Russian browser game publisher Playtox is on a roll.

It’s just raised $3 million from the Moscow-based Runa Capital to extend its technology to include HTML5, as well as pushing its titles into the US and emerging markets.

We caught up with co-founder and COO Dmitry Sergeev, who has worked with many well known Russian game companies, ranging from Mail.ru and Alawar to Shamrock Games and Next Media Group.

Pocket Gamer: Can you give us some background information on Playtox?

Dmitry Sergeev: Back in 2003, with my team at Shamrock Games, I developed one of the first mobile MMOGs. Called Piranha, it relied on the technology available at that time – SMS and location-based services.

One month after launch, it had spread across Eastern Europe, connecting more than 1.2 million active users and generating more than 22 million premium purchases in multi-player survival battles.

[Shamrock Games was acquired by Next Media Group, a large provider of VAS services for mobile operators and TV channels in 2004.]

In 2009, I teamed up with Shamrock’s CEO Artem Zinoviev. Creating Playtox. We turned our passion for gaming into a business with the mission to bring true MMO mobile games to consumers.

Three months after Playtox was founded, the company released its first title. Today, it’s creating and supporting mobile games with more than one million unique visitors per day.

Your current audience is mainly in the CIS region and Latin America, so what’s your approach in terms of language support for your games?

Over the next three months, we plan to expand our reach to certain countries in APAC and the Americas.

To achieve this our dedicated team works with local partners focusing on localisation.

We put a lot of effort to adopt our game for specific markets; in some cases the entire gameplay will be redesigned, based on local consumer demands and preferences.

Do you develop your games in-house or also work with third-party developers?

Both: we have strong in-house development and also work as a publisher. And as we are not looking to scale the business geographically, we will be opening up for potential cooperation with local studios.

Which of your games have been most successful?

We look at success from several aspects – consumer value, lifetime, as well as monetisation.

World of Shadows has been one of the most successful titles with 16.5 million registered users demonstrating an average life-time of more than six months.

World of Shadows

Have you considered releasing games through Apple App Store and/or Google Play?

We have a very good relationship with our vendor partners.

Some of our titles are published in the Nokia Store and on Google Play. One title recently passed the two million download mark in Nokia Store.

If you’re already profitable, why did you decide to do a funding round, and how will the $3 million raised change your business approach?

Growing a business always requires investments, local partners and great products. We are excited to have Runa as our partner. The Runa team has unique expertise in successful scaling global IT businesses such as Parallels and Acronis.

Its expertise will increase our chances to become the leading browser game developer in the world. Having it on board, our plans to grow the business will accelerate and add key competencies on how to grow and manage the company.

We plan to use the cash infusion to expand into new markets, dive a little more deeply into HTML5 and continue to improve our current games as well as develop new titles.

Expanding our publishing network to new markets and push development of mobile gaming social networks, which are already in development, will also be very important.

HTML5 hasn’t had a good press from developers so why is it important for your future games?

It is important to understand current limitations but also to keep track of on-going disruptions.

As devices get more computing power, telcos invest in faster networks. At the same time browser companies like Opera, Firefox, Google and Nokia invest into driving future disruption.

We are confident that the market for MMO browsable games will continue to expand, as easier access will enable more people to discover new games.

For the users it’s as easy as surfing the web, no download or updates required. Switching device is also not a problem, just open up a browser and seamlessly continue your gameplay.

What’s important about the distribution deal you signed with Opera?

Opera is a strong partner that brings innovation to the industry when it comes to proxy technologies, as well as driving HTML5 adaptation across a wide device segment.

Being able to browse the internet faster and to have access to richer content are consumer benefits we can both profit by the strategic partnership.

When should we expect the first western-targeted games from Playtox?

Very, very soon. Our game producers are currently working on something amazing that will excite gamers in the west. Stay tuned!

Thanks to Dmitry for his time.

You can see what Playtox gets up to via its website.

Article source: http://www.pocketgamer.biz/r/PG.Biz/Playtox+news/feature.asp?c=51683

Adobe Reader and Oracle Java aren’t alone in having a bull’s eye painted on their code by hackers. WordPress also is becoming a popular target for Internet outlaws.

It’s quite a large target, too. About 18 percent of the sites on the Web — about 60 million of them — use WordPress.

One reason WordPress is attracting hacker attention is that it’s so easy to write plug-ins for it, noted Maty Siman, founder and CTO of
Checkmarx.

There are more than 25,000 plug-ins written for WordPress. “That’s good for WordPress, but it has some bad security implications,” Siman told TechNewsWorld.

For instance, every week there are at least two advisories on critical security vulnerabilities in a WordPress plug-in.

Hacker’s Paradise

Checkmarx is releasing a study Tuesday on vulnerabilities in WordPress plug-ins. The task was daunting, Siman confessed.

Six months ago, the company started scanning just the top 50 WordPress plug-ins.

“We were overwhelmed by the sheer amount of results,” Siman said.

So the researchers limited themselves to the five most critical vulnerabilities — SQL injection, cross-site scripting, cross-site request forgery, file inclusion and pass reversal.

“Once we limited ourselves to those vulnerabilities, the results were more meaningful — yet shocking,” Siman said. “We found that 30 percent of the top 50 plug-ins were found to be vulnerable to at least one of the vulnerabilities.”

