5 Top Picks for Small Business Cloud-Based Accounting

Small business owners don't need to purchase expensive business accounting software programs or spend hours lost in complicated reports. Any accounting software will provide the basic applications for accounting tasks, but packages designed for small office owners and manager tend to simplify the process and provide essentials that include a general ledger, the capability to create detailed invoices or view business inventory and purchase history. Cloud accounting services-software stored and accessed online-is an attractive option for small business owners. When using cloud accounting software, IT tasks such as version upgrades and data backup are managed by the application vendor. The main requirement is the internet availability to access those applications.

FreshBooks  features options for online payments, expense tracking, time-tracking and accounting reports and taxes. Highlights include customizing invoices, sending late payment reminders, automatic and recurring-expense tracking, managing different rates for multiple projects and profit/loss reports.

QuickBooks is synonymous with small business accounting. While a number of standalone and hosted versions are available, QuickBooks Online Simple Start is a good value for small office accounting needs.

Kashoo features for the small business include connecting to online bank accounts and credit cards, professional invoices, simple dashboards and options to categorize income and expenses specifically for tax reporting. In addition, you can easily share your business data with your accountant online. Finally, Kashoo boasts secure, double-entry accounting for bank reconciliation and financial statements.

Outright  is an easy-to-use cloud accounting system that lets small business ecommerce owners organize and keep track of sales and finances in one place. At a glance, you can see where money is going, view profit/loss statements and see who your customers are. You can link existing accounts such as banks, credit cards, Paypal, eBay, your own Web store or FreshBooks to Outright, and you can import your existing transaction history. From then on, Outright downloads your new data each day. Another useful feature: Outright organizes all of your data into IRS-approved tax categories, potentially lowering the workload and headache level at tax time.

Goodnews is that most of these software are free or can be purchased at very cheap prices. PCadvisor.

What most schools don't teach!

Hey, kids: coding is cool -- so cool that everyone from Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg to NBA baller Chris Bosh wants you to do it.
The celebrities are using their star power to draw attention to Code.org, a nascent nonprofit foundation that seeks to cultivate computer programming education in schools and direct people to online coding tools.
Zuckerberg and Bosh join hip-hop artist Will.i.am, Microsoft legend Bill Gates, Twitter creator Jack Dorsey, and others in a new YouTube video designed to get students, and their teachers by association, excited about coding. The video is directed by Lesley Chilcott, a filmmaker who also produced acclaimed documentaries such as "An Inconvenient Truth" and "Waiting for Superman."
The recurring theme of the video is that you don't have to be a genius to code -- and that if you learn to code, you'll be a hero like Bosh or get to eat free food at Facebook. Dropbox co-founder Drew Houston, although perhaps the least famous person featured, said it best with this statement: "[Coding] is the closest thing we have to a superpower."
Founded by brothers and entrepreneurs Hadi Partovi and Ali Partovi, Code.org operates around the vision that every student should have the opportunity to code. The foundation has an all-star board of advisers that includes Marc Andreessen, Ron Conway, Jack Dorsey, Max Levchin, and Drew Houston.cnet

Bye Bye Hotmail... Welcome Outlook.com!

Folks at Microsoft have been busy working on  a better and safer (rightly so after gmail has taken a lot of numbers) for everyone. Here's what new Outlook.com offers once you agree to their free upgrade.

For most users the outlook.com, claims its offers features like sweep, filters and a world-class spam protection system that  blocks 97% of spam from your inbox (that's a lot even by gmail standard).
The new outlook.com will show 30% more view of your inbox email, updates from Facebook and twitter from your inbox - fancy that!

For storage, 7GB of free Skydrive cloud storage, free access to Microsoft office tools like Word, Excel and Powerpoint Apps with Skype calls from the Outlook.com inbox coming up soon! Now that's a cool deal!

Nokia launches 105 & 301 handset for Nigeria and others

Running on the Nokia Series 30 platform, the Nokia 105 features a color screen and will be available in cyan or black models. It will serve as the successor to the Nokia 1280 (which has a black and white screen), which shifted in excess of 100 million units since it was launched in March 2010. As with the 1280, the new Nokia 105 will be aimed primarily at emerging markets and it will go on sale around the world, including China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, Russia, Vietnam and other markets in Africa, Asia-Pacific, Europe and the Middle East.

