Gregarius » BetaNews.Com » février 19, 2015

BetaNews.Com (14 non lus)

Dropbox users can get 100GB free bonus storage on OneDrive -- here's how

Publié: février 19, 2015, 8:43pm CET par Wayne Williams

Earlier today my colleague Mihaita Bamburic explained how to get 100 GB of free OneDrive storage courtesy of Bing Rewards. It’s a great offer, available worldwide, and all you have to do is click a single link to claim your bonus storage.

Of course you can never have too much cloud storage, and the great news is Microsoft is giving away another 100 GB free, this time to Dropbox users (sign up for a free account if you don’t already have one). Make use of both free offers and boom, that’s 200 GB of free additional storage claimed in under five minutes.

As with the Bing Rewards offer, the process of claiming your extra 100 GB is very straightforward, and available worldwide.

Just click this link and then click the "Verify and get my storage" button. You’ll need to save a OneDrive Getting Started document to your Dropbox. That’s it -- the 100 GB will be added to your total.

The free storage claimed through Bing Offers lasts for two years, while the Dropbox storage is only good for one year, but even so, it’s a great bonus.
Lenovo loads dangerous Superfish adware onto new computers -- this fish stinks

Publié: février 19, 2015, 7:26pm CET par Brian Fagioli
Buying a new Windows computer can be a really fun moment. When you say goodbye to your aging and slow machine, and start fresh with a new model, everything seems faster and peppier. Unfortunately, many manufacturers pre-load unwanted software on these computers, causing headaches and wasted time for the consumer. It can take hours to uninstall all of the stuff you do not want.

Sadly, Lenovo has crossed a line when it comes to this practice. Along with all the the usual added software (bloatware), was a piece of adware called Superfish. From a security standpoint, it could potentially put customer data at risk with man in the middle attacks, which in turn threatens the manufacturer's reputation.

Just how bad is Superfish? Very. The EFF explains, "Lenovo has not just injected ads in a wildly inappropriate manner, but engineered a massive security catastrophe for its users. The use of a single certificate for all of the MITM attacks means that all HTTPS security for at least Internet Explorer, Chrome, and Safari for Windows, on all of these Lenovo laptops, is now broken. If you access your webmail from such a laptop, any network attacker can read your mail as well or steal your password. If you log into your online banking account, any network attacker can pilfer your credentials. All an attacker needs in order to perform these attacks is a copy of the Superfish MITM private key".

Yikes. this is a horrible thing and users of these Lenovo machines could potentially be at a huge risk. Luckily, Lenovo has acted quickly, by apologizing and vowing to stop.

"Superfish was previously included on some consumer notebook products shipped in a short window between September and December to help customers potentially discover interesting products while shopping. However, user feedback was not positive, and we responded quickly and decisively", says Lenovo.

The company further explains, "to be clear, Superfish technology is purely based on contextual/image and not behavioral. It does not profile nor monitor user behavior. It does not record user information. It does not know who the user is. Users are not tracked nor re-targeted. Every session is independent. Users are given a choice whether or not to use the product. The relationship with Superfish is not financially significant; our goal was to enhance the experience for users. We recognize that the software did not meet that goal and have acted quickly and decisively".

What actions has Lenovo taken? The company lists the following.
- Superfish has completely disabled server side interactions (since January) on all Lenovo products so that the product is no longer active. This disables Superfish for all products in market.
- Lenovo stopped preloading the software in January.
- We will not preload this software in the future.
Should consumers and the media crucify Lenovo over this? Yes; for now. Should the manufacturer be forgiven? I say yes. The company didn't do this with the intention of hurting consumers.

True, it was a stupid mistake, but the company's overall foundation and track record is solid. If anything, the consumer outcry should cause all manufacturers to think twice before pre-loading anything questionable on its consumer's PCs. All manufacturers should take this as a lesson.

While Microsoft is not to blame, I turn to them to fix the overall problem of OEMs loading crap onto consumer machines. The fact that Microsoft sells "Signature Edition" laptops with the selling point of not being loaded with unwanted software shows that there is a problem.

