Latest Technology News

AI isn't biased, but you might be

AI

We've all seen the headlines suggesting that AI is racist and sexist. However, many people overlook one important fact -- that AI is simply a tool, incapable of being inherently biased. That’s not to say AI isn’t capable of producing biased outcomes -- as the headlines show, it certainly is. But it can only ever be as biased as the data upon which it relies.

So how can developers and marketers avoid deploying biased AI? Unfortunately, there is no magic one-size-fits-all solution. As with any successful technology deployment within a business, it requires a thorough understanding of the datasets you are working with, and the outcomes AI can produce with said data. The first step is knowing what to look for.

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Architectural options for ensuring high availability and disaster recovery in SQL Server

Architecturally speaking, what’s the difference between configuring SQL Server for high availability (HA) and configuring it for disaster recovery (DR)? The terms HA and DR are so often paired that one might imagine them to be the same -- when in fact they are distinct approaches to mitigating different risks.

Let’s start by distinguishing the risks. Let’s say your mission critical SQL Server infrastructure resides in a datacenter in Orlando, Florida. It doesn’t matter whether it’s your own data center, a co-location facility, or a cloud data center. A category 5 hurricane causes a catastrophic failure of the data center and your critical SQL Server infrastructure goes offline.

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Business professionals don't understand the benefits of 5G

Just 19 percent of US business professionals claim to understand the benefits of 5G, according to a survey by Ciena, carried out in partnership with research firm Dynata.

The main benefit associated with 5G is 'faster access speeds', cited by 61 percent of respondents. By contrast, only six percent of respondents think 'reduced latency' is a major benefit, only 18 percent named 'more reliable connectivity' and only 16 percent recognized 'better wireless coverage' as a major benefit.

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TCL 20 series of affordable Android smartphones finally available in the USA

The TCL 10 series of phones are some of my personal favorites. The company managed to break into the smartphone market with devices that were premium despite being very aggressively priced. In other words, TCL proved that even consumers on a budget can have a high-quality handset. Heck, the TCL 10 5G UW in particular was cutting-edge while being priced under $400.

And now, the follow-up to the TCL 10 series is coming to America. Yes, the TCL 20 series of smartphones are on their way to the USA market, and like its predecessors, they too are priced affordably. There is a trio of new smartphones -- TCL 20 Pro 5G, TCL 20S and TCL 20 SE.

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Enterprises aren't listening to their IT teams and are paying the price

Not listening

A disconnect between IT teams and the wider business is preventing organizations from adopting new technologies and jeopardizing their long-term response to the pandemic, according to new research from Insight.

Despite the importance of IT to delivering on strategic objectives, 72 percent treat IT as a utility rather than a business enabler, with just 22 percent giving IT a seat on the board. This has direct effects for enterprises as 55 percent are failing to take advantage of new technologies because they aren't listening to IT.

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Does Windows 11 really need TPM? Perhaps not...

Windows 11 dark Start menu

While there was undoubted excitement at the announcement of Windows 11's impending launch, there was also a great deal of confusion about system requirements. Concern built up around not only Microsoft setting the bar fairly high in terms of CPU generations, making many processors that are far from old essentially obsolete, but also TPM requirements.

Communication about Windows 11's reliance on Trusted Platform Module (TPM) has been poor. Is it TPM 1.2 that's needed, or TPM 2.0? It depends on who you listen to, and which documentations you read -- even official Microsoft documentation. But it turns out that TPM may not be required at all... only in certain circumstances though.

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These Apple devices can literally kill you

Apple devices can be literal life-savers. For instance, in an emergency, you can call 911 with an iPhone to summon help. Not to mention, there have been documented cases of Apple Watch detecting undiagnosed medical conditions. People ultimately go to the doctor to follow-up, and as a result, it ends up saving their lives.

As great as Apple devices are, they can also sometimes kill you. Like, seriously, some Apple products can possibly end your life -- if you have certain medical devices, that is, such as a pacemaker. And now, Apple is sharing a full list of its products that can interfere with medical devices and potentially lead to death. This expands upon its previously released list.

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You're not going to get a Windows 11 upgrade until next year

Windows 11

You've probably noticed that there has been an absolute glut of Windows 11 news in recent days. After Microsoft officially announced the upcoming version of its operating system, there has been excitement, analysis, disappointment, leaks, and much more.