Features: The handset will feature an FM radio, speaking clock and built-in flashlight (which beams out the top of the device), as well as “up to” 35 days on standby (12.5 hours talk time). We had a brief hands-on with the device and, well, it was extremely lightweight. It could actually serve as a fairly reliable second handset for those looking for basic mobile phone functions and who won’t have access to charging facilities for extended periods.

The Nokia 301, which runs on the Nokia Series 40 platform and features 3.5G (HSPA) and a smart camera. The Nokia 301 features a 3.2MP camera with a range of image-capture, editing and sharing options, including ‘panorama’ for wide-angle snaps and group photos, letting you stitch together individually shot photos to create a single scene. It also lets you snap five frames in a row by clicking once, thereby giving the change to pick the best of the bunch.

One particularly interesting feature was the self-portrait mode, which helps users snap themselves with the rear-facing camera (there isn’t a front one), with voice prompts guiding the user to position the phone correctly without needing to see the screen.  Nokia 310 comes with ‘Slam’ for sharing pictures and other content and the range will only be available in India, China, Indonesia, Nigeria and shortly Kenya.nextweb

Samsung announces the Galaxy tab 8.0

Fresh from Barcelona Mobile World Congress... Samsung has announces the new Galaxy tab 8.0 at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the tablet's finally been made official. If you haven't already inferred from its name, Samsung's latest S Pen entry boasts an 8-inch 1,280 x 800 TFT display. That puts it on par with the Note 10.1's resolution, although here users will obviously benefit from a more eye-pleasing pixel density (189ppi) and smaller 210.8mm x 135.9mm x 7.95mm (8.3 x 5.4 x 0.31 inches) footprint. Beneath that love it or hate it sealed plastic chassis, lies the company's Exynos 4 Quad processor clocked at 1.6GHz and paired with 2GB RAM, radios for WiFi a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, A-GPS, GLONASS and HSPA+ 21 (850/900/1900/2100MHz), up to 32GB of internal storage (microSD expansion available), in addition to a 4,600mAh battery. And, as with most Android products rolling out as of late, the Note 8.0 will ship with version 4.1.2 of Jelly Bean onboard -- skinned with the requisite TouchWiz UX. engadget

We believe Office 2013 should run on Android too!...Do you agree?

With growing Android users globally, we believe it's time Microsoft join the party? Do you agree? Hit us up!

Google launches Chrome Pixel ‘touchscreen’ laptop

Chromebooks were designed to make computing speedy, simple and secure. For many of you, they have become the perfect, additional (and yes, affordable) computer: ideal for catching up on emails, sharing documents and chatting via Hangouts. We’re tremendously grateful to our partners—Samsung, Acer, Lenovo and HP—for their commitment. The momentum has been remarkable: the Samsung Chromebook has been #1 on Amazon’s bestseller list for laptops every day since it launched 125 days ago in the U.S., and Chromebooks now represent more than 10 percent of notebook sales at Currys PC World, the largest electronics retailer in the U.K.

So what’s next? Today we’re excited to announce our newest laptop—the Chromebook Pixel—which brings together the best in hardware, software and design to inspire the next generation of Chromebooks. With the Pixel, we set out to rethink all elements of a computer in order to design the best laptop possible, especially for power users who have fully embraced the cloud. The philosophy of Chrome has always been to minimize the “chrome” of the browser. In much the same way, the goal of the Pixel is to make the pixels disappear, giving people the best web experience.
"techie"

Let’s start with the screen. This Chromebook has the highest pixel density (239 pixels per inch) of any laptop screen on the market today. Packed with 4.3 million pixels, the display offers sharp text, vivid colors and extra-wide viewing angles. With a screen this rich and engaging, you want to reach out and touch it—so we added touch for a more immersive experience. Touch makes it simple and intuitive to do things like organize tabs, swipe through apps and edit photos with the tip of your finger.

The Pixel has been engineered with the highest quality components to ensure it’s comfortable to use all day long and meets the needs of demanding power users. The body of the Pixel is made from an anodized aluminum alloy to create a smooth and durable surface; vents are hidden, screws are invisible and the stereo speakers are seamlessly tucked away beneath the backlit keyboard. The touchpad is made from etched glass, analyzed and honed using a laser microscope to ensure precise navigation. The Pixel also has powerful, full-range speakers for crisp sound, a 720p webcam for clear video, and a total of three microphones designed to cancel out surrounding noise.

