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BetaNews.Com (13 non lus)

Do Not Track is bolstered by EFF's Privacy Badger extension

Publié: juillet 21, 2014, 11:40pm CEST par Mark Wilson

Online security and privacy are hotter topics than ever. Just this weekend, Edward Snowden made an appearance at the Hope X 2014 hacker event, and called for those in attendance to help make encryption tools easier to use. Another fierce advocate of online privacy is the EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation), and today the group released a beta version of Privacy Badger, a beautifully named extension for Chrome and Firefox designed to stop a number of tracking techniques used online. The idea of tracking cookies is something that will be familiar to most, but tracking takes many forms, including advertising and social media. Privacy Badger aims to block this tracking.

Peter Eckersley, EFF Technology Projects Director, said: "Widgets that say 'Like this page on Facebook' or 'Tweet this' often allow those companies to see what webpages you are visiting, even if you never click the widget's button. The Privacy Badger alpha would detect that, and block those widgets outright. But now Privacy Badger's beta version has gotten smarter: it can block the tracking while still giving you the option to see and click on those buttons if you so choose".

The beta release follows an alpha version which was unleashed three months ago. So far, an estimated 150,000 people have installed the extension and the latest version introduces a feature that offers further protection and social widgets. But rather than just blocking 'Like' and 'Tweet this' buttons, Privacy Badger actually replaces them with benign yet functional versions -- so you can still 'like' an article you have read, but now you can do so without revealing more about your online reading habits.

EFF is a supporter of Do Not Track and in many regards Privacy Badger can be seen as an extension of this. "Users who install Privacy Badger aren't just getting more privacy and a better browsing experience for themselves -- they are providing incentives for improved privacy practices and respect for Do Not Track choices across the Internet", said Eckersely. With many companies choosing to ignore Do Not Track requests, this extension provides a way to send a clear message to guilty parties.

Grab the extension from the EFF website.

Ferrari beats Mercedes at the German Grand Prix -- in the battle of the F1 team websites at least

Publié: juillet 21, 2014, 9:25pm CEST par Wayne Williams

Sports fans are increasingly demanding a multi-channel experience, wanting all the news and all the facts on multiple devices. Website owners can’t afford to ignore this, as creating a superior user experience to that offered by rivals can mean a competitive advantage in terms of user happiness and, ultimately, website traffic.

Mobile, cloud and web performance specialist Keynote believes that not enough sites consider online performance during high-profile sporting events, and so decided to monitor and compare the performance of 11 popular Formula One constructor team web pages -- including Caterham, Ferrari, Force India, Lotus, Marussia, McLaren, Mercedes, Red Bull, Sauber, STR and Williams -- during the German Grand Prix (19-20 July). The results make for interesting reading.

Keynote tracked how performance in the race impacted the responsiveness of the website, and ranked pages in terms of average time to load and the availability of the page.

The company found that the Mercedes' constructor homepage dealt well with the attention it is likely to have received following Lewis Hamilton’s crash and Nico Rosberg’s win -- it loaded quicker than the overall average, at 4.77 seconds. Red Bull, on the other hand, was the slowest site to load overall, at 8.8 seconds. Williams, Force India and STR also experienced slowly loading web pages, at 7.23 seconds, 7.33 seconds and 8.25 seconds respectively. In terms of average load success rate, only three out of the 11 sites loaded successfully 100 percent of the time, which were Ferrari, McLaren and Sauber.

"It’s great to see that the Mercedes’ constructor web page performed well during the German Grand Prix, especially given that attention is likely to have been high, as Rosberg was competing at his home track," says Thomas Gronbach, digital quality expert at Keynote. "By contrast, we would recommend that the site owners of the constructor web pages that were slow to load -- particularly Red Bull, Williams, Force India and STR -- better prepare their sites to ensure fans receive the best possible experience. They can do this by monitoring and testing sites more rigorously, to weed out any problems that are likely to be slowing sites down, especially when the pressure comes from interested fans".

