Category: News

Berlin’s Waymate has launched its mobile app for comparing various local and long-distance transport options on the go.

We wrote about Waymate and its rival GoEuro last month – both companies are trying to navigate the world of travel comparison services, but Waymate is taking the extra step of letting people book journeys directly from the service, rather than sending them off to the train or plane operators’ websites.

As we noted at the time, this is difficult from a data point of view, due to the complexity of the various services on offer. There’s an even greater barrier, though, in the unwillingness of many operators to let a third-party service handle their bookings.

Despite these barriers, Waymate’s iOS app is now out and its website is fully up and running. In this initial version, users cannot book journeys directly from the app – instead, they can select a journey then email themselves a link, allowing them to complete the booking on Waymate’s website. The service is also yet to be internationalized, meaning long-distance journeys need to originate in the Eurozone and local journeys can only be searched within major German cities.

The chief benefit of Waymate is the ability to compare all sorts of journey modes: planes, trains and automobiles (car-sharing schemes and taxis are included), as well as metro services and buses. Price and journey duration are clearly displayed on a visual timeline. Sensibly, Waymate has scrapped earlier plans to have two separate apps for local and long-distance travel: this one folds in both ideas.

“Now the task is to expand the app and the website with thrilling new features — especially in social networking — and to internationalize,” Waymate CEO Maxim Nohroudi said in a statement. “In short, we want travel planning to be completely simple and joyful.”

It’s an ambitious aim and one that (as far as I am aware) no-one has been able to achieve so far. It would be no surprise to see the app that finally pulls it off come out of Europe, as the fragmented nature of the market creates a substantial need for a service like this. Now let’s see how far Waymate’s rivals dive into this space.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Analyzing the wearable computing market
• Carrier IQ and the continued erosion of operator trust
• Connected world: the consumer technology revolution

Over five million businesses currently use Google Apps — a number that is growing all the time — and while getting to grips with the cloud-based productivity suite is fairly easy, there will always be some staff members who struggle.

Toronto-based Synergyse, a startup comprised of former Google employees, hopes to make it easy for everyone to get the most out of Google’s suite by providing training directly inside each application.

The new, interactive, measurable and scalable training system is aimed at consumers, businesses and schools looking to get more out of Google Apps. Powered by Google’s cloud platform it currently covers Gmail, Calendar and Drive.

Co-founder Varun Malhotra says: “Google Apps is a robust solution, but a majority of people are not aware of all the features it has. We focused on making training that was easy to use and in-application in order to help the world learn Google Apps”.

The training is priced at $10 a year for individuals or per employee (enterprises with over 5,000 employees can contact Synergyse for a quote).

Synergyse is currently offering businesses and educational institutions a chance to win a lifetime license. All you have to do is visit www.synergyse.com and say how Google Apps has helped your school or business.

Photo Credit: auremar

IObit has released Advanced SystemCare Free 6.2.0, a minor update to its freeware system optimization and maintenance tool. The program, which can be upgraded to a Pro version with enhanced malware protection, deeper cleansing and automatic optimization, offers PC users a wide range of tools for maintaining, cleaning, optimizing and securing their computer.

Version 6.2 is a minor maintenance release that promises improvements across many of the program’s individual components. It also promises better compatibility with Windows 8.

Version 6.2 offers better protection from online threats through improved Malware Removal and Surfing Protection tools. Also improved is the Pro-only Internet Boost tool, which can accelerate downloading, surfing, online gaming and video by up to 300 percent.

The Registry Fix and Toolbox tools have also been worked on with the promise of better stability as well as performance. Similarly improved is the AutoClean tool, which now promises smarter cleaning.

The final improvement is to the IObit Uninstaller component, which IObit claims is no more effective at removing unwanted components from the user’s PC, particularly browser toolbars.

The update builds on more radical changes introduced in version 6.1, which added the Action Center to alert users to specific issues, plus extended the cleaning tools to new versions of popular applications.

