Mediaboss Marketing

India has partnered the Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence to develop free software products to substitute expensive ones which impede teaching of ICT in schools across the country.

High cost involved in procuring software and use of pirated versions have over the years posed a challenge to school authorities in terms of the effectiveness of teaching and learning of ICT especially in the rural areas.

Director-General of Kofi Annan ICT Centre, Kwasi Adu-Gyan believes the initiative will help bridge the technology illiteracy gap among the youth.

India has successfully developed Eduboard which is a variant of their boards operating system. So we thought it wise to invite them so that we could develop the same system, Adu-Gyan said.

Kennedy Asiwie, one of the developers of the operating system, told JoyNews the innovation will accelerate science and technology education.

Some of our science laboratories in secondary schools dont have most of the basic apparatus needed to carry out activities. But this software has been embedded in the systems to help us get a practical view of it, he said.

The project upon completion will be piloted in Bolgatanga Senior High School (SHS), T.I. Ahmadiyya Primary and Junior High School(SHS), Zuarungu SHS in the Upper East Region.

Read more here:
Free software developed to facilitate teaching of ICT in Ghanaian schools - Myjoyonline.com

11-12-2019 | RS Components | Subs & Systems

RS Components has introduced the newest version of its free-for-use DesignSpark PCB electronics CAD software. New features within DesignSpark PCB version 9 comprise dangling connection detection in schematics, net selection in copper pour areas, and enhancements to Excellon NC drill files.

The software is a set of free-to-use rapid PCB prototyping tools providing schematics unlimited in number and size, layers, nodes, pads and connections, integration with the company and manufacturer parts libraries, a library editor to produce custom libraries, and integration with free-to-use DesignSpark mechanical and electrical CAD systems. PCB schematics and files created can also be imported into the more powerful DesignSpark PCB Pro by users where a more complex set of design rules and characteristics are demanded.

Among the new features, schematic design now offers a dangling connections report, displaying up any component pin where a net has been generated but not completed or assigned. Additionally, designers can now select nets located within a particular copper pour area, rather than needing to pick from all nets in the design, as previously.

Maurice Banting, head of Design Software and Tools, commented: DesignSpark PCB is our flagship entry point for electronic design engineers on tight budgets who are looking to explore a wider range of PCB design options. Combined with DesignSpark PCB Pro, and our comprehensive range of model libraries and footprints, customers have access to a set of resources that are geared towards helping them accelerate their design time-to-market. We are committed to improving our functionality and drawing on feedback from our user community, to ensure that cost barriers to innovation continue to fall for engineers around the world.

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Added features and improved user interface in free-to-use CAD software - Electropages

After a rise of Ring camera-hacking incidents, Motherboard discovered a tool circulating on hacker forums targeting the smart home camera.

This past week has seen several instances of hackers seemingly speaking to people through their Ring security cameras. On Monday, NBC2 in Cape Coral, Fla. reported that a couple heard a voice spewing racial comments about their son through their camera.

Just yesterday, KSHB4 posted a story about a woman that claims her Ring cameras were hacked when a voice talked to her and her children through their device. Also yesterday, Fox17 reported a woman in Memphis, Tenn. said a mysterious voice from her camera began taunting and harassing her 8-year-old daughter.

So whats going on? The victims in Florida and Tennessee reached out to Ring who responded with the following response:

Customer trust is important to us and we take the security of our devices seriously. While we are still investigating this issue and are taking appropriate steps to protect our devices based on our investigation, we are able to confirm this incident is in no way related to a breach or compromise of Rings security.

Due to the fact that customers often use the same username and password for their various accounts and subscriptions, bad actors often re-use credentials stolen or leaked from one service on other services. As a precaution, we highly and openly encourage all Ring users to enable two-factor authentication on their Ring account, add Shared Users (instead of sharing login credentials), use strong passwords, and regularly change their passwords.

Using recycled log-in credentials is a common mistake that is frequently made with IoT devices and can lead to these types of incidents. This is because there is a pretty good chance these credentials have been exposed in a data breach. Weve seen numerous Google Nest hacks due to this.

However, there seems to be something more sinister afoot. Why the sudden rise in Ring camera hackings? After combing through different hacker crime forums, Motherboard has learned that hackers have developed a tool specifically for breaking into Ring accounts with cameras.

According to Motherboard, one forum has a post for a Ring Video Doorbell Config. A config is a file used to drive special software to quickly churn through usernames or email addresses and passwords and trying to use them to log into accounts.

One hacker is offering a Ring.com checker for $6. Another hacker even commented on how popular the tool is, saying, I saw multiple people asking for this config.

These incidents highlight the importance, and arguably necessity, for creating unique log-in credentials and enabling two-factor authentication for every account. Are you and your customers practicing cybersecurity best practices?

View original post here:
Report: Hackers Have Created Dedicated Software to Break into Ring Security Cameras - Security Sales & Integration

Surprise! Oculus is launching full, controller-free hand tracking for the Oculus Quest a few months earlier than initially anticipated: this week.

While the developer SDK to integrate it into games wont be coming until next week, youll be able to try it out yourself through the Experimental Features menu in the Quest software in the v12 update due for release within the next few days.