The full results were are follows:

Measurement	Performance (seconds)	Availability (percent)
F1 - Caterham	4.75	99.93
F1 - Ferrari	4.41	100
F1 - Force India	7.33	99.72
F1 - Lotus	3.25	99.93
F1 - Marussia	2.94	99.93
F1 - McLaren	5.39	100
F1 - Mercedes	4.77	99.86
F1 - Red Bull	8.8	99.65
F1 - Sauber	5.02	100
F1 - STR	8.25	99.65
F1 - Williams	7.23	99.59

Microsoft announces Bing Offers Card-Linked -- enter to win $100

Publié: juillet 21, 2014, 6:57pm CEST par Brian Fagioli

Google is a great search engine, but so is Bing. Many people dismiss Microsoft's offering without even trying it. This is a shame, as people do not know what they are missing. While its search-results are relevant and appropriate, there is so much more. Google is simplistic in its design, but Microsoft creates a world of color, images and discovery to bring life to the overall experience. There are benefits to both design choices and it is a personal preference, but I prefer beauty over a white page with a Google logo.

Besides all of those benefits of Bing, one of my favorites is Rewards. Essentially, Microsoft will pay you to use its search engine. Is it bribery? Sort of, I suppose. However, if you are searching anyway, why not take advantage of it? In addition to Rewards, Microsoft has Bing Offers, which lists special deals for Bing users (sort of like Groupon). Today, Microsoft announces that it is expanding Bing Offers beyond the web with a new program called Bing Offers Card-Linked -- uninspired name, but cool concept.

"Life is complicated. Saving should be simple. With Bing Offers new discount program, Card-Linked, you can ditch the traditional fuss of coupons and pre-paid deals. Card-Linked simplifies saving by turning your favorite credit or debit card(s) into your member discount card. Use your registered card(s) to make qualifying purchases at participating local businesses and save", says The Bing Offers Team.

The team further explains, "when you register for Card-Linked you're linking your credit or debit card(s) to a world of saving. Each time you make a qualifying purchase, we automatically credit your card with the discount. That means no more coupons to remember and no more awkward bargaining. Simply pay with your registered card, and the discount is delivered as a credit within 3 to 5 business days".

Before you get too excited, please know that this free program is, like Rewards, a USA only affair -- limited to Boston, Phoenix and Seattle. Hopefully, Microsoft will expand it to more cities if it proves successful. I am sure many people would love to get rewards for shopping.

What is really cool is that Microsoft is giving a chance to win a $100 gift card in conjunction with this announcement. Even if you are not interested in Card-Linked, you can enter the Summer Saver Sweepstakes on Facebook, by clicking here.

Will you enroll your credit and debit cards in Bing Offers Card-Linked? Tell me in the comments.

Photo credit: Dima Sobko / Shutterstock
Need to take control of your Android mobile's files? Tomi File Manager is just the ticket

Publié: juillet 21, 2014, 6:53pm CEST par Nick Peers

Ever struggled to find a particular file on your Android mobile? Wish you could exert more control over your photos and other media, or uninstall more than one app at once? You need a file manager, and not just any file manager, but Tomi File Manager 1.4.2 at that.

Tomi File Manager packs in lots of useful features, works with both internal and external storage and is far more than a simple tool for viewing files -- plus, it’s free.

Once fired up, Tomi File Manager provides you with a nifty pie chart of your amalgamated storage, color-coded for file type and offering handy shortcuts to key files, including media, apps, docs and downloads.

Tap one for a context-sensitive view of its content: select Music and you can browse by songs, album, artist or year, for example, while videos are displayed sorted by date into timeline view.

Tap an item to open or play it using an appropriate app -- in the case of documents, you can view PDFs and Microsoft Office files within the app itself.

Multiple items can be selected at once using tick boxes for performing bulk operations, such as copying, deleting, sharing, moving, renaming and even compressing. In the case of apps, you can uninstall multiple apps in one go. Downloads can be managed more effectively through Tomi too, with options for creating personal folders as well as backing up API files.

And if that’s not enough, tap Directory to select a storage device or use a crumbs-based tool to go right to any folder on your phone or tablet. Some handy features include being able to hide sensitive folders and files, or put favourite folders directly on your home screen. And if you’ve rooted your device, Tomi makes it easy to change file permissions, owner and group, edit the host file and go further.

