Wayne Williams

Microsoft usually rolls out new Windows 11 builds to Insiders in the Dev Channel on a weekly basis, but it won’t be doing so this week as it has run into some quality issues with its planned flight.

What the software giant has done however, is lifted the lid on what’s coming to the Windows Insider Program this year. Microsoft says it has more people running test builds of Windows 11 than it did with Windows 10, and going forward its focus will be on trying out new, more experimental features and services.

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At a moment when many of us have lost confidence in brands, companies, influencers and leaders, it’s time to ask why -- as well as what sort of leaders we should aspire to be ourselves to bring that confidence back. 

Step forward Sam Cawthorn, an influencer at the top of his game and the founder of Speakers Institute, an international organization that helps leaders and influencers create powerful, trusted and distinctive voices. Sam knows exactly what it took him to get where he is today, and the secret sauce wasn’t flashy charisma, expensive clothes, and a perfect smile. As he argues in People Follow People, what really wins respect -- and can tie hearts and minds to you for a lifetime -- comes from inside: our values, character, loyalty, and integrity.  

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The Raspberry Pi Foundation has been working on a 64-bit build of its Raspberry Pi OS for a while now, and after a successful beta trial it's finally ready to make it available to anyone with a compatible Pi.

It has been possible to run a 64-bit build of the OS since Raspberry Pi 3 arrived in 2016, but the Foundation has stuck with the 32-bit platform in order to "maximise compatibility between devices and to avoid customer confusion".

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There are a number of Linux distros for WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux) available to download from the Microsoft Store. Big names on offer include Ubuntu, Debian, Kali, SUSE and openSUSE. Now one more has arrived -- Oracle Linux.

Sneaking into the store with little fanfare on Monday, January 31, the official arrival of Oracle Linux 8.5 will be welcomed by any developers wanting to run Linux software in a Windows environment.

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In a blog post published a few days ago, Panos Panay, Chief Product Officer of Windows and Devices at Microsoft, talked about the future of Windows 11 and also announced that upgrades of the new OS have been taken up by users at twice the rate of Windows 10 upgrades.

Of course, as is to be expected by any sort of such announcement from Microsoft, there were no figures to back up this claim, but what is clear is that Windows 11 is rapidly increasing its usage share.

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Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel usually get new builds on a Wednesday. This week they’ve had to wait an extra day, but it’s definitely worth it with this latest flight.

Build 22543 comes with quite a few improvements, including updated visuals for some UI areas.

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Penetration testing enables you to evaluate the security or strength of a computer system, network, or web application that an attacker can exploit.

With Python Ethical Hacking from Scratch, you'll understand why Python is one of the fastest-growing programming languages for penetration testing. You'll find out how to harness the power of Python and pentesting to enhance your system security.

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In a new blog post in which he discussed a number of things, including the (near) future of Windows 11, Panos Panay, Chief Product Officer, Windows + Devices talked about how the new operating system is driving 3x more traffic to the newly redesigned Microsoft Store.

"We’re energized by the feedback from both our customers and partners about the new Microsoft Store" he said. But hmm... Perhaps he needs to step out from his bubble and see what Windows customers are really saying about it.

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Let’s be honest here. Windows 11 has the makings of being a good operating system, but it’s not there yet. Some of the features that Microsoft touted in its original presentation -- such as native support for Android apps -- aren’t even available yet.

However, Microsoft today addresses what’s coming next for the new OS and you won’t have long to wait to try out the new features and functionality.

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TikTok’s massive success caught the major social networks napping. While they might not have anticipated the meteoric rise of the platform, they weren’t slow in rushing to produce their own takes on the popular short-form, video-sharing app.

While rivals Byte, Triller, and Clash all have their fans, it’s Instagram’s Reels, and YouTube’s Shorts that have the best chance of dethroning TikTok. You might scoff at the idea of that happening, but YouTube has just announced the all-time views for Shorts so far, and they are massive.

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Open-ended role-playing games like The Legend of Zelda and Animal Crossing are hugely popular with younger children, and codeSpark Academy, the learn-to-code app for children, has just added a new set of design tools to help them make their own such games.

codeSpark Academy says the tools in its "Adventure Game" addition require less hand-eye coordination than other creative modes. It also lets users add features like speech bubbles for characters, to enhance storytelling.

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Do you want to make your Microsoft 365 account a productivity behemoth? Do you want to squeeze every last bit of awesome from Word, Excel, and PowerPoint and learn a little more about Outlook, too? Microsoft 365 Portable Genius has you covered.

A seasoned tech expert and trainer, author Lisa A. Bucki shows you how to build Word documents, Excel workbooks, and PowerPoint presentations the right way, as well as how to use high-impact design techniques to make your documents pop.

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It’s Wednesday and that can only mean one thing for Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel -- a new Windows 11 build from Microsoft!

Build 22538 fixes a number of problems, including one that caused explorer.exe to crash for some Insiders when they pressed the hardware volume buttons. The build also includes some updates to the Voice Access feature introduced in Build 22518.

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Microsoft today announced plans to acquire game developer giant Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion. It is a move designed to expand the company's gaming business across PC, console, mobile and the cloud, as well as to give it a solid start in the metaverse.

This deal will make Microsoft the third largest gaming company (by revenue), behind Tencent and Sony.

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Storing files in the cloud has a lot of benefits, not least making them easily accessible from anywhere. It isn’t necessarily the most secure option, however.

If you have private data that you can’t afford to fall into the wrong hands, you should definitely consider a PIN authenticated hardware encrypted portable USB SSD like iStorage’s excellent diskAshur M2.

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