Connectivity issues hurt productivity the most
More than two thirds (67 percent) of small and medium-sized business in the UK see internet problems as their biggest productivity roadblock, new research has found.
According to a new report by Storey that surveyed 500 SME decision-makers across the UK, more than three quarters (76 percent) of businesses see productivity as a top priority in their office, while 69 percent are certain that improving office layout and design can do wonders on their productivity.
Samsung Galaxy Note 8 will reportedly be revealed in August
The Galaxy Note brand is alive and well, as Samsung will be officially unveiling the new, hopefully non-exploding addition to the premium large-size smartphone line near the end of August.
That report comes from Reuters, which cited "a person familiar with the matter," as saying the official reveal will happen at a typical New York City Samsung event later this summer.
Virgin Mobile USA becomes iPhone-exclusive carrier, offers a year of unlimited service for $1
Goodness gracious, Virgin Mobile USA has made quite the bold moves today. The cellular service provider has become the world's first iPhone-exclusive carrier. In other words, it will no longer offer Android at all. Crazy, right? This is through a partnership with Apple, and Virgin will offer many versions of the device, including iPhone 6, 6S, 7, and SE.
The craziness doesn't stop there, however, as there is even something much more exciting -- Virgin Mobile USA is offering unlimited talk, text and data for a dollar. No, that is not a typo -- a single buck will get you unlimited everything for up to a year! This is through a new scheme called "Inner Circle."
Colour Contrast Analyser is a versatile accessibility checker
Colour Contrast Analyser is an unusual accessibility tool with a couple of useful but very different functions.
The first allows checking text foreground and background colors to determine its legibility. No need to judge by eye any more: the program gives you an objective pass/fail assessment using WCAG 2.0 color contrast success criteria.
Do autonomous cars mean insurance is obsolete?
According to Business Insider, fully autonomous vehicles -- those that can drive from point A to point B without driver interaction -- will debut as soon as 2019. And these autos will be only a fraction of the 10 million self-driving cars BI Intelligence estimates will hit the road by 2020.
According to Elon Musk, "in the distant future, people may outlaw driven cars because it’s too dangerous." This might sound outlandish, but it does line up with car safety statistics. With more than 90 percent of accidents caused by driver error, "there is every reason to believe that self-driving cars will reduce frequency and severity of accidents," says Professor Robert W. Peterson of Santa Clara University’s Center for Insurance Law and Regulation.
4 surprising (and preventable) mistakes that will fry your computer
Whether you’re an office worker or a busy person at home managing bills and scheduling, you likely rely on a computer to get things done. Even in the "age of mobile", computers are essential, and many people are put in a bind if their computer suddenly dies.
To protect these devices, it’s important to understand some of the common (yet surprising) ways you can fry your computer:
CyberTeam claims to have shut down Microsoft Skype, targeting Steam next
Skype has been having problems this week as a result of a DDoS attack which began on Monday. The Skype team acknowledged the problem, confirming that "some users will either lose connectivity to the application or may be unable to send or receive messages" as a result.
In order to mitigate the impact, Microsoft made some configuration changes which seems to have helped. A group called CyberTeam has claimed responsibility for the attack, and says it plans to target gaming platform Steam next.
Google Play fails to catch trojan-injected apps (again)
Getting your Android apps through Google Play is considered safe, but there are times when even the search giant's store is dangerous. Case in point, Kaspersky uncovered two more trojan-infected apps that weren't removed until they had over 60,000 installs.
Kaspersky security researcher Roman Unuchek reports that, since September 2016, he has discovered "several dozen new malicious apps" on Google Play, all of which "were rooting malware that used exploits to gain root rights on the infected device." Obviously, Google failed to catch any of those in time either.
Charmin Van-GO is an on-demand mobile toilet service -- the Uber of poop and pee
Look, it isn't exactly a pleasant topic, but we all need to use the potty (toilet, loo, etc.). As much as we humans want to think we are somehow above the rest of the animals on Earth, we have to pee and poop just like bears, dogs, and other creatures. It is nothing to be ashamed of. In fact, there is even a very popular children's book called "Everybody Poops."
Believe it or not, it is not easy to go to the bathroom in NYC. Many store restrooms have keypads, requiring you to buy something to get the access code on a receipt. Don't have any money? Tough luck! I have seen people rooting through garbage cans for receipts just to find a receipt and code. Even when you finally gain access, it isn't always clean -- yuck! Thanks to toilet paper-maker Charmin, there is finally a solution. Called "Van-GO," it is an on-demand mobile toilet service that is sort of like Uber -- but for poop and pee.
Mobile employees are willing to place security above privacy
Given the recent increase of violent incidents around the world, in addition to everyday risks and natural disasters, businesses are naturally concerned about protecting their staff.
New research by enterprise safety application company Everbridge shows that mobile workers expect that their companies will be able to provide safety information to them should something happen or should they be in the proximity of a serious event. It also shows staff are willing to sacrifice privacy to achieve this.
India will regulate Bitcoin
Many analysts argue that cryptocurrencies need to be formally recognized by major governments in order to gain credibility. Well, for Bitcoin, the biggest cryptocurrency around, things are moving in the right direction.
The Indian government has decided to regulate the local Bitcoin market, just a few months after it was revealed that the Inter-Disciplinary Committee under the Ministry of Finance was assessing the legality of Bitcoin.
Top websites struggle to guard against sophisticated bot attacks
A report released today shows that, while an average of 16 percent of websites across all industries can thwart simple bot attacks, only five percent are able to properly protect against sophisticated attacks.
The study from bot detection specialist Distil Networks, in conjunction with the Online Trust Alliance (OTA), evaluated the top 1,000 websites in retail, banking, consumer services, government, news media, internet service providers and OTA members.
Dropbox plans to expand its network to improve speed and cut costs
Following its decision to no longer use Amazon Web Services (AWS) last year, Dropbox just announced that it would be expanding its global network in an effort to cut costs and increase the syncing speed for its users.
The company intends to move to the edge of the network with the aim of providing services as close to its users as possible. Dropbox began this endeavor by expanding its network across 14 cities in seven countries on three continents.
Personalization can add up to six percent to ecommerce revenues
Effective personalization of marketing messages can have a significant effect on generating sales according to a new report.
The study by marketing technology specialist Qubit shows that ecommerce businesses could add six percent to their revenues by focusing on the most effective optimization and personalization techniques.
Subpoenas mean owners of TVAddons and ZemTV Kodi add-on could be revealed
In recent weeks numerous Kodi add-ons have disappeared, and the popular site TVAddons also suffered the same fate. It had been presumed that the disappearances were related to a lawsuit taken out by Dish Network, and now the broadcaster has been granted subpoenas to help identify those developing the ZemTV Kodi addon and running the TVAddons website.
The subpoenas relate to a number of online services including Facebook and Twitter, and successfully identifying defendants will be key to the success with any lawsuits relating to copyright infringement.
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