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40 articles, 2016-07-25 18:01 1 Verizon acquires Yahoo for $4.83 billion After speculation and rumors, the deal has been done. Verizon has stumped up $4.83 billion in cash for Yahoo's operating business, (1.05/2) including search, advertising and content. After speculation and rumors, the deal has been done. Verizon has stumped up ... 2016-07-25 11:55 1KB feeds.betanews.com 2 'Pokemon Go' players stumble on hidden history Historical markers have long dotted the landscape, often barely (1.03/2) noticed by passers-by—until they became treasure-filled stops this month on the "Pokemon Go" trail. 2016-07-25 15:23 5KB phys.org 3 Niantic Confirms New Pokemon for Pokemon Go, PokeStops Tweaks No date when they could be released, though 2016-07-25 09:53 2KB

(1.03/2) news.softpedia.com

4 Cancelled 8.3-inch Lumia 2020 Windows RT tablet makes a rare appearance on camera The Lumia 2020 is one of many and devices that (1.02/2) appeared in a photo today. The 2020 was an 8.3-inch Windows RT tablet with a Snapdragon 800 and PureView camera, due to launch in 2014. 2016-07-25 11:24 3KB feedproxy.google.com 5 Ford will bring Android Auto and Apple CarPlay to all of its 2017 models Ford wants to make all of its new cars a bit more attractive by (1.02/2) integrating Android Auto and Apple CarPlay into most of its vehicles. The two infotainment systems will be inside all 2017 models. 2016-07-25 10:46 1KB feedproxy.google.com 6 You have until Friday to upgrade to Windows 10 for free If you're rocking Windows 7/8.1, you only have a few days left to (1.02/2) make your decision 2016-07-25 10:13 1KB www.techradar.com 7 Hot job alert: Become a Salesforce coder Making the switch to Salesforce’s ecosystem can prove lucrative for biz-savvy programmers 2016-07-25 18:01 11KB www.computerworld.com.au

8 LinkedIn claims Rocket Data beats Apple's iOS caching The framework is an alternative to Apple's Core Data, which was inadequate for the company's mobile dev needs 2016-07-25 18:01 3KB www.computerworld.com.au 9 Industrial digitalisation We explore how back-office IT is being applied to industrial machines 2016-07-25 15:23 1KB www.computerweekly.com 10 Prisma App Finally Launches on Android, Available in the Play Store Prisma has been leading App Store rankings 2016-07-25 12:00 2KB news.softpedia.com 11 Not everything about Windows 10's data collection is bad news Data hoovering helps businesses to plan upgrades 2016-07-25 11:37 2KB www.techradar.com 12 Build.prop for Nexus Sailfish Leaks, Points to Snapdragon 820 The file also indicates a 5.2-inch display 2016-07-25 11:16 1KB news.softpedia.com 13 Today's Top 3 Programming Languages Bash, Perl, Scala are the ones that offer the best salaries 2016-07-25 11:08 1KB webscripts.softpedia.com 14 Estonia seeks UK datacentre to protect citizens' personal data from hackers - report The Baltic state is reportedly in early stage talks with the UK and Luxembourg governments about setting up a backup site within either country to protect citizens' data from risk of hackers 2016-07-25 11:00 2KB www.computerweekly.com 15 From DirectX 12 to Xbox streaming: what Windows 10's future holds for gamers You won't find these features elsewhere 2016-07-25 10:46 7KB www.techradar.com 16 The Sapphire Radeon RX 470 and 460 get pictured and leaked Sapphire's upcoming RX 470 and RX 460 cards have seemingly found their way online. Though the leak is light on technical details we do get to see the affordable cards in all their glory. 2016-07-25 10:28 2KB feedproxy.google.com

17 Launch programs, websites, or type text with Clavier+ Clavier+ is a simple macro manager which enables launching programs, opening websites or inserting text with your chosen hotkey. The program has been around for years, but still works well on even the very latest PCs. Clavier+ is a simple macro manager which enables... 2016-07-25 09:48 2KB feeds.betanews.com 18 Pangu Announces Jailbreak for iOS 9.2 The jailbreak tool is already up for grabs for Chinese users 2016-07-25 09:32 2KB news.softpedia.com 19 IMO Messenger Launches on , Nobody Can Use It Activation codes not being sent to Windows users 2016-07-25 09:11 1KB www.softpedia.com 20 Microsoft’s Arrow Launcher for Android Gets Notification Badges for More Apps Facebook, WhatsApp, and now supported too 2016-07-25 08:50 1KB www.softpedia.com 21 Linux 4.7 has been released, comes with support for AMD's RX480 GPU After a four-month effort by the Linux team, the latest kernel has finally been released after seven Release Candidate versions. One of the more noticeable updates includes support for the AMD RX480. 2016-07-25 08:44 1KB feedproxy.google.com 22 The Best Windows Phone Reddit Client Receives Huge Update New version of Readit now available for download 2016-07-25 08:25 2KB news.softpedia.com 23 Lawsuit Raises Questions About The Right To Tinker With Tech The Electronic Frontier Foundation has filed a lawsuit to overturn a provision in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act which limits the modification of technology. For anyone managing information technology, the law in question has the potential to limit access to data, to weaken security, and to... 2016-07-25 08:06 5KB www.informationweek.com 24 Nintendo shares crash after investors discover who actually made Pokémon GO Nintendo's shares dropped by more than they have in the last 25 years, because the company put out a press release saying Pokémon GO would only have a limited financial impact. 2016-07-25 08:02 2KB feedproxy.google.com

25 One in ten UK computer science graduates don't have a job According to the latest figures compiled by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), computer science graduates are still at the top of the UK’s higher education unemployment rankings. According to the latest figures compiled by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), computer science... 2016-07-25 07:50 2KB feeds.betanews.com 26 'Star Trek: Discovery' teaser revealed at Comic-Con Comic-Con 2016 was in full swing this weekend as thousands of fans convened at the San Diego Convention Center for all things comics and entertainment. Those in attendance at the Star Trek 50th anniversary panel were in for a treat… 2016-07-25 07:30 1KB www.techspot.com 27 Take full control of your default browser with Browser Chooser Set up a new PC and one of the first things you’ll do is install and choose a default browser, which then handles all your website- viewing needs. This mostly works fine, but you might want to open some links in different browsers: intranet in IE... 2016-07-25 07:15 2KB feeds.betanews.com 28 Windows 10 At 1 Year: 9 Ways It's Changed Microsoft has made several updates to Windows 10 as part of its Windows-as-a-Service model. How has the OS changed since its launch in July 2015, and what's on the road ahead? 2016-07-25 07:06 2KB www.informationweek.com 29 Windows Boss Terry Myerson Now in Charge of Windows Server Too Satya Nadella makes new upper management changes 2016-07-25 06:38 2KB news.softpedia.com 30 Gears of War 4 will come with a host of PC- only features The fourth installment in the excellent Gears of War series is almost upon us, and it’s going to have the honor of being the first game in the Xbox Play Anywhere program. But this doesn’t mean it will look identical… 2016-07-25 06:15 2KB www.techspot.com

31 MIT made a movie screen that brings 3D to all seats – without the glasses Seeing 3D movies in theaters isn't my preferred choice for a bunch of reasons, but the glasses definitely rank among its most annoying features. The cheap.. 2016-07-25 00:00 3KB feedproxy.google.com 32 Twitter will livestream weekly games from MLB and the NHL Twitter is expanding its live sports plans, with weekly, livestreamed games from Major League Baseball and the National Hockey League. The livestreams will.. 2016-07-25 00:00 1KB feedproxy.google.com 33 Google Maps is gaining a Wifi-only mode Cellular data can be expensive and wifi is often free. Thankfully it seems Google Maps will soon work on just Wifi. Google has yet to announce this option... 2016-07-25 00:00 1KB feedproxy.google.com 34 What Is Hazelcast? Read through a brief introduction into the Hazelcast world. 2016-07-25 00:00 6KB www.developer.com 35 Do More with a Surface Device Ever since the release of Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book last fall, these two products continue to change and excite the... Read more. 2016-07-25 00:00 2KB www.pcconnection.com 36 SoftBank’s Pepper robot goes on sale in Taiwan in first overseas launch Pepper, the humanoid robot from SoftBank, is headed overseas for the first time after going on sale in Taiwan today. 2016-07-25 00:00 1KB feedproxy.google.com 37 Super-fast small biz mobile banking service Tide raises $2M seed round The race to create a new, 21st Century form of bank continues. In Europe, Holvi (coming out of Finland) was desktop-first and hasn’t come to the UK. It also.. 2016-07-25 00:00 4KB feedproxy.google.com 38 AOL CEO Armstrong’s Yahoo memo: ‘We’ll work closely with Marissa’ Today Verizon confirmed that it plans to acquire Yahoo's core assets -- search, advertising and content, along with Yahoo's Sunnyvale real estate -- for.. 2016-07-25 00:00 886Bytes feedproxy.google.com 39 India’s Quikr snaps up Hiree to grow its recruitment service Indian classifieds startup Quikr has made an undisclosed acquisition to grow its recruitment business. 2016-07-25 00:00 2KB feedproxy.google.com 40 MoreUnited. UK will use tech to shake-up UK politics — and stop extremists Crowd-funding is almost an old-fashioned concept in the tech world these days, but it’s still having a relatively new and significant impact in the world of.. 2016-07-25 00:00 6KB feedproxy.google.com Articles

40 articles, 2016-07-25 18:01

1 Verizon acquires Yahoo for $4.83 billion (1.05/2) After speculation and rumors, the deal has been done. Verizon has stumped up $4.83 billion in cash for Yahoo's operating business, including search, advertising and content. The acquisition adds an extra one billion monthly active users to Verizon's customer base, and the deal comes just over a year after the company acquired AOL. Verizon's CEO says the company is in a 'highly competitive position' and the deal will 'help accelerate our revenue stream in digital advertising'. Verizon now has a huge portfolio of brands, spanning everything from publishing and advertising, to search and news. The deal is expected to complete by the end of Q1 2017, and until that time Yahoo will continue to operate as an independent. In a statement, Verizon explains what is not included in the deal. "The sale does not include Yahoo's cash, its shares in Alibaba Group Holdings, its shares in Yahoo Japan, Yahoo's convertible notes, certain minority investments, and Yahoo's non-core patents (called the Excalibur portfolio). These assets will continue to be held by Yahoo, which will change its name at closing and become a registered, publicly traded investment company. Yahoo will provide additional information about the investment company at a future date". Marissa Mayer, the Yahoo CEO of Yahoo who has faced a great deal of criticism said: Photo credit: g0d4ather / Shutterstock 2016-07-25 11:55 By Mark

