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Post by Admin on Feb 27, 2014 10:45:29 GMT -9
Windows 7 change is good for businesses but may be more bad news for Windows 8 By Steve Ranger in European Technology, February 26, 2014, 6:14 AM PST // @steveranger
While members of TechRepublic's CIO Jury are pleased about Microsoft's plans for Windows 7, that's largely because they remain underwhelmed by Windows 8. Earlier this month Microsoft confirmed it will continue to allow PC makers to sell new PCs with Windows 7 Professional preinstalled beyond October 2014 - the company's original cut-off date.
Microsoft said the decision to extend was not related to the looming end-of-support date for Windows XP – or to take up of Windows 8.
The company said that because Windows 7 is the largest part of Microsoft's installed base it wants to make sure it remains easy for businesses to obtain it, and its end of support dates for Windows 7 remain the same.
And when asked "Was Microsoft right to extend the availability of Windows 7 for business customers?," TechRepublic's panel of international business decisions makers responded yes unanimously – but their enthusiasm for Windows 7 seems to be linked to their lack of love for Windows 8.
Many tech chiefs praised the move – as Brad Novak, IT director at Goettsch Partners, noted "it allows us to keep a very stable OS a little longer", while Florentin Albu CIO at the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation ,said creating an artificial deadline to force businesses to change desktop platforms has always been met with resistance, and added "Microsoft is just anticipating the response".
Meanwhile David Wilson, IT manager at VectorCSP, said businesses need a stable, workable platform: "Windows 8 still has bugs that cost time and frustration, and the interface is still too new to force-feed to industry. Microsoft would be well-served to leave Windows 7 Professional in production and open for support for the foreseeable future."
Similarly Jeff Focke, director of IT at Electrical Distributors, said that Windows 7 is still an integral and stable platform and there is no compelling business reason to need to upgrade to Windows 8, and noted: "I would rather focus time and resources on other challenges than a Windows upgrade project."
Some took a stronger line; Ingo Dean, IT director of EastWest Institute, said "Windows 8 is not ready. Allowing us to continue to get Windows 7 alleviates our need to seek alternatives such as MacBooks or Chromebooks."
And Gavin Whatrup, group IT director at Creston, said: "There is no, or little value to the majority of businesses in deploying Windows 8 Pro, unless they need to be seen to be using the latest technology all the time. Or unless they need to utilise some of the more advanced features of Windows Server 2012 or other server products in the same wave."
He said that while Windows 7 Pro is - as with XP Pro before it - a stable, known and well-supported OS with significant support systems and processes behind it, "Windows 8 is a different beast without a compelling reason, or resources, to move to it."
Microsoft's change in policy is more aimed at smaller businesses that don't have enterprise agreements, as Dale Huhtala, executive director, Enterprise Technology Infrastructure Services at Service Alberta, observed. "Most enterprises use their own images anyway so whatever the desktops/laptops come preloaded with is irrelevant. We format the drive and install our own custom image. As long as we are licensed for Windows 7 and 8, these changes have no effect on large enterprises."
John Gracyalny, VP for IT at SafeAmerica Credit Union, made a similar point: "Extending the availability of Windows 7 Pro is likely good for small businesses. I would think larger shops like mine have been running Windows 7 Enterprise under a separate licensing agreement, and will continue to do so, regardless of what version new hardware is shipped with.
Other tech chiefs made their voices heard too. Tim Stiles, CIO at the Bremerton Housing Authority, warned: "Acceptance of Windows 8 may never occur within the business community", while Brian Wells, associate CIO at Penn Medicine, said: "Many third party application vendors do not support Windows 8 or its associated browser".
Other tech chiefs reported similar impressions of Windows 8. Ian Auger, head of IT and communications at UK news company ITN, said: "I think Windows 8 is still a step too far for most businesses. Windows 8 tries to cater for both touchscreen devices and traditional desktops but still comes up short for the latter."
Matthew Oakley, group head of IT at Schroders, said "This recognises, I think, that Windows 8 is not a really a business-ready platform and perhaps sets the scene for Windows 9 to be the main business migration."
However, not all agree: Juergen Renfer, CIO at German insurance organisation at Kommunale Unfallversicherung Bayern said "Windows 8 is the better Windows 7, as far as Microsoft does accept that users want to decide the GUI-style: old style (Windows 7 style) for PCs, new style (Windows 8 style) for mobile devices, e.g. tablets and smartphones. So Microsoft could be able to offer the only OS that is able to support all kinds of devices."
This week's CIO Jury was:
Kevin Quealy, director of Information Services and Mapping Center, Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia Joel Robertson, director of IT, King College David Wilson, IT manager at VectorCSP Gavin Whatrup, group IT director at Creston Shawn P Beighle, CIO, International Republican Institute Brad Novak, IT director, Goettsch Partners Ingo Dean, IT director of EastWest Institute John Gracyalny, VP for IT at SafeAmerica Credit Union Michael Hanken, VP of IT for Multiquip Tim Stiles, CIO, Bremerton Housing Authority Florentin Albu, CIO, Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations Brian Wells, associate CIO, Penn Medicine
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Post by Admin on Feb 28, 2014 8:58:23 GMT -9
Glass bar clash part of San Francisco tech wars
By Tim Walker
5:30 AM Saturday Mar 1, 2014
It has been billed as a clash of cultures between tech workers and their fellow San Francisco residents. But now the tensions have spilled over into violence.
