Microsoft enters the fight against fake news as Bing gains Fact Check label
The "fake news" moniker may be a relatively recent one, but the phenomenon is not exactly new. Search engines and social media sites have long fought a battle against rogue news sources, and Microsoft's latest attack sees the company adding fact-checking to Bing.
The addition of Fact Check labels means that anyone looking at search results should be able to tell at a glance if a particular news story has been debunked. The label can be applied to sites as a whole as well as individual articles, making it easier for Microsoft to alert people about poor news sources -- although the company does not do any actual fact-checking itself.
New Google test drops app ratings in favor of download sizes in the Play Store
Some Android users have spotted a change in the Play Store. Since time immemorial, Google has shown star ratings in app listings and search results -- because that’s one of the ways in which users decide what to download. But for some people this has changed.
Rather than a star rating, apps are now listed with their download sizes. For the Android user who is worried about running out of space this is arguably a useful change, but it's not something that most people will regard as a step in the right direction.
Google launches Tez in India, a new digital payment app for iOS and Android
As had been widely expected, Google has unveiled its new mobile payment service for India. Called Tez, the service is Google's first step into digital payments in Asia.
Tez makes it possible for users to link their bank accounts to the app and then use their phones to make in-person payments and transfers. Support for the government-backed UPI (Unified Payments Interface) means the service is compatible with a number of major banks. At the moment, Tez is limited to India, but there appear to be plans to spread it further.
Instagram may have just solved the noisy autoplaying video problem
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and plenty of other social media platforms have all experienced a backlash from users at some point about how they handle autoplaying videos. Some users are not happy that videos play automatically because it eats into data, but the most vocal complaints come from those who hate videos that not only autoplay, but autoplay with sound.
Instagram is rolling out an update that acts as a brilliant compromise between silent autoplay and noisy autoplay. Simple yet clever, it's hard to imagine that the idea won’t be copied by all and sundry.
Kodi addons site TVAddons insists its domains are not being used to spy on users
The Kodi addons site TVAddons vanished from the internet a little while ago before reappearing with a new domain. The site faced legal action over claims it provides access to pirated content, and there have been suggestions that the original TVAddons domain is being used by a law firm to spy on users.
The team behind TVAddons insists that this is not the case, and wants to set the record straight once and for all. It says that, in fact, everything possible has been done to protect user privacy. So are tvaddons.ag and xbmchub.com being used to gather evidence about Kodi users?
Warning: Google may delete your Android backups without warning
You never fully appreciate the value of a backup until you need it. When you consider how much we all use our phones these days, our handsets contain a wealth of data -- and it make sense to back it up.
If you're using an Android smartphone, you can use an automated backup feature to safeguard the data from your phone by backing it up to Google Drive. With your data stashed in the cloud, you might think all is well -- but Google could delete your backups without giving you any warning.
Android root management tool SuperSU hits 100 million downloads
Just as there is quite a lot of interest in jailbreaking iPhones to allow for the installation of unofficial software, on Android there are a lot of users who root their handsets. If you ever wondered just how many people were into rooting, the success of SuperSU gives you an idea.
While this is not a tool for rooting your smartphone -- this is something that's easily achieved on most handsets using various tools and online instructions -- SuperSU is a valuable addition to the software toolkit of anyone who has gone down the rooting route. As an indication of the popularity of rooting, SuperSU has now been download 100 million times.
The Pirate Bay is secretly running a Bitcoin miner in the background, increasing your CPU usage
When it comes to the Pirate Bay, it's usually movie studios, music producers and software creators that get annoyed with the site -- you know, copyright and all that. But in an interesting twist it is now users who find themselves irked by -- and disappointed in -- the most famous torrent site in the world.
So what's happened? Out of the blue, the Pirate Bay has added a Javascript-powered Bitcoin miner to the site. Nestling in the code of the site is an embedded cryptocurrency miner from Coinhive. Users who have noticed an increase in resource usage on their computers as a result of this are not happy.
