Software posts

Facebook and other social networks are employing keyword-sniffing programs that monitor our private communications such as chats and direct messages. When a potential criminal activity is found, the communication is presented to human auditors who determine whether or not to inform law enforcement. Is this a good thing or a bad thing? This was one of the most thought provoking questions I’ve ever explored before writing an editorial. The conspiracy-theory-loving, “leave my internet alone” part of me was absolutely outraged (albeit not a bit surprised) once I heard about this practice….

Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) is cited as 82% of today’s cloud investments, and is the deployment model for 84% of new applications, so what is SaaS? SaaS is a software distribution model in which applications are hosted by a vendor or service provider, and made available to customers over a network. SaaS provides the most visible value to end users of the cloud models. SalesForce was created in 1999, and was the first SaaS platform built from scratch to achieve rapid growth. The products and services of SalesForce included customer relationship management, the sales cloud, and the service…

The blogosphere is normally abuzz with stories about Facebook that demonstrate negative sentiment towards their activities. Most of their moves are scrutinized and the company is often targeted for its activities, failures, and missteps. Facebook Home, the app that was supposed to be the “next version of Facebook” according to CEO Mark Zuckerberg, has been so underwhelming with its numbers that most bloggers started ignoring it shortly after its launch. This could all change once it’s allowed to be released to a wider audience. Currently, it’s only available on the HTC One X, HTC One X+, Samsung…

If you’re like me, you like to have fun, knock back a few drinks with your friends, and party the night away. Simple, right? Yes, this all may seem very carefree – but, shockingly, mistakes, misjudgments and social faux pas are made while under the influence. Consuming alcohol, as you may know, seems to have some kind of mysterious effect on our judgment and our ability to make smart decisions. This is perhaps the reason you can’t enter into a contract or operate a motor vehicle while under the influence. But what about when it comes to operating a phone? Yeah, there’s an app for that. Fortunately…

Ever get the urge to learn something new? Well you aren’t going to become a genius by sitting around watching TV. You could, however, boost your brain power by sitting around playing with your mobile device. Download some of these apps to take your brain one step closer to genius level.   10. Atavist: Taking Books Into the Future Image via DownloadAtoZ While many of us mourn the slow passing of books, apps like Atavist will provide some level of comfort. If the book dies, at least something as refreshing and unique as Atavist will take its place. Atavist offers several advantages for boosting…

Google wanted hackers to take down its Linux-based Chrome OS running on a base WiFi Samsung Series 5 500 Chromebook. They were willing to pay the best hackers in the world (other than those who are so good that they probably shouldn’t appear at these events) to find exploits with their software. Nobody qualified. It’s not like there wasn’t enough incentive to try. Google was offering a very geeky $3.14159 million worth of prizes to those who could perform various levels of hacking on their system. These prizes included $110,000 to achieve a browser or system level compromise in guest mode or as a…

“Download Photoshop legally for free…” Those are the words that geeks have been wanting to hear for over two decades. The good news is that it has finally come true. The bad news is that it’s the original Photoshop source code that has been released. According to the Computer History Museum: With the permission of Adobe Systems Inc., the Computer History Museum is pleased to make available, for non-commercial use, the source code to the 1990 version 1.0.1 of Photoshop. All the code is here with the exception of the MacApp applications library that was licensed from Apple. There are 179 files in…

One of the most personal online violations that can occur to anyone is getting hacked. It could be a personal attack such as a Facebook account, on which 600k successful hacks are achieved daily. It could be something more general such as a database hack that exposes personal information. It could be much, much worse. With all of the security measures out there and counter-hacking attempts, many systems and accounts can be easily secured by having a strong password. There are plenty of hacks that can hit a system or an account that have nothing to do with front door password access, so there’s no reason…

When a headline such as “Broad Powers Seen for Obama in Cyberstrikes” appears on the NY Times, my initial response is a skeptical one. I’ve long viewed the ways that the last two administrations have handled cybersecurity as failures to understand Golidilocks; they are too harsh when it isn’t warranted and lackadaisical in times of the greatest need. Many countries are growing more dangerous in the world of cyberterrorism with China leading the way. They are arguably more advanced than the United States in understanding the realities of cyberwarfare. To my pleasant surprise, the reported…

Microsoft had a good thing going. They created a pair of videos aimed at diffusing some of the hate towards their Internet Explorer browser by trolling the trolls. They attacked the cliches used against them such “IE is only good for downloading other browsers” by making fun of the haters. In essence, they turned the hate around by acknowledging that they are the butt of many jokes. They de-clawed their detractors and gave ammunition to those who are tired of hearing the geek elite make fun of them for using the grandfather of modern browsers. The latest ad is a step in the wrong direction. They attempt,…