Yahoo email is like a box of chocolates
You never know who you are going to get.
Yahoo has announced that starting mid-July, it is going to begin recycling email addresses. All Yahoo email addresses that have been inactive for 12 months or longer, will be made available again. Users will be able to stake claims on desired and expired Yahoo email addresses on a first-come, first serve basis. This sounds like a fun thing for Yahoo users who want a shorter or easier email address.
ACLU joins the party, files challenge against the NSA and Verizon
The National Security Administration may prefer to blend into the shadows, but that is a position no longer available to it thanks to the recent PRISM story. Yesterday Mozilla made headlines by launching a campaign against what has been termed a threat to citizens' privacy and security. Google also responded, assuring customers it had nothing to hide and asking for permission to publish information requests it receives.
Now the American Civil Liberties Union has taken the next step, filing against both the NSA and Verizon, the wireless carrier at the center of the scandal. The organization announces that it has filed a constitutional challenge to a surveillance program under which the National Security Agency grabs information about every phone call placed within, from, or to the United States.
Backupify's Migrator lets you easily move data between Google accounts
Migrating data between two Google accounts is not the easiest of tasks -- there's no simple switch that one can flip. Folks have to use various tools provided by the search giant to move a Google+ profile with circles, backup important emails and Drive content or transfer the Voice number and data. Based on my experience, it takes quite a bit of time too.
This makes it especially problematic for business users who wish to seamlessly migrate data from a standard Google account to Google Apps. Backupify wants to address this issue with the latest update for its Migrator tool, released today, which now introduces support for Google to Google Apps (and vice-versa) migrations.
NirSoft’s TurnedOnTimesView reports when a PC was turned on or shut down
It’s only a couple of weeks since NirSoft’s last release, but the unstoppable freeware machine has just announced another addition to its lineup. TurnedOnTimesView is a simple tool for reporting when a PC was turned on, restarted, or shut down.
This has some obvious applications for system monitoring. If you’re wondering whether someone’s been using the family PC in the middle of the night, for instance, TurnedOnTimesView may be able to tell you more.
Shifting software to the cloud could slash energy use
If all US companies were to move their core systems from in-house servers to the cloud the amount of energy used could be reduced by up to 87 percent a new report claims.
The research carried out by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory finds that if all the email, CRM and productivity software in the US were running in the cloud it would save 326 petajoules of energy. Just in case you were wondering a petajoule is around 278 gigawatt hours or the amount of energy you get from burning 34,121 tonnes of coal.
Telerik rolls out new developer tools for touch devices and more
Telerik, a company that specializes in development tools and solutions for building cross-platform and mobile applications, today announces the latest evolution of Telerik DevCraft, delivering what it claims is better and faster development of .NET apps for modern devices.
Citing recent research by analyst firm Canalys, Telerik says Microsoft's market share for mobile adoption is forecast to grow from 2.4 percent in 2012 to 12.7 percent in 2017, and its new toolset has been prepared to take advantage of that market growth. The toolset is for both XAML and HTML and is built to provide .NET and HTML5 developers with an array of tools to deliver modern, clean mobile applications, including Calendar, Image and Tile controls.
Nokia Lumia 925 lands at Vodafone UK
Following the smartphone's German launch on Monday, the Lumia 925 arrived in the UK today courtesy of local mobile operator Vodafone. The carrier offers the handset in an exclusive 32 GB storage trim with no upfront cost alongside two-year agreements starting at £34 per month.
In order to get the Lumia 925 for free local Vodafone subscribers have to go with either a Red L or Red XL plan. Both contracts offer unlimited minutes and texts. The former goes for £34 per month and also includes 2 GB of mobile data while the latter runs for £39 per month and adds 4 GB of cellular traffic.
Xbox One angers hardcore gamers, gives PS4 a head start
The gaming market isn’t what it used to be. With smartphones and tablets able to play high quality single and multiplayer titles, the casual gamer really has no need for a dedicated gaming console. Both Sony and Microsoft knew this when dreaming up their next generation consoles and took strategic decisions to keep them in the game (pun intended).
