exactly what people thought of the hotel, see some actual photos of it (visit www.oyster.com/hotels/photo-fakeouts to see how much many official ones bend reality to breaking point), and keep an eye out for dodgy deals.
In one case during my own holidaying, a hotel recommended by a travel site that will remain nameless had a solid write-up, but about half the reports also made it clear that it routinely overbooked its rooms and sent the overflow to a one-star place round the corner. Needless to say, my travelling companion and I looked elsewhere for a place to rest our weary heads.
The tools just keep on coming. Google Street View lets you see the area, and exactly how far it is to places like the nearest station. Sites like Skyscanner and TravelSupermarket.com do flight price comparisons. The likes of Lonely Planet or simple Google searches show you what there is to do. And if you find an offer that sounds too good to be true, a quick search is usually enough to explain the scam in great, great detail.
If this isn't how you plan your holidays, you're doing it wrong. The same goes for more or less every household chore. You should never, for example, change your service providers on the doorstep (or even hand over any details). A site like www.moneysupermarket.com will tell you exactly what deals everyone offers, and calculate exactly how much you could save if you switch - no hard sell involved.
Bargain hunting
Now, let's go a little bit deeper. When you want to buy products online, it's easy to go to a big site like Amazon and click the button. It may well have the best deal, but run the product through a tool like kelkoo.com and you'll often find it cheaper. Price needs to be balanced with the site offering it of course - always check them out before ordering anything.Electronics in particular often come from Hong Kong, and while the product itself may be fine, you risk paying massive import duty on it that can annihilate any savings. Even if the site seems to be UK based, a quick paranoia check will often reveal its address to just be a mailbox.
For less important items, how about waiting for some good deals? CamelCamelCamel.com is a good starting point for these, constantly tracking prices on Amazon for sales or discounts - including ones from its third party sellers. It's also worth following www.moneysavingexpert.com to see them as they appear, along with expert opinion on what's worth checking out.
The rule about double-checking with Google remains for any advice you see. Rebooting your digital home life isn't just about saving money, but it's a good start and one that will start rewarding you immediately.
Cast your eyes below for some of our recommendations, along with a few extra tools that you might find useful around the house. They can't cook and clean for you, but that doesn't mean they can't pull their weight in other ways.
Websites for home life
30. Travel reviews
TripAdvisorwww.tripadvisor.com
The holidaymaker's best friend, with reviews and information on anywhere you're likely to stay, local attractions, restaurants and more. Don't take every review as gospel truth - some are plants, others are just crazy. You can get a solid idea about most places though, and find alternatives if you decide you don't feel like taking the risk.
31. Financial advice
MoneySavingExpertwww.moneysavingexpert.com
Martin Lewis's terrifyingly comprehensive guide to everything from gas and electricity to insurance, mortgages and shopping. It's a constant stream of updates that let you know who has the best deal and which company is trying to slip a price-hike past its customers' noses. As it warns though, make sure to double-check everything on there - don't take any advice it offers purely at face value.
32. Price alerts
CamelCamelCamelhttp://uk.camelcamelcamel.com
A simple way of tracking the latest deals on Amazon. Enter the names of products that interest you, or simply bring up a list of products currently on sale. You can also create your own watches by finding an item you might purchase in the future and the price you want to pay, and the site will mail or tweet you if and when it happens. You can also view price history over time to see if sales are likely in the near future.
33. Virtual whiteboard
Stixywww.stixy.com
Moving away from saving money, here's a modern replacement for the classic family corkboard/fridge door. Stixy gives you a virtual whiteboard where you can add notes, photos, documents and to-do lists that anyone in the family can turn into their homescreen or access at will. It won't make sure they what they're told, but it will make it much harder for them to pretend they never saw the instruction.
34. Recipies
Supercookwww.supercook.com
Most recipe sites give you things you might want to make and a shopping list. Supercook reverses it. You tell it what you've got, and it tries to find recipes you can make with your existing ingredients. A reasonably stocked kitchen will help, but even a handful of supplies should be enough to sort out dinner without relying on a takeaway.
