If you are a Linux user and were wondering when the new Ubuntu update would be released, here are some clues. First, the next release will be Ubuntu 17.04, and its launch date will soon be announced. Second, it has a strange codename, just like its predecessors and is called ‘Zesty Zapus’. #os
King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand passed away on the 13th of October, and the Thai government asked Google to ban insults to royal figures. Strangely, Google has begun to remove content with royal insults, something that may tantamount to suppressing free speech. However, Google has repeatedly complied with such requests in China and elsewhere in the past too. #Internet
GitLab, which describes itself as ‘tools for modern developers’ released an update to its Issue Boards tool, which is a visual interface for teams to track the status of their projects. The new update brings more flexibility and the ability to create multiple issue boards for each project. #development
Building upon existing objective-based campaigns, Twitter launched a dedicated service that lets advertisers cost-efficiently track website conversions throughout the marketing campaign. Advertisers can further take advantage of predictive shopping and bidding expertise of TellApart besides leveraging Twitter’s Audience Platform. The company also rebranded its Website Clicks Offering as Website Visits. Let us hope repackaging attempts are more than a face-saver for the sinking ship. #social
Google’s Pixel phones had many heads rolling at an event raising the hopes of a lot of people who were looking for an iPhone alternative. Build on cutting edge technology using latest Snapdragon processor, 4GB of RAM and a host of exclusive features, Google hopes to make a real mark in the smartphone segment. However, one also needs to wait and watch to see if this is one of Google’s many expensive experiments. #mobile.
Gone are the days when Facebook was banned at work. Now, the popular social media tool may soon become the next big workplace collaboration platform. Maintaining the same look and feel, Facebook at Work will let users add and share comments, photographs, videos and information about the company and its offices changing the way we work, and collaborate in our organizations. Certainly, your employees have much to look forward to. #social
Coming Soon: Facebook at Work Gone are the days when Facebook was banned at work. Now, the popular social media tool may soon become the next big workplace collaboration platform. Maintaining the same look and feel, Facebook at Work will let users add and share comments, photographs, videos and information about the company and its offices changing the way we work, and collaborate in our organizations. Certainly, your employees have much to look forward to. #social 2. Is Google Experimenting with Pixel Phones? Google’s Pixel phones had many heads rolling at an event raising the hopes of a lot of people who were looking for an iPhone alternative. Build on cutting edge technology using latest Snapdragon processor, 4GB of RAM and a host of exclusive features, Google hopes to make a real mark in the smartphone segment. However, one also needs to wait and watch to see if this is one of Google’s many expensive experiments. #mobile. 3. Twitter Repackages Website Conversion Tracking Building upon existing objective-based campaigns, Twitter launched a dedicated service that lets advertisers cost-efficiently track website conversions throughout the marketing campaign. Advertisers can further take advantage of predictive shopping and bidding expertise of TellApart besides leveraging Twitter’s Audience Platform. The company also rebranded its Website Clicks Offering as Website Visits. Let us hope repackaging attempts are more than a face-saver for the sinking ship. #social 4. Google’s Go Rises in Popularity Of all the programming languages that have risen to popularity, the story of Google’s Go has been a remarkable one. Tiobe once again revealed that Google’s Go is now the 16th most popular programming language, with Java, C++ and C# being the most popular on the list. 5. Indian Startups No Longer Need RBI Permission to Receive Foreign Investments Indian start-ups can rejoice, as the RBI just announced that it will allow them to seek investment from Foreign Venture Capital Investors (FVCIs). These investments will no longer require the approval of Indian regulators and is a step in the right direction toward liberalizing the economy, especially when tech start-ups are looking for foreign investments. #startup #finance
