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Backup, protect and migrate your data with Acronis True Image 2014

Publié: janvier 13, 2014, 6:41pm CET par Nick Peers

The start of a new year is always a good time to review your computing habits. If you’ve not yet done so, make sure 2014 is the year you finally implement a long overdue backup plan for your PC with the help of our current favorite backup tool, Acronis True Image 2014.

Not only does True Image contain all the tools you need for backup and recovery, you can use it to clone your hard drive when upgrading to a new model or (if you buy the Premium version) even transfer an entire Windows installation from one PC to another.

Why back up your data? First, data recovery is a hit-and-miss exercise -- if you’re lucky, you’ll be able to recover some or all of your data, but that assumes it’s still recoverable and that the hard drive itself is in good working order. Second, if you can’t recover important files on your own you’ll need to invest in software or a data recovery service, which can run into hundreds of dollars.

Oh, and finally, data recovery is both time consuming and knuckle-clenching: why put yourself through all that stress when by implementing a backup plan now you can save time, hassle and money in the long run?

If you are going to take backup seriously, then Acronis True Image 2014 is a really good choice, particularly with our special offers that can see you save up to 30 percent on the MSRP, making it even more exceptional value.

Acronis True Image 2014 combines both image-based and file-based backup within a single program. File-based backup lets you choose individual files and folders to protect, while image-based backups let you take exact copies of all your hard drives and partitions, both for fail-safe and disaster-recovery purposes.

Take a drive image for example and if your hard drive suddenly fails, or your Windows installation becomes corrupt, you can easily get things up and running again without having to go through the whole reinstall palaver.

You’ll find all the tools you need under Acronis’ Backup and recovery tab. You can store your backups on a local drive or even save them securely to the cloud via Acronis’ own cloud storage platform. It’s all very simple to follow, and by default Acronis’ will start updating your backups automatically, so they don’t become outdated as time moves on.

Take the time to click the Create bootable media button -- this lets you create a rescue CD, DVD or USB flash that lets you restore your backups even if you can’t boot into Windows or access the Acronis Startup Recovery Manager (press [F11] during boot time to access this rescue environment).

Also, once you’ve taken a drive image, right-click it and choose Validate to make sure the backup isn’t itself corrupt.

Beyond Backups

With these backups in place, you’re covered, but Acronis True Image 2014 lets you go further. Want to upgrade to a larger or faster hard drive? Switch to the Tools and utilities tab and click Clone disk to migrate everything across. You can let the tool automatically resize your partitions to fit the new drive or manually specify their new sizes yourself.

You’ll also find a selection of file-shredding and drive cleaning tools here, plus a clever Try&Decide mode that lets you experiment with risky operations, providing you with the means to apply or undo them should you decide the changes aren’t what you envisaged.

There’s a Synchronization tab that lets you sync data between PCs using Acronis’ cloud storage platform, and if you upgrade to the Premium edition of the software you’ll find one handier tool.

Here’s the scenario: you’ve just purchased a new PC. Ordinarily you’d have to set everything up by hand: transfer data, reinstall programs, and reapply favorite settings. However, Acronis True Image 2014 Premium boasts a feature called "Universal Restore" that lets you back up your existing setup, then restore it on your new computer.

It works like this: take a complete drive image of your computer to an external drive before switching to your new computer. Now either boot from the recovery media or install Acronis 2014 Premium on your new PC. Either way, opt to recover using "Universal Restore" (look for the checkbox) then follow the prompts to transfer across to your new PC.

Get It For Less

Acronis True Image 2014 is available now as a free trial download for Windows XP or later. We’ve got time-limited special offers on two editions of the software that will expire at the end of the January.

If you want the full package -- including the Universal Restore feature -- then opt for Acronis True Image 2014 Premium. We’re offering this package for just $55.95 (£41.95/A$69.99), that’s a discount of 30 percent on the MSRP.

