Meeting Room Scheduling Software – Focusing On The Features
Demand for the meeting room scheduling software tools is high in the market. In fact, there are many available ones. But the question that remains: are these truly satisfactory? Do they manage to produce satisfactory results? Well, room scheduling software tools can be custom developed according to requirements. Most preferable software tools will definitely enable the user to have totally central web-based system that can easily integrate the customers’ digital signage, diaries, environmental way findings, as well third party systems like that of video conferences and online chatting. A proper room booking software should have the following features:
1) Ability to intensify the use of right equipment and space through much smarter booking mechanism
2) Definitely help in reducing admin time by automating the common tasks being performed. Also, it helps in unifying the booking of rooms, catering, technology resources, and the guests into one single system.
3) Helps in reducing the management tasks and overhead costing through standardized booking procedures. Also, it is done on a global scale. The software tool needs to be highly scalable and should follow multilingual system as well multi-time zone.
4) It should have the ability to enable better decision making for hospitality services, facilities, managers, and vendors. The software tool’s reports should provide the right support in optimizing the best use of space as well other resources through proper calculation of available space and resources.
The room booking software tool should work on any web interface. It should be able to handle the meeting room bookings, video conferencing, hospitality resources, and guests simultaneously without facing any problem. The entire approach should be compact yet diversified without creating any sort of complexity. Remember, the system should be scalable and centrally operated while offering the best of services all across different time zones. Also, the language options availability is important. The tool should feature more language options for better understanding by clients.
What about resource and hospitality booking?
The software tool should have the ability to handle other resource booking options like that of AV equipment that are required exclusively for meetings, and also ensures that the correct notice time as well cost codes and stock availability is followed. All these are taken into consideration. In fact, all these factors are extremely important for meeting room scheduling software tools.
The software tool should make it easy for the user to manage and jot down the meeting attendees as well guests. The software tool should have ability to send meeting invitees, notify the hosts on arrival of guests, help reception checking for visitors, integrate the existing security systems, and print down the visitor passes. In short, the software tool should have the ability to offer the user seamless experience in handling and managing guests during meetings, seminars, or some other events.
A proper event management and room scheduling software tool will provide complete solution to successfully handling of booking rooms and venues. Right from offering the right set of information to providing helping hand in managing the event, the software tool should provide sufficient help in making the event a successful one. It helps in minimizing the staffs and saving some good cash on investment. It also helps in minimizing the administrative burden. The software tool should offer complete and detailed reports that will help in close monitoring of the room utilization, user activity, and many more. It should provide the best of help to user in taking the right decision about usage of the real estate. There are many software solutions to find, but picking the right one is what makes the difference.
Flappy Bird’s creator says he pulled the app for your own good
If you were hoping Flappy Bird would find its wings and fly back onto the App Store or Google Play, its creator has some tough news for you. Less than 48 hours after he pulled the explosively popular game, developer Dong Nguyen briefly emerged from his self-imposed exile to talk to Forbes about why that little bird will flap no more. According to Nguyen, the game was designed to help people relax, let players blow off some steam when they had a spare few minutes. Instead, Flappy Bird became an “addictive product” that was causing him, and its players, issues. Nguyen became the subject of intense media scrutiny, while players became enraged by their tragically low scores. “To solve that problem, it’s best to take down Flappy Bird. It’s gone forever,” he told Forbes, shortly after he’d had an impromptu sit down with Vietnam’s deputy prime minister.
Since it disappeared, owners of the app have put their phones and tablets up for bidding on eBay, with prices reaching $1,000 for an iPhone with the app pre-installed. Despite its popularity, and reports that Flappy Bird was reportedly making $50,000 a day in ad revenue, Nguyen says he has no regrets: “I don’t think it’s a mistake,” he said. “I have thought it through.” If you didn’t manage to grab the app before it was pulled, there’s no shortage of Flappy clones on the App Store or Google Play — just in case you need a Flappy Angry Bird fix.
Filed under: Gaming, Internet, Software, Mobile
Source: Forbes
Over one million people are streaming gameplay on Twitch every month
With the inclusion of Twitch streaming functionality in the PlayStation 4 (and soon in the Xbox One), it’s no surprise that the service is now achieving over one million “monthly active broadcasters.” What that means in human speak is over one million people are streaming out gameplay via Twitch every month — that’s a ton of opportunity for both informative broadcasts and rampant nudity!
Should there be any doubt that the new game consoles are goosing the numbers, Twitch already confirmed that PS4 activations account for at least 100,000 new accounts thus far. With Xbox One support coming in the not-so-distant future, we only expect that broadcaster number to grow ever higher. Perhaps two million by summer? At the rate these consoles are selling, it’s not hard to imagine.
