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BetaNews.Com (20 non lus)

IDC was so wrong about Windows Phone

Publié: décembre 8, 2016, 9:19pm CET par Joe Wilcox

I laughed so hard and so often at IDC's smartphone forecast, my response took nine days to write—okay, to even start it. The future isn't my chuckable—that data looks reasonably believable enough—but the past. Because 2016 was supposed to be the year that Microsoft's mobile OS rose from the ashes of Symbian to surpass iOS and to challenge Android. In 2011, IDC forecast that Windows Phone global smartphone OS market share would top 20 percent in 2015. The analyst firm reiterated the platform's No. 2 status for 2016 in 2012 as well. Not that I ever believed the ridiculous forecasts,… [Continue Reading]
Managing collaboration tools in the enterprise

Publié: décembre 8, 2016, 8:45pm CET par Robin Smith

Most companies have some sort of electronic communications policy. It’s probably been updated ad-hoc over the last few years to include new communications applications, but often lacks the enforcement tools that companies initially used when email first came about. With Facebook looking to take center stage in business communications with Workplace it’s time for organizations to start taking the governance of social and collaboration platforms more seriously. For heavily regulated industries, such as financial services, the initial driving force behind managing data communications more effectively was compliance with a myriad of acronym loaded legislation from MiFID II (Markets in Financial… [Continue Reading]
Malwarebytes 3.0 aims to replace your antivirus

Publié: décembre 8, 2016, 8:42pm CET par Mike Williams

Malwarebytes has released Malwarebytes 3.0, a new package which combines its anti-malware, anti-exploit, anti-ransomware and web protection technologies. You won’t see most of these in the free version, unfortunately. That’s still strictly on-demand anti-malware only, although the new product does allow you to check out the new features with a 14-day Malwarebytes Premium trial. Both the free and Premium builds see major performance improvements, with scan speeds up to 4x faster than the previous editions. Usability tweaks include integration with the Windows Action Center, automatic update checks (no scheduling required) and fewer reboots after some malware removals. A redesigned and… [Continue Reading]
Artificial intelligence can improve productivity

Publié: décembre 8, 2016, 7:39pm CET par Frank Lansink

There is a challenge, both within and out of the workplace, which we have all faced at some point when tackling a task. We have the skills. We have the ability. We know what we need to do, and yet an activity becomes a chore, and a time-consuming burden. The productivity puzzle is a broad, complex one, but this is undoubtedly one facet of it. Mundane activities without question are often crucial to our day to day, and need to be done. But as humans we need mental stimulation, and the creative applications of our skills to keep us engaged.… [Continue Reading]
Style offers Prisma-like photo styling for the desktop

Publié: décembre 8, 2016, 7:03pm CET par Mike Williams

Desktop image editors have been offering effects like "Oil Painting" and "Pencil Sketch" for years, without anyone paying much attention, but the rise of the smartphone has created a whole new market for these photo-transforming tricks. Style is a Prisma-like tool for Windows and Mac which converts regular photos into works of art using various classic styles. Setup proved difficult on our test Windows 10 laptop. This could be a very temporary problem and we’ve spelled out the details on the download page, but essentially we had to manually download and run the program’s one-click installer file (https://style.hunterinthewoods.com/Style.application). Style has… [Continue Reading]
Does Samsung's new 'Black Pearl' Galaxy S7 edge copy Apple's 'Jet Black' iPhone 7?

Publié: décembre 8, 2016, 6:45pm CET par Brian Fagioli

Over the years, some people have accused Samsung of copying Apple with its designs. While that criticism was certainly more valid early on, the Galaxy-maker has carved out its own design style in recent years -- silencing some pundits. Its smartphones are wildly popular, and for good reason -- they often have great build quality and are chock-full of many outstanding features. They are not mere clones or imitations. One of Samsung's most popular smartphones is the wonderful Galaxy S7 edge. While you would never mistake it for an iPhone, today, the Galaxy-maker does seem to copy Apple just a little bit -- even… [Continue Reading]
The benefits of cloud-connected spreadsheets

