Facebook is ready to fight back against anti-vaxxers

Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp tiles

The battle Facebook wages against the spread of fake news and misinformation could be set to expand to include removing anti-vaccination content from the social network.

The anti-vaxxer movement has long been fairly vocal, and it has found a home on Facebook. The viral spread of anti-vaccine groups on the social network has been blamed -- at least partly -- for outbreaks of measles in the US. Facing pressure to block the spread of dangerously misleading information, Facebook has said that it could demote anti-vaxxer content and remove it from recommendations.

Continue reading

Microsoft takes Insiders into next year, with the release of the first Windows 10 20H1 build

Microsoft is currently hard at work finishing off the next big feature update for Windows 10, codenamed 19H1. This is due out in a couple of months’ time, and will be followed by 19H2, out in the Fall.

Insiders who opted into the Skip Ahead branch (if you missed your chance to join the ring before it closed, follow these instructions to gain access) are likely expecting to receive builds from the 19H2 branch, but surprisingly today Microsoft is rolling out Build 18836 from the future 20H1 development branch.

Continue reading

System76 refreshes Serval WS Linux laptop with 9th Gen Intel Core CPUs and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 20-Series GPUs

Nowadays, many consumers put a premium on having a thin and light computer. This is understandable, as no one wants to lug around a big and heavy notebook. With that said, some people only care about raw power -- weight and size be damned. System76's Serval WS is one such laptop -- insanely powerful, but boy howdy, it is a biggun! The 15-inch model weighs 7.5 pounds, while the 17-inch variant tips the scales at 8.6!

Today, System76 launches a refreshed version of the Linux laptop. It features desktop-class 9th Generation Intel Core processors, which is cool, but arguably more intriguing is the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 20-Series GPU options -- 2060, 2070, or 2080. Yeah, this refreshed Serval WS is an absolute beast!

Continue reading

Dark web tags harm website performance and put data at risk

Downloading

Website tags, small pieces of JavaScript code or small images, are often used to collect information about users. But they can add to load times and if misused can be a security risk too.

A new study from digital governance specialist Crownpeak reveals over 1,700 'dark web' tags found on websites belonging to companies in the Fortune 100, causing a total average website latency of 5.2 seconds.

Continue reading

New concept video of iOS 13 is packed with exciting features

iOS 13

We won’t get a proper look at iOS 13 until Apple reveals it later in the year, but that isn’t going to stop people from coming up with some ideas of how the mobile operating system should look.

Just a couple of weeks ago we saw one iOS 13 concept video, and now another has surfaced. A collaboration between AppleiDesigner and Skyline News, this latest concept is packed with ideas to get excited about for iPhone and iPad users alike -- a redesigned status bar, system-wide dark mode, some great-looking wallpapers, and customizable lock screen elements.

Continue reading

Zoho launches next generation Office Suite with added AI

Zoho logo

Popular cloud-based office suite Zoho is launching a new version of its software complete with AI-powered personal assistant.

Zoho Office is made up of four cloud-based productivity software applications -- Zoho Writer, Zoho Sheet, Zoho Show, and Zoho Notebook. These are fully integrated with each other and with Zoho Mail the company’s messaging app Cliq.

Continue reading

Google is bringing virtual desktops to Chrome OS

Chromebooks have fared far better than many people would have first thought when they first appeared on the market, and Google's Chrome OS is going from strength to strength. While not yet ready to topple either Windows or macOS, the operating system continues to gain features that make it increasingly appealing.

One addition that is on the horizon and likely to please many users and potential users alike is virtual desktops. This is something we have heard about before in relation to Chrome OS, but a recent commit to the Chromium Gerrit shows that "virtual desks" are being worked on -- and there's even a video showing off the feature.

Continue reading

Roses are red, violets are blue, Valentine scammers are out to trick you

Heart phone

A Nigeria-based gang of scam artists, known as Scarlet Widow, have been using romance scams to trick victims out of large amounts of cash.

Secure email company Agari has uncovered the scam which involves posting fake personas on the largest dating websites like Match, eHarmony, and OKCupid.

