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Jul 08, 2020
One of the most annoying and easily confusing aspects of scheduling a meeting is figuring out when everyone who should attend is actually free to attend. Learn how to end the scheduling game for meetings in Microsoft Outlook with these easy tips and tricks.
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Jul 08, 2020
Mozilla last week upgraded Firefox to version 78, patching a baker's dozen of security flaws and starting the annual process of retiring last year's Extended Support Release (ESR) and offering customers the latest enterprise-designed build.
Company engineers patched 13 vulnerabilities, seven labeled "High," Firefox's second-most-serious label. Unlike most Firefox refreshes, version 78 did not fix any bugs marked "Critical."
Firefox 78 can be downloaded for Windows, macOS and Linux from Mozilla's site. Because Firefox updates in the background, most users can simply relaunch the browser to get the latest version. To manually update on Windows, pull up the menu under the three horizontal bars at the upper right, then click the help icon (the question mark within a circle). Choose "About Firefox." (On macOS, "About Firefox" can be found under the "Firefox" menu.) The resulting page shows that the browser is either up to date or describes the refresh process.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jul 08, 2020
The most obvious problem with June patches was a conflict between Microsoft's latest version of Windows and Microsoft's latest version of Office (er, Microsoft 365) Click-to-Run: If you installed patches as soon as they came out, Outlook wouldn't run. That bug got cleared up when Microsoft fixed Office a week later, even though Windows was to blame.
We also saw a bunch of belated patches for printers that didn't work after installing the June Windows updates.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jul 08, 2020
It seems fair to say that Apple has never had an easy relationship with third party iPhone repair services, so it's good news that it has expanded provision of repair services by extending its Independent Repair Provider Program to more shops in the U.S., Canada and Europe.
A step forward
Just a few years ago, Apple fell foul of regulators and consumer groups when it attempted to make life much harder for customers who had used independent repair service providers.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jul 08, 2020
As the '90s end, this government department rolls out laptops to the executives and directors, reports this IT manager pilot fish, and they're all given a quick "put your laptop on the docking station and plug the Ethernet cable in" demonstration.
But one director — she's the one with oversight of IT, though she thinks IT is a waste of money — calls day after day to say that she has no network connection. And day after day fish goes to her office, finds her dangling network cable and tells her, once again, that she has to plug it in.
"Over the next three weeks, she forgot several more times," says fish. "I eventually made up a bright yellow label for the cable so she would remember."
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jul 07, 2020
If you'd told me five years ago that I'd one day write another article about the importance of Google Voice, I'd have responded with a friendly but firm "fuhgeddaboudit."
Google Voice was once one of Google's greatest but most underappreciated services. When it launched way back in the prehistoric era of 2009, it promised to change the way we thought about our phones by taking over our primary numbers and then acting as the gatekeeper and controller of all our communications.
For years, Voice was a power-user's dream — especially on Android, where its simple system-level integration made it easy to have Google own your actual phone number and turn the phone itself into a mere node instead of letting it act as the nucleus of your mobile-tech universe. But then, well, Google...Googled. It let Voice languish for years, without any attention or updates, then awkwardly half-merged it into Hangouts and had it rot away unattended for years. And we all know how the whole Hangouts saga ended (or is still in the process of ending, I guess we should say).
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jul 07, 2020
Like iPhones and iPads, Apple Silicon Macs will use an Apple-designed GPU - something that makes complete sense when you consider this is how current iOS devices work. But it could be a reason for pause by some high-end users during the transition period from Intel-based hardware.
Tile Based Deferred Rendering
You see, while Intel Macs contain GPU's from Intel, Nvidia and AMD, Apple Silicon Macs will use what the company seems fond of calling "Apple family" GPUs. These use a rendering system called Tile Based Deferred Rendering (TBDR), which iOS devices already use.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jul 07, 2020
Windows 10 recorded strong growth again in June as the five-year-old operating system added more than a percentage point in share just as the now-obsolete Windows 7 retreated by almost as much.
According to metrics vendor Net Applications, Windows 10 grew by 1.1 percentage points to reach 58.9% of global OS share last month, which represented 68% of all Windows' editions. Both numbers were again records for Windows 10, with the latter putting the operating system on track for reaching a 70% share of Windows within 60 days.
Windows 10's percentage of only Windows PCs was significantly larger than the percentage of all personal computers because Windows does not power every system. In June, Windows was the OS of 86.7% of the world's personal computers, the same fraction as in May and like that month, a record low for Microsoft's operating system. Of the remaining 13.3%, all but a puny seven-hundredths of a point ran macOS, Linux or Chrome OS.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jul 07, 2020
In late June, Microsoft said it would permanently close its chain of 82 retail stores after temporarily shuttering them in March because of the coronavirus pandemic. It's an ignominious end to a failed experiment and attempt by Microsoft to try and build some of same cachet as the Apple Store.
But Microsoft's largely humdrum hardware never inspired the same devotion as Apple's devices. And Microsoft could never outmarket Apple — the Microsoft Store never came up with the equivalent of the Genius Bar, and the stores were never destinations in and of themselves like Apple Stores have been.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jul 07, 2020
A trouble ticket is escalated to this pilot fish from the help desk after that group spent nearly two days with someone who works from home. "Can you do your magic touch with this?" is included in the notes.
So fish calls the user, and is able to remotely access his laptop and make sure the required services are running and up to date.
Then he tells the user to reboot, but recalling that he was supposed to use his magic touch, he adds, "You need to cross your fingers, spin in your chair and chant ‘Owatanahsiam!' seven times, then plug in the dock station."
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jul 06, 2020
Google's Chrome cracked 70% last month in the browser share sweepstakes, setting another record as it reached a number held by only two other browsers in the history of the web.
According to data published last week by analytics company Net Applications, Chrome's share during June rose four-tenths of a percentage point to 70.2%. The browser has been on a sixth-month run, adding 3.6 percentage points to its account since January. The only other browser to end the first half of 2020 on a positive note was Opera Software's Opera, which gained just one-tenth of a point in that time.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jul 06, 2020
When wondering about widgets, one would be wise to weigh which widget is a widget worth welcoming.
Apologies for my atrociously annoying alliteration. (Ah, blast. There I go again.) The thing about a widget, though, is — well, it sounds silly. And it's easy to write off as being irrelevant to your life as an Extremely Serious Smartphone User.
But playful as they may seem — and frivolous as they often appear — Android widgets can actually be a real asset when it comes to mobile productivity. In fact, once you wade through the Play Store's endless-seeming array of weather widgets, clock widgets, and, uh, more weather widgets, a sea of genuinely useful options awaits.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jul 06, 2020
When IT builds a new help desk system for the organization where this pilot fish works, the CIO decided it could be used for anything, PC-related or not. For example, it could be used for building maintenance requests.