Other aspects of the Pixel include:

• Speed: Speed has been a core tenet of Chrome and Chromebooks since the beginning. For Pixel, it’s critical that the overall experience, everything from loading webpages to switching between apps, is near instant. Powered by an Intel® Core™ i5 Processor and a solid state Flash memory architecture, the Pixel performs remarkably fast.

• Connectivity: The Pixel has an industry-leading WiFi range thanks to carefully positioned antennas and dual-band support. Long-term evolution (LTE) is engineered directly into the machine, delivering fast connectivity across Verizon's network, the largest, fastest 4G LTE network in the U.S. (LTE model optional). It also comes with 12 free GoGo® Inflight Internet passes for those times you need to connect while in the air.

• Storage: Since this Chromebook is for people who live in the cloud, one terabyte of Google Drive cloud storage* is included with the Pixel. This enables you to save, access and share photos, videos, documents, and all of your stuff from all of your devices, from anywhere.

Finally, as you’ve come to expect from all Chromebooks, all of your favorite Google products like Search, Gmail, YouTube, Maps and Google+ Hangouts are integrated and just a click away. And since it’s based on Chrome OS, the Pixel boots up in seconds and never slows down, requires almost zero setup or maintenance, and comes with built-in virus protection. Best of all, it stays up to date with automatic updates every few weeks.chromeblogspot.

Facebook to archive old photos!

Back in January, we reported that Facebook’s over 1 billion users have uploaded a staggering 240 billion photographs. Now, news has surfaced that 82 percent of Facebook’s traffic is actually focused on just 8 percent of those photos. In other words, while Facebook is storing an incredible number of images, just a small percentage of them must be readily available.
This fact has led Facebook to experiment with something different: The Oregonian reports that the social giant is constructing a 3 exabyte (3,000 petabytes) cold storage data facility in Prineville, Oregon. It will allow Facebook to store these archived photos at 33 percent of the energy costs of traditional servers, with one caveat: the idling servers wont be able to deliver photos “as quickly as something posted just a few hours ago.”

According to Facebook, this change, which is set to launch fall 2013, will only result in a slight delay: “a matter of seconds, or milliseconds.” With 1 billion users, however, that subtle lag adds up, and Facebook surely knows slowing down users’ access to its service could be dangerous.
In nearly all cases, serving up every bit of data as quickly as possible is ideal, but Facebook is looking for a practical compromise between cost and the needs of users.
But even if cold storage proves to be a practical solution to the company’s growing data problem, it suggests something interesting; is old data valuable to Facebook? Will archiving data like this affect the level which advertisers are able to take advantage of past experiences? Let us know what you think in the comments below.nextweb.

Buying a camera!... Check-out the All New Nikon D7100

On the surface, the long-overdue update to the Nikon D7000 doesn't look like a huge advancement, but its replacement, the D7100, seems to have several subtle -- and a few not-so-subtle -- enhancements that have the potential to make it a compelling option in an increasingly competitive crowd.

Most interesting: though it has the same resolution as the D5200, the D7100 uses a new and different sensor that lacks an optical low-pass filter (OLPF), aka an antialiasing filter, much like the Pentax K-5 IIs. Dropping the filter is intended to increase the sharpness of the native images without introducing the types of artifacts you get when sharpening in post. The tradeoff tends to be increased moiré, which the camera can usually address adequately for stills but less so for video. Unlike Pentax, which offers a more traditional OLPF'd version, Nikon's putting all its pixels in one basket and offering just the one model -- for now, at least.
The sensor has improved readout speed over the D7000, which Nikon attributes to a more efficient design rather than more output channels, and improved noise reduction in part because of an upgrade to the current Expeed 3 image-processing engine.

