Even though the cloud is all the rage nowadays, flash drives are still pretty useful. If you need to install a Windows 10 or Ubuntu ISO, for instance, the little USB drives are much faster than optical media. Not to mention, with USB Type-C, flash drives can be easily mounted on both desktop and mobile operating systems -- depending on ports, of course.

Today, SanDisk releases the Ultra Dual Drive USB Type-C flash drive. The retractable Type-C drive also offers a Type-A connector, making it future-proof while also supporting older devices. Although not the first drive to offer dual connectors, it is certainly one of the more elegant options.

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Microsoft is opening its HoloLens to a range of partners, the company announced at Computex today. This means that future VR headsets based on the HoloLens platform will come from a variety of manufacturers, and will be available in different forms, taking full advantage of Windows 10 Anniversary Update.

With a price tag of $3,000, the existing official HoloLens headset is out of the reach of many people, but in opening up the platform to partners, Microsoft says that cheaper price points should also be available. The company is also doing something interesting. One of the criticisms levelled at HoloLens is its limited field of vision. Partners will be able to build devices with wider fields of vision meaning that the official HoloLens will almost certainly not be the best.

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At this year’s Computex show in Taiwan, Intel announced that it is adding new chips to its Xeon E3 1500 line of server processors to help service providers handle the massive amounts of online video-related traffic created by the "visual cloud".

Webcasts, video-conferencing, digital TV broadcasts, cloud gaming, video transcoding and even the delivery of remote workstations all make up what the company and other chipmakers have begun to refer to as the visual cloud. The new chips that Intel is adding to its Xeon E3-1500 line have been created with extra capabilities that aid in accelerating video and multimedia workloads.

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Security firm Trustwave has discovered a zero-day exploit for Windows for sale on an underground Russian hacking forum. A user going by the name BuggiCorp says the vulnerability affects all versions of Microsoft's operating system, from Windows XP and 2000 upwards, including both 32- and 64-bit versions.

The source code for the exploit is offered for upwards of $90,000, and the seller explains that it can be used to elevate the privileges of any software process to SYSTEM level -- the highest there is. Payment is requested in Bitcoin, but while the exploit is considered serious, experts suggest that the asking price is a little high.

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Cyber crime is big business and that means the people behind it face many of the same challenges as legitimate organizations.

This includes operational security (OPSEC), a key tactic used by commercial and military organizations to protect privacy and anonymity. Research from cyber situational awareness specialist Digital Shadows reveals that criminals are using OPSEC as a means to an end -- avoiding detection, maintaining availability of their attack infrastructure, and retaining access to environments they have compromised.

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Businesses whose revenue come from mobile ads will seriously have to consider an alternative, because news just came in about a significant rise in mobile ad blocking usage.

According to a new report by PageFair, a start-up helping publishers get around ad blockers, and mobile app tracking company Priori Data, there has been a 90 percent rise in mobile ad blocking usage, compared to the same period last year.

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Last month, NetMarketShare’s initial desktop operating system usage share figures made it look as if Windows 10’s growth was badly stalling, gaining just 0.2 percentage points in April to put it on 14.35 percent. However, revised figures showed it had in fact gained 1.19 percentage points, and was sitting on 15.34 percent. That’s very much in keeping with the new operating system’s growth in previous months.

For May, Windows 10 really packed on the users, thanks in no small part to Microsoft going all out on forcing the operating system on to users of Windows 7 and 8.1. Let's give Microsoft a nice big slow handclap for the achievement.

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In order to keep up with a rapidly changing market landscape and deliver better customer experiences, organizations are building and enhancing software and mobile applications at a rapid rate.

This is leading businesses to rethink their internal software development processes in order to support development methodologies like Agile, Lean, and DevOps.

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Before traveling to a different country you should think about how much it will cost to use your smartphone there. Chances are you will be sharing photos with your friends, checking out places to visit, getting directions, talking to the family, and so on -- and those things are typically not included or covered entirely in your plan. So, what can you do?

Roaming is the comfortable option, but it can be a very expensive affair. Ideally, you would find an affordable local plan that gives you enough minutes and data traffic, and swap out your SIM as soon as you arrive. If you plan on visiting the US anytime soon, T-Mobile has introduced a plan that might just offer what you need to enjoy your trip.

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Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Microsoft are working in conjunction with the European Commission to try to tackle the problem of illegal online hate speech. This is something that the companies have taken steps to fight individually, but now there is a concerted effort to combat hate speech and terrorist propaganda in Europe.

New EU regulations require the companies to review notifications they receive about hate speech within 24 hours. The four tech giants have agreed to the new code of conduct, saying the 'majority' of reported content will be examined within a day.

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Cyber security affects all of us, but it only makes the headlines when it's big companies that are the target of attacks.

Threat intelligence provider Anomali has produced a new study focusing on vulnerabilities in businesses on the UK's FTSE 100 list of the largest companies. Among the findings are that over the last three months, 81 companies in the FTSE 100 had potentially malicious domain registrations against them, enabling cyber criminals to create dummy websites that can be used to trick users into supplying private data.

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ImgDrive is a free tool which can mount multiple disc images as virtual CD, DVD, HD-DVD or BD drives. The program works with iso, ccd, cue, isz, mds and nrg images.

Everything is controlled from the program’s system tray icon. This opens with a single drive letter, and you’re able to mount a new image, then access it in Explorer just like any other disc. If the single drive letter isn’t enough, another system tray menu option reserves up to 7.

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If you’re an Outlook.com user you may have noticed a lot more spam arriving in your inbox over the past day or so.

BetaNews writers have reported suddenly receiving a lot more junk messages in their Outlook.com accounts, and we’re not alone -- it’s a problem affecting users globally. But don’t panic, it’s nothing to do with the mega-breach affecting Tumblr and MySpace users, but rather something far more innocuous.

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With online ad blocking becoming ever more popular, companies have to find new ways to push their products at people. With Windows 10 -- which is being aggressively pushed onto people -- Microsoft has found the perfect vehicle.

We've already seen ads in the Start menu and ads on the Lock Screen, but it doesn't end there. Windows Insiders are also treated to ads in one of the new features available in the preview builds -- the Windows Ink Workspace.

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Microsoft has today announced a new department designed to invest into disruptive start-ups in their early phases.

The department, led by Nagraj Kashyap (corporate vice president) and executive vice president of business development Peggy Johnson, holds the name Microsoft Ventures.

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