2 2 'Pokemon Go' players stumble on hidden history (1.03/2) Players hunting for fictional creatures on their are now visiting real-life memorial plaques, statues, mosaics and landmarks, ranging from a Civil War battlefield in Chancellorsville, Virginia, to a Hells Angels clubhouse on New Zealand's North Island. Some don't bother to linger at these Pokestops, staying just long enough to stock up on the virtual balls they'll use to bonk and capture the next Pokemon. But for others, the GPS-powered "augmented reality" game is heightening awareness of the history and geography of their neighborhoods. "Before I was just going from Point A to Point B, but now I'm learning things," said 15-year-old Jaiden Cruz as he walked by a plaque Wednesday in downtown Providence, Rhode Island, marking where Abraham Lincoln spoke at an old railroad hall in 1860. The plaque is a Pokestop, and shortly before Cruz arrived, another player dropped a "lure module" that attracts Pokemon to the site. The 380-year-old city abounds with Pokestops, including the nation's oldest Baptist church—founded by religious dissident Roger Williams in 1638— and a stone marking where French troops camped during the Revolutionary War. "It gets you to learn about your surroundings," said 59-year-old Cheryl DiMarzio, who on the advice of her daughter ventured into an urban park to capture an owl-like Pidgey and some purple rodent Rattatas. "Different landmarks, the statues and historical places. " How such markers became the backbone of the wildly popular video game that launched this month is a story that goes back at least five years, when tech giant Google signed a licensing agreement to use The Historical Marker Database , a volunteer-run website that has tracked the geographic coordinates of more than 80,000 historical markers around the world, most of them in the United States. J. J. Prats, founder and publisher of the Virginia-based marker database, said many but not all the Pokestops and Pokemon gyms—where players send their creatures into battle—are from his website. He's thrilled. "Hopefully people will take their eyes off the phone and read the historical markers," Prats said. The game has delighted Anthony Golding, a middle school history teacher in Tupelo, Mississippi, who is looking forward to incorporating Pokestops into his curriculum in the fall. He has replenished his Pokemon wares where the Civil War's Battle of Tupelo was fought, at monuments to Civil Rights Movement figures, and at a pedestal that holds the Tupelo Meteorite. But Elvis Presley holds the monopoly on Tupelo's Pokestops, from his birthplace to the Main Street store where he got his first guitar. "Pretty much every Elvis landmark has a Pokestop devoted to it," Golding said. Prats said his website's views have quadrupled since the game launched , possibly because gamers are looking to get ahead and find new stops. His editors in recent days have had to strike down a rash of "bogus" submissions for markers that have no historical significance but that he suspects might be near where players live or where businesses are hoping for foot traffic , he said. Game maker Niantic Labs , which began as an internal Google startup, originally used the markers for its earlier game, Ingress, which attracted a smaller but dedicated community when it launched in 2012. Niantic, which spun off from Google last year, did not respond to emails seeking comment about its "Pokemon Go" locations. But the Ingress website gives clues about how the Pokestops were created. Before closing off submissions, Ingress invited its users to identify new locations for "portals," real-life places of cultural significance that gamers try to capture and connect on the Ingress app. The company sought spots "with a cool story, a place in history or educational value" or a "cool piece of art or unique architecture. " It prized libraries and little-known gems, and welcomed places of worship because they are "a nod to the otherworldly" that amplified the game's mysterious tone. Ingress player John Jannotti, who teaches computer science at Brown University, said he began stumbling upon the hidden history of his Providence neighborhood, including obscure stone markers showing the location of race riots where white mobs attacked black residents in the early 19th century. He even submitted some portals of his own. Now, those markers are Pokestops attracting a whole new community. Golding, the teacher, said he frequently runs into his students in downtown Tupelo while playing the game. "It's probably more about the game for them right now," Golding said. "After the newness kind of wears off, we can start to have those conversations about the historical significance behind those Pokestops. " Explore further: Players in hunt for Pokemon Go monsters feel real-world pain 2016-07-25 15:23 phys.org

3 Niantic Confirms New Pokemon for Pokemon Go, PokeStops Tweaks (1.03/2) Niantic, however, is trying to prevent this from happening, and the company is already working on some updates, including new Pokemon. John Hanke, Niantic CEO and founder, has said at Comic-Con that new generations of Pokemon will arrive at some point in the future, but no specific timeline can be provided right now. Work in this regard has already started behind closed doors, and Niantic hopes to bring new Pokemon to players around the world as soon as possible, with Hanke claiming that new goodies will be offered in the coming “months and years.” “Beyond first generation, there are some others that may make their way into our universe. We're looking forward to finding interesting ways to make that happen in the coming months and years,” Hanke is quoted as saying by The Verge. Additionally, Niantic is planning an update for Pokemon Go that would give pokestops new abilities, as the company discovered that the majority of users are using lures on them to attract Pokemon “That's a pretty cool idea that you can acquire an object that changes the function of a pokéstop and gives it a new ability,” Hanke explains, hinting that pokestops could soon become healing centers for Pokemon. Niantic’s founder admits that some of the game's features weren’t quite ready when Pokemon Go went live earlier this month, and this is something that millions of players have been complaining about for many weeks now. "You've only seen these guys as silhouettes because maybe we weren't quite finished by launch day,” he says about team leaders. “We're working really hard to keep the servers up and running. We're working on it, but its gonna take a little longer.” Niantic is really having a hard time keeping servers online, but downtime, crashes, errors, and bugs continue to occur, causing frustration among players who expect better reliability for such a popular title. For what it’s worth, Pokemon Go is certainly the most successful buggy game ever. 2016-07-25 09:53 Bogdan Popa

4 Cancelled 8.3-inch Lumia 2020 Windows RT tablet makes a rare appearance on camera (1.02/2) It almost seems like a lifetime ago now, but around 2013-14, Nokia was cranking out new devices at a relentless pace, targeting almost every niche and price point it could. But there were yet more phones and tablets that were never officially released, as Nokia - and Microsoft, which eventually acquired its devices and services business - came to terms with the reality of low demand for these devices , amid spiraling costs for their development. Microsoft kept the faith for as long as it could, continuing to develop a wide range of Lumia handsets - but last year, it cut its losses, and massively scaled back its mobile business , cancelling several devices that were almost market-ready. Today, a photo has appeared online showing a range of Microsoft and Nokia devices, which includes some that never went on sale. The photo was published on Baidu by @nokibar , who has previously revealed images of the cancelled Lumia 850 , as well as an accurate render of the Lumia 650 before it was unveiled. The most interesting device there is the big green one. It's the rarely-seen Lumia 2020 tablet, which was first rumored at the end of 2013. Conceived as a smaller sibling to the 10.1-inch Lumia 2520, which was unveiled a a few weeks earlier , the 2020 would have been another Windows RT tablet, with an 8.3-inch display, Snapdragon 800 processor, 2GB of RAM, and 4G LTE support. It was originally expected to be announced at Mobile World Congress 2014 - but of course, it never made an official appearance. This isn't the first time the Lumia 2020 has been caught on camera; another photo appeared last year (above) showing the tablet's unusual rear camera arrangement, mounted in the center of the device. That earlier image also indicated that the camera would feature ZEISS optics and PureView enhancements. However, the image published today is the first to show the Lumia 2020 in green, which supports the notion that the device was originally destined to launch in 2014. Green, orange and yellow were the colors that Nokia chose for its product range in that year, which included the likes of the Lumia 630/635 , 730/735 and 830. You might spot a few familiar devices that went on sale among those in today's photo, including the Nokia Lumia 800, 830, 930, 1020, 1520, and Microsoft's latest flagship, the Lumia 950 XL. But you may also notice one or two devices that were binned before their launch, such as the Lumia 850 ('Honjo') and, apparently, a prototype of the Nokia XL 2 - a potential successor to the company's ill-fated range of low- end Android devices . Source: @nokibar (Baidu) via NPU 2016-07-25 11:24 Andy Weir

5 Ford will bring Android Auto and Apple CarPlay to all of its 2017 models (1.02/2) Our cars’ digital prowess is very underwhelming by most standards but Ford is looking to change that as it announced that all of its 2017 vehicles will feature Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. The giant automaker announced earlier this year that it was looking to bring the two infotainment systems to all of its models equipped with Sync 3. Now the company has announced in a press release , that indeed, all of its new cars, light trucks, SUVs and electric vehicles will feature Sync 3 by the end of the year. Up until now, Apple CarPlay or Google's Android Auto were generally available on more expensive cars, or select models. As a buyer, you’d be hard pressed to find a car if you wanted to take advantage of the digital systems built around our phone’s operating systems. But Ford claims it wants to take out the guesswork involved with buying a car if a consumer is looking for these systems. This seems to be good news for those in the market for a new car, although, an infotainment system that connects to your phone seems to be a bit quaint at this point. After all, self-driving cars , affordable Teslas and Apple’s Car are all supposedly just around the corner. 2016-07-25 10:46 Vlad Dudau

6 You have until Friday to upgrade to Windows 10 for free (1.02/2) Windows 10 has been a free upgrade for Windows 7/8.1 users for the past year, but the deadline for that freebie is about to expire towards the end of this week. So if you've been on the fence, and you've not upgraded yet, be aware that you've only got a few days left to make the move – the offer expires when Friday comes to a close (July 29). After that, you'll have to pay for Windows 10, and the will set you back £100 (or $120 over in the US, which is about AU$160). Windows 10 has been picking up users at a decent pace, and we expect that the figures for July will prove to be a big boost, given that a fair number of those who have been mulling the upgrade over the past year will likely pull the trigger to avoid having to fork out a later date. Microsoft's newest OS has already proved particularly popular with gamers, because it offers DirectX 12 support which is a major boon. Indeed, almost half of PC gamers on Steam are now running Windows 10. And following the cessation of the free upgrade, Microsoft will be pushing out the big Anniversary Update (a week tomorrow, August 2), complete with many new features including bolstered security and a host of improvements to the Edge browser. Article continues below 2016-07-25 10:13 By Darren

