Latest Technology News

Stop

Your devices will be able to spot bad USB Type-C cables and chargers

USB Type-C products that are non standard compliant can be so dangerous that the USB 3.0 Promoter Group has introduced an Authentication protocol, to enable smartphones, laptops and other types of devices to detect out of spec USB Type-C cables and chargers.

The "authenticity" of the cable or charger will be determined "right at the moment a wired connection is made -- before inappropriate power or data can be transferred", so, for instance, there will be no risk of damaging your phone when you plug in a bad cable to charge it.

By Mihăiță Bamburic -
Apple vote

Employees opt for Apple when given a technology choice

It's becoming increasingly common for companies to offer their employees a choice of technology devices. And according to a new survey when they do have a choice people are more likely to choose Apple devices.

The study by device management company JAMF Software shows that ease of use is the main reason given by people for selecting Mac (75 percent) and iOS (79 percent) as their work device of choice.

By Ian Barker -
Facebook secret

10 hidden Facebook features you should know about

I know plenty of people who -- literally -- spend their lives on Facebook, sharing everything they do, and obsessively reading and reacting to every post made by their friends.

But here’s the thing. Despite all of the hours they put into being on the site, they probably only know a fraction of what it has to offer. There are a lot of features tucked away that they -- and you -- might never encounter. Think you know Facebook? Think again...

By Wayne Williams -
security verification

Security is a top priority when installing identity solutions

According to a new survey 78 percent of organizations say that security outweighs cost savings and user experience when choosing identity management solutions.

The survey by access control specialist SecureAuth used responses from over 230 IT security professionals in the US and UK.

By Ian Barker -
computer_calendar

Google Calendar now helps you to reach your goals

It's not long since the Reminders feature arrived in Google Calendar on the web, a few months after it debuted in iOS and Android. Now Google is rolling out another new feature that makes it easier to find time to reach your goals -- whether this is indulging in a hobby a few times a week, or just trying to do some regular exercise.

Goals in Google Calendar is not about ticking items off your bucket list, but automating the process of adding reminders to your calendar without having to manually search high and low for the necessary time. Just indicate what you want to do, and how often, and the rest will be taken care of for you. But it gets better...

By Sofia Elizabella Wyciślik-Wilson -
Cloud security

New service helps service providers deliver cloud-based security

Security is a key concern for all enterprises, so it's not surprising that it's something managed service providers are keen to offer their customers in order to add value and differentiate their service.

Network breach detection company Eastwind Networks is launching a Managed Service Provider (MSP) and Managed Security Service Provider (MSSP) program. The new program is designed to help service providers stand out and grow their business with a simple cloud-based breach detection solution that ensures that customer data and assets are secure.

By Ian Barker -
decline graph

Another quarter, another PC sales drop

The PC market has started off 2016 quite poorly according to both Gartner and the IDC. Worldwide shipments have fallen 9.6 percent to 64.8 million units in the first quarter of the year, according to Garner’s estimates. This makes it the first quarter since 2007 that fewer than 65 million PCs have shipped globally.

Lenovo, HP, Dell, Asus and Apple were the top PC manufacturers in Q1 2016 with only Asus and Apple seeing an increase in the number of units shipped. Lenovo and HP have been hit the hardest this quarter with Lenovo shipments down seven percent and HP’s down nine percent.

By Anthony Spadafora -
Oukitel A8

Jewelery meets gadgetry in the Oukitel A8

Bluetooth tracking devices to help stop you forgetting your phone have been around for a while, but they've generally been quite functional in design, looking like a remote car key.

Chinese smartphone maker Oukitel is launching its own take on the lost phone finder with a new gadget that looks like a piece of jewelry but also functions as more than just an alarm to tell you you've left your phone behind.

By Ian Barker -
WindowInspector.200.175

Take a low-level look at your PC desktop with Window Inspector

Binary Fortress Software has released Window Inspector, a free tool for examining the low-level details of any application window.

Move your mouse cursor over any window and a detailed display lists its class, text, icons, owning process, command line, Style and StyleEX flags, and more.

By Mike Williams -
Cloud storage

Box customers can now choose where to store their data

Online file sharing company Box today announced a new service, allowing businesses to store their cloud data across Europe and Asia.

The service, announced at the Box World Tour Europe, is called Box Zones, and it will allow Box customers to choose whether they want to store their data in Germany, Ireland, Singapore or Japan.

By Sead Fadilpašić -
buisness growth graph

Software-defined data center adoption will grow in 2016

Business and IT executives in the UK and the US (62 percent) expect a higher adoption of software-defined data centers (SDDCs) this year, but the projection for faster deployment is slightly higher in the UK (67 percent), compared to the US (64 percent).

Those are the results of a new study conducted by security, compliance and control software company HyTrust, and co-sponsored by Intel. The study takes a look at the issues and trends among businesses migrating to the cloud and software-defined data centre.

By Sead Fadilpašić -
Data encryption

'Let's Encrypt' exits beta -- backed by Cisco, Akamai, Mozilla, Google, Facebook, and more

Ever since hero Edward Snowden's bombshell document leaks, the technology world has wide eyes for encryption. Sure, it was a topic prior to Snowden, but many failed to give it the focus it deserved. Thankfully, companies are now better implementing encryption, and some of them, such as Apple, are fighting for our rights too.

Today, the encryption initiative, 'Let's Encrypt', finally leaves beta. Josh Aas, ISRG Executive Director says "we set out to encrypt 100 percent of the Web. We're excited to be off to a strong start, and with so much support across the industry". If you are wondering what he means, please know that big players such as Cisco, Akamai, HP, Mozilla, Google, and Facebook are sponsoring it. But what exactly is Let’s Encrypt?

By Brian Fagioli -
Search

New platform speeds up development of intelligent search apps

One of the problems with big data is that creating applications to access the information inevitably introduces a time lag and this leads to frustration for the end user.

Search and analytics software company Lucidworks is aiming to cut out this bottleneck with the launch of Lucidworks View, which allows companies to quickly and easily create custom search-driven applications built on Apache Solr and Apache Spark.

By Ian Barker -
Jaguar logo

Jaguar Land Rover is building an Uber competitor

Jaguar Land Rover has announced the launch of a new business, which is basically an Uber competitor. According to the company’s press release, the new technology start-up called InMotion will "build apps and on-demand services to overcome modern travel and transport challenges".

The start-up will soon start testing a couple of different services related to car sharing and car ownership. The testing will take place in North America, Europe and Asia "in the coming months".

By Sead Fadilpašić -
Kingston encrypted flash drives

Kingston launches new hardware encrypted flash drives

One of the best known names in the flash memory market, Kingston acquired the IronKey brand from Imation in February of this year.

IronKey has long been one of the leading brands in encrypted Flash drives and today we see the first fruits of the new partnership with Kingston's launch of two new managed and 256-bit AES hardware encrypted USB drives.

By Ian Barker -

© 1998-2025 BetaNews, Inc. All Rights Reserved.