Moving forward, Satya Nadella and team should create stricter guidelines in their OEM licensing to prevent adware from being pre-loaded on Windows machines. Not all pre-loaded software is bad, so a distinction must be made at the top, and I urge Microsoft to act.

Can you forgive Lenovo? Tell me in the comments.

[Update] Lastpass has released an online tool to see if your machine is affected. Go here to use it.

If your machine is affected, there is a removal guide listed to help.

Photo Credit: Tanya Puntti / Shutterstock
Smartphones just as accurate as wearables for tracking fitness

Publié: février 19, 2015, 7:09pm CET par David Curry

Fitness trackers have become all the range and over 3 million were sold in the second half of 2014, making up over three quarters of the total wearable sales, but it looks like the benefits of a fitness tracker might be minimal.

That is according to a new study by the University of Pennsylvania, which measured the amount of steps on a treadmill with two smartphones and three wearables.

The case study claims smartphone apps work just as well for collection step counters -- a major feature on most health apps -- and don’t offer the wild variants that some fitness trackers show.

Smartphones apps offered a -6.7 to 6.2 percent relative difference in the step counter, while the three wearables offered a much wider range, -22.7 to -1.5 percent.

This means wearables are also failing to document footsteps, while smartphones (normally in a pocket) are capable of keeping with the rhythm.

"In this study, we wanted to address one of the challenges with using wearable devices: they must be accurate. After all, if a device is going to be effective at monitoring -- and potentially changing -- behavior, individuals have to be able to trust the data", head author Meredith A. Case said. "We found that smartphone apps are just as accurate as wearable devices for tracking physical activity".

This is a worry for those that carry around a smartphone and fitness band, not knowing their smartphone is capable of collecting all of the information anyway.

Wearables do offer ways to track blood oxygen, heart-rate and other health information due to the position on the wrist, but most fitness bands do not offer that functionality.

Published under license from ITProPortal.com, a Net Communities Ltd Publication. All rights reserved.
Choosing a streaming stick -- Chromecast, Roku, or Fire TV? [review]

Publié: février 19, 2015, 5:28pm CET par Joe Wilcox
My household cut the cord in July 2014; the cable box is gone. In the process, I have been testing various streaming set-tops and sticks, and the latter is today's topic. Google opened up the category with $35 Chromecast in July 2013, and the device gets better with age. Roku Streaming Stick, at $49.99, is priciest choice, while Amazon Fire TV Stick is the $39 in-betweener.

Briefly, before deep diving, Chromecast is easiest to use and offers more commercial programming support. Roku delivers broadest streaming channel selection. Fire TV fits tightly into the broader Amazon Prime ecosystem, while offering satisfying, but incomplete, content options compared to either of the other devices.

None of the three streamers is good enough for everybody, which is reminder that the benefits you receive matter more than features the device manufacturer promises. I will lay out key benefits, which you can compare when making your buying decision. For my current setup, only one of the three devices is an option, and that's warning to look before you buy. While our Vizio M322i-B1 television has three HDMI ports, the two round back will not fit streaming sticks; only the side slot does. Check your tellie, too.

Cord-Cutting Adventure

The Wilcox household cancelled AT&T U-verse service last summer, switching to Cox Internet for $59.99 per month. The new provider promised 50Mbps service but doubled bandwidth in late October. However, in speed tests, I more typically see better—120Mbps downstream over WiFi. For us, cord-cutting means watching no live TV, even over antenna (more because of reception problems in our apartment). We stream everything from services like Amazon, Hulu Plus, Netflix, and YouTube, among others.

Earlier this month, we finally accepted Cox's offer to add more, with service called Flex Watch. For another $19.99 monthly, the cable company offers local TV channels from HD box plus Encore, HBO, and Starz for one year without contract. However, we put into storage, rather than connect, the set-top box for two reasons:
- My wife and I are adjusted to a different viewing lifestyle—what we want and when, with few (Hulu Plus) to no (most other services) commercials and without that mindless remote clicking so common when using a program guide before finding nothing worth watching. Stated another way: More channels isn't better. However, we are testing Sling TV, about which I will write more in the future.
- The cable connection comes into the bedroom and the television is in the living room. Cox currently cannot wire up without wall drilling that our landlord would never permit. So that HD box isn't an option, and I am glad about that. We wanted the subscription channels—and so much we pay another $5 monthly for Showtime. Our viewing interest in the network, and HBO and Starz, is the series more than the movies. We stream all to the TV or various devices.
Of course, streaming sticks can, and should, be used by anyone. Cord-cutting isn't required. But I frame them in the context in which I tested. Now let's get to the devices.

