Microsoft Sculpt Comfort Mouse brings back the Start button
GadgetsMicrosoft's newest peripheral brings the Start button back to Windows 8 at last -- in mouse form, at least.
The freshly unveiled Sculpt Comfort Mouse has a blue, touch-sensitive button on its flank that bears the familiar Windows 8 logo. Continue reading...
Irate Brit catalogues call centre menu options on website
GadgetsWe've all been there -- you phone a company expecting to speak to a human being, only to have to listen to an automated voice reel off call options. Well one frustrated Brit has channelled his ire by making a website that catalogues the menu options, helping us rattle through without having to listen to them all.
pleasepress1.com is retired IT manager Nigel Clarke's "labour of love", he told the BBC. The extensive site catalogues hundreds of companies' call options. For the last seven years, Clarke has been calling companies and creating sequences of Post-It notes to diagram the menus. Continue reading...
Google Glass for prescription glasses prototype spied
GadgetsJust when you thought all the fun was over for another Google I/O this little doozy comes along. It's a modified version of Google Glass that'll fit a prescription pair of glasses, Engadget reports.
Google previously announced the technological spectacles would work with prescription lenses, but this is the first time the hardware has made an appearance. Continue reading...
Bang & Olufsen BeoLab 14 speakers are stylish but pricey 
Home CinemaIf you want your living room to ooze style from every angle and you don't care how much it costs, Bang & Olufsen's new set of surround sound home theatre speakers will be right up your alley.
The standard setup consists of four satellite speakers and a main sub-woofer which will set you back the cool price of £2,500. A five speaker setup will be a better choice, however, if you don't also already own one of B&O's speaker-equipped tellys -- that extra satellite brings the total to £2,800. Continue reading...
Tesco broadband now £2, not counting line rental
GadgetsTesco has slashed the cost of broadband to just £2 per month. You've got to pay fifteen quid line rental, but it's still a tempting offer.
The supermarket is offering a package that gives you unlimited broadband and phone calls for a total of £16.90 all in. You get your line rental from Tesco rather than BT, costing £14.90. Chuck in your two quid for broadband and you get free evening and weekend calls on top, as well as a Clubcard point for every pound you spend. Continue reading...
Colour-screen Kindle on the cards, Amazon acquisition hints
GadgetsA Kindle ebook reader with a colour screen could become reality in the near future, as Amazon has snapped up a company that manufactures multicolour displays.
Liquavista used to be owned by Samsung, but has been bought by Amazon. In a statement sent to our sister site CNET News, the online book magnate said, "We're always looking for new technologies we may be able to incorporate into our products over the long term." Continue reading...
Sony E-Ink slate concept is mega-thin, built for learning
GadgetsIdle doodling in class has just been taken to the next level, as Sony reveals an A4-size E-Ink tablet that -- it hopes -- will become the future of education.
The 'digital paper' concept measures 13.3 inches, making it significantly bigger than most tablets, and is a mere 6.8mm thick. That's thinner than super-slender smart phones like the 7.6mm iPhone 5. Continue reading...
18-year-old Londoner awarded $100k to start tech business
GadgetsAn 18-year-old Brit has been awarded a $100,000 (£65,000) fellowship to move to San Francisco and start his own tech business, the BBC reports.
Andrew Brackin, from London, is one of 20 young business people to receive the Thiel Fellowship from Peter Thiel, the co-creator of PayPal and one of Facebook's first investors. Brackin will use the money to develop Bunchy, which lets charities and other organisations raise money through social networks and websites. Continue reading...
US government orders 3D-printed gun blueprints be pulled
GadgetsThose of us of a nervous disposition can breathe a little easier, as the US government has demanded that blueprints showing how to make your own firearm be taken offline, TechCrunch reports.
The blueprints went up about a week ago. The US State Department has ordered self-styled crypto-anarchist Cody Wilson to remove them under expert laws known as the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR). Continue reading...
Smart Meter scheme to kill estimated bills delayed by a year
GadgetsThe British government's ploy to squeeze Internet-capable energy meters into UK homes has been delayed by a year, with industry bods saying that designing the high-tech gadgets will take more time.
The project, which will cost £11.7bn, will now kick off in autumn 2015, the BBC reports. With the year's delay taken into account, it's now anticipated that every UK home will be fitted with a smart meter by 2020. Continue reading...
