Donald Trump launches new crowdfunding service, FundAnything

---

Kickstarter and Indiegogo just got a new competitor. Called FundAnything, this new crowdfunding site is backed by online education portal Learning Annex’s founder, Bill Zanker, but the real reason the other services may have to worry is, television personality and businessman Donald Trump is helping launch it by fully funding some projects.

The service is basically the same as Kickstarter and Indiegogo—you set up a page for your project, tell FundAnything how much money you’ll need to complete it, and you’re good to go. FundAnything also charges almost the same percentage of money as the other two crowdfunding services—you’re charged 5 percent of your donations target if your campaign is successful and 9 percent of the contributions you collect if it is not.

Yep, he's throwing money around

As mentioned, Trump will be funding a few projects on FundAnything himself. He will also be tweeting about the projects he chooses to give money to each week. He even gave away suitcases full of money at a launch event in New York to three people with projects on FundAnything. “I believe the private sector is the real engine for growth and success,” Trump said. “So, I’ve decided to give away money at the grass roots level….my money is and will be going directly into the hands of real people.”

“People’s lives have been destroyed by this economy and they feel hopeless,” he added. “FundAnything is a real solution.”

He also told AllThingsD that he wanted to take crowdfunding to the masses. “Crowdfunding got traction with creatives and tech, but you go anywhere but the coasts and they don’t get it yet,” he said. “What I’m trying to do is bring crowdfunding away from the Brooklyn hipsters and bring it to the masses.”

We're sure all the money Trump's throwing around and his popularity will gain FundAnything lots of traction with the media, but it remains to be seen if the service can foster an active community, as, well, the community is what drives initiatives like these.

Report by : Ramkumar Iyer

BlackBerry services hit by global outage

---

BlackBerry services were rendered inaccessible yesterday for several of its users the world over, including in India, following a service outage.

A report on the Globe and Mail yesterday confirmed that the company's technical team was looking into the matter and added that the services were getting back to normal.

The Canadian company, however, did not reveal the extent of the problem or the number of users affected by it, the report added. Citing an email statement further, it quoted the company as saying, "We apologize to customers for any inconvenience. We take all service issues – no matter how small – very seriously and through constant monitoring and investigation we aim to ensure our network meets customer expectations.”

Service hit by outage

Inconvenienced users took to Twitter to vent their frustration. One user with the handle @gavingian tweeted, "@talk2GLOBE I didn't know that Blackberry is down since yesterday,until I called Globe Cust Service," while another user with the handle @prasanto tweeted, "#BlackBerry still down in #Philippines? RT @AKOsiSHEENAxtin: @prasanto It's over 24 hours now and BlackBerry service hasn't resumed yet".

BlackBerry addressed its customers On its official Twitter ID and tweeted, “Some of our customers may be experiencing issues with BlackBerry services. We are investigating and apologize for any inconvenience.”

The company followed it up a couple of hours later with another tweet that read: “All BlackBerry services are returning to normal levels. Apologies to any customers who experienced issues earlier.”

Report by : tech2 News Staff

Intel Anti-Theft Service Review

---

The value of critical data is much more than the price of the hardware. You cannot afford to lose personal data or critical information, or let it fall into the wrong hands. Hence, like they say, “Prevention is better than cure”. It’s best to take frequent backups and use a security suite. Also, unlike desktop PC users, laptop users face a further big risk of devices getting lost or stolen. To address this, Intel has introduced Anti-Theft Service. Here’s how it helps secure critical data in the event of the laptop being lost or stolen.

System requirements and installation

Intel AT will run on your laptop provided it meets the minimum system requirements, which includes Intel 6 or 7 series chipset, 1GB RAM, 100MB of drive space, Windows 7 or 8 operating system, a compatible browser and, being Internet dependent, a high speed Internet connection. To check whether Intel AT will be supported by your laptop, Intel has devised an application called Intel Anti-Theft Discovery App (2.53MB in size), which you start with when you download the software. If supported, it will prompt you to go ahead with the download and installation.

