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Microsoft rolls out new Windows 10 builds to Insiders in the Dev Channel on a weekly basis. Some weeks there isn’t much in the way of new features or functionality, and other weeks we get a build packed with updates.

Build 21337 is one of those which has a lot to offer, such as major changes to Virtual Desktops, an Auto HDR preview for gaming, tweaks to File Explorer’s layout, and more.

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Can you believe it? It is 2021 and Apple still hasn't added USB-C to the iPhone! The company has added the connection to the iPad Pro and its Mac computers, but its smartphones still use Lightning. This is both frustrating and disappointing, as it means consumers can't streamline their chargers and cables. It also means you cannot easily plug a USB-C flash drive into an iPhone like you can with Android.

If you have been wanting to connect a flash drive to your iPhone without the use of dongles, Western Digital's SanDisk iXpand Flash Drive Luxe can make this a reality. You see, the drive features both Lightning and USB Type-C connectors, meaning it will work with iPhone, Android, and modern computers. While such a drive is not a new concept, this is apparently the first 2-in-1 from WD with an all-metal body.

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Over a third of the 1,020 most-downloaded Android apps on the Google Play store request access to a user's camera -- despite no obvious benefit for user experience and potentially placing sensitive data at risk.

Research from CyberNews also shows one in three apps request access to track a user's precise, or approximate, location. Excluding those that require such access to function, such as weather or navigation, applications attempting invasive access included gaming and even wallpaper, which appear to have no legitimate reason to track location data.

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During 2020 and 2021, we've seen nostalgia everywhere. It makes sense, right? There's no better time to pine for the past and relive happy memories than when we're stuck at home during lockdown. Nostalgia has made its way into every walk of life, from our wardrobes to our Instagram feeds. 

According to GlobalWebIndex, nostalgia can make humans more optimistic and have a positive influence on their actions. The research also unveiled that nostalgia was a highly common emotion. Results show that 8 in 10 say that they experience feelings of nostalgia at least occasionally and 4 in 10 say that they do so often.

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Developers are key to recovery from the pandemic according to 91 percent of UK businesses in a new survey, and 95 percent see them as crucial to digital transformation projects too.

But the study from cloud communications platform Twilio finds that the majority are not yet unlocking the full power of developers.

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Banks around the world abide by know-your-customer (KYC) rules to block crime. When it comes to finances, governments agree that it’s appropriate to capture clear identification on a person, in order to hold them accountable for their actions. But when it comes to crimes against social infrastructure, there are no checks in place and malicious actors around the globe leverage social media platforms to justify human rights abuses, steal elections, or simply to create division. 

Ever since the Mueller investigation proved that Russia used its Internet Research Agency to conduct disinformation in the United States in order to sow social discord around the 2016 presidential election, more nefarious groups seem to be taking advantage of the opportunity to cause disruption. And with 1 in 5 Americans getting their news only from social media, the impact is huge. The reason social media is such a powerful medium for this illicit activity is that perpetrators are able to hide behind fake accounts, creating ties to communities and causes in a seemingly legitimate manner. 

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New research from network detection and response company Vectra AI shows that 88 percent of companies have accelerated their cloud and digital transformation projects due to COVID-19.

But it also finds that 71 percent of Microsoft Office 365 deployments have suffered an account takeover of a legitimate user's account, not just once, but on average seven times in the last year.

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Tech issues at home can be frustrating enough when you're trying to stream a movie or set up a video call with the family, but they're even more of an issue if you're trying to work from home too.

New research from comparison site InMyArea.com looks at how tech issues are affecting the home workforce. It finds that 47 percent of employees have spent their own money to solve technical problems, with 20 percent spending $100 or more.

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Vivaldi Technologies has unveiled Vivaldi 3.7 for Windows, Mac, Linux and Android. The challenger web browser’s main focus in this new release is performance on desktop, while Android users gain improvements to the Bookmarks Manager as well as onboarding pages to introduce new versions as well as welcome new users to the app.