Chromecast

Google's stick is the granddaddy, and today's hardware is essentially the same as that which released about 20 months ago. Chromecast improvements come from updates to App, OS, and supporting services. Your device running Android, Chrome, or iOS is the remote where you access and "cast" content.

If you don't mind, even find beneficial, using phablet, smartphone, or tablet as remote, Chromecast is excellent choice. If you would rather use separate remote, the stick may not be for you. I prefer Android device in the remote role. It's convenient if, say, an interesting YouTube shows up on my social feed to cast from Chrome to the TV. My wife enjoys the cat vids.

However, the other two sticks support casting from YouTube and from some other sources. The benefit isn't just limited to the Google device. But the number of Cast-ready apps is considerably longer. Most of the sources I would want are supported, and they include all the premium movie channels that I'm authorized to stream by way of the Cox sub.

The other sticks can stream from HBO Go and Showtime Anytime but not the Encore or Starz networks. Where Chromecast comes up short: Amazon Instant Video. If you can only use one streaming stick and consume content from Amazon, Chromecast isn't the best choice.

Key benefits:
- Ease of casting from devices
- Large selection of entertainment apps
- The increasing number of supported apps
- Chrome browser casting adds utility and content breadth
Like the other two sticks, Chromecast plugs directly into the HDMI port and comes with choice of USB cable connected to the TV or electrical charger to provide power.

Overall device performance is excellent, and I would rate it to be subjectively superior to either of the two other sticks.

Roku Streaming Stick

By contrast, I find the Roku device to be annoyingly slow; perception that is accentuated by my having used the company's set-top model, which is quite zippy. I recommend looking for a deal on Roku 2 or, better, 3 before buying the stick.

With Chromecast, your content comes from supporting apps installed on the devices acting as remotes. Roku requires you to add channels, which is fairly easy but nevertheless is another step (or more for subscription content). The lineup is fairly comprehensive and is similar to that available for the other two sticks.

Key Benefits:
- Large selection of channels, including Amazon
- Some services, like DishWorld, are exclusive to Roku
- Search across channels is remarkably accurate and revealing
- Unique content, such as the ICC Cricket World Cup, is a big bonus
- Google Play Movies & TV channel creates Chromecast alternative for some users
However, my device drops frames when streaming, or some channels will crash. By contrast, Roku 3 is considerably more reliable, as are Chromecast and Fire TV Stick.

Tip: The Roku starts slow. When my TV is powered down, the stick gets no juice, which means long wait for bootup every time I turn on the TV. If your tellie operates similarly, plug Roku into the wall charger instead.

Deal Alert: If you sign up for four months of DishWorld, Roku Streaming Stick is free—or you can get Roku 3 for 50-percent discount.

Fire TV Stick

Amazon's device is surprisingly smooth and satisfying. Performance doesn't match the set-top box model, which from a subjective speed perspective is best of class. The full Fire TV is so exceptionally fast, I suggest paying more and grabbing the device during one of Amazon's frequent, ah, Fire sales. But if budget or other considerations demand a stick, this one is excellent choice.

Amazon's UI is clean, bold, and bleeding screen. The apps selection is excellent, although it falls short of Chromecast (because of Android) or Roku Streaming Stick (for the sheer number channels). But the majority of popular services are available; and there is the retailer's own streaming service, which, unsurprisingly, is better presented and more navigable than on any other device.

Key Benefits:
- User interface is best of class
- New content is easily discovered on all services
- Remote is hassle-free; simple and straightforward to use
- Selection of apps (not just streaming) is large and satisfying
- Prime, Prime, Prime. Subscribers get lots of free video and music selections
Deal Alert: If you sign up for three months of Sling TV, Amazon's stick is free—or you can save $50 off the Fire set-top box.

The Winner Is...

