Watch the 'Made by Google' hardware event here, live
Google, as you’ll no doubt be aware by now, is hosting a major hardware event today where it will be taking the wraps off, among other things, its new Pixel phones.
The "Made by Google" event will showcase the next generation of Google created hardware, and start today at 12PM ET/5PM BST / 9AM PT.
Anonymous' new weekly news show will make you angry
Four weeks ago, I reported on how hacktivist collective Anonymous was planning its own weekly news show. The aim of Teh Weekly News is, Anonymous says, to "balance establishment media by providing unregulated investigative news that has not been molded to corporate or government interests".
The first episode of the new show is available to watch below, and does a good job of covering all of the stories that likely anger you when they appear, often only fleetingly, in the mainstream news.
Steam shows Windows 10 usage dropping among gamers too, as Linux and Mac make gains
September wasn’t a good month for Windows 10. After enjoying uninterrupted meteoric growth since launch, usage share for the new OS actually dropped off last month, according to the latest figures from NetMarketShare announced on Saturday.
That's not the only bad news for Microsoft either. Gamers, who typically prefer to be running the latest operating system, also turned their back on Windows 10 in September.
WTF? Windows 10 now actually losing market share
It was expected, that once Windows 10 stopped being free, upgrades would slow significantly. That turned out not to be the case last month when NetMarketShare’s usage figures showed it, rather surprisingly, to be business as usual. Growth in August was no different from growth in previous months, although I speculated it might have been buoyed by sales of new back to school PCs.
In September though, according to NetMarketShare, Windows 10 didn’t just show slower growth, it actually went into reverse gear and lost usage share. Yes, you read that right.
Swim.com app transforms Apple Watch 2 into an advanced swim workout tracker
It was clear at the launch of the new Apple Watch that the company was focusing very much on the health aspect of its popular wearable, and by making the new iteration waterproof it could, for the first time, appeal to swimmers as much as runners.
Apple Watch Series 2’s basic swim functionality may be enough for some users, but if you take your swimming seriously, there’s a new Swim.com app designed with you in mind.
Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 14936 for PC and Mobile arrives on the Fast ring
The Ignite conference in Atlanta might be keeping many Microsoft employees busy, but it hasn’t stopped developers working on the next big update of Windows 10.
A week after Build 14931 arrived on the Fast ring, Windows Insiders are today being treated to another new update -- Build 14936 for PC and Mobile.
Amazon launches all-new Fire TV Stick with faster hardware and Alexa Voice Remote
There are a lot of media streaming products to choose from, but my personal favorite is Amazon’s Fire TV Stick. It’s compact, powerful and gives you access to Amazon’s full range of on-demand video content, as well as apps and games.
Today, the retail giant announces a new version of Fire TV Stick that’s faster and adds Alexa voice control to the remote. No more browsing long lists of TV shows and movies, now you can simply ask Alexa to play anything you're interested in, launch apps, and more.
How to send secret messages in Facebook
There are lots of different messaging apps available, including WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Google’s latest offering, Allo. Which you use will likely depend on what apps your friends prefer, but privacy might also be a big factor. Google Allo, for example, is a bit of a privacy nightmare, unless you use the Incognito mode.
You probably don’t want Facebook snooping on your private conversations, so may have steered clear of Messenger previously, but the good news is the social network now lets you send private messages to friends which can only be read on the device of the person you're communicating with -- and not by Facebook itself.
If you rip your music from YouTube, we've got some bad news for you
In the eighties and nineties, MTV was the place to go to watch music videos. That’s all changed now of course. If you want to watch a music video, YouTube is the number one destination.
If you like a song, it’s really easy to rip the music from the video, using one of the many free online services. Just paste in the URL and hey presto it comes out as an MP3. Some sites even let you specify the audio quality, and add tags. However, the music labels understandably aren’t keen on this "stream ripping", and plan to put a stop to it.
How to enable the dark theme in Microsoft Edge
Windows 10 Anniversary Update introduced a cool dark theme to the operating system, transforming the look of the user interface.
It’s a fairly global theme -- it affects much of the UI, although not all elements of it. File Manager, for instance, keeps the light look.
Windows 10 now on 400 million devices, but growth is slowing dramatically
Two months ago, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced the software giant would be changing how it monitors the growth of Windows 10, tracking monthly active users -- rather than devices -- after it became clear slow sales of Windows Phones meant the new OS wouldn't hit the company's stated goal of one billion devices by mid-2018.
Today, at Ignite, however, Microsoft announced another devices milestone, saying the new OS is now running on 400 million devices. It’s a big number, but it does show that growth is slowing significantly, now that Windows 10 is no longer free.
Watch Microsoft's major Ignite keynotes here live
Microsoft Ignite, the software giant’s enterprise focused tech event, starts today, September 26, in Atlanta, Georgia.
The five-day event, previously hosted in Chicago, will cover all of the hot tech topics, including cloud, productivity and collaboration, machine learning, and the Internet of Things.
Consumer rights group strongly criticizes Microsoft over Windows 10
The EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) has already ripped into Microsoft and Windows 10 for "blatantly disregarding user choice and privacy", and now consumer group Which? says Microsoft "must act over Windows 10 woes" and "do better".
Which? says it has received well over 1,000 complaints about Windows 10, with PC users claiming the new OS has brought them nothing but problems.
Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 14931 for PC arrives on the Fast ring
A week ago, Microsoft rolled out its first really big new Windows 10 Insider Preview build since the Anniversary Update. As well as fixing a lot of problems, Build 14926 introduced some experimental new features, including the ability to "snooze" a tab in Microsoft Edge.
Today, Microsoft releases Build 14931 to the Fast ring, but unlike recent builds it’s only available for PC. Build 14926 introduced a couple of big problems for Mobile last week, so Microsoft has decided to hold off issuing a new build until they are fixed.
Google's new chat app Allo is a privacy nightmare
Four months ago, Google announced two new communication apps: Duo, for video calling, and Allo, for traditional WhatsApp-style messaging. Duo arrived for Android and iOS a month ago, while Allo is available from today.
While Allo is a good looking app, it has some big privacy issues that users need to be aware of.
Wayne's Bio
Wayne Williams has been writing about computers, technology, and the web for over 30 years now. He’s written for most of the UK’s PC magazines, and launched, edited and published a fair few of them in his time also. If you like what you read, you can Buy Me a Coffee!
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