Gotham is the font Twitter deserves, but is it the one it needs right now?

Just weeks after rolling out its spiffy new profile pages, Twitter has continued its spree of visual renovations with a brand new typeface.

Late on Friday, the social network announced it had ditched the trusty and time-tested Helvetic Neue font in favour of Gotham.

The change is now in effect on the browser-based Twitter.com site, but hasn't yet gravitated to the firm's suite of mobile apps.

Twitter posted a tweet on Twitter saying: "Starting today, we're rolling out a new font on Twitter.com moving from Helvetica Neue to Gotham."

Elegance

While some design and typeface experts have decried the move, Twitter explained that the font was chosen because it was stylish, but not exclusive.

On its brand assets page, the firm wrote: "Words don't just hold meaning; they communicate by their very form. We primarily use the Gotham font family: elegant and direct, stylish but not exclusive. Putting well-designed words in our product enhances the user experience."

How do you like Twitter's foray into Gotham? Let us know your thoughts below.

• Opinion: Twitter's mute button is for chumps

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Android TV set to land at Google I/O with focus on content rather than apps

Google is all set to reveal its latest stab at owning the living room television with Android TV expected to be announced at the Google I/O conference in June.

Gigaom claims the firm will use its annual conference, which kicks off on June 25, to showcase a new platform that puts content front and centre, rather than apps, with a heavy focus on Android gaming.

Android TV will be powered by a brand new UI, that's been referred to internally as Pano, giving users the opportunity to jump right into movies, TV shows and games without entering individual apps first.

The user interface will be similar to the Amazon Fire TV platform and will be Chomecast compatible, according to the sources.

Saddle up, partners

The report claims Android TV won't be a device per se, but will exist as a platform Google hopes will be adopted by TV manufacturing partners, who could be part of the launch announcement in a few weeks.

The key question, though, is why Google would be looking to launch such a platform given the abject failure of Google TV and the subsequent success of Google Chromecast?

We're likely to find out on June 25.

• Is Google also prepping a way to revolutionise bookmarking?

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Sense 6 is rolling out to two carriers' HTC One M7s now

The original HTC One is getting Sense 6 in the latest update from Sprint and Verizon.

That will bring the older HTC phone slightly more in line with its superior successor, the HTC One M8.

Sprint and Verizon's HTC One Sense scores come on the heels of the updates to the developer and unlocked versions of the phone, as well as the T-Mobile version's.

In all, HTC has so far kept its promise to roll out Sense 6 to the HTC One by the end of May.

Consensual overlay

Some Android users prefer an unadulterated version of Google's mobile OS, but HTC's Sense 6 UI overlay is one of the few alterations that folks don't seem to mind.

The Sense 6 upgrade adds upgraded Blinkfeed, more customization options and a cleaner interface to the HTC One's existing Sense interface.

Sense 6 is also available on T-Mobile's HTC One, which leaves just AT&T to join the sextuplet party.

If you're on one of the carriers that has released the HTC One's Sense 6 update, watch out for a notification over the next few days.

• Here's TechRadar's Samsung Galaxy S5 review

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Top 140: Twitter and Billboard now ranking popular music in real time

Twitter and Billboard have launched a new tool that ranks popular songs being shared on Twitter in real time.

These real-time charts track the songs being discussed and mentioned on the social network in the US, compiling them into lists that are updated "to the minute," Billboard Social/Streaming Charts Manager William Gruger wrote on Billboard.com.

The first chart to launch is the "Trending 140," a play on Billboard's traditional top 40 and Twitter's 140 character limit that tracks the top 140 songs being shared in tweets.

The chart can show either current trending tracks or the most-shared songs over the previous 24 hours, and a weekly summary called the "Billboard Twitter Top Tracks" will be published on Billboard.com and in Billboard magazine.

Off the charts

Meanwhile another chart, the Billboard Twitter Emerging Artists chart, ranks "up-and-coming artists" over 24-hour periods. This chart too will be rounded up weekly online and in print.

Song popularity is tracked using three variables: tweets with links to songs on music services like iTunes, Spotify and Vevo; hashtags like "#nowplaying" and "#np" along with track and artist names; and casual mentions that include words like "music," "song," "track" and "listen."

"These new, interactive charts redefine how fans interact with, and influence, popular content," Gruger wrote.

The charts should have plenty to pull from; according to Gruger, Twitter users sent a full billion tweets about music in 2013, a tenth of which were from music accounts.

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UPDATED: Google IO 2014: 10 things we expect

Android TV set to land at Google I/O with focus on content rather than apps

Google is all set to reveal its latest stab at owning the living room television with Android TV expected to be announced at the Google I/O conference in June.

Gigaom claims the firm will use its annual conference, which kicks off on June 25, to showcase a new platform that puts content front and centre, rather than apps, with a heavy focus on Android gaming.

Android TV will be powered by a brand new UI, that's been referred to internally as Pano, giving users the opportunity to jump right into movies, TV shows and games without entering individual apps first.

The user interface will be similar to the Amazon Fire TV platform and will be Chomecast compatible, according to the sources.

Saddle up, partners

The report claims Android TV won't be a device per se, but will exist as a platform Google hopes will be adopted by TV manufacturing partners, who could be part of the launch announcement in a few weeks.

The key question, though, is why Google would be looking to launch such a platform given the abject failure of Google TV and the subsequent success of Google Chromecast?

We're likely to find out on June 25.

• Is Google also prepping a way to revolutionise bookmarking?

http://ift.tt/1ocCDxM

Android TV set to land at Google I/O with focus on content rather than apps

Google is all set to reveal its latest stab at owning the living room television with Android TV expected to be announced at the Google I/O conference in June.

