Latest Technology News

When it comes to Google, many people are concerned about privacy, and rightfully so. Look, the company makes money through advertising and data collection. In other words, if you rely on the search giant's services, such as Gmail and Maps, the company probably knows a lot about you -- including the locations that you visit.

While exposing your location is normally something people try to avoid from a security perspective, today, Google is making it easier to do so. No, the search giant isn't doing it without your permission -- it is actually a very cool new feature. The company is enabling Google Maps users to share their real-time location with others. The reason that this is cool (and not scary) is that the user can choose with whom they share the location, and for how long it is shared. Your phone will even keep you notified that you are sharing your location -- just in case your plans change and you forget to shut it off. In other words, it is totally optional.

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SuperPhoto is a fun Android, iOS and Windows app which can revamp your photos with more than 300 effects in the free build, 1,500+ if you buy the full version.

There are filters to turn your pictures into works of art: Painting, Stencil, Banksy, Pencil Drawing, Stylize, Pastel, Cartoonize, Warhol, more.
The program can frame all or part of your image on a cube, a bubble, in a banknote, on a t-shirt, in a newspaper ad, in a TV, and more.

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On average downtime costs an enterprise $686,000 per hour, leading to lost revenue across the economy of more than $26 billion.

Hosting and disaster recovery specialist Sungard Availability Services has put together an infographic looking at the threat of downtime and how the best companies are better placed to deal with it.

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CCSIO Benchmark is an intelligent drive speed checker from Swiss-based storage expert Pipemetrics. The tiny portable program (210KB download) uses multiple combinations of options to automatically find the fastest possible read and write speeds for any storage device.

This means you’re not asked to make any of the usual testing options. You don’t have to try and decide which buffer size or count is best, which IO mode to use, because CCSIO always runs through every possible combination of settings.

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Relying on a Linux distribution as your full time operating system can be great -- until it isn't. While there are many quality packages and applications that are compatible with the open source kernel, every once in awhile you will run into something that simply isn't available. When this happens, it can be very frustrating.

For a while, Netflix was not available for traditional Linux-based operating systems, meaning users were unable to enjoy the popular streaming service without booting into Windows. This was due to the company's reliance on Microsoft Silverlight. Since then, Netflix adopted HTML5, and it made Google Chrome and Chromium for Linux capable of playing the videos. Unfortunately, Firefox -- the open source browser choice for many Linux users -- was not compatible. Today this changes, however, as Mozilla's offering is now compatible with Netflix!

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When adverts first started arriving in Windows 10, it wasn’t really a big deal. The operating system was a free upgrade after all, and these weren’t adverts, Microsoft insisted, as no money had changed hands.

Fast forward to 2017 and Windows 10 is now a paid product that’s filled with ads that Microsoft still insists aren’t ads -- they’re "suggestions", "prompted apps" and "tips". You can turn them all off, if you know where to look, but Microsoft hasn’t made it easy. Thankfully there’s a really quick way to disable most of the ads in a couple of mouse clicks.

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We might not know exactly what Android O is going to be called, or exactly when it will be released, but the arrival of the developer preview means that we now have a hint of what to expect from the next version of Google's mobile operating system.

For now, Android O can only be installed on Nexus and Pixel devices, but further down the line this will change. So what is there to look forward to? Quite a lot as it turns out: battery and data saving, improved notifications, new lockscreen shortcuts, customizable navigation bar, and more!

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Microsoft could be on the verge of making greater headway in China after completing a modified version of Windows 10 for the Chinese government.  The operating system has been banned for governmental use for some time despite the fact it is already available to consumers in the country.

A joint venture with state-owned China Electronics Technology Group, Microsoft's modifications are now awaiting government approval. While details of the included changes are not being released, China's concerns about other nations implementing surveillance through the software will almost certainly have been a key factor.

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According to a new report, 92 percent of UK companies have limited visibility into the impact DNS performance is having on their internet users and visitors to their online resources.

The study by cyber security company Neustar and research firm Quocirca shows that although DNS is a fundamental utility supporting the internet, and relied on by all businesses, visibility is hampered by complexity with 45 percent of organizations having as many as eight different ways of provisioning their DNS infrastructure.

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ARM, the Cambridge-based microprocessor company has just announced a new processor architecture that it promises will give a significant boost to artificial intelligence and machine learning technology.

The new technology, announced this Tuesday, is called DynamIQ and ARM describes it as "probably the biggest micro-architectural shift since ARM announced 64-bit ARMv8-A in 2011." This "monumental shift in multicore microarchitecture" is not the processor itself -- new Cortex-A processors will be built by ARM’s partners, both of which will be announced later this year.

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If you are like me, running just one operating system isn't enough -- maybe you dual boot or have multiple computers. I, for example, have a Windows 10 desktop, MacBook Pro laptop, and a Linux box. The problem with this setup, you see, is that my desk gets very crowded and messy. Believe it or not, I have just one monitor for all of my computers (I switch between HDMI and DisplayPort), but multiple keyboards, touch pads and mice -- it can be distracting.

Today, Logitech launches a brilliant product that should solve my dilemma. The MK850 Performance Wireless Keyboard and Mouse Combo works with Windows, Mac, Android, Chrome OS and iOS. It should work with desktop Linux distributions too, such as Ubuntu and Fedora. With the click of a button, both the keyboard and mouse can switch between up to three computers or operating systems. This includes mobile devices, such as tablets and smartphones (the mouse will not work with iOS, however). Best of all, both of the input devices are ergonomic and look elegant.

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The Xbox One S is a fabulous value. If you don't already own one, now is the time to make a purchase -- the Microsoft Store is offering a killer deal. Not only do you get the console, but two free games as well.

Today, Microsoft announces a new special edition of the Xbox One Wireless Controller. As part of its new "Tech Series," the Recon Tech design looks amazing, and should provide a comfortable gaming experience. It is even compatible with the upcoming "Copilot" feature, which lets two controllers control the same thing at once.

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Building a complete modern DevOps toolchain requires not only the whole microservices development and a complete deployment lifecycle, but also the latest and greatest practices and tools.

The DevOps 2.0 Toolkit ebook from Packt Publishing will tell you everything you need to know to get started. The title usually retails for $29 but for a limited time you can get it entirely free.

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Android famously uses a weird naming convention for its operating system releases. Google moves alphabetically, matching the letter to a dessert food item, such as candy, cookies, and such. The next version will be the letter "O," but we do not yet know which food item name the search giant will choose. Could it go with Oreo Cookie? There is precedent of Google going with a branded food -- Kit Kat.

Today, Google releases Android O Developer Preview. Of course, the pre-release images are not available for third-party mobile devices -- it is a Nexus and Pixel-only affair. There are many new features in Android O, which you can read about here. It's a lot to absorb, but the biggest change seems to be limiting apps in the background, with a focus on improving battery life overall. This is much welcomed, as running out of juice is a major pain point for many mobile users.

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Everywhere you look, businesses of all shapes and sizes are looking to transform themselves into digital businesses. This digital transformation tidal wave is often predicated on building a more robust, data-driven organization.

Executives want to make more informed, more strategic decisions, and see analytics technologies, from big data to predictive analytics to good old fashioned business intelligence, as the silver bullet to do so. It’s no secret that businesses are buying in big. Worldwide revenues for big data and business analytics are expected to grow 50 percent, up from $122 billion in 2015 to $187 billion in 2019, according to research from IDC.

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