With numbers like that, it’s no wonder hackers are paying more attention to WordPress.

“They’ve found it’s relatively easy to hack WordPress,” Siman observed, “and the benefit of hacking such a website is huge, because once you find a vulnerability, you can hack into millions of websites.”

Coalition Targets NSA

Mozilla and more than 60 technology and business organizations announced last week a coalition to prod federal action to address what they see as broad violations of U.S. citizens’ privacy rights by the National Security Agency.

The NSA has been exposed by whistleblower Edward Snowden as mounting a massive data fishing expedition through the servers of Google, Facebook, Microsoft and others and daily hoovering all phone calls made on Verizon’s phone network.

The high-tech giants all initially denied any willing participation in the NSA’s surveillance campaign. However, Facebook, Microsoft and Apple have recently disclosed some information regarding their compliance with government requests.

There’s a lesson about responsibility from the NSA flap, said Free Press Internet Campaign Director Josh Levy.

“This moment is a wake-up for Internet companies — for established companies like Facebook and Google, but also for startups and folks trying to get into these spaces,” he said.

With Great Nets Come Great Responsibility

“They’re realizing that storing users’ data and creating these vibrant platforms, if successful, become mainstays of people’s lives,” Levy continued.

“It entails quite a bit of responsibility,” he added, “and maybe it’s the kind of responsibility that folks like Mark Zuckerberg didn’t really expect to have when they started out years ago.”

The Mozilla
StopWatching.us coalition is calling on Congress to take the following steps:

• Reform federal law to prohibit blanket surveillance of Internet activity and phone records of any person residing in the United States, and to require that violations of that prohibition be reviewed in adversarial proceedings before a public court;
• Create a special committee to investigate, report, and reveal to the public the extent of domestic spying, and to make specific recommendations for legal and regulatory reform to end unconstitutional surveillance; and
• Hold accountable those public officials who are found to be responsible for unconstitutional surveillance.

Trojan Spreads via Bluetooth

Some Android malware that includes Bluetooth in its propagation toolbox was discovered by Kaspersky Lab last week.

The malware — dubbed “Backdoor.AndroidOS.Obad.a,” is a multifunction Trojan that can send SMS messages to premium rate numbers and download malware to a phone.

It also tries to infect other phones over a Bluetooth connection.

“It’s pretty unusual,” Kaspersky Senior Malware Analyst Denis Maslennikov told TechNewsWorld.

“We’ve never seen this before — but it’s unlikely that this technique would become common and widespread,” he added.

“Besides the fact that Obad can operate as a classic backdoor, it’s as sophisticated as many other types of malware for Windows,” noted Maslennikov. “Growing complexity of mobile malware is becoming a new trend today, and we expect to see more sophisticated threats in the near future.”

Data Breach Diary

• June 10. Invincea discovers link from The Drudge Report leads to a Washington Free Beacon story that contains malware infecting anyone who landed on the page.
• June 11. Kaspersky Lab identifies Chinese-government-linked hacker group it calls “Red Star APT.” Made up of about 50 people and active since 2004 or 2005, the group is responsible for 350 high-profile attacks, according to Kaspersky. Victims include government agencies, embassies, universities, defense contractors, and oil companies in 40 countries.
• June 12. Protiviti releases annual Security and Privacy survey that shows
  two-thirds (68 percent) of respondents said they had elevated their focus on information security in response to recent press coverage of so-called “cyberwarfare.” However, when asked if their organizations had a formal and documented crisis-response plan for use following a data breach or hacking incident, more than one-third reported that either their organizations did not (21 percent) or that they did not know (13 percent).
• June 14. Identity protection firm CSID releases survey finding that only 12 percent of small businesses have a data breach preparedness plan. Researchers also find that 55 percent of the small businesses in the survey store Social Security numbers; 80 percent, email addresses; and 70 percent phone numbers and home addresses of employees, customers and partners.

Upcoming Security Events

• June 14-22. SANSfire 2013. Washington Hilton, 1919 Connecticut Ave. NW,
  Washington, D.C. Course tracks range from US$1,800-$4,845.
• June 18. Say Yes to BYOD and No to Threats. 2 p.m. ET. Watchguard webinar. Free.
• June 20. Top Ten Web Defenses. 2 p.m. ET. Black Hat webcast sponsored by Symantec. Free.
• June 25-26. ICF International CyberSci Summit 2013. Arlington Hilton Hotel, Arlington, Va. Registration: $650.
• June 28. Small Company Cyber security Awareness Seminar. 2 p.m.-5 p.m. ICT Knowledge Transfer Network, Birmingham, UK. Free.
• July 24. Cyber Security Brainstorm. Newseum , Washington, D.C. Registration: non-government employees $495; July 24, $595.
• July 27-Aug. 1. Black Hat USA 2013. Caesars Palace, Las Vegas. Registration: June 1-July 24, $2,195; July 25-Aug. 1, $2,595.
• Sept. 24-27. ASIS International 59th Annual Conference. McCormick Place, Chicago. Registration: Before Aug. 21, $895 member, $1,150 non-member. After Aug. 20, $995 member, $1,295 non-member.
  

