2013年5月26日星期日

Travel Tech Q&A: Airbnb's Nate Blecharczyk

Blecharczyk is based in San Fancisco, US.
What tech do you travel with and why?
iPad mini. It has great battery life, so I try to use it as much as possible on the long flights in order to save my laptop for the more critical things.
I load all my documents onto the iPad using Evernote, which makes it easy to sync across devices. I also load a selection of books and movies, in case the entertainment on the plane is lacking.
An international power adapter is obviously critical when travelling abroad, but the model I have is particularly great (iGo International Travel Adapter).
It can charge your phone via a USB plug while simultaneously accommodating your computer. The adapter glows blue when it is powered, which can be helpful when validating whether an outlet works at the airport.
There had been many times when I've shown up to a place to give a presentation that a working HDMI cable and adapter is not available. I always bring my own.
Noise-cancelling headphones (mine are from Bose) with extra batteries are critical for staying focused, being entertained, or even sleeping. Apps like White Noise can further mute your surroundings.
What's your favourite phone app for travelling and why?
I use Evernote on my desktop to maintain all my notes. It syncs with all my devices so that I have my notes regardless of which device I'm on. Additionally, I can embed PDFs and other documents into Evernote, and retrieve them across devices.
Personal travel advice or tip?
I do a lot of multi-destination trips internationally. I've found that searching for one-way tickets for each segment can sometimes reveal flights not otherwise visible and at a lower cost.
What is your one must-have piece of tech when travelling? What you never leave home without.
My laptop, a MacBook Pro, is still indispensable for me. I need it mostly for Excel, building presentations in Keynote, and for all my documents.
What was your biggest travel disaster?
A couple of times, I've booked flights for the right day, but wrong week. Each time, I didn't realise it until checking in 24 hours before or at the airport. That's a painful realisation.
What is the best airport you've visited and why?
Incheon International Airport in Seoul, Korea. Security is efficient, and the terminal is spacious and comfortable. Nice waiting areas, shops, etc. The whole place feels relaxed, which is not what most airports feel like.

Google have to be wary of an anti-trust action offered

  This thirty day period, Home windows Cell phone users ultimately obtained Microsoft’s YouTube consumer for their handset. Made by Redmond, after Google declined to aid their mobile system, the consumer has already sparked a confrontation (and lawful letters) involving the two tech corporations. The saga with the WP YouTube consumer is much from more than, but it highlights two critical regions - Microsoft signifies small business with Home windows Cellular phone, and YouTube is now as pervasive as being a utility enterprise.
  Up to date during the first week of May perhaps, Microsoft’s YouTube shopper ceased remaining an icon that opened up a mobile web-site and became an entire software on any Home windows Phone handset, such as assistance for Kid’s Corner by limiting access to age limited video clips; pinning channels, playlists and movies; and downloading movies for offline viewing.
  By like an alternative to obtain video clips into the handset, and never displaying any in-app promoting, Microsoft was provoking response from Google (each of the time together with the solution of ‘we’d really like to incorporate these, but we do not have the API’). That response duly came, a huge, juicy cease and desist letter (with the ask for to work with the trapdoor within the Windows Cell phone Store to remotely delete all copies in the application).
  And the same as that, after a metaphorical round of corporate ‘who’s is bigger’, the two providers are sitting spherical the desk, and it looks like Windows Cell phone people may have a good and official YouTube client right after all.
  It after had an excellent third-party edition called Metrotube, but any individual supporting that app will realise that it absolutely was continually searching for methods to your not enough APIs from Google, and at a person position withdrew itself in the Home windows Telephone Keep for the reason that it was simply too really hard to keep up together with the improvements. It is again now, and customers continue on to like the app. But there was usually desire for something much more formal.
  The posturing from both of those Microsoft and Google illustrates just how critical on the internet video clip is usually to a cellular system, as well as the de facto leader in this particular industry is clearly YouTube. By furnishing customers for just a range of cellular platforms in their option, but only an HTML5 mobile version from the web-site for Windows Cell phone buyers, Google have to be wary of an anti-trust action offered the dominance YouTube has while in the market place.
  Google has declined to assistance Windows Cell phone with purposes, pointing on the lessen marketplace share of your system, as well as their HTML5 offerings that necessarily mean the info could be partially accessed with the cell net browser. So Microsoft has created this shopper utilizing their resources, but without the need of permission to entry the indigenous APIs, they are needing to force the problem which is able to gain the shoppers, nevertheless it also bolsters the Home windows Mobile phone platform and gives it parity together with the handsets up coming to it around the High Road.
  There is still likely to generally be many give and get among the companies (the obtain solution has already been eliminated), plus some of which may be performed out in community, though the stage is ready. Microsoft goes aggressive with Windows Mobile phone; and Google ought to handle the YouTube like a utility that ought to be offered to absolutely everyone online, not as their particular walled yard where they are able to ascertain obtain legal rights on the system by platform basis.

