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On April 24, the Google+ community lost a valuable promoter and leader. Vic Gundotra, head of Google's social media network, announced that he is stepping down and leaving the company. Mr. Gundotra deserves great applause, as he was in charge during the initial growth of the best social media network on the internet.

Yes, that's right, Google+ is the best -- it is friggin' awesome. It is better than Facebook. It is better than Twitter. Despite what the tech community may echo, the service is actually loved and adored by some, including myself. But OK, what makes Google+ so awesome? Here are some of my reasons.

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I meant to write this yesterday, but day late is better than never. Listening to Apple's fiscal second quarter 2014 earnings conference call on Wednesday, I was awed by how cleverly and aggressively CEO Tim Cook stated growth metrics for iPad and iPhone. My immediate reaction: "What is he hiding?" Wall Street beat down Apple shares following release of great Q1 results three months ago. From the stated stats to announced 7-to-1 stock split, seems to me like Cook intended to aggressively and proactively manage perceptions -- and he did. He was unusually free sharing sales and growth data, which is uncharacteristic of Apple but typical of perception management tactics.

Company cofounder Steve Jobs was a master marketer. Cook isn't in the same league of inspiring people to believe that "One More Thing" aspires greater happiness. But Cook lived up to his name -- cooking the numbers -- in Jobs-like sleight of hand. Look here people, instead of over there, and witness magic rather than the trick. But behind the veil, iPad and iPhone don't look as great as he presented them. One thing you learn, if working as a journalist long enough: When to recognize misdirection or deception.

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PhotoDemon is an open source photo editor which, its developer says, has been designed to be "portable", "powerful" and "usable". This sounded great to us.

First impressions don't live up to the hype, unfortunately. A horribly basic interface has two sparse and non-customisable toolbars, doesn’t properly support common mouse actions (right-click menus, mouse wheel zoom) and hides most of its features in a complex menu system.

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What a long strange trip it's been for the music industry. Starting with MP3s and Napster, travelling through iTunes and DRM, to reach where things are today. Now online music services are not only legal, they are the norm, and there are plenty to choose from.

Most sites differentiate themselves by features and number of tracks available, but now Rdio is taking a step towards setting itself apart by streaming audio quality. To do so, the service has teamed up with former Grateful Dead member Bob Weir for an initiative it has dubbed "Artists for Quality".

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After weeks of negotiations, changes to terms and all sorts of other shenanigans, Microsoft finally completed its acquisition of Nokia's Devices and services arm. Developers, and the eager average user, have now had a little time to play with Windows Phone 8.1, and Mihaita is one person who feels it is a big step in the right direction. The release of Microsoft Remote Desktop for Windows Phone 8.1 is something that will be welcomed by owners of Microsoft handsets who need to access their computers on the move.

Another release -- not software this time -- Microsoft's fiscal announcement showed that the company had $20.4 billion revenue It wasn't just Microsoft sharing financial figures this week -- Apple also revealed its latest accounts for Q2. And Microsoft joining forces with Nokia was not the only new marriage -- Microsoft and AOL also came together in a new content deal. Joe waxed lyrical about the Surface platform, suggesting that Microsoft needs to do more to promote it -- and a new campaign aims to draw in a new audience using everyone's favorite… cake! And with the Chromebook 2 being delayed, Microsoft stands a chance to gain more ground.

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Xara has announced the release of Xara Web Designer 10 ($49.99) and Xara Web Designer 10 Premium ($99.99), its WYSIWG web design tools.

Premium-only additions start with Responsive Web Design support. You can now create variations of your page for different devices (desktop, tablet, phone), sharing content but with their own custom layout. Web Designer Premium 10 exports the finished result as a single HTML file, and it'll then automatically adjust depending on the screen size of the viewer.

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It’s bad enough removing all those programs your PC manufacturer "thoughtfully" chose to include on your Windows 8 PC, but now it feels like Microsoft is at the same game. If you’re hankering to trim back the number of Modern UI apps pre-installed with Windows 8 or its immediate successors, then you need Windows 8 App Remover.

This tiny 220KB portable program acts as a graphical front end for a Microsoft tool -- dism.exe -- that does the hard work of getting shot of the files in one go, making it a much easier job than removing them individually or grappling with command-line parameters.

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Sorry, but I can't tell you why yet. I have this statement from Samsung PR about 13.3-inch Chromebook 2, in response to my inquiry: "The product is now shipping at the end of May". That puts the computer in the channel a month later than planned. I have asked for a reason but don't expect to get one.

