ISMagazine.com - Patrick Stevens
Google Fiber is expanding its' reach, after penning a deal to buy ISP Webpass, a thirteen year old firm that provides fast web connections to businesses and individuals throughout areas of America.
Google Fiber is owned by Alphabet and based in five American cities, however it intends to expand to over twenty in the near future. One city which has been targeted by Google Fiber is San Francisco, and this purchase will facilitate that move. Webpass is well established in California, because it has services operating in Oakland, San Francisco, Berkeley, San Diego and Emeryville. In addition, it is present in Coral Gables, Miami Beach, Miami, Boston and Chicago.
Webpass emailed its' current customers to announce the deal - which is predicted to complete over the summer. The email said that the normal daily operation of the service, and the prices, will remain the same for the foreseeable future.
ISMagazine.com - Patrick Stevens
Google has released a new feature that allows smart phone users the ability to work with Apps without installing them, its called Google Instant App. Users can click on a link and the phone App will be ready to use almost instantly. So if someone you know has an App installed that they want you to take a look at, but you don’t have the App yourself, click on a link and that the App page is available. Like the way to Internet used to work before everything became App based.
The new feature takes an App and breaks it into smaller parts called Atoms that perform just some features of the larger App. Thus the Atom opens quickly because it is very small in comparison to the complete App, and it performs just like the App because it is an actual piece of it. The links can be passed around and opened in Google Play.
ISMagazine.com - Patrick Stevens
Twitter recently signed a deal with the National Football League that might help social networks finally take on major broadcasters.
The mainstream media has long been concerned with the idea that major technology firms would take on TV companies in order to acquire the rights to premium content rather than relying on original material.
Software companies have so far strayed away from these plans, saying that they're platform companies that don't create original content.
Now, however, it's become clear that statements about not acquiring major content were just smoke and mirrors to hide the true motives of these companies.
ISMagazine.com - Patrick Stevens
Fandango has today announced its latest move in expanding beyond movie ticketing. The NBC Universal-owned company has taken control of the previously Warner Bros. Entertainment owned Flixster and Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes has previously received many complaints from people concerned about its influence on general film criticism - a situation borne from its well-known role as a movie review aggregator. Flixster; meanwhile, is popular with those wanting to educate themselves about particular movies. The acquisition does not include the Flixster Video streaming service meaning that that particular service will cease to exist shortly. However, the two acquired services will continue in their present guise as standalone apps/websites.
Rotten Tomatoes is no stranger to a change of ownership, having come under the control of Flixster in 2010 and subsequently Warner Bros. in 2011. Now it is the turn of Fandango to fall under the minority ownership of Warner Bros.
ISMagazine.com - Patrick Stevens
The new Youtube Music App is the latest development and release launched by YouTube's popular music video and entertainment platform.
Although aspiring musicians have always used the original platform as a way of creating exposure leading to fame, it has never been specifically targeted towards such musicians. But with the launching of YouTube Music for Android and iOS this has all changed. For a 14-day free trial period, musicians can experience and sample the full service before becoming fully-fledged subscribers and users for $9.99.
One of the best benefits of the YouTube Music app is in having easy access to your favorite videos. For example, a rare song that not many people have watched it.
This new app should not be seen as a replacement for Google Play Music, but one of its main aims is still to sell subscriptions and individual music tracks.
ISMagazine.com - Patrick Stevens
The highly popular app Waze has expanded its long list of features with a handy warning for drivers who go just a bit too fast. Starting out in only 20 countries, users of Waze will receive a warning if they start to exceed the speed limit. This could prove to be a life saver.
Once you've exceeded the speed limit, a visual warning will appear on your phone's screen displaying your current speed. Only until you slow down to legal speeds will the warning go away. Users can customize the warning to only display when going a certain amount over the speed limit, and it can be disabled entirely should you choose.
ISMagazine.com - Patrick Stevens
TurboTax has started a filing craze with their mobile tax filing app and they are seeing large numbers of users and revenue from it. The reasons are obvious. TurboTax is the smartest way to file your income taxes.
Filing your taxes without help from a professional tax service has become simpler with each tax year. It began with filing online with your own computer and just a few short years later, everyone can do it themselves with their mobile phone.
Trying out new ideas can be worrisome, especially when it comes to taking chances with money owed or owed to you. But TurboTax has an app for that. The steps are not difficult. You can even provide your W2 just by taking a photo and uploading it. From there, you can answer questions and provide information you would have had to answer and provide to a tax service. Best of all, you do not have to pay $50 or more just to get it done.
ISMagazine.com - Patrick Stevens
Apple doesn’t want to let Big Brother (Government) into your iPhone through a backdoor in the phone security. The Obama administration is trying to force Apple to allow the government to access phones that have security features enabled. Apple CEO Tim Cook is going to appeal a court order to allow the government into the iPhone of a radical Islamist who shot dead a number of co-workers in San Bernardino California earlier this year.
ISMagazine.com - Patrick Stevens
Microsoft is ending their support for Internet Explorer 8, 9, and 10 in the middle of January 2016, only providing technical support and updates to IE 11 and Edge. So if you are using one of the older versions of the browser, you could become infected by Malware/Spyware more easily than if you are running one of the newer editions. They are free, so there’s no reason to not upgrade unless your operating system will not support them. Then you really need to consider upgrade your whole system. Windows 7, 7.1 and 10 will all run Internet Explorer 11. Find the downloads on the TechNet Microsoft Internet Explorer page.
If you open an older version of the web browser this week you will receive a message telling you to upgrade. There will also be one last patch distributed to update all virus protection prior to ending support.
ISMagazine.com - Patrick Stevens
Bitly can monitor the click stats and shares on your shortened urls. You’ll know how your links are performing and how they have been shared.
You can use different shorteners depending your feelings about the link. Use luvit.me for links that you love. Use loath.es for links you do not like.
Bundle up your links by yourself or with a group of colleagues. The lists can be private or they can be public. Comments are allowed on the individual links and also on the bundle of links for additional meta data.