BlackBerry brings Amazon app store to BB10 users

BlackBerry brings Amazon app store to BB10 users

By Mike Cannon, Tech Times | June 19, 12:01 AM

BlackBerry signed a licensing deal with Amazon that will allow it to pre-install the Amazon app store on the BB10 operating system. The move will give BlackBerry users access to a wide variety of Android apps which, while compatible with BB10, are not available in BlackBerry's own app store.

BlackBerry has been struggling in the smartphone market due to the dominance of Android and iOS devices. Currently less than 1 percent of smartphones in the U.S. are made by BlackBerry. With such a small reach compared to the big-name operating systems, app developers had little incentive to make their programs available on BlackBerry World, the company's default app store. BB10 is built to be compatible with Android apps, but users simply don't have access to most of them. Although the Amazon app store can be downloaded from its website, most users are unaware of this option.

When the BlackBerry 10.3 update is released this fall, the Amazon app store will come with it, making a huge variety of new apps available to BlackBerry users. The Amazon store currently contains over 240,000 apps, including popular offerings such as Pinterest and Netflix. The apps on BlackBerry World will still be available as the company works on transferring them to the Amazon app store.

"Making the Amazon Appstore available on BlackBerry 10 devices will help BlackBerry continue to meet two essential needs: greater app availability for our smartphone users and enhanced productivity solutions for enterprises," CEO John Chen says in a statement. "We've listened to our customers and have taken this important step to deliver on their needs, while executing on our strategy."

Allowing Amazon to take care of the app store will allow BlackBerry focus more on its corporate apps and services. The company still carries some weight in the corporate world, and offers a number of business-focused solutions that don't have parallels in other companies. For example, BlackBerry lately launched BBM Protected, an encrypted messaging system aimed at high-security organizations.
The news of BlackBerry's partnership with Amazon comes hot on the heels of Amazon's announcement of its own smartphone, the Amazon Fire phone. Between the two, Amazon looks to be expanding its reach in the mobile world. The updated BlackBerry operating system featuring the Amazon app store will launch sometime this fall, although no release date has been set.

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Garmin Viago navigation app takes on Google Maps: It's cheap but is it good?

By Vamien McKalin, Tech Times | June 19, 6:55 AM

Garmin has no intention to lay down and die while free navigation services from Google, Apple, Microsoft and Nokia, eat into its business, which could later put the company in bankruptcy. To combat these problems, Garmin is offering a new navigation app called Viago for only $1.99.

Usually, a Garmin navigation app would cost upwards of $50, which is clearly one of the main reasons why consumers chose to go with free apps. This new app, however, is not the same as the $50 Garmin app, as it only provides only a handful of features.

Users who purchase the Viago will have the option to use turn-by-turn navigation, three-day weather forecasts, photo realistic junctions, traffic, proper lane recommendations and the user's current speed limit. Those features are good enough for some users, but for the folks who are looking for offline maps and other advanced mapping features, they are required pay from $5 to $20 to allow Viago to tap into these abilities.

Viago is also the first Garmin app to support Garmin Real Directions. This is a feature that humanizes turn-by-turn directions by utilizing recognizable buildings, landmarks, stop signs and traffic lights. This is something that is not found on the free offerings from Google, Apple, Microsoft and Nokia. However, it is not free, and can be purchased from within the app.

"Garmin Viago offers the best navigation technology available from Garmin, helping drivers to reduce stress and save time on the road," said Joern Watzke, vice president world-wide mobile business at Garmin Wuerzburg GmbH. "The comprehensive feature set goes far beyond simple turn-by-turn directions and assists drivers like no other navigation app."

It is not easy to pull users away from free navigational apps that are more than good enough in many instances. However, Viago in its basic form has enough features to warrant paying the price, especially since the app is currently on sale for $0.99.

Furthermore, Viago has the Garmin name attached to it, a company that has a long history in creating navigation devices ever since they were first available for consumers.

As of now, none of the free navigation apps does their jobs very well, so it wouldn't hurt to consider Viago next time you're planning that crazy road trip in the wilderness.
The app is available right now for both Android and iOS.

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BlackBerry brings Amazon app store to BB10 users

By Mike Cannon, Tech Times | June 19, 12:01 AM

BlackBerry signed a licensing deal with Amazon that will allow it to pre-install the Amazon app store on the BB10 operating system. The move will give BlackBerry users access to a wide variety of Android apps which, while compatible with BB10, are not available in BlackBerry's own app store.

BlackBerry has been struggling in the smartphone market due to the dominance of Android and iOS devices. Currently less than 1 percent of smartphones in the U.S. are made by BlackBerry. With such a small reach compared to the big-name operating systems, app developers had little incentive to make their programs available on BlackBerry World, the company's default app store. BB10 is built to be compatible with Android apps, but users simply don't have access to most of them. Although the Amazon app store can be downloaded from its website, most users are unaware of this option.
When the BlackBerry 10.3 update is released this fall, the Amazon app store will come with it, making a huge variety of new apps available to BlackBerry users. The Amazon store currently contains over 240,000 apps, including popular offerings such as Pinterest and Netflix. The apps on BlackBerry World will still be available as the company works on transferring them to the Amazon app store.

