Spilled coffee, soda or water on your laptop? Here's what you need to do
As much as I tried not to spill anything on my beloved MacBook Air, last month I knocked over a cup of coffee, getting almost all of it over the keyboard. I feared this would happen, but I did not think it would happen to me. I'm super careful with any coffee, soda or water that I bring to my desk. But, the thing I dreaded the most happened.
There was coffee all over the keyboard, touchpad and the left side of my Mac. It is not a pretty sight, unless you are dying to get a new laptop -- which, really, wasn't the case. Knowing that liquid damage can be the end of it, I quickly powered it off, turned it upside down, and the coffee started to drain from it. With a bit of luck, I knew that I could fix it. And I did. Here is how I did it and what I learned from it.
HP unveils security solutions for business laptops
HP has just announced a new security solution, called the Sure Start Gen3, and a new laptop series, the EliteBook 800 G4 series. These new notebooks will be shipped with the security solution, which is why HP is calling them the "world's most secure and manageable PC".
The solution handles the computer's BIOS, and makes sure no tampering can occur on that microlevel, whatsoever. "HP Sure Start Gen3 will help prevent such attacks by automatically detecting tampering attempts with the BIOS (both in pre-boot and run-time), notifying the user of a problem and restoring the BIOS to its original pristine condition from a copy stored on a dedicated computer chip. In that sense, it’s self-healing", Hp promises. HP also says this solution works great with Windows 10, as it also protects the data governing BIOS configuration and policy.
Open source champion Google becomes Cloud Foundry Foundation gold member
Say what you want about Google, but the company is clearly a major proponent of open source ideology. Some people criticize the search giant for making billions on the back of open source (such as with Android), but Google is a code contributor too. You know what? If a company can have success using open source code, that is a good thing -- as long as it is properly licensed, of course.
Today, Google announces that it has joined the Cloud Foundry Foundation as a gold member. This is yet another example of the search giant's open source focus. Google joins some other respected companies at this membership level, such as Verizon, GE Digital, and Huawei to name a few. For whatever reason, the search giant stopped short of committing as the highest-level platinum member, however.
Apple loses wireless patent violation and employee rest break lawsuits
A jury in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California has ruled against Apple in a lawsuit about wireless patent infringement. Core Wireless was awarded $7.3 million in damages after Apple was found to have violated two patents owned by the company.
Apple was found to have infringed upon Core Wireless' patents in iPhones and iPads, taking advantage of technology that "provide innovations that improve battery life and signal quality in mobile phones". The company is expected to appeal against the ruling, but this is not the only case it has lost.
Linux Mint 18.1 'Serena' is here for Christmas! Will you install this open source holiday gift?
Linux Mint is an operating system that I simultaneously love and hate. I love it because it makes Linux easy to use for home users. I sometimes hate Linux Mint because it is essentially just a tweaked version of Ubuntu -- I'd rather see users choose Canonical's OS as intended. True, Mint's tweaks are actually very good, but I am not sure it warrants an entirely different operating system -- even if the final product is rewarding.
But OK, if you love Linux Mint and use it regularly, I have very good news -- version 18.1 'Serena' is finally here. Yes, Santa Claus has delivered an early Christmas gift! There are two desktop environments from which to choose -- Cinnamon and Mate. Thankfully there is no KDE version to further confuse things, but I digress. Will you download Linux Mint 18.1?
App update prevents users going viral on Instagram by pretending to be in Singapore
Instagrammers around the world recently discovered a quick and easy way to gain greater attention and increase the likelihood of going viral -- tagging their images as if they were in Singapore.
A flaw in Instagram's algorithms meant that images geotagged on the Malaysian island were more likely to be picked to be featured on the Explore page. Greater publicity equals greater views equals viral status equals win. Or at least it did.
Having mainframe problems? You're not alone
Enterprises that rely on mainframe are having a hard time delivering applications as fast as they need to, a new report by Forrester and Compuware has shown. Nine in ten (90 percent) of enterprises are having these issues, the report says, adding that it is a serious issue, as the majority of new business initiatives include the mainframe.
