Buying a new PC from Dell shouldn't be this hard [Update]
Given how the PC market is in decline, and some consumers may never buy a new system again, you would think PC manufacturers would be keen to court new buyers. But not Dell.
Yesterday, I purchased an Inspiron i7 7000 Series 2-in-1 from Dell’s website. I entered my details and at the end of the process was presented with an internet receipt number, and the promise that an order acknowledgement would be emailed to me shortly. From there it was downhill all the way.
Twitter experiments with replacing Moments with a new Explore feature
The Moments feature could be set to disappear from Twitter's mobile apps. Having only recently announced the roll out of a curation option to everyone, Twitter is now experimenting with replacing it with a more inviting Explore feature.
Speaking to Mashable, Twitter confirmed that a "content discovery"-focused Explorer tab could replace Moments in the future. For now, though, there is an experimental change visible to some iOS and Android users that sees the Moments and Explore tabs show up side by side.
Microsoft will roll out Dynamics 365 in November
Microsoft's new Azure-hosted, combined CRM and ERP service, Dynamics 365 will begin its rollout on November 1 and the company will show off some of the features of its new service in a live-streamed event this week.
In July, the company announced its plans for Dynamics 365 and began to inform its reseller partners regarding what the service would offer. At that time it was revealed that Dynamics 365 would be a combination and redesign of the capabilities of Dynamics CRM, Dynamics AX and Project Madeira which is now known to be a new small-business software as a service based on the Microsoft Dynamics NAV platform.
Samsung offers Galaxy Note7 owners $100 to stick with the company as it expands product recall
The cost of Samsung's explosive and disastrous Galaxy Note7 launch just keeps on mounting up. Having previously offered Galaxy Note7 owners $25 for anyone seeking a refund on their handset or switching to another brand, the company is now dangling the promise of a $100 sweetener to anyone willing to try their luck with another Samsung phone.
The expansion of the refund and exchange program starts today, and is accompanied by near-grovelling from Samsung president and COO Tim Baxter. Samsung is currently counting the financial cost of the recall -- but would the promise of a nice, crisp Benjamin be enough to entice you back?
Updated Google Photos uses AI to animate and auto-rotate your pictures... and more
Google Photos has received a fairly significant update that sees the arrival of four key new features. Three of them are focused on sharing and viewing your photos, but the fourth is an AI-powered auto-rotate function that ensures you'll no longer have to look at photos on their sides.
As Pixel and Pixel XL owners (as well as other Android users who don't mind a drop in quality) have unlimited Google Photo storage at their disposal, Google is introducing a Facebook-style restrospective feature. Google says it will "make it easier to look back at your fondest memories", but there is more to discover.
A Sharper Scaling resizes images with less blurring
A Sharper Scaling is an open-source tool which aims to upscale images to deliver crisper, cleaner results than current techniques, including "Preserve Details".
Does it work? The developer’s website has a lot of examples to show that it does (beware, this may not be visible at the default display size -- follow the instructions and zoom in to get the real high-resolution view).
Samsung cuts Q3 profit estimate by $2.3 billion due to Galaxy Note7 recall
After the continued difficulties and now recall of its Galaxy Note7 smartphone, Samsung has cut its third quarter profits forecast by $2.3 billion after issuing much higher figures only last week.
The company made the announcement that it would be cutting its profits forecast during a surprise regulatory filing after South Korea's financial markets had closed for the day. This week has been particularly bad for Samsung after it was forced to completely scrap the Galaxy Note7 as the replacement batteries it shipped to consumers were also prone to overheating and exploding.
Rumors of the OnePlus 3's death have been greatly exaggerated
That the Samsung Galaxy Note7 was killed off hardly came as a surprise, but rumors also started to circulate this week that the OnePlus 3 was to be discontinued. While OnePlus has not suffered from any problems, delays in getting orders out to customers led to speculation that there was a new phone in the pipeline and that production on the OnePlus 3 had come to an end.
