Gregarius » BetaNews.Com » juillet 14, 2015

BetaNews.Com (23 non lus)

Giveaway: Free WinToFlash Professional Edition license to easily create a bootable Windows USB drive

Publié: juillet 14, 2015, 11:13pm CEST par Mihaita Bamburic

free-stuff

Lots of PC users prefer to install Windows from a bootable USB drive, instead of a DVD. A USB drive is a better tool for the job because it is easy to carry around, the installation takes much less time, and a new version of the OS can easily be loaded on it. After its job is done, the USB drive can be quickly repurposed.

The easiest way to create a bootable USB drive is by using dedicated software, like Novicorp's WinToFlash. You can also get the same job done using a command prompt, but this is more appealing to power users and control freaks (guilty as charged). The version of WinToFlash that you really want is not free, but luckily for you, BetaNews readers, we have a Professional Edition license to share.

This is not one of our typical giveaways where we give only a couple of readers, at most, a license. Every single one of you can take advantage of this WinToFlash Professional Edition license, without any restriction. It normally costs $29.95.

Well, there is one restriction, in fact. The license is only good up to December 31, which gives you plenty of time to take advantage of it to create, say, a Windows 10 bootable USB drive, after the operating system becomes available to consumers later this month.

Here is what you need to do, according to Novicorp:

1. Download latest WinToFlash version from our website, and unzip (if you didn't download it already);
2. Save the key file somewhere on your PC;
3. Start wintoflash.exe;
4. Select your key file in the First Start Wizard.

If you want to install the key manually:
1. Delete the public free key from the \License\ folder of WinToFlash, if one exists;
2. Copy this one to the \License\ folder;
3. Start (restart) WinToFlash.

This WinToFlash Professional Edition license is good for an unlimited number of installations and activations. The software works with every Windows release since XP, including Windows 7, Windows 8.1 and Windows 10.

Image Credit: Gustavo Frazao / Shutterstock

Microsoft Universal Foldable Keyboard now available -- brings Surface typing to all

Publié: juillet 14, 2015, 10:12pm CEST par Brian Fagioli

WP_20150713_22_25_53_Pro

Microsoft makes damn good hardware. The Xbox One and the Surface Pro 3 are works of art, beloved by many. Hell, even its peripherals, such as keyboards, mice and webcams are mostly winners.

One place where it doesn't shine, however, is the Surface Type Cover keyboard. I can get by with it when on the go, but I would certainly prefer a big beautiful mechanical variant for heavy lifting. If you do like the Type Cover, and have wanted to use it on your other devices, today is your lucky day. The Windows-maker announces the Universal Foldable Keyboard. Guess what it is? It is a universal keyboard... that is foldable. The keys and design are very reminiscent of the Surface Type Cover -- but do consumers really want that?

"Back in March, we announced the new Microsoft Universal Foldable Keyboard – the super portable and ultra-thin lightweight keyboard designed to work with virtually any of your devices. Today, we're excited to announce that the Microsoft Universal Foldable Keyboard is now available at the Microsoft Store and various other retailers starting at $99.95", says Brandon LeBlanc, Microsoft.

LeBlanc further says, "the Microsoft Universal Foldable Keyboard also comes with a built-in rechargeable battery which gives you up to 3 months of usage on a single charge. So when you need to charge it simply connect it to your PC using the micro USB cable included in its packaging".

noooooooooooooookeysmicrosoft

The foldability (is that a word?), ability to easily switch between devices and long battery life could make this a great option for travelers. I am a bit concerned, however, with the style of keys and spacing between the two sides. The keys themselves are of different sizes -- look at the "N", "G" and "T" keys -- it could be a recipe for typos. Even more worrying, the delete and backspace keys have been combined into one, with the function key converting it to delete.

If you are willing to overlook some of these potential issues, you can buy it for $99.95 here. Tell me your thoughts in the comments.

Forget what Microsoft said, Dell assures it will begin shipping Windows 10 laptops on July 29

Publié: juillet 14, 2015, 7:39pm CEST par Manish Singh

Dell-Latitude-E3340-rear_fullwidth

It wasn't until recently that Microsoft explained when and how it plans to release Windows 10. The Redmond-based software giant noted that Insiders will be able to download the final copy of Windows 10 starting July 29, and weeks later, retail copies of it as well as Windows 10-powered laptops will be available to purchase in stores. But it appears, Dell won't be waiting that long.

The company, which had previously announced that it would begin shipping Windows 10-powered computers on July 29, reaffirms that it is still committed to its original promise. In a tweet, Michael Dell, CEO of Dell Inc, confirms the release date to all.

.@markhachman Yes. We are ready [t.co]

— Michael Dell (@MichaelDell) July 13, 2015

This is an interesting announcement as it is not in line with Microsoft's latest release cycle. But in Dell's defense, Microsoft has changed its stand on this matter a couple of times already. The company announced earlier that it expects its OEM partners to have their Windows 10-powered laptops ready in stores on July 29.

But this month, the company backtracked on that promise, saying that only Insiders will be able to get Windows 10 this month, and that OEMs will take another few weeks to push their new laptops to stores.

It will be interesting to see if Dell manages to stay true to its word. And if it manages to pull that off, we expect other OEMs won't take much time either. HP recently shared its Windows 10 lineup.

Oops! Google accidentally reveals Right to Be Forgotten request details

Publié: juillet 14, 2015, 7:13pm CEST par Mark Wilson

oops

The Guardian has discovered that Google mistakenly revealed more information about Right to Be Forgotten requests than it meant to. The search giant recently released a transparency report which provides scant detail about the number of requests it received in Europe and the sites they related to, but the new discovery goes further.