2013年5月16日星期四

Google Play Music All Access: search giant launches rival to Spotify

  Google outstripped its arch-rival, Apple, with the launch of a subscription music streaming service on Wednesday while simultaneously mounting a threat to other providers such as Spotify.
  The service, labouring under the full name of Google Play Music All Access, was unveiled at Google I/O, the tech giant's annual developer conference in San Francisco, where delegates also heard about significant updates to its search and mapping services.
Google Play Music All Access
  Revealing the music service, Chris Yerga, Google's engineering director, said users would be able to stream from a vast library on any device, using the Android operating system. "This is radio without rules. It's as 'leanback' as you want to, or as interactive as you want to," said Yerga. Users will be able to search for an artist and add tracks to their library. A "listen now" feature will create a mix of favourite artists or genres based on previously listened-to songs.
  In the US, All Access will cost $9.99 a month after a 30-day free trial. Spotify Premium, a similar service, costs $9.99. Users who sign up by 30 June will get a reduced price of $7.99 per month. There was no immediate announcement of pricing in other territories. Google has signed licensing deals with music companies including Sony, Universal and Warner, and millions of songs will be available for the service, which will go live from Wednesday.
  The announcement comes as Apple considers its own music service. The tech giants have become increasingly interested in subscription services thanks to the popularity of Spotify, which has more than six million paying subscribers and more than 24 million active users in 28 countries.
  Geoff Taylor, chief executive of the UK-based BPI, which represents record labels, welcomed the announcement by Google. "Streaming is the fastest growing part of the £330m digital music sector in Britain," he said, "with more than a million paying subscribers already and millions more enjoying free and ad-supported music. The entry of a player with the reach of Google will persuade many more consumers to experience having millions of songs to play instantly on their phone, tablet or PC."
  Google's announcement was greeted with loud applause by developers in San Francisco, who began lining up to attend the sold-out Google I/O at 5am. Larry Page, the Google CEO, who has been suffering from a vocal-cords defect, made an unexpectedly long appearance at the conference, where he bemoaned the "negativity" which he believes is holding back the technology industry.
  The company revealed that more than 900 million devices using Android had now been activated, up from 400 million a year ago. Hugo Barra, vice-president of Android product management, said 48 billion Android apps had now been installed worldwide. The 900m figure does not include tens of millions of smartphones in China which also use Android's basic software – called "Android Open Source Platform" – but do not connect to Google's services, and so cannot contact its "activation" servers.
  Google unveiled new tools for developers including the ability to track people's physical activity when they are carrying an Android device, a move that will usher in a new generation of fitness applications.
  The company's search service also received an update. Saying "OK Google" to an Android device will now trigger a voice recognition system. Personal information like flight reservations, package deliveries and theatre bookings will be easier to find with the improved search service.
  Brian McClenden, Google's head of maps, said its mapping service had been rebuilt "from the ground up". Google Maps will pay greater attention to each individual's personal use of the maps, highlighting places they frequently visit and making suggestions for other venues. The maps will change as they are used. Clicking on a museum will highlight other museums in the area, and users' photos will also be displayed in the maps. The new functions will be rolled out in the coming months.

A fast improvement cycle for that operating

  Microsoft launched Windows eight in time for the vacations final year, but you'll must wait until finally the 2013 getaway purchasing time to get a sensible choice of machines and fixes that handle complaints regarding the software.

