Facebook kills the Other Inbox and launches Message Requests
Facebook is pretty much all about communication, so the existence of the Other Inbox has always seemed a bit weird. Receive a message from someone you don't know, and it will disappear to this message dungeon, most likely never to be seen again. The lack of notifications meant that such messages would tend to go unnoticed for months.
Now Facebook is addressing the problem. The Other Inbox is now dead, replaced by Message Requests. Now if you are contacted by someone you are not already friends with, rather than vanishing into the void, the message will generate an alert on the Messages tab on the web, and in Messenger on mobile devices.
Penclic announces MK1 Mechanical Keyboard for Windows, Mac, and Linux
Mechanical keyboards are all the rage nowadays, and for good reason; whether you are a gamer or typist, you can experience improved accuracy and feedback using them. Quite frankly, once you use one it is hard to go back, as many modern keyboards are mushy and terrible.
Today, Penclic announces the MK1 Mechanical Keyboard. This model has some nice features, such as brown switches and backlit keys. My favorite aspect, however, is the key design -- the font looks funky; caps lock and shift are particularly unique. Even cooler? The "super" button does not have a Windows logo; Mac and Linux users should appreciate that. It would go great with an Ubuntu-powered System76 computer.
MagicStick, the fastest HDMI stick PC available, runs Windows 10 and Android
Bigger is usually regarded as better, but with PCs there has been a recent trend towards miniaturization. We've seen all manner of stick PCs in the last year or so, and MagicStick is the latest contender to throw its hat into the ring. Rather than just being a run-of-the-mill clone of the competition, the MagicStick proudly proclaims itself to be the "fastest pocket computer based on Intel's latest 14nm Cherry Trail processor".
The HDMI stick can be plugged directly into a television, monitor, or projector, and managed to smash its Indiegogo target in just four days. The specs are certainly impressive, rivalling many laptop and desktop systems and -- unlike other similar portables -- there are numerous configurations available. Oh, and it's IoT-ready.
Oracle and Intel going after IBM Power Systems users
Oracle and Intel are partnering up in a bid to tempt customers away from what the companies describe as aging IBM Power systems.
The new scheme, jointly funded by Oracle and Intel, goes by the name of "Exa Your Power", and wants to see IBM Power customers migrate their Oracle Database across to Oracle Engineered Systems driven by Intel Xeon processors.
Surface Book and Surface Pro 4 suffering from an ugly flickering screen problem -- but there is a fix
Surface Book went on sale yesterday, and today we’re seeing the first reports of a big problem with Microsoft’s MacBook rival. According to numerous reports, the device is blighted with a nasty intermittent flickering screen issue.
It’s not only the new laptop that has the problem either, it’s affecting the new Surface Pro 4 too -- epileptics beware. You can see the flickering in action below.
Facebook at Work signs up 100,000 RBS workers
Facebook at Work, the social network’s business version, has signed an agreement with the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), bringing the service to 100,000 of its staff.
The deal, dubbed "ground breaking partnership" by RBS will "allow employees to communicate faster and more efficiently", the bank said.
Google announces a new ASUS-built OnHub Wi-Fi router with Wave Control
When Google announced its first OnHub wireless router, my colleague Brian Fagioli had one question -- why? The answer, according to Joe Wilcox’s excellent review, is it gives great Wi-Fi and is, in a word, "fantastic". High praise indeed.
The TP-LINK-built OnHub was always intended to be the first in a series of easy to use wireless routers from Google, and today the second device arrives, this time coming from ASUS.
15 year-old suspected of TalkTalk cyber-attack
The Metropolitan Police have released a statement saying that a 15-year-old boy has been arrested in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, in relation to the recent TalkTalk cyber attack.
He has been arrested on suspicion of Computer Misuse Act offenses and is currently being questioned by detectives from the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).
Motorola announces all-new 'shatterproof' Droid Turbo 2 and Maxx 2 Android phones
The Android smartphone market has been extremely stagnant lately. With the exception of the brilliant Samsung Galaxy Note5 and 6 Edge Plus, none of the designs have been particularly impressive. This is the unfortunate result of a now-mature segment.
Today, however, Motorola injects some much-needed excitement into the world of Android with the Droid Turbo 2 and Droid Maxx 2. While both phones should be fast and have long battery life, the real wow-factor is the shatterproof design of the Turbo 2. Are you a klutz when it comes to dropping or breaking your phone? Then you should definitely take notice.
WinZip 20 widens sharing support, adds File Management ribbon
WinZip International LLC has released WinZip 20, a landmark release of what is perhaps the world’s best-known archiving tool. Version 20 builds on changes introduced in version 19 that saw the app move towards a unified file management system.
WinZip 20 introduces a new file management ribbon and frequent folders feature, plus makes working with files and folders more flexible while also widening its sharing options.
Killer smart devices and other cyber threats you'll face in 2016
The world of online security never stands still, and if the past year has shown us anything it's that you don't need sophisticated technology to launch a successful cyber attack.
Security company Trend Micro has released its annual security predictions report outlining the threats it expects to be facing next year. It forecasts continued growth in online extortion, hacktivism and mobile malware, as well as a shift towards an offensive cybersecurity posture for government entities and corporations.
Real-world Docker adoption up five fold in the past year
The adoption of containerization platform Docker has been one of the big infrastructure trends in the past year. But while it's much talked about, what effect is it having in the real world?
Infrastructure tracking specialist Datadog has released the results of a survey, based on the real Docker usage of 7,000 companies, revealing a 5x growth in Docker adoption since September 2014.
By raising the price, HTC is making sure One A9 will flop
When HTC announced One A9, the Taiwanese maker said that its new smartphone would only cost $399 when it goes on sale in US. But, as it turns out, that is in fact, a "very limited-time promotional offer", as the price will be bumped up by $100 shortly after it starts shipping.
How limited is that offer? Well, the $399 asking price only applies to orders placed before 12:01 am on November 7. Afterwards, buyers will have to shell out $499 to get their hands on the smartphone. It is a very strange decision, as the lower cost is one of the few things that One A9 has got going for it.
Opera 33 arrives with new branding
Opera FINAL 33 has shipped, complete with its brand new identity.
This isn’t just about a new icon. No, really. It’s three: a wireframe icon for the developer build, a partially painted version for betas, and a full 3D O for the final release, in Opera’s signature red.
New analytics platform helps detect internal attacks
Security analysts can struggle to cope with the large volumes of alerts generated by multiple security tools. This can make it hard to distinguish anomalies from genuine malicious actions.
To provide organizations with additional context and more accuracy to detect malicious attacks, even those that originate internally, security analytics specialist Niara is launching a new version of its platform to deliver user and entity behavior analytics (UEBA) on network packet and flow data, in addition to log data.
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