Filed under: Gaming, Internet, Software, HD, Sony, Microsoft
Source: Twitch
[LEAK] Android KitKat for the Galaxy S4 and Note 3 are coming and this is what the status bar will look like
Knock, knock. Leak. Leak who? Leak from Eldar Murtazin, that’s who! Eldar Murtazin has been on top of some very important leaks the last few weeks including ones regarding the Samsung Galaxy S5 and the apparent demise of the Nexus line of devices. This time his leak comes in the form of the above picture which is allegedly the status bar for Samsung’s Android KitKat update. Naturally, that would be the Android KitKat for the Galaxy S4 and Note 3 that is imminently due, and no doubt also to be featured on the Galaxy S5 to be announced at MWC 2014.
Pure white is definitely an interesting choice, particularly if you have a white background, but it looks like it adheres to the standard KitKat interface that we have seen on all the devices that have already received Android 4.4. Murtazin also tweeted earlier today that this change to the standard white icons “means a lot for TouchWiz‘s future” which suggests that Samsung may be finally playing Google‘s fiddle after the two were at loggerheads regarding Samsung’s Magazine UX and treatment of native Android apps. This can only mean good things for Samsung and, in turn, TouchWiz, which has been increasingly disparaged for its memory space hogging and general operation.
What do you think about the status bar leaked today? Think this is Samsung turning over a new leaf with Google? Let us know what you think in the comments.
Source: Twitter (1), (2) via Phone Arena
Small World 2 Review: the popular board game finally makes it way onto Android
As board games continue their resurgence into mainstream consciousness, more and more board games are finding their way onto mobile platforms, being expressed as well as they can be on small and big screens. Days of Wonder is one publisher who has only recently joined this effort of bringing its library of games to mobile but looked to be quite successful with its release of Ticket to Ride on both iOS and Android (read our review here). Now they’ve released Small World 2 on mobile as a result of their successful Kickstarter campaign to fund its development, and while it was released for iOS back in September 2012, it’s good to see it finally arrive on Android as well.
Fans of the board game won’t need much introduction to the concept of the game, but for those of you who haven’t played Small World before, whether in physical or digital forms, the primary objective of the game is resource collection. To start the game, you get to pick a character card which will define your characteristics (for now) i.e. any bonuses and/or restrictions your character has and how many tokens you can place per turn. On your turn, you get to place tokens on designated regions on the board. Depending on what region you have selected, you may be required to use more or less of your tokens if someone is occupying the region or your character card has some effect on the type of region you have selected. In this way, you can take over as many regions as you have tokens, and when you run out for this turn, your turn ends. At this point, you get coins added to your stash, 1 for every region you possess plus any bonuses you have; these coins will serve as scoring at the end of the game, but the game cleverly hides this information from you so that you have to constantly be on guard.
As added strategy, you can “go into decline”; what this means for you is that your character card is essentially disposed of (unless there is a bonus associated with this action) and while you can keep the regions that you currently possess, they’ll only count as one token occupying each region. On your next turn however, you can pick a new character card with all new bonuses, and this can serve as a really good strategy if you are familiar with the types of cards that are in the game.
The game does offer a very short tutorial video which is both thematic and informative, however, it does lack in actual strategic guidance, a fact I realised on my first play through with in-game bots. On that note, the bots’ AI in the game appears to be more than competent and should be quite a challenge for those that understand the game well. Unfortunately, I have yet to win a game, partially from my own inexperience, but also because I haven’t found any sort of difficulty settings for the bots. Perhaps it’s unnecessary, but I found it to be an extremely steep learning curve playing against basically Small World geniuses.
A just want to interrupt this review with a disclaimer for everyone who’s here to read this review because they’re a fan of Small World and want to know whether it’s like the board game: Small World 2 is pretty much what you’d want from a mobile version of the Small World board game. I’m not 100% familar with the rules, but it seems like most things have been implemented properly and the games offers a plethora of ways for you to enjoy the game alone, with friends, or with a group of other board game enthusiasts. If that’s your concern, then the only other thing you have to worry about is paying the not-insignificant price of $9.99 on Google Play. Fans of the game will throw money at the game anyway, but that’s just for your reference.
Just returning to the ways that you can play the game, you can of course enjoy the game solo in the company of the game’s more than competent bots, or you can play local games, with numbers of players ranging from 2-5, all playing from the same device. For something a little less personal, there are also plenty of multiplayer options including internet online play, playing with your friends, or local play, but on separate devices. As with many of Days of Wonder board games, if you’re wanting to extend your Small World 2 experience, there are also expansions available from within the game for purchase and they will set you back anywhere from $2.99 to $4.99 USD.
I reviewed Small World 2 playing on a smartphone, albeit a Samsung Galaxy Note 2, and I found the gameplay experience to be acceptable; there are times that things on the screen, particularly token stack count, that can seem positively tiny. It’s definitely a very busy board as well with lots to keep track of, and I would say that a smaller screened device would not be ideal for playing Small World 2. Likewise, the text and some of the bonuses on the character cards can be difficult to interpret and often the only way to figure out what’s going on is to consult the in-game manual. This obviously isn’t that much of an issue for veteran players, but it’s worth considering if you’re entering the Small World 2 foray.