A woman wearing Google Glass was attacked in one of the city's bars last weekend. Sarah Slocum, a tech writer and social media consultant, claimed on Facebook that she had been "verbally and physically assaulted" for refusing to remove the high-tech specs, which were snatched from her face by a man who ran from the bar. She recovered the US$1500 ($1790) device from her alleged assailant, but returned to find her purse and smartphone gone.
Slocum said that before the incident she had been happily demonstrating Glass to "normal, excited and curious individuals" at Molotovs, a punk bar in the Haight-Ashbury area. But one group of patrons are thought to have become upset, believing she was filming them without their consent. As the evening turned confrontational, Slocum did indeed record some of the fracas in clips which she later posted on YouTube.
The group, she says, threw "dirty, wet bar rags" at her; the confrontation reportedly became violent when one of her friends threw a punch. The influx of highly paid tech workers to the city has caused friction with existing residents who blame Silicon Valley commuters, from companies such as Google, Apple and Facebook, for rising rents and rapid gentrification.
Locals have expressed concern that the rich professionals are driving up house prices and - inadvertently or not - driving out residents.
The Google buses are a particular point of contention. This growing fleet of unmarked luxury coaches carries some 14,000 people on their 60km trip from the city to Silicon Valley and back. Since the search giant introduced the buses a decade ago, Facebook, Apple, eBay and almost 40 other companies have followed suit.
Each new route quickly becomes a corridor of hip clothing stores and restaurants.
By Tim Walker Save
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Post by Admin on Mar 3, 2014 8:59:36 GMT -9
Samsung gifts Galaxy S5 buyers with $500 in digital goodies
By Ian Paul Follow Greenbot |Mar 3, 2014 6:20 AM Galaxy S5 apps Samsung hopes to boost the appeal of its upcoming Galaxy S5 smartphone by offering a slew of free premium app subscriptions with the handset. Prospective S5 owners will get more than $500 worth of ”Galaxy Gifts” with their new phone when it hits store shelves in April.
As you might expect, some of the apps included in the free app bundle have lame written all over them, while others are a pretty good deal.
The Galaxy S5 will come with a year’s subscription to RunKeeper Elite ($20), a free 6-month subscription to The Wall Street Journal ($160), three months of Evernote Premium ($15), three months of LinkedIn Premium ($75) and a year’s subscription to Bloomberg Businessweek+ ($30).
All told you’ll get 15 apps with special offers and limited-time subscriptions. It’s a nice treat, especially with a number of seemingly high-quality offers. But with so many apps preloaded on the phone on top of Samsung’s own Galaxy apps, Galaxy Gifts for the S5 smacks of Windows-style crapware.
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Go Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure many people will enjoy getting free news subscriptions, and why not use up $10 of in-game credits for Cut the Rope 2? But a lot of this stuff will inevitably be deleted from many S5 smartphones when the subscriptions are up.
At least you can enjoy some of these freebies while you’ve got them.
Samsung is no stranger to preloading special app offers with its devices. The company ran a promotion offering 50GB of free Dropbox storage for two years with a number of its devices. Samsung also recently offered a selection of free stuff similar to the S5’s Galaxy Gifts with the Galaxy Note Pro 12.2 in several markets.
The Galaxy S5 is slated to launch on April 11. Pricing for Samsung’s new flagship handset has not been announced.
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Post by Admin on Mar 4, 2014 11:04:58 GMT -9
A Deceptively Simple Speaker That Always Knows What to Play BY KYLE VANHEMERT03.04.1411:00 AM
Cone is a speaker that drastically streamlines the process of listening to music at home. AETHER
Don’t call Cone a speaker. It’s a “thinking music player.”
That, anyway, is how Duncan Lamb, co-founder of Aether, explains his company’s new offering, a conical music-machine that learns your tastes and seamlessly streams the songs you want to hear. It’s a fairly radical reinvention of a familiar gadget–a speaker that relieves you of the responsibility of DJing every song at every step of the way. But it’s also an example of how the internet of things is quickly maturing, proving that clever algorithms and beefy processing power can be combined to make products simpler to use, rather than more complex.
Take a close look at how you listen to music today, and you’ll find that complexity clogging things up at every stage. For all the on-demand ease of subscription services like Spotify and Rdio, you still have to figure out what to listen to. Then you have to account for other sources, like internet radio and podcasts. At some point, you have to figure out how you’re actually going to listen to this stuff in your house. Is it synced to your phone? Is it on your PC? Will the device it’s playing on stream to your living room speakers?
Cone boils the complex workflow of streaming music down to a single interaction. Cone takes all that complexity and hides it inside a single, simple piece of hardware. The speaker itself isn’t covered in buttons, nor does it bear a touchscreen. Built into the hardware, though, are a number of clever controls. To play a song, press the button in the center of the speaker grill; Cone will choose a song from your streaming music service of choice. To hear something different, you just spin the front edge of the speaker. This sends you to another genre, or else switches to another input source entirely, like an internet radio station or a favorite podcast. In essence, Cone boils the complex workflow of streaming music at home down to a single interaction: turning a big, satisfying dial.
Of course, sometimes you do know precisely what you want to hear. In those cases, you can press the central button and just shout out the name of a track or an artist. Or, if you’ve got your phone in your hand, you can search for a song from the Cone app, or just beam music to it through your phone’s stock music app, like you would any AirPlay speaker.
Im Aether’s stance is that truly smart devices need simple, powerful controls. Replacing Buttons With Better Context Recognition Of course, one of the ideas behind Cone is that, when we’re at home, we don’t always have our phones in our hands. And yet, Lamb and company didn’t want to risk making Cone needlessly complex; one of the motivating beliefs behind Aether is that truly smart devices need simple, powerful controls specific to those devices themselves.
