Find, browse and reuse PowerShell scripts with Microsoft Script Browser
Microsoft has released Script Browser 1.1, an excellent PowerShell ISE add-on which makes it easy to find, view and download PowerShell scripts.
The program equips the ISE with a simple TechNet search tool. Enter a keyword or two here, click Enter and it displays a list of any matches, including script name, rating, description and author. Double-clicking displays more details -- including the script itself -- and you can copy it to the clipboard, or open it in the ISE.
PC users struggle to keep all their software patched
The average private user PC in the UK has 76 different programs from 26 different vendors, which leaves users struggling to keep everything up to date.
Vulnerability management specialist Secunia has published a report on the state of security among PC users in the UK based on scans from Secunia Personal Software Inspector between January and March 2014.
Playcast launches beta trial for Ouya
Ouya began life as a Kickstarter darling that everyone was talking about. However, since its actual launch, the little Android gaming console has largely been a non-factor in the market.
Now Playcast may bring a bit more legitimacy to the platform, as the service has begun beta testing on the Ouya box. Playcast, if you aren't familiar, is a cloud gaming service that licenses and offers console-level games, from shooters to action, sports, and more.
10 PRINT "Hello 50 years of BASIC"; 20 GOTO 10
On May 1, 1964, Professor John Kemeny ran the first BASIC (Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code) program from a timesharing terminal at Dartmouth College, in Hanover, New Hampshire. Created by Kemeny and Professor Thomas Kurtz, BASIC was designed to make it easier for students to use computers.
BASIC enjoyed huge popularity in the mid-late 1970s and 1980s, and anyone over a certain age will likely have learned to program on a microcomputer using it. I certainly did. My first computer was a ZX81 from Sinclair Research. It’s a name people in the UK will recognize instantly but will mean nothing to most outside of the British Isles (it was released -- in a slightly modified form -- as the Timex Sinclair 1000 in the United States). To use it, you had to master Sinclair BASIC and that was my first experience with what initially seemed like an alien language.
The consumerization of software development in business
For far too long, enterprise software has lagged behind its consumer counterparts.
When compared to the progress in digital media and consumer software, some of the applications used to power the world’s biggest companies look as if they are stuck in 1990. Yet this is no longer the case thanks to the growth in expectations from business users who spend hours a day on high end devices and mobile apps.
Security at risk as organizations struggle to monitor complex networks
As networks become larger, faster and more complex, they become harder to monitor. This presents a security risk as it's more difficult to capture behavior for incident analysis and to spot suspicious behavior.
Network specialist Emulex has released the results of a survey which looks at the impact of growing networks on visibility and monitoring, network and application performance, security, and compliance.
Microsoft's Movie Moments, Windows Reading List available on Windows Phone 8.1
Movie Moments and Windows Reading List are two of Microsoft's apps for Windows 8.1. The former is part of the software giant's optional creative suite while the latter is the read-it-later tool bundled with the tiled operating system.
Following the introduction of shared apps, Microsoft is now taking advantage of this feature to make Movie Moments and Reading List available to Windows Phone 8.1 users as well. For those who are not familiar with shared apps, the feature allows developers to make their titles available across both app stores, much like Android and iOS developers can. It is effectively meant to increase the likelihood of having Windows Phone apps also available on Windows 8.1 and vice-versa.
Shocker! Windows 8.1 actually shows strong growth
I say "shocker", but with all the cards stacked in its favor -- XP users forced to look for a new OS, Windows 7 being pretty hard to get hold of, and an update designed to make Windows 8.1 more appealing to keyboard and mouse users -- if Windows 8.1 hadn’t grown market share in April then it would have been pretty much game over for the tiled OS.
Even with all that in its favor, according to NetMarketShare’s monthly Desktop OS sampling, Windows 8.x still had some stiff competition from Windows 7 which also packed on market share, taking the shine off the new OS’s achievements.
doPDF gains Microsoft Office add-in, preserves Word bookmarks and hidden links
Softland has released doPDF 8.0, a major new release of its free PDF printer driver that allows Windows users to output any document in PDF format for sharing or viewing.
