Latest Technology News

When you think of portable storage, SanDisk is a name that likely comes to mind. The brand (now owned by Western Digital) has long been producing quality memory cards and flash drives. Personally, when choosing an SD card for my camera, I always go with SanDisk. Sure, there are less expensive options, but I know from experience, when it comes to storing important family photos, you should never go cheap. SanDisk cards offer great performance, but more importantly, they are extremely reliable.

And now, at CES 2020, Western Digital is, of course, highlighting products from its SanDisk brand. There are two new offerings that are very impressive. One is just a prototype (for now), but it is certainly the more exciting of the pair -- an 8TB portable USB 3.1 gen 2 SSD. That's big capacity from such a small drive. Even smaller, however, is the Ultra Dual Drive Luxe USB 3.1 Gen 1 flash drive. This drive comes in capacities ranging from 32GB to a massive 1TB. It offers dual connectivity -- USB-A and USB-C.

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So far -- as Samsung will attest -- folding devices have been a bit of a disaster, but Lenovo thinks it has got things nailed with its ThinkPad X1 Fold which it officially revealed at CES.

Due for release in mid-2020, the "world's first foldable PC" features a 13.3-inch folded OLED and Lenovo says it delivers "laptop efficiency with smartphone portability". The device will initially ship with Windows 10, but a Windows 10X version will follow. A 5G version will also be available. Lenovo envisions its device being used in a variety of ways, but the only sticking point may be the price.

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AMD is most well known for its desktop processors, but the company does make mobile chips too. In fact, some of the best budget Windows 10 laptops are powered by AMD mobile processors. The company’s laptop chips are gaining more respect these days; case in point, Microsoft is finally selling an AMD-powered Surface.

Today, AMD unveils its latest mobile processors, and Intel should be very worried. These 4000 series chips should provide impressive multi-core performance. Road warriors in particular should appreciate the long battery life provided by the 15W variants. In addition to the new 4000 series processors, AMD is also announcing two new low-end Athlon 3000 chips for budget machines.

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Google's Chrome OS has revolutionized desktop computing by stripping away the nonsense and allowing the user to focus on the task at hand. There is no clunky update system like Windows, nor is there the need for anti-malware software. Chromebooks just work, and they are very secure too. Best of all, they are often super affordable -- unlike Apple's overpriced MacBooks. While many folks can get by with web apps, the operating system also runs both Android apps and traditional desktop programs. If you haven't tried a Chromebook in a while, you will be surprised by just how great they are these days.

Today, Samsung announces a new premium Chrome OS convertible laptop that oozes elegance. The Galaxy Chromebook, as it is called, is just 9.9mm thin and features an aluminum chassis in either Fiesta Red or Mercury Gray colors. It has a built-in active stylus, 4K AMOLED display, and is powered by an Intel Core processor. It can even be configured with up to 16GB of RAM! It has the latest-and-greatest Wi-Fi 6 for connectivity plus two USB-C ports too. It even has a fingerprint reader -- a rarity for Chrome OS devices.

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There have been a lot of "media moves" in the mobile world recently, including the launch of Facebook News, Samsung’s "rebrand" of Bixby Home to Samsung Daily and more that demonstrate the battle for consumer attention on mobile devices is quickly heating up.

But Apple’s moves in both hardware, software, and media put them far ahead in making frictionless, seamless, and integrated media experiences. Apple’s hardware and software (already in the hands of millions) extends from the watch and the phone to the tablet and TV enabling cross-device media integrations (e.g., recommendations, control, etc.) that will transform the media landscape. Additionally, Apple already owns or has partnerships with streaming video, news publishers, game makers, and more, giving them the power, scale, and reach to dominate media.

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When news broke that the Iranian general Qassem Suleimani had been killed in a drone strike ordered by Donald Trump, the value of Bitcoin jumped by 5 percent.

