100,000 mostly dull photos leak online -- behind the 'Snappening' hype
After all of the recent stories related to the Fappening you could be forgiven for thinking that stories about leaks of nude photos were becoming passé.
That didn't stop the media going into overdrive at the weekend when news emerged of 100,000 (or 200,000 depending on where you read the story) images from disposable message service Snapchat being leaked online.
Six ways consumer software can revolutionize your IT
Not too long ago, the phrase "consumer-friendly" was something of a scarlet letter as it applied to business technology. Consumer tech was always viewed as dumbed-down and less capable than anything used in the enterprise setting, so it was practically unthinkable to bring consumer-grade software into the workplace.
Fast-forward to today, and platforms like Salesforce and Yammer and Workday are consistently demonstrating that consumer-level accessibility doesn’t require a decrease in technological capability. We can have our cake and eat it too. Here are six ways you can consumerize your own IT -- without dumbing it down.
Samsung's new Wi-Fi technology enables 4.6Gbps transfer speeds
It is only natural for Wi-Fi transfer speeds to increase as we are getting closer to the Internet of Things (IoT). The new technology era will see virtually every single thing we can imagine being designed, from the start, to go online. That requires technologies which can cope with the extra load. But since what we have now is seemingly not good enough, Samsung, being heavily invested in IoT, has decided to take matters into its own hands.
As it works towards bringing its Smart Home concept to fruition, which is an integral part of its IoT plans, Samsung announces today that the new Wi-Fi technology it has developed, formally known as 802.11ad, will enable transfer speeds of up to 4.6 Gbs (575 MBps). In plain English it means that a 1 GB file will be downloaded in less than two seconds.
Windows 10: How to quickly switch between the Start menu and Start screen
The main highlight in the Windows 10 Technical Preview is unquestionably the new Start menu. It is the perfect blend of the old and the new, mixing the Windows 7 Start menu with Windows 8's tiled Start screen.
If, however, you’re a Windows 8.x user who has become accustomed to working in the Start screen, you may not want to take the 'backward step' of returning to a Start menu. (My colleague Mark Wilson certainly feels your pain). The good news is Windows 10 lets you choose between the Start menu and Start screen, although switching backwards and forwards between the two modes is rather cumbersome. Fortunately, there’s a simple solution.
Microsoft app lets you adjust Pen pressure sensitivity on Surface Pro 3
Microsoft Surface Pro 3 is one of the greatest tablets for content creators. It can run full-blown software like AutoCAD, Lightroom, Office and Photoshop because Windows 8.1 runs the show, it rivals ultrabooks in the speed department, can double as a laptop with a Type Cover attached, offers good battery life thanks to efficient processors and, on top of all this, ships with a neat stylus as well, out-of-the-box, which Microsoft calls Surface Pen.
Surface Pen is a precise input tool, which comes in handy when users want to draw, sketch or take notes, for instance. Still, for those who would like to make the stylus even more precise in operation can turn to Microsoft's new app, Surface Hub, to adjust pressure sensitivity, among other things.
Free tablets for UK pensioners as Argos promotes digital skills
We're increasingly becoming a digital society, yet almost one in five people in the UK lack digital skills and 52 percent of those are aged over 65.
In an effort to provide practical skills and access to technology, catalog retailer Argos has partnered with digital skills charity Go ON UK to offer workshops to 10,000 adults.
Jony Ive accuses Xiaomi and others of copying Apple
Apple may still be the number one brand in the world, but it's no longer head, shoulders and torso above the competition.
The likes of HTC and Sony have caught up with (and arguably surpassed) the firm in the smartphone market, while Lenovo and Microsoft are absolutely hounding the iPad and MacBook with their terrific Yoga and Surface products.
British criminals are remotely wiping mobile devices while in police custody
Offenders are using software to remotely wipe tablets and smartphones confiscated by the police so they cannot be used as evidence in criminal cases.
Police forces in Cambridgeshire, Derbyshire, Nottingham and Durham all admitted to the BBC that seized devices have been remotely "wiped" of all data to prevent it being used as evidence in court.