7 Hot job alert: Become a Salesforce coder Having a direct impact on company revenue is a great way to get ahead, and a career shift to Salesforce development can help you do exactly that. Salesforce.com presents a major opportunity for developers, not only in providing customization and implementation support but also in developing apps for Salesforce’s AppExchange business app marketplace. Salesforce.com has grown rapidly as a platform, providing CRM and marketing automation services in the cloud to sales staff, health workers, fundraisers, and other professionals around the world. Its ecosystem provides opportunities to consultants, marketing firms, and app developers, who have contributed more than 3,000 apps to AppExchange to date. An increased demand for marketing intelligence, sales outreach, and lead generation has fueled a hot job market for developers targeting Salesforce.com. Here we provide a look at how you can cash in on this trend. The market for Salesforce talent is robust, with Monster.com reporting more than 1,000 job postings for Salesforce developers and related roles, including Salesforce architect and Salesforce consultant, as of June 2016. Companies are willing to pay top dollar; $120,000 is the average U. S. salary for Salesforce developers, according to CareerBuilder. “I see a large demand for Salesforce development talent across every geographic region and industry,” explains Mike Wheeler, who teaches Introduction to Salesforce Certifications and Career Planning and The Complete Salesforce Administrator Certification Course at Udemy.com . “Contract rates for developers ranges from $65 to $85 per hour usually. Architect roles start at $150,000+ for annual salary and commonly exceed $200,000.” Wheeler is a Registered Salesforce Partner and holds several Salesforce certifications, including the Salesforce Certified Sales Cloud Consultant credential and the Salesforce Certified Platform App Builder credential. He receives multiple inquiries from recruiters based on his LinkedIn profile each week. “Cloud for Good hired 15 new consultants during the past 12 months, and we plan to hire about 30 additional employees over the next 12 months. Everyone we hire has extensive Salesforce experience combined with nonprofit and consulting exposure,” says Tal Frankfurt, CEO of Cloud for Good, a consulting firm in North Carolina. “We expect to hire another 20 to 30 people for Marketing Cloud implementations alone,” adds Josh Pierry, CEO of Pierry Software, which focuses on Salesforce Marketing Cloud integrations and implementations. “The opportunity is incredible right now.” That opportunity includes rising interest in analytics and marketing automation, led by early pioneers such as Amazon, to improve the bottom line; solving challenges around delivering effective social media and email marketing at scale; and increased demand for customization in managing customer data. Digital agencies that specialize in internet marketing strategies are among the chief organizations hiring Salesforce developers. “The engineering team at DEG is growing, and that includes Salesforce specialists,” says Jim Nagorska, Salesforce Marketing Cloud engineering team lead at DEG Digital. Based in Kansas, DEG has more than 150 employees serving clients such as Mozilla, UMB Bank, and Hallmark Baby. Email marketing is a major focus for DEG. “I have used Salesforce Marketing Cloud on a variety of email campaigns: weekly promotional emails, customer birthday emails, and welcome campaigns,” Nagorska says. “Abandon-cart email campaigns -- where a prospect has added items to their online shopping cart but does not purchase -- have been highly effective.” A key skill in this area is database management. “Prior to working on Salesforce, I had developed database skills working with SQL Server, Microsoft Access, and other database services,” Nagorska says. “Prior to DEG, I was at another organization where my role was IT administration/senior production programmer. In 2008, I had my first exposure to Salesforce products when I was asked to work on a product,” Nagorska says. He joined DEG in 2011 with a focus on ExactTarget messaging platform. In 2013, Salesforce acquired ExactTarget and subsequently rebranded the product as Salesforce Marketing Cloud. Nagorska took a self-study approach to learning Salesforce products. “In addition to experimentation, I have participated in the annual Salesforce conference called Connections,” he explains. The conference includes tracks on data integration, email marketing, and analytics. Salesforce also provides webinars, online training, and developer accounts to help professionals learn the products. “Salesforce periodically introduces new features such as AudienceBuilder, which was interesting. This provides a way to manipulate data without SQL,” he says. Salesforce.com is well-known as a means for helping sales staff close deals and manage customer information, but that’s only part of its opportunity for development skills. “In June 2016, I started as a Salesforce business analyst at Philips Healthcare. In this role, I work with InfoView, which is a biomedical and imaging equipment asset management tracking software built on Salesforce,” explains Jill Remley, who previously worked in the banking industry. Prior to her role at Philips, Remley had some experience with Salesforce as a user tracking sales and similar activities at a payroll company. “I also served as a Salesforce administrator for a nonprofit for about a year before getting certified and making this my career,” she explains. Remley has also invested in her professional skills. “I used Salesforce’s Trailheads training, took Mike Wheeler’s Udemy Salesforce courses, and have earned a Salesforce administrator [certification],” she adds. Remley’s experience shows that Salesforce skills can be applied in several industries that may not be immediately obvious: nonprofits, payroll firms, and health care organizations. Many recruiters are searching for Salesforce talent to fill a variety of roles. “I have placed a range of independent consultants from Salesforce project manager/architect to admins and developers. Many of our recent clients have been in the education field and seek high-level project managers or architects,” explains Alexandra Aycock, delivery specialist at EdgeRock Technology Partners. “While technical knowledge and experience are essential, they are not enough for professionals interested in pursuing senior roles or moving into consulting roles,” Aycock adds. Yes, developers can create a career performing heads-down coding for Apex ( Salesforce.com ’s programming language) and Visualforce (its UI framework), but they should still be able to speak with the business. “Soft skills and communication are highly important,” Aycock says. There are a variety of paths for breaking into Salesforce development. One place to start would be to explore the resources offered directly by Salesforce, which has created several online and offline communities to help developers grow their skills. “ Superbadges and Trailhead Trails are two ways that Salesforce developers can demonstrate their interest and skills with Salesforce,” says Wheeler. What do these self-guided training programs involve? Superbadges are microcredentials that cover four competencies: Apex, security, Lightning Experience (Salesforce’s process automation platform), and reports and dashboards. Superbadges are a low-commitment introduction to the Salesforce ecosystem. The reports and dashboards superbadge takes approximately six hours to earn. Salesforce describes its superbadges as a precursor to determine readiness for certification. They are also a way to gauge your interest levels in a Salesforce career. “I would recommend completing as many Trailhead modules as possible. Every skill set is covered -- whether you are a developer or an admin, Trailhead includes tools to test your knowledge of the platform,” says Frankfurt. Salesforce Trails are online guided learning paths through modules and projects. They are offered at three skill levels: beginner, intermediate, and advanced, with only two trails available at the advanced level. The Develop with Mobile SDK (covering iOS, Android, and hybrid mobile apps) could be a promising entry point for mobile developers seeking to expand their range. For a deeper experience, Salesforce offers several certifications, including Administrator ($200) and Architect ($400) certs. Experienced coders can start with the Platform Developer I credential; others familiar with coding can begin with the Force.com Advanced Developer credential first. Those with little to no technical background should pursue the Salesforce Administrator certification first. This enables you to learn the platform and go down the path of becoming either an administrator, consultant, or a developer, explains Wheeler. Data skills are an important ingredient to success in Salesforce development. “My initial work with Salesforce came through an ad hoc request when I was in a previous role,” explains Nagorka. “My expertise at manipulating data with SQL queries, Excel, and other methods helped me learn the product.” The ability to evaluate data quality and transform it to meet client requirements is also helpful. For Pierry Software, Salesforce certifications are essential. “Salesforce certification is a minimum requirement needed for any aspiring Salesforce developer. At our company, we only work with certified developers, so you won’t make it past HR if you don’t have one,” Pierry says. “If you are new to the space, my advice is to earn the Salesforce Admin Certification, plus a Marketing Cloud certification. Our ideal candidate has the certifications and a couple of years’ experience working on the platform.” A foundation of non-Salesforce skills is also important. “We like our developers to have familiarity working on data structures, ETL process, and ideally some programing experience,” Pierry adds. For those interested in Salesforce Marketing Cloud, a robust understanding of digital marketing channels such as email and SMS is helpful. To achieve long-term growth in Salesforce development at an implementation firm, professionals need more than tech skills. “Success and growth at our company comes as a result of outstanding client service, creative solutions, and the ability to upsell the client authentically and appropriately,” Pierry says. “Our star performers leverage their familiarity with the technology to solve a real pain point for the client.” In addition, Pierry finds it helpful to read industry publications such as Ad Age, Media Post, and Adweek. Tags Salesforce.com More about Advanced CareerBuilder ExactTarget Excel Microsoft Monster Monster.com Mozilla Philips Salesforce.com Technology 2016-07-25 18:01 www.computerworld

8 LinkedIn claims Rocket Data beats Apple's iOS caching To provide iOS app builders an alternative caching solution to Apple's Core Data framework, LinkedIn is offering its Rocket Data caching library via open source. Available under an Apache license, Rocket Data is based on a nonblocking immutable model management system with a persistent synchronization layer. LinkedIn developed Rocket Data while rewriting its mobile app, when it wanted a caching system that would present content to users while still loading data from the network. The company wasn't satisfied with Core Data as a solution, believing it lacked scalability and had several other issues. Rocket Data, the company said, scales with a large number of model types and schema changes; allows developers to work with any value system, including NoSQL or a simple key-value store; and is secure. "Immutable models have recently gained a lot of traction in the iOS community," because of Apple's Swift language and a push for immutability, LinkedIn staff engineer Peter Livesey said. Immutable models have been used in functional programming languages, and Swift adopts functional paradigms, he said. Version 2 of Rocket Data adds improvements like an ability to handle data collections across multiple screens and a capability for screens to pause data updates. In offering Rocket Data via open source, LinkedIn hopes to entice developers to enhance it and wants to see how it is used by other parties, Livesey said. They also get a potential replacement for Core Data. "In general, it seems a lot of developers are still using Core Data because they feel like they don't really have too many other options," said Livesey. Though LinkedIn used Core Data in a few applications, the company found it inadequate for its mobile application, citing complexity, a lack of thread- safety models, dropping of frames, and having to migrate the database whenever a schema changes. "Using [Rocket Data], we've been able to easily add caching to all features with very little additional work from developers," Livesey said. "The cache and data providers are automatically kept consistent across screens. Despite updating the schemas of multiple models every week, we have never needed to add code for any migrations. And best of all, our application has never crashed due to a Core Data exception. " Documentation for Rocket Data is available on GitHub. More about Apache Apple 2016-07-25 18:01 www.computerworld

9 Industrial digitalisation The tools and techniques IT departments have mastered to manage diverse technological infrastructure are now being applied to manage machines, in what some experts refer to as Industry 4.0. PwC’s Industry 4.0: Building the digital enterprise report, published earlier this year, looks at how industrial companies are creating digital services to deliver a competitive edge. IT leaders need to be at the forefront of these initiatives, to position the IT function as key to operations, rather than a back-office support function. According to the PwC report, IT leaders should develop an agile IT function that can respond flexibly to business demand. “By focusing on creating working solutions and responding to new requirements in an agile way, an agile IT function helps you continuously improve services,” notes PwC. PwC believes the other core technology capability is likely to be internet of things (IoT) management – monitoring, controlling and orchestrating large amounts of diverse devices and providing central IoT services. This includes providing functions (via software upgrades), communications standards and connectivity, and ensuring an appropriate level of security. 2016-07-25 15:23 Managing Editor

10 Prisma App Finally Launches on Android, Available in the Play Store Prisma was launched on iOS in June, and ever since then, the app has ranked even higher than messaging applications like WhatsApp or Instagram in countries such as Russia and Ukraine, according to AppAnnie. The application allows users to edit their images in a very artistic way using up to 33 filters. Prisma’s filter algorithm employs multiple neural networks and even artificial intelligence. Such tools are necessary for scanning the image and applying a certain style. It doesn’t just apply filters on images, as other photography apps do. This is why Prisma has seen such a growing popularity on iOS and possibly why its expansion to Android has caught the attention of users. The filters are quite different from those offered by other photo editing apps available on the market in the sense that Prisma allows users to transform pictures into artworks in the style of famous artists such as Picasso or Monet. Prisma doesn’t require its users to create an account in order to use the applications, and the main screen is split in two. The top half displays the camera view while the other half shows camera buttons and a tool for picking images from the phone’s gallery. Pictures can be cropped or rotated before applying filters. The screen for picking filters is quite similar to Instagram, with the photo preview on the top and filters at the bottom. The filters effect can be increased or decreased if users slide a finger on the photo preview. The app takes only a few seconds to apply filters, and images can be later shared on social networks. Prisma is definitely worth a try, if not for the truly artistic filters, then for the fast editing speed. The app is free and available on iOS and Android. 2016-07-25 12:00 Alexandra Vaidos

