Next Lock Screen is an Android lock screen "built for busy professionals".

That sounds very familiar, but what’s a little more unusual is that Next is from Microsoft Garage, an "idea factory" where employees work on whatever "wild ideas" they like.

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When the LinkedIn network for professionals launched it was sometimes referred to as social networking for grown ups. But is it really any better than Facebook for business users?

The UK's Brighton School of Business and Management has produced an infographic comparing the relative merits of the two sites and it shows that Facebook may be getting overlooked as a business tool.

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Well folks, 2014 is almost in the books, and we will soon be in 2015. Outside of tech, the world has been rather crazy; there have been tragic deaths, natural disasters and further division among US citizens. Sadly, the tech world got pulled into the major news with various hacking scandals -- Home Depot customer information was breached, Sony Pictures was brought to its knees and Hollywood celebrities had their naked photos leaked. In other words, there have been many negative things in both tech and non-tech news.

Luckily, not all is bad; the tech community has seen many great devices and software released too. As is customary for late-December, many tech-writers, such as yours truly, begin compiling lists of the best tech of the year. Well, "best" is subjective, I realize that, so instead, I am offering my favorite tech of 2014. Maybe your list is different; my colleague's lists are. Variety is the spice of life however, so please tell me if you agree or disagree with my choices.

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If you have a habit of lying on Facebook, you’re only storing up problems for yourself, a new piece of research has concluded.

The new poll has pinned some numbers on a fairly obvious truth, and specifically, found that lying about how great your life is on the social network could induce paranoia and actual memory problems.

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DAYU Technology has released DAYU Disk Master 2.5, a major update for its all-in-one hard drive management suite.

The free-for-personal-use build now includes file-based, as well as image backups.

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What new wearable devices will be unveiled in 2015? As I write, developers and designers are hunkered down building the next generation of gadgets. It’s an exciting time with the wearables market still at its infancy, yet poised for tremendous growth -- with the value expected to hit $12.6 billion by 2018 according to Business Insider. The big question is: which devices and apps will have staying power?

We’ve seen a slew of wearables launched over the past 18 months promising to transform how we live. From smart watches to smart glasses, the development game is on to see just how intelligent these devices can be.

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New Year's Eve is almost here! Woop Woop! Are you excited for the partying? Me neither. Not only am I socially awkward, but I don't drink alcohol either, making me quite the boring party guest. Sadly, my usual date for the evening, Dick Clark, is dead. In lieu of Dick, I must make do with watching Ryan Seacrest or Kathy Lee and Hoda, while eating a shrimp ring, pizza bagels, crackers and a can of spray cheese.

But wait; maybe I can have some real fun after all. According to Microsoft, you have a party in your pants pocket with Windows Phone! You see, the company today announces a collection of apps, "The Holiday Parties Collection", to enhance your New Year's Eve celebration. Will you be kissing a Lumia at midnight?

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Considering the very rocky start Microsoft’s slate got off to after it launched in 2012 (middling reviews, a $900 million charge relating to Surface RT inventory adjustments when no one bought it, etc.), you can’t blame Microsoft for being a bit boastful now that it’s finally getting things right with Surface Pro 3.

So when Microsoft releases a video called 'Accolades -- Surface Pro 3' you’d expect it to be filled with, well, accolades for the Surface Pro 3. But instead of a video offering up quality trumpet blowing, we get the equivalent of someone tooting on a kazoo.

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When your working life involves being bombarded with information about new technology it's easy to become a bit blasé about it all. For something to really impress therefore it has to be pretty good or fill a niche that others have missed.

You've already read Alan and Wayne's picks for the year, so here are some of the things that ticked the right boxes for me in 2014.

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So what technological marvels can we expect to see next year?

We spoke to Mark O’Neill, VP of innovation at Axway, about his predictions for 2015, which include Bring Your Own Internet of Things, B2B in the cloud, and connected vehicles.

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There is a lot of tension in America currently, between citizens and the police. Sure, this is not a new concept; police violence and the distrust of officers has a history, whether misplaced or not. There are bad people in all facets of life, including in the police force, but I want to believe that the great majority of the officers are good. In other words, I respect the police and want them to make it home safe to their families every night.

Unfortunately, the recent deaths of unarmed citizens, regardless of race, has opened up old wounds, and police distrust is on the rise. President Obama called for body-worn cameras to curb violence, and it is not a terrible idea. There are pros and cons to all things you see, and while body-worn cameras can be abused, they should not be dismissed entirely. With that said, 75 percent of Americans are fearful of these videos being misused, including leaks to YouTube and social media.

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The Cloud world is evolving fast, furiously gaining greater momentum as we go into 2015 and leaving legacy/on premise systems light years behind. Cloud has the ability to transform the way organizations work, but with any change comes a time of adjustment and the process of cloud adoption comes with its own set of challenges.

Questions about expected service levels, support contracts and technical flexibility are just some of the issues keeping IT leaders awake at night. So, what solutions can we expect to see sprinting to the rescue in 2015? What are our predictions?

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In March a new exhibition opened at the US National Archives in Washington DC. On display you could find, among other things, Adolf Hitler’s marriage certificate, witnessed by Goebbels, a greeting card from Saddam Hussein to George Bush, and a patent application from Michael Jackson for floor-lock shoes that allow the wearer to lean forward without falling over.

The exhibition called ‘Making Their Mark’ aimed to show how the story of the world can be told through signatures. In the months leading up to the opening, while the US archivists were busy trawling through the millions of documents available to them, a very different look at signatures was taking place across the Atlantic.

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My colleague Alan Buckingham has already listed his favorite tech of the past year, and now it’s my turn. I’ve taken all sorts of new products for a spin over the past 12 months, so narrowing the selection down is actually pretty tricky. Apple disappointed me a little this year -- as the owner of an iPhone 5s I needed a big reason to upgrade to the iPhone 6, and a larger screen and Apple Pay wasn’t it. The iPhone 6 is an excellent phone, but I think I’ll hang on to the 5s for another year. Similarly, the iPad Air 2 just wasn’t different enough for me to consider that either. Thinner is a feature, not a benefit for me.

But fortunately, there was plenty of other new tech around that I did love, and here’s my top selection, in no particular order.

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In theory, it should be easy. A quick drag and drop starts the process of copying a folder tree from one location to another, and all you have to do is watch as Explorer transfers each file.

Normally this works just fine, too -- but there can be problems. In particular, if the destination path plus the file name is longer than 255 characters then you’re likely to see an error message suggesting you "shorten the file name and try again". (And if you think that’s unhelpful, it could be worse: in some situations the copy operation fails without generating any message at all.)

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