"Making the Amazon Appstore available on BlackBerry 10 devices will help BlackBerry continue to meet two essential needs: greater app availability for our smartphone users and enhanced productivity solutions for enterprises," CEO John Chen says in a statement. "We've listened to our customers and have taken this important step to deliver on their needs, while executing on our strategy."

Allowing Amazon to take care of the app store will allow BlackBerry focus more on its corporate apps and services. The company still carries some weight in the corporate world, and offers a number of business-focused solutions that don't have parallels in other companies. For example, BlackBerry lately launched BBM Protected, an encrypted messaging system aimed at high-security organizations.
The news of BlackBerry's partnership with Amazon comes hot on the heels of Amazon's announcement of its own smartphone, the Amazon Fire phone. Between the two, Amazon looks to be expanding its reach in the mobile world. The updated BlackBerry operating system featuring the Amazon app store will launch sometime this fall, although no release date has been set.

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BlackBerry partners with Amazon to offer 240,000 Android apps

By Lori Sandoval, Tech Times | June 21, 3:50 AM

BlackBerry and Amazon have reached a licensing deal that will bring over 200,000 Android apps from the Amazon Appstore to BlackBerry devices this coming fall, after the new BlackBerry 10.3 OS rolls out.

The move is said to be in response to the appeals of BlackBerry owners to have access to additional applications for their BlackBerry 10 devices.
“We’re excited to be working with Amazon to deliver the apps and content that you’ve been looking for. It’s an exciting new day for BlackBerry 10 device owners,” BlackBerry writes in a blog post.
BlackBerry will soon have access to popular mobile apps such as Pinterest, Netflix, Groupon, Minecraft and Candy Crush Saga, among others. All of which will be accessible for direct download. The company says BlackBerry users still have other choices, however.

“We will continue to offer BlackBerry World, where you can access applications that leverage the powerful features of the BlackBerry 10 operating system,” reads the blog post.
The BlackBerry World has around 130,000 apps, while Amazon has 240,000. The exact number of apps to be incorporated in the deal was not disclosed, and so are the terms of the deal.

Besides the wider apps selection, the company says that music and video services will be available to its users via the BlackBerry World and Amazon Appstore. BlackBerry World will still provide video and music service through third-party apps, but the video and music sections of its store will close by July 21. Content downloaded in the past will continue to be accessible past July through its MyWorld platform.

Further research indicates that the recent partnership is also a move by BlackBerry to reinvent itself under the new BlackBerry CEO John Chen. With the rise of innovative mobile products from Apple and Samsung Electronics, BlackBerry—once the leading mobile innovator—somehow has lost its appeal and top spot in the mobile phones market.

Some analysts, however, are skeptical that the new effort would move mountains for BlackBerry.
"While this will widen the BB10 app ecosystem, the consumer smartphone environment still remains challenging," analyst Maynard Um of Wells Fargo says in a Reuters report.

CEO Chen, in an interview with Fox Business, discloses his plans to encourage its developers to instead focus on developing for the Android app store of Amazon.
“We want to focus on enterprise, highly secure applications. Our partnership through Amazon will provide the consumer side,” Chen says.

BlackBerry also says that it is looking forward to getting feedback from its device owners regarding the mobile apps they look forward to possibly downloading in their mobile devices.

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Beware! Android apps may contain secret keys that may compromise personal data

By Nicole Arce, Tech Times | June 19, 8:44 AM

One of the most awesome things about the Google Play Store is the more than one million apps ready for download. Unfortunately, not many of those apps are actually problem-free.
Researchers at Columbia University discovered a security flaw found in majority of the Play Store's Android apps, even in those apps ranked best and most popular. Computer science professor Jason Nieh and student Nicholas Viennot found that most app developers stored their credentials within the app software and wrongly assumed that they can embed OAuth tokens directly into the app without compromising their credentials. The security hole can then be used by malicious users to steal the developer's log-in information and obtain user data and server resources from services such as Facebook and Amazon Web Services.

"Once an attacker acquires a secret OAuth token, a wide range of attacks can be performed as the targeted third-party application is open to impersonation," write (pdf) Nieh and Viennot in a paper presented at the ACM Sigmetrics conference Wednesday. "For example, an attacker can perform denial of service attacks on rate limited services, access and modify application settings, expose private user information, and launch phishing attacks in an attempt to get users' access tokens."

The flaw was discovered using PlayDrone, a Play Store crawler developed by Niehs and Viennot to download more than 1.1 million Android apps without telling Google its security has been breached. The researchers say PlayDrone uses a variety of "common hacking techniques" to get around Google's security measures. These include "simple dictionary-based attacks" and "decompiling and rebuilding" the Google Play client to communicate directly with its servers. PlayDrone has already decompiled 800,000 Android apps and easily scales by adding more servers.

The researchers note that no one reviews app submissions at Google Play, which has more than 50 billion app downloads so far. Anyone with $25 can set up a developer account and upload whatever he wants on the app storefront.

"Google is now using our techniques to proactively scan apps for these problems to prevent this from happening again in the future," says Niehs in a press release.
He also mentioned that Google has already started notifying developers about the problem and instructing them to close the security gap. They have also contact Amazon and Facebook to ensure customer information stored in their servers are safe.

