Google Play for Education will be organized by subject matter and grade level, making it easy for teachers to find exactly what they want to deploy. As part of the new initiative, Google will also offer schools a simpler way to download and distribute apps including a one click method for distributing apps to an entire school or classroom.

“Each app has been recommended by educators, [which] is key because teachers trust other teachers,” Chris Yerga, an engineering director at Google said. And teachers will also be able to see reviews from other teachers.

Another great feature includes the ability for teachers to remotely send apps and games to students’ devices. This is a key feature that would be ideal for those moments when you assign a student homework that requires an app or if you just want them to have a helpful resource they can refer to. And if it’s a paid app or resource, teachers can purchase them using a school-controlled account of funds.

Google Play for Education will be available this fall (presumably in time for the new school year), but app developers can start submitting apps by this summer.

]]> http://najmtekblog.com/2013/05/17/google-launches-google-play-for-education/feed/ 0 google play education najmtek googleplay education http://najmtekblog.com/2013/05/16/apple-reaches-50-billion-app-downloads/ http://najmtekblog.com/2013/05/16/apple-reaches-50-billion-app-downloads/#comments Thu, 16 May 2013 22:26:31 +0000 NAJMTEK http://najmtekblog.com/?p=5903 ]]> Little less than five years after the launch of the App Store and Apple is now celebrating a new huge milestone!

The iPhone and iPad maker on Thursday announced that its App Store officially hit the 50 billion app download mark. This number only includes unique downloads and not re-downloads or updates.
When announcing this news, Apple also confirmed that it would give a $10,000 App Store gift card to the person who has downloaded the 50 billionth app and $500 gift cards to the first 50 people who downloaded an app after that.

And the lucky man is Brandon Ashmore from Mentor, Ohio who downloaded the free social word game Say the Same Thing by Space Inch, LLC to win the grand prize.

“Apple would like to thank our incredible customers and developers for topping 50 billion apps downloaded,” Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet software and services, said in a statement. “The App Store completely transformed how people use their mobile devices and created a thriving app ecosystem that has paid out over nine billion dollars to developers. We’re absolutely floored to cross this milestone in less than five years.”

 Inception Days seeks to discover, share, and implement solutions to grow innovation ecosystems, by leveraging science and technology to generate economic growth. The program highlights the successful combination of real innovative ideas and concrete practices with the capacities of the Southeastern European countries in order to foster a fertile environment for economic and social development.

We invite you to discover this initiative on www.inceptiondays.eu and actively take part!

LET’S MET THERE and DISCUSS!

Με μεγάλη χαρά σας ανακοινώνουμε ότι στηρίζουμε το Inception Days που διοργανώνεται 16-18 Μαΐου στην Θεσσαλονίκη, όπου  διαμορφωτές των διεθνών καινοτόμων εξελίξεων, επενδυτές, επιχειρηματίες, στελέχη ιδιωτικών οργανισμών και επιχειρήσεων, πολιτικοί τεχνοκράτες, εκπρόσωποι από την ακαδημαϊκή κοινότητα και την κοινωνία των πολιτών συγκεντρώνονται για μία ανοιχτή συζήτηση με όλους όσους είναι αποφασισμένοι να δημιουργήσουν της δικές τους προοπτικές.

Πρωταρχικός στόχος του INCEPTION DAYS είναι να διερευνήσει, να συνθέσει και να μοιραστεί εφαρμόσιμες λύσεις για την ανάπτυξη και βιωσιμότητα ενός οικοσυστήματος καινοτομίας (Innovation Ecosystem) και συνεργασίας που τελικά θα αποτελέσει πυλώνα μίας ευρύτερης οικονομικής ανάπτυξης και κοινωνικής προόδου.

 Σας καλούμε να ανακαλύψετε την πρωτοβουλία αυτή στο www.inceptiondays.eu και να λάβετε κι εσείς μέρος!

Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. will pay 209 million New Taiwan dollars (about US $6.99 million) to acquire a 22.79% stakes in Taifo, and will become the second largest shareholder in Taifo.

Taifo is a joint venture established in 2012 specifically for setting up a fiber-optic communications network around Taipei City.

Commenting on the announcement, Foxconn confirmed the action of joining the paid-in capital increase through Hon Yun to help realize fiber-optical network services in Taiwan.

To kick it off all Kindle Fire owner, located in America, were given 500 free Amazon Coins in their account, which is worth $5. Even if free coins are only for US customers, anyone using Kindle fire can head to the Amazon Coins Page and purchase Coins for themselve, in increments of 1,000 ($9.50), 2,500 ($23), 5,000 ($45), or 10,000 ($90). Amazon said the Coins do not expire, and do not include any fees. Each coin is worth $0.01, with bulk purchases getting a discount of up to 10%.

“You can use the coins to buy apps and games, as well as items inside apps and games,” Amazon said in a note on its homepage. When buying apps and games, users will be given the option to purchase with a credit card or via Amazon Coins.