"About three days into the new help desk," fish reports, "a ticket is entered requesting building service — there was a window leaking.
"My CIO was reading all of the calls. To this one he dutifully responded: ‘Please enter your version of Windows when opening a ticket.'"
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jul 06, 2020
The wave of IT layoffs caused by the COVID-19 pandemic did not end in May 2020 as expected, with June seeing 6,000 more layoffs as business uncertainties rose because of the increase in coronavirus infections in the U.S., according to new data from management consulting firm Janco Associates. The pandemic's economic fallout had already led to about 117,000 job losses in U.S. IT positions in April and early May 2020.
The increase in COVID-19 infections across most U.S. states in June prompted the additional layoffs, and Janco's June survey of U.S. IT organizations shows that further layoffs - though at the relatively small scale seen in June - are expected given business uncertainties. That survey also said that salary increases for IT staffers are "a thing of the past."
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jul 06, 2020
The wave of IT layoffs caused by the COVID-19 pandemic did not end in May 2020 as expected, with June seeing 6,000 additional layoffs as business uncertainties rose over the increase in coronavirus infections in much of the U.S., according to new data from management consulting firm Janco Associates. The pandemic's economic fallout had resulted in about 117,000 job losses in U.S. IT positions in April and early May 2020, plus another 6,000 in June.
The unexpected increase in COVID-19 infections across most U.S. states in June led to the additional layoffs, and Janco's June survey of U.S. IT organizations shows that further layoffs—though at the relatively small scale seen in June—are now largely expected given the business uncertainties. That survey also said that salary increases for IT staff are "a thing of the past."
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jul 03, 2020
Hours since the first Apple Silicon Mac benchmarks leaked come a fresh set of numbers detailing what could be Apple's next iMac release.
An iMac with Intel inside
While we all anticipate Apple will introduce its first Apple Silicon Macs later this year, the company has told us it will continue to support and to sell Intel-based Macs.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jul 03, 2020
Citrix was way ahead of the curve when it came to virtualizing the desktop. But, as is often the case with early movers, it never really rose to its potential because it created a solution that was very costly, complex to run, and relied on long-term contracts that locked in customers. These tactics created an impressive level of dissatisfaction with the firm, making it only a matter of time before one of the more significant vendors - or a younger firm - stepped in with a displacement strategy.
The irony is that with the COVID-19 pandemic forcing people to work from home a virtualized solution that could be better secured and managed would be a significant advantage. Not only does the Citrix economic model work against that, but the company also has a lousy security record.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jul 03, 2020
This small vendor provides software to big banks, says a pilot fish who helps keep everything running.
"Part of our job requires supporting the installation at the customer, who happens to be far, far away," fish says. "In order to do this remotely, we need to VPN into the bank's network so we can troubleshoot the system."
The bank has set up an account for the vendor's techs to use, so that's not a problem. But logging in requires the use of a security token — a little device displaying a number that changes every minute. So far, so good: Fish and his cohorts can log in and fix problems.
But then comes a request for off-hours support. That creates a logistical problem: There are three techs who rotate on-call duties, but only one security token.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jul 02, 2020
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, communication in the workplace could be slow, with conversations often mired in lengthy email chains that remained invisible to the rest of an organization. Slack's mission for six years has been clear: to bring greater transparency to workplace discussions, creating a space where co-workers can quickly share information and collaborate closely on projects.
Since its launch in 2014, adoption has boomed: more than 12 million people now use Slack every day, and last year the company became a publicly traded company following its direct listing. As remote work became more of a necessity due to the pandemic, teams have found themselves turning to the workplace chat app as they seek to remain productive during the disruption.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jul 02, 2020
Microsoft this week warned enterprise and education customers running Windows 10 that it will start replacing the old, original Edge browser on their PCs with the newer Chromium-based version on or after July 30.
First to get the forced swap will be machines in educational settings, Microsoft said, citing back-to-school scheduling for the prioritization. (Many K-12 schools, along with colleges and universities, are saying, "We will share a business timeline at a later date," wrote Elliot Kirk, senior program manager with the Edge team, in a July 30 post to a company blog.)
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jul 02, 2020
Apple continues to focus on the challenge of providing technology-driven convenience while protecting customer privacy in its upcoming operating system releases. Here are all the privacy-related improvements to expect in iOS 14, macOS 11 and iPad.
Why privacy matters
Fundamentally, the challenge with mobile technologies is the sheer quantity of personal data that can be collected and used against people.
A smartphone, for example, knows when it is picked up, how often, how high, who by, who it is in contact with, which websites you visit and much, much more.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jul 02, 2020
There's never a dull moment for folks who try to keep Windows and Office patched.
Windows 10 version 2004 continues to make slow inroads among the "Go ahead and kick me" crowd, in spite of its (now documented) lack of update deferral settings, while those of us who are still trying to keep Win10 versions 2009, 2003 and 1809 afloat have our hands full.
June saw two truly innovative patching methods: A fix for a Windows bug delivered as an update to Office Click-to-Run and a fix for a different Windows bug delivered through the Microsoft Store.
If you can't fix things the normal way, I guess there's always the back door.
The two printer bugs
All of the Win10 cumulative updates in June broke some printers, some of the time. The damage fell into two heaps:
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jul 02, 2020
Apple last week unveiled macOS 11, aka "Big Sur," at its all-virtual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC). Like any other year, the Cupertino, Calif. company also gave coders a preview build of the operating system so they could get cracking.
And the new OS means, as usual, a new Safari browser for the desktop. Thank goodness for consistency, eh?
Unlike rivals, who crank out new browsers every few weeks - for instance, Mozilla refreshes Firefox every four - Apple rolls out a new Safari just once a year. Rather than spread out new features and functionality across a dozen or so updates, Apple packs the bulk of new into a single upgrade.
[ Related: Apple's Silicon Macs promise screaming performance ]
That deserves attention. We want to oblige.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jul 02, 2020
IT admins have a hard enough time keeping employees on the technology straight-and-narrow in the best of times. It's even harder when a pandemic hits and everyone in the office scatters to work from home.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jul 01, 2020
Microsoft never sleeps. Even before Microsoft made the Windows 10 May 2020 Update (version 2004) generally available to users, the company began working on upcoming feature updates to Windows 10. As it did with version 2004, Microsoft has been releasing a series of public preview builds to members of Microsoft's Windows Insider Program.
After years of using "Redstone" in its code names for upcoming releases, Microsoft switched to a new format with version 1903, released in May 2019. The code names now use a YYH1/YYH2 format, with the YY standing for the last two numbers of the year and H1 or H2 referring to the first or second half of the year. So Windows 10 version 2004, which was released in May 2020, was code-named "20H1" (for first half of 2020). The next feature update, due in the fall of 2020, is code-named 20H2.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jul 01, 2020
Security, yes. But the biggest problem to adoption is staring us all in the mirror. Here's what that means for you and your organization.