Performance gains are primarily delivered through faster opening and closing of new tabs and windows, with tabs opening twice as fast as previously and new windows appearing 26 percent faster than before. Lucky owners of Apple’s new M1-based Mac range should also notice further improvements thanks to the unveiling of the first native build for the ARM-based chipset.

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Nowadays, more and more people are utilizing wireless networking almost exclusively -- particularly in homes. Enthusiasts and business users, however, may choose wired networking for security and performance purposes. Many of these folks will have mere Gigabit networks, but some are going the multi-gig route these days, with 5G or even 10G.

For whatever reason, 2.5G often gets overlooked, and this is a shame. Why? Well, 2.5G network capabilities are showing up in more computers and motherboards nowadays, and it can be the most affordable way to go multi-gig. For instance, 2.5G cards and dongles won't break the bank, while 2.5Gbps speeds can theoretically be achieved with existing Cat5e. And now, TRENDnet releases two affordable unmanaged 2.5G switches. Called "TEG-S380" and "TEG-S350," the former offers eight ports, while the latter has five.

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Wait. You don't have a Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) router? Ugh. You are not living your life properly. Look, even if you don't have any Wi-Fi 6 devices yet, you can score such a router for less than $79.99. Seriously, folks, it's time to upgrade your aging wireless networking gear already. If you have a large home, however, you will want to consider a more powerful mesh system. And yes, there are mesh Wi-Fi 6 solutions available.

If you are looking to upgrade to 802.11ax and mesh, NETGEAR has a new "whole home" Wi-Fi 6 system that should interest you. The "MK83 Nighthawk," as it is called, offers Tri-Band AX3600 Wi-Fi via three access points (one router and two satellites) to blanket your home in connectivity. In fact, NETGEAR claims it is capable of up to 6,750 square feet.

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Google's Nest Hub is an integral part of my home. It is on my living room table where it serves as a clock, but it is so much more than that. Hub is in "earshot" of my kitchen too, so I use it all the time for setting timers while cooking. When I take a nap on the couch, it is my alarm clock. Oh, and when I need to turn the lights on (or off), it does that for me too. All of these actions are done by voice -- "Hey, Google."

One of the reasons that I chose Nest Hub is for privacy -- it doesn't have a camera like some other hardware assistants do. Today, Google finally announces the second generation Nest Hub, and I am happy to say it also does not have a camera. With that said, it can optionally watch you sleep. Wait, what?

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Bluetooth headphones are very cool, but they have a huge problem -- they run on batteries. And so, while people seem happy to invest in expensive wireless options like Apple AirPods, when they run out of power, they can leave the consumer feeling quite foolish. Why? Because "old school" wired headphones never had this problem.

Sadly, many smartphone manufacturers have done away with 3.5mm audio jacks, making it harder than ever to use traditional headphones. Logitech wants to cater to fans of wires, however, as the company today launches the G333 wired USB-C gaming earphones with integrated microphone.

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Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly gaining momentum as a vital business resource as organizations discover new use cases in their efforts to improve processes, increase efficiency and automate costly, manual tasks. Industries such as financial services are ideal for AI-driven applications and a related technology, machine learning (ML), because they can bolster customer service and leverage data to increase competitiveness.

AI includes software that’s designed to work in ways similar to the human brain, while machine learning encompasses programs that alter themselves based on data that’s fed into the programs in order to train them.

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Cybercriminals had a busy year in 2020, with rapidly increasing numbers of distributed denial of service (DDoS) weapons, widespread botnet activity, and some of the largest DDoS attacks ever recorded. As COVID-19 drove an urgent shift online for everything from education and healthcare, to consumer shopping, to office work, hackers had more targets available than ever -- many of them under protected due to the difficulty of maintaining security best practices in an emergency scenario.

At the same time, the ongoing rollout of 5G technologies has accelerated the proliferation of IoT and smart devices around the world, making unsuspecting new recruits available for botnet armies to launch crushing attacks on a massive scale.  

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