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The future of work is happening now: despite skeptics prophesying growing unemployment rates, AI not only creates new job roles but also changes the employee experience for the better. Assisted with AI tools and analytics, workers no longer have to spend hours (and, consequently, years) on meaningless routines, since they can focus on job aspects that truly bring value.

So how will artificial intelligence transform employee experience and enhance employee engagement? Read on to learn how AI contributes to digital workplace transformation.

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The coronavirus pandemic has hit many traditional companies hard, and when things finally get back to normal -- whatever the new normal will look like -- we may be without various big name firms.

Microsoft, like Apple, has had physical retail stores for years, albeit on a smaller, less successful scale. If you want to try a product first hand, you can visit one of these locations, try the hardware out, and buy and leave with it, if you’re happy with your experience. But that’s all about to change as Microsoft is closing its physical retail stores globally, and focusing instead on online sales.

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In the past six months, COVID-19 has evolved from a speck on the world radar to a full-blown pandemic. While it has claimed the lives of many and shed a massive spotlight on some of the major issues in healthcare, it has also served as a catalyst for innovation.

As with nearly every element of the healthcare system, applications of machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) have also been transformed by the pandemic. Although the power of machine learning and AI was being put to significant use prior to the Coronavirus outbreak, there is now increased pressure to understand the underlying patterns to help us prepare for any epidemic that might hit the world in the future.

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Digital transformation is increasingly seen as a way for businesses to gain competitive advantage. It's often tied into the cloud and as-a-service solutions too.

But what do businesses need to take into account when starting on a transformation project? We spoke to Anthony Brooks-Williams, CEO of cloud data integration provider HVR Software to find out.

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With the release of eM Client 8, the desktop email client for macOS and Windows gets a visual overhaul in addition to a batch of new features. But em Client is about more than just email; there's also a calendar component, chat and notes.

Just about every aspect of the user interface has been redesigned to improve not only aesthetics, but also ease of use. A key enhancement to the software that will be welcomed by many is the ability to run multiple instances of the program simultaneously. This means it is now easier than ever to move between different sections of the app, as you're able to have, for instance, your emails open in one window, and your calendar in another.

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We recently told you that the thin and light Dell XPS 13 Developer Edition has finally started shipping with Ubuntu 20.04 LTS. While that is certainly cool, the reality is, Linux-focused companies like System76 were shipping out computers with the newest Ubuntu LTS  pre-installed way before that. In fact, System76 even offers the option of its own operating system that is based on Ubuntu 20.04. Called "Pop!_OS," the Linux distribution adds many beneficial tweaks and enhancements to improve the overall user experience.

Today, System76 refreshes its popular Oryx Pro laptop, and you can choose between Ubuntu 20.04 and Pop!_OS 20.04 (I would recommend the latter). The powerful notebook (with 15.6-inch or 17.3-inch display options) now comes with a cutting-edge 10th Gen Intel Core i7-10875H CPU which offers an impressive 8 cores and 16 threads. You also get an NVIDIA RTX 20-series GPU which can work in conjunction with the Intel graphics thanks to the smart graphic-switching capabilities baked into Pop!_OS.

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If you've upgraded to Windows 10 May 2020 Update (or Windows 10 version 2004), you will have noticed various changes, and perhaps encountered a few issues along the way. One thing that some system administrators are noticing is that it is no longer possible to defer feature updates for up to a year.

Instead, the only option available is to pause all updates for a maximum of 7 days.

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IBM's Center for Open-Source Data and AI Technologies (CODAIT) is releasing a new toolkit that helps developers and data scientists answer questions about the pandemic.

COVID notebooks is designed to help with tasks including obtaining authoritative data on the current status of the outbreak, cleaning up the most serious data-quality problems, collating the data into a format amenable to easy analysis with tools like Pandas and Scikit-Learn, and building an initial set of example reports and graphs.

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Open source components are now at the core of many applications and a good deal of infrastructure. But what implications does this have for security?

The Information Security Forum has released a new paper, Deploying Open Source Software: Challenges and Rewards, to help security professionals recognize the benefits and perceived challenges of using open source and set up a program of protective measures to effectively manage it.

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While businesses generally take care to protect desktop and mobile computing devices, the rise in IoT usage has meant that lots of potentially less secure equipment is sneaking onto networks.

Forescout Research Labs has been assessing the risk of over eight million devices across a number of industries via its Forescout Device Cloud, a repository of connected enterprise device data.

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Not everyone can afford the latest and greatest components for their gaming PC, and depending on the titles the gamer plays, they may not even need hardcore specs. For those that prefer high frame rate to gigantic resolution, you can get by very comfortably without breaking the bank. Look, a 1080p screen is far more affordable than a 4K monitor.

Today, MSI launches a beautiful 1080p display that focuses on eSports titles and other games you might play in FHD. Called "Optix MAG273R," this 27-inch IPS gaming monitor isn't top-of-the-line, but does have has an impressive 144Hz refresh and 1ms response. It is even compatible with AMD's FreeSync. The monitor also features thin bezels and a fun design with colorful lighting on the rear -- something PC gamers should appreciate. Best of all, it is rather affordable.

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Last week, Microsoft changed how future Windows 10 builds are served up to Insiders, with the Slow ring becoming the Beta Channel, and the Fast ring turning into the Dev Channel.

Today, the software giant releases its second flight to the Dev Channel. Build 20152 doesn’t come with any new features, but rather focuses on making general improvements.

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At least 16 million US knowledge workers have switched to remote work in the past two months and the remote workforce isn’t going away any time soon.

Large corporations like Twitter, Square and Facebook are leading the trend to allow employees to work from home indefinitely. With more companies moving to remote work for the long-term, there are common tech issues that employees should be made aware of to prevent data loss, connection problems and privacy concerns over time.

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As of last year, there were 12.1 million tech workers in the United States, according to TechRepublic. Throughout the 2010s, the tech sector workforce expanded by 23 percent with no significant dips or net job losses beyond the Great Recession early in the decade. While these numbers have declined due to the COVID-19 pandemic -- the tech sector lost a record 112,000 jobs in April -- the tech industry is still growing and will likely continue to grow as the economy reboots and the world moves toward a new normal.

Here are three of the biggest challenges and opportunities that tech professionals will encounter in the coming months and years:

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With governments around the world rolling out contact tracing in order to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, access management company Okta has commissioned a survey of 12,000 people across six counties to discover how consumers feel about data privacy and identity.

It finds that 84 percent of Americans are worried that data collection for COVID-19 containment will sacrifice too much of their privacy. A majority say they are uncomfortable with personally identifiable information (67 percent), bluetooth data (57 percent), medical data (53 percent), and location data (52 percent) being collected for COVID-19 purposes.

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