Critics said the report was not substantial enough, but it seems that a quick glance at the source code is all that's needed to reveal more. While before we knew little more than the fact that more than half of requests are declined, we now have a few extra snippets of information such as learning that over 95 percent of requests come from the general public rather than high-profile people.

When releasing its transparency report, Google chose to highlight some of the more sensational examples of requests it received (such as those relating to sexual content) but there have been calls for far more information to be made available -- as well as suggestions that the Right to Be Forgotten should be extended to the US. Some websites that have had their links removed from Google search results, including the BBC, have chosen to make the censorship public, but for many this is simply not enough -- facts and figures straight from the horse's mouth are preferred.

As revealed by The Guardian, the source code of an archived version of the transparency report goes into more detail than the published report. Since May of last year, Google has received 2,102 removal requests relating to public figures, and 1,025 relating to child protection (22 and 17 percent granted respectively). The figures also reveal how many requests relate to serious crime -- Italy tops the list here, with 11.9 percent of the country’s requests accounted for by crime-related content, compared to France where the figure is just 0.4 percent.

In response to the discovery, Google issued a statement:

We’ve always aimed to be as transparent as possible about our right to be forgotten decisions. The data the Guardian found in our Transparency Report’s source code does of course come from Google, but it was part of a test to figure out how we could best categorize requests. We discontinued that test in March because the data was not reliable enough for publication. We are however currently working on ways to improve our transparency reporting.

So what do we learn from the revelations? The fact that the vast majority of requests come from individuals shows that the Right to Be Forgotten is not being abused by companies to try to improve their online reputation, although at this stage it is not clear whether the individuals contacted Google directly, or used an intermediary.

Check out The Guardian’s report for all the facts and figures.

Photo credit: P.Jirawat / Shutterstock

Amazon Prime Day deals gets previewed, TVs and other devices included

Publié: juillet 14, 2015, 6:29pm CEST par Alan Buckingham

Amazon decides to start paying tax in the UK

Last week Amazon announced "Prime Day", an invented holiday for loyal customers of the Prime service. The retailer also revealed that there would be more deals than even Black Friday manages. Now the company is showcasing some of those bargains in an effort to entice customers.

There's quite a list, but some are worth mentioning. The Fire TV Stick will be $15 off, while other Amazon products will also see significant discounts. For instance, The Kindle will drop in price by $30, the Fire HD 7 is seeing a $30 reduction and the kids' edition of the HD 7 will get slashed by a whopping $60.

That's not all though. There's a 32 inch LED TV for only $75, or you can grab a 40 inch version for a bit more at a price of $115. Neither lists the brand name, which could prove worrisome. There's a claim of over 50 percent off on two Nikon Colorpix cameras, as well as housewares and books.

"Beginning Wednesday, July 15, just after midnight PT, Prime members can shop thousands of exclusive lightning deals with new deals added as often as every ten minutes throughout the day. With more deals than Black Friday, members will enjoy thousands of deals from sought-after devices and tools to popular toys and pet supplies. Anyone can join Prime, to start a free 30-day trial and participate in Prime Day visit amazon.com/primeday",

Looks like it's time to break out the wallet, if there's anything you're in need of. There are a lot of good deals, but if you don't need it then save your money.

You will need to be a Prime subscriber for all of this.

Photo credit: Joe Ravi / Shutterstock.com

Consumers are ready to accept Identity 3.0

Publié: juillet 14, 2015, 5:35pm CEST par Ian Barker

There's always a trade off between access and security. Identity management specialist Gigya has released its latest State of Consumer Privacy & Personalization report looking at consumer attitudes surrounding data privacy.

A key finding is a growing willingness to accept next-generation authentication methods known as 'Identity 3.0'. Biometric technologies are emerging as a popular option for signing in. The study shows 41 percent of consumers have a high level of comfort logging in to a site or mobile app using a thumbprint or face/eye scan.

The study also shows heightened demand for data privacy and more relevant marketing communications, which consumers believe can be achieved through business transparency and personalization. More than 90 percent of consumers are at least somewhat concerned about data privacy and how companies are using customer data.

This contributes to a willingness to use existing logins, 59 percent of consumers say they are willing to register or log in to a website or mobile application with an existing identity from a payment provider such as PayPal or Amazon. 57 percent say they would be prepared to use their Apple ID.

Also 88 percent of US consumers have logged in to a website or mobile application using an existing social network identity, an 11 percent increase over last year’s findings. This is happening across demographic groups, 75 percent of consumers aged 55 and over have used a social identity to authenticate on a site or mobile app.

An aversion to filling out online registration forms (56 percent) and not wanting to remember yet another user name and password (43 percent) top the list of reasons why consumers choose to use social authentication. Being able to use the same identity on all devices and websites to get a more personalized experience is the third most cited reason at 25 percent.

"Although data privacy concerns are seemingly at an all-time high, it's evident that consumers are prepared to share their personal information with businesses if presented with a clear value exchange and a high level of transparency," says Patrick Salyer, CEO of Gigya. "In addition, as consumers continue to embrace advanced authentication methods, brands must equip themselves to handle an increasing volume and variety of rich identity data in order provide truly relevant 1:1 experiences".

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

Gigya infographic

Image Credit: Gunnar Pippel/Shutterstock

NYSE outage could have been avoided with code quality software

Publié: juillet 14, 2015, 5:28pm CEST par Bill Curtis

NYSE

The last three years have provided a catalog of IT horror stories such as RBS which somehow lost over 600,000 payments, the NASDAQ glitch which cost $62 million in fines alone, and now the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), where trading was halted last week for almost four excruciating hours.

