Latest Technology News

Mobile apps are becoming increasingly important to business as more consumers want to shop and interact online and more employees want to take advantage of BYOD and working away from the office.

Developing an app for multiple platforms, however, can prove costly and time consuming. Now though app platform as a service specialist Mendix is launching a new version of its Mendix App Platform that will allow enterprises to deliver apps faster and more cheaply.

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Still in buoyant mood after the launch of the iPhone 6, Apple Watch, and iPad Air 2 -- even the Mac mini -- Apple gave its Q4 2014 earnings call yesterday. CEO Tim Cook announced that the company generated $42.1 billion in revenue in the quarter and a net profit of $8.5 billion, up from $37.5 billion and $7.5 billion for the same period last year. Referring to the "biggest iPhone launch ever", Cook explained that Apple is due to enter the holiday season with its "strongest product lineup ever".

He explained that 60 percent of the quarter's revenue came from international sales, and sales have gone up in just about every area of the company with the exception of iPad and iPod sales. The iPhone remains the biggest seller (some 39.272 million units, up 16.2 percent), and Mac sales are also strong (5.52 million units, up 20.7 percent).

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With Android 5.0 Lollipop, Nexus 6 and Nexus 9 on the horizon, as well as some great Android devices already on the market, some of you may be thinking about ditching iOS for Android. It is unquestionably a big decision, so you may want to ensure that the switch from an iPhone or iPad will be as painless as possible.

To help with the switch, Google has prepared a nifty guide that explains how you can migrate your data from iOS to Android, tackling key areas such as multimedia content, contacts, email, messaging and, of course, apps. You may recall that Apple posted a similar guide last month, detailing to would-be customers the steps they need to take to move from Android handsets to iPhones. Google now looks to simply be returning the favor.

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Samsung today announces that flagship Galaxy smartphones and tablets are now approved by the US government for complete classified use within its agencies. The handsets have received the stamp of approval in no small part due to the security features made available by the built-in KNOX suite.

The announcement comes less than six months after Samsung revealed that a smaller number of its other KNOX-toting Galaxy devices have received the green light from the US Department of Defense, to be used on unclassified defense networks.

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Whatever your mobile platform of choice, there are some apps which are all but impossible to avoid. Some -- like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube -- have reasonably dull histories; we all know the corporations behind their creation. But there are plenty of other big names with less well known histories. A new infographic from IrishApps.org reveals the stories behind some famous titles, and reveal the fortunes they have generated.

For example, did you know that Flappy Bird was originally going to be called Flap Flap, and was put together in just two days? Or that the founder of Summly was just 17 years old when he sold his app to Yahoo? How about the fact that the Ukrainian developer of WhatsApp is estimated to be worth $7 billion?

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Recently a fresh round of exciting wearables have been announced or shipped by large device manufacturers like Apple, Motorola, LG, and Samsung. These gadgets present new opportunities for developers to expand their existing apps by developing new user experiences. The user experience (UX) change can be subtle, but very impactful.

As an example, I've been using a watch wearable for several months with the primary function of tethering to my device and presenting notifications such as messages or phone calls, which at the surface seems like a small UX change. However, the benefit has been surprisingly tremendous. Previously, during evening walks with my wife, every single notification from my mobile device resulted in a reach into my pocket, flip open of the folio, swipe down on the notification, eyes transfixed to a 4in screen, to get to a message that 9 times out of 10 just wasn't that urgent. With this watch wearable I simply take a quick look at the notification from my wrist, the mobile device stays in my pocket (90 percent of the time) and I stay engaged in our conversation. Oh and I can use it to get the time too!

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The OnePlus One is about to become a lot more accessible, after it was confirmed that a new pre-order system will open at 15:00 on 27 October.

Users interested in pre-ordering the handset can visit the OnePlus store from today to prepare and save their shopping cart, before completing the purchase in a week's time.

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OPSWAT has announced the availability of Metascan Online for Firefox, an addon which allows the browser to scan downloads, websites and web connections for threats.

