Deck the halls -- Rdio unveils holiday stations, playlists
It's that time of year, when the temperatures dip and the snow begins to fall, well, depending on where you live. This is also the time of year when a few radio stations suddenly change formats, and you can't turn the dial without hearing Bing Crosby or Burl Ives. Streaming radio company Rdio is taking a similar approach.
The music service has announced its 2013 lineup of holiday stations and curated playlists to get you in the spirit. "All of your musical needs for the holidays can be found right here on Rdio", the company announces.
EXESlide creates photo slideshows as EXE, SCR, SWF, AVI, GIF -- and more
Alternate Pic View EXESlide is a lightweight free tool which helps you build extremely basic slideshows. And we really do mean "basic": you can’t annotate an image, add captions or apply effects, and there’s no support for transitions at all.
EXESlide does excel in one area, though -- export formats. The program's slideshows may be limited, but once built they can be saved as self-launching EXEs, screensavers (SCR), Flash animations (SWF), AVI videos and animated GIFs. There are even bonus tools to present individual images as simple games.
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Today in Tech History
The most popular stories on BetaNews this past week -- December 1 - 7
The tech world seems to be slowling down slightly in the run up to Christmas, but there have still been a lot of stories over the past seven days. There are sure to be a whole new raft of sales to look forward to both before and after Christmas, but if the Thanksgiving sales are anything to go by they may not offer as good a deal as first appearances would have you believe. Whether you bag a bargain or not, it looks as though tech presents are going to be as popular as ever this year -- and if you buy a Windows device, you'll get a free gift card.
After Microsoft tried comparing the Surface to the iPad Air, Amazon decided to follow suit -- guess which was more popular! Microsoft kept its fire trained on Google, taking a swipe at the Chromebook. Tablet makers may be pushing their product in the run up to Christmas, but PC shipments have suffered the largest decline ever. New computers will have an updated USB connection in the near future. USB type C brings to an end a problem that has plagued anyone who has ever plugged in a USB cable -- this generation can be plugged in either way up!
Extra! Extra! Google improves mobile news
If you've been on a bus or subway lately, you probably observed many people consuming the news on a mobile device. However, this is not a new phenomenon. After all, 20 years ago, you would see people consuming the news on-the-go too -- just in paper form.
While the medium and method of consumption has evolved, on-the-go news can still improve. Today, Google announces that it is improving its news service in mobile browsers. Sadly, Windows Phone users are getting the shaft again -- it is an Android and iOS-only affair.
Got a faulty Chromebook 11 charger? You can soon buy a new one for $19.99
A few weeks ago Google's Chromebook 11 was removed from sale after an overheating problem was found with some chargers. No recall was ever announced, but users were advised against using the supplied charger in favour of another Micro-USB charger of their own. In fact, both Google and HP have been very quiet since the announcement, but now a new Chromebook 11 charger has appeared in Google Play.
The charger is not currently available; it is listed as 'Coming soon'. It also has a $19.99 price tag associated with it (or £14.99 if you're in the UK). This is a very simple piece of equipment, as illustrated by the short and sweet product description: "Keep your HP Chromebook 11 topped up with an extra charger."
Data Defined Storage: creating business value from Big Data for financial services organizations
Financial services organizations (FSOs) generate huge volumes of unstructured data -- volumes that roughly double every two years according to an IDC report. To the innovators this signifies increased opportunity for better business insights. However, mass volumes of data, although promising potential value, can also pose as a substantial challenge if the appropriate underlying infrastructure is not in place to enable organizations to store, protect and understand data, unlocking the value of information as a strategic business enabler.
Ever-increasing amounts of electronic data, growing standards of accountability, new rules governing data use and security have resulted in a need for a new approach for managing digital assets that support business policies and ensure long-term preservation of data -- without compromising quick discovery and access, should the need arise.