The public is wondering how these software glitches still happen despite the millions spent to upgrade corporate IT systems. These wholesale technical upgrades have not prevented billions being lost in the global economy from what are generically described "technical faults". So what’s the real problem?

"The fact is the exchanges, as well as most other financial services institutions, experience glitches routinely and some even daily. Most of these software glitches are contained quickly by the infrastructure operations teams and do not affect revenue-generating activity. But, once in a while, like when they corrupt data, software glitches become visible to the public eye as millions are lost per hour because businesses cannot find or prevent the root causes of such glitches", said Lev Lesokhin, head of Strategy & Analytics, CAST.

Sounds simple. However, the world is looking elsewhere for the answer. Thanks to international espionage and high-profile breaches, the media and others are focused on cyber security and investing resources to protect software from potential external attacks. We suggest, however, that the more immediate threat to IT infrastructures is bad code being bolted onto heritage systems.

Expansion of business online and new software development methods have meant millions of lines of new code are written every day. The question is, who analyzes the quality of all this code? Developers and programmers struggle with their agile development methods to ensure that the structural quality of legacy systems can still cope with modern pressures of the digital marketplace.

The key to maintaining software quality may not garner the headlines that data breaches do, but it’s no less important. Defensive code and a set of checkpoints must be present within a software quality framework from the very start. Once an application goes live in production, quality issues can easily be missed due to the complexity of installing monitoring tools until it’s too late, which may explain the technical faults and glitches suffered by NASDAQ, the NYSE, United Airlines, and many more. Explain, but not excuse.

This means investment on upgrading software and preventing cyber security crimes could be potentially wasted if the original system doesn’t pass the quality and flexibility test. Newly upgraded systems may work for several months, perhaps a year, but eventually a glitch injected in development will occur, which will stop trades from happening and shut down the system in its tracks.

Focusing on structural quality analysis as part of a quality process relieves pressure on IT teams from working all day to keep the lights on, allowing them to concentrate on revenue generating IT projects. If a Financial Services organization’s code is not robust enough to deal with the digital demands of the 21st century, a system-wide snafu is inevitable... one that costs the company not only in loss of immediate revenue, but also loss of long-term reputation in the marketplace.

It is time to go back to basics or businesses will face Groundhog Day again. To prevent being named and shamed in the media in the years to come, CIOs and CTOs need to invest in code quality software as these so-called incidents are understandable but not acceptable.

Dr. Bill Curtis is chief scientist at CAST.

Photo credit: Rambleon/Shutterstock

Pssstt! Wanna host some malware?

Publié: juillet 14, 2015, 4:31pm CEST par Ian Barker

gift hacker criminal present

Whilst it's the hacks and the data breaches and the information thefts that grab the headlines, no one ever mentions the technology that lies behind them.

Where do the bad guys host their malware and where do they keep their stolen information? Like any legitimate online businesses, cybercriminals need a reliable, high availability hosting infrastructure.

A new report from TrendLabs -- the research arm of security company Trend Micro -- uncovers the existence of what it calls 'Bulletproof Hosting Services' (BPHSs) which provide the discreet infrastructure needed for cybercriminals to operate their business, store stolen data and hide out from anyone trying to shut them down. This often overlooked, component of cybercrime is more significant than it might seem. Without BPHSs, many cybercriminal groups would cease to operate.

Unlike regular hosts, bulletproof servers primarily host malicious content like phishing sites, pornography, fake shopping and carding sites, and command-and-control (C&C) infrastructure. They need to offer the service reliability of any ordinary host, but also need to appear as legitimate as possible so that authorities don't shut them down. Bulletproof host owners rent hardware colocation facilities in various countries to ensure the continuity of their operations. They normally rely on nations with lax information security laws to minimize the risk of them being blacklisted or shut down.

Like legitimate hosts, BPHSs offer different specialisms including torrent download sites, blackhat SEO to drive traffic to malicious sites, C&C components and spam tools. TrendLabs identifies three main delivery methods, dedicated BPH servers, compromised legitimate servers and abused cloud hosting services.

BPHSs also parallel the legitimate world in their pricing models. Low risk content can be hosted from as little as $2 a month with dedicated high-risk content servers -- based in China, Bolivia, Iran, or the Ukraine -- costing $300 or more.

The best BPHSs have support teams who communicate with clients via ICQ, Jabber, or their own JavaScript-based messaging services. Like legitimate providers they use a ticketing system to prioritize and process queries.

Robert McArdle, Trend Micro's FTR Senior Manager says, "The very nature of BPHSs is that they protect malicious activity against law enforcement, giving cybercriminals the much-needed loophole to wriggle out of and escape from the clutches of both law enforcement and the security industry. That loophole unfortunately largely remains open today".

Photo Credit: Bartlomiej K. Kwieciszewski/Shutterstock

Don't put your business at risk by continuing to use Windows Server 2003

Publié: juillet 14, 2015, 4:22pm CEST par Ian Finlay

windows server 2003

One constant in the technology industry is that technology continues to evolve at a rate that many find it difficult to keep up with. Microsoft, for example, is currently busy promoting the launch of its latest desktop operating system (OS) -- Windows 10 -- that will be available from July 29 in 190 markets around the world. The company’s expectations are high, with it professing a goal of putting Windows 10 on a billion devices within two to three years.

As with its desktop OS, Microsoft’s Server solutions are also at a turning point, with countless businesses around the world facing up to the stark reality that as one server version comes into being; support for another one will drop by the wayside; now it’s the turn of Windows Server 2003. But managing any migration is not for the faint hearted.

