Latest Technology News

It is officially summertime, meaning fun in the sun. I have been enjoying lazy days on my deck, listening to my favorite tunes. While I could use my iPhone's integrated speaker, it is too weak for optimal outdoor enjoyment. Instead, I utilize a Bluetooth speaker for improved volume and clarity.

Ultimate Ears makes damn good speakers, and today, the company is transforming both its UE BOOM 2 and UE MEGABOOM with an intriguing new feature. Android and iOS users can now leverage the power of Siri or Google Now from these two speakers directly by simply pressing the Bluetooth button once. It is sort of like the Amazon Tap, but with Apple or Google's assistant rather than Alexa.

This year, Google I/O and WWDC seemed to lack the excitement seen in years past with most announcements being fairly mundane -- a combination of maintenance/incremental updates and "me-too" products -- inevitable at this point in the maturity cycle. The most interesting part of these developer events was really the contrasting approaches Google and Apple have taken to evolve the app ecosystem. Unsurprisingly, both approaches are diametrically opposed to each other and favor each company's business model.

However, the "winning standard" will necessarily be one that better serves the needs of both consumers and developers.

Many people consider Fedora to be an operating system for advanced Linux users, and yeah, I suppose there is some to truth to that. Distros such as Ubuntu and Mint can be easier for beginners, but Fedora is not necessarily a bad choice for these newbies. As more folks live in the browser and enjoy their media there, there can be less of a need for non-free packages. If someone is new to Linux and just needs a web browser and LibreOffice, for instance, why not the rock-solid Fedora?

Today, Fedora finally achieves version 24. True, the team is a bit "late" with the release, but that is fairly commonplace with Fedora, actually. With that said, shipping when ready is better than being beholden to a date, right?

The shift towards a mobile and cloud focused workplace has brought a great deal of flexibility but it's also added new risks. How do you protect data when employees can access it at any time and from any device?

Lookout, a specialist in securing mobility, has expanded expanded Mobile Threat Protection with the introduction of Network Protection, an automatic on-device analysis of network connections to defend against man-in-the-middle attacks and ensure information is being securely transmitted.

Piriform Software has released CCleaner 5.19 and CCleaner 5.19 Portable for Windows PCs. Once again, it’s a minor release, focusing on improvements, optimizations and some small bug fixes.

The new release has no new features or supported applications, instead focusing on tweaking existing cleaning routines and improving the System Monitoring tool on the Professional edition.

Owners of small and medium businesses in the US recognize the potential of ransoware to disrupt their operations, but 84 percent say they wouldn't pay cyber criminals in the event of an attack.

Yet the survey by data security company IDT911 also shows that company assets and business operations are left highly vulnerable as nearly 75 percent don't have cyber insurance, or are unsure if their policy includes cyber protection.

Two factor authentication is one of the most convenient options for securing a user account, which is why you will find this feature available in many of the top cloud services. It can be argued though that it can be made even easier to deal with, specifically in cases when users frequently need to access their accounts from new devices.

The problem there is that, the way that it is typically implemented, users usually have to get a verification code via SMS or retrieve it from a dedicated app to finish the authentication process, which is something that many folks may find very annoying over time. So, to make the whole process easy for its users, Google is now rolling out a new option for two-factor authentication, known as Google prompt.

Windows 10 is a good operating system, but it can be a little buggy at times. Hopefully the forthcoming Anniversary Update will fix a lot of these issues, although it’s equally possible it may introduce more bugs along with the raft of new features.

If you’ve been having problems with the Start menu in Windows 10 the good news is Microsoft has released a new troubleshooting tool which can identify and fix many issues automatically.

You might think that a small amount of time spent looking for documents each day is insignificant. But according to a new survey of accounting, advisory and consultancy firms it could be costing US firms almost $4,000 per employee each month.

The study from enterprise collaboration specialist Huddle finds that US respondents work on an average of 26 documents per day spending an average of 89 seconds looking for each one. With an average hourly billing rate of $265, that comes to $3,747 per employee each month.

Wordaizer is an intriguing tool for creating Wordle-like word clouds, gorgeous works of art where text is organized and arranged to fill a shape.

We have some simple examples below, but the idea gets more interesting when you add some personal meaning, for example celebrating someone’s 100th birthday by filling a tree shape with the names of all their family.

The field services industry has already benefited from mobile technology that allows workers to receive new jobs and file reports on the move, reducing the need for returns to base.

A new release from mobile workforce management specialists Skedulo takes things further by allowing customers a self-service scheduling ability along with job tracking.

Even though the TalkTalk hack happened last October, it’s still sending ripples through the cyber-security world. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has given a number of recommendations, following the breach.

Among the recommendations is the idea of fining companies that fail on cyber-security, as well as the idea of linking the CEO’s pay to effective cyber-security.

With the growth of the cloud, data centers have become big business. In fact, it's estimated that they now use around 10 percent of the world's energy.

It's not surprising then that companies are looking to increase the efficiency of their IT operations, cut their energy use and reduce their carbon footprints. However, the solution to finding more efficiency may be closer than they think. Jeff Klaus, general manager of Data Center Solutions at Intel argues that enterprises need to look to home grown solutions before turning elsewhere. We spoke to him to find out more.

Twitter has demonstrated its commitment to artificial intelligence and machine learning by splashing a reported $150m on London-based Magic Pony Technology. The aim is to use the company's advanced technology to improve Twitter's live and video experiences.

Jack Dorsey describes Magic Pony Technology as a 'company that has developed novel machine learning techniques for visual processing'. Thus far this has been used to sharpen blurry images, create computer-generated images from scratch, and to learn to recognize objects.

Like it or not, we’re all going to have Batman’s Alfred Pennyworth soon. In a digital format, that is, but nonetheless an assistant.

This was concluded by research specialists Gartner, which said that by 2019, at least a quarter of households in developed countries will use the services of a digital assistant, either on a smartphone, or in a standalone device.