Publié: décembre 8, 2016, 5:33pm CET par Brian Donnelly

This year has been the year of spreadsheet distress. Spreadsheet errors have been blamed for a number of high profile corporate meltdowns including one in the rail franchise bid process for the West Coast mainline that is said to have cost the tax payer around £60m. Spreadsheet calculations represent up to £38 billion of private sector investment decisions per year and simple errors could be putting billions of pounds at risk. With so many high profile incidents filling the newswires, it may seem unlikely that the spreadsheet is set for a reprieve in 2017. However, new developments in IT are… [Continue Reading]
Companies miss basic precautions that could prevent data breaches

Publié: décembre 8, 2016, 5:02pm CET par Ian Barker

Public awareness of data security issues has never been higher. Not only have data breaches made the news but the FBI's battle with Apple has put encryption in the headlines too. Yet despite the high profile of threats a new survey of IT security professionals from secure browser company Authentic8 shows that businesses aren't taking basic steps to protect themselves. Over 57 percent of respondents admit to the reuse of passwords for different websites when it's "not important" and nearly 30 percent use at least one personal password for a work account. In addition 40 percent of respondents don’t use a… [Continue Reading]
Sling TV becomes more user-friendly

Publié: décembre 8, 2016, 5:02pm CET par Alan Buckingham

Sling TV is a name familiar to many people, especially those who no longer use cable or satellite for their TV service. The alternative brings cable-like live TV to the home, it just comes in through an internet connection. It also works with most devices you have -- phones, tablets, Roku, Fire TV and more. Now Sling is rolling out an update designed to make things just a bit more user-friendly. It is rolling out now and includes several key items. Included is quick access to favorite content and resume watching from My TV, everything you like included in the… [Continue Reading]
How will ARM support impact Windows 10?

Publié: décembre 8, 2016, 4:52pm CET par Mihăiță Bamburic

Microsoft can be surprising at times. After ditching Windows RT, the software giant has announced that it is working with Qualcomm to bring ARM support to Windows 10. In practice, that means that we will see Snapdragon-powered machines running Microsoft's latest operating system which, and this is key, can run proper x86 software. Windows RT did not have that, as it was limited to apps available from Windows Store. And we all know how that worked out. However, x86 software on Snapdragon-powered Windows 10 devices can be seen as a game-changer as, in theory, it could pave the way to… [Continue Reading]
Microsoft now officially owns LinkedIn

Publié: décembre 8, 2016, 3:45pm CET par Mark Wilson

Six months after news of the acquisition was released, Microsoft's takeover of the professional social network has closed. The aim had been to complete the deal by the end of the year, and the two companies managed to hit the deadline after the European Commission gave it the go-ahead. The $26.2 billion acquisition is being billed as helping to accelerate the mission to "connect the world's professionals". Despite the acquisition, things should remain unchanged at LinkedIn, at least to start with. But the site will ultimately start to integrate more of Microsoft's products and services such as Outlook, Windows 10's… [Continue Reading]
DreamObjects improves enterprise cloud storage

Publié: décembre 8, 2016, 3:32pm CET par Ian Barker

The cloud is becoming the first place many businesses turn to when looking to increase their storage capacity. Web hosting and cloud services company DreamHost is looking to give enterprises more scalable, reliable, and high performing cloud storage with the launch of its latest DreamObjects storage hosting service. Based on the latest jewel release of the open source Ceph software defined storage platform, DreamObjects can be used to build cloud-ready applications and to store documents, photos, songs and backup, taking advantage of its Amazon S3 API compatibility. An easy-to-use console lets users see how much storage they're using and what… [Continue Reading]
Snipaste: screen capture for designers

Publié: décembre 8, 2016, 3:30pm CET par Mike Williams

Snipaste is an unusual developer and designer-oriented screen capture tool for Windows. Basic operations are simple and you’ll feel at home right away. Press a hotkey, left-click and drag to capture a rectangular area: easy. The program also captures UI elements, like menus, panels, toolbars and buttons. Move your mouse cursor around the screen, Snipaste highlights the underlying UI area, and it can be captured with a left-click. Whatever you’ve chosen, a toolbar enables annotating it with lines, shapes or arrows, highlighting areas, applying a blurring effect, adding new text and generally editing it in-place. As usual, Snipaste can copy… [Continue Reading]
Microsoft aims to take 'mixed reality' mainstream in 2017

