Microsoft accidentally releases buggy Windows 10 Insider Preview build that's causing chaos for users

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It’s been a while since Microsoft pushed out a new build to Windows 10 Insiders, so it was expected that we’d see one today. However, Windows Insider chief Dona Sarkar put the kibosh on that earlier, stating "newer builds have WAY too many bugs to pass our selfhost bar."

That should have been the end of things, but Build 16212 managed to escape into the wild -- hitting the Fast, Slow, Release Preview and Production rings -- and eager Insiders quickly discovered the downside of installing it.

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Migrating your contact center to the cloud: Top five mistakes

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If there is a business area that is deeply affected by digital transformation it is customer service, which is rapidly becoming re-branded as customer experience (CX). According to a Walker study, customer experience will overtake price and product as the key brand differentiator by 2020.

Those organizations that are able to deliver a seamless, effortless experience will improve customer loyalty and see their sales soar. This objective is often a challenge for legacy technology infrastructures and many are turning to cloud contact center platforms. However, change on this scale brings risk, and there are some key mistakes that you should try and avoid if possible.

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Intel announces Core X processor lineup

Intel Core X i9

The battle for the title of the most powerful PC processor in the world has just become even bloodier.

Intel has announced its first 18-core processor at Computex in Taipei, officially named i9-7980XE

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Xbox Game Pass opens up to everyone

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Microsoft has officially launched its Xbox Game Pass service, allowing gamers to play Xbox 360 and Xbox One games in a streaming capacity, for all Xbox One users.

The service, which debuted to monthly-fee-paying Xbox Live Gold members last week, has more than 100 available titles (consisting of both Xbox One and Xbox 360 games). As soon as you subscribe, you're instantly able to play any and every title in that list. As long as you keep your subscription, you can keep playing. Microsoft says it will continue to update and add new titles to the burgeoning collection on a monthly basis.

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Open source 'Microsoft Cognitive Toolkit' for deep learning reaches version 2.0

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Last year, Microsoft released an open source project called "Cognitive Toolkit." This toolkit was designed with a focus on deep learning and artificial intelligence.

Today, after a fairly long beta period, Microsoft Cognitive Toolkit is finally updated to version 2.0. Not only does this production release have new features, but bug fixes too. Unfortunately, the release isn't entirely backwards compatible due to deprecated and renamed aspects of the toolkit.

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Minecraft 'Discovery' update hits Windows 10/Pocket editions, has llamas

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Minecraft developer Mojang has just announced the release of the latest update to its block-stacking, world-building smash hit video game. The "Discovery" update brings the Pocket Edition and Windows 10 editions of the game from version 1.0.9 to 1.1.0.

First announced in March, the update includes a new world, called Woodland Mansions, to explore. It also adds a smattering of new achievements, and ultra exciting glazed terracotta blocks (to say nothing of the concrete and concrete powder). And that's just the beginning.

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Get the 'Practical Linux Security Cookbook' ($22 value) FREE for a limited time

Practical Linux Security

Practical Linux Security Cookbook, from Packt Publishing, will teach you how to secure your Linux machines and keep them secured with the help of exciting recipes.

Whether you are new to Linux administration or an experienced user, this ebook will provide you with all the skills you need to make systems more secure.

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Microsoft unveils a massive redesign of Skype, heavily plagiarizing Snapchat

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If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, there's a hell of a lot of flattery going on in the world of chat and messaging apps. Such is the level of feature borrowing and design inspiration that we're entering a phase of unbridled homogeneity. This isn’t enough to put off Microsoft, of course, and today the company lifts the lid on its latest -- and arguably most radical -- redesign of Skype.

Coming first to Android -- as is becoming increasingly common for Microsoft these days -- the Skype redesign boasts a fresh new look that makes it clear from the start that things are going to be different around here. While Skype is well known for its voice and video calling capabilities, now the focus switches rather more toward messaging; as Microsoft puts it: "chatting is front and center."

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Turn your phone or tablet into a mobile scanner with Adobe Scan

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Adobe has released Adobe Scan 17.05.31 for iPhone, iPad and Android mobiles. The app allows users to turn their mobile camera into a scanner for various types of paper document, including receipts and magazine pages.

Apps that turn your phone or tablet into a portable scanner are two-a-penny, so at first glance Adobe Scan looks like a very late gate crasher to a party that’s already in full flow. But it claims one major advantage over its rivals: OCR support for free.

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Plex rolls out Live TV and improved DVR to Plex Pass subscribers

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Coming out of beta, Plex's DVR feature is now rolling out to all Plex Pass subscribers. On top of this, the platform is also gaining Plex Live TV -- a way to stream OTA broadcasts from your TV tuner to the Plex app.

To start with, Live TV is coming to the Android TV and iOS apps, but it will also make its way to Plex's other offerings meaning subscribers will be able to watch live TV from just about anywhere. On top of this major announcement, Plex has also unveiled -- in a blog post entitled "#$%@ it! We'll do it live!" -- a number of key improvements to its DVR feature.

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Major UK companies at risk of breaking key GDPR principle on collecting PII

Web form PII

New research shows that more than a third of all public web pages of FTSE 30 companies capturing personally identifiable information (PII) are in danger of violating the GDPR regulations by doing so insecurely.

The FTSE 30 is made up of the 30 most influential companies listed on the London Stock Exchange. The study by RiskIQ looking at the sites of these organizations finds that more controls on outward facing web assets are needed.

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Microsoft Surface devices are immune to Intel AMT security vulnerability

Surface Pro (1)

Intel revealed in early-May that there is a critical security vulnerability in its Active Management Technology, which can be exploited to gain remote access to PCs. The feature is designed to help system administrators manage devices, so, due to its nature, it is more likely to affect enterprise users than consumers.

However, since the Surface line is popular with businesses, Microsoft wants to let its enterprise users know that no Surface devices are affected by the AMT vulnerability, despite it being offered in some of the processors available with its tablets and laptops.

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Facebook redesigns security settings page making two-factor authentication easily identifiable

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Realizing that its security settings were off-putting to many people due to being a shambolic mess, Facebook has rolled out a redesign which it says helps to improve clarity.

As well as giving greater prominence to the most important security settings, some options have been renamed. This comes after Facebook conducted some research into why users were clicking certain options but not changing them -- it turns out they had no idea what the settings actually did.

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Healthcare sector accounts for 43 percent of all UK data breaches

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Data security services company Egress has released data from the UK's Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) which shows that the health sector accounts for nearly half (43 percent) of all data breaches.

It also shows that human error, rather than external threats, is the main cause of incidents across every sector. Staff mistakes accounted for 49 percent of all breach incidents in the last quarter of 2016.

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OnePlus releases OxygenOS Open Beta 17/8 -- here's what's new

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On top of the official software releases, OnePlus 3T and OnePlus 3 users also have access to beta versions of OxygenOS. The builds, which are labeled "Open Beta," typically add new features and improvements to the Android distribution, but may also cause some issues -- something that's to be expected, given their nature.

The latest Open Beta build, which was just released, bears the 17/8 version number and comes with a number of new features, improvements, optimizations and changes to OxygenOS. Here's what you should be looking forward to.

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