Dropbox implements major redesign
In Dropbox‘s own words, the redesign just implemented for their web interface has been “turned up to 11.” If you visit the site today you will be in for a surprise as a major overhaul of the interface has taken place.
The purpose of the redesign is to simplify the interface and put more focus on the actual content in your Dropbox. This has mainly been achieved with the introduction of a new multi-tool toolbar at the top of the page that auto-adjusts its options based on what you are currently doing. It has been coupled with a new right click menu with common options mirrored from the toolbar. Read more...
See an Angry Birds Space demonstration … in space
Angry Birds Space, the long-awaited sequel to the award-winning, best selling iOS game of all time, is set to launch later this month. In preparation for the event, Angry Birds developer Rovio has been doing a lot of promotion with NASA, including sending a pair of iPads up to the International Space Station. Their latest marketing effort: A zero-gravity live demonstration aboard the International Space Station. Read more...
Global warming catastrophe: Island nation swallowed whole by the sea
Scientists have warned for years about the dangers of global warming, raising the grim specter of rising sea levels and cities being swallowed by the ocean. It all seemed more like a Hollywood movie plot than reality. But for residents of the Pacific island nation of Kiribati, global warming is a terrifying real problem: Their entire country is about to be submerged under water. Read more...
Apple to add 3,600 jobs at new $304M Texas campus
Apple Inc. is investing $304 million in a new campus and more than doubling its workforce in the Texas capital, boosted by a $21 million incentive from a state fund designed to attract high-tech companies, Gov. Rick Perry said Friday.
The investment from the Texas Enterprise Fund comes in exchange for a promise that Apple will add more than 3,600 employees at its new facility in Austin over the next decade, including customer support, sales and accounting staff, Perry said.
"Investments like this further Texas' potential to become the nation's next high-tech hub," the governor said in a statement.
Already the world's most valuable company, Apple's market capitalization topped $500 billion this month and remains above that mark — rarefied air that only a few firms, including rival Microsoft and Exxon Mobil Corp, have ever exceeded. Read more...
How Green Dot Will Use Loopt To Go After Mobile Payments
Imagine you’re walking by your local cafe, and you get a notification on your phone that you’ll get a free bagel if you buy a cup of coffee. You walk inside, and make the purchase with your credit card — no need to take out your phone again. The bagel rings up as “free,” and you get a notification from your bank confirming you’ve received the discount.
All of this payments and loyalty interchange can happen over the cloud. A lot of companies are trying to get their arms around mobile payments. Many of them, trying to make your phone itself act as the credit card. Google with Wallet, Square, Paypal, American Express, everybody who’s experimenting with NFC.
And now prepaid card service Green Dot is, too, via its acquisition of location company Loopt. Read more...
French team brings down IE9 at Pwn2Own hacking contest
A team from a French security firm hacked Microsoft's Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) yesterday at "Pwn2Own," making it two browsers busted in two days at the annual contest.
Also on Thursday, Google patched Chrome to fix two vulnerabilities that a long-time contributor to its bug bounty program used the day before to win $60,000 at "Pwnium," Google's first-ever hacking event.
The group from Paris-based Vupen Security brought down IE9 running on Windows 7 by exploiting a pair of previously-unknown "zero-day" bugs that bypassed the operating system's defensive technologies to execute attack code, allowing that code to escape from IE's "Protected Mode," the browser's limited-rights anti-exploit system. Read more...
This week at Microsoft: Windows 8, Windows Phone, and Office 15
Welcome to Friday, my friends, it’s a right pleasure to provide you with a bit of entertainment before you ship home from work to plant yourself in front of yet another screen. Modern Man and the Monitor Tan. We’re all guilty of it.
This week at Microsoft was happily varied, and oddly illuminating. As always, this roundup is essentially a list of my favorite things from the week. If you want a comprehensive look at what happened in the realm of Microsoft, head to the archives for all the information.
Now, be sure that you are following TNW Microsoft on Twitter, and Facebook, and let’s get into the news. Read more...