35. Health Advice
WebMDwww.webmd.com
Obvious warning: WebMD isn't a replacement for a doctor, and hypochondriacs should avoid it like the plague they don't have. For general pointers as to what might be wrong with a member of the family though, it's a better than Googling symptoms - plus a solid information source for everything from allergies to sleep disorders.
Apps for home life
36. EpicWin - £1.99
Download from iTunesIf you can't get your family to help out with the chores around the house, try turning them into a game with this handy app. Think of it as a to-do list with a scoring system. Its developers claim it makes being organised fun.
37. MyFitnessPal - Free
Download from iTunesDownload from Google Play
One of the best online weight-loss/fitness sites, and the perfect way to keep track of your family's collective progress. This portable app is a mix of food diary, nutrition database and instantly accessible pick-me-up.
38. RedLaser - Free
Download from iTunesDownload from Google Play
Turn your phone into a mobile barcode scanner, with the ability to list other - potentially better - prices for the targeted item. Should you feel enticed by a QR code while you're out, RedLaser will happily deal with those too.
39. WolframAlpha - £1.99
Download from iTunesDownload from Google Play
A computational search engine might not sound like the ideal thing to have around the house, but with easy conversions of everything from metric to imperial to currency, WolframAlpha's iOS app soon earns its place.
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Review: BenQ W1060
BenQ's W1060 is a slick and stylish machine with a chassis that whets the appetite for some spectacular cinema-honed visuals. It boasts full-HD 1080p in terms of pixels, and each and every one of them is driven by a microscopic mirror.
Take a closer look at the spec sheet and it's nearly all good news. BenQ claims native contrast of 5,000 to one, for instance. The 2,000 lumens lamp doesn't sound too shabby, either. The only real blot on the W1060's copy paper is the 3x speed, six-segment colour wheel. ViewSonic's Pro8200, by comparison, has a 4x speed, seven-segment wheel.
Then, again, the excellent Optoma HD23 is a 3x, six-segment item, so maybe the specs aren't all important after all. What's more, the W1060's sub-£700 sticker price is pretty darn impressive.
First up, the subjective viewing experience doesn't show up any obvious increase in the dreaded DLP rainbow effect, which is good news given the relatively modest spec and colour wheel speed.
Unfortunately though, things go south from there. Firstly, the modest throw ratio makes for the smallest image at any given distance of this group. It's not a problem if you're using it in a large room. But the W1060 isn't the best choice of projector for cooking up big pictures in small spaces.
The next problem involves black levels and contrast. It's not an issue in brighter scenes in games and movies, which have plenty of zip and nice colours. But feed the W1060 something darker and moodier and it's notably less impressive.
We're being harsh here. This is a modern DLP projector with decent contrast. But the black levels just aren't quite good enough for that fully immersive, distraction-free cinema feel.
More of a worry is the fine detail of the image composition. It's hard to describe, but the definition of the pixels gives a slightly interpolated feel. Combined with the mediocre contrast and black levels, the result is the closest thing you'll find to a dud this month.
In isolation, the BenQ W1060 is a pleasing device for painting big, bright pictures across your living room wall. But against the competition here it comes last.
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In Depth: How Apple became the world's richest company
A tale of design
Apple's value hit $619 billion (£389 billion) in April, making it the world's most valuable company - and some experts suggest that it could be worth an incredible $1 trillion by this time next year as it expands into China.It's an extraordinary amount of money, especially for a firm that many people dismissed as a basket case in the early 90s. So what's Apple's secret?
Design has been in Apple's DNA since 1977's Apple II, whose case was inspired by the food processors and coffee makers Steve Jobs saw in a Macy's department store. Jobs tried (and failed) to persuade Steve Wozniak that customers only needed expansion slots for a printer and modem, but he did play a key role in designing the case to make it as friendly as possible.
