Oracle Launches Marketing Cloud

Oracle have just announced the launch of their Oracle Marketing Cloud.  This is a platform that combines technologies from a number of the company’s other acquisitions, including BlueKai, Compendium, Eloqua and Responsys.

The Marketing Cloud will cover a broad spectrum of differing capabilities.  This will allow customers to run marketing campaigns on web, social, mobile, and email platforms. The customers can also manage the data related to those campaigns. This platform also integrates with Oracle’s existing Social Cloud and has tools for content marketing as well.

This announcement is sounding like a large part of it is bringing many of the marketing capabilities that Oracle can already offer, under the umbrella of this new Marketing Cloud. In the press release regarding this, Oracle emphasized three sales points; simplicity, readiness for enterprise use, and “customer centricity.”

Regarding the last point, the firm has said, the Marketing Cloud will be “providing marketers with the most advanced and easy-to-use cloud-based solutions for unifying customer data, engaging the right audiences across paid, owned and earned media, and analyzing performance.” Oracle also said that early customers have already seen improvement and this is backed by other reports.  Reuters has reported a 175% increase in attributable revenue, the Golden State Warriors enlisted 300% more Twitter followers, and Zurich NA saw a 10% increase in retention.

According to TechCrunch, Senior Vice President Reggie Bradford has said the company will also be “really aggressively driving that migration path” away from conventional systems over to Oracle’ various cloud applications.  This will be accomplished via a new Customer 2 Cloud program, which offers customers financial support for the transition.  Oracle is launching the new product at an event in New York.
As always, if you would like to leave a sensible comment, then please do so in the comments section below.

Facebook buys Moves fitness tracking app

Facebook has got its wallet out again – this time the social network has bought a fitness tracking app to secure a place in the health tech market

Facebook has acquired Finish firm ProtoGeo, the makers behind the Moves fitness tracking app.
The Moves app uses a smartphone’s built-in sensors to track a person’s daily activity and calories burned.

In a blogpost, ProtoGeo announced the purchase and reassured its users: "For those of you that use the Moves app - the Moves experience will continue to operate as a stand-alone app, and there are no plans to change that or co-mingle data with Facebook."

The Moves app has reportedly been downloaded more than four million times for both iPhone and Android phones.

The purchase gives Facebook access to the growing fitness tracking market, although it’s likely the social network will initially utilise Move’s data for targeting ads.

 

 

ProtoGeo has fewer than 10 employees and is believed to have been bought for a rather low price in comparison to other recent purchases.

Facebook recently made high profile acquisitions including messaging app WhatsApp for £1.1bn and virtual reality firm Occulus VR for £1.2bn. 

Lix, A Professional 3D Printing Pen

The 3Doodler 3D printing pen is a fantastic gadget.  You can have loads of fun, literally creating things in thin air and that will always be a great selling point for the pen.  However it is not a fine precision instrument, is it?  The pen itself is big and the mid-air drawing can get very messy.

Enter a new kid on the block. Lix believes that professionals require something that is more accurate.  The company has therefore decided to crowdfund a 3D pen of a superior quality and precision. The 3D printer pen is approximately as slim and comfortable as a technical drawing pen.  The dimensions give it the sort of accuracy that you require for air-drawn artwork.  The 3D pen can even accomplish prototyping for architecture and fashion items.  The device is also easier to carry as requires it’s power from a USB port, rather than a wall outlet like other devices

It look like Lix made the right move by approaching the market through Kickstarter as they have already met their funding target in one day.  This means that an £82 ($135) pledge will get you the production 3D pen and some starter plastic filament, when the device ships in December 2014.

The Lix 3D printing pen is more expensive than the $99 3Doodler, but the company thinks that the sleek design merits the premium of the product.

You can check out the Kickstarter campaign here.

What do you think?  Does this new 3D pen warrant the extra cash? As always, if you would like to leave a sensible comment, then please do so in the comments section below.

How To Fix Insufficient Storage Available In Android Smartphones?

The internal memory of the Android Smartphone’s is not very large. When you download the apps from Google Play Store, they get saved in the phone and occupy a large space. Only a few apps can be saved in the phone memory and once the space is full, you get an error message “Insufficient Storage Space”. As it is a very common problem, therefore there are many users who are facing this issue. You will certainly want to get rid of this issue so that you are able to download more apps and enjoy them on your device.

Here are the best methods that can be followed to overcome the message of “Insufficient Storage Space”.

Use Lucky Patcher App
The Lucky Patcher is one of the best apps that can be used to overcome the problem of insufficient storage space. This app is free and can be downloaded from the Google Play Store.

Step 1 – Just download the app from Play Store and install it.

Step 2 – Now run the app, explore the menu and find the option of troubleshooting

Step 3 – Reboot the device by selecting the option “remove fixes and backups”.
With the help of this app you will be able to troubleshoot all the problems and fix the bugs. Whenever you get the error message, just use this app and your problem will come to an end.

If the above method does not work, you can follow the next method which is discussed below.

Step 1 – Before you begin with the process, you need to download and install the Java Development Kit on your PC.

Step 2 – Next download the Android SDK

Step 3 – Go to the Start Menu, type “cmd”, right click on it and run as administrator. A dialog box will appear before you, just click yes.

Step 4 – Now in command prompt, type “cd C:Program Files (x86)Androidandroid-sdkplatform-tools”.

