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Amazon is playing matchmaker to help you find low-cost audio editions of your Kindle books. The retailer’s new Matchmaker page scans your Kindle library to see which e-books have a corresponding audio version. The audio versions then pop up with discounted price tags. Simply click on the upgrade button for a specific book to make Continue Reading →

Nick Bilton’s upcoming book on the history of Twitter has dug up a number of secrets about the platform, including Mark Zuckerberg’s extensive attempts to buy the microblogging platform in 2009. According to an excerpt published in The New York Times Magazine, Steve Ballmer, Mark Zuckerberg and Al Gore all approached former CEO Ev Williams Continue Reading →

While Windows Phone 8 GDR3 is right around the corner—and, yes, I’ll be writing more about this important update soon—I recently received some information about Windows Phone 8.1 that may be of interest. Due in 2014, Windows Phone 8.1, codenamed “Blue,” will address some issues with the current release of the OS and will include Continue Reading →

Microsoft is serious about gaining mobile market share. The company has reportedly been talking to HTC about adding its Windows operating system to HTC’s Android-based smartphones at little or no added cost. It makes sense for Microsoft to talk to HTC, as it is the first company to make both Windows and Android phones. But Continue Reading →

I like a lot of things about Apple. I love my iPhone – it’s the best smartphone I’ve ever had. I love my iPad – I use it far, far more than I ever thought I would. I love how Apple (sometimes) innovates and (more often) takes things other companies have done and simplifies them. Continue Reading →

Delivered with a spice of arrogance, Google’s executive chairman Eric Schmidt on Monday declared the Android platform more secure than Apple’s iPhone. The comparison, made during a question-and-answer session at the Gartner Symposium/ITxpo, drew laughter from a packed-house audience. Gartner analyst David Willis, who is chief of research for mobility and communications and who runs Continue Reading →

We all live in public, at least as far as the US National Security Agency is concerned. As Internet users and global citizens become more aware of surveillance activities that the US and other countries are doing on the World Wide Web, there are those who seek to ensure that privacy and personal freedoms aren’t Continue Reading →

Hangouts, which has so far only successfully unified Google+ Messenger and Google Talk, leaving Messaging and Voice to co-exist, is finally getting SMS and MMS integration. According to sources familiar with the matter, the upcoming Hangouts version 1.3 has these features enabled and, furthermore, also allows sharing of videos via the Hangouts protocol. Messages sent Continue Reading →

Nielsen has released its Twitter TV ratings, showing that there has been a 38 percent increase in tweets about TV in the US over the last year — from 190 million in Q2 2012 to 263 million in Q2 2013. The number of Twitter TV authors in the US has also risen 24 percent, from Continue Reading →

Another smartphone with a fingerprint sensor is just a week away from launch. HTC Corp. is set to unveil the HTC One Max, which will have a fingerprint sensor among other features, on Oct. 15, two people familiar with the matter said. That will put a new smartphone with a fingerprint scanner on the market Continue Reading →