Latest Technology News

One of the best things about Linux is having access to all the wonderful desktop environments (DEs). With Linux, you can often customize things to your heart's content, switching environments entirely if you prefer. Conversely, with Windows 10, for example, there is essentially just one user interface. Don't like it? Sucks to be you! If you run Windows, it is Microsoft's way or the highway. True, there is value in having all users sharing one experience, but ultimately, choice will always reign supreme.

Despite there being many great desktop environments available on Linux, only one can be the best. Consistently, for many years now, GNOME has been the greatest DE, and that is still true now. What makes it so wonderful? Well, GNOME 3.x is ideal for  productivity, allowing the user to focus on the task at hand. Not to mention, it is beautiful and simple -- it is a no-nonsense computing experience. There's a reason both Ubuntu and Fedora use GNOME as their default environment.

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Qi wireless charging is one of the best inventions ever -- from a consumer electronics perspective, at least. True, it's no penicillin or automobile, but it has been a godsend for smartphone users. No longer do you have to fiddle about with cables like early man. Instead, you can live like you are in the year 3020 and charge up your devices by placing them atop a pad. Hell, it's not just smartphones using this technology, but things like headsets and keyboards too! Yes, it seems like Qi is being added to everything these days, and I couldn't be more pleased.

Today, Logitech is expanding it Qi wireless charging game with a trio of new "POWERED" chargers. Evolving from the original model, this line of chargers is designed to focus on simplicity and excellence. In other words, not only do they charge your devices, but they will look good while doing it. After all, this is Logitech we are talking about -- its accessories are always excellent. In fact, the company is calling these chargers "magical."

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A new survey of over 300 enterprise chief information officers (CIOs) shows that more than 90 percent expect the pace of digital transformation to increase in 2020.

The report from Flexera shows that customer experience is the top driver of digital transformation efforts with 69 percent rating it very important, but only 36 percent considering themselves very mature in this area.

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In response to fast-growing demand for business mobility, Priority Software is launching an enhanced suite of mobile ERP applications, offering customers a rich ERP solution and full access to core business processes from remote locations.

Priority Mobile ERP includes a variety of new out-of-the-box mobile apps, along with advanced capabilities for its Mobile App Generator. These include digital document signature, document sharing via email or text, camera activation, barcode scanning, secure credit card processing and more -- all in real-time and directly from the mobile device.

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As enterprises make more use of widely-available analytics engines such as Presto, Apache Spark SQL or Apache Hive, they often run into inefficient data formats and face performance challenges as a result.

Open source cloud data software company Alluxio is launching a new Structured Data Service (SDS) that will allow developers and data scientists to benefit from a more simplified data platform that enables connections to different catalogs for access to structured data, with less copies and pipelines and more compute-optimized data.

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There are a huge number of streaming video services available these days. Netflix is the undoubted leader of the pack, but the likes of Hulu, Disney+ and Amazon Prime Video are also vying for your attention... and subscription fee.

Paying for numerous streaming services can quickly add up, but a site that bills itself as "pirate radio for streaming" has something of a solution. It lets you watch Hulu, Disney+, Netflix, HBO Now, Amazon Prime Video and Showtime for free. But how long will it last?

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Having inadvertently revealed details of an unpatched security flaw, Microsoft published an advisory that provides details on a recently detected vulnerability in the SMBv3 (Server Message Block) protocol.  Attackers who exploit the issue successfully "gain the ability to execute code on the target SMB Server or SMB Client" according to Microsoft's disclosure.

Attacks against SMB Servers use a specially crafted packet that is sent to the target. Attacks against SMB Clients are more complicated as it is required to configure a malicious SMBv3 Server and get users to connect to it.

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Microsoft has released a new tool that will please anyone who has been frustrated by the behavior of Visual Studio and its tendency to leave behind old versions of .NET Core SDKs and runtimes after an upgrade.

The company has launched the .NET Core Uninstall Tool for Windows and macOS -- Linux users miss out for the time being -- which enables developers to free up disk space by tidying up the mess of leftover SDKs and runtimes.

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Does the cybersecurity industry have an issue with gender bias? A new report from Tessian based on a survey of 200 female cybersecurity professionals in both the US and UK suggests that it does.

According to the results 82 percent of female cybersecurity professionals in the US believe that cybersecurity has a gender bias problem, compared with 49 percent of those in the UK.

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It has been a few weeks since we first had the chance to play around with Windows 10X thanks to Microsoft's emulator and image for the operating system. Now the company has released Microsoft Emulator v1.1.54.0 and the Windows 10X Emulator Image 10.0.19578.0.

There is quite a bit to explore in the new Windows 10X image, including a beta version of the File Manager app. There are also early tastes of the ability to run Win32 software in the operating system on dual-screen devices.

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Patch Tuesday is supposed to be the day Microsoft issues bug-fixing updates for Windows and other software, but this week things were a little different. In addition to the usual patches, the company also inadvertently revealed the existence of a critical vulnerability in the Microsoft Server Message Block 3.1.1 (SMBv3) protocol -- one for which there is currently no patch.

It seems that Microsoft had intended to issue a patch to the vulnerability (CVE-2020-0796) yesterday, and therefore referenced it in the introductory text for the Patch Tuesday release, but then changed its mind -- perhaps because the patch was not ready. Two cybersecurity firms also published brief details of the security flaw, and while Microsoft is still yet to issue a patch, the company has provided details of workarounds.

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For the team of freelance writers behind BetaNews, self-isolation is, for the most part, our default state.

However, as more people are being urged to self-isolate or work from home due to the threat of COVID-19, a timely report from DevOps platform (and all-remote business) GitLab reveals that the future of work may be remote anyway.

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From forecasting the weather each day, predicting the future price of an asset, or identifying seasonality in a company’s sales revenue, time series forecasting plays an incredibly important part of our personal and professional lives.

Forecasting the future is never an easy task, although in this article we’ll introduce several statistical and machine learning techniques that can help us with the task. In particular, we’ll cover the following topics:

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In 2019, global private investment in AI technology reached $70 Billion, representing a massive buy-in from start-ups and big corporations alike. From self-driving cars to advanced medical diagnosis, the potential for AI to shift the very foundations of our lifestyles is growing.

And yet, 65 percent of companies have not seen business gains from their AI investments. That potential, it seems, is being stymied. But why?

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Project OWL, the winner of 2018's Call for Code, is a cloud-based analytics tool that assists in organization, whereabouts, and logistics for disaster response.

Today The Linux Foundation is announcing that it's making Project OWL's IoT device firmware open source to help developers around the world build mesh network nodes for global emergency communications networks.

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