But work for PlayDrone has only just begun. The researchers believe their tool lays the foundation for a more extensive analysis of Android apps. For example, the crawler has also discovered that around 25% of all Android apps are actually clones of other apps, and that even the worst rated apps were downloaded a million times. The researchers were referring to a weighing scale app, which claims to weigh whatever object a user places on his Android screen but only puts out random figures. 

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Yo, Yo, Yo. That's all this million-dollar app can do

By Joseph Mayton, Tech Times | June 19, 2:46 PM

Tired of all those lengthy text messages? Now, there appears to be a simple new app that has begun to take over the Internet of late by letting users send simple "Yo" messages.
It was created by Israeli tech engineers who wanted to overhaul how people communicate with each other by simplifying the number of words employed.

Called Yo, the app already has seen investors cough up a sizeable amount of cash. The app only lets you send a message of "Yo" to contacts and nothing more.
In a way, it aims to be an end to long text messages, emoticons and short videos that often bog down users.

Investors have given $1 million dollars to back the app in future development.
"Wanna say 'good morning'? just Yo," the app's description reads. "Wanna say 'Baby I'm thinking about you'? - Yo. 'I've finished my meeting, come by my office' - Yo. 'Are you up?' - Yo. The possibilities are endless."

According to Moshe Hogeg, the CEO of Mobli, a photo and video sharing service, he became frustrated by having to continually and repeatedly call and text his assistant when he wanted her to come into his office. He developed the "yo" idea with a former Mobli engineer, Or Arbel, to streamline the idea that you can communicate without being forced to deliver long-winded messages to users.

It took some eight hours to create the app and the coding.
Currently, estimates say that some 4 million "Yos" have been sent, according to reports.
"It's not just an app that says Yo," Arbel told (registration required) reporters. "It's a whole new means of communication." Arbel is Yo's chief executive.

The app is available on both Google's Play store as well as Apple's iTunes app store.
With innovative and unique apps taking the tech world by storm in recent months, perhaps this Yo idea could lead to a new way to communicate. People like Arbel and Hogeg believe it will help simplify communications so users won't be forced to send longer messages that sometimes get lost when all that was intended is a brief contact to let someone know you are thinking of them.
Especially in Philadelphia, right Adrian?

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Adobe Creative Cloud is pretty darn creative, especially on the photography side

By Robin Parrish, Tech Times | June 19, 2:58 PM

Adobe has updated its Creative Cloud suite with the release of Creative Cloud 2014, one year after the company launched its subscription-based imaging apps.
The upgrade does more than tweak the existing apps, it includes a quartet of new mobile apps and, most surprisingly, Adobe's first ever foray into hardware.

The upgrades to Creative Cloud's 2014 apps are not drastic overhauls or redesigns, despite Adobe's insistence that this is "the biggest Adobe software release since CS6."
Instead, you'll find a number of intelligent refinements and some very welcome additions. The company's flagship product, Photoshop, gets the most love, with a particular focus on tools for photographers. There are nifty new features like a WYSIWYG typeface editor that gives you instant previews right in your document. Adobe added a truckload of new blur and motion filters, focus masking, smart objects that are linkable across documents, improved layer comps, and (finally) introduced pinch-to-zoom for tablets.

Illustrator has a nice new "live shapes" feature that lets designers quickly transform rectangles into complex shapes and back again. InDesign will now let you select entire table rows and columns, and it also supports ePub Fixed Layout formatting for ebooks. Muse supports 64-bit computing, HiDPI displays for Retina screens, and it will now help you optimize all versions of your website (desktop, tablet, smartphone) before going live with it. Dreamweaver now lets you view and edit a document's markup directly. Designer has been given the ability to more easily use CSS property effects. Flash Pro supports the SVG file format as a means for exporting any frame in a Flash project. Edge Animate can import HTML5-friendly video clips.

For videographers, Premiere Pro has gotten a graphics performance speed boost, while After Effects features precise new keying effects. SpeedGrade offers a "Direct Link" color pipeline that's more flexible than ever before, and Audition gives audio editors enhanced multi-track tools.

Four new mobile apps are available to download immediately. They include a universal Creative Cloud app that gives you direct access to view and manage your files on the go. Sketch, Line, and Mix are apps for precision drawing that work specifically with "Ink and Slide," Adobe's new hardware for artists. Ink is a pressure-sensitive, three-sided stylus designed to work with Adobe's apps, while Slide is a unique digital ruler made for iPad. The two devices sell together for $199.

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Pocket Avatars lets you have fun sending cartoony messages...and lets Intel earn too

By Vamien McKalin, Tech Times | June 22, 3:54 AM

Intel is mainly known for its processors, but that is not stopping the company from pursuing other interesting segments in the technology arena. The company's latest effort has left us with a confused look on our faces, as it doesn't give us an idea what the chip company is planning.

There's a new app called "Pocket Avatar," and it is basically what Intel has released to the public. The new app is only available for iOS and Android, and it is designed to allow Intel fans to chat with each other via 3D avatars that are capable of tracking the user's facial expression by using the smartphone camera.

Technically, this isn't the first Intel app. The first set of apps created by the company was for corporate use, or apps about Intel news. This is the first app from Intel that is targeting the masses, and we have to wonder what else the company has up its sleeve.

This new messaging app by Intel is quite interesting due to the face tracking technology implemented. The camera basically takes the expression of the user's face and places it on a cartoon character, or avatar.

