Google unbundles Android battery app and pushes it to the Play Store

Google has started -- just as OnePlus has -- to unbundle many of its core apps and make them available through the Play Store. The latest candidate to be stripped out of Android and give a Store release is its battery app.

Many people have been pleased to see such unbundling, as it makes it far easier for Google to release updates for individual components without having to wait for the next big Android update to roll out. But while many Android users will be happy to see the arrival of Device Health Services (as the battery app is named), it's not good news for everyone.

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Nvidia: Internet of Things adoption will drive GPU investments

With the world around us becoming smarter and generating more data each day, there is an increasing need for greater computational power in terms of both CPU and GPU capabilities.

At the company’s GTC Europe event in Munich this week, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang hailed the effect that advances in GPU computing are having not just across the technology industry, but the world as a whole.

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Microsoft is hilariously pretentious as it unveils Surface accessories in aqua color

Microsoft Surface computers are rather nice, but sometimes Panos Panay and team get a little wacky when describing the design process. Look, I get it, Panay is passionate about his job, and that is respectable. But come on, creating Surface devices isn't exactly like painting the Mona Lisa.

Today, Microsoft announces that some Surface accessories will soon be available in a new aqua color. Now, I suppose the color is decent, although it reminds me of a hospital. It is the type of color you paint the rooms of an assisted-living facility for the elderly. As Microsoft describes the process of selecting the color aqua, however, you would think they cured a disease -- the explanation is hilariously pretentious.

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Dell will invest $1bn in Internet of Things research and development

Dell Technologies has unveiled plans of a major new IoT push, including a new division specifically targeting new connected technologies.

At an event in New York, the company revealed that it is set to invest over $1 billion in research and development of Internet of Things technology over the next three years.

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Wait a minute, when has there ever been a currency bubble?

If you've scanned the crypto news in recent weeks, you will have noticed a smattering of stories suggesting that the whole cryptocurrency market, is a bubble. Such news is not exactly new. Since the spring, the crypto market has multiplied in value by a factor of six and the word "bubble" has thus inveigled its way into commentators conversations.

A few days ago, the Wolf of Wall St, Jordan Belfort, joined JP Morgan CEO, Jamie Dimon in declaring Bitcoin to be both a fraud and a bubble. Jordan can, at least, legitimately claim expertise in fraud having pleaded guilty to that very crime and served 22 months in prison for it. However, he’s wrong on both points.

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Accenture leaves highly-sensitive data on unsecured servers

Accenture has confirmed that highly sensitive company data was left sitting on an unlocked cloud server.

The tech giant confessed that a huge database, including hundreds of gigabytes of data for the company’s enterprise cloud offering, was left on four unsecured Amazon S3 servers.

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FBackup 7 adds Dropbox and CD/DVD support, Fast Mirror backup option

Softland has released FBackup 7.0 and Backup4all 7.0, major new versions of its free and paid-for Windows backup products.

Both programs, which offer file-based backup and extended functionality via plug-ins, add new cloud backup destinations, while FBackup gains support for CD/DVD backups and a Fast Mirror backup option.

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Brexit impact on UK jobs market may be overestimated

New reports are arguing that Brexit may not have such a major effect on the UK's tech sector as previously imagined.

Research released by Tech City UK and Nesta claim that foreign workers are more likely to have come from outside the EU, meaning that losing EU-based workforce may not be as "dangerous" for businesses as previously thought.

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[UPDATED] Twitter temporarily suspends Rose McGowan following Harvey Weinstein tweets

Rose McGowan -- one of many actresses to have spoken out about Harvey Weinstein's alleged sexual abuse and harassment -- has been slapped with a temporary suspension from Twitter. The sanctions came after the Charmed and Nip/Tuck star talked about the Weinstein allegations.

While Twitter has not revealed exactly why McGowan's account was suspended, it followed her speaking out about sexual abuse, and telling Ben Affleck to "fuck off" after he said he knew nothing of Weinstein's reputation for sexual harassment.

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YouTube tests autoplaying videos -- but you can disable the feature

YouTube logo

Videos that play automatically have proved highly divisive, but it hasn’t stopped Google, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter experimenting with them. Now YouTube is testing autoplaying videos in its app.

Recognizing that not everyone is happy with the idea of videos noisily playing as soon as they appear on-screen, Google has taken a leaf out of Instagram's book and made the video play silently to start with. In addition to this, it's possible to disable autoplay altogether if you want.

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Bitcoin breaks over $5,200: You expected that, right?

Since the beginning of the year, Bitcoin has taken numerous hits from so-called "experts" and gone through a couple of major crashes. And, despite all that, the price of the most-valuable cryptocurrency has set a new record, going over $5,200 for the first time today. Bitcoin is up over 500 percent since January 1.

Bitcoin's influence in the cryptocurrency market still looms large. Its market cap, $86 billion, represents over 50 percent of the whole market, which is currently valued at around $162 billion. Bitcoin's daily value is around $2 billion, far more than any of the other players.

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80 percent of enterprises are investing in AI but a third think they need to spend more

AI money

Although 80 percent of enterprises are investing in AI today, one in three business leaders believes their company will need to invest more over the next three years to keep pace with competitors.

This is one of the findings of a survey of 260 large, global organizations, conducted by research firm Vanson Bourne for data and analytics specialist Teradata.

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Samson launches G-Track Pro USB microphone for vlogs, podcasts, and more

If you want to become the next YouTube star or record a thrilling podcast, content is king; you need to have interesting things to talk about so that you can develop an audience. Great content isn't enough these days, however. With so much competition, you need to have good production values too. No, you don't need fancy special effects, but exceptional audio quality is key -- no matter how good you are, people won't want to struggle to hear you.

If media creation is your goal, one of the best purchases you can make is a quality microphone. Believe it or not, you don't need to break the bank to get a respectable model. Today, Samson unveils a new professional-grade microphone, and it is rather affordable for all you get. Not only does it seem to be a good choice for vlogging or recording a podcast, but also for music creation. Heck, gamers and Twitch streamers should check it out too.

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Free online service tests mobile app security and privacy

app frustration

When you download a mobile app you sometimes get more than you bargained for, Uber's app that tracked iPhone users for example. It can be hard to know exactly what apps on your phone are up to.

Now though, application security testing company High-Tech Bridge is launching a free 'Mobile X-Ray' service for developers that analyses native and hybrid iOS and Android apps and detects the most common weakness and vulnerabilities.

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Taxing robots could stop innovation

industrial robots

Recently, the leader of the Labor Party in the UK, Jeremy Corbyn, suggested that a "tax on robots" should be put in place. He believes automation is a "threat" to workers and wants to use the tax income to build a fund for retraining staff that lose their jobs. He thinks "we should all get the benefits" from "greedy" global corporations which have "made a great deal of money out of incredibly advanced technology."

While mass receipt of global commercial wealth is most appreciated, Corbyn's suggestions are a reaction to the Hollywood version of the technology. A suggestion that could stop innovation.

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