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Jul 01, 2020
Introduced at WWDC 2020, Apple's iOS answer to Android's app drawer makes its debut in iOS 14. It's called App Library and works by gathering all your apps inside folders to make it easier to find the apps you want without endless swiping between screens.
What did Apple say about App Library?
Speaking at last week's WWDC, Apple Senior Vice President of Software Engineering Craig Federighi said:
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jul 01, 2020
Once upon a time, making a choice about how you updated Windows was easy: Let Microsoft decide. The company had a release cycle, and you went along for the ride.
Those days seem so quaint now. Today there are multiple "channels" to choose from, with complicated nomenclature. Should you update Windows 10 according to the Semi-Annual Channel? Should you opt for the Insider Dev Channel? Or should you simply throw up your hands and do nothing, and let Windows 10 update whenever Windows 10 wants to update?
We feel your pain, and we're here to help. In this article, we'll explain how to handle Windows 10 previews and updates and how to choose the right release channel for you.
To read this article in full, please click here
(Insider Story)
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Jul 01, 2020
It's a hot day, and the building where this IT pilot fish works has no air conditioning, although it's quite cool and pleasant in his basement office-cum-workshop.
On the upper floors, however, the heat is starting to get to everyone. As fish finds out when he gets a call from a young guy in the marketing department: His screen's just gone dead, and he's on deadline.
Arriving in the open-plan office that this user shares with half a dozen others, he finds that there is some air movement from a floor fan.
It only takes fish a few seconds to diagnose the problem. But he figures he should lead the user to it gently.
Nice fan, fish says. Is it new?
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jun 30, 2020
Promising Apple Silicon Mac performance benchmarks have appeared on Geekbench as developers begin to speed test these new Macs. It seems these machines already run as fast as some Windows devices.
The best is yet to come
This data doesn't tell the whole story. For example, we know these Apple Silicon Macs are running an early beta of the operating system; and we also know that the speed tests themselves are not optimized for the processors or the OS.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jun 30, 2020
When Apple rolled out its planned changes for iOS 14 and its companion WatchOS 7- both are expected to be available for download in mid-September - it included a variety of interesting tweaks. Two stood out as especially interesting: a COVID-friendly Watch handwashing app and an enterprise-IT-friendly facial recognition app for video cameras and doorbells.
The more straight-forward effort is positioned as a consumer feature, where video camera and doorbell apps within iOS will be able to identify visitors by name if they happen to appear within a user's photo library. It sounds rather cool for a consumer app, but I'm not sure how valuable it is. My doorbell app, for example, instantly shows me live video of the person at the door, so I can have a realtime conversation with whoever is there.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jun 30, 2020
This pilot fish is trying to learn a new graphics editor, but he keeps getting errors. And the errors are not informative: The prompt simply changes to an evil red color.
It being 1989, fish checks the paper manual, and is pleased to find a whole chapter on errors. Well, a whole chapter consisting of one sentence: "When there is an error the prompt will turn red and beep. Type the correct information and press Enter."
Frustrating? Yes. Or, like fish, you can find in it the secret of life: "If you have any kind of coding error, the fix is to just type the correct information and press Enter."
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jun 29, 2020
Microsoft on Friday said it would close its chain of retail store and take a $450 million charge against earnings to account for the permanent shutterings.
The stores - Microsoft had 82 worldwide, all but 10 of them located in the U.S. - have been padlocked since mid-March, when the Redmond, Wash. company closed them because of the coronavirus pandemic. None had reopened before Microsoft slid them into the "really dead" category.
[ Related: How to protect Windows 10 PCs from ransomware ]
Four outlets - one of the New York City stores, those in London and Sydney, and an on-campus location in Redmond - will be repurposed as "Microsoft Experience Centers" where products will presumably be shown if not sold, highlighted if not hawked.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jun 29, 2020
At this year's WWDC, Apple's upcoming iOS 14 introduced two concepts that may be of use to enterprise professionals: "widgets," which let you keep some key data on your Home screen, and "stacks," which combine widgets in a useful way.
Here's how these may help you get things done once the OS updates roll out later this year.
Introducing widgets and stacks
Widgets aren't new to iOS, but they have been redesigned and made more data rich so that they become more useful.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jun 29, 2020
COVID-19, and the desire to avoid getting it, is already impacting mobile payments, especially NFC payments known as contactless. Those payments happen in-store, mere inches away from the same card swipe device used by countless others. But shoppers' desire to avoid going inside stores at all, even briefly, is sparking interest in app payments that happen far away from a POS system.
Case in point: 7-Eleven. Although 7-Eleven is piloting a program to accelerate in-store purchases by scanning barcodes, that's not especially COVID-19-friendly. The more interesting trial from the Slurpee people is aimed at paying for gas and it theoretically eliminates having to talk with a store employee at all. (If I keep the windows closed throughout the interaction, am I supposed to still wear the mask?)
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jun 29, 2020
It's the 1980s, and this pilot fish works in a group at a big financial services company that provides 24/7 support. That means taking turns doing a weeklong on-call rotation.
Fish has done his on-call duty, with pager, before, but this is his first time with a new and improved pager. Now you don't call back a prearranged phone number; you call the number that is displayed in a small window on the pager.
Come 3 a.m. Saturday, and the pager goes off. Fish gets up, sets up the take-home terminal and acoustic modem on his dining room table, grabs a cup of caffeine, and calls back the number on the beeper.
But what fish gets is a computer tone. Must be a home number sharing a fax, he figures. He hangs up and tries to figure out what he's supposed to do next.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jun 29, 2020
I work in San Francisco with people based in or near Boston, Sydney, Paris, London, Bangalore, Auckland, Amsterdam, and — oh yeah — San Francisco. So I never know what time it is! But I need to know what time it is in all those places when scheduling meetings and doing other cross-time-zone work.
Microsoft 365, Office 365 and Exchange users can get some help working across time zones from Microsoft Outlook on some platforms, as well as from Apple Calendar on macOS and iOS. (The Google Calendar and Samsung Calendar Android clients don't work with Microsoft 365/Office 365 or Exchange.)
[ Related: How to check someone else's schedule in Outlook ]
Use the links in the left margin or below to jump to the instructions for your version of Outlook or Apple Calendar.
To read this article in full, please click here
(Insider Story)
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Jun 26, 2020
Hopefully you caught last week's episode with our WWDC predictions… This week, we're back discussing which WWDC announcements we're most excited about. From Apple Silicon to App Library, Car Key and sleep tracking, Juliet, Mike and Ken rehash the event and dive into the features they're most looking forward to using. If we didn't discuss your favorite new feature, let us know what it is in the comments below.
