Latest Technology News

OnePlus 3 now getting OxygenOS 3.2.1 OTA

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This week OnePlus introduced the first update for its OnePlus 3 flagship to add a color-accurate sRGB mode for the display and improve RAM management, among other changes. Within two days, it should have reached all users, but the company pulled it after receiving reports of upgrade issues.

OnePlus says that it has fixed those issues, which are included in the new OxygenOS 3.2.1 OTA update that is now rolling out. That is not all that is new, however, as there are also some "additional improvements" as well. Here is what you need to know.

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Microsoft to keep free tag on Windows 10 Mobile upgrades after July 29

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Windows 10 is currently available as a free upgrade if you are coming from Windows 7 or Windows 8.1, but this offer will not last for long. Just like everyone else, you will have to pay to get Microsoft's latest operating system after July 29. Question is, how does the free upgrade deadline impact Windows 10 Mobile?

While Windows 10 and Windows 10 Mobile did not launch at the same time, Microsoft positions the two operating systems as sister products. They have a shared core, many features in common, similar UI components, and even the build numbers are now the same as you probably know if you follow Windows Insider builds. So, understandably, there is some confusion over whether would-be Windows 10 Mobile users will have to pay for an upgrade after the Windows 10 deadline passes.

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Best Windows apps this week

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One-hundred and eighty-eight in a series. Welcome to this week's overview of the best apps, games and extensions released for Windows 8.x and Windows 10 in the past seven days.

Windows 10's Anniversary Update will be released on August 2, 2016. It features an impressive list of changes that includes Store improvements and support for Microsoft Edge extensions.

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Our private data is worth less than we think

Gold Coins

Brits think their personal data is really, really valuable. There is nothing wrong with that, and private data should be valued highly, and guarded as such. However, once criminals get a hold of such data, they’ll sell it for such a low price you simply won't believe.

According to a new TotallyMoney.com report, based on a poll of 1,000 consumers, we value an email address at £983. In reality, it is being sold for five pence. A similar thing is with the browsing history. Its actual price on the black market is a ridiculous £0.0014. On average, we value it at £934.

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Mozilla is working on a StumbleUpon-like feature

Mozilla Context Graph Better Forward Button

Mozilla has announced the creation of a new content recommendation system, which hopes will help people find better and more relevant content, easier.

The new product is called Context Graph, and the company’s VP of Products, Nick Nguyen, describes it as a "better forward button".

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Thinking about Big Data -- Part two

BigData

In Part one of this series of columns we learned about data and how computers can be used for finding meaning in large data sets. We even saw a hint of what we might call Big Data at Amazon.com in the mid-1990s, as that company stretched technology to observe and record in real time everything its tens of thousands of simultaneous users were doing. Pretty impressive, but not really Big Data, more like Bigish Data.

The real Big Data of that era was already being gathered by outfits like the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) and the UK Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) -- spy operations that were recording digital communications even though they had no easy way to decode and find meaning in it. Government tape libraries were being filled to overflowing with meaningless gibberish.

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Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 14383 for PC and Mobile arrives on the Fast ring

Windows-10 key

With the Fourth of July out of the way, it’s back to normal for the Windows team who have just rolled out a new build of Windows 10 for Insiders on the Fast ring.

We’re closing in on the release date for the Anniversary Update, so as you’d expect this new release, Build 14383, mostly focuses on fixing a load of bugs, but there are some other bigger changes to be aware of, including the removal of the desktop watermark from this build.

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Samsung unveils limited edition Rio 2016 'Olympic Games' Galaxy S7 edge

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The Rio Olympics are coming soon, and they are not without controversy. Not only is the Zika virus scaring some athletes and reporters from traveling to Brazil, but the country is facing high crime, poor economic conditions, and sanitation concerns.

While the competition is tainted by the aforementioned things, Samsung is looking to brighten it up a bit. How, you ask? With a smartphone, of course! The company is releasing a limited-edition version of the Galaxy S7 edge with an Olympic-themed style. A version will also be created for the Paralympics in the future.

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Google buys Moodstocks for its object recognition technology

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Google has announced that it is be acquiring French startup Moodstocks, which has developed technology that aids smartphones in identifying the objects captured by their cameras.

In 2012, the startup introduced on-device image recognition and has spent its time since working on object recognition through the use of machine learning and computer vision. This is what initially intrigued Google about the company as it, along with many other companies in Silicon Valley, has invested in teaching computers to better see and understand the world.

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Court papers show Silent Circle's privacy-boosting Blackphone was an unmitigated sales disaster

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With so much focus now placed on privacy and security, you would have thought that the Blackphone from Silent Circle would have been a roaring success. But documents from a court case with former partner Geeksphone reveal that there have been just a handful of sales, and revenue is hundreds of millions of dollars lower than expected.

Silent Circle found itself in court after Geeksphone complained that it had not received a $5 million payment agreed as part of a buyout. Geeksphone had helped to build the original Blackphone, and Silent Circle went on to buy the Spanish company's share before launching the Blackphone 2. But sales were much, much lower than expected, leading the company to describe its hardware business to "be a significant financial drain".

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Acer TravelMate X3 is an affordable and svelte 14-inch Windows 10 business laptop

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Summertime is here, and for many business folks, this means working outdoors. Sure, some employees will prefer working indoors with air conditioning, but it can be quite refreshing to sit outside and enjoy the fresh air.

If you choose to work outdoors, you obviously need a laptop -- setting up a desktop and monitor under a tree or on a picnic table is not ideal. If you need an inexpensive and lightweight business-focused laptop, Acer has you covered. The TravelMate X3 is both affordable and svelte, making it a wise choice for sitting outdoors or traveling on an airplane.

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Apple releases iOS 10, macOS Sierra public betas

macOS Sierra iOS 10 public betas MacBook Pro iPhone 6s

Apple's latest operating systems are coming this fall, but for enthusiasts who are interested in trying out iOS 10 and macOS Sierra before the big launch the company today releases the first public betas.

The first iOS 10 and macOS Sierra public betas arrive after Apple already released two builds for members of its developer program, so they should be more stable as a result. Here is what you should know.

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Government IT pros overconfident about detecting insider threats

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Federal government IT professionals are overconfident in their ability to detect insider threats, endpoint security firm Tripwire has found. Analyzing the confidence of IT experts regarding their efficiency in seven key security controls, it polled 763 professionals from various industries.

Almost a third say they would not be able to detect every time a non-privileged user attempted to access files. Almost three quarters (73 percent) assume their system would generate an alert or email within hours if a user inappropriately accessed file shares.

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New security tool addresses Android app collusion threat

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As we reported last month app collusion, where apps work together to extract sensitive data, now represents a very real security risk to mobile devices.

To address this emerging threat, component technology firm Formaltech, today is releasing FUSE, a DARPA-funded tool that detects inter-application collusion and other vulnerabilities in Android apps.

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UK ISP Sky is about to start censoring the web for all of its customers

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The UK government is on a mission to protect the young of the country from the dark recesses of the web. And by the darker recesses, what is really meant is porn. The main ISPs have long been required to block access to known piracy sites, but porn is also a concern -- for politicians, at least.

As part of its bid to sanitize and censor the web, Sky -- from the Murdoch stables -- is, as of today, enabling adult content filtering by default for all new customers: Sky Broadband Shield. The company wants to "help families protect their children from inappropriate content", and in a previous experiment discovered -- unsurprisingly -- that content filtering was used by more people if it was automatically enabled.

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