Latest Technology News

How to use picture-in-picture mode in Chrome 70

Google Chrome logo

The Chrome web browser was starting to get some bad press after problems with extensions and then concerns over automatic sign-ins. Google listened to the complaints and promised to do something about it -- the result is Chrome 70.

But Chrome 70 is about more than just security and privacy changes. Google has also used this released to introduce a handful of new features. One of the best is picture-in-picture mode (PiP) which lets you keep watching a video in an overlay while you continue to browse other sites. Here's how to use it.

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GPD Pocket devices get special Ubuntu MATE 18.10 Linux image

Just yesterday, Ubuntu 18.10 was released. "Cosmic Cuttlefish," as the operating system is called, is available in several flavors featuring various desktop environments other than the stock GNOME -- Xfce (Xbuntu), KDE (Kubuntu), and more.

One such variant, Ubuntu MATE 18.10, is popular thanks to its low system requirements -- it works very well on meager hardware. To highlight just how adaptable the operating system is, a special image has been released for both the GPD Pocket and GPD Pocket 2. If you aren’t familiar with these mini-laptops, please know they are essentially what used to be called a "Palmtop."

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The life of an ethical hacker [Q&A]

Hacker detection

We often hear the term 'ethical hacker', but what exactly does this involve and is it something you can actually make a career out of?

We spoke to Jim O'Gorman president of online penetration testing training provider Offensive Security to find out what being an ethical hacker is all about and what skills you need if you want to become one.

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Best Windows 10 apps this week

Three-hundred-and-five in a series. Welcome to this week's overview of the best apps, games and extensions released for Windows 10 on the Windows Store in the past seven days.

Microsoft is readying the Windows 10 October 2018 Update for re-release after it stopped the distribution of the new feature update for Windows 10 a matter of days after release because of a data loss bug.

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Snaps for Linux are a massive success

One of the big knocks against Linux-based operating systems is lack of software. The truth is, there are countless excellent programs for both productivity and fun. One fair criticism, however, is fragmentation between distributions. For end users, it can be difficult installing an app that isn't designed for their distro. And yeah, that has been a pain point for years.

Thankfully, Canonical -- maker of Ubuntu -- aimed to alleviate that problem with Snaps. These containerized packages can be installed on pretty much any Linux distribution, making things easier for both users and developers. But has the organization's standard been a success? Apparently, very much so. As a way to celebrate yesterday's release of Cosmic Cuttlefish, Canonical shares the following infographic.

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Flashback Friday: How two university dropouts created Microsoft

Bill Gates is a legendary figure, and not just in the world of technology. With countless awards and titles attached to his name, he has over the years been consistently recognized as one of the world's wealthiest, most powerful and most influential individuals. Also, anybody who can call themselves a 'philanthropist' in today's world has, more often than not, probably achieved something pretty grand.

However, back in the day, Gates was merely a university dropout with a thirst for hacking computer systems. True, the university was Harvard, but Gates wasn't exactly on course to becoming the multi-billionaire entrepreneur he is today.

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StarTech launches a trio of USB-C hubs -- Surface Laptop 2 owners need not bother

I am old enough to remember the days before USB, and let me tell you -- when it came out, everything changed. It became so much easier to add hardware to a PC -- no need to open the case. USB largely made the term "plug and play" a reality. The problem? The damn thing wasn't reversible! As we all know, you had a 50/50 shot of plugging the Type-A connector in correctly, yet for some reason, it felt like you were almost always wrong the first time. Maddening!

USB-C solved that dilemma, as the connector is reversible. Long gone is the frustration of having to turn the connector around. Adoption of USB-C has been frustratingly slow, with companies like Microsoft still refusing to add it to the Surface Laptop 2. Sigh. With that said, there are many nice USB-C products on the market, and today, StarTech launches a trio. All three products are USB-C hubs, but they are quite different from each other.

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Remembering Paul Allen

Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen died on Monday at age 65. His cause of death was Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma, the same disease that nearly killed him back in 1983. Allen, who was every bit as important to the history of the personal computer as Bill Gates, had found an extra 35 years of life back then thanks to a bone marrow transplant. And from the outside looking-in, I’d say he made great use of those 35 extra years.

Of all the early PC guys, Allen was probably the most reclusive. Following his departure from Microsoft in 1983 I met him only four times. But prior to his illness Allen had been a major factor at Microsoft and at MITS, maker of the original Altair 8800 microcomputer for which Microsoft provided the BASIC interpreter and where Allen was later head of software.

