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You are thinking about having an app built to help grow your business. After all, the biggest and the best all have apps, so should you, right? Ideally, you do need an app for your business.

In fact, a recent study published by the Gallup Poll reports that 52 percent of the population checks its smart phones several times per hour, and of the remaining 48 percent, 20 percent of the people claim to check their phones once per hour. These numbers are a marketing team’s dream! So many easy to reach people in one place! So yes, you need an app!

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Products, no matter how much we may like them, don't last forever. You don't want to be the person keeping a batch of Palms in the freezer for future use -- and there are people who do that. Product cycles run their course and technology moves forward.

Microsoft customers, in some cases, move forward very grudgingly. That's especially true of business, particularly ones who had to be dragged off of IE 6 -- they now need to be dragged even further from that comfort zone.

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2015 was a year for the record books in information and cyber security. Dozens of new vulnerabilities were uncovered, and government organizations, businesses and individuals continued to find themselves victims of high-profile data breaches.

As we settle into the new year, we don’t expect this trend to slow down. We foresee more security issues on the horizon that must be addressed in order to ensure privacy for companies and consumers in the year ahead. Here are our predictions on what’s coming in 2016:

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Storage has undergone some major changes in recent years. The growth of cloud usage, the Internet of Things and the exploitation of big data have all meant increased demand and a shift towards different solutions. But how has this affected the storage industry and and what further changes can we expect to see?

We spoke to Mark Lewis, Chairman and CEO of storage specialist Formation Data Systems to get his view on how the industry is evolving.

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Xiaomi is well known for delivering attractive devices at very affordable prices. Its new Redmi 3 is no exception. The company's latest Android smartphone is a mid-range handset with a huge battery, but with a price tag that puts it closer to entry-level offerings.

Redmi 3 is positioned as one of the more affordable Android devices in Xiaomi's lineup, being introduced at the RMB699 (roughly $107) price point. For the money, there is really nothing that potential buyers might miss.

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UK web users are coming round to the idea of online surveillance by the government, but harbor concerns about how personal data will be stored. These are the findings of a survey by Broadband Genie that suggests terror attacks have led to a swing in public opinion of the Snooper's Charter.

But while people may be coming round to the idea of internet surveillance, they remain concerned about how private data -- such as browsing history -- will be stored. 27 percent of those surveyed said their opinion had been swayed by recent terrorist attacks by the likes of ISIS.

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Organizing a busy PC desktop can take a little work, as you’re forever minimizing, resizing, repositioning, and generally relocating windows for easier viewing.

Move Aside Please is a free tool which simplifies the process by moving windows -- or turning them transparent -- when you move the mouse over them.

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Geographically-distributed development, or GDD, has made a name for itself as an extremely-effective IT strategy model within global enterprises throughout the world. As a highly-advanced support tool, GDD replaces archaic methods of managing development projects that compromise a business’ operational goals and success.

Conversely, GDD establishes optimized communication, efficiency, cohesiveness and success potential within an enterprise. Because GDD is extremely accommodating as a support tool, businesses from one part of the world to the next can quickly respond to business changes as they occur.

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Using a mouse for long periods can be uncomfortable and in severe cases may even lead to repetitive strain injury.

There are various pieces of kit on the market to help you avoid this including ergonomically designed mice and wrist rests. Taking a slightly different and more innovative approach to the problem is the Penclic which is a sort of fusion of mouse and pen.

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I've written recently about the dangers of online vigilantes infringing on the free speech of others. Anonymous is one of the biggest offenders in this department, but there are numerous hacking groups that -- under the banner of fighting one evil or another -- take the law of the web into their own hands without a thought for the consequences.

Online vigilantes stir up populist support by throwing around the keywords associated with the enemy of the moment -- terrorists, ISIS, racists, fascists, communists, socialists, pedophiles. All very emotive issues, but vigilantism can all too easily get out of hand. This has just been demonstrated perfectly by YouTube star Keemstar who took it upon himself to expose a 62-year-old pedophile online through his DramaAlert podcast. The only problem is that he and his team got the wrong man.

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It may be a minority who use the Amazon Echo to control home automation, in fact it likely is. But there are folks who do it, and it can, and usually does, work pretty well. It's one of those features that isn't advertised, but a nice Easter egg when you find it.

You head into the menu and click settings and locate "connected home" to find all of the devices and hubs that are compatible with the retailer's version of artificial intelligence.

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If you have an online porn habit you like to indulge from time to time, you're probably well-acquainted with Chrome's Incognito mode. Like Microsoft Edge's InPrivate browsing, and Firefox's Private browsing, Google's browser includes a mode that can be used to keep your browsing secret. At least that's the idea...

One gamer and unashamed porn consumer found that his X-rated browsing sessions were exposed by Diablo III. Running the game on his Mac, Evan Andersen found that cached images from his Incognito browsing sessions were displayed as the RPG title loaded. He managed to grab screenshots of the bug in action, and even went as far as writing a program to show what's happening.

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Microsoft has promised that Windows Insiders get Windows 10 builds faster in 2016, and it's Windows 10 Mobile users who get the first release of the new year. It's a few weeks since the release of build 10586.36 and now build 10586.63 is available for those on the Fast Ring.

You might expect from the relatively small jump in version numbers that this is something of a minor update -- and you'd be right. But despite the somewhat trifling nature of the changes, this release is noteworthy for a fluffed launch.

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The Amazon Echo can do a lot of things, from playing music to giving you the news and weather, even controlling your lights. But there are many other tricks as well, and new ones are added all the time. The latest comes with the new update to the Alexa app.

Tap the menu button at the top left and choose skills -- there's quite a few and they are listed alphabetically. Scroll far enough and you'll find this latest entry, the game Jeopardy!

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Silicon Valley met with the US government on Friday to discuss how to tackle online terrorist propaganda from the likes of IS. At a closed-door meeting, Tim Cook and representative of Facebook, Twitter, Microsoft and other tech firms spoke with White House officials to try to find a way to combat terrorists on the web.

Joined by the likes of the NSA and FBI, the technology firms, and the Obama administration are seeking ways to stop terrorist propaganda being disseminated online. IS has already proved itself to be a masterful manipulator of the media, and has successfully used social networks such as Facebook and Twitter to get its message out.

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