Sure, you’ve been able to tap and swipe with Windows before, but some of the more advanced gestures we’ve seen in Mac OS X are now making their way into Microsoft’s extremely popular operating system. It’s definitely borrowing heavily from Apple, but that shouldn’t matter for end users. This is a big jump forward in Windows usability on trackpads, so it’s worth stealing a little bit of “magic” from Apple.
Meanwhile, in a rare interview with Google’s search chief Amit Singhal, he says that Google search will one day be the “perfect personal assistant giving you benefit of all technical knowledge, enhancing your thought processes.” Clearly, Google is now painting its future with very broad strokes — but what image might resolve from those marks, I don’t think anybody knows.
So was Dutch designer Laura Cornet. Noticing that pictures of parties and football games in her Facebook feed were increasingly being replaced by pictures of babies, she had the thought: "It's weird to be involved in the life of someone who doesn't even know I have already seen everything in their life."
Nintendo has unveiled new details about its "QOL" platform, which stands for "quality of life" and includes a line of health-focused devices. The first will be a bedside sensor that tracks your sleep, sends the data up to the cloud for analysis, and produces suggestions to help you get more rest.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) released its Secure Messaging Scorecard, evaluating dozens of messaging technologies on a range of security best practices. "The revelations from Edward Snowden confirm that governments are spying on our digital lives, devouring all communications that aren't protected by encryption," said EFF Technology Projects Director Peter Eckersley. "Many new tools claim to protect you, but don't include critical features like end-to-end encryption or secure deletion. This scorecard gives you the facts you need to choose the right technology to send your message."