How to sideload apps in Windows 10
The sideloading of apps is something that most people associate with smartphones and tablets. If you want to install unofficial apps on your iPhone, Android, or Windows Phone handset, there are things you can do to make this possible. The same is true with Windows 10 assuming you are using build 10122 or newer.
If you want to be able to install apps that are not featured in the Store, all you need to do is enable Developer Mode. As the name would suggest, this is something that will be of particular interest to developers as it makes it possible for them to test out their own apps before they hit the store, but there's nothing to stop anyone from enabling the mode to take advantage of the same feature. Here's what you need to do.
Wikimedia secures connections with HTTPS encryption by default
There is a movement calling for the encryption of all web traffic. The cause of this could be laid at Edward Snowden's door, but there's no getting away from the fact that in recent years there is an increased interest in security and privacy. To this end, Wikimedia has announced that it is now using HTTPS to encrypt all of its traffic -- including that to Wikipedia.
We've already seen the US government embrace HTTPS, and companies like Google and Facebook are making it easier to control privacy settings. Apple has hit out at companies that fail to do enough to protect users' privacy, and Wiki media is taking the extra step of also implementing HSTS, just days after Microsoft announced that this would be supported by Internet Explorer 11 under Windows 7 and 8.1.
Amazon publishes opaque transparency report
Post-Snowden there is great interest in just what involvement the government has with technology firms. There are frequent requests from government agencies for information about users and the likes of Google, Snapchat, and even the NSA itself have all released transparency reports that reveal, in broad strokes, the number of requests for data they have received.
Amazon is the latest company to release a transparency report -- although the term really should be used in the loosest possible sense. The report includes scant details about the number of subpoenas, search warrants, court orders, and national security requests received in the first five months of 2015. The report is so vague as to be virtually meaningless.
Facebook factors in article view times to personalize news feeds
Facebook today announced that it is making another change to the way it determines which stories are displayed in News Feeds. As well as factoring in how many people have liked or commented on a story, the social network will now also take into account how long people spend reading individual articles.
But it's not quite as simple as saying that stories people spend a while looking at are the most popular. Some lengthy visits are the fault of slow connections, for example. Equally, it is not safe to assume that only heavily liked and commented articles are the most read -- there are some stories that do not lend themselves to liking and commenting. Today's change aims to strike a balance between different weightings.
Google announces YouTube Gaming -- puts Amazon's Twitch in crosshairs
Playing video games is a very fun hobby. Hell, for some people, playing them is a job; yes, professional competitive gaming is a real thing. You know what else is cool? Watching other people play. While it was an absurd notion years ago, nowadays, people enjoy being spectators to another person's gameplay. I watch Pewdiepie, like, every day.
The most famous platform for streaming gameplay is Twitch, which is why Amazon bought the service for a ton of cheddar. Not to be outdone, however, Google today announces its own streaming service for gamers -- the unimaginatively named YouTube Gaming. While I do not expect a mass exodus from Twitch, Amazon's service will certainly lose some of its luster as a result. Interestingly, it will be run by former pro-gamer, Ryan Wyatt -- aka Fwiz -- most widely known as the former love interest of Justine Ezarik -- aka iJustine.
Uber puts passengers at risk with a flawed driver-approval process
Uber, the San Francisco-based private taxi firm, is putting its passengers in grave danger. The company uses a computerized driver sign-up system that can be easily fooled into authorizing drives with fake insurance papers. The transport network exploded onto the scene a few years ago, and a whistleblower claims that it is all too easy to cheat the system making it possible for virtually anyone to sign up to be an Uber driver.
The vulnerability was found to have been exploited in London where there are around 15,000 Uber drivers in operation. The scam has been demonstrated by The Guardian who worked with a whistleblower to fraudulently sign up as a driver. It was achieved using fabricated insurance papers from a made up company with a fake letterhead.
Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 10130 now available to download on the Slow ring
Microsoft released Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 10130 to the Fast ring two weeks ago, but it came with a couple of major bugs that meant it wasn’t suitable for all. Last week Microsoft pushed out ISOs of the build, for people who were having trouble updating to the new version through Windows Update, but it still wasn’t deemed stable enough for Slow ring Insiders.
Well, the good news is if you’re on the Slow ring you can finally update Windows 10 to Build 10130, as Microsoft is pushing the update out to everyone now. And your patience is rewarded with news that the update comes with some useful fixes.
Norton Security 2016 beta is faster, Windows 10-ready
Symantec has announced public betas for Norton Security 2016 and Norton Security with Backup 2016.
This isn’t a major update, as the company admits, saying: "None of the changes we’ve made will be directly visible to you". There are just a few under-the-hood changes to improve performance, while the package is now fully Windows 10-ready.
2015 is the year of 'merger mania'
I was recently reading in Forbes Magazine that the U.S. has had the best first quarter for mergers since 2000 with $414.7 billion (£267 billion), and it was the best first quarter ever for Asian (non-Japan) M&A with $199.7 billion (£128 billion).
In fact, the first quarter of 2015 will go down as the richest first quarter for mergers and acquisitions since Q1 2007. According to data from Thomson Reuters there has already been more than $843 billion (£543 billion) in global M&A activity this year. That’s 23.3 percent higher than the $694 billion (£447 billion) of M&A activity in the first quarter of last year, and nearly 72 percent higher than Q1 2013.
Acronis True Image 2016 beta adds mobile backup, Try&Decide is back
Acronis has unveiled the first public beta of Acronis True Image 2016 for Windows XP+ and Mac.
The headline addition this time is continuous mobile cloud backup for up to 10 iOS or Android devices.
Amazon building huge solar farm to power Web Services
Amazon Web Services (AWS) is about to become a lot more environmentally friendly after announcing the construction of an 80 megawatt solar farm.
The green proposal will generate 170,000 megawatt hours (MWh) of solar power each year, the equivalent of approximately 15,000 US homes.
Microsoft's Surface Pro 3 comfortably beats Apple's iPad Air 2 in speed tests
UK consumer watchdog Which? tested a range of popular tablets and discovered that when it comes to speed, there’s only one champion, and that’s Microsoft’s Surface Pro 3.
It turns out it wasn’t only Microsoft’s slate that bested Apple’s tablets in the speed stakes. The iPad mini 3, which sells for £319 in the UK, was beaten by the Tesco Hudl 2 which costs just £99.
Chrome for Mac now more resource efficient, lighter on battery consumption
It’s no secret that Chrome for Mac hogs more resources than Safari. The browser by Google has been receiving heat from experts and users alike for shortening their laptop's battery life by 2-3 hours. The good news is that the company finally seems committed to resolving these glitches.
Earlier this month the Mountain View-based giant took its first major step at bringing improvements to its browser when it announced that Chrome will begin to automatically pause flash content on web-pages if a user hasn’t looked at it in a while. The company is now sharing other efforts it is making to improve Chrome.
Take full control of your file system with NTFS Permissions Tools
NTFS permissions are a great way to control exactly what users can access on your system, at least in theory. So it’s a shame that their standard Windows interface is so complex and tedious, yet still doesn’t give you access to all the features you might need,
NTFS Permissions Tools is a free portable utility which makes it easier to perform some common security tasks, and adds a few expert-level bonus features as well.
Best Windows apps this week
One-hundred and thirty-three in a series. Welcome to this week's overview of the best apps and games released for Windows in the past seven days.
The Windows 10 release is less than two months away, at least for home PCs and tablets. If you are running Windows 7 or 8.1, you may be interested in reserving the upgrade for your system, or removing the notification if you don't plan to upgrade.
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