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BetaNews.Com (20 non lus)

Microsoft removes the X from the Windows 10 upgrade pop-up -- your choices are 'yes', or 'yes, now'

Publié: juin 3, 2016, 8:42pm CEST par Wayne Williams

I worked in sales for some years and one of the first things you are taught is the art of the alternative close. That’s where the sales person offers someone a choice of two options, neither of which leads to "no". Here’s an example: “When is a good time to start your Windows 10 upgrade? At a preset date and time, or now?” Microsoft’s increasingly aggressive tactics to get people to upgrade to Windows 10 are now legendary. The last trick the company pulled was to reverse the meaning of clicking the X on the nag screen. Instead of meaning,… [Continue Reading]
Still using Windows XP? Here's how to update it and gain all the features it's missing

Publié: juin 3, 2016, 8:35pm CEST par Wayne Williams

Microsoft might have dropped support for Windows XP over two years ago, but the operating system remains hugely popular. According to the latest usage figures from NetMarketShare, XP still has over 10 percent of the market. There are numerous reasons why people might still opt to use the ancient OS, including the simplest of all -- because they like it, and it works for them -- but time has moved on considerably since XP first arrived in 2001, and the OS is missing a lot of features. Don’t worry though, you can bring XP up to date quickly and easily.… [Continue Reading]
There's no confidence in Internet of Things security

Publié: juin 3, 2016, 8:34pm CEST par Sead Fadilpašić

During the IOActive IOAsis event in San Francisco, security professionals were asked on their opinion on the state of security among Internet of Things (IoT) devices, and the results are not encouraging. According to the IOActive Internet of Things Security Survey, based on this poll, almost half (47 percent) of respondents felt less than 10 percent of IoT devices have appropriate security measures. Almost nine out of ten (85 percent) believe less than half of IoT devices are secure. What’s even more depressing is that 63 percent of these people also think IoT has better security measures than other devices. Everyone… [Continue Reading]
Hoofbeatz Audio announces 'i Rock N Ride' horseback riding Bluetooth speaker

Publié: juin 3, 2016, 7:08pm CEST par Brian Fagioli

When I think of horseback riding, my mind drifts to simpler times. It also conjures thoughts of cowboys, farming, and the Amish. Since the invention of motorized vehicles, equestrian travel just seems a bit old fashioned. With all of that said, there is an apparent need to bring technology to horseback riding. How, you ask? With the Hoofbeatz Audio 'i Rock N Ride' Bluetooth speaker, currently on Kickstarter. You can now listen to music and answer telephone calls from the convenience of your saddle! "Riders can send or receive phone calls, ride to music and use Siri and Android voice prompts, all… [Continue Reading]
Apple Pay struggling outside of US

Publié: juin 3, 2016, 7:03pm CEST par Anthony Spadafora

Apple Pay may be doing well in the US, but a new report from Reuters suggests that Apple’s mobile contactless payment service has not seen the same success rate outside of its home territory. The service became available for US consumers in October 2014 and has since gained a great deal of traction and users in its home country. Outside of the US, Apple Pay is currently available in the UK, Canada, Australia, Singapore and China. However in these countries technical issues, resistance from banks, and consumer indifference have plagued the service from the start. On a global scale, Apple… [Continue Reading]
Patriot 'Spark' 512GB SSD will only cost $105!

Publié: juin 3, 2016, 6:17pm CEST par Brian Fagioli

As a system builder, I am constantly trawling the web for good deals on components. I am a fairly cost-conscious person; spending $1700 on any processor is not something I would ever do -- value is what I target. Actually, this weekend I will be doing a budget build with an AMD Athlon X4 845 which sells for less than $70, but I digress. Patriot is a company that makes excellent memory-based products, like RAM, flash drives, and SSDs to name a few. While its offerings are usually priced competitively, its newest product takes affordability to a new level. The all-new Spark SSD will be… [Continue Reading]
Samsung Pay makes its European debut