I can't choose for you and wouldn't try. The benefits that matter most will vary among users and households. For some people, none of the three is best choice. Set-top box models Fire TV, Nexus Player, and Roku 3 all offer better benefits, starting with full gaming support. If you want game play as well as audio and video entertainment, the pricier, $99-range boxes are better choices. Voice-search offers so many benefits, the capability alone is reason to choose Fire TV or Nexus Player over Amazon and Google sticks.

So which is my choice? Chromecast, because I love using Android device as remote, and the majority of services I want are available. Amazon is the exception, which necessitate's using a second streamer. But our TV's HDMI ports only accommodate one stick, although a cord extender could enable others. The family's main box is Fire TV, which covers about 90 percent of our monthly streaming content. Chromecast covers the rest, such as Encore and Starz, and it's what I use most often (my prefers more traditional remote).

Apple TV fills the third HDMI port, but the box is there just to watch content foolishly purchased from iTunes. ATV is slow and buggy compared to the sticks (okay Roku's streamer is exception) or Amazon, Google, and Roku set-tops. In the future, when budget allows, we may swap in Roku 3 (I sold our first one last summer).

Photo Credits: Joe Wilcox
Large enterprises targeted by mobile Trojans

Publié: février 19, 2015, 4:31pm CET par Ian Barker

Mobile cyber threats are more common and more sophisticated than ever before, with a number of high profile threats in the past year.

According to a new report from security companies Check Point and Lacoon Mobile Security, this means mobile devices are growing into a serious threat to the enterprise.

The survey monitored more than 500,000 Android and 400,000 iOS devices from over 100 countries, uncovering over 20 variants and 18 different mobile remote access Trojan (mRAT) families. Of the 1,000 devices found to be infected 60 percent were Android and 40 percent iOS.

It finds that enterprise employees are increasingly targeted by mRATs, risking sensitive data found from emails, messages, keystrokes, calls, employee locations and more. Large organizations in the US have only a 0.21 percent chance of an infection, but employees of infected corporations are twice as likely to be infected by mRATs. If there are 2,000 devices or more in an organization, there is a 50 percent chance that it will have infections within the enterprise network.

It also points out that attacks on organizations are clustered. Attackers choose certain large organizations and attack multiple targets inside them, as opposed to just attacking corporate employees of random organizations.

There's a summary of the findings in infographic form below or the full report is available to download from the Lacoon website.

Image Credit: watcharakun/Shutterstock
Fighting cyber threats hampered by disconnect between IT and business

Publié: février 19, 2015, 3:26pm CET par Ian Barker

A disconnect between systems leaders and business leaders coupled with a lack of resources is keeping enterprises from properly addressing cyber threats.

This is according to a new study commissioned by defense and security company Raytheon and conducted in conjunction with the Ponemon Institute.

Among the findings are that less than half of respondents (47 percent) believe their organizations take appropriate steps to comply with the leading cybersecurity standards. Also only one-third of those surveyed believe their organizations are prepared to deal with the cyber security risks associated with the Internet of things (IoT) and the proliferation of IoT devices.

Only 47 percent of respondents believe their organizations have sufficient resources to meet cybersecurity requirements. Plus 66 percent of those surveyed indicate that their organizations need more knowledgeable and experienced cyber security practitioners.

When asked about trends over the next three years almost half of respondents believe zero-day threats will become one of the most prevalent cyber threats. More than one-third (35 percent) believe attacks on critical infrastructure will become one of the world’s five most prevalent threats.

Senior IT leaders see the use of virtual currencies as being a low risk to their organizations today but likely to become a very high risk in the future. Surveyed CISOs believe that when it comes to strengthening cyber security, the three most important technologies in the future will involve big data analytics, forensics and next-gen firewalls.

"You don’t have to wait until you’re attacked to take cybersecurity seriously," says Jack Harrington, vice president of cybersecurity and special missions at Raytheon Intelligence, Information and Services. "From the board room to the President’s desk, rallying around the cybersecurity issue is critical to address the real threats we face as a global society".

You can see an overview of the report's findings in infographic form below, or read more on the Raytheon website.