Publié: décembre 8, 2016, 3:17pm CET par Wayne Williams

Virtual Reality arrived properly in 2016, although it has yet to really make any mainstream impact. Augmented Reality did enter our lives via Pokémon Go, but that’s been about it so far. Microsoft is targeting 2017 as the year that mixed reality starts to become a thing, and at the Windows Hardware Engineering Community event (WinHEC) in Shenzhen, China the company shared the PC specifications (co-developed with Intel) that will power the first MR headsets from Acer, ASUS, Dell, HP and Lenovo set to arrive next year. SEE ALSO: Windows 10 coming to ARM -- paving the way for always… [Continue Reading]
Facebook reveals the biggest trending topics and Live videos of 2016

Publié: décembre 8, 2016, 3:04pm CET par Mark Wilson

We're nearing the end of the year, so expect to be inundated with retrospectives for 2016 -- Facebook has just released its look back at the year that's (nearly) gone by. The social network's review of 2016 comprises two top 10 lists: the most popular trending topics of the year, and the most popular Live videos of the year. It should come as no surprise that the trending topics list is dominated by major political events such as the US election and Brexit, as well as celebrity deaths. You'll have noticed that there are still three weeks until the end… [Continue Reading]
Conexant and Amazon bring Alexa to Raspberry Pi with 'AudioSmart 2-mic Development Kit'

Publié: décembre 8, 2016, 1:59pm CET par Brian Fagioli

Amazon's Echo devices are incredible. I'll admit that I was a skeptic at first, but once I got my own, I was hooked. Not only can the Alexa voice assistant provide me with important data like weather, news, and traffic, but it can play music too. Most importantly, it serves as a brilliant IoT control unit. My house has several WiFi connected power outlets, and I can verbally tell Alexa to turn off my lamps. It can even control my television! Much of Amazon's success with Echo and Alexa is thanks to third-party developers and hardware. Today, Conexant and Amazon announce the AudioSmart 2-mic… [Continue Reading]
Windows 10 coming to ARM -- paving the way for always connected, more power-efficient PCs

Publié: décembre 8, 2016, 1:17pm CET par Wayne Williams

There’s a fair amount of news coming out of the Windows Hardware Engineering Community event (WinHEC) in Shenzhen, China at the moment, but potentially the most exciting announcement is that Windows 10 is coming to ARM. A partnership with Qualcomm means that we’ll soon see a range of Snapdragon-powered Windows 10 PCs with integrated cellular connectivity that run x86 Win32 and universal Windows apps. SEE ALSO: Microsoft and Intel’s Project Evo will 'raise the bar for what’s possible with Windows PCs' Microsoft says, "For the first time ever, our customers will be able to experience the Windows they know with… [Continue Reading]
Senior leaders holding new tech adoption back

Publié: décembre 8, 2016, 12:42pm CET par Sead Fadilpašić

IT managers in UK organizations believe their senior leaders are intentionally holding back the adoption of new technologies, as they fear that could endanger their position within the company. This is according to a new report by global cloud communications provider 8x8, which surveyed 260 IT managers in UK organizations. Almost half (45 percent) of IT managers are suspicious senior leaders are holding technology back for reasons of "self-preservation". Same IT managers, a third of them (34 percent), believe their company is making full use of the latest technology. Among C-suites, that percentage is up to almost a half (49… [Continue Reading]
BBC trials 4K Planet Earth II in HDR on iPlayer -- but you probably can't watch it

Publié: décembre 8, 2016, 12:21pm CET par Wayne Williams

There are a growing number of ways to enjoy Ultra HD content on your 4K TV or monitor. Just a couple of days ago, Google added 4K movies to Google Play. Now the BBC announces it is trialing 4K high dynamic range (HDR) video on its iPlayer streaming platform, and I can confirm, having watched it, it's absolutely stunning stuff. However, you shouldn’t get too excited about it, yet -- there are a couple of big catches that will mean you probably won't be able to watch it. It’s only a test right now, and it only involves four minutes… [Continue Reading]
Facebook granted European license for electronic payments in Messenger

Publié: décembre 8, 2016, 11:26am CET par Mark Wilson

Payments through Facebook Messenger have been available in the US for some time now, and they're about to make their way to Europe. Facebook has just been granted a license for 'payment services' and 'e-money issuance' with the Central Bank of Ireland. As a member of the European Union, holding a license in Ireland means that Facebook will be able to offer its payment services in all of the EU member states. At the moment it is not clear if Facebook intends to operate the European service in precisely the same way as the US. The existing Facebook Messenger payment… [Continue Reading]