America is a very materialistic country. After all, we are built on capitalism. This isn't a bad thing -- making money and working are wonderful things. Being a contributor to society is honorable. Unfortunately, as shifts get longer, and people work harder, family life can suffer.

One of the saddest attacks against the family is forcing people to work on Thanksgiving. What used to be "Black Friday", has crept into the prior Thursday, Thanksgiving, ruining many family moments. This is due to many people's love for tech, and getting a great deal. This year, GameStop is putting its foot down. Its retail employees will not be working on Thanksgiving, as it puts a focus on families, rather than profits. Amazing.

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Windows 10 might be the last time IT does a major OS rollout across their organization. Here on in, rather than releasing a new version of the Windows operating system (OS) every few years, there will be regular and continual updates to Windows 10 in perpetuity.

For enterprise IT departments, this new business model and Microsoft software release strategy requires a whole new level of vigilance and support.

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Today is Columbus Day in the USA, so many Americans are off from work. This is not a holiday in Taiwan, however, so today, Acer is showing-off some new Windows 10 computers there. While Microsoft's new operating system is no longer fresh and new, it is still exciting to get new computers pre-loaded with it.

Acer is a value-focused manufacturer, so not only does it offer great designs, but affordable prices too. In other words, the company makes it possible for people on a budget to buy a solid PC. Today, Acer announces a new convertible laptop and all-in-one desktop PC. Both machines are competitively priced.

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Firefox is a supremely configurable browser with an array of useful settings, but many are so deeply buried in about:config that you may never even realize they exist.

ConfigFox is a free portable tool for Windows which makes it easier to view and manage Firefox’s more advanced privacy and security-related options.

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Microsoft has released new versions for the three core apps in its iPad and iPhone Office suite. Word for iOS 1.14, Excel for iOS 1.14, and PowerPoint for iOS 1.14 all gain minor improvements and new features as part of the suite’s ongoing evolution.

All three apps gain the ability to rename files, while there are improvements to font accessibility and a number of app-specific improvements too.

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The Wall $treet Journal carried a story last week about Dell Computer possibly buying EMC, the big storage vendor, and this morning Dell confirmed it, pinning a price of $67 billion on the deal. There’s a lot to wonder about in this combination, which I think is pretty brilliant on Dell’s part even if I’m not generally in favor of mega-mergers. But it seems to me most of the experts commenting on the deal have it ass-backwards as Wall Street once again proves it doesn’t really understand technology business.

EMC has this large but aging storage division and a valuable subsidiary in VMware, of which EMC owns 80 percent. Activist investors have been rumbling that EMC should spin-off VMware to EMC shareholders because that’s the best way to realize the value of the asset and share it tax-free. Michael Dell appears as something of a white knight except he is expected, too, to get rid of VMware to finance the deal. The only thing wrong with this picture is that all the people who want to spin-off or sell VMware don’t seem to realize that’s where the value of this EMC deal lies for Dell.

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As you may have read, there are two different versions of the A9 processor powering Apple’s new iPhone 6s and 6s Plus. One chip is made by Samsung (fractionally smaller), and the other by TSMC.

Apple says there’s no real difference between the processors (it used two different manufacturers to avoid supply issues), but it’s reported that devices with the TSMC processor run cooler and can give users up to 2 hours of additional battery life. There’s no way of knowing which processor your iPhone has simply by looking at it, but there is a simple trick you can use to find out what’s inside.

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The consumerization of business technology is picking-up speed. This trend towards the introduction of consumer technology within the corporate environment for the use of work activities is best reflected in policies like Bring Your Own Device (BYOD).

These policies have become prevalent in most corporate environments, and have kept many network administrators awake at night worried about the potential data breaches that could occur.

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OnePlus has announced that its sought-after Android flagship smartphone will be available to purchase without invite today, October 12. Consumers interested in getting their hands on OnePlus 2 will have a one-hour window to complete their purchase before the company goes back to its invite-only system.

This is the first time that OnePlus 2 is officially sold without an invite, so, to avoid any issues with the ordering system, the one-hour window will start at noon in every major region. Outside of it, consumers will need to have an invite to snap up a OnePlus 2.

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NirSoft has released AdvancedRun, a free tool for launching programs with custom user, priority, CPU affinity, window size and state, compatibility settings, environment and more.

Whatever settings you define can be used just once, or saved for reuse in shortcuts or scripts.

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The Xbox One to PC games streaming capabilities of Windows 10 make for a whole new PC gaming experience. Attach a controller to your rig, and you're ready to go. But what about if you fancy the idea of ditching the cables and going wire-free?

This is where the Xbox Wireless Adapter for Windows comes into play. This simple USB dongle lets you use your Xbox Wireless Controller to play both Windows 10 and Xbox One games -- complete with in-game chat and stereo sound. It's not available just yet, but it can be yours very soon.

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Google is so ubiquitous that it has become much more than just a company. It is a verb, an ecosystem, a way of life. But just as with anything that you experience every day, it's easy to take it for granted or overlook what's under your nose.

With your Android smartphone in your hand (or an iPhone for that matter), the Google app is a portal to a wealth of information; all you need to do is speak to your phone. It's easy to forget just how helpful the app is -- but Google is here to remind you that it is more than capable of taking on Siri and Cortana. The company has released a trio of videos highlighting what the app can do for you. And you know what? They're actually pretty decent.

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"Out of stock". These are familiar words to diehard Apple fans. They go to a web site and select their preferred combination of features from a configurator page only to discover that the product they really want is "temporarily unavailable".

Such manufactured scarcity is de rigueur for customers looking to buy the latest shiny object from Apple's toy chest. However, as sales and marketing tactics go, it’s a fairly new concept for would be Windows device owners. Which is why many will be surprised to encounter an unfamiliar message when trying to buy the highest-end model of the recently announced Surface Book laptop.

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One of Google's slightly more unusual hardware releases is the OnHub wireless router. At $200, it's a network device that some might consider expensive, but at the same time its performance has impressed. A router is a router is a router, you might say, but Google's OnHub is somewhat different to the majority.

A teardown by iFixIt revealed the guts of the router, showing that it's a TP-Link device (confirming what Google had already said) with a somewhat unusual antenna design. It's an intriguing piece of hardware that Exploitee.rs has referred to as being "at heart a Chromebook without a screen modified as a router". The good news for anyone who likes to get their hands dirty with some hardware hacking? It is rootable and Exploitee.rs reveals all.

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For those in the market for a set-top box there are many options, but Roku remains one of the most popular choices. Now, just in time for the impending holiday shopping season, the tiny device becomes a bit more enticing, adding HBO NOW to its app lineup.

HBO NOW is one of two apps the premium network has out there, going along with HBO GO. The difference is that this one is stand-alone -- pay for a subscription and you'll have access to everything the channel has to offer.

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