In the wake of big storms recently, the National Association of Broadcasters and the FCC has piled the pressure on Apple to enable the FM radio in iPhones so they might be used for emergency broadcasts.

FCC chairman Ajit Pai went as far as issuing a statement saying that "Apple is the one major phone manufacturer that has resisted" enabling FM chips in its phones. There's just one problem, as Apple points out. The iPhone simply doesn't have an FM chip to enable.

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IT teams are increasingly moving to the public cloud for its supposed low cost and high agility. However, once implemented in their environments, people are finding public cloud to be expensive and fairly complex to manage.

We spoke to Andrew Hillier, CTO of cloud optimization analytics service provider Densify, who is all too familiar with the struggles that IT organizations face as their public cloud costs rise through the roof. Read on for his insights into strategies that organizations can implement when looking to reduce cost, risk and complexity in the public cloud.

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Synology has expanded the DS418 line with the introduction of the new DS418play. The NAS, which joins the DS418 and DS418j in the consumer-oriented four-bay range, is optimized for multimedia content.

The claim to fame of the DS418play is that it can transcode up to two channels of H.265 or H.264 4K content at the same time, which basically means that you will be able to stream two 4K videos at the same time on a smartphone and tablet using the NAS' processing power.

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The Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) has steadily replaced BIOS in recent years as means of booting and controlling hardware devices.

Mac systems have used EFI since 2006 but an analysis by Duo Labs, the research arm of Duo Security, of more than 73,000 Mac systems finds that in many cases the EFI is not receiving security updates, leaving users vulnerable to attacks.

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For people who have invested in a large screen TV with a view to enjoying a home cinema experience, one of the most common complaints is the quality of the built-in speakers.

The latest flat-screen TVs lack the big wooden cabinets of old for sound to resonate around in and so the audio quality from their on-board speakers tends to be a bit weedy. Most therefore look to add a soundbar or external speaker system to improve the experience.

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Paramount Software (UK) Ltd has released Macrium Reflect Free Edition 7.1, a major new release of its disk imaging backup tool for Windows.

Macrium Reflect 7.1 adds three headline features: integrated viBoot2 providing instant virtualization of Macrium backup images, Task Scheduler 2.0 API use for compatibility with the latest versions of Windows 10, and finally a license for use in a business as well as a non-commercial environment.

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Fall is officially here, and while some people get excited for pumpkin spice lattes and falling leaves, other folks get excited about something far nerdier -- Ubuntu. Yes, every October a new version of the Linux-based operating system is released. This year in particular is very significant, as with Ubuntu 17.10, GNOME is replacing Unity as the default desktop environment.

Today, Beta 2 of Ubuntu Linux 17.10, code-named "Artful Aardvark," becomes available to download. This second beta is the final beta as well, which signals that the operating system is almost ready for primetime.

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Businesses are embracing the Internet of Things (IoT) faster than ever before, with 2017 marking a landmark year in terms of adoption.

That’s according to the fifth annual Vodafone IoT Barometer Report, which reveals a huge uptake in terms of IoT projects being undertaken across the world.

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Next month, Ubuntu 17.10 will be released. Even after that release, version 16.04 will remain the most recent LTS version. If you aren't familiar, LTS stands for "Long Term Support," which quite literally means it is supported by Canonical for a longer period of time. For instance, Ubuntu 16.04 will be supported until 2021, while the newer 17.04 is only supported until 2018.

Today, Canonical announces that Samsung has selected version 16.04 LTS of the operating system as the primary Linux distro for some of the ARTIK internet of things modules. This is a smart choice by Samsung, because long support is preferable to bleeding edge for an IoT device.

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Just a year after the Mirai malware infected connected devices to create the first IoT botnet, new research from Norton shows that global botnets have continued to grow and spread as a result of unaware users inadvertently infecting others.

According to Norton, the top three countries responsible for hosting the highest number of bots in Europe are Germany at just over eight percent, Italy at 10 percent and Russia at almost 14 percent.

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As the cost of dealing with the aftermath of a security breach has risen significantly in the past year alone, new research has revealed that staff training can greatly help reduce the risk of cyber attacks.

A new survey from Accenture found that 55 percent of workers in the UK could not recall ever receiving training regarding cyber threats, meaning many of them are often unsure what to do in order to prevent, identify or respond to a cyber attack.

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After a period of beta testing, Google's new parental control system for Android and iOS -- Family Link -- has been launched to the public. Google says that the feature makes "Android better for kids and families," and it places parents in control of what their kids can do.

The feature is available to everyone in the US without the need for an invite (the beta period was invite-only), and Google describes the tools as being a way to bring kids and their parents into the Android ecosystem. It can be used from an Android phone or an iPhone to control kids' use of an Android device.

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Android users have been slowly discovering that Google has killed off NFC Smart Unlock. The feature, which makes it possible to unlock a phone with an NFC device such as a ring or bracelet, has been discontinued without explanation.

Earlier in the month, Android users started to post messages on Google's Issue Tracker website, indicating that the feature was no longer available to them. Three weeks later, Google has finally responded, indicating that NFC Smart Unlock has been deprecated.

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There are few smartphones that attract as much attention as a new OnePlus flagship. And it is easy to understand why. You get pretty much everything that you expect from a flagship device, but at a fraction of the cost. That recipe has not changed with this year's OnePlus 5.

Though it has not changed dramatically on the outside, the new "flagship killer" is more powerful and exciting than ever. It's also more expensive, which brings up an interesting question: Is the OnePlus 5 still special in today's crowded market?

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Anthony Levandowski -- a former Googler famous for building the company's self-driving car -- has set up a non-profit religious corporation called Way of the Future. The founding of the "church" has just been unearthed by Wired through state filings in California.

The purpose of the Way of the Future is to "develop and promote the realization of a Godhead based on artificial intelligence and through understanding and worship of the Godhead contribute to the betterment of society."

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