If you don’t need the extra features, then Acronis True Image 2014 can be yours for just $34.99 (£21.95/A$39.99) instead -- again, that’s a saving of 30 percent on the MSRP. And finally, if you’re already a True Image user, then why not upgrade to the latest version for just $24.99 (£19.95/A$36.99), a saving of 17 percent instead?

All these great deals are available through the Downloadcrew Software Store, but remember, they’re only available until the end of January, so hurry!
View, convert and save web maps with Terra Incognita

Publié: janvier 13, 2014, 6:33pm CET par Mike Williams

You need to quickly check a map? It’s never been easier. Launch the relevant app -- or just open a browser on any device -- and you’ll have all the information you need, within seconds.

Maybe your needs are a little more complex, though? Perhaps you want to compare maps from different providers; convert them from one format to another; add tracks, or waypoints? Then you may get better results from the open source Terra Incognita.

At its simplest, you can use the program as an easy way to access maps from various online sources: Google, Bing, OpenStreetMap, TuttoCita, Bergfex and many others. Just choose the provider, map type (hybrid, satellite, street or terrain maps for Google, say) and you’re ready to go.

Navigation is easy. You’re able to jump directly to a maps.google link, a particular latitude/ longitude or GPS position, and there are the usual controls to help find your way around (click and drag to pan across a map, left-click to zoom in, right-click to zoom out).

If you’re not happy with one map source or type, for whatever reason, then just choose another. Switch from Google’s satellite view to OpenStreeMap’s Cycle Map, say, and the new view quickly opens at the same position and zoom level.

Terra Incognita can also load tracks, waypoints and routes in assorted formats: Google’s kml/ kmz, OziExplorer’s plt/ wpt, GPS eXchange format (gpx), geocaching loc files, and more.

And once you’ve finished, the program is able to save the results (the entire map or a selected area) as a calibrated map file in OziExplorer, Kmz, JNX, GPSdash, TomTom, TrekBuddy and other formats.

There’s nothing too surprising here, and of course the most convenient way to access maps will still be via an app on your phone. But if you need a little more, particularly the ability to easily switch between maps from different providers, then Terra Incognita is well worth its tiny (495KB) download.
Best social apps for your Windows Phone

Publié: janvier 13, 2014, 4:46pm CET par Mihaita Bamburic

Mobile devices have completely transformed the way we connect with others. We can chat from anywhere these days, assuming there is an Internet connection available. What was once primarily aimed at browsers and traditional PCs has since fully embraced mobile computing, or vanished. There are also new, mobile-friendly apps and services that leverage features offered by smart devices to offer more personal and private ways to reach friends, family, coworkers and other folks.

For social butterflies Windows Phone has quite a lot to offer. The tiled smartphone operating system neatly integrates with popular services like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, allowing users to easily post updates from within their Me tile, see what others are doing and respond to their activity on said social networks in the People hub. But there are also dedicated apps available in Store that offer more, and we are going to take a look at the best of them in this article.

For Facebook

The best known Facebook app for Windows Phone is not developed by the popular social network but Microsoft. However, it is as official as it gets and offers most of the features that are available in the Facebook-developed offerings for Android and iOS. And, obviously, it is free unlike some other similar titles that have reached the Store.

Microsoft is constantly working to improve its Facebook app, as it sees frequent updates for both Windows Phone 7 and Windows Phone 8. For daring users there is also a Facebook Beta app available, also developed by Microsoft, which provides early access to features that will make their way to the official version later down the road. The latter is the one I use on my Nokia Lumia 920, and the one I recommend as it is stable and reliable based on my experience.

For Instagram

As I kicked off this round up with Facebook, it makes sense to continue with Instagram. The popular photo and video-sharing social network has released an official Windows Phone 8 app late last year, but I do not recommend it. The offering lacks major features, like video-recording and support for Instagram Direct messages, and feels like an afterthought when compared to the first-rate Android and iOS counterparts.