Step 5 – Take your Android devices in hand, look for Settings option, go to Applications and then find the option of Development. Enable the USB debugging option and connect your phone to the PC via data cable

Step 6 – Follow the below commands; adb shell pm getInstallLocation and assign 3 location values

0 [auto] – This will be given by the system

1 [internal] – Install your application in the phone memory

2 [external] – Install your application in SD card

These are the three settings that you have to make. Once these are done, you can now change the location to 2 [external] which is your SD card. In this way, you will be able to install any number of applications because now all the apps will be saved on the SD card. Disconnect your phone from the
 PC so that you are able to use the device to install the apps.

So these are the two ways which can be used to overcome the problem of insufficient storage space. As the steps are simple and direct, therefore you will be able to fix the problem and enjoy a variety of apps without having any space issues.

Apple Has A Plan To Stop Texting & Driving

I don’t have to tell you that texting is incredibly popular and addictive right now. People use their phones to text everywhere – in the bathroom, at the dinner table, at the restaurant, standing in line, in class, and perhaps worst of all, behind the wheel. While texting usually doesn’t pose a risk to anyone’s life, it certainly does when one chooses to engage in it while they’re driving down the road. It’s dangerous for themselves and dangerous for everyone else on the road. This is why some big name phone carriers, such as AT&T, are doing all they can to get their subscribers to pledge not to text and drive. But phone carriers can only do so much.
Apple knows that more and more people are texting and driving, and they want to do something to combat it. They’ve patented something that will lock many of your iPhone’s features if it detects you’re driving down the road.

Statistics show that people who are distracted by their smartphone while driving are 23 times more likely to be involved in a wreck. Whatever your opinion on the issue, statistics are hard to argue with – and that is a pretty high statistic. Apple’s patent is for a program that will basically shut down your connected phone while you’re driving. Many believe this will work in conjunction with CarPlay in the future.

While I’m all for stopping texting and driving, part of me wonders how Apple is going to distinguish who is driving vs. who is riding in the car and using a smartphone. While some will praise Apple for doing this, others will surely raise their voices in complaint saying that people should be able to use their phone for whatever they want in their own vehicle.

What do you think? Let us know in the comments section below! And yes, I’m pretty sure the GPS on your phone will still work even if you’re driving.

Lamps That Spy On People & Tweet Their Conversations

Be careful what you say in public. No, really – be careful what you say in public because you just never know who or what may be listening to your words. It could be the person sitting at the table beside you. It could be the waitress who overhears part of your conversation as she’s coming to take your order. It could be the person standing behind you as you’re waiting in line. Or, it could be one of the lamps residing on top of your table. Especially if you’re in New York City. I wish I was kidding, but I’m totally serious.

It has recently come to light that 2 people who wanted to try their hand at hidden surveillance did just that in the Big Apple. They went to Washington Square Park and put hidden wi-fi enabled listening devices inside of lamps at a bank, a library, McDonalds, and of all places, someone’s bedroom. But that’s not the end of the story. After the conversations are recorded by the lamps, they’re sent to Mechanical Turk, where they are transcribed and then tweeted out on Twitter. This has been going on for about 7 months under the Twitter handle @Conversnitch. Kyle McDonald and Brian House, who are behind the spying, state that they want people to be extra cautious about being watched.

That Lamp Does More Than Just Light Up The Room

While this may seem (and probably is) slightly unethical, the pair seem to want to teach us all a lesson, that if they’re able to do this, just imagine what the government is able to do without our knowledge. It’s scary when you actually stop and think about it.
So, that old adage “be careful what you say” is never more true than in today’s world, because you never know who – or, what – is listening to your conversations.

Microsoft Gives Instructions On How To Deal With IE Vulnerability

Nope, sorry. There’s still no patch out to get rid of the most recent IE vulnerability, but Microsoft does not want it to look like they are not doing anything about the situation. We know that things have gotten real bad – even governments have been telling their citizens to get rid of Internet Explorer and use another browser (which makes so much sense, really!).

But, what if you absolutely have to use Internet Explorer for one reason or another?

Microsoft has released instructions on how to deal with the latest IE vulnerability, which can allow remote code execution if taken advantage of. As initially mentioned when the news came out, the IE vulnerability is present in all versions of the browser, although Microsoft says that the actual attacks have been very targeted and limited and that only IE version 9, 10, and 11  have been affected. So far.

Anyhow, the main thing that Microsoft says to do about the IE vulnerability is to go on Enhanced Protection Mode, which does what it says on the tin: add more security measures so that you can be protected from malware attacks. This mode was a new feature in IE 10.
CNET outlines the steps that you have to take to turn on Enhanced Protection Mode:

1. To enable EPM in IE 10 or 11, click the Tools menu and then click Internet options.
2. In the Internet Options window, click the Advanced tab.
3. Scroll down the list of options until you see the Security section.
4. Look for the option to Enable Enhanced Protected Mode and click its checkbox to turn it on.
5. If you’re running IE 11 in a 64-bit version of Windows, you also need to click the checkbox to Enable 64-bit processes for Enhanced Protected Mode.
6. Restart IE to force the new setting to take effect.

If you’re using IE 10 and 11, you might be all right, but what if you’re using versions which do not have this mode? You’ll have to do a little bit of tweaking and unregister an associated IE DLL file: VGX.DLL. Here’s a screenshot of the instructions.

And here’s where you can find the text.

It’s so much easier to use Chrome, yes?