Windows 10 Insider Preview Redstone Build 14257 arrives on the Fast ring
Last year Fast ring preview builds of Windows 10 arrived at a pretty sedate pace. This year they are coming thick and fast with a new build announced on a weekly basis.
The speed that new builds arrive does mean the differences between versions aren’t huge, but it’s all about preparing the ground work for future additions, like extensions.
Hell, yeah, Amazon should open more bookstores
There is collective head-scratching across the InterWebs about a Wall Street Journal report that Amazon will open as many as 300, or even 400, stores selling books. The company's massive success selling ebooks and the cost and selection advantages of warehousing their physical counterparts make the concept seem nonsensical. I contend that it's brilliant.
Amazon is in process of expanding online services into the purview of local retail, which biggest competitive advantage is immediacy. In conjunction with the $99-per-year Prime program, the online retailer offers faster shipping; same day, and within hours, in some locales. The company increasingly contracts its own carriers, as well. Immediacy requires presence. What better location than a bookstore that also warehouses other goods and provides customer service operations? That's all without considering the branding opportunities, which, as Apple Store demonstrates, can be huge.
Windows 10 is Microsoft's Elephant Man
I read a comment from a user who was talking about Windows 10 Mobile. He referred to it as Microsoft's stillborn baby. As dark and as gruesome an image as this may be, it feels very fitting, and it got me wondering how best to think of the desktop version of Windows 10. Clearly this is not a stillborn -- there's plenty of life in this kicking and screaming beast, and there is no sign of an abortion on the horizon.
But it is the black sheep of the family, the -- brace yourselves, politically correct gentlefolk -- deformed and underdeveloped spawn of Microsoft's loins. If it was an animal, it probably would have been destroyed in utero. As it is -- to view it in more human terms -- it's more like the Elephant Man: a lumbering, lurching curiosity that many would like to see dead, but which at the same time retains its right to existence.
Extensions are coming to Microsoft Edge via the Windows Store, and Insiders will be able to try them 'soon'
The kindest thing that can be said about Microsoft Edge is Windows 10's new browser has potential. It’s far from awful, it’s just rather unfinished. There’s little there to tempt users of Firefox or Chrome into switching.
Microsoft is working to change that though, and make the browser more appealing. Today it reveals a little more about its future plans, including how it will be handling extensions. It doesn’t announce exactly when the browser will receive this much-requested feature, but it does touch on how add-ons will be made available, and how you’ll be able to try out some early examples for yourself.
Jaguar Land Rover wants autonomous cars to emulate human drivers
Jaguar Land Rover wants to make autonomous vehicles behave more like humans, and less like robots.
The company is looking into how humans behave in specific situations, like slow-moving traffic, roadworks and busy junctions.
Google Maps helps Android users celebrate NFL Super Bowl 50: Newton vs. Manning
Watching the Super Bowl is easy. Sit down, turn on your TV, and you are good to go. With that said, properly experiencing the big game is something else. For maximum fun, it is a good idea to watch it with other people while eating delicious snacks.
If you are an Android user and not sure where to watch Super Bowl 50, Google has you covered. Its Maps service will help you discover some awesome places to watch the game. If you don't have any friends to call upon, don't worry -- you can use this as an opportunity to make some.
The first driverless cars may soon be unleashed on the roads of the Isle of Man
You perhaps have not heard of the tiny island nestled between England and Ireland, but the Isle of Man has a long and rich history, including its now dying language of Manx. Its most prominent export these days is cyclist Mark Cavendish, a multi-stage winning sprinter in the Tour de France.
Now you just may be hearing much more about it as the island lobbies to be the test bed for driverless cars, a product that Google has made famous, but that many more manufacturers are attempting to produce as the future seems to dictate it.
The future of the NSA: fight the hackers or embrace the hackers
With its well-known habit of uncompromising surveillance, the NSA has earned itself something of a poor reputation among internet users. But while the spying side of the agency is what it is most famous for, it is actually made up of two different divisions: offensive and defensive.
Later this week the NSA is expected to announce an internal restructuring that will see the two divisions merging. This presents the agency with an interesting predicament: does it continue to work to fight the efforts of hackers, or does it adopt hacker-like techniques to help gather data? Experts says that the merger is a mistake, largely because the aim and modus operandi of the two departments are diametrically opposed.
OnePlus X: Impressive mid-range smartphone [Review]
OnePlus may not be a name that springs instantly to mind when you think of smartphones, but it really should be. It is a Chinese company that is fast developing a reputation for turning out quality handsets at something of a bargain price.
The company's latest OnePlus X model starts at around £200 which is only about £40 below the price of its flagship, the better specified OnePlus 2 model, so does it live up to the company’s claims that this is an affordable phone with premium features?
How to uninstall the Windows 10 'Recommended' update and go back to Windows 7 or 8.1
Now that Microsoft is forcibly downloading Windows 10 onto unsuspecting Windows 7 and 8.1 users’ PCs there’s going to be a lot of unhappy customers faced with a new OS they never asked for nor wanted.
You can prevent this from happening by making sure the "Recommended Update" setting is unchecked on your PC, but if you fail to do this and accidentally allow the installation to go ahead (or maybe you tried Windows 10 and didn’t like it), the good news is it’s easy to roll things back to your original operating system.
Amazon Kindle gets an update, brings improved home screen and more
When it comes to reading books, things have changed quite a bit since school days, well, depending on your age. Now many people read books on electronic devices and, while tablets are fine, the Amazon Kindle leads the way.
Amazon is planning to roll out a big update to its handheld devices. You're likely wondering, correctly so, "how much can a book be improved?". Well, there are enhancements, but don't expect your trusty Kindle to change massively.
New analytics solution helps retailers protect revenues
Accurately modeling consumer behavior and the events that drive and inhibit sales is a tricky problem for retailers.
Specialist in IT operation and security analytics Prelert, has turned its expertise on the problem and is launching a new Retail Order Analytics solution. It's aimed at helping online and multichannel retailers to identify technical and operational issues as they're happening in order to stem losses and protect revenue streams.
More students taking up computing courses
There is a resurgence of interest in computing courses, the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) claims. According to the agency’s latest report, there has been an increase of 5 percent in the number of students starting an undergraduate computing course in 2014/15.
A total of 24,900 students signed up. The computing courses significantly outperform undergraduate enrollments as a whole, the agency continues, saying that in the same period, it rose by only 2 percent.
ZAGG buys mophie
While consumers love smartphones and tablets, there is one aspect of the mobile business that is sometimes overlooked -- accessories. There are countless companies producing things like cases, cables, keyboards, and more for our precious devices. Quite frankly, that is part of the fun -- customizing the experience.
Two of the more popular such accessory manufacturers, ZAGG and mophie, are merging. Technically, the former is acquiring the latter. Is this a smart move?
Build your own Windows 10 update blocker with Aegis
There are now a pile of Microsoft telemetry and Windows 10 update-blockers around, all claiming to protect your privacy and get rid of annoying "upgrade to Windows 10" alerts.
Unfortunately most give very few details of what they’re doing. You have to click the "Disable evil stuff" button and hope the developer has got it right.
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