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10 Incredible Works of Art Made in Microsoft Excel

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While most see Microsoft Excel as endless blank rows and columns, others view it as a platform to bring their artwork to life.

Many have managed to push the limits of the spreadsheet-making software that most of us try to avoid at all costs. From landscape masterpieces to recreations of our favorite video game characters, Excel has been unexpectedly used as a drawing tool to create some of the coolest illustrations.

Below, we've put together 10 incredible works of art made in Microsoft Excel.

1. Japanese art by Tatsuo Horiuchi

Japanese art

Image: Imgur, ...

More about Microsoft, Art, Features, Design, and Spreadsheet

By |October 26th, 2014|Apps and Software|0 Comments

5 Can’t-Miss Apps: Rooms, Inbox, TinType and More

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Between the first games of the World Series and the rollout of iOS 8.1, which finally makes Apple Pay available, you may have missed some of this week's best new apps.

Luckily, each weekend, Mashable rounds up our favorite new and updated apps so you won't miss out.

This week's list includes Hipstamatic's newest app for (really) retro-looking photos, Google's new email app and an app for collaborative six-second looping videos.

Check out the gallery, above, to see all the apps that made our list. If you're looking for more, check out ...

More about Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Tech, and Apps Software

By |October 26th, 2014|Apps and Software|0 Comments

8 Apps to Help You Get More Done in Less Time

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We've all heard of the illusory work/life balance that books, blogs and the busiest of professionals tell us is attainable — but actually achieving it doesn't feel so simple. It all seems like a classic catch-22: In order to achieve a manageable work/life balance, you have to find time in your already packed schedule to read up on how to achieve it — but you probably don't have the time to dedicate to researching in the first place, because you're too slammed with workLe sigh.

Fret no longer — we've done the research for you; we've rounded up eight apps that will help with anything from managing administrative tasks, making shipping a non-pain and even streamlining your social media reporting. So take a deep breath and know you're one step closer to getting the most out of each and every day, with more time to dedicate to what matters most to you ...

More about Apps, Productivity, Tech, Apps Software, and Supported

By |October 24th, 2014|Apps and Software|0 Comments

The futures of programmatic retargeting, measurement and video

Thanks to some new uses for big data, there are going to be some different ways advertisers can retarget consumers. Mobile video is about to see some exponential growth in terms on inventory bought, but advertisers are still having trouble finding quality video in general available through real-time buying. Publishers are looking to move beyond impression-based pricing, and just what are some of the other challenges the programmatic industry faces going forward?

Here are some of the headlines we found interesting this week:

  • Retargeting By Any Other Name Is Still Retargeting (AdExchanger) – Retargeting has long been a strategy of the programmatic advertising space, and ecommerce sites have been huge beneficiaries of the tactic. As big data becomes available to more types of advertisers, the possibilities increase for other industries, such as consumer packaged goods. They're even able to use offline-to-online retargeting to convert consumers.
  • Quality Online Video is Scarce, Rubicon Project Says (Wall Street Journal) – Taking a shift back to video in general — mobile and desktop — there is no shortage of advertisers wanting to buy mobile inventory. There's just one problem, and it's that many are saying quality mobile inventory is pretty scarce. Much of the best inventory is still being sold directly, and there's little left for the programmatic space.
  • Survey: 80% of Premium Publishers Want to Sell Ads Based on Time (AdAge) – It looks like more publishers are looking for alternatives to impression-based metrics when it comes to ad pricing, and instead opting for a future that measures the amount of time ads are viewable to readers. AdAge reports, “60% are considering transacting based on time, 4% are already testing it, 8% will begin testing it in 2014 and another 8% plan to test it in 2015.”
  • The biggest challenges programmatic advertising faces (Digiday) – Several industry executives weigh in on the subject, and bring up things like “moving beyond cookies to publisher cooperation to the hype surrounding it as the be-all and end-all when it's just a part of the media equation.”

By |October 24th, 2014|Advertising Technology|0 Comments

Nest’s Smart Thermostat and Smoke Detector Just Got Smarter

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Nest Labs, which Google recently acquired for $3.2 billion, opened its smart Nest thermostat and smoke detector to developers in June to make more products work together in the home, from washing machines and garage doors to lights and cars.

Now, more than 4,000 developers are a part of its Works With Nest platform, which connects smart products with Nest's offerings, the company said on Friday. The integration growth is a part of a greater effort by Nest (and ultimately Google) to kickstart the home automation revolution

The news also comes as Apple readies its ...

More about Tech, Apps Software, Mobile, Nest, and Pebble

By |October 24th, 2014|Apps and Software|0 Comments