Best Windows 8 apps this week
Fortieth in a series. This week I have both good news and bad news for you. As far as the bad news goes, it was one of the weakest app growth weeks in the history of the Windows 8 operating system. The new application count fell under the 2,000 mark this week, but not only that, it barely made the 1,000 new apps mark.
77,787 apps are listed in the US Windows Store at the time of writing, only 1,019 apps more than last week. The free app count in the store increased by 759 apps to a total of 59,988, while paid apps increased by only 250 to 17,626.
Message Center reaches Office 365
Office 365 has become a bit of a strange concept -- there is the original web-based version, as well as the newer desktop Home Premium iteration that functions as standard Office 2013, though with added benefits. Now the software maker is introducing Message Center to its web version of the suite.
The latest update is described by Microsoft's Jake Zborowski as "a new admin feature for communications. Message Center will help inform Office 365 admins about new features and actions they need to take to keep their Office 365 service running smoothly".
Dell board agrees terms of buyout offer
A special committee of the Dell board has reached an agreement with the company’s founder Michael Dell over a buyout of the company.
Under the agreed terms Mr Dell, in partnership with the investment firm Silver Lake, will buy back the company he founded in 1984 for $13.75 a share plus a special one-off dividend of 13 cents per share. This is in addition to a guaranteed third quarter dividend of 8 cents per share. The deal which values the company at $24.5 billion will be put to a special shareholder meeting on September 12.
First Jelly Bean iteration is the most popular Android distribution
Jelly Bean continues its dominance streak in the green droid distribution charts, with Android 4.1 alone surpassing the former ruler, Gingerbread, based on the number of devices visiting Google Play during the 14 days ending August 1.
In the latest charts, combined, the first two Jelly Bean iterations, Android 4.1 (34 percent) and Android 4.2 (6.5 percent), reached a 40.5 percent distribution level, which represents a 2.6 percentage points increase (from 37.9 percent) over the previous data set from early-July. By contrast, Gingerbread (versions 2.3 to 2.3.7), accounted for a lesser 33.1 percent share, which is one percent lower compared to the numbers -- 34.1 percent -- released a month ago.
Keep control of the files you share with SmartRM
You’ve come up with an important business proposal, and want to share your ideas with someone else. You could just mail them a PDF document with the details, but if the deal falls through, there’s no way to control what happens to the file later.
Protect that document with the free SmartRM, though, and it’s a very different story. You can decide who opens it, when, how many times, whether they can print it, and more. And if there are problems, then you can restrict or block access in just a few seconds -- even after you’ve sent them the file.
Multiple personality tweeters rejoice -- Windows 8 app gets multi-account support
It may not be an update that will set the world on fire, but it's one that will be welcomed by anyone who manages a personal and a work Twitter account. The Window 8 version of the app now includes support for multiple accounts, so there's no need to keep signing in and out.
This is good news not only for tweeters who use Twitter for business and pleasure, but also those who just like to maintain more than one persona online. Other additions to the app include list support for easier management of the accounts you follow.
PrivaZer improves Chrome cleanup, extends browser support
Goversoft’s excellent privacy and system cleanup tool PrivaZer has today been updated to version 2.0.0, with a range of additions and improvements making it now more thorough than ever.
Enhanced Chrome cleanup sees the program now wipe the browser’s omnibox history, for instance, along with its stored passwords, download history and journals.
Internet Explorer remains three of the top five web browsers
Internet Explorer might no longer hold 96 percent of the browser market like it did back in 2002, but Microsoft’s browser still remains hugely popular. Firefox and Chrome took large bites out of IE’s dominance, but they have yet to topple it, and don’t look set to do so any time soon.
According to new figures from Net Applications, Internet Explorer 8 is the most popular browser on the desktop with 23.52 percent global market share. And it’s not the only incarnation of IE in the top five either.
Cloud insecurity? It's a perception problem, new study finds
I've long been a believer that a judgement gap, influenced largely by negative media coverage, is what continues to hold back cloud adoption among small organizations. And judging from the results of a recent study completed by comScore, my intuition has been fairly on track. The biggest issue surrounding cloud uptake, at least for small businesses worldwide, seems to be none other than an issue of perception.
