Administrators of the Joomla blogging platform and content management system can now tag their content so it will be better indexed and automatically routed to the correct locations on their websites. The new version of the open source software, , also comes with a revamped user interface and an easier installation process. The new feature, called Tags, allows users to tag articles as well as contacts, news feeds and other forms of content. A tag is a word or short phrase the nature of the content being tagged. Once a piece of content is tagged, Joomla can automatically add it to lists, blogs and other layouts designated to display such tagged content. Tags are also helpful for search engines as it gives them more information to contextualize the content. Previously, the tagging of content in Joomla was only possible through the use of third-party add-ons, though other CMS platforms such as Drupal and WordPress have long offered this feature. The addition of tagging capabilities to the core of Joomla also sets the stage for other advanced Joomla features now being developed that would rely on tagging, according to Open Source Matters, the nonprofit organization that provides organizational, legal and financial support to the Joomla project.
Setting the foundation for what may be a multitrillion-dollar marketplace, OASIS (the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards) has declared MQTT (the Message Queuing Telemetry Transport) as its messaging protocol of choice for the emerging . “One of the big challenges for right now is that there is not a clear open standard” for message communication with embedded systems, said Mike Riegel, an IBM vice president of mobile and application integration middleware. “We know historically that unless you get to an open standard like this, it is not possible to drive the breakthroughs that are needed.” In much the same way that the HTTP standard paved the way for people sharing information through the World Wide Web, MQTT could set the stage for bringing online billions of low-cost, embedded data-collecting telemetry devices, Riegel said. The Internet of Things is not a network, but a new marketing phrase that describes the growing use of network-connected embedded microprocessors, often connected to sensors or other data-gathering instruments. Because microprocessors are now so inexpensive and networks are so pervasive, such embedded systems could provide a wealth of data that organizations in most industries could use to monitor and improve operations.
. That offer is still good, although it does require you to register with TechNet. If that's not an option, or you received an Office 2013 trial on a new PC or downloaded it via other channels, you're typically limited to 30 days to test-drive the suite. That's enough for some users, but to really see how it meshes with your operation, a longer trial would be better. Heck, maybe you just need some extra time to save up for the software, which isn't exactly cheap. , Microsoft allows you to "reset" your Office 2013 trial as many as five times, effectively giving you six months (more precisely, 180 days) of free usage. Although this option was really intended for IT administrators, there's no reason you can't use it with your own installed trial.
Google Drive users no longer have to worry about accessing their documents without an Internet connection—as long as they’re using Google’s Chrome browser. Chrome now supports automatic offline syncing for Google Drive, allowing you to read and edit any document, spreadsheet or presentation even when the Internet is down. To use this feature, you must Drive’s in the dialog box that appears. Chrome previously allowed offline editing for individual documents, but that meant you had to plan ahead and choose which files to sync. Now, the Drive app for Chrome syncs all files automatically. If you edit a document while offline, those changes will appear in the online version once the Internet connection is restored.
A 35-year-old Dutchman was arrested Thursday in Spain, as part of an investigation into a large-scale DDoS (distributed denial-of-service) attack that targeted a spam-fighting organization called the Spamhaus Project in March. The suspect was arrested by Spanish authorities in Barcelona based on a European arrest warrant and is expected to be transferred to the Netherlands soon, the Dutch Public Prosecution Service said Friday in a press release. The March DDoS attack against Spamhaus is noteworthy because of its very large scale and because it reportedly affected several Internet exchange nodes in Europe. Several sources, including CloudFlare, a San Francisco-based company that hosted Spamhaus’ website on its content distribution network, said at the time that the attack’s bandwidth peaked at over 300Gbps, by other companies.
If Picasa has taught us anything, it's that not every image editor has to be Photoshop. Sometimes you just want a quick, fun way to enhance your photos, add some neat effects, and maybe create a collage or two. If that sounds like fun and you happen to be rocking a Windows 8 device, you should check out Fotor, a free photo editor that uses the Modern interface. It's fast, visual, and has virtually no learning curve. When you launch Fotor, it lets you open an existing photo to edit, or start working on a collage. It also comes with six sample photos arranged in an attractive grid, to get you started. The simplest way to get a feel for what Fotor is like is to click a sample photo. Do that, and you'll find yourself in the editing interface. In editing mode, the image dominates most of the screen, and an editing toolbar lines the right side of the screen—opposite where you'd normally expect it, but in keeping with the Modern interface convention. The toolbar is subdivided into eight sections, six of which contain editing tools: Basic editing (color corrections), cropping, effects, borders, focus effects, and text tools. The other two sections let you open new files for editing, and save your work. The color correction interface uses sliders, with live image updates: Just move the slider and see the change instantly. Cropping is similarly intuitive, with 11 preset aspect ratios, and a free-crop mode (to set your own aspect ratio). Just drag a frame across the image to set out your crop area, and click Confirm when you're happy with the composition.
As we’ve become a more mobile society—working from virtually anywhere on our smartphones and tablets—we’ve also embraced various cloud storage and file sharing tools, so we can access and collaborate on our data. Younity has an entirely different approach, and it could . Is that sensational hyperbole? In a word: no. But, it really depends on your data, how you use it, and who you need to share it with. I use a variety of cloud storage services. I , and others. I appreciate that my data synced to Box is available on my MacBook Air and my Windows 8 tablet as well as my iPhone, iPad, and other devices. I frequently use it as a means of sharing files with others—uploading the data to Box, and then sending an email link to the individuals I want to share with. The fact that my data is in the cloud rather than stuck somewhere on a local drive back at the office has been a lifesaver on more than one occasion.
