The most popular stories on BetaNews this past week: May 11 -- May 17
The past week was one dominated by privacy and security related stories. A court ruling in Oracle's favor means that the company is able to claim copyright protection for APIs subsequently used by Google in Android. The long term effects of the ruling are yet to be understood, but they could certainly be far-reaching. Privacy hit the headlines again as SanDisk works on a self-encrypting SSD, and Google was told that users can request that information about them be removed from search results -- of course it didn't take long for the requests to start rolling in.
New research shows that there has been an increase in online suspicion, indicated by a huge increase in the levels of encryption used. The UK government approved the use of Samsung KNOX devices which could help to allay fears about BYOD. Google announced GAME -- Google Apps Message Encryption -- to provide end-to-end encryption for email outside of the Gmail ecosystem.
Google Hangouts hanging out with Microsoft Outlook
Google's Gmail is a formidable email service, offering many features. Sadly, the UI is a bit poor and the overall feeling is amateurish. Many true professionals access email using the gold standard -- Outlook. While Microsoft's email software sometimes feels a bit bloated, that is probably because it is chock-full of useful things. Other than email, it is a dream for calendars, task-tracking and overall life organization.
With that said, whether I am on Windows or Mac, I always am sure to install Office so I can setup my email accounts with Outlook -- including Gmail. Unfortunately, by using Outlook rather than the Gmail web interface, I lose out on some goodies, such as starting a Hangout. Well, today this changes, as Google announces Hangouts and Outlook are hanging out with each other.
Images2PDF converts your digital images to PDF files
Images2PDF is a simple tool for saving your chosen digital images to a PDF file. Yes, you’re right, there are plenty of ways to do this already, but the program has one or two touches which help it stand out from the crowd.
Images2PDF is a lightweight 1.66MB download, for instance, and there really isn’t anything more (this isn’t one of those tools which comes bundled with Ghostscript). It’s adware-free, too, always a plus with this type of application.
What are the best free Adobe Creative Cloud alternatives?
Adobe Creative Cloud went down for 24 hours earlier, which means that creative brains around the world were desperately struggling to complete jobs that require the comprehensive suite of services.
The good news is that there are plenty of free alternatives professionals can use to get by and below is an extensive rundown of each product.
Linux Mint 17 Cinnamon 'Qiana' reaches RC status -- download it now!
Linux Mint is a curious operating system. As great as it is, it is based on Ubuntu, which means Mint is always playing catch-up. This isn't necessarily bad for people who want stability, but for the bleeding-edgers, it can be a pain-point. In other words, the moment Ubuntu 14.04 was released, some Mint users began begging for an update. The Mint team can't really get going until Canonical releases its update first.
Keeping up with the Joneses aside, Linux Mint is a wonderful operating system -- particularly the Cinnamon variant. It is stable, pretty and easy to use. Today, the Mint team announces that version 17 of the OS reaches RC status.
Amazon UK celebrates 20 years of Oasis with Definitely Maybe tribute
Where would music be today without Rock 'n' Roll Star or Supersonic? If you are of a certain age, then you likely remember the debut of the classic Oasis album titled Definitely Maybe. It was a landmark moment that introduced Liam, Noel and their colleagues to the world.
Things have been on a bit of a rollercoaster since then, but today marks 20 years since that album hit stores.
Best Windows 8 apps this week
Eighty-first in a series. Welcome to this week's overview of the best new applications and games for Windows 8. Microsoft released a Windows Store update earlier this week that introduces several new or improved features.
Among the new features are an always visible toolbar at the top, collections, and additional information displayed next to apps on listing pages.
Best iOS apps this week
Nineteenth in a series. iTunes was updated to version 11.2 this week. As my colleague Brian Fagioli reports, it's not the most exciting release with most changes relating to improvements to podcasts. It also fixes an annoying issue whereby iTunes could become unresponsive when updating Genius.