11 Not everything about Windows 10's data collection is bad news Microsoft grabs a good deal of user data via Windows 10 – something we heard about last week when French authorities blasted Redmond for what it described as "excessive" data collection – but there is a more positive side to this data hoovering, certainly for businesses when it comes to upgrading to the new OS. Upgrading is one thing for home users, but planning a full upgrade for a company is a whole other kettle of fish, involving potentially thorny problems particularly around legacy apps which may be business critical, and uncertainty about whether they might be compatible with Windows 10 . Which is why Microsoft has introduced Upgrade Analytics, which employs data drawn from the Windows 10 user base to give firms pondering an upgrade insights into how their apps and drivers are likely to shape up. Redmond notes that Upgrade Analytics offers a fully up-to-date database of apps and drivers, detailing known issues, and also help on how you can deal with said problems. You also get a method of tracking whether a particular app or driver in your business is Windows 10-ready, and information on whether (or not) individual PCs are ready for the new OS. The system is now available as a public preview. As for the aforementioned flak fired at Microsoft by the French watchdog CNIL, the company has said that it intends to work closely with the regulatory body over the next few months to move towards a solution it will find acceptable in terms of Windows 10's data collection. Via: Betanews Article continues below 2016-07-25 11:37 By Darren

12 Build.prop for Nexus Sailfish Leaks, Points to Snapdragon 820 Leaks on the upcoming handsets have been surfacing for quite some time now, as there’s already talk on their screen size and even processor power. The latest regards the build.prop file on the upcoming Nexus Sailfish or HTC S1. The file has been leaked by @evleaks , and it provides some information on the specs carried by the device, being dated June 22, 2016. The file points towards a Snapdragon 820 processors, as per the "ARM64-V8a" and "msm8996" entries in the string lines. What's more, the build.prop file indicates an LCD screen density of 420, which would mean that the HTC S1 might have a 5.2-inch 1080p display, as compared to the 5.5-inch Quad HD screen with 1440 x 2560 pixel resolution on the Nexus Marlin. As previous rumors indicated, one of the Nexus smartphones, specifically Nexus Sailfish, will have a smaller screen and less powerful specs than the other. Previously, word got out that the Nexus Sailfish could come with a battery capacity of 2,770mAh, 4GB of RAM, a 12MP rear camera, and an 8MP selfie snapper. In addition, it could have a USB Type-C port at the bottom and come with 4.2. Google is expected to unveil the two phones at about the same time as the official announcement of Android Nougat 7.0, which is just a few months away. 2016-07-25 11:16 Alexandra Vaidos

13 Today's Top 3 Programming Languages The company gathered the data via a survey that compiled the answers of over 11,000 respondents accessing various of its services. Data includes details about the programming language developers use, for what they employ the language, favorite frameworks, and general salary information. The survey showed that, based on what developers are using on a day-to- day basis, today's top 10 programming languages ranking is made up of JavaScript, Python, Java, PHP, HTML (not a programming language, but still), C#, SQL, CSS (this too), C++, and R. The favoritism everyone has shown to JavaScript and Python carries on from a similar survey that was taken last year. Based on salaries, this list is a whole lot different. Developers reported that languages like Bash, Perl, and Scala paid over $80,000 per year while PHP and C barely got developers to the $40,000 mark. In terms of Web-dev tools, AngularJS reigns supreme, followed by Facebook's React.js framework, Node.js, Docker, Laravel, Bootstrap, WordPress, and AWS. In the case of the most popular new programming languages that appeared in the last few years, nobody will be surprised to find Swift on top of the charts, followed by C#, Go, Rust, and Elixir. For more details and colorful charts, the Packt Publishing Skill Up 2016 study is available for download (registration required). 2016-07-25 11:08 Catalin Cimpanu

14 Estonia seeks UK datacentre to protect citizens' personal data from hackers - report Estonia is reportedly in talks with the UK and Luxembourg governments about the possibility of occupying datacentre space in either location to backup the vast quantities of data that allow its digitally led economy to flourish. According to a report in the Financial Times , Estonian officials are keen to establish a backup datacentre outside of the Baltic state to house sensitive personal data belonging to citizens because of growing concerns about the cyber security threat posed to the country by Russia. The Estonian economy is largely paperless, so the facility will be used to hold digital copies of people’s birth certificates, banking details and the electoral roll, the report states. Taavi Kotka, the Estonian government’s cyber chief, said the political threat posed by neighbouring countries means it must take steps to ensure the country’s economy can continue ticking over in the event of a cyber attack. “We have a very aggressive neighbour and we need to be sure that whatever happens to our territory in the future, Estonia can survive,” said Kotka. “In Estonia we already vote over the internet, we pay taxes over the internet – there’s almost nothing now we don’t do digitally.” For this reason, the country is understood to already rely on servers located within the walls of its overseas embassies to store sensitive government information. A UK government spokesperson confirmed to the Financial Times that early-stage talks about the possibility of a “joint data management project” with Estonia had taken place. However, the outcome of the European Union (EU) Referendum – that saw the UK vote to leave the EU in June 2016 – has also prompted Estonia to consult with officials in Luxembourg about the possibility of housing its data there. Luxembourg has been widely tipped by the analyst community, in the wake of the Brexit vote, to step up its attempts to get datacentre users to ditch their UK facilities in favour of facilities housed in its borders. Particularly those interested in guaranteeing continued access to the EU Single Market once the UK extricates itself from the EU. 2016-07-25 11:00 Datacentre Editor

15 From DirectX 12 to Xbox streaming: what Windows 10's future holds for gamers We can't blame people for being wary about upgrading their version of Windows. In the past it has been no guarantee of a better experience. Anyone remember Windows Vista? However, Windows 10 turns from a free to a paid upgrade for certain users on July 29. Simply put, if you're on Windows 8.1 or Windows 7.1, you would be silly not to make the leap. Even if you're on an older version of Windows, the benefits to gamers that Windows 10 brings is worth considering splashing out on a completely new machine. To put it simply, to use anything else is to live in the past, in some fairly literal ways. Still wedded to Windows 7 or Windows 8? Here's why it's time to get on- board with Windows 10. We're going to start with the biggie. Windows 10 is the only version of Microsoft's OS that supports DirectX 12. It's easy to think of DirectX as that annoying piece of software you have to update every now and then before you play games, but it's an essential part of the gaming chain. It is what provides the APIs that give a game access to your graphics hardware. DirectX provides even deeper access to the GPU than DirectX 11, meaning less overhead and better performance in a like-for-like test. It also enables a kind of next-gen SLI effect, where two graphics cards are used at the same time. DirectX 12 loosens this up, letting the resources of two completely different cards be used simultaneously. Of course, this doesn't mean you can plug in your knackered old GPU into your computer and expect a big boost: that thing won't support DirectX 12. However, it could mean games start using the GPU integrated into your CPU as an extra little brain for specific lower-level tasks. Integrated GPUs are nowhere near as bad as they used to be, so it's nice to think if you have a proper gaming rig, the CPU's graphics section won't just be sitting there idle anymore. If that all sounds a bit too much like navel-gazing tech speak, how about the improved graphics DirectX 12 will enable? It introduces new shader and rendering techniques that will be particularly useful in upgrading the quality of reflections, fog, smoke and lighting. You can look as deep as you like into this, way beyond our pay grade, but a lot of it centres around breaking down calculations to a per-pixel level. Not only is this going to make environmental effects look better, it'll make player interactions with things like smoke easier to model. These are of course developer tools, not improvements that will suddenly appear in existing games, but will help to define what elevates high-end PC graphics over console visuals. While a version of DirectX 12 is gradually rolling out to the Xbox One, the hope is that it'll be able to match PS4 performance with version 12, not level-up visuals. At present the Xbox One often has to use a lower resolution or frame rate than its Sony rival, which has a more powerful GPU and uses the OpenGL API library rather than DirectX. So far we've talked about Windows 10 potential. It can sound like far-off future promise. But where are we going top see it really kick in? PC-exclusive games will benefit most from a development approach led by DirectX 12. One of the titles to look out for is the already jaw-dropping Star Citizen, perhaps one of the most ambitious games currently in development. Star Citizen is a space sim and action game, a much more hardcore take on No Man's Sky's interstellar exploration. In an interview with Gaming Nexus, Star Citizen creator Chris Roberts talked a little about DirectX 12 is being used to enhance the game: "There's plenty of cool stuff coming up. We're focusing a lot of our efforts and work on things like fluid sims that we could use for gas clouds, background COMPUTE stuff to allow us to do voxelization of asteroids, and then there's a bunch of GPU tessellation stuff that we've actually been planning for our planetary stuff. " DirectX 12 is going to make space look a lot nicer. The other huge PC exclusive to look out for is Mount and Blade 2: Bannerlord. However, developer TaleWorlds Entertainment hasn't really talked about the role DirectX 12 plays in the game's visuals. DirectX 12 support was also patched into Unreal Engine 4 back in late 2015. It was always going to happen, of course, but is another confirmation we're just waiting for dev to start using more of what DirectX 12 offers. A few games have already seen very significant performance boost just from DirectX 12 too. For example, it grants strategy game Ashes of the Singularity up to an extra 20fps with an AMD graphics card. AMD's hardware in particular benefits massively from the improvements of DirectX 12. There's much more to Windows 10's gaming bonuses than just the power of DirectX 12 too. Catching up with the way people share their gaming experiences these days, Microsoft has packed video capture into the OS. This is part of the Xbox app, called Game DVR. There are a few ways to approach it. The Background Recording feature caches the last 15 seconds to 10 minutes of footage, so you don't have to worry about manually hitting record during play. There will be a slight performance hit when you use this, though. Longer "Let's Play" style video recording is possible too. You simply have to manually start recording rather than just letting this feature silently brew in the background. Pressing Windows + Alt + R starts recording, and while the default max length is an hour you can change that in the Xbox app to two hours if you want. You can choose the resolution (720p/1080p) and quality (bit-rate) of the recordings, making this much more than the Mickey Mouse take on DVR you might expect for something all-but built into Windows 10. Audio quality is also customisable (32kbps to 192kbps) and your computer's mic, if it has one, feed can be recorded too, to let you commentate play with zero editing involved. The only missing part is a picture-in-picture mode that edits together the game feed and webcam footage, for zero-editing YouTube style videos. Still, for a 'free' Windows 10 feature, it's pretty great. Here's an extra side benefit that, funnily enough, isn't about PC gamers at all. Windows 10 lets you stream games directly from an Xbox One on the same network thanks to what Microsoft calls Xbox Play Anywhere. Similar to PS4 Remote Play streaming, you see on your computer monitor what you would see on your TV screen, with your controller inputs transmitted over your network. If you can use a wired connection, or a direct Powerline hook-up, the experience is excellent. Performance will take a hit if you use Wi-Fi, with more obvious lag, but that's just something you'll have to deal with if you can't handle an Ethernet cable. This is a smart feature if you live with a partner, or anyone, who doesn't appreciate staring at the TV as you play Destiny on your Xbox One. 2016-07-25 10:46 By Andrew

