Google wants Australians to code -- inspire wonder Down Under
The future is paved with technology. Regardless of profession, new advances in computers are impacting us all. However, a big part of some technology-based educations, are computer-science and coding. The problem is, the sciences are hard and many modern students like things to be easy. This is particularly true in the USA, where much has been made of a lack of science majors.
However, the problem does not just affect the USA -- many other countries need students to be interested in things like computer-coding too. One such country is Australia. Google is looking to motivate young people to take an interest in computer coding.
Pretty Run is a versatile desktop search tool
The standard Windows Search tool has improved a great deal in recent years, and the latest Windows 8.1 additions -- especially its Bing integration -- are another welcome step forward.
The technology still won't be enough for everyone, though. And so if you're looking for a more configurable, desktop search tool, you might like to try the free Pretty Run.
Rapoo T120P Touch Mouse brings better functionality to Windows 8.x [Review]
When it comes to technology, many things are personal. Some prefer an iPad, while others opt for an Android or Windows tablet. The best thing is choice, and there is no shortage of that on the market -- in fact, the amount of new products amounts to sensory overload.
Oddly enough, few things are more personal than a mouse. That seems an odd item, but it rings true -- there are ones that are travel-size, while others are designed for the PC gamer and offer a dizzying amount of buttons. There is the standard model, the wireless USB and the Bluetooth. The options are almost overwhelming, though the average computer user likely just opts for a standard size, wired USB model -- probably the one that came with the computer.
Microsoft convinces 12-year old girl to abandon dreams of iPad Mini for Surface 2
I have no idea what 12-year old kids are interested in -- I am guessing Justin Bieber and Instagram; lord only knows. However, as a tech-guy, I always have my eye on what smartphones and tablets people are using in public. From my observations, iPhones and iPads still reign supreme for tweens. And so, it is not surprising that 12 year old Victoria asked her dad for an iPad Mini.
While many kids are whiny brats nowadays, she took a more responsible approach and created a presentation as to why buying it is a good idea. Her father, rather than simply giving in and buying it, instead tweeted Microsoft to give it a chance for rebuttal. Microsoft responded to her presentation in epic fashion.
iTranslate provides translation services for Windows 8 and RT devices
Sonico GmbH has launched a Windows App version of its translation software with the release of iTranslate 1.1 for Windows RT and 8. The app follows the recent release of iTranslate Voice 2 on the iPad and iPhone.
As the name implies, iTranslate doesn't come with any support for translating phrases spoken into the microphone; instead users, must type their word or phrase into the box, and then wait for the app to translate it.
As wearables flounder, Google struggles to dispel Glass 'myths'
I have not hidden the fact that I'm yet to be sold on the idea of wearable tech. A post about smartwatches failing to take off lead to some interesting discussions, and many people leapt to the defense of watch 2.0. Judging from the comments, it seems that there is some love for wearable devices, but it still doesn't appear to be translating into sales. It's not just wearables fans who are quick to defend the honor of their beloved devices, the manufacturers are doing so as well. Google is the latest proponent of strapped-to-the-body-tech, which is hardly surprising considering the company's vested in the market with Glass.
Google Glass has received a bad rap, or so Google seems to think. Not happy to sit back and let the rumormongering run its course, Google has instead written a blog entry aiming to dispel some of the "awesome urban myths" (their words, not mine) that have built up around the technologically advanced spectacles. Considering this is a product that is yet to receive a full public release, it is interesting to see that Google already feels the need to stick up for its baby. But that said, this is a device that has seen the term "glass-holes" coined, even before launch.
The most popular stories on BetaNews this past week March 16 -- 22
Not a good week for Microsoft this week. Things kicked off as Mozilla shunned the Windows Store by opting to stop development of a modern version of Firefox and then things got a little awkward following the investigation of an employee involved in leaking information about Windows. The company then came under fire for accessing the email account of an individual, despite its claims that "Outlook and Hotmail email are and should be private".
