Hasta La Gadget!

Microsoft has fully launched Outlook.com, its rebranded Hotmail email service, taking the cloud system out of beta and throwing open the doors to users across the globe. Already amassing more than 60m active users, Outlook.com hooks email into Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, and puts social network updates where you might – if you’re a Gmail user – expect to see adverts.

In fact, Microsoft claims, people have seen on average 60-percent fewer adverts when using the service, because of the social networking getting piped into Outlook.com. Meanwhile, nearly half of all users have used SkyDrive, Microsoft’s cloud-storage service, with more than half a billion photos and Office documents shared.

Microsoft will also be pushing existing Hotmail users to Outlook.com. The company says that, now the newer service is out of beta, it will “soon upgrade every user”; everybody is expected to be switched over by the summer. Users will keep their existing “@hotmail.com” address, as well as all of their existing content, settings, rules, and the like, but have the new Outlook.com interface and tools.

If you’d rather jump the gun and get Outlook.com today, you can log in with your Hotmail details at the new site; that will switch you over early. More on the service in our original hands-on.

Outlook.com exits preview: Hotmail users to “upgrade” by Summer 2013 is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

We already knew the current line of Mac Pros would be discontinued in Europe due to new regulatory standards come March 1st, but we didn’t think Apple would pull the plug on its tower desktop this early. According to 9to5Mac, several European Apple Online Stores now show its Mac Pros as “currently unavailable” a couple of weeks before the computers are to be sunsetted. We’re not sure if this is the case with machines in brick-and-mortar locales, but Europeans keen on the existing Mac Pro should get to their nearest reseller before it’s completely out of stock. Either that or you can choose to sit tight and wait for that impending Mac Pro refresh, whenever the folks in Cupertino get around to it.

Filed under: Desktops, Apple

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Source: 9to5Mac, Apple Store (UK)

Early last year when Google revealed that it would be combining its privacy policy across all its services, many people cried foul, stating that such a move allowed it to gather far too much information about its users. Google contended that the short, simpler privacy policy is something that users prefer, and that having one policy across multiple products and/or services is not uncommon. European regulators quickly jumped on the change, however, and after some back and forth, they still aren’t satisfied with how Google has handled the issue.

Earlier today, European regulators announced that they will proceed against the search engine giant over issues with its one-policy-to-rule-them all method. Although the single privacy policy is not against the law, it is being viewed as a high-risk practice, putting users’ private information in a vulnerable position. Initially, the French National Commission for Computing and Liberties, more commonly known as CNIL, was pulled in to decide whether the single privacy policy put EU users’ data at risk. That same watchdog will once again look into the issue, stating that Google failed to address the problems it had outlined.

Said CNIL, “Google did not provide any precise and effective answers. In this context, the EU data protection authorities are committed to act and continue their investigations. Therefore, they propose to set up a working group, led by the CNIL, in order to coordinate their reaction, which should take place before summer.”

Google disagrees, however. According to the company, it had responded to the CNIL in early January of this year with a series of actions it had taken to deal with the concerns. Said Google spokesman Al Verney, “We have engaged fully with CNIL throughout the process and will continues to do so.” He also pointed out that the privacy policy does not violate the law.

[via Reuters]

European regulators tell Google to get its privacy policy issues sorted is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

3D printers are undeniably cool, but their price also puts them out of the reach of most; that’s where 3Doodler steps in, a 3D printing pen hitting Kickstarter today and promising to make sketches physical. The chubby stylus squirts out of a stream of thermoplastic from its 270 degree-C nib, which is instantly cooled by an integrated fan. By laying different streams of plastic, tugging up streams of it to make 3D structures, and piecing different layers together, you can create 3D designs on a budget.

In fact, early Kickstarter backers will be able to get the 3Doodler from $50, though that award tier is already nearly halfway claimed at time of writing. Next is the $75 bracket, which should stick around a little longer, with the eventual Kickstarter goal being $30,000.

Unlike traditional printers, which require programming, the 3Doodler takes a more abstract approach. You can freeform draw sketches, or alternatively trace out patterns that have been printed, and then peel the set plastic off; 3Doodler suggests possibilities include jewelry, 3D models, artwork, and more.

It’s not going to be the way you print your next coffee cup or car wheel, as we’ve seen promised from regular 3D printers, but the plug-and-play approach has plenty of appeal nonetheless. The Kickstarter runs for the next month, with first deliveries expected in the fall of 2013 assuming it’s funded.

3Doodler 3D printer pen hits Kickstarter is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

PRETORIA, South Africa — Looking grim and solemn, Olympian Oscar Pistorius was charged Tuesday with the premeditated murder of his model girlfriend on Valentine’s Day.

Prosecutor Gerrie Nel told the court that Pistorius shot 29-year-old Reeva Steenkamp four times through the bathroom door of his home in a guarded and gated complex in the South African capital, Pretoria. Nel said the door had been broken open.

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