Latest Technology News

Google Play and musician Elizabeth Rose create 'Playing With Fire' interactive music video

As someone born in the 1980's, I grew up with MTV. Quite frankly, before I bought my first cassette or CD, I got my music fix by watching these classic music videos. While MTV has since moved away from music videos, websites like YouTube have stepped in to fill the void.

Even though music videos have evolved with innovative cinematography and cool effects, they are still largely the same old thing -- a mix of audio and video. Today, Google Play announces a collaboration with musician Elizabeth Rose to create something more appropriate for tech-focused millennials -- an interactive music video.

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Will robotics bring a new dawn for digital transformation in the UK?

robot office worker

Digital transformation has become a popular term in IT circles, fast becoming a priority for organizations across the private and public sectors. The UK government’s shift to digital services and departments has been a longstanding goal over the last three years and continues to be a long-term objective, as success across online services has created more efficiency for both workers and UK citizens. It’s surprising therefore that this year’s Budget, as delivered by George Osborne, was a little light on the technology front and neglected the next chapter in the government’s digital story.

IT and technology sectors are considered to be the foundation points for economic growth and needs to continue to be a priority for organizations to get more done. Productivity plays a crucial role in sustaining this growth, but continues to be an area where the UK falls short. Just recently, the Smith Institute found that while UK workers continue to work longer hours, they are less productive. Academics have questioned whether technology has a role in solving this puzzle.

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Google shows love to users with disabilities

According to Google, 20 percent of people in the USA will experience a disability at some point in their life. Let's think about this for a moment -- that is one in five people. In other words, people with disabilities are a significant part of the population. While there are many laws on the books protecting the disabled from discrimination, this group of people can still be underrepresented.

Today, the search giant highlights some of the ways it is helping users with disabilities. Google is focusing on multiple platforms, such as Chromebooks, Android, and the web.

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The future of developer recruitment [Q&A]

Developer recruitment

Recruiting developers is often a problem for organizations as the skills required are different from those in other sectors and can be hard to assess. Development often has a great deal in common with more creative fields, where suitability for a job is not so much about qualifications but about what you can do and how you can communicate.

So what can companies do to discover the developer talent they need? We spoke to Mike Bartlett, CEO of developer community site Gitter to get his perspective.

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How to run Bash on Ubuntu on Windows 10 Anniversary Update or Preview Build 14316

Microsoft has been showing Linux a lot of love recently, and at Build 2016 the company announced that the Bash shell was coming to Windows 10. It’s a feature that will make an appearance in the upcoming Windows 10 Anniversary Update (due for release in July), but it's something that Windows Insiders on the Fast Ring already have access to in Build 14316 right now.

If you have installed this build, you'd be forgiven for not being able to find Bash however hard you look; there are hoops you have to jump through. So if you like the idea of accessing the Linux command line in Windows 10, there are a few steps for you to follow, starting off by enabling Developer Mode.

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Brief WordPress database guide for the absolute beginner

WordPress and other CMSs are 'inherently insecure'

WordPress is the finest content management system. Its popularity is proof of that. Websites on WordPress perform great and the platform is easy to use. However, the same cannot be said about managing its database.

If you are a beginner in using this CMS then you might get a migraine or two whenever you try to understand the tons of content available online concerning WordPress databases.

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SteelSeries APEX M500 is an affordable Cherry MX Red mechanical keyboard for eSports

If you are happy with your current keyboard, but it isn't a mechanical variant, you probably could be happier. In other words, you probably don't know what you are missing. Mechanical keyboards offer a very satisfying typing experience, plus potentially better performance when gaming.

Mechanical keyboards are often an expensive affair, however. They are totally worth the investment, but sometimes they have extra features you don't really need or want, which inflates the price. Today, SteelSeries announces the APEX M500 mechanical keyboard with a very reasonable price. It has Cherry MX Red switches, which are ideal for gaming. The eSports-focused keyboard is fairly basic by design, which makes it affordable for many.

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Microsoft throws its support behind EU-US Privacy Shield

The transfer of data between the US and Europe has been something of a privacy and security nightmare. In an attempt to improve privacy protection, the European Commission established the EU-US Privacy Shield "to restore trust in transatlantic data flows" post-Edward Snowden's NSA surveillance revelations, replacing the controversial Safe Harbor arrangement.

