European trustbusters torpedo Google
Alphabet Admirals Sergey Brin and Larry Page had better tell Captain Sundar Pichai to close the watertight doors—lest the search and advertising ship sink in the North Sea, where depths reach 700 meters (2,300). Brrrr. Are the lawyers handing out life preservers? Will paralegals man the water pumps?
Today's expansion of the European Union Competition Commission's investigation into Google business practices makes a really bad situation much, much, much worse. Problems are these: Adding advertising to anticompetitive charges; expanding investigation to four monopolies (AdSense, Android, search, shopping services); citing exclusive contracts as violation of the law; and narrowing the applicable market for search shopping competition, thus blowing apart one of Google's major counter legal arguments. Kaboom!
CryptoDrop can stop ransomware early on in the encryption phase
New software, designed by scientists at the University of Florida (UF), just might be the answer to thwarting the ever-growing problem of ransomware.
Ransomware is a form of malware used by cybercriminals to exploit users into paying significant sums of money to retrieve their own files. When an infection happens, the files on a user’s system are encrypted by the virus and the only way to regain access to those files is by paying a ransom to the hackers behind the attack.
T-Mobile giving customers free unlimited Pokemon Go data
Pokemon Go isn't a particularly good game. The environments are rather plain, gameplay is amateurish, and there are server issues galore. Ultimately, the phenomenon is fueled by millennial nostalgia and curiosity about augmented reality. In other words, the game's shelf life could be very short.
T-Mobile is wisely being opportunistic and cashing in on the fad, however. Today, the cell phone carrier announces it is giving its customers unlimited data for Pokemon Go. Is the game popular enough to drive consumers to switch to T-Mobile?
Robots can't understand advanced business processes
In a time when some really intelligent people are expressing fears over intelligent robots, the worst thing you can do is tell a bunch of scientists that robots that smart can’t be made.
Yet, that’s pretty much what shared services professionals said when they were polled by robotics and automation specialists Redwood Software, together with Shared Services Link, the online community for finance, shared services and outsourcing leaders.
Google's gender equality emoji are formally adopted
Concerned as ever with diversity and equality, Google recently proposed a new set of emoji including a wider range of images of women in different professions. Today the company makes good on its promise and delivers the goods... with a little help from the powers-that-be.
Launched because "there aren't a lot [of emoji] that highlight the diversity of women's careers", the new emoji portray women in roles that have previously been the domain of man -- at least in pixel form. In all, the Unicode Emoji Subcommittee is adopting more than 100 new emoji after Google's suggestions.
Motorola unveils Moto E3 -- here's everything you need to know
Consumers who want to buy an affordable smartphone will soon have an attractive new option to consider. The Lenovo-owned Motorola today takes the wraps off the Moto E3, which features competitive specs, the latest version of Android, and a nice design at a highly appealing price point.
The Moto E line has given us some of the best entry-level Android smartphones in recent years, and the third generation is no different. This year, it packs a large screen, quad-core processor, big battery, beefier camera, and storage expansion. Let's take a closer look at it.
'Happy Birthday' messages drive around 10 percent of email order revenue
Although they account for only two percent of all emails sent, triggered marketing messages -- those sent to mark birthdays and other events -- generate 10.2 percent of email-driven revenue and 9.7 percent of email-driven orders.
This is among the findings of a study by Yes Lifecycle Marketing, the company behind marketing and analytics platform Yesmail360, which shows that people are twice as likely to open triggered messages as they are general marketing emails.
Holy nostalgia! Nintendo unveils NES Classic Edition console with 30 included games
While Nintendo largely failed with its poorly received Wii U console, it has certainly reversed its bad luck with the popular Pokemon Go. What was once a company that seemed in trouble it has seen its stock soar thanks to the nostalgia-heavy augmented reality mobile game.
Nintendo is looking to keep the nostalgia-fueled momentum going it seems, with a new console. The NES Classic Edition is a mini game system with 30 pre-loaded classic games (not cartridges). One big benefit is getting native HDMI out -- something the original NES consoles do not offer. Believe it or not, the price is quite reasonable too.
New partnership extends reach of beacon advertising
Beacon advertising is becoming increasingly popular as a means of targeting consumers in specific locations with relevant messages.
It's now set to spread further as Freckle, the world's largest beacon technology company, announces a partnership with one of North America's largest mobile platform companies for publishers and media companies AirKast.
Web users would rather filter ads than block them completely
Blocking online adverts is a controversial subject -- yes, adverts can be annoying but they also represent the only revenue stream for many sites.
A new survey from Adblock Plus in conjunction with HubSpot Research reveals that 83 percent of users just want to block the most intrusive ads and 77 percent would rather filter ads than block them completely.
Today's the day Microsoft reduces your free OneDrive cloud storage
If you weren't on the ball a few months ago, your OneDrive storage space is about to be slashed. Having previously announced its plans to reduce cloud storage for all OneDrive users, Microsoft relented and said those that already had this amount of storage could keep it... but only if they asked for it.
Anyone who failed to do so will be ruing the day. Today is the day that Microsoft cuts free OneDrive storage from 15GB to just 5GB -- even less than when the cloud service first launched. In addition to this, the 15GB camera roll bonus has been discontinued. So what can you do?
Recover lost files with NirSoft’s ShadowCopyView and PreviousFilesRecovery
NirSoft has released ShadowCopyView and PreviousFilesRecovery, free tools designed to help you browse Windows’ volume shadow copies and restore whatever files you need.
ShadowCopyView lists all volume shadow copies on your PC, the hard drive snapshots created by Windows Vista and later.
IObit releases first public beta of Advanced SystemCare 10
IObit has unveiled the first public beta of IObit Advanced SystemCare 10, its hugely comprehensive do-everything PC maintenance suite.
The latest release has a new ad-blocker in IObit’s redesigned and extended Surfing Protection add-on.
Windows 10 Anniversary Update's new Blue Screen QR codes could put your smartphone at serious risk
PCs can go wrong in all sorts of ways, and the problems can manifest themselves in the form of slowdowns, freezes, or worse. Occasionally, you might encounter a blue screen of death (BSOD), accompanied by a usually pretty cryptic message outlining the cause of the crash.
In the soon-to-be released Windows 10 Anniversary Update, Microsoft has given the blue screen a makeover, introducing QR codes to make it easier for anyone to troubleshoot the problems they encounter. It’s a helpful change, but Panda Security warns it could actually be a godsend to cybercriminals, and result in users having personal details stolen, and smartphones getting infected with drive-by malware.
Microsoft Edge is the best browser for Netflix -- the only that offers 1080p on the desktop
Internet Explorer has been much-maligned over the years, and Microsoft Edge sees the Redmond company trying to shake off the shackles of the past. Its latest marketing push finds Microsoft claiming that Edge is the best desktop web browser for Netflix viewing.
The reason? In addition to claims about greater battery efficiency, Microsoft's killer blow is that Edge is the only of the main desktop browsers to support 1080p viewing. It might seem like a surprising and audacious claim, but the test bears it out. Microsoft Edge has a serious unique selling point.
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