Photo Credit: Sergey Nivens/Shutterstock
Opera sees Africa as a fast growing market for mobile phones

Publié: février 19, 2015, 3:22pm CET par Alan Buckingham

While those who reside in the US and Europe may see mobile as a massive market, that isn't the case in all parts of the world. Technology spreads a bit slower in some parts of the globe where even "feature phones" are only now on the rise. Africa is one such market, but it is starting to see an increase in mobile adoption.

"Africa is poised to become a hotbed for mobile growth and commerce in the coming years" according to a State of Mobile Advertising report from Opera Mediaworks. The assessment comes from studying two of the company's most prominent areas -- the mobile browser and mobile advertising.

Why does the company feel this is important? "Beyond the monetization potential of a world of new or localized apps and websites, there are distinct possibilities to harness the power of social networking and to implement innovative internet usage plans, as well as new ways to push forward digital healthcare initiatives in Africa".

While much of this growth is being fueled by feature phones, Opera is seeing an increase in Android adoption. It claims that 30 percent of those with mobile devices now are using Google's smartphone platform. These users are twice as likely to use the mobile web as those on feature phones. The largest markets include South Africa, Namibia, Sudan, Egypt, Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola.

While use of mobile apps is still much lower than other parts of the world, Opera sees potential in social networking and healthcare fields. Clearly this is an emerging market that many companies will be, and perhaps are, looking into.

Image Credit: Art Allianz / Shutterstock
Dear Apple, I will switch from Android to iPhone if you meet my demands

Publié: février 19, 2015, 3:19pm CET par Brian Fagioli

Believe it or not, even as a big tech and gadget nerd, I have never owned an iPhone. My smartphone life went from Palm, to BlackBerry and ultimately Android. I didn't purposely boycott the iPhone or anything, it just never happened.

As an iPad owner, however, I have come to love iOS for its ease of use and collection of amazing apps. For whatever reason, I usually prefer the iOS version of apps over the Android equivalent; they seem more snappy and fluid. So, why haven't I switched to the iPhone? There are still some major issues with Apple's phone and mobile operating system that prevent the jump. The ball is in Apple's court, however, and if the company meets my demands, I will switch.

Some of you are wondering why I would bother switching. Do I hate Android? Not at all. With that said, the fragmentation of the platform is becoming fatiguing. Users should be celebrating every new release of Google's operating system, but instead, it causes feelings of jealousy and despair, as only a fraction of users get to upgrade.

With the exception of Nexus owners, most Android fans are like starving dogs just waiting for their owner (cellular provider) to throw them a scrap. It's not fun and it's not fair.

Meanwhile, a new iOS version is a shared experience, where all owners, with the exception of those on no-longer-supported devices, get to try the new version together. It is refreshing and the way it should be.

I also love the Touch ID sensor, as it blows away the competition. Samsung's sensor is passable, but sliding your finger is a chore, and app support is lacking. The idea of unlocking apps and my phone by just placing my finger is a dream.

Sadly, before I switch to the iPhone, I demand Apple do all three of the below things. They are quite reasonable too.

1.) Stop the bending: The "Bendgate" scandal has quietly disappeared from the media. While the outrage is gone, the problem remains. Look, the aluminum body of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus is beautiful, I get it, but durability is more important. If the next iPhone has to be thicker, or made of a less malleable material, so be it. I don't care what the thing is made of, as long as it doesn't bend in my pocket.

Many will suggest just buying a case, and yes that is a a band-aid, but it doesn't solve the problem. If I am spending a lot of money on a smartphone, I want it to be structurally sound. Is that really so much to ask?

2.) Drop 16GB: If I do buy an iPhone, it is going to be the model with the most storage. So why do I care about the base model? It causes the prices of the larger models to be more expensive. Apple should start at 32GB or 64GB, while keeping current pricing based on steps. This should make a 128GB model less expensive, and maybe even introduce a 256GB model -- which I would gladly buy.

Keep in mind, there is a precedent here, as increasing the storage of the base model does reduce pricing for the larger; just look at the 8GB being replaced by 16GB.

Not to mention, Apple is now allowing 4GB apps in the App Store. Come on now, a 16GB model can realistically install only two of these apps!