  In the course of her opening remarks, she uncovered that Home windows Blue, the code name for an update to your computer software anticipated to include a Start button into Home windows eight, might be a free of charge update for users. It will likely be officially referred to as Home windows eight.one.
  She verified that there'll certainly be a preview of Windows eight.one throughout the company's Make meeting in late June, at which period we are going to very likely discover far more specifics about just what will be within the update.
  Reller danced around the issue of when specifically Home windows 8.one will become readily available for purchasers but implied it's going to be introduced across the holiday seasons. "We're delicate towards the timing of the vacations and what that means for receiving the update out," she stated. "We realize if the vacations are. We wish to underscore that."
  She also claimed that offer problems that have held again the provision of additional touchscreen units -- which Home windows 8 was intended to permit -- is recuperating but won't be absolutely solved until finally later on this year. "We see that contact offer is acquiring a great deal superior. Because of the vacations we cannot begin to see the sorts of constraints we have seen within the capacity of our partners and retail companions to receive contact inside the quantity they'd like and that prospects are demanding," she claimed.
  Touchscreen offer constraints ended up blamed to get a deficiency of assortment of appealing sort variables when Windows eight introduced past 12 months. A fast improvement cycle for that operating method also intended that OEMs may well not have experienced time which they usually do to build new products and solutions. But many people assumed that people concerns could well be solved inside the to start with handful of months of this year.
  But it surely does affect the customer sector, which increasingly influences the forms of devices which might be utilized during the company. Without having compelling Home windows 8 gadgets on retail store shelves, individuals have far more purpose to order goods from rivals like Apple and Google. Microsoft will only have a great number of holiday break searching seasons to convince people that it'll get it right.
http://www.windows7mart.com/windows-7-professional-product-key-p-3527.html

2013年5月7日星期二

Senators propose law to go after foreign cybercriminals

  Shortly after the Pentagon announced the Chinese government has been involved in widespread cyberespionage targeting the U.S. government and businesses, a bipartisan group of senators proposed a new law to fight cyber-theft.
  The law, dubbed "Deter Cyber Theft Act," was proposed Tuesday by Democrats Carl Levin and Jay Rockefeller and Republicans John McCain and Tom Coburn, according to Reuters. The goal of the legislation is to protect commercial data from foreign hackers and governments.
  Several foreign countries, including Russia, Israel, and France, have been blamed for spying on U.S. government Web sites or American businesses, but China has gotten the lion's share of these accusations.
  According to the Pentagon's annual report to Congress, which was published on Monday, China maintained a steady campaign of computer intrusions in 2012 that were designed to acquire information about the U.S. government's foreign policy and military plans. While U.S. officials have raised such allegations before, the tenor of the charges has been steadily increasing in recent months.
  "China continues to leverage foreign investments, commercial joint ventures, academic exchanges, the experience of repatriated Chinese students and researchers, and state-sponsored industrial and technical espionage to increase the level of technologies and expertise available to support military research, development, and acquisition," the report said.
  Earlier this year, after The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal accused hackers in China of perpetrating months-long network breaches at the newspapers, a handful of companies revealed that they too had been victims of recent hackings, including Apple, Facebook, and Microsoft. A study released by Team Cymru in February said that overseas hackers are stealing as much as one terabyte of data per day from governments, businesses, militaries, and academic facilities.
  "This is Internet theft on an industrial level," Team Cymru director Steve Santorelli said at the time.
  The slew of cyberattacks have caught the attention of U.S. lawmakers and in March the Obama administration demanded that China end its "unprecedented" campaign of cyberespionage, warning that the hacking activity threatens to derail efforts to build stronger ties between the two countries. The Chinese government has flatly denied that it is involved in cyberspying or hacking.
  The senators backing "Deter Cyber Theft Act" seem to hope that the law could be a strong barrier in curbing the ongoing attacks.
  "We need to call out those who are responsible for cyber theft and empower the president to hit the thieves where it hurts most -- in their wallets, by blocking imports of products or from companies that benefit from this theft," Levin said in a statement, according to Reuters.
  If passed, the law would require an annual report to list the countries involved in cyberespionage, along with highlighting the worst offenders, according to Reuters. The report would also detail what kind of data the cybercriminals were stealing. These lists could lead to the president blocking imports of certain products or imports from specific countries.