Intel AT will run on your laptop if it complies to these requirements

This app helps you find out if your laptop supports Intel AT

On proceeding with the download via the Anti-Theft Discovery App, you’re taken to McAfee’s website from where you can download the software (16MB in size). But before downloading, you need to have a McAfee account, which you can sign up for free. Immediately after installation, you’re prompted to set up the software. This involves specifying the anti-theft password (8-digit numeric) and your email address. There’s also a checkbox to enable tracking your device’s location if it’s lost or stolen. After configuration, you can access the software via an icon in the notification area of the task bar.

Details needed to lock down your device remotely

How it works

Intel Anti-Theft Service syncs the device status to your online account from time to time, or you can sync it manually. All the action lies in the Web Management Console accessible via the software or from the context menu that comes up when you right-click on the Intel AT service icon in the notification area. Being a webpage, it can be accessed from any Internet-enabled device with a web browser. The bottom of the page displays the location of the device courtesy Google Maps and location history—the location is traced using the IP address.

Location history via the web console

The big red button that says “Secure my device” comes to your rescue if your device is lost or stolen. There are two modes that you can choose from. The Steal mode will lock the important files and continue to track the device’s location. However, it won’t lock down the device. The Lockdown mode will immediately shut down and lock the device. Note that the thief will have to connect the laptop to the Internet for your command to work. It takes a few seconds for the command to get executed. The lockdown mode is equivalent to rendering your laptop bricked for the thief. When started after locking down, the laptop displays a lockdown message before POST, just a few seconds from when you press the power button. The correct anti-theft password (8-digit numeric) has to be entered to continue booting. Since the technology is tied to the hardware, bricking can’t be overridden even by changing the hard drive, reinstalling the operating system or flashing the BIOS.

Lockdown screen

The Settings page in the Web Management Console has an option to auto-lock the device if it’s disconnected from the Internet for a specified number of days (2 to 30). This can be disabled by enabling the Vacation mode. You can also enable the Repair shop mode, which keeps the device unlocked and secure when you leave it with someone.

Verdict and Price in India

Intel Anti-Theft Service is available as a 90-day trial for you to get a look and feel, after which you have to pay to subscribe—you can purchase a year’s subscription online for $24.99 (approx. Rs 1,360). Optionally, you can choose to go with other products such as Norton Anti-Theft and McAfee Anti-Theft that use Intel AT technology.

You can subscribe to the service at a reasonable price

Many laptop brands have already started offering models with Intel AT Service included in the package. So, look out for the Intel Anti-Theft Service logo on the laptop/packaging if you’re looking at value for money from the point of view of security.

Report by : Anand Tuliani

More than 500,000 magazines created on Flipboard 2.0 in two weeks

---

Just weeks after it launched a major update to its service, Flipboard has released an infographic showing the popularity of its new features. Flipboard 2.0 went live just two weeks ago and more than 500,000 magazines have already been created by users, the colourful infographic reveals. Flipboard has listed USA, UK and Canada as among the top 5 countries creating magazines on its platform. It goes on to reveal further that 3 million readers have been added to the service since its update went live. There are in all 53 million Flipboard readers in the world today.

Flipboard goes on to share the list of top 10 countries in terms of its readership. The list includes USA, UK, China, Germany, Spain, Canada, France, Italy, Taiwan and Brazil. Over 50 percent of Flipboard 2.0 users are reading magazines everyday, the infographic shows. The numbers and names don't end just there. The infographic also features a list of popular magazines by their publishers, which include The Esquire Interviews, Prefab Perfection, Women We Love, The Beatles and Photo of the Day, to name a few. That said, Flipboard readers picked a unique list of their favourite reads too, which include The Interesting Things, Easter Bunny and MG's Reading List, to name a few.

