Best Windows apps this week
One-hundred and nineteen in a series. Welcome to this week's overview of the best apps and games released for Windows in the past seven days.
Our app of the week is Smash Cops Heat, an addictive fast paced arcade game in which you chase after criminals with your police car. Other apps and games of note include the promising Cody's App Academy which teaches basic programming concepts to children and the shoot'em up game Raijin Lite.
Clean up Android devices with the (ad) free Droid Optimizer
German developer Ashampoo has been producing PC cleanup tools since 1999, but now it's looking a little further. Droid Optimizer is a one-stop app for cleaning, managing and maintaining just about any Android device (2.3+).
There’s plenty of competition around, but Droid Optimizer scores immediately as it’s free, with no visible ads. The only marketing is a "More apps" button which displays some recommendations, but that’s it: leave the button alone and there’s nothing else.
Order food and find the right hotel using Bing
Microsoft has been very busy lately. Just in the last month, the software giant has adopted an international standard for cloud privacy, released Windows 10 Technical Preview for phones, introduced an Outlook app for mobile devices, updated mobile Office to support its rivals' cloud storage services, and removed all restrictions from its OneNote app. However, Microsoft isn't done, as it just introduced two useful new features in Bing.
Bing is making it easier for users to order food and find the right hotel right from the search results. For restaurants that make deliveries, the search engine will show an Order online button; click it and you'll be taken to an ordering service to receive your favorite dishes at the door.
NSA and GCHQ hacked world's biggest SIM card manufacturer to steal your data
In mid-2013, Edward Snowden revealed that the government-backed agency NSA monitored everything happening on the Internet, including spying on individuals' phone calls, messaging, and emails to glean information and pinpoint suspicious activities in an attempt to stop the growing terrorist acts.
Since the revelations -- which changed everyone's perspective on privacy -- the leaked information from Snowden and acceptance from major technology companies have given us an understanding of how the NSA managed to get our data from the services we heavily rely on. Essentially, either providers agreed to turn over our data or the NSA found another way, a backdoor, to obtain it. But how it manage to tap our phone calls was mostly unclear. Last year, Vodafone did acknowledge that it allowed the NSA to place surveillance tools inside its data centers. But as it turns out, the agency had more ways to log our phone activities.
Uber bringing food delivery to Barcelona
Uber, the taxi-hailing company from Los Angeles, has announced a food delivery service for Barcelona.
The same service is already available in Los Angeles under the name UberFresh, while in Barcelona it’s called UberEats.
Google to launch YouTube Kids for Android
Google is launching a kid-friendly version of YouTube. It's a project we first heard about a few months ago, and now YouTube Kids is about to become reality. But rather than launching as a child-friendly version of the website we've come to know and love, YouTube Kids will start its life as an Android app.
Parents will be pleased at Google's plans, where it will be possible to find carefully selected content that is suitable for a younger audience. Google will be curating videos, but there will be one question that enters the minds of mums and dads around the world: "what if my kid uses 'sex' as a search term".
Top 10 Chinese smartphones
China’s smartphone market is the largest in the world, but some of the country’s major players including Xiaomi and Lenovo have found that, with the domestic market reaching saturation point, they need to look internationally for further growth.
To celebrate the Chinese New Year we’ve taken a look at ten of the best handsets to emerge from the Asian country.
Reporter’s Notebook: Yahoo, IBM, IEEE and me
I haven’t been writing as much lately. This has been for several reasons, some of which may surprise you. It’s true I’ve had to spend a lot of time fending-off attacks from IBM corporate (more on that below) but I’ve mainly been at work on two secret projects. One is a new documentary series for PBS and the other a new technology startup I’m doing with a partner. The PBS series will be announced when PBS decides to announce it but most of the shooting is already done. The startup has taken the traditional VC route and looks, surprisingly, like it will actually be funded. Evidently if your idea is wild enough and your partner is smart enough it’s still possible for an idiot (that would be me) to make it in Silicon Valley. This project, too, will be announced when the money is dry, hopefully in a week or two.
In the meantime I’ve been working on several columns. One of these, about Yahoo, has been especially frustrating. There was a time when companies actually wanted reporters to write about them, but I guess those days are past. I e-mailed Yahoo corporate communications (twice) and have yet to hear back from [email protected]. I called (again twice) the number they give on Yahoo press releases, leaving messages both times but have yet to get a call back from 408-349-4040. For awhile the Yahoo press site was completely down.
