Latest Technology News

Back in March, we reported on the Mintbox Mini 2 -- a diminutive Linux Mint desktop PC manufactured by a company called "Compulab." Of course, it can run other distributions too, such as Ubuntu and Fedora. Heck, it can even run Windows 10 if you want/need. This is the second generation of Mintbox Mini with the big difference being a switch from AMD to Intel. The fanless device is not a powerhouse, but it should run the Linux distribution like a champ. Quite frankly, it is very beautiful too -- the fins look cool as hell.

Barring any last-minute issues, the release of Linux Mint 19 "Tara" is imminent -- it should be made available any day now. As a result, starting today, you can finally order the MintBox Mini 2. Apparently, Compulab was waiting for Tara's release to get closer before taking orders. In addition to the standard model, there is also a "Pro" variant.

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The next big feature update of Windows 10, codenamed Redstone 5, has been shaping up nicely, with lots of great improvements and new additions.

The highlight of this future update is unquestionably Sets, a tab-based feature that’s designed to let you access related web pages, research documents, files, and applications in one location. Sets was originally planned to be part of the April 2018 Update alongside Timeline, but Microsoft needed a little more time to get things right, and so pushed it back. Sadly it now looks as if it won’t make it into the following feature update either.

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It’s been a couple of weeks since Microsoft last rolled out a new Windows 10 Redstone 5 build for Insiders, but today the wait for an update is over.

Build 17704, for those on the Fast ring and Skip Ahead, includes a number of big improvements and changes.

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Samsung has typically unveiled new models in the Galaxy Note series towards the end of the third quarter, but this time around the South Korean maker is speeding things up.

The upcoming Galaxy Note 9 will make its public debut on August 9, during the second Unpacked event of 2018. We do not know yet when it will actually hit store shelves, but, knowing Samsung, interested buyers should be able to snag one shortly after that.

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Google is a huge proponent of open source. The company is constantly releasing projects on GitHub -- a huge win for the open source community. Not to mention, Google leverages one of the most important open source projects for its operating systems -- the Linux kernel. Both Android and Chrome OS, for instance, are Linux-based.

Today, Google becomes a Platinum Member of the Linux Foundation. This is big news, as not only will Google benefit from the platinum perks, but arguably more importantly, the Linux community will experience a huge financial win. You see, the annual cost for being a platinum member is $500,000!

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June is almost over, which unfortunately means the BetaNews 20th Birthday celebration is almost over. Don't worry, we will still have more giveaways to do before July arrives.

Today, we are giving away a pair of Logitech Doodle Collection mobile wireless mice -- two winners can each win one. These mice are really fun, as they feature super funky designs -- I love it. While these small mice can be used at home with a desktop, they are more appropriate for portability with a laptop.

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As workforces are increasingly spread over multiple locations, in the field or working from home, keeping them up to date and engaged with company news can be a tough task.

Increasingly managers are turning to podcasts to help keep sales teams competitive and build corporate community and business alignment among employees, partners and customers. Enterprise communications company uStudio is launching a podcasting solution purpose-built for private enterprise communications.

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We all sign up to online accounts for various things but over time it can become hard to remember which address you used for each site, what password you used or indeed whether you’ve previously signed up to a site at all.

Password management specialist Dashlane is launching a new feature for mobile users of its password manager called Inbox Security Scan, to give people an insight into the current state of their online accounts.

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A new report from McAfee Labs has seen coin mining malware grow by 629 percent in the first quarter 2018 as criminals seek to cash in on cryptocurrency trends.

On average the company has seen five new threat samples every second, including growth in cryptojacking and other cryptocurrency mining malware, and notable campaigns demonstrating a deliberate drive to technically improve on the most sophisticated, established attacks of 2017.

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Google has announced a new storage option for developers using Google Cloud Platform. The new Cloud Filestore is due to launch in beta next month, and it provides a managed NAS in the cloud.

Google describes Cloud Filestore as a "managed file storage for applications that require a file system interface and a shared file system", and the aim is to offer higher performance to users that need it than the existing options do.

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Twitter -- like many social media platforms -- has its fair share of problems, including trolling, spam, abuse and fake accounts. The company has fought something of a losing battle in trying to regain control of things, but it is confident it has started to make progress.

In a blog post in which it shares details of this progress, Twitter also reveals plans to crack down on people who "try to take advantage of our openness". In a bid to cut down on the number of spam accounts that crop up, Twitter is going to require anyone signing up for a new account to confirm their email address or phone number.

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Awareness of cybersecurity at board level is growing as last year's WannaCry attack has highlighted the need to guard against attacks.

The research, conducted by Vanson Bourne, as part of an international survey of 500 businesses in the UK, France, Germany and the USA, was commissioned by endpoint protection specialist SentinelOne.

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There has been a spate of bans on cryptocurrency ads in recent months, but Facebook has had something of a change of heart and has decided that some such ads are permissible on its platform.

It is important to note that this is just a relaxation of the ban Facebook introduced back in January, not a complete lifting of it. There are various caveats here, including the fact that advertisers will have to be "pre-approved".

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Google has acknowledged that its array of ad products has caused "a lot of confusion", and after listening to feedback has decided to roll out a rebrand. On the face of it, this is just a name change that sees AdWords and DoubleClick laid to rest, but there are also new tools being introduced.

Let's get the name changes out of the way first. AdWords has been rebranded to Google Ads; DoubleClick Digital Marketing and Google Analytics 360 now come under the Google Marketing Platform umbrella; and DoubleClick Ad Exchange and DoubleClick for Publishers are now called Google Ad Manager. But there's more.

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Having released the first public beta of iOS 12, Apple has done the same for macOS 10.14 Mojave. As with the public beta of its mobile operating system, this public build of Mojave is free for anyone to try out -- there's no need to be a paid-up member of the developer program.

There's quite a lot to look forward to in this latest version of macOS, but what seems to be causing the most excitement is the introduction of dark mode. If you want to see what all the fuss is about -- and find out if it lives up to the hype -- you can download macOS 10.14 Mojave for free.

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