Google Play goes gaga for triangles with new icons
While some folks may think icons are nothing more than fluff, they actually have huge significance. Your brain uses them for recall purposes, enabling you to quickly access your favorite apps. This is why I am not a fan of Microsoft's Live Tiles -- they are counter-intuitive, but I digress.
Today, Google announces new icons for all of its Play apps. Curiously, they are all triangular -- somebody in Mountain View, CA suddenly has a huge love for the three-sided shape.
MSI WT72 VR-focused and NVIDIA-powered laptop is Oculus Rift and HTC Vive compatible
Virtual reality is definitely a legit thing now. For a while, it felt a bit like a gimmick the tech industry was trying to jam down consumers' throats. While not a new concept, it is finally affordable and offers what should be a satisfying experience. Sure, it is not yet perfect, but devices like the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive are certainly ushering in a new era.
All of this awesome new VR technology requires a powerful Windows PC. Sorry folks, that Chromebook or MacBook you covet is useless here. Heck, even most computers running Microsoft's ubiquitous desktop OS can't handle it. Today, MSI unveils a Quadro M5500-powered laptop that can handle both the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. The unimaginatively named WT72 mobile workstation is VR-focused and can be configured with top specs. It can even be configured with a Xeon processor! Of course, it is also very expensive.
The threat of ransomware is so great, the US and Canada issue joint security alert
Malware is far from being a new problem, but the inexorable rise of ransomware has taken many by surprise. There have been a number of very high profile instances of ransomware such as PETYA, and the threat is perceived as being so high that the US and Canada have taken the unusual step of issuing a joint security alert.
The likes of TeslaCrypt 4 feature 'unbreakable encryption' and use scare-tactics to encourage victims to part with their money. This is what has prompted the joint alert from the US Department of Homeland Security and the Canadian Cyber Incident Response Centre which warns about "destructive ransomware variants such as Locky and Samas". Interestingly, the advisory actively discourages victims from bowing to ransom demands.
Android can't make BlackBerry phones attractive again
Realizing that it stands no chance of attracting consumers with BlackBerry 10 OS devices, BlackBerry last year released a smartphone that runs Android. Called Priv, it offers an interesting mix of business and consumer-oriented features that make it a powerful contender in the high-end segment. Many folks seem to like it, but just how much of a success is it?
Priv has what it takes to be a big seller. It has all the right features that consumers say they want in a BlackBerry smartphone: premium build, physical keyboard, large screen, enterprise-friendly apps and, last but not least, Android. You would think that by giving people what they've asked for the company would be struggling to keep up with demand. And yet, in its last fiscal quarter, BlackBerry only sold a very small number of Priv units.
Which is the most complex programming language?
JavaScript may be today’s go-to for front-end programming, but in many ways it’s a language that mimics what has come before. Just like COBOL, C, C++, C#, Java and Python, JavaScript is a procedural language. There’s nothing distinctive about JavaScript, with one big exception: JavaScript has a code complexity problem.
How could JavaScript, a language based on the same paradigm as many others, have a complexity problem that is so singular? The answer is temporality. JavaScript sits in a unique spot in software development history, rising squarely in the midst of a shift from mostly back-end to mostly front-end development, which was spurred by the mobile revolution.
Microsoft and R3 blockchain partnership aims to reduce fraud and costs
Microsoft has joined forces with a collective of more than 40 financial institutions to help push the development of blockchain technology. Working with the R3 consortium, Microsoft wants to develop and test new technologies to replace and streamline old systems used in banking and enterprise industries.
The announcement comes as the company launches the first Microsoft Envision event with the aims of bringing together business leaders to pool ideas for the digital age. Using Microsoft Azure, the company wants its partners to expand the use of Blockchain-as-a-Service and bring about change faster.
93% of UK mobile users have their location tracked every day
Awareness of the privacy issues involved in using various devices and software has grown dramatically in recent years -- there can be few readers who do not know about the telemetry and privacy concerns surround Windows 10, for instance. But a new campaign by privacy-focused advocacy group Krowdthink aims to raise aware of the privacy implication of owning a mobile phone in the UK.
The 'Opt me out of Location' campaign aims to highlight the fact that nearly every single mobile phone owner in the UK (93 percent) has unwittingly signed up for a contract that permits their location to be tracked. More than this, the data collected allows providers to build up highly detailed customer profiles which Krowdthink warns leaves millions of users just one serious data breach away from having private data exposed to and abused by criminals.
