Alan Buckingham

You asked and, this time at least, the government listened. Back in January, the legality of unlocking one's cell phone was rolled back after the Library of Congress failed to renew a 2006 ruling, letting it to expire. The outcry could be heard round the world, as the saying goes.

These days, though, Americans have an outlet for their distaste -- the government's own "We the People site". And citizens visited that site in droves -- 114,322 of you demanded that the White House re-evaluate this ridiculous (my word, not the carriers') law. The petition laid out the gripe in plain words -- "Consumers will be forced to pay exorbitant roaming fees to make calls while traveling abroad. It reduces consumer choice, and decreases the resale value of devices that consumers have paid for in full".

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Just last week Microsoft began rolling out the Azure service in 25 new markets around the world, but the updates have continued today as Microsoft continues to move forward in its competition with services like Amazon S3, Google Cloud Platform and others. Today the company's Azure Director, Alex Simons, announces updates to the identity and access management capabilities in Windows Azure.

The service gains three new features -- the ability to manage users and their access rights in the Windows Azure Portal; preview of the new phone based two factor authentication for users who are Global Administrators in Windows Azure AD; and the ability to manage the synchronization and federation between your Windows Azure Active Directory and Windows Server Active Directory from within the Windows Azure Portal.

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Last week at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, Nokia unveiled an upcoming mobile app that teams the handset maker with snowboard legend Burton. The app comes exclusively to Lumia devices. A brief hands-on was shown off by the folks over at Windows Phone Central, but today Nokia released a full-blown teaser video, complete with some spectacular filming of the extreme winter sport.

While some of the functionality here is similar to what Google Now can do for Android -- weather, information and maps -- the Burton app also contains a video sequencer that allows the user to shoot short bursts of video and then edit and chop them on the fly. It also comes with a feature called "Tune up" that provides playlists that customers can enjoy on the way down the slopes. Finally, users can watch Burton Open Events on their Lumia handsets.

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I am sure I am not alone when I say that Evernote is one of my favorite services. It makes life so much easier -- I can write a note on my PC and then see it on my phone when I am out. I can add an item to a shopping list and it appears on my wife's phone while she is in the store. There are all sorts of cool possibilities. But, if you visit the service today then you may be in for a bit of a surprise.

When you try to log into the site you will be taken to a prompt that asks you to please change your password -- no you did not enter your login credentials wrong. The service announced this morning that it was hacked. Dave Engberg of Evernote posted the bad news, while also trying to reassure customers that there is really nothing to worry about and that the password change is simply precautionary.

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We all use it everyday. Be it Google, Bing or another alternative, we search for things without even really thinking about it. Google, however, wants to show you a little bit about what all goes into this seemingly simple activity. Friday, the company unveiled a new web site called 'How Search Works' that gives a rather in-depth look behind the scenes.

Google has, for sometime now, run an "Inside Search" blog that provides a bit of information on updates to the company's core service, but this one really lifts the curtain, though you still will not find any real trade secrets revealed -- though there is a 43-page document explaining how Google evaluates results. It is an interesting look at what really goes on when you type that innocent "funny cat videos" term into the little box. Yesterday Jake Hubert, a Google Product Manager, took to that blog to announce the new web site.

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By now most of you have likely heard of Photosynth, the Microsoft Labs project that made the mainstream, first as a web app and then on mobile. Now the mobile version has finally been ported to Windows Phone 8 devices as version 1.5 lands in the Windows Phone store today.

Photosynth is a panorama app that can take multiple high resolution images and stitch them together into a fantastic picture that users can pan around -- you can see some great examples on the website (it requires Silverlight).

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Instagram has become wildly popular for sharing pictures, thanks, in part, to its filters that allow the user to alter the appearance on a particular image to get just the right look. Now Vimeo wants to add that same functionality to your videos. Today Ryan Hefner took the wraps off of Vimeo Looks.

Looks debuts with a large set of filters -- more than 500, according to Hefner. Customers can cruise through them and quickly try out different ones to find what they think will showcase the video in the best way. Hefner points out that "you can also check out recommended Looks tailored to your specific video, or browse by genre, mood, location, color, time period, even holiday".

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If you purchased a Windows 7 computer between 2 June 2012 and 31 January 2013 you are eligible for an upgrade to Windows 8 Pro for only $14.99. In fact, even if you did not actually purchase a computer, you can still get the cheap upgrade.

