Oracle donates $1.4 billion for IT training in Europe
In an effort to foster increased digital literacy in Europe, Oracle has announced that it will donate $1.4 billion in both direct and "in-kind" support to ensure the continuation of computer sciences and skills in the region. These funds are part of a larger $3.3 billion worldwide initiative by the company to guarantee that in the future there will be enough skilled digital workers.
Oracle plans to use its donation to train 1,000 European people to use CS, Java and Database to a high-enough degree that they will be able to teach others to do the same. Over a three year period, the company will open 1,000 educational institutions called Oracle Academies in the region to accomplish this task.
Google's Trusted Contacts app lets you share your location with friends and family
Google is making it easy to share your location with your friends and family, introducing a new Android app, called Trusted Contacts, that lets select contacts know exactly where you are at any given time.
Google has designed Trusted Contacts so that if you do not manually accept a request within five minutes it will automatically share your location with that contact. This should come in handy when you are unable to pick up your smartphone or cannot hear it ring.
Google is wrong, wrong, wrong to remove 'are Jews evil' from search autocomplete suggestions
Over the last few days there has been much wailing and gnashing of teeth over the discovery that if you type "are Jews" into Google, one of the suggested searches is "are Jews evil". The same is true for the search "are women" and "are Muslims" ("bad" being the suggestion in the third instance). Or at least it was the case.
Following cries of anti-Semitism, the search giant folded like a moist tissue and remove the "offensive" suggestion. Clearly Google is able to do -- by and large -- whatever the hell it wants... but that doesn’t make it right. And the removal of the "are Jews evil" suggestion is not only wrong, but also worrying and dangerous. If you disagree you can let off steam in the comments and cast a vote in the poll, but hear me out first.
TED Notepad gets first update in 5 years
Classic freeware Notepad replacement TED Notepad has just been updated to version 6.1.1, its first release since 2011. The new build brings you drag and drop editing with either mouse button. Select text, drag and drop with the left and it’s moved; drag and drop with the right and you’ve the option to copy or move it.
An extended Backup feature enables copying the previous version of the current document whenever it’s saved. The program can save multiple backups and rotate between them.
Consumers ignore security risks and turn to mobile for their holiday shopping
Mobile is expected to be the most popular online shopping route this holiday season with 71 percent planning to use it.
Next-generation mobile security company Trustlook has carried out a survey of Android users to dig deeper into the expected mobile shopping behaviors for the 2016 holiday season.
Amazon launches DDoS protection service AWS Shield
Following the massive attack that took down the servers of the DNS service provider Dyn and a number of high profile websites including Netflix, Twitter, Spotify and Reddit last month, Amazon Web Services (AWS) has announced a new technology to protect sites against distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks.
The new tool, which is called AWS Shield, was announced at the company's re:Invent developer event in Las Vegas. Amazon's own site was affected by the attack on Dyn and the company has now decided to launch its own DDoS protection service to ensure that its site and those that use AWS are able to withstand future attacks.
DevDocs is an offline developer’s documentation browser for Chrome
You're working in your browser, testing some new web development project, but there's a problem. And you've no idea why. So you open some documentation in a separate browser tab, more in your development environment, maybe a separate PDF or two until you find whatever you need.
Alternatively, you could just install DevDocs, a free Chrome app which gives you speedy access to documentation for 190 technologies from one interface.
Windows apps on Android? Wine will do it... but not just yet
Wine is well known to Linux and Mac users for opening up the possibility of running Windows software on their preferred operating system. The self-referentially-named software (Wine Is Not an Emulator) is due for a new release in the next few weeks, but the hoped-for Windows-on-Android support is not yet there.
That said, it is in the pipeline. Wine developers are working on integrating the existing CrossOver Android software into the open source Windows API. This will allow for Windows software to run in Android, but it won't make it into the up-coming Wine 2.0, and there are limitations.
Apple letter all but confirms plans for self-driving cars and commitment to privacy
We've known (or at least believed) for some time that Apple has been working on some form of automated vehicle, but the company has remained tight-lipped about what it is up to. Now, however, a letter to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) gives the strongest official hint that Apple is working on something.
The letter -- written by Apple's Director of Product Integrity, Steve Kenner, back in November -- has just come to light, in it Apple praises NHTSA's policies on automated vehicles, and stresses the importance of machine learning, data sharing, and user privacy in ensuring the development and safety of such technologies.
SpeedCrunch is a simple but powerful scientific calculator
SpeedCrunch is a keyboard-based scientific calculator which is easy to use, yet still has the power that advanced users need.
The program is both open-source and portable, which means no real setup hassles. Just unzip the download and run speedcrunch.exe to begin.
Apple explains the battery problem leading to iPhone 6s shutdowns
It is a couple of weeks since Apple announced a battery replacement program for iPhone 6s handsets suffering with random shutdown issue. At the time, the company gave nothing away about what the root cause of the problem was, but now it has opened up.
In a posting on its Chinese website, Apple confirms that the shutdown problems were indeed related to a battery problem. Specifically, the company explains that it was "a battery component that was exposed to controlled ambient air longer than it should have been".
Despite losing the general election, the Pirate Party could still form Iceland's government
Back in October there was a mixture of great excitement and huge worry that the controversial Pirate Party could end up winning the general election in Iceland. That didn't happen, but with no clear winner there was an attempt to create a five-way coalition that ultimately failed after weeks of talks, paving the way for the radical party made up of poets, hackers and online freedom activists.
The Pirate Party -- which says it would offer exile to Edward Snowden and also embrace Bitcoin -- could still end up in power after being invited to form part of the government by Iceland's president. But even if the controversial, anti-establishment party does end up wielding power, it's unlikely that its more radical policies would come to fruition.
Many CEOs believe technology will make people 'largely irrelevant'
Although artificial intelligence (AI), robotics and other emerging technologies may reshape the world as we know it, a new global study has revealed that the majority of CEOs now value technology over people when it comes to the future of their businesses.
The study was conducted by the Los Angeles-based management consultant firm Korn Ferry that interviewed 800 business leaders across a variety of multi-million and multi-billion dollar global organizations. The firm says that 44 percent of the CEOs surveyed agreed that robotics, automation and AI would reshape the future of many work places by making people "largely irrelevant".
Microsoft shares its '12 Days of Deals' for 2016 Holiday Shopping -- here's which days are best
Well folks, December is here, and before you know it, Christmas and other holidays will be upon us. You know what that means -- shopping. For some ultra-responsible people, their holiday shopping is already done. For many other people, however, there are still many gifts to buy.
Technology-related gifts are always popular, and this year Microsoft is rolling out some great deals. In fact, unlike Black Friday which only lasts one day, the Windows-maker is offering a mind-boggling "12 Days of Deals". Many of the deals are available both online or at Microsoft's retail stores, but the ones labeled "In-Store Doorbuster Deal" are only available in the latter. While you can see all of the deals below, lets dive in and see which are the best.
Facebook offers a $20 million sweetener to improve Silicon Valley communities
Mark Zuckerberg is well known for his philanthropic ventures -- he hardly keeps them quiet, after all. Now Facebook as a whole is getting in on the action, offering up a $20 million contribution to help improve the communities around Silicon Valley and the Bay Area.
It could be argued that the financial offering is not entirely selfless, but this will probably be of little concern to those who stand to benefit from a number of projects that will focus on building affordable housing, STEM training in the area, and legal support for those in need.
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