John Mello is a freelance technology writer and former special correspondent for Government Security News.

Article source: http://www.technewsworld.com/story/78289.html

Automattic, the parent company of WordPress.com, has acquired Poster, the popular iOS WordPress client. Its sole developer, Tom Witkin, will join the WordPress mobile team. Poster, which launched its 2.0 version in January, has already been removed from the App Store, but users who previously bought it will always be able to re-download it. Witkin also promises to continue to support it.

For Automattic, this is a smart move. Poster was always one of the most elegant and smarter mobile WordPress clients, and while the company itself has made great strides with its own mobile apps, they couldn’t quite rival Poster’s design. As Automattic’s founder Matt Mullenweg told me, “we have acquired the Poster app and its technology, and we’re excited to have Tom contributing to the Automattic mobile team. WordPress on mobile is growing rapidly and so is our investment in it.”

Witkin says that this move will enable him to keep doing what he loves — “creating apps and experiences that enable and delight.” Poster included features like Dropbox integration, Markdown support and full WordPress integration, including support for custom posts.

It’s worth noting that WordPress’ own app doesn’t currently have most of these advanced features, but chances are the addition of Witkin and some of the code he developed for Poster will soon find its way into the official client.

• AUTOMATTIC

Automattic is the company behind WordPress.com, the simplest, most secure way to start web-publishing immediately on the open source WordPress platform. They also make Jetpack for WordPress, which bundles a number of social improvements to the WordPress core software as a single plugin.

Automattic offers a number of products, like VaultPress and Akismet, on a freemium model so anyone can use them for free, and later have the choice to pay extra for premium features.

Automattic has over 150 employees, including…

→ Learn more

Article source: http://techcrunch.com/2013/06/17/automattic-acquires-ios-wordpress-client-poster-to-improve-its-own-mobile-apps/

New York, NY — (SBWIRE) — 06/17/2013 — All savvy online business owners know that it takes more than just information to create a website that showcases their products and services. In order to draw visitors and keep customers interested, a business website should provide a professional, comprehensive and creative style the engages visitors.

WordPress, the most popular platform for blogging and webpage creation, offers a wealth of options for business owners looking to bring their presence online. Individuals in the restaurant business can make use of WordPress but with the numerous selections, it can be a time-consuming task to choose the best themes due to the sheer number of theme available.

WPThemesLineup offers its recommended choices to select the most appropriate WordPress theme for their food business or particular niche. WPThemesLineup.com reviews only the best themes by design and a usability standpoint, pointing out the pros and cons of each. Notably, the website focuses on only premium themes, to cater to anyone running a real restaurant business who wants a premium theme that differentiates theirs compared to the rest.

By reviewing and recommending the best WordPress themes, WPThemesLineup.com helps online restaurant website owners decide how their restaurant business will shine among the vast Internet landscape. The website makes a video for each review and recommendation. As a result of each review, visitors are able to fully understand why it ranks on the list as the best WordPress theme.

WPThemesLineup.com’s top WordPress theme recommendations for 2013 are Linguini, MyCuisine, The Restaurant, Pluto, Gusteau, Delicious and Rezo. Each of the themes provides the right blog or website features that fit specific kinds of restaurant or food business, and makes an appropriate representation of each.

In addition, the highly capable team behind WPThemesLineup.com offers expert advice that is important for each restaurant owner to know when customizing WordPress blog theme, such as pictures of the place, of the food and other key details. The website offers invaluable tips to coming up with a restaurant WordPress site that looks great and includes all the features needed – minus all the plugins.

To find out more about choosing the right WordPress themes showcasing the products and services of a restaurant and other businesses, please visit http://wpthemeslineup.com for information.

About WPThemesLineup.com
WPThemesLineup.com is a theme review website which focuses on featuring the best WordPress themes out there. Taking the hassle out of reviewing and comparing, the website provides recommendations on the most appropriate themes for a blog

Article source: http://www.sbwire.com/press-releases/top-wordpress-themes-for-restaurants-ranked-at-wpthemeslineupcom-266888.htm

Blogs have come a long way in the last 10 years. The concept has evolved from teenagers reliving their angst-filled days on LiveJournal to the medium through which we now consume almost all content on the Internet. But, as is so often the case after years of incremental iteration: Innovation has all but ceased. Today, we find ourselves on the edge of the next big content revolution, because the truth is that–at present–online publishing is being pretty harshly neglected.

Before we can look at why, first we need to rewind a little. In early 2003, a rambunctious teenager named Matt Mullenweg was blogging every day about his life in college. His page consisted mainly of photos of himself, the girls he was evidently pursuing, and some very vague ideas about optimizing his life. It was a typical blog, but it was important to him–and that’s what really counts. (Below, Matt Mullenweg circa 2003.)

Where Matt differed from most teenagers was that he had a keen interest in the politics of software licensing. Matt supported Open Source, free software that he believed was important to the Internet. So he didn’t use LiveJournal or TextPattern–the most popular options at the time–he used a less known, smaller blogging platform called b2. After a while, though, b2 fell into disrepair and its creator was notable primarily by his absence. Matt threw around the idea of taking over the project for a while, and eventually this lead to him taking b2′s files and renaming the project “WordPress.”[1]

A few weeks ago WordPress celebrated its 10th birthday. It now powers roughly 20% of all websites which exist on the Internet. The success of WordPress is unquestionable, but there are signs that history is repeating itself once more in 2013.

