Samsung: Inserting the S Pen backwards will not break new Galaxy Note 5 units
As you may already know, Galaxy Note 5 has launched with a rather serious flaw: if the S Pen is inserted backwards it will get stuck and break the device's stylus detection mechanism, which, in turn, will render some of its software functionality useless. Samsung has responded quickly, advising users to "follow the instructions". As logical and simple as that may sound, it may be hard for some users to heed the advice, especially if they are, as my colleague Mark Wilson put it, "a little tired, drunk, young, or stupid".
In the meantime, Samsung has developed a new mechanism that will no longer create these kind of issues when users attempt to insert the S Pen the wrong way. And it is included in new Galaxy Note 5 units, according to the company.
61 percent of new organizations are born in the cloud
The cloud is changing the way businesses and IT teams operate and a new survey from industry specialist BetterCloud reveals the extent of the shift.
Based on a survey of 1,500 IT professionals it shows that of organizations started in the last two years 61 percent have begun their operations in the cloud. In addition 59 percent of IT professionals say the cloud has changed the structure and responsibilities of their team in the past year.
What you should consider before adopting Facebook at Work
The news that Facebook at Work is due to be rolled out in the first part of this year will be welcomed by many businesses, especially those keen to see more effective use of technology in the workplace and to see greater employee engagement through increased levels of connectivity. For employees used to managing their personal lives via social media and technology, the arrival may seem long overdue.
The work place version of Facebook will replicate many of the features of the well-known social version, giving employees and co-workers a range of ways in which to communicate, collaborate and interact. The increasing globalization of business and reliance on remote and flexible ways of working mean that keeping employees meaningfully connected is critical to driving business success. As an added side benefit, the introduction of more effective communication methods often leads to a reduction in the use of internal email systems. This in turn can help businesses manage IT capacity and reduce the need for employees to monitor unnecessary email traffic.
3 Screen Recorder extensions for Chrome
From tutorials to troubleshooting, game walkthroughs, presentations or just sharing desktop activity, everyone can use a screen recorder occasionally.
This used to mean tracking down and installing some low-level native application, but there are now some surprisingly capable Chrome extensions which just might do everything you need.
Twitter suffers global outages
For many people around the globe, Twitter was inaccessible today. The site suffered problems that affected its web and mobile faces, and it didn’t take long for the #twitterdown hashtag to start trending.
The problem was confirmed -- somehow -- on Twitter by the Twitter Support account, and the developer API status page showed that there were issues with no fewer than four APIs. On Monday, Twitter suffered a brief outage, but Tuesday's was rather longer.
AMD says SYSmark benchmarks are Intel-biased and don't reflect real-world usage
Chip maker AMD has complained that the popular benchmarking tool SYSmark is biased toward rival Intel. The company says that the software focuses far too much on CPU activity and that this is not reflective of real-world computer use.
In a stern video, John Hampton and Tony Salinas from AMD compare SYSmark benchmark with results from Futuremark's PCMark 8 as well as scripts devised in-house. Comparing an Intel Core i5 with a 'comparable' AMD FX chip, SYSmark was found to report a much greater performance difference -- in Intel's favor. AMD describes this as "quite astonishing and not realistic".
Lost Prediction #4 -- My Steve Jobs movie returns to Netflix
At least one reader pointed out that I somehow missed 2016 Prediction #4, so let me throw something in right here. Steve Jobs: The Lost Interview will shortly return to Netflix worldwide!
Our movie was on Netflix in the USA and Canada for a couple of years (it’s still streaming on Netflix in the UK) but the North American deal ended sometime in November when rights reverted from Magnolia Pictures back to John Gau Productions. The film had already disappeared from iTunes and Amazon, etc., but we hadn’t noticed because, well, Magnolia didn’t bother to mention it and we’re only pretending to be movie producers.
Young people find traditional education inadequate
Today’s youth has a positive view about the future and their role in it. However, many young people believe that traditional education doesn’t do enough to prepare them for their professional life.
These are the results of a recent poll commissioned by consulting firm Infosys.
Disable those 'Get Windows 10' pop-ups with GWX Stopper
While it’s great that Microsoft is offering free upgrades to Windows 10, it’s maybe less impressive that they’re using regular pop-up ads to tell us about this. Over, and over, and over again.
If you’re happy with Windows 7 or 8 then there are various ways to get rid of these alerts, but GWX Stopper is probably the simplest of all.
Big Data EMEA revenue to reach $2.7bn by 2019
Big Data, and its infrastructure is expected to grow significantly in the next four years, a new study by the International Data Corporation (IDC) shows.
IDC has done an in-depth market sizing of the Big Data infrastructure in Europe, Middle East and Africa, including servers and storage, as well as cloud resources, and here are the results:
France joins the Netherlands in saying no to cryptographic backdoors
Secure communications exist for many reasons, including free speech from behind the borders of certain nations, to business secrets being discussed. These days it's under attack from several sectors, including law enforcement agencies investigating crimes and those who claim to need info for catching terrorists -- something we've recently found can be futile in some cases.
Just the other day we heard that the state of New York is looking to legislate backdoors into mobile devices, a law that seems unlikely to pass, given the amount of opposition and evidence against it being effective to anyone but the hackers, who are likely to be quick to find these openings.
Doro PDF printer adds color conversion, page rotation controls
Lightweight virtual PDF printer Doro has been updated with new color conversion and page rotation settings.
If the default "UseDeviceIndependentColor" color conversion strategy doesn’t work, then you can now convert to RGB, CMYK or grayscale, or just use the colors in the source document.
Apple's iAd may soon allow developers to keep all the revenue
Back in 2010, Steve Jobs revealed Apple’s new mobile advertising platform iAd. The goal of this new venture into advertising was to make the mobile ads that appeared in iPhone and iPad apps interactive and more stylish.
Apple users would also be able to remain within the current app they were using without being forced out of the app and into their browser. The iAd platform was able to achieve this but it came at a high cost and required advertisers to relinquish power to Apple, which had final say over which ads were approved. The company was also reluctant to share the marketing data it acquired through iAd.
Apple dismisses diversity proposal to shake up board of directors as 'unduly burdensome'
A call by shareholders to do more to increase diversity on Apple's board of directors has been soundly rejected by the company. The board is currently predominantly white and male, leading to calls for an "accelerated recruitment policy requiring Apple to increase the diversity of senior management and its board of directors".
But in a proxy statement, the board can be seen to have voted against the proposal, saying that it would be "unduly burdensome and not necessary because Apple has demonstrated to shareholders its commitment to inclusion and diversity". The result of the vote will come as something of a surprise as Tim Cook has admitted that the company has much to do to improve diversity.
What's on your wrist? Wearable market expected to continue its surge
Apple Watch, Android Wear, Google Glass, the list of wearable technology continues to grow longer. New products were unveiled just recently at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. We saw items like the watch from Casio, which may appeal to this year's buyers.
The trend is expected to continue, at least according to a new report from Irish firm Research and Markets. How big will this growth be?
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