Fitbit Flex fights Nike+ FuelBand, talks to your phone
GadgetsFlex and bend and two and three… Ah, didn't see you come in there -- just doing a spot of calisthenics with the Fitbit Flex, a new fitness-tracking wristband that talks to your phone.
The Fitbit Flex is a water resistant, wireless wristband that tracks your exercise, activity and sleep. It's a rival to the similar Nike FuelBand, tracking the steps you take, the distance you cover, the calories you burn -- and even how you sleep, should you keep it on after you're done climbing the stairmaster and climbed the wooden hill to Bedfordshire. Continue reading...
3D printed gun could explode in your hand, warns expert
Gadgets3D printed guns can kill -- and not just the people you're aiming at. A 3D printing expert warns that anyone following instructions to make their own firearm could kill themselves instead.
3D printing, which piles up layers of plastic to create specific shapes and objects, was used by a group called Defense Distributed this week to make and fire a 'wiki weapon' in Texas -- before releasing the instructions onto the Internet. Continue reading...
Virgin Media building a new Super Hub, out in weeks
GadgetsVirgin Media is crafting a new Super Hub router, that the red-hued provider boasts will outpace BT's own Home Hub 4.
The revamped Hub can manage simultaneous access to both its 2.4GHz and 5GHz channels, and will sport four Gigabit Ethernet ports. It has a USB 2.0 port too, but Virgin Media told me this extra input doesn't have any immediate use -- it's just to ensure the router is future-proof. Continue reading...
Nike+ FuelBand sequel and Android app due, report says
AccessoriesNike's next FuelBand will have a heart rate monitor alongside a number of other new features, wrist-centric rumours reckon.
Nike's follow up to its popular cuff-occupier will let you check on the pace at which blood is walloping around your insides by pinching a certain part of the gadget, Gearlive reports. Continue reading...
First 3D-printed gun fired, blueprints up for download
GadgetsThe world's first gun you can make at home using a 3D printer has been fired, the BBC reports. And the controversial group behind it has now made the blueprints available online, so anyone with access to the technology can print off and assemble their own firearms.
Called the Liberator, the weapon is made by a group called Defense Distributed, and was tested on Saturday in Austin, Texas. I've embedded a clip of it being used after the break. Continue reading...
New consumer rights law gives money back on faulty apps
GadgetsSoon it'll be easier to get your money back on faulty apps, downloads, and streamed music and films, as consumer rights law will be extended to cover digital products.
The consumer bill of rights is being updated to be "fit for the 21st century" according to consumer minister Jo Swinson, the Guardian reports. At the moment, the legislation is a bit of a mess, but these changes -- to be announced in the Queen's speech on Wednesday -- will consolidate it all in one place. Jolly good. Continue reading...
Ofcom to investigate BT over fibre broadband charges
GadgetsBT could be in hot water over how much it charges other Internet service providers to access its fibre broadband network. TalkTalk has complained about what it says are sky-high prices, leading Ofcom to investigate, fibrebroadband.co.uk reports.
Rival TalkTalk claims BT is squeezing margins between its upstream costs and downstream prices. Continue reading...
Fullscreen Beam app uploads to YouTube from Google Glass
GadgetsRecording everything you see on the go without some kind of unwieldy helmet cam is one of the chief joys of Google Glass. But what if you want to share your vids on YouTube? Surely that means waiting until you get home, uploading to your computer, sorting out file types, then pinging it to YouTube, right? Not if you've got the Fullscreen Beam app.
It makes sending vids to YouTube on the go as easy as getting strange looks in a pair of Google Glass specs. I've embedded a video of how it works below. Continue reading...
Hoptroff No 10 is world's first atomic pocket watch movement
Gadgets"Oh, your watch is beautiful! Is it...?" "Atomic," you'll be able to say very soon, if you have a huge amount of money and don't mind wearing radioactive matter about your well-tailored person.
Hoptroff, the London-based makers of the intricate insides of personal timepieces, have teamed up with time techies Symmetricom to make what they call the No 10, "the world's first atomic-powered pocket watch". Continue reading...
Google shows you how to use Glass in new video
GadgetsWondering how Google Glass manages to show you all the information you want, literally right in front of your eyes? In a new video, embedded after the jump, fans can see just how you control the Big G's sci-fi augmented reality specs. Continue reading...
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