When WordPress was first released, it was a blogging platform. It existed for the same reason as LiveJournal, but the difference was that it was Open Source, allowing you to host a blog on your own domain–a valuable distinction. Over the years people started using WordPress not just to build blogs, but to build entire websites. Good website content management software was hard to find, and while a blogging platform wasn’t technically the right tool for the job, it was oftentimes a far easier one to work with than the alternatives.

So, as user and developer demand grew, WordPress began its long transition from blog to content management system. It wasn’t an easy transition, and to this day, WordPress still tries to make sure everyone knows it’s “not just for blogs” as it truly has grown into so much more.

And yet, it somehow feels like we’re back in 2003 again. Publishing on the web is in a state of complete disrepair.

While WordPress hasn’t fallen into disrepair, it’s a far cry from what it once was. Mullenweg’s company, Automattic, with some $81 million of investment, is trying to re-invent WordPress.com to be something used to create websites for restaurants, schools, and musicians. Meanwhile, the lead developers for the WordPress software are building incredible things like multi-site functionality and custom content types… but not a single one of them actually maintains an active blog[2].

There is no longer such a strong notion that WordPress is “just a blogging platform,” because it’s actually no longer a blogging platform at all. Matt Mullenweg himself now says that the future of WordPress is as a “web operating system.”

The state of online publishing is clear. All around us we see new platforms popping up, growing, and trying to fill the very large shoes which WordPress has left behind. These are all proprietary products with closed licenses that exist–like LiveJournal and TextPattern did–to make their companies wealthy.

But what they lack is the same thing that has always made WordPress great. The ability to take full control. To design, to develop, to change, to extend and to customize. You are locked into the platform of a company that is trying to make a lot of money. And you will play by their rules.

For many of the same reasons as Matt created WordPress in 2003, I launched a Kickstarter campaign for a new product called Ghost that proudly wears the mantle which WordPress cast aside: It’s just a blogging platform. It’s also a not-for-profit organisation. In the one month the campaign has been live, it has raised just over $300,000 on Kickstarter–not from investors, but from real people who want to use it.

Over the coming weeks and months, I will start to share with you the beginning of a story that I hope will be even greater than the one that started back in 2003. Today, blogging is no longer about teenagers in their bedrooms. As the age of print media continues to decline steadily, blogs now power the biggest websites and publications in the world. Online publishing is blogging.

There is so much undiscovered potential. The next revolution in online content is only just beginning and I’m incredibly excited to be a part of it.

1. In fact, he didn’t rename everything. The first few versions of WordPress shipped with many files still with the “b2-” prefix, rather than “wp-.”
2. Actually WordPress lead developer Mark Jaquith does have a new blog, but it’s on Medium.

[Photos courtesy of Matt Mullenweg | Flickr user n3wjack]

Article source: http://www.fastcolabs.com/3013086/open-company/who-will-pick-up-where-wordpress-left-off?partner=rss

New Delhi, India — (SBWIRE) — 06/17/2013 — Web Designer and first time author, Reeta Krishna, has published a do-it-yourself guide for building websites with WordPress. Titled ‘Stoked About WordPress’, the book will enable even the total newbie to install a basic WordPress website and then overhaul it into a whole new level of design with a custom background, graphics, fonts, header and more. That too, without any coding.

“Setting up a website with WordPress is a cinch. Once you have surmounted the initial learning curve, you’ll be whipping out incredibly cool websites.” says Reeta. “Which is just as well because the fact is that in today’s age, you absolutely need a website. Else, you could be missing out on a huge opportunity to leverage the world wide web and take your business to new heights. However, in today’s recession-stricken economy, you shouldn’t have to dole out pot loads of money for a custom website.”

It’s true that WordPress has made the process of building websites incredibly easy, even for complete beginners who haven’t so much as sniffed at a line of code. However, getting acclimatized with the framework and using it the right way can get a bit daunting. Without a helping hand, that is.

That’s where the book comes in.

‘Stoked About WordPress’ has been divided into 3 steps to break down the website-building process into easily digestible ‘byte’ sized chunks: The Essentials, The Optimization and The Design.

A unique design is an overlooked aspect in most DIY guides and yet an important one. ‘Stoked About WordPress’ endeavors to fill the gap. As the author puts it “If you want your site to be taken seriously and gain traction in the blogosphere or the internet in general, it’s imperative you give your WordPress site a personal touch, some character and make it uniquely you.”

The is available for sale exclusively on Amazon.

About the Author: Reeta Krishna
Reeta Krishna is a web designer/developer and has been working with WordPress websites since 2010. ‘Stoked About WordPress’ is her first book.

She holds a Masters degree in Economics from Texas AM University, but being a techie at heart decided to switch fields to technology. Reeta likes to write about WordPress resources, optimization and traffic tips. The idea is to arm small business owners with the knowledge to setup, maintain, design and turn their websites into a potent source of traffic, sales and revenue.

