Scout GPS app keeps your gas and coffee detour to a minimum
Telenav wants its latest Scout update for iPhone to stand out from other nav apps by giving what it claims 80 percent of us want while driving: gas, coffee, or food. You can now select a spot serving one of those sans typing and be sure it’s decent thanks to a user feedback feature that even accounts for the time of day. Then, Scout will only search places on the road ahead, not behind, to efficiently re-route you — a feature surprisingly lacking in most GPS apps. Other new tweaks include a guide to the closest and cheapest parking, real-time ETA info relayed to your loved ones and the ability to report traffic conditions, even when not navigating. All of this is free, though it only works in the US and certain features, like offline and voice-guided turn-by-turn navigation, require a $24.99 in-app buy.
Source: iTunes
Nokia stops selling Lumia 2520 tablet over electrical shock concerns
Nokia has issued a product advisory for certain Lumia 2520 chargers and has temporarily suspended sales of the Windows tablet in the UK and parts of Europe. The notice applies to its Europe- and UK-only AC-300 charger, along with the 2520 travel charger accessory, which is also available in the US. Use of those products should be discontinued immediately due to a shock hazard, though Nokia said that no incidents have been reported yet. 30,000 chargers are affected in total, but only 600 of the travel accessories were sold in the US. That means you’re free to use the tablet stateside (without the travel charger, of course). But if you’re located in the UK and certain other European countries, your Lumia 2520 will have to go on ice pending a fix. More information and updates are available from Nokia right here.
Source: Nokia
Putin tells Snowden live on air: no ‘massive scale’ surveillance of public communications
Edward Snowden is not only working the conference circuit, or playing a part in Pulitzer prize-winning journalism, he’s now taking his cause to world leaders directly. This morning Snowden asked Vladimir Putin live on Russian television if his government intercepts the communications of its citizens. Putin responded, telling him “on a massive scale, on an uncontrolled scale we certainly do not allow this and I hope we will never allow it”. Putin has been busy this morning taking part in an annual event where the head of state takes questions from the public. Of course, given the current military tensions with Ukraine, his approach to public privacy has other pressing issues to contend with.
Filed under: Internet
Source: The Wall Street Journal, Reuters
Incoming Sonos update will liberate your speakers from your router
One of Sonos‘ big selling points is its wireless functionality. Not only does it mean you can set the hardware up easily, wherever you like, it also keeps your man-den, pool house, or conservatory cable free (power cord aside). One small fly in that ointment is that you need to plug at least one of your Sonos speakers into your router, or buy the firm’s “bridge” unit usually at an extra cost. More good news from the firm, then. Apparently that’s going to change in the not too distant future. The boffins at Sonos have cooked up a software update to allow all your hardware to create the mesh network it uses for streaming, without the need for plugging anything into the router. You’ll soon be able to configure speakers with your smartphone, and once that’s done, Robert’s your mother’s brother. If you live in a huge country pile, or military bunker, you might still need to give the system a leg up, and plug a component in to your router directly, but for the rest of us, it’s one less cable to care about. Good times.
Filed under: Home Entertainment
Source: Sonos
Downloading Video By Means Of YouTube Downloader- Things to Keep In Mind
The internet revolution has completely taken over the global scenario in the last decade. Each and every walk of life that one could possibly imagine-right from shopping to socialising has undergone a change. And the same goes for the world of videos. No more do we bother about DVD players, DVD libraries and the like- the advent and popularity of the video streaming sites such as, YouTube, has been successful in changing the entire picture altogether.
YouTube Downloader and the Virtual Population
It was not possible to download the videos of one’s choice from YouTube up until very recently. Things have, however, undergone a change what with the advent of the YouTube video downloader software. No more do people have to log in to the site in order to enjoy the video of their choice. They can access the video on the go anytime, anywhere without having to connect to the World Wide Web.
YouTube downloader can be defined as a program that allows users to download videos from YouTube, Google video, MySpace video and the like to the hardware of the user. The video streaming sites have always been popular among the virtual users for a long time now and the fact that they can now download and enjoy the videos at their personal leisure is quite appealing. Users can download the streaming videos for a number of reasons.
Slow internet connections means that you have to endure the buffering process for quite a long time. This means you watch a 3-minute video for double the time and sometimes more. By availing the video downloader, users can easily watch their favourite videos without having to deal with the buffering process.
