Uber adds app messaging between driver and rider
If you’re anything like us, you land after a long plane journey, slightly shattered and attempting to adjust to your new time zone then once you’ve finally left passport control and picked up your bags, you simply want to grab a taxi and get to your hotel as quickly as possible.
To achieve this, many of course choose to book an Uber. When the process works smoothly, everything is fine. But, sadly, Uber drivers aren’t always offered the same privileges as regular taxis, so you have to somehow navigate your way to a pickup location. To do this, a phone call from the driver is often required.
Is open banking a nightmare waiting to happen?
The world of banking is about to be transformed. In January 2018, the second Payment Services Directive (PSD2) will be incorporated into UK law, obliging banks to provide other organizations with access to their customers’ financial information. Known colloquially as the "open banking" directive, the new law is intended to end the monopoly of big banks and to provide consumers with a much wider range of financial services providers to choose from.
There are many technical and cultural difficulties that banks will need to overcome in order to comply with the new directive, but perhaps the most serious challenge is how to implement PSD2 without bringing themselves into conflict with another impending piece of legislation; the European Union General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
AMD Ryzen Threadripper is finally here
AMD has been making all the right moves lately, both with CPU and GPU. Its Ryzen processors offer amazing performance without breaking the bank, while the RX 500 series of graphics cards are solid performers for both gaming and the increasingly popular crypto mining.
What has PC builders truly excited, however, is the Ryzen Threadripper processors. These chips are multi-core monsters. Heck, they are even physically larger than most processors. Seriously, folks, these things are beasts; the top model has an impressive 32 threads! Well, the wait is now over -- today, AMD officially launches Threadripper. And yeah, if you are planning to build a new PC, you want it.
One in five people put corporate data at risk via unsecured Wi-Fi hotspots
Employees are putting corporate data at risk by using unsecured hotspots and over sharing on cloud services, according to a new report.
The study from cloud security specialist Bitglass set up Wi-Fi hotspots in random public spaces for two hour time slots, and captured and analyzed traffic, finding that of the 834 people in the public spaces, 187 unique devices (around 20 percent) connected.
Poor reliability means Consumer Reports no longer recommends Microsoft Surface -- or any other Microsoft laptop or tablet
Influential reviewer Consumer Reports says that it no longer recommends Microsoft Surface tablets and laptops. The consumer group says that poor predicted reliability for the Surface range means that it is pulling its "recommended" tag.
More than this, Consumer Reports goes on to say that it "cannot recommend any other Microsoft laptops or tablets." Recent studies suggest that a quarter of laptops and tablets from Microsoft will present problems for users within two years of ownership.
LG V30 camera has great low light potential
Smartphone cameras have evolved a great deal over the years, reaching the point where many of us can rely on them to snap important moments in our lives. But if there is one area where major improvements can still be made it's in low light.
One way to improve image quality in low light is to use a wider lens aperture, which is what LG has done with its upcoming V30. In fact, the South Korean maker says that it's the widest lens aperture of any smartphone to date. Why does this matter?
Enterprises lack resources to respond to targeted attacks
The number one priority for security executives is achieving complete breach intolerance according to a new study from endpoint security company Endgame in conjunction with Forrester Research.
The study of over 150 security decision makers in large US enterprises also finds 64 percent of executives are concerned that the next breach or attack they experience could be severe, a fear that is heightened by the fact that decision makers don’t know the system or the vector that will be attacked next.
TripIt Pro is the ideal app to relieve you of your airport stress
Navigating through any airport is stressful. Once you’ve queued for check-in, passed through security and trawled duty free, most people would locate the lounge for a couple of drinks. Problem is, it’s very easy to get lost in the moment and realize you’ve got to find your gate. That gate could be far further than you imagined and may even require a shuttle train to get you there in time. And that’s if you can find it at all!
The answer to this conundrum and much more is in the latest update of the TripIt app, released today. The paid-for premium TripIt Pro, now lets travelers see how far they have to walk between two specific points in an airport and also gives step-by-step walking directions for the shortest route between the two points in the airport you’ve specified.
Get 'Designing with CSS Grid Layout' ($4.99 value) FREE for a limited time
Layout in CSS has always been a tricky task: hacking solutions using positioning, floats, and the one-dimensional flexbox has never been very satisfactory.
Fortunately, there is a new tool to add to our arsenal: CSS Grid Layout. It is an incredibly powerful layout system that allows us to design pages using a two-dimensional grid -- offering the kind of fine-grained layout control that print designers take for granted.
Mozilla Information Trust Initiative is ready to fight fake news
Facebook is not the only tech company looking to tackle the problem of fake news online. Mozilla, the company behind Firefox, has created the Mozilla Information Trust Initiative (MITI) in a bid to increase the credibility of the internet.
This is not a solo venture. Mozilla is seeking partners it can work with to conduct further research into fake news, and then develop products to battle what it terms "information pollution" online. The company recognizes that the fake news phenomenon is not properly understood, and that the techniques used to disseminate twisted versions of stories are advanced.
EaseUS Partition Master 12.5 Free should be your choice of disk management tool
Buy a new computer and you’ll often find it ships with one big partition, which can be inconvenient. We usually allocate space on a drive to our music collection, documents and other important files. By partitioning one large hard drive in to separate drives, it makes it easy to manage, backup and migrate content.
You can perform basic partitioning tasks within Windows, such as creating, resizing or assigning a new drive label. However, we’d always recommend a complete partitioning toolkit and there’s few better than EaseUS Partition Master 12.5 Free.
Vantiv buys UK payment processing firm Worldpay in $12.1 billion deal
UK payment processor Worldpay is the subject of a £9.3 billion ($12.1 billion) takeover by US rival Vantiv. The merged company will be known simply as Worldpay and will be headquartered in Cincinnati, but run from New York and London.
In the deal, Vantiv is paying £8 billion ($10.4 billion) for Worldpay, plus an additional £1.3 billion ($1.7 billion) to cover debts. It is one of the biggest takeovers of a UK company since the Brexit vote of 2016.
Managed service providers face cyber security talent shortage
Many businesses rely on outsourcing some or all of their IT to managed service providers (MSPs), but a new study from Kaspersky Lab reveals that two out of three MSPs are suffering from a shortage of qualified cyber security staff.
Among the findings are that cyber security is no longer seen as a separate or optional function among MSPs with 92 percent now including it as part of their portfolio of services. More than half (51 percent) cite security as essential to their customers' operational continuity in the next three to five years.
Facebook launches Watch, a new platform for original shows
Facebook has launched its new Watch platform which will be used to show original video content. The social networking giant says that the time has come for a dedicated home for episodes of shows, and Watch will feature both live and recorded video.
Facebook will be working with a number of partners to come up with content for Watch, and advertising revenue will be shared 55:45, with Facebook keeping the smaller share. Of course, the video output has a social element to it, with Facebook encouraging viewers to make use of Reactions, and also highlighting shows that are being watched by people you are connected to on the social network.
Disney faces lawsuit for allegedly spying on kids through mobile apps and games
Disney -- who just announced plans to launch its own streaming service and drop Netflix -- is collecting personal information about children and non-consensually sharing it with advertisers, alleges a lawsuit against the company.
The lawsuit, says that Disney and three other companies it worked with (Upsight, Unity, and Kochava) created apps that spy on users -- primarily children -- gathering information which is then shared with advertisers. If this is found to be the case, it is in violation of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, and Disney could be hit with hefty fines.
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