Gigaom claims the firm will use its annual conference, which kicks off on June 25, to showcase a new platform that puts content front and centre, rather than apps, with a heavy focus on Android gaming.

Android TV will be powered by a brand new UI, that's been referred to internally as Pano, giving users the opportunity to jump right into movies, TV shows and games without entering individual apps first.

The user interface will be similar to the Amazon Fire TV platform and will be Chomecast compatible, according to the sources.

Saddle up, partners

The report claims Android TV won't be a device per se, but will exist as a platform Google hopes will be adopted by TV manufacturing partners, who could be part of the launch announcement in a few weeks.

The key question, though, is why Google would be looking to launch such a platform given the abject failure of Google TV and the subsequent success of Google Chromecast?

We're likely to find out on June 25.

• Is Google also prepping a way to revolutionise bookmarking?

http://ift.tt/1jHgtQ5

Android TV set to land at Google I/O with focus on content rather than apps

Google is all set to reveal its latest stab at owning the living room television with Android TV expected to be announced at the Google I/O conference in June.

Gigaom claims the firm will use its annual conference, which kicks off on June 25, to showcase a new platform that puts content front and centre, rather than apps, with a heavy focus on Android gaming.

Android TV will be powered by a brand new UI, that's been referred to internally as Pano, giving users the opportunity to jump right into movies, TV shows and games without entering individual apps first.

The user interface will be similar to the Amazon Fire TV platform and will be Chomecast compatible, according to the sources.

Saddle up, partners

The report claims Android TV won't be a device per se, but will exist as a platform Google hopes will be adopted by TV manufacturing partners, who could be part of the launch announcement in a few weeks.

The key question, though, is why Google would be looking to launch such a platform given the abject failure of Google TV and the subsequent success of Google Chromecast?

We're likely to find out on June 25.

• Is Google also prepping a way to revolutionise bookmarking?

http://ift.tt/1rtCCLo

Best of TechRadar Pro: from Surface Pro 3 to Watch Dogs, GPU power and hybrid storage

Microsoft Surface Pro 3 review

Knock it for the Windows 8 launch. Lay into it for how it debuted the Xbox One. But, when it comes to its latest product, the Surface Pro 3, don't pull out the torches and pitchforks just yet – Microsoft is onto something here.

Over the past few years, the Redmond, Wash. Windows maker has proved to be one of the bolder technology companies, for better or worse. Microsoft clearly isn't afraid to fall on its face in the hope of landing on what in the world tech users want next in this turbulent market, and the Surface Pro 3 is – well, it just might be an exception. Continue reading...

Why wallets waned: a Q&A with John Haro, CTO of Vibes

Remember when the mobile wallet industry was supposed to take the tech world by storm? Back in 2011, Google Wallet, Square Wallet, and PayPal Wallet all launched, essentially copycatting Amazon's mobile version of Payments, which debuted in 2009. Apple followed suit in 2012 by launching Passbook.

With so many major players invested in mobile wallets, we were supposed to be on the cusp of life-changing technology that would signal the end of credit card plastic. Some projections estimated the mobile wallet industry would topple $5 trillion by 2020.Continue reading...

10 CRM systems small businesses should know

Customer relationship management isn't something that only large enterprises can afford to do. No matter how many workers you employ, leveraging data to ensure your customers are happy - and that your workers are productive – is essential. We've put together a list of CRM systems for small and mid-size businesses in order to help you be more informed during the implementation process. Continue reading...

Watching the Watch Dogs: the ethical hackers protecting our smart cities

Until Ubisoft's Watch Dogs came along, we hadn't been this excited about a game involving hacking since Deus Ex had us honing our security terminal-cracking skills back in 2000.

Playing as protagonist Aiden Pearce, your main weapon is a smartphone that can be used to hack into (and control) surveillance cameras, traffic lights and other electronic devices connected to Chicago's central network in a bid to thwart enemies and evade the police. Continue reading...

How to enhance the power of the GPU

Graphics processing units (GPU) have traditionally been used to draw pixels on screens. But recently, the GPU has been found to be ideal for computing intensive tasks such as CAD, CAM, 3D modelling, image manipulation, matrix manipulation, Furrier transform and Monte Carlo simulations.

GPU accelerators are an easy way to harness the considerable floating point performance present in modern GPUs. These accelerators connect to the system via the PCI-Express bus, allowing users to run multiple accelerators within a single system. Continue Reading...

Medion Erazer X7611 review

From smartphones to tablets and ultrabooks, ultra mobility is all the rage. But sometimes, there's still no substitute for simple screen size. That's especially true for gaming. Enter the Medion Erazer X7611 laptop. It's a full-on desktop replacement gaming portable with a monumental 17.3-inch, full 1080p display. It packs a full-on Intel quad-core processor and Nvidia graphics with 2GB of video memory. Continue reading...

What does the future hold for NoSQL?

We recently spoke to Matt Asay, VP of business strategy at MongoDB, to discuss the disruptive nature of NoSQL solutions, the advantages of an open-source approach, and what MongoDB's plans for the future are.

MongoDB is a NoSQL database with a focus on agility and scalability, helping organisations including The National Archives, The Guardian and Telefonica by providing a non-relational, open-source solution that allows for the management of data produced by modern applications. Continue reading...

What do smartphones and hybrid storage have in common?

Mobile telephones have been an invaluable tool for some time and when personal digital assistants (PDAs) started to appear on the market, they drove a whole new level of productivity.

However, when vendors such as Nokia and Apple started to provide convergence, something new appeared – the ubiquitous arrival of the smartphone. Both technologies worked fine alone. But by combining two seemingly separate entities, a new tool that simply solved a number of challenges emerged. Surprisingly, the same theory can be applied to data storage. ...Continue reading

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