VoIP service Viber snapped up for $900 million
The world of VoIP services is one packed with various names bustling for attention. One of the biggest names in the game is Viber, which started small but grew impressively as it spread across platforms -- now it has grown to the point that it is deemed worthy of handing over $900 million. At least that is the view of Rakuten, the Japanese firm behind Play.com and the Kobo eReader that agreed to part with this not insubstantial sum of money for an outright purchase of Viber Media Ltd.
With around 280 million registered users, Viber could be quite a money-maker for Rakuten who explained that the service has a "rapidly growing numbers of users, especially in emerging countries". With its fingers already in various online pies -- ebooks, shopping and streaming media through Wuaki.tv -- Viber represents yet another string to Rakuten's bow as the company "aims to be the global number one internet services" provider.
Best Windows 8 apps this week
Sixty-eight in a series. Welcome to this week's edition of the Best Windows 8 apps series.
After last week's negative growth we are seeing a slight increase in apps this week. It is nothing to brag about though, as the total number of apps increased by 50 only, but still better than negative growth.
Microsoft to reward all-Skype all-stars with prizes
Years ago, when people thought of the future, videophones were prominent in their imaginations. Television shows such as Star Trek and The Jetsons made use of video communication. Today, we have many different choices when video chatting -- Apple's Facetime, Google's Hangouts and Microsoft's Skype are a few popular ones.
However, when it comes to multi-platform video communication, for many people, Skype is the best choice. No other popular video chatting service will work on iOS, Windows Phone, Android, OS X, Windows, etc. With that said, Microsoft is looking to give prizes to some people that utilize Skype often on multiple devices.
On Valentine's Day, T-Mobile's CEO wants you to break up
For many, Valentine's Day is about being with a loved one, making gifts, and celebrating their relationship. However, for eccentric T-Mobile CEO John Legere, this day is about breaking up and feeling good about it. Eh?
That is not quite logical at first, until you realize that Legere is actually talking about breaking up with your mobile operator of choice and showing T-Mobile, the self-proclaimed Un-carrier, your love. And, the man has some nice pictures to go along with his new advice for Valentine's Day.
Personal and entry level storage market sees strong end to 2013
According to data from market intelligence specialist IDC worldwide shipments of personal and entry level storage (PELS) grew by 13.6 percent in 2013.
By the end of the year 75.2 million units had been shipped. Shipment values were up too, growing 6.2 percent over the year to reach $6.7 billion.
Auto-correct document captures with CyberLink's YouSnap - Camera Scan to PDF for Android
Smartphones make it very easy to capture documents or notes -- just point your camera, and tap -- but the results aren’t always good, and may require some work later.
CyberLink YouSnap - Camera Scan to PDF is an Android app which can take photos of documents, screens, whiteboard presentations and more, automatically squaring them up, optimizing image quality, and saving the results as a JPEG or PDF.
The Old Reader gets a Premium level, adds better search and more
Since the death of Google Reader last year, it seems RSS has been steadily heading towards becoming a paid service. Many of the front-runners in the field, while still offering a free plan, are pushing "premium" access.
Now The Old Reader joins Feedly, InoReader and others in entering this field. The company is promising a number of perks for those who pony up the $3 per month, or $30 per year. Features will include full-text search, faster feed refresh times, six months of post storage and more.
Google will get you in the mood this Valentine's Day
For many, the ultimate goal on Valentine's Day is to get their significant other in the mood... for romance. There are many ways to do it, such as massages, lighting candles and relaxing on a bearskin rug in front of a fireplace. Unfortunately, most people do not own a fireplace -- they can be expensive and dangerous. After all, Weird Al Yankovic's parents died from one.
Luckily, hope is not lost -- if you don't have a fireplace, there may still be an option. Google has announced that for $35, you can have your own fireplace with romantic music too. How, you ask? Read on.
Intel Data Platform helps businesses unlock their big data
Many companies are keen to exploit the potential of big data but are wary of the potential costs involved in doing so.
To help businesses get maximum value from their big data investments Intel is launching the Intel Data Platform, a software suite based on open source technologies.
De La Soul -- the stakes are high, but the price is free
As someone who was born in the 80's and raised on Long Island, I am by default a De La Soul fan. They were the people that taught me Hip-Hop didn't have to be about violence and gangs. The trio was about peace, rhyming and having fun. Sadly, this cost them a bit of street credibility as they earned a "soft" label. However, true Hip-Hop heads know De La Soul is legit.
Unfortunately, De La Soul's music has been strangely absent from music streaming services. In fact, in my review of Google Play Music All Access, I cited a lack of the group as pretty much the only negative. While that is still an issue, De La Soul has come up with a temporary, yet genius, solution -- give all of their music away for free! However, there is a catch.
Plex apps get a Valentine's Day discount
Plex, if you aren't familiar with it, comes in two parts. There's a server that you install on a, preferably, always-on computer. Then there are the end-user apps, which are available for multiple mobile devices and set-top boxes. The server is free, but the apps will set you back $5 (OK, $4.99 if you want to be technical).
However, now through tomorrow, Valentine's Day, the service is offering a discount to its potential customers. "Until Valentine’s Day, we’re offering all our mobile apps for 50% off: iOS, Android, Windows Phone, and Windows 8. Not enough sale for you? We’re also offering 3 bonus months on a yearly Plex Pass bought with PayPal (that’s 15 months for the price of 12)", the company announces.
Facebook separates sex from gender
A person's genitals do not define their gender. At least that is what some people believe. As a trained Sociologist, I accept that forces beyond biology define how a person identifies. In other words, a person may identify as a man, despite having female reproductive organs. Maybe they identify as something else altogether.
Like I said, not everyone believes this, but quite frankly they do not have to. Regardless of your comfortability with transgender people, they exist, they have feelings, and they live their lives. However, they face adversity in many facets, including social media. Today, Facebook takes a huge step towards equality in addressing the difference between sex and gender.
Microsoft celebrates selling more than 200 million Windows 8 licenses
Very little has been said about sales figures for Windows 8 of late, but today Tami Reller, Microsoft's executive vice president of Marketing outed the most recent number of sales during a webcast. Reller revealed that 200 million Windows 8 licenses have now been sold. This is an impressive increase from the last sales figures of 100 million back in May 2013, but sales of the latest version of Microsoft's operating system remain slower than its predecessors.
The 200 million licenses do not include volume license sales, but the number does include sales to the public as well as those to OEMs. A doubling of sales in under a year is not to be sniffed at, but it will probably do little to calm the vocal groups keen to bash Windows 8's success. Ultimately the speed of sales is still a little slow. While more than 40 million licenses were sold in the month after Windows 8's release, this was not sustained.
Create animated GIFs from videos with QGifer
Animated GIFs may be the most dated and inefficient form of animation around, but they can still be useful. In particular, you can use them almost anywhere, no need for a special movie player, and they’ll be viewable on almost any device.
As we saw in January, GifCam is an excellent general purpose tool that can record any desktop activity as an animated GIF. But if you’re looking to create your GIF from a video, then you might prefer QGifer, which can usually extract the footage you need in just a few seconds.
Star Wars finally comes to Netflix streaming -- sort of
In the technology community, we have quite a few nerds and geeks (myself included). These types of people often like the same things -- video games, Mountain Dew and Star Wars to name a few. The problem is, media on discs, like DVD or Blu-Ray, are old hat; streaming media is where it's at.
And so, when it came to the Star Wars franchise, it was very disappointing that it was not available on Netflix streaming. Today however, this changes as Star Wars comes to the streaming service. Before you start rejoicing, please know, these are not the films you are looking for.
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