	Canon EOS 7D	Nikon D5200	Nikon D7000	Nikon D7100	Pentax K-5 II/IIs	Sony Alpha SLT-A77V
Sensor effective resolution	18MP hybrid CMOS 14 bits	24.1MP CMOS 14 bits	16.2MP CMOS 14 bits	24.1MP CMOS 14 bits	16.3MP CMOS 14 bits	24.3MP Exmor HD CMOS n/a
	22.3mm x 14.9mm	23.5mm x 15.6mm	23.6 x 15.6mm	23.5mm x 15.6mm	23.7 x 15.7mm	23.5 mm x 15.6mm
Focal-length multiplier	1.6x	1.5x	1.5x	1.5x	1.5x	1.5x
Sensitivity range	ISO 100 - ISO 6400	ISO 100 - ISO 6400/25,600 (exp)	ISO 100 (exp)/ 200 - ISO 3200/6400 (exp)	ISO 100 - ISO 6400/25,600 (exp)	ISO 80 (exp)/ 100 - ISO 12,800/ 51,200 (exp)	ISO 50 (exp)/ 100 - ISO 16,000
Burst shooting	7fps 25 raw/130 JPEG	5fps n/a	6fps n/a	6fps (7fps in 1.3x crop mode) n/a	7fps 8 raw/30 JPEG	8fps (12fps with fixed exposure) 13 raw/ 14 JPEG
Viewfinder (mag/ effective mag)	100% coverage 1.0x/0.63x	Optical 100% coverage 0.78x/0.52x	Optical 100% coverage 0.95x/0.63x	Optical 100% coverage 0.94x/0.63x	Optical 100% coverage 0.92x/0.61x	Electronic OLED 0.5 inches/2.36 million dots 100% coverage 1.09x/0.73x
Autofocus	19-pt phase-detection AF all cross-type; center cross to f2.8	39-pt phase-detection AF 9 cross-type (Multi-CAM 4800DX)	51-pt phase- detection AF 15 cross-type (Multi-CAM 4800DX)	51-pt phase- detection AF 15 cross-type; center to f8 or faster (Multi-CAM 3500DX)	11-pt phase-detection AF 9 cross-type (SAFOX X)	19-pt phase-detection AF 11 cross-type
AF sensitivity	-0.5 to 18 EV	-1 to 19 EV	-1 to 19 EV	-2 to 19 EV	-3 - 18 EV	-1 - 18 EV
Shutter speed	1/8,000 to 30 secs; bulb; 1/250 x-sync	1/4,000 to 30 secs; bulb; 1/200 sec x-sync	1/8,000 to 30 secs; bulb; 1/250 sec x-sync	1/8,000 to 30 secs; bulb; 1/250 sec x-sync	1/8,000 to 30 secs; bulb; 1/180 sec x-sync	1/8,000 to 30 secs; bulb; 1/250 x-sync
Shutter durability	150,000 cycles	100,000 cycles	150,000 cycles	150,000 cycles	100,000 cycles	150,000 cycles
Metering	63-zone iFCL	2,016-pixel 3D color matrix metering II	1,005-pixel 3D color matrix metering II	2,016-pixel 3D color matrix metering II	77 segment	1,200 zone
Metering sensitivity	1 to 20 EV	0 to 20 EV	0 to 20 EV	0 to 20 EV	0 to 22 EV	-2 - 17 EV
Video	H.264 QuickTime MOV 1080/30p/ 25p/24p; 720/60p/ 50p	1080/60i/ 50i/30p/ 25p/24p; 720/60p/ 50p H.264 QuickTime MOV	1080/24p/ 25p H.264 QuickTime MOV	1080/60i/ 50i/30p/ 25p/24p; 720/60p/ 50p H.264 QuickTime MOV (60i/50i only in 1.3x crop mode)	1080/25p; 720/30p/ 25p Motion JPEG AVI	AVCHD 1080/ 60p @ 28, 24Mbps, 1080/24p @ 24, 17Mbps, 1080/60i @ 17Mbps; H.264 MPEG-4 1440x1080/ 30p @ 12Mbps
Audio	Mono; mic input	Stereo; mic input	Mono; mic input	Stereo; mic input; headphone jack	Mono; mic input	Stereo; mic input
Manual aperture and shutter in video	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	n/a	Yes
Maximum best-quality recording time	4GB/29:59 min	20 min	4GB/20 min	4GB/29:59 min	4GB/25 min	29 min
IS	Optical	Optical	Optical	Optical	Sensor shift	Sensor shift
LCD size	3 inches fixed 920,000 dots	3 inches articulated 921,000 dots	3 inches fixed 921,000 dots	3.2 inches fixed 1,228,800 dots	3 inches fixed 921,000 dots	3 inches articulated 921,600 dots
Memory slots	1 x CF (UDMA 7)	1 x SDXC	2 x SDXC	2 x SDXC	1 x SDXC/ SDHC (SDXC requires firmware upgrade)	1 x SDXC
Wireless flash	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Battery life (CIPA rating)	800 shots	500 shots	1050 shots	950 shots	740 shots	470 shots
Size (WHD, inches)	5.8 x 4.4 x 2.9	5.1 x 3.9 x 3.1	5.2 x 4.2 x 3.0	5.3 x 4.2 x 3.0	5.2 x 3.8 x 2.9	5.8 x 4.1 x 3.3
Body operating weight (ounces)	35	19.9	27.3	23.8 (est)	26.1 (est)	25.9
Mfr. price	$1,599.00 (body only)	$799.95 (body only)	$1,350.00 (body only)	$1,199.95 (body only)	$1,095.95/ $1,199.95 (body only)	$1,099.99 (body only)
	n/a	$899.95 (with 18-55mm VR lens)	$1,690.00 (with 18-105mm lens)	$1,599.95 (with 18-105mm lens)	$1,249.95 (with 18-55mm WR lens)/n/a	$1,699.99 (with 16-50mm lens)
	n/a	$1,099.95 (with 18-105mm lens)	$2,049 (with 18-200mm lens)	n/a	$1449.95/ n/a (with 18-135mm WR lens)	$1,399.99 (with 18-135mm lens)
Release date	December 2009	January 2013	October 2010	March 2013	October 2012	October 2011

