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BetaNews.Com (21 non lus)

It may not be new, but Microsoft scheduling unwanted Windows 10 upgrades is still scummy behavior

Publié: mai 16, 2016, 9:08pm CEST par Wayne Williams

I’ve been suffering with a shoulder impingement for a while, and seeing an osteopath to try and fix the problem. After today’s session, the osteopath tried to book me in for a new appointment, but the on-screen calendar was obscured by another appointment that had popped up -- this one for a Windows 10 upgrade. An upgrade that -- surprise, surprise -- the osteopath had neither asked for, nor wanted. Not content with popping up at inconvenient times -- like during a live TV broadcast, for example -- Windows 10 upgrades are now being scheduled for a random date and… [Continue Reading]
98 percent of Brits are happy with their bank

Publié: mai 16, 2016, 9:02pm CEST par Sead Fadilpašić

Pretty much everyone in the UK is satisfied with their banks and the services those banks offer, Juniper Research confirmed this week. According to the market analysts' research, 98 percent of those surveyed said they were either "happy", or "quite happy" with their service. Juniper failed to mention the size of the group it surveyed, though. But what it did mention is that banks are now faced with a couple of new challenges -- mobile access and contactless payment. Mobile access is now considered a "key pillar of a bank’s offering", and 31 percent of users would consider switching banks if… [Continue Reading]
The Intercept cracks open the Snowden archive including internal NSA newsletters

Publié: mai 16, 2016, 8:56pm CEST par Mark Wilson

There can be few people who have had such an impact on people's perception of the government as Edward Snowden. Having exposed the convert spying activities of the NSA, he opened up a worldwide debate about privacy and surveillance that is still going on today. His revelations have shaped public opinion and changed the course of history. Just as the likes of the Guardian have already helped to educate the world about what the NSA has been doing, so The Intercept is releasing a huge cache of internal NSA documents that give an intriguing insight into the agency's operations. The… [Continue Reading]
Apple Watch leads the smartwatch market, Fitbit dominates wearables

Publié: mai 16, 2016, 7:43pm CEST par Mihăiță Bamburic

Even though it is not Apple's most important product, Apple Watch is actually a market leader. In Q1 2016 shipments totaled 1.5 million units, according to a new IDC report, making it the undisputed king of this market. Apple Watch actually holds a healthy lead over its Samsung-made rivals, having a market share of 46 percent as opposed to 20.9 percent share for the second place player. As you can see, the market as a whole is rather small, with total shipments of just 3.2 million units in an entire quarter. Samsung only shipped 0.7 million smartwatches in the first quarter of the… [Continue Reading]
9 tips to improve your smartphone's battery life

Publié: mai 16, 2016, 7:13pm CEST par Alfred Beiley

You’re really concerned about your battery life, aren’t you? That’s right, when it’s time to travel or go out, you always remember two things -- your toothbrush and your charger! The toothbrush to make your morning fresh and the charger to save you from the irritation of the diminishing smartphone battery during your working day. Battery life has been one of the most important concerns for users, app developers, and manufacturers. On average, most smartphone batteries last 1-2 days before being completely depleted. In smartphone reviews we see how battery life can outrank other features -- after all, if the… [Continue Reading]
Terrorist group Al-Qaeda threatens to murder Microsoft founder Bill Gates

Publié: mai 16, 2016, 6:39pm CEST par Brian Fagioli

When Al-Qaeda destroyed two World Trade Center buildings, it felt like everything changed. Seemingly overnight, the citizens of the USA went from being fairly care-free to having to constantly look behind their collective backs. It is now 2016 and when I go to Penn Station in New York City, I still see military people with assault rifles. Sadly, this is apparently the new reality. Now, that same terrorist group is threatening business men and women in America. It is particularly sad that a person must live in fear because of their success. One particular person being threatened is Microsoft's founder,… [Continue Reading]
The UK's year in business continuity disasters

Publié: mai 16, 2016, 5:19pm CEST par Ian Barker

All businesses should worry about how they'll keep going in the event of a disaster. But those disasters aren't always internal, they can be due to outside forces and can be hard to predict. As part of this week's Business Continuity Awareness Week 2016 organized by the Business Continuity Institute, managed services company IT Specialists (ITS) has produced a list of the top 10 UK business continuity disasters of the last year. These include the Holborn fire, which burned in an underground service duct and left 5,000 London properties without power. Other problems were caused by storms and floods affecting power… [Continue Reading]
Google launches Spaces for sharing links, YouTube videos, images and more with small groups

