Harnessing the cloud can free SMEs to grow
Technology is being underused by growing smaller companies according to communications and cloud specialist Qubic. The company says that hosted technology can help businesses grow by freeing them from the need to invest in hardware infrastructures.
Chris Papa, Managing Director of Qubic says, "With small and medium-sized businesses having been particularly badly hit by the economic downturn, they are the ones most in need of extra support to enable them to prosper. A hosted solution can help encourage start ups and SMEs in general to grow as it means that businesses can use technology on a 'pay-as-you-use' basis as opposed to tying up cash in a server with a telephone system which costs a fortune".
Did Edward Snowden cause the shutdown of secure email service Lavabit?
Privacy has been a red hot topic for the past couple of months -- ever since the whole PRISM story hit the news, or shall I say slammed into the news. Nobody likely denies the government the right to attempt to keep citizens safe. In fact, we expect this from it. However the revelations made many uncomfortable thanks to the extremes that were being taken, and resulted in the conversation over whether Edward Snowden was a hero or enemy of the state.
Since the news broke, speculation about the form of communication used between Snowden and writer Glenn Greenwald of The Guardian has been running around the internet, but today those rumors came to an end when Greenwald tweeted this: "Amazing: Lavabit -- the email service used by Snowden -- shuts down rather than comply with US orders".
Twitter tracks your tweets so advertisers can monitor sale performance
Twitter teams up with Datalogix (DLX) in a new program that enables brands to track the impact that their tweets have on sales. Referred to as "offline sales impact", the program can be used to see just what effect promoted and regular, "organic" tweets have on the number of units shifted from shop shelves.
The precise process involved is not revealed, but the program sees Datalogix send Twitter a list of hashed email addresses which is then compared to a list of email addresses associated with Twitter accounts.
Ofcom wants to make broadband switching quicker and easier in the UK
Switching broadband providers should be easy -- the emphasis is very heavily on the word "should" here -- but in practice this is often not the case. There may be issues getting hold of the necessary authorization code, or the dreaded period of downtime as one ISP takes over from another. All this could be set to change, for the UK at least, if Ofcom's proposed new measures have the desired effect.
To help make the transition as smooth and seamless as possible, Ofcom is eliminating one potential bottleneck. Now customers looking to switch need do nothing more than contact the ISP they would like to move to. There's no need to get in touch with the current ISP who may drag their heels, the new provider can now take care of the entire process on behalf of the customer.
Bing apps for Windows Phone 8 -- Microsoft delivers the goods
Windows 8 users already enjoy the Bing app suite on their laptops, desktops and tablets. Since these apps are very mobile and touch-focused, it has been disappointing and rather curious that they were absent from Microsoft's own Windows Phone 8 platform. But, now, it finally arrives.
The suite is comprised of four Bing apps -- Sports, Finance, Weather and News. The apps closely mirror their desktop counterparts; including live tiles. The live tiles are nothing short of gorgeous and improve the value of the home screen immensely. By pinning the apps to the "Start" page, the user is presented with ongoing information. Tapping on the live tile delivers personalized information. I must say that the suite is, well... sweet.
At Bat 13 Major League Baseball app debuts for Windows Phone 8
Baseball season may be entering the final stretch, but there are still many games left to be played and Windows Phone 8 customers can keep up with all of the action going on in the run up to playoff time. Regardless of how your team is faring, you can still follow the action from your mobile handset.
At Bat 13 today debuted in the Windows Phone store, bringing features such as live scoreboards, standings, schedules, and pinning your favorite team to Start for quick access to the team's page. In addition, you can watch the free MLB.TV Game of the Day or pick up an MLB.TV Premium subscription (learn more) to see every out-of-market game, hear radio broadcasts, and access the 2013 season's archives on-demand.
MixBit for iPhone enters crowded social video market, claims interesting niche
YouTube founders Chad Hurley and Steve Chen have launched MixBit for iPhone 1.0.3 through their company AVOS Systems. The app -- also coming to Android next month -- is aimed firmly at the social networking market, providing users with a convenient tool for constructing hour-long videos from 16-second clips that can subsequently be published on the parent Mixbit.com site or shared via popular social networks.
Mixbit.com is described as "a community of creators", according to its website, highlighting the public nature of videos uploaded to it. All shared videos become public domain, allowing other users to easily embed all or parts of those videos into their own work.
More gloom for PC makers as European sales slump by 20 percent
As my colleague Wayne Williams reported earlier today the PC market is continuing to shrink at the hands of tablets. Further confirmation of this, just in case you needed any, comes from a Gartner survey showing that the PC market in western Europe slumped by 20 percent in the second quarter of 2013.
