Archive for the ‘Free Software’ Category

Pennsylvania Woman Sentenced for Felony and Misdemeanor … – Department of Justice

WASHINGTON A Pennsylvania woman was sentenced in the District of Columbia today on felony and misdemeanor charges for her actions during the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol breach. Her actions and the actions of others disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress convened to ascertain and count the electoral votes related to the presidential election.

Riley June Williams, 23, of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, was sentenced to 36 months in prison for interfering with law enforcement officers during a civil disorder, and resisting or impeding law enforcement officers, both felonies, as well as four related misdemeanor offenses. Williams was found guilty of the charges on November 21, 2022 after a trial in the U.S. District Court. In addition to the prison term, U.S. District Court Judge Amy B. Jackson ordered 36 months of supervised release and $2,000 restitution.

According to the governments evidence, on Jan. 6, 2021, Williams used an overturned bike rack barricade to climb an exterior wall and join the mob of rioters illegally on the Capitol grounds. Police use of chemical irritants to disperse the mob did not deter her. She entered the Capitol Building at approximately 2:15 p.m. through the Senate Wing Door, just two minutes after it was first breached, and urged other rioters not to leave. She remained inside for about 90 minutes, during which time she penetrated the Crypt, Rotunda, and Office of the Speaker of the House. While inside the building, Williams pushed other rioters to invade further, organized groups of them into a human battering ram to physically break through police lines, berated the police officers, directed a large group of rioters to lock arms to resist law enforcement efforts to clear them from the building, and encouraged another rioter to steal a laptop from the Speaker of the Houses office. Specifically, video captured Williams commanding another rioter to Take that f-----g laptop and told him Dude, put on gloves! so as to avoid being identified. Williams took video, audio, and photo recordings of her activities, which she proudly shared on social media, bragging about her leadership role in the riot and participation in thefts from the Office of the Speaker.

Williams was arrested on Jan. 18, 2021, in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. In the 12 days between the riot and her arrest, Williams repeatedly destroyed evidence and tried to evade law enforcement officials: she deleted her social media and communication accounts, instructed others to delete messages and take down videos from the internet, reset her iPhone, switched cellular phones, and used advanced software to wipe her computer.

The case was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorneys Office for the District of Columbia. Valuable assistance was provided by U.S. Attorneys Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania and the Middle District of Florida.

The case was investigated by the FBIs Washington Field Office and the Capital Area Resident Agency of the FBIs Philadelphia Field Office. Valuable assistance was provided by the U.S. Capitol Police and the Metropolitan Police Department.

In the 26 months since Jan. 6, 2021, more than 1,000 individuals have been arrested in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol, including more than 320 individuals charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement. The investigation remains ongoing.

Anyone with tips can call 1-800-CALL-FBI (800-225-5324) or visit tips.fbi.gov.

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Pennsylvania Woman Sentenced for Felony and Misdemeanor ... - Department of Justice

Best Free Payroll Software (2023) Forbes Advisor – Forbes

To decide which providers made the cut for this guide, we assessed the available free payroll software to determine which would best meet freelancer, startup and small business needs. This assessment was based on the softwares free plan features and functionality, free plan limitations, add-ons and extra fees (if any), upgrade options and customer reviews. Below is a deeper look at our assessment process.

In putting together this guide, we aimed to include software with feature sets that went beyond the expected. Such added features included HR functions and capabilities, reporting, employee portals, multiple payment format optionscheck and direct depositdeduction management and unexpected security features, such as biometric face recognition.

Additionally, as we assessed the free plans features and functionality, we paid close attention to the limitations the free plans imposed on small businesses. The limitations assessed included the number of employees the software would allow businesses to pay or even maximum and minimum amounts businesses could pay each employee to qualify for free software usage. We weighted pricing at 20% of our total score.

We worked to uncover plans that were truly free without extra fees for essential features. We also looked for plans with nice-to-have add-ons that users could take advantage of as their budgets permit. The essential general features we looked for included having a self-service employee portal and offering contractor payments. Other good-to-have features included new hire onboarding. third-party integrations, ledger reports and other reporting and analytics offerings.

In ranking the top free payroll software, we prioritized the providers that offered paid, more full-featured plans so freelancers, startups and small businesses can start with the free plan, then advance to plans that fit their needs as they grow. Features accounted for 30% of our final score.

As we chose providers for this guide, we listened attentively to what customers who have and are using the software had to say about it. Namely, we looked at what software features, capabilities or services met their needsor, better yet, delighted themand which inherent bottlenecks kept customers from meeting business goals. These accounted for 15% of the total score.

Using our market research and close scrutiny of the categories listed above, we also ranked additional criteria from customer reviews, such as any detailed or stand-out features, popularity, ease of use and value for the money. Altogether, these criteria made up 35% of the total score.

Featured Partners

Benefits administration

Yes

Base monthly price

$40 per month plus $6

Benefits administration

Yes

Base monthly price

$40 per month + $6 per user

Benefits administration

No

Base monthly price

$39-plus per month, depending on company size and needs

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Best Free Payroll Software (2023) Forbes Advisor - Forbes

Best Free Invoice And Billing Software (March 2023) – Forbes

Most invoicing software includes base software features, such as the ability to send invoices and receive payments. There are many other features that the top invoicing software offers to make it easier for you to track payments, contact clients and manage inventory and finances.