For more on all things Apple, check out Mike's articles on Macworld: https://www.macworld.com/author/Michael-Simon/
And the Apple Holic blog on Computerworld: https://www.computerworld.com/blog/apple-holic/?nsdr=true
Follow everyone on Twitter--
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jun 26, 2020
Microsoft eliminated the ability to manually defer feature upgrades from reaching unmanaged PCs running Windows 10 Pro, Enterprise and Education, according to recently revised documentation.
The company said it made the change in Windows 10 May 2020 Update, aka 2004, "to prevent confusion" on the part of customers.
[ Related: Microsoft nixes update deferral settings, but gives us a TargetReleaseVersionInfo ]
In versions prior to 2004, users were able to access deferral settings via the graphical user interface (GUI) within Settings Windows Update Advanced options. There, Pro, Enterprise and Education users could manually defer feature upgrades - the two issued each year in spring and fall - by as many as 365 days. What Microsoft called "quality updates," another name for the monthly Patch Tuesday security updates, could be postponed by up to 30 days.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jun 26, 2020
At AskWoody, we've been lamenting the sporadic lack of update deferral settings in Win10 version 2004 for some months. At times, the disappearance of the "feature" (version) deferral and "quality: (cumulative update) deferral settings in Advanced Updates appeared to be a beta/Insider build glitch, a changing design tick, a regurgitated A/B test, or a remnant of an upgrade gone bad.
Now, we have official confirmation that the options in Windows Update's Advanced Settings applet are gone for good. It's easy to see, when you compare the Advanced Settings screens side-by-side.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jun 26, 2020
It will soon be possible for enterprise workers, partners and customers to casually access web-based sites and services using biometric ID, with Apple set to enable Face ID and Touch ID authentication in Safari, the company told WWDC 2020.
Toughen up, just toughen up
This is important because the scourge of online crime is not abating, and traditional passcode-based protection has proved itself insufficient.
As we move into a world of quantum computing, breaking password-protection will only get easier, which is why biometric protection adds another layer of access control. We need to toughen up every level of security.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jun 26, 2020
It will soon be possible for enterprise workers, partners and customers to casually access web-based sites and services using biometric ID, with Apple set to enable Face ID and Touch ID authentication in Safari, the company said at WWDC 2020.
Time to toughen up
This move is important because the scourge of online crime is not abating, and traditional passcode-based protection has proved itself insufficient. As we move into a world of quantum computing, breaking password-protection will only get easier, which is why biometric protection adds another layer of access control. We need to toughen up every level of security.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jun 26, 2020
AMD this week announced it had exceeded its goal to increase energy efficiency 25-fold by 2020. Called the 25x20 goal, it has been a driving force for the company for most of the last decade and explains why cloud providers like Google have begun to favor AMD processors.
But the real importance will show up as we move to universal VDI or what I call the emergence of the cloud desktop market and products like Virtual Windows, which have been particularly helpful during the COVID-19 pandemic.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jun 26, 2020
This tech's co-workers dread when he goes on vacation, reports a pilot fish on the scene, because problems always arise when he leaves.
But he does go, and it's soon noticed that the computer that's supposed to gather data on all outgoing phone calls doesn't seem to be creating new records.
Fish and colleagues find that computer standing amid a jungle of cables, and nothing to indicate what they all do.
"After a half-hour of fighting with it," says fish, "we had to disturb our friend on his vacation." And he says the solution is simple: Just plug the dark gray cable into the computer.
All they see, though, is a bunch of equally gray cables.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jun 26, 2020
What a long, strange trip it's been.
From its inaugural release to today, Android has transformed visually, conceptually and functionally — time and time again. Google's mobile operating system may have started out scrappy, but holy moly, has it ever evolved.
Here's a fast-paced tour of Android version highlights from the platform's birth to present. (Feel free to skip ahead if you just want to see what's new in Android 11.)
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jun 25, 2020
Office 365 and Microsoft 365 subscribers always have the latest version of Microsoft Office — currently Office 2019. They also get more frequent software updates than those who have purchased Office 2019 without a subscription, which means subscribers have access to the latest features, security patches and bug fixes. But it can be hard to keep track of the changes in each update and know when they're available. We're doing this for you, so you don't have to.
Following are summaries of the updates to Office 365/Microsoft 365 for Windows, with the latest releases shown first. We'll add info about new updates as they're rolled out.
Note: This story covers updates released to regular Office 365/Microsoft 365 for Windows subscribers. If you're a member of Microsoft's Office Insider preview program or want to get a sneak peek at upcoming features, see the company's "Release notes for Office for Windows Desktop (Beta builds)" page.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jun 25, 2020
Slack has taken another step in its aim to replace email with the launch of Connect, a communication environment that enables messaging collaboration between multiple organizations.
Advancing the concept of the shared channels feature introduced three years ago and now in use by 41,000 companies, Slack Connect lets users send messages to 20 external organizations, both in channels and as direct messages.
[ Related: Slack vs. Teams: Which is best for your business? ]
In addition to sending instant messages, Connect could also help bridge digital business processes across a company with linked applications.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jun 25, 2020
Apple made waves in the enterprise space with the acquisition of small device management vendor, Fleetsmith.
Why Apple acquired Fleetsmith
Apple's enterprise push is amazing across larger enterprises. In that space it works with major partners, people like IBM, SAP, Jamf, Accenture, Oracle and others. These large-scale firms can help key clients with large Apple deployments.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jun 25, 2020
Few apps are more critical to mobile productivity than the humble word processor. I think I've probably spent a solid seven years of my life staring at Google Docs on one device or another at this point, and those minutes only keep ticking up further with practically every passing day.
While we can't do much about the need to gaze at that word-filled white screen, what we can do is learn how to make every moment spent within Docs count — and in the Docs Android app, specifically, there are some pretty spectacular tucked-away time-savers just waiting to be embraced.
Make a mental note of these advanced shortcuts and options, and put 'em to good use the next time you find yourself staring at Docs on your own device.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jun 24, 2020
Mozilla this week announced it would automatically move users running outdated versions of macOS to the Firefox Extended Support Release (ESR), an edition that provides security updates only.
The move, a first step towards dropping all support, will take place June 30, when Mozilla releases Firefox 78. On that date, users of Firefox still running OS X 10.9 (Mavericks), 10.10 (Yosemite) and 10.11 (El Capitan) on their Macs will instead be shunted to the extended channel and given 78.0 ESR. While that and Firefox 78 will be identical, when the latter shifts to version 79 four weeks later, ERS will remain at 78, increased to 78.1 to mark its first security update.
