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As companies sent their people packing and working from home, they included company gear for them to work on. However, many people have their own personal computers at home.
To support the simultaneous use of multiple systems, developers created software such as Synergy. By using these applications, you can use one mouse and keyboard across multiple computers without having to plug and switch devices.
So aside from Synergy, what other options are there? Here are the five best apps for sharing a mouse and keyboard across different systems.
If you have two computers at home, you can use Share Mouse to control both systems with whatever connected keyboard and mouse you have. No matter if you’re on a Mac or a PC, the peripherals on both systems can crossover to the other device.
For example, if you have a Windows device and a MacBook Pro, you can use the trackpad on the keyboard and trackpad on your MacBook to control your Windows device. It also works vice-versa, with the Windows PC peripherals working on your Mac.
You can use the Share Mouse app as long as both computers are on the same network. It’s free for personal use—but is limited to a maximum of two computers/two displays only. If you want to use the software on up to nine devices, each with up to four monitors, you have to purchase the Pro version.
Related: How to Use a Laptop as an External Monitor
When you get the Pro version, you also get additional features like locking and unlocking all connected devices simultaneously, synced screen savers, and even remote log-in. Best of all, every Share Mouse licenses have a portable version so that you can use it on other computers without extra installation.
Download: Share Mouse for Windows and Mac (Free, other licenses available)
This free, powerful, and feature-rich software keyboard, video, and mouse switch (KVM) offers a range of keyboard, video, and mouse switching options. However, it is only compatible with Windows 10, Windows 8/8.1, and Windows 7. This app won’t work with Apple or Linux systems.
What separates this from Share Mouse is that all its features are available for the free version. It offers multi-monitor support, key-bindings, macros, and even enhanced security options.
You can limit which computers can control your Input Director app by name, IP address, or even subnet. And if you’re planning to employ this in a network to which several other users connect, you can encrypt your data to keep them safe.
Again, this powerful app is free for personal use. But if you want to employ this in a commercial and corporate setting, you have to contact the maker.
Download: Input Director for Windows (Free)
Mouse Without Borders is a side-project created by Microsoft engineers under the company’s Garage program. Likewise, while this is not an official Microsoft product, it is developed and supported by its employees and is recognized as such. However, because of this, it’s also available for Windows devices only.
It’s even available for download on Microsoft’s Garage, the platform designed to push software innovations from their employees and customers. Furthermore, support for its use is available via Microsoft’s Community Forums.
Like the other KVMs above, you can share one keyboard and mouse across four computers connected to the same network. You can also set custom shortcuts to make it easier for you to navigate across devices.
Related: How to Control a PC and Raspberry Pi With One Keyboard and Mous
The single greatest advantage this app has over the other options is its relationship with Microsoft. Since their engineers and programmers created this app, you can expect fewer issues with the operating system. The developers are already familiar with the app’s working environment to issue updates ensuring compatibility faster than other third-party software companies.
Download: Mouse Without Borders for Windows (Free)
This app is one of the more powerful software KVM options. Although it’s only free to try, the paid licenses will let you do so much more than just controlling multiple computers through one keyboard and mouse set.
The KVM and KVM Pro licenses allow you to stream multiple computers on a single monitor. And all licenses can connect to any computer, whether connected to your local network or via a VPN. So even if you’re physically distant from a device, you can use it like it’s right in front of you.
Audio sharing is also enabled across all licenses, so if you play an audio file on one slave device, the sound will output on your main computer. And with Multiplicity, your control inputs are not limited to keyboard and mouse. It also accepts hot-key and touch switching for touchscreen computers, allowing you to use it even with Microsoft tablets and 2-in-1s.
Download: Multiplicity for Windows (Free for 30 Days, Purchase Required)
When using multiple systems together, like Mac, Windows, and PC, you’re bound to run into some compatibility issues. So if you want to use KVM software, it could be challenging to find an app that will work well on all three different operating systems.
That’s where Barrier comes in—it’s a free, open-source KVM software based on the popular Synergy app, which was itself based on the original CosmoSynergy program by Chris Schoeneman. But unlike Synergy, Barrier is a no-frills app designed to work simply.
It only has two features: it lets you control multiple computers with one keyboard and mouse, and it shares clipboards across your devices. But since this is an open-source project, you can tweak the program to your needs if you’re into programming.
So if you want to connect your PC to your Mac for free or connect any system to your Linux computer, Barrier is the only solution for you.