There was better news as an LTE version of Surface 2 went on sale opening up a new income stream for the company and new mobile computing opportunities for customers. More good news for users came when OneNote was not only released for Mac, but also made free for all platforms. Mihaita wasn't overly impressed with the Mac version, though.
Express Points: a simple free presentation tool with PPTX import
Express Points 1.04 is the latest release from Australian developer NCH Software, a lightweight free presentation tool for Windows and Mac.
We really do mean "lightweight", too. Both installers packages are around 1MB in size, and they don’t download anything else: a full installation is barely 4MB in size.
Yeah, let's 'band' Fagioli from BetaNews
Reader reaction to Brian Fagioli post "Sorry Netflix, but you should pay 'tolls' to ISPs" is quite dramatic. Three-hundred-thirty comments later, some of you demand his head. There is even petition "Band Brian Fagioli from Beta News", in response to the post. I assume the petition creator means "ban" but band is good enough for me. Brian is one of the group.
The story requires no editorial response but I give one anyway. Earlier, a reader emailed that he is done with BetaNews. I think my reply to him will benefit other readers, so I share it, slipping in some additional commentary. I hope this answer will illuminate our editorial policies.
Now is the time to get your lifetime Malwarebytes Anti-Malware PRO license (before it’s too late)
It’s no secret that Malwarebytes Anti-Malware -- MBAM to its friends -- is a fast, effective and very popular Windows security tool, designed to work in tandem with your existing security software to offer a second -- and often more accurate -- opinion over whether your PC has been infected or not.
The free version offers basic, on-demand scanning and removal, but upgrade to the PRO version and you can safely run it in real-time alongside your existing security tool without performance penalty or conflict, maximizing your security even further.
Microsoft wants to buy your Windows XP computer for $100, but there is a catch
It used to be that people would upgrade their computers when they wanted to. However, there also used to be more compelling reasons to upgrade. Personal computers used to see huge hardware improvements every year -- faster processor, more RAM, etc. Consumers saw hard evidence of why an upgrade was necessary.
Nowadays however, computers have become "fast enough" -- they are lasting longer and longer. More importantly, people actually saw a benefit in upgrading to Windows 95, 98 and XP. Conversely, there haven't been huge selling points to upgrade to Windows 7 or 8.x for the average casual computer user. Microsoft is ending Windows XP support on April 8th, so it wants consumers to upgrade. In a potentially desperate move, the company announces that it will buy your old, dust-filled XP machine for $100 -- a crisp Benjamin.
Best Windows 8 apps this week
Seventy-three in a series. Mozilla announced that it had made the decision to cancel the Firefox for Metro development and put the project on hold to concentrate on other more promising projects instead.
The core reason given was the low active user rate of the app which never got higher than 1,000 active users at any one time.
Scan pages directly to PDF with STP
Converting a printed document to PDF can sometimes be a complicated process, where you must import the pages into a graphics tool, clean them up, then pass the results on to something else to generate the final document.
It doesn’t have to be that way, though. Creating PDFs from scanned images can be quick and easy, and it certainly doesn’t require heavyweight applications: a tiny portable tool could provide everything you need.
Recuva adds support for non-GUID drives, Linux file systems
Piriform Software has released Recuva 1.51 and Recuva Portable 1.51, new versions of its popular Windows freeware data-recovery tool.
Version 1.51 widens its file system support to cover Linux-formatted volumes, plus makes it possible to recover data from drives with no partition table data. It also includes numerous improvements and optimizations.
Create contact sheets of your videos with Thumbnail me
Thumbnail me is an open source Windows and Linux tool which extracts frames from a video, then presents them as a single image, a quick and easy way to preview the movie’s contents.
The program imports most common video types: AVI, MP4, MPG, VOB, MOV, MKV, TS/ M2TS, FLV, 3GP, OGG, SWF and more.
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