The Ticking Time Bomb

With around 61 percent of businesses still running Windows Server 2003 as of March this year, there is a ticking time bomb facing businesses to address the security risks posed by the imminent end of support by Microsoft on July 14. Two of the main reasons why UK businesses have tended to bury their collective heads in the sand are the lack of funds for the substantial financial outlay required and a distinct lack of time and internal resources to migrate to Windows Server 2012 before the deadline.

It feels like we’ve been here before. Back in April 2014, Microsoft’s official support for the beloved Windows XP ended. Even the UK Government was unprepared and was forced to pay an additional £5.5 million for one year’s extended support for computers that hadn’t been updated by the deadline.

It’s not a problem confined to Whitehall. At the start of this year, NetMarketShare research highlighted that almost a quarter of PCs today still run Windows XP, down only slightly from last December’s figure of around 29 percent, suggesting that many organizations haven’t yet made the leap away from this unsupported OS.

The Writing’s on the Wall

Back to the present, where Microsoft will no longer issue security updates for any version of Windows Server 2003 after July 14. This is following mainstream support being switched off back in July 2010, so the writing’s been on the wall a long time. But whilst businesses should have already started, if not finished, their migration to a supported version of Windows Server, a worrying percentage have not. In fact, approximately one in three enterprises are planning to run Windows Server 2003 after the deadline, so it’s imperative for businesses to look at alternative solutions to prevent data loss as a matter of urgency.

We are all aware that failure to patch potential security holes in your system is a serious risk and not just from the potential ICO fines. Vulnerability and patch management isn’t easy. In fact, in today’s computing environment, it’s a never-ending cycle and the task is made far more difficult when the patches aren’t being pushed to your user’s desktops. Therefore, businesses need to now seriously consider whether to either make the move to a new version of Windows Server on-premise or to move to the cloud.

However, a simple migration to the latest version of Windows Server might not be easy. Businesses increasingly build their own bespoke applications to meet their specific business requirements. This DIY approach can save them license fees and ensure they have something that will fulfill whatever unique business pain they are trying to solve, however these applications are often just designed to work on whichever server platform they were originally designed for. Therefore migrating to Windows Server 2012 -- whether on-premise or in the cloud -- can open up a plethora of compatibility and integration issues.

So what can you do if this is the case or you have simply left it too late? What if the deadline is looming yet you don’t have the internal resources, or indeed the funds, to facilitate such a large migration of your organization’s systems?

Another Way

With the security issues faced by many businesses following the end of support for Windows XP still fresh in the mind, there is strong demand for an alternative solution to full migration. In particular, an interim solution that allows companies to maintain security and business continuity whilst planning resources needed for full migration.

By using a combination of cloud management and migration technologies, businesses can migrate a physical or virtual server machine quickly and simply into the cloud. More importantly, firewalls tailored to address the vulnerabilities of Windows Server 2003 can then be added around these servers to immediately protect them from threats, whilst still allowing businesses to access their critical data. This enables businesses to address the challenge of application migration without putting vital business information in danger and migrate Windows Server 2003 to the cloud with the security required to continue without support until full migration to Windows Server 2012 is completed.

The end of support for Windows Server 2003 is an issue a substantial number of businesses are facing and one that needs to be addressed with immediacy. According to Microsoft, there are 11 million Windows Server 2003 servers still running. If your business has not taken action yet, it’s likely your critical data may be at risk. Migrating can be daunting but it is imperative to find a solution which will protect your information and buy some more time before investing in a full move to Windows Server 2012.

Ian Finlay is chief operating officer at Abiquo.

Two-thirds of time spent responding to malware alerts is wasted

Publié: juillet 14, 2015, 3:44pm CEST par Ian Barker

Security alert

Organizations are increasingly bombarded with malware reports and that can lead to wasted time dealing with false alarms or minor issues.

A new report from The Ponemon Institute, commissioned by breach defense specialist Damballa, reveals that two-thirds of the time spent by security staff responding to malware alerts is wasted because of faulty intelligence.

The survey of 551 IT and IT security practitioners across EMEA (Europe, Middle east and Africa) finds that teams spend, on average, 272 hours each week responding to 'false positive' cyber alerts -- due to erroneous or inaccurate malware information. This equates to an average cost of £515,964 (around $800,000) annually, for each organization, in lost time.

The findings show that organizations are dealing with nearly 10,000 malware alerts per week, however, only 22 percent of these are considered reliable. More worryingly, only a small fraction -- 3.5 percent -- of all alerts are deemed to be worthy of further investigation. IT teams could therefore be struggling with the resources, or expertise, to block or detect serious malware.

"These findings are significant as they highlight the real impact of false malware intelligence. Not only are teams devoting valuable time and resources to hunting down the false positives but they’re also in danger of missing the real infections, which could have a devastating impact," says Stephen Newman, CTO of Damballa. "The severity and frequency of attacks is increasing, so the focus really needs to be on building better intelligence, which means that organizations will have the confidence of knowing exactly where the real threats are. This means that teams can direct their efforts where it is most needed; on finding and quickly remediating the active infections".

Among other findings of the report are that fifty-seven percent of respondents say the severity of malware infections have significantly increased or increased in the past year. Yet whilst the severity of infections is rising, nearly a quarter of respondents (23 percent) say that they have an 'ad hoc' approach to containment, with 38 percent having no one person accountable for the containment of malware.

Only 37 percent of respondents reported that their organization has automated tools to capture intelligence and evaluate the true threat of malware. Organizations that do have automated tools report that an average of 44 percent of malware containment does not require human input or intervention and can be handled automatically.

The full report is available to download from the Damballa website.