Download: Barrier for Windows | Mac | Linux (Free)
Software KVMs are helpful for automatically connecting multiple devices. You no longer have to press a switch or turn a dial just to control your other device. Having this will save you both time and desk space, letting you get more done.
So whether you’re a programmer, a video editor, or even a writer, if you’re working with multiple systems a lot, a KVM app will make you more efficient.
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Xinova, a Seattle company that operated a network of inventors, is winding down operations, GeekWire has learned.
Xinova spun out of Intellectual Ventures in 2016 and helped match inventor ideas with customers such as PepsiCo, Honda, Funai, and others. It billed itself as an “innovation-as-a-service” platform.
The company raised a $48 million Series A investment to scale the business and grow its network that included more than 12,000 inventors across 118 countries. Xinova would find companies that needed tech solutions; put a call out to its inventor network; and compensate inventors via upfront payment and profit-sharing agreements. Xinova would typically cover development costs and manage intellectual property. The company at one point employed more than 100 people globally across ten offices worldwide.
But Xinova needed more cash and ran into trouble when it tried raising another $100 million. The U.S.-China trade war and the pandemic caused investor wariness, and one firm even backed out of a signed funding commitment.
The company had to trim expenses, laying off staff over the past two years and cutting costs elsewhere. It again tried to raise more capital earlier this year but wasn’t able to convince investors. Xinova tried to work with its creditors on a restructuring plan but that also didn’t pan out, forcing the shutdown decision. The company now has only two employees who are helping wind down operations.
Edward Jung, who helped launch invention business Intellectual Ventures in 2000 and was an early Microsoft engineering leader, was Xinova’s founder and CEO. He said the company was able to run an “economically-sustainable business” but couldn’t renegotiate its legacy liabilities, which made additional equity fundraising impossible.
Jung resigned several months ago, citing a conflict with his position as the largest secured creditor. He said he is responsible for “taking on liabilities and risks in excess to what was sustainable through these unexpected changes.”
“I regret disappointing my most excellent investors, partners, and employees,” Jung added. “But I remain a believer in the vision of global innovation networks and am continuing this vision in new stealth projects.”
Jung launched Intellectual Ventures with former Microsoft technology chief Nathan Myhrvold. In 2007, Jung began heading up the firm’s “Invention Development Fund,” which was spun out in 2016 as Xinova.
Jorma Ollila, former chairman of Royal Dutch Shell and former chairman and CEO of Nokia, was Xinova’s executive chairman. Paul Levins, Xinova co-founder and former chief strategy officer, left in 2019 and is currently helping restaurant tech startup Souszen and agtech startup Beanstalk.
Xinova spun out its own standalone company called Allied Inventors in 2017 to help manage intellectual property assets. We’ve reached out to Allied to learn if it is still in business. Tom Kang, who previously led Xinova, is CEO of Allied, according to the company’s website.
Xinova in 2019 launched a joint venture called Arcnet, an online capital marketplace that lets investors fund innovation projects on one platform across borders.
Xinova Asia will continue to operate. Xinova also had offices in Japan, Finland, Tel Aviv, Vienna, Beijing, Singapore, Sydney, Hong Kong, and Bangalore.
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As a student of programming, you’ve likely learned plenty of different algorithms throughout the course of your career. Becoming proficient in different algorithms is absolutely essential for any programmer.
With so many algorithms, it can be challenging to keep track of what’s essential. If you’re prepping for an interview or simply brushing up on your skills, this list will make it relatively easy. Read on as we list the most essential algorithms for programmers.
Edsger Dijkstra was one of the most influential computer scientists of his time, and he contributed to many different areas of computing science, including operating systems, compiler construction, and much more. One of Dijkstra’s most notable contributions is the ingenuity of his shortest path algorithm for graphs, also known as Dijkstra’s Shortest Path Algorithm.
Dijkstra’s algorithm finds the single shortest path in a graph from a source to all graph vertices. On every iteration of the algorithm, a vertex is added with the minimum distance from the source and one that does not exist in the current shortest path. This is the greedy property used by Djikstra’s algorithm.
The algorithm is typically implemented using a set. Dijkstra’s algorithm is very efficient when implemented with a Min Heap; you can find the shortest path in just O(V+ElogV) time (V is the number of vertices and E is the number of edges in a given graph).
Dijkstra’s algorithm has its limitations; it only works on directed and undirected graphs with edges of positive weight. For negative weights, the Bellman-Ford algorithm is typically preferable.
Interview questions commonly include Djikstra’s algorithm, so we highly recommend understanding its intricate details and applications.
