Most employees don't want to share passwords
For many people, both business owners and employees, remote working is the future of business. It’s at the very heart of business transformation, together with cloud computing, automation and artificial intelligence. However, a new poll by OneLogin seems to suggest that certain workers aren’t really fond of the idea of remote working.
Half of full-time workers believe employees below mid-manager level shouldn’t be allowed remote access to the corporate network. This remote access refers to both work-owned devices (47 percent) and private devices (54 percent).
BT to offer customers Microsoft Azure services
British telecommunications company BT has announced a new offering, expanding the cloud choice for its customers. BT Computer for Microsoft Azure allows BT’s customers to order Microsoft Azure together with BT’s cloud.
With the new offering, according to BT, customers will be able to create hybrid cloud infrastructure with a single service wrap, on a single bill.
Knowing your unknowns
On a daily basis, the news is filled with stories about things that "should never have happened". Last weekend’s headline, "Improvised Explosive Device Explodes in New York City’s Chelsea Neighborhood", is one tragic example. No one could have anticipated the attack, but through the use of cameras placed throughout the area, law enforcement was able to identify a suspect and track his movements within hours.
In the real world, no one can know every single threat that could exist in the future, or when it might happen. You can make educated guesses with the right intelligence and data, but you can’t predict with certainty. This is why New York, London, and other metropolitan areas have installed surveillance cameras. They’ve done this so that if a situation does unfold, they can quickly triage and provide authorities with immediate and accurate information to inform response and investigation.
TunnelBear 3.0 brings faster, more secure VPN connections
Canadian VPN provider TunnelBear has updated its Windows and Mac clients to version 3.0. The Windows release features a simplified, stripped-back interface and connects and reconnects up to 60 percent faster than before.
There’s a new option to mark networks as "Trusted". TunnelBear then connects to trusted networks rather than others, whenever there’s a choice.
Benchmark report reveals effectiveness of marketing emails
Email is still among the most popular ways of delivering marketing messages to customers, but it can be hard to measure how well it works.
A new study from delivery platform SendGrid measures the engagement numbers for the average percentage of male and female recipients, the percentage of emails that are opened on mobile and non-mobile devices, open rates, click rate, click-to-open rates and monthly send rates across 10 industries.
Office workers want the latest technology, or else they'll quit
Business owners, pay attention. If you don't step up your technology game, your employees might leave you. This is according to a new global report from Dell and Intel, entitled Future Workforce.
Based on a poll of 4,000 full-time employees all over the world, it tried to understand how modern technologies are shaping the office world.
9 best practices for accepting payments via mobile device and mPOS
Is your business accepting payments on mobile devices, or considering it? If so, you are in good company. Large retailers, such as Nordstrom’s, have seen increased sales after integrating an mPOS (mobile point of sale) solution. Major restaurant chains, including McDonald’s and Olive Garden, are using it, too. In fact, a report by 451 Research projected that by 2019, the global mPOS installed base will reach 54 million units, which is quadruple the number from 2015.
According to a Juniper Research report, by 2021, more than one in three POS systems will be mobile. It’s no wonder mPOS solutions are catching on. They are not only convenient, but also provide tangible benefits to both merchants and customers. Shortened transaction time, elimination of lines, scalability capability, and less reliance on cash all increase sales and heighten customer satisfaction. But any data transfer comes with risk. To ensure a safe and secure mPOS experience, follow these best practices:
Most US Samsung Galaxy Note7 users choose replacements over refunds
Another day, another development in the Galaxy Note7 recall. This time, Samsung indicates that it is making good progress getting US customers to turn in their affected units, after a report by Apteligent released earlier this month revealed consistent usage rates following the recall program's introduction.
Samsung says that it has exchanged "about half" of the Galaxy Note7 units that it has sold in the US. The company has already shipped 500,000 safe devices in the country, and is believed to have sold around one million units before the recall news broke.
MathMagic Lite is a versatile equation editor
Math is hard to avoid, even if you’re a total mathphobe, and anyone might find they occasionally need to use an equation in a document.
High-end packages like Microsoft Word have equation editors built-in, but if you’re not so lucky then MathMagic Lite is a convenient free-for-personal-use alternative.
Best Windows apps this week
One-hundred and ninety-nine in a series. Welcome to this week's overview of the best apps, games and extensions released for Windows 8.x and Windows 10 in the past seven days.
This week saw the release of a first batch of converted win32 applications like Kodi, Tweeten or PhotoScape X Pro in Store.
Leaked credentials affect the largest 1,000 organizations worldwide
Data breaches have become the norm in recent years with 2014 earning the nickname the "year of the data breach" and 2015 being known as the "year of the breach". So far in 2016, even more data breaches have been made public, including LinkedIn, MySpace and Dropbox and we will likely see more before the year comes to a close.
For companies, being the victim of a breach is unnerving enough, but there also implications to their reputation, brand and finances. However, breaches also have an indirect impact on organizations and some end up facing the "collateral damage" of such an attack for some time after the initial breach.
Facebook massively miscalculated video viewing figures for two years
The social networking giant has managed to attract the ire of advertisers after it revealed that it overestimated video viewing figures for two years. A flaw in the tool used to measure the number of views meant that figures relating to video viewing times were inflated by between 60 and 80 percent.
Just how long people spend watching videos is important information for advertisers, but Facebook managed to miscalculate average viewing times by ignoring views lasting under three seconds. With so much of Facebook's incoming revenue derived from advertising, and the importance the company places on video, the snafu is an embarrassing one that advertisers will take some time to forget.
YouTube Heroes program rewards people who report videos
Google has launched a new reward scheme that offers incentives for users to report videos that violate the site's guidelines. YouTube Heroes program also enables YouTubers to earn points for doing things like adding subtitles to a video and responding to questions in the help forums.
While the promise of rewards for helping to "create the best possible YouTube experience for everyone" is appealing, critics are not happy with the fact that users will now have an added incentive to report videos.
HP Sprocket for iPhone and Android is a cute portable photo printer for millennials
Now that smartphones have high-quality cameras, people seem to be snapping more photos than ever. Thanks to the cloud, it is super easy to back up those images, and then consume them on a device at a later date. There is no need to print photos anymore, right? Not so fast. Actually, if you head to your local CVS or Walgreens drug stores, you will see many people still having photographs printed for frames and albums. Are these people just creatures of habit or Luddites? Perhaps. Regardless, there is a demand for photo printing.
HP has a new portable photo printer that is downright cute. Called 'Sprocket', it is compatible with both iOS and Android, letting the user print photos on the go. Millennials should go wild for this thing, as you can customize the photos with filters and virtual 'stickers' using a special app before sending them to print over Bluetooth. Not to mention, you can peel off the back to expose an adhesive -- yes, you can stick them on things! Best of all? It doesn't use any toner or ink! No, it is not magic -- it uses a really cool 'ZINK' technology.
Microsoft will sell 'Minecraft: Education Edition' on the Windows Store in November
Back in January, Microsoft announced Minecraft: Education Edition. Later, the company released an 'early access' version to some educators. At the time, some folks were dubious that a video game could serve as a legit tool in the classroom. With that said, Minecraft isn't really a video game in the traditional sense -- it can be viewed more as a virtual world. In theory, the platform could better engage young students when compared to, say, sitting in a dull classroom and staring at a chalkboard.
Whether Minecraft: Education Edition will be a success remains to be seen, but we will find out soon. You see, on November 1, the tool will leave 'early access' and become available to all educators. It will be sold, of course, on the Windows Store. It will cost $5 annually per user, but Microsoft promises price breaks for school districts that purchase certain licenses. In other words, larger districts can likely negotiate to pay less per user.