Publié: mai 16, 2016, 5:10pm CEST par Mark Wilson

Google is introducing a new way to share content with a group. Spaces is a collaborative tool that Google wants people to use to share everything from articles and images to YouTube videos and messages. So keen is Google for a huge take up of Spaces, that the service is launching in mobile and desktop web versions, as well as iOS and Android apps. It's billed as an alternative to group conversations, and Google wants to help streamline sharing by eliminating app switching -- this is achieved by integrating Google Search, YouTube, and Chrome into a single tool. Spaces can… [Continue Reading]
Google launches Spaces for sharing links, YouTube videos, images and more with small groups [UPDATE: It's live!]

Publié: mai 16, 2016, 5:10pm CEST par Mark Wilson

Google is introducing a new way to share content with a group. Spaces is a collaborative tool that Google wants people to use to share everything from articles and images to YouTube videos and messages. So keen is Google for a huge take up of Spaces, that the service is launching in mobile and desktop web versions, as well as iOS and Android apps. It's billed as an alternative to group conversations, and Google wants to help streamline sharing by eliminating app switching -- this is achieved by integrating Google Search, YouTube, and Chrome into a single tool. Spaces can… [Continue Reading]
Security Analytics: What it is and what it is not

Publié: mai 16, 2016, 4:56pm CEST par Steven Grossman

There’s a misconception in the cyber security industry that many IT, security executives and vendors subscribe to. They equate security analytics to SIEM and user and entity behavior analytics (UEBA). They use the three terms interchangeably as if they are all one of the same and solve the same problems. As a result, companies waste time, leave gaps in their visibility, ability to execute and ultimately fail to minimize their cyber risk. In a report released this month, analyst firm Forrester states, "Security analytics has garnered a lot of attention during the past few years. However, marketing hype and misunderstandings… [Continue Reading]
Google will pay you $20 an hour to sit in a self-driving car

Publié: mai 16, 2016, 4:47pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

As Google prepares to deploy its self-driving car fleet to Chandler, Arizona, the company is hiring local drivers to test its vehicles. The company intends to hire local drivers in Arizona who will act as "vehicle safety specialists" that will be behind the wheel of its self-driving cars and ready to take over should an unforeseen problem or circumstance arise. Google is offering these new recruits $20 per hour to drive its vehicles for six to eight hours a day. They will have to sign a 12-24 month contract and provide written and oral feedback to the company’s engineers. Google… [Continue Reading]
DRaaS is the low-cost insurance policy for 'always-on' IT

Publié: mai 16, 2016, 2:24pm CEST par Oded Haner

Disaster. The term itself inspires worry and downright fear for most IT pros -- and for good reason. Whether it’s a security breach, networking failure, human error or the much-dreaded natural disaster, outages can be financially devastating for IT-centric businesses. While acts of nature are rare, IT failures are inevitable, and most companies experience them multiple times every year. Despite the pervasive risks, close to 75 percent of companies are failing in their disaster readiness efforts, according to the Disaster Recovery Preparedness Council. How you prepare for this scenario and what continuity solution you choose for recovery will determine if… [Continue Reading]
GCHQ arrives on Twitter to give a more public face to the spy agency

Publié: mai 16, 2016, 2:17pm CEST par Mark Wilson

The UK's GCHQ -- like its US counterpart the NSA -- is an agency traditionally shrouded in secrecy. Tasked with the job of spying on all and sundry in the name of intelligence gathering, the agency has just joined Twitter, greeting other users with an unoriginal "Hello, world". With the concerns about privacy and security that blew up in the wake of Edward Snowden's NSA surveillance revelation, spy agencies around the world have been on a mission to boost their public image. GCHQ -- complete with the blue tick reserved for verified accounts -- will use Twitter to "provide news,… [Continue Reading]
Emsisoft launches ransomware decrypter page

Publié: mai 16, 2016, 2:15pm CEST par Mike Williams

If your files have been scrambled by malware then a decrypter may be able to save the day -- but you’ll need to find it, first. Emsisoft has announced its own Decrypter page, a single source where you’re able to browse and download any of the company’s 14 free decrypters. The page provides clues to help you find out exactly which type of ransomware might have infected your PC. In some cases, there are links to more detailed analysis of the threat, and exactly what it does to your system. If you’re really only interested in getting your files back,… [Continue Reading]
Evernote and Google Drive are coming together