16 The Sapphire Radeon RX 470 and 460 get pictured and leaked It’s been a very interesting couple of months for video cards enthusiasts with Nvidia and AMD competing to launch the most affordable, powerful and desirable GPUs. We’ve already seen the top of the line models from both companies , and we’ve more recently gotten the full picture of Nvidia’s line-up. Now the final pieces of the puzzle are falling into place as the RX 470 and RX 460 got photographed and leaked. According to our friends over at Videocardz , the images you see here are depicting Sapphire’s Radeon RX 470 and 460 cards. We knew both models were coming as they were announced on stage alongside AMD’s RX 480, but no further details were provided at that time. Unfortunately, the leaker didn’t make any extra technical details known, thought there are a couple of hints we can gleam from these images. For one thing, the cards feature the same 6-pin power connector as the RX 480. According to the original report, the RX 470 is expected to retail around $179, and the card pictured here seems to be very much based on the reference card design. Meanwhile, we know that the RX 460 is supposed to come in two variants, 2GB or 4GB, though we don’t have any pricing available. The RX 470 and RX 460 are expected to be entry-level devices, designed with affordability in mind. That being said it’ll be interesting to see how AMD officially positions these cards, because Nvidia’s low-end 1060 is already being classed as a great , affordable upgrade for many users. Source: Videocardz 2016-07-25 10:28 Vlad Dudau

17 Launch programs, websites, or type text with Clavier+ Clavier+ is a simple macro manager which enables launching programs, opening websites or inserting text with your chosen hotkey. The program has been around for years, but still works well on even the very latest PCs. Installation is quick and easy, no real surprise as the entire program folder used only 1.24MB of our hard drive (and 1.13MB of that was the uninstaller). On launch a simple console lists some example shortcuts. Pressing Win+P opens the Program Files folder, Win+N launches Notepad, Win+Shift+E inserts the Euro symbol € into the current document, and so on. One minor annoyance is you can’t use any of these shortcuts while the Clavier+ window is displayed, but once it’s closed they all work just as you’d expect. Creating your own shortcuts is easier than you might expect. Click Add > Programs, for instance, and you’re not forced to browse through your file system to find an executable, although that’s an option. Clavier+ displays a Start Menu-like view of your applications and you just select whatever you need. Similarly, you’re able to specify a website from your Internet Explorer Favourites, or choose a special symbol to type. The program’s keyboard macro side isn’t restricted to single special characters. You can also enter commonly-used text snippets like names or email addresses and assign them to particular keys. There are a few basic scripting-type features. The program can simulate keypresses or mouse clicks, spin the mouse wheel, detect window focus, launch multiple programs, pause for a defined period, copy text to the clipboard, and a little more. Do you really need Clavier+? It depends on your requirements. If you just want to open programs or folders with a hotkey, that can be done without installing any extra software at all. (Right-click a shortcut, click Properties > Shortcut and check the Shortcut Key box.) Despite that, the program does make the process a little easier, and if you’ll also use the text entry feature and (maybe) scripting tools then it’s likely to save you some time. Clavier+ is a free application for Windows 2000 and later. 2016-07-25 09:48 By Mike

18 Pangu Announces Jailbreak for iOS 9.2 The new jailbreak will be available for devices running iOS 9.2 to 9.3.3, and Pangu says that its debut will take place soon, though there are reports that some Chinese users have already managed to download it. And English version, however, is not yet available, so an official announcement for Pangu should set things straight in this case. The Pangu Team, which also showed running on iOS 10 beta, hinting that a full jailbreak could be released shortly after Apple pushes out the next version of iOS in September, says the existing jailbreak only works on 64- bit devices. iPhone 5s and newer, iPhone SE, iPod Touch 6G, iPad mini 2 and newer, and even the iPad Pro will be supported by Pangu’s new jailbreak, an updated FAQ on the official page reveals. “Due to the model change of jailbreak, some tweaks may not be able to work on iOS 9.2 - iOS 9.3.3, and even brick your iOS devices. Be cautious with the tweaks you want to install, and make sure you already made a full backup of your iOS devices,” the team explains, adding that they have already tested the jailbreak on all supported devices, and everything worked smoothly. For the moment, it’s not yet known when the release will take place, but since Pangu has said “soon,” we shouldn’t have to wait too long for it. Now the biggest question when hearing such news is how many users are still willing to jailbreak their devices. Back in the days when the iPhone and 3GS were super popular, jailbreaking was a pretty common thing to do for users, but the community has slowly lost interest as new iPhones arrived. This isn’t necessarily related to Apple’s anti-jailbreaking measures, although the many months between releases certainly contribute to more users deciding to stay away from these unlocking methods, but because Apple itself updated iOS with many tweaks inspired from the jailbreaking world. Of course, there still are apps that remain exclusive to jailbroken iPhones, and this is what keeps this community alive. For the moment, at least. 2016-07-25 09:32 Bogdan Popa

19 IMO Messenger Launches on Windows Phone, Nobody Can Use It First and foremost, IMO is one very popular messaging solution that allows users to chat with friends either privately or in groups, with conversations automatically synchronized across devices. So if you install IMO on more than one device and authenticate with the same account, you should be able to get your conversations with you, no matter which one you use. Additionally, the app also features video and voice calling, so it’s more or less a Skype alternative - given the fact that Skype will soon be pulled from .0 and 8.1 , IMO is certainly worth a chance, as video and audio quality has often been praised by its users. And last but not least, it comes with the typical sharing options and with stickers to make your conversations more interactive. The only problem, for the time being, is that IMO fails to send verification codes to users, so although it installs fine, nobody can get past this step and start an actual conversation. This is most likely related to IMO’s servers, so if the company is aware of this problem at the moment, a fix should be released very soon to allow users to start chatting with their friends on Windows phones. 2016-07-25 09:11 Bogdan Popa

20 Microsoft’s Arrow Launcher for Android Gets Notification Badges for More Apps Microsoft’s launcher (Android users love launchers, and Redmond knows this very well) now supports badge notifications for more apps, including here Facebook, WhatsApp, and Facebook. This feature was already available in the app, but with limited support, so starting with version 2.1, the most popular messaging apps should be supported as well. Additionally, the Arrow Launcher update also brings effects and material design animations, but also support for 24-hours display format, a feature that was highly requested by users but which for some reason was missing from the app. Microsoft says that it also worked on fixing bugs affecting recent calls and contacts, but also on delivering performance improvements and package size reductions to make Arrow Launcher more lightweight. The new version is available in the Google Play Store and can be downloaded on any Android device running version 4.0.3 and up. Arrow Launcher has already recorded more than 1 million downloads in the Google Play Store, so it’s very clear that every update released by Microsoft comes in handy to lots of users. If launchers aren’t exactly your cup of tea, but you would gladly use a Microsoft app to customize your Android phone, you can give a shot to Next Lock Screen , which provides several handy features for your lock screen. 2016-07-25 08:50 Bogdan Popa

21 Linux 4.7 has been released, comes with support for AMD's RX480 GPU A message from Linus Torvalds - the person behind the Linux kernel - announced that version 4.7 of the software has left release candidacy and has finally been released. The kernel has been in development since May of this year, and since then has had seven release candidates in the lead up to the final version. The email from Linus detailed that the release was slightly delayed due to his travels, and gave special emphasis to fixes for Intel's Kaby Lake GPU. Other significant changes in version 4.7 are support for AMD's RX480 GPU, improvements for USB/IP, EFI "Capsule" firmware updates, as well as a new security module called "LoadPin" that makes sure all kernel modules are loaded from the same filesystem. You can download the latest kernel here and a more comprehensive, easy to read changelog for Linux 4.7 is available here . 2016-07-25 08:44 Steven Johns

22 The Best Windows Phone Reddit Client Receives Huge Update Version 5.3.5.0 has been officially released today, and it brings a huge pack of goodies for Windows phones (and you can check the full changelog in the box after the jump, but keep reading for the highlights). First and foremost, Readit can now save an entire album to your phone when opening it in the app - the app automatically creates a new album in your media storage location with either a generic name or one that you provide. Then, it comes with changes to the mobilizer of articles feature when “Mobilize websites” option is enabled. According to the development team, this new update correctly renders more websites, but in case it fails, you get to see the original page. Some spacing adjustments still need to be done, though, with future updates to include more improvements in this regard. There’s a completely new feature that allows you to stay up to date with new posts on a specific subreddit. Thanks to version 5.3.5.0, Readit users can now be notified when new posts are made in a specific sub, and this is a feature that’s useful not only for all users but also for admins who want to keep things in control in their communities. The app displays a maximum of 5 notifications, and the developer says that these aren’t silent, and you need to open the subreddit should more than 5 posts be published. Readit automatically checks every 15 minutes for new posts, but don’t be afraid of battery drain or data usage because the app has been specifically optimized in this regard. Users need to be subscribed to subs in order to get notifications of new posts. Other than that, Readit comes with a plethora of performance improvements and fixes for small bugs, so if you’re on Windows phone and using Reddit, be sure to give this new version a try because it’s really worth it. 2016-07-25 08:25 Bogdan Popa

23 Lawsuit Raises Questions About The Right To Tinker With Tech The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) filed suit against the US government on July 21 to overturn a provision of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) which forbids bypassing digital locks. Undoing digital access controls, or technical protection measures (TPMs) – often referred to as digital restriction management or digital rights management (DRM) – is unlawful under Section 1201 of the DMCA. Distributing tools that circumvent TPMs is also illegal under the law. Supporters of Section 1201 insist it's necessary to criminalize the cracking of digital locks to prevent the unlawful copying of digital content, otherwise known as copyright infringement. [ How can you keep your data safe? Read 10 Hot Security Technologies Enterprises Need Now . ] While the relevance of Section 1201 to copyright protection remains a matter of dispute , the EFF suit argues the law criminalizes lawful copying, the modification and repair of devices that employ DRM, and security research on protected devices. The law casts a cloud over the public's right to tinker, the organization says. For anyone managing information technology, Section 1201 has the potential to limit access to data, to weaken security, and to impose unnecessary burdens, costs, and liabilities. The EFF is suing on behalf of Andrew "bunnie" Huang, who, through his company Alphamax, is developing devices for editing digital video streams. These devices allow people to alter video content by, for example, adding a dynamic Twitter comment field over a presidential debate. Selling such technology could be challenged under Section 1201. "Section 1201 means that you can be sued or prosecuted for accessing, speaking about, and tinkering with digital media and technologies that you have paid for," Huang wrote in a blog post explaining why he has sued the government. "This violates our First Amendment rights, and I am asking the court to order the federal government to stop enforcing Section 1201. " The EFF is also representing Matthew Green, an assistant professor in the computer science department at Johns Hopkins University, who specializes in cryptography and computer security. Green had to seek a DMCA exemption last year to be assured that his security research was lawful. The government tries to differentiate between unlawful and lawful copyright infringement (fair use) through triennial rulemaking by the Librarian of Congress. The Librarian considers applications for exemptions to the law every three years and grants some of them. Last year, the EFF celebrated the granting of exemptions for activities such as jailbreaking mobile devices to run third-party software. In its complaint , the EFF argues this process is flawed because it places onerous requirements on applicants, which fall outside the scope of copyright law. The cyber rights group's complaint also contends exemptions are inconsistent. Previous exemptions have not been renewed for activities such as researching internet block lists, for testing TPMs for malware, and for allowing mobile phone owners to change carriers. The EFF complaint argues the public cannot rely on exemptions as assurance that lawful activities, such as recording a digital movie on a DVR, will remain lawful. Google's Nest provided a recent example of the potential problem. In late 2014, Nest acquired Revolv, which made an internet of things (IoT) hub. In May, Nest shut down the backend service supporting the Revolv Hub. Ideally, Revolv owners could simply reprogram their devices with different software. But if those devices were protected, then owners would not have a clear legal path for making modifications. The EFF complaint contends Section 1201 interferes with the First Amendment right to free speech by limiting legitimate efforts to repurpose protected content through activities such as documentary filmmaking, ebooks that excerpt digital content for analysis and criticism, integrating digital content into online courses, content format conversion for those with impairments, and restoration of content such as games that are no longer supported. "The government cannot broadly ban protected speech and then grant a government official excessive discretion to pick what speech will be permitted, particularly when the rulemaking process is so onerous," said EFF attorney Kit Walsh in a blog post. "If future generations are going to be able to understand and control their own machines, and to participate fully in making rather than simply consuming culture, Section 1201 has to go. " 2016-07-25 08:06 Thomas Claburn

