Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 14316 arrives on the Fast ring -- packed with exciting new features
Windows 10 Insider Preview builds -- well those on the Fast ring at least -- tend to fall into two camps. There are the exciting releases, like Build 14291, which delivered extensions to Microsoft Edge as well as various other new features, and the duller ones, like Build 14295, which mostly fix bugs and shore up things.
The latest new build for the Fast ring, Build 14316, falls very much into the former camp, with Microsoft introducing lots of new features for Insiders to try, in addition to plenty of welcome improvements across the whole of the OS. Here’s what new.
Chuwi Hi12 -- a Surface Pro 4 and iPad Pro alternative at a fraction of the cost [Review]
The number of convertible tablets vying to take on Microsoft's Surface Pro 4 is on the increase. Some are more than reasonable competition while others are little more than cheap knock-offs. The absurdly low price of the Chuwi Hi12 might fool you into thinking that this 12-inch Chinese tablet falls into the latter camp, but you'd be wrong.
Costing an unbelievably low $289.99 (neatly below the promised $300 threshold), the Hi12 is not strictly a direct competitor to the Surface range... it lacks the all-important kickstand. So we're off to a great start with price, and the looks are certainly not to be sniffed at either; it's not a million miles away from iPad territory. But while looks and price are important, it's what's on the inside -- and how it works -- that matters, and the Hi12 does not disappoint.
Salesforce buys deep learning startup MetaMind
Salesforce has acquired MetaMind and plans on ending the startup’s services on May 4. The deep learning company launched in 2014 with $8 million in initial funding from Salesforce’s cofounder and CEO Marc Benioff and Khosla Ventures.
MetaMind has really set itself apart from its competition through its image recognition capabilities. The site is able to identify the items in images and a demo called MetaMind Food Identification first gave users of the service a taste of what it was capable of.
Business Intelligence: Reshaping the face of the contact center
By now, it’s no secret that business intelligence (BI) software is becoming a widely adopted tool among various industries. The use of BI makes it possible for organizations to gain valuable insight into what areas of the business are thriving and others that might be in need of improvements.
The scenarios where we are starting to see BI becoming most effective are when executives leverage these insights and turn them into actionable data.
Lian Li PC-J60 is a classy aluminum mid tower ATX case with cable management focus
Building a PC can be a really fun project. Not only does it allow you to pick all of the components, but the design of the case/chassis too. Long gone are the days of beige towers. Modern cases come in a multitude of colors, sizes, and shapes. Some even glow thanks to LED lighting.
Unfortunately, many cases have become a bit too liberal with their designs -- they can look like funky spaceships or lava lamps! In other words, sometimes a more mature and reserved chassis would be more appropriate for a build. Today, Lian Li announces the PC-J60 -- an ATX mid tower with a focus on class, maturity, and cable management.
Microsoft releases Cloud App Security to protect SaaS apps and data
Back in September of last year we reported that Microsoft had announced its purchase of cloud security firm Adallom to help its customers protect their cloud-based data and applications.
In February it teased that a new Cloud App Security offering based on Adallom's technology would be released in April. Well, today the wait is over and the product becomes generally available as a cloud-delivered service to help IT and security teams gain visibility and control over cloud apps.
Huawei's new P9 flagship features dual-lens Leica camera
One of the things that separate flagships from the rest of the smartphone crowd is their camera performance. Consumers expect to take great photos and videos with a top of the line handset, so manufacturers tend to use premium sensors and lenses for their best offerings. And, sometimes, they team up with a household name in the field when they really want to woo potential buyers.
For its latest flagship smartphones, called P9 and P9 Plus, Huawei has partnered with famous camera maker Leica. That is not the only thing that's different about its camera, however, as the main highlight is actually its dual-lens setup, which, among other things, enables the device to capture depth information for that lovely bokeh effect.