The secret sauce that lets Aether achieve that simplicity is machine learning. Each time you spin its dial, Cone learns something about you. By taking note of what you skip past and what you listen to, it slowly puts together a profile of your music listening habits. It’ll take note of what you turn up to rock out to–and what time of day you do it. With a built-in accelerometer, it knows when you pick the thing up and take it to another room, and it will pay attention to what you listen to there (and how it’s different what you listened to in the first room.)
If you’re not going to bedeck every gizmo with a touchscreen or off-load its controls to a dedicated application, you need to “pick up the slack with services and sensibility,” explains Lamb, who formerly served as a product designer at companies like Nokia and Skype. Another way of putting it is that you have to make the few controls you do have smarter. With Cone, that spin that tells it to move to the next track isn’t always the same static command. Instead, it changes based on what day you’re listening and what time. In other words, Cone’s sensitivity to context is what lets it get away with being so simple.
Making Choices for You The even bigger–and bolder–idea behind Cone is that we don’t always know what we want to listen to in the first place. It’s an insight that was born out of months of research, with Aether’s early employees examining their own music listening habits and those of a dozen families with various levels of tech and music literacy. The problem, in short: Services like Spotify give us a staggering library of songs but offer relatively primitive tools for enjoying them. “Streaming music is still finding its place in the world,” Lamb says. “It’s accessible. But it’s not really accessible.”
Today’s streaming services, he continues, are “designed by people who love music for people who love music.” It’s tempting to think that’s everyone, but in the real world, it’s evident that it’s not. Most of the time, Lamb says, what people are looking for isn’t the perfect song so much as a good one for the moment. It’s why we like flipping on the radio when we get in the car or switching on Pandora when we’re having people over for dinner. From a certain perspective, you could even say that Cone’s out to redefine the experience of enjoying music altogether. No longer do you have to figure out what you want to listen to. You just tell this speaker that you want to listen to something, and it will take care of the rest.
At $399, there’s no certainty Cone will find footing in what’s already a crowded category when it arrives later this summer. That is, a crowded category if you’re looking at it as another wireless speaker. If you look at it as a speaker that uses machine learning to make sure your house is always filled with music you’re enjoying, that category’s a new one altogether.
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Post by Admin on Mar 5, 2014 8:15:57 GMT -9
3/5/2014 11:55 AM Eric Zeman
The Privacy Phone is actually a refurbished Samsung Galaxy S II (circa 2011) that runs Google's Android operating system (although FreedomPop didn't specify which version of Android). It costs a mere $189, with no contract required. As an MVNO that uses Sprint's network for calls and messaging, FreedomPop offers low-cost (sometimes even free) service.
Loaded with security software from Private Communications Corp., the Privacy Phone takes a two-pronged approach to shielding owners' privacy. First, the essential communications tools -- voice calls and text messages -- are encrypted. Rather than passing calls and messages over traditional voice networks, FreedomPop relies on Sprint's LTE data network and sends calls through the Internet using VoIP and its own VPN. In addition to the encryption, the phone makes contacts, call history, and text messages confidential, so if the device is lost no one can access that information. FreedomPop claims it can block unsolicited incoming calls and texts, and the company will allow owners to change their phone number as often as they want.
[iOS users have a new security option for messaging. Read Cryptocat Wins Apple Approval.]
Second, all apps and Internet data on the Privacy Phone are also sent through a secure, encrypted VPN for anonymous Web browsing. The software, from Private Communications, manages all the permissions for apps and locks them down while also giving owners the option to loosen some of those restrictions when necessary. FreedomPop claims this allows the Privacy Phone to protect users against online marketers tracking Web activity, to defend against data monitoring, and to bypass website restrictions so users can connect to any site online. The tools also protect against viruses, malware, spyware, and phishing.
"In light of recent violations in consumer's privacy across social networks and mobile devices, privacy is becoming increasingly important to many Americans, and we all have a right to communicate anonymously," said FreedomPop COO Steven Sesar in a statement. "Large carriers don't have the flexibility, desire, or creativity to invest in privacy. We don't agree with this approach and felt it was up to us to create a truly private mobile phone service at an affordable price."
The phone is being sold at a rock-bottom price, and FreedomPop is offering early adopters three months of free service. The monthly plan includes unlimited voice and messaging as well as 500 MB of data. After the trial period ends, the monthly cost will go up to just $10. To further the appeal of its anonymous nature, FreedomPop is accepting payments in Bitcoin.
FreedomPop's effort follows closely on the heels of two other security-minded devices released in recent weeks. GeeksPhone fully revealed the Blackphone last month. The Blackphone runs a modified version of Google's Android platform called PrivatOS and is carrier- and vendor-independent. Geeksphone says it gives consumers and businesses control over their privacy. For example, the Blackphone, which uses security software from Silent Circle, can make and receive secure phone calls, exchange secure texts, transfer and store files, and video chat without compromising user privacy. Boeing also introduced a secure smartphone last month. Called the Boeing Black, the device will self-destruct if tampered with.
The devices come in the wake of Edward Snowden's revelations about the NSA and its mass data collection schemes, including details of voice calls made from cell phones. Surely some people value their privacy enough to plunk down cash for these secure smartphones. The tradeoffs, however, are unclear. Do all Android apps work on these phones, or do the security elements prevent many of them from functioning properly? Further, it's not clear how they might fit with individual business' security strategies and mobile device management tools.
Bottom line: Be sure to ask some hard questions before you pick up one of these secure smartphones.
