Wayne Williams

This is what happens when a cat tries to chew through an UNBREAKcable charging cable [Review]

Daisy

I have a one-year old Norwegian Forest cat called Daisy (see above) who likes to chew on cables. While she will occasionally have a go at thick cables, her preference is to gnaw on thinner ones. To date she has managed to destroy three microUSB charging cables, three Lightning cables, and two headphone cables. She’s very good at finding and biting through cables no matter how well hidden they are.

UNBREAKcable, from Syncwire, is a charging cable with a lifetime warranty -- if it breaks or malfunctions, the company will replace it for you free of charge. That sounds promising, but is it Daisy proof?

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Microsoft is shutting down its Docs.com file sharing service

Sad PC user

Docs.com is a file sharing service from Microsoft that lets you publish and share content from Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Sway, and Minecraft world, as well as PDF documents.

It was originally created as part of a collaboration with Facebook in 2010, and then revamped in 2015. However, while it’s a useful site, it never really gained the traction that Microsoft had hoped for, and today, June 9, the software giant announces it’s shutting it down.

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Microsoft releases huge Windows 10 Fall Creators Update Build 16215 -- and it's well worth the wait

happy customer

It’s been nearly three weeks since Microsoft last rolled out a new Windows 10 build to Insiders on the Fast ring. Well, three weeks if you don’t count the buggy, chaos-causing internal Build 16212 which leaked out last week.

But today the wait for a new update is over, as Build 16215 comes to the Fast ring, and the good news is this release is definitely worth your attention, not least because it introduces new UI for both the Start and Action Center that makes use of Microsoft's new Fluent Design System. The software giant describes this as "an eloquent design system for a complex world," and we explained all about it here.

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Microsoft: 'No known ransomware works against Windows 10 S'

Ransomware

When WannaCry was running rampant on older versions of Windows -- Windows 7 being the most at risk -- Windows 10 was unaffected. According to Microsoft, "no Windows 10 customers were known to be compromised by the recent WannaCry (WannaCrypt) global cyberattack."

That’s great news for anyone running the latest version of the OS, and the software giant says it is working to ensure Windows 10 remains safe from other future attacks. However, if you want to guarantee your safety from ransomware, then Microsoft points out there’s an even more secure option to consider -- Windows 10 S.

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[Updated] Meet Tertill, the solar-powered weeding robot for your garden [Q&A]

Tertill - Kickstarter

Keeping your garden free from weeds can be a tiresome and back-breaking job. Thankfully, Joe Jones, the creator of iRobot’s Roomba, has a solution -- a solar-powered robot that lives in home gardens and weeds every day so you don’t need to.

I spoke with Joe about his new creation Tertill which, after two years development, is set to finally graduate from prototype to product this month.

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Get 'Jump Start Responsive Web Design' ebook ($30 value) FREE for a limited time

jump start responsive

The pixel-perfect web is dead. The days of positioning elements on a web page and expecting them to always display exactly how we wanted are a distant memory; we now cope with the constant barrage of new and varied devices that our designs need to look fantastic on.

Responsive web design is no longer a nice-to-have bonus feature, it’s an expected must-have.

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How to watch Microsoft's E3 Xbox briefing live, and in 4K

Xbox

E3 2017 kicks off on Saturday, June 10 at the Los Angeles Convention Center, California, and Microsoft will be there to take the wraps off the latest Xbox announcements and future games.

If you can’t be there yourself, don’t worry, as the Xbox E3 briefing will be streamed live as always, but for the first time Microsoft will be broadcasting it in 4K and there are numerous ways for you to tune in.

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How to install add-ons and watch any movie or TV show on Kodi

Kodi shows

Kodi has really hit it big in the past couple of years. While the home theater software is great for playing local content, its rise in popularity is largely down to Kodi's support for third-party add-ons that make it possible to stream any audio and video, including the latest blockbuster movies and TV shows.