That friendliness and simplicity has been key to Apple products ever since, from the Lisa and Macintosh of the 80s to the iMac of the 90s and the OS X and iOS devices of today. For Apple, design isn't something you bring in to make things look pretty - it's part of the process from day one.
"In most people's vocabularies," Steve Jobs told Fortune in 2000, "design means veneer. It's interior decorating. It's the fabric of the curtains and the sofa." Jobs, and Apple, didn't think that way: describing the iMac, he said that "the essence of the iMac is to be the finest possible consumer computer in which each element plays together."
If that means asking your engineers to make the impossible possible, so be it. "I was adamant that we get rid of the fan, because it is much more pleasant to work on a computer that doesn't drone all the time," Jobs said. "It required a huge engineering effort to figure out how to manage power better and to do a better job of thermal conduction through the machine. That is the furthest thing from veneer. This is what customers pay us for: to sweat all these details so it's really easy and pleasant for them to use our computers."
That philosophy applies to the entire Apple experience. It's why Apple offers a handful of products in each category instead of dozens of barely differentiated ones, it's why even the cheapest bit of Apple kit is packaged so beautifully, and it's why Apple often prototypes new products but decides not to ship them. Other firms want to be all things to all people. Apple wants to be insanely great.
To become as big as Apple you need an astonishing manufacturing operation, peerless marketing, the ability to see into the future and floundering rivals. Apple has all of those things now, but it didn't in the 90s.
In 1997, Wired magazine famously put the Apple logo on its front cover with a simple one-word headline: "Pray." Apple's biggest problem in the 1990s was Windows, which became the dominant personal computing platform. Apple, who had given Steve Jobs the boot back in 1985, responded to the threat by making lots of barely differentiated products that it hoped would compete with the Windows juggernaut. It didn't work, and Apple ended up with stacks of Macs people didn't want and huge waiting lists for the ones people did.
TIME magazine went so far as to describe the Apple of the time as "arguably one of the worst-managed companies in the industry." Apple Incorporated was bleeding money, and in 1997 its share price hit a 12-year low: while today Apple is worth more than Microsoft and Google combined, in Q2 1997 it was worth just $2.17 billion. Microsoft, meanwhile, was worth $141 billion.
The second coming of Steve
In 1996, the exiled Jobs told PBS's Wall Street Week programme what he felt was wrong with the firm he had co-created. "Apple stood still," he said, arguing that "people have caught up with it, and its differentiation has eroded, in particular with respect to Microsoft… the way out is not to slash and burn, it's to innovate. That's how Apple got its glory, and that's how Apple could return to it."
When Jobs returned to Apple in 1997, he simplified everything from Apple's range of products to the number of advertising agencies it used, and he also changed the company's focus. Jobs knew that trying to compete with Windows PCs was a race to the bottom, so he didn't even try to compete in that market.
There's a famous quote by hockey star Wayne Gretzky: "A good hockey player knows where the puck is. A great hockey player plays where the puck is going to be." Jobs wanted Apple to be great, not good, so he bet Apple on where he though the puck was going to be: the internet and digital media.
The 1998 iMac transformed Apple's fortunes, becoming the most popular personal computer in America. By 2000, Apple's finances had recovered, and Jobs told BusinessWeek that "we should be in an incredible place as this convergence of computing and communications explodes in the next few years. I think it's ours to lose."
Apple didn't lose: a year later, it had the iPod. The iPod wasn't the first MP3 player, but it was the most desirable. Where other firms loaded their devices with every conceivable feature and option, Apple kept it simple and beautiful and sold shed-loads.
The iPod wasn't just significant for its industrial design, though: tight integration with iTunes and later, the iTunes Music Store offered an overall experience that rivals, such as Microsoft's PlaysForSure partners, simply couldn't deliver. Factor in some truly wonderful marketing, as well as packaging that made you feel that you'd bought something truly valuable, and it's clear that where other firms were making gadgets, Apple was making objects of desire.
