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Opera has told TechRadar that it is “very satisfied” with the layout of the browser ballot screen and that it has resulted in a tripling of downloads of the Opera browser. Speaking to TechRadar at the annual South by South West Interactive conference, Thomas Ford, Senior Communications Manager said: “We’ve seen about a tripling in the number of downloads from the countries that have got the choice screen, so versus what it was before the choice screen, where we’ve seen it in the UK and France and Poland the downloads have about tripled. “Now of course that was also right when we rolled out Opera 10.5 in final but it was still above and beyond what we typically see. So actually we’re quite hopeful. That doesn’t mean that those have all become new users but the download rate is certainly dramatically up and we’re hopeful that a lot of those will stick around.

The full story can be found on Tech Radar

As usual, we were treated to a plethora of top end mobile phones in Barcelona this year, and some real beauties were unveiled, with the companies behind them reaping the rewards. But for every action in the mobile world, it appears there has to be an equal and opposite reaction, with a few surprisingly big names disappointed us too – we look at the highs and lows of Mobile World Congress 2010. The winners HTC Come on, this one was a gimme. Any company that can have as successful a year in 2009 with the Magic , Hero and HD2 and follow it up with even more hot handsets has to be one of the success stories

The full story can be found on Tech Radar

Security firm Trend Micro last week announced a new wholy owned cloud computing subsidiary, TCloud Computing, which the company says will provide technological expertise, system integration, consulting, and training for clients to establish their own cloud computing architectures. Trend Micro has raised about $3.8 million in initial capital and 60 staff members for its new venture, and plans to add some 200 more to its TCloud Computing workforce in 2010, targeting mostly those with an engineering background. But that investment’s a drop in the bucket compared to the $300 million Trend Micro has spent over the past four years to conduct R&D to build an infrastructure for cloud computing. Setting its sights mostly on telecom carriers and enterprises in Taiwan and other countries in Asia, Trend Micro says its TCloud Computing business should generate about $3.74 million over the next two years.

For the full story, go to Maximum PC

You don’t need to have a special device to listen to XM Radio, the service is also available online. Today we take a look at setting it up in Windows 7 with Windows Media Center. Note: At the time of this writing we were able to get XM free for seven days XM Satellite To setup XM Radio in Windows Media Center (WMC), from the main menu go to Extras then Extras Gallery. Next click on XM Radio

The full story can be found on How To Geek

Having trouble landing a job lately and can’t figure out why? You may need to clean up your online shenanigans, or at least hide them better. According to a Microsoft study, 70 percent of surveyed HR professionals in the U.S. have  turned down a potential job candidate  based solely on online reputation information. The survey, which was conducted to commemorate Data Privacy Day, pinged 2,500 consumers, HR managers, and recruitment professionals in the U.S., U.K., Germany, and France to find out what effect online profiles and activities have in each nation when it comes to job hunting.

For the full story, go to Maximum PC

Google has announced at the launch of its Nexus One phone that it will be coming in Spring 2010, with Vodafone the provider in the UK. The phone will be offered in a slightly different way, with the Google store being the route for checkout in the UK, US and other countries. The Nexus One phone, which features a 3.7-inch OLED screen and 1GHz processor, will be available in ‘the near future’ with Google ‘working as quickly as it can’ to get the device to market. Dual options The phone will cost $529 SIM free (£329) and $179 with a two year contract (£111) in the US, although we’re yet to hear about a UK price for the Google Nexus One. Google has also stated it will be bringing further devices to market in the near future via its Google store, with HTC and Motorola the brands named along with Vodafone, although further operators and hardware partners will be announced soon.

The full story can be found on Tech Radar

Online life is quickly eroding our usual feelings of personal anonymity. Services like Facebook mean that people are able to delve into our lives like never before. Stalking, whistle blowing, even watching TV programmes broadcast in other countries; these and other online activities all rely on some form of online anonymity – or lack of it. We humans don’t generally like strangers knowing all about us, but we may be unwittingly providing people with details of our lives we’d rather were kept out of the public gaze. Keeping anonymous online is also a concern for a growing number of people in countries where speaking out has real consequences.

The full story can be found on Tech Radar

These are the top 10 tech creations that shaped our world. They came, they disrupted and they changed our lives – despite their initially high RRPs. You may have lost the connector for it. It may only last for two minutes on a full charge and they might even have stopped making the kind of batteries it takes, but these monumental gadgets will stay with us, thanks to the way they showed us the future before the future was due to arrive and pushed us into the tech world we live in today

The full story can be found on Tech Radar

An announcement this week from one of the investors in Twitter has managed to surprise the usually unflappable Web 2.0 crowd by revealing that the company will begin charging for some services in January next year. Japanese firm DG Mobile, which is part-owned by Digital Garage, a Twitter investor, revealed that the microblogging site would charge users not to write tweets, as had been anticipated, but to read those of key users . Followers to pay up At a press conference complete with slides and full explanations, DG Mobile’s Kenichi Sugi said anyone taking out a paid-subscription option would be able to charge followers a small amount to read their tweets. The sum is likely to be in the ¥100 to ¥1,000 (70p to £7) range per subscription and will be set by the account holder. Twitter plans to skim 30 per cent of that off for itself

The full story can be found on Tech Radar

It’s the Cold War all over again, only this one’s taking place in cyberspace. According to a report by security firm McAfee, there are a growing number of governments all around the globe preparing for potential cyber conflicts with other countries, DailyTech reports. “There are at least five countries known to be arming themselves for this kind of conflict,” McAfee Europe analyst Greg Day told the BBC.

For the full story, go to Maximum PC