Engage with Oracle president Mark Hurd, NFL CIO Michelle McKenna-Doyle, General Motors CIO Randy Mott, Box founder Aaron Levie, UPMC CIO Dan Drawbaugh, GE Power CIO Jim Fowler, and other leaders of the Digital Business movement at the InformationWeek Conference and Elite 100 Awards Ceremony, to be held in conjunction with Interop in Las Vegas, March 31 to April 1, 2014. See the full agenda here.
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Post by Admin on Mar 7, 2014 7:34:58 GMT -9
Samsung's 12-Inch Tablet: Is It Worth $850? Galaxy NotePro tablet is Samsung's best piece of mobile hardware for the enterprise, and the 12.2-inch device has a price tag to match.
Verizon Wireless is now selling the Samsung Galaxy NotePro tablet. The device, which was announced earlier this year, boasts a 12.2-inch display, LTE 4G, and a brand new magazine-style user interface from Samsung. With the right accessories the NotePro can almost replace a laptop. I spent several weeks using the NotePro. Is it worth the weighty cost?
The primary feature of the NotePro is, of course, the huge screen. At 12.2 inches across the diagonal, it is one of the largest available on a tablet. The NotePro's screen alone has a larger footprint than an entire Apple iPad Air. Samsung's tablet has a WQXGA (2,560 x 1,600) Super LCD panel with a 16:10 aspect ratio. There's no denying that it looks gorgeous. The display provides ample room for multitasking, such as running apps side-by-side in separate windows.
The NotePro has a classy design. The front surface is all glass, with Samsung's trademark button configuration along the bottom. There's an attractive chrome band around the entire rim of the tablet. This band houses stereo speakers (which sound great), buttons (that work well), and ports, all of which are positioned for easy use. The S Pen stylus is also tucked into the rim, and it is easy to retrieve. The entire back panel is made of plastic that resembles faux leather (complete with stitching along the edges). Samsung has upgraded its flagship products, such as the Galaxy Note 3 and Chromebook Series 2, with this leather look. The overall appearance of the NotePro is sharp and business-like. The materials are good, and the tablet feels solid and well made.
As the name implies, the NotePro was designed for people who need to be productive. The device ships with Android 4.4.2 KitKat on board and what Samsung calls its Magazine User Interface. The UI, which is what you'll experience on the home screen panels, lets owners customize the content that appears on the home screens in segregated boxes that resemble magazine pages. For example, on one home screen panel I was able to build a collection of boxes that included my calendar, email inbox, Google Drive documents, and a customized newsfeed. Customizing the home screens takes time, but can be rewarding once you come up with the right mix. Of course, the best feature is the multi-window function for running two apps at once. Individual applications behave just as they do on other Android devices.
There are tons of applications preloaded, including the full suite of Google-made apps found on all Android devices and a similar suite of Samsung-made apps, such as S Voice and Knos security. The software that accompanies the S Pen is quite good, and it really works well with the large screen. It felt natural to use the S Pen to scribble notes and then attach them to emails. Some of the third-party extras are Dropbox, Hancom Viewer (for PDFs), Netflix, Evernote, Flipboard, and Microsoft Office clones from Hancom.
[Will this tablet help Android stay the market leader? Read Android Takes Top Tablet OS Crown.]
The NotePro uses Samsung's Exynos 5 Octa processor, with four cores at 1.9 GHz and four cores at 1.3 GHz. It has 3 GB of RAM and comes with either 32 or 64 GB of internal storage and support for microSD memory cards. Connectivity options include WiFi, GPS, Bluetooth, and LTE. It also offers an 8-megapixel main camera and 2-megapixel user-facing camera. It carries a 9,500 mAh battery. I found it offered at least 10 hours of productive time. The NotePro weighs 1.65 pounds. It feels pretty heavy after a while, and I found holding it for more than an hour was tiresome.
The review package sent by Samsung included a stand, keyboard, and mouse. Used with these accessories, I was able to perform nearly all my job functions on the tablet. For my purposes, however, photo and video manipulation still requires a laptop or desktop computer. If your work is limited to editing documents and email, I have no doubt that the NotePro could be the only computing device you need. Of course, the accessories are what really make it a solid work machine, and traveling with them makes the entire package bulky and heavy. For couch-side surfing, I prefer smaller machines, such as the Nexus 7.
Verizon Wireless is selling the NotePro at stores beginning Friday. It is asking $849.99 for the tablet without a contract, though it is willing to take $100 off that price for those willing to sign a two-year agreement. (Pro Tip: Don't sign, just buy it outright.)
Interop Las Vegas, March 31 to April 4, brings together thousands of technology professionals to discover the most current and cutting-edge technology innovations and strategies to drive their organizations' success, including BYOD security, the latest cloud and virtualization technologies, SDN, the Internet of Things, and more. Attend educational sessions in eight tracks and visit an Expo Floor featuring more than 350 top vendors. Register with Discount Code MPIWK for $200 off Total Access and Conference Passes. Early-Bird Rates end Feb. 21. Find out more about Interop and register now.
Eric is a freelance writer for InformationWeek specializing in mobile technologies. View Full Bio
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Post by Admin on Mar 10, 2014 11:39:58 GMT -9
First Take: Snowden the hero geek at SXSW David Callaway, USA TODAY 4:19 p.m. EDT March 10, 2014
AUSTIN — They came for a rock star, but got a slow motion tech geek.
Edward Snowden, patriot, traitor, hero hacker, runaway spy — take your pick — unveiled himself to the friendliest U.S. constituency he could find Monday as the tech industry's scruffy elite flocked to the Austin Convention Center to see him live from Russia at South by Southwest.
