Latest Technology News

Consumer online storage has an Achilles Heel (and an opportunity)

The last several years have revealed enormous opportunity in consumer online storage -- numerous companies, led by Dropbox, have shown tremendous growth and opportunity in the consumer market. Unfortunately, the most recent few years have seen many, if not all, of those companies pivot their focus from consumer to enterprise.

The main players that remain focused on consumer online storage are the big boys: Google, Microsoft, Amazon and Apple. These companies do this via incredible low pricing with little apparent concern for profit (which is easy when you make lots of money via other products and services). Considering massive pent-up demand in the consumer world, why has this happened?

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7 information security trends currently dominating the market

endpoint security

Protecting your information, especially if it’s information you’ve collected about your customers that includes things like their address or their credit card number, is absolutely vital to your business. Even if the information you lose isn’t customer-related, it can still lead to the loss of thousands, even millions, of dollars if it’s related to a trademark or other intellectual property.

If you’re concerned about your company’s information security, you may be interested in learning about these seven different information security trends that are currently dominating the market.

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Best Windows apps this week

One-hundred and ninety in a series. Welcome to this week's overview of the best apps, games and extensions released for Windows 8.x and Windows 10 in the past seven days.

Lots of updates this week for established apps such as Windows Camera and Uber, but only a few new releases worth mentioning.

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Fighting the threat of social hacking [Q&A]

Often the weakest link in an enterprise’s cyber security is the person behind the endpoint. Although technology solutions can offer a high degree of protection, there’s no substitute for making users aware of the potential threats.

Social engineering attacks are increasingly used to try and catch out employees. Education on cyber security is therefore something that's being taken seriously by businesses of all sizes. We spoke to Scott Youngs, CIO of infrastructure solutions and managed services company Key Information Systems to find out more about the threat and how education can help beat it.

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Most EMEA businesses are happy with Windows 10

Windows 10 is now used in 39 percent of businesses in the EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) region, according to a new report by Spiceworks.

Titled "Windows 10 Adoption: Sprinting out of the Gate", it reveals that the highest adoption rate is among companies with more than 250 employees -- 51 percent. Software, manufacturing and energy industries are where Windows 10 is most used.

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Spotify sells your personal and playlist data to advertisers making you the product

Much like Google, streaming music service Spotify is increasingly turning its attention to advertising. Announcing what it refers to as "programmatic buying", the company reveals that it is launching a targeted advertising program.

Advertisers -- or "buyers" in Spotify's nomenclature -- will be granted access to not only demographic data about users, but also access to information about playlists.

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Facebook's solar-powered 'Aquila' internet airplane completes first flight

When I find myself without internet access for even just a short period of time -- say, less than an hour -- I feel like I am having withdrawal symptoms. I get anxious, irritable, and frustrated. First world problems, am I right?

Sadly, according to Facebook, there are 4 billion people on the Earth with no access at all -- makes a short outage seem rather insignificant. Mark Zuckerberg and company are looking to change this with an unlikely tool -- solar-powered airplanes that beam the internet to the ground. Today, Facebook announces that its experimental aircraft successfully completed its first flight last month in Arizona.

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KAPOW! Bubble Zoom in Google Play Books means better support for comics

If you use your Android smartphone or tablet to read comics, your reading experience is about to get a whole lot more enjoyable. An update to Google Play Books sees the introduction of Bubble Zoom, a feature announced at San Diego Comic-Con 2016.

It uses image recognition technology to identify speech bubbles and automatically enlarge the text of each, one at time as you tap. To celebrate, Google is offering 50 percent off certain DC Comics and Marvel comics.

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Brexit will not make GDPR mandatory in UK

Brexit flags

Another day, another Brexit story. It’s going to be years before we stop hearing the various implications and results of the recently held UK referendum on leaving the European Union.

This time, it’s about private data and its sharing to third-parties, by private companies, without users’ consent.

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Twitter Food Council celebrates cooking and eating

As an American, I have an obsession with food -- it is a big part of our culture. As my last name implies, I also have some Italian heritage, meaning the act of eating is not only a means of staying alive, but a way to celebrate pretty much everything. Heck, I even love watching cooking shows and competitions -- Chopped is my favorite.

As a tech-guy who loves social media, I also share pictures of my meals with friends and family on Facebook and Twitter. Speaking of the latter, there is an all-new 'Twitter Food Council' and associated hashtag (#FoodFlock). This new initiative is a way for lovers of food -- chefs, bakers, eaters, etc. -- to share their love of culinary arts on the social network.

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BBC iPlayer Radio app launches in the US for iOS and Android

The BBC pumps out a great deal of fabulous content, but there's one problem -- an awful lot of it can only be accessed in the UK. With the launch of the iPlayer Radio app for iOS and Android, this changes.

As well as giving listeners the chance to tune in to live radio broadcasts, the app also provides access to podcasts, and boasts a catch-up feature for shows you may have missed. The iPlayer Radio app is available free of charge, and has already received rave reviews in the Google and Apple stores.

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Republican National Convention breaks records for data usage

It's an eventful week with the Republican National Convention (RNC) making all sorts of news. There have been a couple of bumps in the road during the show, but mostly it has gone off fairly smoothly. It certainly has not lacked for spectacle.

However behind the scenes much more is happening. Everyone attending the event is online and that leads to some major headaches for the organizers who are making an effort to ensure that the experience is as seamless as possible.

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Stack Overflow adds example-based Documentation to help developers improve

Having an example to go by can make a huge difference when you are dealing with something new, no matter how far you have progressed as a developer. Seeing how someone else has tackled the problem that you are dealing with, or one close to it, may help you to avoid running into the same issues as them or repeating their mistakes, get a better picture and, ultimately, find the path forward sooner than you would on your own.

Stack Overflow seems to agree, as today the famous website that provides answers to the toughest questions in coding launches Documentation. Touted as the biggest improvement to Stack Overflow since its launch, it gives users access to "community-curated, example-focused developer documentation" in a similar fashion to its Q&A platform.

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Too strict mobile security can frustrate employees

Business mobile devices

Executives are dancing on a thin line between state-of-the-art security for their company, and just overdoing it, frustrating their employees. This is according to a new report by BlackBerry Limited, which says that, as executives fail to implement the highest levels of security possible, they’re opening up their business to various vulnerabilities, mostly in the mobile segment.

There’s an interesting survey following it -- 82 percent of executives said mobile security precautions cause "at least some frustration among employees" and is even being lined with hindered productivity. Overall, 44 percent believe too much security prevents people from doing their job.

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Mozilla will block non-essential Flash in Firefox from next month

Flash is seen, quite rightly, as the scourge of the internet, and for some time there has been a vocal movement to eradicate all traces of it. Following the lead of Google Chrome and upcoming versions of Safari, Mozilla is taking the step of blocking Flash content from Firefox that is "not essential to the user experience".

It's part of the company's drive to reduce reliance on Flash, whilst recognizing that there is still a need to provide a degree of support for "legacy Flash content". Mozilla has taken the decision to ditch Flash in a bid to improve browser performance, boost security and improve battery life on mobile devices.

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