 cnet.

Finally!... Sony announces PS4

 

Today at a gaming event in New York City, Sony announced the PlayStation 4. Sony’s Andy House says that it is the ‘most powerful platform ever’.

Of note: Images of the console itself, its pricing or its availability beyond ‘Holiday 2013′ were not announced at this event. That seems almost unconscionably obtuse of the company in this day and age. But that’s the tactic that they’re going with and it’s pretty obvious that there are some details about the product itself and the pricing that have yet to be finalized.
“The living room is no longer the center of the PlayStation universe, the gamer is,” says House. “Every facet of PlayStation will continue to become more powerful…and remains at the heart of everything we create.”
Sony’s Mark Cerny then took the stage to talk about the upgraded console and how the PlayStation ecosystem could be integrated into other platforms like the Vita, as well as smartphones and tablets. He spoke about the way that all of the consoles before have been a ‘single purpose’ device.
“The need to radically customize technology can interfere with the innovation necessary ” to develop a platform like PlayStation, says Cerny. He also spoke about the importance of developers, and how Sony reached out to them to create a ‘platform by game creators, for game creators’. This speaks to the way that Sony altered the architecture of the PS4.
"Techie"

The machine runs on standard PC hardware. An x86 processor similar to those used in many windows machines, a standard (though customized) graphics processor and GDDR5 memory. The 8-core processor and GPU are unified, providing 170GPBS bandwidth.
The new system uses a DualShock 4 controller with a touchpad, share button, lightbar and headphone jack. The lightbar mates with a camera system on the PS4 that allows the console to track the depth (distance away) of the player.

Sony is also updating its PlayStation Eye accessory for the new console. Packed with two cameras and four microphones, it will be capable of 1280 x 800 video at 60fps, 640 x 400 at 120fps and 320 x 192 at 240fps.

"freebie"

Gaikai technology will allow you to ‘instantly experience’ any title that you’d like to try. Basically you’ll be able to try out any game demo you like and buy it if you like playing with it. This means that you can choose and play any title online, streaming it nearly instantly before you have to buy it.
So are you ready to game? nextweb.

If you are in Lagos... do join the Social Week forum by Nokia.

Social Week Forum sponsored by Nokia has arrived in Nigeria discussing various topic including promoting businesses via Social media and it's absolutely free.

The event will hold from Monday February 18th 2013 to Saturday February 23rd 2013 at various locations in Lagos including a virtual session. Please find the details at http://socialmediaweek.org/lagos/schedule/.  So do join in!