Apple's mobile's devices and just about that

  Using the makeover it introduced previous October, Microsoft hoped to engage in a far more popular job in the rising mobile machine industry although nonetheless preserving its dominance in PCs. But Home windows 8's style and design, which emphasizes interactive tiles and touch controls, looks to get befuddled as lots of individuals since it has amazed. Just one main research firm, International Information Corp., says Windows 8 contributed to the 14 p.c drop in all over the world Personal computer profits through the 1st 3 months on the calendar year - the greatest year-over-year fall at any time.
  Meanwhile, revenue of smartphones and pill computer systems are booming. The greatest beneficiaries are already Apple Inc., the maker in the apple iphone and iPad, and Samsung Electronics Co., which sells essentially the most products operating on Google Inc.'s Android software package. Google is usually benefiting from Android's reputation by way of elevated traffic to its services, generating additional opportunities with the corporation to show ads.
  In contrast, leading Personal computer makers these kinds of as Hewlett-Packard Co. and Dell Inc., which mostly offer Windows-powered equipment, are already mired within a money funk which has battered their shares and elevated questions on their futures.
  The business, that is located in Redmond, Wash., says a lot more than a hundred million Home windows 8 licenses have been sold thus far, up from about 60 million licenses in January. The licensing quantity "is from the very same typical ballpark," as Microsoft's preceding working system - Home windows 7 - in a comparable juncture of its profits cycle, according to Tami Reller, who serves as the promoting and financial main for Microsoft's Home windows business.
  Within an job interview, Reller mentioned Microsoft nevertheless realized alterations ought to be produced to generate Windows 8 easier to navigate and capable of taking entire advantage of technological know-how improvements that have appear out considering that Oct.
  For now, Microsoft isn't really indicating which kind of adjustments is going to be released together with the release of Blue, which the corporation ideas to anoint with a various title when the update is available. Microsoft also just isn't saying no matter whether it will eventually cost existing house owners of Windows 8 gadgets to get the fixes in Blue. The corporate options to launch Blue in time for your holiday break period.
  Reller claimed a lot more aspects about Blue will likely be unveiled before Microsoft holds a developers convention in San Francisco in late June. A few of Blue's characteristics are predicted to be previewed at that conference.
  Other critics have pined for a possibility that may enable the method to begin within a desktop manner suited to functioning programs suitable for before versions from the functioning technique. Windows 8 currently commences off exhibiting a mosaic of interactive tiles customized for swiping through systems using a finger as a substitute of applying a pc mouse.
  Aside from responding to shopper suggestions, Blue also will strengthen Windows 8's power to work on smaller sized tablets with 7- and 8-inch display screen screens, Reller said. She declined to state whether or not Microsoft intends for making more compact edition of its possess Floor tablets. Within a conference call with analysts previous month, Microsoft Main Economic Officer Peter Klein claimed the corporate was performing with other companies to make scaled-down tablets.
  Another thing that Blue won't correct: the reasonably smaller variety of cell applications tailor-made for Windows eight. Reller said the Home windows 8 shop now has more than sixty,000 applications. Against this, you'll find additional than 800,000 apps offered for Apple's mobile's devices and just about that lots of for Android equipment, too. In a single of the most obvious omissions on Home windows 8, Facebook Inc. however has not developed an application to help make its on the internet social network far more accessible on that technique. Fb has about 750 million mobile end users.
  Reller is attempting to border the modifications as evidence that Microsoft is starting to become additional agile and nimble mainly because it responds to the fast evolving technological innovation industry. Smartphones and pill personal computers happen to be for the epicenter in the upheaval, diminishing the demand from customers for PCs as more men and women and businesses choose for your benefit of progressively effective cellular equipment.
  The mobile computing movement may be the main reason that Microsoft designed essentially the most spectacular redesign of its Home windows running system since 1995. Supplied how distinct that Home windows 8 is from its predecessors, Reller said Microsoft normally knew it'd need to make some changes less than a 12 months soon after the software program arrived out.
http://www.windows7mart.com/office-2010-key-c-632.html