The Sims 4 update dissolves gender boundaries and embraces diversity
A free update released today for The Sims 4 introduces a swathe of new options relating to creation of Sims. Significantly, gender-specific options no longer exist. Players can access the full range of clothing, hairstyles, physiques and voices regardless of the gender selected.
Electronic Arts says that in all, some 700 options that were previously tied to male or female Sims are now gender neutral. The move, part of a general trend in the technology industry to diversity, has been warmly welcomed by players.
Android users: become a Google Maps beta tester to try out preview versions of the app
Google is a company that's well-known for its beta products -- there is a long-running joke about so many of its services being in permanent beta. Beta testing on Android has tended to be limited to a select few, but with the Google Maps app the beta programme is being opened up to everyone.
After signing up to take part, you will be able to download a newer version of Google Maps than is currently available in the Play Store. At the moment there is a fairly insignificant version number difference, and no notable changes, but this should all change as beta testing progresses.
The Linux Foundation announces the 2016 LiFT Scholarship Program -- here's how to apply
If you are into technology and computers, but unsure about a career path, open source and Linux are both wise focuses. While the job market cannot be predicted with absolute certainty, it is undeniable that both of those things are increasingly important. The Linux-based Android is the most popular mobile operating system, while major companies like Microsoft, Google, and Apple embrace open source.
The problem with education nowadays is the high cost. Many people can't afford to pay for classes out of pocket, and if they take out student loans, they can end up in debt for many years. Luckily, scholarships can help alleviate the stress of education costs. Today, The Linux Foundation announces the 2016 LiFT Scholarship Program, offering a free course and certification exam for chosen applicants. If you want to experience formal learning of Linux, you should definitely apply.
Apple suffers outage that knocks App Store, iCloud, iTunes and more offline
Many of Apple's online services are currently out of action, with the App Store and Apple TV being just two that people are struggling with. Some users are reporting that Apple Music is out of action, but the most common complaint is that App Store purchases cannot be complete.
Apple says that it is aware of the problems and is investigating, but at the moment has given no hint at what the cause might be. The company's System Status page highlights numerous issues, with a fluctuating number of listings tagged "Service may be unavailable for some users". Apple Support's recently launched Twitter account is going into meltdown responding to an endless stream of complaints from users.
Google will start suggesting apps to remove when you run out of space on your Android phone
With the size of apps and games spiralling upwards faster than the amount of storage increases in phones, it's very easy to run low on space. To help overcome the problem of not having enough room to install a new app, Google is starting to suggest rarely used apps that could be installed.
The feature has not appeared completely out of the blue, with references having been spotted to it in APK teardowns some months ago. But now Google Play's intelligent uninstall manager has been spotted in action.
Internet of Things devices will surpass smartphones by 2021
Before we reach 2021, there will be more internet-connected devices (IoT) than smartphones, Ericsson said in its latest Mobility Report.
Projected growth of these devices is 400 percent in the next five years, with a total of 16 billion devices expected by that time.
Lost your Android smartphone or iPhone? Google will help you find it
There are lots of services that help you find your lost smartphone, but nothing beats the convenience of a built-in tool like Android Device Manager or Find My iPhone. However, Google might have something that's even better.
Google believes that locating a smartphone should be as simple as a Google search, so the company has introduced a new feature in My Account that lets you do just that. And it works no matter if you have an Android smartphone or iPhone.
Cyber risk management -- Is your company ready for anything?
In late 2013, news of a massive data breach at Target surfaced. Hackers stole personal and credit card information of nearly 70 million shoppers, and the breach ended up costing Target $162 million and the resignation of the CEO and CIO. While this was one of the largest and most widely publicized data breaches, it’s by no means one of few.
Just recently, LinkedIn came clean about its 2012 data breach – a few days after it was discovered some of the information was being sold online. While LinkedIn originally reported the email and passwords for 6.5 million people were compromised, it just admitted the real number is as high as 117 million accounts. Though LinkedIn advised people to change their passwords when the attack was first made public, it wasn’t until four years later that the company decided to cancel passwords that were affected.
MEEM memory cable automatically backs up your phone every time you charge it
While most smartphones can backup photos and other content to the cloud on a regular basis, there are downsides -- backups handled by third-party apps might not always happen, free storage can quickly become full (I’m looking at you, iCloud) and of course cloud services could be compromised.
MEEM memory cable offers a low cost solution to all of those problems -- automatically, and securely backing up your iPhone or Android device every time you charge it.
Five tips to avoid becoming a ransomware victim
Ransomware is one of the major threats computer users now face, even though recent reports suggest that many people don't actually know what it is.
Delivered via spam or phishing emails that trick users into clicking on malicious links, ransomware renders computer systems, devices or files inaccessible and holds the victim hostage until payment is made, usually in the form of bitcoins.
Oukitel’s K4000 gets maxed out
When we reviewed the Oukitel K4000 Pro toughphone last month it came with a pretty standard Android UI.
Latest versions of the K4000 though will come with a new 'max' interface that puts fewer but larger icons on each screen. It also offers a bigger dial pad, so the phone should appeal to older users and to others who struggle to cope with smaller icons.
Xiaomi unveils Mi Band 2 fitness tracker -- here's what you need to know
Xiaomi may be best known for its smartphones, but the company is also a major player in the wearables market. In the first quarter of the year it actually took second place, following the renowned Fitbit, thanks to shipments of 2.6 million units.
Xiaomi owes its success in the wearables market to the affordable Mi Band fitness tracker. Its latest upgrade arrived in late-2015, but even with the addition of a heart rate monitor the company managed to keep the cost under the very reasonable $30 mark. But now that the Mi Band 2 is here, what can Xiaomi bring to the table to woo even more consumers?
Salesforce buys cloud commerce solutions provider Demandware
Salesforce has announced that it has agreed to purchase enterprise cloud commerce solutions provider Demandware in a $2.8 billion cash deal.
Salesforce will commence a tender offer for all outstanding shares of Demandware -- which boasts the likes of L’Oreal and Marks & Spencer as customers -- for $75.00 a share, with the transaction expected to close at the end of July 2016.
SWIFT attacks date back more than a year
We reported a few days ago on banks using the SWIFT inter-bank transfer system being hacked, resulting in $81 million being stolen from the Bangladesh Central Bank.
Now Luis Corrons, technical director of PandaLabs, has released more information on other banks affected, with attacks that stretch back more than a year.
Auto-close unused Firefox tabs with Dustman
You can resize Firefox tabs, group them, send them to another window, but it won’t make any difference: there’s never quite enough tab space to go around. Dustman is a free Firefox extension which helps out by automatically closing tabs which haven’t been used in the last 20 minutes.
That could be potentially risky, but as with the similar Tab Wrangler for Chrome, the developer has used several tricks to reduce the chance of problems.
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