Apple releases Java update for OSX to protect against hacking!

Apple releases Java update for OS X to protect users against vulnerability used in its hacking.

Apple has today released an update for Mac OS X users that delivers improved security for those that are running Java on their machines. This update repairs a vulnerability used to hack into Apple employees’ systems.The update is available under the Software Update section in the Mac App Store or under the Apple menu>Software Update. The patch updates Java to version 1.6.0_41, and if the version of Java for OS X is lower than 2012-006, the Java SE 6 plug-in is blocked entirely. Here is a statement from Apple as regards the release:

"Multiple vulnerabilities existed in Java 1.6.0_37, the most serious of which may allow an untrusted Java applet to execute arbitrary code outside the Java sandbox. Visiting a web page containing a maliciously crafted untrusted Java applet may lead to arbitrary code execution with the privileges of the current user. These issues were addressed by updating to Java version 1.6.0_41. For Mac OS X v10.6 systems, these issues were addressed in Java for Mac OS X v10.6 Update 13."

Apple has consistently recommended that people remove the Java plugin or disable it if not in use. Apple recently (and frequently) disabled Java on customers’ Mac OS X 10.7 and up computers in order to protect them from Java issues like this one.nextweb

 

 

FIFA confirms goal-line technology for 2014 World Cup!

FIFA has confirmed today that goal-line technology will be used at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, following a successful trial at the Club World Cup in Japan last December.
The technology will be used in all football (or soccer, for you American readers) stadiums throughout the tournament, provided they are installed successfully and satisfy the pre-match referee tests.
In addition to the 2014 World Cup, goal-line technology will be used at the 2013 Confederations Cup, which is also being held in Brazil. It follows a similar announcement last July, where FIFA said it had plans to adopt the technology in both tournaments. At that point however, the implementation wasn’t confirmed.

Goal-line technology has been a contentious subject for many years. In some of the most important games of the season, including fixtures in the World Cup, goals have been disallowed because of a ruling by the referee or linesman. Replays and post-match analysis has later shown that the goal should have in fact counted, causing outrage over human error and the absence of goal-line technology.
FIFA and other football officials have been wary of adopting the technology, and there are a few reasons why; a global rollout will be expensive, and could undermine the authority of a human referee. Football is also a fast and fluid sport and as a result, there have been concerns that the constant use of goal-line technology could lead to video replays and a so called “PlayStation football.”
The pressure has mounted over the years though as more contentious goals have been wrongly allowed or disallowed. Frank Lampard’s disallowed goal against Germany in the 2010 World Cup is probably the most memorable.
FIFA said today that they would be launching a tender to review the different technologies that could be used in the upcoming competitions. Two companies that supply goal-line technology are already licensed under FIFA’s relevant Quality Programme. These firms, alongside other goal-line technology providers that are in the middle of the licensing process, have been invited to take part in the tender.
FIFA will then invite some of these firms for an inspection of the stadiums that will be used in the Confederation Cup around mid-March. A final decision is expected in early April 2013.fifa.com/nextweb

Download the iOS6.1.1 update for your iPhone 4S here!

Apple has released an iOS 6.1.1 update for the iPhone 4S, likely in response to issues that some users were reporting with 3G coverage on some European carriers. The update is available now over the air to iPhone 4S owners, but we’ve yet to see it appear for other devices.
You can also download it directly here, the build number is 10B145. The release notes indicate that this update does address those connectivity issues:
This update fixes an issue that could impact cellular performance and reliability for iPhone 4S

Other reported problems with iOS 6.1, released on January 28th, include battery life and overheating issues. Those do not appear to have been addressed by this update, which is only tackling the iPhone 4S’ data connectivity problems. It’s possible that Apple will release iOS 6.1.1 for other devices soon, if so we will update this post.For now, though, this is just for iPhone 4S owners.
A beta version of iOS 6.1.1 which was released to developers last week contains fixes and improvements to other items like maps coverage is still in a holding pattern and will be renamed if this ‘quick fix’ needed to be pushed out in the meantime. A notice on Apple’s developer portal gives the following confirmation, via 9to5Mac:
iOS 6.1.1 beta will be renamed to a different version with the next developer release and will include the fixes included in the public release of iOS 6.1.1 in addition to the improvements to Maps for Japan.
So, for now, only iPhone 4S users need apply, the rest of us will get a version of iOS 6.1.1 including the emergency fixes and other standard improvements.nextweb.