We’ve got a couple of sorting algorithms on this list, and merge sort is one of the most important algorithms. It’s an efficient sorting algorithm based on the Divide and Conquer programming technique. In a worst-case scenario, merge sort can sort “n” numbers in just O(nlogn) time. Compared to primitive sorting techniques such as Bubble Sort (that takes O(n^2) time), merge sort is excellently efficient.
Related: Introduction to Merge Sort Algorithm
In merge sort, the array to be sorted is repeatedly broken down into subarrays until each subarray consists of a single number. The recursive algorithm then repeatedly merges the subarrays and sorts the array.
Quicksort is another sorting algorithm based on the Divide and Conquer programming technique. In this algorithm, an element is first chosen as the pivot, and the entire array is then partitioned around this pivot.
As you’ve probably guessed, a good pivot is crucial for an efficient sort. The pivot can either be a random element, the media element, the first element, or even the last element.
Implementations of quicksort often differ in the way they choose a pivot. In the average case, quicksort will sort a large array with a good pivot in just O(nlogn) time.
The general pseudocode of quicksort repeatedly partitions the array on the pivot and positions it in the correct position of the subarray. It also places the elements smaller than the pivot to its left and elements greater than the pivot to its right.
Depth First Search (DFS) is one of the first graph algorithms taught to students. DFS is an efficient algorithm used to traverse or search a graph. It can also be modified to be used in tree traversal.
The DFS traversal can start from any arbitrary node, and it dives into each adjacent vertex. The algorithm backtracks when there is no unvisited vertex, or there’s a dead-end. DFS is typically implemented with a stack and a boolean array to keep track of the visited nodes. DFS is simple to implement and exceptionally efficient; it works(V+E), where V is the number of vertices and E is the number of edges.
Typical applications of the DFS traversal include topological sort, detecting cycles in a graph, pathfinding, and finding strongly connected components.
Breadth-First Search (BFS) is also known as a level order traversal for trees. BFS works in O(V+E) similar to a DFS algorithm. However, BFS uses a queue instead of the stack. DFS dives into the graph, whereas BFS traverses the graph breadthwise.
The BFS algorithm utilizes a queue to keep track of the vertices. Unvisited adjacent vertices are visited, marked, and queued. If the vertex doesn’t have any adjacent vertice, then a vertice is removed from the queue and explored.
BFS is commonly used in peer-to-peer networks, shortest path of an unweighted graph, and to find the minimum spanning tree.
Binary Search is a simple algorithm to find the required element in a sorted array. It works by repeatedly dividing the array in half. If the required element is smaller than the middlemost element, then the left side of the middle element is processed further; otherwise, the right side is halved and searched again. The process is repeated until the required element is found.
The worst-case time complexity of binary search is O(logn) which makes it very efficient at searching linear arrays.
A minimum spanning tree (MST) of a graph has the minimum cost among all possible spanning trees. The cost of a spanning tree depends on the weight of its edges. It’s important to note that there can be more than one minimum spanning tree. There are two main MST algorithms, namely Kruskal’s and Prim’s.
Kruskal’s algorithm creates the MST by adding the edge with minimum cost to a growing set. The algorithm first sorts edges by their weight and then adds edges to the MST starting from the minimum.
It’s important to note that the algorithm doesn’t add edges that form a cycle. Kruskal’s algorithm is preferred for sparse graphs.
Prim’s Algorithm also uses a greedy property and is ideal for dense graphs. The central idea in Prim’s MST is to have two distinct sets of vertices; one set contains the growing MST, whereas the other contains unused vertices. On each iteration, the minimum weight edge that will connect the two sets is selected.
Minimum spanning tree algorithms are essential for cluster analysis, taxonomy, and broadcast networks.
Programmers constantly learn and develop their skills, and there are some core essentials that everyone needs to be proficient in. A skilled programmer knows the different algorithms, the benefits and drawbacks of each, and which algorithm would be most appropriate for a given scenario.
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After Mysterio reveals Spider-Man’s true identity, Peter Parker’s life is in chaos. So he asks his friend Doctor Strange to make everyone forget his secret identity. But Peter’s indecisiveness causes Doc’s spell to go wrong, opening a rift in space-time. No Way Home looks like a thrilling gateway to the Multiverse of Madness.
The Awesomer
Spatie has introduced an exceptional package called Laravel Media library. This package can incorporate all kinds of files with Eloquent models. It offers a straightforward and fluent API for working. The storage of the uploaded files is managed by Laravel’s Filesystem. So You can easily store large files on another filesystem. The Pro version of the package offers Blade, Vue, and React components to manage uploads to the media library and to handle the content of a media library collection.
