Wayne Williams

When Microsoft removed the Start menu from Windows 8 -- believing we’d all prefer to prod at large tiles on touchscreens -- there was the inevitable backlash. Although the company did restore the Start menu in Windows 8.1, by then the damage was done. The OS flopped badly and that one ridiculous design decision was the main reason for it.

With Windows 11, Microsoft hasn’t been as bold/crazy to repeat history. There’s a still a Start menu, but it’s one that’s centered, which won’t be to everyone’s liking. When Windows 8 shipped without a Start menu, a number of third party developers quickly stepped in to right Microsoft's wrong. And now we’re starting to see similar such Start menus arrive that promise to 'fix' Windows 11.

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Although my Apple Watch is capable of doing a lot of things, such as delivering messages and letting me reply to them, reporting on the weather, and controlling my music, it’s the many health functions I get the most from.

BP Doctor Smart Watch is much more affordable alternative to the Apple Watch that offers a wealth of similar health monitoring tricks, including recording your heart rate and blood oxygen levels, sleep time and HRV (Sleeping Heart Rate Variability), activity (outdoor walking, and indoor or outdoor running) and calories burned. It also has another impressive ability, and one that gives the device its name -- it can record your blood pressure.

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With a rumored RTM date of sometime in October, Microsoft is hard at work on Windows 11 and today rolls out a new build to Insiders in the Dev Channel.

There aren’t any major new features in Build 22000.120 but there is a new Family widget and some minor tweaks to File Explorer.

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Cloud computing is no longer just a clever new toy in the world of IT infrastructure. Despite the nebulous name, it’s become a real and important part of our information architecture -- and tech professionals who ignore it or try to skim their way through risk falling behind rapidly. The new edition of Cloud Computing For Dummies gets you up to speed fast, clarifying your Cloud options, showing you where can save you time and money, giving you ways to frame your decisions, and helping you avoid weeks of research.

In a friendly, easy-to-follow style, Cloud Computing For Dummies, 2nd Edition demystifies the Cloud’s virtual landscape, breaking up a complex and multi-layered topic into simple explanations that will make the various benefits clear and ultimately guide you toward making the most appropriate choices for your organization. 

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Microsoft introduced its subscription-based Windows 365 last month, and earlier in the week announced general availability for the service that makes it possible to run full versions of Windows 10 and Windows 11 in the cloud.

If your business was planning on joining the Cloud PC revolution but hasn’t already done so, you might have a bit of a wait on your hands before you can take the service for a spin -- struggling to keep up with demand, Microsoft has paused its free trials.

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Microsoft took the wraps off its subscription-based Windows 365 last month, and today the software giant announces general availability for it.

Windows 365 is a cloud-based service that lets anyone securely stream full Windows 10 or Windows 11 to their personal or corporate devices, regardless of the native operating system.

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Google will be properly unveiling the next generation of its Pixel smartphones soon, but it’s released a sneak peek showing us what they look like, and revealing that they will be powered by a new custom-built chip.

Google will be hoping its new silicon proves as successful as Apple’s M1 chips, and it certainly looks as if could really revolutionize the Android experience.

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Accountable Leaders is the real-world guide to propelling your business to extraordinary levels of performance and achievement. Leadership accountability is a major issue in organizations around the globe. Research has shown that teams and individual employees are overwhelmingly dissatisfied with the degree of accountability demonstrated by their leaders. Effective teams need responsible and accountable leaders -- the solution seems simple. Yet, thousands of businesses are struggling with mediocre performance and widening gaps in leadership.

This essential resource provides practical and no-nonsense strategies to transform any organization into a cohesive, highly motivated culture of accountable leaders and fully committed teams.

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I’ve bought quite a few Raspberry Pi over the years, upgrading each time a new model comes out. While I still use my Raspberry Pi 4 regularly, the older models are just gathering dust somewhere in the house.

OKdo has come up with a solution to this waste, partnering with Raspberry Pi and the Sony Technology Center to create OKdo Renew, an official scheme to renew old Raspberry Pi boards, and it's offering a financial incentive to get people to make use of it.

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Earlier in the week, Microsoft rolled out the first preview for Teams in Windows 11. This took the form of new Chat flyout from taskbar, as well as a Teams desktop experience designed to make the best use of the upcoming OS.

This addition is only available to some Windows Insiders, for now, but Microsoft has now released a new Windows 11 build for Insiders in the Dev Channel that comes with a number of visual improvements.

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With information on the web exponentially increasing, it has become more difficult than ever to navigate through everything to find reliable content that will help you get started with deep learning.

This book is designed to help you if you're a beginner looking to work on deep learning and build deep learning models from scratch, and you already have the basic mathematical and programming knowledge required to get started.

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Although much of the development focus at Microsoft is understandably on Windows 11 at the moment, work is still underway on polishing up the next feature update for Windows 10 -- 21H2 -- and getting it ready for release.

The latest new flight for this, Build 19044.1149 (KB5004296), is now available in the Release Preview Channel.

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When Microsoft first announced Windows 11, one of the big new features it talked about was the integration of Chat from Microsoft Teams. The first previews of the new OS for Insiders in the Dev Channel included many of the other promised features and changes, but Teams integration wasn’t among them.

Today that changes as Microsoft begins rolling out the first Preview of Teams Chat to Windows Insiders. This comes in the form of new Chat flyout from taskbar, as well as a Teams desktop experience designed to make the best use of Windows 11.

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The excitement surrounding the unveiling of Windows 11 was tempered slightly when the system requirements were revealed and it turned out a large number of Windows 10 systems would be incompatible with the new OS.

Microsoft’s own system compatibility checker proved to be rather useless -- if your PC failed the check it provided no details on why -- leading the software giant to pull it. Thankfully a number of third parties have stepped up to fill the void, the latest one being German software developer Ashampoo.

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Following the grand reveal a few weeks ago, Microsoft has been rolling out new Windows 11 preview builds to Insiders in the Dev Channel on a weekly basis.

Today sees the release of Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22000.71 which comes with a number of changes and improvements, including a new widget and updated looks for the context and other right-click menus.

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