Article source: http://www.sbwire.com/press-releases/avoid-a-virtual-identity-crisis-with-a-low-cost-homemade-fully-customized-wordpress-website-266061.htm

It is easy to make fun of a language when you don’t really understand it and are simply comparing it to what you already know. JavaScript suffers a lot from the WAT! style of humor. So does it deserve it?

You must have encountered the WAT! meme somewhere on the web. The idea is simple – you present some aspect of a language to a group of programmers, demonstrate how stupid it is on the basis of what it does, and finish off with a WAT!

And a big laugh.

The target is more often than not JavaScript and the result is that the perpetrators of the WAT end up showing how narrow their experience of programming has been. 

Why is JavaScript so often the butt of the joke?

Part of the reason is that it is a language that beginners pick up and never quite mange to learn – so they end up churning out some very bad code. It is also the case that JavaScript looks like a trivial language; this means you can get a long way without having to learn anything new so, again, the result is bad code. Many programmers think that when they see bad code in a language then it is the language’s fault. Of course you can see bad code in many languages. But JavaScript has a repuation for it that goes well beyond what seems reasonable.

Perhaps because JavaScript is just different and we all know that it doesn’t pay to be different.

Different isn’t the same as bad. Sometimes I think that Douglas Crockford did JavaScript a great disservice by writing JavaScript: The Good Parts because it advertised an all-too-clear message that JavaScript was so bad that it needed the few things that were good about it listed in a book. It has to be partly responsible for the way that you hear programmers saying how awful the language is and then adding,”but I’ve never used it”. By saying that JavaScript had some good parts, Crockford gave authority to everyone who wanted to say that it was bad.

Programmers coming from a strongly-typed, class-based language more or less completely misunderstand JavaScript and never realize that their complaints and “WAT” jokes simply reveal that they haven’t a clue wat they are doing.

Let me give you an example. Suppose I just picked up a little bit of Java (replace by your favorite class-based, strongly-typed language) and were presenting a WAT! to a group of JavaScript programmers. First you would show how Java lets you get some data from a UI component:

String cost = UI.getCost();
float tax=cost*0.1;

First off you have had a small laugh at the use of String and Int. But your audience now falls about laughing when you show the error message that results from trying to compute the tax. WAT! you have to convert the user input from “100″ to 100 how stupid is that! After that you can all have a really good laugh when it is revealed that, even after converting the String to an Integer:

float tax = Integer.parseInt(cost)*0.1;

it still doesn’t work! Yes Java has two types of floating point data and 0.1 is a double, not a float! 

You can now all sit back and wonder why Java has anything so complicated when all you need is a floating point type that can represent integers accurately over a very big range – just like JavaScript. Why bother with a distinction between 1.0 and 1, and even more silly is the distiction between 1 and “1″. 

JavaScript does it differently and this doesn’t mean its wrong any more than Java’s strong typing is “wrong”. 

You can continue in this way making Java or any other class-based, strongly-typed language seem broken in hilarious ways. For example functions that return “void” – what’s a void, is it an object, can you smoke it?

Then you can put together an example where a function needs to be passed to another function – only to discover that it can’t be done. WAT! functions can’t be defined outside of an object… you can’t pass a function argument! Java is only just getting round to adding lambda expressions?! And so on…

The point is that this is more a clash of cultures than a proof that anyone’s language is laughable. 

There are problems in JavaScript that make it harder to use than it should be, and there are parts of it that are more error prone than they should be, but the strange thing is that they aren’t the parts that most WAT! examples use for their laugh. Yes, they are mostly laughing at the good bits because they haven’t taken the time to learn the language. 

And please don”t try telling me why Java does things in the way that it does – this isn’t about the merits, or otherwise, of strong typing, class-based objects or functions as second class citizens. This is about how any language can seem extreme in its approach if you don’t share the understanding and motivation of the language. I don’t really think that any of the WAT! examples of Java  are funny and I don’t think the approach is unreasonable, but I do want you to try and imagine that this isn’t the only possible way and programmers from other persuasions could, and do, find Java’s approach less than natural and far from logical.

Strong typing isn’t the only way to do things, neither is a class-based type hierarchy the only approach to objects. It is important that we find out about different ways of organizing what we do, and if things seem strange and even silly – remember they might be just different.

Related Articles

JavaScript Is Basic’s Offspring

Why JavaScript is a Jem

JavaScript Inherits the Earth

JavaScript: The Good Parts (Book Review)

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Poster App For iOS Acquired Closed By WordPress Creator Automattic

Killian Bell (7:09 am PDT, Jun 17th)

Poster, a wonderful WordPress client for iOS, which we’ve written about many times here on Cult of Mac, has been acquired by WordPress creator Automattic.

The app has since been pulled from the App Store and will no longer be available in its current form, but developer Tom Witkin, who announced the acquisition on his blog, insists he will continue to provide support for existing users.

“I’m elated to share that I, along with Poster, will be joining Automattic,” Witkin wrote on Monday. “I’ll be working with the mobile team where I’ll be both designing and coding.”

You’ll no longer be able to purchase Poster if you haven’t already, then, but existing users will be able to re-download it from the App Store. The app will continue to function as it always has done for the foreseeable future, and Witkin says that he’s “just an email away if you have any questions” about it.