Bye Bye:Windows messenger - Welcome:Skype!

Microsoft has announced that it will replace Windows Live Messenger with Skype on 8 April.
The software giant announced in November that the change would take place in the first quarter of 2013. Originally called MSN Messenger, Windows Live Messenger will start to be closed down on 8 April.

The Skype blog said: "The upgrade from Messenger to Skype on Windows desktop will start on April 8. The process will take a few weeks to complete. We'll start the upgrades with our English language clients, and finish up with Brazilian Portuguese on April 30 or later."
There is only one exception which is China where Messenger will continue to be available. Skype is available across Windows, Mac, iOS, Windows Phone, Android and will be coming to BlackBerry 10 soon.
To make the transition as smooth as possible, users will be able to sign into Skype with their Windows Live Messenger log in details. Skype serves 280 million users per month, according to the firm.

Skype has also announced a new feature for iOS, Android and Mac users in which they can record and send a video voicemail message. Users will be able to pre-record and send a video clip up to three minutes long for free. Bizarrely, there's no word on when this feature will reach Windows users even though Skype is owned by Microsoft.
"We want everyone who uses Messenger to have a positive experience. Upgrading to Skype can help you communicate in flexible ways, and be connected on more devices and platforms," said Skype. PCadvisor.

Facebook targeted by Hackers!

Facebook Inc said last week  hackers had infiltrated some of its employees’ laptops in recent weeks, making the world’s No.1 social network the latest victim of a wave of cyber attacks, many of which have been traced to China. Twitter had admitted earlier that over a quarter of a million of it's users were affected.

It said none of its users’ data was compromised in the attack, which occurred after a handful of employees visited a website last month that infected their machines with so-called malware, according to a post on Facebook’s official blog released just before the three-day U.S. President’s Day weekend.
“As soon as we discovered the presence of the malware, we remediated all infected machines, informed law enforcement, and began a significant investigation that continues to this day,” Facebook said.

It was not immediately clear why Facebook waited until now to announce the incident. Facebook declined to comment on the reason or the origin of the attack.
A security expert at another company with knowledge of the matter said he was told the Facebook attack appeared to have originated in China.
The attack on Facebook, which says it has more than 1 billion members, underscores the growing threat of cyber attacks aimed at a broad variety of targets.
Twitter, the micro blogging social network, said earlier this month it had been hacked and that about 250,000 user accounts were potentially compromised, with attackers gaining access to information, including user names and email addresses.
Newspaper websites, including those of The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal, have also been infiltrated. Those attacks were attributed by the news organizations to Chinese hackers targeting coverage of China.

Earlier this week, U.S. President Barack Obama issued an executive order seeking better protection of the country’s critical infrastructure from cyber attacks.
“INFILTRATED”
Facebook noted in its blog post that it was not alone in the attack, and that “others were attacked and infiltrated recently as well,” although it did not specify who.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation declined to comment, while the U.S. Department of Homeland Security did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
In its blog post, Facebook described the attack as a “zero-day” attack, considered to be among the most sophisticated and dangerous types of computer hacks. Zero-day attacks, which are rarely discovered or disclosed by their targets, are costly to launch and often suggest government involvement.
While Facebook said no user data was compromised, the incident could raise consumer concerns about privacy and the vulnerability of personal information stored within the social network.
Facebook has made several privacy missteps in the past because of the way it handled user data. It settled a privacy investigation with federal regulators in 2011.

According to one person familiar with the situation, the type of information on the employee laptops that were compromised included “snippets” of Facebook source code and employee emails.
Facebook said it spotted a suspicious file and traced it back to an employee’s laptop. After conducting a forensic examination of the laptop, Facebook said it identified a malicious file, then searched company-wide and identified “several other compromised employee laptops”.
Another person briefed on the matter said the first Facebook employee had been infected via a website where coding strategies were discussed.
The company also said it identified a previously unseen attempt to bypass its built-in cyber defenses and that new protections were added on February 1.
Because the attack used a third-party website, it might have been an early-stage attempt to penetrate as many companies as possible.Reuters