Gregarius » BetaNews.Com » novembre 18, 2015

BetaNews.Com (4 non lus)

Todoist launches Windows 10 universal app

Publié: novembre 18, 2015, 12:30pm CET par Mihaita Bamburic

Microsoft is hoping that within the first two to three years after launch Windows 10 will run on over one billion devices. Expectations are high, but the new operating system has a few things going for it which can help it reach that milestone. One of them is universal apps.

The idea is simple: developers can build a single app that works across all types of devices that support Windows 10, including PCs, tablets and smartphones. The software giant's efforts are already starting to bear fruit, as Todoist has just launched its to-do app in Store as a universal app.

Todoist's to-do apps are regarded as some of the best in this category, and having a Windows 10 client -- even in preview form, as is the case now -- means prospective users have one less major app to worry about when considering a switch to the tiled operating system. It's one step in the right direction for minimizing the so-called app gap.

For those on PCs, however, the app's availability probably does not matter as much, as a desktop program is already available. But smartphone and tablet users are likely to find it much more easier to access their To-Do accounts now.

The Windows 10 app is based on TaskCrunch, a Windows Phone Todoist client which it acquired earlier this year. The company says that the Windows 10 offering is its "first ever native desktop app", promising that it will offer a "Todoist look-and-feel that’s optimized" for the platform.

There's support for custom Live Tiles, actionable notifications, a three-pane view and other features. It should be said that, at this stage, Todoist for Windows 10 is not optimized for Windows 10 Mobile devices nor is it available in other languages than English. This will come at a later date, and so will other features like integration with Cortana.

"In the coming months, our Windows team will be adding powerful new features like advanced filters, completed task history, and Cortana integration; optimizing Todoist for Windows 10 Mobile; adding support for all of our 20+ languages; and generally polishing the app to perfection", says Todoist.

Todoist is available to download from Windows Store.
iPhones generate 94 percent of global smartphone profits

Publié: novembre 18, 2015, 9:14am CET par Sead Fadilpašić

If you ever needed evidence that the iPhone is a huge money maker, it’s safe to say that we now finally have it. On paper, in black and white.

According to a recently published Canaccord Genuity report, Apple has made 94 percent of global smartphone profits during the third quarter of the year, even though it had sold 14.5 percent of all smartphones in the quarter.

How is that possible, you might ask? Well, because Apple’s devices are expensive, and the company’s operating margins (how much money the company makes on each iPhone) are at 37 percent.

To put things into perspective, Samsung achieved 24.5 percent of global sales during the same period, yet took just an 11 percent share of profits. Its operating margins are at 10 percent.

You also might have noticed how Samsung and Apple combined make up more than a 100 per cent of the market share, which definitely can’t make sense, but it actually does. Sony, HTC and other smartphone makers actually posted a negative operating income.

Such high figures, especially knowing that Apple has made 85 percent global smartphone profits this time last year, have prompted some analysts to say that Apple has nowhere to go but down.

Apple CEO Tim Cook disagrees, recently saying that the demand for the iPhone exceeded supply.

"We believe that iPhone will grow in Q1, and we base that on what we’re seeing from a switcher point of view", Cook said. "We recorded the highest rate on record for Android switchers last quarter at 30 percent. We also look at the number of people that have upgraded, that were in the install base prior to iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, and that number is in the low 30 percentages, so we feel like we have a very open field in front of us".

Published under license from ITProPortal.com, a Net Communities Ltd Publication. All rights reserved.

Photo Credit: Wayne Williams
Import old email archives into Gmail using these open source tools from Google

Publié: novembre 18, 2015, 3:13am CET par Brian Fagioli

I'm a Gmail user. You are probably a Gmail user. Hell, I bet your dog uses Gmail. Here's the thing though -- unless you are really young, you probably didn't use Gmail as your first-ever email account, right? Right.

If you are like me, you probably pre-date web-based email, and got your messages from an email client. In fact, many people -- especially in businesses -- still do, using such software as Thunderbird, Outlook or Evolution. The unfortunate thing, you see, is that those old emails aren't available and searchable in your Gmail account. But what if they were? What if you could import your archaic email archives (if you were smart enough to save them), saved on zip disks in a closet, into Gmail? That would be neat, right? Well, with the power of open source, you actually can -- maybe.