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Jun 24, 2020
Even as Apple abandoned the "X" for this year's macOS upgrade, it retained the odd-even cycle for the refresh's system requirements, knocking older systems in its MacBook, Air and iMac lines from the list able to run the operating system.
On Monday, the Cupertino, Calif. company unveiled mac OS 11, aka "Big Sur," at a virtual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC). Apple dispensed with the numeral 10, expressed with the "X" it had used for its desktop operating system since 2001, moving up a whole number rather than the traditional tenth (which would have made Big Sur macOS 10.16). The free upgrade will ship this fall, almost certainly in September or October.
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Jun 24, 2020
Last year marked a slight decrease in global technology M&A activity from the blockbuster year that was 2018 - when SAP bought Qualtrics for $8 billion, IBM acquired Red Hat for a staggering $33 billion and Broadcom picked up CA Technologies for $18.9 billion in cash.
As of the end of Q3 2019, technology M&A deals worth $245 billion had been announced globally, marking a decrease of 25% year-on-year according to GlobalData.
Which mergers and acquisitions does 2020 have in store? If January alone is anything to go by, there will be no slowing of major deals across the industry, with security already proving to be a hot area.
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Jun 24, 2020
Box CEO Aaron Levie talked about digital transformation and the future of work with Apple's vice president for cloud services, Mike Abbott, at the Mac maker's online WWDC event.
COVID-19 accelerated change
The big point Levie made was that the impact of COVID-19 has been to accelerate many company digital transformation strategies. The sudden need to enable remote work was a big challenge at the start of the pandemic, but now that those systems are in place, it seems likely many businesses will continue to permit employees to stay home.
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Jun 24, 2020
Box CEO Aaron Levie talked digital transformation and the future of work with Apple's VP Cloud Services, Mike Abbott at the Mac maker's online WWDC event.
COVID-19 accelerated change
The big point he wanted to make was that the impact of COVID-19 has been to accelerate many company digital transformation strategies.
The sudden need to enable remote working was a big challenge at the start of the pandemic, but now those systems are in place it seems probable many businesses will continue to permit employees to work from home.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jun 24, 2020
Sysadmin pilot fish and two of his cohorts arrive at work one day to find that nothing is working on the domain server.
Fish can't connect remotely, so he logs on locally. A review of the event log shows him that the SYSTEM user permission has been disabled for the C: drive.
"After adding it back on, everything runs properly," says fish.
But why had it gone missing? "Come to find out that one of the VPs had asked to be added to the domain admin group," reports fish. "After getting his new privileges he decided that, since he did not know who the SYSTEM user was, they should not have access to the C: drive.
"Needless to say, his admin privileges were yanked shortly after, and all the other servers were reviewed for potential changes."
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Jun 24, 2020
Microsoft last week rolled out what it called "Windows servicing calendars" to help enterprise customers schedule several product lines so IT can plan, prep and deploy each year's updates.
Microsoft's calendar concept highlighted when different parts of the Windows 10 upgrade process are to take place, how each successive refresh syncs — or doesn't — with those it follows and precedes, and how other parts of the company's ecosystem - notably Office/Microsoft 365 - are also best scheduled.
[ Related: How to clean up your Windows 10 act ]
The graphical approach is not new. Computerworld has used it for years to clarify Microsoft's bewildering, mutating schedules. And Computerworld cribbed it from Gartner Research, whose analysts Stephen Kleynhans and Michael Silver applied it to reports very early in Windows 10.
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(Insider Story)
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Jun 24, 2020
Surf the web in complete anonymity and keep your file system safe from hardware failure as well as cybercrime.
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Jun 23, 2020
Apple's announced move to its own ARM-based processors to power upcoming Mac computers beginning in 2021 makes sense. The company can rationalize its environment across desktops, tablets and smartphones, and also potentially increase its margins by building its own chips (something that would not make sense if it did not have the massive volumes it has in smartphone processors).
But the move is not necessarily a fully compatible one for users of all applications - especially enterprise apps that may need a rewrite to operate effectively.
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Jun 23, 2020
I know, I know: According to almost every tech publication out there, this week is all about Magical and Revolutionary Things™ in the iOS universe. But let's set aside the superlative-slinging wizard-wand for a moment — 'cause here in the land o' Android, we've got some serious thinking to do.
We're nearly two weeks into the release of Google's Android 11 Beta, y'see, and I can't help but obsess a bit over what this software suggests could — or at least should — come next. (And just think: If Google does in fact move forward with what I'm proposing, iPhone users can expect to see the same exact thing added to iOS in another five years! Hey-oh!)
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Jun 23, 2020
If you want a career that'll provide security well into the future, this e-training bundle may be just the ticket.
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Jun 23, 2020
Apple's move to Apple Silicon processors and major version updates across all its operating systems are always interesting, but within the company's news you'll find numerous improvements for the enterprise. Here's what you need to know:
Apple already sells an Apple Silicon Mac
Apple is moving the Mac to run on Apple Silicon - and is already offering a Mac based on the chip in the form of the Apple Developer Transition Kit, which consists of documentation, advice and an Apple Silicon-powered Mac mini running Big Sur.
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Jun 23, 2020
What are the best ways to attract and retain talented IT professionals? Outstanding benefits and top salaries certainly help, but there's a lot more to it than that.
For our 27th annual Best Places to Work in IT report, Insider Pro and Computerworld surveyed large, midsize and small organizations across the U.S. — and their employees — to find out which ones deserve to be called the best. As in previous years, we discovered that IT pros value challenging projects and the opportunity to work with cutting-edge technologies. A positive corporate culture that emphasizes teamwork is also highly prized and has become more important than ever as organizations have pivoted to remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Jun 23, 2020
Management and IT consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton, based in McLean, Va., has more than 26,000 employees who work in 129 global offices. A phrase often repeated across the company is that it "empowers people to change the world."
It comes as no surprise, then, that the #4 large company on the Best Places to Work in IT list this year (with more than 15 years on the list) boasts a strong tradition of recruiting the best and brightest, offering countless opportunities to grow, develop and learn — combined with a culture that is both client-focused and highly collaborative.
[ Best Places to Work in IT 2020: Read the full report ]
The company's 500-strong IT organization is broken into four groups: Cloud Services, IT Service Management, Application Operational Support (Devops and DBA) and Business Operations. It serves as a mission-essential partner that drives the collective success of the entire business, focused on providing robust and secure technology solutions that the company can use to deliver results for clients across critical engagements in defense, civil, commercial and international markets. Its leadership has forged strong relationships across the company and works to infuse technology as early as possible in firm-wide business decisions.
