The fallout from Donald Trump's ban from Twitter and suspension from Facebook, and Amazon's de-platforming of Parler continues as large numbers of users have been signing up to alternative social networks.

Many of these like Gab and Mastodon are decentralized in that they run on their own servers rather than relying on the public cloud so they are not at the mercy of larger businesses.

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As organizations continue to digitally transform business processes, they are increasingly transitioning from legacy applications to modern, cloud-native apps. These intricate modern apps feature far more APIs than their predecessors: In the past, an average app would usually include 1-2 APIs, but now they typically feature dozens. To make things more difficult, many of these new APIs are deeply embedded and hidden. Securing these APIs (and the larger app environments where they live) is proving extremely difficult.

Several other trends are also exacerbating the problem. For one, these new cloud-native apps are mostly built on microservices architectures. With microservices, apps are chopped up into smaller, disparate components. These components or services are then distributed across various clusters and locations, including potentially multiple public clouds and the edge. In addition, most organizations today employ a continuous software development cycle (including CI/CD) in which engineers are constantly churning out new versions of apps. Each new release comes with new APIs. For example, when a developer fixes a bug in an app, they deploy a new API.

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There was this big hope that 2021 would be wonderful after 2020 was so terrible. Well, folks, so far that's certainly not the case. People are dying of COVID-19 at record numbers, while vaccinations for the virus remain woefully low. Oh, and here in the USA, we had a friggin' coup attempt. Sigh. 2021 is already garbage.

Thankfully, we have distractions from the bad news with things like sports and technology. Speaking of the latter, this week is CES 2021 and we are already seeing some cool new products. For instance, today, PNY announces the XLR8 CS3140 M.2 NVMe Gen4 x4 SSD. It offers insanely fast speeds -- up to 7,500MB/s read and up to 6,850MB/s write. This NVMe Gen 4.0 SSD can even be had with a monstrous heatsink to assist in cooling.

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USB-C is amazing. The reversible connector is so much more convenient than the older rectangular USB-A plug. Not to mention, since USB-C is smaller, computer manufacturers can rely on it exclusively for connectivity, allowing thinner laptops than ever before. Need USB-A, Ethernet, or a card reader? There is a USB-C dongle or adapter for that!

Rather than buy an individual dongle, it is much more cost-effective to simply buy a dock or hub. Today, Plugable launches its latest such product. Called "USBC-7IN1E," it is a beautiful 7-in-1 USB-C hub that offers two USB-A, gigabit Ethernet, micro SD, SD, and HDMI. It also has a USB-C PD (Power Delivery) port. It is compatible with Windows 10, macOS, desktop Linux, Chrome OS, Android, and iPadOS

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2020 was a bad year for humanity overall, but it had some good moments -- especially for AMD. In the PC market, that company embarrassed Intel by delivering more powerful processors at very affordable prices. On the mobile front, AMD's Ryzen 4000 mobile processors were very well received by professional reviewers and consumers alike. To make matters worse for Intel, even Apple ditched the company's processors for Mac, instead opting for its own ARM-based chips.

So, yeah, 2020 belonged to AMD. But the company seems disinterested in merely resting on its laurels. You see, today at CES 2021, AMD unveils its Ryzen 5000 mobile processors -- most of which are based on the Zen 3 architecture. Intel is likely very worried about these new chips, fearing a repeat of 2020 in the PC market.

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The Universal Media Server Project has released Universal Media Server 10.0.0, a major new update of its open-source, cross-platform Java-based media server for Windows, Mac and Linux computers.

The server, which works with a wide range of UPNP/DLNA-compatible devices from mobiles to smart TVs, gains significant improvements to its web and DLNA browsing interface, with the aim of providing more flexible and visually pleasing options for navigating the user’s content.

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Almost half (49 percent) of companies globally expect to increase IT spending in 2021, while 19 percent expect to keep it the same and 32 percent expect it to decrease, according to a new report from Flexera.