What I do recommend, wholeheartedly, is 6tag. This third-party app is developed by Rudy Huyn and offers everything you can expect and want, and more, from an Instagram app on Windows Phone. It has a nice interface, theme support, options to reshare posts (called regram), disable video autoplayback and hide sponsored posts, integration with other popular social networks (for sharing Instagram activity) and other useful features. The app is available as a free download.

For Twitter

There are many third-party Twitter clients available in the Store, but the one I recommend is the official one because it is free, quite good and can deliver immediate notifications. Twitter has received a number of major updates last year which brings it on near-parity levels with its Android and iOS counterparts. It even ships with theme support, which is a nice addition. What it does not offer, and I wish it did, is the option to view images directly in the feed, without tapping on the tweet.

For Vine

When it comes to the Twitter-created Vine there are two good app options: the official offering called Vine and the third-party client 6sec, developed by the same Rudy Huyn responsible for 6tag. Here is what separates the two apps.

First of all, Vine has the advantage of being an official client which means that the experience is similar to what you get using its Android and iOS siblings. But it also lacks several features, namely multiple account support and an option to disable autoplayback for vines. The said features are included in 6tag, as is theme support. My recommendation is to use 6sec, as it is likely that it will get new features faster than Vine, and better support from its developer. Both apps are free to download; 6sec however needs an in-app purchase to unlock unlimited vine uploads.

For LinkedIn

LinkedIn is officially available for Windows Phone. The app has received a number of updates which make the experience passable for connecting with other people. Users can view and save jobs that are recommended for them, view news posted in the feed, follow companies, use the groups feature, edit their profile (and see who viewed it) and add more contacts by scanning the address book. The app is free.

For Google+

Sadly, Windows Phone is not the right platform for die-hard Google+ users. There is no official app available, and the unofficial ones you may find are mediocre at best since the search giant does little (well, nothing) to encourage the development of third-party clients (there is no API available for Google+).

Still, if you want to use Google+ on Windows Phone you should give Google+ a try. It works, is free and has a decent rating (these are the best things it has got going for it). Until an official app is launched, it may be your best option.

For Snapchat

Snapchat has yet to release an official Windows Phone app, and I would not hold my breath on it arriving anytime soon either. But, luckily, Rudy Huyn has, again, stepped up to the challenge, and created a good Snapchat client for the tiled smartphone OS called 6snap (in case you are wondering, not every app Huyn develops starts with a "6").

The app sees frequent updates, with the latest available version offering everything you can expect, even from an official Snapchat client. The offering implements new security measures (introduced by Snapchat following its latest data leak), options to use either camera to take snaps, share the results with fellow Snapchat users, and other features like managing the privacy of your account and lens support. The app is free to download.

For Foursquare

Like other official apps available on Windows Phone, the experience has only gotten better for the Foursquare app. It is frequently updated with new features, offers suggestions for places to visit, shows where your friends are checking in, provides directions, tips, option to save locations to "to-do" lists, reliable notifications and so on. I use it without any issues. The app is free.

For Flickr

The official Flickr app may have been a decent choice when it was last updated, in December 2012, but now there are far better third-party clients available in Store, that also happen to fully support Window Phone 8 (unlike the former). One of the most popular unofficial offerings is Flickr Central.

If you have a Flickr account chances are you want to take advantage of the free 1 TB of cloud storage to upload your pics and videos. Unlike other unofficial clients, Flickr Central gets this right by leveraging the option to use automatic uploads, a feature that is built-into Windows Phone 8. This makes using Flickr a very pleasant experience on the tiled smartphone OS.

Flickr Central also comes with Group support, lovely live tiles, themes, option to view comments and other nice features. Best of all, the app is frequently updated, free and without any pesky ads.

For Pinterest

When it comes to Pinterest, Windows Phone users have to rely on third-party apps as an official one has yet to make an appearance. Luckily, there is no shortage of unofficial offerings in Store, with Pinsation being one of the best and most popular choices.