Continue reading

AmpliFi will pay you $100 to switch from a competitor's mesh networking system

bag of money

When Amazon announced it was buying eero, some people panicked. After all, home networking equipment is a very personal thing -- it can be worrying when a multi-billion dollar firm becomes the new owner. It is totally warranted to be concerned about the privacy implications. With that said, it is not a given that Amazon will be nefarious in this regard.

AmpliFi -- Ubiquiti Networks' home brand -- understands that people are concerned, so it wants to help eero owners that are looking to abandon ship. You see, AmpliFi will pay you $100 if you switch to its HD Wi-Fi system and ditch eero. Actually, AmpliFi is extending this offer to those that ditch any of its competitors' mesh products -- not just eero. Scoring this deal is as easy as using social media. Don't like using social platforms? Don't worry, you can enter by sending an email too.

Continue reading

Forget Linux -- Here's how to install Windows 10 on Raspberry Pi 3

The official way to install a version of Microsoft’s latest operating system on a Raspberry Pi is to use Windows 10 IoT, but that’s a stripped down version and a far cry from the Windows 10 we know and love/hate (delete as applicable).

Microsoft makes a version of Windows 10 that runs on ARM processors, and there’s now an unofficial Windows On ARM tool that lets you install that OS on the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B or B+.

Continue reading

Final text of new EU Copyright Directive retains controversial content blocking of Article 13

European copyright

In an attempt to bring aging copyright laws up to date for the digital age, the European Parliament and European Commission have agreed the final text of the EU Copyright Directive.

After several rounds of intense negotiations, it was decided to retain the controversial Article 13 which can be used to block the uploading of content, and Article 11 which has been described as the "link tax". The directive will place the onus on the likes of Google and Facebook to ensure that users do not upload copyrighted content, leading to fears that this could mean the introduction of restrictive upload filters and make life difficult for smaller companies.

Continue reading

Mobile marketers increase their focus on data

Mobile ads

Data has become an increasingly popular resource for marketers, new research from marketing platform YouAppi reveals that 98 percent of respondents say they have increased their organizational investment in data.

What's more that investment is paying off, 97 percent say they have seen improvement, with more than half of those calling the improvements ‘significant.’

Continue reading

Only one in three organizations is confident of avoiding a data breach

data breach

A majority of organizations are not confident in their ability to avoid major data breaches according to a new study.

The report for breach avoidance company Balbix, based on research from the Ponemon Institute, shows that 68 percent feel their staffing is not adequate for a strong cybersecurity posture and only 15 percent say their patching efforts are highly effective.

Continue reading

Plugable launches tool-free NVMe SSD USB-C enclosure for Windows, macOS, and Linux

NVMe solid states are insanely fast and getting more affordable every day. It is for this reason that most consumers should opt for them when possible -- they put SATA variants to shame. Even if you don't need the extra performance of an NVMe SSD, the ever-lowering prices make them a no-brainer.

While most people probably think of NVMe SSDs as something to go inside a computer, they also make exceptional external drives -- when paired with an enclosure, that is. Today, Plugable launches such a new product, and it has a very cool feature -- it is tool-free. In other words, you won't need a screwdriver to open the USB-C enclosure or secure the drive. Instead, it uses a clever unlock button to open up, and a rubber peg holds the SSD down. I've been testing this USB 3.1 gen 2 enclosure with a 250GB Samsung 970 EVO and it has proven quite speedy and solidly built.

Continue reading

Dirty_Sock vulnerability in Canonical's snapd could give root access on Linux machines

Dirty Sock

A security researcher has discovered a vulnerability in Canonical's snapd package which could be exploited to gain administrator privileges and root access to affected Linux systems. The security issue has been dubbed Dirty_Sock and assigned the code CVE-2019-7304.

Chris Moberly found a privilege escalation vulnerability in the snapd API. This is installed by default in Ubuntu -- under which proofs of concept have been tested and found to work "100% of the time on fresh, default installations of Ubuntu Server and Desktop" -- but may also be present in numerous other Linux distros.

Continue reading

© 1998-2024 BetaNews, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy - Cookie Policy.