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Jun 23, 2020
The 100 Best Places to Work in IT list from Insider Pro and Computerworld showcases the top 100 U.S. workplaces for technology professionals. Our 27th annual report ranks top organizations across the country that offer IT professionals challenging projects, robust salaries, superior benefits, flexible work/life options and unsurpassed access to training and career advancement opportunities.
To see which U.S. organizations are the Best Places to Work in IT and what it is that makes them such desirable places to work, download our special report.
To read this article in full, please click here
(Insider Story)
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Jun 23, 2020
As a sports fanatic, Josh Smith had no intention of turning down the opportunity to interview for a job as systems engineer with the infrastructure team at the NCAA (the National Collegiate Athletic Association), which is most famous for its March Madness basketball tournament — even though he wasn't looking for a new gig.
But during the interview process, the organization's team-oriented dynamic was clear, which made Smith realize it was the right move. "I could tell it was about ‘I've got your back and you've got my back,'" he says. "I couldn't wait to get started."
Now, he enjoys both being close to sports and the culture of collaboration and innovation at the NCAA's IT organization. Going to events like the men's Final Four is a perk, he explains, but the real reward is seeing what goes into the event and behind the scenes. "We help student athletes create memories that last the rest of their lives," he says.
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Jun 23, 2020
This pilot fish has a computer-repair business, and over the years, he's had some clients whose tech knowledge was, shall we say, extremely thin.
Case in point: A client calls one morning to say his computer has an error message on a Blue Screen of Death, and he doesn't know what to do. So fish walks him through the steps of shutting down and restarting the machine, and just like that it's as good as new.
But that's not the interesting part of the story, as you might imagine.
The client had explained that he had fallen asleep at the computer after taking some medication, and he woke up with his head on the keyboard and the blue screen staring down at him. What, he wants to know, might have caused the problem?
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Jun 23, 2020
Illinois-based Zebra Technologies is a growing company of nearly 8,000 employees that continues to meet Wall Street expectations, even in the face of COVID-19 disruption. The 260-strong global IT organization (not counting managed services) enables that success, serving as a "strategic lever" for the company's core business of enterprise-level data capture and automatic identification solutions that provide businesses with operational visibility, through everything from barcode scanners and RFID solutions to wearable computers and interactive kiosks.
This growth-oriented, intellectually stimulating environment, combined with a strong focus on work-life balance, led to a low 2019 voluntary turnover rate of only 3.78 percent in an extremely competitive market for IT talent — and contributed to Zebra's ranking as the #3 midsize company on this year's Best Places to Work in IT list. Its leadership says that Zebra provides the best of both worlds: the opportunity to pursue intellectual challenges and advancement opportunities often reserved for consulting, yet the work-life balance of a stable job, a flex-work policy, and generous vacation time.
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Jun 22, 2020
The rumor that refused to die, namely the Mac's transition to Apple's own ARM-based processors, will take two years - though Macs running Intel processors will be supported "for years," the company promised today at its Worldwide Developers Conference.
But the outwardly amicable "no fault" divorce with current Macintosh silicon supplier Intel is now officially under way.
Apple confirms Mac transition to Apple silicon
Apple's chip development teams have been delivering industry-beating improvements in performance, power management, speed - they've essentially moved right to the front of the business in their achievements.
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Jun 22, 2020
Apple CEO Tim Cook stressed Apple's commitment to equality and diversity and the fight against COVID-19 before launching into a slew of news for developers across all Apple's platforms.
OS releases will be made available as developer betas today, with public betas set to launch next month and launch this Fall.
Here's a partial run-down (regularly updated).
iOS 14 announcements
App Library: Automatically organizes all your apps into logical collections,and can also search for specific apps. Recently added and editable, so you can lose collections you have no use for.
Widgets: Now "more beautiful and data rich". More data rich and you can configure them to your needs. You can also place critical widgets on your Home screen. There is also a Widget Gallery, which offers up all your available options in a highly visual environment. Smart Stack is also a feature, you can place this at the top of the screen and it will use AI to present you with the data you most need at that time of day.
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Jun 22, 2020
Internecine conflict seems to be a recurring theme at Microsoft, but this one takes it to new levels. Somehow, somebody forgot to test the latest patched version of Outlook with the latest patched version of Windows. The result is an error message that makes Outlook inoperable.
The official announcement appears on the Microsoft 365 support site:
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jun 22, 2020
I don't usually write about individual applications here, but thought I'd make an exception for this one, as it may be useful to many people working from home, so here goes: Mountain Duck 4.
How to mount remote servers on Mac
Mountain Duck comes from David Kocher, developer of Cyberduck. Years ago when I ran an iPod DJ club, I'd use Kocher's Cyberduck as one of two FTP transfer tools of choice for the club's website. (The other was Fetch).
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jun 22, 2020
It's the 1990s, and this drugstore chain is adding the first Windows NT machine to its previously all-Unix server room. And naturally, all the PC and network techs are gathered around to watch the process — including this pilot fish.
"Everyone is very excited," says fish. "We have the new server set up and we're configuring it for services.
"Then the Halon alarm goes off."
That's when fish and her cohorts discover some things they didn't know before — such as the fact that the room's automatic door is set to lock if the fire-suppression system is triggered.
And the fact that there's no phone in the room.
And the fact that no one's cellphone will work in the shielded, basement server room.
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Jun 22, 2020
Windows 10 may be half a decade old, but some things never change. Or if they do, that change comes slowly, in fits, starts, stops and bursts.
Witness the recent "Transform Windows feature updates with a servicing calendar" - a piece by James Bell, a senior product marketing manager in the Microsoft 365 deployment group, posted June 18 on the company's Tech Community website.
Bell used the space to introduce what he called a "Windows servicing calendar" designed to, as he put it, "shift your Windows 10 servicing cadence from a project-based effort to a more fluid process that aligns across the release cycles of Windows, Office and endpoint management tools, such as Configuration Manager."
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(Insider Story)
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Jun 19, 2020
Apple's annual developers' conference, WWDC, will happen virtually next week. Per usual, Apple is expected to announce updates to all of its operating systems: iOS, iPad OS, macOS, tvOS and watchOS. Apple may also announce its new ARM processors and potentially an updated iMac. Computerworld executive editor Ken Mingis and Macworld writer Michael Simon join Juliet to discuss hardware and software predictions and their number 1 wishlist item for OS updates.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jun 19, 2020
Need to get up to speed on the latest features in Excel? Wrestling with an old version of Word? Looking to get more out of Windows 10? Computerworld's cheat sheets are easy-to-use guides to help you navigate Microsoft's core productivity apps.
Here's a one-stop resource where you can find in-depth stories on several generations of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook for Windows, focusing on what's new in each major release. We've also got guides for SharePoint, OneNote, Microsoft Teams and Windows itself.