Witkin will now join Automattic and continue “creating apps and experiences that enable and delight.”

It’s a shame to see Poster go, because it was — without doubt — one of the best WordPress clients available on iOS. Hopefully some of its functionality will now make its way into the official WordPress app — which will certainly welcome Witkin’s input — but it won’t quite be the same.

• Source Tom Witkin
• Via AppAdvice

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Article source: http://www.cultofmac.com/232139/poster-app-for-ios-acquired-by-wordpress-creator-automattic/

Wholesale Cell Phones

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Article source: http://wmpoweruser.com/wordpress-for-windows-phone-updated-to-v2-2-with-gallery-support/

Posted by Progressive Global Energy Natural Resources on Monday, June 17, 2013

Location
Australia,Western Australia,Perth Australia

Category
IT

Employment Type
Contract

Full Description
I am looking for a C# developer with extensive experience of the ASP.net MVC framework to work with a high-profile client based in Perth CBD. The client has just begun the development of a large, business critical application.

The required skills are:

- Strong C#

- Extensive experience in the ASP.net MVC framework

- LINQ

- Strong Javascript

The preferred skills are:

- Agile

- Team Foundation Server

- Experience with sprints

This is a good opportunity to be involved in a long-term project, where you will central to business activity and you will be able to influence the future direction of the project.

If you have the experience please send your details through to James Macauley at Progressive Global Energy.

Visit the Progressive Global Energy Natural Resources website to find out more.

Job ref: PR-12364738_1371453538

Salary
£55.89 – £59.17 per hour

Experience
No experience needed

Education
Degree / Postgraduate / 3 year

Expertise
Not specified

Apply for this Job

Article source: http://www.oilvoice.com/job/C_Developer_MVC_Linq2sql_Javascript_Agile/e2413b38.aspx

 News
 
 Images

Native apps huge growth over HTML5 at AppCreatives

PRWEB.COM Newswire

London, United Kingdom (PRWEB UK) 17 June 2013

“Over the last twelve months, we have seen a significant drop in customers who are looking to build HTML5 universal apps. Subsequently we have increased our app development team by 50% to cope with a huge native app demand.” said Russell Berry, Director, AppCreatives.

“Our focus has turned completely to native development. Clients are now more clued up on the app world more than ever before. They know exactly what features they want built, they are planning ahead with marketing budgets, scheduled launch events etc, and less concerned about rushing a ‘one size fits all’ app into the market.”

“The mobile app arena is constantly changing. This time last year the market was announcing HTML5 as the future of app development. However with some major brands such as Facebook recently replacing their HTML5 apps with Native apps for iOS and Android, this was a game changer.” Techcrunch reported last Autumn that Facebook’s “CEO Mark Zuckerberg would later call relying on HTML5 was one of Facebook’s biggest mistakes to date. It would backtrack, rebuild its mobile apps natively and focus on speed.”

“Over the past six months in particular clients who had previously demanded HTML5 app builds backtracked and decided to go for Native app builds. Furthermore we saw an increase in customers who had in fact already built HTML5 apps offshore, and were now looking for Native builds, after experiencing issues such as lack of speed and poor customer feedback.”

“Our clients certainly seem to be focussed in providing their customers with the ‘total package’, and having a presence in the app stores. We will be interested to see if this trend continues at AppCreatives over the next year.” concluded Berry.

About the Author

Russell Berry is Director of AppCreatives.co.uk, a fast growing SME that offers mobile/PDA application solutions that help organisations communicate with their customers through custom mobile devices. Leveraging industry intelligence and technological background, our developers design and build mobile applications that are customer-friendly and facilitate easy and quick data processing.

For more information please see http://www.appcreatives.co.uk

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/6/prweb10803340.htm

Article source: http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/1307712

 News
 
 Images

Native apps huge growth over HTML5 at AppCreatives

PRWEB.COM Newswire

London, United Kingdom (PRWEB UK) 17 June 2013

“Over the last twelve months, we have seen a significant drop in customers who are looking to build HTML5 universal apps. Subsequently we have increased our app development team by 50% to cope with a huge native app demand.” said Russell Berry, Director, AppCreatives.

“Our focus has turned completely to native development. Clients are now more clued up on the app world more than ever before. They know exactly what features they want built, they are planning ahead with marketing budgets, scheduled launch events etc, and less concerned about rushing a ‘one size fits all’ app into the market.”

“The mobile app arena is constantly changing. This time last year the market was announcing HTML5 as the future of app development. However with some major brands such as Facebook recently replacing their HTML5 apps with Native apps for iOS and Android, this was a game changer.” Techcrunch reported last Autumn that Facebook’s “CEO Mark Zuckerberg would later call relying on HTML5 was one of Facebook’s biggest mistakes to date. It would backtrack, rebuild its mobile apps natively and focus on speed.”

“Over the past six months in particular clients who had previously demanded HTML5 app builds backtracked and decided to go for Native app builds. Furthermore we saw an increase in customers who had in fact already built HTML5 apps offshore, and were now looking for Native builds, after experiencing issues such as lack of speed and poor customer feedback.”

