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Details of the deals that a business has with other organizations are usually locked up in contracts or other documents such that valuable information is either not readily available or easily overlooked.

California-based Pramata is launching a suite of analytic applications that can identify critical information in existing contracts and combine it with data from business systems such as CRM and billing to benefit commercial relationships.

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Chromebooks are gaining traction because they are simple, easy to use and offer great value. For consumers, they can be fantastic options. For enterprises, however, Chrome OS needs to go the extra mile in order to become more attractive.

Google is well aware of the longer list of needs that enterprises have, as compared to consumers, which is why it has introduced a new plan, called Chrome Enterprise, that adds a whole host of new features designed specifically with business customers in mind.

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One of the keys to monetizing apps is to have an effective and easy to use payments solution built in. Payment solutions company Qualpay is aiming to make this process easier by offering a portal to make the selection of systems easier.

Qualpay for Developers allows developers looking for easy-to-implement payment APIs to use the portal to evaluate and deploy multiple payment solutions or work with Qualpay to tailor the platform for specific environments.

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There have been various controversies with Windows 10, from issues with privacy and telemetry, to ads and forced upgrades. Following a court case, Microsoft has vowed to never force upgrade files onto users again.

Windows users in Germany were particularly unimpressed when Microsoft forcibly downloaded many gigabytes of files to upgrade from Windows 7 and 8 to Windows 10. Having held out for 18 months, and losing its case twice, Microsoft has finally agreed to stop its nefarious tactics.

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After the disastrous launch of the Galaxy Note7, Samsung is surely hoping that the Galaxy Note 8 will be rather more successful and rather less fire-prone. The handset is due to be revealed later on today, and you can watch the event live so you get the news as soon as it breaks.

As is usual for any major phone launch, there have been the normal round of leaks and rumors surrounding the Galaxy Note 8 (or Galaxy Note8, if Samsung retains the previous naming scheme), and we're expecting to see a Bixby-loving 6.3-inch phone with dual camera and optical zoom.

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Some online events unite people -- such as the recent solar eclipse which was streamed online by millions of people unable to see the spectacle in person. Another uniting event occurs when a major website goes down... like Facebook.

If you've tried to visit the social network today, you may well have found that the site doesn't load. "Is Facebook down?" you may ask, and you're not alone.

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VPNs (Virtual Private Network) work by routing all of your web traffic to a VPN server through a secure, encrypted tunnel. Their usage has grown substantially in recent years as web users seek not only to circumvent geoblocking, censorship and ISP blocks, but also simply to enjoy a degree of anonymity online.

There are number of free and paid VPNs to choose from. While free might seem like the way to go, the truth is these tend to have restrictions, such as a limited amount of free traffic each month, fewer servers to choose from, and throttled speeds. They’re fine for occasional use, but if you plan to employ VPN protection on a more regular basis, particularly for downloading files via BitTorrent or streaming on Kodi, then a paid solution, like IPVanish, makes a lot more sense.

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Smartwatches. I'm not a fan. People may fawn over the likes of the Apple Watch, but I'm yet to be convinced by timepieces of this ilk. To be honest, I'm not -- or at least haven't been for a while -- much of a fan of watches in general. But that could be about to change.

The Casio Edifice EQB-501 is a chunky, stainless steel bracelet watch that's hard to ignore; it is big, bold and striking. It is also Bluetooth enabled so it can, via a connection to your phone, automatically set the time (both locally and for a second timezone), check for emails, and serve as a phone-finding tool -- oh, and it's solar-powered. Compared to an Apple Watch it barely classifies as a smartwatch, but for me it's ideal.

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Businesses are increasingly turning to digital transformation to accelerate their online presence, to enrich products, deepen customer relationships, and boost their brand.

But the bad guys have gone digital too, taking advantage of the digital ecosystem and user trust to make more sophisticated attacks. A new study sponsored by digital threat management company RiskIQ finds that for many businesses digital transformation and the changing external threat landscape are outpacing enterprise security capacity.

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Verizon, Ericsson and Qualcomm Technologies have managed to exceed the Gigabit speed barrier over LTE.

Together the companies were able to reach download speeds of 1.07 Gbps during an Ericsson lab trial using the Qualcomm Snapdragon X20 LTE Modem which is the first modem to support Category 18 LTE speeds.

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There is no shortage of diminutive bus-powered portable USB storage drives on the market nowadays -- both SSD and 2.5-inch HDD variants. Unfortunately, these drives typically offer relatively small capacities. Some professionals (and home users) need an external drive with much higher storage possibilities and being portable doesn't always matter. In these cases, a 3.5-inch-based USB drive is preferable, as plugging into a wall outlet for power is not an issue, and more importantly, it is available in higher capacities.

Today, Western Digital unveils a new external desktop drive line that should meet the needs of many. Called "My Book Duo," it actually leverages two 3.5-inch mechanical hard drives in RAID-0 to offer capacities up to 20TB. For example, the top capacity offering is comprised of dual 10TB drives. It connects with the latest-and greatest USB-C connector. Making it even more useful, it even includes an integrated two-port USB-A hub. This makes the My Book Duo storage system particularly ideal for machines without USB-A, such as the newest MacBook Pro. It will not charge a connected laptop, sadly. The external drive also features 256-bit AES hardware encryption and comes with a respectable 3-year warranty.

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Business leaders and artificial intelligence experts have come together to sign an open letter to the governments of the world warning them of the potential risks of autonomous weapons.

The CEOs from 115 different technology companies, including SpaceX and Tesla founder Elon Musk and DeepMind's Mustafa Suleyman, have joined forces to form The Campaign to Stop Killer Robots.

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HyperX makes excellent hardware. While the company's RAM (memory) is already legendary, it has also branched out to other gear like keyboards, mice, and headsets. So far, anything that carries the company's branding has proven to be of high quality. In other words, you really can't go wrong when buying a HyperX product.

Today, HyperX unveils a new gaming headset and it looks amazing. It is compatible with multiple platforms, such as Sony PlayStation 4, Microsoft Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, smartphones, tablets, and of course, PC. It features a removable microphone for when you just need to listen, which you can always reattach for speaking. For added durability, the hinges are made of aluminum. The most intriguing aspect, however, is what HyperX calls "dual chamber technology." Believe it or not, despite the solid specs and features, it is surprisingly affordable.

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Parallels IP Holdings GmbH has released Parallels Desktop 13, a major new release of its popular Mac virtualization tool.

Parallels Desktop, which allows macOS users to run virtual versions of Windows, macOS and Linux, is fully compatible with the forthcoming releases of Windows 10 Fall Update and macOS High Sierra (10.13). It also adds several new features and promises significant performance improvement in key areas.

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The Windows Insiders program is both cool and annoying. It is cool because it lets enthusiast users experience new Windows features and contribute feedback to make the operating system better. It is a bit annoying, as these testers aren't paid for their volunteer efforts. Even worse, the Insider builds will seemingly never end, meaning some users will forever be using an unstable operating system. Yes, that is their choice, but sometimes people can't help themselves. Hell, it can be argued that their feedback is tainted, as they are maybe never really experiencing the stable releases.

Microsoft has chosen to expand the Insiders program to Windows Server too. Today, the company pushes out Server Preview Build 16267, but there is something weird -- the company forgot to include any new features! In fact, the announcement literally says "There are no new features in build 16267." OK, yes, I am being facetious (and a bit snarky) when I say Microsoft "forgot" to include features, as technically updates and fixes alone are worthy of a new build. Still, for all the effort put in by the testers, a feature or two would be appreciated -- throw em' a friggin' bone!

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