At the end of the day, if you want a file manager app for your Android device, this is the one to try first. Tomi File Manager 1.4.2 is a free download for Android phones and tablets running Android 3.0 or later.
Paragon Rescue Kit adds virtual disk support

Publié: juillet 21, 2014, 6:49pm CEST par Mike Williams

Paragon Technologies has released Paragon Rescue Kit 14, its free-for-personal-use disaster recovery environment.

The program creates bootable recovery media based on Windows PE, or, new to this version, SuSE 12.3. The second adds support for migrating a Windows system to a different hardware platform, including 64-bit setups using UEFI.

Boot from the WinPE version and you’ll find a revamped Windows 8-style interface. It’s not what we’d call imaginative, but the system does look good and is easy to use.

The headline new feature is support for backing up to virtual disks. You’re now able to back up your system to Paragon’s optimized pVHD format, and restore the backup later. Or if you prefer something more standard, there’s also support for VMDK, VHD and VHDX files.

The other tools remain much as before. Undelete Partition recovers accidentally deleted partitions; Boot Corrector fixes common boot problems with the MBR, partition table, boot files and EFI boot entries, while Password Cleaner resets a forgotten password.

Registry Editor is particularly useful, enabling you to tweak corrupted settings which might be causing your problems.

While the Rescue Kit is free, you must register it to receive your product key and serial number. There’s nothing unusual here -- just hand over your email address -- but the media builder does ask you to enter the license details every time you run it, which might be a little annoying.

Another small complication is that the Windows and Linux environments vary a little in their functionality: Windows has wider hardware support, but Linux has more features. Check out the manual (1.87MB PDF) for more.

Despite this, Paragon Rescue Kit 14 is a very capable collection of troubleshooting tools. Go grab a copy, build your own recovery environment, and you’ll be ready for (almost) anything.
79 percent of companies have blamed network problems on the wrong IT group

Publié: juillet 21, 2014, 5:23pm CEST par Ian Barker

With today's increasingly complex network environments it's often hard to pinpoint the exact cause of problems. According to a new survey by network specialist Emulex this often leads to incorrect reporting to management.

The study of 547 US and European-based network and security operations professionals found that 45 percent of IT staff monitor network and application performance manually, instead of implementing network monitoring tools.

This has resulted in 77 percent of those surveyed having reported information to their management teams that turned out to be wrong. 79 percent admitted to attributing the cause of network events to the wrong IT group.

A staggering 87 percent found that they'd had to report the cause of a network event without having the information to be completely accurate. Also 73 percent of those surveyed said that they had currently unresolved network events.

This is against a background of increasing security events with 81 percent saying they'd experienced some sort of breach in the past year, and more demands for mobility with 84 percent having implemented BYOD over the last 12 months.

Yet 26 percent of European respondents said they have no plans to monitor their network for performance issues related to BYOD. When added to the fact that 45 percent of organizations are manually monitoring the performance of their networks, Emulex says the growing amount of mobile device-generated traffic is on pace to overwhelm enterprise networks.

"IT is facing new challenges related to the growing use of software-defined networking, virtualization and higher performing networks, as well as increasingly more sophisticated attacks on company IT assets," says Shaun Walsh, senior vice president of marketing at Emulex. "The clear message from this survey is that one of the best tools for SecOps and NetOps professionals to have at their disposal is 100 percent network visibility that is tied to their detection management systems and it’s the combination of proactive management and the ability to do forensic analysis that will give these IT professionals the right tools to maximize application delivery, protect their corporate assets and avoid the IT blame game".

The full study is available on the Emulex site and there's a summary of the findings in infographic form below.

Image Credit: zwola fasola/Shutterstock
Lenovo continues to dominate Chinese and Indian PC markets

Publié: juillet 21, 2014, 4:42pm CEST par Ian Barker

We're constantly being told that the PC market is in terminal decline, but sales figures from different parts of the world continue to defy the predictions.

The latest figures from market intelligence provider IDC for the Asia/Pacific region show a two percent rise over last quarter and a total market for the second quarter of 2014 at 24.3 million units, slightly up on predictions.

Various factors have had an influence on these figures. Uncertainty surrounding Thailand’s coup resulted in a steep decline as sales channels were reluctant to take new shipments. On the other hand shipments to a large education project in India came in earlier than expected, boosting figures by around 100,000 units.

