Kodi 18 'Leia' RC5 available to download now
The full release of Kodi 18 is still likely a couple of weeks away, but today the kodi Foundation releases the fifth and (what should be) final release candidate.
RC5 comes with a number of important fixes.
Google Play now tells you how much space you have left on your phone
With so many apps and games available in Google Play, it's easy to get carried away and fill up your phone. You can use Settings to keep track of how much space you have left, but now Google has made it possible to monitor free space from within the Play Store.
A new storage indicator lets you monitor the amount of storage space you have available, so you can easily tell if you're going to have room to download more from the store -- and also to make room for those apps you desperately want to install.
SuperTuxKart, the open source Mario Kart clone, achieves beta status with network support
While I appreciate hardware makers and game developers pushing the boundaries of what gaming can be, it is important to remember one important fact -- fun trumps all. In other words, it doesn't matter how much processing power a computer or console has, or how beautiful a game's graphics are, if it isn't fun to play! That's probably a big reason why retro-gaming is so popular these days.
For Linux users, gaming is getting much better these days, especially with Steam support. One game in particular, however, has brought much joy to Linux users without the need for high-end graphics cards. Called "SuperTuxKart," it is essentially an open source clone of Mario Kart, that is simply fun to play. While the title character is the Linux mascot, there are Windows and macOS versions too. Thankfully, the game is about to get even better, as networking is being added -- allowing you to play against others over LAN or the internet. Today, following an alpha period, that feature finally becomes available in beta, with version 0.10-beta1.
1Password 7.3 for Windows unveils new secure desktop feature, numerous other improvements
AgileBits has released 1Password 7.3 for Windows clients. 1Password offers secure form-filling and password management tools and is also available on Mac, iOS and Android.
The new Windows build unveils a new Secure Desktop mode, improvements to the Watchtower feature and numerous other improvements, including customizable keyboard shortcuts and more robust update mechanism
As the US government shutdown rolls on, numerous TLS certificates expire, leaving sites inaccessible
With the US government shutdown in its third week, President Trump continues to try to convince both his own party and the Democrats to agree to fund one of his campaign promises -- a wall on the southern border.
So far, the shutdown has seen national parks and more left unstaffed, and today is the first payday on which hundreds of thousands of federal workers will not receive a paycheck. Another side effect of the shutdown is that numerous government websites are offline as their TLS certificates have expired, and no one is available to renew them.
Best Windows 10 apps this week
Three-hundred-and-seventeen 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.
The next feature update for Windows 10 will reserve about 7 Gigabytes of storage for the system on new installations to improve reliability.
How to disable reserved storage in Windows 10
If you have upgraded to Windows 10 version 1903 -- or Windows 10 19H1 as you may know it -- you will find that a portion of your hard drive has been set aside thanks to the new "reserved storage" option.
Microsoft introduced this Storage Reserve (as it is also known) to "ensure proper performance and successful updates of your device", but not everyone is happy about it. You may be running low on disk space, or you just might like to remain in control of how your hard drive is used -- in which case, read on to find out how to disable reserved storage.
Netflix could use AI to clamp down on people sharing their account with friends and family
Netflix has millions of users around the world, but how many of these are actually paying customers? Many of us either know (or are) people who share their Netflix account with friends and family, or leech off the one person they know that's willing to pay for a subscription.
But Netflix free rides could be coming to an end. At CES, UK-based firm Synamedia revealed artificial intelligence software that could be used by Netflix and other companies to detect and block the sharing of account credentials.
Organizations suffer breaches despite confidence in their security measures
According to a new survey, 85 percent of respondents are either very or somewhat confident in their organization's security program, yet 41 percent say their company has experienced a security breach and 20 percent more are unsure.
The study from big data specialist Syncsort finds the most common type of breaches are virus/malware attacks (76 percent) and phishing (72 percent). Interestingly, virus attacks came from internal sources roughly half the time while phishing usually came from external sources (78 percent).
Chuwi's HeroBook is a super-cheap Windows 10 laptop
If you're on a tight budget, or you're looking for a cheap "throw-away" laptop you can pop into a bag when you're travelling, Chuwi's HeroBook could be for you. Aimed at students and "low-income workers", the HeroBook's specs are nothing to get too excited about, but this is not the point of this particular laptop.
What the HeroBook is about is giving users a reasonable experience and above-acceptable hardware for a super-low price. For $199 you could kit yourself out with a laptop that is capable enough for day-to-day computing, or could serve as a secondary laptop for travelling with -- at this price, you won't mind too much if you lose or damage it!
Knowledge Graph 'bug' makes it possible to spoof Google search results
A security specialist has discovered a bug in Google's Knowledge Graph -- the cards that appear at the top of search results to highlight key pieces of information and provide quick answers to questions-- which makes it not only possible, but simple to manipulate search results.
Wietze Beukema has demonstrated how it is possible to make simple tweaks to a search URL and display a knowledge panel card containing whatever data you want. While it is not possible to change the results that appear when people conduct a search, the bug means that fake links can be shared with others, displaying false information to mislead people.
Microsoft releases Windows 10 19H1 Build 18312
We’re only nine days into 2019, and Microsoft is rolling out the second 19H1 build of the new year to Insiders on the Fast ring.
Build 18312 gives users access to the new 'reserved storage' feature which we covered yesterday. This reserves around 7GB of storage on Windows 10 systems to guarantee day-to-day smooth running, and also to ensure that large updates don't fail on systems with limited free space. To try it out though, you will need to run through this quest which will give you access to it in the next flight. If you run the quest before upgrading to this new build, you will get access to the feature when you do upgrade.
Lexar unveils 1TB 633x SDXC UHS-I card -- yes, a terabyte!
Goodness gracious -- we have come such a long way with storage. Floppy disks, which were still prevalent in homes and universities less than two decades ago, held just 1.44 MB of data. Flash storage changed everything, however, as diminutive USB thumb drives and storage cards offered ever-expanding capacities. Quite frankly, it is unreal to see how many files can be held on a card that is smaller than a postage stamp these days, such as micro SD.
For photographers, full-sized SD cards still reign supreme, and today, Lexar unveils a new card with an insanely large capacity -- 1TB. Yes, folks, you can hold an entire terabyte of data on a tiny SD card. The dream of many is now a reality. It offers 95MB/s read and 70MB/s write.
What does IT performance really mean?
IT is moving into the future, growing beyond its traditional role to become a center of innovation -- so then why are conversations about IT performance stuck in the past?
Too often, the discussion starts with the hard numbers of quantitative performance, what I call "speeds and feeds": details like what kind of processor, memory size, disk I/O or throughput. The problem is that using these metrics to evaluate the performance of your IT -- whether solutions, service providers or the organization itself -- comes hopelessly short of determining the value that IT is bringing to its new task of leading digital transformation.
In defense of private companies: Creating a cyber risk-aware culture
Each year, the amount of investment organizations -- big and small -- are making to protect their most valuable assets with technological and physical safeguards continues to grow by staggering amounts. Yet, with just one click or touch, an unsuspecting employee can expose a company to cyber spying, ransomware or outright theft.
Private companies are aware of various risks posed to their businesses both from external threat actors (e.g., business/political rivals, organized cyber criminals) and from their own personnel (e.g., disgruntled employees). This year, 38 percent of mid-market and private leaders ranked cybersecurity as a top information technology (IT) investment priority according to Deloitte’s annual mid-market technology trends report. What are they investing in? New information security capabilities, monitoring and detection, and employee education initiatives.
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