By 2005, the iPod 'halo effect' was a recognised phenomenon: in a 2005 survey by Morgan Stanley, some 43% of iPod owners said they were considering a Mac as their next computer. Apple's market share of the PC market has continued to grow, and today it has more than 10% of the traditional PC market.
Beware of cannibals
Cannibalisation is when a new product destroys the market for an existing one. Apple hasn't suffered from it so far, largely because Apple is its own cannibal: Steve Jobs was quick to see that the biggest threat to the iPod was the smartphone, so rather than try to protect the iPod, Apple created a smartphone with an iPod in it.
The iPhone, of course, has done very well. According to ComScore, Apple has 30% of the US smartphone market - and according to Asymo.com, while Apple only has 9% of the global market it rakes in 75% of the profits. The iPhone business alone is bigger than Microsoft.
Apple is also cannibalising the PC. The iPad is starting to take a big chunk out of PC sales, and it's destroying the market for netbook PCs. Despite the best efforts of rivals, the tablet market is almost entirely Apple's - and if you class the iPad as a PC, then Apple is already the largest PC manufacturer on Earth.
Apple learned valuable lessons from the bad old days of the 90s, when it had Macs it couldn't sell and orders it couldn't fulfill. Under the auspices of Tim Cook, Apple closed its factories and warehouses, outsourcing production and cleaning up what CNN called "the atrocious state of Apple's manufacturing, distribution and supply apparatus."
Cook described his approach as being like that of the dairy business: "If it gets past its freshness date, it's a problem." Cook didn't just reduce inventory and outsource manufacturing, though. He also arranged deals that give Apple enormous competitive advantage. So, for example, when Apple launched the iPod nano, he pre-paid suppliers and effectively bought the world's supply of suitable Flash memory.
Apple signs similar deals for other crucial components, such as TFT displays, and it even helps its suppliers finance new manufacturing facilities: in 2011 it announced that it would pay nearly $4 billion for "inventory component pre-payments and capital expenditures" over the next two years. $4 billion is a lot of money, but it's worth a lot to Apple: it gets enormous economies of scale that keep prices low, and it gets guaranteed supplies of crucial components.
That can make life exceptionally difficult for rivals, so, for example, nobody so far has been able to make anything as good as the iPad at the same price as the iPad. As an industry source told BusinessInsider, "If it weren't for Tim Cook, the iPad would cost $5,000".
Can it last? There certainly don't appear to be any dents in Apple's armour. Each quarter's financial results are more staggering than the previous one's, and while rivals may have caught up with Apple in some sectors, such as smartphones, Apple's still the innovator, the firm whose products people love rather than like. In 2000, Jobs said that the market was Apple's to lose; 12 years on, it still is.
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'Exploding' Samsung Galaxy S3 may have been microwaved
A couple of weeks ago, the owner of a Samsung Galaxy S3 got all hot and bothered after claiming his new Samsung Galaxy S3 had spontaneously combusted.
The user had posted on an Irish web forum claiming that white flames shot out of the device, while he was driving, causing damage to his car and obliterating his phone.
The owner, who posted photos of the fire-damaged device (above), expressed concern that it may have been the side of his face or his leg that fell victim to the explosion rather than his vehicle.
Samsung had vowed to get to the bottom of the mystery and enlisted Fire Investigations UK to take a look at the device.
External energy
It seems somebody was telling a few porkies. The FIUK found that the fire was not caused by the device itself, but by 'external energy.'"The device was not responsible for the cause of the fire," wrote investigator Peter Mansi. "The energy source responsible for generating the heat has been determined as external to the device."
Additionally, the investigation stated: "The only way it was possible to produce damage similar to the damage recorded within the owner's damaged device was to place the devices or component parts within a domestic microwave."
Stupid mistake
This revelation has caused the owner of the phone to confess that all was not well with his original story.In a retraction on the same forum, the Dublin student who posts as dilo2k10 wrote: "I would like to retract my original statement.