If you have not yet jumped on this offer then the clock is ticking down for you. Today is the last day to take the plunge. You will need to fill out some basic form information and then you'll receive a code in your email. Use that code to make your purchase and the price will drop to $14.99.

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Yesterday Microsoft, at long last, rolled out Internet Explorer version 10 for Windows 7 -- a browser that had been available to Windows 8 users since launch back on October 26, 2012. Today the software giant followed up with language packs for that new software release.

Each language pack comes as a separate download and is, of course, completely free. There are countless ones available from Afrikaans to Marathi and all the way through to isiZulu.

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Today Microsoft reminded rank-and-file customers that the productivity suite cloud isn't just an option for consumers. New Office 365 SKUs are now available, bringing the focus back to businesses. Kurt Delbene made the announcement, claiming that "Microsoft’s most complete Office cloud service to date has new features and offerings tailored to the needs and budgets of small, medium-size and large organizations".

The updates start with Office 365 ProPlus. This is surprisingly similar to the new home version. It includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Publisher, and Access, though adds InfoPath, which is an app designed for creating, distributing, filling and submitting electronic forms, and Lync. Like its consumer brethren, ProPlus can be used on up to five devices. However, Delbene points out that "IT departments also get the controls they need, including the ability to run Office 365 ProPlus side-by-side with other versions of Office and tools to streamline and manage updates for their users". This will be available as a standalone offering for $144 per user for an annual subscription.

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Just yesterday Twitter announced a planned app for the Firefox OS phones when they begin shipping, but the company is bringing that same functionality to Windows Phone, so do not feel left out. Today Microsoft's Michael Stroh did the honors of making the announcement.

The update is not much different than what has been promised for the Mozilla mobile OS. Customers will receive four new navigation tabs -- Home, Connect, Discover and Me.

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Today HP announced Live Photo for the iOS platform -- an app that claims to bring the user's photos to life using "augmented reality". The company claims the app will bring "a new consumer printing experience by embedding short video moments into printed photos".

According to Annie Weinberger, a general manager at HP-subsidiary Aurasma, "augmented reality is the new medium for bringing the physical world to digital life and HP Live Photo puts the power of this technology into the hands of everyday consumers". The free app purports to merge still images and short videos utilizing Aurasma. Once the app has been downloaded from the iTunes App Store the user can choose a video of up to 45-seconds in length and then select an automatically generated still image. From there it is a matter of choosing a template and sharing the new creation. The new photo/video can be shared via email, Facebook or by printing to any AirPrint-enabled printer.

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Although it's Tuesday, it's not "Patch Tuesday", which means we shouldn't expect any updates from Microsoft, but the software giant is rolling out patches none-the-less. The updates are across a broad spectrum of platforms too -- Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Server, and even Windows RT are included in this update.

Curiously, many of the Windows updates are listed as "non-security". The company generally only pushes out-of-cycle updates when there is a major security flaw that cannot wait for the next month. In the case of today's patches, many are listed as a fix for "issues in Windows".

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Smartphones running Firefox OS are slated to start shipping by mid-year. Twitter will be there with them. In a brief announcement, Manuel Deschamps of Twitter stated that "When those devices begin to ship, Twitter for Firefox OS will be available in the Firefox Marketplace".

He also assures us that the app will rival that produced for other mobile operating systems. It will contain Home, Connect, Discover and Me tabs, as well as be able to search and compose tweets -- that last one is rather important to the whole concept of Twitter.

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How big is too big for a phone? I would have said that my 4.65-inch Galaxy Nexus is large enough, but the 5.5-inch Galaxy Note II proves me wrong and must admit after picking one up I think it is usable as my everyday phone. Now ZTE trumps Samsung today at Mobile World Congress by unveiling the Grand Memo -- a "phablet" with 5.7-inch screen. Smartphones continue to meld with tablets.

The new ZTE model debuts with a nice set of specs: Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor with quad-core Krait CPU, extremely generous 3200 mAh battery, 5.7-inch 720 x 1280 display, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of storage, WiFi, 4G LTE, Bluetooth 4, a 13-megapixel rear-facing camera, and rather standard 1MP front-facing camera. All of this is packaged in a very thin 8.5 mm case.

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