Publié: juin 3, 2016, 5:32pm CEST par Mihăiță Bamburic

Samsung Pay is nearly nine months old at this point yet it is only available in a handful of markets across the globe. That does not include Europe, though Samsung earlier this year announced that it would bring its mobile payments service to more countries in 2016. The company is keeping its promise, as, after launching Samsung Pay in South Korea, US and China, it is now introducing the service in the first European market -- Spain. Here is what you need to know. To take advantage of Samsung Pay in Spain, users will need a Galaxy S6, Galaxy S6… [Continue Reading]
NFL fumbles with laptop that had player data on it

Publié: juin 3, 2016, 5:15pm CEST par Alan Buckingham

The football season hasn't begun and training camp isn't even here yet. All we've seen so far is OTAs which just give a small glimpse of what to expect. But the NFL is never far from the news cycle, and now that news involves compromised data from a laptop. The incident occurred back on April 19th, but the league is just now getting around to making this public. The laptop was stolen from a Washington Redskins trainer's car and contained personal data about players. In a story on the NFL's website the league says "In a statement, the Redskins said a laptop… [Continue Reading]
Human error and data breaches go hand in hand

Publié: juin 3, 2016, 5:11pm CEST par Sead Fadilpašić

There have been significantly more data breaches this year, compared to the year before, new figures from Egress Software Technologies suggest. The company cross-checked data from security breaches in the past three years and says that 66 percent of the business sectors surveyed reported an increase in data breach occurrences. It would have been even higher if healthcare organizations haven’t had "just" a 13 percent increase. Attacks against insurance firms jumped 317 percent, general businesses 157 percent, solicitors and barristers 127 percent, and even charities at 109 percent. But perhaps even more worryingly, the report says that human error accounted… [Continue Reading]
Inateck BH1101 and BH1105 earphones [Review]

Publié: juin 3, 2016, 1:49pm CEST par Ian Barker

Over the past few years Inateck has made a name for itself with good value audio kit including headsets and Bluetooth speakers. Its latest offerings are in the closely-contested earphone market, so how well do they measure up to more established players? The BH1105 is the budget option and, a little unusually these days, just a set of headphones, there's no in-line mic to use with a smartphone. The design is a little different too, with the body of the phones being made of wood. Zebrawood to be precise -- if you thought zebras were made of meat you're correct,… [Continue Reading]
How to fully disable Windows 10 live tiles

Publié: juin 3, 2016, 1:13pm CEST par Wayne Williams

Windows 10’s Start menu offers live tiles that update every few seconds or so to display information like the latest news headlines and weather, and also a changing slideshow of photos. Live tiles are viewed by many as a bit odd, because unless you switch to tablet mode, you only ever see them when you open the Start menu, and the menu has to stay open so you can watch the tiles update. Fortunately, if have no need for such things, this feature is easily disabled. If you just want to disable one live tile you can do this by… [Continue Reading]
Microsoft wants to build a blockchain-based identity solution

Publié: juin 3, 2016, 1:08pm CEST par Phoebe Jennelyn Magdirila

Leveraging on possible opportunities on identity systems, Microsoft is looking into building a blockchain-based identity system and it has recently sealed a partnership to further this goal. The tech giant has made an open source collaboration with companies Blockstack Labs and ConsenSys for their current Bitcoin and Ethereum-based identity solutions, together with various developers globally. Blockchain, while more familiarly used in the cryptocurrency Bitcoin, is a technology that has other uses and can store transaction history of various kinds of records. Through the partnership, Microsoft said it is looking to create an open source, self-sovereign, blockchain-based identity system that allows… [Continue Reading]
Best Windows apps this week

Publié: juin 3, 2016, 12:36pm CEST par Martin Brinkmann

One-hundred and eighty-three 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. This week has seen the release of several exciting new applications and games for the Windows platform, as well as updates for existing apps such as Viber, Forza Motosport 6 and Dailymotion. 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 via email instead. Discounts this week The following… [Continue Reading]
Mobile workforces put businesses at increased risk