Sporting a short-cropped haircut and blue collar shirt and coat, with the shadowy makings of a mustache and chin beard, Snowden appeared on two giant screens to wild applause with a copy of Article 1 of the Constitution emblazoned on a green screen behind him.
"We the People" framed his headshot, though a poor video connection through Google Hangout and several server bounces from Russia turned the crowd's hero into more of a Saturday Night Live character, his face contorted in frozen video expressions as the audio ran. Tongue out, eyes rolled, mouth open. The embarrassing frames accompanied his hour-long chat with hosts Ben Wizner and Chris Soghoian of the American Civil Liberties Union.
The crowd, clad in requisite hoodies, jeans, ponytails and plaid shirts, clutching mobile devices overwhelmed by the conference's wireless traffic, streamed into the airplane hangar-like Exhibit Hall 5 for more than two hours before the 11 a.m. CT session. As Snowden appeared, photographers raced the aisles trying to get a decent shot of the scourge of the NSA without the frozen expressions.
But the biggest problem wasn't the connection. It was the discussion itself. Far from a ringing indictment of the U.S. government's snooping policy, or of the role of whistleblowers in keeping the public informed, the talk quickly devolved into a dissertation on encryption techniques and global network structures.
Snowden dutifully made his case that the government had crossed the line, in his mind, by moving from a defensive surveillance and electronic protection strategy to an offensive data snatch-and-attack policy. He argued it has also been completely ineffective in protecting us.
"We spent all this money, all this time, hacking into Google to see their databases, and what did we get? We got nothing." He said attacks like the Boston bombings might have been prevented if the authorities spend more time chasing leads and less time grabbing metadata.
Twenty-five minutes into the session though, the excitement of seeing him live had begun to wear off. A trickle of people in the audience made their way for the door. When a tweeted question about how users could protect themselves was answered with a suggestion they adopt "full disk encryption" and the TOR routing network, the trickle became a stream.
There were moments of applause. Six of them actually, including a half-hearted attempt at a standing ovation at the end, with a smattering of folks rising to their feet, as Snowden did his best to finish on a patriotic note.
"I took an oath to defend the Constitution and I saw the Constitution had been violated on a massive scale," he explained in a final answer to a question about why he did what he did. By then the crowd was well on its way to the next session, or to the lunch bars of Austin's famed 6th Street.
Snowden had made tech history again, and furthered South by Southwest's claim to the top tech gathering event of the year. He also revealed the tech geek behind the hero, patriot, or traitor. A complex young man caught in the swirl of history, but one this crowd could now better understand as one of their own.
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Post by Admin on Mar 11, 2014 8:45:32 GMT -9
This is going to be a great add-on: here is the link to the video: www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=lZqX6ocwHWUGoogle Drive launching third-party add-ons program for Docs, Sheets Summary: This isn't the first time that the Google Drive team has put the spotlight on its third-party ecosystem, increasingly becoming an advertising point for cloud services providers. Topics: Enterprise Software, Apps, Cloud, Google, Google Apps Rachel King By Rachel King for Between the Lines | March 11, 2014 -- 17:31 GMT (10:31 PDT) zdnet-google-drive-add-ons-1 Google Drive users can soon look forward to a host of new tools for the Docs and Sheets apps, but they don't necessarily come from the Internet giant itself. The Chrome maker is launching new online marketplaces dedicated to add-ons, introducing new editing and formatting functionality when producing documents or spreadsheets. The program is still in developer preview mode, but it is gearing up to launch with more than 50 add-ons in tow, all built by partners using Google Apps Script. Some provided examples of the add-ons that should be ready soon include more tools for mail merge and customized emails, importing names and addresses for printing labels, and a bibliography genie. Dan Lazin, a technical writer for the Google Apps team, explained further in a blog post on Tuesday that the tools and APIs for add-ons are available to everyone. The Google Apps team only steps in ahead of final publication to the store. From there, developers can submit working prototypes of add-ons to Google Apps for admission. This isn't the first time that the Google Drive team has put the spotlight on its third-party ecosystem, increasingly becoming an advertising point for cloud services providers from Salesforce.com to Box and Dropbox, among many more. Just a little over a year ago, Google reformatted the Drive sidebar menu so that "Drive-connected" apps would be displayed at the same level as Google-produced apps such as Docs and Sheets. Google has also been busy targeting corporate Google Apps users this week. On Monday, the Mountain View, Calif.-headquartered company introduced a new referral program rewarding $15 bonus per new user subscription. The program suggests a new strategy in taking on Microsoft Office 365.
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Post by Admin on Mar 12, 2014 10:06:15 GMT -9
Sir Tim Berners-Lee: World wide web needs bill of rights COMMENTS (531)
Sir Tim Berners-Lee wants more rights for users of the web
Sir Tim Berners-Lee: the future web Watch
The inventor of the world wide web has marked the 25th anniversary of his creation by calling for a 'Magna Carta' bill of rights to protect its users.
Sir Tim Berners-Lee told BBC Breakfast the issue could be compared to the importance of human rights.
He has been an outspoken critic of government surveillance following a series of leaks from ex-US intelligence contractor Edward Snowden.
Sir Tim called on people to take action and protest against surveillance.
'Communal decision' He told BBC Breakfast the online community has now reached a crossroads.
"It's time for us to make a big communal decision," he said. "In front of us are two roads - which way are we going to go?
"Are we going to continue on the road and just allow the governments to do more and more and more control - more and more surveillance?
"Or are we going to set up a bunch of values? Are we going to set up something like a Magna Carta for the world wide web and say, actually, now it's so important, so much part of our lives, that it becomes on a level with human rights?"