The monitoring problems of IT pros
Recently an IT friend of mine told me that for the past five years he has been longing for a tool which could alert him when non-routable interfaces went down. To be perfectly honestly my heart went out to the guy -- that’s such a basic monitoring request, why hasn’t it been fulfilled I thought. But when I thought about other monitoring requests I’ve heard over the years it made me realize there is a major contradiction when it comes to IT pros and monitoring.
On the surface no IT professional will accept sub-optimal performance or functionality for any technology. IT pros overlock their systems, exploit back doors, root phones to get the latest (or un-supported) version, memorize complex key combinations to access god-mode -- we won’t settle for anything but the best and do our upmost to support it.
New capabilities help drive application release automation
Digital transformation strategies are often held back by complex IT systems that have been built over the years and represent significant investment. This may lead to departments seeking their own solutions, placing yet more pressure on back office systems.
Business automation specialist Automic is launching new capabilities to its DevOps release automation product, Automic Release Automation, to allow companies to deliver greater agility, scalability, and speed in order to drive competitive advantage.
Biometric Authentication: Making mobile devices and apps safer
According to comScore, from September 2010 to September 2014, smartphone usage increased by 394 percent, while tablet usage rose by an astronomical 1,721 percent in the United States. So it’s certainly no surprise that mobile payments are predicted to skyrocket over the next five years. mobilThis shows that the global mobile payment volume in 2015 was 450 billion U.S. dollars, and projects that number to surpass 1 trillion U.S. dollars in 2019.
With the growing interest in and use of mobile devices and payments, users are rightfully concerned with cybersecurity threats. To combat these threats, there has been a surge in using biometric technologies for user authentication.
Work-life balance gains importance as tech worker salary expectations fall
What are the trends driving the careers of tech professionals? A new report based on information gathered from the Woo platform, which allows workers to find jobs with companies that offer the things they really want, reveals what has changed in the first quarter of 2016.
The Woondex (Woo Index) shows there has been a 12.6 percent drop in salary expectations compared to the final quarter of last year. However, there's an 8.2 percent increase in the number of workers looking for a better work-life balance over the same period.
Get the lowdown on your PCs storage devices with Diskovery
Bvckup 2 developer Pipemetrics has released the first beta of Diskovery, a free system information tool which reveals all about your PC’s storage devices.
It’s a familiar idea, but Diskovery stands out for its thoroughness, using multiple technologies to discover and talk to drives.
New Start Menu features on the way in Windows 10 Anniversary Update
Windows Insiders will soon be able to try out a new Start Menu when preview builds of Windows 10 Anniversary Update begin to roll out. We already know some of what to expect from this big update to Windows 10 -- such as badge notifications in the taskbar for UWP apps -- and now we can see what the updated Start menu looks like too.
The same Microsoft software engineer who shared details of badge notifications -- Jen Gentleman -- has posted an animated GIF to Twitter that shows the Start Menu in action. There are a few notable changes in the updated version, including a nested hamburger menu.
How to stay safe using public Wi-Fi hotspots
One of the most convenient things about connecting to the Internet through your computer, tablet, or smartphone is being able to tap into public Wi-Fi from pretty much anywhere. These days, there are hotspots available all across the country, so you’re practically never without Internet access. However, it’s a smart move to be cautious when it comes to connecting to public Wi-Fi.
When you’re tapping in to an unfamiliar hotspot, you could potentially be putting your personal data -- and the security of things like your bank accounts, your passwords, and your identity -- at risk. Even if a public WiFi hotspot looks secure, you might still miss the small red flags that signal trouble. Let’s take a look at how public WiFi works to connect you to the Internet, some risks that come with it, and how to ensure you’re keeping your data safe while you’re on a hotspot.
MacClean promises to improve security and privacy as well as clean your Mac
iMobie has released MacClean 3.0.5, a brand new version of its freeware Mac cleanup tool. The app, which boasts a large number of cleaning tools, returns with a new security bolt-on and completely redesigned user interface.
Version 3.0.5’s major new feature is the implementation of new privacy and security tools, the latter based around the open-source ClamAV malware scanning engine.
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