3.) Universally allow default apps: This is the biggest deal-breaker for me and iOS 9 must address it. I refuse to buy a smartphone where I cannot set the default web browser and email client. On my iPad, it is frustrating that I cannot make Microsoft's wonderful new Outlook app my default for email, or Google's Chrome for web browsing.

The funny thing is, I prefer Safari on my iPad, and would use it on an iPhone (it is the best web browser on iOS), but it is the principle of the matter. Let the user decide which web browser they want as default. If Safari is so great, and it is, users will choose it; let it happen organically, Apple!

The ball is in your court, Apple. Will you make me an iPhone user?

Photo Credit: Mark Herreid / Shutterstock
The Internet of Things will change your life

Publié: février 19, 2015, 2:14pm CET par Lee Odess

The Internet of Things (IoT) -- you may have heard of it in discussions around wearable devices or perhaps just know it as one of the top technology trends of 2014. If you aren’t familiar with the term, be prepared to hear about it a lot this year.

As much as the Internet of Things has become an extremely hot topic for businesses and consumers alike, there is still a chance that you are unsure how it will impact you personally. While items such as "smart" thermostats and coffee makers sound cool, it’s tough to determine how these products will change the way we live.

Connected devices are already making a significant impact on our lives, whether you know it or not. If you own a smartphone, you’re already contributing to the Internet of Things world. For example, if you’ve ever used Apple Pay to buy a coffee or the latest tech accessory, you’ve experienced firsthand how your iPhone can "speak" to a payment terminal, sharing your personal information to complete your purchase through pre-authenticated information. Moving forward, these transactions will become commonplace, cutting down on cash or card purchases. And the way we pay for items is just the first step in the IoT revolution.

The IoT is improving many industries, including healthcare, entertainment and retail. For example, the term "Health of Things" has been coined to explain how the IoT is changing the way consumers interact with their doctors. Using properties such as Bluetooth Smart and beacon technology, devices are able to securely interact with each other without so much as the press of a button. From a healthcare perspective, these methods of authentication have the ability to personalize and simplify our interactions. For example, it is now possible for relevant patient history to be shared with doctors before an ambulance gets to an emergency room or share lifestyle information with a specialist, including sleeping patterns, fitness activity and eating habits of patients.

The benefits of IoT don’t stop at healthcare -- businesses of all sizes (from SMB to enterprise) can leverage the technology to change interactions of both employees and visitors. Just one of the many ways it can be used is for access control, as in leveraging the transfer of information from a connected device to authenticate an identity and allow entry to a building or a room.

The idea centers on making the experience frictionless for both the person requesting access and those granting it. Think of the last time you had a business meeting. Chances are, you arrived at the location and had to check in at least once to confirm who you are and who you were there to see, possibly more times depending on the size and security of the building. Through a connected device "talking" to the reception area, the identity and reason for being in the building would be shared, granting access to a specific office or conference room. Frequent visitors are even able to have preferences tracked through access control management software, like how they take their coffee or which newspaper they prefer to read while waiting for the meeting.

In Sports

The IoT movement will improve experiences outside of a business or healthcare setting, too. Let’s take it out to the ball game, a sports stadium to be exact. In a typical scenario you would arrive at your home team’s stadium, park, enter the stadium and head to your seat. That could all change if the arena took advantage of the IoT to ensure that each game is a unique experience, custom tailored to your individual needs.

The personalized ballpark experience could involve your connected device, the iPhone in your pocket, notifying the arena of your arrival while at the same time sending a list of available parking spaces to your phone and directing you to the closest one. When entering through the ticketing gate, your identity and tickets would be authenticated without so much as taking your phone out of your pocket. Once in the stadium, the device would map out the best route to your seats, taking into consideration factors like foot traffic, potential hazards (if you’re allergic to peanuts, it will avoid passing any peanut vendors) and your favorite food stalls. By the time you get to your seat, your experience will have been custom tailored to you and your needs.

As the IoT continues to gain momentum in both our personal and business lives, one thing is sure: it will change the way we live. Predictions place the number of connected devices by 2020 into the 20-billion plus range, creating a grand potential for the IoT to enhance our lives for the good in an unlimited amount of ways.