The process for installing third-party add-ons varies depending on the add-on, but assuming you’re running Kodi 17 Krypton (or later), we'll show you the easiest way to install all of the most popular ones.

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WWDC 2017: Apple's updated iPad Pro comes in 10.5in and 12.9in models and is more powerful than your PC

iPad Pro

Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference is traditionally about software, but that certainly isn’t the case this year as the tech giant has refreshed its Mac line, and introduced a new HomePod speaker.

Apple today also introduces all-new 10.5-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pros powered by a new A10X Fusion chip that Apple says "delivers incredible performance that rivals today’s fastest PC laptops" -- a clear dig at Microsoft.

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WWDC 2017: iOS 11 -- here's everything that's new

ios_11_ipad_iphone_big.jpg.large_2x

At WWDC 2017, Apple has lifted the wraps of the next version of its mobile operating system. iOS 11 introduces a lot of new features, including improvements to Siri, Apple Photos, Apple Maps, and Apple Pay, a redesigned Control Center, a new Augmented Reality feature, and more.

With Siri, Apple is introducing improved voices that sound more natural, and the digital assistant will be able to perform language translations. English, Chinese, French, German, Italian, and Spanish will all be supported. Siri will also be able to make suggestions of things that might be of interest to you -- such a news article -- via a new on-device "Intelligence" feature.

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How to watch Apple's WWDC 2017 keynote live on any device including Windows, Linux and Android

wwdc17

Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference kicks off today, Monday 5 June, in San Jose, with the big keynote speech scheduled for 10am PDT/1pm EST/6pm BST. As always it will be streamed live so you can tune in at home or (maybe) work.

As WWDC is for software developers, Apple doesn’t usually reveal major new hardware, but we are expecting to see a "Siri" speaker announced, and maybe some new MacBooks. We're also anticipating information on iOS 11, which probably won't run on 32-bit hardware, and updates to macOS, watchOS and tvOS. There are likely to be some interesting surprises too.

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Leak reveals Microsoft planning three new power versions of Windows 10

Shock

Last week, Microsoft accidentally pushed out a buggy new Windows 10 build that caused problems for users. The software giant later apologized, and offered some tips for overcoming the issues, including suggesting time travel as a solution.

As it happens, the leaked build also revealed something interesting -- Microsoft is planning three new versions of Windows 10.

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Microsoft suggests time travel as a way to avoid its rogue Windows 10 Build 16212

Doctor-Who-1

Yesterday, Microsoft accidentally pushed out a new, buggy, internal Windows 10 build to PC and Mobile that caused big problems for users. The Windows-maker pulled the problematic Build 16212 quickly, but it was too late for some.

In response, Microsoft issued an apology and offered some tips to help users who had installed the build to recover. However, despite this action, some users are still seeing Build 16212 waiting to be installed and for those people, Microsoft has an interesting solution -- time travel.

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Microsoft apologizes for 'unintentional' Windows 10 builds, offers recovery tips

facepalm head

Yesterday, Microsoft pushed out Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 16212 for PC and Mobile to users on the Fast, Slow, and Release Preview rings and the Retail version. Unfortunately the buggy build wasn’t intended to go out, causing problems for anyone who installed it.

Apologizing for the "inconvenience", Windows Insider chief Dona Sarkar explains it "happened because an inadvertent deployment to the engineering system that controls which builds/which rings to push out to insiders." While Microsoft was quick to pull the update, it was too late for some.

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Microsoft accidentally releases buggy Windows 10 Insider Preview build that's causing chaos for users

Angry frustrated furious guy biting fist

It’s been a while since Microsoft pushed out a new build to Windows 10 Insiders, so it was expected that we’d see one today. However, Windows Insider chief Dona Sarkar put the kibosh on that earlier, stating "newer builds have WAY too many bugs to pass our selfhost bar."

That should have been the end of things, but Build 16212 managed to escape into the wild -- hitting the Fast, Slow, Release Preview and Production rings -- and eager Insiders quickly discovered the downside of installing it.

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