Sir Tim said the internet should be a "neutral" medium that can be used without feeling "somebody's looking over our shoulder".
He called for vigilance against surveillance by its users, adding: "The people of the world have to be constantly aware, constantly looking out for it - constantly making sure through action, protest, that it doesn't happen."
Sir Tim has previously warned that surveillance could threaten the democratic nature of the web.
He has also spoken out in support of Mr Snowden, saying his actions were "in the public interest".
The idea that the world wide web would end up playing such a huge role in people's lives would have seemed "crazy" 25 years ago, said Sir Tim.
He admitted that the web represented "humanity connected", involving both the "wonderful" and the "ghastly".
But he added: "I don't have a lot of sympathy with people who say: 'There's so much rubbish on the web.'
"Well, if there's so much rubbish, if it's rubbish, don't read it. Go read something else."
The web we want campaign has been set up by Sir Tim's World Wide Web Foundation to coincide with the 25th anniversary and aims to protect human rights online.
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Post by Admin on Mar 13, 2014 5:41:35 GMT -9
You're not crazy: Google search results do look different By Karissa Bell, Mashable POSTED: 03/12/2014 09:58:33 AM PDT | UPDATED: ABOUT 20 HOURS AGO
(Marcio Jose Sanchez/Associated Press) Google is rolling out a new design of search to desktop users that includes changes to both organic search results and ads to desktop users. The new design removes underlines, increases the font size and, most important, changes the way ads are labeled in search results.
The changes appear to be part of a broader redesign of search results Google has been experimenting with since last fall, when it first began rolling out similar changes to search results to mobile users.
The biggest change is the way Google's AdWords-targeted ads are identified. With the new look, Google has removed the pink shading that appeared behind ads in search results. Instead, ads are preceded by a small yellow box labeled “ad.”
This isn't the first time we've seen changes like this to ads in search results. Google first rolled out this same new look for ads to mobile users in September when the company announced it was changing the look and feel of ads and search results on mobile.
“It's cleaner and simpler, optimized for touch, with results clustered on cards so you can focus on the answers you're looking for,” Google's senior vice president of search, Amit Singhal, said in a blog post explaining those changes.
Some desktop users began seeing these new ads as early as November, though it seems Google didn't start bringing the changes to the majority of its users until recently.
Now that Google is now rolling out the refreshed look to all of its desktop users, it suggests the company is trying to create a more consistent experience for its users across platforms.
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Post by Admin on Mar 14, 2014 7:33:43 GMT -9
Google slashes Google Drive storage prices
Now you can get a terabyte for ten bucks By Chris Merriman Fri Mar 14 2014, 13:47 Google Drive for Android is a cloud-based document and file storage service
THE FIRST SHOTS in a price war appear to have been fired, as Google has announced it will cut the cost of its Google Drive cloud storage and productivity applications. Coinciding with Microsoft's announcement of a reduced prices for Microsoft Office 365, Google announced on the Drive Blog that "thanks to a number of recent infrastructure improvements, we're able to make it more affordable for you to keep everything safe and easy to reach on any device, from anywhere."
In addition to the 15GB free package, which covers users across cloud storage, Picasa and Gmail, the basic Google Drive package of 100GB has been reduced from $4.99 to $1.99, or £1.20 per month. A terabyte goes from $49.99 to $9.99 or £6 and Google has added a 10TB tier at $99.99 or £60 a month. Even more storage is available on request.
Google is promoting the terabyte price point, which has seen a 60 percent price cut, and Google describing it as "enough storage for you to take a selfie twice a day for the next 200 years and still have room left over for... shall we say... less important things". Google Drive's productivity suite formerly known as Google Docs has also released a new store for third-party add-ons as it aggressively targets Microsoft Office and open source desktop productivity packages such as Openoffice and Libreoffice. Although these prices are impressive, Google Drive faces stiff opposition from Kim Dotcom's Mega, which offers 50GB free as standard. Before it launched Google Drive in 2012, Google offered storage at a much lower rate, which is still being honoured for anyone lucky enough to have been a subscriber, with 80GB costing $20 a year, which is comparable to these latest prices. µ
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Post by Admin on Mar 15, 2014 8:43:33 GMT -9
Office 365 Personal: 5 Questions Answered Is Microsoft's Office 365 Personal right for you? Here's what you need to know.
This week Microsoft announced Office 365 Personal, a version of the cloud-based subscription service that will become available this spring. Since its launch in July 2013, Office 365 has tallied more than 3.5 million consumer subscribers. Will the new version help the service further expand its reach? Here are five essential facts about Microsoft's newest Office offering.
1. Office 365 Personal will cost as little as $70 per year. Office 365 Personal will allow users to run Office applications on one PC or Mac and one tablet. Users can subscribe for $6.99 monthly, or annually for $69.99. Microsoft confirmed to InformationWeek that Office 365 Personal will entitle users to Office Mobile on "multiple" non-Windows smartphones, and that the company will announce specifics soon. Like all flavors of Office 365, Personal will include 60 minutes of Skype calls per month, 20 GB of additional OneDrive storage, and access to the most up-to-date versions of Office.
2. One tablet? Don't you mean one Windows tablet? Microsoft is being a little coy about this one. The company hasn't yet released native versions of Office for non-Windows platforms, so until further notice, Office 365 applies by default only to Windows slates.
But Microsoft is usually pretty fastidious about differentiating Windows tablets from their iPad and Android rivals. The company included broad and seemingly agnostic references to tablets in its latest messaging, which has led many to speculate that Office for iPads and Android tablets could arrive this spring alongside Office 365 Personal.
[Collaboration is key in Microsoft's latest productivity suite. Read Office 365 Gets Personal.]
