Best Windows apps this week
One-hundred and twenty in a series. Welcome to this week's overview of the best apps and games released for Windows in the past seven days.
The games category is without doubt the most popular category in Windows Store right now.
Google will allow sexual content on Blogger after all
Three days ago Google announced that any Blogger blog found to contain nudity or explicit content would be converted into a private blog that only the owner could see.
Unsurprisingly, this move wasn't well received by the Blogger community, and today Google has backtracked.
Run text-mode DOS apps in Windows with vDos
If you’d like to run a classic DOS game under Windows then DOSBox is the perfect solution: tiny, free, and with enough hardware emulators to support almost anything.
It’s not the only option, though, and if you’re more interested in running text-mode, business-type applications then DOSBox fork vDos may be a better choice.
Creating advocates for SaaS and B2B products
One of the best ways of getting people to buy your product is to get your existing customers to recommend it. That’s equally true in the business world as it is for consumer products.
A new infographic from SaaS customer management specialist Bluenose looks at how companies can create more powerful advocates for their B2B and SaaS products.
How much is your personal or company data worth? 50% of Brits say at least £1 million
How much would you be prepared to sell your data for? According to a new survey, almost half of the UK wouldn’t give it up for any less than a million quid.
The study of a thousand Brits, undertaken by Swiss data center Artmotion, found that 49 percent of respondents would only sell their personal or company data for £1 million or more.
Ubuntu Linux 15.04 Vivid Vervet Beta 1 is here! Which flavor will you savor?
Ubuntu is one of, if not the best, Linux distributions for beginners. Why? It is easy to install and easy to learn. In other words, it is not a daunting affair like some other distros. With that said, it is a great Linux-based operating system for experts too.
As great as Ubuntu is, the Unity desktop environment isn't for everyone. Today, the first betas of Ubuntu 15.04 are made available, and Unity is nowhere to be found. As is customary lately, it is only the other desktop environments, or flavors, that get to shine for beta testers. Which flavor of Ubuntu 15.04 Vivid Vervet Beta 1 will you taste?
FCC votes in favor of Net Neutrality... just
The Net Neutrality debate has been rumbling on for quite some time now, but today something of a milestone has been reached. After the campaign gained the support of President Obama, Twitter, and many others, today was the Federal Communications Commission vote on a number of proposals put forward by chairman Tom Wheeler.
It is a victory for Net Neutrality and a great step towards ensuring that the internet remain open and free from controls by companies or government. The policy states, among other things, that ISPs may not charge for prioritization of web traffic. The vote was far from being a landslide. Two Republicans opposed to the policy changes kept the result to a 3-2 vote in favor of the proposals.
Google cheapens Android Play Store -- sells top app search spots to highest bidder
Not everything has to be monetized. In business, the goal is profits, true, but that is not the sole reason for existence. The money is earned by the hard work of employees, and relationships built with customers. If you have no customers, you have no profits -- never forget that. If a company takes advantage of customer trust and the overall relationship, the customers may become fatigued to the practices.
This brings us to Google. It is a company that is near and dear to our hearts. The world is a better place because of the search giant and its offerings. With that said, the company and its founders have become wealthy thanks to its customers. Those customers give Google access to their lives in exchange for free Gmail, Maps and more -- it is a contract between both parties. Today, Google crosses a line, creating fatigue by inserting ads into Play Store search results. It is a straw on our collective backs.
Emailage fights fraud with email address scoring
Email is the most common form of digital ID, used to login to websites, complete transactions and more besides. This means that over time each email address develops its own unique reputation and digital life based on its past behavior and actions online.
Phoenix-based startup company Emailage has used this to develop a risk scoring system for email addresses which will help companies to reduce the risk of fraudulent transactions. Emailage has successfully flagged over 2 million transactions as risky in the past year alone, amounting to $150 million it's saved customers. The company has now received $3.8 million in venture capital funding to further develop its product.
Agile versus waterfall development: The case for agile
Agility and flexibility are top of mind when it comes to delivering IT projects. With that being the case, the traditional waterfall development approach, which requires each step of a project to be completed before the IT team can move onto the next, seems a bit outdated.
Enter the agile development technique. This iterative development method should be the go-to today. It's based on collaboration and continuous development, and differs from the waterfall approach in that it can be characterized as being adaptive rather then predictive. Essentially, with agile, the requirements gathering, development and testing happen concurrently versus consecutively. Let’s take a closer look at why this development method makes more sense for most businesses today. And then, we’ll briefly examine a newer method -- DevOps -- which, too, is becoming more common. Regarding agile:
Patent trolls beware -- EFF to testify before Congress
While the phrase "patent troll" is not technically correct, it has become synonymous with a business model that is almost universally loathed. Companies that are created as a front and used to buy up patents and then extort, for lack of a better word, money from smaller businesses -- typically ones they feel they can push around for an easy and quick profit. Unfortunately the tactic works in many cases as those facing litigation can't afford to fight and end up settling to save money.
This practice has brought about a cry for reform of the patent system, which many feel is irrevocably broken. Now Congress is listening and today the Electronic Frontier Foundation will take center stage to plead its side of the argument.
Cloud-hosted script library simplifies web development
Developers often find themselves repeatedly going over the same ground when it comes to adding functionality like forms or product pages.
California-based Cloudward is aiming to make life easier for web app developers with the launch of Cloud Snippets. These are cloud-hosted scripts, powered by Google Cloud Services, that allow anyone to instantly add forms, surveys, landing pages, ecommerce product listings, and more using the simplicity of Google Docs, Sheets, and Drive.
Corel VideoStudio X8 adds Freeze Frame effect, NewBlue pack
Corel Corporation has unveiled VideoStudio Pro X8 ($79.99) and VideoStudio Ultimate X8 ($99.99), the latest versions of its versatile consumer video editor.
Both editions add a new Freeze Frame effect (just select a frame and set the duration), while the bundled NewBlue Video Essentials II brings 10 plugins, including Chroma Key, Lens Correction, Picture-in-Picture and Vignette.
Pivot or Divot: How a first time founder learns to navigate the realities of running a startup
Starting a tech business in today’s rapidly evolving landscape presents a real challenge: how do you conceptualize an idea, develop it, and push it to market before the idea becomes obsolete in the face of new technology?
Firepype was first conceptualized in 2011 -- eons ago by tech standards. Amazingly, there is still no other product that offers automated media distribution the same way this does. The basic prototype came together pretty quickly for the first client, in a matter of weeks. Then it became time to refine the idea into an elegant, marketable package, and the forward momentum slowed to a crawl as I searched for the right team to help turn my vision into a reality.
New tool simplifies translating apps into different languages
Developers put a lot of time and resources into the technical aspects of their apps. But when it comes to selling them in other markets there's often little left for localization.
Now OHT-Mobile, part of One Hour Translation, has a solution with the launch of Lingui, a low-cost way to localize apps quickly without the need for extra manpower, complicated processes or even the requirement to send updates to the App Store or Google Play.
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