Software : You can get Microsoft Office 365 for free, but only if you're a student |
- You can get Microsoft Office 365 for free, but only if you're a student
- Industry voice: Make your app a money spinner: how to support multiple payment methods
- Start10 sheds Windows 10 Live Tiles for a retro look
- HTC One M9 features revealed in trio of leaked promo videos
- Download of the Day: KMPlayer
| You can get Microsoft Office 365 for free, but only if you're a student Posted:  Microsoft is making it ever easier for students across the world to sign up for a free version of Office to use for their ongoing studies. The roll out, which was originally announced solely for students in the United States, means that millions of students can sign up to get Office 365 and install a free copy of Office just so long as they're eligible. Students that want to find out whether they are able to gain access need to get a valid school email address and then visit office.com/getoffice365 before entering the address provided by the education institution. Teachers, meanwhile, are advised to visit office.com/teachers. Microsoft is providing the benefit to institutions that buy Office for faculty and staff, and as part of the package students get Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Access and Publisher on up to five PCs or Macs plus up to five mobile devices. In addition it includes 1TB of OneDrive storage and Office Online. Microsoft vs GoogleThe decision comes after Google continued its aggressive push into the education sector through its Apps for Education that include a widespread productivity suite comparable to Office 365 and the increasing number of Chromebooks on the market geared towards schools. Via: Microsoft |
| Industry voice: Make your app a money spinner: how to support multiple payment methods Posted:  How do I pay thee? Let me count the ways… Actually, would you rather I didn't? Last year saw the launch of so many different payment services that it's practically impossible to list the different ways that businesses can now process payments, consumers purchase goods, or people transfer money among their friends and family. Consumer trustAdoption of digital payment methods is ultimately good news for businesses that want to sell through apps: it shows that consumers are willing to trust their cash to the devices that are reshaping consumer behaviour and creating opportunity for digital leaders. For example, our recent research shows that 85% of smartphone owners in the UK report that phones or tablets have changed the way they shop, while three-quarters say they would be more likely to shop at a store offering key functions and services via an app. But while options for making purchasing easier and more intuitive are to be welcomed by enterprises, they do raise the question of how to support so many competing payments systems. This is a key question on which the further progress of the app economy hinges. The future may lie in converged payments, but for the time being businesses and consumers alike must learn to cope with a truly bewildering array of payment methods. That's less of a problem for the ordinary smartphone user, since many apps for transferring money among individuals are based on the user's phone number to link to their bank account. Multiple methodsFor businesses, the problem is not just how they can support the myriad methods of mobile payments that consumers now expect, but how to integrate them into their existing and future apps – especially given how quickly the mobile payments landscape is changing. So much effort goes into designing and building a successful app (and, before that, of building a winning application strategy), that apps are under enormous pressure to 'pay their way'. Clearly, integrating payment options that fully meet consumer needs within an individual app is the only way that businesses can provide the single-touch payment which consumers have come to expect from their mobile apps. Fortunately, there are payment technology specialists that help organisations to integrate a wide range of the most popular (and, indeed, the more esoteric) payments technologies into their business processes. Enterprises must understand, however, that these services are not 'bolt-on'. You can't simply design an app, and add new payment functions on an as-needed basis. Today, both apps and payments methods are complex beasts, with functions such as analytics being central to their design. The result is that an app must be tightly integrated with other elements of the ecosystem in which it functions, whether that's business databases or third-party payments services. This applies as much to payments as it does to any other aspect of an app – these need to be integrated during the design stage of the app. This is only possible by facilitating communications between app developers and third-parties such as payments providers; in particular, by providing access to crucial business data on which these apps are based. Turning to APIsIt's no surprise, then, to see payments specialists such as First Data deploying application programming interfaces (APIs) which enable technology partners to open up their systems and data to application developers (and vice versa). As well as speeding up the development process, APIs enable developers to incorporate the different payment methods seamlessly into their existing apps – brands can control the design of the payments screen and ensure that users can complete transactions within the app itself. What's more, it gives businesses the ability to monitor transactions live and integrate the data into their own customer analytics programmes – including those tied to 'adaptive' apps that learn from each customer interaction to improve the service that they deliver to users. This is just one example of how businesses are realising the benefits of partnering with specialist technology providers to bring the best out of mobile apps. Apigee's research has shown that the most successful app deployments are by those companies that take an 'outside-in' approach to app development, working proactively and expansively with outside partners to develop and build their apps. In a survey of 800 IT decision makers in large enterprises across eight countries, those who described their approach as outside-in were much more likely to be exceeding expectations for delivering quality apps on time, on budget, and to the intended business effect. Four of a kindJust as payments technologies are not a bolt-on, businesses must also understand that APIs should not be seen as some kind of 'click-and-forget' software plug-in. Instead, organisations need to adopt an architecture that fully supports four types of API communication: app-to-client, app-to-backend, app-to-app and, finally, the exploded app built from micro-service APIs. This architecture not only enables apps to be built in an agile fashion, deployed at scale and compatible with future devices, it also means that apps can be easily connected to every other application inside and outside the enterprise – such as payments platforms. For many businesses, apps are the centrepiece of their digital transformation initiatives. Those that embrace the wider application ecosystem of app developers and specialist technology providers (such as payments platforms) will find that taking an outside-in approach to their application strategy will pay dividends.