Photo Credit: Sergey Nivens/Shutterstock

'Hey, Siri, play the sound of farts'

Publié: juillet 14, 2015, 3:10pm CEST par Wayne Williams

laughing laugh mock mocking finger point pointing

Apple Music can be used for more than just streaming songs to your iPhone or iPad. It can also be used to play sound effects. Who hasn’t wanted to have their endeavors greeted by a round of applause, or their jokes met with howls of hysterical laughter?

Sure, you have to summon Siri to use the trick, which reduces the spontaneity somewhat, but there’s still plenty of fun to be had.

All you have to do is ask Apple’s personal assistant to play the effect you require, and provided you’re signed up to use Apple Music and online, she’ll duly oblige. Results can be hit and miss, it all depends on what you’re asking her to play.

"Play the sound of farts" generates the sort of noises you’d expect, and you can also ask Siri to play sounds of "a crowd booing", "applause", "footsteps", "bees buzzing", "waves", "laughter" and much more.

Of course it all goes a bit wrong if Siri doesn’t understand you, or you happen to ask her to play a sound effect and there’s a song of that name (and if you don't use the word "sound" you might get a music track rather than an effect), but it’s still a spot of childish fun to try when bored on a long train journey.

Photo Credit: Vikacita/Shutterstock

Organize, edit and share your photos with digiKam

Publié: juillet 14, 2015, 3:00pm CEST par Mike Williams

DigiKam

After an initial release way back in 2006, digiKam has grown into a powerful, professional photo manager, crammed with high-end features and free for everyone to use.

The program started life on Linux, and so doesn’t get much attention elsewhere. There are builds available for Windows and Mac, though, so we installed a copy on a Windows 8.1 system to see what it had to offer.

DigiKam opened with a view of our Pictures folder, which it had imported as an "Album". There’s a thumbnail browser, we could freely import other folders and images (including from Facebook, Picasa and SmugMug) and organize them in various ways.

Clicking the "Filter" button gave us an immediate idea of the program’s power. We could select images by text, tag, file type, location or label, as well as viewing them as thumbnails, in a table, via a timeline, by people (after tagging faces), on a 3D map, and more.

The integrated editor has no paint tools and is short on special effects, but you do get plenty of manual and automatic fixes for lighting, color, contrast and other issues (even some lens corrections).

Of course you can also process groups of photos, assembling shots on the Light Table, or sending them to the Batch Queue Manager. This can rename a set of pictures, crop or resize them, apply various fixes or enhancements, add watermarks, insert or remove metadata, and more.

The Export menu surprised us with its many image-sharing options, saving our selected images locally -- as an HTML gallery, say -- or uploading them to Facebook, Flickr, Imgur, jAlbum, ImageShack, Google Drive and assorted other online destinations.

Individual modules frequently delivered more than we expected, too. The Metadata Editor, for example, doesn’t just support a few basic tags: it handles EXIF, IPTC and XMP, making everything accessible via a neat and well-designed dialog.

There are handy bonus modules, too, including simple tools to create a calendar, or blend bracketed images.

It’s not all good news, at least for Windows users. DigiKam is designed for Linux, so unsurprisingly its interface doesn’t always follow PC conventions (we were often surprised by the results of our left, right and double-clicking).

That’s further complicated by the basic local help, which only covers a fraction of digiKam’s abilities, and regularly left us guessing at how to carry out an action.

Some tasks require more configuration than you might expect. Exporting images to Flash, an Instant Messaging contact or via DLNA all require separate modules to be downloaded and installed before they’ll work.

In addition, the authors point out that, although digiKam is generally very usable on Windows, bugs in the KDE libraries it uses mean it’s not as stable as the Linux builds. This matched up with our experience. When we carried out normal operations -- browsed an album, edited an image, uploaded a few pictures to Imgur -- everything worked fine. But if we pushed the boundaries, maybe imported too many images into one of the tools, then digiKam was prone to crashing.

DigiKam isn’t a program for the casual Windows user, then. It takes time to learn, and you might have to find workarounds for a few problems and issues along the way. But the clean workflow and professional feature set mean it tramples all over most Windows freeware, even competing with Lightroom in quite a few areas, and if you’re in the market for a photo manager then it’s a must-see.

HSBC prematurely announcing Apple Pay in the UK causes Apple stock to rocket

Publié: juillet 14, 2015, 2:00pm CEST par Wayne Williams

Shock surprise

It’s not exactly insider trading, but if you want to make money on the stock market, monitoring social media in real time could help give you the edge.

On Sunday 12 July, HSBC tweeted a reply to a follower confirming that Apple Pay was due to launch in the UK on Tuesday 14th, beating Apple to the announcement. As a result, investors rushed to buy Apple Stock, causing a sizable spike in interest.

Those investors who spotted the tweet early, and acted quickly enough, stood to make decent gains.

Gareth Mann, CEO of Data analytics provider Digital Contact explains: "Even the smallest slip of the tongue on social media can affect the markets and HSBC’s blunder on Sunday was a great example. Our data tracker, which crunches millions of data points a second, showed a huge spike in noise around Apple just after 9pm on Sunday 12th July. Those that were aware of the noise, which happened to be an accidental announcement that Apple Pay was due on Tuesday 14th, were well placed to make a call on the markets".

HSBC tweet As a probable result of the blunder, Apple stock opened on Monday at $121.59, up from its $120.09 close, and since then has risen to over $125.

"This is just another proof point that serious investors need to be monitoring the millions of social channel in real time if they want to stay ahead of the curve", Mann adds.

It’s ironic that it should have been HSBC that jumped the gun in announcing Apple Pay’s UK arrival, seeing as the bank isn’t one of those supporting the tap-to-pay service at launch.