Publié: juin 3, 2016, 12:13pm CEST par Ian Barker

A more and more mobile workforce is leaving US businesses vulnerable to increased risk of data breaches and theft of information. This is highlighted in a survey of executives and small business owners by secure data destruction company Shred-It. Among the findings are that 92 percent of C-Suite Executives have at least some employees using a flexible or off-site working model, but only 31 percent of these executives say they have an information security policy for both off-site work environments and flexible working areas in place. Small businesses by comparison have at least some employees using a flexible/off-site working model… [Continue Reading]
Cut your animated GIF file sizes with GIF Optimizer

Publié: juin 3, 2016, 11:10am CEST par Mike Williams

If you’ve ever tried creating animated GIFs, you’ll have noticed that they can get very large, especially when using complex sources like TV footage. That’s no great surprise -- the format was designed for simple animations, not full color video -- but GIF Optimizer Free may help you shrink your file sizes. Setup is easy, because there’s no installation required -- just unzip the download and run gifoptimizer.exe. Next, open your target GIF. It’s displayed in a preview window, where you play the animation or scroll through each frame. Click Optimize and the program applies various non-destructive tricks to cut… [Continue Reading]
Server shipments increase, revenue declines

Publié: juin 3, 2016, 9:08am CEST par Sead Fadilpašić

Gartner has released new figures about the state of server shipments worldwide, and even though growth has been recorded, that’s not real a success story yet. According to its figures, global servers shipment increased 1.7 percent year-on-year, but revenue declined 2.3 percent. The research company says this means that servers which were being sold same time last year were more expensive than the ones being sold now. "Although revenue declined, the first quarter of 2016 continued with a trend of low-level shipments growth on a global level with a variation in results by region", says Jeffrey Hewitt, research vice president at Gartner.… [Continue Reading]
Samsung unveils fitness-focused Gear Fit2 wearable and Gear IconX wireless earbuds

Publié: juin 3, 2016, 3:42am CEST par Brian Fagioli

The "wearable" product segment is a bit curious. Quite often, it feels like smartwatches, bands, and more are merely solutions in search of a problem. For many consumers, they can end up being nothing more than money spent to get notifications on their wrists. The one clear usage for wearables, however, is fitness. Whether you are an active exercise aficionado, or someone just wanting to shed some pounds, a fitness tracker or other activity-based wearable can be a godsend. Today, Samsung announces two such products -- the Gear Fit2 wrist wearable and the Gear IconX wireless earbuds.. "The Gear Fit2 features an… [Continue Reading]
The Sims 4 update dissolves gender boundaries and embraces diversity

Publié: juin 3, 2016, 3:06am CEST par Mark Wilson

A free update released today for The Sims 4 introduces a swathe of new options relating to creation of Sims. Significantly, gender-specific options no longer exist. Players can access the full range of clothing, hairstyles, physiques and voices regardless of the gender selected. Electronic Arts says that in all, some 700 options that were previously tied to male or female Sims are now gender neutral. The move, part of a general trend in the technology industry to diversity, has been warmly welcomed by players. As well as the main game, the update also affects add-ons and expansions for The Sims… [Continue Reading]
Android users: become a Google Maps beta tester to try out preview versions of the app

Publié: juin 3, 2016, 2:21am CEST par Mark Wilson

Google is a company that's well-known for its beta products -- there is a long-running joke about so many of its services being in permanent beta. Beta testing on Android has tended to be limited to a select few, but with the Google Maps app the beta programme is being opened up to everyone. After signing up to take part, you will be able to download a newer version of Google Maps than is currently available in the Play Store. At the moment there is a fairly insignificant version number difference, and no notable changes, but this should all change as… [Continue Reading]
The Linux Foundation announces the 2016 LiFT Scholarship Program -- here's how to apply

Publié: juin 3, 2016, 1:04am CEST par Brian Fagioli

If you are into technology and computers, but unsure about a career path, open source and Linux are both wise focuses. While the job market cannot be predicted with absolute certainty, it is undeniable that both of those things are increasingly important. The Linux-based Android is the most popular mobile operating system, while major companies like Microsoft, Google, and Apple embrace open source. The problem with education nowadays is the high cost. Many people can't afford to pay for classes out of pocket, and if they take out student loans, they can end up in debt for many years. Luckily, scholarships… [Continue Reading]