Now, there are several different avatars available, and quite a few of them are not free. A premium avatar costs around $99. These avatars include Barack Obama's face, Lego, a pufferfish and more.
"How many times have you written 'lol,' 'haha,' or 'rofl' without even cracking a smile? With Pocket Avatars silly, quirky, adorable characters, all of your messages are way more fun. Don't just chat... chat funner!" says Intel
Chances are; this move by Intel is only an experiment. If successful, then no doubt we'll have a new contender for best messaging app. Still, right now Intel has a far way to go if it wants to get a foot in the online messaging industry. This new app might be fun for a while, but asking user's to pay $99 cent just to have some fun with a new avatar, might turn out to be the reason for the failure of Pocket Avatar, if it does happen.

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Microsoft announces Office 365 for business roadmap

By Nicole Arce, Tech Times | June 20, 11:13 PM

In an effort to forge more open relationships with its main customers, Microsoft has made public its business roadmap for Office 365.
The roadmap, which went live on the Microsoft website Wednesday, features the status of current and upcoming features of Office 365. Features are divided into four categories: Launched, Rolling Out, In Development and Cancelled. There is also a category for Previous Releases. Each category shows a bulleted list of features, which can further be expanded to show details of each feature.

Among the most prominent features in the Rolling Out category is First Release, a feature that will allow users who opt in to receive new features two weeks ahead of the Standard Release, which all Office 365 subscribers are part of by default. First Release also includes updates to SharePoint Online and Exchange Online, but not for other related services such as Office 365 ProPlus, Lync Online and Exchange Online Protection.

Since Office 365 is a subscription-based cloud software service, it is easy for Microsoft to introduce new features and make them available for preview.
"Many of you are really excited about the new update cadence, specifically the ability to consume change in small chunks, our responsiveness to your feedback, and fast access to the high value of the new services and features," writes Jake Zborowski, group product manager for Office 365 at Microsoft in a blog post. "We've been working hard on this feedback, balancing our ability to deliver high quality timely improvements to the service with your need for information."

To be clear, First Release is not a beta program. Zborowski iterates that all features and updates made available through First Release are "fully tested and supported." However, he also writes that the program will include "qualifying" features, which implies that not all new features will be included in the First Release program.

Not all Office 365 users, however, will be able to sign up for First Release, and the business roadmap does not include features and updates for users of Office 365 Personal and Office 365 Home. Only business and academic Office 365 clients will be able to join First Release by signing up on the Office 365 admin page.

Zborowski says Microsoft will notify customers who signed up for First Release through Office 365's message center. The company will also host a YamJam, which is the closest thing to a Reddit AMA on Yammer, on June 24 to provide customers a closer look at Office 365's hottest upcoming features.
First Release will launch sometime in the summer.

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Nokia Z Launcher for Android is out now in alpha phase

By Mike Cannon, Tech Times | June 23, 2:58 AM

After selling the hardware portion of its business to Microsoft, Nokia is diving into the world of Android apps. Its new app, Z Launcher, is an Android launcher that replaces the default home screen with a more streamlined design.

Z Launcher gets rid of Android's cluttered app menu and multiple home pages, and replaces them with a single page that changes to fit the user's needs. The app tracks what and when apps users run most often. When the phone is unlocked, the home screen displays a list of apps, contacts and websites users are most likely to want at that time of day, based on their history.

"As soon as you install and start using Z Launcher, it starts learning what you use throughout the day and automatically surfaces whatever you're most likely to need at the right moment," says Nokia in a statement.

Z Launcher also contains a feature called Scribble. If the desired program isn't on the home page, the user can draw a letter anywhere on the screen to be taken to a list of installed apps starting with that letter. The list is sorted based in frequency of use, and can be further narrowed down by drawing more letters.

"We're used to tapping away at our phones to find things - rooting through folders, swiping and scrolling. Scribble makes this easier," Nokia says in its statement.
At the top of the home screen Z Launcher shows the current time and the next upcoming calendar event. Tapping the time opens the clock app, and tapping the event opens the calendar. The screen also has five static app icons at the bottom, including the most commonly used features like phone, internet and Google Maps.

Z Launcher is currently in a pre-beta release and is not available on the Google Play store. The app can be downloaded from the Z Launcher website, but the number of total downloads is limited. The app is compatible with any smartphone running Android 4.1 or later, but has only been tested on a small number of phones, including the Nexus 5, Galaxy S5 and Galaxy S4.

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Goodbye Dalvik. Hello ART. Google is making Android faster, energy efficient

By Aaron Mamiit, Tech Times | June 21, 10:22 PM

Google is dropping the Dalvik runtime for ART, which will make the Android system work faster and become more energy efficient.
The runtime handles the decompilation of all Android apps in real time. Google introduced the experimental Android runtime, or ART, in Android KitKat 4.4, with the company explicitly stating that it will soon replace the old Dalvik runtime.

Tweaks to the open source code of Android that indicated the runtime change was spotted by developers. The Dalvik was previously the default runtime option with the ART as an alternative. The next Android update will likely have the ART as the default option.

Since the announcement of the runtime, Google has been dropping hints that ART will be replacing Dalvik as the default Android runtime in code commits and comments. However, code commits 98553 and 98618 confirm the pending change.