Until third-party developers pick up the tech, youll only be able to use it in the Quest interface and certain first-party apps like Oculus TV and Browser. However, it does mean youll be able to do everything from browse the Oculus Store to setting up your Guardian Boundary without needing the Touch controllers.

Right now, hand tracking will only be available for the Quest, and not much to the chagrin of a lot of the VR community also the Rift S, which launched on the same day.

While its difficult to tell how many developers will make use of hand tracking in their games, seeing as its just for one headset in an industry that has been rather hardware-holistic until now, there are a few significant applications that could see it prove to be popular with players. The biggest of which is media consumption; the Quest is already brilliant for watching movies or TV, and the Oculus Venues software remains popular. Being able to access and control playback without having to faff with controllers sounds fantastic.

It could also be a surprisingly powerful accessibility tool. Hand tracking means all forms of sign language are now feasible in VR. If games like VRChat or Rec Room can make use of the new SDK, that could open social VR experiences to a lot of sign language users in a way no games have ever been able to before.

Hand tracking comes to the Quest in the v12 update due this week.

See the article here:
Controller-Free Hand Tracking Is Coming To The Oculus Quest This Week - Forbes

Do you have trouble growing your SaaS business?

Strategies that surround these processes play a key role in your ability to scale. Without a solid plan in place, growth can be difficult.

But before we delve into SaaS marketing strategies that can make your business grow, lets first define SaaS marketing.

SaaS stands for Software as a Service. They create software to provide their clients with a service.

One of the most well-known SaaS companies in the market is Slack. The company has managed to garner 12 million daily active users as of October 2019.

Meanwhile, SaaS marketing is all about one's marketing efforts using various marketing channels. Its goal is to boost brand awareness and drive revenue for software companies that are subscription-based.

So, how can you fuel your SaaS companys growth?

Disclosing the price clearly is one of the most crucial aspects of successful SaaS marketing strategies. Create a price range in such a way that prospects can decide immediately whether or not they could afford the price.

Mention clearly your pricing plans for your prospective customers to have a more informed decision.

As part of your SaaS strategy, you simply could not neglect the power of unique and authentic content. So, come up with content that solves most of your customer pain points and their problems.

A study showed that people are 131% more likely to buy from brands that show more educational content.

According to Voy Media, a leading marketing agency for SaaS companies, Apart from being informative, your content should also be actionable and engaging. This usually includes content that you make for your blog, website, guest posts, social media, and so on. Also, make sure that your content reaches therightpeople.

You need to optimize your content for you to able to rank well on SERPs, and it will be easier for prospects to find you when they are looking for your product.

For you to able to create a successful SaaS marketing strategy, it is essential to have a great product or service that they could promote.

If you want more people to use your product, then it should precisely meet their needs and offers an excellent user experience. Thats why the best way to ensure that you have a great product or service to promote is to identify the pain points and problems that your typical customers face.

But it is not enough that you just identify the problem. You should select the problem that costs your target audience the most.

People need to realize the financial implications of a particular problem. Then, from there, it is your job to communicate to them how the particular product that you offer could help them solve their issues.

Organic traffic plays a key role in SaaS marketing, and this is where SEO comes in. SEO will help you generate a lot of leads for your business, which is easily converted.

SaaS companies do come across challenges along the way, but there are effective SEO tactics in SaaS marketing that could help you handle those:

Look for keywords that your prospects are most likely using to look for a solution for their problems. You can even find related keywords via the search suggestions from Google. The key here is finding as many keywords that your prospective customers might be using (or might use).

Ensure that the speed of your site is as quick as possible. Make an effort to make your page loading time within 2 seconds or less for optimal conversions.

Use a responsive design for your site so that your site loads perfectly no matter what device a customer is using.

Create custom banners with Calls-to-Action (CTAs) that entice visitors to sign up for a free trial.

Perfect your keywords and technical SEO. Use your primary keyword in the title, descriptions, headings, and first paragraph of the body of your content. Utilize proper schema mark-up, AMP pages, sitemaps, proper canonical tag, and navigation.

Because it is much easier to sell your product to people by showing it to them through a live demo, use that to your advantage. Then, share bits and pieces of your product to as many prospects and places as possible.

You can break it down to screencasts that last for 1-2 minutes long, publishing them on social media and in your email drip campaigns that will be sent to leads to warm them up as much as possible.

If you are still unsure whether or not you should give a free trial of your products, then do not be!

Offering a free trial of your software helps users understand how your software works, how it solves their problems, giving them a strong reason why they should buy your products.

But do not offer all the features of your product because doing so will not persuade them to buy the full-featured product.

Referrals are a growth hackers winning strategy. So, take your time considering these stats:

You can utilize referrals as a free form of marketing that plays a major impact on your brand. But you need to actively ask your current user base for referrals. This is the most important step in the process.

For you to be able to create a successful SaaS marketing strategy, you need to understand the industry you are in, as well as your target market.

Your goal should always be how your business could scale. Although it is also important that you are attracting the right people.

Also, depending on your niche, product, and audience, there are some SaaS strategies that might work significantly better than others. Creating a solid SaaS marketing strategy could be challenging, but the steps that we have discussed above will help you get going.

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7 Proven And Tested SaaS Marketing Strategies To Fuel Your Business Growth - HostReview.com