Google to finally stop scanning Gmail messages
Somewhat controversially, Google has always scanned messages in Gmail in order to be able to present users with relevant, personalized adverts based on the email content. That’s something that has always worried people who are concerned with what personal information the company might be gleaning from their inboxes.
In a surprise announcement, the search giant today declares its intention to end the long-standing policy.
Russian hackers stole and sold passwords belonging to British politicians
An investigation by the Times has found that passwords belonging to British officials have been traded by Russian hackers. The passwords and email addresses of tens of thousands of politicians, senior police officers and diplomats were sold or swapped following an attack on LinkedIn in 2012.
As well as LinkedIn, some information seems to have been garnered from MySpace. The credentials for politicians, including education secretary Justine Greening and business secretary Greg Clark, were initially put on the market for sale or trade, but were later made available free of charge.
Cyber attacks and regulations don't change businesses' digital transformation plans
Businesses looking to digitally transform won’t be intimidated by cyber-attacks or data protection regulations, according to a new report by Advanced.
Based on a poll of more than 500 senior executives in UK organizations, Advanced says organizations are concerned, but won’t give up.
Google will now hide personal medical records from search results
Google has updated its search policies without any sort of fanfare. The search engine now "may remove" -- in addition to existing categories of information -- "confidential, personal medical records of private people" from search results.
That such information was not already obscured from search results may well come as something of a surprise to many people. The change -- first reported by Bloomberg -- has been confirmed by Google, although the company has not issued any form of announcement about it.
Microsoft Whiteboard app leaks -- download Windows 10's newest inking tool
Last month Microsoft gave us a glimpse of its upcoming Whiteboard app -- now the app has leaked online. This means that we have the opportunity to not only see what Microsoft has in store for inking in Windows 10, but we can also get hands on with it.
The tool is part of Microsoft's recent education focus, and it gives students and tutors the chance to collaborate on an interactive whiteboard. Features include automatic shape completion (draw a square freehand, and it will be converted into a geometric square), equation support, and angle calculation.
Microsoft details additional changes and known issues in Windows 10 Insider Build 16226
On Wednesday, Microsoft rolled out Build 16226 for Windows Insiders on the Fast ring. While this Windows 10 Fall Creators Update build is a little buggier than most, it’s also jam-packed full of new features and improvements, including Edge tweaks, new Emoji, OneDrive Files On-Demand, a new Currency Converter function in Calculator, and updates to Storage Sense and Touch Keyboard.
It turns out there are also some other big improvements that we weren’t initially aware of, and more known issues to watch out for, including one that prevents the new build from installing correctly.
Google Photos removes backup while charging option
As a tool to backup your photos and videos to the cloud, Google Photos should give you a fair degree of control over how and when you want the backups to be performed. However, a new update to the popular app on Android manages to do quite the opposite, removing a very useful feature -- which is sure to frustrate some users.
Google Photos has dropped the backup while charging option from the settings menu, forcing users to either perform backups manually or accept that backups can happen anytime their smartphone or tablet is connected to a cellular or Wi-Fi network.
Best Windows 10 apps this week
Two-hundred-and-thirty-six 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 another Windows 10 Fall Creators Update build this week. It introduced a lot of new features, but also has been causing major issues for some users.
Scratch 2.0 now available for Raspberry Pi, but there is a catch
Scratch provides a great introduction to programming for all ages, which is why it's included in Raspbian, the operating system that powers the Raspberry Pi. You can also use it to write code to control and respond to components connected to the GPIO (General Purpose Input and Output) pins on a Pi, and there’s a new version of the tool available from today.
Interacting with GPIO pins in Scratch 2.0 is easier than before, with custom blocks for setting the pin output (and getting the current pin state) replacing the old text-based broadcast instructions, which is a big step in the right direction. However, the tool can be a little slow for some operations, and there's a bigger issue to be aware of -- not all models of the Pi will be able to run it.
Facebook launches Online Civil Courage Initiative to fight extremism in the UK
Facebook today launches its latest attempt to tackle online extremism in the UK with its new Online Civil Courage Initiative (OCCI). It is part of an education drive which finds the social network trying to inform charities and local organizations how to fight hate speech and extremism online.
The OCCI is being launched with involvement from a number of partners, including the Jo Cox Foundation and Imams Online, and it has a UK focus. Facebook users are encouraged to head over to the OCCI pages to share ideas using the hashtag #civilcourage.
Cloud-native workloads gain momentum
A new survey shows that 18 percent of organizations now have more than half of their workloads in cloud-native environments. In addition many are moving from on-premises and self-hosting toward shared environments, distributing workloads across multiple providers.
The study by cloud security and network software firm Cohesive Networks also finds 57 percent of respondents say that cloud-native workloads make up at least 20 percent of applications in Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS).
Facebook's new mission statement: 'give people the power to build community and bring the world closer together'
Mark Zuckerberg has announced a new mission statement for Facebook. The social network is no longer interested in making the world "more open and connected," now it wants to "give people the power to build community and bring the world closer together."
The change of direction will set Facebook's course for the next decade, and it was revealed at the Facebook Communities Summit. At the summit Facebook also revealed a new batch of tools for group admins to help drive the sense of community and make groups easier to manage.
Virgin Media warns Super Hub 2 owners to change their passwords due to hacking risk
Virgin Media is urging hundreds of thousands of customers with its Super Hub 2 router to change their passwords after a Which? investigation uncovered a way for hackers to gain access to the device.
If the password for the router is not changed from its default there is a risk from hacking, but Virgin Media said the risk is small. Nevertheless, as a precautionary measure a password change is the advice for more than 800,000 users.
AMD's plans to take on Intel in the server market
When it comes to the high-powered computing market and data center sectors, Intel has had a firm lead over the competition for some time.
However this may all be about to change, after AMD revealed its plans to fight back with its new EPYC 7000 series of data center processors.
AMD reveals new GPU line for servers
AMD has revealed three new GPU server accelerators, promising a "dramatic increase" in performance, efficiency, and ease of implementation for deep learning and HPC solutions.
The new line of GPU server accelerators comprises of Radeon Instinct MI25, Radeon Instinct MI8, and Radeon Instinct MI6 and will be paired with AMD’s open ROCm 1.6 software platform.
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