Microsoft finally removes its scummy Windows 10 nagware from Windows 7 and 8.1 systems
15 months ago, in an effort to make it as easy as possible to upgrade to its new operating system, Microsoft introduced a Get Windows 10 app for Windows 7 and 8.1 that allowed users to reserve their upgrade.
While this tool was innocuous enough to start with, it soon turned into something much more akin to malware, becoming harder and harder to kill, and employing all manner of scummy methods in an effort to trick users into installing Windows 10 against their wishes.
Businesses spend nearly $3 billion a year on mobile connectivity
The cost related to mobile connectivity through roaming, pay-on-demand Wi-Fi and free Wi-Fi is costing businesses in Europe and North America at least $2.91 billion every year. This is according to iPass, provider of global mobile connectivity.
The cost is high because, as the report puts it, mobile professionals have an "insatiable need for connectivity". When traveling and working on the go, they spend on average 6GB every month. The report has an interesting conclusion -- free Wi-Fi is not always as free as you’d think. These connections, being available to everyone, can often be slow, unresponsive and crowded. Business users are then stuck on these slow connections, which are hurting their productivity, which then reflects on the bottom line.
Education and government suffer most from ransomware
The highest rates of ransomware are now found in the education and government sectors according to the findings of a new report from BitSight.
The report looks at how ransomware is impacting almost 20,000 companies in six major industries: finance, retail, healthcare, energy/utilities, government and education. The findings show that the rate of new ransomware strains, such as Locky and Cryptowall, has spiked over the last couple of years, and numerous industries are beginning to fall victim to these ransomware attacks.
Microsoft's Surface Phone set to have a fingerprint sensor
Windows Phone sales are currently insignificant -- according to Gartner, during Q2 2016 Microsoft’s mobile operating system claimed a share of just 0.6 percent worldwide -- and with no new Lumias on the horizon, it seems a fair bet to say the platform is doomed.
But not so fast. Microsoft is still banking on Windows 10 Mobile, and it’s long been rumored that the company has plans for a Surface Phone. There’s nothing concrete known about it at the moment -- will it be a single device, or a whole new family? -- but one thing that does seem likely is it will have a fingerprint sensor built in.
Oracle buys cloud security company Palerra
Oracle has announced that it will purchase the cloud access security broker (CASB) Palerra, making this the company's eight acquisition in 2016.
The deal was announced at the beginning of Oracle OpenWorld in San Francisco and the amount which the company is paying for Palerra has yet to be disclosed. Oracle made the decision to purchase the company for its Loric software product as it "protects and assures compliance of applications, workloads and sensitive data stored across cloud services".
Apple releases macOS Sierra as free upgrade
Apple's Mac computers -- MacBook, iMac, Mac Pro, and Mac mini -- are works of art. Not only is the hardware beautiful, but the included operating system is visually impressive too. Today, after a series of Beta releases, the final 10.12 version of the desktop operating system formerly known as OS X -- now known as 'macOS' -- is available for download. Apple dubs the latest version of the desktop operating system 'Sierra', after a mountain range in the company's home state of California.
While Windows 10 is a great operating system for productivity, Microsoft simply cannot match the visual beauty of macOS. Still, Microsoft's latest operating system does offer some unique features, such as the voice assistant Cortana -- something that Apple's desktop did not offer. Today, this changes, as the legendary Siri comes to macOS Sierra. Best of all? As usual, this is a free upgrade for owners of compatible Mac computers!
Google brings more of its search features to Drive
Say what you want about Google, but most people love the company for its plethora of free services, like Search, Gmail, Chrome and much more. Today, the search giant brings better integration to one of its popular services -- Drive.
First up is what Google calls "search the way you talk". This means that you can simply type how you would say something and Drive will bring up the best matching result for you.
Server sales are up, but revenue is down
New research has revealed that despite increased server sales, revenue has continued to decline for the companies responsible for manufacturing and shipping servers worldwide.
The analyst firm IDC brought this information to light in its new Worldwide Quarterly Server Tracker report, which covered server market share and revenue from April to June 2016.
SanDisk announces world's first 1TB SDXC card
My first computer in the 1990's came with a 4GB hard disk drive -- very spacious at the time. When my friends saw the capacity, I was instantly the envy of the neighborhood. Nowadays, 4GB is rather pitiful. Modern memory cards, some smaller than a postage stamp, can dwarf my first computer's capacity. That's technology, folks -- everything gets better, and your current tech loses its luster.
Today, SanDisk (a Western Digital company) announces a product that is a major milestone in the technology market -- the world's first 1TB SDXC card. In other words, that is a monstrous 1,000 gigabytes. To put that in perspective, Apple only just stopped putting 16GB storage capacities in the iPhone. This card, which is only a prototype for now, will be a dream for photographers, allowing them to save more photos than ever before. Of course, if the card fails, that is a lot of data to lose...
Information Security Forum helps businesses guard their 'crown jewels'
Traditional approaches to deploying security controls don't always provide appropriate or sufficient protection for mission-critical information assets.
Aiming to support enterprises in guarding this information, the Information Security Forum (ISF) is launching 'Protecting the Crown Jewels', a series of reports based on the ISF Protection Process, to help organizations formulate a structured, methodical process to deliver comprehensive, balanced protection.
US businesses overspend by $2.6 billion a year on BYOD
Enterprises in the US are overspending by an average of almost $287 per employee each year, due to compliance concerns, confusion in the executive suite over BYOD policy ownership, and lack of visibility into employee mobile usage.
This adds up to a total overspend of $2.6 billion across the country. These are among the findings of a new survey by mobile platform provider Syntonic and Information Solutions Group on BYOD use in the enterprise.
DDoS attacks rarely strike businesses just once
A company is rarely attacked by a DDoS (distributed denial of service) just once. If it happens once, it will probably happen again, which is why constant preventive measures are required, if a company wants to keep their online services operational.
These are the results of a new report by Kaspersky Lab. Entitled Corporate IT Security Risks 2016, it says that one in six companies were victims of DDoS attacks in the past 12 months. The majority of those attacks were aimed against construction, IT and telecommunications companies.
New launch offers data loss prevention for American SMBs
The potential for data loss is there for all businesses, but smaller organizations often don’t have the resources to guard against it as effectively as larger ones.
Safetica, an established European data loss prevention company, is launching in North America and aiming its software at small and medium businesses. It's easy to use, helps businesses of all sizes comply with regulations, and Safetica provides support before and after deployment at no charge.
OnePlus 3 receives OxygenOS 3.2.6 OTA update
OnePlus has done a fantastic job with its latest "flagship killer". The OnePlus 3 is an awesome smartphone not just because of its impressive hardware but also its software, which has received constant attention since launch. OnePlus has released a significant number of updates so far, which have noticeably improved the user experience. The latest official build to see the light of day is OxygenOS 3.2.6.
The "sizable" OxygenOS 3.2.6 OTA update, which is rolling out now, addresses certain issues, improves different features of the Android distribution, and adds new options. It also packs the latest security patches from Google, released in September.
Duo launches single sign on for easy, secure cloud access
Businesses are increasingly recognizing that passwords are no longer an adequate way of protecting systems. But users still need a means of access that is easy to use, secure and doesn't get in the way.
Cloud-based access provider Duo Security is today announcing that it's combined its flagship two-factor authentication and device insight with single sign-on (SSO) capabilities to create a trusted access platform.
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