24 Nintendo shares crash after investors discover who actually made Pokémon GO If you’re an investor in Nintendo you might want to check on your portfolio right about now, because odds are it just took a big hit. That’s because Nintendo’s stock took a dive today, the biggest in 25 years, after investors seemingly remembered that Nintendo isn’t actually the company behind Pokémon GO. Shares in Nintendo dropped by 18% at market close today, wiping out more than $6.5 billion in the company’s market value. The market panic seems to have ensued after Nintendo put out a press release on Friday , announcing that Pokémon GO , the current gaming fad that has taken the world by storm, would only have a “limited” impact on the company’s bottom line. Pokémon GO was recently launched to much anticipation around the world , as the mixed reality video game quickly exploded in popularity. The title, becoming an instant hit, also brought investors knocking on Nintendo’s door, whose stock nearly doubled since the app launched. Apparently the fact that Nintendo is only a small investor in Niantic, the company that actually made Pokémon GO , escaped most investors, despite being widely-known and reported. By some estimates Nintendo only owns 13% of the Pokémon GO app from Niantic, leaving the company with little room for the explosive growth that investors were seemingly waiting for. While long-term, the success of Pokémon GO proves the value of Nintendo’s IP, the company warned that expectations were overinflated and that short-term earnings from the recent launch Japan had already been factored into the numbers. Nintendo is expected to announce around $330 million in profits come Wednesday when the company publishes its latest earnings report. Source: Bloomberg 2016-07-25 08:02 Vlad Dudau

25 One in ten UK computer science graduates don't have a job According to the latest figures compiled by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), computer science graduates are still at the top of the UK’s higher education unemployment rankings. During the academic year of 2014/2015, 10 percent of computer science graduates were unable to find a job six months after graduation. This figure is even higher than the 7.7 percent for students, who studied Mass Communications and documentation, Physical sciences, or Engineering and technology, that had difficulty finding work after graduation. However, the percentage is slowly improving as last year the HESA’s statistics showed that 11.3 percent of computer science graduates in the 2013/2014 school year were unemployed after finishing their degrees. The figure was even higher in the 2008/2009 school year when 18 percent of computer science graduates were unable to find work. Although this is likely a result of the economic recession and how companies were less eager to hire at that time. The UK Commission for Employment and Skills published a new report in May 2016 that estimates that by the year 2022 there will be an additional 518,000 "digital" jobs. It is unlikely that all of these jobs will be taken by computer science graduates, but the number unable to find work after graduation will likely decrease. Another report titled Shabolt Review of Computer Sciences Degree Accreditation and Graduate Employability , by Nigel Shabolt, professorial research fellow in Computer Science at the University of Oxford, offered recent and future computer science graduates advice in regard to how to secure a position in their field after university. While technical expertise is absolutely needed to pursue a career in computer science, Shabolt also pointed out that computer science graduates could make themselves more appealing to potential employers by developing teamwork and interpersonal skills. Published under license from ITProPortal.com, a Net Communities Ltd Publication. All rights reserved. Photo Credit: Antonio Gravante / Shutterstock 2016-07-25 07:50 By Anthony

26 'Star Trek: Discovery' teaser revealed at Comic-Con Comic-Con 2016 was in full swing this weekend as thousands of f ans convened at the San Diego Convention Center for all things comics and entertainment. Those in attendance at the Star Trek 50th anniversary panel were in for a treat – not only did they get to sit in with some of the show’s all-time biggest stars, they were among the first to see the all-new teaser for Star Trek: Discovery, the upcoming TV series from CBS. As moderator of the panel, executive producer Bryan Fuller revealed that the ship in the new series will be called the USS Discovery. He also said the show won’t be episodic, but instead will tell long arc stories “like a novel.” Star Trek: Discovery goes into production this September and will begin airing in January on CBS All Access , the network’s paid streaming platform. It’ll be available on Netflix 24 later for international audiences. Found is a TechSpot feature where we share clever, funny or otherwise interesting stuff from around the web. 2016-07-25 07:30 Shawn Knight

27 Take full control of your default browser with Browser Chooser Set up a new PC and one of the first things you’ll do is install and choose a default browser, which then handles all your website-viewing needs. This mostly works fine, but you might want to open some links in different browsers: intranet in IE, YouTube in Chrome to use an extension you’ve found, your bank in a secure browser, whatever it might be. Browser Chooser 2 is an open-source tool which helps you control the browser that’s launched in any given situation. The program is a single executable, no installation required, and in its basic form is very simple. Run it, a toolbar appears with icons for all your installed browsers, and clicking any of those launches the relevant program. This gets more interesting when you set Browser Chooser 2 as your default browser. Now, whenever you click a link in something or enter a URL in the search box, the program pops up and you can manually select the browser you’d like to use. That’s an extra click, of course, but Browser Chooser offers an "Auto URL" feature which enables specific sites to be opened in different browsers. Wildcard support makes this easy to set up. For example, you could use *youtube* to open any URL containing the word YouTube in your preferred browser, *paypal* to another, * to open all other links in something else, and Browser Chooser 2 then automatically launches the right program for the right job. Despite the name, this isn’t just about browsers and web pages. You’re able to expand the program with support for other applications and protocols, for example to take more control over how your multimedia files are handled. Browser Chooser works well with its default settings, but there are also lots of opportunities for fine tuning, right down to defining the grid and icon sizes and the individual images to use on your browser menu. This can have quite a dramatic effect on your PC usage, but fortunately Browser Chooser isn’t intrusive, and doesn’t mess up your system by making a load of low-level Registry changes. We gave it control by using the standard Windows "Default Programs" dialog to make it our default browser, and we could undo its effects at any time by setting the default browser to something else. On balance, Browser Chooser isn’t going to change your life, but its ability to route certain URLs to specific browsers is handy, and overall it’s likeable and easy to use. Browser Chooser 2 is an open source tool for Windows 7 and later. 2016-07-25 07:15 By Mike

28 Windows 10 At 1 Year: 9 Ways It's Changed Microsoft is celebrating the one-year anniversary of its Windows 10 operating system, which originally launched on July 29, 2015. Since then, the OS has grown to run on 350 million devices. For its initial release , Windows 10 was promised to deliver a series of upgrades from Windows 8.1. It centered on mobility of experience, security, and natural interaction. Those who downloaded the new OS got , new security measures , and new desktop design. As part of its Windows 10 transformation, Microsoft adopted a new Windows-as-a-Service model. Through its Windows Update service, the company delivers regular system updates that bring new features and fixes to Windows 10. [Read: Forced Windows 10 Upgrade Costs Microsoft $10,000 . ] Over the past year, Microsoft has tested new Windows 10 builds within its pool of Windows Insiders before rolling them out to the general public. To help users keep track of changes as they are released, it launched a website containing the OS update history. Microsoft will continue churning out new features with the Windows 10 Anniversary Update , which was first announced at its Build 2016 conference and is currently being tested by Insiders. The update will roll out to the public on August 2, shortly after Microsoft pulls the plug on its free Windows 10 upgrade offer. If you want to get the newest wave of updates for free, you must upgrade to Windows 10 before then. Given all the changes that have been released, the version of Windows 10 that exists today is very different from the one that launched one year ago. Here we take a closer look at some of the ways Windows 10 has changed since July 2015. Does your PC run Windows 10? How have these changes affected you? If you don't use Windows 10, are you planning to upgrade? We'd like to hear your thoughts in the comments. 2016-07-25 07:06 Kelly Sheridan

29 Windows Boss Terry Myerson Now in Charge of Windows Server Too Until now, Windows Server has been headed by Scott Guthrie and has been part of the Cloud and Enterprises group, so the change makes sense because Windows and Windows Server share the same core. All Windows versions offered by Microsoft are now part of the same unit, so the company expects to streamline the collaboration process between teams working on Windows and Windows Server. “As we advance our goal to build operating systems that provide the best experiences from the smallest IoT devices to the largest scale server deployments in public and private clouds, the Windows Server team will move from the Cloud + Enterprise Group to the Windows and Devices Group. These groups already work closely together and we believe this move will help us bring even more value to our customers as we deliver our most cloud-ready server OS with the Windows Server 2016 launch this fall,” a company spokesperson is quoted as saying by ZDNet. Scott Guthrie will remain the leader of the Cloud and Enterprise unit, but without the Windows Server team, while Terry Myerson will be the head of the Windows and Devices Group, which now includes the Server division as well. As part of this transition, the Windows Server Engineering and the teams will also move to Windows and Devices Group, but their current heads, namely Mike Neil and Brad Anderson, respectively, will remain with the Cloud and Enterprise unit. Their new roles, however, are not yet known. Also, there’s still no information as to when these changes could take place within the company, but given the fact that the Anniversary Update for Windows will debut in August for PCs and in September for servers, everything should happen sometime in the next couple of months. 2016-07-25 06:38 Bogdan Popa

30 Gears of War 4 will come with a host of PC- only features The fourth installment in the excellent Gears of War series is almost upon us, and it’s going to have the honor of being the first game in the Xbox Play Anywhere program. But this doesn’t mean it will look identical on both the PC and Xbox One; Gears developer The Coalition has promised that GOW 4 will come with a host of PC-exclusive features. Microsoft announced its Xbox Play Anywhere initiative at this year’s E3. It allows participating games to be played on both Xbox One and PC when bought digitally, and syncs save files and achievements across both platforms. With Gears of War 4 , there was the worry that it would suffer many of the Universal Windows Platform (UWP) limitations seen in the recent Xbox One to PC title Quantum Break. According to Mike Rayner, The Coalition’s technical director, this won't be the case. Speaking in an interview with Eurogamer , Rayner said: "Our focus on PC is to deliver a highly optimized, customizable experience first and foremost. " These PC-only upgrades include the single-player mode not being locked to 30 frames per second, dynamic resolution support, increased texture resolution (up to 4K for some groups), and a wide range of video settings. Additionally, Gears of War 4 will take full advantage of multiple CPU cores, feature mouse/keyboard support, and come with a benchmarking tool. All in all, this should feel like a game made for the PC, rather than another shoddy port. Gears of War 4 set will release on October 11th, 2016, for Xbox One and PC. 2016-07-25 06:15 Rob Thubron