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| Start10 sheds Windows 10 Live Tiles for a retro look Posted:  After listening to complaints from Windows 8 adopters, Microsoft is bringing back the coveted Start menu to Windows 10. Currently available as a Technical Preview, Windows 10's new Start menu merges the Live Tiles of Windows 8 along with the more classic look of Windows 7. However, if you find the new Start screen a little cluttered, Stardock's new Start10 will take you back to the simpler times of Windows 7. Available now as a beta, Start10 hides the Live Tiles from Microsoft's native Windows 10 Start menu. Start10 also incorporates a system-wide search feature that Microsoft is implementing on Windows 10 through Cortana's search feature. The comprehensive search feature allows users to quickly find apps, settings and files in the search field inside the Start10 menu. You can also skin the appearance of the start button to give you further desktop customization. StardockStardock made a name for itself when Windows 8 debuted. After users bemoaned the absence of the familiar Start menu, Stardock introduced Start8 as a way to bring back the Windows 7-styled Start menu. The company subsequently released a number of Windows tweaks for Microsoft's touch-centric OS, including the ability to run Modern UI apps inside resizeable windows through ModernMix. With Windows 10, ModernMix and Start8 may seem redundant as the basic functionality from Stardock's tweaks are native inside the OS. Start10 is a nice way for Stardock to differentiate its software tweaks from what Microsoft is supporting to give users more choice. AvailabilityStardock is offering Start10 to its Object Desktop users currently. Object Desktop is currently available for $49.99 or for $9.99 with a subscription cost of $3.00 per month thereafter.
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| HTC One M9 features revealed in trio of leaked promo videos Posted:  We're not saying this is the definitive look at HTC's next flagship smartphone, but new videos and product renders out of China sure seem to be lightly salted with a hint of authenticity. @upleaks today published a trio of videos that appear to be marketing materials for the forthcoming HTC One M9, which the company is expected to make official on March 1, mere hours before MWC 2015 kicks off in Barcelona next week. Similar to M9 renders originating elsewhere, the YouTube videos appear to throw cold water on the idea of a centered front-facing camera as shown in earlier leaks. In fact, there's not an awful lot to separate this purported M9 from its predecessor, last year's flagship HTC One M8, aside from potentially ever-so slimmer front bezels and what appears to be a single rear-facing camera with dual-LED flash. Making an introductionThe first video is a professionally shot and edited introduction showing what the M9 has to offer, including personalized themes, an HTC Sense Home widget for displaying apps based on your location, a built-in photo editor, three-finger HTC Connect swipe gesture for streaming video or music and meal time suggestions for BlinkFeed. On the hardware front, the M9 will apparently feature a "refined two-tone metal finish," better low-light selfies from the UltraPixel front-facing camera, a 20MP rear camera and BoomSound speakers with Dolby Audio surround. The other two product demo videos feature no sound, but show the M9 in action while using the camera and creating custom themes. If you're in the market for a new HTC flagship, based on these videos, we'd say this one might just be worth waiting for. Same as it ever was?Despite initial confusion over earlier leaked renders, the general consensus among HTC One M9 watchers is that the Taiwanese manufacturer appears to be spending more time on what's inside the smartphone, rather than attempting to reinvent the wheel externally. Speaking of inside being what counts, previous rumors have pointed to an octa-core Snapdragon 810 processor with 3GB RAM and a spacious 2900 mAh battery, not to mention 32GB of internal storage capable of being expanded via micro-SD card. The M9 is also said to come packing a five-inch, 1080p HD display, but if that's not big enough for you, the rumored HTC One M9 Plus is said to up the ante to 5.2 inches at 1440 x 5260 pixels, and toss a fingerprint scanner into the mix.
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| Posted:  Media players on your PC can sometimes suffer from a lack of options or quality that leaves you downloading scores of different players to play all your videos when all you needed to do was get KMPlayer. Why you need itKMPlayer is the video player that covers it all. Whether its videos from your latest holiday to the Tropics, short films from class or streams from the latest season of the League of Legends World Championship, KMPlayer has it covered. You'll quickly find that the slick black and purple skin is by no means for show and this program has a huge amount to offer both beginners and experts. There is full support for a wide array of different video formats including VLC, MPEG, AVI and GOM meaning that no video is a match for KMPlayer and loading the video up is only the tip of the iceberg in terms of the program's abilities. Its advanced options allow to play around with everything to do with the video that is playing including screen controls, pan & scan, playback, subtitles, basic and advanced video settings, and audio. Playing content from online streams is another part of KMPlayer's extensive arsenal and there is a built-in list of channels that can be accessed by clicking open from URL or alternatively you can find streams online. Further to this there are plenty of online channels and events that have begun to support KMPlayer's casting credentials and use it as the preferred service for live streaming events. Capturing or recording any content played through KMPlayer is incredibly simple with video, audio or frame capture options that can all be saved to a range of different formats for each individual requirement. Newer versions of KMPlayer also enable users to play 3D and ultra-HD videos and there is a higher level of mobile compatibility that includes Wi-Di control, which works similarly to Google Chromecast and allows you to stream videos from your PC to a mobile device that has the KMPlayer Connect app installed. KMPlayer has too many tools for us to fully outlines here and whilst it likely requires a manual to get the full experience, there's more than enough here for beginners to benefit from. Key features:Works on: Windows PC Versions: Free Extensive options: Scores of advanced options exist to change the display, how the video if played, the language of subtitles, audio and a whole lot more. Unparalleled video playback: The number of files extensions that KMPlayer can handle is quite astonishing and means you'll never need another video player again. Future-proof: 3D videos, Ultra-HD and streaming to mobile devices are already supported, plus new updates are released all the time with the latest technologies supported. |
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