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The rise of remote working and the growing complexity of securely managing multiple types of end user devices has seen 77 percent of businesses intending to increase spending on identity and access management solutions.

A study by ESG Research, sponsored by directory platform JumpCloud, finds an additional 20 percent plan to keep their IAM spending at existing levels, and 49 percent of respondents say they plan to consolidate IAM controls, using fewer security vendors.

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Today is Friday, meaning later this afternoon, we will officially be starting the weekend! Woo-hoo! Unfortunately, due to COVID-19, many of us will be spending our weekend downtime indoors once again. Sigh. The weekend is far less exciting when you've been self-quarantining for months due to a pandemic.

Thankfully, we can all still have plenty of fun while indoors thanks to the internet. Not only can we stream video and music, but we can play online video games too. If you are a computer nerd, however, I have a much better suggestion -- install the new Ubuntu Beta! That's right, Linux fans, Ubuntu 20.10 "Groovy Gorilla" Beta is now available for download. This doesn't just include the "vanilla" GNOME version either, but other variants like Kubuntu and Xubuntu as well.

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The COVID-19 pandemic has seen large numbers of people adapting to new working patterns and ways of interacting.

AI-based transcription platform Otter.ai has seen a fivefold increase in demand in recent months and has transcribed 750 million minutes from over 25 million meetings. We spoke to Otter's founder Sam Liang to find out more about how it's helping to shape the future of work and education.

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Updates to Windows 10 have become renown for introducing just as many problems as they aim to fix. Recent updates led to problems with Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) displaying an "Element not found" error, and there were also various problems with internet connectivity.

To address these issues, Microsoft has now released the "non-security update" KB4577063. The patch also fixes a number of other problems Windows 10 users have been experiencing.

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Well, folks, the Thunderbolt 4 revolution is just about here. Some computers with Intel's 11th-generation Core processors (Tiger Lake) will offer TB4 ports, and eventually, devices that can actually take advantage of the standard will be hitting the market. For the immediate future, however, Thunderbolt 3 will still reign supreme. Thankfully, TB4 is backwards compatible with TB3 (and uses the same USB-C connector), so your existing gear should continue to work fine.

If you are chomping at the bit to see some actual Thunderbolt 4 devices, I have some great news. Today, the typically Apple-focused company, OWC, unveils the Thunderbolt 4 Hub for Windows 10 devices. Essentially, it turns one TB4 port into three (no daisy-chaining needed), while also offering a USB-A port (3.2 gen 2) for good measure.

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There are many great Linux-based desktop operating systems nowadays. There are arguably too many Linux distros, but I digress. For instance, if you are an experienced Linux user, you can opt for something like Debian or Fedora, while novices are better served by Ubuntu or Linux Lite.

One of the best operating systems for beginners and Windows-switchers, however, is Linux Mint. This is a no-nonsense Linux distro that looks good, is very stable, and ultimately "just works" for many users. New versions of the operating system are named after women, and today, we learn what Linux Mint 20.1 will be called.

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BullGuard has announced its new 2021 security suite, featuring Dynamic Machine Learning, which continuously monitors all processes on a user's device, enabling real-time detection and blocking of potentially malicious behavior before it can do damage.

The new suite also offers Multi-Layered Protection which uses six layers -- Safe Browsing, Dynamic Machine Learning, Sentry Protection for Zero-Day Malware, an On-Access AV Engine, a Firewall and a Vulnerability Scanner -- to defend the user’s devices from malware, without the need for user interaction.

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Thanks to the global pandemic, more and more people are working from home than ever before, and there’s an increased demand for new laptops and tablets. However, with uncertainty surrounding job security not everyone wants to spend top dollar on a new computer.

Today, Microsoft expands its Surface family of devices with a new, much more affordable Surface Laptop Go but hopefully you won't want to use it to install many apps or hold many files.

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A new survey of over 1,000 IT executives and practitioners shows that 90 percent of respondents see the mainframe as a platform for growth and long-term applications.

The annual mainframe survey from IT solutions company BMC also shows that more than half of survey respondents increased mainframe platform data and transaction volume by 25 percent or more, signaling its ongoing importance in the digital business environment.

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The Information Security Forum (ISF) is releasing Becoming a Next Generation CISO, a digest which sets out the range of disciplines a next-generation Chief Information Security Officer can be expected to master.

CISOs are coming under pressure to secure organizations as they embark on ambitious digital transformation programs in an increasingly hostile and turbulent world. CISOs need to adapt to this evolving environment, master new skills and advance the discipline of information security.

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Surveyed during the lockdown period, 67 percent of security professionals report that they have caught employees engaging in unsafe or unproductive activity on the web.

The study of 300 cyber security professionals from cloud security company Censornet finds the most common bad behaviour is employees using streaming services at work such as Netflix or Amazon Prime (35 percent).

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Cloudflare is best known for its security and DNS services, but now the company is branching out with a new tool to rival Google Analytics.

The site traffic analytics offered by Google are used by millions of people around the world, but Cloudflare wants to unseat the search giant with its own Cloudflare Web Analytics. What makes the services stand out is a focus on privacy, with Cloudflare neither storing not profiting from data gathered about site visitors.

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It's been around a month since Microsoft last updated PowerToys for Windows 10, so it's nice to be able to report that a new version has finally been pushed out.

PowerToys v0.23.0 is a release that focuses on "stability, localization and quality of life improvements", and there are numerous fixes to the various the utilities that make up the suite. Unfortunately, there are no new tools in this version, but Microsoft has given an update about the upcoming Video Conference utility.

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Earlier today, Google had a special product unveiling. Called "Launch Night In," the search giant showed off a bunch of new devices, wrapping up the whole spectacle in 30 minutes. It was concise, focused, and largely without surprise. Nearly everything that was "revealed," was previously leaked. And so, there is nothing to be excited about, right? Well, not so fast.

At the Google event, the company unveiled a handful of truly interesting devices -- two phones, a speaker, and even a new media player. None of them are particularly cutting edge, but they all have something in common -- value. Yes, all the products are affordable, and in these uncertain times, consumers should greatly appreciate that.

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Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel have a new Windows 10 build to try out today.

Build 20226 comes with a number of changes and improvements, the biggest of which is storage health monitoring to protect user data.

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