Flipboard has put up an infographic full of stats

Love reading Flipboard at 9 AM? Well, that's what Flipboard has found in another interesting trivias on the infographic.

The Flipboard 2.0 update is easily one of the biggest to have been introduced to the application to date. The updated app allows Flipboard readers to create and share their own magazines. They can customise their content, revolving around topics, events and other interests, that they would want to share with others.

Earlier this year, Flipboard rolled out a new update for its Android users on the Play Store, which brought along with it several bug fixes in addition to a whole new feature called Flipboard Daydream.

It allows Android 4.2 users to turn Flipboard covers into a screensaver for their tablet or phone. Until now, Flipboard’s signature covers were available only on the tablet edition. Users can now stay up to date with customised news through covers that become part of a screensaver that automatically updates with fresh stories.

If you are lucky enough to have a handset that runs Jelly Bean, you know how impressive the Daydream feature can get. The latest addition to Android 4.2, Daydream is essentially an interactive screensaver that gets activated while the phone is charging or is docked. Users can customise it to throw up the latest news from Google Currents and display photo albums amongst other things. Now Jelly Bean users can get Flipboard news covers appear in the Daydream mode to stay in touch with news even when their phone is idle.

Users can now see covers from the Cover Stories category from their Flipboard account turn into a screensaver with zooming and panning functions. Compared to default competitor Google Currents, this new update will make Flipboard do a lot more than just display headlines in the Daydream mode. Flipboard has taken what is easily the least talked about Jelly Bean function and turned it into a USP for its app. Users might want to tweak settings a bit as the app will use Cover Stories in Daydream.

Report by : tech2 News Staff

eBay starts daily deals for services, taking on Groupon

---

EBay Inc has quietly launched an online marketplace for deals on local services, taking on Groupon Inc and expanding into a potentially big category.

Called eBay Lifestyle Deals, the offers are being run in a limited number of urban areas, including the San Francisco Bay area, Los Angeles and Washington D.C.

Recent deals included $12 for a one-hour dog-walking service worth $25; $50 for a month of Yoga classes worth $110; and $180 for six private gym sessions worth $360.

eBay Lifestyle Deals launched

The move is potentially a big step for eBay, which has traditionally focused on products rather than services.

"We have a big marketplace and a lot of people who come to eBay don't just come for one thing - they stay and buy across categories," said Devin Wenig, president of eBay Marketplaces.

"It makes perfect sense to experiment with new categories, and services is one of these things. We're seeing whether deals and services are attractive to our customers."

EBay has teamed up with start-up Signpost, which arranges the deals with local merchants and posts them on a new section of eBay's online marketplace, www.ebay.com/exp/lifestyle-deals.

Signpost, backed by Google Ventures, already provides deals for Google Offers, a rival to Groupon.

EBay plans to add more daily deal providers if the effort goes well.

"Signpost is a merchant, just like merchants selling physical goods on eBay," Wenig said. "A merchant may sell local or even global services on eBay in the future."

BIA/Kelsey, which tracks the local media industry, expects U.S. consumer spending for online deals to reach $5.5 billion by 2016, up from $1.8 billion last year. That includes daily deals, and other discounted online sales channels, such as product deals and flash sales.

Groupon Chief Executive Andrew Mason has estimated the total local-commerce market is worth $3 trillion.

EBay has run daily deals on physical products for about two years, but this is its first foray into discounted services in the United States.

Groupon started the daily deal craze in late 2008 and quickly grew into a company with thousands of employees and well over $1 billion in annual revenue.

That growth attracted a lot of deep-pocketed rivals, such as Google Inc, Amazon.com Inc and Facebook Inc. However, growth has slowed recently as consumers tired of endless deals from multiple providers. Facebook shelved its first effort in the market last year.

Groupon shares have lost about three-quarters of their value since the company went public last year.

However, Google and Amazon have stuck with their daily deal businesses.

EBay shares rose 0.5 percent to $46.45 on Nasdaq at midday.

---

Report by: Reuters