Latest Technology News

Earlier this week it was revealed that Huawei has been gaming benchmarks by switching its phones to a faster mode when benchmarking tools were detected. After this caused 3DMark-maker UL to delist numerous Huawei phones, the Chinese manufacturer has responded by saying it will open up Performance Mode so users can access it whenever they want.

The company says that it "respects consumers' right to choose what to do with their devices" and that with this in mind it will let everyone running EMUI 9.0 to force the use of this faster mode.

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President Trump proposed tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese products -- and there is the threat of a further $267 billion-- has caused Apple to write to the US Trade Representative to point out that this would lead to increased productions costs for many of its products.

Responding to this, Trump said that the company could avoid Chinese import tariffs by switching production to the US. Referring to his suggestion as "exciting", the president said that Apple should start building new factories in America.

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Having already removed its podcasts from iTunes, Apple has gone a step further and kicked Infowars out of the App Store.

The app -- which provided access to Infowars articles as well as livestreams of Alex Jones shows rants -- has been permanently removed from the App Store for violations of Apple's rule. The move by the iPhone-maker is just the latest in a string of setbacks for Jones who has already fallen foul of Spotify, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter's policies.

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Netflix is arguably the most extensive streaming movie and TV platform in the world. But, much to users’ dismay, the content selection isn’t identical in each country.

So, if a person gets used to watching a certain show on Netflix, then moves to another nation, it may not be possible to keep enjoying a similar library of content. For example, the United States has the most television shows on Netflix compared to any other country -- 1,157. It also boasts the most movies, with the current total over 4,500. Considering Portugal only has 537 films in the Netflix collection and just over 200 shows, it’s no wonder people get frustrated by those geographical differences.

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The agile philosophy is a set of principles that encourage cooperation and dynamic strategies. The agile development philosophy is the best fit for companies that aim to innovate.

These teams leverage creativity and usually break up large projects into small, multi-disciplinarian tasks. Complex problems are broken down into digestible chunks and better solutions are discovered through feedback loops.

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Microsoft’s new Your Phone app lets you sync content directly from a phone to a Windows 10 PC. The original release, which was first available just for Windows 10 Insiders, then -- accidentally -- for all, and then for Insiders once more, only allowed Android users to access their phone’s photos on Windows 10, but it’s now been updated to make it much more useful.

Released as part of the new Fast ring Insider Build 17755, the updated app lets you do much more, and there is finally some love for iOS users too.

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Linux Mint is a rather great operating system. The distribution is based on the fabulous Ubuntu, so it is very stable and has plenty of compatible packages. Not to mention, the Mint developers focus heavily on the user experience. Linux Mint isn't just designed for Linux experts (although they can totally use it), but beginners too -- it is easy to start using straight away.

The developers have a long history of using female names as the code name for each version of the operating system. For instance, in the past, they have used "Tara," "Sylvia," and "Sonya," to name a few. Today, we learn the female name assigned to the upcoming Linux Mint 19.1 -- "Tessa."

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We’re getting ever close to the end game for the next big feature update for Windows 10. Redstone 5, or the October 2018 Update to give it its official name, is nearly done and the Insider updates still rolling out now are mostly focused on fixing problems.

Build 17755 corrects some issues with the OS, but also makes big improvements to the Your Phone app.

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It seems like mere moments since an updated version of Tor for the desktop was released, and now there's great news for owners of Android smartphones. The Tor Project has released an Android version of the Tor browser, and it's available to download either directly from its website, or from Google Play.

Currently in alpha -- so expect there to be a few issues -- this is the only mobile Tor browser that's supported by the Tor Project, and the developers promise that it will block trackers, protect against surveillance and ensure privacy.

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A highly popular anti-adware tool in the Mac App Store "surreptitiously steals your browsing history", alleges a security researcher. "All your data are belong to China!", as he puts it.

Patrick Wardle conducted research into Adware Doctor -- one of the most popular paid-for apps in the App Store -- after concerns were raised by another security researcher. His research "uncovered blatant violations of user privacy and complete disregard of Apple's App Store Guidelines", including the theft and sharing of browsing history with a Chinese server.

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Industry increasingly relies on automated systems for the control of processes, but a new report from Kaspersky Lab shows that 41.2 percent of industrial control systems (ICS) computers were attacked by malicious software at least once in the first half of this year.

Based on analysis of systems protected by Kaspersky Lab solutions, the data shows that in 2017, the percentage of ICS computers attacked was 36.61 in the first half of the year and 37.75 in the second half.

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UL -- the company behind benchmarking software 3DMark -- has delisted a number of Huawei phones after the Chinese handset manufacturer was found to be cheating in benchmarks.

As has been the case with handsets from some other manufacturers, the Huawei P20, P20 Pro, Nova 3 and Honor Play were found to increase performance when benchmarking software is running. Interestingly, Huawei has not denied the accusations leveled at it.

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Who do you trust in 2018? We often get asked for our security recommendations and it’s a struggle to come up with a definitive answer. We won’t go in to detail in public, but there are reasons why we might avoid recommending a well-known security suite and it’s not just due to recent issues involving potential backdoors either.

There is a general consensus that you can trust solid German engineering (VW/Audi issues emissions issues aside) and this same theory should apply to security software. You know your data is secure, your privacy intact and it will perform a solid job looking after your PC.

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Two-hundred-and-ninety-nine in a series. Welcome to this week's overview of the best apps, games and extensions released for Windows 10 on the Windows Store in the past seven days.

Microsoft confirmed last week that it will call the next feature update for Windows 10 the October 2018 Update (even though it may land in September). The company used a seasonal naming scheme previously for which it was criticized.

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Apple is looking to make it easier for law enforcement agencies to request user data and is working on an online tool to help facilitate this.

A letter seen by Reuters shows that Apple is not only developing a data request tool, but also planning to train police about the data that it can and cannot provide. A new online system will make it easier and quicker to track data requests, and would be far more efficient than the current method of communication -- email.

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