Americans have grown so accustomed to hearing about the problem of "balancing privacy and security" that it sometimes feels as though the two are always and forever in conflict -- that an initiative to improve security can?t possibly be very effective unless it?s invading privacy. Yet the conflict is often illusory: A cybersecurity law could easily be drafted that would accomplish all the goals of both tech companies and privacy groups without raising any serious civil liberties problems.
A Russian court has denied Pussy Riot member Nadezhda Tolokonnikova's plea for early release.
President Obama meant to box in Syrian dictator Bashar Assad from using chemical weapons. Instead he may have boxed himself into a military escapade he doesn't want.
In their new book,
Yes, Google?s ultra-high-speed internet service may finally be scaring the big internet providers into action. Following Google?s announcement that it will expand into Austin, Texas, AT&T announced it will offer fiber internet in the city, and Time Warner Cable announced it would offer citywide wireless internet service. But smaller companies are also trying to head off Google before the company even makes an announcement in their communities.
A decade ago, iTunes was amazing. Now the music/app/video/iOS wrangler is a bloated mess.
Each week, Wired Design brings you a photo of one of our favorite buildings, showcasing boundary-pushing architecture and design involved in the unique structures that make the world's cityscapes interesting. Check back Fridays for the continuing series, and feel free to make recommendations in the comments, by Twitter, or by e-mail.
This week reviews editor Michael Calore and staff writer Roberto Baldwin check out the tentpole phones from Samsung and BlackBerry.
The UNIVAC had already predicted the 1952 Presidential election. And now it was on to the weather.
Mexico's drug war isn't just a conflict between the government and heavily-armed cartels. There's a third faction: vigilantes who operate in the space between the law and the lawless. Now the vigilantes are getting legalized.
Until fairly recently, many scientists thought that only humans had culture, but that idea is now being crushed by an avalanche of recent research with animals. Two new studies in monkeys and whales take the work further, showing how new cultural traditions can be formed and how conformity might help a species survive and prosper.
Until May 16, Oman's capital city is offering afternoon free bike rentals -- an antidote to the car culture that has gripped petro-dollar infused cities in the region, writes Wired Science blogger Jeffrey Marlow.
Picture-heavy social hubs like Pinterest, Polyvore, and Houzz are shifting the balance of power in e-commerce. Search and text once reigned supreme, but now pictures seem to have the upper hand.
WWDC is to Apple Developers as Coachella is to filthy hipsters: It's the year's must-attend event. Except the World Wide Developer Conference is way harder to get into. There are more than 275,000 iOS developers registered in the U.S. alone--and that doesn't count Mac developers. Only 5,000 attendees get to walk the floors every summer. ...
A weekly roundup of odd ways humans and wild animals crossed paths this week compiled by Jon Mooallem, author of the upcoming book
A pole dancer performs a very difficult pose with someone standing on top of him. Wired Science blogger Rhett Allain busts out some physics on the pose.
Bitcoin miners, we understand your envy. Wired has taken possession of a 5 Gigahash/second Bitcoin Miner, built by Butterfly Labs. This is a digital-money printing press, of sorts.
The newly-limbless victims from the Boston Marathon attack are still being treated, and the alleged bomber is still under interrogation. But for a handful of defense and intelligence contractors, it's never too early to start pimping their products as the solution to the next terrorist strike.
In recent years, a small cadre of scientists has cautiously rekindled the scientific study of psychedelics. At a recent conference, they reported new findings on how these drugs scramble brain activity in ways that might help explain their mind-bending effects. They're also slowly building a case that these drugs might help people with depression, anxiety and other disorders.
Keeping track of the characters in the Marvel cinematic universe can be daunting for all but the biggest fan. This awesome interactive infographic breaks it all down for the n00bs.
So far, superheroes are only fictional. But some of their powers already exist in the world, possessed by a whole range of strange species. Some creatures have even more amazing, surprising, weird, funny or disgusting powers than any superhero.
As the tech earnings season draws to a close, we've sifted through the deadly dull financial jargon to bring you what really matters this quarter.
In Crabitron, you are a giant crab in outer space. You need to eat as many people as possible by deftly wielding your invincible claws.
While possessing a flexible range of streaming options, Denon's Cocoon ranks toward the bottom of the AirPlay pile and carries too high a price.
How many memes can you name? Part of Wired's 20th anniversary issue.
YouTube's Comedy Week will bring together web celebs and established TV stars for a new kind of programming.
The popular HBO drama Game of Thrones set a new record this season for the illegal downloading of a television show, and the U.S. Ambassador to Australia, Jeffrey F. Bleich, is very unhappy about it. He's also pretty sure that some of the totally fictional characters from the show would be unhappy about it too.
Betaworks, the parent company of the all-new (and pretty amazing) Digg.com, just bought a majority stake in Instapaper, the popular read-it-later service from Marco Arment. It?s yet another puzzle piece in what is rapidly becoming one of the more interesting online media companies.
Twitter has agreed to give data-mining startup PeopleBrowsr access to its "firehose" through the end of this year. After that, PeopleBrowsr can acquire similar data through an authorized reseller.
Of all the vehicles Renault could've chosen to highlight its Formula 1 technology, it picked the Twizy, a glorified electric go-kart with the racing pedigree of, well, an electric go-kart. Yet we want to drive it. Desperately. We are not too proud to admit this.