All PC segments in Western Europe declined over the quarter. Mobile and desktop shipments dropped 23.9 percent and 12.2 percent respectively. PC shipments in the professional market declined by 13.5 percent, while the consumer PC market decreased 25.8 percent in the same period. This equates to a 19.8 percent drop overall
Xbox One gets an early unboxing
Microsoft's next-generation console...ahh...living room entertainment hub will not ship until this November, but still promises to light up the holiday shopping season. The company already showed it off and announced games, plus my colleague Derrick Wlodarz recently laid out very good reasons why he expects this war to be won by Xbox, as opposed to Sony and its PS4, which is expected around the same time.
Now potential customers can get one more sneak peak at what to expect. In a new video from Xbox Live chief Larry Hryb, better known as MajorNelson, the new console is unboxed -- something many a person likely hopes to be doing themselves this holiday season.
Google Play store flooded with scam apps
The Google Play store is being bombarded with apps designed to scam unsuspecting users, according to consumer advice platform Scambook.
The scammers aren't even bothering to write malicious code, instead relying on simple human error to install their fraudulent apps. One app in particular has no purpose other than to launch a link to an adult video website. When the user is then asked to register, an email form is generated linking to another service on another website. Users are then asked to pay a $3,200.00 yearly fee within days of receipt.
The good ship PC continues to sink -- all aboard the tablet lifeboats!
The worldwide PC market continues to experience few signs of growth, with a healthy increase in global tablet shipments merely helping to offset the continuing descent of traditional desktop and notebook systems, according to independent analyst firm Canalys.
While tablet shipments saw a 42.9 percent increase compared with this time last year, desktop and notebook shipments fell 7.4 percent and 13.9 percent respectively. Total shipments for PCs (Canalys lumps desktops, notebooks and tablets together) delivered a 0.3 percent growth for the year.
FotoSketcher transforms your photos into works of art
David Thoiron has announced the release of FotoSketcher 2.50, his excellent tool for transforming digital photos into paintings, sketches, cartoons and more. And while it doesn’t exactly transform the program, the update does include one or two very welcome improvements.
Top of the list has to be the new linear halftoning effect. With its default settings this is a very effective abstraction tool, and delivers great results on both color and black and white images. But as usual with FotoSketcher, the effect has a host of configuration settings (Abstraction, Angle, Color Intensity, Texture and more), and it’s easy to produce more customized results to better suit individual images.
Instagram 4.1 now lets you upload pre-recorded clips, opens the door to video ads
Instagram just introduced a major change to the video-posting feature in its Android and iOS mobile apps, with the popular social network now allowing users to upload pre-recorded clips from the smartphone's gallery.
The revamped video-posting feature is part of the new Instagram apps for Android and iOS, version 4.1. "Starting today you can upload videos from your phone's media library and share those moments to Instagram regardless of when they were captured", says Instagram. "Once you select the video clip you'd like to import, you can trim it down to the exact part you like best. We've also made it so that you can choose how you square-crop your clip so you can keep the action front and center".
Fulfilling customer requirements is a weapon at IBM
There are several new data points this week in the ongoing cratering of IBM as an IT vendor. The state of Pennsylvania cancelled an unemployment compensation system contract that was 42 months behind and $60 million over budget. Big Blue has been banned from the Australian state of Queensland after botching a $6.9 million SAP project that will now reportedly cost the people of Queensland $A1.2 billion to fix. That’s some botch.
Credit Suisse analyst Kulbinder Garcha says IBM has a cash flow problem and downgraded the stock. At IBM’s Systems & Technology Group, management announced to employees a one week mandatory furlough at the end of August or beginning of September. And finally, I’m told that there is now a filter on the IBM corporate e-mail system that flags any messages that contain the word Cringely. I’m flattered.
LG announces the G2 -- life's good for Android users
While LG has slowly made a name for itself in the USA with such devices as televisions and washing machines, the company has also released smartphones to much lesser fanfare. The South Korean company has a small and quiet following in the Android community, but it is far outmatched by the likes of Samsung, Motorola and HTC. Today, the company hopes to change this by announcing the LG G2 -- an interesting new smartphone with an unfortunate ho-hum name.
The most intriguing new aspect of the G2 is something LG calls "Rear Key". Basically, the volume and power buttons have been moved from the side of the device to the rear. This is truly innovative outside-the-box product design -- my mind is officially blown!
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