Patriot announces USB Type-C flash drive for new MacBook and Chromebook Pixel
USB Type-C is certainly the future, but it will take a while for consumers to fully embrace it. If you bought the new MacBook, Apple hasn't given you much choice; users will have to use adapters to use something like a traditional Type-A USB flash drive. At least Google offers standard ports in addition to Type-C on its new Chromebook Pixel.
What if you didn't need an adapter to use your flash drive on the new ports? Patriot has developed a new flash drive that solves that exact problem.
LG unveils the stylish G4 in leather or ceramic, with removable battery, and microSD
Android phones have become a bit of a boring affair. Sadly, what was once an exciting market has become stale and stagnant. Bigger screen? Faster processor? Yawn and yawn. In order to stand out, manufacturers need to offer something unique. Samsung accomplished this with the gorgeous Galaxy S6 edge -- the curved screen edges made consumers take notice. Gimmick? Maybe, but it worked.
Now it's LG's turn to attempt to wow. Today, the manufacturer announced its newest flagship, the G4. This time, it is the materials that attempt to make the device stand out. You see, LG is offering the options of beautiful leather or ceramic. In other words, LG seems to be creating a luxury experience. Android purists will greatly appreciate the removable battery and microSD card slot.
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'Normal use' shatters Apple Watch
ITC rules Microsoft handsets violate patents
Microsoft could face a ban on importing handsets into the US after a ruling by the International Trade Commission. The ITC found that Microsoft had used technology for which InterDigital owns the patents without obtaining the relevant permission.
Microsoft plans to challenge the ruling, saying "we have a successful track record challenging patent assertion entities that misuse industry standards". It is not the first handset manufacturer to have been hit with legal action from InterDigital, and it could severely hamper future handset sales.
NBC Sports Live Extra arrives on Roku, just in time for hockey and horse racing
It's a great time of the year for sports fans, with hockey in the playoffs, the upcoming NFL draft, the Triple crown and baseball season well underway. Now Roku is bringing all of this to your TV via both its set-top boxes and Roku TVs. It arrives just in time for all of the action.
The NBC Live Extra Service promises over 3,000 events per year, including some exclusive coverage. That traverses an awful lot of ground.
treev is a Chrome search bar for your cloud files
In theory, storing your files in the cloud means you can access them from anywhere. But in practice, there’s often a complication: you’ll have to find them first.
Treev is a free Chrome extension which can search all your Google Drive, Dropbox, Trello or Box accounts from a single search bar.
Kaspersky launches new security solution for small businesses
Security issues affect smaller businesses just as much as big ones, but they're often less equipped to deal with them due to limited resources.
Today Kaspersky Lab is releasing the latest version of its Kaspersky Small Office Security, built specifically for businesses with fewer than 25 employees. It's aimed at providing world-class protection and easy use without the need for specialized IT skills.
Opera 29 gains tab sync across devices, customizable keyboard shortcuts
Opera 29 FINAL has been released for Windows, Mac, Linux, and Android, bringing major improvements for those who like to browse across a range of devices with the ability to sync tabs between mobile and desktop platforms.
Version 29 also adds support for customizable keyboard shortcuts as well as a new indicator tool to help pinpoint which browser tab audio is being played from. The update also includes some useful minor tweaks too.
ASUS introduces the 15-inch ZenBook Pro UX501 high-end ultrabook
If you want a high-end 15-inch Windows laptop that is light and visually attractive you will most certainly not be spoilt for choice. PC makers are focusing on the smaller segments, which usually means a display size of around 13-inches. Sure, you can always grab a 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display and slap Windows on it, but that is not the same thing.
Fortunately, ASUS continues to include a 15-inch high-end option in its ZenBook lineup, as it just introduced ZenBook Pro UX501. It packs all the right features a buyer in this segment is looking for: ultra-high resolution screen, fast processor, lots of RAM, insanely fast SSD, dedicated graphics and a big battery, all in a package that is not much bigger and heavier than Apple's offering. What is not to like?
Create, convert, encrypt, annotate, and watermark PDFs with PDF-Pro
If you need to work with PDFs then you’ve probably built up a whole library of tools to help out: a viewer, a creator, maybe a conversion tool, something else to split or merge files, and the list goes on.
EPapyrus PDF-Pro tries to replace all of these -- and a whole lot more -- with a single free (for personal use, $49 otherwise) package.
Mobile messaging study reveals the need for tailored solutions
Mobile engagement specialist OpenMarket has released the results of a study, commissioned from IDC, into the business impact of mobile messaging.
The study looks at how mobile messaging is being used across a number of key industries including automotive, education, financial services, healthcare and utilities. It shows that many companies have failed to adopt holistic mobile messaging with 62 percent having at least two messaging platforms deployed, and 78.5 percent with more than one active initiative.
How small businesses can boost Facebook engagement
If you have a small business, and that business doesn’t have its own Facebook page, then you’re doing your business wrong.
Come on, people’s pets have Facebook fan pages, and your business doesn’t. Many will agree that having a fan page is essential to your business, but with basically everyone on there, the rules have changed.
Samsung Galaxy S6 edge has the best smartphone camera
For many of us, smartphones have replaced dedicated cameras. And it is easy to understand why. But if there is one area where DSLRs and the like still shine, picture quality is definitely it. That said, smartphones are getting better and better each year, with today's flagships leading the charge.
Not all flagships are created equal though. Some are better than others in this regard, packing useful hardware features like optical image stabilization (OIS), which helps in low-light and video recording, and software to match, featuring clever algorithms that offer the right balance between image quality and noise. And if you are looking for the best all-around camera, that can take great photos and videos, apparently nothing can match Samsung's Galaxy S6 edge.
Free service combines cloud data integration and backup
With the wide choice of cloud services available it can be all too easy for business data to become fragmented with different parts of the organization using different services.
Database connectivity solutions provider Devart has announced the release of Skyvia 3.0, a free online service that can integrate cloud data from different sources and in this latest version provide cloud backup too.
AWS shows cloud is NOT a high-margin business
Last week Amazon.com was the first of the large cloud service companies other than Rackspace to finally break out revenue and expenses for its cloud operation. The market was cheered by news that Amazon Web Services (AWS) last quarter made an operating profit of $265 million with an operating profit margin of 19.6 percent. AWS, which many thought was running at break-even or possibly at a loss, turns out to be for Amazon a $5 billion business generating a third of the company’s total profits. That’s good, right? Not if it establishes a benchmark for typical-to-good cloud service provider performance. In fact it suggests that some companies -- IBM especially -- are going to have a very difficult time finding success in the cloud.
First let’s look at the Amazon numbers and define a couple terms. The company announced total AWS sales, operating profit, and operating profit margins for the last four quarters. Sales are, well, sales, while operating profit is supposed to be sales minus all expenses except interest and taxes (called EBIT -- Earnings Before Interest and Taxes). Amazon does pay interest on debt, though it pays very little in taxes. Since tax rates, especially, vary a lot from country to country, EBIT is used to help normalize operating results for comparing one multinational business with another.
Synfig Studio's 2D animation suite hits version 1.0
After more than 18 months of intense development, open source 2D animation tool Synfig Studio has at last hit version 1.0.
The release brings a pile of professional features, including a complete bone system with automatic shape deformation, a new cutout tool, a dynamics converter with automatic friction effects, a bitmap painting engine, initial support for bitmap frame-by-frame animation, and more.