After the Xbox One reveal it was clear that Microsoft’s focus is now on casual and non-gamers. The whole presentation was a pitch for an all-in-one entertainment system rather than a traditional gaming console.
Samsung unveils the Galaxy S4 zoom -- Android smartphone meets huge camera
If you thought the Galaxy S4 lineup could not grow any bigger you would be wrong. South Korean manufacturer Samsung announced, on Wednesday, the fourth member in its upscale smartphone family -- the Galaxy S4 zoom. The handset differentiates itself from the pack by offering a whopping 16 MP back-facing camera with 10x optical zoom. Yes, it's rather large and heavy because of it.
"As communication continues to become increasingly visual in nature, people wish to capture and share their moments in the highest quality possible, but often do not have the space or inclination to carry a dedicated camera for this purpose", says Samsung CEO JK Shin. "The Galaxy S4 zoom changes this forever, combining the industry leading functionality and connectivity of the Galaxy S4 with the high quality photographic experience you’d expect from a compact camera. The result is truly the best of both worlds, without compromise". Surely, the "without compromise" part sounds too good to be true.
Norton warns of summer festival smartphone risks
A new survey by Symantec reveals that people are more and more reliant on their smartphones at concerts, events and music festivals. But as usage of phones increases so do the security risks.
According to the research when people are out at live events phones are now more common than lighters (only 7 percent carry those anymore) and cameras (42 percent). This has led to the rise of some new phenomena such as "phone hogging" where audience members hold phones above their heads to take photos and video. Some 51 percent send texts or make calls to brag about the show and 38 percent take to social media to do the same.
ESET releases new betas for NOD32 Antivirus and Smart Security
ESET has unveiled the first public betas of its NOD32 Antivirus 7 and Smart Security 7 products.
The Smart Security suite now includes a Vulnerability Shield to better protect your PC from known network issues, while its Anti-Theft service gains the ability to track what’s happening on your stolen hardware via regular screen captures.
Bing adds 100,000 DVD’s worth of bird’s eye imagery
Though personal data has been a big news item recently, mapping is still a business and getting a satellite view of locations is, after all, rather a cool thing. With that in mind, Bing continues to go head-to-head against Google in this market, and today announces a new round of updates.
"We are excited to announce a number of updates to Bing Maps, including the largest shipment of Bird’s Eye imagery yet, nearly 270 terabytes of data or the equivalent of 100,000 DVD’s, along with expanded venue maps and our new 'Report a problem' feature", Bing announces.
Google wants you to know it has nothing to hide
Google was one of numerous tech companies implicated in last week’s PRISM scandal, and despite issuing a carefully worded denial, many people still believe the search giant provides the NSA with unfettered access to its servers.
Unhappy with the situation, Google has written a letter to the offices of the Attorney General and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, asking them to give the company permission to publish in its transparency reports at least some information about the FISA national security requests it receives. This will prove, Google hopes, that it complies with legal requests, but no more.
WordWeb 7 offers a universal dictionary, thesaurus, and spellchecker
UK-based WordWeb Software has released WordWeb Free 7.0, a major new version of its universal spellchecker and thesaurus tool for English-speaking Windows users. When running, users can look up definitions for words as well as alternatives such as synonyms from any application by holding the [Ctrl] key as they right-click the word in question.
Version 7.0 offers new and revised definitions and related words, along with updated audio pronunciations. One-click integration with other programs has also been improved, along with support for 64-bit systems and Windows 8.
AV Audio Editor lets you easily tweak and convert your music files
What makes a good audio editor? Many developers seem to think it’s all down to the length of the feature list, and so they’ll try to cram in just as much functionality as they possibly can. That can have its appeal, too, but there’s often a usability price to pay.
AV Audio Editor takes a very different approach. Its feature list is fairly basic, just the usual cut, copy and paste options, along with a few effects (volume tweaks, an equalizer and so on). But that’s still more than enough for many situations, and the real plus here is that AV Audio Editor takes these basics and implements them very well indeed.
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