Reuters reported this week, citing unidentified people close to Microsoft, that the company has already completed a version of Office for iPads and Android slates. New CEO Satya Nadella is reportedly weighing when to bring the new products to market. Reports from earlier this year claimed Microsoft plans to debut Office for the iPad this summer, perhaps even before it releases touch-first Office apps for Windows 8.1's Modern UI. For their part, Microsoft execs have confirmed that Office versions for non-Windows tablets are coming, though they haven't provided concrete details.
3. Doesn't Microsoft already have something like this? Office 365 Home Premium, which is available for $9.99 per month or $99.99 per year, is Microsoft's current consumer-oriented package. It allows users to access the service on up to five PC or Macs, and up to five mobile devices. After Office 365 Personal launches, Office 365 Home Premium will be rebranded simply as Office 365 Home. The company also offers traditional Office Home and Student standalone licenses for $139.99, and its browser-based Office Online apps for free. Office 365 Personal essentially slots between Office Online and Office 365 Home.
4. Why shouldn't I just pay $30 more to get the Home version? If you don't have multiple devices in your household, Office 365 Home is probably overkill. That said, by pricing Office 365 Personal relatively close to Office 365 Home, Microsoft likely hopes to upsell some customers. But with iWork, Google Docs, and so many other free alternatives gaining mobile market share, it remains to be seen if Microsoft has targeted the right price.
5. Is anything else changing? Yes. For Microsoft, Office 365 represents several opportunities. First and foremost, it replaces traditional licenses, a one-time source of revenue, with perpetual subscriptions. Second, it allows the company to push new technologies more rapidly to users. The company recently integrated a number of analytics tools and collaborative functions into Office 365, for example, and Microsoft execs have spent months alluding to the promise of new interaction models, including touch and voice.
Microsoft founder Bill Gates, who will be serving as an advisor to Nadella, added fuel to the fire this week. In an interview with Rolling Stone, he said that Office has been successful due to constant tuning, but that the product now needs more than "more than a tuneup."
Other online reports state Microsoft will soon release a free version of OneNote for Macs, and Office exec Thorten Hübschen told German website Computerwoche that a new version of Office for Macs (now overdue, based on historical releases) will arrive later this year.
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Post by Admin on Mar 17, 2014 7:07:58 GMT -9
Google Tightens In-App Purchase Process New password requirement can reduce the risk of running up big bills from unauthorized purchases.
Last week, a mother in New York filed a lawsuit against Google alleging unjust enrichment after her son rang up $65.95 buying digital "Crystals" while playing a game called Marvel Jump Run Smash. She filed the lawsuit in San Francisco and is seeking class action status to help all the other similarly-afflicted parents out there.
The case closely mirrors one filed against Apple several years ago. Apple ended up settling that case for $5 million and was fined an additional $32.5 million by the government. At issue here is the ease with which users -- i.e., kids -- can make real-world purchases when playing games or using other applications on mobile devices.
The Google Play Store offered a single way to prevent unauthorized purchases: users could be allowed to make in-app purchases without a password as long as they occurred within a 30-minute window from when the app was first downloaded. This feature could be toggled on or off. It's not clear in the case mentioned above if the mother activated the 30-minute window or not. Either way, the kid made a ton of in-app purchases and wasn't blocked by a password. (Read the lawsuit here.)
Google made good to fix the problem by updating the Play Store itself. The changes were first spotted by Android Police. The update was pushed out late last week, though after the lawsuit was filed. The biggest and most important change to the Play Store's behavior is the new ability to require an account password for each and every purchase. This lets parents or device owners block anyone from buying anything unless they enter the password. Parents can also still choose to make use of the 30-minute window. This should do the trick.
This highlights once again the growing need for "kid mode" or "guest mode" on mobile devices. Most Android handsets don't offer the ability to switch modes, though some Android tablets, such as the Nexus 7, do. Microsoft did well to put Kid Mode in Windows Phone. It's high time that same functionality made its way to all mobile devices, regardless of operating system. The issue goes far beyond one of unauthorized purchases -- it also can play a vital role in protecting personal data from prying eyes.
Google made other changes to the Play Store. The updated store now lets users install apps in batches if they so wish. Google moved the location of the Settings and Help tools, which are now visible in the main slide-out navigation tray. Google also altered the name of one function to clarify exactly what happens when users download new apps. Out of the box, all Android devices will automatically place a shortcut on the home screen whenever a new app is installed. In order to turn this off, you had to unmark a setting called "Auto-add widget." Not exactly intuitive. Now, this setting is called "Add icon to home screen." That's much more obvious. Last, Google made it possible for users to force the Play Store itself to update. Previously, users simply had to wait until the update randomly reached their device. Google made a number of other, minor tweaks to the software, as well.
The new version of the Play Store is 4.6.16. Google is pushing it out to Android devices gradually.
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Post by Admin on Mar 19, 2014 10:50:50 GMT -9
Voice is not enough: Motion is key to Android Wear Early previews of Google's wearable platform focus on bringing Google Now's voice and touch control to a smartwatch, but Crave's Eric Mack says the real future is on the move.
