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Nokia is blaming "the slower-than-expected development of the VR market" for its decision to focus its energies and investment in digital health. The company says it will not be developing any more virtual reality hardware, but will continue to support its OZO VR customers.

The shift in focus will result in the loss of 310 jobs, which Nokia says will be mainly in Finland, the US and the UK. The figure represents around a third of the Nokia Technologies workforce.

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Twitter has said that it is working on a bookmarking feature, overcoming one of the complaints users have about the micro-blogging service. Twitter users currently have the option of liking tweets, but this means running the risk of influencing the algorithms that control what appears in your timeline -- and perhaps making it appear as though you like something you actually disagree with, or result in you publicly liking something you'd rather keep private.

The company's head of product, Keith Coleman, made the new bookmarking revelation on Twitter, saying it is a frequently requested feature. The new 'read it later' option came out of Twitter's HackWeek, and while no launch date has been announced, it is coming "soon" and an early design has been previewed.

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Twitter has blocked an ad campaign by Tennessee Rep. Marsha Blackburn after it was "deemed an inflammatory statement that is likely to evoke a strong negative reaction."

In the ad, Blackburn says she "stopped the sale of baby body parts" from abortions by defunding Planned Parenthood -- a false claim. The pro-lifer claims Twitter is censoring her, but the company has said the ad campaign can run without the "body parts" claim.

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YouTube has introduced a ban on videos that provide instructions on how to modify guns to make them fire more quickly. The move comes in the wake of the Las Vegas shooting -- the deadliest in US history -- in which Stephen Paddock used guns fitted with bump stocks to increase the firing rate of his weapons.

The Google-owned video site has been used to share instructional video showing how to adapt guns in the same way. Following the mass shooting, which left dozens dead and hundreds injured, a clamp-down has been introduced.

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As companies continue to violate our privacy, such as Microsoft with the latest version of Skype for iOS and Android, we slowly become desensitized to it. In other words, as time marches on, people slowly become more and more accepting of being spied on. This is tragic, as our private information has value, and many will simply turn it over in exchange for a free service or other nonsense.

Purism is a company that is fighting for your rights -- regardless of whether or not you appreciate it. The company maintains the privacy-focused Pure OS Linux distribution, plus it manufactures very secure laptops with radio, webcam, and microphone hardware kill-switches. Purism also wants to produce a secure Linux-based smartphone, called Librem 5. Unfortunately, the company needed $1.5 million to get started. Well, folks, I am elated to say that earlier today, Purism met and exceeded that goal! In other words, it looks like the Librem 5 will become a reality.

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Sales and marketing. ROI. Quarterly performance statements. Reports to investors. And, salaries, bonuses, expense accounts, and petty cash for employee birthday parties. It's all part of the day-to-day running of a business -- any business, including those in the hacking industry. And a big industry it is: Hacking "companies" can be worth many millions, and a good hacker can earn as much as $80,000 a month -- nearly a cool million in a year! -- if they've got the skills.

To pay out that kind of money, a hacker "company" needs financial backing -- it needs investors who will front the cash to pay experts, who in turn will deliver the goods. You could imagine what a "Bad Guy Hackers Inc." board of directors meeting looks like: "Guys, we got a big contract to get the medical records of the clients of X insurance company. The client wants it done by Y date, and they'll pay us a bonus if we deliver early. The project is going to cost Z dollars, do we have that, or do we have to go out and raise it?"

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Cortana is a decent voice assistant. Hell, "she" is probably better than Apple's woefully disappointing Siri, but that isn't saying very much. Still, Microsoft's assistant very much annoys me on Windows 10. I don't necessarily want to use my desktop PC like my phone, and sometimes I feel like she is intruding on my computer. While some people like Cortana, I am sure others agree with me.

Depending on how you feel about Cortana, you will either hate or love Microsoft's latest move to shoehorn the virtual woman into your life. You see, starting today, Cortana is coming to Skype on mobile for both Android and iOS. I don't think anyone actually wanted her in Skype, but oh well, she is on the way. Unfortunately, there is one huge downside -- Microsoft is using her to scan your private messages! Yup, the Windows-maker seems a lot like Google with this move.

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Seven of the world's top banking groups, including HSBC, ING and BNY Mellon are joining forces to create a platform for syndicated loans based on blockchain technology.

The blockchain service will be provided by R3 (a popular blockchain consortium) and Finastra (a UK financial software company). The service starts with Fusion LenderComm, an online marketplace that will use blockchain’s distributed ledger technology to reduce cost and improve on the efficiency and transparency of loans with multiple lenders. So far, the work in the syndicated loans was done manually.

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It’s a key question for many data scientists -- especially those that are new to the field: is Python or R better for data science?

For those first venturing into the world of data science, it’s important to master one language first, rather than looking to be a Jack of all trades from the offset. This is because your processes and techniques are what really matter most, and mastering these in one language before branching out into learning more is what is going to get you a strong footing in the data science world.

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If you've ever rooted an Android phone, you've almost certainly heard of the Xposed Framework. This remarkable software allows for near limitless customization of Google's mobile operating system through the use of numerous add-on modules, eliminating the need to use custom ROMs.

After months of waiting, Xposed Framework is now officially available for Nougat. The software has been made available more than a year after the launch of Nougat, but the good news is that the day has finally arrived!

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Some of Europe’s top cybersecurity minds have revealed their fears about the future of technology -- with autonomous weapons at the top of their list.

At a panel entitled "the future of cyber security" at this week’s IP Expo event in London, the threat of self-aware AI that can write sophisticated malware and smart weaponry that could be hijacked by cybercriminals were highlighted as major concerns for the coming years.

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The cloud may offer more convenience, but, if you want to store lots of content, you can't really beat a good old fashioned hard drive. The new 12TB options from Seagate, which are part of the BarraCuda Pro, IronWolf and IronWolf Pro lines, are a perfect example of this, packing a ton of space at a pretty reasonable cost.

The 12TB BarraCuda Pro is designed for desktop users, being touted as the "fastest, highest-capacity and most reliable hard drive" that consumers can get right now. The IronWolf and IronWolf Pro, on the other hand, are optimized for NAS use.

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Windows 10 receives two big feature updates a year, which means there are lots of different versions of the operating system for Microsoft to update. This obviously isn’t practical, and so the company drops support for older releases after a period of time has elapsed.

It ended support for the original Windows 10 release (1507) five months ago, and from tomorrow, October 10, the software giant will end support for version 1511, also known as the November Update.

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There's increasing demand from businesses to produce apps quickly, but at the same time ensure that they are robust and reliable.

Open source web portal company Liferay is launching a cloud platform that gives developers the infrastructure, services and hosting capabilities they need to quickly build, launch and scale their applications.

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Windows 10 is a work in progress. Each new feature update adds additional functionality to the operating system, but it also often removes features for one reason or another.

I’ve previously covered the list of features being removed or deprecated in the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, but Insiders testing the new operating system release can add one more major casualty to the lineup -- Windows Media Player.

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