HP prepares to axe 30,000 jobs

Job Jobs Cut Cuts

When HP announced it was to split into two at the end of last year, everyone knew it would be an expensive and complex separation, with job losses bound to be incurred -- and a new round of cuts has just been announced.

Sky News reports that the company has revealed that 25,000 to 30,000 jobs are going to be axed at HP Enterprise, the new arm separate from its PC and printer hardware division.

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Amazon revamps its TV products, adds support for 4K Ultra HD streaming and voice control

Amazon TV and Fire stick

Clearly not fazed in the slightest by the new Apple TV, Amazon today introduces a new version of its own set top box, Fire TV. This new version is 75 percent more powerful than the older model, and offers Alexa support, and 4K Ultra HD streaming.

Alexa, the brain behind Amazon’s Echo, handles all voice requests, meaning you can now ask your Fire TV for music, information, weather, traffic, and more. There’s also a new Fire TV Stick with Voice Control.

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Securing the Internet of Things [Q&A]

Internet of Things IoT

The Internet of things is set to worm its way into many areas of our lives, but as our cars and domestic appliances become connected how can we be certain that they're secure? We've already seen issues with cars being hacked and do you really want to be installing security software on your fridge?

We spoke to Lev Lesokhin, Executive Vice President, Strategy and analytics, of software analysis and measurement specialist CAST to find out how developers of IoT products can keep them secure and retain consumer confidence.

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Amazon announces three new tablets -- Fire HD, Fire, and Fire Kids Edition

Fire HD

It’s been a while since we’ve seen new tablets from Amazon, but today the retail giant revamps its range with three new low-cost devices.

The all-new Fire HD has, according to Amazon, been redesigned from the "ground up for entertainment" and is available in 8 inch or 10.1 inch trims.

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AvailabilityGuard delivers predictive analytics for enterprise IT teams

IT server data datacenter enterprise

For IT teams to deliver reliable systems with high availability they need to be able to spot problems and potential problems early. These challenges are greater as systems move to the cloud and software-defined data centers.

Operations analytics specialist Continuity Software is launching the latest version of its AvailabilityGuard software, providing enterprise IT teams with advanced predictive analytics, risk detection, and outage prevention capabilities.

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Twitter accused of eavesdropping on Direct Messages

Eavesdropper glass

Social network Twitter is facing a potential lawsuit after allegedly spying on users’ Direct Messages, a popular feature where people can talk privately without anyone else seeing.

A court case has been filed in San Francisco by Wilford Raney, in which it accuses Twitter of using algorithms to "surreptitiously" eavesdrop on users.

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My IT cruise from Hell

Cruise

It was the crisis that almost ended my career -- my real career, specifically, as an elite software architect-for-hire to some of the largest companies in the world.

It was April, 2009, and my family and I had just set sail on a 26-day Costa repositioning cruise from our home on Mauritius. Destination: Savona, Italy, by way of the African coast, Suez Canal and Egypt. It was day three and we were docked at the port of "Noise Be" on the coast of Madagascar when a quick check of my email at a local Internet café revealed a storm brewing back at 750 7th Avenue, NYC.

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Boot your PC from a virtual drive with Simple VHD Manager

SimpleVHDManager200-175

Freeware developer Sordum has released Simple VHD Manager, a tiny portable tool which makes it easier to access and use virtual drives (VHD, VHDX, ISO) in Windows 7 and later.

Drag and drop your files onto the program and they can be attached in a couple of clicks, making them freely accessible in Explorer.

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Why IT staff are unhappy at work

rain cloud

If you work in IT it's generally the case that you're quite well paid and enjoy good career prospects. Yet according to a new survey you're probably also unhappy.

Workforce engagement specialist TinyPulse surveyed over 5,000 tech and IT workers and found that they are very, very unhappy. The top drivers of unhappiness were poor coworker relationships, little room for growth with their employer, and not enough praise for their work.

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Best video sharing websites

video-sharing-websites-300x207

When you are bored, or when you want to find clear instructions on how to do something or to get to know the latest news, the best way to do it is to watch corresponding videos. Indeed, all the information is consumed much better if it’s a video.

The best resource of videos is of course the Internet, but which websites are the best resources to enjoy various video materials? Today we have listed and reviewed the best video sharing websites for various purposes.

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Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine

steve-jobs

Alex Gibney’s Steve Jobs documentary is available now in some theaters, on Amazon Instant Video and, ironically, on iTunes. It’s a film that purports to figure out what made Steve Jobs tick. And it does a lot, just not that.

I’m not a dispassionate reviewer here. More than a year before Jobs died I tried to hire Alex Gibney to make a Steve Jobs film with me. At that point he suggested I be the director, that he’d coach me ("It’s not that hard", the Oscar-winner claimed.) We talked and met but didn’t come to a deal. Later Gibney decided to do a Jobs film on his own -- this film -- and he came to me for help. We talked and met but again didn’t come to a deal. Nothing is unusual about any of this, but it made me eager to see what kind of movie he would make and how it would compare to the one I originally had in mind.

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Microsoft refuses to answer questions about forced Windows 10 downloads

man_with_zippered_mouth

Just last week Microsoft managed to piss off a lot of people by secretly downloading the Windows 10 installation files to their computers without permission. The comments from BetaNews readers were plentiful, but divided. Some didn't see the problem, while others thought it to be invasive and presumptive.

But there was one question that popped up again and again -- just what the hell was Microsoft thinking? I decided to try to find out but found that the company was somewhat cagey with what it wanted to say on the matter. This is not on. People are more than a little annoyed, and they are demanding answers. They deserve them.

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iRobot announces Roomba 980 Internet-connected vacuum cleaning robot

Roomba 980_top down

Having a clean home can be a great feeling. Sadly, many people are working long hours nowadays and have far less time for cleaning. In other words, you can't fault someone for being too tired to clean.

If you fall into the camp of being too tired or busy to stay on top of cleaning, robots may be able to help. When you think of cleaning and robotics, the name "Roomba" probably comes to mind. iRobot's vacuum robot is wildly popular and is cemented into popular culture. Today, however, the company brings the vacuum to the Internet of Things, Yes, the all-new consumer-focused Roomba 980 is internet-connected and app-controlled.

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Apple's first Android app makes it easy to move to iOS 9

android_to_ios

Apple has released its first ever Android app. No, there's not an Android version of Safari or anything like that, but a tool designed to simplify the process of switching to iOS. The predictably named Move to iOS will appeal to anyone who was persuaded to switch allegiances by the release of the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, or indeed iOS 9.

The app can be used to move contacts, messages, photos and more to a new iPhone or iPad, and is compatible with phones and tablets running Android 4.0 and newer. It works slightly differently to what you may have expected. Rather than uploading data to the cloud, it instead creates a private Wi-Fi network between an Android and iOS device and securely transfers it.

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Mercedes plans to launch self-driving car service

Interior of Mercedes-Benz SL500 roadster

German car manufacturer Mercedes-Benz has revealed that it is planning to develop its own on-demand, self-driving car service, specifically using limousines as the vehicle of choice.

It goes without saying that this move will be putting them head to head with the search engine giant Google and app-based taxi service Uber.

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