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The cloud skills shortage that’s omnipresent in British business seems to be forcing companies to turn a blind eye on candidates lacking certification. This is according to Microsoft’s newly released report, entitled "Microsoft Cloud Skills Report: Closing the Cloud Skills Chasm."

Polling UK businesses for the report, 45 percent said certifications are "nice to have," but just 35 per cent said they’re desirable or essential. The report calls this proportion "surprisingly low," questioning if this could "be a further symptom of the challenges of finding people with adequate skills in the first place".

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UK organizations consider cloud skills essential to digital transformation, according to a new report by Microsoft.

Entitled "Microsoft Cloud Skills Report: Closing the Cloud Skills Chasm", it says 83 percent of UK’s organizations consider cloud skills "important" or "critical" to digital transformation.

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Despite the on-going uncertainty as the UK triggers Brexit proceedings, IT employees remain in high demand as rapid developments in IT are increasingly causing companies to experience wider skills gaps that they are struggling to fill. At 21 percent, IT and digital skills were cited as one of the top three skills most needed by organizations to achieve their business objectives this year.

IT professionals in cloud infrastructure, projects and change management, development and security saw the biggest salary increases last year of over two percent, however almost half of IT employees were dissatisfied with their rate of pay this year.

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There are a lot of languages in the world -- there are many you probably have never heard of before. Many people think each country uses just one language, and that is it. This is far from the truth, however. Canada, for instance, uses both English and French. Heck, despite English being predominate (for now), the United States doesn't even have an official language!

In the People's Republic of Bangladesh, the most spoken language is Bangla. Despite the South Asian country being the eighth most populous in the world, for whatever reason, Microsoft Translator did not support the language. Today this changes, however, as the Windows-maker finally (অবশেষে) adds support.

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Yesterday, Microsoft announced that the Windows 10 Creators Update will begin rolling out to users on April 11. However, that doesn’t mean you’ll get it then.

As with last year’s Anniversary Update, Microsoft will roll out the update in waves, with newer PCs and tablets receiving it first, so it could be a while before it comes to your device. However, if you’re keen to be among the first to install it, there’s a simple trick you can use to get it nearly a week early -- on April 5.

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Solid state drives are absolutely fabulous, but serial ATA variants are getting a bit long in the tooth. Don't get me wrong, if you are still using an old-fashioned mechanical hard drive, any SSD should give you better performance. With that said, NVMe M.2 drives are far superior. Of course, not all computers support the faster standard, so 2.5-inch SATA models are still relevant -- for now.

Today, ADATA announces a new 2.5-inch SATA SSD. Called "Ultimate SU700," it features 3D NAND and capacities up to 960GB -- just shy of a terabyte.

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When it comes to cloud skills, there’s a significant gender gap, and it’s particularly visible in the UK. This is according to a new report by Microsoft, entitled "Microsoft Cloud Skills Report: Closing the Cloud Skills Chasm." According to it, the gender mix among technical IT staff is 20 percent female versus 80 percent male. In just a fifth of companies (21 percent) the gender mix was 40 percent or greater.

Microsoft says this gender imbalance is "concerning," but perhaps even more concerning is the fact that very few companies are actually doing something about it. A third (35 percent) said they had no policies to address the issues (46 percent for companies with 250 to 999 staff). A quarter (23 percent) said they didn’t know of any actions put in place.

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Digital transformation is happening at a rapid rate, and in order to stay competitive, organizations need to push the limits of their traditional BI and analytics frameworks with predictive and prescriptive capabilities to generate faster and more accurate business outcomes. Gartner predicts that by 2020, predictive and prescriptive analytics will attract 40 percent of enterprises' net new investment in business intelligence and analytics.

Traditional Business Intelligence (BI) tools and analytics frameworks are still in the descriptive stage and can only assist users with the two questions -- "what is happening?" or "what has happened?" To answer the "what will happen next?", predictive, prescriptive, and cognitive computing is necessary. These 3 types of analytics are being enhanced by AI technology to automate mundane and repetitive tasks and predict a clear path going forward. Data is being analyzed faster and more accurately with these advanced analytics frameworks, and decisions are being automated with machine learning to decrease human error and increase the organization’s bottom line profit. Machine learning can detect new patterns and opportunities that humans cannot.