EU Court Allows Storing IP Addresses of Visitors to Prevent Cyber Attacks If you own a website and were wondering why it should be a legal issue to store IP addresses even if that helped you to prevent cyber attacks, the European Union’s top court seems to understand your skepticism. Website owners can now store users’ IP addresses in order to prevent “denial of service” and other forms of attacks. This comes as a big relief to web admins in the EU. #security SAP’s HCM Service Comes to Azure If you are using Microsoft’s Azure platform, you will soon be able to use SAP’s “SuccessFactors” cloud-based Human Capital Management (HCM) service as well. This move is expected to help companies to manage their employees better. Azure is one of the most popular open developer platforms out there, and this new partnership will enhance its adoption. #cloud TRAI Seeks Stakeholders’ Opinion on M2M Communication The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India wants to know what stakeholders think of machine-to-machine connectivity. Networked devices are increasingly becoming popular and M2M communication is expected to champion the cause of Smart Cities in India. It is no wonder TRAI wants to know what stakeholders think of M2M communication. #telecom Book Ola or Uber Directly from Google Search Booking a cab late in the night just got easier. You know longer have to wait for Ola or Uber apps to fire up. You can look for these cabs right from Google Search on your smartphone. Google announced this new facility in a blog post. #app Apple’s Updated Macbooks Are Coming Those of you looking for a new laptop might want to wait for a week. Apple just announced an event on October 27th, and it is almost an open secret that new MacBook Pro models will be announced. Extensive feature updates and overall design upgradations are expected. #corporate
Qt Unveils Lightweight IoT Development Framework Software development is going to get a lot faster and lightweight, thanks to Qt Company, an open source tools provider. The company’s Qt Lite Project helps developers to streamline building IoT-enabled software for a variety of industry verticals. Developers can start with a minimal deployable configuration and add features as they develop their app. #IoT #developer Microsoft Claims Its Speech Transcription AI Is Better Than Humans Transcriptionists may soon be out of job, if Microsoft is to be believed for its new claim. The company today announced that its speech transcription AI is better than human professionals over phone calls. This is being touted as a huge milestone for speech recognition and may have significant commercial ramifications. #ai Russian Company Brings Facial Recognition Tools to Businesses Facial recognition tools are going to get bigger, thanks to NTechlab’s FindFace.Pro service. The service is being targeted at malls, casinos and concert venues, where lots of people gather and tracking people individually is difficult. Businesses in malls can provide customized service at malls, while security professionals will be able to manage crowds better. #ai Facebook Analytics for Apps Announces New Push Notifications Facebook Analytics for Apps is going to get better very soon. The social media giant announced that it would be bringing push campaigns to all businesses, which enable them to remind users that the app still exists, when it remains unused for a long time. The update also brings in-app notifications, which may help businesses to communicate with their users in a better way. #marketing Instagram Stories Finds a Larger Audience Instagram is bringing Stories to a larger audience, and this might be of interest to marketing departments. When users open up Explore, they will now find a ‘suggested stories’ section, which lets users to browse through random Instagram Stories tailored to their interests. If you are running a marketing campaign using Instagram Stories, expect to become more visible. #social
Skype’s Linux App Gets Video Calling If you are the kind of person who disavows proprietary operating systems and encourages open source OS, then Linux might probably be what you’re using. Skype’s all-new app also features video-calling in its recent update. This will come as a relief to Linux users. #app Vimeo Features Video Loops on User Profiles Vimeo is not only used by video content creators but also by digital marketing departments. Vimeo has now announced fresh updates to users’ profile pages, one of which is the ability to choose a cover video that loops silently on top on the profile page. This could be great for video content marketing campaigns. #digital Google’s Travel App Tells You When to Book Cheap Flights and Rooms Google’s travel app now allows you to check when the best time to book cheap hotel rooms and flight tickers is. This new feature is expected to help millions of people who are expected to travel this holiday season. The update also lets you check for alternative routes at cheaper prices. #app Google’s AI Platform Can Now Learn from Its Own Memory Differential Neural Computer (DNC), Alphabet’s hybrid system, uses existing data storage capacity to pair with smart AI. What this really means is, Google’s AI platform can now learn from its own memory, with no human input, just like humans learn. AI is becoming quite intimidating already, probably? #ai Publish Your Win32 App on Windows Store Now If you were wondering if you can ever publish your Win32 apps on the Windows Store, you can now heave a sigh of relief. Microsoft is now accepting submissions for ported apps to be published on the Windows Store. Evernote is one of the first Win32 apps to be ported. Would you be the next? #developer