With tensions between Iran and the US now at an all-time high, the price surge is expected to continue. This is the belief of Nigel Green, the CEO and founder of deVere Group, one of the world’s largest independent financial services and advisory organizations, who says that the cryptocurrency is increasingly seen as being as safe as gold.

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Increasingly IT security is seen as an issue for the entire organization. This means it's often included in business targets, but setting these in a meaningful way -- and being able to meet them -- is a major challenge .

We spoke to Joseph Carson, Chief Security Scientist and Advisory CISO at Thycotic, to find out more about the difficulties of setting and measuring the success of targets for security.

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There are many excellent open source software projects these days, such as the Linux kernel, GIMP, and LibreOffice to name a few. But what about games? Yes, there are open source games, one of which is SuperTuxKart. If you aren't familiar, STK is essentially an open source Mario Kart game clone. While it is very popular with Linux users, it is also available for Windows and macOS.

Today, SuperTuxKart reaches version 1.1. While it features bug fixes and other improvements, the real star of the update is the addition of a new arena called "Pumpkin Park."

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CES is about to kick off and we can expect announcements to come thick and fast over the coming days. There are often leaks and rumors ahead of official announcements, but Samsung has revealed details of its Q950TS 8K QLED TV before the event has even started.

The reveal comes courtesy of Samsung's Korean website where we learn that the company's Infinity Screen helps to eliminate the bezel so it is possible to use 99 percent of the screen face. The new 2020 model QLED 8K TV is just 15mm thick, and Samsung has used an AI quantum processor to upscale any footage to 8K.

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Having just announced the Galaxy S10 Lite and Note10 Lite, Samsung is gearing up for another couple of announcements -- possibly the Galaxy S11 and Galaxy Fold 2. There have also been suggestions that one of the announcements could relate to the Galaxy S20.

The company has officially announced that its Galaxy Unpacked event will take place in San Francisco on February 11. Promised are "new, innovative devices that will shape the next decade of mobile experiences".

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Some Linux gamers who are using Wine to play Battlefield V are finding themselves permanently banned from the game.

Player using the DXVK package are falling foul of Electronic Arts' anti-cheat system, seemingly because the DXVK Direct3D DLLs -- used to render 3D scenes in Wine -- are detected, for some reason, as being a cheat tool.

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When Chrome crashes, a message reading Aw, Snap! appears -- and it's not particularly helpful. Mindful of this, Google is going to introduce error codes to the browser to help users determine what has gone wrong.

The idea is similar to the blue screen of death (BSoD) that will be familiar to many Windows users. It's currently being tested in the Canary build of Chrome 81, but that doesn't necessarily mean that the error codes will appear in the final build of this version number.

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Many people love Apple's AirPods, but others think the wireless ear buds are crap. Well, now you can prove them right, if so inclined, as the company will gladly emblazon your AirPods case with the poop emoji engraved onto the front. In fact, there are several emojis from which to choose, such as a unicorn, smiling face, or a chicken.

Best of all, this service is entirely free -- when buying new AirPods, of course. In other words, those that already own Apple's wireless ear buds are out of luck.

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AMD hasn't yet announced its Radeon RX 5600 XT graphics card, but everything you could possibly want to know about the "the world's most technologically advanced card for 1080p gaming" has leaked.

Electronics firm XFX has -- seemingly inadvertently and without AMD's say-so -- published full details of the graphics card on a page entitled XFX AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT 6GB GDDR6 THICC II Pro Staging. Just about the only thing we don't get to know from this highly detailed page is how much the card will cost.

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Ahead of CES, Samsung has revealed two new additions to its range of Android smartphones. The Galaxy S10 Lite and Note10 Lite are cutdown, cheaper versions of their expensive flagship stablemates.

But while these are not as feature-packed or powerful as the fully fledged Galaxy S10 and Note10, they are pitched as upper mid-range devices. Samsung is making much of the phones' cameras and display -- hardly surprising when the 6.7-inch handsets both feature 32MP units on the front and a trio of cameras on the rear.

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