At $300, Elephone Vowney flagship smartphone dual-boots Android 5.0 and Windows 10 Mobile

elephone_vowney

Back in April, we reported that Chinese smartphone manufacturer Elephone planned to launch a handset which would dual-boot Windows 10 Mobile and Android 5.0 Lollipop mobile operating systems. Five months later, that phone has been officially launched. Called the Elephone Vowney, the smartphone is priced at $299.99 and goes on sale from September 30.

As for the specifications, the Elephone Vowney sports a 5.5-inch QHD display (2560 x 1440) with a pixel density of 535ppi. It is powered by an octa-core MediaTek MT6795 processor clocked at 2.2GHz coupled with 3GB of RAM. It comes with 64GB of inbuilt storage with support for a microSD card should you want more.

Continue reading

Block ads in iOS 9 with Peace

no ads ad block

Ad-blockers are proving to be extremely popular with the early adopters of iOS 9. Shortly after the operating system's debut, Peace skyrocketed to the top of the paid apps chart on Apple's App Store, taking Minecraft: Pocket Edition's place on the podium, while rival Purify Blocker has risen to fourth place.

Current leader Peace is the work of iOS developer Marco Arment, best known for the popular read-it-later app Instapaper. Since Peace will surely get the attention of many more users, let's take a look at what it has to offer.

Continue reading

Wanted: DDoS skills to fend off attacks

Urgently required

DDoS attacks regularly make the news, but what are companies doing to help them fend off and guard against the threat?

Security company Incapsula has conducted some research to find out if companies are actively seeking candidates with DDoS mitigation skills.

Continue reading

Amazon goes after gamers with the new Fire TV Gaming Edition

Fire TV gaming

As well as refreshing its Fire TV and Fire TV Stick streaming hardware, Amazon has also introduced a new variation of its set top box aimed squarely at gamers.

The new Amazon Fire TV Gaming Edition combines the updated Amazon Fire TV box with a game controller, a 32 GB microSD card, and two free games: Shovel Knight and Disney’s Ducktales.

Continue reading

HP prepares to axe 30,000 jobs

Job Jobs Cut Cuts

When HP announced it was to split into two at the end of last year, everyone knew it would be an expensive and complex separation, with job losses bound to be incurred -- and a new round of cuts has just been announced.

Sky News reports that the company has revealed that 25,000 to 30,000 jobs are going to be axed at HP Enterprise, the new arm separate from its PC and printer hardware division.

Continue reading

Amazon revamps its TV products, adds support for 4K Ultra HD streaming and voice control

Amazon TV and Fire stick

Clearly not fazed in the slightest by the new Apple TV, Amazon today introduces a new version of its own set top box, Fire TV. This new version is 75 percent more powerful than the older model, and offers Alexa support, and 4K Ultra HD streaming.

Alexa, the brain behind Amazon’s Echo, handles all voice requests, meaning you can now ask your Fire TV for music, information, weather, traffic, and more. There’s also a new Fire TV Stick with Voice Control.

Continue reading

Securing the Internet of Things [Q&A]

Internet of Things IoT

The Internet of things is set to worm its way into many areas of our lives, but as our cars and domestic appliances become connected how can we be certain that they're secure? We've already seen issues with cars being hacked and do you really want to be installing security software on your fridge?

We spoke to Lev Lesokhin, Executive Vice President, Strategy and analytics, of software analysis and measurement specialist CAST to find out how developers of IoT products can keep them secure and retain consumer confidence.

Continue reading

Amazon announces three new tablets -- Fire HD, Fire, and Fire Kids Edition

Fire HD

It’s been a while since we’ve seen new tablets from Amazon, but today the retail giant revamps its range with three new low-cost devices.

The all-new Fire HD has, according to Amazon, been redesigned from the "ground up for entertainment" and is available in 8 inch or 10.1 inch trims.

Continue reading

AvailabilityGuard delivers predictive analytics for enterprise IT teams

IT server data datacenter enterprise

For IT teams to deliver reliable systems with high availability they need to be able to spot problems and potential problems early. These challenges are greater as systems move to the cloud and software-defined data centers.

Operations analytics specialist Continuity Software is launching the latest version of its AvailabilityGuard software, providing enterprise IT teams with advanced predictive analytics, risk detection, and outage prevention capabilities.

Continue reading

Twitter accused of eavesdropping on Direct Messages

Eavesdropper glass

Social network Twitter is facing a potential lawsuit after allegedly spying on users’ Direct Messages, a popular feature where people can talk privately without anyone else seeing.

A court case has been filed in San Francisco by Wilford Raney, in which it accuses Twitter of using algorithms to "surreptitiously" eavesdrop on users.

Continue reading

My IT cruise from Hell

Cruise

It was the crisis that almost ended my career -- my real career, specifically, as an elite software architect-for-hire to some of the largest companies in the world.

It was April, 2009, and my family and I had just set sail on a 26-day Costa repositioning cruise from our home on Mauritius. Destination: Savona, Italy, by way of the African coast, Suez Canal and Egypt. It was day three and we were docked at the port of "Noise Be" on the coast of Madagascar when a quick check of my email at a local Internet café revealed a storm brewing back at 750 7th Avenue, NYC.

Continue reading

Boot your PC from a virtual drive with Simple VHD Manager

SimpleVHDManager200-175

Freeware developer Sordum has released Simple VHD Manager, a tiny portable tool which makes it easier to access and use virtual drives (VHD, VHDX, ISO) in Windows 7 and later.

Drag and drop your files onto the program and they can be attached in a couple of clicks, making them freely accessible in Explorer.

Continue reading

Why IT staff are unhappy at work

rain cloud

If you work in IT it's generally the case that you're quite well paid and enjoy good career prospects. Yet according to a new survey you're probably also unhappy.

Workforce engagement specialist TinyPulse surveyed over 5,000 tech and IT workers and found that they are very, very unhappy. The top drivers of unhappiness were poor coworker relationships, little room for growth with their employer, and not enough praise for their work.

Continue reading

Best video sharing websites

video-sharing-websites-300x207

When you are bored, or when you want to find clear instructions on how to do something or to get to know the latest news, the best way to do it is to watch corresponding videos. Indeed, all the information is consumed much better if it’s a video.

The best resource of videos is of course the Internet, but which websites are the best resources to enjoy various video materials? Today we have listed and reviewed the best video sharing websites for various purposes.

Continue reading

Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine

steve-jobs

Alex Gibney’s Steve Jobs documentary is available now in some theaters, on Amazon Instant Video and, ironically, on iTunes. It’s a film that purports to figure out what made Steve Jobs tick. And it does a lot, just not that.

I’m not a dispassionate reviewer here. More than a year before Jobs died I tried to hire Alex Gibney to make a Steve Jobs film with me. At that point he suggested I be the director, that he’d coach me ("It’s not that hard", the Oscar-winner claimed.) We talked and met but didn’t come to a deal. Later Gibney decided to do a Jobs film on his own -- this film -- and he came to me for help. We talked and met but again didn’t come to a deal. Nothing is unusual about any of this, but it made me eager to see what kind of movie he would make and how it would compare to the one I originally had in mind.

Continue reading

Load More Articles