Latest Technology News

Tech issues at home can be frustrating enough when you're trying to stream a movie or set up a video call with the family, but they're even more of an issue if you're trying to work from home too.

New research from comparison site InMyArea.com looks at how tech issues are affecting the home workforce. It finds that 47 percent of employees have spent their own money to solve technical problems, with 20 percent spending $100 or more.

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Vivaldi Technologies has unveiled Vivaldi 3.7 for Windows, Mac, Linux and Android. The challenger web browser’s main focus in this new release is performance on desktop, while Android users gain improvements to the Bookmarks Manager as well as onboarding pages to introduce new versions as well as welcome new users to the app.

Performance gains are primarily delivered through faster opening and closing of new tabs and windows, with tabs opening twice as fast as previously and new windows appearing 26 percent faster than before. Lucky owners of Apple’s new M1-based Mac range should also notice further improvements thanks to the unveiling of the first native build for the ARM-based chipset.

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Nowadays, more and more people are utilizing wireless networking almost exclusively -- particularly in homes. Enthusiasts and business users, however, may choose wired networking for security and performance purposes. Many of these folks will have mere Gigabit networks, but some are going the multi-gig route these days, with 5G or even 10G.

For whatever reason, 2.5G often gets overlooked, and this is a shame. Why? Well, 2.5G network capabilities are showing up in more computers and motherboards nowadays, and it can be the most affordable way to go multi-gig. For instance, 2.5G cards and dongles won't break the bank, while 2.5Gbps speeds can theoretically be achieved with existing Cat5e. And now, TRENDnet releases two affordable unmanaged 2.5G switches. Called "TEG-S380" and "TEG-S350," the former offers eight ports, while the latter has five.

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Wait. You don't have a Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) router? Ugh. You are not living your life properly. Look, even if you don't have any Wi-Fi 6 devices yet, you can score such a router for less than $79.99. Seriously, folks, it's time to upgrade your aging wireless networking gear already. If you have a large home, however, you will want to consider a more powerful mesh system. And yes, there are mesh Wi-Fi 6 solutions available.

If you are looking to upgrade to 802.11ax and mesh, NETGEAR has a new "whole home" Wi-Fi 6 system that should interest you. The "MK83 Nighthawk," as it is called, offers Tri-Band AX3600 Wi-Fi via three access points (one router and two satellites) to blanket your home in connectivity. In fact, NETGEAR claims it is capable of up to 6,750 square feet.

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Google's Nest Hub is an integral part of my home. It is on my living room table where it serves as a clock, but it is so much more than that. Hub is in "earshot" of my kitchen too, so I use it all the time for setting timers while cooking. When I take a nap on the couch, it is my alarm clock. Oh, and when I need to turn the lights on (or off), it does that for me too. All of these actions are done by voice -- "Hey, Google."

One of the reasons that I chose Nest Hub is for privacy -- it doesn't have a camera like some other hardware assistants do. Today, Google finally announces the second generation Nest Hub, and I am happy to say it also does not have a camera. With that said, it can optionally watch you sleep. Wait, what?

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Bluetooth headphones are very cool, but they have a huge problem -- they run on batteries. And so, while people seem happy to invest in expensive wireless options like Apple AirPods, when they run out of power, they can leave the consumer feeling quite foolish. Why? Because "old school" wired headphones never had this problem.

Sadly, many smartphone manufacturers have done away with 3.5mm audio jacks, making it harder than ever to use traditional headphones. Logitech wants to cater to fans of wires, however, as the company today launches the G333 wired USB-C gaming earphones with integrated microphone.

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Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly gaining momentum as a vital business resource as organizations discover new use cases in their efforts to improve processes, increase efficiency and automate costly, manual tasks. Industries such as financial services are ideal for AI-driven applications and a related technology, machine learning (ML), because they can bolster customer service and leverage data to increase competitiveness.

AI includes software that’s designed to work in ways similar to the human brain, while machine learning encompasses programs that alter themselves based on data that’s fed into the programs in order to train them.