Advanced SystemCare Free 6.2.0.254 is available now as a freeware download for PCs running Windows XP or later, although not all available tools are Windows 8-compatible. Users can upgrade from the Free version to IObit Advanced SystemCare Pro by purchasing a license key. This single-PC, one-year license real-time malware protection, deeper cleansing and automatic optimization tools, and can be picked up for the bargain price of just $9,95 from the DownloadCrew Software Store, a saving of 50 percent on its MSRP.

Photo Credit: Alberto Zornetta/Shutterstock

Much like the MacArthur Foundation’s genius grants recognize talented individuals for their creativity, a new prize from startup Minerva Project wants to honor educators for excellence and innovation in teaching.

The San Francisco-based company, which last year grabbed headlines with a $25 million seed round for its plans to bring an Ivy League-level education online, on Monday announced a $500,000 prize that will go to one educator per year for making advancements in higher education.

The point of the award is to help elevate the teaching profession and bring attention to people creating breakthrough learning experiences, the company said. That it will likely help the young startup build its brand certainly doesn’t hurt.

In addition to announcing the new prize, the startup said Roger Kornberg, a Nobel Prize-winning chemist, would serve as the Governor of the Minerva Academy, an honorary institution that will include educational innovators from around the world.  The Academy will be responsible for selecting the winners of the new Minerva Prize.

“Respect for teaching has declined over the years. Teachers were once one of the most esteemed members of the community and, in some way, their remuneration reflected that. But today that’s much less true,” said Kornberg. “The purpose of this prize [is] to enhance the public appreciation of people who today make a great sacrifice and devote their lives to this profession.”

As student debt climbs and more question the value of a high-priced college education, startups of all kinds are emerging with different models for online education. In attempting to lure both top students and top professors who might otherwise gravitate to the country’s leading brick and mortar institutions, Minerva has an audacious vision.

But beyond raising $25 million from Benchmark Capital, Minerva, which is led by founder and CEO Ben Nelson (the former CEO of Snapfish), has attracted the support of several high-profile leaders. Former Harvard president and Treasury Secretary Larry Summers is an advisor and former U.S. Senator and Governor Bob Kerrey (D-NB) leads Minerva’s Institute for Research and Scholarship.

Image by Sergey Nivens via Shutterstock.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• GigaOM Research highs and lows from CES 2013
• The fourth quarter of 2012 in mobile
• How HR can make the case for workforce analytics

My car’s steering wheel has taken a beating because of the all the lousy drum fills I’ve banged out on it over the years, and at least one entrepreneur thinks that experience could use a little bit of improvement.

Gregor Hanuschak (who, in a previous life, worked for NASA) has put together a Kickstarter project for the Smack Attack, an in-car gadget that lets users make those steering wheel drum solos a bit more substantial.

Here’s the project in a nutshell: the Smack Attack system consists of two separate parts, a steering wheel cover and an app for the iOS device of your choosing. Once that wheel cover is connected to your iDevice via Bluetooth, wannabe Ringo Starrs out there can trigger preloaded drum samples in the app thanks to eight pressure sensors that are nestled snugly inside the fabric of the cover. Naturally, you’ll also be able to customize the samples that get triggered so you can swap out that snare drum for a Wookiee bellow (because, you know, why not?). Oh, and in the event you’re not traveling alone, the app allows for other would-be drummers to jam at the same time… which could spell disaster for your trip depending on how talented your companions are.

As downright silly as the project seems (just take a look at this early Smack Attack promo, for heaven’s sake), Hanuschak is actually trying to tackle a real problem — that tendency for drivers to space out during long stretches at the wheel. By giving drivers something right in their hands to focus on, Hanuschak hopes that the Smack Attack will keep them from making some potentially deadly errors. Of course, one could argue that sticking a musical toy on a steering wheel presents some safety concerns of its own, so it goes without saying that the Smack Attack isn’t the right gadget for everyone. Hanuschak is looking to raise a whopping $200,000 to bring the steering wheel cover/app combo to market by the end of the year, and (assuming you’re a responsible driver) you’ll be able to claim your own in-car music maker for $149.

