Latest Technology News

Apple's latest MacBook Pro is a connectivity nightmare. If you opt for the base 13-inch model you only get two USB Type-C/Thunderbolt 3 ports -- but when you charge it you can only use one. The pricier models do feature twice as many ports but, regardless, you still need to buy a bunch of dongles to use your existing devices with it -- or replace them with new ones.

However, if you are in the market for a new MacBook Pro your options are not as limited as they seem, as OWC just unveiled a 13-port hub -- called Thunderbolt 3 Dock -- that lets you use all of your peripherals and accessories with the new laptop. Let's take a look at what it includes.

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The increasing commoditization of malware means that you no longer need to be a technical expert to launch an attack. You can simply buy the tools off the shelf.

Researchers at Skycure Research Labs have uncovered just such an off-the-peg spyware attack targeting senior company executives.

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A couple of months after joining forces with Pinterest, Instapaper has announced that the premium version of its web bookmarking and syncing service is now completely free of charge.

Ditching the subscription fee does not mean that users will be inundated with ads, however. The company says that it is now far better financed, and can therefore afford to deliver an ad-free experience to everyone.

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Stardock has released WindowBlinds 10.5, the latest edition of its desktop customization tool, with new support for skinning universal apps.

There’s no extra work involved for the user, nothing else to configure -- just choose a visual theme and your desktop, applications and apps all get the new-look interface.

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If your organization ever gets infected by ransomware (and there are good chances it will) it is better not to pay up because you probably won’t get your data back, even if you do pay the ransom.

This is according to a new report by security firm Kaspersky Lab, which urges organizations to instead report the incident to the authorities. It bases its conclusions on a couple of research results -- more than a third (36 percent) of organizations pay the ransom, but around 20 percent still don’t get their files back.

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It used to be that if you wanted a powerful gaming PC, you would need a monstrous tower with many loud fans. Nowadays, you can build a Mini-ITX system that offers impressive specifications in a tiny package.

What if you want something even smaller? Zotac has a new VR-Ready mini PC that is shockingly tiny. Inside the diminutive 'MAGNUS ERX480' barebones box is an Intel Skylake Core i5-6400T and an AMD Radeon RX480 (4GB GDDR5 256-bit). It supports DDR4 RAM (1866 or 2133) up to to 32GB and an M.2 connector for storage. For convenience, it can also be had with both RAM and storage installed from the factory. You can choose to have Windows 10 pre-installed too.

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Imagine living somewhere where traffic jams were a thing of the past, where ambulance crews started on-route to an emergency before anyone had dialed 911 and where critical infrastructure operated at maximum efficiency. This utopian city may not currently be possible, but the Internet of things could change that in the not too distant future.

By connecting various aspects of the urban landscape to the Internet, local administrators will gain access to countless extra data sets that could help them provide better services for their citizens. These smart cities not only promise to improve the lives of their inhabitants, but also provide potentially lucrative commercial opportunities for a number of businesses.

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Online advertising is a divisive issue, and one that sees many people turning to ad blockers to improve their online experience. The biggest name in the business is Adblock Plus which has come under fire in recent months for its Acceptable Ads program that allows certain ads to be whitelisted.

The company behind Adblock Plus, Eyeo, today published an extraordinary blog post in which it attacks "crazy accusations" made about it and its program. Introduced in the format of an election-style fact checker, the post from Ben Williams drips with barely disguised fury at what are described as "slants, spins and downright lies".

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The concept of machine learning has been around for some time. Deep learning is an area of research aimed at taking things further still and getting closer to an artificial intelligence system by using neural networks in a way that imitates the human brain.

Sometimes also referred to as hierarchical learning or deep structured learning, it seeks to model data in order to solve problems like object and facial recognition, natural language processing and speech recognition.

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One of Windows 10’s biggest new features is the inclusion of Microsoft’s personal assistant, Cortana. She can do all sorts of things for you, from searching the web, to setting reminders, and even looking up songs as they play.

You can summon Cortana at any time simply by saying "Hey, Cortana", but if you’d rather call her something different -- "Siri", perhaps, or "Darling", or "Ava" -- it’s possible to give her a name change. This is how.

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November 8, 2016 is Election Day, and I am excited. While neither of the two major presidential candidates are exceptional in my eyes, I have decided on one of them. It is my responsibility and duty as an American to vote, and when I cast my ballot for her/him, I will do so proudly -- not holding my nose as I pull the lever.

If you are still undecided about choosing a candidate, or simply don't know where to go to vote, I have good news. Twitter is making it all very easy. Simply direct message the @Gov account, and you can obtain useful information. You can also use the #Election2016 hashtag when tweeting about the election.

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It is no secret that Microsoft has been working on a Slack rival, but it is not until today that we get to take a proper look at the new collaboration tool. Called Microsoft Teams, it will officially launch in the first quarter of 2017, though the software giant is making it available as a public preview starting today. Should you give it a try?

The benefit to Microsoft Teams, as the software giant explains it, is the integration with some of its most important products and services, like Office 365 and Skype, to help users collaborate more easily on different projects. You also get support for services like GitHub and Twitter and different security features, but those are also available in other collaboration tools -- like Slack, for instance.

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We already know that ransomware is a lucrative business for the attackers. But for the victims, especially smaller businesses, it can prove devastating.

A new solution offering enterprise-class ransomware protection for small and mid sized companies is being launched by data protection specialist Datto. In the event of an attack it aims to shorten downtime, save money and reduce the impact to business, giving companies an effective and reliable alternative to paying hackers' ransoms.

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New research shows that 98 percent of developers use open source tools at work, with 56 percent revealing that more than half of their development tools are open source, and 18 percent using only open source tools.

The study from code collaboration platform GitLab also shows that more than half of developers (55 percent) are able to choose the tools they work with.

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Last Wednesday, Microsoft revealed, among other things, an updated Surface Book. The following day, Apple introduced a new MacBook Pro. Both devices look great, sport powerful innards and come with a suitably high price tag.

Which you go for will likely depend on whether you’re a fan of Microsoft or Apple, but if you’re not firmly entrenched in either camp, and need a little guidance to decide which laptop to go for, here are all the details you need.

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