Avast responds to CCleaner controversy
Yesterday I wrote about why people might want to skip the latest version of popular system cleaning tool CCleaner. This isn’t the first time that I, and other long-time users, have expressed dissatisfaction in how the program is evolving under Avast.
Following yesterday’s piece, the Avast-owned Piriform -- CCleaner’s maker -- contacted me to clarify the situation. This is what the company had to say.
Leaked report shows Google plans a censored search engine for China... but China says otherwise
A leaked document suggests that Google is planning on making a return to China, launching a censored version of its search engine to comply with strict Chinese laws.
Going by the codename of Dragonfly, the project has been in the works since 2017 and has led to the creation of China-specific Android apps with the internal testing names Maotai and Longfei. But while the documents and people familiar with the matter say that the launch date could be just six to nine months away, China says the reports are not true.
The future role of AI in fact checking
As an analyst, I’d like to have a universal fact checker. Something like the carbon monoxide detectors on each level of my home. Something that would sound an alarm when there’s danger of intellectual asphyxiation from choking on the baloney put forward by certain sales people, news organizations, governments, and educators, for example.
For most of my life, we would simply have turned to academic literature for credible truth. There is now enough legitimate doubt to make us seek out a new model or at a minimum, augment that academic model.
Edge Computing 101
Enterprises today have adopted a cloud-first mentality, and the numbers show it. According to a 2018 Gartner survey, investment is public cloud services will reach $186.4 billion this year, representing 21.4 percent growth from 2017. But there’s growth that is just as exciting and strategic taking place far from the cloud, down at the network edge in the world of end user devices, Internet of Things (IoT) devices, and other network-connected systems.
Without strategic management of the network edge, investments in the cloud are going to run into trouble. To be a successful cloud-first enterprise, you need manage both the cloud and the edge equally well. Why is edge computing so important? Let’s take a look.
Windows 10 continues to close in on Windows 7, will overtake it soon
NetMarketShare reports on the state of the desktop operating system market on the first day of each month. Usually at least. It spent a few days auditing June’s figures last month, which caused a bit of a delay.
There’s no such lag for July’s figures though, which arrive on time and show Windows 10 continuing to cut into Windows 7's dominance.
Samsung unveils Galaxy Tab S4 premium Android tablet
For whatever reason, Android tablets have largely fallen out of favor with consumers. Some people will blame cannibalization by large-screen smartphones, while others will point to low-quality offerings from no-name manufacturers. I would say both are contributors. Sadly, quality Android tablets are few and far between because the market is littered with low-cost models that are poor quality -- it makes it difficult for the top-tier makers to compete.
Thankfully, Samsung has not yet given up on the Android tablet market. Today, it unveils an absolutely beautiful -- albeit pricey -- 10.5 inch tablet. Called "Galaxy Tab S4," it ships with Android 8.1 and comes with an S Pen at no extra charge. It is powered by an impressive Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 Octa Core processor and 4GB of RAM. While the base model is Wi-Fi only, an LTE model is available too.
Apple pulls away from Microsoft and Facebook on the way to becoming a trillion-dollar company
Apple reported better-than-expected earnings and revenue for Q3 yesterday, taking the iPhone-maker closer to becoming the first every trillion-dollar company. Sales increased by 17 percent to a record $53.3 billion, and profit jumped a massive 32 percent to $11.5 billion.
While the value of Facebook plummets following numerous scandals, Apple now has a market cap of $935 billion -- the closest competitors in the world of technology are Amazon at around $870 billion, Alphabet at $845 billion, and Microsoft at $815 billion.
Android apps carry hidden Windows 10 malware
Over 140 apps on the Google Play store have been discovered to contain malicious Windows executable files.
Researchers at Palo Alto Networks found that among the infected apps, several had more than 1,000 installations and carried 4-star ratings.
Spear phishing attack hits more than 400 industrial companies
Researchers at Kaspersky Lab have detected a new wave of spear phishing attacks disguised as legitimate procurement and accounting letters, that have hit more than 400 industrial organizations.
The emails have targeted approximately 800 employee PCs, mostly in Russian companies, with the goal of stealing money and confidential data from the organizations, which could then be used in new attacks.
HP launches flexible systems to enhance in-store retail
Retailing presents some unique challenges for IT. Endpoints tend to be in fixed positions which has an effect on how staff interact with customers.
HP is unveiling a new portfolio of devices and service offerings designed to enhance the retail experience by freeing the technology to move around. The HP Engage portfolio provides sleek, versatile, and secure systems to meet the evolving needs of retail and hospitality customers.
Virtualization tool helps protect critical IP and high value assets
While breaches often focus on consumer or payment information, they also put at risk key intellectual property and business assets.
Virualization-based security specialist Bromium is announcing a new product called Protected App, which allows organizations to establish robust, end-to-end protection around their critical intellectual property (IP) and high value assets (HVAs).
Facebook wants you to stop using it so much
It might seem counter-intuitive -- or it might seem like a case of just saying what it thinks people want to hear -- but Facebook doesn't want you to use it as much as you do. That's not to say it wants you to disappear entirely, rather it just hopes that the time you spend on the social network is more "intentional, positive and inspiring" -- so you don't feel compelled to stay away and miss out on all those ads!
Today, the company launches a new activity dashboard for both Facebook and Instagram that lets you see how long you've on the social networks, set time limits, and restrict notifications. Facebook says that the new tools have been created in conjunction with mental health organizations and they come amid growing concerns about the problem of social networking addiction.
Mozilla fox up its designs
Mozilla is looking to change the design of the Firefox logo and it is seeking help -- which is just as well, because the designs it has come up with so far are awful.
The company says that it is looking to "evolve the Firefox brand" as it develops new apps and services beyond the browser it is currently associated with. The aim is to come up with a new branding system that can "embrace all of the Firefox products in the pipeline and those still in the minds of our Emerging Technologies group", and it wants to know what you think.
New Kodi 18 Leia preview build arrives, download it now!
The Kodi Foundation is hard at work polishing up the next version of its hugely popular home theater software -- Kodi 18 'Leia'.
The updated software introduces a huge number of changes (you can view the full changelog here) and you can try it out now.
Warning: DO NOT install the latest version of CCleaner [Updated]
A month ago, I wrote about how I felt Avast was ruining CCleaner, the excellent system cleaning software it took over when it acquired Piriform last year.
In Avast's short tenure, we've already seen CCleaner suffer from malware, bundled software, and pop-up ads. In my article headline I asked "what’s next?" Well, with a new version of CCleaner available to download, we now have the answer. Inevitably, it's not good.
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