Nonsense! Says OnePlus. The company reassures us that it is "still producing and selling the OnePlus 3". There is, however, a slight problem with the supply chain.
Google's latest transparency report reveals the futility of transparency reports -- and increased data requests
As has become the norm for big tech companies these days, Google has just published its latest transparency report. The report reveals -- in very, very broad strokes -- the number of requests for user data the company has received from the US government.
In a groundbreaking revelation (and -- please -- note the sarcasm) the lifting of a gag restriction by the FBI means Google is now able to report about the number of National Security Letters it received in Q2 2015. Sort of. "We have updated the range of NSLs received in that period [...] from 0-499 to 1-499." Or, to paraphrase: "there definitely weren't none".
Cloud apps give businesses a 'huge' competitive advantage
Businesses in Europe that have sent at least one of their core business areas to the cloud now have a "huge" competitive advantage over their peers, according to a new report by Frost & Sullivan. The company says businesses that have adopted a cloud-based approach for either accounting, customer relationship management (CRM) or enterprise resource planning (ERP) are reaping the benefits of their (r)evolutionary approach. The report is based on a poll of 600 senior IT decision makers from a cross section of industries throughout Europe.
"For businesses in Europe, cost savings are not the main driver for moving to cloud business applications. Our research shows that they increasingly see cloud as a solution to the challenges of industry transformation, competition and as a means to facilitate global expansion", says Alexander Michael, director of Consulting at Frost & Sullivan.
Few businesses are prepared for GDPR
The GDPR is drawing ever closer, but organizations which will be directly affected by it still don't know how to approach the new regulation, a new study by Dell shows. Ever since it was unveiled that the General Data Protection Regulation will come into effect in May 2018, surveys have been done to see if companies are preparing themselves for it, and if they will be ready to comply with it in time.
Never have these reports shown positive or encouraging results, and the new one by Dell is no different. Still, organizations aren't even close to being prepared. More than 80 percent say they know close to nothing about GDPR. Less than a third are ready for GDPR today. Almost 70 percent of IT and business professionals say they are not, and that they don't know if their companies are ready.
PC shipments decline -- some consumers may never upgrade again
The PC market can't catch a break, as shipments continue to drop. If you ask Gartner, we are looking at a 5.7 percent decline year-over-year for Q3 2016. IDC, meanwhile, says that the decrease is of just 3.9 percent. But no matter which figure is closer to the truth, it is clear that it will be extremely hard -- if not impossible -- for PC vendors to turn things around.
Gartner says that Q3 2016 is the eighth consecutive quarter when PC shipments decline, calling this "the longest duration of decline in the history of the PC industry". And it is easy to understand why: buying a new PC is not a priority for most consumers in mature markets, while for many folks in emerging markets the PC is not even on their radar.
Huawei partners with UC Berkeley to develop AI
Huawei had decided to enter into a partnership with the University of California, Berkeley, in order to develop and apply artificial intelligence (AI) to our daily lives.
Noah's Ark Laboratory, the company's research unit that specializes in the development of machine learning, AI and data mining, is responsible for setting up the partnership between it and the university.
Most businesses haven't inspected cloud services for malware
Echoing the findings we reported earlier that companies leave cloud protection to third-parties, a new study from cloud security company Netskope reveals most companies don't scan their cloud services for malware either.
The study conducted with the Ponemon Institute shows 48 percent of companies surveyed don't inspect the cloud for malware and 12 percent are unsure if they do or not. Of those that do inspect 57 percent of respondents say they found malware.
Snowden-endorsed Signal gains Facebook-style disappearing messages
Facebook's recently rolled-out Secret Conversations heralded the arrival of not only end-to-end encryption for users, but also disappearing messages. Not to be outdone, Edward Snowden's favorite messaging service, Signal, has followed suit.
The company behind the app, Open Whisper Systems, points out that the feature is not really designed to further improve security and privacy; rather it is a way "to keep your message history tidy".
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