The code commits even came with comments of "Dalvik is dead, long live Dalvik!" With these comments, it looks like ART is going full steam ahead in replacing Dalvik.
ART will increase the speed and efficiency of apps on Android phones. However, it will use up a bit more space on a user's mobile phone, along with longer install times. ART is also said to be able to give a slight improvement on a phone's battery life.

While ART will be faster and provide a better Android experience than Dalvik, it came with compatibility issues with some apps and services during its preview stage, including WhatsApp and several games. The apps were easily fixed to be compatible with ART, though Google did say that they wanted to make ART backwards compatible so that developers are not forced to make changes in their existing apps.

Whether Dalvik will be relegated to an alternative runtime in the next major Android update or be removed from the operating system completely is still unknown. Keeping the Dalvik as an option will make it possible for non-compatible apps with ART to still run, but if the fix is easy for developers, then perhaps removing it completely will allow Google to push ART into a solo spot in the limelight.
Google already made ART as a default runtime in a source code change for the Android Open Source Project, with Dalvik remaining as an alternative.

The Google I/O Conference will be held next week, and there will most probably be some major announcements regarding the future of ART in replacing the Dalvik.

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Microsoft releases Office 365 for business public roadmap: What you need to know

By Vamien McKalin, Tech Times | June 22, 4:22 AM

On Thursday, Microsoft released the Office 365 for business roadmap. The roadmap is basically all the features Microsoft is working on for Office 365, and instead of keeping these activities hidden behind closed doors, Microsoft has chosen to make it available for public consumption.

Just to be clear, the roadmap does not address what is coming for Office 365 Home and Personal.
The roadmap provides information on updates that are scheduled to hit in a few months, and even updates that scheduled for a longer period. The level of detail here is very impressive, as it has a bullet list of features that can be expanded to learn more about what is coming.

"Today we're launching the Office 365 for business public roadmap. The Office 365 for business public roadmap provides you with a way to learn more about upcoming updates before the change comes to your service. It provides a few months' view of new features, enhancements, and major updates," says Microsoft in a blog post.

One upcoming feature is Office 365 First Release. This will give subscribers at least two weeks to test features before they are released to customers on the Standard release cycle. The other is an update to SharePoint Online, Lync Online, Exchange Online Protection, and Office 365 ProPlus.
The company also lists 36 features that are coming to Office 365 that it is current working on for future release. These include Apps for Excel Online, Card view in Outlook Web App, Clutter View for Outlook, Custom UI, document collaboration in Outlook Web App, and Office 365 video.

That's a long list of features in the pipeline, and it shows how committed Microsoft is in making Office 365 the best place online for businesses to collaborate. It is also a clear shot at competing more effectively with Google, as it is the leading competitor in this space with its popular Docs platform.

There are more updates coming, but the company is primarily addressing the most important features that users want before talking about the lesser things. It's a good move and it could help with keeping customers around longer.

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LinkedIn gives Premium Accounts a facelift, now look like Facebook

By Aaron Mamiit, Tech Times | June 7, 3:35 AM

The premium members of LinkedIn are getting a makeover on their profiles in the professional networking site.
In addition, LinkedIn is now offering a new membership option called Premium Spotlight, which will only cost the user $10 per month. This price is much more affordable than LinkedIn's previously offered memberships that have monthly rates of between $30 to $440 per month, and will allow the user to gain access to all the changes that LinkedIn made to premium memberships.

The profile pages of premium users have been revamped into a layout that resembles the image-centric designs of Facebook, Google+ and Twitter. Premium profile pages now have cover photos, bigger profile pictures and cleaner, easier-to-read fonts.

Regarding the cover photos, LinkedIn told VentureBeat that they "felt like a natural next step in helping members to build a more unique professional identity. ... [We] wanted to give profiles a more personal feel and this new visual component also helps members to stand out."
Currently, only premium members have the cover photo feature on their profiles. Free members will have to wait for a few months before the feature is rolled out to them.

In addition to the aesthetic upgrades, premium members can now optimize their pages with keyword suggestions. These keywords will make it easier for the member to get discovered through LinkedIn's search function. The search function also now prioritizes premium members, with premium profiles appearing twice as big in search results along with more details on the member.

Users with premium membership may also opt for an Open Profile, where their profile pages are made accessible to all other members of LinkedIn, even though there is no connection between the users.
Premium users can now also see who has been accessing their pages through a 90-day listing of Who's Viewed Your Profile. In addition, users gain access to How You Rank, showing the top 100 results against the user's first-degree contacts and company.

"We are continuously looking at new ways to add more value to our premium experience and this is just the first step of many this year," said LinkedIn product manager Dmitry Shevelenko in LinkedIn's official blog.

LinkedIn is the largest social network for professionals in the world, with over 300 million members. Included in its members are executives of top global companies. LinkedIn recently inked a deal with Evernote to connect the app's business card scanning feature with member profiles on LinkedIn.

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LinkedIn rolls out iOS job search mobile app in U.S.

 By Aaron Mamiit, Tech Times | June 21, 7:52 AM

LinkedIn launched a job search app exclusively for the iOS, the company reported in its official blog.
The LinkedIn Job Search App looks to capitalize on the over 40 percent of users that are using mobile to search for jobs on LinkedIn. It is currently only available in the United States. An Android version of the app is set to be released later in the year, with no word yet on plans to release versions for the Windows Phone and Blackberry.

