Making an app is hard, but getting it noticed on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store can be an even more difficult task. Optimizing your metadata is the biggest hurdle to getting noticed and finding users.

There are many "tips and tricks" articles out there that promise to help, but very few talk about what to avoid. Fortunately, with a strong App Store Optimization (ASO) strategy, you can stand out from the crowd while keeping an eye out for ASO pitfalls. By maneuvering around these pitfalls, you’ll be one step closer to improving your app’s visibility.

No matter the industry, ensuring the security of all our digital transactions is everyone’s biggest concern. Aside from bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, enterprise blockchain technology has the potential to overcome many current (and potentially future) hurdles digital transactions must face.

So how do organizations determine if blockchain is right for their business? How do companies know when is the best time to implement and start using blockchain? Before we answer these questions, let’s first provide some background on what blockchain is and how it works.

Clean data is vital if analytics are to deliver useful results, but a new survey reveals that many organizations are still relying on manual and inefficient processes to clean and prepare information.

The study by data preparation company Trifacta shows these inefficiencies are draining resources and inhibiting organizations' ability to glean insights that could be crucial to their business decisions.

It's no longer enough to just protect the perimeter in order to keep systems secure. It's now necessary to catch file-less attacks, privilege escalation and a whole range of other tactics.

The problem for smaller businesses is they often don't have the expertise in house to handle the range of threats.

I absolutely love big powerful desktop PCs. My Windows machine, for instance, is powered by a slightly overclocked Ryzen 7 1700, and it has an RX 580 GPU. To keep it cool, I have several fans in my tower, which causes a big issue -- noise. This doesn't bother me when gaming or listening to loud music, but when working quietly, it can be a bit of an annoyance. Not to mention, it can put out a lot of heat, so in the summertime, I find myself sweating more than I should be.

If you have a need for a cool and quiet PC, ZOTAC has announced an absolutely adorable passively cooled (no fans) mini PC. Called the "ZBOX CI329 nano," the barebones (bring your own memory and storage) machine is not at all designed for gaming, but it is more than capable of doing tasks like surfing the web and enjoying media. It is compatible with Windows 10, of course, but modern Linux distributions should be fine as well.

Ken Seddon is the CEO of the non-profit patent protection network LOT. The organization’s members include Google, Red Hat, Lenovo, Pega and other big players, as well as dozens of startups in areas such as transportation, blockchain, and software.

Startups are disproportionately impacted by patent trolls and we chatted with Ken about how a smart, assertive IP strategy can help protect their businesses.

Google has announced a new music streaming service, YouTube Music, as well as YouTube Premium, both of which launch next week. The two services come as a result of Google splitting up YouTube Red.

YouTube Premium will be available for $11.99 per month, while YouTube Music will have free and paid-for versions. The free edition will be ad-supported, but these can be banished for $9.99 per month.

The mayor of New York City, Bill de Blasio, has announced the formation of a new task force to examine the fairness of the algorithms used in the city's automated systems.

The Automated Decision Systems Task Force will review algorithms that are in use to determine that they are free from bias. Representatives from the Department of Social Services, the NYC Police Department, the Department of Transportation, the Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice, the Administration for Children's Services, and the Department of Education will be involved, and the aim is to produce a report by December 2019.

Last week saw the release of Windows 10 RS5 Build 17666 to Insiders on the Fast and Skip Ahead rings. It was a very impressive build, with a number of big new features, including a dark theme for File Explorer, acrylic in Sets, Cloud Clipboard, and more.

Today Microsoft rolls out Build 17672, with a big new change to security.

Wi-Fi cameras are a great way to monitor your home. They aren't just a plus for security; these devices can also help you to watch your children and pets when on the go.

Logitech’s Circle offerings are some of the best, as they are quite easy to set up and use. The company's second-generation model -- the Circle 2 -- is very versatile too. There are many ways to position it -- both inside and outside -- thanks to a good selection of accessories. Today, Logitech adds yet another option with the Circle 2 Magnetic Mount. As you can probably guess, it is a mount for the Circle 2 camera that contains a magnet. This will allow you you stick the camera onto many metal surfaces, such as a gutter or refrigerator.

Today at a launch event in London, OnePlus unveiled its latest "flagship killer", the OnePlus 6, taking solid aim at high-end smartphones from the likes of Apple and Samsung.

The OnePlus 6 features a 6.28-inch screen with a 2,280 x 1,080 resolution and 19:9 aspect ratio, (up to) 256GB of storage, and dual 20 megapixel rear camera (sensibly centered now) and a 16 megapixel front-facing shooter. It also includes the top notch found on an increasing number of smartphones these days.

Why pay a monthly subscription for Office software? SoftMaker FreeOffice 2018 has just been released, promising full compatibility with the latest Word, Excel and PowerPoint formats and debuting a new optional ribbon interface for those switching from Office 2007 or later.

FreeOffice comprises word processor TextMaker 2018, spreadsheets package PlanMaker 2018 and presentation tool Presentations 2018.

After refusing to answer questions in the UK, Mark Zuckerberg has agreed to face questions in front of the EU Parliament. The grilling comes in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica privacy scandal.

The Facebook CEO could answer questions about the social network's use of data very soon, with the president of the European Parliament, Antonio Tajani, saying that "hopefully" it could happen next week.

OnePlus is about to lift the curtain on its latest "flagship killer", the OnePlus 6.

The new device will be unveiled at the Copper Box Arena in London in what promises to be the company’s largest event ever. As always, we already know a fair bit about the latest iteration thanks to a major leak which revealed the pricing and some photos.

Not wanting to be outdone by Apple, Microsoft is reportedly planning to release a low-cost Surface tablet later this year.

Said to measure 10 inches and with a price tag of around $400, the budget Surface will retain the familiar kickstand found on its Pro sibling, and will compete directly with the iPad. This is not a re-run of the Surface RT, as full-blown Windows will be supported.