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In the last few years APIs have become a critical enabler of digital transformation for businesses across all sectors.

Cybersecurity company Ping Identity has surveyed more than 100 security and IT professionals to determine their concerns surrounding the increased use of APIs.

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There are many Qi wireless chargers on the market these days. They have become very affordable, so if your phone supports the feature, you really should buy one. No longer will you need to fiddle with plugging a cable into your phone -- especially tedious when you are exhausted and just want to fall into bed.

Before you purchase a wireless charging pad, however, you should make sure you are getting one that is high-quality. I suggest looking for a reputable brand that does not have an integrated cable. Instead, you should target one with a removable cable -- preferably USB-C. The other thing to look at? Wattage. Not all pads are created equally, and depending on your phone, you may get faster charging speeds from a pad with higher watts. Today, Satechi launches a wireless charger that seemingly checks all the boxes.

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The woes inflicted on users by the re-released Windows 10 October 2018 Update continue, with the latest issue concerning Apple iCloud.

The problem affects the latest version of iCloud for Windows (7.7.0.27), and is causing updating and syncing issues with shared albums. In addition, if you try to install iCloud on a system running Windows 10 1809 the installation will fail.

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Stunningly, Microsoft lost the smartphone wars despite getting a huge head start with Windows Mobile, and going back even further, Windows CE. Despite having a stranglehold/monopoly on desktop computing, the company made too many missteps with mobile, and ultimately, has been forced to exit the very profitable business. Microsoft even took down Nokia in the process, destroying a once beloved company.

Following smartphones, the next big thing was voice assistants, and Microsoft was ready with Cortana. Unfortunately, unlike Apple and Google who had successful mobile operating systems to push their assistants, Microsoft was once again left trailing behind since consumers passed hard on Windows Phone. Online retailer Amazon came out of nowhere and dominated this field too. Ultimately, Cortana has become a thing that exists solely to annoy Windows 10 users. This is a shame, because Cortana is actually pretty good.

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Mark Shuttleworth has announced that Ubuntu 18.04 will be supported for ten years. Long Term Support releases of Ubuntu usually enjoy just five years of support, so this doubling is highly significant.

Shuttleworth -- the founder of Canonical and Ubuntu -- made the announcement at the OpenStack Summit in Berlin, and the change is a tactical maneuver that will help Ubuntu better compete against the likes of Red Hat/IBM. It is also an acknowledgement that many industries are working on projects that will not see the light of day for many years, and they need the reassurance of ongoing support from their Linux distro. Ubuntu can now offer this.

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With little fanfare, YouTube has started to offer ad-supported, feature-length movies, giving visitors the opportunity to watch Hollywood titles for free.

As reported by AdAge, it seems that YouTube introduced this option last month, but gave it something of a stealth launch. It has been possible to purchase movies from YouTube for some time, but until now there has been no (legal) way to access movies for free. And if you are concerned that free might mean that poor quality, you should be reassured to see titles such as The Terminator and Agent Cody Banks in the library of free-to-watch, ad-supported movies.

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Startpage.com is a privacy-focused alternative to the likes of Google (although the search results are provided by Google -- minus all the ads and stripped of tracking), and the search engine has just relaunched with a new look and new features. The visual changes will be apparent to anyone who has used the site before, but for anyone who is concerned about their online privacy, it is new options such as Anonymous View that will be of greater interest.

This new feature makes it possible to visit websites completely privately, essentially using Startpage.com as a proxy. Importantly, this extra level of privacy and protection does not come at the expense of speed, meaning you can browse the web anonymously without compromise.

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Windows 10 version 1809 -- aka the October 2018 Update -- was such a mess that Microsoft was forced to pull it and spend weeks trying to fix the numerous problems that early adopters had encountered, which included (but were not limited to) data loss, Windows failing to remember default app choices, driver issues and much more.

On Tuesday, the software giant finally re-released the update, but if you were hoping things would go a lot smoother this time around, you’d be wrong. Windows 10 1809 still has some pretty major issues for users to be aware of.

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If a website suffers a security breach you may well decide that you want to give it a wide berth. The problem is that it is impossible for individuals to keep track of all of the breaches that take place, and Mozilla wants to help out.

After teaming up with Have I Been Pwned recently, Mozilla created Firefox Monitor to help inform people about breaches, and this is now expanding to more languages. On top of this, the organization has also now launched Firefox Monitor Notifications that will issue a warning if you visit a site that has been breached.

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Black Friday is one week away -- I hope you have some disposable income handy. If you need to buy Christmas gifts for friends and family, or you just want to treat yourself, shopping on Black Friday is a great way to save money. The discounts found on the day after Thanksgiving are often quite substantial.

Of course, over time, Black Friday has gone from being a single day to be being, well... whatever a store wants it to be. Hell, some retailers have such sales live right now. Sony is following suit with its PlayStation Store, as tomorrow, an enormous list of PS4 games and DLC will get massive discounts -- a Black Friday sale a week early!

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Ads in your inbox. Sounds like something you'd expect from the likes of Google or Yahoo, but Microsoft appears to be about to get in on the act as well.

And we're not talking about online ads in your Outlook.com account -- we're talking about ads in the Mail app that's included with Windows 10. A new report says that Microsoft is currently testing ads with Windows Insiders, so it could be just a matter of time before they spread wider.

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Cyberattacks are often thought of as being a problem just for large organizations. But a new study by the Ponemon Institute, sponsored by Keeper Security, shows that small businesses increasingly face the same cybersecurity risks as larger ones.

The number of attacks is on the rise -- with 67 percent experiencing a cyberattack and 58 percent experiencing a data breach in the last 12 months.

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While a large majority of companies now permit employees to use their own devices for work, they have concerns over security and privacy.

Organizations are making BYOD available to employees (76 percent), contractors (27 percent), partners (25 percent), customers (22 percent), and suppliers (19 percent).

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Part 1 of three. Google Store's bureaucratic ineptitude is beyond belief. My recent, unresolved customer crisis is an experience in artificial unintelligence. For a parent company whose core competency is supposed to be indexing, crunching, and disseminating information, it's inconceivable that something so simple as fixing a single order error could escalate into a tragically comic Catch-22. I should have abandoned all efforts long before reaching the point of penning this post and looking back to the Apple Way.

To summarize: I received the wrong Pixel phone nearly a month ago. Google Store struggled to process a return authorization, because the device in hand didn't match the one in the order. I eventually agreed to keep the thang, so long as the retailer could transfer the extended warranty -- so-called "Preferred Care" -- that I had paid for. But the process proved to be complicated, then necessity, after I unexpectedly needed to file a damage claim. You'll have to read on for the sordid punchline, but suffice to say it all ends in a comedy of compounding errors.

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For many consumers, Windows 10 is total overkill. If most (or all) of your tasks are web-based, a Chromebook is probably a much better option. After all, the Linux-based Chrome OS is fast and stable, while also being extremely secure. Why bother with all the malware and lag of Windows if you don’t have to?

Today, a company called Sector 5 launches a new Chromebook model. Called "E3," it has an attractive design, decent specs, plenty of ports, and an affordable asking price. Best of all, it supports both Android apps and traditional Linux desktop programs too.

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