Dell Precision 'Developer Edition' mobile workstations run Ubuntu Linux and are RHEL certified
While Dell is mostly known as a Windows PC manufacturer, the company is also a big proponent of Linux. Its "Developer Edition" models can be configured with Ubuntu, for instance. Of course, despite this branding, non-developers can buy them too. The XPS 13 "Developer Edition" in particular is a svelte machine that should make many home Linux users very happy.
In addition to home users, Dell manufactures solid business-class mobile workstations, and the company recently announced four such Linux-powered models. These Precision "Developer Edition" laptops run Ubuntu and are RHEL certified. One of these notebooks, the Precision 3530, is available today, while the other three will be available soon.
Trump to hit ZTE with $1.3 billion fine before it can operate in the US again
Having slapped Chinese company ZTE with a denial order which significantly hampered its US operations, President Trump has said that the firm will pay a $1.3 billion fine and change its board and management in order to continue to operate within North America.
ZTE had complained that the denial order was unacceptable, and Trump has more recently indicated a desire to get the company "back into business". Now it seems that the president has come up with a deal that involves the Chinese telecoms firm not only making security guarantees, but also buying components from US companies.
Apple to add details of government app takedown requests to transparency report
Apple has announced that it is to expand the scope of its twice-yearly transparency report. Starting with one of its next report -- the one which will cover the period July 1 to December 31, 2018 -- the company will share details of government app takedown requests.
The announcement was tucked away in the latest transparency report, in which Apple shares details of "Government and Private Party Requests for Customer Information". The company says that it takes the protection of user data very seriously, and this addition to the report sees Apple demonstrating this by providing even more information.
Avast fixes the issue that caused problems with Windows 10 April 2018 Update
It's just a couple of days since Microsoft temporarily disabled Windows 10 April 2018 Update on PCs running Avast antivirus. Just as with certain SSDs, a compatibility issue was making the update problematic.
But now Avast says it has identified the issue and is working to push out an update to people that will avoid the problem. The company also has instructions for people whose computers have been left sitting in a blue screen state.
Mystery donor pledges $1 million to The GNOME Foundation
Despite being the default desktop environment for the two most important Linux distributions in the world -- Fedora and Ubuntu -- GNOME is not a money-making project. Actually, it is run by a non-profit called The GNOME Foundation that relies heavily on donations from both organizations and individuals. That's what makes GNOME so extraordinary -- the high quality desktop environment and apps are largely a labor of love.
Today, The GNOME Foundation makes a shocking revelation -- a mystery donor has pledged $1 million dollars! We don't know who is promising the money -- it could be a rich man or woman, but more likely -- and this is pure speculation -- it is probably a company that benefits from GNOME, such as Red Hat or Canonical.
Kaspersky Total Security 2019 cleans misbehaving apps and browser extensions
Kaspersky has released major new versions of its security suites with the launch of Kaspersky Internet Security 2019 and Kaspersky Total Security 2019 for Windows PCs.
The suite -- which is also available (but not yet updated) on the Mac -- concentrates on improving and refining existing components, with highlights including support for removing troublesome applications and browser extensions.
Amazon Echo secretly records couple's conversation... and then sends it on to a contact
There have long been accusations that digital assistants such as Amazon's Alexa and Apple's Siri are constantly listening in on and recording conversations, and recent events in Portland, Oregon are simply going to serve as extra fuel for conspiracy theorists.
A couple were disturbed to find that Alexa not only recorded a private conversation they had in their house, but then sent it on to a colleague as a message. Danielle says she and her husband felt it was "a total privacy invasion", and it is unlikely that Amazon's explanation will do anything to encourage her to use her Echo every again.
Best Windows 10 apps this week
Two-hundred-and-eighty-four 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 released a patch for Windows 10 version 1803 that addresses issues with certain SSDs and upgrades. The company recommends that users wait until the June Patch Tuesday to upgrade to Windows 10 version 1803 on affected devices, though.
PayPal now offers payments in Gmail, Google Pay, YouTube and more
PayPal has extended its partnership with Google so it now offers more payment options to its customers.
By integrating more deeply with Google, PayPal now allow you to seamlessly make payments in the likes of Gmail, YouTube, Google Pay and Google Store. As there is support for any service that makes use of Google Pay, users will also be able to make peer-to-peer payments.
PNY announces 512GB Elite microSDXC card
You can never have too much storage capacity. For instance, when it comes to microSD or SD cards, nothing is worse than running out of room when on vacation -- you shouldn't have to decide which memories to delete from your camera. Not to mention, when shooting 4K video, you can run out of storage even quicker these days.
Today, PNY releases a new Class 10, U1 micro SD card to address this dilemma. With a monstrous 512GB capacity, you can be sure that your camera, drone, tablet, or other device that leverages the micro-sized card will have plenty of room for storing content.
Some US websites are blocked in the EU as GDPR day arrives
It has been impossible to avoid stories about GDPR over the last few weeks and months, and today the new rules regarding privacy and personal data come into force across the EU.
Inboxes across Europe have been flooded with GDPR-related emails as companies have rushed to comply with the new regulations that require them to seek consent from users to collect data about them. But now GDPR day has arrived, dozens of US websites are blocked in the EU.
Andy Rubin’s Essential is the failure we all knew it would be
The Android market is incredibly crowded, making it very hard to turn a profit. Unless your name is Samsung, you are going to have a tough time at it. Well-known companies like LG and HTC are struggling as no-name Chinese manufacturers flood the market with low-cost devices that surprisingly don't suck. Quite frankly, you'd have to be insane to even attempt to enter the Android market. And yet, Andy Rubin did.
If you aren't familiar, Rubin was a co-founder of Android, so when he announced he was entering the smartphone market with a company called "Essential Products Inc," it made news. His backstory aside, there was absolutely no reason for a new Android manufacturer to come along. With that said, he actually did get a device produced. Called "Essential Phone," everyone knew it would fail. And now it has -- just as it was supposed to. According to a report from Bloomberg, the company is no longer developing a successor to the Essential Phone.
Microsoft releases Windows 10 Redstone 5 Build 17677 to the Fast ring
Microsoft has been rolling out new Windows 10 RS5 builds on a weekly basis, but it looked as if we weren’t going to get one this week due to what appeared to be a roll-back bug. However, it turns out the problem was actually a deployment issue which Microsoft was able to fix server side.
The just-released Build 17677, for Fast ring and Skip Ahead Insiders, has a number of additions.
Microsoft removes ability to comment on popular Major Nelson Xbox gaming blog
While there are times when the comments section of a website offers interesting statements from readers, quite often, it is full of vile and vulgar speech instead. We here at BetaNews are lucky -- you guys are rather tame... for the most part. On other websites, such as YouTube, a hardened United States Marine could be made to blush by the horrific comments.
Today, Larry Hryb (aka Major Nelson) Director of Programming for Xbox Live announces he is turning off the ability to comment on his wildly popular blog. While he doesn't cite cancerous language from readers as being a reason, I wouldn’t he surprised if that didn’t weigh on his decision -- even just a little bit. Surprisingly, he blames a lack of interest.
New consolidated identity system simplifies access to enterprise systems
Employee experience platform Sapho is announcing a new identity solution to simplify how employees authenticate into systems and access their data and daily workflows.
Sapho's patent-pending Consolidated Identity system means employees can access what they need from a variety of applications without having to go into each application separately.
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