Microsoft delays its February patches for a month
For the past several years, Microsoft has released security patches on the second Tuesday of the month -- the so-called Patch Tuesday.
However, Microsoft missed the date this month and now says the new patches won’t arrive until the middle of next month.
ASUS ROG unveils Strix Impact wired gaming mouse with RGB lighting and DPI button
When it comes to gaming mice, there are often two schools of thought for design. Some manufacturers go overboard, thinking consumers want flashy-looking mice with tons of features. Other makers go a more conservative route, where the user wants fewer distractions. Neither is wrong -- consumers have different tastes. There is also the wired vs. wireless debate, with many gamers preferring the former for reduced lag and no need for battery charging.
Today, ASUS ROG (Republic of Gamers) unveils an all-new wired mouse with a more conservative design approach. Called "Strix Impact," the wired gaming mouse is certainly attractive, but it does not look not too funky or childish. The RGB lighting allows the owner to customize the appearance, while a dedicated button lets them change the DPI on the fly. The ambidextrous-friendly mouse is also built to last, with high-quality Omron button switches, which ASUS ROG claims will last for over 50 million clicks!
Google Search gets fun facts
This may surprise you (or not), but I am a total bore at parties. I usually don't speak much, and if I do, it is surely something that isn't interesting. Why is this? Well, I usually don't have anything to say, nor do I really care for banter. This is probably why I rarely get invited to parties!
Today, Google launches a new way for party-poopers like me to seem more interesting than they actually are. How? By sharing fun facts on various topics on the search engine. These interesting and enjoyable facts can be found when searching, and then used in conversation later. For example, Google shares that strawberries aren't actually berries -- I didn't know that, but now I do!
Ford makes $1bn investment in Argo AI to research and develop self-driving car tech
One of the world’s largest car manufacturers, US-based company Ford, plans to invest $1 billion to research and build artificial intelligence for its vehicles.
Ford states that it will invest $1 billion in the Argo AI startup within the next five years, which will focus on building and developing self-driving car technology.
Cyber attacks against the UK are increasing
The number of cyber attacks launched against the UK has increased significantly with 188 high-level attacks occurring within just the last three months.
The news of the attacks came from Ciaran Martin, chief executive of the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), who told the Sunday Times that a number of the attacks were sophisticated enough to threaten national security.
Samsung will officially unveil Galaxy S8 after MWC 2017
Samsung is expected to introduce the successors to the hugely popular Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge soon. Considering that new devices in the series were introduced during Mobile World Congress in recent years, this year's event seems like a safe bet as to when the unveiling will take place.
However, an official announcement from Samsung indicates that the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 edge will actually make their debut later in the year. Samsung is still expected to present them during an Unpacked event, but it will no longer take place during MWC as it did before.
Win an Xbox One S Halo Wars 2 Ultimate Edition Bundle from Microsoft!
Video gamers are very spoiled nowadays, as there are so many great games and consoles to buy. Both the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One are great, for example, and Nintendo will be launching a new console called Switch on March 3. Let's not forget PC gamers -- they have lots of powerful hardware and quality games available too.
One game that has many gamers excited is Halo Wars 2. It will be launching very soon, on February 21. If you ordered the "Ultimate" edition, however, you get to play it a few days earlier on the 17th. Don't have an Xbox One? Don't panic. To celebrate the release of Halo Wars 2, Microsoft is giving away an Xbox One S Halo Wars 2 Ultimate Edition Bundle! In addition, the Windows-maker will be giving away other cool prizes too.
Microsoft unveils Windows Insider program for enterprise users
Microsoft may have a "mobile first, cloud first" mantra, but we shouldn't forget that the software giant is also highly invested in the enterprise market as well. It's incredibly lucrative, as business clients spend billions upon billions of dollars on its products, a list of which includes the likes of Windows and Office.
So, naturally, when Microsoft is working on a product it has to take that into account as well. With Windows 10 things have been going rather well, if you compare it to Windows 8, when it comes to enterprise adoption, but the software giant is looking to improve things with a new Windows Insider program aimed at businesses, referred to as WIP4Biz.
Privacy-protecting Ghostery extension sold, Ghostery Inc becomes Evidon after acquisition
There's big news in the world of Ghostery Inc, the company best-known for the browser extension that boosts privacy. The firm's consumer operations have been sold to Cliqz, a German company part-owned by Mozilla, where the Ghostery extension will live on.
Ghostery Inc is rebranding to its former identity of Evidon, which will have a B2B focus. Evidon Inc will provide "monitoring and consent solutions for over 500 leading brands across the world." The deal with Cliqz is an all-cash affair, but details have not been released.
UK tackles attacks with new National Cyber Security Center
The UK is getting a national center to combat cyber attacks, and it's the Queen who gets to open it. The National Cyber Security Center (NCSC) will reportedly be opened in central London by the Queen, accompanied by The Duke of Edinburgh and Chancellor Philip Hammond.
The NCSC is part of intelligence agency GCHQ and has already tackled 188 attacks in the last three months. It will look for holes in sites belonging to the public sector, will tackle spoof emails and pull phishing sites down.
Brexit forces Microsoft to push up Surface Book price by £150
The UK's decision to leave the European Union continues to hit the pockets of consumers. The latest victim of Brexit is Microsoft's Surface Book, with every model in the range hit with a £150 price hike.
While not a direct response to the Brexit vote itself, the resulting drop in the value of the pound has already seen many companies push up prices to compensate. We've already seen Apple increase the cost of apps in the UK by 25 percent, and Microsoft has already increased the price of enterprise software. Representing an 11 percent price jump, the new Surface Book price tag makes the already-expensive laptop even less attractive to would be buyers.
IBM and The Weather Company use edge computing to issue vital alerts
Communicating news of severe weather events or natural disasters is something mobile phones are well suited to, but if there's limited or disrupted network coverage the message may fail to get through.
IBM and The Weather Company have developed a new app that will use peer-to-peer connections within the mesh network to send alerts to individuals via their smartphone devices.
New challenger takes on US inter-carrier mobile messaging duopoly
In the US a duopoly exists between SAP and Syniverse for inter-carrier mobile messaging. Carriers and other communication service providers are forced to choose between these two vendors to exchange messages across networks.
This makes the carriers vulnerable to price hikes and sub-par quality of service. New provider tyntec is seeking to disrupt the market and create more competition with its new Inter Carrier Messaging Service (ICMS).
Optimizing costs is top priority among corporate cloud users
Cloud management company RightScale has released the results of its sixth annual State of the Cloud Survey, the largest survey of corporate cloud users.
Among the findings are that optimizing cloud costs is the top initiative across all cloud users (53 percent) and especially among mature cloud users (64 percent). Respondents estimate 30 percent of cloud spend is wasted, while RightScale has measured actual waste at between 30 and 45 percent.
The most secure messaging apps
IT security has never been more prominent at the forefront of people's minds than it is currently. With a sadly regular supply of hacking horror tales, Internet users are now exercising a great deal of care with the information they share through their networks. Stronger passwords and a reluctance to add personal details are among the more common measures to have become widely implemented.
Another option which people are leaning towards is that of secure messaging apps, a selection of which are profiled in the infographic below by ERS IT Solutions. There doesn’t yet exist a messaging app that is completely impenetrable to hackers, but there are those which distinguish themselves for their encryption of messages so that even if they are intercepted, the messages can’t be deciphered by unsolicited parties.
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