PHP 7.4+
and Laravel 7+
.MySQL 5.7
or higher is required.You can install the Media library via Composer. If you want to utilize the base package, then run this command:
composer require "spatie/laravel-medialibrary:^9.0.0"
If you have a license for media library pro, you can install laravel-media-library-pro by running this command:
composer require spatie/laravel-medialibrary-pro
After installation, You need to publish the migration to generate the media table:
php artisan vendor:publish --provider="Spatie\MediaLibrary\MediaLibraryServiceProvider" --tag="migrations"
After that, you need to run this command.
php artisan migrate
Publishing the config file is optional, You can run this command for publishing the config
file:
php artisan vendor:publish --php artisan vendor:publish --provider="Spatie\MediaLibrary\MediaLibraryServiceProvider" --tag="config"
By default, the media library will store its files on Laravel’s public disk. If you want a specific disk, you should add a disk to config/filesystems.php
. You’ve to add this configuration:
...
'disks' => [
...
'media' => [
'driver' => 'local',
'root' => public_path('media'),
'url' => env('APP_URL').'/media',
],
...
Don’t forget to .gitignore the directory of your configured disk, So the files won’t end up in your git repo.
To store all media on that disk by default, you need to set the disk_name config value in the media-library config file to the name of the disk that you’ve added.
// config/media-library.php
return [
'disk_name' => 'media',
// ...
];
Here are some quick code examples:
$product = Product::find(1);
$product ->addMedia($pathToFile)->toMediaCollection('images');
It can also directly handle your uploads:
$product ->addMediaFromRequest('image')->toMediaCollection('images');
If you want to store some large files on another filesystem then you’ve to follow this code:
$product->addMedia($smallFile)->toMediaCollection('downloads', 'local');
$product->addMedia($bigFile)->toMediaCollection('downloads', 's3');
The storage of the files is managed by Laravel’s Filesystem, so you can plug in any compatible filesystem. This package can also generate derived images such as thumbnails for images, videos, and pdfs. Once you’ve set up your model, they’re easily accessible:
$product->getMedia('images')->first()->getUrl('thumb');
If you want to dig more then, you can visit the comprehensive documentation of this package with the examples on Github.
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Your website is a really important tool! It can help you to grow your business if it’s built and maintained correctly.
In this article, I’ve put together 17 different things that you can do to get your website ready to win! You might already know about some of these points, but there might be one that you haven’t thought of before.
A key to driving traffic to your website is by ranking higher in the search engines. Google uses the page loading speed as a ranking factor. So, by making your website load faster, you’ll be able to give yourself a nice boost up the rankings.
Having a fast-loading page is also really important for your actual visitors. Having a page that loads slow can discourage your visitors from staying on your page and can possibly cause them to leave.
A useful tool for analysing your page load times is Google PageSpeed Insights.
For any of my Laravel developer readers, you might find my article about “6 Quick & Easy Ways to Speed Up Your Laravel Website” useful.
Your website should be using HTTPS rather than HTTP. By using it, it means that you are allowing your visitors to connect over an encrypted connection.
It’s really important to make sure that you’re using HTTPS because Google penalise any websites not using it.
As well as this, it also gives your visitors confidence to put their payment details into your website.
The more visitors you get to your website, the more likely you are to make a sale! So, carry out an SEO (search engine optimisation) audit on your site. Use this to identify aspects of your website that you can improve to rank higher on Google.
You can use free tools such as SEOptimer and Neil Patel’s SEO Analyzer to highlight any obvious places that you can improve on. But, if you’re looking at getting an in-depth audit of your website’s SEO, I’d recommend getting in touch with an agency or freelancer who specialises in SEO.
We live in a world where we can get instant answers to our questions. Why should your website be any different?
Don’t make your users sit around waiting for an email response. Give them immediate answers with a chat bot or live chat. By giving your visitors a quick way of contacting you, you can reduce the chances that they’ll go to another website to find their answer.
There are several different chat systems that you can add to your site such as: Zendesk, Tawk.to, Zoho, and Facebook Messenger.
This point cannot be emphasised enough! Almost 60% of all internet access is done using mobile phones. So we can probably make the assumption large majority of your visitors are going to be on their smart phones. Of course, if you have analytics set up on your website, you can get more accurate figures on the types of browsers and devices that your visitors are using.
So, it’s important that the site looks great and works well on mobile devices, tablets and desktops.
