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Why is Google bringing Android apps to Chromebook?

Publié: mai 20, 2016, 9:56pm CEST par Joe Wilcox

Answer: Your kids. Chromebook leads laptop and desktop sales through U.S. commercial channels to schools, according to NPD. Education is overwhelmingly the primary market for the computers. The institutions can't buy enough of the thangs, for their utility and low-cost compared to notebooks running either OS X or Windows. That cost is as much about extended webapps and services from Google (or its developer partners), available for free or comparatively next-to-nothing, set against software for the other platforms. Wrinkle in the Google firmament: iPhone and Chromebook are like water and dirt. The sediment settles unless shaken up. Sure youngsters can… [Continue Reading]
Consumers don't trust companies with their data, but they're willing to share personal info

Publié: mai 20, 2016, 8:32pm CEST par Sead Fadilpašić

Consumers in the EMEA region (Europe, Middle East, Africa) are fairly skeptical about companies keeping their data safe, but are willing to share personal information to get something in return anyway. Those are the results of a new and extensive research by F5 Networks, which had asked more than 7,000 consumers in UK, Germany, France, Bene, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Poland about their online shopping habits, and data attitudes. Almost three quarters (70 percent) of consumers fear data they share with private companies would end up in the wrong hands. Just above two thirds (64 percent) are afraid… [Continue Reading]
Microsoft bringing Minecraft to China

Publié: mai 20, 2016, 6:59pm CEST par Brian Fagioli

Minecraft is insanely popular, and for good reason. Not only is it fun, but light on resources. In other words, it can run on many desktop and laptop computers, not to mention smartphones and tablets. There is even a special Windows 10 edition in Microsoft's app store. Today, Microsoft announces that it is bringing Minecraft to China. While that news is great, the way they are announcing it is a bit disappointing. You see, the company has produced a video showing creative designer of Minecraft, Jens Bergensten, playfully mocking old-school dubbed martial arts videos. While I am sure it was not the intention,… [Continue Reading]
Own your category -- 7 ways to set your app apart from the competition

Publié: mai 20, 2016, 6:41pm CEST par Dave Bell

Whenever a new platform emerges there are always a handful of first movers who become huge success stories. In the early days of the PC, those first movers were Microsoft, Visicalc, Lotus, Broderbund, 3D Realms and others that -- while nostalgic -- are largely left to the annals of computer history. Nearly anyone has at least a statistical chance of "hitting it out of the park" when there are few competitors and little industry knowledge has transferred into the broader marketplace. The difference between the long term winners and losers is that the winners understand that as an industry evolves,… [Continue Reading]
Android N's seamless updates may not support existing devices

Publié: mai 20, 2016, 5:36pm CEST par Mihăiță Bamburic

Android N is coming later this year and it will introduce some pretty interesting new features. One of them is seamless updates, which makes it possible for software upgrades to be performed in the background without interruptions in the user's flow. As you may know by now, this feature is already implemented in Chrome OS with good results. However, it may not be available on existing devices after users upgrade to Android N. Naturally, many of you will want to experience it on your devices after they get Android N support, but technical limitations are getting in the way. How… [Continue Reading]
European IT departments want to invest in cloud and security

Publié: mai 20, 2016, 5:26pm CEST par Sead Fadilpašić

Another confirmation of the heading IT departments are taking this year comes to us from tech giants Toshiba. After an extensive research into business practices in IT departments across Europe, it was found that cloud-based solutions (56 percent) and data security (50 percent) remain the biggest areas of investment for IT departments in the country this year. The research shows results of a poll of 400 senior IT decision makers in the UK, France and Germany. Software updates are the biggest challenge when managing multiple devices at scale, for companies in both the UK (36 percent), and Germany (39 percent).… [Continue Reading]
Samsung's next Android flagships may have 6GB of RAM

