Latest Technology News

Two-hundred in a series. Welcome to this week's overview of the best apps, games and extensions released for Windows 10 on Windows Store in the past seven days.

No app of the week this time but the new Microsoft Edge extension Turn off the Lights almost made it.

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In the last 12 months, the average IT contractor day rates have jumped 9.11 percent, and have hit £431, according to a new report by Experis. The Tech Cities Job Watch Survey says the UK’s Gig economy is picking up pace, with an almost double year-on-year growth in permanent salaries, up by 4.61 percent.

The "freelance dream", which includes higher pay and flexible hours is becoming a reality for a larger number of people, as now 15 percent of the UK workforce works solo. There is now more demand for solo workers, than there is for permanent workers -- 2.23 percent against 1.95 percent.

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Easter eggs -- secret extras hidden in software and on websites -- are not quite as prevalent as they used to be, but there are still plenty to be found out there. Google is one company that continues to hide little gems in its products, and many of them are games.

From Google Search and Android, to Maps and Google Earth, there are numerous little pick-up-and-play games that are perfect for killing a few minutes at work. So, grab yourself a coffee, have your fingers poised over Alt-Tab in case the boss appears, and get ready to play!

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Virtual reality is sure to be wildly popular -- eventually. Currently, it is a bit too expensive. Not to mention, there is still a lot of uncertainty about which platform to purchase. On the PC, VR content is not always cross-compatible, making a decision between, say, the HTC Vive or Oculus Rift difficult.

For now, a console-based virtual reality solution could make more sense. Sony's PlayStation VR will hit stores next month, and many PS4 owners are chomping at the bit to get it. Today, Sony releases an official unboxing video for the device.

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There are so many Bluetooth speakers on the market nowadays, that consumers have their work cut out for them when shopping. Not only do you have to choose a brand, but features and quality too. It can be very confusing.

Today, SCOSCHE unveils a speaker that should meet the needs of many. The BoomBottle H20+ is IP67 waterproof rated, meaning you can take it in a pool -- it even floats! Mountain-bikers and other bicyclists should appreciate the cylindrical design, as it can fit in most water bottle mounts/cages. While it is obviously designed for those with active lifestyles, it can be enjoyed by anyone looking for a solidly built wireless speaker.

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Microsoft has just announced that it will be releasing the first preview of its new cloud-based tool called Project Springfield. It has been designed to aid developers in spotting "million dollar bugs" in their Windows applications before launch.

The reason the company is making Project Springfield available to Windows developers is to save them from the "costly effort" of having to release patches to fix broken software after it has already been made public.

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Apple has historically been very guarded and secretive. While this is still true today, the company has definitely become more open after Steve Job's death. Quite frankly, the fact that there are now public betas for both iOS and macOS is mind-blowing for the Apple faithful. Last month, the company even launched its first bug bounty program! Why did Apple soften its guarded position? It had to. As the technology market advances, and security becomes a bigger focus, it is not possible to catch all bugs and vulnerabilities in house.

While the bug bounty and public betas were very wise moves, the company is apparently taking things a step further. According to Forbes, Apple is enlisting iPhone jailbreakers and other hackers (such as Luca Todesco, Nicholas Allegra and Patrick Wardle) to bolster the security of its products using the aforementioned bug bounty program. In fact, it is rumored to be happening at a secret meeting. If true, is the company smart to trust these people?

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A quarter of European companies are completely unprepared for the event of a cyberattack and would be extremely exposed if it happened, a new report by global law firm DLA Piper claims.

The paper also says that almost half of all companies (44 percent) view cyberattacks as a significant risk to their business, which means that a significant portion is aware of the problem yet does nothing. Among companies in Western Europe the number rises to almost a third (31 percent). The Benelux region is by far the worst, with 75 percent of companies being exposed.

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Back in August we learned of access to US voter registration databases in the states of Arizona and Illinois. After an extensive investigation it was widely believed the attempts had come from Russia, which has a history of attempting to influence votes in foreign nations.

Now Director Comey has once again appeared before congress to give some more bad news. "There have been a variety of scanning activities, which is a preamble for potential intrusion activities, as well as some attempted intrusions at voter registration databases beyond those we knew about in July and August", Comey states.

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What kind of people spend their time looking for software bugs? Crowdsourced testing company Bugcrowd has released a report looking at how its community is made up that might give you a clue.

Bugcrowd researchers come from all over the world, as of September 1, 2016, the United States (29 percent) and India (28 percent) had the most sign-ups, followed by the United Kingdom on six percent.

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Microsoft has provided more details as to how it will be integrating Office 365 Groups into its enterprise-focused social network Yammer. On January 1, 2017, the Yammer Enterprise service tier will be discontinued, but the social network will remain available and will be integrated with Office 365 services in a number of ways.

Within Yammer itself, it will be possible for users to create Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents through Office Online. Users will also be able to move their work from Yammer to a shared OneNote notebook or to the Microsoft Planner Project Management tool.

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Now that Android 7.0 is officially available, OnePlus 3 users are starting to wonder when their "flagship killer" will receive a software update to Nougat. The smartphone has received frequent updates since its launch in June, but the latest version of OxygenOS that you can get today has yet to make the move from Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow.

OnePlus is committed to improving the software for its third flagship, as evidenced by the numerous updates released so far and the introduction of a community build, and, as such, it should not come as a surprise to hear that it is "actively working" on bringing Nougat to OnePlus 3.

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The use of push notifications in apps to reach users is an attractive option for marketers. But done wrongly it can lead to more annoyance than success.

So what do companies need to do to ensure their notifications are effective? App monetization platform Tapjoy has released data based on a study of over 4.4 million push notifications sent between February and August 2016, to help businesses use push notifications effectively.

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The shift of systems to the cloud has made enterprise data visible beyond the perimeter of the organization, employees can access it from anywhere, and that has an effect on insider threats.

Data protection company Bitglass has released its report on insider threats in the enterprise, featuring insights from over 500 cyber security professionals on the state of insider data leaks and the tools used to mitigate these threats.

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HP recently upset printer owners by using a software update to block the use of third party ink cartridges. Such was the uproar -- including a campaign by the Electronic Frontier Foundation -- that HP has seen the error of its ways and, quietly, backtracked.

Just like the initial update, this latest change of heart is not being shouted from the rooftops by HP. The company may be hoping that the bad news about blocked cartridges will stick in people's minds, but the good news is that a new update will be pushed out within a couple of weeks that removes the 'dynamic security feature'.

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