Image credit: Gustavo Frazao / Shutterstock

With 14 years of experience in leadership roles, Lee Odess has helped lead Brivo Systems as the Vice President of Marketing as well as the General Manager of Brivo Labs, and Internet of Things division of Brivo Systems. Lee’s background as an entrepreneur brings a unique perspective to the security and IoT industries.
Find your PC's most space-hogging folders with Folder Size

Publié: février 19, 2015, 2:05pm CET par Mike Williams

If your hard drive space is a little lower than expected then your first instinct might be to uninstall a few applications, maybe use CCleaner to remove any leftover junk.

If you really want to understand where you drive space has gone, though, there’s no substitute for analyzing it properly with a tool like Folder Size.

The program requires installation, which is a pity: there’s nothing complex here that we can see, no real reason why it couldn’t be portable. But at least it doesn’t have any annoying dependencies: the developer claims it will run happily on any version of Windows from 98 upwards.

The Folder Size interface is relatively cluttered, but we still figured out what to do within seconds: point the program at the top of our target folder tree (C:\, C:\Program Files maybe), click Start and watch as the system as scanned.

Within 30 seconds the program was displaying a list of folders in order of size. A separate pie chart presents a basic summary of the same data (you can switch this to a pie or animated chart with a click).

This list may not tell you very much, at least initially. 63.12 percent of our files were located in the Users folder, for instance -- but which user?

To find out more, double-click a folder of interest, and Folder Size displays its contents only. This showed us which user had the most files; selecting that individual user told us their Downloads folder was a major space hog, and double-clicking Downloads displayed the ISO images which were the cause of our problems.

While Folder Size is free, the program does have Personal ($24.95) and Professional ($39.95) versions available which add extra features (they can scan network files, use command line switches, save/ load projects, filter your files, print results, export reports and more).

Slightly annoyingly, these features aren’t left out or disabled. If you accidentally select one (File > Print) then you’ll be told it’s not available, and asked to upgrade.

Still, once you’ve learned what you can’t do, this problem doesn’t crop up very often, and the core Folder Size features are more than enough to be useful.
How to get 100GB of free OneDrive storage worldwide

Publié: février 19, 2015, 1:15pm CET par Mihaita Bamburic

You can easily increase the amount of storage that's available with your OneDrive for free. Bonus space can be unlocked by referring the service to your friends and enabling the auto camera upload feature in the mobile apps. The most that you can get though is 20 GB. Those of us who have been using the service from the early days also get a loyalty bonus of 10 GB. But maybe that's still not enough.

As you may know, Microsoft has recently started to give Bing Rewards users the option to unlock a further 100 GB of free OneDrive storage. The catch? Only folks using the service in US have been welcome. However, now you can get the same treatment worldwide. Here's how.

The only thing that you have to do is to click on this link, which takes you to the OneDrive site, to claim that extra 100 GB of free OneDrive storage. Like the previous offer, this one is also powered by Bing Rewards. Remember to access the link while you are signed in using your own Microsoft account (or log in with it, if asked to).

Since one can never have enough storage, especially when it's free, I just took advantage of this method to add the extra storage to my OneDrive account. You'll get a similar message to the one shown in the screenshot at the top of the article. (I've removed my Outlook.com handle for obvious reasons.)

Given that there already is an Office 365 subscription attached to it -- which now gives me 10 TB of storage -- the increase is rather modest in my case. Still, come next year, even if I don't renew my subscription, I will have 141 GB of OneDrive storage, which is not too shabby.

The extra storage is good for two years, after which the 100 GB of free space will be removed from your OneDrive account.

[Update] Dropbox users can get an additional 100 GB of storage on top of this offer. Find out how here.
Reply to WhatsApp, Hangouts messages directly from Pushbullet notifications

Publié: février 19, 2015, 1:13pm CET par Mike Williams

Pushbullet’s latest Android app update means it’s now possible to reply to messages from WhatsApp, Hangouts, Facebook Messenger, Telegram and Line, directly from your desktop notifications.

There’s no complex tweakery required to make this happen. As long as you’re running Android 4.4 or later (and you have the Android Wear app installed for Hangouts messages), notifications from supported services now have a Reply button: just click it and go.