Publié: mai 20, 2016, 5:15pm CEST par Mihăiță Bamburic

Each new generation of Android flagships seems to push the limits of what we consider high-end hardware specifications. A few years ago we were looking at sub-5-inch displays with 720p resolutions and dual-core processors with 2 GB of RAM, and nowadays larger, 2K displays backed by octa-core chips and 4 GB of RAM appear to be the norm. While the bump in resolution and processor speed may not be as noticeable when moving to a new-generation flagship, the extra RAM is certainly a welcome addition. Of course, for some companies not even 4 GB is enough in this department, as… [Continue Reading]
European workers still find fax machines 'essential'

Publié: mai 20, 2016, 4:36pm CEST par Sead Fadilpašić

Europe is considered an old continent by many standards, but when it comes to what workers there find essential, that’s where the oldness really kicks in. Apparently, workers in the EU still find fax machines "essential" to office life. As a matter of fact, they find it more important than tablets, or smartwatches. Those are the results of a survey done by business communications technology provider Fuze. It asked 5,000 employees about the technologies still used in the office. So, for example, the fax machine is "essential" for 30 percent of workers in the UK, 39 percent in Germany and… [Continue Reading]
Celebrity threesome injunction sees Twitter send warning emails to those who name PJS and YMA online

Publié: mai 20, 2016, 4:24pm CEST par Mark Wilson

People who have named the celebrities known by the initials PJS and YMA have received warning emails from Twitter. A superinjuntion is in place that prevents the naming of the couple, one of whom is said to have been involved in a threesome with two other people known as AB and CD. While the identities of all parties are well-known throughout the world (PJS is Elton John, and YMA is his husband David Furnish if you have managed to, somehow, avoid learning the names behind the initials) the superinjunction prevents them from being named in much of the UK. The… [Continue Reading]
How to hide your name and email address on the Windows 10 lock screen

Publié: mai 20, 2016, 1:59pm CEST par Wayne Williams

You may have noticed that the Windows 10 lock screen displays your real name and email address just above the password/PIN box. This is obviously there to show you which Microsoft account you’re logging into, but it’s personal information you might not want visible to just anyone if you use your PC in a busy environment or public place (if you lock your device when in a coffee shop, for example). Fortunately, hiding these details is easy. If you’re running an Insider Preview build (14328 onwards) you can actually remove these details via Settings. This option will be available in… [Continue Reading]
Microsoft's share of the mobile market plummets to below 1% as Android continues to rise

Publié: mai 20, 2016, 1:07pm CEST par Mark Wilson

Global smartphone sales figures published by Gartner show that Windows-based devices have a market share of just 0.7 percent. The latest figures cover the first quarter of 2016 and reveal that fewer than 2.4 million handsets with Microsoft's OS installed were sold. This is a dramatic drop from the first quarter of 2015. A year ago the numbers were hardly earth-shattering, but with a 2.5 percent market share they were decidedly healthier than right now. While Windows Phone continues to drop like a stone, Android's seemingly unstoppable rise continues, with Google increasing its market share from 78.88 percent a year… [Continue Reading]
Best Windows apps this week

Publié: mai 20, 2016, 12:56pm CEST par Martin Brinkmann

One-hundred and eighty-one in a series. Welcome to this week's overview of the best apps, games and extensions released for Windows 8.x and Windows 10 in the past seven days. Microsoft rolled out a new Store layout and design for beta versions of Windows 10 that it plans to make available to all users with the upcoming Anniversary Update. Click here to read Mark's review of what is new and changed. As always, if I missed an app or game that has been released this week that you believe is particularly good, let me know in the comments below or notify me… [Continue Reading]
Medical devices targeted by cyber attacks

Publié: mai 20, 2016, 12:37pm CEST par Ian Barker

Hacking and cyber attacks are no longer confined to computers. Thanks to the Internet of Things they affect a whole lot of other equipment too and that includes medical devices. Application protection specialist Arxan has produced an infographic looking at the growing threat landscape surrounding connected medical devices. Among its findings are that a worrying 94 percent of healthcare organizations have been victims of a cyber attack. Vulnerabilities include patient data theft, manipulation of therapy with the potential to harm patients, and malware infections that can spread throughout a healthcare network. Headline attacks include a patient who was able to… [Continue Reading]
You're about to see a whole lot more of Reddit thanks to embeddable threads