11 exercises to ensure your enterprise is 'cloud fit'
A cloud environment is like the human body. It can be viewed in different "states"and is a continuously evolving and adapting entity that requires constant vigilance in order to ensure it’s operating at its optimal state. That optimal state can be achieved through fitness, and when it comes to the cloud, getting fit is one of the best ways to eliminate vulnerabilities and threats that could cause damage. We're not necessarily talking about the equivalent of benching 500 pounds or running a marathon. Rather, there are some basic, but critical, steps that an enterprise can and should take in order to be fit and prepared to keep data safe from bad actors.
It's impossible to know where the next attack on your cloud will originate, but you should have a solid awareness of the different components of your cloud stack and how to manage them. In the context of the structure of your cloud, it helps to break them down according to the parts of the cloud that, by design, allow access, process data, and/or perform any type of collaboration, communication, and transaction.
Public cloud security is a concern for most IT pros in UK
An overwhelming majority of the UK’s IT professionals (90 percent) have their worries when it comes to securing the public cloud, according to a new study.
Research by Bitdefender found that 90 per cent of British professionals had concerns around the security of public cloud. A fifth (20 per cent) also said that their business doesn’t have security measures set up for sensitive data outside the company infrastructure.
Warning: If you are using this Kodi repository, you could be in danger
Kodi is quite possibly the best media center software of all time. If you are looking to watch videos or listen to music, the open source solution provides an excellent overall experience. Thanks to its support for "addons," it has the potential to become better all the time. You see, developers can easily add new functionality by writing an addon for the platform. And yes, some addons can be used for piracy, but not all of them are. These addons, such as Exodus and Covenant, are normally added using a repository, which hosts them.
Unfortunately, there can apparently be security issues with repositories when they shut down. For example, when the metalkettle repo ended, the developer deleted its entry on GitHub. This in itself is not a cause for concern, but unfortunately, GitHub's allowance of project names to be recycled is. You see, someone re-registered the metalkettle name, making it possible for nefarious people to potentially serve up malware to Kodi users.
How to tackle ICOs to avoid regulatory issues
In an alarming but long-feared move, Chinese authorities announced on September 4, 2017, that from then on fundraising Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) will not be allowed to take place on the domestic market. ICO technology can be used as a tool to collect funds from backers to launch new blockchain projects.
The Chinese regulators instructed companies that have already completed their fundraising ICOs to refund the payments to their backers, and the public and financial institutions are asked to report to the authorities all suspicious fundraising activities involving ICOs and cryptocurrencies. Naturally, this development threw the Chinese blockchain community into disarray.
Satechi releases elegant Universal Vertical Aluminum Laptop Stand
If you are like me, your laptop doubles as a desktop. With notebooks being so powerful nowadays, it is often wasteful to have a dedicated desktop too. Yeah, if you are a gamer or have some hardcore video editing needs, for instance, a tower may serve you well. For everyone else, however, a laptop connected to a monitor is probably more than enough.
With a quality docking station or dock, such as the excellent OWC Thunderbolt 3 Dock for Apple MacBook Pro, a single cable can charge your laptop and connect all of your accessories. Unfortunately, with this type of a solution, there is nowhere to put the laptop. In other words, the laptop just sits on the desk, taking up room, while also being vulnerable to spills. A stand can solve these issues, and today, Satechi unveils an all-new absolutely beautiful vertical variant.
VMware announces AppDefense security solution
VMware has revealed how it wants to help businesses across the world keep their data secure.
At the company’s VMworld Europe 2017 event in Barcelona earlier this week, CEO Pat Gelsinger outlined the company’s new security strategy, including how its new AppDefense tool can help enterprises of all sizes stay safe online.
Surf the web securely and anonymously with Hotspot Shield 7
When it comes to protecting yourself online -- particularly when surfing through insecure public connections -- then nothing beats a good old VPN. Virtual Private Networks create encrypted tunnels in which you can surf the web, check your email and connect to remote networks secure in the knowledge you can’t be hacked.
If you’re a Windows user, then the recently released Hotspot Shield 7.1.2 may appeal, offering a free, ad-supported (and bandwidth-limited) way of connecting via VPN.
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