How so? The study, which surveyed companies with between 25 to 499 computers in the USA, Germany, France, and the UK, found that 42 percent of small businesses which had yet to adopt cloud technologies were concerned about reliability/uptime. Likewise, a full 60 percent had cited issues with data security as reasoning for staying cloud-free.
Motorola announces the Moto X -- Android users get wood
When Google bought Motorola, the Android community was abuzz with excitement. Motorola is a world renowned class-leader in quality. With that in mind, the world waited for a mythical and epic smartphone to be released as a result of the marriage. Unfortunately, while Motorola did release great phones such as the Droid Razr HD, these were not the Droids we were looking for. Today, Google and Motorola announce the Moto X, hoping to deliver on the high expectations.
The tagline for this new smartphone is "All Yours" -- this is because you can customize the phone to your liking. According to Motorola, the smartphone "...is truly yours, because you design it. Through our online studio, Moto Maker, you choose the colors, and decide on the details: front, back, accents, memory, wallpapers, even add a name or a short message. When you are done, we assemble your Moto X right here in the USA and ship it to you for free in four days or less. Choose from more than 2,000 possible combinations, with more to come. We’ll be constantly exploring new offerings, such as real wood backs, starting later in the year".
Access Web App gets new features
Microsoft is slowly attempting to wean customers away from software and over to the services side of things. Office 2013 was a small first step, debuting in both Office 2013 and Office 365 Home Premium formats -- purchase and subscription options. Office 365 was previously a web service, and still exists in that form, with enhancements coming at a steady pace. Today this is illustrated with the latest release to the Access web app.
Jeff Conrad announces "it used to be a 3-year wait for new features in Office. However, because we are increasing the speed of our ship cycles, we are proud to announce that as of now, Cascading Controls are available to all of our Access 2013 Office 365 customers". The new update adds cascading controls -- essentially a drop-down list for all of your controls, including project name, company, contact information, data and more.
Decrap uninstalls your unwanted programs automatically
The standard Windows "uninstall a program" applet may not exactly be packed with features, but it’s fine for occasional use. Find and select your program, click Uninstall, and follow the instructions -- it’s all very straightforward.
You can only uninstall one program at a time, though, so if you’re intending to do a serious cleanup then this can quickly become tedious. Which is why you might want to try a little third-party help, in the shape of Macecraft Software’s Decrap.
USB 3.1 specification complete -- still rectangular
When I built my newest computer, I was excited to get a motherboard with native USB 3.0 ports -- I was finally at the forefront of USB speed. I bought a USB 3.0 flash drive, hard drive enclosure and hub. All the devices worked great and life was good.
However, yesterday my world was rocked when the USB 3.1 specification was announced as complete. While we are likely years away from actual affordable USB 3.1 devices, it still leaves me feeling that my newly-bought hardware is already on the way to obsolescence. You see, this is not a minor update it is doubling the speed of USB 3.0 to 10Gbps!
Do not let your spouse ruin Netflix -- individual profiles now available
It is the same old story in households consisting of more than one member. The Netflix account is a family thing, but not all members have the same tastes and can sometimes post vastly different reviews of the same flick. This is what Netflix describes as "Honey, you ruined my Netflix". Now the company aims to right this problem.
Eddy Wu, of Netflix tells us "many of you have had similar experiences, where you sat down to find something great to watch on Netflix, but it looks like your spouse has been binging on those teenage supernatural dramas you can’t stand, or your kids have filled your viewing history with animated sheep".
jAlbum fixes red-eye reduction tool, promises faster project loading
jAlbum AB has released jAlbum 11.4, a minor update of its cross-platform web album building tool. The software, available for personal use as a free, ad-supported program, resolves an issue that saw the red-eye reduction tool get broken, plus comes with the promise of faster loading times for larger projects.
This performance improvement claims "significantly faster (around 10 times)" loading of large album projects with sub-folders.
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