“Our clients certainly seem to be focussed in providing their customers with the ‘total package’, and having a presence in the app stores. We will be interested to see if this trend continues at AppCreatives over the next year.” concluded Berry.

About the Author

Russell Berry is Director of AppCreatives.co.uk, a fast growing SME that offers mobile/PDA application solutions that help organisations communicate with their customers through custom mobile devices. Leveraging industry intelligence and technological background, our developers design and build mobile applications that are customer-friendly and facilitate easy and quick data processing.

For more information please see http://www.appcreatives.co.uk

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/6/prweb10803340.htm

Article source: http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/1307712

 Thursday, June 20 to 22

BETTERMENT WORKSHOPS

A workshop on Entrepreneurship and Realizing your Dream by Mischu Laikah

Location: Carl’s Sons Convention Center (Cole Bay)

Time: 6:00-10:00pm

Friday, June 21

Location: John Larmonie Center

Time: 6:00-10:00pm

Saturday, June 22

Location: Loterie Farm

Time: 11:00am-3:00pm

All sessions are free

Register (first and last name):
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Saturday, June 22 and 23

NAUTICAL FESTIVAL

Organised by: Metimer

Time: 10:00am to 6:00pm both days

Place: Grand Case Beach (in front of LOLO’s)

Cost: Free access to demo’s, nominal charge to participate in some activities.

Description: Discovery of the various nautical activities on offer in SXM (Kayak, Hawaiian Canoes, Stand Up Paddle, Windsurf, Jet ski, Diving, Snorkeling, Sailing trips, etc.) available to the general public at nominal fees (2-5 euro), all day long fun races demonstrations (waterski, fly board, sea survival, etc.), food drinks, live musical entertainment, etc.

Volunteers needed, please sign up as of today!

For Info: Fanoula: +590 690 334338 (English/ Dutch) or Agnes, +590 690 889909 (French),
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Website: http://www.fetedunautisme.com/ or http://www.metimer.fr/

NOTICES

Swim Classes

Carib Swim invites persons to sign up for their weekly swim crash courses at the pool in Cole Bay. From Monday to Friday for only US$40 per week. Mornings and afternoons available.Starting in July. For more information contact Clyde 5531005 or Sylvia 5872021 or email
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Children Programmes

Positively Active Vacationing Youngster is registering children for their Summer, Active After-school and Early Stimulation programmes. For more information call Cell.:1-721- 526-9852   1-721-554-4601 or visit  Long Wall Rd. # 25C.

Fête de la Musique

The Arts and Culture Service of the Collectivité is appealing to all interested musicians and groups interested in taking part in Fête de la Musique on Friday June 21 to get in touch with the department by calling the following numbers: (0590) 29.59.18, (0590) 29.59.24 or mobiles (0690) 88.90.97 and (0690)34.47.67

Women’s Soccer Team

Oualichi Women’s Soccer Team invites women to be part of their team. Practice takes place every Monday and Wednesday from 5:30pm at the Raoul Illidge Sports Complex on the open field. For more information call: 5879180 or email:
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. Visit Facebook Page: Oualichi Women’s Soccer Team.

Girls Soccer Clinic

The Oualichi Women’s Soccer Team Association is organizing a girls soccer clinic ages 6-13.The soccer clinic will take place on 20 July. It will be a fun day where girls will be introduced to the sport of soccer. Sign up for this unique event. For more information call 5879180 or email:
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. Visit our Facebook page: Oualichi Women’s Soccer Team.

After School Programme

Joann’s After School is now registering children ages 4 to 16yrs for the new school year 2013-2014. For more information call 5240401 after 12 noon email:
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.

Summer Camp

Children ages 4 years and up are welcome to attend. Registration starts June 3, at the Yogesh Commercial Complex, Cul de Sac on Mondays to Friday from 5:00pm – 7:30pm, and Saturdays 9:30am – 12:30pm or call 522-5801/534-4436 or email
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.

Raffle Winners

Sr. Borgia Elementary School – Post Mothers Day Raffle winners names and numbers are: 1st Prize 0125 Tara Charles – Weekend Stay at Belair Beach Hotel; 2nd Prize 0076 Lavaugn henry – Dinner for 2 at Pineapple Petes and 3rd Prize 0520 Aisha Roumou – Gift Basket.

School Registration

Clay Montessori Academy is now registering for the 2013/2014 school year. Accepting registrations for the following programs; infants-18 months, 18 months-3 years, 3-6 years and 6-9 years, as well as registrations for the afterschool program. Call for more information or to make an appointment at 548-3834/527-4449 or email us at
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.

Summer Camp

Clay Montessori Academy Summer Camp 2013 is now registering students from ages 3-12. Programs will begin July 2 to July 19, from 9:00am to 5:00pm; drop off at 8:00am. For more information contact 550-4220/ 527-4449 or email
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.

Female Soccer Team

FC Soualiga is looking for energetic and fun ladies to join the team. Practice takes place on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6:00pm at Asha Stevens Campus of the Hillside Christian School in Cay Hill. Contact
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, look up FC Soualiga on facebook.

Summer Camp

Joaan/Coach Robert Summer Camp 2013 July 8 through August 2 is now registering children ages 4-16. For more information call 524-0401/553-4714 from 12:00 noon until, or e-mail
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. The office is located at Back Street #102 above Alberto’s.