The app leverages the Pinterest API, which makes it "faster" than competing unofficial clients according to developer Daniel Gary, and allows users to pin favorite boards, searches, categories and fellow users to the Windows Phone homescreen, as well as photo sharing to the social network. Best of all, the app is free.

For Tumblr

Tumblr officially arrived for Windows Phone 8 in the first half of 2013, and has since received a couple of minor updates (the latest one dates back to September of last year). The app offers the usual suspects -- finding and following "the things you love", sharing content (pics, videos, words), exploring what's happening on Tumblr, lockscreen and live tile support and GIF playback. The app is, as you might expect, free.

For Reddit

The most popular and well-received Reddit client for Windows Phone is Baconit. And for a good reason. The app is nicely designed, integrates well with Windows Phone features (like pinning, live tiles and fast resume), includes in-depth Reddit feature support (subreddits, message inbox, posting, editing and deleting of posts and comments, and others), multiple user accounts, theme support and synchronization of visited links between browsers and the mobile app. The app is free, but there is also a donate version available which costs $1.99.

If you want more eye-candy you can try Readit. This client has received more recent updates compared to Baconit, and also offers a good feature set. The app goes for $1.99, but there is a trial available to test it before paying.

For Messaging

Windows Phone may not get an official, dedicated Facebook Messenger app like Android and iOS, but the Store officially has ChatON, GroupMe, hike, KakaoTalk, Kik Messenger, Line, Nimbuzz, Skype, Viber, Voxer, WeChat, Whatsapp and WeChat on tap, as far as popular messaging apps go. The best options remain the official offerings and, like with the social networks you use, the best one for you is a matter of personal preference.

What's Coming "Soon"

There are other, social-enabled apps which are slated for a Windows Phone release. The biggest names to "soon" arrive on the platform are Flipboard and Path. Of course, when either of the two will actually launch (both were announced to arrive in the second half of 2013) is anyone's guess.

What are your favorite social apps for Windows Phone?

Photo Credit: Alexander Kirch/Shutterstock
Dropbox talks about its weekend outage, says data is safe

Publié: janvier 13, 2014, 3:27pm CET par Alan Buckingham

Over this past weekend Dropbox went down, and thanks to all of the recent news about companies being hacked, the worst was feared. But those unconfirmed reports have proven to be false, as the cloud storage service has set the record straight.

The real truth behind the incident turns out to be much more mundane. In fact, it was simply a scheduled maintenance that went wrong. "On Friday at 5:30 PM PT, we had a planned maintenance scheduled to upgrade the OS on some of our machines. During this process, the upgrade script checks to make sure there is no active data on the machine before installing the new OS. A subtle bug in the script caused the command to reinstall a small number of active machines. Unfortunately, some master-slave pairs were impacted which resulted in the site going down".

In the time since the incident occurred, service has been fully restored. In fact, most of the service was back up and running a mere three hours after the incident. However, some users continued to experience issues throughout the weekend. Dropbox now claims that these too have been ironed out.

"Your files were always safe, and despite some reports, no hacking or DDOS attack was involved", the company promises. This time is was simply a case of system error, or perhaps human error.

Image Credit: Stokkete / Shutterstock
New Oracle Retail Suite aims to improve the shopping experience

Publié: janvier 13, 2014, 2:47pm CET par Ian Barker

The internet has changed the way we shop. Even if you don't buy online you’re likely to check prices before hitting the stores or use click and collect services to ensure what you want is in stock.

With its latest Retail Suite Oracle allows retailers to respond to these trends and remove the boundaries between the different supply channels.

New features and functionality in Oracle Retail version 14 make it easier for customers to buy items no matter where the stock is located. Store-level inventory can be made visible online, plus there's real-time inventory look up for items in other stores along with support for orders and take-with items in the same transaction. Customers can buy and pick up items from any channel. There's also support for returning purchases regardless of the channel they were bought from.

It makes life easier for developers too with rich APIs and the ability to accommodate modular development over an evolving mix of systems.

