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Hopefully you have been saving up, because today the standard version of the not-particularly-cheap Xbox One X is available to pre-order. Last month saw the Project Scorpio Edition open up for pre-orders, and now it's time for those who are interested in the standard black model.

The console will be available worldwide on November 7, but if you want to avoid disappointment on the day, it's probably best to get your order for "the world's most powerful console" in right now -- links are below. As well as opening up pre-orders today, Microsoft has announced that the list of Xbox One X enhanced games has grown to over 130.

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Companies of all sizes have started to recognize the value of big data collections and the need to take advantage of them. Development of software systems play a big role in big data analytics.

As companies proceed on their big data journey, they usually start by batch processing their big data assets. This can mean gathering and aggregating web log data, telemetry from IoT devices, user clicks from an app and more.

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Whether you are an established brand or a fledgling startup, there are a number of things to consider as you prepare to launch a new (or your first) product or service -- from creating buzz and designing attractive packaging, to running tests and staking out the competition. It goes without saying that your customers are central to the success of your product, but many business and marketing leaders fail to turn their critical eye inward and acknowledge the pivotal role customer service representatives play in the lead up and aftermath of your launch.

Across industries, customer expectations are only continuing to grow. Reports show that by 2020, customer experience (CX) will overtake price and product as the key brand differentiator, which means that brands need to set the bar higher in terms of their own customer experience programs -- or else, they risk losing their competitive advantage.

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With most organizations now increasingly using a wide variety of software and IT tools to maximize their potential, keeping track of all your various services has never been more important.

This importance has been highlighted by new research from CA Technologies showing that those organizations that are able to adopt modern software development practices are seeing overwhelmingly more benefits than those who don't.

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The release date for the next big Windows 10 feature update is drawing ever closer, and Microsoft is working hard to get it as complete and polished as possible.

Today sees the release of the latest Fall Creators Update build to the Fast ring (not Skip Ahead), and as you might expect, bug fixes and stability and performance tweaks are the order of the day. But that said, Microsoft has managed to sneak in another new feature too.

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Move beyond the basics of how a Linux machine works and gain a better understanding of Linux networks and their configuration.

The Linux Networking Cookbook is a hands-on solution guide to building, maintaining, and securing a network using Linux.

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UK SMBs are shelling out huge amounts of money on upgrading their technology every year, potentially hindering investment elsewhere, new figures have claimed.

A report from American Express and the Center for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) found that on average, SMBs spend roughly £200,000 each year on new technologies.

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USB-C devices are coming thick and fast lately -- it feels like it is raining dongles and docks! While Apple's MacBook computers aren't the only devices with such ports, they certainly accelerated the popularity. Of course, there are both Windows and Linux machines with USB-C too.

StarTech manufactures many USB-C devices, and now it is releasing three new docking stations. Why three? Well, they offer different features and come in at different price points. Heck, one model even has an integrated 2.5-inch drive bay for an HDD or SSD! All three docking stations can charge/power a laptop too, with a max output of 60W.

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BT is set to launch its first cybersecurity R&D center outside of the UK with the opening of a new hub in Sydney.

The office will focus on developing security services than can be deployed both locally and across the world, with BT saying this will include areas such as  cyber security, machine learning, data science analytics and visualization, big data engineering, cloud computing, and data networking, as well as "the full life cycle of software engineering."

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Adblock Plus is about more than just its eponymous software -- the company also produces Adblock Browser. Now version 2.0 of the secure, private mobile web browser has been released for iOS and it introduces a wealth of new features.

Key among these new features is Ghost Mode which makes it easy to slip into anonymous web browsing mode whenever privacy is of the utmost importance. As the name of the browser implies, there is also an integrated ad-blocker, but it does not end there -- this is an update that the company has been working on for more than a year.

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The latest report from risk management and cyber security company Nopsec looks at the use of social media in risk analysis.

Twitter in particular seems to be becoming the go-to resource for security researchers and attackers looking to disseminate proof-of-concept exploits.

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O&O Software GmbH has unveiled O&O Defrag Professional 21.0, a major new build of its renowned Windows drive defragmentation and optimization tool.

Version 21’s headline new feature is that it includes a free version of O&O DiskStat 3, which can be used in conjunction with O&O Defrag’s DiskCleaner component to help clean up hard drives. O&O Defrag 21 also comes with the promise of faster file access and further optimizations to its DiskCleaner module.

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When it comes to the logistics industry, DHL is doubtlessly one of the top names in the business, handling billions of items across the world every day. But in a rapidly connected and technology-enabled world, how is the company managing to stay relevant and on top of the latest customer trends?

"Digitalization is on everyone's mind... it will dramatically change the way global supply chains work," DHL CIO and COO Markus Voss told attendees during a keynote at the Huawei Connect 2017 event in Shanghai earlier this month, attended by ITProPortal.

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iTunes has to be the marmite of applications. Essential for getting content onto your iPhone, but frustratingly bloated and slow. Worse, iTunes is designed for the lazy user, making it super-easy to purchase your content directly from within the application.

You can, of course, transfer your media files to iTunes, by simply dragging and dropping the content and iTunes will handle the artwork and upload your files. But only if they are of the supported format. If you’ve ripped your CDs in the FLAC format, you can’t get this onto iTunes unless you’ve converted the files elsewhere. If you have a 4K video, there’s no easy way of getting this onto your iPad via iTunes.

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You’ve probably noticed that Facebook’s facial recognition technology is extremely accurate. You can upload a photo of friends and before you can identify everyone, Facebook has already made accurate tag suggestions for you.

Facebook’s facial recognition technology is powered by a system called DeepFace, and uses machine learning, or, Artificial Intelligence, to increase its accuracy. Each time your face is tagged in a Facebook photo, the database collects even more identifying information about your face.

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