Apple graph

Photo credit: PathDoc / Shutterstock

New software provides simplified view of IT assets

Publié: juillet 14, 2015, 1:22pm CEST par Ian Barker

rack room servers IT

For large companies keeping on top of IT assets and software licenses can be a complex and time consuming process.

IT management company LANDESK is releasing a new version of its IT Asset Management (ITAM) Suite which provides a simplified view of assets in one central place via a LANDESK Workspace, putting decision-making data at the fingertips of managers.

Features of the software include improved asset visibility. IT managers get a comprehensive look at managed assets, making it easy to identify owned assets, optimize software, reclaim unused licenses and regain negotiating power with vendors.

ITAM delivers detailed, reliable licensing information, helping monitor the current state of compliance and respond faster to software audits. For hardware it can automate tracking of warranty data and lease information.

LANDESK Workspaces is compatible with Mac, Windows, iOS and Android operating systems, and it provides the same experience regardless of device, so it can be used centrally or during on site audits.

"Many asset management tools, whether they are discovery, license optimization or asset repositories, tout the total number of reports available in the product," says Patricia Adams, ITAM evangelist at LANDESK. "While this is useful information, knowing how to act on the data is more meaningful. Having the data displayed in a format that allows for rapid business decision-making enables the asset manager to be more efficient. LANDESK Workspaces provides a customizable dashboard and the visibility needed to understand the health of the IT assets and make actionable decisions".

More information on the IT Asset Management Suite is available on the LANDESK website.

Photo Credit: .shock/Shutterstock

Microsoft introduces Azure Data Catalog and Power BI Desktop

Publié: juillet 14, 2015, 1:01pm CEST par Darren Allan

Cloud storage

This week is a big one for Microsoft and its Azure cloud platform, with major updates coming through before its Worldwide Partner Conference. The updates introduce a raft of juicy new features, including Azure Data Catalog and Power BI Desktop.

Azure Data Catalog is actually available in public preview today, and Microsoft describes it as an enterprise metadata portal for the self-discovery of data sources.

Cloud Pro reports that Joseph Sirosh, corporate VP of Information Management and Machine Learning at Microsoft, commented: "Azure Data Catalog is a fully managed service that stores, describes, indexes and provides information on how to access any registered data source. It closes the gap between those seeking information and those producing it".

In short, organizations that are faced with a huge range of data sources need help finding the right source for any given problem, and Azure Data Catalog helps them do this swiftly.

As Microsoft puts it, the service means that staff members won’t spend more time searching for the relevant data than they actually do working with the data itself.

Azure Data Catalog uses crowdsourcing, and Sirosh noted: "Any user, for instance an analyst, data scientist or data developer, can register, enrich, discover, understand and consume data sources. Every user is empowered to register the data sources that they use. Registration extracts the structural metadata from the data source and stores it in the cloud-based Catalog, while the data itself remains in the data source.

"Crowdsourced annotations let users who are knowledgeable about the data assets registered in the Catalog to enrich the system at any time. This helps others understand the data more readily, including its intended purpose and how it’s being used within the business", added Sirosh.

The overhauled data crunching tool Power BI will also be out very shortly -- on July 24, in fact -- and it will be made available alongside Power BI Desktop, which Microsoft describes as a powerful new visual data exploration tool, providing simple drag-and-drop exploration of data and an array of interactive visualizations.

Azure Batch is also now available, which aims to make it a breeze to handle the provisioning and scaling of virtual machines. All in all, these are some very powerful new tools which should make life easier for many businesses.

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Machine learning simplifies managing VMware environments

Publié: juillet 14, 2015, 11:33am CEST par Ian Barker

Machine learning

With a mix of on-site, virtual and hybrid environments, today's IT systems are increasingly complex and time consuming to manage. Yet traditional monitoring tools can result in information overload.

For businesses using VMware environments, SIOS Technology Corp is launching a new solution that applies machine learning techniques to IT analytics.

SIOS iQ applies advanced machine learning analytics to broad data sets, including application and infrastructure data from third party tools and frameworks. This allows it to understand and explain complex behaviors and predict the impact of changes in dynamic virtual environments.

"This extensible analytics platform delivers simple, intelligent solutions to the most pressing problems in today's complex VMware environments," says Jerry Melnick, COO of SIOS Technology Corp. "SIOS iQ brings extraordinary ease of use and time savings to tasks that have typically required multiple experts from various IT disciplines. The solution improves IT and infrastructure efficiencies, reducing costs while helping IT meet critical quality of service goals for applications operating in VMware environments".

Traditional approaches focus on recording and reporting discrete events, such as a CPU utilization exceeding a threshold, to identify problems in a VMware environment. This means that complex or subtle issues can go unnoticed while IT staff are inundated with alerts without any guidance for prioritizing, interpreting or correcting them. SIOS iQ learns the relationships of objects and their normal patterns of behavior in a VMware infrastructure. It's then able to recognize abnormal patterns and identify the root causes of issues.

It can also analyze interactions between SQL and infrastructure resources in the VMware environment to identify the root cause of performance issues. SIOS iQ recommends the best solutions via its SIOS PERC Dashboard, filtering out the noise and large numbers of alerts that go with traditional approaches. This reduces staff time spent manually compiling and analyzing data from various sources to identify causes of issues and assign ownership of solutions.

You can find out more about SIOS iQ on the company's website and there's currently a limited feature, free edition available to allow you to try it out.

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Remember when technology was exciting?

Publié: juillet 14, 2015, 11:22am CEST par Robert X. Cringely

GoogleGraph

Al Mandel used to say "the step after ubiquity is invisibility" and man was he right about that. Above you’ll see a chart from the Google Computers and Electronics Index, which shows the ranking of queries using words like "Windows, Apple, HP, Xbox, iPad" -- you get the picture. The actual terms have changed a bit since the index started in 2004 as products and companies have come and gone, but my point here is the general decline.