Though keeping accurate stock counts is more vital for businesses that sell physical products, it can still be a viable feature for service-based businesses. Most businesses that use invoicing software track inventory in a separate application. If you choose invoicing software that includes inventory tracking, you can consolidate a bit.

Although most invoicing software gives you the ability to send invoices to your clients, a portal for your clients can be even more helpful than an email. A client portal makes it possible for your clients to log into the software to see the progress youre making on projects and estimates, along with past, current or upcoming invoices.

Service-based businesses rely on time tracking tools to keep a running tab on billable and nonbillable hours to use for invoicing. When time tracking is included as a feature in your invoicing software, it can be a huge help. You can instantly turn billable hours into the amount your client owes and send the invoice. Otherwise, youre stuck doing work in separate software.

Having a mobile app for invoicing can be a convenient tool if you often work away from your desk. You can easily send invoices and payment reminders from your phone or tablet anywhere you are as long as you have an internet connection. If you prefer using push notifications, some invoicing mobile apps will let you know when a payment goes through so that you dont have to keep checking your payment apps or email.

Invoicing software that includes reports, prebuilt or custom, can be an eye-opening feature for businesses. With analytics, you can collect data that will help you make future business decisions. You may discover most of your clients pay invoices from their mobile phones or that your customers rarely check payment reminders.

Perhaps one of the most important invoicing software features is the ability to integrate with other platforms. If you choose basic invoicing software, you want to make sure it will work with the software you use regularly. At the very least, you want your invoicing software to integrate with accounting software and payment processors. Its helpful if it also integrates with customer relationship management (CRM) software, marketing tools and time tracking tools.

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Best Free Invoice And Billing Software (March 2023) - Forbes

Get ‘Hands-On Software Architecture with Java’ (worth $41.99) for … – BetaNews

Java, the most widespread technology in current enterprises, provides complete toolkits to support the implementation of a well-designed architecture.

Hands-On Software Architecture with Java starts with the fundamentals of architecture and takes you through the basic components of application architecture. You'll cover the different types of software architectural patterns and application integration patterns and learn about their most widespread implementation in Java.

You'll then explore cloud-native architectures and best practices for enhancing existing applications to better suit a cloud-enabled world.

Later, the book highlights some cross-cutting concerns and the importance of monitoring and tracing for planning the evolution of the software, foreseeing predictable maintenance, and troubleshooting.

The book concludes with an analysis of the current status of software architectures in Java programming and offers insights into transforming your architecture to reduce technical debt.

By the end of this software architecture book, you'll have acquired some of the most valuable and in-demand software architect skills to progress in your career.

Hands-On Software Architecture with Java, from Packt, usually retails for $41.99, but BetaNews readers can get it entirely free for a limited time.

All you have to do to get your copy for free is go here, enter the required details, and click the Download button.

The offer expires on April 5, so act fast.

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Get 'Hands-On Software Architecture with Java' (worth $41.99) for ... - BetaNews

Neo to partner with OpenAI, Microsoft to give free software, advice to cos – Business Standard

By Dina Bass

Neo, the startup accelerator founded by Silicon Valley investor Ali Partovi, is forging a partnership with OpenAI and Microsoft Corp. to give free software and advice to companies in a new track focused on artificial intelligence.

Companies accepted to Neos AI cohort will receive credits to use Microsofts Azure cloud as well as OpenAIs GPT language generation tool, Dall-E image creation program and Codex, a product that helps write and understand programming code, the companies announced Tuesday. The startups also will get access to researchers and mentors at Microsoft and OpenAI.

Since OpenAI released its ChatGPT chatbot in November, as well as its latest language model GPT-4 last week, interest has soared among startups and established companies seeking to build the technologies into their own products. Microsoft, which recently boosted its investment in OpenAI by a reported $10 billion, is widely testing a new Bing search engine that uses GPT-4 and is overhauling its Office software. Startups working in generative artificial intelligence so called because the tools are used to create new content saw funding hit $2.65 billion in 2022, a 71% increase from the prior year, according to CB Insights.

Partovi, Neos chief executive officer, was an early investor in companies including Facebook and Dropbox Inc., and in 1998 sold his startup LinkExchange to Microsoft, where he got his first taste of the technology industry as an intern in the early years of Windows. Partovi sees these new AI tools as having similar importance as the jumping-off point for other applications and companies.

As impressive as these innovations are, their greatest potential lies in how theyll enable the next generation of startups the things that other people will build on top of them that we havent seen yet, he said.

Neo, which is also a venture firm, has invested 46% of of its capital to back CEOs who are women or members of underrepresented groups, Partovi said. That focus on diverse companies and founders will be critical for the development of AI.

This is not just about an industry or about money its about in many ways the future of humanity, and including diverse voices in that conversation is necessary for getting it right, he said.

Partovi expects about 10 or 12 AI startups among the 20 companies that Neo will accept for the new track of its accelerator program.

One of them is run by Justin Fineberg, a co-founder whos built a 250,000-person following on social media by talking about how businesses can use AI. Finebergs company, which is about a month old, is called CassidyAI. Its working on software tools that let customers build AI assistants for their specific company without having to know how to write programming code.

When youre an early stage startup in the AI space and youre able to work directly with the biggest names Microsoft and OpenAI that really gives you a pretty competitive advantage, Fineberg said.

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Neo to partner with OpenAI, Microsoft to give free software, advice to cos - Business Standard