William Gibson says his fax machine is so loaded with features that he’s yet to figure out how to send a fax. Photograph: Elisabetta A. Villa/WireImage What’s your favourite piece of technology, and how has it improved your life?Whatever piece of word processing software I’m using. I never learned to touch-type. When was the last time you used it, and what for?To answer the previous question. What additional features would you add if you could?I’d like a Word-compatible processor optimised for writing novels, that takes up a minimum of storage ... Read More..

Ping! Apple’s Steve Jobs introduces the company’s social network for music. Photograph: Robert Galbraith/Reuters Apple has ditched the CD in the iTunes logo, upgraded its iPod range and revamped Apple TV, as we learned last night. Chief executive Steve Jobs also upped Apple’s social media game with Ping – a music recommendation and sharing feature that has been added to the latest version of iTunes, iTunes 10. Users with an iTunes Store login (there are 160 million of those worldwide, and they are the engine behind Apple’s money-making content ... Read More..

A still from a Virgin Media ad pushing the speed of its fibre-optic cable network Virgin Media has promised to publish its typical broadband speeds each month, as it publishes a survey suggesting that most customers find internet service providers’ advertisements misleading. Only 9% of respondents surveyed by ICM for Virgin Media think broadband advertising tends to be accurate, and 93% of people believe ISPs should only advertise the typical speed received by the majority of customers. It is common practice for ISPs to advertise broadband speeds of “up ... Read More..

The website claims that by electing Barack Obama as president ‘the United States confessed to the increasing power of Islam’. Photograph: Jim Young/Reuters A group of Iranian journalists sympathetic to the world view of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has launched barackobama.ir, a website set up to address “an Iranian viewpoint on Barack Obama’s opinions”. The news of its creation first appeared this week in a series of government-sponsored websites and news agencies, which endorsed it as an independent source of information about the life of ... Read More..

Samsung’s Galaxy Tab will be available from October Samsung made its eagerly awaited new entry into the mobile computing market today with the launch of the Galaxy Tab, and hinted that further versions will be unveiled next year. The 7in Android-based tablet computer with built-in phone capabilities is expected to challenge the Apple iPad. However, with pricing details still not available today, it is not clear quite how the Tab will compare with other products. Weighing in at just 380g, the Galaxy Tab is being pitched as a single portable device that can be used to ... Read More..

Sharon Shoesmith, who has been granted leave to appeal against her dismissal. The full judgment in the case is available on the judiciary’s new website. Photograph: Ian Nicholson/PA Yesterday, Sharon Shoesmith was given permission to appeal in the judicial review of her dismissal by Haringey council as a result of the Baby Peter scandal. The case itself is complex and fascinating, but the detail should not overshadow the open and forward-thinking way in which the case has been dealt with. The case was always likely to be full of controversy and complexity as well as ... Read More..

Metroid: Other M … rendered and animated with due reverence to the SNES original Super Metroid remains one of the best ever Nintendo exclusives, so the franchise’s first proper outing on Wii was always going to be highly anticipated. However, Other M is literally a game of two halves that will not appeal to everyone. Let’s start with the most obvious and debatable design decision: the perspective. Most of MoM is played with a fixed 3D camera angle that tracks your progress from one location to another. These locations can be played in either first or ... Read More..

Call of Duty: Black Ops – ‘Cracked’ is one of the new multiplayer maps, based in a wrecked town filled with burned out vehicles and rooftop sniping positions. Last night, in a vast auditorium on the Los Angeles Exposition Park, Activision revealed all the details of the Black Ops multiplayer mode. For the latest title in the multi-million-selling Call of Duty series, developer Treyarch is mixing familiar elements of the Modern Warfare multiplayer set-up – ie. killstreaks, character progression, challenges, perks and classes – with some intriguing fresh ... Read More..

Latest download (potential) classic The summer of 2010 could well go down as the time when download gaming on the consoles finally came of age. Limbo, Deathspank, Lara Croft: Guardian of Light – the best games this summer have been released via download only. Put down Red Dead Redemption for a minute and think about it – download gaming has ruled this summer. The trend looks set to continue for a little longer too, with Outland unveiled for XBLA and PSN. IGN describe it in their preview: Outland can best be described as a cross between retro platformers like ... Read More..

Ping – Apple’s new social media network – will allow users to follow friends’ music interests working in a stream of updates similar way to Facebook or Twitter Having cornered the MP3 player, mobile phone and computer tablet markets with the iPod, iPhone and iPad devices respectively, last night Apple announced its latest expansion – into social media – with Ping. Ping will be integrated into Apple’s latest iTunes software update and will enable users, or “Pingers”, to follow musicians, friends and others to see details ... Read More..