Just as Al predicted, as technology has become more vital to our lives we’ve paradoxically become less interested, or at least do less reaching out. Maybe this is because technologies become easier to use over time or we have more local knowledge (our kids and co-workers helping us do things we might have had to search on before).

Whatever the reason, I think it is mirrored in the decline of specialist technology publications. What happened to BYTE Magazine? Actually the last editor of BYTE, my friend Rafe Needleman, is the new editor of Make Magazine (there were a number of steps in between for Rafe) so maybe there are technology search upticks like 3D printing and Raspberry Pi computers just as we yawn over Windows 10 or iOS 9.

Where it was once enough to be a user, maybe the geeks among us now need to be masters. It’s an ironic return not to the PC glory days of the 90s, but to the PC experimenter days of the 70s. Or so it seems. Whatever the reason, we’re certainly more blasé than we used to be about this stuff that has come to absolutely control our lives.

Weird, eh?

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Mozilla blocks all versions of Flash in Firefox amid growing security concerns

Publié: juillet 14, 2015, 10:59am CEST par Manish Singh

As you may or may not know, Adobe Flash -- a veteran tool required by many modern browsers for video playback -- is riddled with vulnerabilities. The product has a long history of being thrown under the bus for its security incompetence. Such is the case today. Mozilla announces that it is blocking all versions of Flash Player in its browser with its latest update.

Mark Schmidt, the head of the Firefox team at Mozilla notes that the company is disabling Adobe Flash by default in the browser. The block is accompanied by an image showing a raised fist and the phrase "Occupy Flash". Users who wish to enable Flash can do so by flipping switches in the settings menu, however.

Last week, security firms warned users about a major vulnerability in all versions of Flash for Mac and Windows clients. The revelation came in the aftermath of a mega security breach at the notorious Hacking Team. Adobe acknowledged the vulnerability and has since provided a patch to fix it. But another vulnerability was discovered soon after.

This is not the first time Adobe Flash has found itself in the limelight for its wrongdoings. Last week Facebook’s new chief security officer announced that he wants to "set a date to kill Flash for once and all". But we can go back further than that. In 2010, Steve Jobs wrote an open letter explaining Apple’s growing concern with Flash.

But somehow, due to its vast presence and a number of products relying on it, Flash has managed to dodge all bullets. But it seems the nadir for Flash is imminent. Earlier this year, YouTube dropped support for Flash. Furthermore, Chrome has begun to intelligently pause instances of Flash video on its pages.

Apple Pay arrives in the UK -- Here's how to use it

Publié: juillet 14, 2015, 10:03am CEST par Wayne Williams

Apple pay

While Apple Pay has been available in the US for a while now, the tap-and-pay service finally launches in the UK today. It works in the same way as contactless cards -- you just tap your iPhone 6, 6 Plus, or Apple Watch on a payment terminal to make a payment.

It’s very easy to use, secure, and has a maximum purchase limit of £20 per transaction (rising to £30 in September). This is what you need to do to use it.

Firstly you’ll need to make sure you’re running the latest version of iOS. If you are, the next step is to add your credit or debit card(s).

Not all banks support Apple Pay, but many of the major ones do. NatWest, Nationwide Building Society, Royal Bank of Scotland, Santander, First Direct, and Ulster Bank are all supporting the service, and more are arriving in the autumn. Barclays is still on the fence, however. HSBC was expected to be part of the first wave of banks to be included, but now says it will support the service by the end of July.

On an iPhone 6 or 6 Plus, open the Passbook app and tap the + button at the top right. You can add your cards here. You can quickly add a card linked to your iTunes account by entering the CVV security code from the back of the card. For new cards, take a photo using your device’s camera and add the required additional information.

Apple Watch users (including those with an iPhone 5 or 5s) can add cards through the Apple Watch app on the phone. Just select the Passbook & Apple Pay option.

Apple Pay can be used both in-store and online and is secure as it uses a token system which ensures the card details don’t get passed on to the retailer. Payments are verified using Touch ID. It’s slower than contactless cards, but the additional security is worth the slight delay.

When it’s time to pay for something, hold your iPhone 6 or 6 Plus about an inch away from the payment terminal while holding your finger on the Home button. To pay with an Apple Watch just double-click the side power button, and select the card to use. Tilt the watch at the payment terminal and you’ll receive the usual Watch feedback when the payment has been made.

It's your fault Google Photos continues to upload pictures after you uninstall it

Publié: juillet 14, 2015, 9:54am CEST par Mark Wilson

finger_of_blame

Google's decision to break up Google+ into a number of separate apps and services led to the launch of Google Photos. Just like with Apple's iCloud, the app can automatically upload your images to the cloud ready for sharing, viewing, or just as a backup. You might decide that this automatic uploading isn't for you and opt to uninstall the Google Photos app... but your photos will probably continue to upload in the background.

This is the discovery that many Android users have made; what gives? Is Google being sneaky? The answer's not quite that simple. Before you start freaking out, proclaiming that Google is indeed evil, and wondering how on earth the company thinks it can get away with it, consider this: it's actually your fault.

Nashville Business Journal writer David Arnott is among those who discovered that even after Google Photos has been deleted, photos are still backed up. This is not because Google Photos is being sneaky. Google is not infringing on your privacy. The company is not taking liberties. You opted to have your photos automatically synced to the cloud, and it has absolutely nothing to do with Google Photos -- that's why uninstalling it makes no difference.

"Eh?" I hear you cry.

