Your mother should know (how you use your computer at college)

Mother and son laptop

A new report by internet security specialist Webroot on the eve of National Cyber Security Awareness Month (NCSAM) asked over 500 mothers with kids leaving for college this year about the security of their offspring's computers.

Among the findings are that a worrying 24.45 percent of moms report that their child does not have a security solution installed on their laptop or computer. The reasons for this are interesting, with 37.4 percent not having thought about it, 34.15 percent because they said the machine came with security already, and 17.07 percent who don't believe security is necessary.

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Toshiba refreshes Chromebook 2 with Intel Broadwell and backlit keyboard

toshiba cb202

Chromebooks are amazing web surfing machines, offering great battery life, focused computing and affordable pricing. While they aren't for everyone, they are a smart choice for many. Do you know someone that spends all their time in the web browser? Chromebooks are designed for them.

Toshiba makes particularly great Chrome OS laptops, and its Chromebook 2 was quite a hit with fans of Google's web-focused operating system. Today, the company refreshes it with Broadwell processors and backlit keyboards.

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Apple releases OS X 10.11.1 El Capitan public beta 1 -- here's what's new

Apple previews OS X 10.11 El Capitan

With OS X 10.11 El Capitan set to launch at the end of the month, Apple has already started working on the first update for its latest Mac operating system. The early OS X 10.11.1 build was released last week for developers, and is now also available to those of us who are enrolled in the public beta program.

Given that it is a relatively minor update, OS X 10.11.1 El Capitan is not expected to introduce any major changes. Nonetheless, let's take a look at what's new.

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BYOD adoption slowed by policy issues

BYOD

Most employees are interested in participating in BYOD, but many are put off by their employer's device and application management policies which are seen as too restrictive or invasive to privacy.

This is among the findings of a survey by data protection specialist Bitglass which also reveals that 67 percent of employees would participate in BYOD programs if their employers had the ability to protect corporate data but couldn’t view, alter or delete their personal information and applications.

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Samsung announces high-end 950 Pro SSD for demanding consumers and business users

Samsung 950 Pro

The benefits provided by SSDs are not only appreciated by more-demanding consumers, but also by business users. Which is why, with its new premium SSD line called 950 Pro, Samsung is targeting both markets.

What makes Samsung's 950 Pro drives attention-worthy are, first and foremost, the insanely high transfer speeds, five-year warranty, and competitive price. The line has been designed with high-end laptops and PCs in mind, but, even so, the performance figures provided by Samsung seem surreal.

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Microsoft releases Office 2016 -- upgrade today!

Office 365

If you’ve been waiting for the latest version of Microsoft Office, we have some good news for you. The newest addition to Office 365, Microsoft’s cloud-based subscription service, is available to download now.

Office 2016 delivers new versions of the desktop apps for Windows, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, Project, Visio and Access. Office 365 subscribers can choose to download the new Office 2016 apps as part of their subscription (automatic updates will begin rolling out to consumers and small-businesses next month). The new suite is also available to buy for a one-off fee from today.

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CCleaner is now available in the cloud

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If you want to clear out temporary files and other left over junk on your computer’s hard drive, Piriform’s CCleaner is arguably the best free solution.

For the past two years, the publisher has been working on a web-based version of CCleaner called Project Agomo. The service was in private beta, so to use it you needed to register your interest and await an invite. That all changes from today however, as Project Agomo is no more. Say hello to its replacement -- CCleaner Cloud.

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Ingenious design: iClever Portable Foldable Bluetooth Keyboard [Review]

iclever_foldable_bluetooth_keyboard_half_open

You might think it would be hard to get overly excited about a keyboard. I understand, I felt the same. But then I tried out the iClever Portable Foldable Bluetooth Keyboard and my opinion changed. I've used various portable/mini keyboards before and they have been -- almost without exception -- utterly awful.

The iClever Portable Foldable Bluetooth Keyboard gets off to a great start; it has a lot of things in its favor. The metal construction gives it a solid, robust feel and a great semi-industrial look. The aluminum has neatly curved edges, but at the same time it feels wonderfully brutalist. The real killer feature, however, is the foldability of the peripheral which means beautifully sizable keys are available for typing on.

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Systems security in energy and utilities companies gives cause for concern

Cooling towers

Security ratings specialist BitSight Technologies has released a new report highlighting the differences in security performance across industries from August 2014 to August 2015.

Having analyzed security ratings of nearly 10,000 organizations across six sectors -- finance, federal government, retail, energy and utilities, healthcare and education. It reveals worrying performance trends in the critical energy and utilities sector, however, the federal government (despite recent headlines) is revealed as high performing and second only to finance.

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Firefox 41 adds instant messaging support to Firefox Hello

firefox_android_icon

Mozilla has released Firefox 41 FINAL for desktop, with Firefox for Android 41.0 due imminently.

The desktop build introduces a large number of mainly incremental changes – the most interesting are profile picture support for Firefox Accounts and the addition of instant messaging to Firefox Hello -- while the mobile version makes it possible to utilize different search providers from the search panel.

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This is BlackBerry's first Android smartphone

blackberry-venice

If you were wondering how BlackBerry’s first Android phone, Venice, will behave in action, wonder no more.

First video footage of the smartphone has been released online, and on it we can see its sliding QWERTY keyboard in action. The keyboard can also be used as a touchpad by sliding your fingers across the keys. This interesting feature is not unique though, it was already seen on the BlackBerry Passport.

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Logitech and Prezi announce intriguing presentation-focused partnership

prezilogi

If you have ever worked in the corporate world, you have probably sat through many presentations. While some of these can be nothing more than boring time-wasters, many contain valuable information. The problem is, not everyone knows how to create an engaging presentation.

Prezi's "prezi" presentations can be wonderfully interesting and beautiful; oftentimes more pleasing than PowerPoint. Creating and sharing these presentations can sometimes be challenging, however. Luckily, Prezi and Logitech have partnered to make things a lot easier.

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Giving Microsoft's Windows 10 Mobile strategy the crystal ball treatment

crystall ball

As the industry awaits the debut of Microsoft’s much delayed Windows 10 Mobile phone OS, many questions are circulating about which strategy the company should pursue going forward.

Some are arguing that Microsoft should abandon Windows 10 Mobile altogether and throw its lot in with CyanogenMod (or perhaps roll its own, rogue version of Android). Others are advocating a continued focus on delivering apps for Android and iOS first while leaving Windows 10 Mobile to languish as a low-priority, third option. And still others believe Microsoft should stay the course and leverage its strengths in the enterprise to reshape Windows 10 Mobile into an extension of the company’s entrenched productivity stack.

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Imation IronKey Workspace W500: Secure Windows To Go drive for enterprise users [Review]

Ironkey

In the modern workplace there’s increasing demand for people to be able to work remotely or bring their own devices into the office. That presents a problem for IT departments who need to deliver secure access to corporate data and ensure that everyone is using approved applications.

One way of allowing employees and contractors to use their own PCs but still ensure they’re running the approved corporate software is the IronKey Workspace. It’s a bootable USB stick that can be loaded with a corporate Windows image including applications, security controls and access policies. It will work on any reasonably modern PC and on some Macs too.

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Apple Watch owners rejoice -- watchOS 2 is finally available to install

Apple Watch

The latest version of the OS that powers Apple’s first wearable was supposed to be released last week, on the same day that iOS 9 hit devices. However, a last minute bug delayed things, leaving Watch owners like myself disappointed.

Since it was only the one -- albeit major -- bug delaying things it was always going to be a case of the updated OS being held back by no more than few days, and today Apple has finally (and quietly) released the new version. If you own an Apple Watch, you can update it now.

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