Samsung unveils Galaxy Tab S4 premium Android tablet
For whatever reason, Android tablets have largely fallen out of favor with consumers. Some people will blame cannibalization by large-screen smartphones, while others will point to low-quality offerings from no-name manufacturers. I would say both are contributors. Sadly, quality Android tablets are few and far between because the market is littered with low-cost models that are poor quality -- it makes it difficult for the top-tier makers to compete.
Thankfully, Samsung has not yet given up on the Android tablet market. Today, it unveils an absolutely beautiful -- albeit pricey -- 10.5 inch tablet. Called "Galaxy Tab S4," it ships with Android 8.1 and comes with an S Pen at no extra charge. It is powered by an impressive Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 Octa Core processor and 4GB of RAM. While the base model is Wi-Fi only, an LTE model is available too.
Apple pulls away from Microsoft and Facebook on the way to becoming a trillion-dollar company
Apple reported better-than-expected earnings and revenue for Q3 yesterday, taking the iPhone-maker closer to becoming the first every trillion-dollar company. Sales increased by 17 percent to a record $53.3 billion, and profit jumped a massive 32 percent to $11.5 billion.
While the value of Facebook plummets following numerous scandals, Apple now has a market cap of $935 billion -- the closest competitors in the world of technology are Amazon at around $870 billion, Alphabet at $845 billion, and Microsoft at $815 billion.
Android apps carry hidden Windows 10 malware
Over 140 apps on the Google Play store have been discovered to contain malicious Windows executable files.
Researchers at Palo Alto Networks found that among the infected apps, several had more than 1,000 installations and carried 4-star ratings.
Spear phishing attack hits more than 400 industrial companies
Researchers at Kaspersky Lab have detected a new wave of spear phishing attacks disguised as legitimate procurement and accounting letters, that have hit more than 400 industrial organizations.
The emails have targeted approximately 800 employee PCs, mostly in Russian companies, with the goal of stealing money and confidential data from the organizations, which could then be used in new attacks.
HP launches flexible systems to enhance in-store retail
Retailing presents some unique challenges for IT. Endpoints tend to be in fixed positions which has an effect on how staff interact with customers.
HP is unveiling a new portfolio of devices and service offerings designed to enhance the retail experience by freeing the technology to move around. The HP Engage portfolio provides sleek, versatile, and secure systems to meet the evolving needs of retail and hospitality customers.
Virtualization tool helps protect critical IP and high value assets
While breaches often focus on consumer or payment information, they also put at risk key intellectual property and business assets.
Virualization-based security specialist Bromium is announcing a new product called Protected App, which allows organizations to establish robust, end-to-end protection around their critical intellectual property (IP) and high value assets (HVAs).
Facebook wants you to stop using it so much
It might seem counter-intuitive -- or it might seem like a case of just saying what it thinks people want to hear -- but Facebook doesn't want you to use it as much as you do. That's not to say it wants you to disappear entirely, rather it just hopes that the time you spend on the social network is more "intentional, positive and inspiring" -- so you don't feel compelled to stay away and miss out on all those ads!
Today, the company launches a new activity dashboard for both Facebook and Instagram that lets you see how long you've on the social networks, set time limits, and restrict notifications. Facebook says that the new tools have been created in conjunction with mental health organizations and they come amid growing concerns about the problem of social networking addiction.
Mozilla fox up its designs
Mozilla is looking to change the design of the Firefox logo and it is seeking help -- which is just as well, because the designs it has come up with so far are awful.
The company says that it is looking to "evolve the Firefox brand" as it develops new apps and services beyond the browser it is currently associated with. The aim is to come up with a new branding system that can "embrace all of the Firefox products in the pipeline and those still in the minds of our Emerging Technologies group", and it wants to know what you think.
New Kodi 18 Leia preview build arrives, download it now!
The Kodi Foundation is hard at work polishing up the next version of its hugely popular home theater software -- Kodi 18 'Leia'.
The updated software introduces a huge number of changes (you can view the full changelog here) and you can try it out now.
Warning: DO NOT install the latest version of CCleaner [Updated]
A month ago, I wrote about how I felt Avast was ruining CCleaner, the excellent system cleaning software it took over when it acquired Piriform last year.
In Avast's short tenure, we've already seen CCleaner suffer from malware, bundled software, and pop-up ads. In my article headline I asked "what’s next?" Well, with a new version of CCleaner available to download, we now have the answer. Inevitably, it's not good.
Fortnite is coming to Android -- is your phone supported and will the game ever hit Google Play?
Fortnite quickly became a gaming sensation, and the wait for the battle royale game to come to Android has felt like a long one. While Fortnite for iOS is already a reality, Fortnite for Android remains somewhere on the horizon.
But that's not to say there is no news about the Android version of the game. A list recently came to light that seems to reveal the handsets that will support Fortnite, and there is a persistent rumor that the game will initially launch as an exclusive title for the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Note 9. Now it seems as though Fortnite may never make it to Google Play, with Epic Games seemingly looking to avoid paying Google a share of Fortnite-related income.
Hate phone notches? Google says Android handsets can never have more than two
Phones with notches are incredibly divisive, but since Apple launched the iPhone X complete with a little screen cutout, there have been endless copies from other handset manufacturers. But is one notch enough? How about two or more?
If you fall into the "hate" camp when it comes to notches and cutouts it may be hard to convince you to buy such a phone, but for everyone else, Google has set out some new ground rules stating how many a phone can have, and where they can be located.
OnePlus is bigger than Samsung in India -- oh, and OnePlus 3/3T owners everywhere are getting Android P
OnePlus keeps on going from strength to strength, and nowhere is this truer than in India. New analysis shows that the company is now bigger than Samsung in the region in the premium smartphone market.
The company is now the market leader in India -- quite an achievement considering OnePlus only started participating in there fours ago. The rise to first place was helped by the success of the OnePlus 6, but it's also helped by the fact that the company does not abandon its users when it comes to software updates. In seperate news, it has been revealed that both the OnePlus 3 and OnePlus 3T will be getting Android P -- skipping Android 8.1 Oreo completely.
Logitech buying Blue Microphones
When one company acquires another, the deal it is often judged by how much financial sense it makes. For instance, when Microsoft bought LinkedIn for $26 billion, many pundits thought it was a colossal waste of money. I suppose time will tell if the Windows-maker made a mistake or not. On the flip side, Amazon's acquisition of Twitch for nearly $1 billion is now looking quite brilliant -- the video platform is getting more popular every day.
Today, Logitech announces it is acquiring Blue Microphones for $117 million. While obviously not as big as the two aforementioned acquisitions, it is still very intriguing. Actually, Logitech's purchase of Blue makes a ton of sense, as the microphone-maker's portfolio fits in perfectly with its new owner's products. Logitech is known for producing high-quality accessories, and while it does make headsets, it doesn't really produce high-end microphones -- the acquisition fills a void. And so, the deal seems like it could be a match made in heaven.
Microsoft releases Windows 10 Redstone 5 Build 17728, teases new Your Phone app
The second Windows 10 Redstone 5 Bug Bash is currently underway, but that hasn’t stopped Microsoft rolling out Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 17728 (RS5) to Insiders in the Fast ring.
This new build introduces a number of changes, improvements and fixes, and Microsoft also used this new flight to detail the forthcoming Your Phone app which will soon allow iOS and Android users to sync content from their phones to a Windows 10 PC.
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