The uploading of photos is controlled not by Google Photos' settings, but by Google settings. This is clearly something that is going to upset some people -- after all, how are you really expected to know that this is a global, rather than in-app, setting? -- but it's the way things are meant to work. And it's easily addressed if you don’t like the way photos are uploaded on your behalf -- which you may not do if you are on an expensive or limited data plan.

All you need to do is fire up the Google Settings and you can disable the 'Back up photos' option. Simple. It might not be obvious, it might not be entirely clear, but it is by design. Oh... and you might want to check just what has been uploaded in case there's anything you'd rather wasn’t sitting online.

If you think your privacy has been violated, you have no one to blame but yourself.

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Apple owns the smartphone market

Publié: juillet 14, 2015, 9:24am CEST par David Curry

printing-money

There are over 1,000 smartphone manufacturers in the world, but Apple is still taking the lion’s share of profit from the smartphone industry. A report from Canaccord Genuity claims Apple took 92 percent of all profit in Q1 2015, with Samsung the only other manufacturer hitting 15 percent profit.

This is a big worry for the industry as a whole and shows how volatile the smartphone business is for new and old manufacturers. The report does not include private companies, meaning upstarts like Xiaomi and Micromax -- two of the most interesting manufacturers -- are not relevant in the discussion.

Lenovo, Huawei, BlackBerry, Microsoft and HTC have all failed to reach profitability on the mobile front, either due to lack of sales or lack of profit per unit. Apple sells each iPhone at $624 (£401) average, while Android devices have an average sale price of $185 (£119).

Of course, the average sale price differentiates depending on the manufacturer, but for the most part Android partners are incapable of matching the price Apple is hitting with the iPhone, yet cannot match Xiaomi or Micromax on low cost Android devices.

This puts manufacturers like HTC, Lenovo and Huawei in an awkward middle ground position, where they’re not seen as premium brands like Apple or cheap brands like Xiaomi or Micromax.

Apple’s lead on the smartphone industry continues to grow, with Samsung failing to estimate sales for the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge leading to a rather poor second quarter. The Cupertino-based company managed to hit 74 million iPhone sales in the first quarter, beating the entire Samsung mobile range in overall sales.

Depending on the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus' success, we may see another year of Apple’s complete dominance, or a slight downturn in the company’s fortune. The growing private companies in the East also spell a bit of danger for Apple, which cannot match their low prices.

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Happy 10th birthday, microSD Card! SanDisk ships 2 billion of the little guys

Publié: juillet 14, 2015, 6:17am CEST par Brian Fagioli

dogbdaysandisk

Can you believe that the microSD Card is ten years old? It's true. On July 13, 2005, the final specification was unleashed upon the world. Smaller than a postage stamp, the little card allowed manufacturers to feature removable storage in smaller devices. While this mostly benefited the cellphone and smartphone markets, it has been used in other devices too, such as the renowned Surface Pro 3 and many mp3 players.

While the birthday alone is worthy of a celebration, there is yet another major milestone with the card type. SanDisk, the inventor of the format, announces that it has shipped 2 billion microSD cards. Keep in mind, that is only SanDisk's sales. Mamma mia, that's a lot of cards!

"Invented by SanDisk in 2004, the microSD format was initially known as TransFlash. In 2005 SanDisk contributed the technology to the SD Card Association who renamed and released the final specifications for the microSD format on July 13, 2005. This format has become the most popular removable memory card in SanDisk's history. Collectively, SanDisk's two billion microSD cards could store an estimated 11,103 billion megabytes (MB) worth of memory -- the equivalent of more than 100MB of flash storage for every man, woman and child that ever lived on Earth", says SanDisk.

The company further says, "the microSD format has also helped propel the smartphone market by giving both manufacturers and consumers greater flexibility and freedom. Approximately 75 percent of smartphone models on the market today contain microSD slots, according to data from Strategy Analytics. Google included microSD slots in two of its fastest-growing and largest mobile product segments -- Android One, its mobile operating system for sub-$200 phones, and phones designed for emerging markets. Android M, Google's next mobile operating system, and Windows Mobile both permit consumers to run applications directly on microSD cards and/or increase the primary storage capacity of their devices".

While I respect the company for staying bullish on the microSD market, I think it may be a bit misguided. Even though Android M permits increased usage of external cards, manufacturers are increasingly shunning expandable storage. With the adoption of the cloud, I do not expect this anti-expandable memory trend to change.

What is your fondest microSD memory? Share it with me in the comments.

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Nokia returning to smartphone business -- could be in 2016

Publié: juillet 14, 2015, 1:36am CEST par Manish Singh

Nokia is no stranger to the smartphone market. Once an iconic player in the game, the Finnish-based company sold its devices and services business to Microsoft last year. The company, however, plans to get back in the smartphone business, it confirms today.

Weeks after its CEO Rajeev Suri revealed company's plan to return to the smartphone business, in a blog post, it notes today that it will be establishing brand licensing model with partners that can be "responsible for all of the manufacturing, sales, marketing and customer support for a product."

"If and when we find a world-class partner who can take on those responsibilities, we would work closely with them to guide the design and technology differentiation, as we did with the Nokia N1 Android tablet.", it writes. "That's the only way the bar would be met for a mobile device we'd be proud to have bear the Nokia brand, and that people will love to buy."

But how soon can we see Nokia smartphones in the retail stores again? The company reminds us that it is contractually obligated from making, selling, or designing phones until Q4 2016. "The soonest that could happen is Q4 2016 -- so it’s safe to say Nokia won’t be back (at least in phone form...) before then".

Here's a theory: with Microsoft letting go more than 7,000 ex-Nokia employees, the Finnish company could hire and bring them on board to design phones again.

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