"The ongoing economic slowness in the emerging markets sets the tone of the overall PC demand and inhibited the region's year-on-year growth", says Handoko Andi, Research Manager for Client Devices Research at IDC Asia/Pacific. "There are pockets of optimism coming from mature markets like Australia and New Zealand, Singapore, and Hong Kong, where smartphones and tablets near saturation. However, the region's growth has been adversely impacted with the rise of large-screen smartphones in China and most ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) countries”.

Looked at by manufacturer, world market leader Lenovo retains its top spot here on 26.6 percent of the Asia/Pacific market, thanks to a strong second quarter following the Chinese New Year and a back-to-school campaign boosting its sales in India.

Dell holds second spot on 10.5 percent and showed strong growth in India and Thailand due to a new focus on the consumer sector. HP is just behind in third place but Acer has overtaken ASUS for fourth spot thanks to its strong entry-level product range.

For more information on IDCs market tracking you can visit the company's webpage.

Image Credit: Kheng Guan Toh / Shutterstock
Libratone network speakers now boast Spotify Connect

Publié: juillet 21, 2014, 3:43pm CEST par Alan Buckingham

Still procrastinating about installing a whole house audio system? The choices continue to grow, and one of the best known is Libratone, a Scandinavian company that brings a unique design to its networked speakers.

Now the manufacturer has paired with music streaming service Spotify, bringing the Connect functionality to the platform. This service provides customers with streaming options to speakers all around your home -- provided they are connected to your Wi-Fi network.

Spotify describes Libratone as "Their network speakers use acoustic-filtering organic wool to fill any room with good vibrations. And they now feature Spotify Connect. Look out for the update on Libratone's iOS/Android app to upgrade the firmware and get one of these beauties playing all your favourite Spotify tunes".

Whole home audio setups do not come particularly cheap, with Sonos leading the way, and Libratone will not sooth your wallet any either. Prices range up from $399, but if you are looking for a quality system that puts design and audio clarity at the forefront, then this may be an option you'll want to investigate.
QuickPivot provides real-time customer intelligence

Publié: juillet 21, 2014, 3:06pm CEST par Ian Barker

The holy grail of marketing is to be able to understand what your customers want and then to adapt your communications accordingly to make them more effective.

Achieving this of course isn't easy so companies are always on the lookout for ways to learn more about their customers. Boston-Based QuickPivot (formerly called Extraprise) is launching a new marketing platform to allow marketers in any industry to derive customer insight, listen to brand interactions and then adapt campaigns with highly optimized messages and offers.

QuickPivot CEO Michael Shanker says, "Instead of operating at the traditional 'speed of marketing,' B2B and B2C organizations that leverage our newest offerings are able to market at the right speed of the customer -- combining technology, insight, creative, channel mix and operational agility, to make every touch count at any point in the customer journey".

The product supports a wide range of devices and channels such as email, mobile, web, social and print, all of them in real time. So it allows cross-channel marketing, database segmentation to provide answers fast, and accurate reporting of campaign effectiveness. It's cloud-based too so teams can access it from anywhere they need to.

In addition, QuickPivot has many years of experience in providing marketing technology and services for some of the world’s largest B2B and B2C brands. The company will combine its platform with a complete range of database, analytical and reporting services. This will let users optimize and measure campaign effectiveness in real time at every stage of the process across campaigns, channels and geographical regions.

You can find out more about QuickPivot and how it works on the company's website.

Photo Credit: Arkady/Shutterstock
Microsoft looking to end bugs in software by monitoring developers

Publié: juillet 21, 2014, 1:51pm CEST par Wayne Williams

Modern programs are so complex that bugs are pretty much unavoidable, but Microsoft is looking at ways of reducing coding errors as much as possible, including trialling an experimental approach that involves monitoring developers as they work.

The idea is to track eye movements and other mental and physical characteristics of the developers, in order to spot when their alertness levels drop or they are struggling with a task -- which is when errors are most likely to creep into their work.

Microsoft researcher Andrew Begel co-authored a paper called Using Psy cho-Physiological Measures to Assess Task Difficulty in Software Development which details this novel approach.

"My idea is that if the software developers are writing the code and causing the bugs, we should measure attributes of the developers themselves," Begal explains. "If we can figure out what cognitive or emotional issues lead to buggy code or lowered productivity, we can try to intervene and stop them from causing developers to make mistakes in the first place".