Publié: mai 20, 2016, 12:19pm CEST par Mark Wilson

Reddit has announced that it is now possible to embed its discussion threads on other websites. Just as you can embed tweets on your site, the same can now be done with Reddit content. While Reddit has successfully earned its reputation of being the modern-day Digg, the site has not been without controversy. Its AMA (Ask Me Anything) sessions may prove immensely popular, but it has been plagued with problems with racist content and complaints about censorship. However, Reddit has suffered with image problems of a different kind, often viewed as being niche, geeky and exclusive. Enabling embedding is an… [Continue Reading]
Ultramobiles are a glimmer of hope in a shrinking PC market

Publié: mai 20, 2016, 12:02pm CEST par Sead Fadilpašić

PC vendors are definitely in a pickle, as the market size everywhere continues to shrink, but there are areas of the industry that are still profitable, market analysts Gartner have said. PC sales have recorded one of its lowest quarterly growth rates in Q1 2016, but ultramobiles are growing, and that’s where the focus should probably be. Ultramobiles (tablets, thin and lightweight PCs, convertibles) are expected to grow 16 percent, to $34.6 billion, compared to 2015. Gartner predicts the ultramobile premiums will soon hold the largest part of the PC market in terms of revenue, forecast at $57.6 billion. "The… [Continue Reading]
How can enterprises streamline the migration of data? [Q&A]

Publié: mai 20, 2016, 11:12am CEST par Ian Barker

Businesses are under increasing pressure to replace legacy storage with cloud and hybrid options in order to modernize their infrastructure and cut costs. Migrating data presents a number of challenges and IT teams are turning to automation in order to address them. We spoke to Jonathan Huberman, CEO of specialist in the hybrid enterprise file sync and share market, Syncplicity, to find out more about how enterprises can move their data smoothly and make it available across a number of devices. BN: How can you guarantee integrity when data is drawn from multiple sources? JH: Data sync tools need to be… [Continue Reading]
Chinese government manipulates social media with nearly half a billion fake posts per year

Publié: mai 20, 2016, 11:09am CEST par Mark Wilson

China's control over access to the internet is hardly a secret, but the government is not just interested in using the famous Great Firewall of China to limit what its citizens can see. State monitoring of internet usage is very common, and the government also has a propaganda machine in place, manipulating the country via the web. A new study by researchers at Harvard University suggests that governmental interference online could be even more prolific than first thought. Social media has been infiltrated and is believed to have been taken over by paid trolls whose job it is to inject… [Continue Reading]
Remembering Apple Store at 15, and marveling its changes

Publié: mai 20, 2016, 4:14am CEST par Joe Wilcox

Fifteen years ago today, the first Apple Store opened at Tysons Corner Center in McLean, Va. I was there, covering the event for CNET News. Four days earlier, then CEO Steve Jobs briefed journalists—bloggers, bwahaha, no—across the way at upper-scale Tysons Galleria. Most of us thought his scheme was kind of nuts, as did analysts, and news stories reflected the sentiment. Recession gripped the country and rival Gateway was in process of shuttering more than 400 retail shops. Timing was madness. But companies that take big risks during economic downturns are most likely to reap rewards later. Retail would be Apple's… [Continue Reading]
Windows 10 Anniversary Update will improve interoperability between Microsoft Edge and IE 11

Publié: mai 20, 2016, 12:03am CEST par Mark Wilson

Since the release of Windows 10, the update of Microsoft Edge has been a little on the slow side. The addition of support for add-ons may help to increase the user base for Edge, but many enterprise customers still have a need for Internet Explorer. When building Edge from scratch, Microsoft included Enterprise Mode to allow sites that rely on older technology to open with Internet Explorer 11 instead. With the upcoming release of Windows 10 Anniversary Update improvements are being introduced that will smooth out some of the rough edges of Enterprise Mode, including removing the friction that currently… [Continue Reading]