Shazam! Rdio deepens its partnership with music ID service
Rdio is already partnered with Shazam, the app that allows you to identify that song you're hearing and are dying to know -- on the radio or TV, it can’t help with the one stuck in your head. That app hasn’t been invented yet, but I personally hope it is soon.
Now Rdio announces it has expanded the partnership beyond previous bounds. Until now users of Shazam could add songs they discovered to a Rdio playlist. Now customers of the app will be able to add any song to that list.
Microsoft promises not to read user emails again
After repeatedly bashing Google for going through its user's personal messages in the whole "Don't Get Scroogled by Gmail" campaign, Microsoft went one step beyond automatically scanning messages for keywords in order to serve up adverts, which Google does, and actually read a user’s private email, which Google doesn’t (as far as we know anyway).
Microsoft felt its actions were justified -- it was trying to prove a blogger had leaked pre-release Windows builds -- but users were rightly concerned that Microsoft had shown it was willing and able to read their personal emails should it choose to. The statement the company issued in light of the concern over its practices was hardly reassuring, and suggested Microsoft would do it again should the need arise. Today, Brad Smith, General Counsel & Executive Vice President, Legal & Corporate Affairs, Microsoft, has posted a follow up blog that essentially says Microsoft made a mistake and will be making changes to ensure reading customer emails in this way won't happen again.
Create interface mockups in minutes with Pencil
It’s no secret that interface design is difficult. Very, very difficult. Even the biggest and best companies regularly make big mistakes.
There are ways to improve your chance of success, though -- and you could start by creating a prototype of your app, program or website in the open source Pencil.
Opera Next 21 sports hardware-accelerated Aura shell, promises more responsive UI
Opera has moved version 21 of its web browser for Windows and Mac from the Developer (alpha) stream to the Next (beta) stream with the release of Opera Next 21. Most of the changes are system ones, designed to improve performance, but some other interesting tweaks have been implemented.
The move to the Next stream is part of the browser’s rapid-release development cycle, which brought Opera into line with rival browsers Chrome and Firefox.
Search and replace text in multiple files at the same time
Most editors make it easy to replace text in the current document. Searching across multiple documents can be more challenging. And if you often need to replace text across a large number of files, perhaps of various formats, then it’s probably wise to call in some specialist help.
Multiple Search and Replace is a powerful free tool which can search multiple files -- plain text, PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, archives and more -- for the text you specify, then optionally replace it.
Black Entertainment Television launches BET NOW mobile app for Android and iOS
When it comes to mobile media apps, there is no shortage of available content. It is simply overwhelming to choose between the various music and video services, such as Netflix, Beats Music, and Hulu Plus, to name a few. However, more choice is always a good thing, as it can cause a competition that ultimately helps consumers with lower prices.
One network that has been lacking a representation in the mobile app landscape is BET -- Black Entertainment Television. While the network self-proclaims to focus on African-American audiences, people of any color or nationality can enjoy it. Today, the network launches the BET NOW app for iOS and Android.
Best Windows 8 apps this week
Seventy-four in a series. Several Windows 8 applications have received important updates this week that increase their functionality significantly.
The official Music application by Microsoft for instance filters out music automatically that you cannot play when you are not connected to the Internet.
UK set to make ripping your CDs and DVDs legal
Although you weren't ever likely to be the subject of a dawn raid from the Sweeney for doing it, until now it has been illegal under UK copyright law to make copies of digital media.
From this summer though the government is changing the current legislation so that you'll be able to transfer music to your MP3 player or make backup copies of your movies without any risk of getting your collar felt.
Beware of third-party Google-branded Windows Phone apps
The official launch of major Google apps on Windows Phone would qualify as the biggest news of the week, next to the release of Office for iPads. Such an event seems highly unlikely, as the search giant is focusing its mobile development efforts on the more popular platforms, namely Android and iOS.
Imagine my surprise when, only moments earlier, in group chat my colleague Alan Buckingham mentions these five Google apps, that seem legit at first glance: Hangouts, Voice, Maps, Search and Google+. They are now available in the US Windows Phone Store. Did the search giant just have a change of heart? The answer appears to be negative, as, first-off, Google does not sell such apps for $1.99 a pop, it makes them available for free. But, what is so special about them anyway? It is not like these are the only third-party Google apps in Store.
Best iOS apps this week
Twelfth in a series. Microsoft rolled out Office for iPad this week, and it's excellent. Like Apple iWork, it's not a single app but rather three individual apps for Word, Excel and PowerPoint (an updated OneNote is available too). You need an Office 365 subscription to get the most out of it, as without one you can only view documents.
Other featured apps this week include a modern remake of Little Big Adventure (a classic game from the nineties), a touch typing tutor, a drawing app for children, a sweeping and rather too addictive Game of Thrones RPG, a Captain America tie-in, and a group text messaging app.
HTML to PDF Tools: a different kind of PDF converter
There are lots of HTML to PDF conversion tools around, and most work in the same way: they’ll process the HTML code, convert it into an image, and save this as a series of JPEGs in the finished PDF.
This works, but the results are basic, image quality will be lost, and there can be various other problems (you might have to install a virtual printer driver, there could be dependencies on other software).
Office Mobile free on Android, iPhone is a clever bait
Microsoft made Office Mobile available for free since launch, on both Android and iOS. But, in order to take advantage of its features, users had to tie the app to an Office 365 subscription. So it was free, but not void of additional costs.
Yesterday, Microsoft launched Office for iPad and announced a subscription is now no longer necessary to get the best out of Office Mobile, which was just updated on both platforms to reflect this decision. While this only applies to home users -- which means a subscription is still needed for non-personal (commercial) use -- it is certainly a welcome change. But, it also means Windows Phone just lost one of its most important advantages over its main rivals.
Mark Zuckerberg details Facebook’s plans to deliver internet to everyone
Internet is a basic human right, or so the United Nations tells us. To that end, companies like Google are testing such solutions as balloons to bring access to remote locations, while others are using alternative measures, such as satellites.
Facebook is going a bit further, apparently. An announcement from Mark Zuckerberg made me check my calendar to be double sure it wasn’t April 1st. The CEO details the experimental work being done by the company’s Connectivity Lab. "Today, we're sharing some details of the work Facebook's Connectivity Lab is doing to build drones, satellites and lasers to deliver the internet to everyone", Zuckerberg states in a Facebook post.
Maintaining IT security is getting harder -- and it's your fault
Keeping systems secure is more difficult than it was a year ago and this is partly down to human error. So says a new study by security awareness company KnowBe4.
The rise of ransomware, the adoption of BYOD, and rapid changes in technology all make it harder for enterprises to guard against threats both inside and outside the organization.
Anvi Smart Defender sees a major revamp
Anvisoft has announced the availability of Anvi Smart Defender 2.0, a major reworking of its lightweight security tool.
A completely redesigned interface sees the old cluttered screens replaced by a simpler, cleaner look. Key functions are accessed via large, flat buttons, surplus options are stripped away, and the end result does feel notably easier to use.
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