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Ubuntu Linux 18.10 Cosmic Cuttlefish is finally available for download!

There has never been a better time to be a Linux enthusiast. There are so many great distributions from which to choose, including elementary OS 5 Juno, Linux Mint 19, and Bodhi 5.0.0. What do those aforementioned operating systems have in common? They are based on Ubuntu. To take things a step further, Canonical's operating system is based on Debian, but I digress.

But yeah, Ubuntu is wildly popular -- with both end users and other Linux distro maintainers. When a new version of the operating system is released, the world goes wild. Well, it's time to get excited, yall! Today -- after a short Beta period -- Ubuntu Linux 18.10 Cosmic Cuttlefish is finally available for download!

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Lexar unveils JumpDrive Fingerprint F35 for Windows, macOS, and Linux

Recently, we reported the Sentry K300 keypad flash drive from DataLocker Inc. What made that flash drive newsworthy? Well, besides its 256-bit AES hardware encryption, it has an industry first -- an OLED screen.

While entering a passcode into keypad on a flash drive is cool, Lexar has a new drive that makes it look like old hat. The JumpDrive Fingerprint F35, as it is called, uses biometrics for decryption. Much like the fingerprint reader found on a smartphone, you can use your finger to unlock the flash drive. How cool is that?

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Creating the next generation of cybersecurity leaders

In today’s cybersecurity landscape, the value of good cybersecurity tools is undeniable. What is more valuable are the people behind the tools -- however, the amount of open cybersecurity positions worldwide is growing year over year. Currently, there are more than 300,000 open cybersecurity roles in the U.S. alone, but by 2021, Cybersecurity Ventures expects that number will reach 3.5 million.

This gap is felt by cybersecurity leaders; in fact, a recent study found that more than 70 percent of the cybersecurity decision makers agree that their organizations do not have the staff or necessary resources to monitor all cybersecurity threats that their organizations face. With the number of cybersecurity openings growing yearly and the sophistication and frequency of cyberattacks increasing, in order to build the cybersecurity leaders of tomorrow, business leaders must turn their attention to things that they can control: investing in the right solutions and their staff.

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Can the infosec community ever be as well-organized as digital criminals?

Brian Gladstein, a security marketing strategist at Carbon Black, discussed the question posed in this headline at RSA Conference 2018. In his presentation entitled "Endpoint Security and the Cloud: How to Apply Predictive Analytics and Big Data," Gladstein observes that digital crime is structured like an economy consisting of several tiers. At the top is the "Digirati," a term used by Gladstein for the class of high-ranking controllers responsible for executing digital attacks. The Digirati consists of the ones who hide on the network and gather information, usage patterns, and intel. They then share this information and build upon what knowledge they’ve already gathered from other actors in the online criminal community.

Below the Digirati are the subject matter experts. Malware writers, identity collectors, and individuals who hoard zero-day vulnerabilities and other exploits sit on this level of the digital crime economy. These individuals oftentimes sell access to their goods and services to the next tier, which consists of botnet owners, cashiers, spammers, and other brokers and vendors.

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Reddit Browser for Kodi scrapes video and more from the best subreddits

There’s a lot of fantastic media content on Reddit, although finding it isn’t always easy. The new Reddit Browser for Kodi scrapes subreddits for video, live streams, audio, images and discussions.

The add-on has been in development for almost a year, and while it’s still very much a work in progress, it’s easy enough to use.

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OpsRamp brings AI and machine learning to IT operations

Artificial intelligence

IT operations is an area that often involves analyzing and reacting to a series of events and that makes it a strong candidate for automation.

Operations platform specialist OpsRamp has recognized this with the launch of OpsQ, an intelligent event management, alert correlation, and remediation solution for hybrid enterprises.

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For those with serious charging needs, here comes the ChargeHub Powerstation 360

We all have lots of different devices that need charging on a regular basis, often at the same time, placing ever increasing demand on our plug sockets, and resulting in companies attempting to deliver different solutions to the growing problem.

Cheap power strips and USB hubs offer a solution of sorts, but if you're after something more advanced, there's the Chargehub Powerstation 360 Surge Protector Power Strip. Quite a mouthful, huh? It’s made by Limitless Innovations, an Illinois-based company.

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