For the vast majority of organizations, customers should be the number one priority. Without their support, revenue streams dry up and businesses quickly fail. For small businesses that have a face-to-face relationship with their clients keeping them happy is straightforward, but in larger organizations ensuring that the relationship between business and customer is as positive as it can be is not always easy.

Imagine being in charge of a global, multi-national company with thousands of customers in disparate locations. Each of these customers has their own specific needs and businesses can’t afford to treat them all as a single homogeneous entity. At the other end of the scale, even growing businesses can struggle to manage their customer relationships because of limited resources. Fortunately, customer relationship management software is on hand to help businesses of all sizes and across a wide range of industries.

Continue reading →

In trying to compete with more premium brands, some action camera makers are pushing the envelope in terms of quality at lower price points. Some of the best devices in the affordable category, while not on the same level as the latest GoPros, come reasonably close to the leading players, but at a fraction of the cost.

One of those devices that is touted to offer great value for money is the Elephone EleCam Explorer Elite. It comes in below the $70 mark, so it certainly delivers on the cost front. And, being powered by a proven and competitive chipset in the entry-level market, it seems to have what it takes to deliver quality videos. But, how does it perform in real life?

Continue reading →

Foxit Software has released Foxit Reader 8.1, a point update of its Windows PDF viewer and creator. Version 8.1 widens the app’s cloud integration with two new services, including an extension of Foxit’s recently launched ConnectedPDF online document management tool.

Elsewhere, the new release also improves annotation workflow and collaboration, plus adds JavaScript form submission support.

Continue reading →

When buying a wireless router for your home, there are many models to choose from. If you have basic needs in a small home, such as surfing the web or watching Netflix at 1080p, you can easily get by with an inexpensive router for, say, under $100. For those with more advanced needs, like streaming 4K and sharing large files between computers on the network, or those in large homes requiring greater range, prices for more capable routers can skyrocket.

While you don't always have to spend obscene amounts of money on technology, a wireless router is definitely not the place to try and save a buck -- you should always aim for quality products from reputable brands. Today, once such trusted company, NETGEAR, announces the Nighthawk X10 AD7200 smart WiFi router. On paper, it looks like one of the greatest home routers ever. Of course, with such cutting-edge technology like 802.11ad, it carries a very hefty price tag.

Continue reading →

The UK economy lost £10.9 billion as a result of online fraud and cyber crime last year, according to new research, which works out at about £210 for every person aged over 16 in the country.

The figures come from a survey by Get Safe Online and the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau and reveal that 68 percent of people in the UK have been targeted in some way by cyber crime.

Continue reading →

I am frequently tasked with providing an expert opinion on whether photographs have been digitally manipulated or not. A simple examination can often reveal some limited information, but to get more accurate results, we need to look beyond a simple visual examination.

Looking at a photograph, there are things to look out for when determining if it’s been digitally manipulated. If the photograph is one of a series taken in burst mode, there may be inconsistencies between the set, such as light/tone variations, or pixel aspect ratio. In saying this, though, this isn’t conclusive, and a more in-depth analysis is needed.

Continue reading →

The Henn-na hotel opened its doors to the public last year, and is yet to pay its receptionist staff a single penny in salary. How have they gotten away with this? Well, as it turns out, velociraptors dressed in bow ties and bellhop hats will work for you for free. More accurately, though, it’s because 90 percent of the hotel staff are robots.

As automation technology continues to proliferate almost all areas of work, concerns have begun to surface over the security of human jobs. The Henn-na hotel is a prime example of this -- rooms cost just £36 per night, making it a low-cost automated alternative that could take away hundreds of jobs if the idea spreads.

Continue reading →

Free cleanup tool Wise Program Uninstaller has been updated to version 1.97 with new support for removing Windows 10 Universal Apps.

It’s easy to use. The interface now lists apps along with your desktop applications, and to remove one you just select it and hit "Safe Uninstall".

Continue reading →

The UK public wouldn't really feel comfortable driving alongside autonomous vehicles, a new study by Goodyear and the London School of Economics says. More than half (55 percent) of UK drivers feel that way, compared to 39 percent in 10 countries in Europe, also part of the survey. More than a quarter (28 percent) would, on the other hand, feel comfortable, similar to the rest of Europe (30 percent).

The main concern is with security, followed by issues of principle. More than four fifths (83 percent) of respondents fear "autonomous cars could malfunction". In other ten countries, 71 percent of respondents had the same fears. Almost two thirds (64 percent) think humans should be in control of their vehicles, and 78 percent believe the car should have a wheel.

Continue reading →

Nest has become a popular choice for those getting their feet wet in the new world of home automation. A thermostat that thinks for you, learning your habits and adjusting the temperature in your home accordingly, sounds great. It's not always perfect, but it improves over time as it gathers more and more information.

Now the company is aiming to push this feature further, welcome news for those who have found the process a bit off with temperatures adjusting by themselves, sometimes at inopportune times.

Continue reading →

NirSoft has released EncryptedRegView, a free tool which finds, decrypts and displays Registry data protected by Windows’ DPAPI encryption scheme.

DPAPI isn’t widely used, even by Microsoft products, but the program managed to find Outlook passwords, Microsoft Edge details and a few other interesting items on our test PC.

Continue reading →

The BBC micro:bit is a tiny programmable computer like the Raspberry Pi, except it’s even smaller -- it measures just 4cm x 5cm.

The device is powered by a 32-bit ARM Cortex Processor and comes with a built-in 5x5 LED matrix that gives you 25 individually programmable red LEDS to use as a display, some push buttons, so you can interact with games and programs, and an Accelerometer, Magnetometer and Bluetooth antenna.

Continue reading →

Increasingly people are suffering from password fatigue, so when signing up to websites it's very tempting to use existing social media accounts.

However, according to a survey from customer identity and access management specialist Janrain, 93 percent of people are concerned about how their account data and activity are being shared and used.

Continue reading →

Storage architectures from the early days of computing typically used block storage and managed data as hierarchy of files. While this was fine when the amount of data involved was relatively small, as storage requirements grew it meant that the management of data became a major task. What was needed was a way of making handling data simpler whilst allowing scalability and ease of access to the information.

Object storage treats data as objects, each being made up of the data itself, metadata that defines it and a unique identifier. The advantage of this is that it makes it possible to store large amounts of unstructured data in a way that’s affordable, scalable and capable of a degree of self-management. In recent years its use has been driven by online sharing and streaming services, allowing a diverse range of digital content to be easily and quickly accessed from anywhere without the need for complex, specialist software.

Continue reading →

News emerged this week that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange had been cut off from the internet. Now Ecuador -- in whose embassy he is holed up in London -- has said that it is responsible.

The move comes after WikiLeaks continued with its threats to release damaging information about Hillary Clinton, which could possibly boost the popularity of Donald Trump. The country is keen not to be seen to be interfering with, or allowing interference with, the US election, saying it "respects the principle of non-intervention in the internal affairs of other states".

Continue reading →