If you’re still not convinced you need these notifications all the time, this release adds a Widget which toggles forwarding on or off with a tap.

Elsewhere, there are now heads-up notifications for some pushes.

The build also has the usual scattering of bug fixes, although some look particularly important (apparently these included "Inbox and Gmail notifications not being forwarded").

Pushbullet’s latest Android release is available now, but it also has apps for iOS, Windows and Mac, as well as browser extensions for Chrome, Firefox, Opera and Safari. Just install what you need and sign up with a Google or Facebook account.
Android 5.1 Lollipop could be widely available in March

Publié: février 19, 2015, 12:39pm CET par Mihaita Bamburic

Google had become rather predictable at introducing new major Android releases, announcing two a year, when we most expected them -- around late-June and October. But this changed in 2014. Lollipop stood alone. What's more, the first major update that followed -- version 5.1, which came earlier this year -- arrived completely unannounced. There wasn't even a blog post about it, as we confirmed its existence based on reports from folks who discovered it on their Android One smartphones, and a mention in passing on the Android One site.

Weeks after Android 5.1 was revealed to exist we are still waiting for Google to tell us more -- well, something -- about it, including when we should expect to see it available in the Android Open Source Project. Luckily, we may now know this important detail thanks to an HTC VP.

When asked about an update for HTC One (M7) Google Play Edition, HTC's vice president of Product Management Mo Versi replied on Twitter that "It'll be tied to Google's next MR, which is in March".

In Google speak, MR means Maintenance Release, and, based on what we know so far, there is no other version of Android that could qualify as the next "MR" but Android 5.1 Lollipop. Of course, it could also be Android 5.2 that's coming next month, but it is even less official -- if that's possible -- than the second Lollipop installment.

As I mentioned, there is no official information about the changes packed into Android 5.1 Lollipop, but there is an unofficial changelog that is floating around. XDA Developers has commented around a report from a Reddit user who has one of the Android One devices with Android 5.1 on board, and you can read the major findings here.

Either way, once the next Android MR hits AOSP, it won't be long before enthusiasts come up with updated custom distributions. Google is also fairly quick at rolling out a new release as an over the air update, and posting the factory images.
Happy birthday Photoshop -- 25 years old today!

Publié: février 19, 2015, 12:21pm CET par Wayne Williams

These days there are a lot of image editors to choose from, and they run on computers, the web, smartphones and tablets. Whatever your price range you’ll find one to suit. For me, however, there’s really only one photo editor, and that’s Photoshop. I’ve been relying on it for work and home image editing for a good 15 years (probably longer) and while I’ve used other rival packages, I always end up returning to Adobe’s powerful suite.

As an example, for the past few weeks I’ve been scanning in hundreds of old photos, slides and negatives. Removing dust, scratches and other flaws and rebuilding missing areas in all those has only been manageable thanks to brilliant time-saving Photoshop innovations like layers, the healing brush and content aware fill. Photoshop is, without question, my favorite program -- bar none.

This year Photoshop celebrates a massive milestone. First launched in 1990 (although its roots stretch back to a program called Display developed in 1987 by Thomas and John Knoll), it’s been changing our perception of the world for a quarter of a century now, being used for everything from creating logos and styling movies, to airbrushing away model and celebrity imperfections.

It is one of the most recognized software brands in the world, and like many popular products and services its name has become a verb. Just as you don’t search the web for something, you "Google it", so you don’t fix photo flaws in a picture, you "Photoshop it". People talk about "Photoshopping" photos even when they’re using Paint.NET or GIMP.

Photoshop has changed a lot over the years, as you’d expect, getting better and more powerful with each iteration, but also now powering Lightroom, and mobile apps. It’s managed to survive for 25 years, outlasting many wannabe rivals, by adapting to changing needs and technology.

"For 25 years, Photoshop has inspired artists and designers to craft images of stunning beauty and reality-bending creativity", says Shantanu Narayen, Adobe president and chief executive officer. "From desktop publishing, to fashion photography, movie production, website design, mobile app creation and now 3D Printing, Photoshop continues to redefine industries and creative possibilities. And today that Photoshop magic is available to millions of new users, thanks to Adobe Creative Cloud".

You can see the full historical timeline below.