The battle to wipe out revenge porn continues
In the wake of the Fappening, online porn and nudity has been thrust into the public consciousness once again. But porn is about much more than titillating celebrity photos -- even if research shows that we're finding it easier to waste our time online when we should be getting on with work. Revenge porn is on the rise, and steps are being taken to try to thwart its progress. As the Fappening showed us, taking saucy pictures of oneself or partner is far from uncommon. This is fun and exciting in the middle of a relationship, but if that relationship should break down, there's no knowing what could happen to those pictures and videos.
Disgruntled partners may decide to get revenge on their former lovers by sharing those intimate photos and movies online, or it may be obtained by a third party and used as a tool for bribery. Many US states have outlawed the practice, and now the UK is following suit.
Run multiple programs in one desktop window with TaskSpace
Running multiple PC programs side-by-side isn’t difficult, but can require a little preparation as you move, resize and reorganise each window.
TaskSpace offers an interesting alternative, running multiple programs in a single desktop window, and so making them much easier to manage.
ChrisPC DNS Switch 2.0 brings a new Pro edition
ChrisPC has released ChrisPC DNS Switch 2.0, a significant update for its free DNS selection tool.
The core DNS list has been updated, and in a click or two can set your PC to use OpenDNS, Google Public DNS, Comodo Secure DNS, Norton, Yandex, BlockAid, DynDNS and many more. There are 34 servers in total and you can add another 15.
Pale Moon 25.0 released, moves further away from Firefox, drops Windows XP support
Moonchild Productions has released a major update to its Firefox browser variant for Windows with the release of Pale Moon 25.0 and Pale Moon x64 25.0, which sees the browser drop support for Windows XP.
Version 25.0 sees the version number jump for the first time since the browser forked away from its Firefox parent due to major changes in the way the browser identifies itself.
Kmart has a blue light special on malware -- system breach exposes credit card numbers
As someone who grew up in a lower middle class family in the suburbs known as Long Island, there were two places I spent a lot of time shopping with my mom -- Cheap Johns and Kmart. While the former has since gone out of business, the latter still stands. Actually, the fact that it is still operating is surprising -- don't get me wrong, it is an OK store, but Walmart has lower prices and better selection, even if the overall experience is poor. Once Walmart opened in my area, many people ditched Kmart -- the store famous for its "blue light specials". Heck, if someone wants to step up to a nicer store than Walmart, they'll likely head to Target nowadays -- sorry, Kmart.
Unfortunately for Kmart, it now shares something other than low-prices with Target -- malware and data breaches. Yes, today Kmart announces that its payment systems were breached, and debit and credit card numbers have been stolen. Should we be worried?
Netflix officially comes to Ubuntu Linux by way of Google's Chrome browser
As a Linux user, I understand the pain of using it exclusively on the desktop. Sure, you may find that a Linux distribution does everything you want, until it doesn't. Life is known to throw curve-balls, and new needs and wants often come along to spoil the party. Oh, a new obscure piece of hardware has been released? Sorry, no Linux support. Oh you want to watch Netflix? Sorry buddy, Linux is not welcome -- or is it?
Actually, starting today, Netflix is now compatible with Linux; well technically, only Ubuntu and only on the Chrome browser. Still, the open source desktop community is in need of a win, so I'll chalk it up as one. Despite the narrow availability, Netflix is here -- fire up that System76 laptop and get watching!
Windows 10 Technical Preview feedback: what users want to change
Microsoft is encouraging people who have downloaded the Windows 10 Technical Preview to provide feedback on the embryonic operating system. The Start menu is something that users have been begging for, and changes to the Command Prompt have been a very long time coming, but just what do testers think of Windows 10 so far? There's still quite some time to go until Windows 10 is released giving Microsoft lots of opportunity to respond to user feedback. This is what Microsoft is all about these days after all.
With help from one of the readers of his Supersite for Windows, Paul Thurrott has pulled together a list of the top ten requests that have been received so far. The methodology may not be entirely scientific, but it does give an interesting insight into how Windows 10 has been received and what people would like to see changed.
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