After the Job Search App is downloaded from the Apple app store, users can log in using their LinkedIn credentials. The buttons at the bottom of the app are the main navigation buttons, used to search for job openings, look through recommended jobs, track job openings that users have applied to, and clear notifications.

Job searching can be done through job title, keyword and location, which can then be filtered according to relevance, date of posting, and distance. Additional filters include the industry of the job, its functions, seniority level and much more.

Once a user has found a job opening and wishes to apply for it, it is as easy as clicking on the blue Apply button for the job listing. Users can also click on the Save button to track the job and, perhaps, come back to it later if the decision to apply for it comes as a yes.

Application is done either through the website of the company that the user is applying for, to which the app connects to once the Apply button is clicked, or through the app sending the user's LinkedIn profile information to the company.

The app's notification center tells the user if a submitted application has been viewed, or if a job opening that matches the user's saved searches is posted.
LinkedIn adds that all the activity that the user does through the Job Search App will be kept private and will not be shared on the user's network, which will save the user from awkward situations with coworkers and bosses.

Earlier this month, LinkedIn introduced several improvements for premium accounts, along with a new kind of premium membership named Premium Spotlight that is more affordable. Premium Spotlight costs only $10 per month, compared to the monthly rates of between $30 to #440 per month for other premium membership options.

LinkedIn is that largest social network for professionals in the world, with a membership base of over 300 million users.

 

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Yo! Yo's been hacked, is your account safe?

By Joseph Mayton, Tech Times | June 20, 2:20 PM

The messaging app Yo, which lets users to send simple "yo" messages to contacts and which has seen a dramatic rise to the top of app downloads in recent weeks, has been attacked by hackers.
The company's creator Or Arbel told reporters they were having "security issues."

It follows much media attention for the simple app, which the creators believe will help streamline and simplify communications as it allows users to simply give a shout out to a colleague or friend. One of the main reasons the app was created was to allow users to send a quick message, with no frills, to a colleague to come into the room for a meeting or to discuss something.

But now, it's been hacked, a move that raises concerns over the security of the app. Students, it appears, have uncovered the flaw in the app. While many believe it to be not worth any time, it has garnered some $1 million in investments as it skyrocketed into popularity.

"We can get any Yo user's phone number (I actually texted the founder, and he called me back)," the students said in a news report.
"We can spoof yos from any users, and we can spam any user... We could also send any Yo user a push notification with any text we want (though we decided not to do that)."

According to Moshe Hogeg, CEO of Mobli, which is a photo and video sharing service, Hogeg became frustrated by having to repeatedly call and text his assistant when he wanted her to come into his office and so developed the "yo" idea to streamline reaching out. It uses the idea that you can communicate without being forced to deliver long-winded messages.

It took some eight hours to create the app and the coding, showing that even the simplest app can be a massive success.
The app has roughly 4 million users and is growing fast, which has Arbel and Hogeg hoping the security flaw can be rectified quickly to allow the simple app to keep moving and allowing users to send out those "yo's" to their friends and contacts.

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Facebook builds its own open switch. Take that, Cisco

By Joseph Mayton, Tech Times | June 20, 6:02 PM

In a move that is aimed at developing its own open switch, in direct competition with companies like Cisco, Facebook has announced it is moving forward with its own version of Linux called FBOSS.
The move is part of the social network's continued effort to move away from traditional data center action and into more flexible systems for users.

It is also the continuation of Facebook's ongoing push into new arenas, and should help the company create momentum as it aims to deliver Internet services to the world, especially those areas that are under-served. By having its own data switch, Facebook gains more control over pushing out new software and innovative ideas to more than 1 billion users.

Facebook's Yuval Bachar and Adam Simpkins wrote in a blog post that  they are "big believers in the value of disaggregation -- of breaking down traditional data center technologies into their core components so we can build new systems that are more flexible, more scalable, and more efficient."
But the tech world is interested in what they wrote toward the end of the post, where they announced they had created "Wedge" that runs on the social network's own Linux creation.

It is part of Facebook's Open Compute Project, where Simpkins and Bachar said Wedge and FBOSS are "currently being tested in our network; We plan to propose the designs for 'Wedge' and the central pieces of 'FBOSS' as contributions to OCP [an industry group], so others can start consuming the designs and building on them."

JP Morgan analyst Rod Hall says the move is a shot toward Cisco, which has been seeing its so-called white box switching equipment hit some trouble over a number of flaws, and that Facebook's announcement could be a game-changer.

Hall said "We had flagged in our Cisco downgrade report that open industry groups (such as OCP, ONF, etc), vendors (such as Dell) and OS companies (Cumulus, Nuage Networks, etc.) will continue to make bare-metal switch deployment easier over time."

He continued, stating "other companies like HP may eventually decide to begin distributing bare metal switches as well with whatever OS the customer wants pre-loaded. We continue to see much less expensive bare-metal switching as highly deflationary for the overall switching market."
Either way, it could be a monumental move by Facebook to branch out and deliver new tech on a number of platforms for ease of computing.

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Path launches messaging app, but can it compete?

By Robin Parrish, Tech Times | June 20, 2:29 PM

Everybody's jumping on the instant messaging bandwagon. It's kind of like the chat app explosion from several years back, when you had to have AOL Instant Messenger or ICQ, or you were out of touch.