But Amazon also hopes the Coins will spur more paid app downloads and encourage application developers to look at Amazon’s store as an even bigger challenger to Google’s Play Store and Apple’s App Store.
Amazon also announced plans to extend this in-app purchasing service to cover Mac, PC, and web-based gaming platforms.

This relatively new Trojan horse, named Trojan:JS/Febipos.A, attempts to hijack Facebook accounts, and was first discovered in Brazil. In hijacking Facebook accounts, the cybercrooks behind the Trojan horse could gain access to specific hacked accounts.

Sharing the details of the malware’s nature, Microsoft says that the malware attempts to update itself using below URLs upon installations-
* Chrome browser – du-pont.info/updates//BL-chromebrasil.crx
* Mozilla Firefox browser – du-pont.info/updates//BL-mozillabrasil.xpi

The Trojan horse infection is able to perform several Facebook functions on an infected system, such as posting on a wall, joining a group, chatting with the compromised account holder’s friends, and even liking other items. You can think of this vicious infection as a virtual Facebook user, only it secretly takes over your Facebook account without your knowledge.

If you at all suspect your system being infected with the Trojan:JS/Febipos.A, which was originally detected out of Brazil but now has compromised Facebook accounts belonging to people worldwide, you should perform a scan of your system using antimalware software.

Viber said that it has over 200 million users from various platforms, and this user-base is likely to grow exponentially after the introduction of desktop version and nine new languages that were added to the pool just recently.

With this VOIP app for desktop, ou can now transfer calls from your phone straight to your laptop if you’re at a desk with one button push, and see your chat conversations flow in too. Viber can also tell you which device you’re actively using, so only one will bleep to alert you to a new notification, iMessage style. And of course, you can also make video calls from desktop to desktop, which is traditionally Skype’s domain. Is Viber Desktop the first real Skype killer?

Get an idea on how it works on the video below:

The film,  A Boy and His Atom, is 60 seconds long and made of 242 individual stop-motion frames, with each frame being roughly 50 atoms wide. It shows a boy playing with a single atom, dancing and jumping on a trampoline.
To make the movie, the atoms were moved with an IBM-invented scanning tunneling microscope, a device which earned its inventors a Nobel Prize.

“Capturing, positioning and shaping atoms to create an original motion picture on the atomic-level is a precise science and entirely novel,” said Andreas Heinrich, a scientist at IBM Research.

The extraordinary feat of atomic precision has been certified by the Guinness Book of World Records.

In addition to the short film, IBM also created some exclusive atomic imagery for the upcoming film Star Trek: Into Darkness.

IBM developed the atomic-manipulation technique partly in pursuit of more efficient storage technologies. The ability to store data on individual atoms could one day lead to extreme storage solutions, potentially storing all the movies ever made on an object the size of a fingernail, IBM says.

Alibaba will pay $586m for the stake, valuing Weibo at more than $3 billion. It also took an option to increase its holding in the message service to 30 percent, according to a statement released recently.

Alibaba and Weibo will work together on user account connectivity, data exchange, online payments and online marketing.

“We believe that the cooperation of our two robust platforms will bring unique and valuable services to Weibo users, as well as making the mobile Internet a core part of Alibaba’s strategy,” Jack Ma, the Alibaba chairman, said in a statement.

The alliance is expected to generate about $380 million in advertising and social commerce services revenue for Weibo over the next three years.

World Intellectual Property Organisation’s (WIPO) member states designated April 26, the day on which the WIPO Convention came into force in 1970, as World IP Day with the aim of increasing general understanding of IP.
Since then, Word IP Day has offered a unique opportunity each year to join with others around the globe to discuss and demonstrate how IP works to contribute to the flourishing of music and the arts and to driving the technological innovation that helps shape our world.

Just take a look around you: IP exists everywhere: the new pen in your hand, the music you hear, the film you recently viewed and the new perfume that you have dabbed on, its brand and even its aroma,  all of these constitute IP. Many of us are aware of intellectual property – of copyright, patents, industrial designs and trademarks. These are not mere business or legal perceptions, but are vital components of our lives.

This year’s theme, set by the World Intellectual Property Office (WIPO), is ‘Creativity: The Next Generation‘. It honors the talented and ingenious creators and innovators who are imagining how the world will look tomorrow.

As the Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organisation, Dr Francis Gurry, stated in his message: “Young people have the capacity to dream in a way that far surpasses the capacity of older people. They are the future. So my message to the next generationon World IP Day is keep creating, keep innovating. And keep thinking about how IP should fulfill its role in the future social management of creativity and innovation.”

All around the world, Intellectual property offices, associations, businesses and technology institutions and students are organizing numerous activities to mark this day, including competitions, exhibitions and public discussions. They will take a look together at answering some of the big questions:
- what does the future look like?
- Where are the next big ideas being generated from?
- Who are the next generation of revolutionary inventors and creative innovators?