31 MIT made a movie screen that brings 3D to all seats – without the glasses Seeing 3D movies in theaters isn’t my preferred choice for a bunch of reasons, but the glasses definitely rank among its most annoying features. The cheap plastic things always have to ride atop my existing, actual vision glasses, for one, and they also always seem to be scratched or otherwise marked up. Which is why news that MIT has developed a glasses-less 3D display tech suitable for use in movie theater settings – even if it’s only a prototype – is so welcome. You’ve probably experienced glasses-less 3D in some form if you’re reading TechCrunch – one of the more accessible ways to try it out is via the Nintendo 3DS. But even the 3DS’ latest generation handheld, which offers much-improved 3D, is designed for use by a single user, essentially looking at the display head-on at a relatively specific angle. It’s not something that would work in a theater with hundreds of seats, each of which necessarily has a different viewing angle. The MIT Computers Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab (CSAIL) set out to create a display that lets people see the 3D effect in a movie theater, from any seat in the house – no glasses required. Teaming up with Israel’s Weiszmann Institute of Science, CSAIL managed to put together a prototype called ‘Cinema 3D’ that uses a complex arrangement of lenses and mirrors to create a set number of parallax barriers (think of Venetian blinds that show a slightly different set of pixels to each of the viewer’s eyes to simulate depth) that can address every viewing angle in the theater based on seat locations. Researchers figured out you can do this in movie theaters because, unlike at home, you pretty much know where audience members are going to be: the seats are in fixed locations, and people tend not to move around, change seats or otherwise vary their angle of viewing too much during the screening of a movie. Other attempts at large-scale glasses-less 3D viewing carry costs in terms of image resolution, because they have to cover all the angles from the projector itself, which splits the total number of pixels displayed to any one person by a steep margin. Another benefit to the Cinema 3D approach by CSAIL and the Weiszmann institute is that it preserves resolution, providing a crisp image to every viewer. So far, the prototype isn’t nearly ready for market – it’s about the size of a letter-sized notepad, and it needs 50 sets of mirrors and lenses. But it’s proves the practicality of the design, and researchers are hopeful that they can scale up to a commercially viable product in time. Now that would offer a real shot in the arm to 3D content. 2016-07-25 00:00 Darrell Etherington

32 Twitter will livestream weekly games from MLB and the NHL Twitter is expanding its live sports plans, with weekly, livestreamed games from Major League Baseball and the National Hockey League. The livestreams will be available for free to out-of- market viewers, whether they’re logged into Twitter or not. Twitter is also announcing a new nightly sports highlights show called The Rally, produced by mobile video company 120 Sports. (The Rally and NHL games will be available in the United States; MLB games will be available worldwide, with exceptions for select international territories.) Twitter says it will be selling ads to go with this programming, which is enabled by a new partnership between Twitter and MLB Advanced Media. Earlier this year, Twitter announced a deal with the NFL to stream Thursday Night Football, and it gave users their first peek at its live sports experience by streaming Wimbledon. 2016-07-25 00:00 Anthony Ha

33 Google Maps is gaining a Wifi-only mode Cellular data can be expensive and wifi is often free. Thankfully it seems Google Maps will soon work on just Wifi. Google has yet to announce this option. Users are reporting the additional mode is found in the settings of Google Maps and replaces the “Offline areas” option. Once activated, Google Maps will load the majority of the data through Wifi signals, though, as a warning notifies users, a small amount of cellular data might still be consumed. Without an official announcement from Google, it’s unclear how this new option is different from the app’s offline area mode — though one can hope that the new option is superior. With a constant cellular connection, Google Maps is fantastic. But when data is not available, the app falters. Other mapping apps better handle this situation. CityMapper is fantastic tool for navigating around cities and sports a powerful offline mode. It would be wise for Google to look at CityMapper for inspiration. It’s my go-to app when traveling to locations where cellular data is expensive or not available. 2016-07-25 00:00 Matt Burns

34 What Is Hazelcast? Hazelcast is the Leading Open Source In-Memory Data Grid: Distributed Computing, Simplified. The main areas where Hazelcast can do really wonders are: in-memory data grid, caching, in-memory NoSQL, messaging, application scaling, and clustering. To start, Hazelcast needs a set of configurations, such as the port number of the first node, activate/deactivate multicast support, and so forth. Besides the set of default configurations that are stored in the hazelcast-default.xml file that comes with the Hazelcast JAR, we can provide a custom set of configurations via XML or programmatically. Hazelcast supports declarative and programmatic configurations. Further, we will examine each of these cases via the most common usage cases. When Hazelcast starts, it first checks the value of the hazelcast.config system property. Basically, via this system property, you specify the path where Hazelcast should look for the hazlecast.xml file (the path can be a normal one or a classpath reference with the prefix CLASSPATH ). The hazelcast.xml file contains the custom configurations for Hazelcast. By default, this file should be located in the current working directory or the classpath. A simple hazelcast.xml file can look like this: To start a Hazelcast instance with the default configurations, we can simply write two lines of code, as follows: Notice that the above approach will ignore a potential existing hazlecast.xml! The Config object represents all the configurations to start a HazelcastInstance , and because we pass an "unused" cfg , it will contain the default configurations for Hazelcast. Most probably, you will use the preceding approach when you want to programmatically alter the default configurations. In some examples, you may also see the following approach: Notice that the above approach will start with default configurations ONLY if there is no hazlecast.xml found! You can see such an application in the code that is delivered with this article, under the name HazelcastXML. Please refer to the download link at the end of this article. This application uses the above hazelcast.xml. When you will run this application ONCE, notice that the first node is started on port 6005, instead of the default one, 5701: Figure 1: The first node in the cluster started at custom port 6005 If you run this code once more, a second node starts and these two nodes will form a cluster; this is possible because Hazelcast allows more than one instance (node) to be created on the same JVM. Check out Figure 2: Figure 2: Two nodes of a cluster The source code necessary for this is embarrassingly simple: Another approach to configuring Hazelcast consists of using the XmlConfigBuilder class. Via this class, we can load the configurations from an XML file that can be referenced via a URL, file path, or input stream. For example, we can point to a location on disk (file path) as shown below: The complete example is named HazelcastXmlConfigBuilder. As was said earlier, the Config class can be used to provide a programmatic configuration approach. For example, we may want to programmatically provide the same configurations as we did above via hazelcast.xml. This can be accomplished as demonstrated below: The complete example is named HazelcastConfig. We can combine declarative and programmatic configurations. For example, let's suppose that we have a an XML configuration file, myconfigs.xml : We load this file via XmlConfigBuilder and add the join configuration programmatically. Here it is the relevant code: The complete example is named HazelcastMixt. The Config instances can be shared between threads, but should not be modified after they are used to create HazelcastInstance s. Hazelcast does not copy configurations to each node. So, if one wants to share a data structure, it needs to be defined in every node exactly the same. Hazelcast comes with several data structures to store data, such as IList , IMap , MultiMap , and ISet. In this section, we will talk about IMap. The concurrent, distributed, observable, and queryable map is the Hazelcast IMap. Here it is a simple usage of it: We declare a IMap and pre- populate it with some random data. Moreover, we don't explicitly specify keys; we use the Hazecast key generator ( IdGenerator ), which is capable of generating random keys across nodes: If the map products exists (for example, it was configured and initialized in XML), Hazelcast will use that ma. Otherwise, it will create it as an empty map (as above). The data stored in this map will be available for all nodes in the cluster. For example, on a single node, you may see something like in Figure 3, left side, while on two nodes, you will see something like in Figure 3, right side: Figure 3: Hazelcast distributed map The complete example is named HazelcastIMap. When we talk about Hazelcast messaging, we are talking about the mighty IQueue and ITopic. The IQueue is a concurrent, blocking, distributed, observable queue, and a simple example looks like the following: First, we have the producer that puts entries in the queue: Second, we have a consumer for our queue: The complete example is named HazelcastBlockingQueue. The ITopic is a publisher/subscriber distribution mechanism. Subscribers will process the messages in the order they are actually published. Check out a publisher implementation: And, the subscriber: Figure 4 demonstrates an output with one publisher and three subscribers: Figure 4: One publisher and three subscribers The complete example is named HazelcastTopic. Well, if the preceding examples look impressive, you must know that this is just the beginning. Next, you should try to explore more about the amazing power of Hazelcast and read about Hazelcast locking, transactions, JCache support, interacting with a RDBMS, and so on. You can download all code samples for this article here. 2016-07-25 00:00 Leonard Anghel

35 Do More with a Surface Device Ever since the release of Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book last fall, these two products continue to change and excite the mobility and device landscape. New use cases continue to be uncovered in verticals such as healthcare, retail, education, manufacturing, and financial services. The advanced technology and world- class hardware design of Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book make working across verticals a seamless, productive experience. These two business-ready devices have the latest Intel® Core™ processors for faster processing, enhanced pen capabilities, and tremendous security features now included in the Windows 10 Anniversary update (released on 8/2/16). It’s important to note Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book were both released with Windows 10 and cannot be reverted to Windows 8. With a more personal way to sign in, Windows Hello offers you a fast and accurate way to keep your device secure. Just show your face or touch your finger and the device immediately recognizes you as a trusted user. And not only is Windows Hello more convenient than typing a password—it’s much safer. Windows Hello offers enterprise-grade security that will meet the requirements of organizations—even those with some of the strictest requirements and regulations. Surface Pro 4 is the most productive way to get the versatility of a laptop and a tablet in one device. It is 30% faster than Surface Pro 3, has a 5- million pixel resolution and is super light at 1.73 lbs, 0.65 mm thinner than the Pro 3. Surface Book is the best way to experience all of the advanced technology from Microsoft. It provides 10 hours of battery life, a 6-million pixel resolution, and can run AutoCAD or Photoshop with touch or pen inputs. 2016-07-25 00:00 Jonathan Clark