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There has been something of a trend in recent years for phones to grow taller and slimmer. Aspect ratios are changing, and the familiar 16:9 is being met by the LG G6's 18:9 (oh, ok, 2:1) and, in the case of the Samsung Galaxy S8, 18.5:9.

Google sees these emerging aspect ratios as the start of a trend rather than obscure rarities, and it's encouraging developers to embrace them fully.

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When I first set up a Logitech Harmony hub in my home, it was life-changing. No longer did I need to have multiple remote controls littering my living room table. The one Harmony remote (or mobile app) controls my television, cable box, sound bar, and Xbox One. Once I linked it with my Amazon Echo, things got even better -- I could control my entertainment devices by voice. If I am dozing off on the couch while watching TV, for instance, and the remote is out of reach, I can simply say "Alexa, tell Harmony to turn off the TV." Like magic, the television shuts off.

Amazon Echo is not the only voice assistant device available -- Google offers its own called "Home." It is very similar to Amazon's offering, but it is not compatible with all of the same devices and services. For instance, Home did not work with Harmony. Today, this changes, as both Logitech and Google's hardware can now work together. It is not compatible with all Harmony devices, however -- only Hub-based models, such as Elite and Companion.

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FocusOn Image Viewer is a stylish and straightforward image viewer, easy to use but with one or two unexpected bonus features.

This all starts with the interface. There are no stupid gimmicks, no attempts to do things differently for no reason at all. Instead FocusOn Image Viewer starts with the look and feel of Explorer, and adds just a little more.

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In an age of constant surveillance and eroding privacy, there is increasing interest in secure messaging platforms such as WhatsApp and Telegram. While Telegram has gained quite a following, there is one feature that users have been begging for: voice calls.

Now users' prayers have been answered. The latest update to Telegram finally heralds the arrival of secure voice calling, and it features an interesting key exchange mechanism: users need just compare four emoji. If the emoji match, the connection is secure!

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Recent changes at Twitter have focused mainly on clamping down on abuse and trolling, but there have also been adjustment tweaks that allow users to send longer messages. Now the site is introducing another change that effectively means you are able to send longer replies to people.

The latest change does not mean that you are given more than 140 characters to play with, but the 140 character limit is now put to better use. In short, all 140 characters are available for you to reply with as @usernames no longer count towards the total.

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Yesterday's Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ announcement held few surprises (with the possible exception of Samsung DeX) thanks to all of the leaks ahead of the event. But something we didn’t find out until today is that there is a customized Microsoft Edition of the handset available too.

Not only will there be a Samsung Galaxy S8 Microsoft Edition and a Samsung Galaxy S8+ Microsoft Edition, but the smartphones will be available to buy direct from Microsoft. Pre-orders start today, but only in Microsoft's US retail stores.

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It’s no secret that cloud-based collaboration tools are transforming the way we work, and Microsoft, with Office 365, is playing a major role in shifting workplace communication. Last year, Microsoft continued to enhance and develop Office 365 Groups as a powerful hub for team productivity. When armed with Office 365 Groups, employees have the opportunity to collaborate within a dedicated space with popular Office 365 features like mail, persistent chat, and collaboration powered by familiar technologies like Exchange, SharePoint, OneNote, Skype for Business, and Planner.

Before organizations can embrace this new way of working, however, IT teams need to combat the challenges of natively managing Office 365 Groups. Why? First, there are several ways for users in an organization to create a Group within an Office 365 tenant -- meaning IT admins must determine the most effective way to implement administrative controls to prevent unnecessary sprawl. Once users have the ability to create new Office 365 Groups, IT is also tasked with controlling group membership, placing safeguards around content within groups, and overseeing the lifecycle of Groups, including the eventual decision to delete or archive a Group and its content.

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