Rating: 4/5
Small World 2 is pretty much everything you expected, whether you’ve been following its Kickstarter from the campaign launch or if you’re only discovering it now; for Small World fans and veterans, the entry fee of $9.99 is but a pittance and the game is well made, has plenty of features to cater for you and how you want to play the game. For beginners, the learning curve is steep and the small text size and game icons probably don’t help in that respect, plus the $9.99 price-tag can be a bit off-putting if you’re not going to be sinking many hours into it, but there is a fun game to be had if you’re playing with others or even practicing alone. If you’re interested in picking Small World 2 up, you can find the Play Store links below, or you can visit the Days of Wonder website for more information about all their board games exploits.
Game: Small World 2
Price: $9.99
Firefox’s revamped interface is now available in Aurora releases
You no longer have to grab one of Firefox’s ever-changing nightly builds to try the browser’s new Australis interface ahead of its official launch. Mozilla has just released a new Aurora version that includes Australis’ simpler, more customizable layout; it also brings the easier, account-based sync system. The new Firefox edition is still quite rough, but curious web surfers who were only waiting for more reliable code can start downloading today.
Filed under: Internet, Software
Source: Mozilla
Spotify now lets you listen to your favorite track over, and over, and over…
This is the song that doesn’t end.
Yes, it goes on and on my friend.
Some people started singing it not knowing what it was,
And they’ll continue singing it forever just because . . .
Filed under: Internet, Software
Source: Spotify
Joy of joys: Android 4.4 is coming to multiple Samsung Galaxy Devices
For Samsung owners who don’t own a Galaxy S4 or a Galaxy Note 3, the big question remains: which of Samsung‘s remaining devices will they bother updating to Android 4.4? Well, according to Phandroid’s sources, they’re actually bothering with quite a few as they are reporting that Android 4.4 is coming to multiple Samsung Galaxy devices. The devices included in this report were:
- Samsung Galaxy S4 SGH-i337
- Samsung Galaxy Note 3
- Samsung Galaxy Note 2
- Samsung Galaxy S3
- Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 7.0
- Samsung Galaxy S4 Active
- Samsung Galaxy Mega
- Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom
- Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0
- Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini
Of which, we know the Galaxy S4 and Note 3 have already started their updates. This report does strengthen the case for Android 4.4 KitKat coming to some of Samsung’s other devices, which was first suggested by several leaked Samsung documents (see here and here) which appeared to suggest that Samsung was contemplating KitKat updates for devices as far down its hierarchy as the Galaxy Core and Galaxy Ace 2. I do find it interesting that the Galaxy S4 Mini isn’t included in Phandroid’s list though, but judging by these multiple corroborated stories, it’s probable that the actually list of device updates is much longer.
What do you think of this news: do you think Samsung is actually going to make good and release Android 4.4 to all of these devices and potentially more? Let us know what you think in the comments.
Source: Phandroid via Phone Arena
California law could end grand theft mobile with kill-switches in all smartphones
Lawmakers in California are so intent on curbing record levels of smartphone theft, they’re ready to fine phone makers if anti-theft measures aren’t available on their devices. The New York Times reports that the order will come from State Senator Mark Leno, who is set to introduce a new law requiring all smartphones and tablets sold in the state to include a “kill switch” solution. Ignore the ruling and device makers could face a $2,500 fine for each device sold.
San Francisco and New York prosecutors George Gascón and Eric Schneiderman set the ball rolling when they met with representatives from Apple, Google, Samsung and Microsoft last year. Apple then won praise for including its Activation Lock feature by default in iOS 7, requiring device owners to set a passcode that stopped thieves reactivating a stolen phone. While it would only officially cover California, the new law could force phone makers into a full US rollout, likely upsetting the carriers. The CTIA, which represents the likes of AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile and Sprint, believes its stolen phone database is a better solution and will fight the ruling. If it is signed into law, phone makers will have until January 1st, 2015 to implement a solution or they will not pass Go and will be forced to hand out more than $200.
Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Wireless, Internet, Software, Mobile, Apple, Samsung
Source: New York Times
Call of Duty moves to a three-studio rotation to keep up the quality
Many gamers are frustrated with publishers that like to release franchise sequels every one to two years, regardless of the quality — just ask the Battlefield 4 players still grappling with bugs. Activision is clearly aware of the problem, however. It just announced that Modern Warfare 3 creator Sledgehammer Games will become the third studio regularly producing Call of Duty titles, joining Infinity Ward and Treyarch. The new rotation gives each developer three years to finish a COD game instead of two; they’ll have “more time to polish” without interrupting the yearly release cycle, according to publishing chief Eric Hirshberg. The addition won’t please those who’d rather see more original games, but it’s good news for fans worried that Activision might cut corners to ship its first-person shooters on time.
Source: Joystiq
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