The researchers conducted a study of 15 professional developers to see if the idea was practical and the results were encouraging.

"We haven’t tried any interventions yet," Begel says, "but one I’ve thought about can help absent-minded developers, such as those who just came back from lunch and aren’t paying much attention to their code. If we reduce the contrast on the display and make the fonts harder to read, the developer will be forced to apply more brainpower to read and understand the code and will be less likely to slip up as a result".

Photo credit: lassedesignen/Shutterstock
Which entertainment device do you want in your living room? [Poll]

Publié: juillet 21, 2014, 12:12pm CEST par Alan Buckingham

Home entertainment has been in the news a lot lately. This past week Microsoft, which positioned its new Xbox One as an entertainment device just as much as it is a games console, announced it would be killing off its own entertainment studio. While that takes original content off the table, there are many choices still available, giving Xbox One owners plenty to watch.

With Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Roku, Chromecast, Apple TV, and the recently announced Android TV, viewing choices abound. What would once have been thought of as a computer, now resides in an entertainment center, sometimes in very small form factors -- Chromecast is nothing more than an HDMI stick that resembles a thumb drive. Roku, Google TV, Apple TV and Amazon Fire TV are incredibly small boxes.

Most carry out similar functions -- Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon Prime. For the most part, it comes down to the ecosystem in which you reside -- the denominations break down largely between iTunes, Google Play and Amazon Prime. Most boxes are somewhat cross-platform, but there are minor differences.

So, what do you want sitting in your home theater cabinet? Are you anxiously awaiting Android TV, hoping it finally makes good on the promise of Google TV? Is Fire TV, Roku or Apple TV in your future plans? Perhaps Xbox One, despite the death of original content? Sony too plans entertainment options, so that could be in the future for some. Chromecast takes the bite out of pulling out the credit or debit card.

Let us know your preference, by responding to the poll below.
Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.
Image Credit: Subbotina Anna / Shutterstock
Tweetium arrives on Windows Phone

Publié: juillet 21, 2014, 11:51am CEST par Mihaita Bamburic

The official Twitter app may be good enough for casual Windows Phone use, but only a third-party client has all the right features for the social network's power users. While there already are a couple of good picks available in Store, the arrival of Tweetium, best known as one of the most fully-featured Twitter clients for Windows 8.x, just beefed-up the selection.

The developer, B-side Software, has released Tweetium as a beta. It is meant to be tested just by "select" existing "customers", according to its Store description, but we can still take a look.

Tweetium is already touted as a powerful, top Twitter client, with its developer claiming it is "fast", "slick" and "designed with ample feedback from serious Twitter users, with the goal of helping you get the most out of Twitter on Windows desktops, laptops, and tablets". Judging by its array of controls, readily available at the top of the app's UI, the last claim sure seems accurate.

B-side Software says Tweetium will be available in two versions for Windows Phone users. The cheapest one will provide access to a single Twitter account, but is pretty low on features (and, as far as I can tell, not yet available).

If you want things like support for multiple accounts and push notifications, you will have to buy the Pro version (it also adds TweetMarket sync and built-in support for news reading through Newseen), which is in line with how other third-party clients work.

Tweetium is available to download from Windows Phone Store. It is published as a paid universal app, costing $2.99.
PlayStation 4 outsells Xbox One for sixth consecutive month in the US

Publié: juillet 21, 2014, 8:44am CEST par Wayne Williams

Microsoft might have seen sales of the Xbox One more than double in June, but the games console is still being outsold by Sony’s PS4, according to industry-tracking firm NPD Group.

While the uncoupling of the Kinect and introduction of a $399 base model has caused a clear sales spike it will likely be some time before we see whether that's enough to help the Xbox One catch up to its rival.

NPD Group didn’t provide any exact sales figures for either console, although it’s clear both are doing well. According to NPD analyst Liam Callahan, "Combined sales of Xbox One and PS4 are over 80 percent higher than the combined totals for Xbox 360 and PS3 -- an indication of the strength of the start of this new console generation".

NPD also says gamers spent $736.4 million on new physical gaming products in the US, including consoles, and $286.8 million on new games.