Latest Technology News

Tumblr has announced that it is to introduce a ban on all adult content across the platform in a major reversal of policy. The site has long been home to all manner of explicit content, and this lack of censorship is part of the reason for Tumblr's popularity.

The site says that, as of December 17, "adult content will not be allowed on Tumblr, regardless of how old you are". The announcement was made in the Tumblr Help Center, and it comes as the company aims to appeal to a wider age range.

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For a while, it seemed like tablets were going to become the most popular consumer devices, but then, they weren't. People tired of trying to retrofit them with keyboards to make them faux-laptops -- they just used actual laptops instead. Not to mention, with smartphones getting increasingly larger screens, tablets began to feel a bit redundant. With that said, tablets have their place for media consumption -- I still prefer my iPad to my iPhone for watching videos.

If you know someone that wants a tablet this holiday season, but you don't want to spend too much money to get one, Barnes and Noble has a new model that may interest you. Its newest NOOK features a 7-inch screen and has access to the Google Play Store for just $49. This is significantly cheaper than the 10.1-inch variant it launched last month. Best of all, the gift recipient will very likely think you spent more money than you actually did!

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Emerging technologies are set to revolutionize project management. That won’t come as much of a shock to the average reader -- there’s been plenty of media coverage about the extent to which new technology like artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and the Internet of Things (IoT) will transform industries from the bottom up.

However, people often struggle to isolate the challenges that emerging technologies will solve, and the specific practices they will change -- even within their own industries. There’s a tacit assumption that change will come -- but the 'what', 'how' and 'when' of these seismic shifts remains unclear. Project managers want to tackle the challenges and grasp the opportunities of today’s workplace faster and better than their competitors. It’s vital, therefore, that project managers not only understand the potential of emerging technology, but how to use it to best effect.

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We're all pretty used to subtitles for movies and TV shows -- even if we don't need them, they can prove useful -- and Microsoft has now added this feature to Skype.

Ostensibly an accessibility feature (and launched on United Nations International Day of Persons with Disabilities), the new option means that Skype will be able to use voice recognition to show you the text of what is being said in a voice call. Microsoft will also bring the same feature to PowerPoint next year.

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Smartphones are still shrouded by various myths. Reports say that long telephone conversations may cause tumors, your signal may weaken if you move too quickly, and strong signals from base stations could kill people. Whether or not these things are true remains a mystery, but one thing that we do know is real is the threat of mobile malware.

Malicious programs are able to steal funds from your bank account, extract personal information, lock your phone screen, and render a smartphone useless, among other things. According to Statista, as of March 2018, "the total number of Android malware detections amounted to over 26.6 million programs." All of this got me wondering about how easy it is to infect the phone with a virus, so I decided to try it out and document my journey.

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We are finally in the month of December, meaning many people are doing holiday shopping. While you can give your friends and family things like socks and underwear, let's be honest -- most folks want technology! A gift card is another option, but they are very impersonal and will not create a magical memory.

If you really want to impress a loved one, you can't go wrong with a smartphone. Understandably, not everyone can afford to give a quality Android phone as a gift, so we here at BetaNews are giving two away! Yes, two winners will be selected to get either an Honor 7X or Honor View10. The first selected winner will get the latter, and the second will get the former. Colors will be at random.

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As 2018 comes to a close, many people start reflecting on the year. While there were many bad things occurring, such as the California wildfires and the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, it is important to remember many good things happen too -- they just don't often make the news. Hell, I am sure no person had a perfect 2018 -- everyone encounters peaks and valleys -- so hopefully you had more of the former than the latter.

Media is a great way to distract us from the daily pitfalls of life. Things such as apps, games, music, and movies can help us to forget our troubles. The Google Play Store offers all these things and more, and today, Google reveals the best of 2018.

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Innovation is difficult to come by. It is a fleeting concept that eludes most companies. In fact, the odds of a new product idea reaching full commercialization are less than 4 percent. And that is the best case.

But, there are 5 sure-fire ways you can make certain innovation never sees the light of day at your company:

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According to a new study 94 percent of respondents find it at least 'somewhat difficult' to recruit candidates with the right technology and business skills for driving digital innovation.

The report from AIOps platform company OpsRamp shows that over 60 percent of IT professionals say that a majority of their applications are either built or run using hybrid cloud architectures.

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Analytics have become an important part of the decision-making process for many companies in the past few decades, particularly with corporations using data assets as a core competency and point of origin.

My work in the past few decades in the data and analysis field have brought forward six predicted trends to watch for in the near future:

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In today’s pressurized environment, decisions not only have to be right, but they also have to be made quickly. But with so much information coming from numerous different sources, it can be hard to pinpoint the important data.

Since its launch in 1985, Excel has undoubtedly transformed the way businesses operate. However, over 30 years later it has not evolved to meet the speeds and efficiencies of other, more automated, solutions. Recording, analyzing, categorizing and reporting thousands of changing data points back to stakeholders is far more complex than plugging numbers into a table. Consequently, the cutting-edge technologies of yesterday are now seen by many employees as archaic and prehistoric when compared with today’s instant digital information experiences they have come to expect in their personal lives.

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Pixel Slate arrived at the Wilcox household on Nov. 28, 2018, from Google Store, with the order correctly fulfilled. Initial out-of-the-box reaction: "Oh". Underwhelmed. Nearly five days later: "Wow". The Chrome OS tablet is understated in all the ways that matter. My brain just needed a wee bit of time to appreciate the many nuances, rather than one obvious thing flipping the "ah-ha" switch.

The Slate will finally complete my move away from Apple products, started in late July. The Chrome OS slab is set to replace iPad 10.5 and possibly could displace my beloved Pixelbook, as well. We shall see about the latter. The delayed "Wow" response means something. That said, Google's tablet, like first-generation Chromebook Pixel, feels too much proof of concept: The hardware's potential awaits future software, and supporting services, refinements. As such, based solely on a few days use, I don't see the device as being right for everyone, or even most anyone. However, Google geeks will find something truly exotic to get excited about. Android and Chrome OS enthusiasts, rejoice! Linux lovers, too!

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If you want a custom PC, there's a lot of fun to be had building your own rig -- or even just upgrading your off-the-shelf PC. But while you can save money as you create your perfect computer, there is the headache of ensuring that all of the components you buy are compatible with your system.

While hardware compatibility is not quite the problem it was in years gone by, it can still be an issue. Help is at hand, however, albeit from an unlikely source. Amazon has launched a compatibility checking tool that will help you to buy the right components. It is an extension of its Part Finder tools which launched earlier in the year.

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Google is no stranger to killing off services, and it seems that one of its next victims could be Hangouts.

Having split the chat tool into corporate-focused Hangouts Chat and Hangouts Meet, sources familiar with Google's plans say that the company is due to shut down the consumer version of Hangouts in 2020. The writing has been on the wall for a little while, but now the clock really is ticking...

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NetMarketShare reports on the state of the desktop operating system market on the first day of each month. In October, Windows 10 had edged closer to Windows 7, and I predicted that NetMarketShare would finally see Windows 10 emerge victorious in November.

It didn’t.

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