Better understanding of software usage helps drive monetization
In order to make better decisions concerning their products, software developers need to know not just whether an app is being used but also which features are most used and whether that use is increasing or declining.
Flexera is releasing its Monetization Monitor: Usage Management & Insights report which seeks to understand how usage data can be used to improve products.
.NET Core 3.0 is a huge leap forward
Microsoft has made lots of changes to .NET Core over the years, bringing tons of features over from its more mature and feature-rich sibling, .NET Framework. Still, the feature gap remained quite large for certain scenarios, leaving many developers waiting and wanting for more to be swayed away.
With .NET Core 3.0, which officially arrived this week, Microsoft may just win their hearts and minds once and for all.
Driver Booster 7 expands database to over 3,500,000 devices, doubles scan speed
IObit has released Driver Booster 7.0.2, a major new release of its free and paid-for driver updater tool for Windows PCs.
Highlights of this new release include support for over 3,500,000 drivers, twice the scanning speed of previous versions, a silent mode feature and an enhanced toolbox that promises fixes for a wider range of driver-related issues such as sound, networking and low-resolution problems.
Audials One 2020 stream recording suite promises 'ground-breaking recording quality and speed'
Audials AG has released Audials One 2020, a major new version of its comprehensive stream capture suite. The suite brings together all the tools available separately in three other products: Audials Music 2020 (music and audiobook recording), Audials Movie 2020 (video streams) and Audials Radio 2020 (intelligent radio recording).
The 2020 version comes with the promise of significantly faster recording times for music and audiobooks, the ability to save recordings in the lossless FLAC format, and tools to quickly locate and download music listed on a website streaming service.
Ashampoo releases Backup 14 with fuss-free cloud support
Although we understand backing up our data is essential, finding the right backup tool isn’t easy at all. Many are just too complicated, designed to offer every possible option to suit advanced users. Problem is, most people who need a backup tool just need to get things backed up, swiftly.
You could turn to the cloud yourself, and simply use the storage to keep your files secure, but this isn’t the right solution if you want a backup of your system drive. If you suffer from a ransomware attack or a system meltdown, you’d still need to go through the slow process of re-installing Windows and your applications. With this in mind, we recommend making a system backup rather than individual files and folders.
Microsoft wants to close down Wunderlist -- so the creator offers to buy it back
It is now more than four years since Microsoft bought popular to-do list app Wunderlist, and the company now wants to shut it down. This is perhaps not entirely surprising as it has its own To-Do app, but the creator of Wunderlist is not happy.
The founder of the app, Christian Reber, used Twitter to appeal to Microsoft to sell Wunderlist back to him to save it from being shuttered.
Microsoft releases the first PowerToys utilities for Windows 10 -- FancyZones and Shortcut Guide
It has been a little while since news broke that Microsoft was bringing back PowerToys for Windows 10 but four months down the line the company has kept its word.
Microsoft has just released the first preview of PowerToys, and you can download two new utilities right now. Kicking things off are FancyZones, a window manager which greatly enhances window snapping for improved productivity, and Shortcut Guide, which uses a screen overlay to reveal the keyboard shortcuts you can use at any given time. Sadly, however, there is no TweakUI for Windows 10.
Geekbench 5 arrives, offers new CPU and GPU benchmarks
Primate Labs has announced the release of Geekbench 5.0 for desktop, Android (later this week) and iOS. Geekbench 5 makes huge changes to the way it benchmarks your CPU and GPU, as well as going 64-bit and Windows 10 only.
Other changes include a brand new Dark Mode (confusingly, currently macOS only with iOS 13 to follow, but not for Windows 10) and a 50 percent launch sale if you were considering upgrading.
Acronis True Image 2020 adds dual-protection backups, promises 50% backup speed boost
Acronis has launched Acronis True Image 2020 for Windows and Mac, a major new release of its popular local and cloud backup tool.
True Image 2020 debuts its dual-protection feature to allow local backups to be automatically replicated in the cloud. Other new features include a new notifications center, greater control over key aspects of the program and the promise of backups that are "at least 50 percent faster" than the previous release.
Parallels Desktop 15 ramps up graphics performance with Apple Metal support, unveils new integration features
Parallels IP Holdings GmbH has released Parallels Desktop 15.0, the latest major update of its popular Mac virtualization tool.
Parallels Desktop 15 adds support for the forthcoming MacOS Catalina (10.15) release, plus taps into the Apple Metal framework in macOS 10.14 or later to deliver major graphics improvements alongside other performance tweaks and a smattering of new integration features.
Software producers need more flexible licensing models in order to compete
Once upon a time you bought a license for a piece of software and you could, essentially, run it forever. While much of the market has now shifted to subscription models, 65 percent of producers are still offering perpetual licenses, while 74 percent utilize subscription models for some or all of their products.
A new report from Flexera, which looks at changing licensing and deployment models, finds that when software producers are asked how they will change their monetization models over the next 18 months, both usage and subscription models will see the strongest increases.
O&O BrowserPrivacy will securely wipe your browsing history
Browse the internet and you’ll build up an offline database of all the sites you’ve visited, the type of products that interest you and your hobbies and interests. Ads targeting these interests will track you across various websites.
Most modern web browsers can block trackers and enable you to delve into your browsing history and quickly delete the information from your devices. But, has it really been deleted? Any computer expert would be able to retrieve some of this data if necessary.
New solution uses backup data to find vulnerabilities
Finding and addressing vulnerabilities is a major headache for businesses, left unattended they can lead to cyberattacks and data breaches.
Data management company Cohesity is looking to make detection easier with a new application that uses backup data to assess the vulnerabilities, or risk posture, of an enterprise's IT environment.
Flexera helps businesses tackle vulnerabilities more quickly
In the modern world it's vital for businesses to know what software they have, and where vulnerabilities lie. Flexera already assists IT and security teams to do this with its Software Vulnerability Manager, and it's now launching new modules to help address threats.
It's produced two new modules for SVM. The first of these is the Vendor Patch Module, which allows organizations to take advantage of insights and mitigate them more quickly, by using comprehensive patch coverage -- with more than 1,000 out-of-the-box patches. Additionally, the Vendor Patch Module delivers details to help companies more easily create over 1,000 additional patches.
Kaspersky launches its 2020 range with traffic encryption and scanning speed improvements
We see people purchase new security software and are often asked "how do I remove the old version?" which we find utterly perplexing.
To be clear, there’s really no such thing as a '2019' or '2020' of any security software as you always have the latest version as part of any paid subscription. You’re not using year-old outdated security to protect your devices. What a new release does is enable the company to make an announcement and, in turn, websites such as BetaNews to write about the new features. It’s really as simple as that.
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