Microsoft has found a way to significantly speed up installation of the Windows 10 Spring Creators Update
Microsoft rolls out two big feature updates for Windows 10 a year -- one around April-time, and another around October. These introduce new features, a lot of big changes, and improvements across the board.
Due to the size of the updates, the upgrade process takes quite some time, but Microsoft is working to reduce how long you’re "offline" for.
Google Play Instant lets you stream Android apps and games to try them out
With so many apps and games to choose from in Google Play, it's very easy to be tempted to try all of them out. Well... maybe not all of them, but it's easy to get carried away. This can mean waiting an age for a particular title to download, only for you to try it and discover you don't like it.
Today Google announces a solution to the problem: Google Play Instant. It lets you get started in a game without having to download it completely -- in essence you're streaming the bits you need to your Android phone or tablet.
Facebook is introducing a way for creators to make money from their content
YouTube has become a huge money-making platform, not only for Google, but also for the creators who upload content. Now Facebook wants a piece of the action and is in the process of testing a couple of ways in which creators can monetize their content.
The idea sees Facebook giving creators the chance to offer subscription services to their fans. For $4.99 per month, subscribers can be granted access to exclusive content -- and Facebook won’t be taking a cut of the money.
Firefox's 'master password' system can be easily bypassed using brute force
If you're a Firefox user, it's highly possible that you use the browser to store your login usernames and passwords for the sake of ease. Supposing you're a little security conscious, you may well have enabled the 'master password' function to prevent unauthorized access to your password database.
Well, there's a little bad news. It's nowhere near as secure as you may have thought. Wladimir Palant -- the guy behind the AdBlock Plus extension -- found that the system, which is used by both Firefox and Thunderbird, can be very easily brute-forced, leaving passwords vulnerable to malware and hackers.
Linux Foundation announces open source ACRN hypervisor for the Internet of Things
The Linux Foundation has released details of one of its open source projects, ACRN -- a hypervisor designed for the Internet of Things and embedded devices. And, yes, it is pronounced "acorn".
The project was helped by contributions of code and engineering from Intel, and the aim was to create a system for managing virtual machines that was both flexible and small. With a Linux-based service OS, ACRN can run multiple guest operating systems at the same time, making it ideal for many scenarios.
Twitter to ban an array of cryptocurrency ads
Just a few days ago, it was revealed that Google plans to ban ads for cryptocurrencies and related products and services later this year. Now it seems as though Twitter could be following suit.
The plans could see the social network implementing a ban on ads for ICOs and almost all cryptocurrencies. It is reported that Twitter's ban could come into force within a couple of weeks.
Picking through the haystack -- the role of AI in cyber security [Q&A]
Over the past year or so the idea of using artificial intelligence as an aid to cyber security has gained a lot of support.
But what role does AI and machine learning have, and what will the future of security look like when it's in widespread use? We spoke to Gene Stevens, co-founder and CTO of network security company ProtectWise to find out.
Linux Mint 19 'Tara' Cinnamon will be faster
Is Linux Mint slow? Hell, no! The operating system is plenty fast. Speed is in the eye of the beholder, however, and the Mint developers apparently thought app-launching seemed slow when using the Cinnamon desktop environment. They didn't have any proof, but they felt that both Mate and Xfce were faster in this regard.
Well, rather than allow their feelings to remain unproven, the Mint devs decided to come up with a speed test to see if they were correct. Guess what? They were! Windows build time was four times slower with Cinnamon compared to Metacity, while recovery time was nearly four times slower too. So yes, app-launching on Cinnamon -- as of today -- is slow comparatively. The big benefit to pinpointing a problem, however, is that it is the first step in solving it. And so, Linux Mint 19 Cinnamon will be faster as a result.
YouTube Kids app is serving up conspiracy videos from the likes of David Icke
The very idea of YouTube Kids is to ensure that children are not exposed to content that parents would consider inappropriate for them. This means filtering out videos with an adult theme, with Google -- supposedly -- curating content suitable for younger eyes.
This week, the main YouTube site has been in the news because of its plans to counter conspiracy videos with "information cues" rom Wikipedia. But it seems that YouTube Kids has a similar problem, with children being exposed to conspiracy theory videos from the likes of reptilian-obsessed, Illuminati-loving conspiracist David Icke.
If you owned a 'fat' PlayStation 3 you could be entitled to $65 from Sony because of Linux option
Cast your mind back to when Sony released the original PlayStation 3, and you may well remember claims that the console was also a "computer". The claims were such that Sony suggested that owners could install Linux -- which, technically speaking, they could.
However, installing Linux on a PS3 also posed something of a security issue, and Sony backtracked on the "Other OS" feature, killing it will a firmware update. Unsurprisingly, a lawsuit followed, and the result of this is that you could in line for a pay-out.
Facebook suspends Trump campaign's data analytics team, Cambridge Analytica, for harvesting private information of 50 million users
Facebook has suffered what has been described as the social networks "biggest ever data breach" after Cambridge Analytica and its parent group Strategic Communication Laboratories (SCL) harvested data from more than 50 million users.
Cambridge Analytica is best known for its work with the Trump campaign for the 2016 election, and Facebook found that the company had violated it data privacy policies. The data was used as part of a "microtargeting" campaign to try to predict and influence voters' choices in the election.
Don't want Microsoft forcing Edge on you? Switch from Windows 10 to Linux with Zorin OS 12.3!
I am sick and tired of technology companies like Microsoft thinking they can impose their will on consumers. Just today, the company made a startling announcement -- it will now force links from the Windows Mail app to open in its own Edge web browser. In other words, whether you like it or not, even if Edge isn't your default browser, it will still be used for opening links from emails. This is unacceptable, and when combined with all of the other Windows 10 calamities, users should consider switching operating systems immediately.
Since macOS requires you to buy an entirely new computer from Apple, a Linux-based operating system is probably your best bet. By using Linux, you can finally reclaim your computer as your own -- not Microsoft's. Today, version 12.3 of Zorin OS is released, and it is the perfect OS to replace Windows 10. Hell, it can even run Windows programs (including Microsoft Office) with the help of the pre-installed and pre-configured Wine 3.
Microsoft quickly rolls out Windows 10 Spring Creators Update Build 17120 to the Slow ring
The next big feature update of Windows 10 -- widely expected to be called the Spring Creators Update -- is due out next month. Microsoft is hard at work putting the finishing touches to it -- another new build arrives today -- but still has time to introduce some new additions.
Microsoft Build 17120 arrived on the Fast ring three days ago, and Microsoft has already deemed it ready for the Slow ring too. This build adds some improvements to the Windows Defender Application Guard (WDAG), its virtualization-based security technology which helps to protect enterprises from advanced attacks that can infiltrate networks and devices via the Internet.
Microsoft releases Windows 10 Spring Creators Update Build 17123 to the Fast ring
In addition to releasing a new Windows 10 Redstone 5 build to the Insiders on Skip Ahead, Microsoft today also rolls out a new Spring Creators Update build for Insiders on the Fast ring.
Build 17123 comes just three days after Build 17120, and fixes a number of issues. It also introduces High Efficiency Image File Format (HEIF) for Windows 10 and the Photos app.
Windows 10 Redstone 5 Build 17623 for Skip Ahead forces users to use Edge
Microsoft is still putting the finishing touches to its next big Windows 10 feature update -- Redstone 4, aka the Spring Creators Update -- due out next month, but in the meantime, work is already well underway on the update to follow that, Redstone 5.
We've already seen the introduction of one big new feature -- Sets in Build 17618 -- and today’s new release, Build 17623, also adds some new features and improvements, as well as one particularly nasty addition.
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