Messaging is little more than mobile chat using telephone protocols, so the fact this form of communication has come back around again proves the popularity of the idea. Perhaps it was just waiting for the right medium.

In the face of the wildly popular Snapchat, Facebook's new Slingshot, and Google Hangouts, the little-social-network-that-could Path has tossed its hat in the messaging ring. Path Talk is the company's newest app, and it's exactly what it sounds like: a messenger app from Path. Messaging has been a feature of Path for over a year now, becoming the service's most dominant feature, but an update has spun it off into a dedicated app.

Like most of its contemporaries, Path Talk does not save a log of your conversations. Yet Path Talk does a great deal more than your standard messaging app. The Path team has gone out of its way to make text messaging more like an in-person conversation by adding features that address the parts of communication that texting can't do.

The first feature is called "Ambient Status," and it provides context for your messages. Ever been chatting with a friend and they suddenly stop replying? Later you might find out they were driving at the time, their battery had dropped dangerously low, they were listening to music, or they got hit by a powerful storm. Ambient Status automatically lets your chat partners know when these kinds of circumstances arise that could affect your ability to keep the conversation going. It's a clever way of preventing misunderstandings. For the privacy conscious, it's entirely opt-in.

Another smart feature is called "Quick Replies." This one is a substitute for the nonverbal tics of communication, like acknowledging a message or giving a friendly "I'm still here" nudge, without the use of a keyboard. A speech bubble-shaped button is always available to the right of your text box; tapping on it brings up a short list of Quick Reply options.

It's no coincidence Path is launching its messaging app the same day it has announced the acquisition of a startup called TalkTo. The idea behind TalkTo is to give you location-based texting capabilities -- with a twist. Send a message through TalkTo to any place nearby, and you'll get a text response from them within minutes. The local businesses or doctors offices or what have you aren't required to participate in TalkTo for this to work; it's all handled on the back end by the team at TalkTo. They scour the Internet or place phone calls to find the answers you need, make your reservations, check product availability, and more.

Path announced one other major change: it's lifted the friend cap. Until now, Path users could have no more than 150 friends. The number is now unlimited, and that carries over to Path Talk as well.

Path expects to have TalkTo integrated into Path Talk before the end of summer 2014.

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Amazon Fire Phone: A look under the smartphone's hood

By Mark Hawver, Tech Times | June 20, 5:46 PM

On Wednesday, Amazon.com encouraged the smartphone-lovin' world to discover Fire -- the company's first foray into the smartphone market.

The oft-anticipated and oft-delayed phone was introduced at an Amazon event in Seattle. Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos did the honors from the stage.
The buzz generated by the wait for Fire created its own conflagration of rumors. The new Amazon phone was said to include everything from a 3D-capable display to an ice maker. But now it's here, and it has a big Amazon logo on the back.


So, what do exactly do we have here then?
"Fire Phone puts everything you know about Amazon in the palm of your hand - instant access to Amazon's vast content ecosystem and exclusive features like the Mayday button, ASAP, Second Screen, X-Ray, free unlimited photo storage and more," said Bezos.

The company points out Fire is the only smartphone with Dynamic Perspective and Firefly, claimed to be breakthrough technologies. Dynamic Perspective uses a new sensor system to respond to how the phone is held, viewed and moved. Firefly seems to be a steroided version of the music-identifying app Shazam. Press the Firefly button on Fire and it will "quickly recognize things in the real world - web and email addresses, phone number, QR and bar codes, movies, music and millions of products, letting the user take action in seconds."

Dynamic Perspective seems to be an alternative to the hoped-for 3D display. It is not -- it's just gesture and motion-sensitive software with a few visual gimmicks thrown in.
Taking a look at what's underneath the 4.7-inch HD glass display (with an ambient light sensor and dynamic image contrast for ostensibly better outdoor viewing), we find a Quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 2.2 GHz processor and 2 GB of RAM; Global LTE and connectivity with nine bands of LTE, four GSM, five UMTS, 802.11ac support, Wi-Fi channel bonding, NFC and Bluetooth. Dual stereo speakers with Dolby Digital Plus add a virtual surround sound effect. Imaging tools included a 13-megapixel rear-facing camera, LED flash, optical image stabilization and HDR. There is also a front-facing, selfie-taking 2.1-megapixel camera. Cameras both front and rear will capture video at 1080p. Storage is not expandable and comes in either 32 GB or 64 GB editions.

Fire runs on an Amazonian derivative of the Android OS.
As rumored, Fire will be exclusively carried by AT&T. Duration of the exclusive arrangement was not disclosed. The 32 GB Fire is priced at $199 attached to a two-year contract. As an introductory offer, 12 months of free membership in Amazon's Prime club will be available to Fire purchasers. Current Prime members will get 12 months added to their accounts.

Early reviews have reflected mixed feelings about the Amazon Fire. Unfortunately, after all the breathless hype of the waiting period, it would have been difficult to have met every expectation. Most find Fire passable as a phone with only a few novel ideas to set it apart from well-entrenched competitors.

For Amazon, success will arrive if there is sufficient perceived differentiation of features, performance and utility between the Fire and other smartphones. That, and if Amazon can leverage the company's other assets that dovetail with Fire to create a cloistered yet satisfied world of Amazon devotees.
We'll begin to find out when Fire ships on July 25.