Almost half (48 percent) have moved some apps off the mainframe, which resulted in security issues, higher costs, poor performance and project delays. More than four in ten (41 percent) are trying to work around the mainframe, resulting in greater complexity, more expenses, double tooling and more security risks.
When Things attack and other security predictions for 2017
The past year has been a pretty turbulent one for IT security with high profile data breaches, Apple and the FBI wrangling over encryption, persistent threats from ransomware and more.
So as industry experts begin to roll out their predictions for 2017, what can we look forward to, or what do we need to beware of, in the security field?
The Intercept and the Guardian are most secure news sites, but there are lots of duds out there
The Freedom of the Press Foundation has published the results of research into the security of top news websites. Topping the list is the Intercept which managed to earn itself an A+ rating, while the Guardian was a close second with A-.
Both sites scored highly for their support for HTTPS, and the fact that they defaulted to a secure connection to keep visitors safe. Both also feature HSTS, but the Intercept was awarded extra points for using HSTS pre-loading. While the top of the chart makes for thought-provoking reading, it's also interesting to look further down the rankings where there are some surprisingly big names.
AOMEI Backupper Standard 4 adds real-time file sync, supports backup to cloud
AOMEI has released AOMEI Backupper Standard 4.0, the second major update of its freeware Windows backup, imaging and cloning tool in 2016.
Version 4.0 adds an additional arrow to the tool’s bow -- the ability to sync file changes in real-time. There’s also added support for a number of popular cloud storage devices as well as a number of more minor improvements.
Best Windows 10 apps this week
Two-hundred-and-nine in a series. Welcome to this week's overview of the best apps, games and extensions released for Windows 10 on Windows Store in the past seven days.
As always, if I missed an app or game that has been released this week that you believe is particularly good, let me know in the comments below or notify me via email instead.
Still got a Yahoo Mail account? You need to start telling lies
As we reported earlier this week Yahoo has suffered yet another major security breach. This will have sent many users scurrying to change their passwords, but what else can you do to protect your account?
Adam Levin, chairman and founder of identity protection specialist IDT911 suggests that users need to start telling lies. He doesn't mean lying about the fact that you have a Yahoo account -- though given the severity of breaches it has suffered that might save you some embarrassment. No, he means telling lies in the answers to your security questions.
0-day alert: Your favorite Linux distro may not be as secure as you think
Popular Linux distros such as Ubuntu and Fedora -- including the newly-released Fedora 25 -- are vulnerable to zero-day exploits, shattering the myth that the open source software is ultra-secure. Vulnerabilities can be exploited that allows an attacker to run any code he wants on a victim's computer -- with potentially devastating consequences.
Security researcher Chris Evans has published details of exploits that can be used to compromise systems running Linux. All it takes is a malicious audio file to hijack a computer, or even just having Google Chrome installed. One of the exploits takes advantage of a flaw in the Game Music Emu library, an audio library used by the gstreamer framework to emulate music from games consoles such as the SNES.
UK IT pros believe Brexit will not impact their career
It seems that Brexit fears, at least when IT is concerned, have been largely unsubstantiated. A new report by Dice says IT experts have reasons to feel optimism as they head into 2017, based on a poll of 1,000 tech professionals.
Just under a quarter (22 percent) feel optimistic about the future of the tech job market. More than half (53 percent) don't think Brexit would have a negative impact on their career plans. Almost one in ten (nine percent) are now "much more optimistic". One in five (19 percent) believe Brexit will have a positive impact on the country’s tech sector before 2017 ends.
Evernote issues yet another privacy policy statement: makes note snooping opt-in only
With the world so focused on privacy, Evernote should really not have been surprised when there was something of a backlash at an update to its privacy policy that said company employees would be able to access users' unencrypted notes.
Forced to clarify the situation, CEO Chris O'Neill issued an apology for any "confusion" and "angst" the announcement caused, but this was seemingly not enough. Faced with mounting pressure and criticism, the company admits it "messed up" and has now announced that employees will only be able to access notes if users opt-in to allow this. Furthermore, Evernote "will not implement the previously announced Privacy Policy changes that were scheduled to go into effect January 23, 2017".
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