Version 8.0 adds the NovaPDF plug-in for converting Microsoft Office documents from within Office with one click. It also comes with new predefined forms to take the total number supported to over 80.
Do you abuse your keyboard and mouse when stressed? Microsoft researcher says you aren't alone
Keyboards and mice definitely take abuse. I have witnessed some horrific keyboard conditions -- full of crumbs, dust and lord-knows-what. Not to mention, have you looked in the seams of your mouse lately? There may be a build-up of grime -- yuck! Gamers in particular are known to severely beat the crap out of their input devices when playing a stressful game. Even if it isn't intentional, as a game of Quake 4 heats up, people are known to smash the keys on the keyboard and the buttons on their mouse.
If gamers are known to beat the crap out of their input devices when stressed, what is to say we all don't? In other words, whether writing a paper or editing a spreadsheet under a deadline, maybe the amount of pressure that the person uses can detect stress. Well, Microsoft researcher Mary Czerwinski and her team decided to prove that theory through experimentation. The findings are eye-opening.
Searches in Windows 8.1 just got smarter
One of the things I like best about Windows 8.1 is the Smart Search feature. Powered by Bing, it lets you look for anything -- a program or app installed on your computer, a file stored on your hard drive or in the cloud, or a website. You open up the Start or Apps screen, and just start typing (or you can use the new Search button which was introduced with Windows 8.1 Update) and then choose the relevant result.
I have no complaints about it (although I still use Google for most of my web searches), but today Microsoft is making the Smart Search feature a whole lot more powerful with natural language understanding so you can search for something, even if you’re not sure exactly what it is you’re looking for.
Google to stop spying on your children
One of the major knocks on Google, is that the company collects its users' data. It is that data, coupled with advertising, that makes most of the search-giant's services free. Something being "free", however, is subjective. In other words, just because actual money is not being exchanged, does not mean that something valuable isn't. Your data is very valuable. So is Gmail truly free?
That is a decision that adult users must make. If they don't mind Google scanning their emails, that is OK. Quite frankly, there is nothing morally wrong with this approach on Google's behalf. However, children are an entirely different argument. Harvesting a child's data for profit comes off poorly to many, including myself. Sadly, Google had been doing just that -- scanning the contents of students' email accounts. By definition, this is spying, but luckily Google has decided to stop.
When are economic sanctions not sanctions at all?
I came across this news story today in which a Russian space official suggests the US consider using trampolines to get astronauts and supplies to the International Space Station. It’s all about economic sanctions applied to Russia over its annexation of Crimea and other meddling in Ukraine. The Russian space agency, you see, has been hard hit by the cancellation of at least five launches. Except according to my friends in the space biz Russia hasn’t been hurt at all.
Space customers pay in advance, way in advance. All five canceled NASA launches were paid for long ago and the same for a number of now-delayed private launches. They may go ahead or not, it’s hard to say. But nobody in Russia is losing sleep over the problem because the space agency will actually make more money keeping the launchers on their pads than by firing them.
Anvi OneStart is a Windows 8.x Start Menu replacement with a (small) difference
Anvisoft has released Anvi OneStart, a Start menu replacement for Windows 8.x.
If you’re thinking "not another one", then we know what you mean, but this one is a little different: it can also be set up to show the Start Screen, but on the desktop -- not maximized.
Most organizations are accidental software pirates
A majority of enterprises are using software that they've unintentionally failed to pay for according to a new report by Flexera Software prepared in conjunction with IDC.
The report reveals, among other things, that 85 percent of organizations are out of compliance with their software license agreements. In addition 63 percent were audited by their software vendors in the last 18-24 months (58 percent by Microsoft, the most aggressive auditor), and 56 percent were handed bills to regularize their licenses.
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