Downloading the video to your hardware for personal use means that you can access the video anytime anywhere you want even after it has been removed from the site. The YouTube video downloader also allows the user to extract a certain portion of the video should they wish to do so.
What Aspects Of The YouTube Downloader Do Users Have To Bear In Mind?
Downloading your favourite videos from the video streaming sites is all very well but there are certain aspects of the entire deal that users have to keep in mind. The internet has a number of such software that allows for the easy download and conversion of the videos. All the users need to do is opt for a reliable program and get going.
- The YouTube video downloader software allows users to download multiple videos simultaneously. However, users need to remember that multiple downloads can slow down the conversion rate of each video.
- Fast download and conversion is possible only when there is a good internet connection. However, users need to be patient in the unlikely event as a single download may take plenty of time.
So, the next time you really like a video on YouTube and want it on your personal hardware, all that you will have to do is avail the YouTube downloader and get on with the download and conversion procedure.
Analyzing the best international call packages
There is only one thing harder than picking the perfect mobile phone. Nobody wants to admit it and some are guilty of just picking the one with the biggest numbers, but picking a network, tariff and its packages can be the hardest thing you will do when picking out a new way to contact friends and family. You never know exactly how many minutes you need and when emergency strikes, it is important you are best prepared in order to stay in the loop with those important to you.
With that said, a good place to start would be T-Mobile. For just $10 you get free calls to fixed lines and messages to over 70 countries, with a further payment of just $5 getting you more bonuses to the package, as you receive unlimited cell to cell calls to a bonus 30 countries. This is one of the elite packages if you are a resident of the USA and need to contact people outside of the borders, as if offers the unique freedom of a whole host of countries that you are able to contact.
An even better, separate package from T-Mobile, that suits the travelling side of us, offers unlimited internet use in over 120 countries, which eliminates potentially expensive roaming charges. This is paired with free texting, alongside calls costing just 20cents per minute when travelling abroad. It is perfect for anyone leaving the USA to visit friends or family, or even those leaving the country for longer periods of time.
Both deals offer both value for money and pleasure to the customer. Staying in touch with loved ones can be harder than it sounds at times, but with these separate packages you would think it easier than ever to get in touch with the people that matter in 2014.
Is Antivirus Protection Alone Good Enough for Android Phones?
The association of the Android OS with mobile malware is something that is growing on us. Hardly a week goes by without a news about a new Android malware being discovered or an old one infecting millions of phones worldwide. And given the rampant rise in Android malware, the question of the best antivirus for Android phones always pops up. So, what is the best antivirus for Android anyway? Is it the one that protects your phone from all types of malware threats and virus infections? Or, is it something more? The below points will give you some insight into this.
Virus protection is just a part of the security solution designed for phones. A complete android antivirus solution should comprise the following components as well:
Anti-theft:Inarguably, the biggest security threat to mobile devices is losing it to someone with wrong intentions. The risk of your personal data being misused is immense. Anti-theft, therefore, is a feature that no mobile device can do without. And when this feature is supplemented with a remote wipe, delete and lock feature,it adds an important layer of security to your device.
Backup: Taking regular backups of your data may not be so exciting, but it can be your handy Time Machine. A malware infection can ruin your priceless data on your phone. But if you have a backup, you can resurrect what you have lost.
Parental Control: If your kids use Internet on your phone, then Parental Control is something that can be of great help. Most Parental Control tools not only help parents schedule Internet usage for their kids but also allow them to block websites that are age inappropriate and potentially dangerous.
Phishing Protection: A hacker can be just one phishing website away from accessing your bank account. An antivirus for Android must be intelligent enough to recognize sites that are spoofed and designed to launch phishing attacks.
Call Block and SMS Block: Mobile security also implies protection from unwanted callers and text messages. Almost all Android antivirus software come with call and SMS blocking feature. Using this feature, you can make a blacklist of unwanted numbers and whitelist of known and trusted contacts.
Secure Delete: There are times when you delete certain data and don’t wish anyone to know about it. But with data recovery tools, an attacker can retrieve such data from your phone and misuse it. A few antivirus software for Android come with a feature that can be used to delete data permanently and make it unrecoverable.
