The Balkan Chronicle

A study from Columbia University suggests that the ability to find almost any information via a few keystrokes on Google could make us less likely to remember things. Researchers believe that we tend to forget information if we are confident that we can find it again. If we think that something will not be easy to find again then we make more effort to remember it.

Twitter: the ultimate time-waster or an invaluable social media tool?

A recent infographic shows people’s Twitter usage, providing arguments for and against using the micro-blogging website.

Twitter lets us instantly blast our 140-character thoughts to all of the Internet, where they can be archived for eternity. How could anything go wrong?

Bitcoin is a decentralised computer currency designed by self-righteous Ayn Rand-reading nerds who despise looters and parasites like, er, you. It is used to purchase Internet services, illegal drugs and pictures of naked women holding video cards.

Bitcoin works by an emergent synergy of cryptography, peer-to-peer, anonymity, anarchism, libertarianism, wasting stupendous quantities of electricity, the marketing department at NVidia, the enduring exchange value of tulip bulbs and doing all of this instead of .

You’ll have to forgive Facebook if they woke up this morning thinking the sky was falling; if they were subject to the same avalanche of news, comments and questions about Google+ as the rest of us were these last 24 hours it’ll seem like they’ve already been condemned to the social media scrapheap. And in case Facebook needed any reminder how quickly social networking pioneers can fall, Google+ was launched on the same day MySpace, once supposedly valued at $12 billion, was sold for just $35 millionto an ad network.

Manual typewriters are officially dead technology, with the last factory still churning them out closing its doors.

The first commercial typewriter was produced in 1870. Over the next 40 years the technology evolved into a standardized format which contained most of the basic elements typewriters featured for the next 60 years. Then electronic typewriters were introduced and quickly became standard. At least until computers became personal and wiped out typewriters in all but developing countries.

Alasdair Allan and Pete Warden have released a new proof-of-concept application for Mac OS X that demonstrates that your iPhone is tracking your movements and recording the information. We have tested the application and it is 100% true, Apple are watching you!

Google has quietly launched its own full-length online magazine, a quarterly publication whose aim is to create a “breathing space in a busy world.”
The first edition of Think Quarterly, based out of the U.K., is a 68-page dive into the world of data and its impact on business.

Nearly three decades into his quest to rid the world of proprietary software, Richard Stallman sees a new threat to user freedom: smartphones.

"I don't have a cell phone. I won't carry a cell phone," says Stallman, founder of the free software movement and creator of the GNU operating system. "It's Stalin's dream. Cell phones are tools of Big Brother. I'm not going to carry a tracking device that records where I go all the time, and I'm not going to carry a surveillance device that can be turned on to eavesdrop."

It was hard enough getting through the holiday season already.

With Master Card, Visa, PayPal and Amazon.com, all ending their relationships with WikiLeaks, it has become almost impossible for someone who cares about free speech, press freedoms as well as government and corporate accountability to function in society, never mind shopping for Hanukkah and Christmas presents.

But at least Apple wouldn't let me down; or so I thought.

And now, Germany's interior ministry said senior officials had been told to not use iPhone and BlackBerry mobile devices, as Berlin is reportedly uneasy that all data pass though just two RIM centres in Britain and Canada and fear a rise in cyber attacks.

My iPad arrived yesterday afternoon via a friend in the US, and yes, it largely lives up to the hype: it's shiny, elegantly realised and above all potentially very useful. Well, apart from a few wrinkles, which range from a mere raise of the eyebrows to an exasperated WTF?

A lot of people at Gizmodo are psyched about the iPad. Not me! My god, am I underwhelmed by it. It has some absolutely backbreaking failures that will make buying one the last thing I would want to do. Updated

Big, Ugly Bezel
Have you seen the bezel on this thing?! It's huge! I know you don't want to accidentally input a command when your thumb is holding it, but come on.

In June of 2004, during the WWDC keynote address, Steve Jobs revealed Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger to developers and the public for the first time. When the finished product arrived in April of 2005, Tiger was the biggest, most important, most feature-packed release in the history of Mac OS X by a wide margin. Apple's marketing campaign reflected this, touting "over 150 new features."

October 22nd is the big day for the official release of the latest iteration of the Windows operating system. Many have dubbed it the savior that will bring the glory days back to Redmond. Many have said that it will pretty much wipe clean the foul stench left behind by Windows Vista. I, and a few others, think that Windows 7 will not be the success most pundits are proclaiming. How can I say that? I will give you 10 reasons why Windows 7 could easily fail.

You probably spend time on the computer at work or school everyday. Staring at the screen too long can cause a vision condition, if you're not careful. Working at the computer can put you at risk for Computer Vision Syndrome.

It has been called the number one occupational hazard of the 21st century. Dr. Melissa Billings with Vision Park Family Eye Care in Urbandale says, "When people are using computers these days, they're using them anywhere from four to eight hours at a time without taking breaks. And, it is causing a lot of fatigue and different symptoms that are popping up."

Apple boss Steve Jobs is back at work following six months of medical leave, although he will work from home for part of the week, the company says.

His return to the office follows months of speculation about his health and his future at the firm he founded more than 30 years ago.

Read More The 54-year-old had a liver transplant while on leave, reports said.

He was behind the Macintosh computer, iPhone and iPod, which helped to revive Apple's fortunes.