The pandemic has had an effect too, with 57 percent saying they increased spend to-date for SaaS due to COVID, and 49 percent saying they increased public cloud spend, while 36 percent decreased spend on on-premises software.

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The past year and the rapid changes it has brought have placed a good deal of pressure on security analysts and made their work vitally important.

A new report from Respond Software and the Ponemon Institute takes a look at the state of security operations centers (SOCs) and how they're coping.

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Over half (54 percent) of organizations that store customer data in the cloud had security incidents in 2020. As a result, as many as 62 percent plan to remove sensitive data from the cloud or have already done so to improve their data security.

These are the findings of a new report from Netwrix which shows the most common types of cloud security incidents in 2020 are phishing (reported by 40 percent of organizations), ransomware or other malware (24 percent), and accidental data leakage (17 percent).

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Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic mask wearing has become the norm in many public situations. While this might be good to prevent infection spreading it does have some downsides including muffled phone calls.

Consumer electronics company Binatone is using this week’s CES to launch a clever solution, a wireless headphone and facemask combined.

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It was a long time coming, but as 2020 came to an end, Adobe stopped supporting its much-maligned Flash Player. Now, nearly two weeks into 2021, the company is taking things a step further.

Users have already been advised to uninstall the software and, starting today, there is a new reason to do so besides helping to boost security. Today is the day that all Flash content is blocked, meaning there really is no point in having the obsolete tool installed.

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In what the history books are sure to label The Pandemic Years: A Tale of Lockdowns and Coronavirus, it’s safe to say individual workplace care has taken on a brand new meaning.

Amongst face masks and other PPE, employee safety is emerging as a more pressing concern than ever before -- and with these fresh demands, technology rises to the challenge, providing innovative solutions and a sense of security in an otherwise uncertain environment.

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In the run-up to Inauguration Day, and in the wake of violent events at the Capitol last week, tensions are running high in the US. With numerous social media platforms having banned outgoing president Trump from using their services, Facebook has now announced that it is banning a phrase that has become strongly associated with right-wing conspiracy theories about election fraud.

Having already removed a group called Stop the Steal a couple of months ago, Facebook is now going to be removing all content that uses these words. The phrase "stop the steal" is effectively banned on both Facebook and Instagram, and the company says that it will be working around the clock to enforce its policies until after president-elect Joe Biden is inaugurated.

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Regular Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) is great, but Wi-Fi 6E will be even better -- that's why many consumers skipped Wi-Fi 6 and stuck with Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac). But wait, what exactly is the difference? Does that letter "E" really matter? Actually, yes, because it indicates the use of a 6GHz band -- a much less crowded frequency compared to 2.4GHz or 5GHz. This extra bandwidth, lower latency, and reduced congestion is why Wi-Fi 6E is so exciting.

Of course, to truly take advantage of this new standard, you will need both a router and clients with the capability. Thankfully, popular networking hardware-maker, TP-Link, is rolling out an all-new lineup of Wi-Fi 6E routers. This company has quickly become one of my favorite router manufacturers thanks to reliability and affordable prices -- I recommend this sub-$80 router all the time.

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Ahh, ThinkPad. There is probably no line of Windows laptops that's more respected or celebrated. And look, it isn't hard to see why. The notebook computer series started by IBM, and ultimately taken over by Lenovo, has proven to be one of the most reliable in the industry. You really can never go wrong with a ThinkPad. Pricey? Sometimes. But often worth the cost.

Today, Lenovo unveils a new laptop that it claims to be "the thinnest ThinkPad ever." Called "ThinkPad X1 Titanium Yoga," this convertible notebook has a thickness of just 11.5 mm. Despite its thin body, it can be configured with impressive specifications, such as an 11th gen Intel Core i7, up to 16GB of RAM and up to a 1TB SSD. It even offers 5G connectivity. And of course, it has the traditional ThinkPad pointing nub.

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