News and Updates: An antivirus for Android should also keep you updated about the latest threats, malware attacks, and noteworthy incidents in the IT security world. The more you know about malware threats, the more prepare you will be against them.
With all these points in mind, we can conclude that a stand-alone antivirus for android does not define mobile security, but a combination of the features cited above does.
About the Author:
With a humble Bachelor degree in Physics, Rajib penned his way into the world of technology and its wonders. In his journey as a techno blogger, he came across the world of computer security. And he has been there since, curating stories and serving them to readers across the world.
Evaluating Waterfall and Agile Software Development Methodologies
With the arrival of a new web development project in a company, everyone engages in a proactive discussion on which development methodology is to be adopted for implementation of that project. The deliberation lingers on whether waterfall is the apt methodology to be followed, or one can go agile on that project. Which is the better option? This often results in heated debate where two separate groups emerge, voicing their opinion about each of the development methodologies. The ultimate focus of such discussions is always directed towards supporting either of the two methodologies in an attempt to prove it to be the better one to handle the project.
Before you join such a group in sharing your opinion, you need to know what a development methodology is and what options are available for a developer to follow. A development methodology is nothing but a way of organizing the entire task of software development. There are two major ways to execute the tasks involved in software development – Waterfall and Agile. Waterfall is the older and traditional approach of software development, while Agile is relatively newer. However, both are usable and mature methods to develop software, which are adopted depending on the specification and requirement of the project. Let us take a close look at both these methodologies.
Waterfall follows a linear approach when developing software. It works on a series of events where one phase completes and progresses to another lined up in the sequence. The stages included in this model are gathering and documenting requirements, designing, coding and unit testing, performing system testing, performing user acceptance testing, fixing any issues and finally delivering the finished product. Each of these stages needs to be completed in order to move on to the next one. Moreover, there is a stage gate between each of these phases; such as requirements have to be reviewed and approved by the client before the designing team, which is the next stage, can start working on it.
The advantage with this model is that planning of the entire software development lifecycle is done beforehand. The developers and customers agree on the full scope of the project and deliveries in the beginning only, so the progress of the project can be easily measured. Another advantage of this model is that members involved in a particular phase of one project can work simultaneously on other projects as well. This is mainly dependent on the active phase of the project. Say testers can set up test scripts with the help of requirement documentation, while the coding is in progress. In addition to this, Waterfall model ensures less involvement on part of the client. Except for status meetings, reviews, approvals and anything else, the presence of the client is not mandatory once the requirement phase is over.
When there are so many advantages of Waterfall methodology, this seems to be quite a good option for software development. However, the benefits do not come alone. These bring their share of issues as well. The prime issue waterfall entails with it is the effectiveness of the requirements. Probably the most challenging part of developing software is gathering and documenting requirements in a manner that seem meaningful to the client. At times, presenting minutely detailed documents can intimidate clients and not help them to visualize the final outcome of the app. Although mockups and wireframe can give them a fair idea, but putting all the elements together to get a good picture of the final product might still seem a bit daunting for clients.
This leads to the obvious drawback that this model possesses is high possibility of dissatisfaction on part of the client, when the ultimate software is delivered. Since the client gets to see only the final product, there are chances that the client might provide feedbacks that bring forth numerous changes after the delivery. The problem arises in implementing those changes as this becomes extremely difficult and costly. Keeping the positive and negative aspects of Waterfall in mind, let us try to understand Agile software development methodologies slightly better.
Agile is an iterative approach to software development that focuses on fast delivery of app incorporating all functional components. The entire development process in this model takes place through phases that are called sprints. Each sprint is expected to be completed within a stipulated time duration that includes a list of pre-planned deliverables. These deliverables are prioritized by the client depending on their business value. In case any sprint fails to be completed within that time frame or the client wishes to share some valuable feedback on the work that has been done till then, the entire task plan is rescheduled and reprioritized. This is mainly done to incorporate the latest information and plan the future sprints properly.
After completion of every sprint, the client is expected to review and evaluate that. So that any further improvement if suggested by the client can be very well integrated in the next sprint. The advantage of this model is the client gets clarity about the development phase. With frequent and early opportunities to see the deliverables, changes can be brought in at any stage of development of the project. This way the client develops and enjoys a sense of ownership on the project. Since, agile can create and deliver a basic version of working software, it can allow clients to start marketing the app, while it is being created; so the time to market the product gets reduced as well.
