Latest Technology News

Microsoft reduces the number of problems Windows 10 users have with the Creators Update… by not giving it to them

According to Microsoft, Windows 10 Creators Update is the best version of Windows 10 ever. But it should be, shouldn’t it? Windows 10 is evolving with each new feature update, so it makes sense that the latest update should also be the greatest. Microsoft isn’t reinventing the wheel with each new iteration, it’s simply polishing it.

In a new blog post, John Cable, Director of Program Management, Windows Servicing and Delivery, reveals the ways that the Creators Update improves fundamentals such as battery life, performance, reliability, and security. It’s a piece of positive spin, although the timing of its release is interesting, given that its successor, the Fall Creators Update, is only weeks away from being launched.

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GNOME partners with Purism on Librem 5 Linux-based privacy-focused smartphone

The Librem 5 smartphone by Purism has a long and difficult road ahead of it. Competing against the likes of Apple and Google on the mobile market has proven to be a death sentence for many platforms -- including Microsoft with its failed Windows 10 Mobile. With that said, I am rooting for Purism and its Pure OS, as the world would benefit from a device that uses Linux and focuses on both privacy and security. Such an alternative to iPhone and Android would be a breath of fresh air.

Luckily, Purism has found itself a new partner on this project -- one of the most important organizations in the Linux community -- The GNOME Foundation. Yes, the maker of the absolute best desktop environment is offering to assist with the Librem 5 -- if it is successfully crowdfunded, that is. To date, it is only about 33-percent funded, although there is still more than a month to go.

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Stack Overflow introduces salary calculator for developers

Money

Stack Overflow has introduced a salary calculator to help developers get a better idea of how much money they should earn. The tool takes into account important information such as job location, years of experience and technologies used to reveal what it considers to be typical salaries.

Stack Overflow says that the results are based on the data collected in its yearly developer survey. The salary calculator currently supports five markets -- Canada, France, Germany, US and UK -- and seven major cities -- Toronto, Paris, Berlin, New York, San Francisco, Seattle and London.

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Theresa May wants tech firms to remove 'extremist content' faster… but it's not quite that simple

UK prime minister Theresa May has called on the likes of Microsoft, Google, Twitter and Facebook to act faster to remove terrorism-related and extremist content. At the moment, it takes an average of 36 hours to remove content shared by the likes of Isis, and May wants this slashed to just two hours.

But even this is not enough for the government. It wants technologies to be developed -- or refined -- that will identify this sort of content and prevent it from getting online in the first place. Facebook agrees -- its love of AI is well-known -- but the solution to online extremism is not as simple as saying "technology firms need to do more."

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New security platform uses live attacks to evaluate risk

Risk dial

One of the hardest things for security teams to do is accurately evaluate the level of risk that their organization is facing.

Cyber security firm Nehemiah Security is launching the latest version of its AtomicEye RQ (Risk Quantifier) platform that can calculate a system's exploitability and generate comprehensive risk reports.

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Apple Watch Series 3 is plagued by battery issues and LTE problems

When Apple unveiled the Apple Watch Series 3 just over a week ago, there was much excitement at the fact that the smartwatch now features LTE connectivity. It's finally possible to make a call from your Apple Watch without having your iPhone nearby -- although there's the slight dampener that the watch does not support roaming.

Now the first reviews of the Apple Watch Series 3 are starting to trickle in and, while they are generally positive, they highlight a couple of issues. Battery life seems to be rather less than was proclaimed at launch, and Apple has also identified LTE issues that prevent the watch from using cellular.

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New enterprise password management tool eases administrator workload

Effective password management is essential in helping to control data breaches, but employees often use the same passwords for both work and personal use, leaving corporate data potentially exposed.

Password management company Dashlane is launching its new Dashlane Business 2.0 enterprise password solution.

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AI will boost productivity and collaboration

Artificial intelligence

Not everyone sees artificial intelligence as the destroyer of worlds or, in milder cases, destroyer of jobs. Many people, particularly Millennials, are confident AI will instead create new jobs in the future.

That's is according to a new report by analyst firm CCS Insight, which found that many workers believe AI will automate mundane work tasks and boost productivity and collaboration applications.

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Office workers fall victim to phishing attacks despite training

Phishing

Despite training and other efforts to combat the problem, phishing is still proving a remarkably effective tactic for cyber criminals according to a new report.

The study by cloud business applications company Intermedia shows that while 70 percent of office workers say that their organization regularly communicates with employees about cyber threats as a means of prevention, there are significant gaps between confidence and effectiveness.

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Chuwi LapBook Air now available for pre-order -- or you can win one in a giveaway!

Chuwi has been building anticipation for its upcoming LapBook Air, and the company has now opened up pre-orders for its ultra-thin laptop. Priced at just $429 the LapBook Air is described as being "a very MacBook-like device," and it weighs in at just 1.3kg.

The device is powered by Windows 10 running on an Apollo Lake N3450 processor backed by 8GB RAM and a 128GB SSD. If you're happy to subscribe to a Chuwi newsletter you can shave an extra $50 off the price, but there's also a giveaway which means you could get one for free.

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EFF resigns from W3C in protest against Encrypted Media Extensions DRM standard

Digital rights group the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has resigned from the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) because of a move to standardize the Encrypted Media Extension (EME) API for controlling DRM in web browsers.

The EFF is far from being the only group to be unhappy with the W3C for the decision to standardize EME, but this is the first -- and possibly only -- one to have gone as far as resigning as well as filing objections. The group says that it proposed compromises that were ignored, and the opposition of EFF and other W3C members were simply overruled.

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DigitalOcean launches developer-friendly object storage

Businesses are dealing with larger quantities of data than ever before, and this means an increase in the scale and complexity of storage required.

Developer cloud company DigitalOcean is launching a new storage product called Spaces which provides a scalable and cost-effective way to address complex storage needs within a developer-friendly and easy-to-use UI.

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UK's second largest police force still heavily reliant on Windows XP

Catching criminals requires cutting-edge technology, right? Well it should do, but that’s often not the case.

Greater Manchester Police, the UK's second biggest police force, has admitted to the BBC that it’s still using Windows XP on a large number of PCs, even though Microsoft ended nearly all support for the ageing OS back in 2014.

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Privacy: With iOS 11 and Safari's cookie blocking, Apple is kicking advertisers in the teeth

Apple logo

Apple news has been dominated -- understandably -- by the launch of the iPhone X, iPhone 8/8Plus and Apple Watch Series 3. But there's also iOS 11 to consider. The latest version of Apple's mobile operating system hit iPhones and iPads around the world yesterday, bringing with it a raft of new features.

The release of iOS 11 includes an updated version of Safari and, importantly, a feature called Intelligent Tracking Prevention. Enabled by default, the feature blocks certain cookies from websites, making it harder for advertisers to follow users around the web. Users and privacy advocates are happy; advertisers, it must be said, are not, saying "Apple's unilateral and heavy-handed approach is bad for consumer choice and bad for the ad-supported online content and services consumers love."

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Microsoft opens pre-orders for standard Xbox One X

Hopefully you have been saving up, because today the standard version of the not-particularly-cheap Xbox One X is available to pre-order. Last month saw the Project Scorpio Edition open up for pre-orders, and now it's time for those who are interested in the standard black model.

The console will be available worldwide on November 7, but if you want to avoid disappointment on the day, it's probably best to get your order for "the world's most powerful console" in right now -- links are below. As well as opening up pre-orders today, Microsoft has announced that the list of Xbox One X enhanced games has grown to over 130.

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