A large proportion of your target market are going to frequently use social media sites and apps. So it’s important to make sure that you have a page for your business on all of the platforms. This will help people find you!
Make sure you also add a link back to your website where possible so that you can direct traffic there to make a sale.
It’s also important to make sure that you don’t spread yourself too thin and try to manage too many social media accounts at once. If you’re needing help with your social media accounts, I’d highly recommend getting in touch with a social media marketing agency who will be able to help you out.
Website visitors can easily get confused if there’s too much clutter. Giving a user 20 different links in your navigation will just overwhelm them.
Try to aim for no more than 7-9 navigation links. The less choices that a user is given, the quicker they can make their decision. And the quicker that a user can make a decision, the more likely they are to make a purchase. Hesitation and delay kills sales!
This doesn’t apply for every website. But it’s likely that some of you reading this won’t have updated your website for the past year or two.
It’s important that you keep your website looking modern and fresh. If your website looks neglected, dated and stale, what does that say about you and your company? This doesn’t necessarily mean that you need a full website redesign every couple of years, but making minor changes to your website’s styling to keep up with current trends can work wonders.
As humans, we rely on “social proof”. We like knowing that someone has bought something before us and would recommend the product/service. That’s why we loving checking for 5-star ratings before buying anything online.
Show off your testimonials online! This lets your potential customers know that they’re making the right decision choosing you and not your competitor.
If you don’t have any testimonials so far, maybe try and reach out to your existing clients/customers and asking them if they’d be able to give you a sentence or two as a review? Depending on the type of website that you’re running, it might even be helpful to get some a review on Google, Trustpilot, Facebook and LinkedIn.
Getting new customers and clients is much harder than keeping recurring ones. You’ve got to build the initial trust and convince them to buy from you.
Offering a first-time buyer discount or special offer is a great way to get new customers on board. Next time they’re looking for a product/service like yours, they’re more likely to come to you rather than a competitor.
A large amount of websites use stock images and photography. This has a knock-on effect and makes your website look very “cookie-cutter”.
Why not invest a little bit and get bespoke images and graphics for your website that show off you or your company more? The more bespoke imagery can definitely help your website to stick in your visitors’ heads for longer and make it feel unique.
If you haven’t already started a blog, then start one. This is a great way to drive traffic to your website. It’s also a way of you showing your readers/potential customers that you are knowledgeable in your field.
You can also share your blog posts across your social media profiles to drive even more traffic to your site.
Podcasts are growing like crazy at the moment! The way that people are consuming content now is changing.
So, why not start a podcast for your potential customers to listen to?
To get started quickly, why not provide all of your blog posts in an audio format for people to listen to?
It’s important that you know what your website visitors are looking at when on your website.
By using Google Analytics, you can identify the user-journey of your visitors and see which pages they’re viewing when they’re on your site. As a result of doing this, you can update your navigation or your page layout to influence your visitors’ actions if you’d prefer them to do something else.
Writing content for your website can be harder than you’d think (or at least it was for me). You have to make sure that you’re writing the content for your website with SEO in mind so that your pages rank well in the search results. But you also need to make sure that the content is also going to convince your visitors to complete your call to action (for example, buying a product).
I originally wrote the content for my site and I was never too happy with it. So, I got in touch with a copywriter and he rewrote the content for every page. As a result of doing this, I saw a clear improvement in my Google rankings and the amount of people contacting me for web development services.
So, I’d definitely recommend getting in touch with a copywriter who can write the copy for your website for you.
What do you want your website visitors to do? Buy a product? Register? Book an appointment? Contact you?
You need to make it clear to your visitors that you want them to carry out this action. This is what you’d call your “call to action” (sometimes seen as CTA).
For example, with my website in particular, I have a button in my navigation bar saying “Contact” that is a different colour to the other links. My main goal of any visitors who visit my site looking for web development services is for them to get in contact with me. I do this because I can then talk to any leads and find out what they need from me as a developer.
Your call to action is likely going to be different to mine though. So, I think it’s important for you to look at your website and ask yourself two questions:
Growing your email list can be a really great way to help your website grow. You can use it to let your visitors know about new promotions, or to notify your users about things like new blog posts or podcast episodes.
So, by using your email list, you can drive traffic back to your website. But one of the best parts of it is that the visitors coming from your emails will already have built some form of trust with you (because they’d already provided their email address to you). As a result of this, there’s a higher probability that you’ll be able to convert your visitors to paying customers or clients.
Hopefully this article should have given you an idea or two that you can use to improve your website.
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Keep on building awesome stuff! 🚀
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