Latest Technology News

When it first came out in 2005, the diminutive Mac mini was a game-changing computer. Sure, it was woefully under-powered, but never before could you buy a Mac for $499. It truly allowed any consumer to jump into the Apple desktop world -- something previously reserved for those with large bank accounts.

While the newest Mac mini (introduced in 2018) is still small and fairly affordable, the $499 starting price is long gone. Instead, it now costs a minimum of $799 to get a Mac. Sigh. Sadly, even with a higher price, one of the most glaring issues to plague the Mac mini in 2005 is still an issue 14 years later -- there are no front ports! Apple chose to hide all the connectors on the rear -- the company often chooses form over function. Thankfully, the new 2-in-1 Mac mini stand and hub from Satechi solves this problem while retaining the elegant design.

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Privacy-focused search engine DuckDuckGo announced the launch of a new feature today that it calls Smarter Encryption.

Smarter Encryption is designed to upgrade requests to HTTP sites automatically to HTTPS if the site in question supports HTTPS and if it is on DuckDuckGo's list of sites that can be upgraded.

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Software bots are being used to automate repetitive processes in two thirds of businesses, but this can present risks depending on how properly their access to data is governed.

New research from SailPoint finds many organizations do not have the correct oversight into their day-to-day bot activities. Only five percent of respondents say they have 100 percent of bots, and their access, accounted for in their identity process.

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Ten organizations including Avira, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Kaspersky, Malwarebytes and NortonLifeLock, have joined in a global initiative called the Coalition Against Stalkerware.

Stalkerware programs carry the possibility for intrusion into a person’s private life and are being used as a tool for abuse in cases of domestic violence and stalking. By installing these apps, abusers can get access to their victim's messages, photos, social media, geolocation, audio or camera recordings, and in some cases, this can be done in real-time.

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The camera applications within Google, Samsung and other Android smartphones could be vulnerable to attack, according to some new research.

Researchers at security platform Checkmarx found that in certain circumstances adversaries can take over smartphone camera apps to record videos, take photos, eavesdrop on conversations, and identify GPS coordinates, all without the user knowing.

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Digital identity platform ForgeRock is launching an Identity Platform-as-a-Service solution to help developers embed modern identity capabilities into their apps.

ForgeRock Identity Cloud provides a full suite of capabilities for identity requirements in any business environment utilizing the same APIs and SDKs as the ForgeRock Identity Platform, so customers can use ForgeRock in any deployment model, on premises, hybrid cloud, public cloud, or as-a-service.

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Joining the likes of Mozilla and Google, Microsoft has announced that it will support DNS over HTTPS (DoH).

The company says that the adoption of encrypted DNS is important for the overall health of the internet ecosystem. It goes on to set out a number of principles that will be at the heart of adopting DoH in the Windows DNS client.

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Microsoft has always provided numerous ways to upgrade to the latest version of Windows 10, and things are no different with the November 2019 Update.

For most people, the first port of call should be Windows Update, but this does not work for everyone. If you're one of the frustrated many who are yet to see the November 2019 Update offered though this automatic channel, you can now turn to the Windows 10 Update Assistant to get your operating system up to date.

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New research launched today by data erasure and mobile device diagnostics specialist Blancco Technology Group finds end-of-life devices are leaving businesses at risk of data breaches.

The survey of 1,850 senior leaders from the world's largest enterprises in APAC, Europe and North America finds 73 percent agree that the large volume of different devices at end-of-life leaves their company vulnerable to a data security breach, while 68 percent say they are very concerned about the risk of data breach from this equipment.

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Social media has evolved over the years in ways that few could have predicted. The likes of Facebook and Twitter are used not only for keeping in touch with friends and family, but also for keeping up to date with news.

But there are endless problems with current social networks, with ads and fake or misleading news being serious problems and irritants. Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia, has launched a new social network called WT:Social. It is free from ads and has a news focus. Importantly, users are able to edit headlines which are incorrect or deceptive.

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Microsoft has announced changes to its Online Services Terms for commercial cloud customers after an EU investigation raise concerns about existing policies' compliance with European regulation.

The company bills the changes as the introduction of "more privacy transparency" in the wake of a probe into potential violations of GDPR relating to telemetry data collected from Office 365 users. Microsoft says the new contractual terms will be offered to customers globally, not just within Europe.

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Apple has sent out invitations to a surprise event to be held on December 2 in New York City. It has the tagline "Loved by millions. Created by the best".

The event is billed by Apple as a "special event honoring our favorite apps and games of 2019". It is more usual for end of year app picks to be simply highlighted in the App Store so, while it is unlikely that we'll see any new hardware unveiled, it's possible the bigger staging will be used to reveal just when the new Mac Pro will be released.

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The smart home concept is one of the best uses of modern technology. Not only do these home devices make your life easier, but they can make you and your family safer too. For instance, thanks to Wi-Fi cameras, smart smoke detectors, and internet-connected alarm systems, you can be alerted to danger.

Video doorbells are all the rage these days, and owning one is an essential part of any smart home strategy. Unfortunately, the most popular model -- Ring by Amazon -- has close ties with law enforcement, making it hard to trust from a privacy perspective. Luckily, today, we are getting yet another option -- The Arlo Video Doorbell. Arlo home cameras are quite popular, and it is good to see a doorbell being added to its product lineup.

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If you're using older Intel hardware, you should think about downloading BIOS updates and drivers for your devices. Why? Intel is removing downloads for older hardware from its website.

While there has -- as yet -- been no official announcement about what is happening, many people have noticed a warning message when they try to download particular pieces of software. It seems that a number of Windows and Linux drivers and updates are being removed as early as the end of this week.

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Kubernetes is one of the leading choices for container users, but its benefits of scalability and abstraction also lead to increased complexity, which can make companies reluctant to deploy the technology.

Chaos engineering platform Gremlin is launching support for Kubernetes -- Docker support was launched last year -- so engineers can now use Gremlin to automate the process of identifying and targeting Kubernetes primitives such as nodes and pods, to find issues that can prove difficult to pinpoint at a given moment.

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