What you need to know about erasing SSDs
Until recently, hard disk drives prevailed as the dominant storage device on desktop computers, laptops, smartphones, tablets, servers, and data centers. But thanks to the drop in price for solid state drives (SSD), that has changed. SSDs are more popular among both individual users and businesses. But for all of the advantages, they also possess unique traits that present some difficulties in wiping data from them.
Unfortunately, knowledge of the proper solid state drive erasure methods has not been anywhere near as fast or as ubiquitous as the SSD adoption rate. So you will often see methods that are assumed to be reliable -- such as reformatting and factory resets -- being performed on solid state drives. But that doesn’t mean it’s impossible to properly erase data from SSDs -- it just means users need to understand all of the technical features, the key situations when data has to be absolutely erased and the most reliable data removal method that needs to be used.
IObit ships Smart Defrag 5
IObit has shipped Smart Defrag 5, a major update of its freeware disk optimizer. A new defrag engine supports multi-threading for maximum performance.
New defrag types allow users to focus on large files only, or to consolidate free disk space. If you’re unsure which defrag type to use, IOBit’s Smart Defrag/Optimize Technology will intelligently select if for you.
The best mobile apps for business users
Useful apps tend to embed themselves deeply into people's work lives and stay installed on their devices for the long term. As a result it can be hard to get a definitive list of the best apps at any one time.
To try to remedy this, app quality company Applause has produced a report that ranks 130 business apps based on what people feel about them. Categories of apps ranked include communication, organization, work productivity, security and weather.
Facebook boosts live video with new interactive options including Live Reactions and group video
Facebook Live may have started life as a celebrity-only feature, but it soon spread to all users, giving them the opportunity to share their own live video streams. Today the social network unveils a number of new features with the aim of making it easier to find and share live broadcasts, as well as personalizing and interacting with video.
Live video is all about bringing together a community of people to share an experience, so it's little surprise that the first of today's announcements sees the arrival of Facebook Live to Facebook Groups and Facebook Events. Building on the Reactions feature that rolled out recently, live video now also benefits from Live Reactions. But the laundry list of new features doesn't end there.
Is IBM guilty of age discrimination? -- Part two
This is the promised second part of my attempt to decide if IBM’s recent large U.S. layoff involves age discrimination in violation of federal laws. More than a week into this process I still can’t say for sure whether Big Blue is guilty or not, primarily due to the company’s secrecy. But that very secrecy should give us all pause because IBM certainly appears to be flaunting or in outright violation of several federal reporting requirements.
I will now explain this in numbing detail.
Barclays announces Apple Pay support
Apple Pay is now available to Barclaycard and Barclays customers, the bank has announced. "We are passionate about helping customers access services and carry out their day to day transactions in the way that suits them", said Ashok Vaswani, CEO of Barclays UK.
"As part of this, we have developed a range of digital innovations that allow people to choose how, when and where they bank and make payments. Adding to the existing choice, from today both Barclays debit and Barclaycard credit card customers can use Apple Pay to make payments with their Apple device across the UK".
Add style to your photos with ON1 Effects Free
ON1 Effects Free 10 is a collection of professional photo filters and effects which can be used stand-alone, and as Photoshop or Lightroom plugins.
Beginners can use the package much like other apps. Open an image, choose a preset -- Cinematic, Color Grading, Haze Reduction, more -- and just click a thumbnail to apply that effect.
Chinese censors spring into action to erase mentions of Panama Papers from the web
The Panama Papers that leaked following the Mossack Fonseca hack turned the spotlight on the rich and famous seemingly involved in money laundering and tax evasion schemes. High profile names from the world of politics appear in the papers -- including close friends of Russian President Putin and the father of UK Prime Minister David Cameron.
The leaked 11.5 million files, spanning 2.6 TB of data, include references to the relatives of at least eight current or former Chinese officials, says the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. Chinese censors have now gone into overdrive, working overtime to eliminate all mentions of this from Chinese websites.
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