Today Microsoft has announced its support for the principles the framework says that companies will have to abide by. More than this, Vice President for EU Government Affairs at Microsoft, John Frank, says the company will comply with Data Protection Authorities advice in disputes, and cooperate with them on data transfer processes.

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Record everything launched on a PC with Process Logger Service

Process Logger Service is a Windows service which logs every process launched on your PC. It’s a useful tool that can help answer a range of questions. Like, did the email you open launched something? What did that installer do? When was a particular program last run? And more.

The service must be set up manually. It’s not a difficult process, but does involve a little more work than we expected.

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New cloud platform streamlines Android app development

Phone gears

Businesses have ever more demand from consumers to deliver services via mobile, so they're looking for ways to produce apps quickly and efficiently.

To address this need, Android solutions provider Genymobile is cloud-based platform that allows enterprises to build, test, show off and service Android applications across the entire application lifecycle while streamlining the development process.

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How phone agnostic beacon technology will revolutionize mobile payments

Mobile payments are gaining momentum in the UK. Apply Pay has an initial monopoly, Google recently announced its UK launch and Samsung is planning to follow suit later this year. Countries across the globe are increasingly moving towards cashless societies thanks to advances in contactless payments. The UK is a leader in contactless payments and, thanks to technology such as Oyster cards, mobile payments are catching on quickly.

Instead of carrying a physical wallet with cash and bank cards, mobile wallets are becoming an increasingly popular method of payment.

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The Internet of Things in 2016 -- where is it headed and what are your plans?

The Internet of Things, more commonly known as IoT and sometimes referred to as a Connected Home or as Home Automation, is one of the biggest trends in technology these days and 2016 doesn't seem to be slowing down as new products continue to pour onto the market while others get updates and increasingly become compatible across platforms.

Product lines abound, from door locks to shades and from lights to crock pots. Manufacturers like Samsung, Insteon, Cree, GE, Nest, Wink, Sensi, Ecobee and many more are out there waiting for your hard earned money.

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Keygen alert: free password generator released for PETYA ransomware

The PETYA ransomware is just one of the recent examples of malware that encrypts victims' hard drives until a fee is paid. The advice from the government is not to pay the ransom -- or at least not expect to get a decryption key if you do -- but a password generator has been created that means you can decrypt your hard drive for free.

While TeslaCrypt 4 boasts 'unbreakable encryption', the same cannot be said of PETYA, although the PETYA ransomware does have the irritating habit of overwriting MBRs. This does mean that there is no way to interact with the drive on the infected computer, but with access to a spare machine to read the drive and access to the online tool created by Leostone, you could have your data back in seconds. As the tool's website proudly proclaims, you can "Get your petya encrypted disk back, WITHOUT paying ransom!!!" -- here's what you need to do.

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Celebrity threesome superinjunction shows disparity between law of the land and law of the web

The idea of an injunction to prevent newspapers from publishing certain stories are nothing new, far from it. But in recent years, a new breed of superinjunction has been born. These not only prevent the publishing of stories, but can also block the publishing of the names of those involved. Some superinjunctions are such that even reporting the existence of the superinjunction is prohibited.

In recent weeks, a celebrity couple took out a superinjunction to prevent the press from publishing details of an alleged affair (well, a threesome if we cut to the chase). The gagging order prevented news outlets in the UK referring to the couple as anything other than the initials PJS and YMA (not their actual initials, by the way) and the other participants in the alleged ménage à trois as AB and CD. But today a Scottish newspaper took the decision to reveal the names of the couple -- but it could only do so in its print edition, because of the way laws written for the printed press have been awkwardly applied to the web.

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Immigration officials allowed to hack phones of refugees and asylum seekers

The British government secretly rolled out powers that permitted the immigration officials to hack the mobile phones of asylum seekers and refugees, the Observer reveals. The Home Office has confirmed the hacking powers which have sparked outrage from privacy and human rights groups.

Since 2013, immigration officials have not only been permitted to hack into migrants' phones and computers, but also to install surveillance equipment in homes and detention centers. With concern about governmental plans for the snooper's charter and the privacy invasion this entails, claims that the powers are needed to "deal effectively with all immigration crime" are likely to fall on deaf ears.

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