Samsung unveiled Chromebook 2 in March, in 11.6- and 13.3-inch configurations. The company started taking preorders more than two weeks ago, offering a free case to anyone purchasing before April 27. I ordered one on April 8 from Amazon with delivery date of April 29, which put expected launch a day earlier. But then on April 10, Amazon emailed that my new delivery date would be May 2 and the website indicated availability on the 1st. Last week, Amazon changed the date to May 15 and by the beginning of this week to May 29. Around the same time, Samsung stopped taking preorders of this model and the 11.6-inch white. The manufacturer still accepts preorders on the black, smaller Chromebook, for which Amazon lists May 7 release.

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My first computer, a Packard Bell, ran Windows 95. My father bought it for me after I begged him relentlessly. It was a huge expense that we really couldn't afford, but he came through. I sold him on it by promising to use it for schoolwork and learning. However, my true motives were far more devious -- I wanted AOL. Yes, believe it or not, the concept of talking to a girl over the Internet in a chat room was an amazing feat in 1996. This was very intriguing to a teenage nerd.

My love affair with AOL continued for a while, until broadband was introduced years later. I then promptly ditched the service for a cable modem. However, to this day, the Microsoft/AOL power-couple of the 90's still conjures nostalgic feelings. Today, AOL announces that it is teaming up with Microsoft for an all-new content deal.

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Sixteenth in a series. Apple reported its second quarter results this week, and they beat analyst expectations with the iPhone doing especially well. Apple shipped 4.14 million Macs, 16.35 million iPads and 43.72 million iPhones during the quarter. iPhone sales grew by 16.8 percent while iPad sales declined by 15.9 percent. Although the iPad’s slump looks very bad in the quarter you have to remember Apple struggled to meet holiday demand the previous year, leading to an inflated number of shipments in the March 2013 quarter.

New and updated apps worthy of your attention this week include a Sonic racing game, a "ridiculous animal simulator", an activity tracker, a travel app for iPad, a world-time clock, and an alternative to Fruit Ninja with better graphics.

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The Heartbleed OpenSSL vulnerability has sent tremors down to the very foundations of the IT world. But now that we're over two weeks on from the news of the bug first breaking what have we learned and has anything really changed? We talked to some leading security experts to find out.

There’s little doubt of the seriousness of the problem, Technical Manager at security firm Cigital, Amit Sethi says, "This is indeed one of the worst vulnerabilities in the history of the web. It has been present in OpenSSL for over two years, during which time it has made it into a lot of software. Unlike many other vulnerabilities in SSL implementations that we have heard about in recent years, this one does not require the attacker to be positioned between your computer and the server. The attacker can go directly to the server and get any information that you recently exchanged with it over a secure channel".

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Finnish maker Nokia announced, only moments earlier, that the sale of its Devices & Services business to Microsoft is now complete. The deal was announced in early-September 2013, and was initially expected to complete in the first quarter of this year, but faced regulatory delays which pushed the sale by a month past the original time-frame.

Nokia expects to receive slightly more from this transaction than the initial estimate of €5.44 billion. As expected, the Finnish maker's Chennai Indian factory will not be transferred to Microsoft, due to the local government freezing the asset, and neither will the Masan one from South Korea. The deal is not solely about hardware, as Nokia has also licensed patents and various usage rights to Microsoft.

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Much has been written about the pros and cons of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) applications versus on-premise software. Although SaaS is clearly the driving trend for a wide range of compelling reasons, does every organization need to be forced into making a choice? For some there are still very good reasons for keeping an application in your own data center.

Depending on your business needs, choosing an application that you can deploy in either model and that gives you the option of moving back and forth between a SaaS environment and on-premise may give you the best of both worlds.

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Keeping track of where your Android device is may not be something that you need to do every day, but when it is stolen or misplaced having a dedicated tool goes a long way toward finding it. There are many options to choose from, but one of the most feature-rich, and my personal favorite, is Cerberus.

Cerberus is one of the first tools of its kind for Android, which can even take advantage of root permissions in order to give you access to extra tracking and protection features (GPS auto-enable and uninstall protection). The app just reached version 2.5 and, as it celebrates its third birthday today, Cerberus is now free, but only for one day.

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Using a mobile device to mine for Bitcoin is hugely impractical. A recent experiment involving 600 quadcore servers managed to create just 0.4 Bitcoins over the course of a year, which makes mining with a mobile a lot like digging in a mostly-spent goldmine with a spoon.

But, in theory, if you could harness the power of enough mobile devices -- hundreds of thousands, or maybe millions -- you might be able to start generating Bitcoins. BadLepricon, a new piece of malware, takes that view and uses your phone’s processing power to mine for new coins. It’s disguised as a harmless wallpaper app, and several instances of it have already been found on Google Play.

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