Publié: mai 16, 2016, 1:55pm CEST par Alan Buckingham

If you're a fan of keeping notes and lists then you really have two main choices -- Evernote and Microsoft's OneNote. Both can be good methods of keeping track of things. For instance, keep a tab open in your browser to add items to a grocery list as you think of them, then arrive at the store and the list is on your phone. Now Evernote is teaming up with another powerhouse in business, Google. The company is announcing that it will work with the search giant's cloud storage service, Drive. This integration is designed to better enable people to keep… [Continue Reading]
Microsoft is working on a tool to simplify clean installations of Windows 10

Publié: mai 16, 2016, 12:49pm CEST par Mark Wilson

While Microsoft has gone to great lengths to make it as easy as possible to upgrade from Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 to Windows 10, purists will always prefer to opt for a clean installation. For seasoned Windows users, performing a clean install of Windows 10 is easy enough, but that's not true for everyone. Acknowledging the fact that clean installations are not a piece of cake for all, Microsoft is beavering away on a new tool to simplify the process. Windows Insiders will be able to try it out before anyone else, and give feedback to help shape the… [Continue Reading]
More than half of businesses are in digital denial

Publié: mai 16, 2016, 12:34pm CEST par Ian Barker

Businesses are under increasing pressure to improve their customer experiences and make more effective use of their digital communication channels. Yet new research from apps, data development and integration company Progress shows that 62 percent of respondents believe their business is in denial about the need to transform digitally. What's more 70 percent of UK-based respondents think that reliance on the IT team is the biggest barrier to delivering a good customer experience. Globally 72 percent think IT is most likely to be the final decision maker for digital initiatives. Better collaboration between IT and marketing is needed to deliver… [Continue Reading]
Google to block Flash in Chrome and default to HTML5 except for these ten white-listed sites

Publié: mai 16, 2016, 12:22pm CEST par Mark Wilson

By the end of 2016, Google aims to switch Chrome users away from Flash in favor of HTML5. The writing has been on the wall for Flash for some time now, with a seemingly endless torrent of security issues pushing increasing numbers of people toward HTML5. Google says that by Q4 2016, it wants to make HTML5 the primary user experience. Flash support will still be built into the browser, but it will be disabled by default. Ten sites, however, will be given a year's reprieve. Google is choosing to make exception for the ten most popular sites that use… [Continue Reading]
$5 Raspberry Pi Zero gets a hardware upgrade and goes back in stock

Publié: mai 16, 2016, 11:54am CEST par Wayne Williams

The $5 Raspberry Pi is a great little computer, although it’s generally rather hard to get hold of as demand has easily outstripped supply, and manufacture was temporarily put on hold when focus switched to producing the new Raspberry Pi 3. Today, however, the Raspberry Pi Zero is back in stock. There are roughly 30,000 new Zeros available to buy now, with thousands more being made every day. The diminutive device has also had a much-requested "missing" feature added. SEE ALSO: How to find and buy the ever-elusive $5 Raspberry Pi Zero When, a month ago, Raspberry Pi Foundation’s CEO… [Continue Reading]
7-Zip gets an update to fix major security vulnerabilities

Publié: mai 16, 2016, 11:16am CEST par Sead Fadilpašić

Security researchers from Talos have written a bunch of fancy words on their blog here, which basically say 7-Zip has a couple of serious security flaws. Everyone’s up in arms about it, too. There are two major security flaws found in the program, one which allows hackers to remotely execute code (basically run programs from afar), and the other one which can lead to heap corruption or buffer overflow. But the problem is not just 7-Zip having problems, the problem is also that other people use 7-Zip in their own software, meaning many more applications now have this problem. Everyone… [Continue Reading]
Apple and Didi is about foreign cash and the future of motoring

Publié: mai 16, 2016, 8:57am CEST par Robert X. Cringely

Apple this week invested $1 billion in Xiaoju Kuaizhi Inc. -- known as Didi -- by far the dominant car-hailing service in China with 300 million customers. While Apple has long admitted being interested in car technology and has deals to put Apple technology into many car lines, this particular investment seems to have been a surprise to most everyone. Analysts and pundits are seeing the investment as a way for Apple to get automotive metadata or even to please the Chinese government. I think it’s more than that. I think it is a potential answer to Apple’s huge problem of… [Continue Reading]