Latest Technology News

Today marks the 30th anniversary of the GIF. The humble file format has -- after protracted arguments about how to pronounce the word -- come a long way. After years irritating people in the format of flashing animated ads, the images are now used to adorn messages with pithy memes and pertinent video clips.

GIFs in their current incarnation are supported by messaging tools and social platforms left, right and center, and after including a dedicated GIF button in Facebook Messenger, the social network is now rolling out the same feature in comments.

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IBM and Cisco recently announced a new partnership that would see both companies work together to bolster their respective cyber security offerings.

Now the two companies have decided to overhaul their shared VersaStack to include new Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) and hybrid cloud capabilities.

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Time is running out to ensure that your organization is prepared for the upcoming General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and with less than a year to go now is the time to take action.

In order to help organizations prepare for GDPR, the data governance firm DQM GRC has released a free online GDPR Self-Assessment Tool that provides insight into a company's compliance levels compared to the new regulation and offers practical advice on how they can overcome their biggest challenges.

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Last week, security researchers reported on a trending adware infection known as "Fireball". Sourced to the Chinese marketing firm Rafotech, reports indicate a footprint of more than 250 million infected machines worldwide. While the infection currently appears to only make changes to victims’ browser homepages and search engines, analysis suggests that the software could be remotely leveraged to act as a malware dropper.

If true, it’s possible that infected systems could be made part of a botnet and used to carry out new types of attack over the Internet.

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Later this month -- June 28 specifically -- Google is to launch a new tool: Backup and Sync. Aimed primarily at consumers, the tool is designed to backup files and photos, and make them accessible from any device.

Backup and Sync is described as "the latest version of Google Drive for Mac/PC, which is now integrated with the Google Photos desktop uploader," and for most users it will completely replace Drive. Corporate and enterprise users are advised to hold out until the release of Drive File Stream later in the year, but for everyone else, Backup and Sync opens up the possibility of automatically backing up entire hard drives.

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Although I love the look of my Jet Black iPhone 7, I can be a bit clumsy at times, so I’ll always protect it with a case. There are plenty of phone case choices out there, but my new favorites -- by some margin -- are those from the RÖK collection.

The latest cases from WÜD are made with real stone harvested from a slate quarry. The pieces are sliced thinly, so they don’t add a lot of weight to your device (around 1.2oz/34 grams), and each one is handcrafted and unique. The cases aren’t exclusive to the iPhone either -- you can buy them for numerous Samsung models, Google Pixel phones, and the LG V20.

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5G networks will need to be more flexible than ever before in order to cope with a huge surge in connectivity, according to one of the UK’s top experts.

Professor Rahim Tafazolli, director of the 5G innovation center at the University of Surrey, has urged technology providers to work together to ensure the networks will be ready in time.

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Facebook's Safety Check feature has become one of the easiest ways of checking up on loved ones when disaster strikes. It also gives people in the affected area the opportunity to let friends and family know that they're OK, and today Facebook is adding a number of new options, including fundraising.

Starting off in the US, people will now be able to start a fundraiser from within Safety Check to help raise money for those in need. These can be for personal or charitable causes, and the feature makes it easy for others to make donations. There are also other changes that make Safety Check more useful.

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Tad is a free cross-platform tool for viewing and analyzing CSV files and tabular data. Open a CSV file and it’s displayed in a simple table. Clicking column headers quickly sorts the data by that field, and you can drag and drop headers to reorder them. That’s useful, but it’s also very familiar.

Fortunately, there’s more.

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Developers building enterprise apps for Android and iOS can now embed BlackBerry's messaging system with ease, the company has announced.

The Canadian firm has released an SDK for its famous BBM app, which it hopes can bring secure communications services for users around the world.

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The future of the automotive industry is a hot topic these days, especially when it comes to urban mobility. Indeed, the increase in urban density, rising cost of car ownership, insufficient infrastructure to sustain urban growth and the high adoption rate of smartphones have laid the foundation for a series of new services. While one-way carsharing (Station Based and Free-Floating) is less known than ride-hailing in the US, it’s still one of the fastest growing trends among millennials in Europe and North America. And this is just the beginning!

People in cities are looking for mobility options that offer them flexibility, convenience and affordability. One-way carsharing scores very high on all three aspects, and free-floating scores even higher. These services will only keep getting better, and to top it all off, technology is now available to give operators the means they need to build their operation in record time.

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Samsung nailed it with the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+. The two flagship smartphones are a huge hit, as the strong sales and raving reviews prove -- and that is in no small part due to their cutting edge hardware and attractive software. In fact, the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ are so good that Consumer Reports thinks they're the best smartphones that you can get today.

As in any ranking, there has to be a winner and the bigger Galaxy S8+ takes first place in Consumer Reports' ratings. The Galaxy S8 is a close second though, being different basically only in terms of display and battery size.

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As the development cycle evolves, things like testing, monitoring and compliance need to be delivered earlier in order to speed up service delivery.

Enterprise software solutions firm BMC is launching a new development environment to help organizations compete in the digital economy.

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Despite moves towards other methods of verification, most enterprises are still using passwords to secure their systems.

But based on results from its password assessment tool Preempt Inspector, behavioral firewall company Preempt shows that many enterprise users are still relying on compromised or poor quality passwords.

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If you look at the flagships the media loves to talk about, you may be inclined to believe that the Pixel and Pixel XL are two of the most popular high-end smartphones today. It is easy to think that when you have so many major outlets comparing them to the Apple iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus and the Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ like they're in the same league somehow or as attractive to consumers.

In reality though, Pixel and Pixel XL sales are abysmal. How do we know that? Well, for one, you do not see Google showing up as a leading vendor in any of the quarterly reports issued by IDC and Gartner, and, second, Google itself has confirmed their niche appeal. This is another great example why you shouldn't put an equals sign between mindshare and market share -- especially when it comes to Google-branded devices.

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