Google shares spirit of the season
Ho. Ho. Ho. Google gives early Christmas presents this holiday, by focusing on ways that families (or roomies) can better share that which is contextually precious: music, photos, online, payments, and videos. But Big G also trails Apple, which already offers its customers many of the same benefits.
Fresh today: Google Photos Shared Albums, which applies collaborative concepts that Apps users should find familiar. "People receiving the shared album can join to add their own photos and videos, and also get notifications when new pics are added", according to the official announcement. "You can even save photos and videos from a shared album to your Google Photos library, so that you can hold onto them even if you weren’t the one holding the camera".
Docker: The business benefits
Considering it only came into existence in 2013, Docker has experienced a monumental rise in both the consumer and business markets. From such humble beginnings, (the earliest version of the technology was developed by founder Solomon Hykes in his mother’s basement), Docker has managed to secure a number of high-profile partners and earlier this year received a valuation in excess of $1 billion. But what exactly is Docker?
According to the company itself, "Docker allows you to package an application with all of its dependencies into a standardized unit for software development". The way in which Docker does this is through a software feature known as a container. These containers encompass everything that a piece of software needs to operate, including code, system tools, system libraries, runtime -- essentially anything that can be run on a server. In this respect, the way in which Docker enables infrastructure virtualization is nothing new, but in other ways it is really shaking up the virtual machine market.
Google makes affordable Chromecast Audio dongle even better with cool new features
Not all devices need to be innovative to make an impact. Sometimes a product can simply be bred from commonsense and recognizing customer need. The pièce de résistance, however, is competitive pricing. All of these things are traits of the very cool Chromecast Audio dongle.
If you aren't familiar, it is a $35 device which allows you to easily stream music from your devices to a speaker. It is hardly revolutionary, but exceptional in its execution. Today, Google announces new features -- just in time for the holidays -- which make the inexpensive product even better.
UK software engineer salaries lag behind those in the US
London has long been a global tech hub, but a new study indicates that salaries for software engineers in the UK capital are lagging behind those of major tech centers in the US.
The study of salary data from tech marketplace Hired shows that, compared to San Francisco and New York, UK companies actually offer the lowest average salaries for software engineers.
Windows 10: Security features for the enterprise
The introduction of mobile into the workplace has destroyed previous enterprise security models, introducing a modern operating system (OS) architecture that puts the employee in the driver’s seat.
At the same time, breaches targeting traditional Windows operating systems are at an all-time high, with over 1 billion records compromised in the last two years.
Samsung's TV app Smart View hits beta
Do you have a Smart TV? The devices have become increasingly popular and many on the market today now come with apps built in. Even set-top box maker Roku has launched a service that manufacturers can use.
One of the top makers of big screens is Samsung and it aims to stay near the top of the market with its latest feature that it calls Smart View. Its currently a beta and only available on select TVs, but it works with the app on Android, iOS and Windows PCs.
Karma is the name of GoPro's upcoming drone
While GoPro appears to be focused solely on action cameras, the company wants to expand its horizons by entering the drone market. At this year's Code Conference, CEO Nick Woodman announced that a quadcopter is in the works. It is expected to be released in the first half of 2016.
GoPro has not revealed much else about the upcoming drone, only suggesting that it will be priced to appeal to consumers -- but, considering how expensive some of GoPro's action cameras are, that does not mean much. Now we also know what it will be called -- Karma.
Walmart introduces its own payment app for Android and iOS
Android Pay, Apple Pay, Samsung Pay -- it seems to be the latest trend in mobile devices. Each wants you to use its service and, in some cases all will work at a particular retailer. But, instead of accepting the existing ones, Walmart has decided to launch its own rival to them.
The giant retail chain is announcing Walmart Pay with the good news being that it isn't launching its own phone that you need to purchase first. It will work with both iOS and Android; Windows Phone users once again get left out. Walmart is the first retailer to launch its own payment service.
Google Drive -- finally -- gets a decent search tool
With Google/Alphabet having search so deeply ingrained in its DNA, it is somewhat surprising that the search capabilities found in Drive have been so limited. Now that changes. The cloud storage service, at long last, has a search tool that's worth using.
As well as rolling out to the web, Google Drive's new search options are also making their way to iOS and Android devices. Apple users in particular have something to look forward to thank to support for 3D Touch and deeplinking.
Humans reclaim the web from the bots
For the first time in five years, humans were the ones responsible for the majority (51.5 percent) of all online traffic, up from just 38.5 percent in 2013.
This is according to the latest Imperva Incapsula Bot Traffic Report which shows that good bot traffic decreased, from 31 percent in 2013 to 19.5 percent in 2015, while bad bot traffic remained static, at around 30 percent.
[Updated] Webhost Easily hit by malware attack
UK webhosting company Easily has emailed its customers to inform them that it has fallen victim to a malware attack. COO Edwina McDowall says that the assailant is, as yet, unknown but steps have been taken to eliminate the malware.
The company warns that all customers should change their passwords as a precautionary measure, but seeks to assure people that credit card details have not been compromised.
Retail data breaches threaten customer loyalty
A high percentage of Americans would change their shopping habits if their favorite retailer was hit by a data breach according to a new study.
Data security specialist Vormetric commissioned the survey over 1000 US adults from Wakefield Research which found that for 85 percent of respondents the significant personal consequences that can result from a breach would cause them to find a new place to shop.
Open Live Writer is an open source fork of Windows Live Writer
Microsoft’s blog editor Windows Live Writer has been revived with an independent open-source fork, Open Live Writer.
OLW’s first release allows you to create blog posts, add photos, videos, maps or more, and publish them to your website.
Yahoo will keep Alibaba stake under its name
Yahoo has decided against selling off its $32 billion stake in the Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba. Instead the company will shift its focus towards creating deals centered around its core business.
Originally the company had planned to place its 15 percent share of Alibaba into a separate company named Aabaco. Yahoo’s desire to spin-off its stake in Alibaba stemmed from the idea that this move would unlock shareholder value and increase the company’s business. Uncertainty over a possibly massive tax bill might have also influenced Yahoo’s decision to abandon its former plan.
Windows Live Writer goes open source
Perhaps it never really caught on, or at least didn't go big, but Windows Live Writer is a solid tool for blogging. This isn't Word, which is what many writers use, but it's still a capable weapon in the arsenal of any author.
The new program is called, quite simply, Open Live Writer and it's being released now. It has also been contributed to the .NET Foundation. It allows writers to edit and publish stories directly from within it.
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