New and updated releases this week include an iOS port of classic indie PC game Thomas Was Alone, the official app of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, a social network app that wants to be like a party, an arcade shooter, and a new app from FourSquare. RockMyRun has been updated too, and can now automatically adjust the speed of the music you're listening to so it matches how fast (or slow) you're running. There's a great travel app featured this week too.
Microsoft openly offered cloud data to the NSA
Microsoft’s cooperation with the NSA and FBI on the controversial Prism program has been laid bare in a new book written by an American journalist who brought it to public attention in the first place.
Glenn Greenwald, the American journalist who worked extensively with Edward Snowden, wrote in a new book that Microsoft’s cloud services allowed the National Security Agency [NSA] to collect data from a range of its different cloud options.
Going after market share, Axosoft makes its bug-tracker virtually free
Cost is often a powerful driver in the battle for market domination. Expensive products while, arguably, extremely capable for the money, may account for a smaller piece of the pie as opposed to free, powerful alternatives which often take the lion's share. For buyers, especially those with tight budgets, diminishing spendings to maximize profits comes naturally, so they tend to favor the latter. The way to go, to capture more market share, is not to compete on the same pricing level, but to make things cheaper so they appeal to more potential customers.
This is the path that Arizona-based software company Axosoft has taken with its bug tracker. Previously costing $70 per user per year, it can now be purchased for a mere $1 per year, no matter the number of users. It is basically free. "We know, it's pretty hard to believe, but we've decided to go after market share which is why we are doing this", says Axosoft CEO Hamid Shojaee.
6.4 million UK adults have never been on the Internet
Just 13 percent of the UK’s population has never used the Internet before as the amount fell below the seven million.
Figures released by the Office for National Statistics as part of its Internet Access Quarterly Update explained that in Q1 2014 6.4 million adults are still yet to use the Internet, which is a drop of 659,000 since Q1 2013
Sony unveils Cyber-shot DSC RX100 III with EVF, fast zoom in tow
For quite a lot of people taking a photograph simply means pointing the camera at the subject followed by a quick press of the shutter button to take the picture. It is a concept best known as point and shoot, due to the simplicity of the actions. There are lots of cameras that cater to the needs of this audience, ranging from cheap devices that can be found in supermarkets (the I-need-a-camera-right-away type) to high-end compacts. The main difference between the two extremes is image quality (build quality, support and others are also better in the latter).
Sony's RX100 is renowned as one of the best high-end compact camera lines, appreciated even by some professionals (the RAW format support being one of the main reasons why). The latest member in the family, the new Cyber-shot DSC RX100 III, takes things further by adding an electronic viewfinder (EVF) and a fast zoom lens (F1.8 at its widest end -- 24 mm equivalent -- to F2.8 on the short telephoto side -- 70 mm equivalent), compared to its older brethren.
Mixed messages from the personal and entry level storage market
In the first quarter of 2014 the worldwide market for personal and entry-level storage declined by 6.9 percent, according to IDC's storage tracker.
It's not all bad news though, the entry-level segment which targets mainly home office and small business users experienced 14 percent growth compared to the same quarter last year.
Google already receiving 'right to be forgotten' link removal requests
A ruling by the EU Court of Justice earlier this week has caused considerable controversy, and that's likely to be fueled by the news of the people who have tried to jump on the "right to be forgotten" bandwagon following the judgment.
This whole affair began when a Spanish man noticed that Google search results of his name brought up newspaper articles about the repossession of his house due to debts back in the nineties. He argued that this was old news now, and "irrelevant", and that Google should remove those links from being publicly viewable in its results because they were effectively an infringement of his privacy rights. The EU court agreed.
How to list the contents of a folder in Windows
If you’re troubleshooting a PC problem, maybe trying to help someone else, then it can sometimes be useful to list the files in a folder. Explorer still can’t do this. But, no problem -- you’ve plenty of other options.
File Lister is perhaps as basic a solution as you’ll see. Specify a folder, check "Preserve file structure", click "List Files", and the program displays your folders and files in an indented list.
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