"Do you have an old Thunderbird mail archive that you downloaded from an old email account? Do you want to move those old messages to Gmail so that you can use the Gmail app on your phone and still have access to everything? Then maybe mail-importer is for you! The project aims to make it easy for users to import mailbox files from their computer to Gmail. The project is in early development and only has command-line support right now", says Google.

The search giant further explains, "or maybe you are a Google Apps administrator trying to import all of your users' old mbox files into Google Apps for Work? Then import-mailbox-to-gmail is probably what you’re looking for. It is a Python script that will do bulk imports of multiple mailboxes into multiple accounts in a domain. It's admin-managed, so your users won't have to individually import their archives".

If you want to try these open source tools yourself, you can download them at Github (mail-importer and import-mailbox-to-gmail). Unfortunately, mail-importer appears to only support Thunderbird at this time. If you used a different client, you will need to wait for a future update. If you are savvy enough, maybe you can tweak the source to make it work. I have a large Lotus Notes archive saved -- I won't hold my breath on that one being anyone's priority.

Do you have a Thunderbird-based archive that you will try importing into Gmail? Tell me how it goes in the comments below.

Photo Credit: 3Dstock/Shutterstock
Google+ gets a refresh -- you should actually use it now

Publié: novembre 18, 2015, 1:50am CET par Brian Fagioli

Google+ is a big joke, right? No one uses it, right? Wrong and wrong. The search-giant's social network is actually quite good and has many active users. I would argue that it is the best such network, superior to both Facebook and Twitter, but I digress. True, it does not have as many active users as the aforementioned competitors, but its focused purpose arguably makes it a better resource. It is brilliant for meeting like-minded individuals by using the "Communities" feature.

With all of that said, the Google+ interface was a bit clunky and confusing. Heck, it was very heavy too, causing web browsers -- in my experience -- to use a lot of resources. Today, Google announces that it is refreshing the service -- a new coat of paint and improved interface. Will this lead to increased usage?

"We've spent a lot of time listening to what people using Google+ had to say. There were two features they kept coming back to: Communities, which now average 1.2 million new joins per day, and Collections, which launched just five months ago and is growing even faster. Whether it’s the Nonfiction Addiction Community, where people can be found discussing the best in Crime or Travel storytelling, or the Watch Project Collection, where more than 40,000 people are following an antique watch hobbyist, these are the places on Google+ where people around the world are spending their time discovering and sharing things they love", says Eddie Kessler, Director of Streams, Google.

Kessler further says, "and so we've reimagined Google+ to help them do that. Today, we’re starting to introduce a fully redesigned Google+ that puts Communities and Collections front and center. Now focused around interests, the new Google+ is much simpler. And it’s more mobile-friendly—we’ve rebuilt it across web, Android and iOS so that you’ll have a fast and consistent experience whether you are on a big screen or small one".

While I am able to try the new web interface as seen above, I have not yet seen an app update for iOS -- my iPhone and iPad will have to endure the old version for now. For the most part, I like the web version -- it certainly feels less resource intensive -- but there is still a lot of wasted space. See the screenshot I took above? Yuck. Overall, it is an improvement, however.

The Android version, based on the top picture, does seem to have a UI faux pas. Cassidy James, Cofounder and UX architect for the elementary OS Linux distro says:

Bottom tabs on Android is not cool. System-wide navigation goes there, and putting app-wide controls right up against the back, home, and multitasking button is just asking for trouble. C'mon Google

That is a damn-good observation. Google has seemingly made a poor design choice. Users could potentially hit the system controls in error when trying to navigate the new Google+ Android app. Well, this won't be a problem for users of Samsung-made Android devices which do not utilize the on-screen buttons, opting for a combination of dedicated physical and capacitive buttons instead.

Google definitely has opportunities to improve, but as wise people say, you should not let perfect get in the way of better. The social network is on the right track, and is better today. The question, however, is will you finally use it? Tell me in the comments.