"The damage to the phone was caused by another person, although they were attempting to recover the phone from water this later caused the damage shown on the phone.
"It occurred due to a large amount of external energy and there was no fault with the phone. This was not a deliberate act but a stupid mistake."
So it seems that a pal of Mr dilo2k10's may have soaked the device and sought to repair the damage with a quick blast in the microwave. Clever.
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Samsung Galaxy Nexus US sales ban temportarily lifted
The US sales ban on the Samsung Galaxy Nexus Google-phone has been lifted, albeit temporarily, after the Korean manufacturer appealed the decision.
The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has given Samsung a reprieve for the first Ice Cream Sandwich handset, but it's possible any response from Apple could see restrictions swiftly reinstated.
The initial ban relates to the 'quick search' functionality on the Galaxy Nexus device, which will scan all areas of the phone and then the web with one tap.
Apple said this infringed on its iOS patents and a California court agreed.
Back with Jelly Bean
Earlier this week, Samsung failed in overturning the decision, while Google has halted sales of the handset through its online portal, pending a software patch.Google has said that it hopes to have the Galaxy Nexus back on sale next week, with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and a workaround for the software functionality Apple claims infringes on its patent.
The saga continues.
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Mozilla shoots down Thunderbird, ceases development on mail client
Mozilla will not be creating new versions of the Thunderbird mail client for Mac and PC as it seeks to focus attention in its 'ambitious' new projects.
In a letter to staff, posted by TechCrunch, the company has decided that "continued innovation on Thunderbird is not the best use of our resources given our ambitious organizational goals."
That means, it wants more hands on deck for the forthcoming launch of the Mozilla Firefox mobile OS, originally known as Boots to Gecko
The company says it is not 'stopping' Thunderbird per se, but will now focus only on continued security and stability for the 20m users across the world.
Community-driven innovation
In terms of new additions to the client? Well that buck has been passed to the community."Thunderbird is one of the very few truly free and open source multi-platform email applications available today and we want to defend these values," wrote Thunderbird MD Jb Piacentino.
"We're not "stopping" Thunderbird, but proposing we adapt the Thunderbird release and governance model in a way that allows both ongoing security and stability maintenance, as well as community-driven innovation and development for the product."
Piacentino says it is likely that members of the Thunderbird team will be moved onto other projects, including the company's more illustrious Firefox web browser and the forthcoming mobile OS.
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Apple 'holding back' on entering NFC mobile payment game
Apple has adopted a wait an see attitude towards mobile payments after deep-rooted discussions within the company, according to the Wall Street Journal.
While Google Wallet and credit card companies like Visa, Mastercard and Barclaycard forge ahead with their NFC-based solutions, Apple is yet to enter that arena.
The WSJ reports that taking on the emerging market was seriously discussed, but for now the company opted with to go with the Passbook app - launched within iOS 6 at WWDC last month.
Passbook will users to collate their vouchers, coupons, plane tickets and store cards, but does not offer any immeditate indication that a mobile payments service like Google Wallet will be launched.
Ambitions scaled back, for now
The article, paraphrasing an unnamed Apple executive, says the company wanted to take advantage of the 400m credit cards registered to iTunes, with a view to creating Apple's own payment network or teaming up with an existing service and taking a cut.Scott Forstall's iOS software development team were encouraged to "brainstorm a comprehensive wallet app," but amibtions were eventually scaled back.
Beyond software, the company also investigated new NFC technologies, but decided at this point that the chips would be too great a drain on the iPhone's battery life.
When the mobile payment discussions came to an executive review in early 2012, many "baulked" at the idea, amid further fears over slow vendor adoption, and we ended up with Passbook.
Of course, between now and the final launch of iOS 6, expected this autumn, we could see a new version of Passbook to complement an NFC-enabled iPhone 5 device, kick-starting Apple's entry into the arena. For now, it's a definite wait and see.
However, It's likely to happen sooner rather than later, as analyst Gene Munster says: "They let their competitors do their market research for them."
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