Evernote hit in hacking attack, users must reset their passwords
Evernote, which makes business and consumer productivity software for things like taking notes and doing research, is forcing all of its 50 million users to change their passwords after detecting a hacker intrusion on its sytem.
The attacker gained access to Evernote accounts' usernames, email addresses and passwords. Although passwords are encrypted, the company "in an abundance of caution" is implementing a password reset, the company said in a blog post on Saturday.
There is no evidence that the malicious hackers accessed user content nor that they got a hold of customers' payment information, according to the company. Read more...
Nokia, Microsoft bring Word, Excel and PowerPoint to Symbian phones
Microsoft and Nokia have announced that Word, Excel and PowerPoint will be brought to devices running Nokia's Symbian OS next year.
The productivity apps move is the latest fruit of an enterprise alliance announced between Nokia and Microsoft back in 2009 - before the pair agreed to collaborate at the OS level too.
Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 (WP7) OS - the smartphone platform Nokia is transitioning to as its primary OS - already supports Word, Excel and PowerPoint but compatibility will be extended to Nokia smartphones running the Belle iteration of the Symbian OS in the first half of 2012, the two companies said today.
The aim is to have a broad church of Nokia devices - both WP7 and Symbian-based handsets - supporting Microsoft apps, according to Nokia, in order to give busineses a wider choice of handsets. Nokia plans to support the Symbian platform until 2016. Read more...
Programmers urged to code with their tootsies
You can now employ two woefully underutilized parts of your body to speed your PC workflow: your tootsies.
Keith McMillen Instruments of Berkeley, California, has released the SoftStep KeyWorx, a USB foot-operated input device that combines the company's SoftStep USB/MIDI foot controller – a musician's stomp-pad – with KeyWorx software to, as the company's marketing blurb explains, "Get your feet in the game".
But the SoftStep KeyWorx is not only designed to give "computer gamers a competitive edge." It can also, the company claims, put to use the pedal extremities of video editors, programmers, and "data entry professionals".
Connect the SoftStep USB pad to your Mac or PC, download KeyWorx, and tiptoe your way to productivity
"Use your feet to maximize your workflow and greatly improve your efficiency," the company says, by using the KeyWorx software to assign up to 100 sets of commands that can be accessed through the SoftStep's 10 back-lit control pads – each sensitive to taps and x/y-axis pressure – and four-way controller. Read more...
How Microsoft is trying to make us more productive
A Microsoft press event held last week in Redmond under the name "The Future of Productivity Council" wasn't about introducing new and exciting products. But the day-long event Friday did give us a closer look at how Microsoft develops productivity software and also allowed us to hear from several Microsoft executives about what they are trying to accomplish in the productivity sphere. Read more...