Consumers have a rich selection of services for TV and movie content: iTunes, Netflix, Hulu, and I’m sure there are more I’m forgetting. Some of these are tied to hardware (like iTunes) and others try to be agnostic in this regard.

My service of choice is Amazon Prime Instant Video. Amazon Prime is a $79 annual membership that gives you 2-day shipping on most items you buy from the retailer, allows you “to stream thousands of movies and TV shows” and access to the Kindle Lending Library with thousands of books.

When I first joined Amazon Prime I was thinking mostly of the 2-day shipping, but my whole family quickly fell in love with the video. I watch the service on desktop PC and Mac, on our iPad, even on the Wii U. And then there’s the Google Nexus 7 tablet I have. No-go for Amazon Prime Instant Video there.

Go to the Google Play store and there’s no app for Amazon Prime Instant Video. Go in the browser to the website and it doesn’t work, at least not on Android 4.0+, because the web version requires Adobe Flash, and there is no Flash for Android client anymore. Developers typically deal with this problem by writing their Flash software as an application/app using Adobe Air, which embeds a Flash runtime in the app.

Amazon has chosen not to do this. If you want to view Amazon Prime Instant Video on Android, your only option is Kindle Fire, Amazon’s Android fork.

Is it possible that Amazon shuts out other Android devices in order to protect Kindle? There’s a crude kind of logic to this, but it doesn’t withstand much scrutiny. For one thing, there’s the fact that the retailers supports most every other platform. Amazon doesn’t seem to have anything specific against Google since there’s a Google TV app for Amazon Instant Video. But more importantly, Kindle doesn’t exist so much to make money on its own, but to sell content. Amazon can’t be making a whole lot of money on Kindle with the prices they charge for it.

So if the point is to sell content, why lock Android users out of the market for Amazon Prime Instant Video? I’d criticize it as a bad business decision, but I’m not really sure there’s even a bad decision behind it. I can’t fathom a reasonable argument for Amazon’s strategy. Can you?

I’ve asked Amazon about this, both publicly (tweeting @AmazonVideo) and by leaving voice mail and e-mail for Amazon press relations. I haven’t received a response.

Even when they appear idle, PCs are forever buzzing with background activity, as Windows and application processes save data to log files, tweak Registry keys and carry out assorted other updates. Normally this can be safely ignored, but sometimes — if you think you’ve just installed malware, say, and would like to check what it’s done — then you might wonder what’s changed on your system in the past few minutes.

And that’s where DiffView comes in. If you want to find out more about recent activities on your PC, then you’ll first need to tell DiffView where you’d like it to scan. Clicking the Files tab reveals an Explorer-type view where you can select particular folders – \Windows, say, or \Program Files – while the Registry tab allows you to select a particular area of the Registry.

Next, you’ll have to define how “recent” these changes might have been. Enter “5″ in the “Diff time” box, say, and the program will only look for items which have been created or modified in the last 5 minutes. (You can enter much higher figures here, but remember that there are legitimate background changes going on all the time, and the further back you go, the more these will clutter your finished report.)

With the configuration done, all you have to do is click “Scan files” or “Scan reg”, depending what you’re doing, and wait for the results. This can take a while if you’re scanning the entire Registry — so you might want to tag an extra 5 minutes onto your “Diff time” figure to make up for that — but be patient, it will finish eventually.

Once the process is complete, DiffView displays a tree view report of your system, instantly highlighting any recent additions changes in the areas you’ve specified.

And a Report button (scroll down in the “Common” box if you don’t see it) can even create a text report for reference later.

DiffView has its limitations. In particular, the program will only highlight new or modified files and Registry keys; it can’t warn you if something is deleted. And so if you want comprehensive real-time system monitoring, then you’ll still need to use something like Sysinternals Process Monitor.

DiffView can be very useful when you just need a quick ad-hoc check, though. And it’s also free, no adware annoyances, and a ridiculously small 71KB download, which works for us. On balance, the program will make an excellent addition to anyone’s troubleshooting toolkit, and you should go grab a copy immediately.

Photo Credit: Lighthunter/Shutterstock