The new release offers enhanced support for mobile devices. It can help store staff with mobile point of sale devices, tablets and assisted promotions. Retail Suite also ensures better visibility of promotions and can drive in-store merchandising and dashboards.

"In the global retail industry we have seen a shift of capital from building and refurbishing stores to digital commerce and creating new and differentiated customer interactions. Retailers are focused on enabling the whole retail enterprise to deliver commerce anywhere," says Mike Webster, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Oracle Retail.

Oracle Retail can be implemented as a complete suite or in modular form, making it scalable for different sizes of business. Oracle has sought to simplify development in order to maximize return on investment and help lower cost of ownership. An improved dashboard system means retailers can quickly identify transaction volumes, average response times, and errors to help ensure critical systems are operating at maximum efficiency.

You can find out more about Oracle Retail 14 on the company's website.

Photo Credit: Pressmaster / Shutterstock
Run Windows 8 or 8.1 directly from a USB drive on any computer -- for free

Publié: janvier 13, 2014, 2:17pm CET par Wayne Williams

The Enterprise edition of Windows 8.x has a feature called Windows To Go that lets you create a working version of Microsoft's tiled operating system on a USB memory stick. You can boot into this and be instantly up and running in the new OS from any computer. Which is great -- provided you have the Enterprise edition of the OS and a "certified" USB drive. If you only have the standard version of Windows 8.x then the option isn't available to you.

But there is a very easy way you can build a personalized and bootable copy of Windows 8 or 8.1 on a USB drive, for use anywhere. All you need is a USB 3.0 device with at least 13GB capacity (it will run on a USB 2.0 memory stick, but slowly), a copy of Windows 8.x (either an installation disc or an ISO -- you can get the Windows 8.1 ISO by following these instructions but you will need a Windows 8.1 key), and a free partitioning program. Here's what you need to do.

Firstly download AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard Edition (formerly Home Edition). If you have a Windows 8 or 8.1 installation disc insert it into your DVD drive. If you have an ISO file mount it as a virtual drive using a tool like ImDisk (or similar) or you can burn it to disc -- the choice is yours. The program can't create the bootable USB operating system from an unmounted image unfortunately.

Plug the USB drive into your PC. Run AOMEI Partition Assistant and click the Windows To Go Creator link on the left hand side.

Make sure the correct USB drive is selected (any content on the drive will be wiped during the creation process so this is a vital step), and click Browse. Partition Assistant should identify the Windows 8 installation file it needs (named install.wim) but you can browse for the file manually if it doesn't for some reason. You’ll find it in the \sources folder.

Click Proceed. The creation process will start. Remember, any existing data on the drive will be overwritten so make sure you've backed it up. Depending on the type (and quality) of the USB drive, you might be waiting for a couple of hours or even longer for everything to complete so just leave it to get on with things.

When the task is completed, you can boot into the OS from any computer. The first time you run it you'll be prompted to enter your Windows key and will then need to set up Windows as you would any new installation.

Although it will work like any Windows install, the portable version has some restrictions -- Windows Store isn't available in Windows to Go workspaces, for example.

Photo Credit: Ingvar Bjork/Shutterstock
oCam is a very configurable screen recorder

Publié: janvier 13, 2014, 2:12pm CET par Mike Williams

Screen recorders are great for creating tutorials, saving streaming videos and otherwise recording your desktop activities. There are plenty to choose from, each with their own advantages, but if you’re new to the technology then oCam could be a very good way to start.

After a simple installation (just look out for the option to change your browser homepage, and clear that checkbox), the program launches with a floating, re-sizable frame, and a toolbar. At its simplest you can manually reposition the frame to whatever area you’d like to record, then click Capture to grab a single image, or Record to begin recording a desktop video (clicking the button again to stop). Clicking Open then opens the Explorer folder containing your captures, ready for review.

Having to manually choose the capture area may not always be convenient, of course, so oCam provides several other options. You can set the frame to a fixed size, for example (640×480, 800×800, 1024×768 and so on), the full screen, or have it capture a particular application window.