Checking a link is as easy as right-clicking it and selecting "Scan with Metascan Online". If the link is a file, then it is uploaded to VirusTotal competitor Metascan Online and checked with 40+ commercial antivirus engines. A detailed report will tell you which -- if any -- are detected as a threat.

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Ubuntu has become one of the most popular and influential distributions of all time. It is easy to use, well designed and has a large and helpful community. Despite its general greatness, it uses a rather silly naming convention, based on sequential letters. That letter is used in the start of two consecutive words; the first being an adjective and the second being an animal. Is it fun? I suppose. Actually, it isn't too different than Android, which also uses sequential letters, but for yummy sweets.

Today, Mark Shuttleworth, Canonical CEO, announces the latest name, for the upcoming 15.04. For this release, the letter V is being used. The adjective? Vivid. The animal? Vervet. Yes, the next version of Ubuntu is Vivid Vervet, but what the hell is a vervet?

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Sometimes a device that does a single job just doesn’t cut the mustard. See those speakers cluttering up valued space on your desk? Be gone foul cones; your services are required no more! Are we foregoing music? Not a bit of it! We are switching to a wireless mouse with an integrated Bluetooth speaker! At least we are if it turns out to be any good...

Things don’t get off to a great start. The Seenda IBT-C04 Music Mouse looks reasonable enough, if slightly retro; but in the hand it's big and angular. There is a slight nod to ergonomics and even a slightly rubberized grip area where your thumb falls, but from the offset it's not comfortable. Perhaps the minor discomfort is made up for by the extra features.

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If you happened to miss it, then some background information is in order. The Marriott hotel chain, or actually one branch of it, was caught red-handed blocking Wi-Fi hotspots that its guests brought along on their trip. The hotel giant claimed security reasons, but people didn't buy the excuse. More importantly, the FCC didn't bite on it either.

It seems the Gaylord Opryland Hotel would have preferred customers to pay the exorbitant rates it charges for internet access. The Federal Communications Commission saw things differently and slapped the hotel with a $600,000 fine.

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Over the past three decades, the storage industry has changed significantly, not just in terms of evolving technologies, but also with regard to the volumes of data we produce and therefore the amount of storage we require. Today, we are accustomed to talking about terabytes and even exabytes when it comes to our data storage needs. But 30 years ago things were very different.

If we consider the capture of CCTV images in the 1980s, image quality was much lower than it is today. Surveillance technology, for example, created low-resolution images, which with the introduction of the VCR, were transitioning from real-time in-person monitoring to being recorded onto tape for playback and archive. The challenges were in tape capacity and the sequential nature of tape, which provided fairly slow access to specific sections of footage.

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Many of us are guilty of "showrooming" -- the act of using a brick and mortar store like Best Buy or Walmart as a showroom for products we end up buying online. While there is nothing morally wrong about such a practice, I do sometimes feel guilty doing it. In other words, I enjoy saving money by purchasing online, but I would be sad to see brick and mortar stores disappear; I like touching a product before buying.

While the Internet is not about to go away anytime soon, something surprising is happening -- consumers are returning to brick and mortar stores through "webrooming" -- the act of researching a product online and then buying in a physical store.

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Microsoft has announced the addition of several new features to its Azure data services platform to support Apache Hadoop.

Azure HDInsight will gain support of real-time analytics for Apache Hadoop and Azure Marketplace will benefit from new machine learning capabilities.

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Sarah Perez makes the point before I could (oh lazy me): "Apple announces too many iPads". That's the most sensible take on tablets launched last week, and over the weekend copycat stories started posting. Strange thing, there's nothing new about iPad configuration complexity. The number of base SKUs, while way too many, increases by just two.

I first harped on Apple's "too many problem", following iPad mini's introduction two years ago, observing: "It's a crowded lineup, with overlapping features and prices not seen from Apple since the early- to mid-1990s". Crowded is understatement. The mini jacked up the number of basic configurations from eight to 14. However, when looking at all available SKUs, including two colors and carrier-specific models, the number jumped to 54.

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