36 SoftBank’s Pepper robot goes on sale in Taiwan in first overseas launch Pepper, the humanoid robot from SoftBank, is headed overseas for the first time after going on sale in Taiwan today. Pepper went on sale to consumers in Japan in June 2015 and then enterprise customers — who pay for the bot on a three-year rental basis worth around $16,000 — the following October, so this branch out has been a long time coming. Robot lovers in Taiwan shouldn’t get too excited by today’s news, though, the launch is just for enterprises companies right now — don’t expect to take Pepper home with you just yet. Sales in Taiwan being managed by Perobot — a subsidiary of Foxconn. Together with Alibaba, Foxconn made a $236 million investment in SoftBank Robotics Holdings (SBRH) , the division behind Pepper, so that explains why Foxconn’s native Taiwan was picked as the first international sales stop outside of Japan. There’s no details on a U. S. launch for Pepper at this point, but there have been hints of planning. Android developers were granted deeper access to the tech behind the bot at Google I/O earlier this year, while SoftBank has shown Pepper’s potential by creating an entire store staff by the affable android , partnering with Honda to make a Knight Rider-esque (dream) car , and landing its young protege a job at Pizza Hut. A program to encourage developers in Taiwan to work with Pepper ran last month, while the robot has already been put to use at government offices in the country. Pepper’s global adventure begins today. 2016-07-25 00:00 Jon Russell

37 Super-fast small biz mobile banking service Tide raises $2M seed round The race to create a new, 21st Century form of bank continues. In Europe, Holvi (coming out of Finland) was desktop-first and hasn’t come to the UK. It also hasn’t been focussed on being a hub for third party services, so therefore behaving more like a platform. In the US there is Seed.co (a YCombinator startup) but they haven’t launched internationally yet. So with the race still very much on, a veritable star-system of investors have lined up behind the a entrant into the space, in the shape of Tide. You can apply to take part in Tide’s private alpha until the launch in the autumn. Tide claims to be the ‘world’s first’ mobile-first banking service for small businesses. It’s raised a $2m seed round from Passion Capital (with Passion partner Eileen Burbidge joining as Chairman), LocalGlobe, Zoopla founder Alex Chesterman, William Reeve (co-founder from Lovefilm), Greg Marsh (founder from One Fine Stay), Songkick’s co-founder Ian Hogarth, serial fintech investor Errol Damelin and Albion founder Jason Goodman. Tide’s mobile app will literally read your ID — such as a passport — and establish your identity. It then lets you set up a business current account in 3 minutes or less. Benefits include no set-up, monthly or annual fees. Tide founder and CEO George Bevis (pictured) says: “Unlike Mondo (currently) you get a sort code and account number — so it’s a full current account rather than a “wallet” and can do faster payments/direct debits etc.” He previously worked in senior roles at both Barclaycard and Zopa. The space is ripe for development since Main Street banks just don’t really care enough about small businesses as they are painful to deal with. So tech startups are well placed to enter the arena. In addition, Tide also has a range of additional valuable features for UK small business owners. These include: • Free banking forever – no monthly, annual or setup fees, just 20p per bank payment • Money-saving tools including credit, payments (accept cards and direct debits) and foreign exchange which will be available later in 2016 • Fully extensible APIs to build bespoke apps on top of, or easily integrate with, Tide • Easier accounting and expenses including auto-categorisation of transactions, native integrations to leading accounting software like Xero and FreeAgent, and the ability to issue and send invoices instantly from the app and attach photos of receipts from recent transactions for expenses • Banking assistance whenever needed, including instant help available from staff via instant messaging and an online customer community • Safety and security including bank payments always authorised on a known mobile, photo ID and automated Companies House verification required to set up an account, and spend controls for different team members. All deposits made with Tide are ring-fenced at Barclays under an FCA e-money licence Burbidge (pictured) said: “Tide is the future of small business banking services by addressing serious pain points for small business owners and entrepreneurs. With Tide, small business owners can get an intuitive mobile-first experience that is almost instant to set up and easily integrates with best in class cloud-based tools and services seamlessly.” LocalGlobe co-founder and partner, Robin Klein said: “Tide is the first fintech start-up we’ve helped launch since Brexit and one with innovation aimed at helping a vital part of the UK economy – small business owners.” It must be made clear that Tide is not a bank: member deposits are kept in a ring-fenced account at Barclays under an FCA-regulated e-money license by PrePay Solutions (a large B2B deposit manager co-owned by Edenred – a multi $bn B2B financial services provider – and MasterCard). Funds are held under an e-money license, not a banking license. The primary difference between an e-money license and a banking license is that banks can take investment risks with the money held in their accounts without any prior knowledge of the business owner, however e-money license-holders can not do this. Tide deposits are held by PPS in a ring- fenced account at Barclays and cannot be invested by PPS. But to all intents and purposes, a small business would simply use Tide just like it would use a normal business banking account. The rise of Tide and Mondo show that essentially these are more layers over traditional banking, becoming the ‘interface’ to the bank and therefore being ripe for acquisition by actual banks that can’t innovate this fast. 2016-07-25 00:00 Mike Butcher

38 AOL CEO Armstrong’s Yahoo memo: ‘We’ll work closely with Marissa’ You are about to activate our Facebook Messenger news bot. Once subscribed, the bot will send you a digest of trending stories once a day. You can also customize the types of stories it sends you. Click on the button below to subscribe and wait for a new Facebook message from the TC Messenger news bot. Thanks, TC Team 2016-07-25 00:00 Ingrid Lunden

39 India’s Quikr snaps up Hiree to grow its recruitment service Indian classifieds startup Quikr has made an undisclosed acquisition to grow its recruitment business. Tiger Global-backed Quikr, which has raised close to $350 million from investors to date, snapped up Hiree , a hiring startup focused on white-collar jobs with over 2,000 employer partners. The company said Hiree will merge with its own job seeker platform, QuikrJobs, taking the service to four million “active” job seekers and increasing its reach into technology and startup employers. Quikr is much like a Craigslist for India in the mobile era in so much that it is designed to help users find all manner of information and deals in their area. It claims 30 million users across 1,000 locations in India, with more than three quarters of its revenue coming from mobile. Among its services is a chat platform that lets buyers and sellers connect on mobile to share text and images without revealing their number The company raised $150 million in its most recent funding round which closed in April 2015, and it has been busy with M&A since then. Earlier this year, it scooped up real estate platform CommonFloor, also backed by Tiger Global, in a notable consolidation deal reportedly worth $200 million, while it has made smaller acquisitions such as Hiree and beauty on-demand provider Salosa. Hiree was founded by ex-Yahoo duo Manjunath Talwar and Abhijit Khasnis and initially named myNoticePeriod. It raised $3.3 million from IDG Ventures India and a number of angel investors, including a $3 million Series A round in January 2015. The company hasn’t raised since then, nearly 18 months ago, and it reportedly laid off 80 percent of its staff in April, which hints at the reasons behind this deal. Updated 07/25 04:40 PDT to correct total funding for Hiree 2016-07-25 00:00 Jon Russell

40 MoreUnited. UK will use tech to shake-up UK politics — and stop extremists Crowd-funding is almost an old-fashioned concept in the tech world these days, but it’s still having a relatively new and significant impact in the world of politics. A brand new initiative is now taking the UK by storm and plans to use tech to shake up the UK’s political system in the wake of the chaos of the Brexit vote. Kicked-off by former Liberal Democrat leader Paddy Ashdown, who has been joined by other leading figures, MoreUnited.uk has so far gathered over 15,500 supporters inside just 24 hours. It plans to crowd-fund money to back MPs from any political party so long as they sign up to a set of 5 ‘progressive’ principles. In practice, it will use crowd-funding to financially back MPs who face extremists/populists, especially in marginal seats where campaign finance can make a real difference. And they plan to use tech to allow their members to decide who to back. (It is not a political party and won’t stand candidates in elections). Named after the ‘maiden’ speech in Parliament by murdered MP Jo Cox, More United’s supporters include tech entrepreneur Martha Lane Fox, Stemmettes founder Anne-Marie Imafidon, broadcaster Dan Snow, environmentalist Jonathon Porrit, historian Simon Schama, Luke Pritchard (lead singer of The Kooks), and campaigner Caroline Criado-Perez. In terms of tech policy, the organisation plans to support enterprise and entrepreneurialism in a 21st century, a tech-driven economy and “making Britain the best place in the world to start new businesses.” It also plans to promote green technology . What is brand new about the movement is that it is introducing the crowdfunding approach pioneered by the first Obama campaign, and most recently championed by Bernie Sanders, but also move the concept on. Key organiser Austin Rathe says tech startups “understand that the internet isn’t just a way to do things faster or cheaper, it’s a way to do things that could never be done before. That same revolution will come to politics. It’s inevitable.” He adds that organisations like 38 Degrees and Change.org “have shown us that there are millions of people who care enough about politics to take small actions around specific causes” but what “they (deliberately) don’t have is a binding set of principles that their members hold in common. That’s what makes MoreUnited.uk a movement, not a platform.” In effect, More United is also introducing a US-style “Political Action Committee” approach to UK politics, which has not experienced PACs and ’Super-PACS” in quite the same way as the US, as political funding goes direct to political parties not to individual MPs. PACs have been super-charged by tech platforms in recent years, because they eschew normal party affiliations and simply fund politicians that pledge their allegiance to the aims of the group. PACs have had enormous effect on US politics, largely because of the presence of big money, such as the gun lobby. With the rise of crowd-funding platforms for politics, ordinary voters are now being given the chance to enter the fray, and, to some extent, equalise the fight. It’s a brand new concept for the UK, which is leaving many struggling to get their heads around it. More detail about how More United will operate ‘on the ground’ is likely to come. But the movement plans to use tech platforms at every step. Speaking to the BBC, Ashdown called it a “political startup” that wants to create a cross-party movement. “The final decisions on who we support will always be made by our members,” according to the More United.uk website. “If there are two candidates signed up to MoreUnited.uk’s principle beliefs in one parliamentary seat, our members will have final say over how we support them.” That will mean More United having to employ a full-blown platform allowing its members to decide, and the movement has a number to choose from. Among them, Crowdpac was co-founded by former No. 10 Downing St advisor and the first crowdfunding platform designed exclusively for political action. It employs algorithms to help its members decide who to back, drawing on a range of sources including social network analysis of Twitter and textual analysis of key speeches. It’s designed to cut across the political spectrum allowing users to create campaigns in support of candidates and issues they care about and donate to a range of political campaigns. It can also be used to stand for office, making candidates potentially independent of party machines. However, it doesn’t give you a website or CRM. It also owns the donor relationships, which makes it a sticking point for movements that want to own the data about the supporters. So far the startup has raised $9.57 million NationBuilder , a SaaS platform that allows political candidates and organizations to quickly build a website, supports fundraising efforts, a blog, volunteer outreach, payment processing, calendars and more. It has raised $6.25 million. NationBuilder allows non-technical people to create a branded website, blog as well as import contact lists and send email blasts directly from the site. In terms of social media, NationBuilder allows you to integrate multiple Facebook and Twitter accounts and Tweet and Facebook Message from these accounts. It also has the ability to send mass text messages. In the UK, Represent.me is an opinion-gathering platform that might be used by campaigns to interrogate its members, allowing organisers to gather data very quickly and inform their own strategy. It’s the kind of platform that More United may well look at to interrogate its members. In the last 24 hours, More United has garnered thousands of supporters. But what will “success” mean for them? Ashdown has said that if they get 25,000 supporters, they will launch their full-blown fund-raising drive in September. But with well over half that number already joining, it looks like they may be launching their funding drive much earlier. 2016-07-25 00:00 Mike Butcher Total 40 articles. Created at 2016-07-25 18:01