Volunteers Needed

St Maarten Red Cross is looking for volunteers. Interested persons can visit their Building or call 545-2333 or 586-5330 for more information.

Literacy Program

Come Center has commenced its Literacy Program for persons in the community who would like to learn to read and write and/or improve their writing/reading skills. Classes are being held on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday 7:00-9:00pm weekly. For more information call 523-0901, 556-8306 or 580-7628 or email:
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Free HIV testing

St. Maarten AIDS Foundation is offering free and confidential HIV testing Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays at its office from 9:00am to 12:00pm. Results are available in 15 minutes. If these hours are not convenient call 553-2626 or 588-4636 to make an appointment. The office is on the second floor of the Bluepoint building in Cole Bay (across from the Tropicana Casino). Parking and entrance is at the back of the building.

Sailing Lessons

St. Maarten Yacht Club youth sailing program will be starting beginners sailing lessons on Tuesday and Friday afternoons. On Tuesday afternoons for teens 12 and older and on Friday afternoon for children under 12. lessons run 3:30-6:00pm. For more information email
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or call 586-0850.

Positive Thinking

Brahma Kumaris St. Maarten invites persons to its on-going free meditation and Positive Thinking courses at Raj Yoga Centre, 16 Front Street. Call 524-2554 or 542-0541 for more information.

Jiu Jitsu Classes

Renzo Gracie St Maarten is open for registration for children and adults. Class schedule as follows: Monday/Wednesday 6:00pm Ginastica Natural and Adults (15+) Jiu Jitsu. Tuesday/Thursday 3:15-4:00pm ages 4/6, 4-4:45pm ages 4/6, 4:45-5:30 ages 7/9, 5:30-6:30pm ages 10/16. Location: Megaplex Cinemas, Cole Bay. For more info please call 580 3894 or email
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Community Reading Class

Organised by the Salvation Army at Union Road #59, Cole Bay, every Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, 2:30-4:30pm

Soccer Team

St. Maarten Women’s Oualichi soccer team is looking for players. If interested email
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.

Physically Challenged Support

Be Able Committee is seeking to register all persons living with physical handicaps in an effort to lend support to their living conditions and other needs. If you or someone you know is in need of such services, call 587-2678 or e-mail
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.

Programme for Alcoholics

Al-Anon is a non-profit 12-step programme in partnership with Alcoholics Anonymous available for persons, family and friends of persons who may have a problem with alcoholism. The support group meets at Red Cross on Airport Boulevard every Monday and Friday, 6:00-7:00pm. For information call 527-1343.

Junior Golf

Junior Golf new season begins at Emilio Wilson Park for beginning and experienced golfers ages 8-16, Tuesdays, 3:30-4:45pm. No charge for children. For information call Jim Rosen at 587-7682 or e-mail
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.

Opening Hours

St. Maarten National Heritage Foundation informs the general public that the museum opening hours are Monday-Friday, 10:00am to 4:00pm.

Flea-market/ Social Services

Every Saturday from 10:00am goods and services can be offered at lagoon marina free of charge. Persons may bring take good and services to offer, swap or sell. Contact
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or 5860131 for more information.

Foster Parents Needed

Foundation Judiciary Institutes Windward Islands (FJIWI)/Stichting Justitiele Inrichtingen Bovenwinden (SJIB), is looking for foster parents: permanent foster parents, weekend/vacation foster parents and emergency/crisis foster parents.

Volunteers (mentors and case-workers): to give assistance and guidance in the field of education and welfare to children in foster care, their biological parents, guardians and foster parents. Interested persons can call the F.J.I.W.I. Foster Families Centre at 542-3449 for an appointment and information about the upcoming workshops for foster parents and foster carers. Email inquiries can be sent to
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.

HOPE Meetings

The HIV/AIDS support group HOPE is inviting all HIV positive persons to attend their monthly meetings. For more information contact Dr. Gerard van Osch, tel. 544-5374, during office hours.

Volunteers Needed

St. Maarten Animal Welfare Foundation is seeking volunteers during the morning hours for special activities. For more information call 520-8887.

Volunteers Needed

Les Quatre Pattes/PAWS animal association has several opportunities available for those seeking to help the animals on the island. Volunteers willing to help call 0690-34-04-07 or 552-0407.

Animal Volunteer

Animals R Friends Foundation needs volunteers 15 years and older who are not afraid of handling animals for various tasks: feeding cats and dogs, walking dogs, guest-speakers for ARF, lesson materials for schools, etc. For more information call at 5561191 / 5270527 / 5207365 / 5260113 or e-mail:
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.

Music School

Andante Music School is now registering students for music lessons at the school in Sucker Garden, Kings of the Sea Road #17. Registration is possible Mondays to Fridays, 3:30-6:30pm. Classes begin in September. For more information contact B. van Veen (
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or 520-1030/542-0727).

Members Meeting

St. Maarten Seniors and Pensioners Association invites members to meet board members and pay dues on the first Tuesday of every month between 10:00am and 12:00pm.

Article source: http://www.thedailyherald.com/index.php/community/notices-a-events/39747-notices-june-17.html