Lenovo smartphones will all feature stock Android from now on
Starting with the K8 Note, all of Lenovo's smartphones will come with stock Android installed. The company is dropping its customized Vibe Pure UI in favour of an (almost) untouched version of Android.
The Lenovo K8 Note will come with Android 7.1.1 Nougat installed, and the company is making only minor additions in the form of Dolby Atmos and TheaterMax -- gone is the bloatware that irks users so much.
UK outsourcing market spend reaches £5.2 billion in 2017
The UK outsourcing market has enjoyed some of its strongest performance for several years, according to new figures released today.
The latest Arvato UK Outsourcing Index, revealed that the first six months of 2017 has been the most successful since 2012, with £5.2 billion worth of outsourcing deals in this time.
US senators reveal bipartisan effort to secure IoT devices
A bipartisan group of US senators have introduced a new bill to better secure Internet of Things (IoT) devices and to protect security researchers as they attempt to find vulnerabilities in these devices.
The Internet of Things Cybersecurity Improvement Act 2017 will require manufacturers that supply the US government with connected devices to comply with industry-wide security practices.
LastPass raises Premium price by $1 and entitled users ridiculously freak out
Whether or not password managers are a good idea is up for debate. I understand the concerns about storing all of your login credentials in a single place -- in the cloud no less. With that said, the benefits outweigh the negatives. Look, it is impossible to remember a unique password for countless web sites nowadays. One alternative to a password manager is reusing the same password on numerous sites, and that is foolish behavior. Right now, a solution like LastPass or 1Password is the best we have, and I suggest it wholeheartedly.
LastPass in particular is great, as it is free to use and is cross-platform. It even works on Linux desktop operating systems such as Ubuntu, Fedora, and Chrome OS. For a single dollar every month, you can opt for a premium account that supports the developer and gives you a few exclusive features. Well, guess what? LastPass is doubling the monthly fee for the Premium tier from one dollar to two. Yes, rather than $12 a year, it is now $24. Still extremely inexpensive, right? No one would complain about that, right? Wrong. Many LastPass users are stupidly complaining.
LogMeIn buys Nanorep to offer personalized user experiences
LogMeIn has revealed a major new deal which it says will help its services become smarter and more personalized than ever.
The privacy firm has announced that it will acquire the digital self-service, chatbot and virtual assistant company Nanorep to provide more personalized experiences for its customers.
Google Play now promotes apps that crash less and offer better battery life
There are many metrics by which to measure how good an app is, and Google is starting to use a few more when it ranks Android apps and games in the Play Store. The latest app-ranking algorithm now takes into account app stability, performance and battery usage.
As well as improving the relevance of listings for people downloading apps, Google is also using this change to push developers to improve their apps.
Windows 10 still failing to challenge Windows 7's market dominance
Last month I reported how, according to NetMarketShare’s figures, Windows 10 had managed to grow its usage share by just 5 percentage points in an entire year. That's a shocking state of affairs for a relatively new -- and regularly updated -- operating system, especially given that Windows 7 enjoyed a 2 percentage overall increase in the same time frame.
In July, perhaps buoyed by the news that the Windows 10 Creators Update was finally going to be offered to (nearly) all, Windows 10 posted its largest usage increase for three months, although still nothing for Microsoft to get excited about.
Newton adds Tidy Inbox so you can focus on important emails
Having tabs in your inbox to weed out unimportant emails can come in handy, but this feature has not gained traction with all the major providers. Google is the only one to offer it, having introduced it over two years ago, with the likes of Outlook.com and Yahoo staying on the sidelines.
So CloudMagic, the company behind popular email app Newton, has come up with its own implementation, that works with all the email accounts available in the client. It's called Tidy Inbox and it's pitched as "Gmail tabs for all email accounts."
Canonical publishes laughably simple guide to upgrading to the Ubuntu app for Windows
It is not long since Ubuntu made its debut in the Windows Store, much to the excitement of Linux fans.
Now Canonical has provided a guide to upgrading from the "bash on Ubuntu on Windows" experience that's built into Windows 10, to the full-blown Windows Store version.
Try the public preview of new sign-in experience for Azure AD and Microsoft accounts
Microsoft has redesigned the sign-in process (or "experience" as the company refers to it) for both Azure AD and Microsoft accounts.
The interfaces for the sign-in screens for both types of account have been updated so they are the same, and there's now a Google-style two-page sign-in procedure. The updated design is available as a public preview and the change has come about through telemetry data collected by Microsoft.
WiMiUS L2 4K is an impressive affordable action camera [Review]
There are lots of affordable action cameras on the market, but not many of those deserve your attention. In their attempt to compete with upmarket products, vendors tend to focus more on specs rather than the user experience, delivering action cameras that look great on paper but do not work as well as you might expect in real life.
That was the case with WiMiUS' L1, which did not live up to my expectations despite having solid components. However, with the new L2, things should be different. The quality is said to be better than before, and the selection of accessories is much more interesting as well. So, I have put the WiMiUS L2 to the test to see just how good it really is.
Google now permits Android apps that facilitate gambling with real money
Google has relaxed its rules surrounding real-money gambling apps in Google Play -- in some countries, at least. There has been a ban on apps and games that allow users to gamble with real money since 2013, but that has now changed.
While there was previously a ban in place due to the difficulty in policing ages and complying with different gambling laws around the world, real-money gambling apps are now permitted in the UK, France and Ireland.
TVAddons is back, but the Kodi addon site faces secretive lawsuit from Canadian telecos
It has been hard to avoid stories about Kodi in recent months as broadcasters and copyright holders panic about the software's potential for piracy. The controversial site TVAddons was the subject of a lawsuit from Dish Network, and shortly after this it disappeared from the web completely.
Rather than originating from the US as many people suspected, the lawsuit against TVAddons that led to its disappearance comes from Canadian telecoms firms Bell Canada, TVA, Videotron and Rogers. Now TVAddons is back, but the story about its legal battle -- involving claims of piracy of Game of Thrones -- is rather more complicated than just about anyone could have thought.
IBM sets new record for tape storage
IBM has revealed a major step forward in its storage capabilities with a new world record.
The computing giant has revealed that researchers have been able to fit 330 terabytes of uncompressed data into a single palm-sized tape cartridge -- equivalent to around 201 gigabytes per square inch.
Verizon Up is a rewards program you pay for with your privacy
You don't, as we all know, get something for nothing... but that doesn't stop companies from making it appear as though you do. The latest perpetrator of this crime against common sense is Verizon. The carrier has rolled out a rewards program -- Verizon Up -- which enables subscribers to earn credits for racking up a bill.
For every $300 spent on Verizon Wireless products and services users are paid a credit which can be collected and spent on various rewards (money off handsets, accessory discounts, and so on). But there is a price, and that price is privacy. In return for letting you accrue credits, Verizon scoops up vast swathes of personal data including browsing history, app usage, location, interests, and much more.
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