OCam offers considerable control over its videos, too. You’re able to set its target frames per second, keyframe rate, audio and video bitrate, the audio device to capture, export format (MPEG1/2/4, FLV, MOV, TS, VOB, XVID, OpenDIVX, AVI) and more.

Captured images can be saved as JPG, BMP, GIF and PNG, in the output folder of your choice, and you’re able to set hotkeys to launch the capture and recording processes.

What you can’t do, unfortunately, is minimize oCam to the system tray; it’s not a big deal, but we would have liked the option to get it out of our way, just occasionally.

There are no post-processing options here, either. You can’t set a template for your capture file names, send them to the printer, upload them to Facebook or anything else.

The program’s core functionality worked very well, though: oCam popped up when we asked, placed minimal demands on our system, and reliably recorded both images and desktop video. Give it a try.
Samsung Galaxy Note 3 starts to receive the Android 4.4.2 KitKat update

Publié: janvier 13, 2014, 12:25pm CET par Mihaita Bamburic

South Korean maker Samsung is now rolling out the Android 4.4.2 KitKat update for its Galaxy Note 3 phablet. The software upgrade arrives more than two months after Google announced the latest version of its mobile operating system.

The code that Samsung is rolling out now is identical to the version that leaked earlier, and is available for the international (SM-9005) model of the Galaxy Note 3. Unsurprisingly, the first stage of the roll out commences in Poland.

The changes include under-the-hood tweaks, white status bar icons, a shortcut to the camera app on the lockscreen (the image at the top of the post shows the older, Android 4.3 Jelly Bean build) and tweaks to the built-in keyboard.

The update can be installed using the Samsung companion app KIES, and should also reach devices over-the-air in the coming days or weeks. As usual, it might take longer for users of carrier-branded Galaxy Note 3s to officially experience the latest version of Android. There is no word yet concerning the availability of the update for the Exynos-equipped model (SM-9000).
Consumer mobile apps won’t make you money

Publié: janvier 13, 2014, 11:43am CET par Ian Barker

If you're looking to the earnings from your innovative mobile app to keep you in your retirement, you may need to think again.

A new report by Gartner predicts that through 2018 fewer than one percent of consumer mobile apps will be considered a financial success.

"The vast number of mobile apps may imply that mobile is a new revenue stream that will bring riches to many," says Ken Dulaney, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner. "However, our analysis shows that most mobile applications are not generating profits and that many mobile apps are not designed to generate revenue, but rather are used to build brand recognition and product awareness or are just for fun. Application designers who do not recognize this may find profits elusive".

With millions of developers and hundreds of development platforms Dulaney describes the mobile app market as "hyperactive." Also the number of good free apps available sets the bar high when it comes to expecting consumers to pay for something.

Gartner forecasts that by 2017 94.5 percent of downloads will be for free apps. Dulaney adds, "Furthermore, of paid applications, about 90 percent are downloaded less than 500 times per day and make less than $1,250 a day. This is only going to get worse in the future when there will be even greater competition, especially in successful markets".

Other cheery predictions in Gartner's report are that by 2016 some 20 percent of BYOD deployments will fail due to businesses having overly restrictive device management policies. It also sees employees becoming increasingly aware that IT organizations may be able to access their personal devices and demanding more separation between business and personal applications.

The browser is predicted to be more commonly used as an application delivery system too, with HTML 5 and complex JavaScript applications. This will allow developers to offer platform-neutral products but Gartner identifies risks like performance and fragmentation. It warns that developers need to be aware of vendors trying to lock them into platform-specific browser features too.

Dulaney says, "Although more than 100 'platform independent' development tools exist, most involve technical or commercial compromises, such as lock-in to relatively niche technologies and small vendors. This will drive increasing interest in HTML5 as a somewhat-standardized, widely available, platform-neutral delivery technology".

The full report Gartner Predicts 2014 is available from the company’s website.

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