Eric Mack by Eric Mack March 19, 2014 12:30 PM PDT
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Forget poetry, the future is wearables in motion. (Credit: Motorola) Google and Motorola rolled out their joint vision of Android Wear, the Moto 360, and the future of wearables on Tuesday. (LG also gave us a taste of its upcoming G Watch.) Based on the few videos and all the information released for developers, it appears that Google's wearable platform is a fancy port of Google Now "cards" and voice control in a pretty spiffy, new form factor. While this is the focus of the developer preview out this week, don't be fooled. Android Wear will be much more than just some full-faced watches that respond to speech, taps, and swipes. For the past few years now, Google has been telegraphing that it is much more interested in how we ambulate our entire bodies, not just our index fingers and vocal chords. Last August, I went to New York to get my hands on the much-hyped Moto X. I spent a few weeks with a review unit and then sent it back and moved on to demo the other anticipated Android phones of the season -- like the Nexus 5. But when it came time for me to put my money where my mouth was and buy my next daily use device a few months later, I went with the already slightly aged and less powerful Moto X. What sold me on the Moto X was its integration of a few features that are almost certainly heading for the Moto 360 and likely other Android Wear devices -- touchless control and activity recognition, and the seamless marriage of voice control and contextual awareness that still is not really offered on any other device.
Google unveils Android Wear, its modified OS for wearables Moto 360 smartwatch to ship in limited quantity, says report Normally, my Moto X has an "active display" function that pulses on and off to show me the time and any new notifications. I can touch the screen to get more details on new notifications. That is, unless the phone is face down or in my pocket -- then it doesn't pulse on at all to conserve battery life. So, flipping my phone down and then back up is a very easy way to see new notifications with a flip of the wrist. Hmmm. What other form factor might benefit from responding to such motion? Get a move on The Moto X also was among the first phones to take advantage of a new activity-recognition feature that lives in Location Services in Android and can discern if a user is walking, driving, or standing still, among other states. The Android Wear developer preview encourages programmers to become familiar with using activity detection and even geofencing to trigger contextual notifications on wearables. For example, if your phone detects that you're riding a bike, apps could automatically forward all notifications to the Wear-powered device on your wrist. If you still don't think Android Wear is about motion and gestures as much as talking and tapping, take another look at Google's own introductory video. There's a rather comical scene in which a woman sprints to catch a plane, and her smartwatch detects the activity and automatically estimates how many calories she just burned; or the woman whose watch detects that she's dancing and offers to look up the song that's playing.
This last one in particular took me back to the floors of CES in Las Vegas this year where wearables abounded. Some of the more impressive devices were those that made use of programmable gestures. A small device called Kiwi demonstrated how it can be programmed to perform the same Shazam-like action when the user draws a musical note in the air -- this is perhaps a little more intuitive than having to get jiggy with it anytime you're curious about the title of a song. And Google has clearly demonstrated that it is interested in merging gestures with contextual awareness as much as it is in getting us to speak to it no matter where we are. In addition to its work on activity recognition in Android and with Motorola, Google recently bought a small Swiss app developer called Bitspin that is best known for making Timely, an Android app that is really a fancy alarm clock and makes use of -- you guessed it -- motion detection and gestures. What a, uh, "timely" acquisition that was for Google to make in the months leading up to the reveal of Android Wear.
Expect Android Wear to ultimately go even further than simply responding to the flick of a wrist and figuring out if you're walking or biking. In the full SDK, Google plans to introduce the ability to gather more sensor data. Android APIs currently include support for not just harvesting data from a phone's accelerometer, but also from a gyroscope, and sensors for temperature, light, pressure, proximity, humidity, rotation, linear acceleration, and even magnetic fields. That's a whole lot of context that would be all the more powerful when paired with an arsenal of gestures. Dick Tracy had part of the equation right -- a good wearable needs to be able to be spoken to, but to be truly smart, understanding body language is just as important.
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Post by Admin on Mar 20, 2014 6:06:41 GMT -9
Avast: Here is what might happen after Microsoft drops Windows XP support
By Mihaita BamburicPublished 4 hours ago
You are likely well aware by now that, come April 8, Microsoft will officially drop support for its dated Windows XP. Considering that the operating system will celebrate its 13th birthday this year, the company's decision is hardly surprising. Users have had plenty of time to plan for this moment, and move to newer, better versions of Windows.
Yes, there are still many Windows XP users, as the operating system's market share tops nearly 30 percent, far more than the newer Windows 8.x branch, combined. As a result, the extent of the public support cutoff is huge, even effecting security companies which have declared their commitment to supporting Windows XP past its due date. In a blog post, Avast details potential issues users might encounter starting next month.
Avast has a vested interest in Windows XP so the security company is taking a stab at Microsoft for its decision. "Abandoning Windows XP is a big mistake", says Avast COO Ondrej Vlcek. "[...] especially since Microsoft has not been very successful in transitioning XP users to newer systems".
Security products can only do so much to keep Windows XP users safe once Microsoft stops patching the operating system's future vulnerabilities. The software giant will offer the option to get a custom support agreement, but most users will not benefit from this treatment.
"The abandonment by Microsoft will not only affect Windows XP users, but will create a big security problem for the whole ecosystem", says Vlcek. "Tens of millions of PCs running XP connected to the Internet, unpatched and without security updates, are just waiting to be exploited. The vulnerable OS will be an easy target for hackers and be seen as a gateway to infect other non-XP operating systems".
Vlcek also says we might soon be looking at the next Target-like data breach, as plenty of essential devices, like ATMs, are running Windows XP, and will be left exposed. While this is theoretically true, businesses -- banks, especially -- are likely to pay-up to get a custom support agreement. There are more similar doom and gloom statements in the blog post.
What Avast's COO fails to mention is that no one has ever forced Windows XP users to stick by its side. 13 years is a very long time to use an operating system, and subtly blaming Microsoft for what might -- and will -- happen is disingenuous, as the software giant made its decision known for a long time now. Using Windows XP today is irresponsible, no matter how Vlcek might slice it.
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