Microsoft's subscription-based office suite, called Office 365 or Microsoft 365 depending on your version, is continually updated with new features, and its latest non-subscription office suite is Office 2019. We're working on publishing new cheat sheets to cover those products, but we're willing to bet that many companies and individuals will stay on older versions of the standalone software for some time to come. We've got you covered here.
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Jun 19, 2020
One of the mistakes I think the tech industry has made is in trying to make a PC into a communications device for video and audio. We've always had dedicated communications devices - phones. And they've remained separate from other tools for a reason: you often have to communicate and create at the same time, and if you use the same device to do both, it tends to reduce the effectiveness of both.
In short, we're asking a PC to do too many things using the same display and hardware. This isn't a multi-tasking problem; the CPU and GPU have more performance than needed for tasks. But our renewed focus on reliable communications has exceeded our focus on creative work. The ongoing pandemic has made things worse; everyone needs to be connected from wherever they're working, but they also need to be able to productively work.
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Jun 19, 2020
Need to create and share a presentation? If so, you probably turn to the most popular presentation application in the world, PowerPoint, one of the core apps that make up Microsoft's Office suite.
Microsoft sells Office under two models: Individuals and businesses can pay for the software license up front and own it forever (what the company calls the "perpetual" version of the suite), or they can purchase an Office 365 or Microsoft 365 subscription, which means they have access to the software for only as long as they keep paying the subscription fee.
When you purchase a perpetual version of the suite — say, Office 2016 or Office 2019 — its applications will never get new features, whereas apps in an Office 365/Microsoft 365 subscription are continually updated with new features. (For more details, see "What are the differences between Microsoft Office 2019 and Office 365?")
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Jun 19, 2020
This download accompanies our story PowerPoint 2016 and 2019 cheat sheet. See that article for detailed information on how to get the most out of PowerPoint 2016 and 2019 for Windows.
For the most part, the Ribbon interface in PowerPoint 2016 and 2019 is intuitive to use. It's divided into a series of tabs that group related commands together. Since it's always present at the top of your screen, the Ribbon puts a wealth of commands in easy reach at all times.
But with so many tabs and so many commands, it's not always obvious where to go to perform a given action. To help, we've compiled a guide that shows each Ribbon tab, explains what it's for and highlights its most commonly used commands. And for those of you who don't like to take your hands from the keys to point and click, we've included keyboard shortcuts for all the actions.
To read this article in full, please click here
(Insider Story)
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Jun 19, 2020
It's the 1980s, and this pilot fish works in an accounting department, where he responds to company order to find ways to lower costs by submitting a request to stop printing six useless inventory reports. "We always immediately tossed them into recycling, and it would save about 1,000 pages per month," says fish.
The response comes back from IT: "The inventory system is so poorly documented that it would cost more to shut down the print run than we could save."
Request denied.
Flash forward two years, and fish has dumped his accounting career to become a programmer. His first assignment after transferring into the IT department: increasing the size of a key field in the mainframe inventory system.
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Jun 18, 2020
Microsoft on Wednesday began reversing actions it took earlier this year as the coronavirus pandemic spread and announced it would resume Windows 10 non-security updates.
Those updates, which Microsoft designated as Windows' C and D updates in a nod to their third- and fourth-week release each month, were halted during May. "We have been evaluating the public health situation, and we understand this is impacting our customers," Microsoft said in a March 24 message.
[ Related: Windows 10 version 2004: Key enterprise features ]
Microsoft will resume distribution of these non-security updates next month, the company said, but only to Windows 10 1809 and later, and to Windows Server. The Redmond, Wash. developer cited customer feedback and "the ongoing stabilization of business continuity" as the reasons for the restart.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jun 18, 2020
Work management platform Asana has expanded its portfolio of joint offerings with the launch of Asana for Microsoft Teams.
With the rollout, users of the two platforms can turn conversations in Teams into trackable, actionable tasks in Asana and more easily find and share tasks, projects, and portfolios with your co-workers. The changes also make it easier to highlight task status by giving teammates more context and visibility into Asana tasks using the Teams UI.
With Teams' bot technology, users can also customize automated notifications about important Asana task and project changes directly in Teams.
Asana
New features in Asana allow tasks to be created by users in Microsoft Teams.
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Jun 18, 2020
Here in the land o' mobile tech, worlds are colliding more than ever. Up is down. Left is right. And lines are blurring everywhere you look.
As we speak, Microsoft is inching ever closer to releasing its first self-made Android phone — one that could prove to be the most interesting Android device we've seen in ages. And now, to balance out that "hell freezing over" moment, Google has announced it's getting ready to bring Windows apps onto its Chrome OS platform.
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Jun 18, 2020
It's too early for the villagers to haul out their rusty pitchforks and oft-hoisted torches, but it looks like another Windows version upgrade has another data-eating bug. The bug infects Storage Spaces, Microsoft's way of implementing RAID-like data redundancy by using standard hard drives.
Yesterday, Microsoft posted Knowledge Base article 4568129, which says in part:
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Jun 18, 2020
In a sudden moment of clarity, the UK government has decided to abandon its own attempt to create a contact tracing app in favor of using technology developed and provided by Apple and Google.
Private lives are healthy, too
Apple and Google introduced their own joint take on contact tracing a few weeks ago. They described the technology as something that enables data to be gathered around COVID-19 spread, but not at the cost of user privacy. It achieved this by adopting a decentralized approach to the challenge.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jun 18, 2020
Investment in collaboration and productivity software start-ups, which was already on the upswing before this year's pandemic, is set to grow as businesses seek new ways to connect remote workers.
"Even before COVID, some of the trends were pretty positive on that, and I think it will just get better," said Jean-Francois Marcoux, managing partner at White Star Capital, a venture capital firm that has invested in a number of digital workplace start-ups - including virtual-reality meetings app Spatial.
To read this article in full, please click here
(Insider Story)
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Jun 17, 2020
Microsoft will repeat last year's major-minor cadence for Windows 10's upgrades, the company said Tuesday.
"We will again deliver Windows 10, version 20H2 using servicing technology (like that used for the monthly update process) for customers running the May 2020 Update who choose to update to the new release," wrote John Cable, director of program management for the Windows Servicing and Delivery group, in a June 16 post to a Microsoft blog.
[ Related: Windows 10 version 2004: Key enterprise features ]
Cable's description of the coming process echoed what he had said in July 2019, when he announced a sweeping departure from Windows 10's previous twice-a-year-upgrade model. He even used phrasing almost identical to last year's.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jun 17, 2020
Apple has 23 million developers, but faces rebellion from some as it prepares to invite everyone to see the future of its platforms at WWDC.
So it goes
The rebellion isn't about anything particularly new.