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Google search for artist, music now launches music app in your Android device

By Mike Cannon, Tech Times | June 22, 5:31 AM

Most Android users currently search for music in dedicated apps on their smartphones, but Google is looking to change that. By searching for an artist's name using Google, users will be presented with links to the artist's page on installed Android apps in addition to the usual web results.
Tapping on one of the artist links will open the corresponding app. Rather than the home screen, the app will jump directly to the page of the artist that was searched for, allowing users to use Google as a replacement for the app's native search function.
Google's latest operating system, KitKat, introduced a feature called app indexing in October which allows Google to search the contents of installed apps for keywords. App developers must make their apps compatible with the service, but app indexing already works with many popular apps, including Tumblr, Urbanspoon and Pinterest. Google will use app indexing to expand the reach of its search engine to content already available on the user's smartphone.
By incentivizing Android users to search their phones with Google, the company can collect more data about preferences and interests. It can also present targeted ads which encourage users to install a particular app which has information on the subject they're searching for. Making Google search the singular choice for finding information from all smartphone apps, would allow the company to significantly increase ad revenue.
Some developers may even rely on Google's new search function. Rather than coding their own search tools, app creators could simply make their products compatible with app indexing and let Google do the rest of the work for them. However it could work against apps that already have a search function. Whereas a search within the app might show the matching page as well as other related pages, Google will only link to the page the user searches for, limiting the discovery of similar content on the app.
The new search function is currently only available in the U.S. It works with Google Play, iHeartRadio, Spotify, Rdio, TuneIn and YouTube.
"We're working to expand this feature to users worldwide, with their local services like Deezer," says Google in a statement. "We hope all this makes finding and exploring artists and music on Google more fun now that you can listen to the music right away."

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Facebook improves Africa-tested app for Android

By Vamien McKalin, Tech Times | June 22, 8:08 AM

Facebook has hit saturation in its home market, growth has slowed down considerably, so the best way for the social network to keep growing is to make it easier for folks in emerging markets to sign-up and use the service on a regular basis.

One of the biggest problems with emerging markets is that they tend to lack solid Internet infrastructure. To combat this issue and to make it easier for emerging markets such as Africa to better use Facebook, the company has updated its Android app to be 50 percent faster, and 50 percent more data efficient compared to a year ago.
In addition, the download size is 65 percent smaller, which should make it a lot easier for folks in Africa to download the Facebook app on a slower network.

We have to say, it is pretty impressive to see this happening, though some might wonder why this efficient update is only for Android devices. Well, low cost and low spec'd Android devices are popular in emerging markets, so those who are hoping for the Facebook app on iOS and Windows Phone to get the same treatment might have to wait a while.

"In terms of performance, we wanted to improve slow start times on old devices. In the beginning, we focused on instrumenting the startup path and understanding the bottlenecks. There was no silver bullet in this process - we needed to carefully identify and remove each potential bottleneck," says Facebook in a blog post.

Apparently, the team who worked on the Android app took a trip to Africa to gather information. The team purchased several low-end Android smartphones to test the Facebook app, which made them realize how rubbish the Facebook app performed on these devices.

Performance was slow due to the devices having low memory, and load times were also slow, which has a lot to do with slow network connection. The team even burned out a full month data package in 40 minutes. Madness? Certainly!

These issues are the things that forced the team to make the Android app better in performance and efficient on a low bandwidth network. If this plan works, then Facebook would have paved the way for hundreds of millions of new subscribers in the coming years.

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Kanye West slams Apple for paying iTunes festival artists with iTunes store promotion instead of cash

By Vamien McKalin, Tech Times | June 22, 9:12 AM

Kanye West hasn't been very shy when it comes down to talking about Apple and letting the world know what is on his mind. He recently gave his insights on why Apple bought Beats Electronics, now he's complaining about some of Apple's tactics.

Apple has something it calls the iTunes Festival, it is held annually and is quite popular. The festival is held for a full month, and Apple doesn't charge an admission fee. Furthermore, the company streams the festival to folks who own a Mac, Apple TV, or an iPhone.

Now, according to Kanye West, the artists hired by Apple to perform, are not paid in cash. Instead, Apple pays these men and women with promotional spaces on iTunes. Obviously, Mr. West is against this, and prefers if Apple would pay performers in cash rather than promotion.

"I know you might have heard about this thing where I was on stage, like calling Tim Cook out and saying why do you have these guys performing at South by Southwest and you don't want to pay them," West said in an interview at the Cannes Lions festival. "You just want to give us extra space on the iTunes page and stuff, you know."

This is a similar tactic used by companies with freelance and amateur photographers. Companies in many occasions might use the work of a photographer, and instead of paying them, they are told they would get increased exposure.

Despite what Mr. West has to say, many artists view having a prominent placement on iTunes as a big deal. However, how long will this continue when iTunes sales are falling as music lovers slowly make the switch to streaming music instead of purchasing individual songs or the whole album?
It is one of the reasons why Apple purchased Beats Electronics, because, with it, the company will have access to the rapidly growing Beats Music, which is a subscription music streaming service. So far, over 250,000 folks have subscribed to Beats Music, though that number pales in comparison to the millions subscribed to the likes of Spotify, Google Music and Xbox Music.

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