According to Google, authentication standards are thwarting phishing emails
Phishing scams are a blight on the internet that will never be totally eradicated. If you aren't familiar with the term, "phishing" is when someone attempts to glean information through means of impersonation. Sending you a message purporting to be from your bank for example. Try as we may, this crime will always be a part of life. However, there is no reason that the risk of these dangerous emails cannot be decreased.
Since 2004, various groups have been slowly developing authentication standards, in an attempt to thwart these malicious messages. Today, Google has some great news -- the standards are working.
Helicon Photo Safe is not just another free photo manager
Your digital photo collection is a mess? You could install a free photo manager to help you out, but don’t expect too much: they’re often just identikit "me too" apps which provide little more than you’ll get with Explorer.
There are occasional exceptions, though, and Helicon Photo Safe is a great example, with a host of genuinely useful functions and features helping it stand out from the crowd.
Avira releases Free Android Security 3
Like PCs, Android phones and tablets are susceptible to all kinds of security threats. Thankfully there’s a rich choice of free protection out there, and Avira hopes to woo Android users across to its offering with the release of Avira Free Android Security 3.0.
The app, which offers protection from malicious apps, theft and unwanted calls, boasts a complete redesign with the release of version 3, which includes optimizations for those using the app on 7-inch tablets.
Measure your PC’s gaming performance with Catzilla
Is your PC up to playing the latest games? It’s not always easy to tell, but if you’re looking to find out then the Catzilla benchmark could give you some useful information.
Launch the program and it runs some in-depth OpenGL and DirectX tests, directly assessing your CPU and GPU speeds. That’s not quite as it dull as it sounds, though, because Catzilla does this by rendering real-time battle scenes of giant cats causing havoc across a city. (No, we’re not making this up.)
Microsoft wants your help to find undiscovered prime numbers
You likely haven't made it this far in life without learning about prime numbers, as they are one of the fundamentals of mathematics. They are also a big part of the technology world, being used for encryption. You may not think about them everyday, but there are people out there who do, and now you can be one of them.
Microsoft is introducing the Prime Challenge, a contest to find the undiscovered prime numbers, of which there likely are quite a lot, though nobody can really say how many. "The challenge is open to all; everyone is encouraged to try and find a 'lost prime'. To enter the challenge just go to www.primechallenge.org and follow the instructions online", says Microsoft.
City National Bank adopts Surface Pro
If you missed out on the Black Friday Surface deals, you may still have a chance to get your hands on one, provided to you free of charge. That is, if you happen to be an employee at City National Bank.
City National Bank is a private and business financial institution based in Los Angeles, California. "We looked at multiple options out there, and as soon as we saw the Surface device, we recognized right away that this was a unique device that really fit the bill for what we are looking for", says City National Bank's Senior Vice President of Business and Technology Services Jim Ellaboudy.
Best Windows 8 apps this week
Fifty-eighth in a series. The application growth in Windows Store broke the 2,000 new apps mark this week which happened last in July 2013.
The release of Windows 8.1 has surely revived the store, and while it is too early to tell if the upswing will continue in the coming months, the outlook is quite good right now.
FTC charges Android flashlight developer with leaving users in the dark about data usage
The permissions screen that pops up during the installation of an Android app has become the new EULA. Very few people bother to read through what is on screen before clicking through and going ahead with the installation -- you could be signing your life away for all you know!
Apps will let you know if they make use of your location, have access to your contacts, could send messages on your behalf and numerous other things. But in the case of Brightest Flashlight Free it turned out that the app was not only sharing users' location and device ID information with third party advertisers, but it was doing so secretly.
iolo System Mechanic debuts new responsiveness tuner with CPU optimization tool
iolo has released a major update to its family of System Mechanic tools with the release of iolo System Mechanic 12.5. Also available as a cut-down free version as well as a more fully featured Professional version, System Mechanic 12.5 adds a number of significant new features.
Chief among these is LiveBoost Technology, a real-time responsiveness tuner that utilizes three different tools to ensure the user’s computer is always running smoothly. This feature is restricted to the paid-for versions only.