Wayne Williams

It’s been two years in development, but the next big release for Kodi is nearly here.

Today the hugely popular home theater software hits a major milestone, with the arrival of the first Release Candidate for Kodi 18 'Leia' -- RC1. This release should be much more stable that the five previous betas, and the Kodi Foundation shares the following stats:

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The latest feature update of Windows 10, the October 2018 Update, or Windows 10 1809 if you prefer, has been something of a disaster for Microsoft, and even more so for some early adopters.

The list of problems users have encountered with it -- so far -- include data loss, file association issues, Apple iCloud not working, mapped drives not reconnecting, Edge problems, and much more. Microsoft pulled the update for a considerable amount of time to fix a bunch of problems, but even more new ones are emerging on a regular basis.

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Black Friday has turned from a single day in which you can pick up bargains in stores and online, into an extended sales extravaganza that runs for weeks. If you know what you want to buy, then you can make some serious savings at this time of year.

Wellbots has just launched its Black Friday sales, and there are some fantastic offers to take advantage of, including some special deals for BetaNews readers. Whether you're after a robot cleaner, and electric unicycle, a waterproof drone, or a mobile battery station, Wellbots has you covered. Here are our top picks.

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The woes inflicted on users by the re-released Windows 10 October 2018 Update continue, with the latest issue concerning Apple iCloud.

The problem affects the latest version of iCloud for Windows (7.7.0.27), and is causing updating and syncing issues with shared albums. In addition, if you try to install iCloud on a system running Windows 10 1809 the installation will fail.

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Windows 10 version 1809 -- aka the October 2018 Update -- was such a mess that Microsoft was forced to pull it and spend weeks trying to fix the numerous problems that early adopters had encountered, which included (but were not limited to) data loss, Windows failing to remember default app choices, driver issues and much more.

On Tuesday, the software giant finally re-released the update, but if you were hoping things would go a lot smoother this time around, you’d be wrong. Windows 10 1809 still has some pretty major issues for users to be aware of.

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The Raspberry Pi was very much inspired by the BBC Micro -- a popular British computer of the 1980s. The BBC Micro was available in Model A and B forms, and shortly after the Raspberry Pi Foundation introduced the original Pi 1 Model B+ in 2014, it followed it up with a cut-down A+ model.

It didn’t offer an A+ version for the Pi 2 or 3 unfortunately, but today, it finally rights that wrong and brings back the popular bare-bones system’s smaller brother.

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Microsoft rolled out a new Windows 10 19H1 build earlier today, and the standout new feature is a Light theme -- the perfect antidote for those who don’t really like the dark themes that seem to be everywhere nowadays.

As well as the theme itself, the build comes with a new, Light default wallpaper. If you don’t want to install a potentially buggy Insider build (like the original Windows 10 October 2018 Update), and you don’t want to wait until next spring when the 19H1 update is set to arrive, the good news is you can get the wallpaper now -- and in resolutions of up to 4K.

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Microsoft has finally fixed many of the myriad problems with the botched Windows 10 October 2018 Update, but one issue it hasn’t yet addressed, is the one to do with file associations.

With this problem, Windows fails to remember which programs you want to use to open certain files with by default. This was a problem Insiders reported to Microsoft back in May, but which -- like the file deletion issue -- got missed. The company previously announced that it is working on a fix, which it hopes to roll out by the end of the month.

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Microsoft has finally begun to roll out a new, and hopefully improved version of the Windows 10 October 2018 Update, meaning it once again only has the one major feature update in development.

Today the software giant releases Build 18282 on the 19H1 branch, and introduces some interesting new features. For 2018 most software companies have been giving us dark themes. For its next feature update, due out in spring 2019, Microsoft will be introducing a Light alternative.

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Yesterday, Microsoft began re-releasing the Windows 10 October 2018 Update (aka Windows 10 1809), with a string of fixes. This time around, the software giant advises waiting until you’re offered the new update, rather than forcing the install, which is a wise move. There’s no guarantee you won't encounter issues after installing it if your system isn’t fully compatible.

While I disagree with my colleague Brian Fagioli’s description of Windows 10 as a "smelly turd", there’s no question that the October 2018 Update was something of a mess, and released without proper quality control. The latest iteration of the update fixes a large number of problems (all of which should have been addressed before its initial release), and if you installed it first time around, you’ll want to grab the update as quickly as possible. This is what’s different in this release.

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Having a problem with Windows 10? Did it delete your files? No? Perhaps it downgraded your Windows 10 Pro installation to Windows 10 Home, or maybe it introduced display audio issues, installed bad audio drivers, failed to handle zip files correctly, or display all unicode characters, or maybe you had problems with Edge and Store apps? No? Maybe it broke Windows file associations for you, so you can’t open files in the default programs you choose.

If your problem is the latter, the good news is Microsoft is working on a fix. The bad news is it doesn’t seem to be in a huge hurry to solve the problem.

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The Windows 10 shit show continues with yet more problems with Microsoft’s newest operating system rearing their ugly heads. Some users -- including a friend of my colleague Brian Fagioli -- have suffered from a problem whereby file associations are broken, so you can’t open files in the default programs you choose.

Now a growing number of users are complaining on Reddit that their Windows 10 Pro installations are suddenly reverting to Windows 10 Home.

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The concept of a foldable phone has been around for a while now. Indeed, Microsoft’s oft-rumored Surface Phone was expected to offer a foldable display that looked like a tablet when opened up.

Samsung has been teasing us with its own plans for a foldable phone for weeks now, and today at the Samsung Developer Conference 2018 it showed off a prototype which folds out to form a tablet, and back again to become a slightly fat phone.

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While there’s still no sign of a re-release for the botched Windows 10 October 2018 Update, Microsoft is rolling out new builds for the feature update that follows it, codenamed 19H1.

Today’s new release, Build 18277, gains a new focus assist option that will spring into life whenever you’re doing anything full screen on your PC so you’re not bothered by notifications.

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Storing files in the cloud means they are easily accessible from anywhere, but if you have private data that you can’t afford to fall into the wrong hands, this might not be the best option for you, especially given the number of data breaches we see on a regular basis.

An alternative option is to carry those files with you on a USB flash drive, protecting them with encryption. While software encryption methods are better than nothing, a hardware encrypted solution, like the Aegis Secure Key 3NX, is a much more advisable choice.

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