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Cybercriminals had a busy year in 2020, with rapidly increasing numbers of distributed denial of service (DDoS) weapons, widespread botnet activity, and some of the largest DDoS attacks ever recorded. As COVID-19 drove an urgent shift online for everything from education and healthcare, to consumer shopping, to office work, hackers had more targets available than ever -- many of them under protected due to the difficulty of maintaining security best practices in an emergency scenario.

At the same time, the ongoing rollout of 5G technologies has accelerated the proliferation of IoT and smart devices around the world, making unsuspecting new recruits available for botnet armies to launch crushing attacks on a massive scale.  

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Business conversations have included digital transformation for decades. However, more recent innovations have made it much easier for businesses to seamlessly integrate digital technology into their operations. 

While these technologies improve efficiency, support personalization, and promote safety, they also challenge risk managers to protect company information, prevent data breaches, and reduce potential threats that can accompany doing business with third-party vendors.

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Cybercriminals are using more sophisticated ransomware tactics and more dangerous variants, like Ryuk, to earn an easy payday. This has seen a 62 percent increase globally and a 158 percent spike in North America since 2019.

The latest Cyber Threat Report from SonicWall highlights how COVID-19 has provided threat actors with opportunities for more powerful, aggressive and numerous attacks, thriving on the fear and uncertainty of remote and mobile work forces navigating corporate networks from home.

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Today’s business leaders are faced with competing challenges and uncharted waters as they continue to navigate the impacts of COVID-19. During the past year, we’ve seen a rise in e-commerce and increased reliance on the cloud to facilitate communications and collaboration and support contactless services.

As business and IT decision makers look to capitalize on new or existing cloud investments and accelerate digital transformation efforts, implementing nimble IT resources is an essential component of the process and will set businesses up for long-term success. Getting the most out of their investment means taking advantage of every opportunity to improve operations and customer experiences through seamless integrations. One such technology that can help in this regard is APIs.

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If you are a Linux user, you can't go wrong with Intel. That company's processors, chipsets, wireless cards, and other hardware have long been very compatible with Linux-based operating systems. An all-Intel system should be a headache-free experience with Linux. If you want to game or do other graphic-intensive actions, however, an NVIDIA GPU has historically been the best option -- a better experience than AMD graphics cards.

Nowadays, AMD-based systems are Linux-friendly too, and Radeon graphics are becoming more commonplace in computers running Linux distros. Today, popular Linux-based computer-seller System76 finally launches its first-ever laptop to have both an AMD processor and AMD graphics -- the 2021 "Pangolin" that we told you about in December. This is not only historic for System76, but it is a godsend for Linux users that are fans of AMD.

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Microsoft Active Directory (AD) is used by 90 percent of enterprises as the primary source of trust for identity and access, but it's also exploited in many cyberattacks.

Since AD is rarely safeguarded effectively, attackers have come to depend on weak configurations to identify attack paths, access privileged credentials and get a foothold in target networks.

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Understandably, more and more people are choosing laptops these days, as they are more convenient for those that need to work on the go. By utilizing a docking station, you can usually turn notebooks into makeshift desktops too. With all of that said, true desktops do provide better expandability, upgradeability, and sometimes, better performance too. And so, some consumers are better off with a desktop PC.

If you are in the market for a Windows 10 desktop, you can't go wrong with Dell's XPS Desktop. Today, the company refreshes this beautiful desktop with 11th Gen Intel Core processors. It even comes with an optical drive (DVD-RW or Blu-ray burner) -- something that has become quite rare on modern computers.

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The latest Quarterly Threat Insights Report from HP shows that 29 percent of malware captured between October and December 2020 was previously unknown, due to the widespread use of packers and obfuscation techniques by attackers seeking to evade detection.

In addition 88 percent of malware was delivered by email into users' inboxes, in many cases having bypassed gateway filters. It took 8.8 days, on average, for threats to become known by hash to antivirus engines, giving hackers over a week’s head-start on their campaigns.

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