AI-powered offline translation comes to Microsoft Translator apps
Having a translation app on your phone is great when you're abroad and want to be able to speak in the local lingo. But if you find yourself without an internet connection, you might struggle to find the words you need.
If you're a Microsoft Translator user, however, this now changes. Microsoft has introduced free, downloadable AI-powered translation packs which the company says brings "the benefit of neural translation technology regardless of whether the device is connected to the cloud or offline".
Mac users, you can now add Windows Defender Browser Protection to Google Chrome
People are becoming rather wary of the security they trust, particularly after the recent bad press. With this in mind, we’ve noted that a few people are deciding to stick with Windows Defender, which is built into Windows 10.
Sadly for Mac users, if you want anti-malware software, you need to rely on a third party and one of the many brands. Or you could just download from the official Apple App Store where you know each application has been vetted before inclusion.
Honeypot project reveals attackers are turning to automation
Most businesses are seeking to automate the more tedious aspects of their operations and some new research from security analytics platform Cybereason reveals that hackers are no exception.
The company set up a honeypot system masquerading as a financial services company and introduced security flaws in several stages.
Opera VPN app to be permanently discontinued
Opera launched its VPN app for Android and iOS two years ago. The free app provided users with secure VPN encryption to the web (with support for spoofing one of five countries), plus the blocking of both ads and tracking cookies.
At a time when privacy is at the forefront of a lot of people’s minds, and VPNs are growing in popularity, it will perhaps come as a surprise to hear that Opera has made the decision to discontinue its app as of April 30. Yes, that’s the end of this month.
Microsoft brings Windows Defender Browser Protection extension to Google Chrome
Recognizing that comparatively few people are using its Edge browser, Microsoft has released a new security tool for those who have opted to use Google Chrome -- the Windows Defender Browser Protection extension.
The add-on offers real-time protection against a variety of online threats such as phishing attacks and malicious websites. As these security options are already available in Chrome, it's not clear quite who the extension is aimed at.
German government moves to open source private cloud
The German federal government is moving to an open source, self-hosted cloud platform from Nextcloud for file sync and sharing and collaboration, in order to protect the data of its citizens.
The Federal Information Technology Center (ITZBund), which takes care of IT services for the entire federal government, has been running a pilot of 5000 users with Nextcloud since October 2016 and after a successful tender this will now be rolled out everywhere.
Fake Chrome ad blockers used to create botnets
More than 20 million Chrome users have been tricked into installing fake ad blockers that could see their machines recruited into a botnet, according to a new report.
A fake AdBlock Plus extension fooled many users last year. As many Chrome users discover ad blocking by browsing available extensions, so creating cloned fakes has become a popular tactic for cyber criminals according to AdGuard.
Facebook reveals new privacy controls for users around the world
Facebook has been hit with renewed criticism of its privacy policies in recent weeks in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal. Having promised to give users more control over their privacy settings -- and after already introducing some tools to this end -- the social network has now revealed how it will comply with General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in Europe and bring new "privacy protection" to users around the world.
With the impending arrival of GDPR, it had previously been thought that European Facebook users would have greater privacy controls than those in other parts of the world. But the company then revealed that GDPR-style privacy controls would actually be made available to everyone. Today, Facebook makes good on that promise, starting the rollout of new privacy settings in Europe and then around the globe.
Password manager RememBear exits beta with official launch
After around six months in beta -- and two years in the making -- the team behind the TunnelBear VPN tool has officially launched its password manager, RememBear.
Vying for attention in an already somewhat crowded marketplace, RememBear takes a leaf out of TunnelBear's book, and concentrates on offering functionality that's simple to use. There's also the same quirky use of animations throughout, but this should not distract from the fact that this is a powerful and secure place to store passwords.
International Shopping experience comes to the Amazon Shopping app
Amazon is making it easier to browse for goods from international sellers and have them shipped to your home country. The company is bringing the "International Shopping" experience to the Amazon Shopping app, and this simplifies the process of accessing Amazon with local language support and to track down items that ship to your country.
The new experience is available to iOS and Android users, and there is support for Spanish, English, Simplified Chinese, Brazilian Portuguese and German. To start with 25 currencies are supported, but more are due to be added later in the year.
Microsoft, Facebook and Symantec are among 34 companies pledging not to help governments launch cyberattacks
More than 30 technology companies have signed the Cybersecurity Tech Accord, making a number of pledges relating to cyberattacks. Microsoft, Facebook, Dell, HP and LinkedIn are just a few of the companies signing on the dotted line, promising -- among other things -- never to help a government launch cyberattacks against innocent citizens and enterprises.
The overall aim of the accord is to protect customers against malicious attacks by cybercriminal enterprises and nation-states. It is described as a "watershed agreement", and it sees a number of very big names coming together -- although there are a few notable exceptions.
Intel Accelerated Memory Scanning offloads malware scanning to GPUs to boost performance
The Spectre and Meltdown vulnerabilities really focused people's attention on the security of processors, and Intel has been at pains to convince users that it takes security seriously. With this in mind, the company has now announced a new Threat Detection Technology which introduces two new malware-fighting techniques.
Accelerated Memory Scanning offloads malware scanning to GPUs, taking the strain off CPUs and helping to improve performance. There's already interest, with Microsoft planning to add support to Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection. Intel has also revealed Advanced Platform Telemetry which is supposed to cut down on false positives.
Facebook: Yep, we track non-users -- but everyone else is doing it, so why shouldn't we?
In a blog post addressing some of the questions Mark Zuckerberg failed to properly answer in front of Congress, Facebook has admitted that it tracks both users and non-users as they use the web. This is something the social network has historically denied.
Facebook's product management director, David Baser, conceded that "when you visit a site or app that uses our services, we receive information even if you're logged out or don't have a Facebook account." Not happy to make this concession without pointing fingers, he then goes on to point out that other companies such as Twitter, Pinterest and LinkedIn behave similarly.
MSPs and resellers see containers as the biggest opportunity since virtual machines
A new survey of channel partners by container platform specialist Diamanti reveals that resellers and service providers see the adoption of containers as a massive disruption and opportunity.
Enterprises are rapidly adapting their applications and systems for the cloud, and containers are viewed as a key enabling technology. According to Diamanti's survey, more than 75 percent of channel partners say containers represent a moderate or major money-making opportunity.
Most companies not prepared to meet GDPR compliance deadline
A new survey reveals that 60 percent of companies are not likely to meet the May 25 deadline for compliance with the new European GDPR legislation.
The study from Crowd Research Partners shows only seven percent of surveyed organizations say they are in full compliance with GDPR requirements today, and 33 percent state they are well on their way to the compliance deadline.
Recent Headlines
BetaNews, your source for breaking tech news, reviews, and in-depth reporting since 1998.
© 1998-2025 BetaNews, Inc. All Rights Reserved. About Us - Privacy Policy - Cookie Policy - Sitemap.