Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Lenovo to Buy Motorola, MS Surface 2 Review, Smartphone Sales Top 1 Billion, Technologies That Have Faded Into History, 'Password' No Longer the Most Used Password

INDUSTRY NEWS

Lenovo to Buy Motorola From Google for US$3 Billion

The deal was detailed by Google in an official release. For US$2.91 billion, Lenovo will receive Motorola's portfolio of devices such as the Moto X and Moto G, over 2000 patents, the Motorola Mobility trademarks and product roadmap. Google will hold on to most of the patents in Motorola Mobility's current portfolio.
http://www.cnet.com.au/lenovo-to-buy-motorola-from-google-for-us3-billion-339346515.htm

Product Review: Surface 2 (by Nic Healey - CNet Australia)

What is the verdict after using the Surface 2 for carrying out all of the activities of a working week?
http://www.cnet.com.au/surface-2-diaries-the-verdict-339346493.htm

Smartphone Sales Top 1 Billion Worldwide for the First Time: IDC

The worldwide smartphone market reached yet another milestone, having shipped more than 1 billion units in a single year for the first time.
http://www.eweek.com/mobile/smartphone-sales-top-one-billion-worldwide-for-the-first-time-idc.html

Nine Technologies That Have Faded Into History

Who does remember Atari game consoles, dot matrix printers, floppy disks ? It is great to put things into perspective when you think about the power in your Android, iOS or Windows based smartphone devices.
http://www.smh.com.au/it-pro/business-it/nine-technologies-that-have-faded-into-history-20140127-hva22.html

'Password' is No Longer the Most Used Password

Have you recently had to come up with a new password ? Well, read this before choosing your next password carefully. It is important!
http://www.itwire.com/business-it-news/security/62877-password-is-no-longer-the-most-used-password

Microsoft Actually Doing Quite OK, Thanks

Despite all of the doom and gloom, Microsoft appears to be strengthening its position in the market, especially companies like IBM with slowly eroding revenues.
http://www.itwire.com/it-industry-news/listed-tech/62924-microsoft-actually-doing-quite-ok-thanks

Beyond Smartphones, Tablets: Mobile Apps Will Be $77B Business in 3 Years

Mobile applications will be downloaded more than 248 billion times and generate in excess of $77 billion in revenue by 2017 as they find their way into appliances, cars and wearable devices.
http://www.zdnet.com/beyond-smartphones-tablets-mobile-apps-will-be-77b-business-in-three-years-7000025469/


TIPS & TRICKS

Increase BrightBuilder Memory

For larger projects, BrightBuilder's maximum memory size may be increased by changing the '-J-Xmx512m' flag to '-J-Xmx1024m' in the ./etc/brightbuilder.conf file. This value may exceed 1024 for machines with 64-bit architecture. Changes to this file will take effect once BrightBuilder restarts. BrightBuilder's memory may be observed by right clicking and activating the 'Memory Widget' in the toolbar.

Default Font of Project

Any control created in a form will be created with its font matching the 'Default Font' property of the project. By default, this font is Courier New, but it may be changed to suit the style of the project.

Using BrightForms' Projects Directory

The System.GetProjectPath() method may be used to retrieve BrightForms' local directory. This is directory is dependent on the device being used. It may be found under the Systems >  Settings node of the Form Expressions Data Source Tree. Saving files to this typically public directory allows access to the files by other apps and file explorers. For example, local.vPath = System.GetProjectPath() & "/" & "file.txt";


PRODUCT UPDATES

We have great news ! BrightForms Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8 Store editions have now reached the beta testing phase. With the involvement of our selected customers and partners, they are on track to be released by the end of March. If you are interested in participating the beta testing phase, simply drop an email to support@brightxpress.com.

Version 8 of BrightBuilder and BrightServer products are also in the beta stage and are on track to be released together with the new editions of BrightForms. Both have an incredible list of new features for you to create and manage your mobile applications faster and easier.