Duplicate & Same Files Searcher: not just another duplicate file finder
Unnecessary duplicate files can waste hard drive space and cause all kinds of odd PC issues, which is probably why there are so many programs designed to help you track them down.
Duplicate & Same Files Searcher sounds like it's just going to be yet another "me too" duplicate finder, but no -- there are some interesting differences, and they're obvious from the very beginning.
Docker to host 'Open-source-a-thon' -- proceeds will be used to adopt blue whale
Every summer, I board a charter boat out of Captree State Park in New York to go fishing. Why do I do this? I love to fish and I cannot afford my own boat, so it is a great way to experience the Long Island nautical life for the afternoon (not to mention catch a tasty dinner). It is also a great way to have a technology-free day, leaving the smartphone at home and replacing it with a rod in my hand.
Almost always, however, there is some idiot who does not appreciate nature, that throws his garbage overboard into the waters below. It is depressing to see people not care about the environment. Not to mention, seeing Bud Light cans and food wrappers floating by ruins the picturesque scenery. Today, Docker announces a new 'Open-source-a-thon' where people can learn about both open source and marine life conservation. The best part? Docker will use the proceeds to adopt a blue whale! Any excess proceeds will be given to Oceanic Society to help study and protect our oceans.
Tempus Fugit -- Microsoft cloud storage service OneDrive celebrates its first birthday
Yes, today Microsoft's cloud storage service OneDrive turns one year old, well sort of. Really it has been around since 2007 when it began life as Windows Live Folders, then switching its name to SkyDrive the following year. That was when things began to take off and it has grown ever since, evolving into OneDrive a year ago and adding both features and storage.
Microsoft has been pushing this hard, offering numerous options for free storage, another one announced just earlier today. "We’ve been working hard to make OneDrive the one place for all of your files — including photos, videos, and documents — available across the devices you use every day for work and life", says Microsoft's Omar Shahine.
Dropbox users can get 100GB free bonus storage on OneDrive -- here's how
Earlier today my colleague Mihaita Bamburic explained how to get 100 GB of free OneDrive storage courtesy of Bing Rewards. It’s a great offer, available worldwide, and all you have to do is click a single link to claim your bonus storage.
Of course you can never have too much cloud storage, and the great news is Microsoft is giving away another 100 GB free, this time to Dropbox users (sign up for a free account if you don’t already have one). Make use of both free offers and boom, that’s 200 GB of free additional storage claimed in under five minutes.
Lenovo loads dangerous Superfish adware onto new computers -- this fish stinks
Buying a new Windows computer can be a really fun moment. When you say goodbye to your aging and slow machine, and start fresh with a new model, everything seems faster and peppier. Unfortunately, many manufacturers pre-load unwanted software on these computers, causing headaches and wasted time for the consumer. It can take hours to uninstall all of the stuff you do not want.
Sadly, Lenovo has crossed a line when it comes to this practice. Along with all the the usual added software (bloatware), was a piece of adware called Superfish. From a security standpoint, it could potentially put customer data at risk with man in the middle attacks, which in turn threatens the manufacturer's reputation.
Smartphones just as accurate as wearables for tracking fitness
Fitness trackers have become all the range and over 3 million were sold in the second half of 2014, making up over three quarters of the total wearable sales, but it looks like the benefits of a fitness tracker might be minimal.
That is according to a new study by the University of Pennsylvania, which measured the amount of steps on a treadmill with two smartphones and three wearables.
Choosing a streaming stick -- Chromecast, Roku, or Fire TV? [Review]
My household cut the cord in July 2014; the cable box is gone. In the process, I have been testing various streaming set-tops and sticks, and the latter is today's topic. Google opened up the category with $35 Chromecast in July 2013, and the device gets better with age. Roku Streaming Stick, at $49.99, is priciest choice, while Amazon Fire TV Stick is the $39 in-betweener.
Briefly, before deep diving, Chromecast is easiest to use and offers more commercial programming support. Roku delivers broadest streaming channel selection. Fire TV fits tightly into the broader Amazon Prime ecosystem, while offering satisfying, but incomplete, content options compared to either of the other devices.
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