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Predictive maintenance, or PdM, is a rising star for process plants. It’s a new approach to maintenance planning that uses industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), big data, and machine learning to track the condition of plant equipment and detect the first signs of impending part failure.

Predictive maintenance is a specific application of predictive analytics for plant equipment. By issuing early alerts about potential failures, PdM enables maintenance crews to schedule repairs before the part breaks down entirely, at a time that’s convenient for them. PdM really showed its worth during COVID-19, as many plants operated on a skeleton staff with maintenance teams only coming on-site at intervals.

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If you don't yet have a Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) wireless router, you are making a big mistake. Even if you don't currently have any Wi-Fi 6 devices, 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.

Looking to upgrade to both 802.11ax and mesh? Good news -- TP-Link has a new "whole home" Wi-Fi 6 system that is rather affordable. The "Deco X68," as it is called, offers Tri-Band AX3600 Wi-Fi via two access points to blanket your home in connectivity. In fact, TP-Link claims it is capable of providing up to 5,500 square feet of coverage. Adding a third access point increases that to 7,000 square feet.

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If you have lots of folders, and shortcuts to folders, on your PC, it can be tricky to identify one you want as they all look the same.

To make your favorite folders much easier to spot it’s worth changing the color of them, choosing a different icon, and/or adding emblems.

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A side effect of the COVID-19 pandemic has been a rise in QR code usage as the need for touchless transactions has increased.

A new study from automation platform Ivanti reveals that 83 percent of respondents say that they used a QR code to make a payment (or complete a financial transaction) for the first time ever since March 2020, with 54 percent doing so past three months alone.

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Apple will today be hosting a hardware event in which we expect the tech giant to take the wraps off new 11in and 12.9in iPad Pro models.

In addition, we may well see Apple’s AirTags device trackers finally arrive, as well as upgraded versions of other devices.

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Developers waiting for news about the next installment of Visual Studio need wait no longer. Microsoft has announced that Visual Studio 2022 will be released later this summer as a public preview.

The company has also revealed that the software is going 64-bit, overcoming the limitations of the 32-bit edition. Microsoft says that the user experience will feel cleaner, more intelligent and action oriented, and that there is an increased cloud focus thanks to improved GitHub integration.

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The latest State of Email Security report from Mimecast, based on a study of over 1,200 IT and cybersecurity leaders, shows businesses faced unprecedented cybersecurity risks in 2020.

Ransomware impacted 61 percent, a 20 percent increase over last year's report, while 79 percent say their companies experienced a business disruption, financial loss or other setback in 2020 due to a lack of cyber preparedness.

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A new survey shows that 86 percent of technology professionals in the UK and Europe don't want to return to the office full-time.

The study from tech job marketplace hackajob finds around one in four (26 percent) would like to work remotely permanently, while 60 percent are happy to work from the office occasionally and spend the rest of the week working from home.

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Anyone testing out the very latest versions of Windows 10 has a new bug-fixing patch to install. With the release of the KB5001391 update, fixes and changes introduced to the Dev channel now make their way to the Beta and Release Preview channels.

This latest patch sees Microsoft taking Windows 10 20H2 up to build 19042.962 and Windows 10 21H1 up to build 19043.962. It includes a large number of bug fixes, and addresses problems with a profile-related Group Policy, and fixes an issue that caused soaring memory usage by the lsass.exe process, as well as high CPU usage that led to system lockups.

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Alphabet own Google. Google owns Fitbit. And Fitbit largely owns... well... the fitness tracker market. Look, Apple Watch might be wildly popular, but for the average consumer, the name "Fitbit" is synonymous with wearables. I have witnessed many people referring to fitness trackers made by other brands as "Fitbit." This behavior is much like consumers calling all adhesive bandages "Band-Aid."

Fitbit's success isn't a mystery. Besides its catchy brand name, the devices are easy to use and are heavily focused on fitness. In other words, Fitbit devices aren't overly complicated. This has lead to their adoption by people that aren't necessarily gadget enthusiasts. Oh, and they have excellent battery life too -- they don't need daily charging like Apple Watch.

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Solid state storage is constantly getting faster. The truth, however, is while PCIe Gen 4 SSDs are now available, they are total overkill for most consumers. Heck, most people would be more than fine with a meager SATA drive. With that said, the previous-generation PCIe Gen 3 SSDs are now very inexpensive (and quite speedy) making them a smart purchase whether you truly need the extra speed or not -- as long as your computer is compatible.

Today, Silicon Power launches its latest NVMe M.2 solid state drive for both desktops and laptops. Called "XPOWER XD80," this PCIe Gen 3 SSD has fairly modest specifications in the grand scheme of things, but it is definitely more than fast enough for the majority of consumers.

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The term FinTech has been coined quite recently. However, this does not change the fact that Finance and technology have always been intertwined. Way back in 1866 the first transatlantic cable was laid, which then became the backbone for the globalization of finance. Next in 1918, the first electronic transfer of money was conducted using Morse code technology. In the 1950s, credit cards, another digital payment medium, was launched by American Express and Diners Club. This event can officially be called FinTech 1.0.

The actual beginning of modern FinTech effectively dates back to 1967 when the first ATM machine was used by Barclays in 1967 and the period was called FinTech 2.0. Owing to the development of technologies in communication and transaction, the world saw its first digital stock market, which marked the beginning of online financial markets. The advances didn’t stop there.

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If you care about your privacy on the web, and you’re worried about just what Google knows about you, then privacy-focused search site DuckDuckGo is a great alternative.

It offers lots of features that you may not be aware of, including the ability to quickly generate a QR code for any website.

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I’ve been lucky enough to travel extensively and see a large chunk of the world, although thanks to COVID-19 and lockdowns, I haven’t been anywhere in quite a while and have seriously itchy feet.

Back when overseas travel was easy to do, I visited quite a few UNESCO World Heritage sites, but the world is a huge place and there are still plenty more I would love to go to (I will finally tick Machu Picchu off the list one day).

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The popularity of enterprise AI continues to grow but practices and maturity are stagnant as organizations run into challenges implementing AI within their organizations.

The annual AI Adoption in the Enterprise survey from learning platform O'Reilly finds a lack of skilled people and difficulty hiring topped the list of challenges to adopting AI, cited by 19 percent of respondents. This compares to last year when 22 percent named company culture as the major barrier.

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