This is definitely more flexible model than Waterfall, and can work wonders for teams that are dedicated to one particular project only. However, there are some issues with this model as well. Since, this model demands high involvement of clients, some people might not prefer to opt in favor of this. It is simply due to the reason that they might lack time or interest to take a look at every phase of development. For them, this active participation might not be called for. But, clients who can manage to participate in various sprints of the software development and see their product getting shape in front of their eyes; this is definitely a good option to go for.
Analyzing both the models, it can be certainly said that each holds definite grounds, and offers separate share of benefits. Depending on the requirements and priorities of clients, they can either go for Waterfall or Agile, whichever suits them best. After all, the ultimate goal of achieving amazingly engaging software is the motto, irrespective of the methodology to be adopted.
About Author: Kristina Louis is a Professional content writer and an engineering college student. She likes writing blogs and posts on Mobile Apps Development .Kristina have written a number of articles for various web-sites like http://www.qaitdevlabs.com/ .
YouTube SEO -6 Steps Formula To attract more visitor
Nowadays, get more visitors to your new video on YouTube is not an easy task, if you have not a good strategy or have not thousands of connections in the social world than its going to pretty tough for you. Obviously celebrity no need to spent lots of money to advertise or for get more popular, because they already have millions of visit and like from their fans, but it means not that you can’t popular, of course you may, you have to research How to get more YouTube Views, some SEO secret tricks for discussing below…
Only FOUR categories in search
One eye opener hidden fact about YouTube.com is that the site use only four categories News&Politics, Science&Tech, Howto&Style, and Gaming, in advance searching, means if anybody use advanced search facility then in return site will show only those videos those uploaded under these (4) categories, and other will skip, and if your video(s) not in the result of course you lost, so what to do? Don’t worry these categories’ are more wide and you can probably tailor any of them to your video.
Keep Description Sort
The second one least but important thing is that YouTube show approximately 22 words description on query page, and here you have to beat competitor to attract visitor’s concern on your video, put second level keyword in description as well as keep it clear and descriptive within 20-22 words limit, always keep in mind that neither too short nor too long descriptions recommended. Hyperlink in description required start with http:// other wise your link will not change in clickable text.
Optimize Video Transcript
Ensure to use the facility of video transcript fully after all it’s an open invitation to search engine to index your video(s), actually it is closed caption file that readable by search engine as well as by human, search engine use it to know about your content and user can read it on list page. The Keywords Rich Video Transcripts under 27-character is a good idea to get boost.
Use of SEO friendly Tag
YouTube.com allow to video up loader to include tags for SEO purpose, and this is the important place where you can put most relevant keywords, for prevent from abuse you can add limited tags to per video, you need to give more concern to put keywords.
Invite User for Participate
Everybody like invitation, don’t you? There are no doubts that visitor may have some question to ask to you or they may have some ideas to share that can increase quality, so you should always permit the comments, the embedding for your YouTube videos also can increase the visitor as well as link popularity though the one more thing associates here with comments, actually you have to monitor for control comments and spam comments, but encouraging audience to participation can be a great way to increase your brand visibility online.
These are some basic methods that can increase hits on your YouTube videos dramatically; you can use your own tricks also, but keep in mind that over seo also can destroy your brand on this site.
MG’s Dynamo concept is its first fully electric car
MG is celebrating its 90th year in the car-making business, so to mark the occasion, it’s decided to take the wrappings off its first ever fully electric vehicle. Created at parent company SAIC’s European Design and Technical Centre (SMTC), the MG Dynamo concept won’t be found on Britain’s streets just yet (the model you see above is actually classed as a “static preview”) because it solely exists to help the once-struggling automaker gauge Europe’s demand for a small, electric EV. That said, MG says the Dynamo is capable of generating 70hp of power and can be charged to 80 percent battery capacity in just 30 minutes (a full six hour charge offers a range of around 50 miles). With Mayor Boris Johnson campaigning to get 100,000 EVs on London’s streets, MG may one day take its place alongside Renault, Nissan and Volkswagen with its own little city car.
Filed under: Transportation
Via: GizMag
Source: MG








