Apple has long taken a walled garden approach with so many of its products, but this is perhaps most apparent for iPhone users who are only able to install apps from the official App Store. But with the release of iOS 17, this looks set to change.

The ability to easily sideload apps from other sources is something that Apple customers have desired for years, and while the iPhone-maker seems on the verge of giving people what they want, it is not necessarily the case that the company is doing so willingly.

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Announced last year in partnership with Goldman Sachs, the much-anticipated Apple Savings Account finally launched earlier today. Despite the long delay between announcing and launching the bank account, signing up for it was a surprisingly bad experience,

Firstly, it requires you to own an iPhone (on iOS 16.4 or higher) and be in the USA. I luckily meet this criteria, but understandably, Apple fans in other places would like to take advantage of the impressive APY (currently 4.15%). Of course, if and when the account launches in other countries, the rate is likely to vary based on location -- the percentage is unlikely to be the same regardless of country.

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Linux live disks provide a convenient and versatile solution for trying out various distributions without the need for installation. These bootable USB drives or CD/DVDs allow users to run a fully functional operating system directly from the removable media before committing to a full installation.

If you prefer Microsoft's operating system, it is now possible to create a live disk for Windows 11 -- fantastic news for anyone uncertain about whether the new OS will suit their needs and would like to try it first.

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Technology and the data that powers it are continually evolving. This is particularly true with enterprise organizations, which are more focused than ever on protecting and securing their data across increasingly complex IT environments. Against this backdrop, what do enterprises need to focus on? 

Firstly, a Modern Data Protection strategy and the deployed backup solution supporting it must be able to protect workloads across any IT environment. The rise of cloud migration and affiliated services has meant that the physical data center is no longer the heart of the IT infrastructure. The Veeam Data Protection Trends Report 2023 found that the average breakdown of servers is 28 percent in physical servers within a data center, 25 percent on virtual machines (VMs) hosted within the data center and 47 percent on VMs hosted within a hyperscaler or Managed Service Provider (MSP). This means that the modern environment is heavily dispersed, highly virtualized and mostly cloud-hosted. 

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A new enterprise-grade, native cloud storage solution aims to deliver increased speed, affordability and security thanks to its use of decentralized Web3 technology.

Impossible Cloud supports almost unlimited capacity, and its Object Storage solution offers a scalable, cost-efficient alternative for organizations that require reliable and secure storage.

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Recent supply chain attacks such as SolarWinds, Log4j and 3CX have highlighted the need to protect the software supply chain as well as the potential consequences of failing to properly assess the integrity of software.

A new report from software supply chain security management company Lineaje looks at the composition of open-source software and assesses the risks associated with its usage.

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After multiple beta releases, Binary Fortress Software has finally released DisplayFusion 10.0, a major new build of its multi-display management tool for Windows. The major release comes almost six years after DisplayFusion 9.0’s release, and its primary feature is to promise full Windows 11 compatibility.

The new build also ships with numerous changes, starting with an upgrade to .NET 7.0, which means the build is now only officially supported on machines running Windows 10 1607 or later, although it should continue to install on PCs running Windows 7 or later -- albeit at the user’s own risk.

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The trend towards hybrid work has meant that face-to-face meetings have been widely supplanted by collaboration tools like Zoom, Teams and Slack.

With the advent of the metaverse, virtual interaction is set to become even more common. We spoke to Martin Bodley, director of emerging business at Bose Work to find out more about how this new world might look and how it can draw on expertise gained from video games.

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Following days of rumors, SEGA has confirmed plans to acquires mobile game firm Rovio.

Best known for its Angry Birds range of title, the Finnish firm is being snapped up by SEGA in a $776.2 million (€706 million) deal. The tender offer from the company behind Sonic the Hedgehog is due to start next month, and the acquisition is expected to close in Q2 of FY2024/3.

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Google has issued an emergency update for Chrome which should be installed as soon as possible to plug a vulnerability known to be under active exploitation. The update is available for Windows, macOS and Linux.

In releasing Chrome v112.0.5615.121 for desktop to the stable channel, Google addresses the high severity CVE-2023-2033 as well as issuing other fixes. Described as a "type confusion in V8 in Google Chrome", CVE-2023-2033 is being exploited in the wild, hence the need for the emergency patch.

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There's probably no one who hasn't heard of ChatGPT, an AI-powered chatbot that can generate human-like responses to text prompts. While it's not without its flaws, ChatGPT is scarily good at being a jack-of-all-trades: it can write software, a film script and everything in between. ChatGPT was built on top of GPT-3.5, OpenAI’s large language model, which was the most advanced at the time of the chatbot's release last November.

Fast forward to March, and OpenAI unveiled GPT-4, an upgrade to GPT-3.5. The new language model is larger and more versatile than its predecessor. Although its capabilities have yet to be fully explored, it is already showing great promise. For example, GPT-4 can suggest new compounds, potentially aiding drug discovery, and create a working website from just a notebook sketch.

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Microsoft has issued a warning about compatibility issues that can interfere with the new Windows LAPS and Legacy LAPS.

A few days ago, the company released the KB5025239 update for Windows 11 which, among other things, saw the arrival of the new Windows Local Administrator Password Solution (LAPS). The introduction of a new LAPS means that the previous system is now referred to as legacy LAPS.

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There can be few internet users who are not aware of Wordle, the outrageously popular word-guessing game that is now owned by the New York Times. The game has a huge number of fans all over the world, and it has served as inspiration for many derivatives.

One such Wordle-inspired game is one for music fans, developed by Spotify. Bursting onto the scene in the middle of 2022, the music-guessing game Heardle earned itself an eager following. But disappointment is on the horizon; Spotify has announced that Heardle is closing down.

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The UK Defense sector is poised for a significant shift towards cloud services in 2023, aimed at unlocking the potential of data and attracting top talent to drive the initiative.

Over the past few years, the Ministry of Defense (MoD) has made great strides in cloud adoption through its MODCloud program, resulting in cost savings and improved data accessibility and security. However, the true value lies in the 24/7 cloud services on offer. The recently published Cloud Strategic Roadmap for Defense sets out the ambition.

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In the latest Windows 11 Dev build, there is a new Gallery in File Explorer for browsing your photos. This is something that is likely to prove popular, but the same build also include some rather more controversial changes.

 In Windows 11 build 23435, Microsoft is tinkering further with the Start menu bringing ads to the heart of the operating system. The company likes to refer to this advertising as "badging", but the latest attempt to promote Windows 365 and Microsoft accounts is more likely to be seen as badgering.

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