Apple polices its ecosystem, maintaining tight control over the apps made available to its users, and taking a relatively consistent 30% cut of revenue. The company doesn't let apps direct users to their own payment systems.
Apple's argument is that it provides the platform and curates the store. It can point to brick and mortar retailers and note that they also charge fees for brands that wish to sell through them. It can also point out that because it provides the entire ecosystem, including access to the customers, it has some right to charge for access to its systems.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jun 17, 2020
This pilot fish at a catalog retailer doubles as Mac technical support guy and advertising project manager. "The company had been bought out several years earlier, and most of the decisions were now being made by accountants a few hundred miles away," he says.
One of those decisions is to extend the original three-year lease on first-generation Apple Power Mac G5s by several years. But, fish notes, these are heavy-use machines and are starting to break down.
Fish sends word up the line that this isn't a good idea — so many machines have failed that the company is dangerously close to not having enough computers to get the work done. That would jeopardize the catalog production schedule, along with millions of dollars in sales, all for the sake of about $90,000.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jun 17, 2020
A month after announcing sweeping name and default-settings changes to Office 365's distribution framework, Microsoft this week followed up with a reworking of its Windows 10 preview program.
Existing names for Windows Insider's build tracks - like Slow Ring and Fast Ring - will be replaced by the terms Dev and Beta followed by the label Channel, the latter matching the current term for polished Windows distributions.
[ Related: Microsoft cheat sheets: Dive into Windows and Office apps ]
The short version of Monday's naming announcement: Microsoft swapped labels on two of the three Insider build rings, canned Ring entirely and went for Channel instead.
To read this article in full, please click here
(Insider Story)
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Jun 16, 2020
Android 11's most important additions may be more about privacy than any front-facing flashiness, but the software sure does have its share of significant surface-level improvements.
I've been using the new Android 11 Beta release since it arrived last Wednesday. It's our first real look at Google's complete (or at least near-complete) vision for the next Android version, and it has quite a few new small but impactful experience-enhancing elements. Some of 'em fit into the three broad themes I covered in my most recent newsletter, while others are just scattered little treasures strewn throughout the software.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jun 16, 2020
Video-conferencing platform BlueJeans Network is bolstering its software with in-meeting features to help improve the work-from-home experience of its users and better position itself against rivals.
Since its acquisition by Verizon, BlueJeans has seen usage soar as video conferencing has become a staple for workers sent home during the pandemic; the company reported a 300% increase in use compared to its pre COVID-19 average.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jun 16, 2020
Apple has introduced its Catalyst port of its Developers App for Mac users for the first time as it prepares for its online WWDC event. The entire event this year is being streamed online directly from Apple Park.
Full stream ahead
On the surface, the Developers app is a fairly basic port to the Mac from iOS. You get access to the video feeds, conference sessions, developer forums and 1-1 appointments on your Mac as well as on your iPad or iPhone.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jun 16, 2020
This pilot fish gets a meeting invite from his boss's boss with no information about what it's about — just the name Skip Level.
And fish, who doesn't know anyone by that name and is busy with customer-related work, declines, saying, "If you would find out from Skip Level what they want and then send the ask along to me, or just have Skip Level contact me directly, that would be great."
Which prompts his boss's boss to send out some much-needed clarification to everyone in the department: "I'm scheduling Skip Level meetings, the new name for 1 Over 1 Touchpoints, to give you all an opportunity to ask questions or provide feedback as well as to give me better insight into how things are going on the team."
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jun 16, 2020
I know how to secure my PCs. I've never fallen victim to a phishing attack; gotten infected by a worm; been maligned by malware. But then I have 30-plus years of experience. You? Probably not. That's why when I read Morphisec's recent report on all these people working from home (2020 WFH Employee Cybersecurity Thread Index), I was horrified.
It turns out more than half, 56%, of employees are using their own personal computers to work from home. No! Deep breath. No!
To read this article in full, please click here
(Insider Story)
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Jun 15, 2020
The economy is suffering, but some technology businesses, such as telemedicine, contactless payment, 3D printing and e-paper document management have taken off. While others, which were already big, like ecommerce and videoconferencing, have seen enormous growth. Here's why, and how, they're flourishing in bad times.
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Jun 15, 2020
Apple's business has grown so extensive that enhancements that may once have been presented as major announcements now enter the light in the form of quiet, stealthy product updates that don't get so much attention. Two newly introduced Mac enhancements go a long way to illustrate this point.
Graphics for the few
I was blown away by the speed and performance of the 16-inch MacBook Pro when I took a look at the machine.
It delivered more computing performance than a humble scribbler like myself actually needs - and Apple is already improving this.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jun 15, 2020
As workplaces grapple with the realities of reopening amid the on-going COVID-19 pandemic, voice technologies and contactless interfaces could provide the answer to re-establishing safe working environments.
Social distancing measures are still required in most countries and could remain in place until at least the end of the year to prevent fresh coronavirus outbreaks. And while there has been an enterprise focus in recent months on collaboration and videoconferencing software as work-from-home necessities, companies now need to start think about bringing workers back in, according to Anthony Mullen, senior analyst at Gartner.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jun 15, 2020
Sysadmin pilot fish is checking out encryption for his company's backups.
"We have a mainframe that runs our core system," explains fish. "Each night we back up to an on-site tape and then make a copy of the tape to go off-site. Couriers shuttle the tape back and forth between the sites each day."
The obvious place to apply encryption is to those off-site tapes, so fish decides to create an encrypted copy of a tape to show how well the process works.
And the encryption process works fine every time. But when fish tries to decrypt the tape, no data comes out.
After fish spends several weeks experimenting, talking to vendors and growing more and more frustrated, one of his co-workers asks whether he has checked the script that generates the copy of the tape.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jun 13, 2020
Microsoft 365 now supports the ability to create intranet sites in multiple languages. You can create pages and news in a user's preferred language, and you can show site navigation, the site title, and the site description in the preferred language. The process is relatively easy - but there are a few things you will want to make sure site owners and content authors know about prior to launching this great capability in your environment.
How to create a multilingual site
Please review Microsoft's documentation and short video on how to create multilingual sites to learn how this feature works and how to enable it for your site. The documentation is very thorough and walks you through the basic "how to" information for site owners and content editors.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Jun 12, 2020
Chrome next month will begin to block notifications from sites that Google believes misuse or abuse the privilege of issuing the warnings.
Starting with Chrome 84 - scheduled to release July 14 - sites that Google thinks traffic in notifications meant to trick users will be blacklisted. Such sites' notifications will be scaled back to what Google earlier defined as its "Quiet UI" and a Chrome-produced warning will appear telling the user that the website may be trying to dupe him or her into accepting future notices.
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