Google Assistant comes to Bose speakers (along with privacy concerns)


Believe it or not, Bose speakers are a bit controversial. While many consumers (including yours truly) enjoy the sound quality of Bose products, many self-proclaimed "audiophiles" tend to speak badly of the brand. The reality is, if you enjoy Bose speakers, that's all that matters -- ignore the haters.
Today, some existing Bose speakers are arguably getting even better. If you own a Bose Home Speaker 500, Bose Soundbar 500, or Bose Soundbar 700, you will get the always-listening Google Assistant functionality through a free automatic update.
Windows 10 May 2019 Update rolling out now -- Here's how to get it


After the mess that was the October 2018 Update, Microsoft has been a lot more cautious with the follow up, giving it an extended period of testing in the Release Preview ring.
Today, the software giant declares the May 2019 Update stable enough to begin making it available to non-Insiders, although it says it will still be taking a "measured and throttled" approach to availability.
DDoS attacks increase 84 percent in three months


The number of DDoS attacks during the first quarter of 2019 increased by 84 percent compared with the previous quarter according to a new report from Kaspersky Lab.
This reverses last year's trend of declining DDoS attacks as attackers shifted their attention to other sources of income, such as crypto-mining.
A traditional approach to security harms digital transformation efforts


Half of security professionals who adopt a more traditional or reactive approach to their data protection and security don't believe they will reach their digital transformation goals in the next five years.
This is among the findings of a report from data protection company TITUS which conversely finds that nine out of 10 security professionals deploying a strategic approach believe their current efforts will address digital transformation needs within five years and that their organization would achieve its digital transformation goals in the same timescale.
PDF Shaper 9 gains a new interface and a wealth of improvements


There are plenty of applications you can use to view and print PDF files, including Microsoft Edge. Some of them offer editing features, but they are usually a bit limited.
PDF Shaper is a collection of tools which will let you merge and split PDF files, rotate and crop pages, extract text and images, edit metadata, add a page number watermark, and convert PDFs to images (and vice versa) or to text.
Enterprises struggle with providing secure hybrid access


As businesses move towards hybrid IT environments they increasingly face threats, gaps and investment challenges to keep their systems secure.
The study from secure access specialist Pulse Secure surveyed enterprises with 1000+ employees in the US, UK, Germany, Austria and Switzerland and finds that while they are taking advantage of cloud computing, all enterprises have on-going data center dependencies.
Firefox Quantum 67 delivers better performance, protection and smattering of new features


Mozilla has released Firefox Quantum 67.0 for Windows, Mac and Linux, along with Firefox for Android 67.0.
The new release is a major one, boasting several performance improvements, a significant number of new features and tighter security and privacy with the ability to block both cryptominers and fingerprinters
Most enterprises now run containers in production


New research from storage and data management company Portworx shows 87 percent of IT professionals are now running container technologies, with 90 percent of those running in production.
In addition seven out of 10 are running at least 40 percent of their application portfolio in containers -- an increase from two years ago, when just 67 percent of teams were running container technologies in production.
UK age verification rules could put users at risk


With age verification checks for users of adult sites in the UK set to come into force this summer, cyber security company F-Secure says that the new rules could increase the risk of identity theft and other cyber crimes.
Under the new laws, British internet users will be required to verify their age in order to access adult content websites. This could be by sharing personal information such as passport, driving license, phone number or credit card details with third-party age verification platforms, or by buying a 'porn pass' at a store.
Game of Thrones' divisive finale sure has people talking...


Game of Thrones has never been a show to play things safe. Every time viewers thought they knew where things were going, the series would usually prove them wrong -- often with an unexpected death, or a twist hardly anyone saw coming.
The eighth and final season has just ended, and it’s fair to say -- like much of the eighth season (episode five, The Bells, in particular) -- the finale left viewers divided. I personally loved it (albeit not unreservedly), while my colleague Brian Fagioli hated it. Either way, people have been talking about it.
The first Microsoft Edge preview build arrives for macOS -- this is why you should care


If you’re a Windows 10 user then you might be interested in -- or even excited for -- the next generation of Microsoft’s Edge browser which is being built around Chromium.
If you’re a Mac user, then you likely couldn’t care less about it. Still, Microsoft is hoping it can change your mind and today it introduces the first preview build for macOS.
Kingston launches KC2000 NVMe PCIe SSD with 256-bit AES hardware-based encryption


Kingston has long been a popular brand with enthusiasts, as its flash memory products are often high quality and reliable without breaking the bank. This isn't just its USB flash drives and RAM, but its solid state drives too.
Today, it launches its newest such SSD. Called "KC2000," it is an NVMe PCIe variant, meaning it will be blazing fast. Pricing is pretty reasonable too, as it starts at just $62.40.
Linux kernel RDS flaw affects Red Hat, Ubuntu, Debian and SUSE


If you're not in the habit of keeping up to date with the latest version of the Linux kernel, now might be a good time to think about doing so. Systems based on versions of the kernel older than 5.0.8 suffer from a severe flaw in the implementation of RDS over TCP.
Left unpatched, the flaw could enable an attacker to compromise a system. The National Vulnerability Database entry says: "There is a race condition leading to a use-after-free, related to net namespace cleanup".
South Korea will ditch Microsoft Windows for Linux


Windows 7 support will end in January of next year, and that is a huge problem for both business and home users that are still running the aging operating system. Can't these people just upgrade to Windows 10? Well, yeah, but many just don't want to. Windows 10 has extreme telemetry that many people consider to be spying. As a result, they simply don't trust Microsoft's latest operating system. Not to mention, for businesses and organizations with many computers, the upgrade to Windows 10 could prove to be a costly affair.
And now, as a result of the upcoming death of Windows 7 support, the South Korean government has reportedly decided to ditch Microsoft Windows entirely. According to The Korea Herald, the Asian country's government will switch from Windows 7 to a Linux-based operating system.
Google is using Gmail to track your purchases


Google's business relies on gathering information about its users and customers, so the company take every opportunity it can to reap as much data as possible. As such, it should surprise no one to learn that Google has been using Gmail to keep a record of things you have bought -- both online and offline.
A little-known page (it's not exactly secret, but nor is it made particularly obvious) of your Google account reveals years of purchases. Google insists that the data on the Purchases page can only be seen by individuals, and is not used to tailor ads, but the clandestine, opaque nature of the tracking -- coupled with the fact that the data is tricky to delete -- is unlikely to go down well with Gmail users with concerns about privacy.
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