And today, Microsoft has delivered some bad news. While Windows 11 is being released later this year, if you're currently running Windows 10, you're going to have to wait until 2022 to get your free upgrade.

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Upgrade to Windows 10 Pro at a big discount now... and get Windows 11 free later

10 - 11

If you bought a computer with Windows 10 pre-installed, the chances are that it came with Windows 10 Home Edition. While this is fine for day-to-day stuff, it does -- fairly obviously -- lacks many of the feature of Windows 10 Pro.

Many people are drawn to the idea of Windows 10 Professional but are put off by one thing. Price. But what about it Windows 10 Pro was significantly cheaper? We have a special offer that means you could save 65 percent off the usual selling price -- and then you can get a free upgrade to Windows 11 later!

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WhyNotWin11 is a better Windows 11 compatibility checker

11?

There is huge interest in Windows 11, in particular finding out if a computer can be upgraded to the latest version of Windows when it is released in the coming months. Microsoft has released its own PC Health Check app that reveals whether a computer can run Windows 11, but it is not overly informative -- even though it has been updated to provide more information.

But PC Health Check is not the only tool for checking if you can upgrade to Windows 11 or not. Another option is WhyNotWin11, which helps you to determine if you hardware is up to the task, including checking what TPM version your system has.

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Windows 11 is borrowing ideas from PowerToys

Windows 11 PowerToys

If you're a fan of utilities, you've very probably installed PowerToys for Windows 10. Long an essential software collection for older versions of the operating system, Microsoft gave the beloved tools a reboot for Windows 10 a couple of years ago, and it has gained an enthusiastic following.

And this is not surprising; the utility collection includes some incredible tools, and there's the promise of more great additions in the future. But it's not just us users who think PowerToys is great, the developers behind Windows 11 also appear to be fans. So much so that they decided to steal a few ideas from PowerToys and integrate them into Windows 11.

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Microsoft updates PC Health Check app so you'll know why you can't upgrade to Windows 11

Windows 11

Since Microsoft officially announced Windows 11 earlier this week, there has been a huge amount of interest from people eager to find out whether their computer is capable of running the operating system. The TPM (Trusted Platform Modules) requirement in particular has caused much confusion.

Microsoft released the Windows PC Health Check tool to allow people to check to see if their computer is compatible with Windows 11. While it is fair to say that it did indeed let reveal whether a system Windows 11 compatible or not, it did not give much more than a "yes" or "no". Now the tool has been updated to provide more helpful information, so if your computer fails the Window 11 compatibility test, you will know why.

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Windows 11 is only getting one major update each year

Windows 11 laptop

With Windows 10, Microsoft has been releasing two "feature updates" per year -- but with Windows 11, this release schedule is changing.In a move that will be welcomed by system administrators around the world, Microsoft will only be pushing out one big update per year.

While some people will mourn the loss of twice-yearly additions to the operating system, it will make life much easier for anyone managing large numbers of computers who is concerned about down time and problems. But this is not the only news about Windows 11's updates.

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Windows 11's Android app support is not as disappointing as you might think

Android apps in Windows 11

Microsoft has officially announced Windows 11, the dust has settled, and the excitement has died down a little. Now it's time to look at what we know is going to be included in the latest version of the operating system, rather than guessing and speculating as we have had to do up to now. And when we do this, there various reasons to be disappointed.

We always knew -- or at least suspected -- that Windows 11 was not going to be a major change from Windows 10. It has already been dismissed by some as being little more than a theme pack or service pack, but there are new features. One of the things that generated quite some interest is support for Android apps, but hearts then sank after learning that rather than Google Play, apps will need to come from the Amazon app store. But there is some great news...

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What I'd like to see in the upcoming Sling app

I’ve mentioned before that I replaced my satellite service with Sling about six years ago. Since then it’s added a cloud DVR and recently upped the capacity of that to what I consider to finally be a reasonable amount of storage space.  It’s also added quite a few more channels in that time. There have been app updates as well, some welcome and some not so much. 

Now the service teases another update coming soon. A box popped up on my screen the other day announcing the change and promising an improved TV experience "soon". 

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